Butt Dyno

iTrader: (10)

Hi, I’m John. I recently bought an Evo IX to build for SCCA’s STU autocross class. I am moving on from my 2003 WRX (STX) that I had for 8 years and 126k miles.

I started a build thread for that car once I got serious about prepping it. It worked out really well - it helped me remember all the changes I had made and what I was thinking when I made them, as well as helping me get feedback from a lot of really smart people. So I wanted to start a build thread for the new car here.

Obligatory shout-outs:

* project:BDR: In late 2003 some friends and I decided to form a motorsports team, project:BDR (http://www.project-bdr.org/). Nowadays, it's more like a drinking team with an autocross problem It's not a big formal thing, just a group of friends who all like autocross. So, obligatory shoutout - couldn't ask for a better group of friends.

* Andrewtech Automotive: Ever since Andrew was a Subaru tech at Hillmuth he has had a reputation for being an excellent mechanic and an amazingly nice guy. When Andrew left Hillmuth in 2005 to start its own shop it was great news for the entire Subaru community. Every time I've needed something, even last minute, they have gotten me back on the road so that I could compete. And they care. And if they screw up, they admit it and fix it. They have the best Subaru techs of any shops in the area, IMHO and their work shows it. They did all the alignments on my WRX and that will continue with the Evo. They also specialize in transmission/differential work and as I’m sure the Evo community knows - these things break sometimes

* CBRD Speedfactory: Chad and his team have been working with the car from the beginning, getting it from the wounded rescue-Evo to the competitive car it is now. They know Evos like few other shops do, and they have the experience in motorsports to help out with real race prep and setup. They also do some really killer fabrication. But if you're on EvoM, you almost certainly already know that


A quote from Koni Lee that applies to this thread (or anything):
I'm not especially awesome at this or anything like that - but I have learned a lot from reading all the old build and STU threads on here, and I hope I can offer something in return.

What I started with:



What I have now:




Let the build begin!

Cliff's notes

If you don't want to read all this crap, here's what's on the car right now (May 2013):

2006 Evo MR-SE

Engine:
* Rebuilt in 2018 by CBRD
* Perrin intake / inlet tube
* Buschur Racing ported/coated exhaust manifold
* Invidia O2 housing
* DC Sports downpipe w/ Mil.Spec cat
* Perrin "stealth" Catback
* 93/100 octane tunes by CBRD
* Heavy Advance Auto battery. No more tender.

Suspension/Drivetrain/Brakes:
* Moton Clubsports (revalved early 2013)
* Hypercoil springs, 700 f 900 r (switched late 2015)
* CiroDesign Racing camber plates
* WORKS adjustable rear swaybar
* Factory service manual rear diff, done by Andrewtech
* Stoptech Street Performance pads

Wheels/Tires:
* 17x9.5 Enkei RPF1 w/ 255-40-17 Bridgestone RE71R
* 17x9 TRM C3 w/ 245-40-17 Hankook RS3 v2
* CiroDesign Racing 18.5mm spacers

Interior:
* Sparco Evo seats w/ Bride FG rails (fitment is goofy, see late August 2012 updates)
* 42 Draft Designs gauge pod w/ Defi Racer gauges
* Defi 52mm electronic oil pressure / oil temp / boost gauges
* AEM UEGO wideband
* Alpine CDA 9887 w/ Bluetooth + Sirius for those long trips to Lincoln

Exterior:
* Trunk Monkey
* Magnets by SSC Tint

Butt Dyno

iTrader: (10)

I bought a 2003 WRX new from the dealer in January 2003. I ran DS for most of 2003 (on Azenis, and an axleback). I moved on to STX in August or so when the urge to modify got too strong. I autocrossed from 03-06 at a fairly non serious level before starting to really prepare the car in early 2007. My JIC “rebuild” ended up taking more than a year, so at the 6 month point I moved on to a much better Koni/GC setup. This is when the suspension tweaking started...

