[blindfold]

Most of my suspension parts are here:

Ohlins fixed perch struts
Swift R-Spec springs
Group-N rear strut top mounts
PDE camber plates: finally came in

now I need to go pick up a set of Ingalls camber bolts for the rear. Next week I'm going to a wedding overseas so everything will be put on hold until my return.

[pEd]

Originally Posted by blindfold

I think I might get banned on wrxatlanta.com for my oversight

Consider it done buddy!! It'll only cost you $19.99 to be unbanninated.

Car is looking good. Give me a call when you get back into town and want the suspension put on. I'm hoping King helped you resolve your misfire, or are you still dealing with it.

[blindfold]

After a long trip I have returned to continue this daily driver project, honestly I did not want to come back at all. Anyways the car has made good progress however it wasn't smooth sailing. Well I was at Ped's house on Thursday and we knocked out the following:

Ohlins fixed perch struts
Swifts Spec-R springs
PDE camber plates
Group-N top hats
Ingalls camber bolts

giving the new camera a test run

here is what we started out with




fronts were a bit cumbersome to install, had to disconnect the sway bar in order to pull the spindle lower to fit onto the strut ears. Someone had to actually push down on the spindle assembly and the foothold slipped and my hand got caught between the rotor and caliper at the top, a bit painful but we kept going.

I thought the rears should go in smoother but what did I find...

Yes, the brake line bracket was JB welded moving along

PDE plates took care of the front camper, the rears I used ingalls camber bolts and group-N top hats took care of the rest


Rears ready to drop in


Nothing was easy since I had the CL x-brace so I had to fight it to get the top hats on correctly. Then we ran into the problem of that the CL brace does not have a hole on top that allows a Allen key and a wrench to tighten the strut shaft correctly. I could have put a boxed end wrench over it but the bolt over the strut shaft is recessed when fully tightened, so we had to remove the x-brace. So as we move along and putting everything back together, the extra help we had went the extra effort of using torque wrench on the rear top studs...

from


to






the stud only needed 12lb/ft of torque, the pig has the perfect expression
pissed? not particularly, annoyed...you bet. All this means one stud from the OEM hat must come off to replace the broken unit which translates the rears assembly will have to come out and half of the work went down the drain. Lesson learned, do not let unverified help touch the car again. Oh an this meant the wideband have to wait till next time and my alignment is also put on hold until I fix the broken stud in the top hat.

[VSGTS14]

those things always break, you can't even go off of the specs they tell you to tighten them at.
it's all about feel.

[alphaSTI]

Can't wait to see the stance of the Ohlins with Swifts! Where are the pictures?

[KarlSTI]

Great job so far. Ler us know how you like the Ohlin/Swift setup.

[Ronin_STI]

Subscribed. Love to know as well how you like the Ohlins and Swift Springs setup. I'm debating on those or RCE yellows. v.2

[blindfold]

After a week and 200 miles later, here is my initial review:

Coming from full stock suspension besides a x-brace and sway bars, the Ohlins and Swifts made a larger difference in terms of comfort and control. Even without a proper alignment as I'm waiting to re-do the the car felt more stable in turns due to higher spring rates and the turn-in is much more precise. For going through a long sweeping turns off the highway ramps, the car has more grip in all aspects, it felt the suspension is doing more work and minimizing body roll at the same time. Also the bumps are absorbed much better than OEM shocks as they are 8 clicks from full soft front and 10 clicks from full soft rear.

If you are going for a lowered look, this setup on a 2004 STi will be disappointed since 2004 R-spec Swifts drops the car a mere 15mm which is mere .6inch vs a 25mm drop for 05+ versions, so aesthetically the car looks almost the same as stock (pictures will be up shortly) which is fine by me since my front lip is drag on certain bumps anyways.

Overall this is a excellent daily driving setting up. I'm sure with few more clicks front and rear it should also be pretty sweet for some spirited runs or light track duty. So with the new suspension and EVO recaros I believe the quirks or imperfections of STi suspension has been eliminated. Lastly bobble-head is 100% gone as well.

[MKTURBO]

blindfold do you still have your oil cooler for sale?

MK

[blindfold]

Originally Posted by MKTURBO

blindfold do you still have your oil cooler for sale?

MK

cooler has been sold, thanks.

[blindfold]

Top hat issue has finally been resolved and it did not go as smoothly at all, so I felt like complaining and next paragraph is all about me bit¢hing a bit like a little girl...

***
as luck would have it, one of the stud in the top hap snapped and I had to fix it soon. Usually I'm lazy and when a part arrive, it usually sits for month, so this was an annoyance and then some. I went to a Subaru tech, Kingwrex on the board, and he hammered out few studs on a damaged top hat for me. It looked easy when he did put the bottom of the tophat in the vice and out the studs came with few strikes of a big hammer. Next was my turn after a friend removed the strut and spring assembly from the car. I put also put the group-n tophat in the vice but I couldn't adjust it so tight that it reshappend the tophat since I plan to reuse it. Stud extraction took an big ass hammer, some air hammer action, sander, cut-off wheel and drill to remove, what a pain in the ass. As luck would have it, putting the stud in the tophat wasn't easy either. I tried to hammer it but little dip **** wouldn't budge, so I used an impact gun on its lowest setting on the nut on the other side to get the stud to go through. The stud went through all right, then it is time to remove the nut...yep the stud is rotating in the tophat with a nut on the other side. Few tries later we decided to try out the OEM tophat, I am forever greatful that the OEM tophat is exactly like the group-n hat. So remove it and put the group-n rubber underneath. Everything buttoned up and was ready to roll. All in all, this was to fix somebody's fÜck up, yep, I'm bitter lol.
***

My car hit 25,000 miles. Good friend bought a 5 gallon bucket of the good stuff so we used OEM extra-S fluid in both the front diff and the tranny. I thought it was a good move to do 30k service at 25k and it is also easier to remember. Tranny feels exactly the same with the new fluid.

More review on the ohlins with swifts after an alignment, I couldn't get one since top hat had to be fixed first.

[blindfold]

I bought a authentic v-limited lip for myself, for some reason I feel a bit spoiled and felt I need to do a bit of bragging here lol

picture to follow tomorrow, i'm sure everyone knows what it looks like

[pEd]

So you're going to give me your old lip correct??

[T3h_Clap]

glad you got everything sorted

[RoMe]

Originally Posted by pEd

So you're going to give me your old lip correct??

Basically