Snow Plowing

Romping around in the snow on lowering springs was going to result in getting stuck.

A nice man in a van helped me get out so the fun could continue!

Non-Domestic Racing

I picked up some kick-ass vinyls from the discount store. They absolutely complete the ride. Here is a sunset photo shoot for you. Kind of silly, it was really cold but I had fun and I didn't care how the pictures came out. It is sort of my way of deconstructing the process. I am shooting for shooting's sake, being out in the fresh air, enjoying the light as it bounces off our filthy rides. Some times I am pointing the camera in the right dirrection, most of the time I am just shooting at the sun. Its a fun mash up so enjoy it.

 more pictures of light after the break

Getting low

Yint joined the lowered club yesterday, November 16th, 2010. He was inducted in by none other then me, Squarebush who joined the club the end of last month. Its now all about cornering, scraping, and of course morelow. 

Yint's bumper tilts up a bit in a rally inspired positive ground clearance way, please expect a fix for this "problem" among other creative finishing touches. Right now both cars are sitting in a higher more compliant stance... Something you shouldn't expect to last long. Low is an addiction.

Click to the break for more pictures from last night

Chassis Rigidity is God

Tired of a soft, uncommunicative, and unresponsive rear end, I finally caved and bought the rear strut brace I wanted for my '98 Legacy wagon.  I could have gone with a sedan brace from eBay intended for the rear of a second generation Impreza since the bolt pattern is the same and the price is right, but opted for the pricier Whiteline unit for its rigid bracket design and quick-release option (also intended for the Impreza since it was easier to find cheaper than the Legacy version; can't imagine what's different).

Clean install, took about an hour.

I had forgotten the reduction and body roll and improvement in steering precision I felt when I installed my front strut brace a while ago.  The difference the rear brace made was astonishing--to think chassis flex alone was causing all my problems blew my mind.  The rear no longer lurches to the outside of the corner slowly telling me nothing about traction; I now have an idea where the rear wheels are to a few inches, rather than guessing in terms of feet.  For must-have mods, Chassis Rigidity is God.

Discrete, and all my junk still fits.

Today

Tons of excitement today. I raised my car a tad for snow and extra complince. Driving on the bump stops starts to hurt your back.

Here are some kick ass heavy night air pictures.

 Check out more pictures after the break

Additions

This week I stared putting money into beefing up sound in my car.

I have two major (for me) components on the way. This will be my first adventure is performance sound. I am already addicted to buying one more part--thinking, "Hey is there room for one more speaker?"

I've created a monster now, I am totally hooked on all this after-market car junk. It used to be just about making a tad more power or grip, now it is a bit of dress up, a little bit of flash. I like it so far but I think I am going to be broke really really fast.

Anyway, Polk PA 330 2channel Amp

Polk db series 6.5" component system

Now I am up to my neck is wires trying to figure out how I am going to do this all. All in all it is going to be fun, hopefully rewarding, and I'll take a bunch of pictures.

New...

Purple Wheels  well, hub caps at least.

Slammed

I slammed my car to the ground... Pictures in the morning.
Still a little leveling to do and I need some good light. It is pretty goofy.

Parts!

My Ground Control kit showed up this afternoon. We have a few other parts on the way (camber bolts and steering rack bushings). I'll probably cave in and want to put them on Sunday before the temps start diving further.

The big trick/task will be establishing a good base alignment without equipment. The plan is to go as negative as possible since my last alignment bottomed out at 0° with the stock bolts. The camber bolts will move me in the right direction and we will see how far we can go before doing camber plates.

We're Still Doing It Wrong.

I was just flipping through the Drift union Flikr set. Its totally time for some seriour RWD action.

 

Couple more pictures after the break. But please be sure to check out all their cool stuff on their blog:

http://driftunion.com/blog/

Yint's Weekly Update 10/23/2010

Okay, so--Squarebush asked me to do a log of what I am up to, so here is my first installment detailing what I have done (of interest) over the course of the last week. 

