My Crucial uppipe came in today and I'm going to try and install it Sat 8/13 or Sun 8/14. If you have any experience with solid pipes (someone mentioned being able to help a while back. Moose, i think it was you, not sure though...) Anyway, Let me know of these times work for you! Those of you interested in the Crucial Quicksteer (Milo and JT i know you have mentioned it) mine should be installed by then, if you want to have a go with it lemme know. Ok, i think that's it. Thanks for the help guys! :wiggle:
Bunch a crucial showing up lately, mine is sitting on my desk waiting for the matching DP. I gleamed this bit of info from LGT... -------------------------------------------- I spoke to master subie tech at mead engineering this afternoon about my then-planned uppipe install. He gave me this tightening advice: 1: Put everything together loosely 2: Tighten exhaust manifold - uppipe 3: Uppipe - turbo 4: Everything else This was somewhat counterintuitive to how I would have done it (I would have started with exhaust manifold to heads), but he said this sequence is the best way to avoid leaks. Take this for what it's worth.
I'd say manifold to uppipe is *the* crucial joint to tighten first, as it only has two bolts holding it together. However, I'd save uppipe to turbo for last, but that's just me. (Perrin recommends uppipe to manifold, manifold to x-over, manifold to head, uppipe to turbo... might have the middle two switched, not sure)
Did you get a crucial pipe Rod? I've thought about their DP, but I want to keep a high flow cat and that involved piecing in a Stromung or something before the catback... so that's still under discussion... Thanks for the tightening sequences. Do you also recommend using copper gasket sealer (the squeeze stuff) in additon to the copper gaskets or is that overkill?
I'm in crucials GB for the DP. They are supposed to ship this Friday. I'm getting the copper gaskets for free since I was in the first 12. Found this on CU Gaskets... ------------------------------------------------ A couple of observations --- There are a few things that come to mind here. First I strongly advocate the use of Permatex Anti-sieze on all your exhaust bolts. It will save you mucho grief some time in the future when you want to take things apart. It also is just sticky enough that once cooked by exhaust heat the nut is not completely free to spin off the fastener if for some reason pressure is released. When first put in place it has the consistancy of heavy grease, and after being heated a few times takes on the consistancy of something like day old toothpaste. Not hard but stiff enough to keep things from moving about. On possibility is that there was some sort of a bind in the exhaust system and after hitting a strong bump or something that bind resolved itself. That could suddenly removed all clamping force on the gaskets and nuts allowing the nuts to back off due to road vibration. When I bolt up gaskets I always run things up finger tight on all flanges and then grab and shake things a bit to let everything settle in. If you have piece of sand grit wedged someplace this is when you want to get it to drop out and let things bolt up properly. Second on gaskets ( especially on exhaust gaskets) I always bring them up to final torque in stages with some rest time in between. I bring them up to final torque and then do some other tasks, maybe grab a bite to eat and come back in 15 - 20 minutes and verify that all is still tight. Especially if your putting heat shields back on so you won't be able to get to things easily. Its the nature of copper embossed gaskets to "yield and conform" after they have been heat cycled. The high pressure points give a bit at high heat and yield slightly, this moves the pressure around until you have a perfect match between the shape of the gasket and the surface it is sealing, and once retorqued properly they should have very uniform gasket clamping pressure inspite of small surface irregularities. This it why they seal gasket flanges no other gasket will seal. I have never had an embossed metal exhaust gasket fail or leak ( they used to be common in older cars). I have on occasion forgotten to tighten all the bolts and had things shift and come loose later. That is where I learned to give things a rest and go back and double check the torque on each and every bolt some time later. They also make a "deformed" lock nut, that is great for this sort of thing. It is squeezed slightly so that it is not perfectly round, and that built in friction will keep it from backing off due to vibration. I've used them in the past and they work great. I'll look around to see if I can find a source for them.
I am definitely interested in checking out your Quicksteer. Ever since I drove Mere's car at the SCCA Novice School, I have been dying to do something to speed up my steering. The Rex is so slow compared to the STi.
i haven't heard of the quicksteer before... i just pulled up the website and it looks VERY interesting. compared to my old miata, the steering on the wrx is just a sloppy pile o dogshit. and this fixes it huh?
i agree. 16.5:1 steering ratio is too slow for any real driving. It's backordered right now, should arrive next week and i'll post pics and stuff. for those unfamiliar, the site is: http://www.crucialracing.com/products/qsteer.php For reference I don't know what hte stock STi is but I know these: Evo VIII/IX: 13.5:1 STI Spec-C: 13.5:1
i think we should try to get crucial as a vendor on our sight. they have lots of great products! and being a fairly new company they would prob go for it.
The sti is 15.1:1, and my s2k is 13.8:1. I am interested in seeing how the Quicksteer works out for you. -- Brian
hmm.. who wants to set up a slalom test and get some real numbers???? I don't know how to do this, but I think it would be very insightful for autocrossers.
