Project Rookie

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sachilles
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Re: Project Rookie

Post by sachilles »

Never had a problem with the bolt slippage, and it was in my daily driver, which gets hammered on the roads around here in addition to autocross. I can not guarantee that they were tightened to the recommended torque. Make sure the oem camber bolt is the upper bolt and you won't have a problem.
The negative 4.9 was using sti struts(sedan) on my wagon, which penalizes you +0.9 degrees. So you should be even better off. I'd think even with your stock bolts, you could get better results than what you have. The popular subie thing to is to put wagon strut bodies on the sedans to get a gain of -0.9 degrees.

I think you'll be happy with zero toe all around. Anywhere between -1.75 to -2.5 for the front. Probably closer to -1.75 for daily driven in the interest of saving tires. Rear should be around -0.5.
If you have that much rear camber, that seems odd. I know the wrx did not receive adjustable camber bolts in the back, unsure if the sti did.

if you really want to max the front camber on all the stock stuff, make sure both lower bolts are loose and the bolts at the strut tops are loose and then push that puppy in as far as you can go. My friend who did the alignment uses some sort of air bag to push them in. However if you are doing it at home, loosen up the stuff, put your wheel back on, jacked in the air and then push on the top of the wheel inboard. Take wheel off and tighten stuff up.
If you find you have to go to dual camber bolts, the lobes have to face opposite directions to get max camber.

bottom line, more negative camber in front compared to the back will help tremendously.
Sachilles
02 Subaru impreza (Donut) #66
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sachilles
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Re: Project Rookie

Post by sachilles »

by the way, when I had my dual camber bolt setup, the upper is the oem camber bolt, and the lower is a 14mm camber bolt. The part number is spicer part # 616-1036.
Sachilles
02 Subaru impreza (Donut) #66
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linc44
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Re: Project Rookie

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Thank you for the info Seth! :D
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honda#72
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Re: Project Rookie

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linc44 wrote: In all fairness though, I feel like you wouldn't have forgiven me if I had shown up to the hill with the NSX. I know I would have been cringing every time I drove through the campground and rocks were pinging against the undercarriage, never mind taking a run with it!
You are correct, you would then have to go buy another NSX, while your girlfriend is on vaction, because the first was too shinny, and tear That one apart and cage it. Then you would have to explain to the little lady that you need a third NSX for parts because these cars are rare and parts are hard to find. This may leave her with the uneasy feeling that everytime she goes on vacation,she may come home and find yet another limited production Honda in the driveway. This has been my formula so far, but it may not work for all ....
1997 cc + Vtec + 9,200 rpm fuel cut = Fun !
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linc44
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Re: Project Rookie

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Sounds like a flawless plan to me! Let me know how it goes...

Once she's done with that useless medical school thing maybe she'll just buy me one for my birthday. ;) One can only hope haha.
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Re: Project Rookie

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honda#72 wrote:
linc44 wrote: In all fairness though, I feel like you wouldn't have forgiven me if I had shown up to the hill with the NSX. I know I would have been cringing every time I drove through the campground and rocks were pinging against the undercarriage, never mind taking a run with it!
You are correct, you would then have to go buy another NSX, while your girlfriend is on vaction, because the first was too shinny, and tear That one apart and cage it. Then you would have to explain to the little lady that you need a third NSX for parts because these cars are rare and parts are hard to find. This may leave her with the uneasy feeling that everytime she goes on vacation,she may come home and find yet another limited production Honda in the driveway. This has been my formula so far, but it may not work for all ....
And everyone else wanted to know why I ended up with soooo many Rabbits... at least Chris understands!
Go Fast VW & Audi parts at FastAddiction.com
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linc44
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Re: Project Rookie

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This update of Project Rookie was supposed to come AFTER the Okemo 2 race being held tomorrow and Sunday. Apparently I was not meant to race at Okemo this weekend :(. The problems started mounting and now it's simply not possible to make it. It is frustrating when things just don't go your way (I had hoped to get year-end point this season, along with my goal to set times at every hill to use as a benchmark for next season, but now I will not be able to make the required number of races and miss both Okemo events.....alas).

