[naz]

yea no worries man.

the cobb DP is not stealth at all.. it has a huge COBB name on the mouth right at the top of the motor where it meets the turbo, and i don't believe it has mounts for the OE heatshields

another good one is scoobysport.. really hard to find in north america though.. but awesome stuff

and about JDM .. personally i wouldn't get a JDM DP because the exhaust length is different and you have to get a full JDM turboback (rare and $$$) or you have to hack something up to make it fit

suspension.. all i have to say is.. do a TON of research. there is so many ways to make the car look good but handle worse than stock. ask if need infos.. in the end after all research i kept it stock with a 20mm rear bar and get sticky tires. Saab may have messed with your car's suspension i dont know.. but wrx have amazing wheel control (don't confuse BODY control with WHEEL control) and long travel suspension.. its fantastic out of the box and 99% of ppl don't need to change it..

[Aka]

Rubber for sure. Definitely need stickier rubber. Beyond that I'm not sure. I think we mentioned tyre makes and models previously, RE-01Rs and stuff.

A friend of mine has so much stuff in his car to stiffen it up, not sure if he ever changed the suspension though. He's got an STI.

[naz]

Aka,May 29 2008, 12:15 AM Wrote:A friend of mine has so much stuff in his car to stiffen it up, not sure if he ever changed the suspension though. He's got an STI.
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'stiffen it up'?? what exactly

Group N Sti engine mounts, tranny mount, and pitch stop? i had those.. marginal utility except when driving 10/10ths and big penalty in extra harshness

changing suspension bushings from rubber to pillowball metal mounts is ridic. proceed with caution :)

[Aka]

Not entirely sure, but he's got chassis braces, sway bars and springs.

[naz]

Aka,May 29 2008, 02:22 AM Wrote:Not entirely sure, but he's got chassis braces, sway bars and springs.
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bet you the car feels super firm and sporty but handles much worse than stock

[Aka]

naz,May 29 2008, 01:50 AM Wrote:

Aka,May 29 2008, 02:22 AM Wrote:Not entirely sure, but he's got chassis braces, sway bars and springs.
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bet you the car feels super firm and sporty but handles much worse than stock
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He enjoys it and tracks it. But I have no opinion of it's handling. He seems to know a lot, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt in saying it's superior to the stock STI.

But he's also done some more odd things, like replacing his drive shaft with a carbon fibre one. Says he likes it because of the less rotating mass etc but makes the car easier to stall I think.

[NefCanuck]

Aka,May 29 2008, 08:29 AM Wrote:But he's also done some more odd things, like replacing his drive shaft with a carbon fibre one. Says he likes it because of the less rotating mass etc but makes the car easier to stall I think.
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Is CF as strong as the original driveshaft piece though? :huh: I would think that yes you would gain in teh reduction in rotating mass but lose out in overall durability (and a driveshaft is one thing I wouldn't wanna mess with :ph34r: )

NefCanuck

[naz]

NefCanuck,May 29 2008, 05:01 PM Wrote:Is CF as strong as the original driveshaft piece though?  :huh: I would think that yes you would gain in teh reduction in rotating mass but lose out in overall durability (and a driveshaft is one thing I wouldn't wanna mess with :ph34r: )
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i'm sure there is 'some' benefit.. just like how a lightweight flywheel has 'some' benefit as well.

hard to compare modified vs stock w/o lap times, and even then driver is such a huge factor

aka. IMHO take it all with a grain of salt.. your buddy sounds like he is from the 'spend tons of money on the car to go faster' school of thought.. i personally am in the 'keep it stock and learn to drive' school of thought... whatever makes you happy though right?

[Aka]

I'm in with the, lets get as close to 300 hp as I can for as little money as I can. Then learn to cope with it for the next few years group of thought.

Ideally my car would just magically get 300 hp by touching someones accessport to the EMU, I know this wont work... so I need to spend some money.