I spent 07-10 tweaking the setup incrementally, and documenting pretty much everything I did and what delusion I was under when I did it. The build thread is here:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=1594875

I did a few national events (DC Pro 06-10, Finger Lakes 08-09, Toledo Pro 09, Solo nationals 09) with varying amounts of success. At Solo Nats in STX in 09, I choked a bit (31st/43) but my codriver Shane finished 17/43 and had raws that would have put him either very close or in the trophies (just couldn’t stay off those wallom cones). And this was on a setup with no rear bar - something I know now was not optimal, but I didn’t want to change it before nationals.



The car was really hooked up well by the end of 2010. Entering 2011 I was trying to decide what to do:
* nothing (just shut up and drive)
* optimize just a little more (replace single adjustable Konis with 8611s, get a lighter exhaust, get a boost spiking downpipe and another tune) and go to Nats and see what happens
* sell it and move on

When I found out that scheduling was going to prevent me from going to Nationals, I decided to sell the car. Thankfully I sold it to an autocrosser so it’ll still be out there

After some test drives and other considerations I ended up deciding that I wanted an Evo IX in STU to be the replacement car. It was the car that overall made the most sense as well as being the car I wanted the most (versus the S2000 and NC Miata). More details on that decision here:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...&postcount=359

Butt Dyno

iTrader: (10)

Which Evo?

Back in 2003, I was considering picking up an Evo 8 instead of getting my WRX... until I saw the pictures. The awesomeness of the Evo 7 was kind of wrecked for me by the rhino nose grill on the Evo 8. I was also a little worried about getting the first year of a new car. So I ended up with the WRX.

Years later I still can’t quite accept the Evo 8 bumper. If it were still legal to do bumper swaps in ST*, I think I could have bought an 8, swapped bumpers, dealt with the lack of MIVEC, and make up for it by spending that money on extra prep. An Evo 9 hasn’t won at Solo Nats (yet) after all. But I to tend to think that when STU is as fully crazy built as ST is, those little differences may start mattering. The fact that the 9 is prettier is a nice bonus I know that ultimately it's the best driver who is going to win - even in a car with a sunroof or whatever - but until my driving catches up with my car prep, I need all the help I can get!

I was then faced with four trims: RS, GSR, SE and MR. I ruled out the RS pretty quickly - I feel that not having to think about threshold braking is an advantage, especially for a hack like me. And I did want the aluminum roof after seeing an old Best Motoring video (Skip to 12:38 for the roof discussion, 14:45 for the before and after test):

After reading the Vorshlag page about Evo IX weights (http://www.vorshlag.com/tech_evoweights.php) I wanted an SE. But I also felt I’d be fine with an MR. Since there were more MR’s built (4200ish) than regular IX’s/SEs (3800ish), the odds of finding a clean MR were generally higher. STU rules require a lot of stuff to be stock - a lot of stuff that Evo owners like to modify. Clutch/flywheel, cams, boost modifications, aftermarket turbos... all stuff that isn’t legal in Street Touring. That makes it REALLY hard to find a car that isn’t going to require some de-modding.

After driving two local MR SE’s (one overpriced, one modded badly - the second one had a "boost gets you laid" sticker even), I found one at a shop in North Carolina who sells a lot of Evos. I was told it was “bone stock”. It seemed like an average market price for a low mileage stock car so I went for it.



Minor amusing note: the car did not come with the “the car comes with summer tires and if you drive in the snow you’ll die” sticker. Since it was originally sold in the snow belt I’m guessing they sell it with different tires.

First impressions:

* the gauge cluster is really hard to read in sunlight. Coming from a 2004 STi cluster the difference is really stark.
* Jeremy Clarkson was right. The gas tank is a pipette. Especially on a car that is not exactly a Prius.
* I really do like the 6-speed.
* The Bilsteins on the MR ride really really well. Better than my M3 on Konis + H&R OE sports.
* It’s definitely laggier than my WRX was but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.
* 19 psi wheeeeeeeee!

Butt Dyno

iTrader: (10)

So, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to prep the car 100% this year I knew I’d have to prioritize. The 2011 prep list looks something like this:

* make sure the car is legal (after all, it’s a used Evo)
* get a good lightweight set of 17x9s with 245 Z1’s or AD08s
* get a good set of coilovers

The power stuff can wait. The car still has a warranty, for a little while longer at least, so I figure I’ll just keep an eye out for used parts as the year goes on.

