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Old 02-07-2017, 04:09 PM   #1
uofime
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Default UofIME: 15 WRX: "The Blue Pig"

I intend do use this as a journal, so its not necessarily going to be very organized , well edited or super entertaining to read. I'm hoping to orgainze useful information I find for myself and anyone else who manages to find it.

I'll try to keep this first post updated with where the car is at the moment.

Ok, so the place you should always start when designing something: what is the objective of my build?
This is my daily driver, but because I'm foolish I want to do HPDE events with it, as well as AutoX, ice racing and whatever other fun stuff I find.

Given that, functionality will trump form.

That said, being aesthetically pleasing definitely is a functional aspect of a daily driver. To that end it had better not look silly or overly flashy, since I will be seen driving this every day. Beyond that appearance isn't very important to me.

What is important is that the car remain reliable. Like I said before, its the only car I have and work isn't exactly close to home at the moment. The car also needs to remain reasonably civilized NVH wise. I'm not 16 anymore so I can't have my car rattling teeth and deafening myself, my passengers, and passersby.

Most importantly it needs to be fun!

So there you have it: reliable, comfortable, and fun; that's how I ended up deciding to buy this Subaru in May of 2015.
Since then there has been a steady progression of changes to get to where it is today.

Current Setup:

Engine

Catted J
STI version optional catback
TGV/EGR deletes
AccessPort
EBCS
Intake hose kit
Koyo rad
Protune (road tune)

Drivetrain

Exedy stage 1 clutch
ACT streetlite flywheel
Group N PSM
Group N Trans mount
Positive shift bushings
Rear diff busing inserts
Rear subframe bushing inserts
Shortshifter
Shifter Stop

Suspension

Secondary front camber bolts
Offset Strut tops
Adjustable rear LCAs
Custom Alignment

Wheels and Tires

17x9 Mach V Awesome
Hankook R-S4 255x40zr17
Bridgestone Blizzak WS80 215x55r17

Brakes

KNS 4K rotors F(former)/R
KNS/Wilwood 6-piston calipers
KNS/DBA 2-piece 332mm rotors
Stainless braided lines
Ferodo DS2500 pads(former)
Carbotech XP 10(rear, formerly stock calipers, currently fhi 2 pot ), 12(front, stock and Wilwood)
Powerstop Track Day( rear, former, BAD/neveragain)
FHI 2 pot calipers with KNS V2 adapters
KNS 4K conversion rotors for FHI 2 pot
Motul RBF 600 Fluid


Interior

HK infinity replacement door speakers
Pioneer replacement tweeters
Alpine "powerpack" in-line amplifier

Exterior

Floppy flaps

Driver Mods

6x AutoX with my local Miata club (maybe 5)
5x Ice races
3 Track day on Autobahn north track
4 Days at Gingerman Raceway (1 wet)
1 Day at Gingerman Raceway reverse
1 Day at Greatlakes Dragaway drag strip

Sponsors

Yes, please

Vendors and companies who have helped me along the way with products, advice and service

THMotorsports
Boosted Performance Tuning
Six Star Motorsports
KNS Brakes











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Last edited by uofime; 09-13-2018 at 06:23 PM. Reason: More driver mods!
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Old 02-08-2017, 02:21 PM   #2
uofime
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Current issues and near term plans.

The car gets hot on track, especially on the day I did in August (shocking I know)
225water, 255oil. Really want/need to add cooling.

Water:

Solution:
Koyorad and probably silicone couplers going to end up being about 400$

Issues:
Cannot run aftermarket charge pipe or will interfere with stock fans. members posts here indicate car will get hot in everyday traffic if slim fans are used.
Experience with GR which has same fitment rad says hoses will need trimming to fit correctly and avoid rubbing

Oil

Solution

After researching OTS options and reading spec on Setrab's site it is clear that most coolers sold are not sized to tolerate the sustained heat I'm going to be putting through them so I need to build my own kit.

I got 2d drawings for Setrab's cooler and mounting brackets and made to scale cardboard templates to test fit in front grill area. I originally thought using the lower area would be a good option especially with a 9 series form factor core, but upon measuring it isn't as tall as it seems. Therefor a "vertical" orientation, back against the radiator seems like the best bet.

