My RaceComp Engineered 2005 STi (Updated pg. 4 I can has Recaros)

**twiSTies** · 02-21-2006, 03:53 PM

5/20 Update:

I started with a bone stock car in October 05. My first mod was to get Toyo Proxes 4 all season tires for the winter. I then bought a K&N panel air filter and headed to Island Dragway. There I ran off my best stock time of 13.6 at 100.74 and headed home. My next mod was to get a Helix catted downpipe and a Cobb AP. I flashed to Stage 1 right away and noticed the difference in torque. I then ordered a K&N Typhoon. I installed that and liked the noise it made and noticed more midrange and topend pull. With the help of my friend, I then installed the Helix Downpipe. I flashed over to Stage 2 with the AP and my friend's description says it best, "It's like a damned motorbike!" I then decided to test a theory that only big dollar, brand name catbacks are worth spending money on for power and bought a 3" N1 Tsudo catback off ebay. The flange didn't line up and the stock hangers weren't stiff enough to stop it from moving around, so I had the flange rewelded and bought some extended length Kartboy hangers. The ebay catback was very loud and a full 3". The quality was perfectly fine and I recommend it to anyone. I then went and got dynotuned by Doug from TopSpeed in late March. My stock fuel pump wasn't keeping up with the Cobb stage 2 base map, so I had a Walbro 255 installed. Doug was able to get 306whp/341wtq out of my car. I then took the car back to Island Dragway and ran a 12.9 at 105.20. The car has more in it as it sits, so I plan on going to Cecil next weekend and finding out how much more. Since that 12.9, I've replaced the ebay catback for the Borla XR-1 because I wanted a stock looking muffler and more of a rumble to the sound. I bought it from Mad Dad and got the 3" flange adapter so the whole catback is a true 3". The Borla delivered and is quieter inside the car too. Absolutely love it and would recommend it to anyone.

I've been leaving out some important mods, though. A key reason behind me buying the Kartboy hangers was because the Cusco swaybar was hitting my stock catback. See I found someone selling barely used Cusco swaybars on here and picked them up quickly. I got 21mm front and 22-24mm adj rear bars. I also picked up replica strut tower bars and an h brace off of ebay for like $100. I also bought an Autospeed dead pedal for the interior, picked up a slightly used OEM subwoofer, bought TiC's Klunk Killer kit, Kartboy endlinks, a Cobb heat shield, and Static X turbo wrap. My check card was BUSY.

I loved how the car handled but the ride quality sucked and I kept noticing the spring rate just not being up to par with the dampers. I bought some Tanabe GF210's based on everyones feedback on here and was set to put them until I started reading about their rates. My friend Justin B got all of his stuff through Myles at RaceCompEngineering, so I called them. I was persuaded to ditch the Tanabes and buy some Swift Springs. I also decided that I wanted to go bigger with my swaybars and picked up the Whiteline 27/29mm adj front bar and 24-26mm adj rear bar. I then topped off my order with Myles with front group n tophats and whiteline camber bolts.

See, my car has been busy since October

I have to say thanks to a lot of people for their help and expertise in making my car what it is today: First of all, a HUGE thanks to Justin B. Without him I wouldn't even own an STi. To iwsti.com for having such a great, helpful community of knowledgeable people, to Myles at RaceComp, to Clint at TiC for his great products and customer service, to Doug and Cicio at TopSpeed for an unbelievable tune and customer service above and beyond any expectations (Cicio is the MAN), Chris at Hi-Rev for sending me all my power parts (except catback), to Mad Dad for the sweet Borla, and last but not least to nhluhr for providing so much technical information to this site that I spent days trying to absorb it all while learning through searching the forums here. To anyone looking to modify their STi, THESE ARE ALL THE GUYS TO TALK TO!!

without further adou, lots of car pics and info:

Dirty from snow!