Good news and bad news...

After getting the title mailed over, I used my cyberstalking skills to find the original owner. I found out that the car was not “bone stock” as I was told: it had an aftermarket clutch, a lightweight flywheel, and a couple other small things. Not what I was counting on - but whatever. I knew there were some perils involved in buying a used Evo. It could have been a lot worse: fuel pump, cams, etc.

The good news:
* At least I knew what was done to the car. The owner never did any power mods - bonus! This meant I didn't have to have someone rip the car apart looking for stuff.
* It explained why I had to give it so much gas to get it going. I thought I had somehow forgotten to drive stick.

The bad:
* F*! I need to get an OEM clutch and flywheel!

So I bought an OEM clutch and flywheel. On the way to getting it installed, the transmission started popping out of gear... weird I thought. The guy who drove the towtruck asked me who had done all the work on it. "Work?" "You know, the ground effects, the spoiler, all that stuff." "That's all stock." "Oh. Don't see too many of these things running around here." The guy did circle track racing, which sounds like a ton of fun.



It turned out all the fluid had bled out and the transmission had gone dry. Not good. Andrewtech opened up the transmission:

So, that delayed things a bit...

Butt Dyno

iTrader: (10)

Slipping out of chronological order:

Autox #1: South Jersey SCCA @ NJMP, 3-6-2011

It turned out that Saturday was open, so I called up a friend who used to have an IX and asked him if he still had that set of Evo 8 wheels with RE-01Rs. I still had the stock BBS SE wheels but hadn't had time to put summer tires on them. It turns out that he did still have the wheels and that he was free, so we decided to make the (3 hour) hike up to NJMP just to get an autocross in.

So the configuration for this event:
-Alignment: ???
-Wheels/Tires: 17x8 Evo 8 wheels w/ 245-40-17 RE-01Rs, 36 psi all around (cold day, asphalt)
-Still the aftermarket clutch/flywheel/motor mounts but otherwise stock.

We ran STU, only because we didn't have BSP magnets. Sorry to the only other guy in STU. I figure the car's overwhelming stockness sorta cancels out the benefit of the lightweight flywheel. The car will be 100% legal from this point on.

"Just remember, in STU the cones come up a lot faster" --Josh, STU STi driver

The car was a huge surprise. I had driven my friend's old car with Azenis, springs and a rear swaybar and thought it was a lot of fun, but I figured a stock car with just 4 year old Bridgestones would kind of suck, especially on a smallish lot. Instead, I was greeted with a lot of power, and better than that, excellent turn in and balance. This was the sort of stuff I was trying to make my WRX do for a long time and the Evo was doing it out of the box! You could get on the gas well ahead of corner exit and the car just would pull itself through. Obviously the suspension was still on the doughy side but still, I was not expecting the car to be this good.

It suddenly made sense why the Evo had whupped the STi in all those magazine comparisons. The STi has to do a bunch of stuff just to catch up with a stock Evo: the front swaybar is smaller (20mm vs 24mm), the rear swaybar is smaller (20mm vs 22mm), it has less camber (since there is so much range on the OEM Evo bolts - I'm guessing that the magazine cars had the bolt set in the "-2" setting) and it came with not as good OEM tires. I'm not going to say it's an STU car from the factory or anything like that - but it is a lot better stock, for sure. Once the modifications start, that advantage goes away though

We only did the morning heat because the event was running a bit slowly, but were pretty pleased overall. The pizza was pretty good even, one of the best (only good) things about NJ

Oh yeah and here is how we passed tech because my bigger-than-OEM battery wasn't tied down enough. Thanks psushoe!

Butt Dyno

iTrader: (10)

OK, that catches us up. I'm hoping to have the car back Friday with a used transmission in it, possibly Monday. I now have some RE-11s on the stock BBS wheels, and the car will have max negative camber for event #2.

