The White Sheep: RallySportDirect.com Focus ST shop car!

[RallySport Direct]

RallySportDirect.com would like to introduce the newest member of our family, our new shop car “White Sheep”.
Not a Subaru or Toyota, but it should be plenty of FUN!

We will be guiding you through this great car’s development that we are very excited about. Before taking delivery we went through the pre-delivery checklist and once it all checked out we took her home. After filling out some paperwork, we drove it to the shop to check it out and see what its all about.

The White Sheep sitting all nice and clean on the showroom floor of the dealership (as you can tell these are some sweet phone pictures)



The little ST has plenty of torque for a stock car, however there is always room to improve . We are still taking it easy though, so it will be a couple more days and a oil change before we really get into it. One thing right off the bat we noticed is it’s extremely quiet. Now we are not talking about road noise so much as the lack of engine/exhaust noise.So far we have not notice the exhaust tone inside the car, and it’s not very noticeable outside the car either which is a little disappointing. Although we do notice the intake doing its job at around 3k+ thanks to the Symposer, which is about the only sound heard for now.

So far the car seems to be very fun and sporty, we have not started driving it hard but you can tell this little thing will have traction problems as it makes mountains of TQ down low! The stock suspension is actually nice and stiff, I would say similar to the 2011 STi, the brakes are ok, but the interior freaking RULES!

We have some plans for this car you can be sure of that . Right now we are working hard on getting measurements, talking to manufactures, and getting the miles racked up so we can start having some fun! First priority will be break it in, oil change, wheels and coilovers!


Oh and before anyone asks. "White Sheep"?! Well, it's our first domestic shop car, so we figure its the odd one out between the BRZ and the STi shop cars for the time being

Thanks,
Rick

[Turbowned]

SWEET. I'm very excited to see how this progresses. I like this car a lot; would never buy one for myself, but it's a much-needed vehicle for the U.S. market.

Originally Posted by RallySport Direct

So far the car seems to be very fun and sporty, we have not started driving it hard but you can tell this little thing will have traction problems as it makes mountains of TQ down low! The stock suspension is actually nice and stiff, I would say similar to the 2011 STi, the brakes are ok, but the interior freaking RULES!

Really? I heard gripes about the interior. I can't say I love the 4 spoke wheel; very "un-performance car-like" if you ask me.

[ZetaVI]

Awesome addition to the family.

[RallySport Direct]

Originally Posted by Turbowned

SWEET. I'm very excited to see how this progresses. I like this car a lot; would never buy one for myself, but it's a much-needed vehicle for the U.S. market.

Really? I heard gripes about the interior. I can't say I love the 4 spoke wheel; very "un-performance car-like" if you ask me.

Yeah I understand about the 4 spoke wheel, looking at it, it does not really add any performance aspects to the car. Once I grabbed onto the steering wheel it really changed my opinion, it just feels amazing. Something about the diameter, the hand position, and the ultra plushness of the material was spot on and just felt "right" if that makes sense haha. I need to get some more seat time in this car before I can really form a valid opinion. This is not my project, but I will try to get some more feedback for you guys.

Originally Posted by ZetaVI

Awesome addition to the family.

Thanks!!! I will try to update this as often as possible. Should be a fun project for the RSD family!

Thanks again for the input!
Rick

[RallySport Direct]

You can purchase these springs directly from us HERE

This weekend we got a chance to install the Eibach Pro-Kit Lowering Springs. Eibach springs have supported innumerable race and championship winners over the last two decades. In series as different as Formula 1 and NASCAR, the winning factor is often chassis setup and tuning. When everybody has comparable power, the guy who wins is the guy who can put that power to the ground-and maintain his momentum through the corners. This is one of the many reasons we chose Eibach lowering springs over the other available choices.

WARNING: If you are unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the ST's suspension system, please have a professional install these for you.

First, we pulled it into the shop and secured it on jack stands before we got started. Here are some pictures of it before the springs, and after for a comparison:

Before:





After:






As you can see, it’s pretty close to the advertised 1.0 inch (25 mm) in the front and 1.2 in (30 mm) the rear. You can see by the spring rate specs:
Spring Rate Front: 153-193 lbs/in (progressive)
Spring Rate Rear: 171-216 lbs/in (progressive)

We documented the install so this thread will be pretty image intensive.
1) First things first, get the wheels off, so you can see what you’re up against.
2)This kit is about as complete as you can get with lowering springs, it comes with bump stops and dust covers and the springs themselves, as you can see.



The rear bump stops are in the sleeves and you can’t see them in this pic. But they are there.
3) Here's a list of tool you will need:
Jack
Jack Stands
Sockets: 8 mm 10 mm 13 mm 15 mm 19 mm
T-30 Torx
Flat Tip Screw Driver
Wrenches: 17 mm
½ drive ratchet and 3/8 drive ratchet
Spring compressor (you can rent these at your local auto parts store, we happen to own a set)
4) Ok, now that we have all the tools together, let’s get started. You will need to pull the two t30 torx bolts out and the four panel clips out of the plastic cover that is above the strut mounts under the hood, easy enough:



You can see the bolts we need to get to hiding under there.





Here’s the drivers side torx bolt, there’s one just like it on the other side.