Benefits of this design are that the radiator fans will pull air through the cooler, aided if additional sealing is done though I'm not sure it's necessary. There are good metal surfaces at the top and bottom that look like they have room to add rivnuts which would make mounting easy. It looks like some short angles metal strap could easily go from those holes to the brackets. mounting might be a little wonky with that extra degree of freedom, but it shouldn't be too hard to get it to line up well enough.

Downsides are that the oil cooler will very directly impede air to the radiator. Setrab's sizing guide says that for 300-400 hp in a series 6 core (which is what fits lengthwise here) you need a 25 row core. That core is about the size of half the radiator. I was leaning towards maybe using the 19 row, but I talked to my tuner who tracks a GV with over 200+ hp more than my car and he said even with the massive cooler he was running the car would overpower it in a couple laps. So now I'm pretty set on the 25 row core.

From the template I can see it's going to be a little tight and I probably need to use angled AN fittings to make sure the lines clear the center radiator support.

Going with Aeroquip lines and fitting at the recommendation of countless people on a track car group I asked for advice. They don't cost much more and the horror stories of line blowing off makes me think it's worth it.

I'm looking at a Mocal thermostatic sandwich plate. A member on the technical forum showed it would fit no problem as long as you clearence the lip on the stock oil warmer a little bit. Stock thermostat is 180 deg and I'm not sure if that's great for everyday driving especially if I end up going to a 40 weight oil in summer/track season which some have suggested. I need to see if I can find a 200 deg thermostat that will fit the plate. It really shouldn't effect track cooling so I'm not sure what the potential downside would be.

I put together a BOM for the project and the cost is looking like about 700 all said and done though not including the rivnut tool I'm going to need to buy (80$). I would say that's pretty reasonable and comparable to the nicer OTS kits but with a much bigger cooler.

Pressure sensor

Would like to add an oil pressure sensor. Haven't researched it a ton. Would like to have a warning light and min/max recall and I really prefer the appearance of an analog needle (I know I said that wasn't important to me, but I'm going to be staring at the dumb thing all the time while driving)

Found AEM X series that has those features @225$ Not in love with the digital display, but it ticks all the technical requirements

Further research is needed.
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Old 02-08-2017, 02:57 PM   #3
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Really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts and possible solutions. The only radiator that may work with an aftermarket charge pipe is the Killer B, but at about $1300 it's quite expensive! The other obvious option is to run the OEM charge pipe.
Maybe start with an oil cooler, removing the factory cooler circuit (thus taking some load off the coolant) and see if that helps sufficiently?
Anecdotally, this is what I did on a prior project (Stage 3 Fiesta ST which saw some HPDE) and it worked well enough.
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Old 02-08-2017, 05:09 PM   #4
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University of Illinois - Mechanical Engineering? I feel like you're an Engineer based on your detailed breakdown of current issues and your analytical approach to solutions (insert "how do you know someone is an Engineer...don't worry, they'll tell you!")

Your goals are similar to mine - I will be following closely! I am moving back to Minneapolis in a month or so here and will be looking to head down to P&L (JR TUNED) or Six Star for a BP Tune (no tuners I trust in the Twin Cities area), so I may PM you at some point for details on your protune if you don't mind.
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Old 02-09-2017, 10:04 AM   #5
uofime
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuckable View Post
Really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts and possible solutions. The only radiator that may work with an aftermarket charge pipe is the Killer B, but at about $1300 it's quite expensive! The other obvious option is to run the OEM charge pipe.
Maybe start with an oil cooler, removing the factory cooler circuit (thus taking some load off the coolant) and see if that helps sufficiently?
Anecdotally, this is what I did on a prior project (Stage 3 Fiesta ST which saw some HPDE) and it worked well enough.
Water Cooler

Looking beyond price I'm not entirely convinced or the effectiveness or that thinner radiator. I asked them about it and their validation seemed to be only standing mile, drag, autoX and dyno runs, none of which I would consider a great test of a cooling system. Maybe it would work fine, it looks nice enough, but I don't feel like paying to find out.

None of the OTS chargepipes work, however motoeast ran a top mount with their turbo kit and a big radiator which says to me if the radiator is considered during fabrication a bigger charge pipe could be fabricated.

I considered going that route too, there's definitely some local people who could do it, but long term a top mount is not where I'm going. Given that a stock charge pipe (and IC) is where I'm staying for now, at least until I find another solution I like. KillerB had actually said they were working on a FMIC that kept the crash beam (which given my goals is important to me), but they seem to have quickly dropped it and are working on some new design they're still being mysterious about.

