[Ben]

Just finished installing the Cobb Catless TBE and flashed the stage 2 map on.

First thoughts: Awesome!

After finally doing it, I'm glad I went catless, I got exactly what I was looking for. Right now I'm running about 96 octane or so as I filled up with 100 at the track last Tuesday and the backfire is just rediculous. Some people don't like it, but I absolutely love hearing the backfire . The exhaust gas is cooler than stock and it's a little louder than the normal Cobb TBE (which I wanted) and it just sounds great overall. I could instantly feel the up in torque / hp and it definitely feels more responsive and boosts quicker.

I'll post some videos (mostly audio) tonight or tomorrow.

Cheers!

[forged]

Kevin's drop looks just like mine. Are those jdm pink springs? What size tyres on the RE's?

[Ben]

225x40x18 Dunlop Super Sport Race on the RE's for the street.
225x45x17 Dunlop Super Sport Race on the stock BBS wheels for the track.

Kevin has the KW Varient Coilovers, I have the TEIN SS's.

[Ben]

I haven't posted in my journal for a while so I thought I'd stop by . I've done several track events with the car now and it's doing great. The TEIN SS coilovers / Hotchkis Competition swaybars combo is just awesome for every track I've been to.

And as always, there is a new mod to report (if you can call it that ). My IWSTI license plate is waiting for me at the DMV so I'll be picking it up tomorrow . I'm sure it's not too hard to imagine what it would look like but I'll take some pics tomorrow or whenever I get a chance to pick it up.

Cheers!

[gmb]

Nice Ben!

I've been wanting to customize my license plate...but can't decide on what to put.

How many more days til that body kit arrives?

[Ben]

Originally Posted by gmb

Nice Ben!

I've been wanting to customize my license plate...but can't decide on what to put.

How many more days til that body kit arrives?

The body kit may not come at all. After a month of waiting for it to ship from Japan it ended up getting cancelled. I'm not sure if I want to order it again or just come to my senses and save the money.

I'll be back from vacation on Tuesday and I'll take some new pics of the car with the IWSTI license plate then .

[Ben]

Well here is a new mod to add to the list:

ACPT Carbon Fiber Drive shaft Put it in yesterday and it rocks!

Here's a thread all about it and around page 6 or 7 the group buy info starts: ACPT carbon fiber driveshaft, Thread #1

And here is my quasi-review when I was dead tired after I got home from installing it and driving around (post #180): ACPT carbon fiber driveshaft, Thread #1

If you want one please say something in that thread, they are trying to get 15 guys together to get a big discount .

[Ben]

Today we added a variety of things, all related to the brakes.

First off, we replaced the stock brembo rotors and EBC race pads with the Brake Man Lightweight Racing Rotors (-10 lbs per corner) and the Brake Man Race Pads. For more info on the rotors see this post. Then, later in the afternoon we replaced the stock brake lines with some Goodridge Stainless Steel brake lines and flushed the fluid with some more Castrol SRF racing fluid.

The results are pretty amazing. The problems I was having with the mushy brake pedal were fixed with the brake fluid and stainless steel lines. The fluid didn't appear to be dirty (as I already replaced the fluid with Castrol SRF 2500 miles ago / 1000 miles after getting the car) and there didn't appear to be any air in the lines. The lines themselves also looked fine (again, they only had 3500 miles on them) so I have no idea what exactly was causing the EXTREMELY mushy pedal. Either way, the problem was solved with the combination so I'm happy about that.

On to the more interesting part; the rotors. These rotors are simply incredible. Even before I stopped for the first time I already had a huge grin on my face just due to the massive increase in acceleration. Dropping 20 lbs of unsprung weight / rotating mass from the front made a huge difference. People talk about how saving 2-3 lbs a corner by getting different wheels makes a difference, imagine 10! The combination of the CF drive shaft and the lightweight rotors is truly impressive. The rate at which you blow through gears now is crazy and you really get pushed back in your seat even in 5th gear. 6th gear is no longer a freeway / overdrive gear for cruising, it's completely usable. In fact, there is no longer a need to downshift in to 5th to pass someone, unless of course you really want to blow them off the road .

Now I guess I should share with you the real reason I bought the rotors. They stop the car like no other rotor I've ever seen or tried. I've been for a ride on the track in car with the brembo big brake kit and I've also tried the aclon lightweight racing rotors in Kevin's car on the track, and there is no real comparison. I also tried these same rotors on Kevin's car with the EBC race pads and they were very similar to the alcons. Basically the only difference was the Brake Man rotors dropped 10 lbs instead of 5 lbs like the alcons and the Brake Man rotors didn't need to warm up to stop well. The alcons really took a good 2-3 laps before you got the stopping power where as the Brake Man rotors stopped the car just as well cold as they did after 5 laps or even 20 laps for that matter. However, when you combine the Brake Man pads with the rotors, you get the exceptional braking performance I've been searching for.

