MoarLow Is an Addiction

 

Yint won't go Moar until we do something about his exhaust.

 

NEED MOARLOW CAPTAIN... I can still see a gap :-P

I could have done a better shot but I did a single shot exposure because I sure was feeling lazy... Turned out not to bad over all.

 

Maybe he just needs some inspiration.

 

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

Broken and Shit

Yint won't get around to posting this up so, I will!

Bit dented up here...

Large bend here...

This is a very, very bent control arm.

So that was the problem, and of course, this is the solution...

Parts Are on the Way

Yint messed up his car, he'll post pictures, I promise.

Anyway, we need some serious equipment. Control arms first, coming our way.

Second up, we got ourselves some BC racing coilovers in the mail. Oh yes this is a pretty serious job.

Keep your eyes peeled... we got some cool stuff coming.

Slammed - Excerpt.1

Wishing to believe I have some influence over Squarebush's mod path, I insisted on installing the steering rack bushings first.  I had done these in my own Subaru (an identical year/make/model), and although the perceivable difference is small, the amount of confidence the increase in feedback grants the driver is phenomenal.

I installed the steering rack bushings three nights ago.  It was a pain and took forever, but at least I didn't break anything this time (the bolts rust badly; I broke the captive nut inside the crossmember free on my car).  Best mod for the money, but just go slow getting the bolts out.  I had to go back and forth a few times with each one, using a lot of penetrating lubricant.  Because It's so easy to break these bolts I left the impact gun in its drawer.

Two nights ago, we installed the Ground Control height adjustable spring kit and put in the camber bolts.  It went well, the car handles, and it's dropped hysterically low.  It's 45° out and I'm sitting on the ground outside laughing, looking at Squarebush's car next to mine.  At least that's what I thought after three cocktails, which I'm getting better at making.

Bushwacker:
1/2 oz. coffee liqueur (Kahlua)
1/2 oz. amaretto
1/2 oz. light rum
1/2 oz. Irish cream liqueur
2 oz. light cream
Pour in that order into an iced filled glass. I prefer to stir. I made mine a double the other night.

I was next going to make a gin and tonic, but poured the gin and couldn't find any tonic (one of the many hazards of not living alone).  I found some 'birch beer' in the fridge and tried that instead.  It was amazing!  Tasted like wintergreen.

DRINK RESPONSIBLY.  DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE.  SHUT UP, I WASN'T DRIVING, SQUAREBUSH WAS.  OH, AND DON'T LIKE, DRINK A BIT TOO MUCH, THEN LOOSE A FINGER TO AN ANGLE GRINDER.

Slammed - Pt.2

Here you go... The moment you may not even know you were waiting for.

Nii trimming the strut for new collars, the rest after... the... break... :-P

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.

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