2011 WRX (Roxie) going rally style slowly

Copy & Pasted from DirtyImpreza.com
My normally updated Build Thread on DirtyImpreza.com
My not-so-frequently updated 3GWRX.com build thread
This is my first journal, so here goes: bought this car in March of 2011 so I could get rid of my 2005 Dodge Neon (2nd car, after my '89 Mazda 323 with 277k on it). The neon wasn't a horrid car, and it gave me plenty of good years of beating on it bad (tank trails, psychotic snow driving A.K.A. normal WRX driving) it was just time for a change. Looked at a few vehicles in my search (Civic, Sentra SE-R, Speed3, etc) but finally figured out a few pre-reqs for any car I'd want. I needed a car I'd like seeing, wanted 200+ HP & something reliable and decently built. As I whittled the list down, I finally decided on going AWD and Audi & BMW were (still are) out of my price range. I decided I really liked the STi & the Evo, but my wife would not agree to me spending that much, so we compromised and I went with a WRX and I've taken to calling her Roxie. :love: I did the whole shebangle (limited sedan, heated seats & HIDs FTW!) and I've loved the car since, but since I'll probably always wish I got the STi instead, I may eventually do a full swap over to STi drivetrain. And thus the quest for a bit more power out of the car starts. Within a month I was wanting a little more out of the car, so I bought a Cobb AP and went stage 1. Obligatory pics:
With the ebay lip I liked so much:


Roxie & I:


Fast forward another 8 months to now, I have given up any thoughts of going the lower route, as the whole idea sickens me, plus function is always> form. So I have the bug to get more dirt in my life and Roxie's existence. This is my current mod list (red is for parts be awaited/ not installed yet and blue for parts removed):
- Kartboy Endlinks (Front & Rear)
- Whiteline Rear Differential Positive Power Front Kit
- GTSPEC Front Strut Brace
- Cobb AccessPort – Custom Tune Stage 2+ by Eric Mineheart
- SPT Axle Back Exhaust
- Kartboy Short Throw Shifter
- Kartboy Shifter Bushings (Front & Rear)
- GrimmSpeed PnP/ Coated Headers, Hi-Flow X-Pipe & Up-Pipe
- Invidia Down-Pipe
- Cobb Short Ram Intake
- RalliTek Sway Bars (22mm front & 19mm rear)
- SPT Lower H-Brace
- Feal Suspension Front Strut Rebuild/ Feal Suspension Rear Struts – Gravel Spec w/ King Springs
- Grilltek Grills – Hood-scoop, Center Grill & Lower Grill
- Cusco Short Antenna
- RallyArmor UR Mud-flaps
- HKS Turbo Timer
- GrimmSpeed Turbo Heat Shield
- Carbign Craft Carbon Fiber Alternator Cover
- SMY ClusterMaker Dual Gauge Pod 52mm
- Windshield Dual Gauge Pod 52mm
- ProSport Evo Gauges (Boost, EGT, Oil Temp & AFR)
- WeatherTech Window Deflectors
- GrimmSpeed Air Oil Separator
- Subtle Solutions WRX License Plate Delete
- Hella Supertones on SubieMods Mounting Plate
- Delrin Shift Knob from Killer B Motor Sports
- GTSPEC D-Shaped Steering Wheel
- Primitive Racing Skid Plate w/ Stinger + Rear Skid Plate

Buh bye lip, I'll miss you, kinda (silly low-ish car, don't go off-road) + Stupid raccoon, :angryfinger: sorry bumper :

Skid plates:




My plans as of right now are to install some Feal revalved struts with King springs (on order, waiting for the some rear struts to get to Odi for the spring perches), SPT H-Brace & '09 STi Rear Sway Bar (bought BNIB from someone on 3gwrx) and I may upgrade the front sway bar too, eventually. As things go on, I'll update my list and put the post number links in the saved blanks. And, since it's a journal, my latest mod :mrgreen:



:headbang:



Photo opportunity I found in the desert:



My bumper now:

And a pic I took tonight:

Never seen someone head the rally route. I honestly think it'll cost more in the end lol. But you're bringing the car back to it's roots which is nice to see. Gonna be one of a kind pretty much anywhere you go. Can't want to see an off road video

This is only the second car that I've seen that is focused on rallying that is still daily driven. My friend back in va has a bugeye that he put a cage in, kept stock height with different springs, diversion panels and a lot of rally suspension upgrades as far as bushings and stuff go

10Wrex wrote:Never seen someone head the rally route. I honestly think it'll cost more in the end lol. But you're bringing the car back to it's roots which is nice to see. Gonna be one of a kind pretty much anywhere you go. Can't want to see an off road video

Yep, it definitely costs more than a street setup, at least in the suspension side, for a myriad of reasons; mainly the fluidity of the driving surface makes the suspension work a lot harder both in damping and the rebound. It helps a lot having springs with a stiffer and progressive spring rate, as well as having dampers built for gravel conditions. I don't really know the specifics on everything, but a combination of some stiffness but also SOME flexibility in the body helps. Good thing is that you're fine using thinner sway bars than a street setup would warrant using. I'm on a 22mm front and a 19mm rear, just sow I have some capability to drive street a bit. Most rally drivers seem to disconnect or remove the rear sway bar though; something about helping the turn-in on corners IIRC. Someone on Dirty Impreza (DI) could probably tell you more about it than I'm capable as of now.

