04.03.2002

Not much to really add. Car has been on simmer since the Mrs. and I are working on having a new house built (which is sorta car related, since my garage is gonna be 24' X 36'...w00t!). Only real new thing was I finally connected up the Greddy EGT probe, so I can tell how sickeningly rich my WRX is running. :P

12.28.2001

Since I didn't want to run on the Bridgestone RE730's all winter, I decided to sell the stock 16" wheel combo and get a 17" setup for the winter months. Got a set of 17X7.5 Rota Subzeros in silver for a good price, and wrapped these in 215/45/17 Bridgestone RE950 goodness. :)

Also got a datalogger in order to record some OBD-II data, and also to read and reset the pesky Check Engine light every once in a while. Because the single hi-flow cat is downstream away from the turbo in my BPM exhaust, ever since it has gotten colder out the CEL is coming on more often. No big deal, with the Pocketlogger running on my Palm Pilot, one little 'click' and the light is off. Besides the fact that the Subaru OBD-II port can only give about 6 samples/second maximum, the Pocketlogger is a GREAT tool for tuning/debugging. www.pocketlogger.com, highly recommend it if you already have a PDA running Palm OS.

10.05.2001

Steve and I installed the BPM MK3 Twister turbo-back exhaust. It's a full 3" stainless steel setup, with a twin-dump downpipe. The muffler does not contain any packing like a typical muffler, it's a 3 chamber setup with twists installed to muffle the sound. It was a fairly simple install with some patience...hardest part was getting the twin-dump downpipe to fit onto the turbo studs. Took a couple of hours, but we were not rushing.

This exhaust is awesome! The turbo spools so quick, almost instantly when going to throttle. And the sounds this exhaust makes, from the singing of the turbo to the popping during deceleration, is exactly what I wanted. It's VERY deep, you can feel it in the seat. Great craftsmanship, good price, and incredible performance.

9.14.2001

My WRX is now riding on APEX racing coilovers. :) I have them set at a conservative 1.4" drop, and rebound is at 6front/9rear (22 way adjustable). These coilovers are very nice, and perfectly streetable. Highly recommend them so far.

Not much else new with the car. I am almost at the 11,000 mile mark, and no problems. Still loving it!

8.08.2001

Let's see...since I update so infrequent, I gotta try and remember what I have done to the car since the last update. I think I know...

The JoeP MBC (manual boost controller) is installed! Running a steady 1kg/cm2 of boost, ~14.5psi. Boost comes on earlier and stronger. But the small TD04 stock turbo still can't boost much about 5000rpms, so it tapers off to around 12psi by redline. Larger turbo?

Steve, Chuck, and I installed the factory WRX spoiler recently. I really wanted to do the install instead of taking it somewhere, but was very nervous about using a drill on my trunklid. The trick to the install was measuring, and then RE-measuring just to make sure, before I even marked the trunklid with the holepunch. The install came out perfect, and huge thanks to Steve and Chuck for laughing at me during the whole install. (they were amused that I/we were doing this to a 4 month old car).

I also installed the factory painted sideskirts. Super simple install, took about 10 minutes. But this REALLY looks sharp on the white car. THe dull black skirts look fine on dark cars, but really detract from the white. I just need a few new pics to show how nice and clean the car looks now.

No other real mods/changes are planned right now. Just enjoying the car. I am reading about some people having quality issues on their WRXs, but (knock on wood) with over 8500 miles on mine, it's perfect right now. Hopefully I can get a nice cool day at the track to see what the car would do (expecting ~14second @ 95+mph).

6.20.2001

I have done a LOT of tweaks to the car lately (all at ~5500 miles on the odometer). First Steve and I replaced the tranny and rear diff fluids with Redline. We went with Trey Cobb's recommendations and used MT-90 in the tranny, and 75W90NS in the rear differential. Car shifts perfectly, but it wasn't bad before.

Next I installed the TurboXS Type H blow-off valve. WOW! This thing is SWEET! It blows off to atmosphere, and is fairly loud. I also removed the resonator box from the stock intake, since this is supposedly good for 3-5hp (and is FREE) according to the i-club. It's a little easier to hear the turbo spool up now (and also the infamous Subie growl). While I had the wheel off I decided to rotate and clean all 4 wheels.

Over the last 2 days I FINALLY installed my Greddy gauges and Defi hood! I used some model spray paint (Testor #1949 Flat Black) paint on the hood, and it came out looking OK. Not perfect, but it blends in just fine with the dash. I took lots of time wiring all 3 gauges together, and using special plugs to tap into the electrical plug that exists on top of the dash. Good thing is I could unplug all the gauges, and plug the clock and reinstall the stock piece in about 5 minutes if I had to.