Would be kinda hard to do, unless you know a place to set it up. It's not hard at all, just set up like 5 cones paced 30 feet apart in a straight line.
i know where a lot of open lot business parks are... but i don't know how to clock speeds or times with any degree of accuracy (unless a hand stopwatch is accurate enough...)
make sure to have some gloves and a can of P B Blaster and new gaskets..tighten from the manifold back and you should be in good shape
A stopwatch would be fine, but you don't even need to time it. I could tell you just from driving whether it is better or not, thought I gaurantee it will be better. Lets face it, it can't be any worse. Times most likely wouldn't change much, but the feel and amount of work that would need to be done to make it thru the Slalom would show instantly.
I got a stopwatch and some cones if anyone wants to help me give it a go. Stock this weekend, quicksteer next... just PM me. If times don't change, I'll be surprised. I think the hand over hand of stock will slow a lot of things down.
I read a review of the quicksteer rack recently, and the guy who installed it actually ran slower for a while because he was used to cranking the wheel a lot more. Of course, once you get used to it it should be awesome.
yeah, i saw that too. he said the main problem right off the bat was that he kept turning into curbs, it just took him a while to re-learn how to steer.
straight from Crucial Racing. http://www.crucialracing.com/products/qsteer.php (posted earlier in thread too).
i would pivot the wheel off the first thumb joint on the wheel crossbar rather than go hand over hand (or if your steering wheel is small enough let your arms cross over)... i know the stock ratio sucks but i wouldn't think you would need to let go. try it and let me know. if you could, it would be killer to see a vid of you turning the steer and keep the front wheels in-frame as well to get an idea of just how much steer turn = how much wheel turn.
Come to think of it, the slalom is not really the test for this. It is more the sharp 90 degree turns or hairpins that this would really show its benefits.
crucial has a vid on the link that skull posted but it only show the stock colum turning vs theirs. our wheel turns 1 and a half times around to get a full turn and theres is only 1 time around. not really sure if that shows what your looking for. i also just pmed crutial over at clubwrx.net (vendor over there). i asked them to join up and and give us some more info and help if we need it.
i did catch the vid, but i guess i just wanted to see the progression, but i guess if i wasn't a lazy ass i would figure out some formula for how many degrees sterr turn equals how many degrees wheel turn. speaking of slalom... the more i think about this the more i'm thinking the same... i would think lap times would be improved quite nicely (once you get used to the ratio of the new steer) this mod will probably make his rex a "two-handed" car on WOT. i'm getting a hard on just thinking about this. gotta have 'em email me when they're not on backorder. 16 to 11 hmmm...that's a drastic change. thinking further, please do not try a slalom run after you first get this thing on... i would imagine lots of counter steering, cones knocked down and barking tires after the first cone would ensue lol.
haha i wouldn't try that right after putting it on. It'll take a while to get used to I'm sure. I suggested a slalom just because it involves a lot of switching directions. Just trying to figure out some way to quantitate a change in steering/show benefits. Maybe that's not the way as suggested above.... any other ideas? I'll post a full review too addressing all of these issues (hwy, countersteer, etc etc etc...) of course, the best way is to just try it and come to your own decisions
very true, we should all whore your car for our steering curiosities LOL... seriously though, i would like to try it if i get a chance and if enough of us like it/or the idea of it enough to buy, anyone wanna petition crucial for a group buy?
IT'S ON! IT'S ON! And let me say it's oh so sexy! :wiggle: Unfortunately, SS found some ping in my engine when he was testing out the column, so I'm gonna try and get that worked out asap. Then my car becomes a whore for anyone who wants to try it. I'll post a full review after I get to tear around more tomorrow on non-slick roads. Hopefully Scott can add a more professional perspective as well. I have to say though, the increased weight of steering is wonderful! and while 11:1 sounds like a very low ratio, it's not as low as I thought. 2/3 is not quite 1/2 and it feels VERY VERY comfortable to drive, almost telepathic at times. :fruit: :coold: :wiggle: :ddirty: :fruit:
killer! i can only image how easy slow input would be over a shorter turn, i'm excited for ya, let us know once you put some speed into it!
Yeah. There's also a nasioc post. I've spoken with the new owner (Jeremy, now using the Crucial Racing handle on Nasioc) and the old owner (Russ) a little about this. Crucial was Russ's second job and it's grown to big for him to do part time. jeremy actually made a post on nasioc (http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?p=10801746). He's expanding the company and Crucial is coming out with more new products including a full TBE with a 3" highflow cat which should be for sale in 6 weeks! Russ put a lot of faith in him to keep the company going and growing and it looks like that's what Jeremy plans to do which still upholding Crucial's awesome customer support and product quality.