wrx450

Have owned MY1997 WRX since 1999. Usual standard mods for the time. Decided early 2001 to take car to Tony Rigoli for a light tune. Walked out with same spec as his 10 sec car. First tune netted 365 whp @ 1.8 bar. Decided was enough to start with. Drag racing became a bug and worked on getting the car down the strip in 10 sec fully laden with 18 inch wheels, sound system etc. Managed to run a 11.5 @125mph. I was not used to launching a awd turbo car, was used to modified V8 where you just took off at idle rpm and fought the wheelspin for the first 100 metres or so. Whils sortig car decided to move to Cyprus. Could not give up on the car and brought it over.

Used it as a daily driver with PAR dogbox and learnt how to drive in the twisties. Had to upgrade the suspension and brakes to handle the mountain roads as the standard suspension and brakes were overwhlemed with the speed that the car could gather between corners.

Entered the once a year drag race but never improved on my times.In fact due to 40c temps and lower boost was running mid 12's. Straight line running now bored me and used the car less and less and only took it out for night time blasts in the mountains.

In 2005 the Motorpsort Federation decided to start a hiilclimb championship. Spectated for a year. Huge mix of cars 800hp Integrale and Misti Evo, rally cars with rally drivers, VW Golfs, Escorts.

Decided to enter in 2006, with bolt in Cusco rollcage, PAR synchro box as I had broke the dog gearset. Managed to chop huge amounts of time on each run but never figured against the front runners. Only problem during the year was a broken output shaft on the way to the last hillclimb of the year.

During the year the organisers decided to only accept FIA approved rollcages for 2007. Decided to get serious and the car would be fully stripped and be seam welded with a Toora rollcage. Ordered cage in December and after three months was finally told that they had decided not to make cages for the classic Impreza anymore. Bloody Italians Lost over three months because of this and just had car sitting around and could not decide whether I would continue.

Was reinspired by attending the first hillclimb of 2007 and speaking to the boys. They were all disappointed that I was a no-show and managed to talk me into competing. Have now ordered a Custom Cages full weld in cage, should be here in the next two weeks.

Just ordered a PPG straight cut gearset from Zen Performance and will most likely order the EXE-TC suspension from Zen as well. I am on a roll now.

Started on stripping car today, took out all glass, removed doors and removed the sound fproofing from the cabin today.What a #hit of a job. and it was hot today. need a beer now

Next week the dashboard comes out and will start on a completely new wiring loom. I have so far removed 140 kilos of equipment including speakers, stereo air con, some wiring, seat carpets etc Hope to remove 200 kilos and add in 50 with the cage. Car was weighed at 1315 with no fuel. Hope to be aroung 1150 dry. Next year will look at the lightweight doors and plastic glass to get to 1100.


Of cours have no photos of my efforts today, as my camera decided to to have a flat battery. Will post next week.

Current spec

2.2 ltr stroker kit suppied by Tony Rigoli

2.5ltr 79 mm crankshaft
93mm JE pistons
TRP Uprated conrods and bearings , not sure which brand
Standard open deck block, only O-ringed,
3mm copper head gasket
14mm head studs block heli coiled and tapped
standard teflon coated valves
STi valve springs
Heads and inlet manifols, ported , polished and match ported
Garret GT35 turbo with .82 housing and .63 spare. Will see which works better on hillclimb
MY99 fuel rails and injectors modified to 800cc
equal length braided fuel lines
Bosch motorsport fule pump, surge tank and Malpassi regulator
75 hp NOS kit - should be really useful going up the mountain
PWR aluminium radiator
Turbonetics Godzilla blow off valve
Oil catch can and oil cooler
Micks Metalcraft front mount intercooler
HKS headers
3 inch buddy club lightwieght exhaust
45mm external wastegate with screamer pipe
STi V3 custom cams from Rigoli
Electromotive Tec 3 engine management and ignition system
Magnecor leads and NGK Iridium plugs
Blitz boost controller
RCMS ultra lightweight pulley kit and manifold spacers

