When putting in the rear wheel studs, I found that the right rear caliper was fubar. The previous owner had screwed the threads up majorly. I assume what happened is he took the bolts out and they stripped (like they all do), but they were “fixed” with the wrong thread pitch bolts causing them to strip again. I had to drill them out and heli-coil them after a few days of deliberation as to what I was going to do. The one hole is larger than the OEM size, so I will have to source new bolts today. I am probably going to take the other caliper off and heli-coil them now that I know the wrong thread pitch bolt was used.
The new bearing came in for the camber/caster plates and its a match. Swapped that out on one side. I spent some time re-calibrating the CNC and I need to re-cut the bushing.
I spent a lot of time researching the DCCD/abs system. The DCCD, ABS, and Brake warning lights are illuminated on the cluster. I ran through the procedure to read DCCD trouble codes and there are none stored, so I assume the DCCD light is on because the abs is broken. Those 2 systems are very picky on these cars-- for some reason even the reverse lights are wired into the loop so it really could be anything without being able to read the codes. Unfortunately, you cant read the ABS codes without either a snap-on scanner or going to the dealer. Luckily my stepdad has a scanner so hopefully I can get them read tomorrow so I can narrow down where my issues are.
Not really anything to update picture wise. Wired in the license plate light and the marker lights. Cleaned the interior up and tucked away some wiring. Wired in the drivers door “open/closed” switch. Most of the interior bits are left out in case access to any wiring is needed to fix something before tuning. Completed the final mounting of the intake in the fender. Finished cutting out the front right fender under the flare. Installed and bled the right rear caliper after sourcing new bolts for the helicoils.
My step dad came over with his scanner and thank god the abs light was an easy fix. I had started the car at one point without the abs control module plugged in so there was a code for that, and the unplugged wheel speed sensor had a code. Both were cleared and the abs and brake light stayed off. In a moment of brilliance, Harvey reminded me that the dccd light is always illuminated. Having not owned an sti in years, that fact slipped my mind. Everything is now working as it should as far as I can tell without driving the car. Huge relief knowing there aren’t phantom ABS issues to track down.
I’m having some issues getting the power steering bled. Its just foaming up in the reservoir. Will have to take a closer look at that this week.
I ran the car for a while and was unable to get it up to operating temperature to get the fan to turn on. I also wasn’t really getting any significant heat from the defroster so I ordered a new thermostat. I have a feeling it won’t come in before Thursday so I might have to buy another one locally. Waste of money.
Tuning appointment is Thursday! I think the only other thing I need to resolve before tuning is an alignment. Getting nervous about running into issues on the dyno-- with the extensive amount of work that was done on the car with no opportunity to drive it before the dyno, there’s a chance I could have missed something. Harvey and I will go over it this week again with a fine tooth comb and double check every last bolt and clamp.
I have started researching what steering wheel hub to get for my sparco 383. I’ll probably end up with a cheap momo or OMP hub-- I didn’t really use the quick release on my NRG hub in the miata and that car was difficult to get in and out of. This car is way easier to get in and out of so I will just get a solid hub. The works and splash ones retain the oem clock spring but they are big money. I’m looking at picking up an OMP TRS XL for the drivers seat. Harvey has cobra suzuka gt seats and I like them a lot, but at a retail price of $799 a seat they are just out of my budget. The OMP is $369 shipped and they get really good reviews. Havent decided what to do about bases yet. I have omp aluminum side mounts, we will see how much I trust my welding skills to make the bases. After that will come wheels, tires, and a rollbar. I already have a set of G-force harnesses. This will all come after the tune verifies that the drivetrain is functional.
That didnt help! I swapped out the spring clamp on the return hose with a hose clamp and fixed the foaming issue. I still have some air in the lines which I am guessing is still coming from the oring. Ill have to find a better replacement oring I guess.
Spent a lot of time just cleaning things up. As I said before, I left a lot of the interior trim off so there are plugs hanging all over.
Ive had issues with melting headlight plugs in the past on all of the GC imprezas ive owned. I ordered these ceramic plugs from amazon for $8/pair. Hopefully they will eliminate the issue.
I spent a bunch of time fixing the reverse lockout. The lockout was not working, so you could shift to reverse without pulling up on the collar. This was because the cable was not properly adjusted. For reference, the holes are supposed to align in the neutral position.
The issue here is that the cable is in a shitty spot. I had to take the shifter partially apart, and then spend an hour trying to get the nuts loose on the adjuster without ruining the threads. After that its just trial and error until you get the cable to lay in the right spot.
I replaced the thermostat and was able to get the car up to temp and get the fan to turn on. I forgot to add coolant this time so I will have to re-do it tomorrow. Other than that I think she is all set for the dyno thursday!
Wednesday, mother nature decides to give me the big ole’ middle finger and drop 12+ inches of snow in niagara county. I had to borrow my step-dads enclosed trailer for obvious reasons. What a fiasco. The snow was so deep, the trailer kept getting stuck and the parking lot was all ice so I had no traction. After an hour and a half of fighting that, I finished up the final details on the car before loading it up on the trailer. I made it home at around 3am, couldnt fall asleep until about 6am. 8am I woke up and got ready to head to innovative.
For those of you that havent read the whole thread, the car has a 2005 electrical system (harness, ecu) and drivetrain. The weird thing is that it has a 2011 wrx longblock. Innovative was worried as to how the sti ecu would handle this, so they checked the timing and whatnot. During this time, they figured out that the car was only running on 3 cylinders, which I knew right away was an injector plug. The ID injector plugs SEEM like they should fit with the OEM pins, but they dont lock in. After swapping out all of the injector pins and connectors, the car obviously ran much better.
The first real pull didnt go well, as the boost controller was faulty and caused a nasty compressor surge. I disassembled the MBC and found that one of the parts was broken. I bought a grimspeed MBC and the tuning continued. Due to the fact that I am running stock pistons, I told Mike that I didn’t want to be above 375ish hp.
I was worried that the turbo was going to be a POS. Its a really old design, and I figured “its that cheap for a reason”. I am surprised how well it performed. The car made 379hp at 16psi. We kept the car at 15psi to make the power 370hp/333tq, with the turbo hitting boost target by about 3300rpm. The car rand great and I am super excited to have passed such a big milestone.
She’s not the craziest car out there, but I think the thing I appreciate the most about this car is how well rounded it is. Get a paint sponsor on board and she’s going to be stunning.
Thanks everyone. I think I’m going to be going with plasti-dip. The people who contacted me about paint either never replied or were limited with what they were able to offer. The car needs to be one color for OLOA and I don’t believe I will have the time to prep the body enough for me to be happy with paint. With dip, I can just peel it off next season and paint the car if I want. I’m probably going to do dipyourcar navy blue.
I like the idea of plasti-dip! I was actually thinking of posting that as an idea in here. I really like the look of it and it would be perfect imo with your plans for the car this year.
