New Sway bar kit and Cobb Accessport!

Last night I picked myself up a Agency-Power sway bar kit. The kit includes front and rear 22MM sway bars, bushings, rear mounts, front and rear end links, and all the bolts, nuts, and washers your heart could desire. The stock sway bars are 19MM and the stock end links are weak and I've managed to bend one of them so these new beefy ones will do the job! When I ran over to Ill-Tech Auto in Tacoma, WA to pick up the kit they just happened to have a Cobb AccessPort for a '07 STi sitting right in front of me so like a kid in a candy story my eyes lite up and I started drooling. I ended up walking away with the Cobb Accessport and the Sway bar kit.

After I got home I dug everything out of the boxes and looked at it then I ran to the car to get a stage 1 tune on it. I flashed the car and on start up it didn't want to kick over but this is typical whenever your ECU is reset. After a few seconds it fired up and you could hear a more pronounced boxer sound. The car is much more responsive and it does exactly what I tell it to do. I am fairly certain my turbo is shot so I was running little to no boost however running with no boost the car definitely felt faster. I can't wait to get my turbo replaced and see what she is capable of!

The saga of the clutch and flywheel...

Have you ever been cruising down the highway and needed to downshift for a quick burst of acceleration say to change lanes or pass somebody, then out of nowhere you hear the engine rev up, yet the car does not seem to go anywhere, on top of that you start to smell something that appears to be burning. Well my friend you have just experienced clutch slip. My STi had a stock clutch and flywheel for the first 30K miles of its life. Around 29K I noticed the clutch slipping slightly, over the next few months it got worse and worse until I could not push the throttle passed 10-20% in 4th, 5th, and 6th gears. It was time for a new clutch. You ask yourself why is the clutch gone on only 30K miles? Well first I am a fairly aggressive driver and I engine brake excessively. 2nd, there was a recall on the stock clutch. I asked Subaru about the details of the recall but they would not tell me anything.

Around a month ago I dropped the car off at the Auburn, WA. Subaru dealership where I bought the car. I told them my clutch was slipping and I wanted them to verify that was in fact the case (I was also having oil burning issues, more on that in a later post). They claimed my clutch was fine. Since this was a dealership I believed them and went on my way. Over the next few weeks it became apparent that something was in fact wrong. I researched into the problem but all symptoms pointed to a failing clutch. I decided to try another dealership in Tacoma, again, I dropped the car off and told them exactly what I had told the dealership in Auburn. They said it sounded like the clutch and they would look at it. I dropped the car off the following week for a full two day visit (try being without your car for two full days, it's brutal). After the mechanic drove it for one minute he informed me that the clutch was in fact bad and because there was a recall I’d be getting a new clutch and flywheel free of charge. After waiting two days I finally received the call saying she was done and ready for pick up. Not two hours later I was down there picking her up. The new clutch grabs much more than the previous one. I am one happy camper (for now).

STUPID, STUPID, STUPID...

Stupid sums it all up. There is no need for a description of what I did, the pictures say it all. S.T.U.P.I.D!

....For those who still are having trouble seeing the problem. Notice how everything on the right side is discolored yet everything on the left seems normal. Anybody ever hear of a oil filler cap?

Fun with exhaust note...

After I fixed my exhaust leak I decided to take some video of the car on jacks. I ended up with this cut. Another sample of what she sounds like. Make sure you listen to this on speakers with a good low end so you get the sweeeeeet boxer sound. Enjoy.

Exhaust Leak Repair

While looking into a completely separate issue with my rear suspension over the weekend I discovered that my exhaust was leaking where my SPT cat-back meets up with the downpipe. We can't have this so the following day I picked up the parts needed for the repair, got the car on jacks and started pounding on bolts. The picture on the left is the downpipe connecting to the cat-back via the bolts with the springs.



Here is a video of the exhaust while the car is running. You can see the leak as well as the moisture complete with a puddle on the ground.

This was the first time that I have put the car up on 4 jacks. Usually I lift either the rear or the front but with this repair I needed to get under the center of the car with enough room to break loose the 15MM bolts so the entire car had to come up.