Exedy twin plate clutch and flywheel
PAR Dog box\
PAR synchro box soon PPG keep PAR bits and pieces as spare
short shift kit
4.44 RA diffs
RCMS uprated engine and gearbox mounts


KAD 330mm 6 piston brake kit and braided lines
Pagid RS421 pads
18 inch Simmons OM wheels with 225/35Pirelli P Zero
17 inch OZ Prodrive wheels with 205/40 Toyo R888 for race

Interior fully stripped
Sparco Evo seat, 4 point harness, steering wheel
Cusco six point bolt in cage. Being replaced with weld in Custom Cage


Suspension all Whiteline

Camber bolts
ALK
Front/rear rollbars and links
Diff lock kit/subframe bush kit
Steering rack bushes
Fully adjustable lateral track control arms in the rear
Front lower cross brace and top strut brace
Superlow springs and dampers

Soon to be replaced with EXE-TC

Aluminium bonnet, no rear spolier, crystal lights.

Would expect with cams, head work, much better engine mgmt and other more recent developments about 550hp at 2.0 bar plus NOS.


Picture of dyno graph from Hot 4s magazine in 2001





From Greek magazine Dynoroad






From drag race in 2004



and hillclimb in 2006




Will keep you posted and hope to have ready for mid July hillclimb. Only problem its is usually 40 plus degrees. Actually these are mountain climbs where BHP plays a big part , hence daylight between Integrale, Mitsi and the rest.

Paul. Go the Aussies in the cricket.

stevey

iTrader: (2)

some nice cars in cyprus, were back over again in september as you say come july time the temps can be stupid

wrx450

No work done as the temps are already silly. It was 36 yesterday, today and tomorrow and it is still Spring. Spent the day at the beach, by the pool, had a few beers and got sunburnt.

I am taking Thursday and Friday off to remove dashboard and wiring. Will take camera and get a few pics

wrx450

Progress has been made.

Rollcage being installed this week. Gearbox with PPG gearset being rebuilt. New wiring loom to be made with only the essentials.

The first owner of the car had a big sound system and filled the boot with stick on sound proofing. It is like tar and will not come off very easily. Took about three hours for the section wher the fuel pump is

wrx450

Okay, busy times. Roll cage from Custom Cages arirved. What a fanatastic piece of kit. Had to find another installer as the guy who usually installs cages into rally cars said that it was a difficult install and he did not feel confident. I was happy with his honesty as there are too many people who will take your money with no idea what they are doing.

Cage is installed and chassis seam welded. Interior is being painted this week, thinking about white interior as may change exterior to white next year. Getting flocked dashboard and new electrical work.

PPG gearset ready to go in as well. Two hillclimbs left this year hope to get some base figures to add to last years times.

Some pictures, not good quality. Will get some more when interior complete.

stevey

iTrader: (2)

looking good so far

wrx450

More progress, although now that it is August everyone is on holidays. Needs electrical installation which I cannot see being done in August.

Have ordered a Quaife diff as well.

911

Back to basics then!

More and more people are going to the out-and-out racer approach now over here too.
Graham.

wrx450

I'm back!!

As previously mentioned work did stop in August and I also changed jobs so did not pay the correct attention that I should have. Ultimately 90% of the electrical work was finished and has been completed to a high standard. Have two garbage bags full of wiring, must be 15-20 kilos. Dashboard is an array of switches for fans, fuel pump, igintion, horn starter button, indicators, relays and fuses. Will get some pictures asap.

The good news is that the car has been started and was partly mapped by Paul from Zen on Friday. Paul was kind enough to take two days from his holiday in Cyprus to map the car.

Unfortunately he did a bit more than map the car as it was in a bit of a crap state when time came to try and start. The list included, water leak, oil leak, brakes not working due to removal of abs and leaking fluid from some of the new fluid lines, clutch not working and due to previous mapping by a local tuner it refused to start and was overly rich. Paul worked his magic and the car fires up beautifully now. We managed to get it to the dyno late on the second day after Paul spent some time putting in a base map. Paul then discovered a blown gasket on the exhaust up-pipe which was a concern but quickly fixed.

