Kevin Thomas
06-14-2001, 05:55 PM
Well my car is almost 100% stock. All I have is a few gauges to take off and to disable the Nos. The turbokit is off and sold to a happy new owner and I am once again slow.
I have to say that owning my Impreza and being on this forum (as well as the Checkpoint and other Scooby board) have been a very happy and informative experience. Throughout the last couple of years, I have never had as much fun with a car as my Impreza. No, I'm not selling it but just very appreciative of what this car has to offer. No matter how hard I abused it, it just kept going and going and going. I am absolutely amazed at the stoutness of our engines.
I can say that I won't be going the 'custom' route ever again or at least for a very long time (Sorry RichL). It seems that everything was trying to go wrong with the car. I changed the suspension and the rear tires rubbed. I changed the exhaust and I had exhaust leaks at my up-pipe and down-pipe over and over again. I had a turbokit put on and it wanted to bang and hit my tranny and engine compartment at every conceivable section that was within 1" of any turbo related part. The filter hitted my vent hood and a screw, the wastegate hitted my tranny, behind the MAF air sensor on the intake contacted the side of my engine, the turbo contacted a part of the firewall, etc, etc. Oh...it was these little tidbits that lead me to get rid of the turbokit, along with the strict emissions that will come into affect this October at Motor Vehicle (which happens to be the time my car is due). It supposedly wasn't for an autotrannied Impreza anyway. I wanted to use the $$$ from selling the kit to purchase another Subaru (XT6). Even my aftermarket chromed primed rims which I loved started peeling severly and they 'oxidized' where the wheel balancers were placed. This caused 3 of my tires to constantly loose tire pressure all the way down to 7psi within a 48hr period. So even my rims are stock (Those ugly steel rims....ugh). Lets not forget how the poor autotranny which went through so much abuse went to heaven in January after a stunt with the new Nitrous bottle heater at an abandoned airport. :(
The only things that seemed to work as they should was ironically my Nitrous kit and my UR Pulley. The debates about the UR Pulley's balancers and the Nitrous blowing up was surely to take affect at some time on my car but they never manifested.
I'm not complaining though because like I said the performance of our cars engines are amazing and they hold up well. My car almost being stock feels like it drives just as good (if not better) than when it did when it was new. The valve body job really steps up and throws the car forward hard between shifts (as if it wasn't hard before). 1st to 2nd gear at full throttle (and very little power..hehe) makes the steering wheel twist at times do to the force of the shift. Awesome!
I just wanted to share some thoughts since I have been reflecting on how much fun I have had with all of you folks here throughout the last couple of years and the unexpected performance our cars put forth when they are pushed. I never dreamed of getting into the 13's since 15's was my original goal. I am just feeling really good right now that I paid my car off yesterday (no more car payments...Yes) and that a new project will hopefully be on the horizon soon. Thanks for all of your help.
BTW: I'll still be racing my dog slow Outback Sport at the Import events bracket racing. Now that I am back N/A, the car will be an absolute terror with consistency and maybe I can start winning some $$$ and getting those trophies again like I used to. It was funny seeing people avoid racing me and switching lanes during bracket racing since a small reputation was building around my slow arse car. Hehe! Now...I wonder how it'll do running in the 17-18 second range again. I can't wait. :D
[ June 14, 2001: Message edited by: Kevin Thomas ]
I have to say that owning my Impreza and being on this forum (as well as the Checkpoint and other Scooby board) have been a very happy and informative experience. Throughout the last couple of years, I have never had as much fun with a car as my Impreza. No, I'm not selling it but just very appreciative of what this car has to offer. No matter how hard I abused it, it just kept going and going and going. I am absolutely amazed at the stoutness of our engines.
I can say that I won't be going the 'custom' route ever again or at least for a very long time (Sorry RichL). It seems that everything was trying to go wrong with the car. I changed the suspension and the rear tires rubbed. I changed the exhaust and I had exhaust leaks at my up-pipe and down-pipe over and over again. I had a turbokit put on and it wanted to bang and hit my tranny and engine compartment at every conceivable section that was within 1" of any turbo related part. The filter hitted my vent hood and a screw, the wastegate hitted my tranny, behind the MAF air sensor on the intake contacted the side of my engine, the turbo contacted a part of the firewall, etc, etc. Oh...it was these little tidbits that lead me to get rid of the turbokit, along with the strict emissions that will come into affect this October at Motor Vehicle (which happens to be the time my car is due). It supposedly wasn't for an autotrannied Impreza anyway. I wanted to use the $$$ from selling the kit to purchase another Subaru (XT6). Even my aftermarket chromed primed rims which I loved started peeling severly and they 'oxidized' where the wheel balancers were placed. This caused 3 of my tires to constantly loose tire pressure all the way down to 7psi within a 48hr period. So even my rims are stock (Those ugly steel rims....ugh). Lets not forget how the poor autotranny which went through so much abuse went to heaven in January after a stunt with the new Nitrous bottle heater at an abandoned airport. :(
The only things that seemed to work as they should was ironically my Nitrous kit and my UR Pulley. The debates about the UR Pulley's balancers and the Nitrous blowing up was surely to take affect at some time on my car but they never manifested.
I'm not complaining though because like I said the performance of our cars engines are amazing and they hold up well. My car almost being stock feels like it drives just as good (if not better) than when it did when it was new. The valve body job really steps up and throws the car forward hard between shifts (as if it wasn't hard before). 1st to 2nd gear at full throttle (and very little power..hehe) makes the steering wheel twist at times do to the force of the shift. Awesome!
I just wanted to share some thoughts since I have been reflecting on how much fun I have had with all of you folks here throughout the last couple of years and the unexpected performance our cars put forth when they are pushed. I never dreamed of getting into the 13's since 15's was my original goal. I am just feeling really good right now that I paid my car off yesterday (no more car payments...Yes) and that a new project will hopefully be on the horizon soon. Thanks for all of your help.
BTW: I'll still be racing my dog slow Outback Sport at the Import events bracket racing. Now that I am back N/A, the car will be an absolute terror with consistency and maybe I can start winning some $$$ and getting those trophies again like I used to. It was funny seeing people avoid racing me and switching lanes during bracket racing since a small reputation was building around my slow arse car. Hehe! Now...I wonder how it'll do running in the 17-18 second range again. I can't wait. :D
[ June 14, 2001: Message edited by: Kevin Thomas ]