Oil Cooler

Just doing the oil cooler is a thought that I still toss around. The biggest issue is that I'm not sure I can keep the oil cool enough to keep the water where I'd like it (>220). For cheapness and simplicity I even wondered if going the other way would work, just the radiator and hope the liquid to liquid exchanger would be able to keep up. During that research I found someone claiming that under high load (oil pressure) many of those exchangers have a bypass valve. That makes sense though I haven't been able to confirm if it's true for Subarus. It would explain why temperatures rise when you're at higher rpms, even on the street if it were true.

Ultimately because of the street car goals I think it's important to keep the "warmer". If it does get bypassed at higher oil pressures that's ideal once the cooler is added, but if it doesn't the radiator should be able to handle the extra heat. It manages to do so on Subaru's with more power than mine will ever have.

Headgaskets are expensive and difficult to replace, the radiator isn't that expensive and is easy to change, so that's why I'm planning to do both.


Quote:
Originally Posted by DrJibletz View Post
University of Illinois - Mechanical Engineering? I feel like you're an Engineer based on your detailed breakdown of current issues and your analytical approach to solutions (insert "how do you know someone is an Engineer...don't worry, they'll tell you!")

Your goals are similar to mine - I will be following closely! I am moving back to Minneapolis in a month or so here and will be looking to head down to P&L (JR TUNED) or Six Star for a BP Tune (no tuners I trust in the Twin Cities area), so I may PM you at some point for details on your protune if you don't mind.
I've been discovered, another engineer with a newer WRX.
You've got MAPerformance there in Minnesota, they've got a tuner that they work with who could probably to a good job on your car. If you do want to come down to Chicago hit me up and I'll tell you what I know.

Last edited by uofime; 03-08-2017 at 01:55 PM.
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Old 02-09-2017, 11:40 AM   #6
Chuckable
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Quote:
Originally Posted by uofime View Post

Oil Cooler

Just doing the oil cooler is a thought that I still toss around. The biggest issue is that I'm not sure I can keep the oil cool enough to keep the water where I'd like it (>220). For cheapness and simplicity I even wondered if going the other way would work, just the radiator and hope the liquid to liquid exchanger would be able to keep up. During that research I found someone claiming that under high load (oil pressure) many of those exchangers have a bypass valve. That makes sense, though I haven't been able to confirm if it's true for Subarus. It would explain why temperatures rise when you're at higher rpms even on the street if it were true.

Ultimately because of the street car goals I think it's important to keep the "warmer". If it does get bypassed at higher oil pressures that's ideal once the cooler is added if it doesn't the radiator should be able to handle the extra heat. It manages to on Subaru's with more power than mine will ever have.

Headgaskets are expensive and difficult to replace, the radiator isn't that expensive and is easy to change, so that's why I'm planning to do both.

I'm not an engineer so didn't totally follow what seems like a thoughtfully considered approach. Are you saying that the stock oil cooler/warmer bypasses under high loads i.e. high rpm and so adding an aftermarket oil cooler in addition to the stock unit was something you're still considering? Like how the Mishimoto unit piggybacks onto the stock unit whereas the Perrin unit totally replaces the stock unit?
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Old 02-09-2017, 12:51 PM   #7
uofime
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuckable View Post
I'm not an engineer so didn't totally follow what seems like a thoughtfully considered approach. Are you saying that the stock oil cooler/warmer bypasses under high loads i.e. high rpm and so adding an aftermarket oil cooler in addition to the stock unit was something you're still considering? Like how the Mishimoto unit piggybacks onto the stock unit whereas the Perrin unit totally replaces the stock unit?
That is what I was saying and I believe both kits optionally retain the oil warmer/liquid to liquid exchanger. The parts ( cooler, plate, Perrin spacer) are all the same flange size and threads and are stacked one on top of the other.

A lot of people call that liquid to liquid heat exchanger an "oil cooler" in reality its primary function from the factory would be better described as an "oil warmer". The reason for the factory wanting to warm oil is that for the sake of efficiency and wear you want your oil temperature to reach operating temperature as quickly as possible so that it is at the right viscosity. That is the reason you want to retain the factory exchanger as well as run a thermostatic sandwich plate for a street driven car
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Old 02-14-2017, 12:45 PM   #8
uofime
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Got out this past weekend and did some driver mods, a couple days of ice racing with the gridlife crew and Central Wisconsin Sports Car Club.





