[Thoughts on S-GT vs V6 WRX]

I mean you'd probably want to compare a 08-14 Hatchback STI to one not an SGT for a more fair comparison if it had a EJ207 but yes in my experience they're more engaging and 'feel' faster than the later cars. But they're less sophisticated in the suspension department, brake department, engine department, monocoque department, safety department, drivetrain department and more. ...but they are heaps of fun 

 

V5/6 STI's came with a 207, WRX's came with a 205

[What have you done to your car today?]

Entered ruapuna track attack, lots of fun but was the only subaru there out of 40 odd cars! 

 

[STOLEN GC8 WRX STI Christchurch]

14 hours ago, Fast Driver 1981 said:

HI 

I know this is a year on but did you get your car back ? 

I'm terrified someone will steal my WRX do I am installing an alarm and all sorts of things to immobilise the car . 

 

vanished when stolen, was never seen or recovered.

[Best Place to Tune 2010 A-Line]

6 hours ago, BmxBandiT said:

Personally..I have had terrible service from trevor Crowe   dont go there . 

 

Always had great service from Crowes for 10 years 

[What have you done to your car today?]

Drove to Manfeild from Christchurch. Drove around track. Drove back. 

 

[Hyper Drive ???]

Yep are good to deal with, thou they basically always have "25-40%" off everything so don't get too sucked in with the sales, they'll have another one in 2 days

[Anyone know anything about this Blue V4 type R]

Ah yeah I was also watching the auction for this on trademe while it was closing, you did well very well sir

[S-gt exhaust help....]

On 15/03/2020 at 11:24 PM, 07sgt said:

I brought a s-gt a few weeks back from auckland , its got a standard exhaust system...

I wanna change the exhaust to give it more of a rumble just want to know what people have done and also videos of how it sounds

 

Thanks 😁

 

S-gt's have twin scroll turbos, you won't be able to get classic rumble without a single scroll turbo and unequal length exhaust manifold

[Is this a legitimate STI WRX]

Supply and demand, so many old wrx's have been crashed or stolen that the numbers are dwindling with demand just as high or increasing (people have a lot of money atm), price will go up accordingly. I have noticed when I compare NZ prices to the UK or Japan they are slightly inflated though, probably asking 15-20% higher on average, even ignoring shipping prices here are high

[Is this a legitimate STI WRX]

Badge on the front fenders is usually a good give away. Quite a few Sti's did come factory with fog lights so don't go off them. My type R is registered as a Subaru Impreza on carjam so wouldn't worry about that

[Do I need bigger Rear sway bar mounts]

Personally used the stock ones for 4-5 trackdays with semi slick tires, never had any issues. Main reason I got the whiteline mounts is because they look bling, justification factor was I didn't want anything to break mid corner on track. 

 

Note that LVVTA's regulations say you don't need cert for aftermarket sway bars or links but you technically do for sway bar mounts. You can get pulled up on it at a WOF and end up needing a full cert costing $500, ask me how I know...

[What have you done to your car today?]

13 hours ago, Omsin said:

The only other thing I can think of is the 225/40 tyres on my 9.5" wide 18" wheels, I am looking at 255/35 or 265/35 tyres soon.

 

225 on a 9.5" rim yeah that ain't ideal

 

You'd get better road handling out of a 18x8 or 18x8.5 wheel if you're chasing ultimate cornering, 9.5 is unnecessarily wide, even better would be 17x8 as that'll fit over stock wrx brakes, reduce a heap of weight + lower the gearing. Obviously won't look as sicKo though.

 

 

[What have you done to your car today?]

3 minutes ago, IZichard said:

Was going to get the street performance but MCA didn’t want to supply that model to overseas customers. So I ended up getting the Street Ultimate with 7kg front and 5kg rear, which are the spring rates from the street performance for a GC8.

 

Slightly softer than @YoungOne who has 8/6k on his ultimates iirc.

 

Yeah 8/6k on mine, be interested to see what you think

[Upgraded Sway Bars, Bushings, and General Suspension Upgrades with Coilovers]

8 hours ago, Niran said:

Options are:

Race Primes: $2350

Street Ultimates: $2750

Race Reds: $2900

 

Keen to see what you guys think

 

Got the Street Ultimate Elites from RSS in my car, ride is very good considering the spring rates. Damping range is pretty incredible, can crank it up to very stiff, build quality is great, much better than older Japanese Tein/Cusco coilovers Imo (if this stuff is Chinese its the good Chinese stuff). Pretty much live up to the name I suppose? On full soft they're very very close to a stock STi for comfort imo (get a bit upset by massive bumps obviously, they are a coilover). On full stiff they're very firm, too much for the road. 

 

I didn't go for the Reds because of the cost and the fact that I'm not competitively tracking the car, quite happy to be more comfortable and slightly slower/richer. I also don't plan on using a slick or full race tire on the car. Didn't get the option of the Primes through RSS. 

[Upgraded Sway Bars, Bushings, and General Suspension Upgrades with Coilovers]

7 hours ago, Niran said:

What doesn't make sense is why MCA say to not even upgrade the stock bushes? That seems bizarre. Surely at least whiteline bushings, maybe endlinks with their coilovers would mean less slop and better handling?  

