Fun things to do with the WRX

[gary]

After I follow your sage advice on wheels and tires for the WRX (see my last post), what are some other fun STX-legal things to do to it?

I'm thinking suspension is probably top priority. Is there a spring/shock kit out there that offers reasonable performance for not a whole lot of money? Adjustable sway bars? Any other ideas?

The car is entirely too quiet right now. I'm thinking some exhaust things need to be removed/replaced. Is there anything in particular that might offer some performance gain?

Thanks again!
Gary

[Captain_Solo]

Gary, Swaybars are probably the best bang for the buck. Hotchkis makes some nice bars for your car, and the rear one is adjustable so you can tune the balance of your car. Check out www.shox.com for some koni kits that include both dampers and springs-these look like a nice alternative to coilovers. After that, you'll want some camber plates. 2.5-3 degrees of negative camber up front with around 1 degree negative camber in the rear will help those tires grip a lot. Once the car turns well, make it loud. Replacing just about anything short of a heat shield on that car will yeild more power. Go to www.awdpirates.net for some good info, and links to subaru vendors.
-D
79 STX incarnate

[mdahl]

Gary, go for a front and rear bar.. Everything I read, the bigger, the better. This login includes the front. For AWD subarus the rule is,
Big bar rear, power off oversteer (duh)
Big bar front, power on oversteer
Hotchkis makes a set that's 25mm front and rear. If I were to do it again, that's what I would pick. I have progress bars which are 24mm. .They flattened the car nicely. Be sure to get the uprated support brackets in the rear, or you will rip the stock mounts out eventually. Also, get upgraded endlinks. The plastic ones will snap with time.

For springs, the prodrive springs are a great bang for the buck at $299 with a springrate of 220f/200r (off memory) comared to 170/140 stock -again, from memory.. These will work with your stock dampeners.
mastro- prodrive springs (http://mastrowrx.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=55)
For uprated dampeners. KYB AGX's are supposedly the way to go. Adjustable, and slightly firmer bounding than stock.

Camber plates mouted backwards on the front are good fun to get more camber and caster, groupN topmounts are cheaper. Camber bolts are pretty much a waste of time, but I run them because I'm cheap. (I wouldn't do it again though)

Budget coilovers from Megan racing and Omnipower would be very nice too. If I do it all over again, I will probably go that route. Quality seems to be quite good for these, and both megan and omni come with top plates. If you look at singular component costs comared to a set of $900 coilovers, you might be inclined to take the coils. The springrates are are standard 8k/6k and some offer adjustabillity on the dampeners.

....hmm, maybe I should.. http://www.optionimports.com/meracokiimwr.html

As far as making the beast loud.. I have a few opinions on that too..

[RogersWRX]

The biggest limit to suspension is whether or not you're going to use this as a daily driver or not?? Both Mackenzie and I do, so we're both running around 200lb / 170lb springs on stock struts. The serious national guys are running 8k front, 10k rear coilovers - I think that's around 500, 700lb springs, but I didn't do the conversion!!

Not something you want to run on the street!

Mackenzie's exhaust grumble can be done on the cheap, by gutting the uppipe, and the mid-pipe - which will throw Check Engine Lights (CEL's), which can then be disabled with a Cobb Tuning Accessport http://cobbtuning.com/wrx/accessport.html and a STX Stage 2 map should give you pretty good start!

[Captain_Solo]

Roger's definitely right about the spring rates. The talon has around 600# springs in the front-it has huge amounts of bump steer, and doesn't like the street much. However-I am a firm believer in upgrading the dampers with the springs. The extra adjustablility comes in handy, and having driven WRX's with both stock and upgraded struts, I can tell you that you will not be dissapointed. John radcliff runs a WRX in SM with p-drives, agx shocks, and a 22 mm rear bar. That car is the very definition of tossable awd fun! I ran an STX WRX with only p-drives and the same rear bar as johnny, and it was totally different. It was low, but it wasn't nearly as good in quick transitions...just my .02