I must admit that I had not had the car on a dyno since 2001 in Sydney so was a bit apprehensive as the car had been stuffed by various 'experts' since arriving in Cyprus. We had produced 365whp at 2.1 bar on a simpler package in 2001 so I was hoping for 400 odd.

Paul quickly dispelled any concerns when on the first run it produced 367whp at 1.6 bar. On the next run he had 440whp at 1.8 bar at 6500rpm. At 0.9 bar it produces 290whp so it seems to be a good package.

The problem though was that the boost control was quite poor and he spent the next half hour trying to get better,smoother control over the boost. Just when he got on top of it, we had a slight problem with some noise from the new PPG gearset. Paul promptly stopped the session and we wil be stripping down the gearbox to see where the noise is coming from.

I must admit that hearing a Subaru with a straight thru lightly muffled exhaust with a screamer pipe blowing foot long flames is awesome. I arrived home with red eyes from the fumes and partly deaf.

I am hoping that when Paul comes back early next year we should be at 500 whp at the 2 bar mark on 100 octane pump fuel and at 530 odd on 102 octane race fuel.

Paul pointed out many areas where improvements can be made, so I have to get the whip out and get a few people working on a few items. Car still does need another month or two of work ranging from various leaks to tidying up engine bay, bodywork/paintwork and various items under the car.

I would like to thank Paul and Liz for their time, and admit that Paul impressed the locals with his knowledge and he may have a bit more business to deal with from Cyprus.

Wil try and get some pictures by end week.

F1 CJE UK

iTrader: (8)

looking good so far, paul is one of the best must be a great car to drive

911

Great to hear things are back and alive for you and the car.

Please buy a video camera and use it so we can gawp at it!

wrx450

Unfortunately the local boys in blue advised that as we had not got it registered as a 'rally' car, they would confiscate it if it was seen on a public road. So, we never got to drive it.

It is quite fast though when you push it as it is very light It is as easy to push as my normal car - Honda Jazz - so I am hoping that it is around 1080 -1120 kilos with all fluids and fuel. It was 1315 before we started removing anything and felt heavy. Should be around 500bhp/tonne.

I am still kicking myself for not taking the video camera for the dyno run Will make sure that I do, when we get the gearbox and registration sorted and drive it and also when Paul is back to complete the tune.

911

What did you remove to loose the weight?

wrx450

Basically everything apart from the shell and engine. I weighed everything as I removed, but may be slightly out as some items were removed two years ago. I have done this in two stages, the first time was with the bolt in rollcage and trying to leave the car as a daily driver in between hillclimbs and then this year where we have setup as a race car.

Started at 1315 with half a tank of fuel.

To give you an idea:

18 inch wheels to 17 inch (with tyres) - 6 kilos each = 24k
Rear wing = 7k
Aluminium bonnet instead of steel -3 kilos
Seats 22 kilos each = 44
Rear seat = 5
Belts and other assorted trim = 8 kilos
carpets = 8
sound system incuding two amps, 4 speakers and subwoofer = 45
spare wheel and jack = 10
Wiring and control modules for alarm, cruise control, hands free mobile = 10
swapped exhaust from MRT 3" to Buddy Club 3" - 18
air con compressor and pipework = 10

About 190 kilos less in the first stage so about 1125

We then totally stripped the car including all sound proofing, trim, dashboard, wiring loom etc.

Wiring loom especially when it has been mixed in with an engine management system plus 12 gauges is very heavy = 20 kilos
air vent/heating system under dash = 10 kilos
remodel dash remove all excess items = 5 kilos
sound proofing = 5
all interior trim including rear door trim (boxes of the stuff) = 10

at least another 50 kilos although I have been told that I have not received all of the items back so far, so could be a liitle bit more.

So about 1075.

Added in a 50 kilo rollcage, plus seat and frame 10 kilos - so should be 1135 max with half tank fuel.

When i decide to do the doors and and replace glass should come under the 1100 mark as I think you save 30 kilos replacing the doors with fibreglass and I am sure that you can save 15 kilos on the glass.

