xluben's 2011 WRX: Spec B 6 Speed and Rotated PTE 6266

[xluben]

I e-mailed him after Christmas and he was out of town last weekend, and then he fit me in today. Not much of a wait.

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[PearlRex11]

Looks nice xluben, quick tip for the roll pin on the linkage. If your drift punch isn't long enough use a strong screw driver with the end cut off. A #2 should fit pretty good.

[xluben]

Why would anyone have that? I had the same issue with the punch and I used an appropriately sized nail. Works perfectly. You should make a thread. Your comments are just going to get buried in here and not help anyone.

[Overland04]

The tint looks great Ben!
How do you feel about driving it at night? Can you see okay?

[Jdub.csu]

Ah glad you chose 20%

[SenorDucK]

tint looks great, I had 18 done and am happy so far. I think around 20 is perfect.

[xluben]

Originally Posted by Overland04

The tint looks great Ben!
How do you feel about driving it at night? Can you see okay?

Night visibility is OK. Headlights and taillights are still easily visible but other items can be a bit harder. Like parking. Or even when a dark car is right beside me. If I can't see their lights it's hard to see the at all. Overall I think it will be OK.

Originally Posted by Jdub.csu

Ah glad you chose 20%

Originally Posted by SenorDucK

tint looks great, I had 18 done and am happy so far. I think around 20 is perfect.

This 20% film actually meters 22% and on the car it ends up being 16%. The factory windows are actually 70% already!

[HeroCrank]

Looking good xluben

[Pearldrummer7]

Originally Posted by xluben

...You should make a thread. Your comments are just going to get buried in here and not help anyone.

Definitely true; you have some good advice!!

Ben- tint looks great!

[xluben]

Better photos of the tint (20% all around).

[Jdub.csu]

Makes the car look so much better. Plus it helps with heat in the summer. Win win

Your FMIC loosing its coating? Or is it just the angle?

[xluben]

I really like how it looks. Appears very dark and nice and black. Heat isn't a big concern but it should help some. Hopefully doesn't make it too cold during winter. Lol.

The coating looks light with that lighting but it is chipping up really bad. I have a review in the review section in it. The FMS/Import Image coating is just crap. Josh said he'd swap my core but it's been many months and he always says he doesn't have any. Empty promise if you ask me.

[SenorDucK]

Originally Posted by xluben

This 20% film actually meters 22% and on the car it ends up being 16%. The factory windows are actually 70% already!

wow! are you kidding me!? I honestly thought they were completely clear and not tinted from factory! I wonder what my tint would register

[xluben]

Yeah the fronts are 70% and rear are 78% from the factory. At least according to the tester that my tint guy uses. So you can basically multiply whatever your tint film is by 0.7-0.8 and get the equivalent amount.

[Pearldrummer7]

Originally Posted by xluben

Yeah the fronts are 70% and rear are 78% from the factory. At least according to the tester that my tint guy uses. So you can basically multiply whatever your tint film is by 0.7-0.8 and get the equivalent amount.

Hm, darker than I expected for sure! Good info.

[clontz_wi64]

this car build is awesome. my build is coming together very similar of this one. except i have a '10 useing a 06 sti block and internals with weiscos. Shooting for mid/high 7's 1/8th mile on stock turbo til i swap it out.

[xluben]

Originally Posted by clontz_wi64

this car build is awesome. my build is coming together very similar of this one. except i have a '10 useing a 06 sti block and internals with weiscos. Shooting for mid/high 7's 1/8th mile on stock turbo til i swap it out.

Are you going to use E85 or pump gas? Either way that's going to be pretty difficult with the stock turbo. You'll need some weight reduction, a very aggressive tune, very good driving. Some of the fastest stock turbo cars I've seen are usually right around 8 flat in the 1/8th which results in low 12's in the 1/4.

Then you can upgrade your turbo and start going fast

[SWP is Sexy]

Originally Posted by xluben

Oh no. Definitely not. My wife got me an appointment with the guy who did my tail lights.

I took my roof rack off tonight. One of the guys working at Autozone said my car sucked (not to me) because it was a WRX, it had a rack, and there was an RS4 parked next to me.

I work at autozone

My last day is next Saturday lol

[xluben]

I had an interesting issue today. I'm not sure if it's common or not, but I did a search and didn't come up with anything, so I assume it's fairly rare. My clutch linkage broke!

I was driving to a family get together and I pushed the clutch in and it went straight to the floor and stayed there! I ended up in neutral at the time so I coasted along until I could get it into 1st gear and then I managed to pull into a gas station.

I really had no idea what had gone wrong so I checked the slave cylinder (no movement) and then started to follow the clutch pedal along it's path and eventually noticed that it was not connected to the master cylinder at all any more. The linkage is usually connected with a rod that is held in with a cotter pin and then a plastic cap on the end. Here are the best photos I could find online:





I looked around my floor mat and luckily found the rod that had fallen out. I also found the broken plastic cap, but I could not find the cotter pin. Looking at the rod, it appears the cotter pin broke off inside the hole. Unfortunately this meant I couldn't just shove a new cotter pin in there. Here's a photo of my broken linkage piece:



I ended up sticking the rod back in, without the cotter pin at all, and friction seemed to hold it in well enough to drive the last few miles to where I was headed (and drop of my wife and baby). Then I borrowed a car and went out to the hardware store to see what I could find to repair it.

