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Old 01-18-2017, 06:45 PM   #51
razor7
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Originally Posted by Gallo2011 View Post
Very cool, TC! Congratulations on a job well done. Be sure to share more pictures and a video of her on the road.
Thanks man, appreciate you chiming in :-D

Just to prove that she does move, here's a picture from today after I got to work.

I have an appointment scheduled with the state referee on Wednesday, Jan 25

-TC

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Old 01-24-2017, 12:00 PM   #52
Touge Factory
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Awesome build! Good luck with the inspection!
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Old 01-25-2017, 05:36 PM   #53
razor7
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What do you do when you finally finish building your motor?

You drive it on a 500 mile road trip up to the snow with no tools, oil, or spare parts.



Oh yeah, and it was in the middle of a snowstorm. The next morning I woke up to this.



But it all works out smoothly when you receive this on your first attempt.



-TC
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Old 01-25-2017, 05:50 PM   #54
kaos200
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Congratulations!

PS, I would look into running a turbo radiator (stock or aftermarket) and use iWires radiator adaptor plate to make it a bolt in affair. The RS ones aren't enough unfortunately.
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Old 01-25-2017, 05:52 PM   #55
razor7
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Originally Posted by kaos200 View Post
Congratulations!

PS, I would look into running a turbo radiator (stock or aftermarket) and use iWires radiator adaptor plate to make it a bolt in affair. The RS ones aren't enough unfortunately.
Recommend me one that will clear the stock RS A/C lines and I'll buy it.

The Version 5 didn't, the aftermarket 2-row didn't, and I don't know that I want to gamble on the FXT fitting.

So far I've had absolutely no issues with temp - stays between 190 and 198 regardless of how hard I'm pushing, but it's also winter.

-TC
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Old 01-25-2017, 05:53 PM   #56
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Originally Posted by razor7 View Post
Recommend me one that will clear the stock RS A/C lines and I'll buy it.

The Version 5 didn't, the aftermarket 2-row didn't, and I don't know that I want to gamble on the FXT fitting.

So far I've had absolutely no issues with temp - stays between 190 and 198 regardless of how hard I'm pushing, but it's also winter.

-TC
I meant, the USDM turbo radiators (2002-2007). Never heard of an issue with those and the AC lines, and don't recall having one when I had AC, either.
FYI my current RSTI setup runs in the 180s in summer heat without anything other than the radiator and some slim fans as the cooling mods.
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Old 03-13-2017, 12:47 PM   #57
razor7
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Well, a couple things have changed.

Due to the stock injectors giving me problems (leaking/hard-as-a-rock o-rings, and I believe one or two are clogged leading to a some cylinders being rich and others lean) I've gone ahead and installed:

- ID 725cc injectors
- VF28 out of the V5 clip
- Koyo radiator with WRX fans
- Retrofitted GR TMIC

From there I took it to Mann Engineering who had Bill come out from Delicious Tuning (skywalker on here) to tune it.

On an ECUTEK dyno I'm making 232hp and 210tq. According to Bill and Gary from Mann, that's about 20hp less than a comparable (2004/2005 non-AVCS) STI. That means I'm making 92% of the power of an STI with only 80% of the displacement, not bad.

I am seeing the turbo take a while to come on full boost and it sounds like that's caused by the stock USDM up pipe and down pipe. I'll be swapping those out for the JDM counterparts hopefully within 6 months, I just need a break for a little bit to focus on other projects.

-TC








Side note: The ebay special front strut bar doesn't really clear the GR TMIC - it rattles when at the right RPM. I've removed it and will be buying a GC8 carbon front strut bar as it looks like it'll clear much better.
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Old 06-02-2017, 12:35 PM   #58
razor7
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Been a lull of work as I moved cities and had to deconstruct and reconfigure my garage. Good news is I should be able to finish even more projects - the garage is in a better configuration and I'm now living with a long-time friend who races E46s and hand built his E21.





I bought some old school OMORI gauges which were shipped to me terrible - the boost needle fell off, an oil pressure gauge was half falling apart, all but two of the bulbs had died... basically unusable in the condition they were sent in.

So I decided to tear them apart, recalibrate the boost gauge (using CO2 I use for brewing beer), and replace all of the burnt out bulbs with LEDs.







Originally I was going to stuff them in the factory hood for the compass pack, but it would require cutting it to fit the gauge bezels. Not really a problem, but after some research I decided I *also* want the factory compass pack.



Conveniently replaced the long standing broken middle vents while I was at it.

Next up will be re-doing the exhaust for better flow:
  • Up Pipe (non-catted)
  • JDM Downpipe (one cat)
  • JDM Midpipe and muffler

Since I'll be in there, I need to address:
  • All 4 coil packs (maintenance, they work fine)
  • Passenger side valve cover gasket seeping leak
  • Rear differential (not sitting flush and is grinding under decel)

After that will be suspension, interior, and paint (finally). But, that's all a ways off.