In advance, my apologies to Michele Baumann. I told her I would be there this weekend and now I will not be. Please know I WAS planning on showing up.

I was a believer that the most reliable Subaru is a stock Subaru, until the following happened just last night and earlier today:

-Problem #1: I was rotating my tires and when I was taking off the front driver-side wheel I noticed that it only took a half-turn for one of the lug nuts to come off...yikes! I proceeded to take the other 4 lug nuts off like normal, pulled the wheel off and found that the wheel stud was almost entirely stripped. Not just threads scarred, but completely stripped off (it looked more like a dowel instead of a threaded stud) except for 1.5-2 threads that had barely held the lug nut on. No big deal I thought, I'll have time after work to shoot down to the Subaru dealership (I get discounted service there so it made sense at the time to have them do it in 20-30 minutes at a minimal cost), get a new stud installed, and then drive up to Ludlow in time for the rookie meeting. WRONG.

-Problem #2: The service tech on this job was apparently the worlds strongest man because he managed to SHATTER the ends of my brake calipers off where the bolts connect the caliper to the knuckle/hub assembly. The bolts holes were sheared right off my shiny Brembos. Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot! The mechanic told me (after the fact) that it did seem more dificult than usual to to get the bolts out but that he just used a breaker bar and some penetrating oil when they wouldn't budge. Me-thinks he may have never learned the lefty-loosey, righty-tighty rule, but nevertheless, I have no front caliper and will miss Okemo 2. *#@^!!!! (thankfully the service guys were extremely understanding, took blame and apologized incessantly, and immediately agreed to pay for the new caliper and labor to install it, but it still leaves me wishing I could take some runs up Okemo).

As I am a glass half full kind of guy, there is always something to be learned from this. For one, even dealerships (who in general, I would think, would be more experienced in the make of car they sell and service) make mistakes. I can understand that nobody is perfect. Secondly, these things can pop up at the most inconvenient times. There is really nothing that I could have done except maybe try to relace the wheel stud myself, and perhaps break the caliper in my garage (meaning a big repair bill on my own dime....$1500 for ONE Brembo brake caliper!? And that's without labor. Are you kidding me??). If there was in fact something flawed with my caliper, I am glad it was found before failing under stress (like hillclimb). Brakes are one thing that I am a worry-wart about.

So to recap, I am sorry to everyone at Okemo who put in all the effort to make an absolutely great event I'm sure. I will have to wait until 2013 to take my first steps there.

Good luck to all! :)
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Re: Project Rookie

Post by Rabbit Farmer »

The brakes may very well have been broken from last install (i.e. over TQ'ed) and were impossible to remove without breaking them on Friday. Good to hear that the dealership took responsibility.... even though it might not have been 100% their error.

You missed a great weekend.... see you at Ascutney.

Steve
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sachilles
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Re: Project Rookie

Post by sachilles »

Yeah, those calipers have a reputation of having that happen. While it's a bummer you missed Okemo, you are at least getting a new caliper out of the deal.
Sachilles
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Re: Project Rookie

Post by honda#72 »

I would be very grateful the dealer helped you with the bill. The only way those caliper bolts would break off is if the hack who put them on last, overtightened or more than likely cross threaded them. As was the case with the wheel stud, on that wheel. Getting a big dollar caliper goodwilled, is much better than having the tech heat the bolts up, boiling your brake fliud in the process, getting it apart, putting it all back together and telling you are all set. Then finding you have little to no pedal, as a result of boiled fluid, on the first fam run bring down. Unless you have only one person work on your car and know a cars full history, I would not pass judgement so quickly on those who are around when things go bad, and who give you free oem parts, they may just be dealing with the last hack's poor workmanship.
1997 cc + Vtec + 9,200 rpm fuel cut = Fun !
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