Day 05: Thursday Nov. 6
After days of wrenching, my back, neck and shoulders feel ready to fall off. I take the opportunity to perform some lighter duties on the vehicle by installing the Beatrush Pitching Stopper and Samco Ancillary hoses. The OEM pieces just couldn't stand up to the repeated on-track abuse my STI was subjected to.
Day 06: Friday Nov. 7
Rise and shine! I begin working on the rear of the car with the Whiteline Differential Lock Support Kit, before moving on to the rear adjustable control arms. The arms proved to be an invaluable item for fine tuning the Subaru's caster, camber and toe settings. In conjunction with the rear control arms, a Whiteline Toe Adjuster Locking kit, which replaces the stock toe-adjuster, was bolted into place. The locking kit eliminated the movement of the rear arms where severe driving has a tendency to shift the factory toe adjusters out of their designated position. Its two o'clock in the morning and I'm just about out of Redbull and cigarettes. I'm sitting on the concrete floor and thinking to myself, "What the hell I have gotten myself into?"
Day 07: Saturday Nov. 8
I received a call from the body shop that the Chargespeed kit was painted and ready for pickup. I trick my girlfriend into going with me and steal my dad's truck to load the pieces into the bed. On my return trip, I make a pit stop to pickup a set of Cusco engine and transmission mounts. The mounts would play an important part in keeping the engine from jumping around in its bay. A close-up of both factory and aftermarket mounts reveals just how weak the original mounts were. After receiving a tongue lashing by my mom on why I didn't pay more attention in Japanese class when asking her to translate the instruction manual, I spend the next few hours lifting the engine and replacing the stock mounts with the new Cusco pieces.
Day 08: Sunday Nov. 9
It's coming down to the wire, as I have a dyno session scheduled for the following day. I yank my FP Green turbo out of the car to find the inlet and exhaust housing covered in oil. This was not something I was hoping to see, one day before my test and tune session. A quick analysis of the situation offered three possible explanations: The first was a bad oil return line, the second was too much oil feeding into the turbo, and the third put the turbo on its last leg. Luckily, I had planned to replace the Green beforehand, and test the new Tomei M7760 turbo (a detailed review of which, to come in a future issue of 2NR), which I bolted into place on a wrapped Tomei 4-2-1 equal length header. One word of advice: wear gloves and shitty clothes before you even decide to touch fiberglass header wrap!
Day 09: Monday Nov. 10
I fired up the STI for the first time in over a week and immediately noticed how much NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) was produced using the Cusco mounts. The car was dropped off at the dyno facility to dial in the HKS V-Pro and new Tomei turbo and header, and after a full day of tuning, was brought back to my parents' house to bolt on the new Chargespeed body kit. Notice the width difference between the factory front fender and 20mm wider Chargespeed unit. The large sized fender will come into play when the STI sports a wider set of wheels and tires.