Branka: Country Road Specialist

[Tristor]

Some quick updates, no photos, although I have some of the following at some point to maybe drop in the thread:

• I did a road-trip (~700 miles one way) over spring break, it was awesome, except that it snowed/iced unexpectedly the day I needed to return but only for a short part of the lengthy drive. Was really sketchy, and I almost made it, but when exiting the Interstate to head South (doing about 25mph) the car became uncontrollable and spun. I continued corrective steering all the way through the spin and was able to regain some control when the side of the car went off tarmac into dirt/snow, which allowed me to prevent the car from hitting anything and gave me the traction necessary to stop. I don't feel too bad, there was already a state trooper nearby on the shoulder of the Interstate that came quickly because he'd just spun in the exact same place but had been able to drive himself out... my car was too light to get traction. Subaru Road-Side Assistance sent a flatbed and it towed me all the way to where the snowline was and dropped me at a gas station, no other serious problems on my way home.
• Car needed an alignment after my off. Toe arms moved based on visual on the lift from my torque seal marks, not sure, but I'm guessing when it "dug in" at the point I stopped.
• Vorshlag top mounts finally got delivered, which was the last part I was waiting on to do the suspension but they sent me the wrong size of extended top nuts for the rear shock mounts. So I'm now waiting on them to machine me "one-off" top nuts. For those wondering, fronts are M12x1.25 but the rears are M10x1.0. They sent me M12x1.25 top nuts for both fronts and rears.
• I've installed my CSG Spec brake pads and the Castrol SRF fluid and completed a full visual and function inspection of all components of the brake system. My braided lines still look pristine, no abrasion of any kind (which is kind of surprising considering). I had some interesting rotational noise from the fronts after installation and after troubleshooting determined that it was caused by the J-hooks on the rotors brushing against the pad surface, as the pads are full thickness and I had put in my Hard Brakes titanium heat shields as well. I removed the heat shields and reinstalled the pads which eliminated the noise... I'm guessing a few track sessions would have done the trick too
• I installed the TRD door stabilizers
• I've got half my ARP extended studs in (fronts), ran out of time on the lift last night (too much BSing, not enough wrenching). Switched to CSG Spec lug nuts. Going back to finish up the extended studs this evening after work and probably leave it on the lift overnight so I can start on bushings. Going to do all my whiteline bushings today and tomorrow. Then all I'm doing is waiting on Vorshlag and I can get the rest of the suspension stuff done. With extended studs I can run spacers as needed to flush out my wheels once I get my alignment specced in.

Track alignment plans right now (looking for opinions on whether this is good or not)


-3.2 degrees camber in the front, -2 degrees camber in the rear, 10mm spacers in the front, 6mm spacers in the rear with 17x9 +42 wheels w/ 245/40R17 tires (Toyo Proxes R888R). I think this is where I want to start out on track while I'm waiting on take-off slicks to come back in stock to buy.


So right now I'm just getting some of the wrenching I can do right now out of the way, and I'm waiting on the last little parts.

[Tristor]

Quick update, all the bushings are in except the rear subframe bushing inserts (KDT922, called the "Positive Traction Kit"). In this kit there is supposed to be 4x bushing insert bottoms, and 2x of one type and 2x of another type of bushing insert toppers, but in my case I got 3x and 1x of the toppers, so I cannot proceed.

Whiteline was closed today. I reached out to @Racecomp Engineering and let them know, I'm hoping I can get another KDT922 sent to me, and hopefully it contains the right parts.

Honestly, I was expecting this to be way worse and more time consuming to do all these bushings than it was. This was pretty straightforward since I had access to a lift, air tools, a pole jack, a shop press, and a torch. Good stuff.

Car feels awesome already, and I'm really looking forward to the KDT922 and then getting the rest of the suspension (rear LCAs, rear toe arms, and coilovers) in.

I'm going to take it to a buddy that works at a Honda dealership for a quick alignment check Monday afternoon and then I need to figure out who does proper track alignments in my area to go to.

[Tristor]

Whiteline got back to me today, they are sending me the correct part that is missing from the KDT922 kit. No idea when that will arrive though, and I'm still waiting on my top nuts from Vorshlag for the rear strut mounts. Since I'm waiting on stuff to show up, what's the best plan? Order more parts of course.