My quasi event list for this year:
* All the DC SCCA events at Fedex
* As many events at Waldorf / Blue Crabs Stadium as I can do
* Delaware Tour
* Toledo Tour
* At least one of each of the following (they are all good venues):
** Tidewater Sports Car Club on the hovercraft pad
** Susquehanna SCCA at Hershey
** National Road Rally at Cumberland Airport

Solo Nationals 2011 isn't totally out of the picture - but I'd probably have to do an arrive & drive to pull it off because I have stuff to do that Saturday.

Thanks for reading! I'll keep it up to date as things progress.

GTWORX.com

iTrader: (35)

Hey Buttdyno. Thanks again for the free 20mm rear bar a couple years ago. The new owner of my old Forester is still enjoying it.

Have fun with the EVO....they definitely have a "headstart" on the STI with the camber, bars, steering, etc.

- Andrew

Construct

iTrader: (4)

As someone who just moved from a 2005 WRX to a 2006 Evo IX, I'm following this very closely. I actually found this thread from a vague reference on the other Subaru forum.

I'm a bit surprised that the Evo felt like it had more turbo lag than your 2.0L WRX. The first thing I noticed when I drove my Evo was how quickly it spooled relative to my WRX. Then again, I still have the stock exhaust setup on both cars, including all 3 cats in the Subaru.

Any updates? What are your plans for the car going forward? It sounds like you've dumped a substantial amount of money into the transmission already.

Butt Dyno

iTrader: (10)

So - as I went over in post #4, the prep goals for this year are pretty modest - just suspension, wheels and tires. I spent a lot of time reading the old STU threads:

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/mo...iscussion.html
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/mo...iscussion.html
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/mo...iscussion.html
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/mo...ep-thread.html

Deep thanks to the evom community for all the discussion - it really helps a noob out

Wheels and tires:

I was looking for some lightweight 17x9s. When it comes to wheels you generally have to compromise in at least one of these areas: weight, strength, looks, price. I was looking at the 5Zigen FN01RC, Enkei RPF-1, or TRM C3s. They all meet the weight/strength/price criteria, sacrificing some bling 17x9.5 is a possibility for the future, but I’m not at that level of optimization (yet ).

In 2010 I ran both the Dunlops and the Yokohamas on my WRX. I feel like they’re overall pretty similar, with some small differences. For some reason the Dunlops feel a little better under braking but the Yokos generally inspire more confidence everywhere else. IIRC the Yokos are a little wider and with a 17x9 or 9.5 I might actually be able to take advantage of that. The Dunlops do warm up faster though, and with Nationals generally being a little colder that might be useful - Dunlops have done pretty well at Nats the last few years. The Dunlops are also cheaper. We had a local Yokohama contingency for the last two years that covered most of mine but not this year.

Suspension

After poring over the aforementioned STU threads, and after a few years of tweaking my WRX, I had some ideas about what I wanted from the suspension on this car. Since zzyzx is out of the picture, this will be the first car I’ve owned since 2002 that I won’t have Konis on. I was guessing that with the stock swaybars I’d want to run spring rates in the 550/700 range. Bonuses would be: not hating it on the street and having the ability to go up in rate if necessary (like if I wanted to run BSP/SM someday).

The reviews of the Ohlins DFV / R&T were very good, and that’s the way I was leaning. I just missed out on Locked’s (2010 nationals winning) setup, but a shop in California (Performance Shock) was running a deal where if you bought them new, they would revalve them for free. They come with 8k/10k rates and I was targeting 10k/14k, so the rears would have needed to be revalved. A pretty good deal.

And then the research was irrelevant...

Sometime mid 2010 I had sent Andrew/spool_sample a PM asking him about his switch from Ohlins to Moton Clubsports. I was asking in the context of my WRX - I just wanted to know the differences and what would make someone switch when they are both very good setups. The rationale came down to: double adjustability, travel, brake line attachment and tire clearance. Turns out he decided to part his car out right after I bought mine. And he had a set of 17x9 SSRs that already had Dunlops on them. The price was right so I figured I’d simplify things and get it all at once



However... the car still didn't have a transmission in it. The fiasco is long and complicated and I'll leave it out to not distract things - but suffice it to say there is a reason for my UPS avatar

Butt Dyno

iTrader: (10)

In the interim, I got by... with a little help... from my friends.

