Neilo

Terrys thread has inspired me to do a similar thing regarding my car which i also enter in the Time Attack series. As a fair few of you know the base car is a 2003 WRX, which is not exactly the ideal base that terrys is for this kind of application.

The current spec of the car is this: (380/380 give or take)

Engine:
2.5 bottom end with CP pistons, and eagle rods.
Standard UK heads
Hybrid FMIC
3.5" APS race exhaust
Gruppe-S v2 headers
800cc injectors
Walbro fuel pump
SBR GT12 Turbo (2.4" inlet)
RCM 80mm MAF tube & 160mm K&N filter
Exedy performance clutch, mildly lightened OEM flywheel (cant really tell tho IMO)

Brakes:
Wilwood 6 pot brakes up front (330mm), standard 2 pot rear
Goodrich hoses all round

Interior:
Sabelt 4 point harness
Cobra Monaco Bucket seat (driver side only)

Suspension:
D2 fully adjustible coilovers
Front and rear strutbars
Solid Rear Droplinks

Wheels/Tyres:
STI7/8 7.5J Rims with D01J semi slicks

Complete Spec is Here --> Car Spec

The current shopping list of either already purchased and waiting to fit, or looking to purchase include:

Ported STI5 heads with 264 inlet and 270 exhaust cams, standard valves (purchased)
Vernier Pulleys (near impossible to fid for decent money, so almost given up on them until a proper big garrett goes on)
AVCR or similar boost controller (nice to have)
Convert turbo to 3" cover (so it will hopefully make more than 1.55bar!!)
Samco 3" "big bore" inlet tract (purchased)
Inlet manifold spacers (purchased)
Tumble Valve deletes (purchased)
Parallel Fuel rails (nice to have)
Light Flywheel (hopefully purchased)
Light Pulleys
Front and rear ARBs
Front Splitter
Rear Diffuser (nice to have)
Full set of camber bolts?

Now my main problem is the cars inherant weight. I normally strip the seats out, boot trim, doorcards and spare wheel/tools when doing events which saves me around 80-85kgs in total if you take in to account that the drivers bucket seat is approximately half the weight of the standard item too. BUT we are still talking about a car thats over 1300 without fuel or driver....my target would be <1280 with fuel if at all possible.....but i fear that it may not be whilst still remaining sensible.

I would think that removing something like the air con system would be significant so will be looking in to that when the engine comes out again in early feb. Other than that there isnt a great deal that i can think of without getting drastic, by drastic i mean FRP doors etc....which is an option, but i think that i would reserve that for the rear doors only in the absence of a cage.

My other focus is engien response. The car at the moment has a relatively laggy turbo, i knew this would be the case when i bought it and tbh its not a huge hinderance at all, 1 bar by 3k and full boost (currently 1.55) at 3500. However, the pickup of the motor i think could be better, so am thinking that lightening both ends of the crank is the way to go for this, again any suggestions to the contrary greatly appreciated.

I think that the biggest difference in the drivability of the car will be the cams. From what i have been told and advised changing the standard UK for ported STI of various years makes the car considerably better to drive and i am hoping that i have made the right choice in what i have purchased based on that information.

So, any experts out there would like to add anything to this list or have any comments they would be greatly appreciated!!!

Cheers,
Neil

P.S. i know the gearbox will die eventually but its still hanging in there for now!!

terryb

Copycat


Actually though - great idea for a thread to get us both ready for battle

Neilo

hehe, not intended to copy given that the cars are so different.

But i agree that it will be interesting to see just how similar the specs end up being (weight issues aside)

terryb

As some of our plans are similar (parallel fuel rails, etc) then we should keep each other informed of prices, etc

Neilo

Trouble with that terry is that what fits mine, wont necessarily fit yours, most of the stuff id get would be from the US, and they tend not to make too many parts for the classics case and point would actually be the fuel rails.....the perrin ones have taken my fancy, but they wont fit yours as they are top feed.

terryb

I'll get a set of modified standard rails from Mef - cost £70 to get your own rails modified. How much for a set of Perrin rails?

Neilo

200 delivered, they are on my list of "nice to have" but i wont lose any sleep if i dont get them immediately. They just look very nice, properly engineered solution type of thing. Silly thing is i know that i could do it for a tenner if i wa that way inclined. Y-Piece and a run of fuel hose....job done.

David_Wallis

how about a nice set of lightweight doors, boot and bonnet?

Provide andy with Panels and he will make em for you.

David

Neilo

I had mentionned the doors in my first post, my only reservation is the lack of cage in the car (and ideally i dont want one either) so protection is limited should there be side impacts.

I could get a set made very cheaply as i know of a source......boot and bonnet is different though, i presume you are talking about frp materials? im not 100% on how much weight would be saved by swapping to an FRP bonnet as its ally already and would imagine that the current one is stiffer so a little safer?

Im open to the bootlid idea though, although i would like to retain a spoiler for a bit of stability at higher speeds...(unless im barking up the wrong tree with that one!)

David_Wallis

Id keep the ally bonnet then!

Bootlid will be a fair saving, however the spoiler probably weighs more.. and Im not so sure they do much for high speed stability. An undertray and good front splitter maybe better

Neilo

Agreed,

Thats something that i forgot to list, the front splitter.....there are 2 options:

1: Chargespeed type II which is very similar to the one i smashed off at TOTB, doesnt have an undertray though. OR..

