Spuds' Vroom Machine

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

How much farther are you planning to go mod wise? If this is it I would just tweak your existing, or have a custom OFT tune done. I think I paid 240-250 for my FF tune. If you think you may go deeper then ecutek for sure.

Yeah, that's part of the question. I don't think I'm going to go FI. If I move somewhere where e85 is an option (or it comes to me), I might go FF. All things being the same, if I want more power in the distant future I would probably be looking at a swap of some sort (coughFA24cough), which who knows what that looks like.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Spuds

Yeah, that's part of the question. I don't think I'm going to go FI. If I move somewhere where e85 is an option (or it comes to me), I might go FF. All things being the same, if I want more power in the distant future I would probably be looking at a swap of some sort (coughFA24cough), which who knows what that looks like.

I'd just tweak your existing OFT tune for now until you fully decide what you want to do.

[spike021]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

How much farther are you planning to go mod wise? If this is it I would just tweak your existing, or have a custom OFT tune done. I think I paid 240-250 for my FF tune. If you think you may go deeper then ecutek for sure.

sorry to hijack, @Spuds, but is this custom FF tune on OFT? Who'd you have do it?

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by spike021

sorry to hijack, @Spuds, but is this custom FF tune on OFT? Who'd you have do it?

Yes, steve99 did it. It can only be done on 13-16 cars and must be evap reference. That being said, you can use a rear 02 reference FF kit and rewire it to evap reference which is what I did. From there you just need to know the voltage range of the sensor for ethanol content scaling. Most are 0-5v.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Spuds

Next I did all the bushing inserts at the rear. Installed Whiteline diff and subframe inserts. Both came with good paper instructions in the bag which I followed.

Install surprise #1 was the wet/moldy bolt in the pic a few posts back. It seems water was getting trapped inside the bushing sleeve, resulting in some pretty bad pitting on the bolt. Sleeve seems fine. Surprise #2 was that the driver's side of the subframe was not well-aligned when putting the bolts (both front and rear) back in. Not sure if that is a product of the subframe shifting or just that it was not great to begin with. Surprise #3 is the valve on my new floor jack likes to stick and release suddenly.

Solution for #1: I may have STI subframe bolts coming. Or maybe not. We will see what shows up.

Solution for #2: When I get new bolts, I will support and loosen the front just a bit before replacing the bolts at the rear so I can shift the subframe around a bit. Then I will go back to the fronts with the rear loose, then make sure everything lines up before torquing.

Solution for #3, I remember reading about this and there is a solution but I can't remember what it is now. Should probably get that fixed before it is time to lower the car.

Some pics of my support points since they were not directly stated in the instructions. I kind of wish the inserts still came in yellow...

Quick update on the above, I decided to reuse the bolts with some blue Loctite. I was able to align the subframe holes a bit better in the process which making running the bolts up the threads way easier.

Also got the driveshaft back on. Yes this was AFTER I filled the transmission (). Oil did not leak out the back thankfully.

And fixed my airbox. This is actually held in place mote firmly than it was originally, all for the cost of two holes and a zip tie. Highly recommend this mod.

[Ultramaroon]

legit

[Spuds]

Exhaust is hung/supported, but I am having second thoughts about these top locks. They are the elliptical kind and I tested one on a bolt and the nut was getting hot just trying to run it up the bolt. Feels a lot like cross threading and I'm a bit concerned about using them on studs in the head that would be real hard for me to fix.

Thinking of just getting new stock bolts from Subaru.

[Clipdat]

You definitely don't want hot nuts. At least with the OEM option you know they are the right hardware for the job/task.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Spuds

Exhaust is hung/supported, but I am having second thoughts about these top locks. They are the elliptical kind and I tested one on a bolt and the nut was getting hot just trying to run it up the bolt. Feels a lot like cross threading and I'm a bit concerned about using them on studs in the head that would be real hard for me to fix.

Thinking of just getting new stock bolts from Subaru.

That is odd, they will get a bit warm from friction but mine didn't get hot. I also usually hand tool those, I don't like to use an impact as you risk tearing up threads.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

That is odd, they will get a bit warm from friction but mine didn't get hot. I also usually hand tool those, I don't like to use an impact as you risk tearing up threads.

Yeah I was also using just a ratchet. The weird thing is I tested it again this weekend and it felt a lot easier than I remember. Then again I spent a lot of time trying to get the top nut tight on the new struts immediately before that so maybe my expectation was skewed? (More on that in a bit lol)

Anyway, nuts and a few other not-necessary-but-nice-to-have parts are already on order so I'll try those. If it becomes a problem... well I'll threaten it first lol

[Spuds]

So last weekend I thought I would get started on the suspension install. I'm going to go into some detail on this part. Started with the Tarmac 2s from Racecomp Engineering (who I can't seem to Mention here). Still working on getting those on the car next weekend I think lol.