 

Yeah I find this hard to believe as well, sway bar thing I understand but look at any S201-204 impreza and generally one of the main differences is they have the whole STi catalogue of pillowball lateral links/trailing arms/sway bar links in the back. 

[Upgraded Sway Bars, Bushings, and General Suspension Upgrades with Coilovers]

I'm not a suspension expert but I suspect that a lot of it has to do with the damping profile of the shocks in the car. MCA and other decent suspension companies use a digressive damping profile meaning that over smaller bumps the damper remains very stiff but when a bigger hit occurs it softens up. You can control roll extremely well while maintaining ride and wheel independence. When sway bars were introduced as 'the' silver bullet subaru handling cure all in the 90's/early 00's this sort of damping was not as common. Believe MCA has a more modern approach than Whiteline.  

[Macbilt Engineering - Wellington]

17 hours ago, boon said:

 

Unless you have a non-linear spring, in my brain changing the preload doesn't change a thing? If a spring is, say, 10kg/mm, it's 10kg/mm whether it's 0% compressed or 50% compressed, so compressing the spring more doesn't require any difference in force? It does mean the spring pushes against the perch a bit harder though.

 

Yeah you'll just end up with f**k all spring travel if you compress the spring too much or it'll come unseated under full droop if you don't have enough (assuming no helper spring). Doesn't change the actual rate. If you just use the base height adjustment to lower it you'll hit the bumpstops all the time. You have to first set the bump with the base height perch then everything else with the spring perch if that makes sense

[What have you done to your car today?]

39 minutes ago, Dairusire said:

So, done another batch of Type RA roof Latches.

They’ve come out absolutely phenomenal, and am really happy with them.
Added the spring that the factory one retains as well, so you can run the latch looser without it flopping around haha

 

If one wanted to add a roof vent to a non RA car do you know if there is anywhere to get them aside from a wreaker car?

 

keen as on a vent having no AC but pain to locate.

[Whiteline parts]

Autolign stock their stuff or can get it in usually

[Performance workshops discussion]

Do any of these shops actually engage in any form of contract prior? If so what are the clauses etc? If you were getting a proper build of $20,000+ (Haven't done but I'd imagine more common than you would think) surely you don't just do that on good faith. I mean for a service or tune on the dyno fine but at what point does that stop?

[What have you done to your car today?]

12 hours ago, Individualities said:

 

The custom valving is what's drawn my attention, and the fact that basically you can make everything custom for them. I especially want the camber washers!

 

$700 is a lot. But for what I want, it's worth it. I'd call MCA a high end brand myself. Definitely a brand to consider if you want a good set of coilovers in NZ/Australia. None of that Tein crap lol. I get very tired very quickly of how some people HAVE TO HAVE everything JDM 'yo

 

Tein are very very good for the money in my experience. Not only would I not bag on them I would actively consider looking at them if I were you. Look up MotoIQ's review of the New Tein Flex Z's before writing them off. Just my 2c...

 

Don't get me wrong MCA look extremely good but its big $$$

[What have you done to your car today?]

8 hours ago, Individualities said:

 

Liking the sound of Holset/Steve Murch vs the others, as I plan on going Twin Scroll. Hopefully I can fit it in a twisted location in a BE engine bay, with top mount lol. Could even do a bottom mount!

Was just using the Garretts as an example. I agree that they're expensive, but they're pretty dang good for what you get. More so paying for the Garrett name though.

I'm not afraid of the extra fab work needed for an external wastegate - I was gonna go down that path anyway (better boost control). I'll be running a top mount intercooler, for Sleeper & Stealth status, so I can probably get away with a bolt on BOV (speed density too). Probably get GFB stuff, unless there's a local NZ company that makes stuff like wastegates, BOVs and boost controllers etcetera.

 

I know I'll be making my build expensive lol - but I wanna do it properly. I'm a perfectionist, and this is something I'd love to make so!

 

If you're wanting to go twin scroll I don't believe the G25 series has twin scroll options yet (check I could be wrong), but do look amazing aerodynamically from what I've read.

[What have you done to your car today?]

14 hours ago, Dairusire said:

Something different that's not really done here and is known to work well overseas.

 

I've only heard of my car in nz with the closed deck 2.2l stroked to 2.35l which is why I bought it, might be a couple more but never heard of them. I believe the reason you don't see them in nz is because we never got the closed deck 2.2l block either domestically or imported from Japan (aside from a couple of 22b's).

[Removing suspensions bushings]

2 hours ago, ginganinja said:

Hey there,

 

Does anyone have any tips on how to remove suspension bushings? I am replacing all bushings in front lower control arms and the rear trailing arms and subframe/diff etc.

 

Been attempting with a vice but is it a bit of heat that is needed?

Glad to hear any tips.

 

Cheers

 

If you have alloy control arms do not use heat as they deform/or fatigue quite easily, or at least that's what the mechanic who did mine told me.

[GC8 STIs - which one to buy]

go for the s201 if you're blind 

 

go for the v5/6 RA/R V-Limited if you want the realistic classic that will appreciate, they'll hit big $$$ if its low k's

 

go for the V2 STi in 555 blue with 18x8 revolution Group A knock offs if you're a colin enthusiast

 

go for the gravel express if you go skiing 

 

go for v4 if you want the best driving experience for the $$$ as usually they're a bit cheaper due to the front bumper. 

 

Really something for everyone