Sponsored by Agile Auto in Fallston, MD
For those that don't know me, my name is Josh and I'm planning on using this thread to document my STU autocross build as well as my progress throughout the season including setups and changes. To start things off, I would like to give a BIG THANKS to Hill McCarty at Agile Auto for his support and help in this build, along with all the help in the past!
Now for a little background. I've been autocrossing now going on 5 years, with all of my previous experience coming from building my 2003 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V that I built for STX. Although the car wasn't the prime choice for the class, I was able to win STX for Philly Region in 2006, WDCR Region in 2007/2008, and Autocrosser's Inc. in 2007/2008.
After driving the car for 5 years, I knew it was time to get into a car better suited for it's class. I sold the car in August 2008 and spent the next few months doing some co-drives to figure out what best fit my wants/needs. A special thanks to John W. (ButtDyno) for letting me co-drive the WRX to finish out the WDCR STX season! But after driving Iman's (bdi) STU prepped STi, I knew exactly what car I wanted to buy and what class I wanted to run in. I've enjoyed the ST* class and knew that it was the right fit for me.
Through research gained here and conversations with several great STU drivers (Thanks Colin, James, Iman, JR, John W, and anyone else I left out!) I decided that a 2006 STi was going to be tool of choice. I searched through the classifieds on here, IWSTI, autotrader.com, etc. for about a month before I found what seemed to be the right car. It was a 2006 Aspen White STi with only 17,300 miles, a 3.5" APS exhaust, COBB short ram intake, and Accessport with Stage 2 tune. And to make it even better, the guy only lived 25 minutes away. A couple of weeks of pricing negotiations and the car was mine on November 21st!
The car shortly after purchase
The old autocross ride
Needless to say, the next 4 months were hell. Having this beauty sitting in the garage, doing research, dealing with snow and cold...just painful. Fortunately all that ended last Sunday when I began the autocross modification process.
Through yesterday I had installed the following modifications (it's been a busy week!):
- APS 3.5" turbo back exhaust with MIL.SPEC 100 cell race cat welded into downpipe by Agile Auto
- Hawk HP+ brake pads
- Braille 6lbs race battery
- Re-installed stock intake to replace COBB short ram to reduce intake air temp during summer events
- Corbeau 3 pt. Harness (autocross use only)
- Rolled front part of rear fenders
- Whiteline 24mm adjustable front sway bar with Whiteline spherical endlinks
Midway through the work
- Whiteline 22mm adjustable rear sway bar with Whiteline spherical endlinks
- Racecomp Engineering Tarmac 2 coilovers with 600lbs front springs and 500lbs rear springs topped with Vorshlag camber plates set at Racecomp suggested Track settings (Thanks Myles for the discussion and help!)
After the installs (before alignment and fixing front ride height...at 2am)
Test fitting some borrowed 17x9 et35 RE30's (before alignment and fixing front ride height at 1:30am)
- Ported stock headers by Agile Auto (no pics...forgot the camera)
- STU Protune by Hill at Agile Auto...318whp/318wtq (I know, kind of high...dyno chart to follow) along with a street tune 325whp/350wtq
And a few other things
- Alignment set at -3.2 front camber and -1.9 rear camber with zero toe for both
- Ordered 5Zigen FN01RC's 17x9 et43 in flat black
- Deciding between 245/40/17 Bridestone RE-11's or Kumho XS's
Where the car currently sits as of 3/14/09
First test day is this coming weekend on March 22nd with the Philly Region, followed by the WDCR practice event on March 29th. I'll either be running the borrowed RE30's with Dunlops, or if I make a tire decision tomorrow I should have that setup by the weekend. We'll see what happens. I don't know how everything will work first time out, but it should be interesting. Iman (bdi) will be co-driving with me this coming weekend to help work on the setup a little bit.
My plans for the season are to run a full WDCR schedule, Fed Ex Field events with Autocrosser's Inc, Citzen's Bank Park events with the Philly Region, the DC Pro (and hopefully Toledo, but doubtful), either the Seneca Tour or NE Divisional, and Nationals in Lincoln, NE.
