[A-man]

I bought my 07 SWP STi in Jan 2007 sight unseen from a Subie dealer in Birmingham, AL. The older gentleman who delivered it to me (a little over 100 mi to my office) got out of the car with a smile on his face, handed me the keys and said, "nice little car."

This car replaced my 05 WRX (totaled) as my daily driver and after a year I had racked up almost 40,000 miles commuting. Gas was approaching $4/gal and I was tired of dropping $60 for a tankful so I bought a Honda Fit for a DD and decided to make the Subie my garage queen fun car. Well, even more fun car. I had already learned from the WRX that these cars have got to have Stg 1 tuning, so during that 1st year I added the Cobb AP and shortly thereafter a Cobb TBE for full on Stg 2 fun.

Now I have found the direction I was looking for thanks to AnorexicSti and his incredible lightweight STi. This project will take quite awhile as I am very busy with job and family and mostly only have every other weekend to work on the car.

Mod List
(* = yet to be installed)

Engine/Bay
Power
Cobb AP Stg 2
Invidia DP (bellmouth, catless)
Cobb axle back
Cobb lightweight crank pulley
Denso 1 step colder plugs
Spearco TMIC

Miscellaneous
Litespeed Performance titanium turbo heatshield
Litespeed Performance Blowby Solution
Braille 129 battery (#2)
Coolant bypass mod
*Killer B Motorsport Ultimate Oil Pick Up

Dress Up
Gates blue belts
Gates blue radiator hoses
SPT aluminum oil filler cap
Ixiz Concepts hood dampers
STI Pink radiator caps
Samco blue intercooler hoses

Driveline
ACPT CF driveshaft
Kartboy outrigger bushings - "comfort"
Kartboy tranny crossmember bushings
Group N tranny mount
Group N rear diff mount

Suspension
Cobb 25mm hollow sways front/rear
Kartboy endlinks front/rear
TiC-SST coilovers 7k/6k spring rates
Whiteline Com "C" front strut mounts
Group N tophats rear
Whiteline Anti-lift kit
Free caster mod
Trailing link bushings - Grp N front (thanks BigSky), SuperPro urethane rear
SPC camber bolts rear
Kartboy rear subframe lockout bolts
TiC front fender braces

Wheels/Tires
Prodrive GC-05f 17x8
Bridgestone Potenza RE 070 225/45/17
McGard Spline Drive lugs - black

Brakes
The Brake Man 2 piece lightweight front rotors
The Brake Man #93 street pads front/rear
Girodisc 2 piece lightweight rear rotors
ATE SuperBlue Dot 4 fluid
Techna-Fit SS brake lines
OEM Brembo calipers

Exterior
DRL delete
Front license plate delete, "STi"
"Keep Attacking the Nurburgring" door decal
Spec C aluminum trunk lid
APR GTC-200 CF rear wing

Interior
AEM UEGO wideband A/F monitor/gauge
Prosport Premium Boost gauge
Limited red hazard switch
Sony CDX-GT130 headunit

Weight Reduction
Extensive removal, modification or swap out of parts (need to read journal to get the full picture) including:
Litespeed Performance rear bumper beam
No front bumper beam
Removal of U-Subframe
Trunk cleanout
Under/behind rear seat cleanout
Sound deadener removal
Air pump delete
Removal of tow hooks, plates and many, many brackets all over the car


As of 02/21/2009...stock except Cobb Stg2



Current custom canine front bumper (poor SOB, gave his life to mod my car):




This is the beginning of the end for my investment account .

[A-man]

Started to day with the lightening.

Removed the beam under the rear seat as well as the considerable rear seat and third seatbelt bracketry/hardware along with all child seat anchors and the rear seat pass through. Lost about 27 lbs here.



Also took out the spare tire, bolt/cap and jack/tools for an additional 36 lbs.

The Cobb TBE and deletion of the heatshield has saved me 17 lbs already so I'm up to 80 lbs off the car. The butt dyno says definitely , though the rear end feels a little light and the front end feels relatively less responsive. Need to get some weight off the front.

[A-man]

Ordered the ACPT CF driveshaft last night from sojdm.com. They are having a $1099 special on them and shipping to US addresses is only 19.99. Couldn't resist as this is one of the top mods I've been wanting to do since deciding to go this way. It'll be a couple of weeks before I can get it on the car but man I can't wait.

Cobb lightweight crank pulley to follow soon thereafter.

[A-man]

Took off the U-shaped subframe this evening - heavy piece. Another 25lbs off so 105 lbs lighter now.

Driving impression: acceleration continues to improve but the best change is in the low-speed responsiveness of the front end. Doesn't feel nearly as ponderous and turn-in is better. Steering feels quicker. I can only imagine what going to lighter wheels, tires and brakes is going to do .