Video

What did I learn?

I have a lot more to learn. Trying to to learn leftfoot braking so I can slide around like a rallist instead of always doing grip runs. I'm not sure it's necessarily the fastest way here but it is a lot of fun.

Last edited by uofime; 02-14-2017 at 12:52 PM.
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Old 03-06-2017, 12:31 PM   #9
uofime
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Default New Clutch

This is a post I didn't really want to make but it happened and as a result I had to do some research and maybe that research and my experience can help someone else so here goes:

Not long after getting protuned I noticed rpms jumping in higher gears when I hit full boost in the midrange (aka max torque). I didn't want to believe it but pretty clearly my clutch was slipping. So I did the old two feet on gas and brake to confirm my suspicions and indeed it was slipping. I only had 28k miles buy my clutch had felt a little goofy since day one, I certainly haven't been gentle with the car and I'd let others drive it who weren't gentle either.

So time to do research on a new set up. Couple of problems wit that:
1. Like many items many vendors do not have all the correct parts listed for this model. A little research on the Subaru parts website will show that anything that fits 06 +WRX will fit these cars. OK so that opens up the search somewhat.
2. Ratings for clutches are all over the place. Some give a wTq number, some a crank Tq, some a % over stock. You read reviews and you'll see massively mixed signals on pretty much every product. You read guides here and they all suggest over built setups that are likely to be terrible for daily driving in traffic regardless of what the owners want to claim.

Ultimately I listened to friends who had experience and with the goals of this car in mind and went with a pretty mild set-up that was essentially rated for the exact torque I was making but claimed to be 40% stronger than stock which is funny because those same friends have no issues with the stock clutch running the same torque (or more than me).

Specifically I went with the Exedy stage 1 and an ACT streetlite flywheel.

Got a good deal from my friendly local (parts) dealer and set about figuring out how install was going to happen...

Last edited by uofime; 03-07-2017 at 08:52 AM.
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Old 03-06-2017, 10:24 PM   #10
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ILL!!

Good read. Thanks for sharing.
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Old 03-08-2017, 12:48 PM   #11
uofime
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Default Clutch Install

I'd figured out what parts I wanted to use, so the next step was figuring out how to get them on the car... I got a quote from the dealer just for giggles and they wanted about 2 grand. I also got a quote from a local subaru shop that was very reasonable, but they needed over a months to fit me in. Now I am a pretty cheap person to begin with, but if they'd been able to get it done that week I might have just thrown the money at them to just get it done because this happened the week before I was scheduled to do that ice racing you see pictures of in the posts before this.

Anyway between being cheap and feeling masochistic about having toasted the thing so fast I decided to do the swap myself. Truthfully I was not going to do it entirely by myself because friends had volunteered their garage space (I live in an apartment with no garage so this is crucial), tools and expertise to help me get it done. To prepare I started by getting the relevant sections of the FSM all together and giving them a good read to see how it would be done under ideal circumstances using that I set about getting all the tools and extra knowledge (for an amature doing it in a garage) needed to get it done.

The biggest hurdle I found from the FSM was how to handle the transmission. My initial thoughts were to get a proper hydraulic transmission jack with tilt control on 2 axis (HF sells a lovely one), but some people I trust (and have done a bunch of these) in my local community said that those were actually a pain because they're always in the way and you're better off either just bear hugging the thing (I lacked confidence in this strategy for reinstalling) or to use a cherry picker on the dog bone mount and a regular floor jack on the tail.

Other than that the only stuff beyond basic tools I needed was a T70 for the transmission oil drain plug, a big socket for the axle nuts (you don't have to pull these but we had the tools to do it easily, getting them out of the way makes the job suck less, and prevents damaging the 20$ a piece axle seals in the transmission I didn't plan to replace), a flywheel holder tool and a torque wrench that can do the sub 20 ftlb values called for in the install procedure. I also picked up some shop supplies: a ton of brakleen to deal with the probable mess in the bellhousing, some grease for the contact points and new gear oil ( I used Motul)

One item of interest was the pivot ball and clutch fork. A company makes fancy replacements with lots of pretty FEA saying that the stock ones are weak, offering an improved 200+dollar replacement for the BRZ and 15+WRX. In my search for knowledge earlier when picking part I found that those parts are the same back to 2006 and frankly you don't find a whole lot of people complaining about breaking those when you search. Given that I decided that those were probably overkill and unnecessary for what I was doing. For a little security just in case mine did happen to be screwed up I popped into my local Subaru dealer's parts department and ask them if they happened to have replacements in stock (they did).

