My 2011 Stage 2 Update

[rsutton1223]

It's been awhile since I have posted up anything here...so I thought I'd give an update on how things are going with the car.

Stage 2 went really well with the Invidia Catted DP.



The shift boot and e-brake boot now match the rest of the interior thanks to Alex at JPMCoachworks.com.



The Hertz HSK 165XL 6.5" components went in. Ryan at SladeAudio.com did the install and fiberglass work on the pillars to get the front sound stage forward some. The pillars came out even better than I had imagined.

A DLS RA30 is under the drivers seat to throw power to the components. It will be replaced with a twice as powerful Hertz HDP4 once it comes in.

The Dayton 10" and the Audio Integrations hatch box to round out the system.

Everything from a birds eye view.



Hertz Tweeter



The Pillar setup



No more "Altezza Style" tail lights.

I went back and forth on whether or not to do this for a long time. I am pretty glad I did.



And yesterday, the XXR 527 's 18x8.75 +35 wrapped in Hankook V12 255/35's went on.

Going to take some better pictures later when the light is better.





The car has rocked since day 1 and isn't done quite yet (if they ever really are).

[EJ257]

It's coming along nicely

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[wrxtreme06]

congrats. car looks great. i love the tails & roof rack

[rage-wrx]

Looks great,especially the roof rack.Did you get a protune?

[jagan323]

awesome. I love the red stitching!

[rsutton1223]

Right now...the car is just on an e-tune with Eric at Torqued Performance. I want to bolt up a couple more things before the custom tune is done by Doug at TopSpeed here in Alpharetta, GA.

Thanks for the feedback on the car!

[djclue8713]

Really digging that shiftter/ebrake boot with the red stitching. Looking good!

[josnroh]

Nice job on your mods.

[xFalleNx]

Looks beautiful! Good job.

[ElVerde]

looks GREAT. Really outstanding...everything looks so clean.

[shadowpr]

nice

[rsutton1223]

Thanks everyone. The car has been an absolute blast so far. It...of course...isn't done quite yet but it is getting there. A couple more shots from this morning...

The front end of the car actually looks higher than it it in the picture because of how the parking lot sloped.





And a fisheye shot just for fun...

[jerzeystyle]

Looks great! I have been considering some wheel/tire setups, do you have any rubbing or complaints with the 255 tire? Are you still on a stock suspension?

-Thanks

[rsutton1223]

Looks great! I have been considering some wheel/tire setups, do you have any rubbing or complaints with the 255 tire? Are you still on a stock suspension?

-Thanks

Stock struts and I have no issues with rubbing when it is just me in the car. When it starts to get loaded up...the rear hits on hard shocks...so I'll be rolling the rears this week.

[rsutton1223]

A couple more updates...

Installed the Whiteline Steering Rack Bushing kit.



Installation was pretty straight forward and easy to do on ramps. The provided Whiteline tool to remove the driver's side bushings made things much easier. I didn't end up taking any before and after pictures of the install due to trying not to melt in my garage in 95 degree Atlanta heat...but there isn't much to see any way as the only visual difference is the bushings changing from black to yellow.

When you hold the old vs. new in your hand, you can see why a lot of people do this mod. The original black rubber bushings allow for a lot of play in the steering rack under load. The new yellow bushings from Whiteline are much harder and they restrict that play.

How does it drive now?

It wasn't a "holy s#$t! This is awesome!" experience. I noticed better feel on turn in and less play in the steering wheel overall. The car only has 10,000 miles on it so I would suspect that cars with more wear and tear would feel a bigger benefit. This is part of an install that I am doing in conjunction with an Anti Lift Kit from Whiteline, so I was going for an overall effect that will be complete once that install is done.

I am glad I took the time to install these as I can see the stock bushings were only going to get worse with time. They also improved the steering feel of an otherwise really numb feeling that is known in Subaru's.

ALK

Every now and then...you get a project that once you are finished...you are glad you never have to go through that again.

A friend of mine and I installed the ALK. Getting the factory bushings out was a huge pain in the ass. They were really in there and after heat, a 600 ft/lb impact and multiple configurations on a bushing kit...they finally came loose.

The ALK adds .5 positive degrees of caster and put the forces of driving back on the suspension and out of the flexible rubber stock bushing. It also helps turn in and other steering characteristics.



I haven't gotten a chance to really throw the car around, but these along with the steering rack bushings is starting to bring the steering of the car to where it should have been.

WC Lathe Werks rocks



Stealth gauge setup in SMY cluster.







This won't be for everyone...but I like it.

I have never really liked the light silver in the interior of the WRX. It doesn't seem to flow with the rest of the dark interior and it scratches incredibly easy. So...I started looking into ways I could paint or cover it to change things up a little bit.

I ended up using the 1080 Scotchptint carbon vinyl from 3M. It is easier to work with than Di-Noc and the finish looks better in my opinion. I just did the JDM radio bezel and center console. I'll probably start there as I don't want to over do it...