KS Tech CAI - Stock Sized MAF Housing

**Heide264** · 01-07-2012 01:34 PM

Driveline Overhaul #2

Group N Engine Mounts and Whiteline Steering Rack Bushings

Install:
No pictures for this one. In catch up mode. In a nutshell, I didn't get the engine mounts on earlier. Luckily, my friend from work came over and helped with the engine mounts. Ended up dropping the engine cross member instead of jacking up the engine. This saved us from possibly crushing the oil pan, and I had to loosen the steering rack up anyhow to get the steering rack bushings on. The mounts would have been tough to do by myself. Steering rack bushings weren't too bad. Hardest part was getting the steering column back together. Kinda a tight area to work, difficult to line up, and those knuckles take a toll on your hand - mine was beat up pretty bad by the end. Feel free to shoot any questions my way. I don't mind talking more about the install, I just am doing some catch up on the rest of the stuff I've done.

Results:
Was happy with the results.

I actually really enjoy the engine mounts. The noise wasn't nearly as bad as I expected, and it 'balanced' everything out. Before the install, getting into first gear was 'clunky'... although very notchy after the shifter/bushings install. Afterwards, it felt like it should. Notchy, but not like I'm forcing it in or jamming it in at all... Just a light pop and it was in gear.

Steering rack bushings weren't as noticeable as I was expecting. Made the steering more firm, but not nearly as dramatic of a change as I had expected. Biggest difference seems to be over bumps - the steering wheel goes where the wheels do. None of that 'mystery angle' stuff that I had before. Just a bit more connected to the road =). I'd still recommend them. I'm sure on older cars this would make a much larger difference - the rubber bushings on mine were still in great shape.

**Heide264** · 01-07-2012 01:58 PM

Suspension Overhaul

RCE Front/Rear Sways, RCE Blacks, and an alignment.

Install:
Install was pretty much as expected - the springs did take longer than I had anticipated though. I found the spring compressors to be fairly useless due to the shape of the spring. I couldn't fit them in a manner that compressed them in a useful direction (always pulled at an angle). Also, lining the tophats up on the rears was an unexpected one. I spent a good hour or two thinking of a scheme to align the back passenger one. Then my friend came over, stuck the driver side one in, and just turned it with a long screw driver in about 30 seconds. I'd say go for the later for the time savings, haha. Still not too friendly with car mechanics, so was a pretty educational install. Definitely one to have a friend handy for though. The RCE youtube video does make it look absurdly easy. If the install goes that nicely for you, you deserve a pat on the back. Sway bars went in as expected.

Alignment was done at a local shop - hard to find a shop that will do custom alignments around me apparently. Went with a place called 'Foreign Traffic'. They sell fairly high end imports normally, but do service on them as well as detailing. They aren't cheap, but they are honest, upfront, and do good work - money well spent. If they mess up (which they all do, whether they admit it or not), they let you know and fix it up right. I went with a mild camber (-1.0) upfront and tried to minimize toe all the way around (setting the toe to zero in the rear caused my camber to go crazy apparently). I would go more aggressive upfront next time.

Results:
Car felt generally tighter. Noticed the car pulled to the right as well... Turns out its just tire wear due to me rotating the tires and the crappy factory alignment. I will throw up the alignment specs in a bit.

Car actually felt like it understeered worse. This was due to a not-aggressive-enough alignment I think, but more so due to the fact that I accidentally switched my sway settings. Putting the rear on 'firm' and the front on 'soft' cleared up the issue, and I have a pretty neutral feeling car now. Will be looking to get some rear control arms and try again next year with another alignment most likely

.

Also, I still to this day haven't cleared up the end link pop over bumps (I've gotten them as straight as possible - I think the sway bar moves too much within the guides when going at a slow speed) or the spring perch creaking when I pull out of a parking space or something. I'm going to call RCE and see if they have any suggestions about the spring creak... it is pretty annoying and I can feel it slip all the way up to the wheel. Will confuse my traction control time to time over low speed really sharp uphill/downhill bends. Still, the car felt very good.

Not as simple as the driveline bushings (more tweaking required)... but still a good one that I'd suggest. Car just feels more 'behaved' on the road.

**irvin787878** · 01-07-2012 03:23 PM

Hows the ride comfort after the springs? Even tho we have different years its nice to read some more feedback on these parts. I have alot of the same ideas as far as suspension, bushings/mount upgrades in mind. Thanks for the write ups.
I am jealous by the way. My build is spinning in the mud. lol. Someday I will get there.

**Heide264** · 01-08-2012 03:21 AM

Originally Posted by irvin787878

Hows the ride comfort after the springs? Even tho we have different years its nice to read some more feedback on these parts. I have alot of the same ideas as far as suspension, bushings/mount upgrades in mind.

I didn't notice much more as far as harshness goes with the springs. The only place I noticed it being more harsh was when going over pretty decent potholes at a moderate speed. Even then, it's not too bad and better than bouncing around for five minutes. On past years, they will make the car have less understeer - the '11 has stiffer rear springs. Still made the car more enjoyable to drive though.

