Munkvy

Sorting out brakes and suspension for tomorrows sprint...

To be honest if your budget is only $6k. Buy a Honda. Yes, you will have to adjust to no boost and may feel inadequate... But you will have much more reliability, and happiness when driving hard and beating WRX's. An average condition ITR can be had for that money, and they have virtually no reliability issues, are cheaper to insure and are designed to be raced. Unlike a Subaru where you will spend a few kay just to make it reliable enough to beat on. If your budget was more like $10-15k, sure race a WRX. Buy cheap and replace/upgrade everything, then it might be reliable. But if your budget is small, Subaru is not your friend. (highlighted in bold so that Sam can finally change his signature to be a more recent quote from me!).

Main thing is to make sure the cooling system, engine and gearbox are healthy. Get them checked properly including leakdown and compression. Otherwise when you blow an engine in your 2nd or 3rd event, it will quickly put you off racing! Then yes, if you plan on being competitive, don't cheap out on things like sumps or maintenance. Racing is expensive and S*** breaks quickly if you are pushing. Talk to Sam though, he has managed to keep his car running over quite a few events, I suspect he has some mechanical sympathy though. And road tyres probably helps too. But doesn't stop him being quick.

What do you want a Legacy for? If you just want a cheap car that is turbo you are much better off getting a GC8/GF8 as there is a lot less to go wrong with them. Although a higher percentage has been abused I would imagine. And although Rev D is better according to the anoraks, they are only better if the engine isn't detonating itself to death, which they do in stock form... A wee while ago I bought a Rev A BH5 and it's done a few kays and isn't mint. But for 3k, it's pretty quick and does great handbrake turns. And fits heaps of tyres inside. So fits the practicality bill, especially compared to any Impreza. However, it's also heavier and harder to drive fast than a GC8. So if you want something practical with some go, great option. If you want something to mod, drag race, go to the track in etc. Then go GC8 every day.

S*** you can't catch a break with this car! Maybe you should light it on fire and be done with it?

Still having issues with that engine Loren?

Selling the car and replacing it with a GC8 is probably the best value for money suspension upgrade? Lighter and more nimble car that's designed for performance, rather than a family car.

Ahh, didn't know he tuned himself, thought Josh did it? But I haven't spoken to him in a while.

Take it off and clean it out with a can of carb cleaner? That's what I did for my FMIC.

Who is tuning it this time?

Yes. Re-vin would be harder with a cage I imagine. Best to call the NZTA and ask them though?

Nitto NT01s for all racing. Road is Nankang NS2R.

carfolio.com will give you basic specs. But I would suggest go taking the Subaru and Mazda for a drive, that will tell you far more. You might find that the STI in particular goes and stops a heck of a lot better than the Mazda. But the Mazda might have a few more creature comforts and be more economical. Different intended markets I imagine?

I have never broken a rear axle. As in I assumed Sam was asking in comparison to R160, perhaps implying that R160 might break more easily? Which I imagine they do. But I think you would have to be a bit daft to be breaking them, or doing something pretty serious?

Never broken a rear axle in general. I think that requires either lots of power or stupidity. I have broken 1 front axle, but that was showing off for a TV camera at a stage start with plate diffs on tarmac.

Have you seen the price of axles? That might negate the cheap bit of the equation... And if you have axles already, you would be better off selling diff/axles and using the money to buy a plate centre to put in the R160 if you ask me. R180 is overpriced now for the lack of performance gain you get from them in stock form.

Go log your IAT when you install the IAT temp sensor in your stock top mount, then tell me if it's worth upgrading. For reference my IAT at idle is around 40 degrees max. On boost it's in the 20s and 30s. Good luck with that on a top mount. With a FMIC, it's worth rotating the turbo and running a small core, still does the job without blocking air flow to your radiator then.

Only real change since I wrote this is the size of the main hoop is a little larger. But as long as you are using someone who normally builds/sells cages, they will be on top of it all. And of course prices may have gone up a bit since.

If you don't have a hoist, probably easier to pull the motor than pulling the box? They are 110kgs from memory...

Is the vacuum hose to the FPR ok?

A couple of times a year I have driven 1000km or more over a weekend to go to a sprint (mostly in Taranaki), then drive home afterwards. So far I have done this just by driving the WRX. But the main limitation for me is finding room in the car to carry everything. Cage gets in the way of fitting tyres/spare parts. And as people have said, risk of accident goes up the braver you get. But in my experience people at clubsport events are nice people and more than happy to help a fellow competitor out. Alot of it comes down to attitude though. I have recently got a car to tow with, so will trying towing and see how much easier it is, I certainly like the idea of not driving a loud/bouncy car home after a days racing. In saying that, having recently had to follow my girlfriend to and from Taranaki towing a trailer full of spares for a rally, I got very sick of doing 90ish km/hr. Makes me sleepy. So, that was not helpful really. I say, build a road legal race car and use it. Everything else is irrelevant, and trailer queens are boring.

If the car isn't road legal you can basically modify it to your hearts content, as long as the car is safe to be on the track. Ie it has a cage and safety gear like seats etc are upto scratch (ie not worn out ****). Scrutineering is far less invasive than a WOF as it's focused on safety plus common sense stuff similar to a WOF, but shorter. So they aren't going to check for coilovers etc as they just don't car for a race car. So not being road legal does have advantages. Also means when the red mist kicks in and you stack the car, you have a trailer on hand. However, value for money = road car driven to suit the conditions. Which Sam, Al and Loren have proved is a highly successful recipe. You can still do most track days, along with many sealed sprints as mentioned. And it's up to your own bravery/reactions as to whether you crash. At least in a road car you will generally only hurt yourself when you crash too!

Sadly I went backwards in power. And no one can tell me why. But that's a bit of a long story for here. Will talk to you about it at the autocross in the weekend? Same with Sam hopefully? In the meantime, went and did 00 on Taranaki Tarmac rally (the car that goes through with a siren warning people rally cars are coming). Roads are particularly slippery up that way in the wet! But overall it was good fun and new job being a safety car, have to worry about radios and paying attention, not just hooning. So good to try something a little different. Sam - Saturday last weekend on the dyno, yeah was me. I was also out during the day on Wednesday I think?

On the dyno I removed the air filter to see if it made any difference. 1kw increase in power compared to the previous run... Air filter was a cheap and nasty Repco pod filter attached to stock under manifold intake pipe (no AFM as running Link). This was in a fairly stock GC8. Conclusion, wish I could fit the stock airbox, but front mount piping is in the way!

Hopefully your luck changes with this car and it finally starts to behave! On the plus side, you will be an expert engine builder at this rate!