The 60mm Greddy gauges look incredible, and perfectly match the color/lighting of the rest of the dash. So it all looks very clean. Right now only the boost gauge is fully connected (need EGT probe and oil pressure to be tapped in). I see a maximum of .95kg/cm2, or ~13.5psi, which is exactly what the car should be running.

Next mod is an easy choice...manual boost controller! It's very apparent from watching the boost gauge that Subaru programmed the ECU to really limit the boost at certain times. It's impossible to even really build must boost in 1st gear, which RalliSpec agreed SoA probably did to prevent transmission failures. And at other times thru the rpm range the boost does funny things. Nothing that a nice MBC from TurboXS won't cure! :)

5.19.2001

At 3464 miles I did my second oil change, and I made the switch to Mobil1 full synthetic. Since I drive ~90 miles roundtrip to work most of the time, I can probably easily go 5K miles per oil change. Of course, I always SAY that, but then start feeling guilty around 3K miles, and change the oil/filter ANYWAY. Still, it's good peace of mind on any turbo setup.

The 18" ADR Phase 1 wheels with 225/40/18 Bridgestone RE730 tires are incredible. When I first put the set on and was running ~33psi per tire, the ride was almost smooth as the stock pillow tires. I did increase the tires to 36psi, and now it's a little more sensitive to bumps. But, it's still very compliant. The car looks so much better (the huge wheelwells needed it), and the handling/response is incredible. Installed pics should be soon.

I have my Greddy gauges and DEFI hood mount sitting in my living room. I don't know why I am being so lazy about putting them in, but I am in no rush. I don't plan on any huge mods right away anyway.

The car gets a lot of looks now. About half a dozen times I have caught people in parking lots walking around the car to see what it is. One time it was 3 teenagers, and the one walked behind the car before saying,"Yup, it's a WRX!" The great commercials from Subaru of America are really getting people's attention.

4.15.2001

I am currently at ~1350 miles, and I made it through break-in while following it pretty religiously. For those of you that don't get the chance to drive the car spiritedly on empty farmroads like I do, I feel sorry for you. The car is awesome, especially for it being stock! It's not fastest car, but it inspires great confidence when driving it hard. Even with some bodyroll, the car leans and then plants itself into a bend. Going full throttle in 3rd gear at the apex and powering out of the turn is heavenly. Of course the stock tires (Bridgestone RE92s) leave a lot to be desired, which leads me to first mods planned!

I am researching new wheels and tires for the car. I think I will go to an 18" setup only because I have never ran 18's before. And the huge fenderwells beg for large wheels. A full coilover suspension that is height and rate adjustable also seems the way to go. Right now I am leaning towards Cusco, since they make incredible parts for the Subarus.

I was fearing the first oil change after Steve crawled under the front clip and pointed out the plastic cowling mounted under the front of the car (I don't know it's true purpose...seems like air flow since the thin plastic can't do much for stopping objects from hitting underneath). But there was just enough clearance to drain and drop the oil filter while not removing the plastic underneath! First oil/filter change was done at 1080 miles.

I did the 3 step Meguiar process on the car (cleaner, polish, wax) and put 2 good coats of the Gold Class wax on the car. The paint needed this BAD, since it was holding every little piece of dirt that touched it, and everything was sticking so bad that severe scrubbing was needed when washing. My fiance now says the paint feels like butter! :) Oh, I also got the specific rubber mats for the car, they are very much worth the 50 bucks I spent on them.

3.20.2001

I took delivery of my white WRX sedan from Liberty Subaru in northern NJ (huge thanks to my buddy Chuck for the ~280 mile roundtrip to get it, and also for the loud BACKFIRE from his wicked 95GSX that almost deafened me under that overpass). Even as I was driving the car home I couldn't believe that Subaru of America was finally able to bring such an awesome car stateside!

I sold my Legacy 2.5GT to a nice guy from Maryland, and I hope he enjoys the car. I miss the great looks of my old 2.5GT, but from a performance standpoint, the WRX is a better platform. Hopefully I can afford all the plans I have for this car! :P

Just gotta be patient and go easy on the car through the 1000 mile break-in (< 4000rpms, which is tough since the power just starts to come on around 3500rpms). I am using Mobil semi-synthetic for the first oil change (planned at 1000 miles), and then will go full synthetic at the second change.

 
Last updated:  Mon Aug 8, 2005