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08-26-2013, 05:17 PM | #1 |
Scooby Specialist
Member Sales Rating: (4)
Member#: 316364
Join Date: Apr 2012
Chapter/Region:
MAIC
Vehicle:2012 WRX |
Review of Various Beatrush, Grimmspeed, Kartboy, and Whiteline Parts
This is a bit of a quick and dirty write-up, so if anyone has questions or wants to see anything in particular I will do my best to provide feedback/pictures.
OK, so I have a 2012 WRX, and over the past weekend I installed a hodgepodge of parts that I'd accumulated over the past few weeks. It was a long day, but with the help of a friend we managed to get this all done within a straight 13 hour period. Here are the parts that got installed (in alphabetical order of manufacturer) Beatrush: Transmission Mount - http://www.laile.co.jp/jpn/products/...146016BCB.html Engine Mounts - http://www.laile.co.jp/jpn/products/...146016BCA.html Grimmspeed: Brake Master Cylinder Brace - http://www.grimmspeed.com/catalog/pr...roducts_id=213 Kartboy: Front Endlinks - http://www2.kartboy.com/x4/product.p...cat=254&page=1 Whiteline: 24mm Adjustable Front Swaybar - http://www.whiteline.com.au/product_...number=BSF39XZ Rear Differential Inserts - http://www.whiteline.com.au/product_..._number=KDT903 All in all, most of this was pretty straightforward. For the engine mounts I followed a how-to from IWSTI, which can be found here: http://www.iwsti.com/forums/how-inst...ne-mounts.html Install impressions: I had done the transmission mount before (I was previously running a Torque Solutions 5-speed transmission mount), but I wasn't entirely happy with the quality, and I have a hard-on for Beatrush (they made the highest durometer bushings available - 90!). I wanted to see if the 6-speed mount fit the 5 speed; I could not find any information that made me 100% certain either way, so I decided that I would find out for sure. Long story short, the Beatrush 6-speed transmission mount DOES fit the 5-speed. I can only comment on fitment on 08+ WRX's, but it fits on mine just fine. It took a little work to get it in, there are some bolts that don't want to play nice, but if you take your time with the mount you should be able to figure it out. Getting the TS mount off was a huge bitch because of the way the mounts are designed. There is one corner that will fight you the entire time... I believe removing this mount alone took me ~1 hour. Once I got the old mount off, the new mount wasn't too difficult to install (the Beatrush was much easier to work with than the TS due to the better design). Next up were the engine mounts. The how-to I read made it seem like these were impossible, but I can tell you that with a flex-head ratcheting wrench, you won't have a huge problem. It's not all that difficult. Figuring out the orientation of the metal mounting plates was interesting, but not altogether difficult. If you are installing these on a 3g WRX, you will need to purchase the OEM mounting plates which are pictured here right above the engine mount (has "FL" written on it): The stock plates are plastic, and will come off when you remove the stock mounts. By the way, the stock mounts have a lot of compliance in them. The Beatrush mounts do not. After the install, there are definitely additional vibrations in the cabin. At idle, the car vibrates. Not hard, but you can tell it's there. To be honest it almost feels like my seat is a massage chair set on very very low. I like it. On the stock mounts, the car seemed like it wanted to fall on its face under light acceleration/throttle tip-in in 1st-4th under 2000 RPM (~1700 RPM). This doesn't happen anymore... It feels like the power delivery is smooth and available throughout the entire RPM range. The Grimmspeed BMCB is a HUGE bitch to install. This was probably the second most irritating part of the install, just after the removal of the TS trans mount. The "long" bolts I received weren't long enough to insert through the GS brace AND the stock bracket holding the fuel lines and still thread through the mounting holes in the strut tower. I had to find longer ones. Secondly, the hole that GS provides in the brace to re-insert the stock bracket into is not high enough... My bottom fuel line was in contact with the brace and prevented me from clipping in the mount. I had to bend this part of the brace back and zip-tie the bracket in place. The Kartboy endlinks are great, easy to install and seem to be very effective. My only gripe is that I was only provided 2 spacers, so if my endlink did not stand perfectly vertical I would have had to use a variety of washers to act as spacers. However, I was able to make it work with the two spacers provided. The Whiteline front sway was easy to install, as were the differential inserts. The rear diff inserts can be kind of a pain, but I liberally applied silicone spray and they slipped in pretty easily. I didn't even have to remove the front brace to install those inserts, simply loosen the passenger side bolt, and remove the driver's side bolt and it will hang down enough to slip the inserts inside without issue. Overall, here is how I would rate everything I installed. There are 2 ratings, one for installation difficulty, the other for the perceived added benefit of the part for my application. Both of these scales are from 1-10, 1 being easy to install/low added benefit, and 10 being hard to install, high added benefit (i.e. a score of 3/7 means that it was relatively easy to install, and I was able to perceive a pretty significant benefit from installing the part, while a 10/1 means I had a HELL of a time installing this, and it didn't do **** for me). Beatrush Transmission Mount: 4/8Beatrush Engine Mounts: 6/10Grimmspeed MBCB: 6.5/3Kartboy Front Endlinks: 3/8Whiteline Front Sway Bar: 3/8Whiteline Rear Diff Inserts: 3/8
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Last edited by 1wrxtra; 08-27-2013 at 08:45 AM. |
12-18-2013, 02:45 PM | #3 |
Scooby Specialist
Member Sales Rating: (4)
Member#: 316364
Join Date: Apr 2012
Chapter/Region:
MAIC
Vehicle:2012 WRX |
I believe there is a difference in how the brakes felt after the install. I never noticed any obvious "squishiness" prior to the install, but afterward they just felt better. Sorry for the terrible description but it's hard to pinpoint exactly where the benefit is. If you feel that the pedal is lacking in firmness or consistency then I would go for it. If you want to do this simply because racecar I'd do something else.
Last edited by 1wrxtra; 12-19-2013 at 09:56 AM. |
12-18-2013, 03:02 PM | #4 | |
Scooby Guru
Member Sales Rating: (62)
Member#: 67
Join Date: Jul 1999
Chapter/Region:
SCIC
Location: San Diego, CA
Vehicle:1999 Outlasting the competition. |
Quote:
Let me know and i can get another two out to you. Email me direct at tom at kartboy dot com |
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