Here you can see one of the four clips we need to pull, all we need to do is slide a flat tip screw driver under the little recess that is under the head of it and gently pry it up and they pull out. Then we need to pull the rubber hood seal off to pull the plastic part out. We also need to pull the vent covers off to get to two bolts that hold the plastic piece that is under the top cover.




You can see here, the plastic piece that sits under the cover, there are just two 10 mm bolts that hold it on, take them out and you can easily pull this piece completely off the car and set it aside for now.
You can see the three bolts going through the strut tower brace here that hold the strut at the top. We’ll get to these in a minute, first, we need to work on the lower part.




5) We need to pull the accessories off the strut first, so, this bracket that holds the end link and the ABS wires was the first thing we pulled off. It takes a 15 mm in the nut itself and we had to put a 17 mm wrench on the back side to keep the bolt from spinning.



This bolt holds the brake line in place, takes an 8 mm to get it loose. Take it off and push the brake line to one side for the moment



6) Next on our list, is this bolt on the back side/ bottom of the spindle sleeve, take this one out and thread it into the opposite side of the hole
You can see here, we tried using just a standard screw driver at first, but it didn’t work so well, we ended up finding a flat piece of steel that we slid in between the gap and tightened the bolt down onto it and spread the gap open to allow the strut to slide out of the sleeve, you might need to step on the lug studs to push the spindle low enough to clear the strut.



Don’t forget to unplug the ABS wire. Just push the clip release and it pulls right off.




7) At this point, we just need to pull the top three bolts out on the top of the strut and it slides right out.
Now that we have the strut out, we need to get the stock spring off, to make room for our new Eibach lowering springs.
8) Place the spring compressors straight across from each other and tighten them down till they release the tension on the top-hat.
Once the tension is released, take the 19 mm wrench and loosen the bolt, the shaft might spin, so you might need to use a 5 mm allen wrench to hold the shaft while you take it off.




Now that that is done, here are the springs side by side, off the front, you can plainly see the difference here.



9) Next, we’ll need to pull the factory dust covers off this is pretty easy, they just basically pull of, they might take a little prying with a screw driver to get them started.



10) Now take the stock bump stop out.




11) Now we need to put the Eibach bump stop on the strut, it just slides right over the strut shaft.*




12) Next, just slide the Eibach dust sleeve right over the lower part of the strut over the bump stop. Now we are ready to place the Eibach springs on!



When placing your springs on, make sure they are properly lined up with the seats in the lower and upper mounts. Then, release the tension of the spring compressors and it’s ready to put back on the car.



This is a very important step, you want to make sure you place the strut top hat in the car with the notches facing the engine. Otherwise the bolts won’t line up properly and you will fight getting it back on.

13) Slide it up into the perch and thread your botls in. You can tighten these now, as the rest of the strut mounting process will be done on the bottom side.



14) Slide the lower part of the strut into the sleeve and tighten the 15 mm bolt down, now the strut is mounted, it’s time to re-attach the accessories.



15) First, we’ll bolt the brake line down with the 8 mm bolt



16) Then the end link and abs wire can be re-attached, remember to place the 17 mm wrench on the back side behind the bracket to tighten this one with your 15 mm socket.



Plug in the ABS sensor.



Reapeat these steps on the opposite side of the car and the front is done, now, on to the back!

When I first started at the rear of the car, I was worried it was going to be a pain, turns out, the rear was the easiest part of the whole install. So, here we go. This is what we are looking to replace, just the spring in the rear.




Rear:
1) Slide the jack under the spring perch and put a little tension on it so when you take the bolt loose it doesn’t recoil on you.



2) This is the bolt we will be taking out to get the spring out. It’s a 15 mm. just loosen it and pull it out.




3) Once you get the bolt out, just let the jack down slowly to release the tension of the spring and pull it out.




Here’s a shot of the stock rear and the Eibach lowering spring side by side, again, you can see the difference is pretty noticeable.



4) Here’s the Eibach spring in it’s new home. Now, we just need to jack the perch up and put the 15 mm bolt back in and put the bump stop in place and this side is done.



5) Here it is, installed with the bump stop.



Now, on this side, there was an issue, this is where we had to use a file, to finesse the steel on the mount to get the sleeve back in, it had a little burr on it and it took just a little bit of filing, chances are you won’t run into this issue, but we wanted to make you aware of it, in case it happens to you. This is a horrible picture, but you can see the left side of the mount, there was a burr on the bottom of it, preventing the bolt sleeve from going in place. After we cleaned it up slightly, it slid right into place.




Now that wasn't so bad was it? The fruits of your labor will be very worthwhile. When we initially talked about putting the lowering springs on, we expected the ride to worsen, but as it turns out, they ride almost the same as stock springs, with a more aggressive stance. I am quite impressed with ride quality and ease of install with these springs. They give you more control in the turns as well, being a progressive spring, they can increase the spring rates in the turns and give you more control.

We were also a little concerned with the difference in spring rate, as they do change it up a bit from stock, but we still experience the ST signature lift-off oversteer, and, since this is a daily driven vehicle, we were relieved that the ride quality had not worsened.

Overall, I have to say that these are a really good first step to modifying this vehicle and we look forward to the future changes to this car.


Thanks,
Rick