-TC
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Old 06-02-2017, 12:39 PM   #59
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Looks like you did the radiator swap and went with a GR intercooler, nice!
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Old 10-04-2017, 11:49 AM   #60
razor7
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Well we're coming up on that time of year again. For the last 2 years I've dedicated a week straight to working on the car while my company shuts down for Thanksgiving. This year looks to be the same.

This year will be to fix up the following:
- Complete re-do of the exhaust (while staying CA compliant... probably) [JDM Up-pipe, JDM down pipe (with O2 sensor welded in), JDM mid-pipe and muffler]
- Cobb 3 port boost control solenoid
- 3mm Phenolic spacer (mainly for GR intercooler clearance)
- Coilovers
- Sway bars
- Clutch assembly (mainly because of a bad pressure plate)
- Adding tone rings to front axles
- Replace airbag control module
- Fix fuel sending unit
- Maybe get the AC recharged
- Alignment
- Corner balance

This will fix these major issues I've been dealing with for far too long:
- Grinding on deceleration, no load, in gear - Sounds like it's the pressure plate and throw out bearing.
- ABS doesn't work - My own notes show why - I'm using ***8216;99 JDM axles which don't have tone rings on them. If $25 fixes my ABS then I'll be ecstatic!
- Airbags are dead - A heat wave came this year and likely caused the ECM to die. Should be as simple as swapping in a new one and actually running a heat shield where the cats are :-P
- Clunking suspension - Typical JDM V5 inverted strut clunk.
- Serious lag from VF28 - I come on full boost at 4K RPMs, and even with a quality tune, that means there's weird jerking issues in the 3-4K RPM range where the ECU is looking for boost that isn't there. Obviously this will be backed with a re-tune.
- Incorrect fuel readings - With removing the fuel pump assembly ~5 times in the last 6 months, the mounts for the fuel level sending unit are weak and the jerkiness of 3-4K RPM has caused the reading to go off.... again. I'm going to find a solution to keep that sucker in there tight.
- AC Recharge - This isn't needed, per say, but when I had it vacuumed and filled before the compressor wasn't engaging due to one loose connector. There's still a tiny bit of air in the system, and a complete vacuum and re-fill should make it more efficient for next summer.

Assuming this all gets wrapped up then I can *finally* move on to interior and paint. I'm growing very tired of the two-tone body...

-TC
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Old 12-14-2017, 06:05 PM   #61
razor7
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I had planned to add this update once I get my next tune, but unfortunately that won't happen for an additional 3 weeks due to the holiday shutdown.

I spent most of October gathering parts to prep for install over my company's Thanksgiving shutdown.

- ST Suspensions XT HTA
- Cusco rear camber plates
- JDM STI pink lateral links
- JDM STI pink trailing arms
- JDM STI front end links
- JDM V5 carbon front strut tower bar
- Whiteline 22mm front sway bar
- Whiteline 24mm rear sway bar
- Whiteline rear HD mounts
- ACT Streetlight flywheel
- ACT HD clutch assembly
- Replacement SRS control module
- ABS Tone rings for front axles (JDM axles)

Everything was purchased new with a couple packages coming straight from Subaru Japan.

To prep for all the work on the horizon I started off the first day of my Thanksgiving shutdown with a fun project. An amuse bouche, if you will.

Here's 3" Morimoto stage IV retrofits with E55 shrouds.







The install on the rest of the parts went fine, except the EGT. I learned the hard way how the stock EGT sensor terminates. Another reducer to 1/8" NPT and a no-name amazon EGT sensor and I had something that works, kind of.

I'm kind of insane. See, I want the SMOG tech to plug into my OBDII port and see absolutely 0 codes killed from when I was passed for my BAR. To do this, EGT needs to stay installed and needs to report a value, even though it no longer serves any purpose and completely messed up my schedule. I'm having issues with the new one reporting any value other than 2084f, but at least there's a value.

I'm in need of a tune (JDM exhaust and Cobb EBCS pretty much require it) but otherwise everything's installed and I'm ready to drive. To save time, I'm going to use the string method this weekend to align all 4 corners, and re-install the stock boost control solenoid. I'll take it in for the tune in the new year.















-TC
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Old 10-31-2018, 01:54 AM   #62
razor7
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Bleh, so many things to update.


So I got all of that suspension up and running, then got it tuned (272hp/260tq) and verified I have a suretrac diff. Then came track brakes (random rotors and Hawk DTC-60 pads), and took it to Thunderhill and ran a 2:20:9.


I then replaced some seats, added some gauges, and had an oil analysis done from the oil used during the trackday.







Then I bought a 2008 135i as a spare DD/track car.





Finally, I just learned that I'm faster with the GC8 than my 2013 CBR600RR around Thunderhill by 6 seconds.


-TC
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Old 10-31-2018, 11:43 AM   #63
JDMJNKY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by razor7 View Post
What do you do when you finally finish building your motor?

You drive it on a 500 mile road trip up to the snow with no tools, oil, or spare parts.

[IMG]https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/697/31669761434_c5434f7a99_k.jpg

Oh yeah, and it was in the middle of a snowstorm. The next morning I woke up to this.

