End of year update

We've been doing some more tinkering on the STI since my last update.  We've got a new gauge mounting solution for the car, and some suspension goodies.

As I've talked about before in this space, the STI is a tough car to put gauges in.  The top of the dash is all one curvy piece, and there's no separate removable clock pod on top like in the pre-2008 cars.  We did develop the windshield pod that you saw in earlier posts, but that's not for everyone.

I contacted our friends at Craven Speed with our problem, and we went back and forth with some design ideas for sitting gauges on top of the steering wheel cover.  In the end, Craven came up with a simple universal gauge pod that will bolt on to almost anything, and will mount a gauge the way I had in mind.

The pod is made from CNC-machined aluminum, and is very sturdy.  The little foot bolts into place from the back side, so it's perfect for the top half of the steering column cover.  (It would not be so perfect for the top of the middle of the dash, though, since it would be difficult to access the underside to insert the bolts.)  Despite the smallness of the base, it's quite sturdy, and I'm not worried about the gauge vibrating or moving around.

There's a 52mm version and a 60mm version of the pod.  52mm is more than large enough if it's going to be on the steering column.  You might want a larger gauge if it's going to be farther away.

I just put a random EGT gauge in for this mockup -- I don't actually want more gauges in the car at this time, so this is just a temporary setup for purposes of photographing the product.

Craven Speed gauge pod -- click me!

On the bottom side of the car, we're going to be installing some additional suspension parts courtesy of Whiteline.  These include stiffer bushings for the rear differential subframe, bushings for the front control arms, a roll center adjustment kit, and maybe one or two more items.  I hope to have some photos of those, along with some feedback about the handling, in my next blog post.

Boost and Wideband Gauges Installed

One of my personal peeves is that turbo cars should all come with turbo boost gauges.  I'm surprised I let our STI go without one for so long.  But this past week we finally remedied that situation (thanks, Mach V shop staff!), and we got a new Prosport Halo boost gauge and wideband air/fuel meter in the car.  As you've probably seen from previous posts, we like the windshield mount pod, and chose that for our car.  It keeps the gauges off the dash, which really doesn't have a lot of room, and the pod is nicely concealed from outside the car.

I made a video showing all the features of the gauges.



I'm just happy to be able to see what boost pressure the car is running without having to hook up a laptop or AccessPort to see it.  Want to have gauges just like this?  Buy 'em from our web site.  You'll thank me later.

Rota D-Force on the STI

We mounted up the new D-Force wheels (18x9.5 +40) to our STI.  Here's what it looks like:

300% More Exhaust Tips!

Our friends at TurboXS haven't had a specific exhaust for the STI before now, so we initially installed the single-tip system indented for the WRX hatchback.  That fit fine, sounded great, and was nice and light, but especially after we fitted up the STI accessory rear garnish bits, it always seemed like the car was missing something over on the left side of the rear valence.

That's remedied now with a new TurboXS rear exhaust section with four very nice polished stainless steel tips.  The new rear section actually bolted right to the rest of our existing TurboXS exhaust, so if you are in the same boat as us and previously bought a single-outlet TurboXS turbo-back, you will be able to just purchase the rear section to get the new multi-tip style.

I thought the sound would be a lot quieter than the single-tip system (after all, the muffler looks about three times as big), but it sounds very similar to the old system.  It might be a tiny bit deeper in tone, but the volume level didn't seem to change.  The look is great.  Some systems for the STI have a pronounced "drain pipe" that hangs down just before entering the muffler, but the TurboXS system tucks nice and close up to the body.

The new quad-tip TurboXS system for STI hatchbacks will be available for purchase on our web site in the near future.

Rota D-Force Wheels for STI

D-Force test-fit on STI

If you follow this blog you've probably seen me complain that there aren't many wheels available that are both wide and high-offset to fit the GR-chassis STI.  Although there ARE lots of 5x114 wheels around, most of them have the wrong offset -- typically around +35mm -- and would stick out on the WRX STI.


In an effort to remedy this situation we worked with Rota to spec out a wheel that would be nice and wide, but still fit under the fenders of the wide-body STI.  We just got them the other day.  They're called D-Force, and they're 18x9.5", +40.  They have a very large (2.75") lip, which is really unusual for wheels that fit the big Brembo brakes of the STI.  At 22.6 pounds, the weight isn't too bad, either.

D-Force

For now, we only have this wheel in flat black.  Other colors to come will certainly include "Hyper Black," which is a smokey silver color.  I'm open to suggestions on what other colors you'd like to see.  Also, we could do the wheel with a polished and clear-coated lip.  Comment at the bottom of this post if you have an opinion either way.

Want them?  As I write this post, they are in stock and you can buy them.  You can find them at our web site.

GT Performance dyno video

This is the video from the second tuning session with the GT Performance race car.  With boost peaking at about 22 psi, tapering to 20 psi, the car made 565 horsepower at the wheels.  It's running 100 octane fuel.

Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhoMgVCjKuY

Tuning an STI to higher horsepower levels

We had the opportunity recently to tune a beautifully prepared 2006 WRX STI that was put together by GT Performance in Maryland.  Among other goodies, the car sports a fully-built 2.6-liter block with custom dry-sump oiling, a built-up dog-gear transmission, a complete roll cage, and even air jacks.  A Garrett GT35R turbocharger pushes air into a Cosworth intake manifold, and through Cosworth heads.  The car made a whopping 565 whp on our dyno.  Here's a look at an earlier dyno run -- a mere 500 whp:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKD8wztdHnA

Here's the car on the track at Summit Point:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiFtBMDpfEw

We look forward to working with the GT Performance crew some more in the near future.