Here's my full mod list:

Power:
APS 65mm CAI
Helix Catted Downpipe
Borla XR-1 Catback w/ Mad Dad 3" adapter flange
Walbro 255 FP
Static X VF-39 Turbo Wrap
Cobb Heatshield
Cobb AP Stage 2 Protuned by Doug to 306whp/341wtq (with my old Typhoon and ebay catback)

Suspension:
ebay Front and Rear Strut Tower Bars
ebay H Brace
Whiteline 27-29mm Adjustable Front Swaybar
Whiteline 24-26mm Adjustable Rear Swaybar
Kartboy Rear Swaybar Endlinks
Swift Springs
Group N Front Strut Mounts
Whiteline Comfort ALK
Whiteline Front Camber Bolts w/ alignment set to -1.6 camber front/-1.3 camber rear/0 degrees toe F+R/4.6 degrees caster

Driveline:
TiC Klunk Killer
Cobb SS
TiC Pivot Bushing
TiC Shift Linkage Bushings
Kartboy Front and Rear Shifter Bushings

Interior:
JDM Red Hazard Button
JDM Auto Intercooler Spray Button
Autospeed Dead Pedal
OEM subwoofer

Exterior:
JDM Rear Spats
TopSpeed window sticker
removed dealer sticker

nice-rice · 02-21-2006, 04:05 PM

Yeah, she's dirty. Nice mods though.

**twiSTies** · 02-21-2006, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by electronblur

Yeah, she's dirty. Nice mods though.

Thanks, these pics were taken over a week ago. I just got the springs from UPS today, i'll put them in this weekend

Turboxer · 02-22-2006, 08:23 AM

Dirty... Just how i like them. Well not always.

Good luck with the springs.

slowpok · 02-22-2006, 04:39 PM

It Needs a day @ the spa a nice bath and vacum and a spring job

***Insane06STi*** · 02-22-2006, 04:43 PM

Wow that looks good

CicioSTi · 02-22-2006, 05:25 PM

car is looking good man! your not too far from me, maybe we will get to hang out at a meet or something sometime!

***Nachos Libres*** · 02-23-2006, 05:38 PM

Nice looking car. You should at least debadge that dealership emblem though.

**twiSTies** · 02-26-2006, 07:19 AM

Thanks guys

Yesterday I put in longer exhaust hangers form kartboy to stop the rear swaybar from hitting my stock catback. I replaced the 3 that connect the axle back. It still hits over potholes but helped over the rest of the roads, so I'm going to have to pick up a 4th hanger and put that on at the midpipe. Only reason I'm having this problem is because I'm running the stock catback on an aftermarket DP.

I didn't get around to doing the springs, I need to rent a spring compressor...maybe I should do that today?

The car got washed the next day after these pics when the weather went up to the 50's. She's a lot cleaner now

**twiSTies** · 02-26-2006, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CicioSTi

car is looking good man! your not too far from me, maybe we will get to hang out at a meet or something sometime!

Yeah definitely, I'd like to meet more of the STi owners around here. I've met two of them so far, one with an 06 and another one with an 04.

***wdb*** · 02-26-2006, 09:13 AM

I love pictures of dirty cars, they assuage my guilt

Congrats on picking the best year and color.

I live near Allentown and have spring compressors. You can borrow them, but I won't be home until Thursday.

If you want to meet more members, check out this thread in the Northeast Regional forum for a Berks County PA meet in March:
The Berks County PA meet WAS A HIT! Pics Start at Post #165

AndrewSS · 02-26-2006, 01:34 PM

mmmm dirty

**twiSTies** · 02-27-2006, 03:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wdb

I love pictures of dirty cars, they assuage my guilt

Congrats on picking the best year and color.

thanks

i agree, i saw the 06 and rushed to buy an 05!

Quote:

I live near Allentown and have spring compressors. You can borrow them, but I won't be home until Thursday.

that would be very appreciated. Its the only thing I'm missing to do the install.

Quote:

If you want to meet more members, check out this thread in the Northeast Regional forum for a Berks County PA meet in March:
The Berks County PA meet WAS A HIT! Pics Start at Post #165

thanks, but I'm scheduled to get my car dynoed that weekend.

