[Ben]

Originally Posted by Swine

While i understand what your saying...most weight saving inherently give up some daily driving characteristics that most all of us appreciate, wether that be the loss of sound deadning, stereo, or ac and heat. <-Is that a compound sentance?

Question about your wheel/tire set-up...why do you choose to go one size smaller in width then "recommended", better steering response? Tom Hoppe, who was a very successful auto-x, would run a size or two wider then what is "recommended". Especially with the sidewall the r-comps have, i would think wider would be better in just about every situation.

What i presume is normal or "recommended"
8"width-235
8.5'width-245

Just curious.

I'm not really sure why you're posting in my member journal talking about practicality for a daily driver when the title of the thread has the words RACE CAR in it but...

If you care, there are several ways to drop weight from your vehicle that don't require removing practical items such as your AC or stereo. A Braille battery removes more weight from your car than pulling your stereo, and your spare tire weighs as much as your A/C. Lighter (and more comfortable) seats alone can drop 50 lbs. One of the best things you can do is get lightweight rotors. The brake man rotors drop 20 lbs from the front, and because the weight is unsprung and rotating, it feels like 200 lbs.

Anyway, as for the tire sizes:

If 235 is the recommended tire size for an 8 inch wide wheel, why did Subaru put 225's on them? Either way, the more complete answer to your question is the particular tires I am using have a larger section width (the actual width of the tire) than most 235 tires. When I go back to using pilot sport cups I may use 235's. I am also planning on running 17x9's with 245 or 255's. I most likely will go with 245's for clearance.

[Ben]

I will have some pics of the cage later this week. Unfortunately I left my camera at a friends house so I have to go pick that up tomorrow.

[Swine]

Meh, i was just curious.

[Ben]

I know, but I had to give you some ****. I had an annoying day today. Don't take it personally .

[wayne53]

You couldn't hear your IC sprayer tank sloshing around before? I can hear mine with full interior..even had people ask what that noise was then they get a real wtf look when I press the button and it makes that humming noise.

[Ben]

Haha, no I couldn't hear it sloshing around, but that humming noise is VERY LOUD now.

[KarlSTI]

Hey Ben, you've made a lot of changes along the way. Do you have them all summarized in one place? I'm also interested to know if you are still happy with the COBB Catless TBE? Thanks,

Karl

[Ben]

I absolutely love the Cobb Catless TBE! The guys at cobb are also great. I know them all pretty well by now, and they are going to be sponsoring the car .

Here is a link that has all the mods in one place: http://www.iwsti.com/forums/vbpicgal...hp?do=view&g=1

P.S. I'll have pictures today hopefully. Turns out my camera is broken because someone dropped it on the ground . I have a friend's camera now so I'll take pictures once I get this Recaro seat in. I am just waiting for the quick release steering wheel to show up because I cannot get the seat out without taking off the steering wheel. Seems like a waste of time to keep taking the stock steering wheel on and off, so I'll just wait until I can install the quick release.

Unfortunately, I won't have the Recaro Pro Racer HANS seat for about a month because of delays in Germany, but I will use my passenger seat (Recaro Pole Position) as my driver seat for the time being.

[BoostJunkie]

please let us know how the pole position feels, I'm thinking about getting one but my car is a daily driver so I'm concerned about comfort with the upright driving position.

[Chris05STi]

Can't wait to see the pics!

[Ben]

Here are some premature pics. As you will notice, the pole position seat isn't installed. Instead, there is some funky WRX driver seat that isn't even hieght adjustable because I stole the bottom of it to make my JDM STi driver seat...it's a long story .

Anyway, the stock WRX driver seat does NOT fit with this cage, and as such, the side bar that normally goes along the door (on the driver side) is missing. Also, you cannot push the seat back all the way because it hits where the side bar is supposed to connect. I might also add that I haven't finished applying the touchup paint because I haven't installed the seat yet. Once I install it and scratch the cage again, I'll finish painting it .

ANYWAY...here is the temporary driver seat (with steel brackets because I'm waiting for the alimum ones ):



And here are some quick pics of the cage. I will take better pictures once I have the seat installed and lay down some back carpet in the back. The carpet will start at the rear window and cover the area the back seats SHOULD be in as well as the floor.

[Ben]

Also, before anyone gets the chance to lecture me about the 3 pieces of this cage that are bolted together I shall share some information with you.

Each piece that is bolted together overlaps 6 inches, and uses 2 bolts. The force required to snap 1, much less 2, of these bolts would tear apart a welded cage. The cage has been extensively crashed tested and is in fact safer than a weld-in cage. As such, this same style cage is used in NASCAR and is SCCA and NASA approved.

Hopefully that will end the flames before they start...we'll see .

[esemes]

looking very good, Ben......

i kinda think it'd look neat w/ the rear door skins on, and the rear seat (with provisions cut-out for the bars)..... i know weight is weight though.....

i think i remember when you did a baseswap on the seats, too....

ese

[Ben]

What I'm going to do is put the rear door panels back on (since it's only 6 lbs total) and then put black carpet over everything, including where the back seats go. Should look very nice...or atleast a whole lot better than seeing all those wires!

[esemes]

10-4!