Why jump straight to T2s over other options you ask? Well the first step was to realize I have no idea what I'm doing, which leads to needing to find out who knows what they are doing. It seems to me like RCE knows what they are doing so I simplified my decisions by just saying I'm getting something from them lol. As for which product, I bounced back and forth between Yellows+Dampers, SS1s, and T2s for like a month. Picked T2s in the end because I wanted the double adjustability to figure out this whole damping thing eventually. Might have gone SS2s had those been out at the time, but hey, now I have something that I probably won't grow out of for the next 9 years lol.



These shipped with basic KW instructions, but I'd seen and heard mention that RCE had put together some more detailed instructions which Andrew sent over. The RCE ones are indeed better.

I also got Vorshlag camber plates up front and a new set of OEM top mounts for the rear. It really came down to Raceseng or Vorshlag because those are the only plates that add both camber and caster, and also have bearing below the spherical to reduce wear. I picked Vorshlag because RCE sells a set with the correct perch so I don't have to figure that part out because again, I don't know what I'm doing. Pic also includes LCAs because .



First step was to integrate the coilover-top mount assemblies. Instructions say to use a strap wrench to hold the shaft, and torque the top nut to 26ftlb. Seems easy right? I didn't have a proper strap wrench so I removed the hooks off a rubber tie down strap and tried it.



I was able to get the top nut to about 15-20 ftlb using this method while cramping up my hand holding it tight. The problems are that the twisted strap by itself doesn't provide much leverage, and I couldn't make it hold tight enough to prevent it from slipping. So, after some back and forth with Andrew I went and got an actual strap wrench.

Aaaand this was actually worse at holding the shaft. Maybe what I really needed was a good strap wrench, not a cheap one from the auto parts store? This one would just pill up and smear the shaft, if I got it anywhere near tight enough. Tried to get either my original strap or the strap wrench to hold 26ftlb for a few hours to no avail.

What I wound up doing on the fronts (after some more discussion with Andrew) was to use my torque wrench in reverse on the top 9mm outer hex profile and use a box wrench to tighten the nut. I was able to tighten it to 20ftlb on both sides. I could have gone to 26ftlb, but 20 seems plenty tight given I'm using a 9mm socket to hold the shaft.



The rears were easy by comparison. Just had to use a clamp to hold the top mount in place on the workbench and tighten one nut at a time to 15ftlb. The shaft didn't actually rotate, friction against the top mount seemed to be enough to hold it.



So that was an interesting day lol.

[Spuds]

Next up, I figured I'd get the OEM struts out. First step is remove the brake line bracket and speed sensor clips. Brake line bracket was straightforward. The speed sensor cable is held to the strut by 2 clips. I was able to remove one clip entirely from the strut, the other I just removed the wire from the clip which is much easier (press the clip with a screwdriver), and I'll get the clip off once the strut is out. Apparently some of these clips are hard to source. I also unclipped the sensor cable from the wheel well in case I need a bit more slack/space.

Then it was the end links... Nine year old endlinks with rusted to shit threads are a PITA. Needless to say the end links are destroyed and I need new ones.



The real question is whether I want adjustable endlinks, OEM, or go middle ground with some Perrin endlinks to match the sway bar... Need to make a decision this week or I'll be really behind schedule.

[Spuds]

Oh, also I really hope that the "R" coilover gets mounted to the "RH" top mount and "L" to the "LH" top mount, or I'm going to have to do it again...

[jflogerzi]

Originally Posted by Spuds

Next up, I figured I'd get the OEM struts out. First step is remove the brake line bracket and speed sensor clips. Brake line bracket was straightforward. The speed sensor cable is held to the strut by 2 clips. I was able to remove one clip entirely from the strut, the other I just removed the wire from the clip which is much easier (press the clip with a screwdriver), and I'll get the clip off once the strut is out. Apparently some of these clips are hard to source. I also unclipped the sensor cable from the wheel well in case I need a bit more slack/space.

Then it was the end links... Nine year old endlinks with rusted to shit threads are a PITA. Needless to say the end links are destroyed and I need new ones.



The real question is whether I want adjustable endlinks, OEM, or go middle ground with some Perrin endlinks to match the sway bar... Need to make a decision this week or I'll be really behind schedule.

Get adjustable end links. I just went through this same install you will need these. OEM are to short and they suck

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