For those that don't know me, my name is Josh and I'm planning on using this thread to document my STU autocross build as well as my progress throughout the season including setups and changes. To start things off, I would like to give a BIG THANKS to Hill McCarty at Agile Auto for his support and help in this build, along with all the help in the past!
Now for a little background. I've been autocrossing now going on 5 years, with all of my previous experience coming from building my 2003 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V that I built for STX. Although the car wasn't the prime choice for the class, I was able to win STX for Philly Region in 2006, WDCR Region in 2007/2008, and Autocrosser's Inc. in 2007/2008.
After driving the car for 5 years, I knew it was time to get into a car better suited for it's class. I sold the car in August 2008 and spent the next few months doing some co-drives to figure out what best fit my wants/needs. A special thanks to John W. (ButtDyno) for letting me co-drive the WRX to finish out the WDCR STX season! But after driving Iman's (bdi) STU prepped STi, I knew exactly what car I wanted to buy and what class I wanted to run in. I've enjoyed the ST* class and knew that it was the right fit for me.
Through research gained here and conversations with several great STU drivers (Thanks Colin, James, Iman, JR, John W, and anyone else I left out!) I decided that a 2006 STi was going to be tool of choice. I searched through the classifieds on here, IWSTI, autotrader.com, etc. for about a month before I found what seemed to be the right car. It was a 2006 Aspen White STi with only 17,300 miles, a 3.5" APS exhaust, COBB short ram intake, and Accessport with Stage 2 tune. And to make it even better, the guy only lived 25 minutes away. A couple of weeks of pricing negotiations and the car was mine on November 21st!
The car shortly after purchase
The old autocross ride
Needless to say, the next 4 months were hell. Having this beauty sitting in the garage, doing research, dealing with snow and cold...just painful. Fortunately all that ended last Sunday when I began the autocross modification process.
Through yesterday I had installed the following modifications (it's been a busy week!):
- APS 3.5" turbo back exhaust with MIL.SPEC 100 cell race cat welded into downpipe by Agile Auto
- Hawk HP+ brake pads
- Braille 6lbs race battery
- Re-installed stock intake to replace COBB short ram to reduce intake air temp during summer events
- Corbeau 3 pt. Harness (autocross use only)
- Rolled front part of rear fenders
- Whiteline 24mm adjustable front sway bar with Whiteline spherical endlinks
Midway through the work
- Whiteline 22mm adjustable rear sway bar with Whiteline spherical endlinks
- Racecomp Engineering Tarmac 2 coilovers with 600lbs front springs and 500lbs rear springs topped with Vorshlag camber plates set at Racecomp suggested Track settings (Thanks Myles for the discussion and help!)
After the installs (before alignment and fixing front ride height...at 2am)
Test fitting some borrowed 17x9 et35 RE30's (before alignment and fixing front ride height at 1:30am)
- Ported stock headers by Agile Auto (no pics...forgot the camera)
- STU Protune by Hill at Agile Auto...318whp/318wtq (I know, kind of high...dyno chart to follow) along with a street tune 325whp/350wtq
And a few other things
- Alignment set at -3.2 front camber and -1.9 rear camber with zero toe for both
- Ordered 5Zigen FN01RC's 17x9 et43 in flat black
- Deciding between 245/40/17 Bridestone RE-11's or Kumho XS's
Where the car currently sits as of 3/14/09
First test day is this coming weekend on March 22nd with the Philly Region, followed by the WDCR practice event on March 29th. I'll either be running the borrowed RE30's with Dunlops, or if I make a tire decision tomorrow I should have that setup by the weekend. We'll see what happens. I don't know how everything will work first time out, but it should be interesting. Iman (bdi) will be co-driving with me this coming weekend to help work on the setup a little bit.
My plans for the season are to run a full WDCR schedule, Fed Ex Field events with Autocrosser's Inc, Citzen's Bank Park events with the Philly Region, the DC Pro (and hopefully Toledo, but doubtful), either the Seneca Tour or NE Divisional, and Nationals in Lincoln, NE.