Bushings are awesome. Nuff said. I'll do the control arm ones eventually.

I am jealous by the way. My build is spinning in the mud. lol. Someday I will get there.

Good luck! If I'm up that way sometime I'll give you a hollar on here.

Will continue the write ups here in a bit =)

**irvin787878** · 01-08-2012 07:53 AM

Originally Posted by Heide264

I didn't notice much more as far as harshness goes with the springs. The only place I noticed it being more harsh was when going over pretty decent potholes at a moderate speed. Even then, it's not too bad and better than bouncing around for five minutes. On past years, they will make the car have less understeer - the '11 has stiffer rear springs. Still made the car more enjoyable to drive though.

Bushings are awesome. Nuff said. I'll do the control arm ones eventually.

Good luck! If I'm up that way sometime I'll give you a hollar on here.

Will continue the write ups here in a bit =)

I havent made my decision on my spring and strut combo. I have a few ideas as to what I want. Thats why I ask and continue to read about them.
Anytime your up this way get ahold of me. I am just about always home.

**EJ257** · 01-08-2012 09:33 AM

Originally Posted by Heide264

I didn't notice much more as far as harshness goes with the springs. The only place I noticed it being more harsh was when going over pretty decent potholes at a moderate speed. Even then, it's not too bad and better than bouncing around for five minutes.

This has been my impression of the RCE Blacks, as well. Anything other than tarmac (concrete highways, gravel/unpaved roads, potholes, etc.), the RCEs are noticeably harsher. On tarmac, the RCEs have reduced the bobble-head effect, making them more comfortable than OE.

**Heide264** · 04-29-2012 12:56 AM

Lathewerks SS ball shift knob, weathertech liners, & hella horns

Love the added weight of the stainless steel. Complemented the shorter shifter lever/linkage & stiffer bushings well. Looking back at it, I would have rather gone either heavier/larger, or a lighter material. I'd highly recommend a thick pair of gloves (the wool ones that have a pullover mitten instead of fingers are where it's at) if you are set on it. Also, not too happy with the 'grip' finish I got. I am sure if I call them they will fix it up no questions asked, but it's smoothed out and is actually chipping a bit here and there now. I'd go with a black matte polish next time. Still, great buy in my opinion. Notice it everytime you drive.

Can also see the mats a bit in this one. I did not take weathertech specific pictures. Only grip I have with them is that they don't cover the entire dead pedal - so water runs down it a bit behind the liner. Still a great product for winter, and the fitment on both the front and rears really are great. I may take them out come spring to change it up a bit and go back to fabric, but these are a no brainer for winter.

I don't have any pics of the hellas on hand. I like them. I got them mainly to yell at stupid people. Amazing how many people out there don't know how a four way stop works. Only note is that they are extremely directional. Very loud straight in front (or in a garage.. Could hear the inspection guy yell some nice words) - otherwise oddly quiet off axis. Not a bad buy for the price. Not a huge fan of the looks. I may paint them black if I'm ever motivated to.

**Heide264** · 04-29-2012 01:52 AM

Reserved for some pictures of the winter wheels and snow tires eventually

**Heide264** · 04-29-2012 02:18 AM

Invidia down pipe, nameless mid pipe, SMY cluster w/boost gauge, lc-1 w/ gauge, and GrimmSpeed EBCS

Got the Invidia on and heat wrapped. I went with DEI titanium heat wrap and some stainless zip ties from Lowes. The heat wrap is actually soft to the touch - not what I was expecting. Seems like high quality stuff though. The zip ties suck, but they work better than nothing. They don't keep a lot of force on the wrap, but I used a bunch and they are holding it on pretty well - just a bit loose in my opinion. Don't know if the wrap helped at all, but I thought it would be a better solution than making a heat sink for the wide band sensor (was getting some really strange readings at idle after a hard drive without it).

The Invidia pipe itself... Couldn't be happier. Car is a lot more responsive now, and it expanded my power band down a good 300rpm. I cruise at a much lower RPM now compared to what I used to. I had to pull a lot more timing than planned on - but that's a good thing considering the power gains in my opinion. Car just feels 'like it should' power wise. Sounds mean now.

As far as the SMY cluster goes, it works. It fits (after you get all the clips firmly pushed in). Probably as good as you'll get and keep a stock appearance. I wish the gauges sat in a bit further and angled up towards me a bit. The wiper 'stalk' actually bumps the front of the boost gauge time to time. Still - it matches and holds two useful gauges for me.

LC-1 install was a pain in my opinion. I hate electrical work on cars. Always a huge ordeal to get wires run. I mounted the controller on a small bracket above the turbo. It's probably a bit hotter than ideal, but oh well. I think it'll be just fine. Ran the wires through a hole in the firewall behind the IC. What a pain.

That being said, I don't understand how anybody can tune a car without one. No longer taking a shot in the dark. I just plug it into my OP2.0 and it goes to town when I hit the defroster.

EBCS... Meh, I figured why not. Seems to work. I have bad boost creep issues after the down pipe install though. Unit was a nice quality unit and bolted in with a bit of work. Needed a good bit of work tuning wise, but I could never get the boost spikes stabilized with it... Lesson learned - can't fix a mechanical issue with a bunch of tables sometimes.. Still, having an interrupt type solenoid instead of the stock bleed type is not a bad thing at all.