I'm definitely not going to buy a CF drive shaft though. And he started recommending I keep my old exhaust and put it on each time I need emissions. Where my thought was to make my car emissions compliant while still achieving my goal.

I thought a lighter flywheel would help throttle response, no added performance gain, but it would make it easier to quickly blip the throttle and rev match, and would take less time to rev down as well... and cause you to idle higher.

I think the CF driveshaft is just as strong if not stronger. However it would be substantially more brittle. So I guess the right (or wrong?) thing could cause it to shatter, where a drive shaft would bend? both are pretty terrible though. My worry with CF parts is accidents. If I get into one, how does the CF portions of my car affect it's safety? The car is built to crumple in a certain way, the CF wont crumple like that, thus not properly absorbing the impact.

So while I'd like to get the weight advantages of CF, I fear that in an accident it would work to my disadvantage.

[naz]

you'll notice lightweight flywheel improving acceleration in the lower gears (1st, 2nd) when the levering effect of the gears is most used. in higher gears there won't be much difference. there's a nice thread on nasioc that discusses it

key thing is that a light flywheel can cause an intermittent misfire CEL (most people think this is caused by the crank position sensor seeing 'weird' things because the flywheel changes speed faster than stock) can you live with the thought of intermittent CEL? what about annoying hill starts (even a parking garage exit will be a challenge)?


my thought on this.. it is very easy to heel toe with the stock flywheel. keep it stock, avoid the headaches and worrying and hassle

as for getting close to 300hp for as little money as possible. sorry bro but the way to get 300hp for as little money as possible is to get a STi in the first place.


http://www.spdusa.com/stock_engine_mods.htm

Quote:"The 280hp threshold is a limit both for the stock turbocharger and over time, the stock internal components of the stock WRX engine."

i can't find the article on that site that talks specifically about the gearbox, but apparently the safe upper limit of the 5spd box for long term reliable is around 250tq and the design limit is 300tq

basically what i am getting at is that if you want 300hp from the motor you aren't going to be doing it for 'little money' you will have to throw down big $$$ to hit your goal to maintain reliability, especially if you plan to be a track user... if you plan to just do a few highway pulls to impress your friends i guess you could just mod the car, drive like a granny 99% of the time and cross your fingers it will last until you are ready to switch car

don't mean to discourage you.. just trying to put another side of the story for you to think about. i've heard of too many people who dump $$$ into mod.. dump more $$$ into fixing and upgrading stuff that broke.. and in the end they go.. "screw it i will just get a EVO/STi/335/S4/M3/whatever" IMHO.. don't bother to chase the power goal. learn how to drive it hard and you can hang with very fast cars on a technical road or tight track

[Aka]

280 hp IS close to 300 hp for little money. That was my point. The extra 20 hp isn't worth the money. 280 hp is crazy cheap power. And even if I have to replace a transmission, I don't entirely mind, as I'd rather a strong 6-speed anyway. I just hope that I don't need to do it too immediate.

I appreciate the otherside of the story.

Edit: also, you can't get an STI in a wagon format (except the newest). So I'm happy regardless.

[Flofocus]

I'm shopping for a 6 speed also.

Common no more warranty! :lol:

[naz]

Aka,May 30 2008, 05:21 AM Wrote:280 hp is crazy cheap power. And even if I have to replace a transmission, I don't entirely mind,
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do it up then and best of luck. save all of your receipts and let me know what your final $$ tally is after 27months ok :D

[Aka]

naz,May 30 2008, 01:04 PM Wrote:

Aka,May 30 2008, 05:21 AM Wrote:280 hp is crazy cheap power. And even if I have to replace a transmission, I don't entirely mind,
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do it up then and best of luck. save all of your receipts and let me know what your final $$ tally is after 27months ok :D
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If it adds up to $45,000 + taxes then you win :P

And if it does add up to $45,000, holy crap where did I get all that money? lol