As mentioned the car feels very easy to push, whereas before it was always a bit of a struggle.

911

Excellent detail! Thanks for all that. I intend to do the doors and glass (except the windscreen) which will remove a lot of weight off my Sti (4 x power windows etc)

wrx450

I will do suspension before I take anymore weight out as this is where I will fall over next year with only Whiteline spring and dampers, rather than power/weight.

Although as is usually the case once I get it to handle properly may need a better power/weight as the two front runners are 690-730whp. Cannot see anymore development on the engine side apart from anti-lag, so it will have to be weight that will be looked at.

911

Interesting that your class is racing up the BHP/tonne route too.

This year 400 bhp/tonne was pretty racey, but it will need 600 bhp/tonne to be in the top slot on the power hillclimbs.
We might get away with a little less on the twisty ones (that are more common).

It is taking a lot of money and time now to keep to the top 3 or 4 in the class. Not so sure it's worth it?

rob4620

Good progress mate, I'm heading the exact same route as you but probably keeping the glass due to the hassles of lexan on the frameless doors. target is <1100kilos for me and I just got it off the weighbridge at 1170, it is however pretty stripped out already so it will be a hard 70+kilos to find but I have a good list from knowledgeable people to work to that should see me achieve it. I'm in the process of chiseling off the sound deading, what a miserable job, but when you start filling a bin bag it's incredible how heavy it all is and worth the toil and trouble as I'm sure you know. If my interior looks like yours by next year I will be well happy. Good thread mate keep us posted with pics!

Rob.

PS 440 Zen bhp can beat 800bhp machines so have faith you can do it!

wrx450

As previously mentioned I had lost faith over the past few years due to the car being worked on more than being driven - busted gearbox, spun bearing. The good thing is that from 2000 I went for a 550bhp setup so it has stayed that way since then, but due to the above problems and poor tuning it has never been at this level. With Zen (Paul) hlep last week it very quickly go there.

Is it worth it - probably not for 5 or 6 events a year, but I am sure that when I drive it and hit 2.2 bar boost it will be worth it.

I tried to chisel the sound deadening off - quickly farmed it out. The worst was the sound deadening in the boot, which was soft like melted tar.

some pictures hot off the press this morning:






Noticed they only put a 20psi boost gauge in. Will ask for 35psi



engine bay looking better





Found some pictures from a drag race two years ago.





Yes I did win easily

911

2.2 bar!

The sound deadening material comes off easy when it is very cold. I know some shoot dry ice onto the panels first and the good clip with a blunt 50mm cheisel has a large chunk come away.

Worst bit is the patching that is left looks poor. I am thinking (if i keep my car) of simply putting the flyweight carpet back in over the top as it weighs very little. Saves the cost of paint and the preparation work!

Graham.

wrx450

Very slow progress has been made, but will be ready for first hillclimb in April

Have just ordered the AST 3 way competition suspension, with a whole lot of different springs. As we will be promoting AST in Cyprus, they will also be sending out one of their engineers to help with the setup.

Will alos be getting a steering rack from an RA

All electrical work finished with an automated fire extinguisher system fitted. All the little odd jobs have been completed as well.

We opened the gearbox with the PPG straight cut dog gears to check what the noise that we heard on the dyno was. It looks like the selector for 3rd and 4th is slightly bent as it jams in 3rd. The noise though comes from 4th and reverse gear trying to be engaged at the same time. When selecting 4th, reverse also trys to engage and when selecting reverse, 4th tries to engage. The noise while in 4th was reverse gear trying to go into gear as well. I have never seen this before Has anyone had similar issues?

Waiting for Paul from Zen to get back to me, but he is busy.

I cant wait to see how it goes- 600odd bhp, 1100 kilos, race suspension, quaife front diff and RA centre and rear diffs, PPG box, weld in rollcage on tight, twisty mountain roads.

Hoping to also have a nice addition to the family for daily usage soon. RIP Honda Fit

911

Sounds wonderful!

