DoctorNick
11-28-2004, 06:41 PM
My manual daily driver is rated just shy of 250 wheel mark, so the FXT auto that my dad has had for a little over a year I thought was gonna be a metaphorical "dog". Boy was I surprised. It had been 3 auto-xs and a track day since I've driven it last and last night I got the pleasure of taking it out on the open roads for a few hours.
While my car is frickin fast, this car is frickin fun. (not to say its slow either)
The throttle responce/spool is insane. You put your foot down a little and your seeing positive pressure. The power down low is great and really fun. It really makes me think twice about my v7 sti powerplant. While I love the topend pull of my vf30, the responce you get from the small turbo and ej25 is awsome.
the questions I have deal with the suspension and powertain a little.
#1 suspension wise, how can I help turn in. The geolanders were dumped as soon as he got the car for a good set of dunlop 5k all seasons. They track the road much better and helped the handling characteristics but the car still seems a little sloppy. While, if it was my car, the suspension would be thrown out and a good set of sti coilovers or a wrx wagon suspension would have been thrown in. But, since the pops is an old man, he likes his comfertable ride (actually sometimes complains about the ride in compairson to the 98 legacy wagon limited he used to own). So what work can I do to help his turn in/handling properties without ruining the ride quality?
Sounds to me like a new set of front and rear sway bars would do the trick but I would be intrested in hearing opinions and ideas from actual tuners with this car.
#2 The other question deals with power. While my father doesn't need more, I would like to help his throttle responce even more. Seeing that there is a catted uppipe (right?) I would imagine that would be a big set to fixing that "issue". I would also think a better tune, but since his car is 4eat, I'm not sure how it would do on a dyno. The only other idea I had was to mabye swap pullys and go with something not under driven but lighter.
thoughts?
-Neal
While my car is frickin fast, this car is frickin fun. (not to say its slow either)
The throttle responce/spool is insane. You put your foot down a little and your seeing positive pressure. The power down low is great and really fun. It really makes me think twice about my v7 sti powerplant. While I love the topend pull of my vf30, the responce you get from the small turbo and ej25 is awsome.
the questions I have deal with the suspension and powertain a little.
#1 suspension wise, how can I help turn in. The geolanders were dumped as soon as he got the car for a good set of dunlop 5k all seasons. They track the road much better and helped the handling characteristics but the car still seems a little sloppy. While, if it was my car, the suspension would be thrown out and a good set of sti coilovers or a wrx wagon suspension would have been thrown in. But, since the pops is an old man, he likes his comfertable ride (actually sometimes complains about the ride in compairson to the 98 legacy wagon limited he used to own). So what work can I do to help his turn in/handling properties without ruining the ride quality?
Sounds to me like a new set of front and rear sway bars would do the trick but I would be intrested in hearing opinions and ideas from actual tuners with this car.
#2 The other question deals with power. While my father doesn't need more, I would like to help his throttle responce even more. Seeing that there is a catted uppipe (right?) I would imagine that would be a big set to fixing that "issue". I would also think a better tune, but since his car is 4eat, I'm not sure how it would do on a dyno. The only other idea I had was to mabye swap pullys and go with something not under driven but lighter.
thoughts?
-Neal