STi2eNvy wrote:This is only the second car that I've seen that is focused on rallying that is still daily driven. My friend back in va has a bugeye that he put a cage in, kept stock height with different springs, diversion panels and a lot of rally suspension upgrades as far as bushings and stuff go

You gotta check out DI then, most of the cars on there are dailies, and occasional rally car.

Update!!! Installed the Cobb short ram intake tonight. Still remains to be seen if I like it. I hope to hell I do though, cause I don't want to go back to the OEM one.

Also here are some pics from a couple days ago:
More fun in the desert, got stuck for a few minutes and had to rely on my old Minnesota driving skills to get out of the deep ass rut.

Hey,

The nice new pics. The reason they remove the sway bars is because when you are offroading if your suspension is tied together with sway bars then your wheels may not have the best contact with the ground. I.e. you may have one wheel off the ground while the other is on the ground because of the situation. Not having sway bar would allow both wheels to be on the ground under the same circumstances.

STi2eNvy wrote:Hey,

The nice new pics. The reason they remove the sway bars is because when you are offroading if your suspension is tied together with sway bars then your wheels may not have the best contact with the ground. I.e. you may have one wheel off the ground while the other is on the ground because of the situation. Not having sway bar would allow both wheels to be on the ground under the same circumstances.

Yep, that's what I was going for. Could've sworn I replied to you typing that before.....

Anyways, did the Bulletproof Mod on my TMIC. Link to the LGT thread: [URL="http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/bulletproof-tmic-mod-lgt-08-wrx-158870.html"]LINK[/URL]
And the pic for those more visually oriented:

*Not mine, stolen from the thread, but more or less, looks the same.

...Interesting. What exactly did you have to do?

looks like a kustum bracket on each side of the TMIC.?

STi2eNvy wrote:...Interesting. What exactly did you have to do?

Basically some aluminum trim for plywood edges (3/8" & 1 small piece of 1/2") that is perfectly sized for the border where the aluminum was crimped on the plastic end tanks. Basically keeps the end tanks from separating again.

Also, added a pic that shows what the bumper looks like now, and a pic I took tonight while I was doing some runs.

EDIT: Forgot about updating and saying I blew one of the front struts somehow. Odi over at Feal took care of the situation free of charge (just had to pay for shipping) and a week and a half later they are back to me. Install again tomorrow and I'll be back in happy-lifted-land. Especially once I put the strut top lift kit in.....

Sweet! I absolutely love, love, love the 3G WRX in Rally Blue (wonder why haha). I tried the rally thing the week I got my car and I just f*cked up my front bumper, so I decided to stick to the street/track scene, I just got a little excited going from Civics, to a 2wd mini-truck that was slammed to sh*t, then finally to my first AWD/4WD car so I took it a little serious rallying it haha. It was so funny going to school covered in mud and parking next to a huge, lifted truck with just a little dirt on the tires.

OldSchoolAce08 wrote:Sweet! I absolutely love, love, love the 3G WRX in Rally Blue (wonder why haha). I tried the rally thing the week I got my car and I just f*cked up my front bumper, so I decided to stick to the street/track scene, I just got a little excited going from Civics, to a 2wd mini-truck that was slammed to sh*t, then finally to my first AWD/4WD car so I took it a little serious rallying it haha. It was so funny going to school covered in mud and parking next to a huge, lifted truck with just a little dirt on the tires.

Wish we could get some mud here sometime soonish. Like, right after I get my taller front struts back in, plus my 1" strut top spacers in. Going to back to tearing up the dirt this weekend!! Oh, and thanks!!

Alright gents, time for some more pics, just going to be some my bro took during our foray through the desert and up a small mountain/large hill. Need to get started on editing the ones on my iphone now.
Couple of my favorites:


An idea of what I was driving over out there:

And what kind of situation I drove up:

When I get my pics up, you will be able to see how far down the hill Chris was when he snapped that pic, because I got a pic down the hills when he was taking the pics up. Plus that was the lower plateau of the big hill, here is the peak (or vice versa):

And just a couple more:



And a comparison of mine to his stock suspension 2010 WRX and 2??? F150:

Nice, must have been fun. We will have to do a comparison of my suspension vs yours at the next meet.

Well, it's been awhile, obviously. Car is pretty much completely stock again, going to be trading her in for and '06 or '07 STi, when I find the right one for me. Unfortunately finding one that's still stock, and appears to have been very minority modded, or just not modded at all previously is very difficult.

I've checked out both in town, both '07s, one is a car that screams "idiot is my PO!", it's the white one on Montana, with an eBay turbo, Megan DP and some retarded ass BOV. Other one is black, and seems to have been previously modded to at least a stage 2 setup. It's back to stock, except for a F*** BOV too. Could deal with that easily, but that shop wants $27k for a 6 y/o car with over 70k on the clock, and won't go any lower.

Anyways I'll update more later, and still have to make my part out FS thread.

Why are you getting rid of your wrx?

Older STi would be a lot better starting point. Beefier cars with a beefy stock drivetrain. He'll even the body panels seem to be beefier than these new ones.

Well since Roxie is no longer mine, here's a link to Bianca's build (my '06 STi).

Hey Don, could you, or someone else with the rights, lock up this thread? No point in keeping it open, as I don't plan on adding anything more to it.