Ended up ordering the following:

• STI JDM Transmission Mount
• STI JDM Engine Mounts
• Torque Solutions Driveshaft Bearing Solid Bushings

I figured while I was at it with stiffening things up a bit, I should go ahead and get the engine and trans mounts out of the way too.


Now I get to play the waiting game, it seems I may not be done with all this during this weekend after all.

[TeutonicShift89]

I'd be interested to hear feedback for the door stabilizers. That's a mod I've been interested in for quite some time as a way. Does the door feel or sound different when you shut it? I doubt I could feel the added stiffness it adds to the chassis, but if it could at least make the door slam closer to a solidly built german car I'd be all for it.

[Tristor]

Originally Posted by TeutonicShift89

I'd be interested to hear feedback for the door stabilizers. That's a mod I've been interested in for quite some time as a way. Does the door feel or sound different when you shut it? I doubt I could feel the added stiffness it adds to the chassis, but if it could at least make the door slam closer to a solidly built german car I'd be all for it.

The door does sound different when you shut it, but it's nowhere near the sound of the door on something like a BMW 7 series. I think most of that door shutting sound you get on high end saloons is from the weight of the door, the tighter tolerances, and the materials used. In this case it sounds more solid, but it's not significantly different in sound. If that's your main goal, I wouldn't bother since they're not all that cheap.

[Tristor]

Quick update, I got the top nuts from Vorshlag and they fit properly, and I also got the one bushing topper I was missing in my KDT922 kit from Whiteline. I only had a couple of hours in the shop yesterday, so I assembled the struts but didn't install coilovers or arms, that's now delayed until next Saturday. I did get my KDT922 installed though, and I had an alignment done today. I'm flying out tomorrow during an early red-eye for a quick work trip, but I am hoping to be back on track very very very soon.


During my alignment, it looks like I need to work on my subframe with a pry bar quite a lot. Right now I'm almost a full degree off on cross camber (-1.8 on LR, -0.9 on RR). I'd rather fix it in the subframe than in the LCAs, even though I'll be putting LCAs in during my coilover install.

[Tristor]

Well things didn't go as planned today, so I still haven't installed my coilovers. I did install my SPL Parts rear LCAs and toe arms. I need an alignment before I really drive anywhere, but I will say I am very annoyed with the "titanium" socket cap screws used for the double adjuster. They cam out really easily and strip easily.

I'm hoping to get a basic alignment tomorrow and then get a serious alignment later in the week.

[Tristor]

Track Alignment and Coilovers have been achieved!!! Also, SPL gave me replacement screws for the two I boogered up. Everything seems to be working swimmingly and the car feels great. I did note that I misclocked the Whiteline offset caster bushings slightly so my cross-caster isn't perfect, but if it really annoys me I can fix it later with FLCAs.






How she sits now with 15mm spacers in the rear and a 10mm+6mm stacked spacers in the front.







Initial track alignment specs after setting ride height and corner weighting. (ignore the before section)

[Marcoscrdo]

Originally Posted by Tristor

A bit belated, but here's pictures taken in the daylight of the rear seat delete that's gone in. I tried to find #100 Instapak Quick RT to put underneath but it was impossible to find so I went with #80 (next size down) and I'll be doing foaming underneath to reinforce the pieces that cover the seat section tonight after the Instapak arrives. I'm also planning to put the trunk mat back in by taking the bar off the rear strut tower brace and then cutting slits in the trunk mat. Since I have a BRZ Limited I also have the rubber all-weather cargo mat that goes over top. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with it, I may leave it out.

My goal would be to be able to fit all 4 of my new wheels in the pack (with some padding) to get them to the tire shop without requiring a second vehicle to carry them.


When you install it, it basically looks like this when done. Pretty clean looking although everything is based on push-clips rather than bolts. Since it goes in as 4 sections (left and right bottom piece, back piece, and the brace/base) it's easy to install compared to one-piece solutions although it doesn't look as clean.

