[KarlSTI]

Table of Contents:
# 1 New Car, Kevlar TMIC Screen, Goals, Break in Method
# 10 Autox Begins! Subaru Challenge, Stock Dyno Numbers
# 11 Intake Silencer Removal, H&R Camber Bolts, Whiteline FSB, VDO Boost Gage
# 13 Trailer Hitch - You've got to be kidding!
# 15 Falken RT 615's, Mountain video
# 25 K&N Drop in
# 26 Hood Dampers, Group-N Engine Mounts
# 35 Cheap Driving Shoes, SM31 Camera Mount
# 36 Test and Tune Video
# 40 Autox Video
# 47 Cracked Windshield
# 48 Autox Video
# 49 Hawk HP+, Goodridge SS lines
# 52 Trunk Monkey, 2006 Suby Challenge
# 56 Thanksgiving Meet
# 58 New Falken RT 615's, Front Bumper Trim Plate, Autox Video
# 61 Genome!
# 71 Autox Video - Gainesville 4/2007
# 73 Weird Sound on hard left turns
# 74 5Zigen FNO1R-C 17X9 Matt Black
# 84 Playing in the Mountains
# 85 Whiteline RSB and Kartboy Endlinks
# 91 RCE Tarmac 2's & Cusco Rear Camber Plates
# 104 Whiteline Front Camber Plates (Maxi-C)
#105 T2's and Camber Plates Installed!
#110 Autox Video Gainesville 7/2007
# 113 Invidia DP, Perrin Pulley, & COBB AP Ver 2
# 114 Down Pipe wrap & Mechanical CEL Fix
# 115 TBE, K&N Typhoon, COBB AP - Installed
#116 UTEC, HKS pics, K&N Intake mod
# 129 K&N Typhoon Heat Shield mod
# 130 Perrin Crank Pulley - Installed
# 137 Odyssey PC680 Battery
# 144 Kumho Crack Arrives!!
# 157 BSP Season Begins!
# 159 Video of April Race
# 194 suby_dude Lip
# 202 STi gone Hybrid
# 216 Video of May Race

In the Beginning....
After 70 days of waiting my baby arrives from Japan. Gets fitted in port with the factory STi short shifter, homelink mirror, mats (Does not say STi on them - oh well), & wheel locks (which I've since removed). Kevlar TMIC screen added and debadged at the dealership. BTW, Subaru of Jacksonville has been great to deal with before and after the purchase!

Love at first sight!


6 whole miles on the clock


First day home


Had to make room in the garage


Kevlar TMIC protector



Once home the STi immediately gets clay barred, coated with Klasse products, and a coat of carnuba wax (Mother's).

Goals: The STi is my daily driver & my goals are moddest:

• STi will last me 15 years before replacement (I have 2 other cars - new car every 5 years)
• Mods gradually over time
• Mods must not negatively affect gas mileage by more than an average of 3 mpg
• Exhaust sounds must not drone
• Suspension must not beat me to death on long trips
• Mods must not negatively affect reliability
• Suspension/handling before power mods
• Driver's ed aka "autox" is a must

STi gets a tint job. 22% visibility all the way around.




Break in Method: I've heard a few different methods that range from slow to fast. With 6 miles on the clock I hit 6k on the way home once or twice. But in general, I decided to run it up to 4k for the first 500 miles, 5k the next 200, 6k the next 200, and up to 7 k after that. I changed the oil at 300 miles, and at 1000 miles. I now have it changed every 3,000 miles.

Coming up: Autox, Dyno time, Intake changes, minor suspension work, and more.

[iamadam1122]

looks sweeeet, glad to hear subaru of jacksonville is good because thats where i'll be going very soon to get mine

[Insane06STi]

Congrats on the new journal,shes looking good.

[reeksti]

cgm FTW

[evodon84]

nice color you got there

[Ikon]

looks good

[BluePearl04]

Nice car! Friends of ours have an 05 CGM, love it!

[1FSTSTI]

Sorry to say buy I said the same thing. I said "i bought a fast car stock, I dont really need any more mods." LOL. I have aps tmic, invidia tbe, cobb stg 2, and some suspension mods. Have fun MODDING your car!!!

[nice-rice]

Congrats on the journal Karl, its looking good. I still need to do one too. Add some more positive feedback for Subaru of Jacksonville, real nice group up there.

[KarlSTI]

Thanks guys!

iamadam1122 - let us know when you get yours! A bunch of Suby nuts in the Jacksonville area. Check the South Atlantic regional forum too.

1FSTSTI - Yeah, I know, I will be modding and I do have plans for a tune coming up. I'll be posting the grueling details here.

electronblur - Yes, your journal would be awesome!