Studies in contrast: driving cars that aren’t Evos

Event #2: BMWCCA @ Waldorf - 3-20-2011

With the Evo still down, I co-drove with Josh in his very quick 2006 STi. I had only driven one other prepped STi at an autocross, and only once. It surprised me how power-oversteery it could be for an AWD car. Compared to my power-understeer WRX it required a lot more throttle control at corner exit. Josh’s car is very well prepared (fastest STi at solo nationals last year) and it goes without saying he’s very fast - so I had a lot of work to do to keep up!

BMWCCA classing is kinda weird. The STi is in X2 - it starts in X3 because it has 2.5L of displacement and then goes to X2 because of the turbo. It goes to X1 if you put race tires on it. (If you are scamming the system, a CSP NC Miata on 285-30-18 AD08s would be X4 )

On my first run I spun about 10 seconds in.... couldn’t contain the ol’ right foot, plus cold tires. Doh. I was not ready for the power - this was the fastest car I’d autoxed in quite some time. My second run I kept it together - 44.6. My 3rd run, I spun again in the middle of the course - just needed to be a hair more patient. At this point Josh was down to a 43.7. My 4th run I kept it clean and reasonable - 43.9. Josh went down to a 43.2. OK... 7/10 back my first time driving the car... kinda sucks but I can live with that. Then I coned on my 5th run (overdriving) and Josh went out and threw down a 42.8. This ended up being FTD for the event. I finished 4th in X2, behind Josh, Josh’s normal codriver Shane (fast at nationals, but dirty) and Vell in a prepped ‘04 STi.



Event #3: WDCR/SCCA @ Fedex - 3-27-2011

The Evo was still down for this event so I ran my daily driver, a ‘99 M3 with mild STU prep. It has an H&R front bar, Konis, H&R OE sport springs, seats, an exhaust, and 245-40-17 closeout AD07s on Kosei K1s. It’s fun and a great DD but it could definitely use some stiffer springs.

It was a really cold day - 40’s and windy. I walked the course twice just to stay warm but pretty much forgot it by the time I started driving. It was a long course! I ended up finishing with an 81.2, 4 seconds out of first. But hey, top finishing 2WD car



Best run:

Event #4: Susquehanna SCCA @ Hershey - 4-9-2011

Up next - a doubleheader at Hershey! Hershey is one of the best lots in our area - big, some mild elevation change and not that many lightpoles. With Fedex Field’s lots being re-sealed last year, there are some iffy spots. Hershey doesn’t have any of those.

For Saturday, I’d be driving Josh’s STi again. (Thanks Josh!) After losing by 1.1 seconds on a 40 second course, my goal was to stay within a second on a 60 second course - the closer the better. ST* ran 2nd heat so the nice people in 1st heat got to clear the course for us after a little bit of drizzle in the morning.

My first run? You guessed it - a spin - cold tires and not being careful. Doh. And then another spin. 2nd run was better but still dirty - 62.3 +3. Josh had a dirty 61.3.



Run 3 - no clean ones yet. Snap out of it! I got it together and managed a 61.8. I was starting to get the hang of this carefully riding the car out of the sweepers without spinning thing. Still a bit off in the slaloms. Josh dropped more time - 60.7. 1.1 seconds behind - in danger of not meeting my goals Run 4 started out really well, but the last 20% was very sloppy. I was behind in both of the last two slaloms and didn’t “catch up” by backing off. Here’s some in-car from another STU STi to give you some idea of the course - the part I botched starts at about the :59 mark:


I ended up dropping down to a clean 61.2 - good for 4th in PAX and (surprisingly) 4th fastest raw. Josh had a dirty 60.3 on his last run - and he still had room for improvement there. But, in clean times, I was less than a half second back, which I was fairly happy with. The trick will be doing that in my car

Event #5: Susquehanna SCCA @ Hershey - 4-10-2011

For this event - yes, still no Evo - I co-drove my friend Slava’s 1988 MR2 in STS. One of them thar momentum cars. It’s been in development for 3 years now I think, lots of attention paid to the suspension setup. For this event we were on RS3s, totally guessing at the tire pressures. The Toyos probably would have been a hair better for the conditions but we were able to keep a decent amount of heat in the kooks and they were pretty good - you could really tell they were improving each run as we got heat in to them.