Attachment 163487

As you can see the 10mm bolt holes on the bottom of the rear set gets covered by a little piece of plastic with a single push-clip. It tends to randomly rotate or loosen slightly, so I'm sure they'll fall out tomorrow when I go to the car wash and vacuum out the car. It looks a bit janky, but I guess it's better than exposed metal underneath.

Attachment 163489

The rear piece leans against a lip created by the brace/base that mounts using two of the washered bolts from the child seat restraint bracket and the top two mounting holes from that bracket after it's removed. The bottom pieces use two push-clips to attach to this piece and the rear piece is attached at the top and just held in against the base by pressure.

Attachment 163488

In the rear section you can see it looks very clean on the back of the trunk, but it does come forward into the trunk space a little farther than the rear seat which made reinstalling some of the trim difficult. Additionally, it means I may need to slightly trim the trunk carpeting other than what was necessary to fit the bar (this is still yet to be done, but probably will finish it tonight).

Attachment 163490

Anyway, that's the Shrader Performance Rear Seat Delete Kit as installed. I'm overall pretty happy with it. I just got my Amazon package with 2x Instapak Quick RT #80 in it, so I'm going to be removing the bottom pieces, laying down some loose padding and then creating the foam blocks to fill in the empty cavity between the bare metal of the body and the underside of the two bottom pieces. I'm hoping this will increase it's ability to support weight while also adding additional sound dampening capability to reduce NVH further.


Regarding NVH, the difference between bare stripped interior and trunk vs completed interior and trunk with the rear seat delete kit installed is night and day. Compared to the NVH level when the vehicle is stock I think it's only marginally louder. Mostly I need to figure out what's rattling around back in one of the walls covered by trim (I suspect I broke a pop clip reinstalling trim). Otherwise this is on point. Cuts 23 pounds of weight, provides a flatter surface for items to extend from the trunk area when the rear piece is removed, and it turns the car into a true 2-seater as it should have been from the factory

Cheers

I know this thread is like a year old, and idk if anyone has said this. (I didnt see though the pages my bad lol) But the seat covers are upside down. I would insert a pic of my shrader delete kit setup, but if you flip them over the back bent tabs fit inside the longer rectangle bar so they actually hide behind it rather than being exposed like in your pic. Mess with it and Im sure youll get it, but its much cleaner if you set it up this way. Like what you have done with the car!

[Tristor]

Originally Posted by Marcoscrdo

I know this thread is like a year old, and idk if anyone has said this. (I didnt see though the pages my bad lol) But the seat covers are upside down. I would insert a pic of my shrader delete kit setup, but if you flip them over the back bent tabs fit inside the longer rectangle bar so they actually hide behind it rather than being exposed like in your pic. Mess with it and Im sure youll get it, but its much cleaner if you set it up this way. Like what you have done with the car!

Howdy, the thread is still active. I'm very curious about this, but I'm not the best at converting words into a proper mental image so if you have a picture you can share, I'd be very interested to know. What it looks like today is more or less like what it looked like then. I take the whole thing out every time I got to the track.

If I'm understanding correctly, you're saying that in this picture: https://www.ft86club.com/forums/atta...hmentid=163488 that if I can insert the top tab edge into the long piece that runs across the back to hide it, so it appears carpeted the entire way? I'm guessing the push clips would still be visible, but only the head of them?

[Tristor]

Just a quick update, my STI JDM motor mounts arrived yesterday. I am going to install motor mounts, trans mount, and driveshaft center bearing bushings tonight. I have a mini-school scheduled for Sunday at Harris Hill, so I can get back on with an instructor to start the year and reacquaint myself with the car after my suspension changes. After that, I'm going to buy my membership for the year and start going every weekend I can to Harris Hill.


EDIT:


I have installed the motor mounts, trans mount, and the driveshaft center bearing bushings. Note if you do the driveshaft center bearing bushings, the instructions are lying to you blatantly when they say all it takes is a flat head screwdriver and slight tug to separate the factory bushings. That's total horseshit. Since you don't need to save the factory bushings, save yourself wasting an hour and just use a cut-off wheel which is what I did for bushing #2 after fighting bushing #1 into submission. The motor mounts went in like a dream, surprisingly easy actually. Trans mount was a breeze too. Did everything in an hour and a half, the center bearing bushings were actually the "hardest" part.


