advice please, tuners feel free too!
 

i am looking for advice,
i am going to be buying either a classic sti 4 or 5 for track use,
i ask to find out what sort of "usable" power would be ideal for mainly track use, what modifications would be needed and at what cost?
the car i am looking at is a jdm sti4 or 5, both with coilovers and exhaust systems.
i am thinking around the 350 bhp mark?
ideally i would love to build sucha car that could withstand the conditions of track driving and apart from the obvious brake pads and discs i dont really want to be stripping and rebuilding the engine every month or so.
i intend to do a couple of trackdays a month with the car and am just looking for advice?

ball park figures in relation to cost vs bhp would be ideal and maybe the rough longevity of the engine?

many thanks in advance
chris

no one?

bump in the hope of a reply today

For a track car I would keep the engine as standard as possible and concentrate on improving other area's of the car.

Reduce weight, improve brakes, better suspension and maybe a set of R compund tyres.

I will have a crack for you.........

Don't bother moding the engine, leave it as Subaru intended. That will give it more chance of it lasting a reasonable time. Make sure it's well serviced and oil changed every couple of events

Spend your money getting a decent brake set up, perhaps uprated discs, pads, fluid and brake pipes will surfice.

Get a decent suspension kit and uprated ARB's

Put a cage in

Reduce weight in other areas

Put bucket seats in

Put a harness in.

Get some driver training.

That should do you as a starting point and will make you quicker than just putting 350bhp into it.

Gary

Damn, you beat me too it ......... serves me right for typing longer replies :D :D

what about things like, exhaust, panel filter/ induction kit?
remap? power fc? fmic?
are they worth it? it surely all adds to a more reliable engine?
cheers for the advice so far people
chris

I'd echo what Davyboy & Gutmann say. Improving the handling & weight loss will make a lot more difference than uping the engine powere alone.

If you are thinking of running an STi, the engine will need a lot more attention to get a proportionally simmilar increase in power as they are finer tuned to start with.

Sure, there is nothing wrong in getting an exhaust, fmic & remap etc, but it all depends on your budget.... Even with a road going STi, if you go for an induction kit & de-cat exhaust you will need a remap.

What ever you do, you'll enjoy it though.... :)

More power = more speed at end of straights = a lot more stress on brakes.
Better suspension & tyres = higher cornering speeds and more speed at end of straights = a lot more stress on brakes.

First thing on my list would be brakes. Get a decent set of AP 4 or 6 pots as the starting point, and you won't need to worry about them after that, even if you do mod the car further.

Depending on the base car, a remap could be handy from the safety point of view, as you'll be running at high revs, high temps all the time, and with a helmet on you won't hear any det if it occurs.

You can have just as much fun in a standard powered car around the track if it can stop and go around the corners well. Probably a lot more fun than a high powered car with poor brakes!

Don't do huge long sessions on track, as you'll just overheat everything (oil, fluids, brakes, tyres, hubs etc), leading to premature wear. Remember that most saloon car races tend to be about 6 - 10 laps max, and it's much better to do lots of shorter sessions, than a couple of long 20 - 30 minute sessions in a day.

Watch out for fuel starvation as the tank gets below about 1/3 full, especially if coming out of longer corners. All the fuel sloshes to the other side of the tank, and the intake can't get any. The effect is like hitting a brick wall as the engine runs out of fuel.

John