With 1,200 miles on the clock the STi is broken in and it's time for my "driver's ed" to begin. The Subaru Challenge in Gainesville Florida looked like a good place to start. Team Motomotogumbobo was formed and 4 of us showed up to compete against the likes of Pastelito Racing and the Jacksonville Mod Squad (JMS). I pretty much sucked but had a great time! 9 out of 15th in A-Stock. I've got the bug now!!

Unfortunately Team Motomotogumbobo quickly disintegrates. I'm pretty sure it was because the name sucked, the team members hated me, they consistently ran over the timing lights, and our imaginary sponsor never came thru with any free crap. No GT35R turbos, no Tein coilovers, no FMIC's, not even any stinking T-shirts.

Subaru Challenge in Gainesville, Florida - Hurricane Wilma sends rain bands


Back home I met up with a couple of other STi's to play. Even high tire pressures in the rain are enough to loft the stock tires a bit.


So "Driver's Ed" has started, but of course there will be a tune coming up. But I'm still stock and broke so..... I was interested in running a baseline. So, here's what my stock '05 STi managed at PDP's Dynapack:

247.8 HP & 262.3 Ft/lb

So, if I get tuned on a Dynapack this will be my starting point.....

[KarlSTI]

El Cheapo Intake mod time:

Revealing the intake silencer

Hideous!!

I hacksawed the silencer off the elbow (Snorkus)....as many have done

I tried it for awhile with the elbow closed (see white platic patch) but ultimately liked it better open (removed white plastic patch) in order to pull cool air from the wheel well. The sound difference is noticable but not annoying at all IMHO. I figure this configuration will work well with a drop in green or K&N and the front right fog light cover removed when getting tuned......

More Autox



After realizing that I needed R-Comps to compete in AS I switched to STU for a couple of races.

I was experiencing a lot of understeer so I bought H&R Camber Bolts. The stock bolt is on the right.

I was leary at first at using these skinny bolts up front but I've found that they've held perfectly for the last few autox's. Gives close to 2 negative degrees of camber up front. I noticed an immediate improvement in handling at the track! Much less understeer.

Right Front


Left Front

Front


I've also heard that these bolts were actually designed for the rear, so I'll move them there if and when I install camber plates up front.

Next step was to install a Whiteline 27-29mm FSB


This helped even more on keeping the front end planted through turns.

Liquidcalm was installing Defi's and felt bad that I had no boost gauge so he gave me his VDO. I promptly zip tied it to the steering column for that professionally installed look. Thanks Liquid!

[MorePSiTehBett4]

nice first mods....i need to get my car tinted

[KarlSTI]

Thanks MorePSi, yeah, gotta have tint!

Eventually I want to be able to haul a small trailer to autox events to bring R-comps, tools and crap. But even more importantly I needed a way to get our motorcycles and the STi to the mountains for a little fun. So, I installed the factory trailer hitch. It fits perfectly and no cutting of the body work was required.

Here's a mod you don't see people bragging about in their journals.


Tucks in fairly nice when not in use.


Now I just need a big heavy trailer to attach to haul 500 miles up to the mountains!

Hmmmm, this should do!


We loaded this puppy down with motorcycles, mountain bikes, camping gear, you name it and drove with 4 people to the mountains for a week of fun. The STi? It did flawlessly. 1 week and 2000 miles later, not a drop of oil used!!

[munky69]

i'd fly off the raod if i saw that i want to see some massive boat back there, and a vid of you passing a deisel on a steep incline

[KarlSTI]

Munky, yeah we got a lot of strange looks and it was funny blowing past traffic up steep grades pulling a trailer behind a little car.

After 12,000 miles and 6 autox's the RE070's were about done. So it was time to slap some new tires on.


Falken RT 615 245/45/17 from edgeracing showed up the day after I ordered them! These actually went on right before we went to the mountains.

For the mountain twisties I found these tires worked very well. http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...69787702082560 (bungee cam)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...84287882601784 (wife cam)


The jury is out for autox as I only have one race on them so far (in the rain). Should have a better opinion about them after the next race.

Coming up:

• Group -N Motor Mounts
• Drop in Flat Panel Air Filter (Green or K&N?)
• More Autox
• AP Stage I
• Hood dampers (Tein's ordered)
• More Autox
• Cobb TBE
• AP Stage II
• Suspension (Tein's?)
• More Autox
• Wheels (which ones?)
• Kumho 710s
• Gauges (which ones?)
• One step colder plugs
• Protune
• More Autox

Did I mention more Autox?