To give you a little idea of how well these things work, I am able lock up both of my front R-Compound racing tires on command. It happened by accident at first when we were initially testing them. Typically, when you're on the race track and you brake for a corner you need to apply the same amount of force you would use for an emergency stop (ie: you're about to rear-end someone). So, to test them, I figured I would do just that. I was going about 100 mph and wanted to do an "emergency stop" to about 60 mph. Within a second the car was at 70 mph and the tires squealed as the ABS came on and the tires locked up. I immediately let off the brakes so I wouldn't flat spot the tires and everything was fine. The car didn't lose traction or anything unsafe but I certainly scared myself. I then told Kevin he should drive the car and try it for himself. All I remember is him chirping my tires and saying, "Ben...I didn't even hit the brakes that hard. That's ****ing nuts!"

Basically these rotors finally give you full control over your braking. You can stop gradually, you can stop quickly, or you can stop so fast that you lock up your tires, it's up to you. There is no longer a need to SLAM on the brakes just so you slow down enough to make the 90 degree turn ahead. What would normally require a slamming takes less than half of the brake pedal. Essentially, these rotors max out your braking capability and the new weak link in the chain is your tires. The only way I'm going to brake any faster is by putting on full out slicks instead of the DOT-approved R-Compound racing tires.

In Kevin's car the Brake Man Rotors and EBC pads could lock up street tires (Good year Eagle F1's at the time), but could never come close to locking up the r-compounds (Dunlop Super Sport Race / Michelin Pilot Sport Cup). The Brake Man pads really let you experience the full potential of these rotors .

Anyway, here is a quick list I could come up with:

Pro's:
- Lightweight, dropping 9.8 lbs per corner (12.8 lbs vs. 22.6 lbs)
--- Improved handling / turn-in due to the 19.6 lbs removed from the front wheels
--- Improved acceleration again due to the 19.6 lb reduction in weight
- Best braking performance of any other rotor I've ever tried for the STi
- Least noisy of any racing inspired rotor I've ever tried
- Best heat dissipation I've seen in any rotor for an STi (allowing for 20+ lap sessions without brake fade)
- Best durability of any rotor I know of for the STi (should last atleast twice as long as the stock rotors, if not more)

Con's:
- The brake pads dust A LOT, however if a pad doesn't dust it's a big indication that it doesn't work properly. Hawk pads and EBC pads don't dust much at all but I would never use them on the race track ever again after seeing what they do to a rotor and how quickly they fall apart under racing conditions.
- The rotors are a little noisier than stock. Every race inspired rotor makes some noise, the good thing about these is they don't make the obnoxious noises. They don't squeal when you come to a stop (and make everyone look around for the bus that's coming) and they don't chatter like floating hat rotors. These rotors make a slight humming sound when braking at high speeds (not that loud) and may make a slight squeak at very low speed braking (under 5 mph) although the stock brakes do this at times as well.


Basically, if you're looking for a racing setup that you can use on the street, this is the best setup for the task.

Brake Man

[Ben]

Some pics are available here:

The BrakeMan Thread: Looking for a new two piece high quality brake setup?

[Novice]

Nice cars/projects, man.

[Stik11]

good job ben ... are you by chance still offering those gauges/pod ..please let me know..thanks

[Ben]

We were out pounding on the car all day on the track (went through 3 full tanks of gas ) to test out the new brake system and the drive shaft. I'm too tired to make a post about it right now but I think Kevin will be writing a book about it shortly. One word describes it pretty well: AMAZING.

Anyway, more on what happened later. I just wanted to make a post with a pretty interesting picture I took after we were done today. I've had my Cobb 3" Catless Turbo Back Exhaust on the car for over 2,000 miles. I've tracked it at least 2 or 3 times since then and up until today, every time I drove the car it would cover my rear bumper in small metallic shavings that looked a lot like glitter. I figured that it would eventually brake in / burn off whatever was causing it but it seemed to have no real end in sight. However, whatever we did to my car today has fixed the glitter trunk syndrome.

Check out these pics of my PINK exhaust pipe. It's not pink because it's glowing hot in the picture either. That picture was 30 minutes after it cooled down and we were about to leave the track for the day. It's still pink now, some 3 hours later as well. I always run 100 octane at the track and the car does backfire quite a bit but I'm not sure if that caused this. My exhaust temps are always LOWER than stock because I have no cats and the cats create a lot of heat, so I have no idea what turned my tip pink. Whatever, now my exhaust matches the STi badge on the trunk .

[Ben]

Originally Posted by Stik11

good job ben ... are you by chance still offering those gauges/pod ..please let me know..thanks

Yes, I am. Send me a PM with the gauges you would be interested in .

[esemes]

im betting it is resin/aftermath from the packing in the muffler body breaking down from the chemicals in the unburnt 100 octane fuel...

quite a neat colour, eh?

[Ben]

Originally Posted by esemes

quite a neat colour, eh?

Yes, if it washes off tomorrow I think I might have to paint my exhaust tip pink...err chery blossom red.