I attended a launch event for the new Impreza (FYI they're pretty nice) at said dealer the Wednesday before doing the job and I into a guy I know from the local club who is a tech there and I was able to bend his ear for a little advice on pitfalls for doing the job. His opinion was of course that it was pretty easy, only a 3 hour job (ha ha don't think it'll go that smooth for me with no lift), and the biggest issues were that the trans likes to seize to the back of the engine and it may need some prying with thin wedges to get it loose, noted that the shift cable should be removed from the top where it is attached to the passenger compartment (not the trans) and that you need to be careful when reinstalling the flywheel because there's a tone ring for the crank position sensor behind it that you need to make sure stays clocked in its locating features or you're going to have a really crappy day when you finish and go to start the thing.... So armed with that advice and the promise that they'd come give us a hand Sunday if we got stuck Saturday and couldn't finish by ourselves I felt pretty confident about the job.

On to the pictures

Assemble friends:


Undo everything on top, grounds, slave, starter, dogbone, top trans bolts

Get the car high enough to get the trans mission out from under but not so high as to be a pain to put it back in place


Undo the LBJ, pull the half shafts (make sure you drain the fluid first or this'll be reall messy), drive shaft, shifter cables, heat shield, I piple (thank god I have a 2 piece J)



Undo the bottom trans bolts, wiggle the trans, spew many profanities, get out the putty knives and wedges, get out the small hammer, curse some more, get out the bigger hammer, try holding the engine with the cherry picker (engine mounts are pretty soft), keep shaking violently and cursing and eventually the trans comes loose. Hug that puppy, thrown it on a creeper and roll it out.



Check out the old pressure plate


Back side, ooooh toasty!

Yes, those rivets are on the surface!

aaaand the other side


Clean up the bell housing to get the old friction material out. Mine really wasn't that bad, I only needed one and a half cans of brakleen, to get it "good enough"


Pay special attention to all the contact surfaces, make sure they're clean before you relube them with the high temp grease or the pedal will feel like you have a worn out clutch immediately. Install a new TOB (OE preferably) and the fork (as predicted my fork and pivot were in excellent shape)


To be continued....

Last edited by uofime; 06-27-2017 at 12:48 PM.
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Old 03-08-2017, 01:16 PM   #12
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Old 03-09-2017, 01:31 PM   #13
uofime
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Alright time for part 2 of the saga:

Here's the flywheel for those curious what condition that was in:


whip that puppy off with the old mini rattle gun, lots of room here without the trans in the way:

Install shiny new parts, streetlite flywheel, Exedy disk and pressure plate



Putting the trans back in required use of a cherry picker on the front and a floor jack on the tail with a block of wood on the back. If I was stronger and more confident maybe this could have been done without, but I was happy to have those tools to help. Did bang up the insulation in the trans tunnel maneuvering it into place but overall it slid back home easily, compared to the trial that was removal at least...

At this point the excitement is over, put everything back on, installation is the reverse of removal or some such: drive shaft, starter, grounds, connectors, slave cylinder (remember to grease the contact point).

Be careful reinstalling the half shafts not to damage the axle seals, you have to give them a good shove to get the retaining clips to re-engage in the trans. Don't be like us and get so excited after re installing the axle nuts that your forget about the LBJ's and start installing the wheels

Refill the gear oil in the transmission after reinstalling the drive shaft and half shafts. I also went ahead and replaced the fluid in my rear diff while I was at it. There was nothing but a few tiny particles on the magnetic drain plug so some good news there!

Once you're done, send a quick prayer to the gearhead god that you've dotted your T's and crossed your I's then turn the key and see if it will come back to life and move under it's own power. Now re-learn how to drive the car with the new lightweight flywheel and stronger pressure plate (prepare for lots of stalling)

This whole escapade took me and a rolling group of 5-7 buddies of mine about 8 hours to complete from 10 am to 6 pm.

