Monday, March 24, 2008

Lowered!

Since my last post, we've had the car in the shop a bit. We got the painted grille on the car. It gives it a slightly different look in the front, although I think non-Subaru people would never notice. We tinted the windows to the Virginia legal limit of 50% in front, 35% in back. Moving on to something more substantial, we bolted on a set of Cusco Zero-2E coilovers, and lowered the car about 1" from its stock height for starters.

The Zero-2E's are premium fully-adjustable spring/shock assemblies that allow for independent dampening adjustment at each corner, and continuously adjustable height adjustment at each corner. The "E" in the name means they can be paired with Cusco's electrically-actuated remote control, which allows you to adjust dampening from the comfort of your driver's seat.

I haven't yet had time to play with the remote dampening, but my first impression of the way the car rides and handles is very positive. I was a little worried that I would destroy the daily-driveability of the car by making it so rough it was only suitable for the track. That's definitely not the case. The car does feel more connected to the road, and body lean is less, but it's still perfectly comfortable. There's a little more vibration and impact transmitted into the car, but nothing your grandma would complain about. So far so good.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

The Modification Plan

The car is almost through its 1,000 break-in miles, and my modification plan is gathering shape. My overall goal for the car is to push the performance envelope just a bit in every direction, without making it unsuitable for daily use. That means no roll cage, no monster-huge turbocharger, no mega-loud exhaust. On the other hand, the very soft and quiet nature of this car (even compared with the older WRX STI) leads me to believe I can push things a bit without totally messing it up.

There are also some appearance things I want to address. I wanted to change the front end look of the car a bit, so I added the original equipment Subaru fog lamp kit. I also sent the grille off to get painted body color; I'll post new pictures with the revised grille as soon as I can.

Coming soon: A Kartboy short shifter; Cusco Zero-2E coilovers; and larger wheels and tires.

After that, the Cobb AccessPort. I'll be doing some before-and-after dyno testing with that device. Further down the
road will be more power mods, including a full exhaust system, maybe an intake system, and perhaps a slightly larger turbo and intercooler.