Car feels pretty awesome and throttle response is now near instantaneous. It's surprising how much difference it makes in feel removing driveline slop. Now I really want to get a CF drive shaft, lightened pulleys, header back exhaust, flex fuel, and an e85 tune. I think this car is going to be very fun once I'm done with it later this year. For the moment though, she's very ready to be let loose to scream and roar on the track on Sunday. I'm excited and I can't wait!

[Tristor]

Just wanted to post a quick update after my track day. Changing so much suspension items definitely changed the feel of the car.

During session 1 of the day, my rhythm was off significantly since I was driving the car as it was, rather than as it is now. After I figured out my issues I went back out in session 2 and improved dramatically, really getting a feel for the new rhythm of the car. Now everything is so much more immediate and crisp that during session 1 I was consistently turning in too early on corners and was too direct with throttle/brake inputs. During session 2 I fixed my line and now that I had adapted I was shedding seconds and quickly attained an average lap time for session 2 which matched my previous personal best lap.

During session 3, I capitalized on this and started focusing on braking and shift points. I'm going so much faster now at every point around the track that I'm hitting redline/fuelcut in 3rd gear where before I would only shift out of 3rd into 4th on the straight leading into turn 4. I can get into 4th now before turn 7 and before turn 10. I think it's possible to do it before turn 2 as well, but I haven't quite got there yet. Given how much more speed I'm carrying though, I had some trouble with changing my brake zones and I'm still learning how to trail brake effectively. At the end of session 3 my 2nd to last lap was the fastest of the day, showing that more seat time yields results and set my new personal best nearly a full 3 seconds faster than my previous personal best.

I'm still crunching data logs and compiling video, I'll post some more stuff later.

Also, I'm now officially a member at H2R, paid up and ready to go. I'm going to start trying to hit H2R every weekend I'm not traveling for work, as additional seat time seems to be the thing I need the most now that I've addressed most of the weaknesses I had previously identified in the car.

Honestly, I do think I could use a little more power now, but only so I can shift sooner. If I could climb the rev range more quickly it'd move my shift points on track into areas which are much more suited. Right now I'm either going to need to short shift 3 -> 4 to avoid hitting fuel cut, or give up speed and feather the throttle to maintain close to redline in 3rd. It's probably 10ths not full seconds in difference, but I think either more revs available or higher power to shift sooner would be a big win given the track layout and gearing.

I might go ahead and bite the bullet to do a full exhaust, flex fuel, and tune. But I'd also like to prevent myself from adding power until after I've really mastered what I've got. I think given the current car I can probably shave another second or two just by improving my trail braking and could probably gain another second by using throttle more effectively and fixing my shift points, that'd have me making 1:32s-1:33s without any power adders and the current platform record on this track is a 1:27. My PR is now 1:36 when it was previously 1:39

All in all, a good day and perfect weather.

[Tristor]

Also, yeah I know this is a double-post but I wanted to address something else that several people previously asked me about.

Holy bumps batman!

Several people have asked me about the bumpiness at H2R and my take, and I said after it got repaved last year it was much improved. But what I didn't realize is how much difference having the compliant stock suspension made to ride smoothness on the track. Before the repave there were serious bumps I could feel with the stock suspension that went away. Now that I've stiffened everything up and I'm on coilovers, wow. Just wow. H2R is super super super bumpy, but at the same time the car feels very controlled given the environment.

I'd really like to go on COTA with the car as it is now, but we'll see if that's in the budget later this year.

[Marcoscrdo]

Originally Posted by Tristor

Howdy, the thread is still active. I'm very curious about this, but I'm not the best at converting words into a proper mental image so if you have a picture you can share, I'd be very interested to know. What it looks like today is more or less like what it looked like then. I take the whole thing out every time I got to the track.

If I'm understanding correctly, you're saying that in this picture: https://www.ft86club.com/forums/atta...hmentid=163488 that if I can insert the top tab edge into the long piece that runs across the back to hide it, so it appears carpeted the entire way? I'm guessing the push clips would still be visible, but only the head of them?

ya il try post a pic. but yea pretty much so that its carpet the entire way