It has been a couple weeks since I got this job done and with my commute that means it's had about 500 miles to complete break in and get some impressions. Initially it was super grabby and the lock up point was pretty near the floor, much closer than ever previously. Trying to be gentle for break in lead to some serious stalling from that grabbyness and the lightweight flywheel giving precious little time to correct when things weren't right. Fortunately sometime last week after 3-400 miles it has started to calm down. I assume the disc is finally seated on the flywheel and the springs have broken in a little because the lockup point has moved back to more or less where it was before and the grabbyness has subsided somewhat and is predictable. So in the end I think I made the right decision, the car is fine is stop and go, rush hour traffic and most importantly it holds the power nicely and the car is a total blast to drive!

With that taken care of it was definitely time to sign up for a trackday, so I went ahead and bought a ticket for the autointerests memorial day event at Gingerman Raceway for Sunday when they are running reverse, which should be fun! This probably means that I need to address those cooling issues I talked about above and definitely means I need to replace my brakes which are currently very chewed up.

The story of the blue pig continues as we see how much more of my money it can eat!

Last edited by uofime; 06-27-2017 at 12:58 PM.
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Old 03-09-2017, 06:07 PM   #14
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Awesome and informative write-up
Now let's see those cooling system mods!
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Old 03-09-2017, 06:55 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuckable View Post
Awesome and informative write-up
Now let's see those cooling system mods!
Literally ordering parts of it right now
The easy parts though, still gotta commit (to myself) on a couple aspects of the oil cooler
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Old 03-09-2017, 08:06 PM   #16
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Interested to hear about the cooling system project

... and how the mods fare on the track day!
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Old 03-14-2017, 02:20 PM   #17
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We spoke via PM before about the Perrin oil cooler. I believe that we both called and got separate confirmations that they do not offer an upgraded oil cooler core. Which, I imagine, is why you're going the custom route. Looking forward to seeing how an engineer tackles this issue

As a bit of background, Perrin uses Setrab cores: http://perrinperformance.com/i-19731...15-17-wrx.html



From the specs Perrin lists, it appears that they may be using Part No. 50-613-7612 which correlates to a HP range of 170-200 per Setrab's website: http://www.setrabusa.com/products/oi...ine/index.html

Assuming so, I'm not surprised that there have been some reports of the Perrin unit being inadequate. However, there are other that have apparently run it with no problems.

With all that said, I'm sure the Blue Pig will have a sweet set-up
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Old 03-16-2017, 11:18 AM   #18
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Got into a discussion over on the suspension tech thread regarding the geometry of the MacPherson struts in the front of VA's and importantly how the camber curve reacts to lowering by varying degrees. As is so often the case people assume it is the same as the GDs and other older generations that are the more familiar racecars, but I don't think that's the case. To prove it someone is going to have to actually take data.

That said it shouldn't be hard to do, just need to pull the spring off the strut and use a jack and digital level to cycle the suspension and take points to get the curve. Correlate those positions to stock height and you'd have your answer.

As luck would have it I've had a spring compressor and some whiteline ComC strut tops bouncing around in my trunk for a few weeks since the clutch job when I'd naively hoped to have the time and will to do them. installing those is going to mean doing most of the mechanical labor to be able to take the data. It'll just require an hour or two of fiddly work in the middle of that job carefully taking measurements and some trivial data analysis.

If I didn't have to rely on friends time to have garage work time, things would be a lot easier especially considering the amount of other things I need to get done before my Memorial day track time. As much as I'd like to know for the sake of future set ups and to win an argument with some people I've never met on the internet. I kind of doubt it'll happen in the very immediate future, so on the list it goes.

If anyone reading this happens to have that data for a GV/GR/VA please let me know so I don't have to take the time to record it myself!
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Old 03-16-2017, 12:43 PM   #19
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We spoke via PM before about the Perrin oil cooler. I believe that we both called and got separate confirmations that they do not offer an upgraded oil cooler core. Which, I imagine, is why you're going the custom route. Looking forward to seeing how an engineer tackles this issue

As a bit of background, Perrin uses Setrab cores: http://perrinperformance.com/i-19731...15-17-wrx.html



From the specs Perrin lists, it appears that they may be using Part No. 50-613-7612 which correlates to a HP range of 170-200 per Setrab's website: http://www.setrabusa.com/products/oi...ine/index.html

Assuming so, I'm not surprised that there have been some reports of the Perrin unit being inadequate. However, there are other that have apparently run it with no problems.