2: APR Front Splitter which is semi adjustible and covers the whole area under the front bumper. Slightly more sophisticated, and more expensive.

I would like a rear diffuser as i quite like the look if im honest especially when the car is sat down low. I dont really want anything carbon thoguh as id cry if i smashed it, so its FRP all the way i think....the APR is carbon.

My spoiler doesnt weight a great deal 3 or 4 kgs tops i think, its absolutely nothing compared to an STI brick spoiler, i think the boot is ally as well but im not 100% on that. i guess i should just pop it off and weigh it is probably easiest.

David_Wallis

Survey says.. Option 2

Neilo

These are the 2 options:

Chargespeed


APR


Both i think look really nice, i have the brake ducts already from the top picture....i would like those canards too if i got the APR though. bargain at £115!

terryb

I like the look of the ARP kit. Also like the CUsco 3D rear GT wing - but at £995+ it's bloomin expensive - I know as I have looked it up already

Neilo

The ARP kit really does make the car look very sexy, but as i said before its all carbon, and id be paranoid about smashing it up!! Id rather keep my prodrive wing for now to remain a slight bit stealthy, although the big GT wings do look good when on track!

terryb

terryb

This is my inspiration - even if it is an ugly bugly

Neilo

haha, go for it.....cant see the wing being within budget for this year, its a nice to have but not essential.....

Neilo

forgot to add oil cooler to the list too, i am hoping to get hold of one while the motor is out as well.

stevebennett

If i were you i would upgrade the rear brakes, so to keep the balance and breaking power correct front to back. its all well and good increasing the front breaking power but if the rears can not stop with the same force as the front then the standard calipers are effectively doing nothing to help you stop.

Neilo

how would i know how to create the correct balance? same manufacturer? or what about a brake bias valve (i think i havent just made that up!). The rear discs and pads could do with being replaced as it happens, so its worth considering

stevebennett

As you have gone for the wilwoods, i would go for the matching rear conversion.

Then i would use the standard brake bias setup from the factory, this would then give you a balanced brake setup.

I am finding it hard to put it into the correct none engineering terms but i am finding it hard after a few wines and beers. will sleep on it and try and find some info on this.

Steve

ex-webby

Neil,

Will be good to see your car progress!

I'm not sure I understand your issue with lag etc..... if being built as a track car, lag / pick should not be a problem as you would normally be in the higher rev band 95% of the time. No such thing as needing driveability in a track car...... you should always be over 5k in any gear!

In all seriousness though.... it's only the tight handling circuits that it can be a disadvantage, but in those cases you just use the box more.

Neilo

Shaun, i think you would see what i meant if you were in the car and was looking at the boost guage, im guessing that your car has near instant response from the twin scroll set up at anything over 3k (or even less). Even when mine is at 5k and you floor it, the turbo still takes its tie to spin up. Thats just to do with the size of the core, so not a great deal i can do about that.

However in terms of pickup, any lightening that i can do on the crank should at least allow the engine to rev much more freely (which is all i was getting at really)

ex-webby

Mmmmmm... even on my previous RS500 on a Hyrbid Garret T4 (which was running just over 500bhp), I can't say I remember the boost taking much longer to build once within the boost rpm then say my twin scroll does tbh (but that was a couple of years back and my memory isnt getting any better ).

Dare I suggest you may not be running the optimum turbo for your engine specification. Also having a matched spec (as regards to porting, head matching and cam spec) has a lot to do with responsiveness and certainly rev'ability and power band on a 2.5 (as does with any engine in reality).

People say that 2.5's don't rev..... I know of one that rev's very well and still manages to hold on to the power.

I'm not sure of the relevance, but is having a knife edged crank not worth while anymore? Of course you could always go for a billet crank!

Best of luck mate..... look forward to seeing you on track.

Neilo

you are correct if im honest. Its not a "bad" turbo, but i think that a true garrett would make the motor sing a bit better (but thats pencilled in for 2008 assuming the job situation allows) I am hoping that the new heads/cams will improve matters and im sure they will as the turbo should respond better/quicker if there is a greater volume of air passing through it from the heads, more air through same exhaust manifold = greater velocity i would presume (that may be overly simplistic though)

I think it will rev too, its the heads at the moment that are making it feel "choked" i think. John Stevensons engine revs to 8k happily combined with a GT30R and that performs brilliantly, as shown at TOTB, so i think that the potential is there, i am contemplating upping the rev limit (assuming the turbo is still effective which it should be as its still holding 1.5bar at 7k now on crappy heads) to around 7500-7700, it could make all the difference especially at places like silverstone where i was changing up to 5th in 2 places on the circuit, this would allow me to hang on to 4th potentially.

The block isnt going to get cracked open until it blows tbh, so what ive got in there is how its staying for now. We shall see how far that takes me, hopefully itll be ok for ~500 or so reliably, as this spec should only see 450 max then it should be ok

I cant wait for it to all kick off too, aprils gonna come round awfully quickly i think!

ex-webby

Tell me about it!

I better get my backside in to gear as well..... looks like May will be a busy month as well, what with the possibilities of TA and ScoobyNetLive in the same month! Who knows what state of tune mine will be in by then..... as long as I dont have less power (not that will make any difference with my driving ability though )!!!

Neilo

Potential change of plan has presented itself.....this could be an interesting year

David_Wallis

Ouch, not on std internals.

Neilo

they arent standard internals.....standard liners....but pistons and rods are forged.