2/25/08

I went rally crossing last weekend and had a lot of fun:

The rest of the pictures are here.

I think I might be making a habit of doing these after 3rd in class on my first event.

2/01/08

Hello everyone it's time for an update I think. In the last few months I've done a few things, like replace an exploded timing belt tensioner, install an ALK, put the driving lights back on my car, take a road trip to Montana, and replace a steering rack. I also took lots of pictures along the way. There are still a few more things I need to do like replace my tie rods, install subframe lock bolts, and probably do group N rear lateral link bushings. A turbo motor and 5-speed would also be nice.

10/11/07

I got some new rims yo:

 16x7 00-01 RS wheels, painted black, with 225/50-16 RE750s.

 The extra grip has brought out some weak points of the suspension. Time for an adjustable rear swaybar, new bushings, and camber plates.

Also, I've scrapped that idea of a fresh n/a 2.2 automatic. For the money I was going to spend I'll be better off doing a 5-speed turbo swap. Mike Shields is giving me a turbo wiring harness so that's pretty awesome. Time to start browsing nasioc and e-bay for a jdm wrx motor.

7/14/07

Well, I now have mismatched body panels instead of dented body panels. I guess that's better?

You can see the whole boring but well documented process here.

 In other news, I've been pouring over transmission-related tech documents lately and have a few concerns about swapping in that new driveline. Namely they are speed sensor related. In 96 Imprezas went to some sort of a magnetic/electric speed sensor 2. On top of that, since my car has a different final drive, even if the speed sensors are compatible, 1 is in the transmission and 2 is in the cluster, so they might be giving different readings and make the awd not work right. Or I could possibly pull #1 out of my transmission, but then my speedo would be off I guess. Maybe I need a 4.11 sensor out of an earlier cluster. Or maybe I need to just do a 5-speed swap. I guess I should read some service manuals or something.

7/7/07

Hello everyone, here is a sneak peak at my next project:

 Old and busted:

New hotness:

 Yeah so I'm going to be driving around with a white fender and bumper for awhile...

Note to self: Buy heads from Matt Monson next week.

6/2/07

Update- what's that? Oh I guess I could do them more than twice a month. Since I've done the new brakes they've gotten a lot of heavy use, most recently on Memorial Day in Malibu. I think we drove on every road out there.

That's on Latigo canyon road. I've just updated my gallery so you can check out the rest of the pictures here, along with some other albums I'm in the process of making.

We also drove on Las Flores, Stunt, Mulholland, and Decker that day. My RE92s, which are considered mediocre high performance all season tires, have now been heat cycled to to point of utter uselessness and the brakes got hot enough to melt the grease and spatter it on the outside of my wheels.

In other news I'm still gearing up for that motor swap that has been in the works for months now. I just kind of need to gather up some cash and parts and figure out a weekend to head down to Prodrive and get this done. Coming a little more specific about that I'm talking another 2.2 n/a motor from a newer Impreza he has sitting there, and while I'm at it swapping heads for higher compression, putting in some delta cams, and re-doing the exhaust. I expect it will make my car slightly less unbearably slow.