The new project vehicle

[agarwalro]

No AP for me - I've had that discussion with my tuner and he said they are fine until you want to go back to stock. Their stock maps are THEIRS not the actual stock map, and he recommended an open source tune. I have a STI up pipe and once I get the JDM scoop painted, I will put the TIMC on and get the tune.

I was not aware of that nuance with AP/Cobb. That will come into play when getting rid of the car. Better to have the option than to not have it... Why go with open source tune?

Who's your tuner? I had my STi done by Tim Bailey of Surgline. What a job he did. Day and night difference even from Cobb Stage 2 generic. Turbo lag was all but gone and made approx. 310 WHP on 93 Octane, yet, the boost pressure was well in safe range, maxed at 19.5 PSI (if memory serves right).

It makes sense to complete all the upgrades and then get a pro-tune, though you might be running a little lean on stock tune with the biggher DP and exhaust installed.

 

[j_garcia]

Tuner will most likely be Delicious Tuning from Southern California. The shop I do most of my work at, Mann Engineering , uses him and he's supposed to be very good. I will most likely plan the upgrade close to the time of the tune so that I don't run it modded and untuned for long. For stage 1 (1.5?) my friend at the shop said it would be OK as long as I took it easy. Going with STI up, keeping stock DP for now until I upgrade the turbo (VF39 or VF48 most likely). Even just with the TD04, this thing already pulls hard with the shorter gearing (4.44).

 

[j_garcia]

JDM STI scoop back from paint.

 

[j_garcia]

Lowered on Swift springs

 

[j_garcia]

Was a busy for the last two weeks at work, so haven't had much time to post. A few more additions prior to lowering today:
Blacked out front grille

LED corner markers since one was burned out and I had the LEDs...

 

[j_garcia]

Sold the WRX last night.

 

[j_garcia]

 

[j_garcia]

STILL don't have it back yet, but got to see some parts installed today. Still waiting on new radiator and other suspension bits.

 

[j_garcia]

Finally got it back. They squeal a little bit because the calipers had some minor issues with the pads (Stoptech) but they stop great and pedal feel is much improved with the Goodridge lines.

 

[j_garcia]

Long story short, there are problems with those nice calipers I bought. The company that did them agreed to replace them, however I need to send these ones back to them SO, I picked up another set (used) ones to swap out...

They came complete with all 4 rotors, lines, EBC red pads; pretty much everything.

 

[darien87]

They came complete with all 4 rotors, lines, EBC red pads; pretty much everything.

Let me know what you think of the EBC's. I've got those on my Mustang and they've squeeked since day one. I thought it would go away once they broke in but nope. They also seem to have a strange stop threshold. It's like they grip lightly at first but then really clamp down after a couple of seconds, almost like they need to warm up first. I don't think I'll buy another set.

 

[j_garcia]

They probably DO need to warm up first. I had Hawk HPS and they were the same way, and when it is cold in the mornings like now, they were downright scary at slow speeds. I will be tossing the EBCs since I've already got brand new Stoptech SPs on the other ones and I'd highly recommend those for street applications. I had them on the WRX too and they're the best street pads I've run so far.

 

[ImcLoud]

I hate doing stuff twice, never mind three times, sorry to hear they were problems..

 

[j_garcia]

I hate doing stuff twice, never mind three times, sorry to hear they were problems..

Yeah, tell me about it. And my buddy's shop is closed until after SEMA because he builds his own custom suspension for Subarus, so I can't get them swapped out for another week

 

[j_garcia]

Been a while. Updates galore.

Lamin-X for the headlights because I was tired of re-polishing them.

STI 20mm rear swaybar, Whiteline endlinks, mounts and support brackets

Forester friends:

 

[j_garcia]

Got around to getting this installed. Helps with turn in and mid corner control.

Picked this up for next to nothing. 1/8" thick version. Primitive Racing

STI aluminum control arms

Installed today along with Whiteline roll center adjust kit and front endlinks.

 

[j_garcia]

Need to figure out how this works...car has Multi EQ XT

 

[j_garcia]

Updates, been a while. Some new items bought and others that have been sitting around installed.

All that so I could do an open source tune by Delicious Tuning at Mann Engineering this morning. The car pulls amazingly smoothly now all the way to redline.

 

[Alex2507]

I shouldn't have looked through this thread. Now I need fancy floor mats and while I'm at it I should throw some new plugs in ... probably wires too. I've got a tire and wheel well out now on an F150 to do some A/C stuff which is far from easy but while I'm in there ...

My sound system is stock and after about 5 minutes it sounds bad. Normally I don't think about it once I'm out of the vehicle but your fancy Audyssey thing has me thinking ...

I've got that same lens polish Plastc-X or whatever and guess what ... more things I need to do. Wow ... I better get going ...

That axle boot thing from early on happened to me too on the fofo with wildly dfferent pricing. The whole axle was less than $60. The labor was $80 but I needed a $30 ball joint for just the bolt. The down side is that it's still a fofo.

Every time I drive my truck I think about how the feel of the steering would be improved by getting some new upper control arms with fancy ball joints. On a good day that's about a $500 deal (labor included) ... but instead of that I have an OppoSE.

 

[j_garcia]

Lol. I can see a lot of the configuration parameters for the Audessey in the unit, but I presume I have to attach a mic for it to do anything. Haven't checked the speakers, but they sound stock to me. Previous owner just put in the head unit to get bluetooth and USB capability and probably didn't know what Audessey was

I've already put more into this car than the last one and I've had it less than a year, but the progress I made on this one means I'm already closer to leaving it alone for a while (yeah right)

They had originally said they could give me a dual tune setup that can be switched between, but looks like I'll need an 04 STI ECU to do that (works with my FXT), so I got a custom "Street" tune. The guy is like magic. Numbers weren't big (237hp/241tq), but the curve is the real fun. Boost comes on low and builds very quickly for a lot of silly grin effect. No doubt I will be spending more in gas and tires and brakes now, but you only live once.