evoke

iTrader: (6)

Hi Folks,

Is there much difference in performance between the WRX Type RA & the STi Type RA (Years 99/00), both are 276bhp i think?

Also, what are the other differences apart from Roof Scoop & Diff Control?

Thanks in advance for any help/input

trell

the ra will be more responsive and nimble as its lighter

evoke

iTrader: (6)

I'm referring to both Type RA's, the WRX & the STi

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

I think the STI has a few more goodies as standard, not 100% sure though, suretrac type LSD (or is it a helitical? one?), plus you get the dccd on the STI, quick rack steering etc, same BHP but slightly more torque on the STI i suspect, the STI will be the better handling of the 2 (or should that be the more adjustable of the 2).

Tony

GC8

The later cars werent lighter and the gearing advantage had pretty much gone too. Its only the early cars that had mentally low final drives.

Remember that the WRX Type-RA was the cheapest car in the range and it doesnt perform any better than a more expensive WRX.

rooferman

iTrader: (6)

A dccd equipped car will eat a non dccd car off the mark........

With the diff fully locked the sti ra is off the blocks way quicker than a car without dccd...

I have proved this many times.....

Also the dccd comes into its own when braking hard....the car feels way more stable with dccd locked on the limit..

Even with the later spec cars ie my99/00 sti ra you still have 3 gear changes to 60mph...

I wonder how much i could shave off the 0-60mph without the 3rd gear change..??

evoke

iTrader: (6)

I thought the RA's (both sti & wrx) had short ratio boxes & only the 5th gear ratio was changed so the top speed was higher? I may be wrong though!

I was also under the impression all RA's had aluminiun bonnet & bootlid to Asave weight?

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

The UK turbo's were lighter or as light I believe than the RA's, the gearing is shorter than UK cars but as GC8 said, not as manic as the older wrx ra's.

Tony

rooferman

iTrader: (6)

This gearbox chart shows the earlier wrx ra,s manic short gearing on the first models.... http://spda-online.ca/modules/tinyco...ite/tc_28.html

And shows the later gearing which is shorter than the uk equivalent year by year....but not as short as the earlier cars..

rooferman

iTrader: (6)

I dont think the uk cars were as light as the wrx ra models.....

They had steel bonnets,wishbones,wiring for fogs,foglights,rear boot lights and split rear folding seats not too mention underseal, airbags, headlight washers...etc...

Oh and the usefull brightswitch....

GC8

They were lighter because some options were deleted, and cheaper too. Most cars have electric windows and aircon optioned though. All Saloons had aluminium bonnets and wishbones, but no cars at all had aluminium anything else - its just sh*te thin steel.

Early RAs had manic final drive ratios, but they became less insane with every revision. Look at a transmission reference if you dont believe me. By the time the face-lifted D-Series cars came out they were far less raw.

Trust me: I am wise.

bigkid

iTrader: (1)

I'm with rooferman, the ra is lighter than the uk, i thought the uk came with more sound deadening thicker glass all steal panels and i thought it was double skinned on some panels. Ra with thin glass no central locking, alloy panels and wishbones, small fuel tank, less sound deadening wind up windows with thin glass. By far the lighter car

GC8

Alloy bonnet, as all JDM Saloons and normal glass, not thinner.

f4la k

iTrader: (1)

The ra glass was 1mm thinner. No question...

GC8

Identical on every WRX Type-RA that I imported.

GC8

Perhaps you are getting confused with the New Age Spec C, which does have thinner glass?

carpboy

iTrader: (2)

The 5th injector must of added some weight?

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

The RA's were only 30kg lighter than the standard jdm model, what made them quick was the short gearing.

Tony

carpboy

iTrader: (2)

My 2.1 stroker built by enginetuner and md321t should help , oh and the lightweight bonnet lol, ive even taken the 5th injector out

Sprint Chief

Haven't been to this message board in a while! Anyway, I'm running an STi 5 type RA at the moment. I might be wrong about the WRX type RA but I think I'm right in saying the STi has the STi engine and the WRX the WRX engine... (okay seems obvious typing it out!) Even though they are both listed at 276bhp, they hit it in very different ways.

WRX - cast pistons, STi - forged pistons
Both have the same rubbish rods though
STi has better heads and higher rev limit
STi has better intercooler
Which turbo? STi 5 uses VF28 (STi 6 VF29?), not sure about the WRX type RA?

Although they are both rated the same, STi5's could hit 290-300bhp on the dyno as standard, so perhaps 10-15bhp higher output in practice even though they are the same on paper.

Although the WRX type RA and STi type RA have the same gearing (as seen on the transmission charts), the STi will have a slightly higher top speed (due to the higher rev limit). On the topic of gearing, 3.9 is taller than 4.444, not shorter. The reason the early RA's have short gearing is because of the gear ratios themselves, not the final drives. The net effect is that the early RA's are slightly shorter geared than the later RA's, but not by much; the RAs are consistently shorter than the same year vanilla WRX/STi.

DCCD, which you already know about, is a big difference.

The STi will have the STi 5 suspension, which is supposed to be one of the best factory classic suspension setups, although it is quite pointy out of the box (especially with the DCCD fully open!) which can be unnerving for those trained on understeery FWD repmobiles...

Brakes are the same, I think??? Subaru 4 pots up front. Not so sure about this one. I read somewhere the 97 WRX type RA had 2 pots, don't know whether this got changed between 97 and 99 - I would hope so!

Some STi type RA's are rumoured to have a helical LSD at the front as an option according to the trans chart, but all of the STi 5 type RA Ltds have the LSD up front.

Remember though: these cars are 10 years old now, and may not have the original parts fitted!

172sport

iTrader: (6)

The short gearing feels fast but in reality it wasnt for me.

I infact lost time when I had an RA box fitted compared to my std WRX box. It was sold on only after a couple of months.

I think its wise to mention that the homologated "short box" was designed with the FIA size restrictors in mind therefore giving the best compromise against the power caps.

We dont have that inlet (power/torque) restriction therefore making longer ratio boxes a better bet.

All IMHO of course

rooferman

iTrader: (6)

Yes the v5 ra limited gearing does become a disadvantage when the power/torque is moved up....i managed a few 11.5 sec quarters with a 100bhp or so above the standard figure.

Crossing the line well into 5th gear.....i,m sure that longer gearing ie uk box would make for a quicker time due to losing forward motion through gear changes...and a longer 1st and 2nd would be an advantage to 60mph...

I now have a 6 speed 05 dccd box and diffs which i,m not sure will be much better as the ratios dont seem to differ that much from the original ra gearing....