The old bolts, springs, and nuts. I replaced all three pieces. You can also see the rear passenger side tire and one of the jacks.

Here is what the inner of the downpipe looks like. The piece I am holding is the cat-back. Notice that there is no gasket???

I've placed a new non-factory gasket on the downpipe and we are ready to bolt it back together.

Bolts are on, notice the springs. 26 feet-pounds on the bolts.

New wheels and tires

I finally got around to ordering a new set of wheels and tires. I ended up with a set of MSW Type 16 18" wheels. I wrapped these puppies around a set of Kohma Escta ASX all season tires in preparation for the coming winter. These wheels are five spoke verses the ten spoke BBS wheels I had prior. My Brembo breaks really show through now with the five spoke wheels.

Rebuild of the front passenger side strut...

It turns out that when I installed my Cobb springs I did not align the top hat with the flange on the bottom of the front passenger strut, this 2" gap did not allow the strut to move around when taking corners. This resulted in the strut 'popping' under load and just a overall bad feel while driving the car. Saturday morning I removed the strut, tore it apart, fixed the alignment issue, then stuck it back on the car. The end result was a leveled front-end, no more popping and the handling of the car feels as it should now. Now that the car sits lower I can no longer simply stick my lift under the car to place jacks under it. Instead I have to drive it up a few inches on ramps to get enough clearance to get the lift under the car. I can only go up a few inches though, anything more and the front-end will scrap the ramps themselves. I will need to invest in some ramps with less of a angle. urgh!

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This shows how far I could drive the car onto the ramps before the front end would hit. Note that the car is resting on the jack in the picture.

Car is resting on jacks....

This is the strut directly after being taken off the car. Can you spot whats wrong with it? I noticed before I had it out of the car. If you look at the section closest to the camera you will see a indent on the metal top hat (the piece below the hard plastic piece with the three bolts sticking out). That indent needs to be aligned with the two metal pieces sticking upwards at the bottom of the strut. If you look at the metal piece alone you will see that it is not a solid circle but it's got a strange angle to it.

Before you start to remove the top hat make sure you stick spring compressors on the spring otherwise you will get injured!

Here is the strut completely taken apart. To put it all back together you will need to put the spring compressors back on the spring. The spring itself will need to be compressed more then when you took it out so you can actually thread the 17MM bolt at the top. Make sure you compress the spring evenly, as I learned if you don't do this you will be trying to do the impossible.

The strut property assembled, notice the indent is now aligned and the top plastic hat is able to rotate freely.

The strut installed in the car (Yes, I know, dirty Brembo's)

The final product...

Photo Shoot

My new cobb springs have settled so I figured I'd take a few pictures while the car was cleaned up. These are the first pictures to include the new springs, 20% tint all around, and the rally armor flaps.

Subiefest '08

It's back! The largest all-Subaru motorsport event in North America: Subiefest 2008 presented by Subaru and EDO Performance/Zero Sports!

I wish I could make it this year but unfortunately due to my pain in the ass job I can't make it.

http://www.subiefest.com/2008/

Cobb spring install day (well days)

Every morning I go through the daily routine. Wake up, usually drive into work, check email, check out my daily visited websites, and if I am expecting any packages, track em'. Well UPS claimed that my Cobb springs will be arriving today, that means its time to prep the car so the springs can be installed within a few hours of hitting my hands. I had a few days before the arrival date so I had some planning to do. I ended up breaking the install over two days. The first day I got the front end complete but ran out of day light, so I waited until morning then started on the rear with a rested sun. I took pictures along the way however as I get further into the install the pictures become more sparse. This was the first spring install I've ever done, I did it solo and basically followed a how-to that another subie owner created for people just like me.

The night before...
Verified that I have all tools needed to get the job done.

Night before prep work, making sure my socketed wrench w/ 6MM hex T will work to get the strut apart. It worked perfectly.

The individual pieces from the above picture...

The last picture of the car in one piece with the OEM springs.