With all that said, I'm sure the Blue Pig will have a sweet set-up
Yep, counting the rows it appears to be a 13 row cooler and looking at the height installed it's definitely a series 6 (series defines the length of the rows) as opposed to the longer series 9.

A couple months ago I used the 2d drawings for the coolers and brackets I got from Setrab to make some CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) templates that I could stick on a car to check the fitment of the two different 6 and 9 series coolers that Setrab says are appropriate for the amount of power the pig is making. I was looking at a 6-25 and a 9-19. I thought the series 9 would work well stuck in the lower grille, but the reality is that's tighter than it seems making the vertical position back against the radiator like Perrin does a better option and the series 9 is to long to fit well there so for me series 6, 25 row looks like the best option.

Probably the last hang up on ordering is whether to use a high temp thermostat ~200F or the regular 180F for the sandwich plate. I'd planned the 180, but a guy I know recently installed a cooler in his GV STI track car, its really beastly because his car makes over 500hp depending on where he sets his boost. What he found with his bigger cooler was that the car could not get his oil over 160f driving normally when it is cold out. Since the pig is a street car everyday drivability is a big concern and for wear I'd really like to see at least 180F driving around. So it seems like the higher temp thermostat might be the better option.

The whole point of sizing the cooler the way I have is so that temperature can be kept at steady state while beating on the car, which should mean that the starting temperature when the beating begins shouldn't effect it ability to hold it to a number. The fact that the higher the temperature delta between the air and oil the more efficient the cooler becomes, mean I'd likely end up in the same place regardless of where I start.

Looing at the fine print regarding the assumptions use for the calculation for Setrab's power ratings we find some relevant info:
"
EOC hp and btu/hr range based on specific performance parameters that if varied may result in different performance results. Low EOC hp and btu/hr range based on typical wet sump high-performance application and typical variable parameters.
.....

Wet Sump Parameters include: oil flow rate, 5gpm; 20/50 engine oil or similar; 130ºF ITD; 60mph airflow
"


Flow rate: I don't know what the FA flows, and I can't do anything about it so lets hope they've picked a realistic number.

Oil viscosity: I plant to run 10/40 when it's hot for track days, that less than they assumed. I have to think about the effects but my first thought is that the lower viscosity oil will have a thinner boundary layer in the cooler so it should transfer heat more easily. Not sure how to quantify that, would need to try to do or at least look at the form of some equations and look up the specific values so we'll just call it good for now

Temperature: 130F IDT (which for us mean the temperature delta between the hot oil coming in and the air being used to cool it). If we have 100f air we need 230f oil at the cooler inlet to meet the tabulated numbers

Airflow: 60MPH Hey, I have data for that! looking at average speed on Harry's laptimer from my last trip to Gingerman it shows an approximate hot lap average of 65mph, 70 when I was really flying. From Autobahn north I can see that average speeds where slightly faster at 68F. So that's good!

Wow, that was a really round about way to convince myself that initial oil temperature isn't extremely important, the cooler won't reach rated efficiency until I get to 230F regardless.

So there we have it, the thermodynamic design is sound. Guess I should order those parts and get to sorting the mechanical design I've been waiving my hands at and claiming "it'll be fine" thus far, I am a mechanical engineer...
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Old 03-16-2017, 01:08 PM   #20
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Have you checked what it costs to hire a PE lately? Super thankful you're tackling this so that I and others can benefit!

Did you decide to leave the stock oil cooler/warmer?

Future updates would be much appreciated

Last edited by Chuckable; 03-16-2017 at 01:16 PM.
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Old 03-20-2017, 11:12 AM   #21
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Have you checked what it costs to hire a PE lately? Super thankful you're tackling this so that I and others can benefit!

Did you decide to leave the stock oil cooler/warmer?

Future updates would be much appreciated
The stock liquid to liquid heat exchanger stays because getting the oil to operating temperature is important to me for daily and especially for winter driving. That said if I have issues with temperature still that'll be the first thing I rip off. Fortunately for us FA owners doing that is laughably easy, it could be done at the track without even touching any of the fluids!