I guess Paul will say fit billet forks are needed.

Pics required asap and buy an in-care camera like Robs so we can 'sit in the car with you'!
I will be very very interested to see what the AST engineer sets your 3 ways to!

ZEN Performance

it's got billet forks! I think careful reassembly might be all that's required!

wrx450

Graham

do you know who sells the in car camera/recorders? I also want this so as to review after each weekend and see where I can improve. We are down to three courses which are used at least twice per year so there is a chance to improve in the same year.

Paul

I will try and call you tomorrow to clarify the problem. I had also mentioned that maybe it just needed to be reassembled, but they do not want to put it back together and have the same problem without checking all possibilities. The only worrying thing is that when third gear is selected, it jams and you have to force the gear out. All other gears are smooth and engage/disengage easily.

911

https://www.scoobynet.com/member.php?u=58552

Contact Rob, he can give all the details:

Produces this!
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

P20SPD

iTrader: (1)

Fast Films Vehicle camera equipment and filming services

rob4620

Hopefuly the whiteing out from glare will be reduced with the new flocked dash.

wrx450

First hillclimb booked for 16 March. Being Cyprus could be 16 April, as someone may have a weeding on. You never know until the week it is actually on.

Got cracking today and fitted bonnet pins and automated fire extinguisher system, water cooling for the turbo.

Need to refit gearbox, bleed clutch, and if they arrive in time fit the AST three ways.

May have to leave the AST's off if I do not have time to test first. The Whiteline gear will have to do, although it really does not cut it if you want to be closer to the front.

Had a good look at the quality of the rollcage. Nowhere near the workmanship of Zen or any of the other cars that have been shown but it will have to do. There really was no one better. They did not weld any of the holes in the chassis or firewall and either used silicone or tape Over the course of the year, I will attend to fixing these myself at least with rubber grommets. I must admit that the new wiring loom looks nicely done and having a look under the dash, there is nothing apart from neat wiring. The door cards were removed and fitted with a sheet of aluminium. Even though I asked for the doors to be lightened by gutting them this was not done. Another job for me during the year.

Needs a really good clean as the dirt gets into every nook and crannie and shows up against thw white. The paintowrk needs a good clean and polish.

Some pictures once it is all clean and finished.

rob4620

Looking forward to the pics mate.

wrx450

As I had alluded to in my previous post the first hillclimb has been moved from today to the 30th, but again this is not a certain date. Spent all day Saturday, claying and polishing the car, trying to get 18 months worth of pollution, rain, dust off which has been baked to perfection by our nice sunny weather, Needless to say I placed another order with Polished Bliss for some stronger products. Hope to finish next weekend. I hate a ratty looking car, even if it is a race car.

AST's wil arrive on 24th so no time to test before the 30th. As I do not have time to get to grips with the setup and driving fast in the mountains after 18 months sans Subaru, I have spent the last two Sundays testing my new bugeye on the mountain roads with the Type 25 AST setup - what an excellent piece of kit.

Finally I can be on the power around a corner,turbo boosting with options on how to attack and exit a corner. Had it drifting on several ocassions, and it just fires down the road with huge grip. The control over bumpier sections was sublime and the grip even with Toyo T1s was superb. Set at 7 clicks at front and 5 at the rear,with 38psi @ fr and 36 @rear, due to bumpy roads. Although for one smooth open fast section wound them right up to hardest setting front and back and the car stayed planted even with some very big speeds.


Okay they are different cars, and maybe not the best way to get a feel and some practice for the hillclimb (1330 kilo 2.5l 500bhp bugeye versus 1150 kilo 2.2l 550bhp, stripped and caged classic) but they are both blue Subarus with grey wheels, and will have same brand suspension, similar brakes AP v KAD and I was driving on similar roads to the hillclimb course.

Cant wait to fit the three ways on the classic with the Toyo R888 and get closer to the front runners. No problem power wise or straight line, it was just the corners! Any ideas on what setup to start with??


Home straight now. Cant wait as it has been a time consuming,patience testing time since October 2006, when I decided to GET SERIOUS.