Of course, the plastic undertray stays off now as the front of it bolts to the subframe. Without it the car is noticeably louder standing outside at the front, but no big deal. I wonder about the airflow under the front of the car but I think a V-Limited front lip will solve that issue. Only thing that concerns me here is the oil filter is rather exposed and the possibility of water/dirt coming up. Will have to monitor. It wouldn't be difficult to tie up the front of the undertray to the radiator support beam if I felt I needed it though (the rear bolts to the triangular bracket).

[A-man]

Just a couple of snow pics as I'm waiting for my CF driveshaft to be delivered tomorrow. Only noteworthy because it NEVER snows in March in Alabama.



A view out the "sun" room.

[A-man]

Okay, Finished up the ACPT CF driveshaft tonight so that's 10 lbs off there + 4 for the protection plate + 3 for the front undertray I didn't add in last time and +1 more for all the bolts that i hadn't included = an additional 18 lbs off the car or 123 lbs lighter so far.

ACPT CF Driveshaft driving impression: I'd pretty much echo what has been written before - you rev up a little faster with a most noticeable difference in the upper gears. Shift quality is improved as there is a noted lessening of load when easing off the clutch pedal and nearly eliminating that "loaded up" feeling, or you might call it a decrease in driveline snatch. Either way this is a very nice mod that would probably be even better for those with power beyond stage 2.

Install was done on ramps and jackstands. Not too bad but it would be much easier on a lift...what wouldn't.

Is it worth $1100? Comparitively I'd say probably not, maybe 1/2 that, but if you got the dough to blow it is a really cool mod.

[A-man]

So yesterday I spent quite a bit of time with the car and removed the rear bumper beam.



Doing this eliminates mounting points for the far left muffler hanger and a bracket that holds up the charcoal box over on the right side (at least I think its called a charcoal box). Solutions were pretty easy, just used a couple of zip ties to mount the charcoal box through the frame rail and I used electrical wire for the muffler hanger, also through the frame rail holes, to give the muffler some play as it moves around some naturally. You can see neither from the back of the car.



So with the removal of the rear bumper beam, rear tow hook, leftmost muffler hanger, left tow plate and all attendant hardware plus the spare tire cover that I decided to to remove as well, that's another 37 lbs lighter or 160 lbs off the car.

I removed my wrecked front bumper cover as well, ridiculous amount of plastic pop rivets , but only got half way with the bumper beam as I didn't have a long enough 1/2" extension to finish. I got to really looking at the bumper beam though and decided I couldn't just go bare. It obviously offers enough front crash protection, at least at low speed and possibly at higher speeds, that I dont want to leave it off entirely. So I'm deciding on ordering the JDM beam or modifying my USDM beam. In either case it'll be awhile before I can drive the car on the road. Not to mention, I have to order a new right wheelwell skirt as that got torn up when I hit that dog and its required to mount the bottom of the bumper cover.

At least I can continue with mods .

[Datadatum]

Looks like a fun project.

You can ditch the front subframe and side-impact door beams for some additional weight savings if you are willing to give up more crash protection.

[96accord]

Very nice so far!

Keep up the good work

[A-man]

Originally Posted by Datadatum

Looks like a fun project.

You can ditch the front subframe and side-impact door beams for some additional weight savings if you are willing to give up more crash protection.

I have ditched the subframe. I couldn't tell it really added anything to crash protection (other than overall weight) and it definitely helped the handling without it. I don't think I'd waste $500 on a lightweight aluminum subframe. The only thing you lose is some mounting points for the undertray.

In general, the lighter you make the car, the stiffer it gets. I wouldn't add an aftermarket brace anywhere on this car as I very seriously doubt you could prove faster lap times all else being equal. Sti are plenty stiff already and if you start shedding weight you'll see how much stiffer they get pretty quickly.

I wouldn't give up the side crash protection of removing the bars from the doors. I ain't that brave...not on the street. I finished taking off the front bumper beam this AM and I'm more convinced that I don't want to leave it bare. Not even considering safety, there would be massive monetary damage to the front of the car without the beam and there would be no chance of having insurance cover it if an adjuster noted it missing.

I also removed the windshield washer jug (about 8 lbs with current level of fluid) and used a plastic T-fitting to join the IC sprayer line to the windshield washer hose right by the cowl/wiper section at the left of the engine bay. The IC sprayer button now sprays the IC and the windshield simultaneously . Thanks to Anorexic for this idea. I added some of the windshield washer fluid, about 2 lbs, to the IC sprayer jug in the trunk, so 6 more lbs total off and that came from the very front of the car, so 166 lbs total, not counting the front bumper beam which I'm going to replace with something lighter.