**Heide264** · 05-30-2012 05:12 PM

KS Tech CAI - Stock Sized MAF Housing

Product seemed top notch at first. Intake had a pretty nice construction and I got the fancy red power coating. Looking back at it I would have left it chrome and just coated it with something to help reduce intake temps. Regardless, it seemed nice.

Had some frustrating issues getting the heat shield on. Just force it in and use an awl to get the self tapping screws started. It works.

Car feels a bit more responsive. Not much louder at all. Can hear the turbo spool up a bit and can hear the bypass valve a lot more.

Tuning wise, I can tell it helped up top in the rpm range. Just a heads up - you will need to slightly rescale your MAF despite claims (I suspected this anyhow). Otherwise, I was running about .5-1afr lean up top - which is bad in lay mans terms.

Before:

After:

General Pics:

Old one:

Filter:

Filter sits right in here at the top of the compartment:

Sucker does through a high MAF code if I enter boost within 8 hours of a touchless car wash (no underspray either). Who knows. 'Tis a CAI, ha.

**Heide264** · 06-06-2012 12:17 PM

Tial 44m EWG (MV-R) and Grimmspeed Up-pipe w/ dump tube

Install was a huge pain in my opinion. I'd suggest getting a non-bell mouth catless down pipe once going this route by the way. I have an invidia catless, and the one bellmouth bolt is impossible to tighten with the EWG in place. The v-band clamps make the EWG very tough to get on with the down pipe on. Nice catch-22.

Regardless, awesome part. I can now control boost again - easily. Running with a 1 bar spring combo. Very happy with it. Construction quality was excellent. I had to file down the dump pipe v-band connection though - the flange was a bit too wide for the Tial waste gate (was designed for a turbosmart or something else). Not a huge deal as long as you are careful.

I want to run some lines to the coolant jets before the next track day, but don't think I will get around to it.

Feel free to shoot me a pm if you want to talk about the install.

Pictures of parts. Can see the excellent construction quality in everything, even the IWG bracket.

**Heide264** · 06-06-2012 12:30 PM

Brake lines, fluid, and pads

Signed up for a track day and ordered some brake upgrades from Kronos. Parts came in quickly and everything was there.

I thought when I started that I would just bleed all the fluid from the lines, and it would make changing the pads easier as well as prevent a mess when I do the lines. Don't do this. After rounding off two of the brake line fittings, I gave up and went to fill the system up with the Motul. I knew I'd be cutting it close, as the total system volume is ~500mL according to the factory service manual. I was very disappointed to see the brake fluid push out air bubbles well past half way through the bottle of fluid. Ended up just picking up some cheap Dot 4 from walmart for the mean time.

Lessons learned:
-Brake lines can be terrible. Have a reflare kit and the correct flare wrenches on hand. We found vice grips to be of more use than the correct sized flare wrench.
-Don't drain the system. Just accept that you'll make a bit of a mess changing the lines. This will prevent having to run a bottle or two of cheap fluid through to chase out air bubbles.

We did end up getting the lines on and a better bleed - after the track day. Everything held up well at the track day though at least.

Even the stock pads feel fantastic with the Motul and the stainless lines. Excited to see how much it helps on the track with the DS2500s back in.

**Heide264** · 06-06-2012 12:53 PM

PittPDE at Pittsburgh International Race Complex (First Track Day!)

What a great experience. I had spent the previous 12 hours sleeping (the 30 hours before that were straight to finish the brake work and transition from night to day shift) and was feeling pretty good. The brake bleed probably wasn't as nice as it should have been. Had a great time.

The day consists of 4x25 minute track sessions with an instructor in your car with you, as well as 2x20 minute classroom ordeals. It's non-competitive, and you signal to people behind you to pass as needed. Track is nice and open - very friendly to learn on in my opinion. Great experience for anybody.

Learned a few things:
-It's much harder than you'd expect. I had a humble head going in, but a much more humble head coming out.
-While daily driven cars are welcome, leave all the daily crap at home. Nice pile 'o junk on the side of the false grid for the day due to my luggage.
-It's expensive. The $200/day fee for the instructor and track time is the cheaper of it. Tires, brakes, engine... Gets expensive fast. Well worth it regardless
-On the expensive note, there are some modifications to do to save money in the long run. Brake ducts, a KNS BBK, and track wheels have been added to the list.
-Need to bring a spare 5g container of gas. I had to leave the last session early due to my gas light. I topped it off before getting to the track. 4-6mpg estimated. Ha.

To put it in perspective, I will throw up some pictures of my Ferodo DS2500 pads. These were brand new when I went. Bedded them in (not as well as I should have most likely) on the way there on the highway. I'm going to lightly sand the surface evenly and angle off the chunked up areas and run them again June 15th. Depending on wear, the BBK may be sooner around the corner than planned (cheaper, thicker pads of the same quality).

More in the photobucket album in case you really like beat up brake pad p0rn.