From what I could tell the OEM part is 8mm in diameter. The only shoulder bolts they had were SAE so I got a 5/16" shoulder bolt that had a shoulder that was the same length as the OEM part. I also got a locking nut and the necessary tools (wrench and allen key) to install it. Here's a stock photo of what I bought (not the same dimensions):



When I got to putting it all back together I found that there was very little space to work in there (and it was dark, I was out in the street, and I was using my cell phone as light), but I did determine that the linkage (the U shaped portion, not the rod itself) was bent about 45 degrees off from where it should have been. I think this has probably been broken for a long time and finally worked itself free.

The lack of space and the bent linkage made it very hard to work, but I eventually got the bolt in and tightened down. The 5/16" diameter is just a hair small, but it's a pretty good fit. The shoulder section is much, much longer than it needs to be. Overall I think this connection method is better than the cotter pin, but I need to get the right length bolt so there isn't so much side to side play.

Once I got home I bent the U linkage back to being straight, but it's still much wider than it originally was. It is all aligned so it is pushing straight on the MC rod, so I'm pretty happy with it, but I'll have to squeeze in the width once I get the shorter shoulder bolt. Here are some photos of how it currently sits:





So now I just have a few questions/concerns:

1. Any possibly issues using a should bolt and nut instead of the cotter pin? I will use a locking nut and not over torque it so it impedes rotation.
2. Is it possible that my MC was damaged due to this issue, or over time? Is there anything I need to check?
3. It appears that the locking nut on the MC rod is not tightened to the U bracket. I will have to go tighten it, but how do I know if it is adjusted properly? I don't know if the rod has moved over time, or just the nut backed off. I do know the my clutch engagement point seems fairly low compared to most others.

That last thing I wanted to note was that I had my MC replaced by the dealer about 2 years ago (when the car was brand new). It was making a clicking noise (an issue some other newer cars have had). The new MC fixed the clicking, but I'm starting to think that their install may have been the cause of this failure (2 years later). No real way to prove that or get them to do anything about it I fear...

[xluben]

Originally Posted by SWP is Sexy

I work at autozone

My last day is next Saturday lol

Haha. The guys at my Autozone are overly friendly and not work focused at all. And ricers, of course. It's the closest place to me, and really not all the bad, but the service is usually very slow and involves waaay too much small talk, lol.

[PearlRex11]

I don't have experience with this exact issue but I can't see how using that shoulder bolt/lock nut would hurt anything. What I would say is to put some bearing grease on the shoulder bolt where it contacts that u joint. Also tighten that lock nut enough to make sure the shoulder bolt won't spin and wear through that bracket. As far as the adjustment, I could try to peak at mine and count exposed threads. I don't know if the mods you have done to your clutch would make it any different? Hope that helps.

[xluben]

Originally Posted by PearlRex11

I don't have experience with this exact issue but I can't see how using that shoulder bolt/lock nut would hurt anything. What I would say is to put some bearing grease on the shoulder bolt where it contacts that u joint. Also tighten that lock nut enough to make sure the shoulder bolt won't spin and wear through that bracket. As far as the adjustment, I could try to peak at mine and count exposed threads. I don't know if the mods you have done to your clutch would make it any different? Hope that helps.

The nut is tightened down completely onto the shoulder of the bolt. It is not putting any force onto the U joint or the other part of the linkage. I'm not really too worried about wear unless I got a shoulder bolt that was too short and it didn't bottom out before it squeezed the U joint.

[PearlRex11]

That sounds perfect than. I would dab some grease on the shoulder bolt where it contacts the u joint even though it's probably not necessary. It might squeak later on though. Any luck with the adjustment?

[abrumlev]

That honestly sounds like a better option than OEM....lol This happened to a friend's e90 335xi (with a c clip). We did a very similar thing and used a spare c clip off a wastegate I had lying in the garage.

[xluben]

Originally Posted by PearlRex11

That sounds perfect than. I would dab some grease on the shoulder bolt where it contacts the u joint even though it's probably not necessary. It might squeak later on though. Any luck with the adjustment?

I'll see about greasing it. I think it depends on how tight it ends up. The OEM setup is pretty sloppy and doesn't need any grease. If I want it to have less play then I'll probably put a little lube on it.

I haven't played with the adjustment. I am hoping that the nut just backed off and the rod didn't actually rotate (which I think is likely). Then I can just tighten the nut back down and it will be fine.

Originally Posted by abrumlev

That honestly sounds like a better option than OEM....lol This happened to a friend's e90 335xi (with a c clip). We did a very similar thing and used a spare c clip off a wastegate I had lying in the garage.

Yep, I think it is. I talked with some of the design group at work (I am an engineer) and they agreed with my thought that a shoulder bolt is the ideal solution. Their thought was that cotter pin was simply a cost cutting measure (same with the c-clip).