My goal was less lofty for this event - I just didn’t want to get destroyed I haven’t done the momentum thing too much and didn’t want to be exposed as one of those hacks who can only drive turbo/AWD cars (you know... because they “drive themselves” ).

It was a big adjustment for sure. It’s kinda scary going through slaloms and big offset gates with the throttle wide open - but that’s the only way it works. I don’t think I spun, so that was cool. On my 3rd run, I was having problems locking up the brakes - so on my 4th run I just resolved to not use them. That was much faster - I finished with a 60.4 - but hit a finish cone. I think I don’t hit the brakes until the :46 mark in the video and even then, barely.


(the picture in picture cam got dislocated)

That would have been a nice run if clean - but alas. Slava beat me by a second.

Lesson here for me - see if you can get by without using the brakes, because you might just be able to!

Butt Dyno

iTrader: (10)

I enjoyed it the one time I got to autox it

My WRX had all the ST legal stuff done to it, so it had a lot less lag than stock. The Evo also hits harder than the WRX does which makes the lag feel more substantial than it really is.

Fortunately, replacement 6 speeds are cheap since everyone wants 5 speeds. I thought about doing a 5 speed conversion while I was in there (package converting the car to be an IX SE) but decided I'd rather have the wider 1-2 gears and the overdrive 6th for the highway.

I'm hoping to have the car back next week so I can get the clutch broken in, in time for the 4-23 Waldorf event - we'll see!

piknockout

Nice driving John, it does take a little bit to get used to. But the Evo will have less power (at first) which well help you get used to the higher speeds.

I think I still owe you about 10 more co-drives since saved my season a couple of years ago, happy to let you drive! Looking forward to the Evo getting fixed and having some fun in DC.

Butt Dyno

iTrader: (10)

I feel so bad hitting cones in your car tho. It's so clean

Butt Dyno

iTrader: (10)

Car... still... not... quite... ready

Event #6: WDCR/SCCA @ Fedex: 4-17-2011

For this event I was codriving with local STU STi driver Eduardo. He has an '08 STi with bolt ons, a tune and some KW V3s. It's a daily so the spring rates are not that extreme, IIRC 350/400 or something along those lines. It's very fast and turns very well. The car was on RE-01Rs.

Unfortunately the course was designed by - gasp - a Cobra driver, and it was not the most technical course ever. Lots of sections that were ultimately straightaways. On my fast runs I was hitting the rev limiter 6 or 7 separate times! And that's with an 08 STi - longer gearing than the 06, and running 245-40-18 tires. I never did shift to 3rd for fear of shoving it into 1st by accident. Here's a video of the course from a GS Protege, with your friendly local worker chief Shawn driving:


A shot of the car:



The brakes took a while to get used to. They were EBC Yellowstuff Rs and they brake really strangely / not very well until they have some heat in them. But once warm they're pretty awesome.

Best I could manage was a 55.5 on my 4th run. I ended up in 4th behind 3 other STis: Shane with a 53.1, Josh (piknockout) with a 54.0 and Vell with a 55.0. I was a little disappointed in the result, not being able to drop more time than that, but 4th in not-my-car I can live with - I might need those points later!

Event #7: Autocrossers Inc @ Waldorf: 4-23-2011

My friend Mark bought a '94 Miata R last year to build for STR. Like a lot of people I think the NA/NB can be in the mix in STR nationally. The car looked fun and I've wanted to try it for a while, so with my car being down still Mark let me.



I ran it in CSP. Not much to say here: Miatas with no power steering, no ABS and Hankooks are not the most fun cars in the rain. I did manage 2nd in CSP though, behind another STR car on Hoosiers.

I am going to owe people a lot of codrives when this is done...

06MREvo

iTrader: (90)

Nice thread man, first time I've seen it...Looking forward to more updates!!