Mad Mike's Firestorm Build

[Mad_Mike]

Car has been repaired now, but in 2020, had a run in with an airborne 4"x4" fence post that was kicked up by a car in front of me on the highway.

[Mad_Mike]

Action shots from Sebring in May of 2023:

[Mad_Mike]

I finally bought rear lower control arms to correct my rear camber, went with SPL. Not pictured, but also installed Jackson Racing anti-dive kit.

[Mad_Mike]

I went to a PCA event at Sebring in October of 2023. First time doing the full course, it was a blast. The PCA event was run much better than the SCCA events I had been to in the past.

[Mad_Mike]

Went to another PCA event at Sebring last weekend. It was a wet one, but I still had fun after lunch. Before lunch was sketchy.

[Stonehorsw]

Originally Posted by Mad_Mike

I finally bought rear lower control arms to correct my rear camber, went with SPL. Not pictured, but also installed Jackson Racing anti-dive kit.

What your feedback is related to the anti dive kit?

[Mad_Mike]

Originally Posted by Stonehorsw

What your feedback is related to the anti dive kit?

There is a noticeable difference in how much the nose of the car dives under heavy braking but I can't say I'm a good enough driver where it improved lap times. If they weren't gifted to me, I'm not sure I would have pulled the trigger given the price at my skill level.

[Mad_Mike]

It had been awhile since I had driven my car at night. Driving down to Sebring last weekend at night through some of the back roads really made me notice how terrible the stock halogen lights are. I haven't replaced the headlight bulbs since buying the car in early 2013, so before driving back I swung by an Advance Auto Parts and picked up a set of Sylvania H11 SilverStar Ultra bulbs to try on the drive home. I'd say they are about 20-30% brighter than the 11 year old stock halogen bulbs. We will see how long they last as I've read mixed reviews.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Mad_Mike

It had been awhile since I had driven my car at night. Driving down to Sebring last weekend at night through some of the back roads really made me notice how terrible the stock halogen lights are. I haven't replaced the headlight bulbs since buying the car in early 2013, so before driving back I swung by an Advance Auto Parts and picked up a set of Sylvania H11 SilverStar Ultra bulbs to try on the drive home. I'd say they are about 20-30% brighter than the 11 year old stock halogen bulbs. We will see how long they last as I've read mixed reviews.

I've heard the next step back on the Sylvania product scale is actually like 90+% of the light and lasts quite a bit longer.

I'm in the same boat with headlights, haven't replaced bulbs yet.

[Mad_Mike]

At Sebring last weekend, another fun thing that happened was the car threw another ignition coil code. This is the 3rd ignition coil code thrown, and for a coil I replaced 4 track days ago. Assuming I am at least $200 in the hole for having to replace both passenger side coils, I may just upgrade the wiring harness to the 2015+ version and run the new coils. I will update later about how all that goes.

[Ultramaroon]

While you're in there, I suggest checking the iridium chips on the associated spark plugs. Not likely the cause, but if they're missing, that would be a reason for burning out coil packs.

[Mad_Mike]

I went back and forth several times on what to do about my ignition coil problem. Two of my coils are original and have over 100k miles on them. The other 2 were replaced in 2017 and 2019, both have 4 track days on them, one has 35k miles, the other has 20k mile. The one I had replaced in 2017 is the one throwing the code. I suspect the one I replaced in 2019 will not be longer after. The way I saw it I had 3 options.

1) Buy another 2013 coil for $91 (SU003-04713) and replace the one that failed. This solves my immediate problem, but I could easily throw a code for another coil next track day.

2) Buy 4 2015+ coils for $400 (SU003-05259). Buy the iWire Ignition Coil Plug E connector kit x4 for $72. Pay a shop 3 hrs of labor to repin my existing harness to work with the updated coils.

3) Buy 4 2015+ coils for $400 (SU003-05259). Buy the Subaru updated harness for 2013 (24020AG620) for ~$300. Pay a shop 10 hours of labor to replace the harness.

#1 is the cheapest, but isn't future proof. I ended up going with #2. While I could have done the work for #2 or #3 myself, that is a bit outside my comfort zone. I will report back if I run into any issues.

[autoracer86]

I haven’t had coilpack issues myself but I will be doing option 2 if I ever start seeing issues on track.

Definitely let us know of any issues.

[Prodigalson]

Part of the issue with the 2013 ignition coils was the terminals on the harness side, that's why they updated the connectors for 2015+. Some people have had success squeezing the female side of the connectors to tighten them up.