So, I started of the week by cleaning my garage. Seeing as it is now primarily my work space, I went about re-organizing everything, and in general making it a much nicer place to work. I couple of key features of my renovated work space are a newly installed car radio(on my work bench) that is powered by an ATX power supply, and a new tool box made using an old dresser, some plywood, and drawer sliders bought at Home Depot for about $7 each set.

My first car work of the week was replacing the brake pads and rotors on a 2002 Ford Expedition. Brakes are generally pretty easy, but I have to say Ford really must have given these brakes about 5 minutes of total design time. The brake is entirely put together in a grooved track design, and in order to put it back together a mechanic need about twelve hands. Mostly my complaint about them is that you can't simply put the pads in. You have to assemble the brake in a specific order. Starting with the caliper, you add the outside brake pad, slide on the brake bracket PART of the way, insert the inner brake pad and then finish sliding the bracket into place. Not a terribly great design.

Just now, I went to AutoZone to meet up with my next client who owns a 2004 Legacy. He came to me expressing that he needs new head gaskets. After Some discussion, leading to me finding out his car is about to hit 100k, I recommended replacing the trimming belt while we were at it, and then also the clutch. We bought the necessary parts and set a date for next weekend. In the process of ordering parts we talked quite a bit about his car history and I was shocked. He has near literately been raped on ever minor difficulty he has had with his cars. The best example of this was when he told my about the CV boot that was torn on his car. He took it to a local dealership and ended up paying over $500 to have all 4 CV joints on his front axles replaced. I just spent 2 minutes on Google and found NEW whole axles for less than $60 each. Factor in 1.5 hours of labor, and I am still not coming up with $500; and all they did was rebuild the existing axles. Why do people pay so much for such un-necessary work?

Squarebush Legacy

I'm starting a ever growing suspension project on my 98 wagon. The couple major things done to it this year and I setting up some thing big right now. However I still have no idea what I am doing or why.

So its time to come up with a plan.

Right now I have my car sitting on a fresh set of KYB GR2's. These provide about 25% stiffer damping over stock plus however much I lost from high mileage. I'm running the uprated rear sway bar I mentioned before which did a bit to help stiffen up the rear.

Now I am in search of some added anti roll effect. I looked into and purchased an impreza ground control spring set up. I crunched a bunch of number, read countless forum posts and did everything I could to end up more confused about what is going to happen to my vehicle when I put them on. Basically it is all going to be a fairly useful experiment in struts and springs. Also on the way are extra camber bolts for front and rear along with TIC steering rack bushings.

More suspension nonsense after the break

Nii - Part.1

Nii, reporting in. Late. What was this a homework assignment? More widely known as Soul Shinobi on almost every Subaru forum (and just about everyplace else on the net since I was 12), offline I'm J. Nicholas "Nick" Sarris, or more affectionately, Nii (said nee).

With a passion for driving feel and the pleasant sensations associated, I frown on heavy aesthetic and even more function modification (if not everything). I started off lowly, driving my father's Mercury Mountaineer, and not to let any vehicle live below its potential I'd gladly pull U-turns over medians in the snow, and get it stuck off road, and get the truck I was trying to rescue it with stuck, and putting off telling my father until the next day, and having to pay a tow company $300 to nearly get their trucks stuck. What were we talking about?

Well then, my first real car, a 1992 Subaru Legacy L AWD 5MT purchased from a friend's family for the cost of the brake work that it needed. With no rear stabilizer bar to speak of, I could still get it to oversteer with just strut tower braces (eBay special) and weight shift technique the car so thoughtfully taught me. It certainly had more guts than the Mercury, and has been responsibly for at least two snow/mud rescues of squarebush (in a Mercedes Diesel wagon, and no less than a 2003 Subaru Legacy Outback). Like every car I've owned since, I fell in love with it, because I'm just naïve like that. I'd like to tell you it's still with me, and if I had the room it would be. I know it tried its best, it really did, but fate was cruel to it, and our home owner's association crueler still.

Lovingly adorned with fiberglass and body filler, as well as the cheapest fog lights money could buy.

The grounding kit helped, I swear. Notice the recess where an ABS unit should be. This car was a fine learning experience.

Detailed with q-tips and toothpicks. I rebuilt the tan vents by hand, as individual blades would break loose.