I started by breaking loose the center 17MM strut bolt and the surrounding 12MM bolts. I did this while the car was still on the ground. I left the 12MM nuts on a few threads in case the strut decided to come down it would not rip off the car.
Next I broke loose the 5 lug nuts on each front tire. I used my special 3 foot pipe with the crappy tool Subaru gave me to get them loose. Note that I did this while the car was on the ground. I just broke them loose so I would have no trouble removing the wheels once the car was on jacks.

I put down a few shop rags and placed some of the tools I'll be using in a central location.

Get the front of the car in the air.

Put the jack stands in place and slowly lower the lift...



Next, take some PB Blaster and soak the two 12MM bolts for the bake and ABS lines then the two 19MM bolts (strut and camber bolt)

I've removed the 12MM bolts for the brake and ABS lines. Note that I stuck the bolts back in the holes in the strut itself so I wouldn't loose them. When the strut comes out you need to make sure to avoid damaging any of the brake lines.

Start to crank on those 19MM bolts....

I ended up putting my 3 foot pipe over the breaker bar from the picture above to get enough leverage to break the bolts loose. I also put painters tape on in case I struck the body with a tool.

After breaking the bolts loose I ended up using two wrench's to get the bolts/nuts out. Remember where your camber bolts are placed (the ones on top, they should have 10 etched in them).

Once the bolts are out I stuck a punch and screw driver in the holes to keep the strut from falling when I remove the top three 12MM nuts.

This is what the strut still mounted in the car looks like...

The front passenger side strut removed.

This is the driver side with the strut out and taken apart. The spring has been removed (use spring compressors!)

You have to remove the rear seat to get at the rear struts...


The new springs....

Front strut assembled, spring still has the compressors. This was the most difficult step of the install for me. The first front strut took over an hour to assemble correctly. My problem was I was not compressing the spring evenly, this would eventually turn the spring in the strut and I'd have to loosen the the compressors and start over (the spring lines up to the grooves on the strut). I also ran into an issue with not compressing the springs enough to get the top hat back on.

Front strut installed.


Now I start on the rears. The car is back on all fours. It's a relief to see the front end sitting on it's own weight. I was able to access the struts by removing the rear seat. I again busted loose the 17MM nut and the surrounding three 12MM nuts.

Get the rear in the air...


Rear bay after wheel has been removed.

First step is to get the brake line out of the way. Unlike the front, the rear uses a single clip. I ended up using a flat head screw driver and hammer to nudge it loose. I am holding the clip in the picture below, to the right of the clip is the housing for the clip, this is part of the strut.

Rear strut removed.

Rear strut with new spring.

Strut assembled. The rear springs do not require compressors. This made the strut disassembly/assembly very easy.

Strut installed in the car. This was the second hardest part of the install. Lining up the three 12MM bolts and trying to thread the nuts on so the strut would stay in place was very difficult task when doing this solo. You have to hold the strut from the wheel bay yet reach into the back of the cabin and thread the nuts on. What I did to get around this was I lined up the strut and stuck a screw driver into one of the bottom 19MM holes to keep it fixed on something. I then grabbed my lift and slowly pushed the entire unit up. As I slowly brought it up I constantly made sure to keep the top of the strut aligned with the three 12MM holes. I then put the nuts back on then put both the 19MM bolts back in (what a pain to get both lined up). Make sure you put the brake line back in the clip! I removed the lift and bam, your strut is installed (don't forget to torque everything up). Also make sure you remember which direction the bolts came out.


Quick picture of the car sitting on its new springs. Directly after putting the car on it's own weight it looked like the rear ended was higher but after a few hours it kept getting lower. From what I've read the springs need time to break in.

The old springs. Closest to the camera are the fronts.

The two pieces that never made it back onto the car. These are only covers for the hole to the strut in the rear of the car. The three 12MM bolts hold these in place. I had already torqued the bolts before I noticed I forgot to put them back on. Maybe one day they will make it back onto the car?


And Finally....




While the car definitly sits lower I honestly was expecting there to be sligtly less gap between the body and top of the tire however these are the new Cobb springs that have the reduced drop. Wel'll see how they settle in over the next couple weeks.