Definitely have to come to a few meets though, lots of subaru owners up here.

**twiSTies** · 02-27-2006, 03:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewSS

mmmm dirty

yes! haha

how do you like your Borla? I really want to get one because of the stock appearance, but i don't want anything too loud inside the car. how loud does it get inside the car? can the stock radio drown it out, and if so, at what volume setting?

**twiSTies** · 04-14-2006, 06:26 PM

bump:

Had the car dynotuned by TopSpeed two weeks ago:

My car was on the stock fuel pump and ran lean up top on the stock cobb stage 2 map. Had a walbro 255 installed. After Doug worked some magic, I came away with:

I'm done with power for awhile now, or at least until I decide on a 20g setup(although I may have my stock headers ported).

Suspension-wise, I have the Tanabe GF210's (05 spec) in my garage. I'm very tempted to sell them along with my Cusco swaybars and get the RCE camber plates/Group N Rear Tophats/Pink springs combo from RCE with some 27-29mm FR/24-26mm R Whiteline swaybars. I'm also tempted to just skip to coilovers like the Megans, Tein SS-P's, Helix DNAs, etc. The problem is this is my daily driver too, so I don't want to feel every pothole in the road on the way to work (and there are many).

It'd be nice to not have as many options with this car, haha.

Interior-wise I'm looking to get an '07 stereo and STI Limited center dash section with the JDM red hazard button. I like the stock appearance because I won't have to worry about car stereo thieves with it.

About to install the subframe outrigger bushings to complete the Klunk Killer set. The Rear Dif Bushings are awesome and I highly recommend them.

ebay catback that did pretty damn well on the dyno compared to more expensive catbacks.

and props to the best STi tuner:

04-14-2006, 06:26 PM	#15
twiSTies Gold Member Car: 05 Subaru WRX STi Fav Mod: T2s and Recaros Location: Allentown, PA Posts: 3,088 Join Date: Oct 2005 Trader Rating: (6)	bump: Had the car dynotuned by TopSpeed two weeks ago: My car was on the stock fuel pump and ran lean up top on the stock cobb stage 2 map. Had a walbro 255 installed. After Doug worked some magic, I came away with: I'm done with power for awhile now, or at least until I decide on a 20g setup(although I may have my stock headers ported). Suspension-wise, I have the Tanabe GF210's (05 spec) in my garage. I'm very tempted to sell them along with my Cusco swaybars and get the RCE camber plates/Group N Rear Tophats/Pink springs combo from RCE with some 27-29mm FR/24-26mm R Whiteline swaybars. I'm also tempted to just skip to coilovers like the Megans, Tein SS-P's, Helix DNAs, etc. The problem is this is my daily driver too, so I don't want to feel every pothole in the road on the way to work (and there are many). It'd be nice to not have as many options with this car, haha. Interior-wise I'm looking to get an '07 stereo and STI Limited center dash section with the JDM red hazard button. I like the stock appearance because I won't have to worry about car stereo thieves with it. About to install the subframe outrigger bushings to complete the Klunk Killer set. The Rear Dif Bushings are awesome and I highly recommend them. ebay catback that did pretty damn well on the dyno compared to more expensive catbacks. and props to the best STi tuner: This ad is not endorsed by this member. Please register or login to hide this ad. Last edited by twiSTies : 07-25-2008 at 02:41 PM.