Update from this weekend:

Spent some surprise garage time Friday afternoon and installed new KNS 4K rotors all around, replacing the factory rotors that hand developed a pronounced lip on the outside edge. I've got some pictures I might upload later but it's nothing too exciting. Clearence to the upper caliper bracket bolt is too tight to get a rattle gun on and the bolts are pretty tight so the old kicking the ratchet with your foot technique had to be employed. Other than that the front install was easy and painless. Unsurprisingly the dust boots on one side were crunchy and the other side were cracked. Don't really plan to have these brakes for much over a year longer so I can't really be bothered to care...

No job can ever go smooth so of course at the rear one of the pins that retains the shoes for the parking brake sheared when I used the rattle gun to persuade the rotor to come off running bolts through it. This of course happened at 6pm on a friday just as all the local Subaru dealer's parts department closed. Fortunately the O'rielieys not too far from where I was working had a hardware kit that contained the pin I needed in stock for 20$ so I lucked out there.

Used the specs listed over here to torque everything back up and the job was done.

I was surprised to find that my DS2500's do still have over 30% life left on them, should be enough for another track day somewhere that doesn't abuse a braking system too bad so I'll keep them around for now. I put my stock pads back on, because I am a bit tired of sounding like a city bus while driving around gently. Got those bedded into the rotors and they feel as mediocre as I remember, much less bite and pedal feels like stepping in a bucket of rubber bands. Like I said probably won't have these brakes by summer next year, so I'm not about to buy new street pads, but I do have new braided SS lines coming and need to flush the fluid so maybe that'll improve somewhat.

Had a couple friends who wanted to install ARB kits in their cars so with the rotors done so I didn't get to do any of the other things on the list that day. I did however snag the stock front ARB off my friends GR STI. So I'll be giving the poor/rule restricted mans VA sway bar upgrade a shot (cross one item off the list and immediately add another ). I was able to test drive my friends VA WRX which is pretty much the same as mine other than the full Whiteline ARB kit we had just installed and while I was pretty restricted the testing venue, it certainly seems to liven the handling up a bit. We'll see if my tenth of the cost GR bar has a similar effect.
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Old 03-21-2017, 03:35 PM   #22
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The stock liquid to liquid heat exchanger stays because getting the oil to operating temperature is important to me for daily and especially for winter driving. That said if I have issues with temperature still that'll be the first thing I rip off. Fortunately for us FA owners doing that is laughably easy, it could be done at the track without even touching any of the fluids!

And that's why the Mishimoto setup looks like a decent solution. It retains the OEM unit. Not a huge fan, but it is plug and play.
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Old 03-23-2017, 10:50 AM   #23
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And that's why the Mishimoto setup looks like a decent solution. It retains the OEM unit. Not a huge fan, but it is plug and play.
The Perrin unit optionally lets you keep the liquid to liquid exchanger as well, its why they include a spacer. From Psyclobe(?)'s build a while back they noted that without the spacer the "rim" on the exchanger interferes with the fittings on the sandwich plate a little bit and needs to be ground down for clearence
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Old 03-23-2017, 10:52 AM   #24
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The Perrin unit optionally lets you keep the liquid to liquid exchanger as well, its why they include a spacer. From Psyclobe(?)'s build a while back they noted that without the spacer the "rim" on the exchanger interferes with the fittings on the sandwich plate a little bit and needs to be ground down for clearence


I wasn't aware of that, thanks

So how's your oil cooler project coming?

Here's some spare change to finish up the odds and ends

Last edited by Chuckable; 03-23-2017 at 11:15 AM.
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Old 03-23-2017, 12:06 PM   #25
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I wasn't aware of that, thanks

So how's your oil cooler project coming?

Here's some spare change to finish up the odds and ends
Hmm I did say I was interested in sponsors.... Not sure I want to get involved in wherever that money came from though...

Been slammed at work and haven't had a ton of time to think about it. Happy with all the fluid handling stuff, but I'm still unsure how mounting is going to work. At this point, with the track day creeping up, I'll probably just order all of the stuff I know I need and piece the hardware together from odds and ends from the local hardware store. Still debating ordering a rivnut gun kit, I suspect it'll make things simpler, but it also costs 80$

I've also been putting feelers out to the usual suspects to see if it can get any deals on the parts I want, but it looks like racerparts wholesale is pretty hard to beat for most things. I'll probably just order it all from them this week.
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