[IMG]https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/337/31669760424_106e1d1752_k.jpg

But it all works out smoothly when you receive this on your first attempt.



-TC
Congrats man, I can't wait to get my car through BAR. May I ask what the oil analysis costs?
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Old 10-31-2018, 12:25 PM   #64
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Did you convert your cluster to mph?
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Old 10-31-2018, 12:51 PM   #65
razor7
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Originally Posted by JDMJNKY View Post
Congrats man, I can't wait to get my car through BAR. May I ask what the oil analysis costs?
I think it was $50 - they ship you a container, you fill it with the middle of the stream of oil when draining and ship it back.

Worth it for the peace of mind. I'll be doing the same on the 135.

-TC
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Old 10-31-2018, 12:51 PM   #66
razor7
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Originally Posted by kaos200 View Post
Did you convert your cluster to mph?
Ha! no. We'll see how this year's SMOG goes with a funky ODO.

Either they'll let me tell them the correct mileage, or I'll have driven "1" mile the last 2 years.

-TC
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Old 11-06-2018, 12:24 PM   #67
razor7
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Good news - I passed the standard 2-year SMOG on my first try.

This may not seem like much since it's been BAR'd, but the following has changed since I got that sticker:

- JDM Up pipe (no cat)
- JDM Turbo (VF28)
- JDM Down pipe (1 cat)
- JDM Mid pipe (no cat, 2 resonators)
- JDM Muffler (doesn't matter, just connects to the mid pipe where the USDM model wouldn't)
- ID 725cc injectors
- COBB boost control solenoid
- Tune
- Boost gauge (not applicable for 2002 WRX, only 2003+)
- JDM dash still reading KM with "wrong" ODO

Now, typically any of these should fail you out on visual. I'm not positive on the dash being a dealbreaker, but obviously the exhaust, injectors, tune, etc. should immediately nuke your SMOG approval.

Read back through my next posts to see what I did if your intention is to have a CA legal swap that you can squeeze more power out of. I'm particularly happy with the exhaust - he even showed me the second "cat," which is just a resonator. It totally did what I wanted it to do.

There is, naturally, one caveat - he commented that I only have (2) cats where as the BAR approval lists (3). He didn't think the up pipe would have one, and figured the second resonator is a resonator and not a cat (correctly). Thus, there is a small chance that when I go to re-reg in 2019 or 2020, they could flag my vin and force me to go back to the Ref. If that happens, I'll have everything ready to swap back, but it'll suck. Time will tell.

Also ran the numbers and I'm showing 11k miles on the swap after the dash change, so probably nearer to 12k. Once again, proper planning, research, and execution has led me to have a reliable car that I've beat on thoroughly. Mission accomplished.

-TC
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Old 11-06-2018, 12:26 PM   #68
razor7
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The best SMOG legal exhaust.

OEM exhausts tend to rob the motor of power, and the 2002 WRX exhaust is one of the worst. There are (3) catalytic converters - one in the up-pipe and two in the down-pipe. In order to get the BAR sticker of approval, all (3) cats had to be installed and operational.

However, I want as much power as I can squeeze out of this thing. While I haven't confirmed if this method will work (I'll update after I run a test SMOG on it. EDIT: It works!!) this is what I've come up with to pass the visual portion of the SMOG. Note, that it still may not pass the sniffer test.



In order from left to right: JDM V5 up pipe, JDM V5 down pipe, JDM V7 mid pipe, JDM V7 muffler.

This specific selection was chosen to keep the OEM look while increasing flow. The mid pipe in particular was chosen due to the front resonator looking like a catalytic converter. The hope here is that the smog tech will glance at the mid pipe, see what looks like a cat, and not think twice about it. However, if they run the serial number printed on the heat shield, it won't come up as a cat. It's a shot in the dark, truthfully.





The up pipe has nearly 2mm larger ID. The down pipe's ID remains the same as the USDM one, but you're moving from (2) cats to (1) high-flow.







The down pipe had to be modified with a bung for the rear O2. I also chose to run a reducer where the O2 would typically go (post turbo but pre cat) to use the EGT sensor. I don't want any codes to be cleared when I go to smog and would rather retain the EGT. Note though that the reducer doesn't terminate like a stock up pipe which has forced me to buy another adapter, a M12 x 1.25 to 1/8" NPT and run an aftermarket EGT sensor.

Will this all work? (EDIT: It does!) I'm not sure, but it's my best bet at upgrading the exhaust to flow at a higher rate without removing the ability to SMOG easily. The goal is to *not* need to swap downpipes every 2 years.

-TC
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Old 11-06-2018, 12:39 PM   #69
Charlie-III
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As to CAT vs. resonator, I had the opposite a number of years ago in NJ.
I had a full COBB exhaust......coated EL headers, high flow CAT, midpipe and axle back.
The inspector told me the CAT was a resonator, I stated it was a CAT, go ahead and sniff it (they basically only check paperwork, CEL's and readiness).
I argued with him.........long story.........his boss had to pass me.
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