02-21-2006, 03:53 PM	#1
twiSTies Gold Member Car: 05 Subaru WRX STi Fav Mod: T2s and Recaros Location: Allentown, PA Posts: 3,088 Join Date: Oct 2005 Trader Rating: (6)	My RaceComp Engineered 2005 STi (Updated pg. 4 I can has Recaros) 5/20 Update: I started with a bone stock car in October 05. My first mod was to get Toyo Proxes 4 all season tires for the winter. I then bought a K&N panel air filter and headed to Island Dragway. There I ran off my best stock time of 13.6 at 100.74 and headed home. My next mod was to get a Helix catted downpipe and a Cobb AP. I flashed to Stage 1 right away and noticed the difference in torque. I then ordered a K&N Typhoon. I installed that and liked the noise it made and noticed more midrange and topend pull. With the help of my friend, I then installed the Helix Downpipe. I flashed over to Stage 2 with the AP and my friend's description says it best, "It's like a damned motorbike!" I then decided to test a theory that only big dollar, brand name catbacks are worth spending money on for power and bought a 3" N1 Tsudo catback off ebay. The flange didn't line up and the stock hangers weren't stiff enough to stop it from moving around, so I had the flange rewelded and bought some extended length Kartboy hangers. The ebay catback was very loud and a full 3". The quality was perfectly fine and I recommend it to anyone. I then went and got dynotuned by Doug from TopSpeed in late March. My stock fuel pump wasn't keeping up with the Cobb stage 2 base map, so I had a Walbro 255 installed. Doug was able to get 306whp/341wtq out of my car. I then took the car back to Island Dragway and ran a 12.9 at 105.20. The car has more in it as it sits, so I plan on going to Cecil next weekend and finding out how much more. Since that 12.9, I've replaced the ebay catback for the Borla XR-1 because I wanted a stock looking muffler and more of a rumble to the sound. I bought it from Mad Dad and got the 3" flange adapter so the whole catback is a true 3". The Borla delivered and is quieter inside the car too. Absolutely love it and would recommend it to anyone. I've been leaving out some important mods, though. A key reason behind me buying the Kartboy hangers was because the Cusco swaybar was hitting my stock catback. See I found someone selling barely used Cusco swaybars on here and picked them up quickly. I got 21mm front and 22-24mm adj rear bars. I also picked up replica strut tower bars and an h brace off of ebay for like $100. I also bought an Autospeed dead pedal for the interior, picked up a slightly used OEM subwoofer, bought TiC's Klunk Killer kit, Kartboy endlinks, a Cobb heat shield, and Static X turbo wrap. My check card was BUSY. I loved how the car handled but the ride quality sucked and I kept noticing the spring rate just not being up to par with the dampers. I bought some Tanabe GF210's based on everyones feedback on here and was set to put them until I started reading about their rates. My friend Justin B got all of his stuff through Myles at RaceCompEngineering, so I called them. I was persuaded to ditch the Tanabes and buy some Swift Springs. I also decided that I wanted to go bigger with my swaybars and picked up the Whiteline 27/29mm adj front bar and 24-26mm adj rear bar. I then topped off my order with Myles with front group n tophats and whiteline camber bolts. See, my car has been busy since October I have to say thanks to a lot of people for their help and expertise in making my car what it is today: First of all, a HUGE thanks to Justin B. Without him I wouldn't even own an STi. To iwsti.com for having such a great, helpful community of knowledgeable people, to Myles at RaceComp, to Clint at TiC for his great products and customer service, to Doug and Cicio at TopSpeed for an unbelievable tune and customer service above and beyond any expectations (Cicio is the MAN), Chris at Hi-Rev for sending me all my power parts (except catback), to Mad Dad for the sweet Borla, and last but not least to nhluhr for providing so much technical information to this site that I spent days trying to absorb it all while learning through searching the forums here. To anyone looking to modify their STi, THESE ARE ALL THE GUYS TO TALK TO!! without further adou, lots of car pics and info: Dirty from snow! Here's my full mod list: Power: APS 65mm CAI Helix Catted Downpipe Borla XR-1 Catback w/ Mad Dad 3" adapter flange Walbro 255 FP Static X VF-39 Turbo Wrap Cobb Heatshield Cobb AP Stage 2 Protuned by Doug to 306whp/341wtq (with my old Typhoon and ebay catback) Suspension: ebay Front and Rear Strut Tower Bars ebay H Brace Whiteline 27-29mm Adjustable Front Swaybar Whiteline 24-26mm Adjustable Rear Swaybar Kartboy Rear Swaybar Endlinks Swift Springs Group N Front Strut Mounts Whiteline Comfort ALK Whiteline Front Camber Bolts w/ alignment set to -1.6 camber front/-1.3 camber rear/0 degrees toe F+R/4.6 degrees caster Driveline: TiC Klunk Killer Cobb SS TiC Pivot Bushing TiC Shift Linkage Bushings Kartboy Front and Rear Shifter Bushings Interior: JDM Red Hazard Button JDM Auto Intercooler Spray Button Autospeed Dead Pedal OEM subwoofer Exterior: JDM Rear Spats TopSpeed window sticker removed dealer sticker This ad is not endorsed by this member. Please register or login to hide this ad. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by twiSTies : 08-13-2008 at 12:13 PM.

02-21-2006, 04:05 PM	#2
nice-rice S204 Racer Car: 05 STi Location: Jacksonville, FL Posts: 4,114 Join Date: Jun 2005 Trader Rating: (5)	Yeah, she's dirty. Nice mods though.

02-22-2006, 08:23 AM	#4
Turboxer Spec C Club Car: 2005 STi & 2008 M3 Location: Westchester Ny Posts: 1,226 Join Date: Apr 2005 Trader Rating: (2)	Dirty... Just how i like them. Well not always. Good luck with the springs.

02-22-2006, 04:39 PM	#5
slowpok Junior STI Driver Car: 05 sliver STI scooby Fav Mod: It's still a neon!! Location: Louisville Ky Posts: 70 Join Date: Jun 2005 Trader Rating: (0)	It Needs a day @ the spa a nice bath and vacum and a spring job

02-22-2006, 04:43 PM	#6
*Insane06STi* Nanned ® Location: Where the left lane is th Posts: 17,351 Join Date: Oct 2005 Trader Rating: (9)	Wow that looks good

02-22-2006, 05:25 PM	#7
CicioSTi Community Consultant Car: 2005 OBP STi Fav Mod: Learning Location: Bismarck, ND Posts: 1,324 Join Date: Aug 2005 Trader Rating: (4)	car is looking good man! your not too far from me, maybe we will get to hang out at a meet or something sometime!

02-23-2006, 05:38 PM	#8
*Nachos Libres* Moderator Elite Car: 2005 Subaru WRX STi Fav Mod: Underglows Location: Tyler, Texas Posts: 8,439 Join Date: Jul 2005 Trader Rating: (0)	Nice looking car. You should at least debadge that dealership emblem though.

02-26-2006, 07:19 AM	#9
twiSTies Gold Member Car: 05 Subaru WRX STi Fav Mod: T2s and Recaros Location: Allentown, PA Posts: 3,088 Join Date: Oct 2005 Trader Rating: (6)	Thanks guys Yesterday I put in longer exhaust hangers form kartboy to stop the rear swaybar from hitting my stock catback. I replaced the 3 that connect the axle back. It still hits over potholes but helped over the rest of the roads, so I'm going to have to pick up a 4th hanger and put that on at the midpipe. Only reason I'm having this problem is because I'm running the stock catback on an aftermarket DP. I didn't get around to doing the springs, I need to rent a spring compressor...maybe I should do that today? The car got washed the next day after these pics when the weather went up to the 50's. She's a lot cleaner now

02-26-2006, 09:13 AM	#11
*wdb* dances with roads Posts: 4,973 Join Date: Apr 2005 Trader Rating: (8)	I love pictures of dirty cars, they assuage my guilt Congrats on picking the best year and color. I live near Allentown and have spring compressors. You can borrow them, but I won't be home until Thursday. If you want to meet more members, check out this thread in the Northeast Regional forum for a Berks County PA meet in March: The Berks County PA meet WAS A HIT! Pics Start at Post #165

02-26-2006, 01:34 PM	#12
AndrewSS S204 Racer Car: 05 Subaru WRX STi Fav Mod: RCE T2 Coilovers Location: Columbus, OH Posts: 4,630 Join Date: Jun 2005 Trader Rating: (21)	mmmm dirty