Looking for some suggestions

[davisk6]

With the 240sx sold and the Genesis Coupe a little too new, I'm leaning toward modifying my 2006 WRX for Hillclimbs, so I'm looking for suggestions from the veteran AWD drivers on where to start. The only restriction that I have is that the car must remain streetable. I will be driving the car to and from events and it will be used as an alternate commuter during the warm months and my sole car during the winter. As of right now the only modifications to the car are as follows:

SPT Intake
SPT Pink Springs
Cobb Accessport Stage 1 Tune

I've been thinking about doing the following anyway:

Turbo Back Exhaust & Re-Tune

But on suspension, I'm completely open. So please, fire away!

Kevin

[Mopar 151]

Just my opinion -
Look at Eric Flachbart's Safety thread in regard to running harnesses and a racing seat, regardless of cage. I whole-heartedly concur with his conclusions , for a couple of reasons. First is history - we've had innumerable low-speed frontal stuffs with harnessed drivers, and they rarely show a mark. Second, the current talking point/urban legend that harnesses should/nt be used withour a cage is, AFIK,a product of driver's schools on well-groomed racecourses, where rollovers are the primary hazard and the A-pillars of the usual suspect car are shaky as Wall Street. And their greatest fear is not being able to sell the car to the insurance company - that's why it is billed as a "school", and no timing is allowed.
Third - and this is where we get OnTopic - A racing/FIA seat and a 6 or 7 point harness are the cheapest and most effective chassis improvent you can make, in both speed/dollar and best use of your learning curve/quality seat time metrics. I'd have no qualms commuting in my Kirkey Intermediate Roadrace, especially if it involved Speedway 93, the "Banzai Pipeline" that is 128, or the like. And good belts, correct ly installed and adjusted, are very comfortable - look at some good rally cars, you'll get some good ideas.
If it was me, I'd look at getting a toe in the water with a (4-point) rollbar, with the bolt in crossbrace/harness/seat bar - get the one upgradable to a rollcage, and made from DOM tubing. That way, changing the car back to stock, or going further, can be done without throwing out much stuff.

[davisk6]

For safety I was looking at installing, at the very least, a harness bar and a 4-point harness. I still have the 4-point Schroth Harness from the 240sx, so I am absolutely going to re-use that. After racing a car with harnesses, I wouldn't even think of racing again without them. I'm going to hold of on a decision regarding a rollbar/cage for now. Although I am really the only one driving it, it is still a 4 door car and I do occasionally carry passengers. Even with the Autopower bar, the rear seat become useless and I'm not ready to make the jump from daily duty to part-time race car. As far as a race seat goes, I'm not ready to give up my heated leather seats yet either

I'm still looking for suspension advice. Alex? Joey? Got anything?

Kevin

[sachilles]

I'm going to suggest you keep a semi-stock setup on the suspension. Go with Koni inserts, or a kyb AGX struts. Get either some nice camber plates that will adjust caster as well....or Group N top hats. Ditch the spt pink springs in favor of the STi jdm market pink springs.(the spt ones aren't the same). The Jdm pinks have a slightly higher spring rate.
Watching some of the videos I don't know that you want to go too firm for some sections of the hills, as well as daily driving.
I ran the jdm pink springs on my 02 wrx wagon, and they were just at the edge of street friendly. I switched back to stock when the baby was born....as I didn't want him to get shaken too much. The jdm pinks shouldn't be run with your stock struts or even sti ones, otherwise you end up with some annoying pogo'ing.
That being said, the stock wrx setup isn't horrid if you replace the tophats with the group N ones or camber plates. There is roll, but not so bad that it can't be handled. I've had very good luck with just adjust the alignment. I replaced the stock front camber bolts with aftermarket ones with a greater range, and put the stock ones in the rear struts so you can adjust the camber in the back. My favorite settings to date are 0° toe front and back. -2.5° camber up front. -0.75° camber rear. It allows you to rotate only if you want to, but is otherwise pretty stable with decent turn in.

[davisk6]

Awesome suggestions. I was looking at Koni Inserts and I want to go with camber plates. What other spring options do you suggest? Would the Cobb Springs be worth it? I was looking at the entire Cobb package (Springs and Sways). The Cobb springs are progressive whereas the SPT ones are not. I know the Cobb ones do lower the front a bit more than the SPT, but I'm find with that. As for camber plates, what should I look for? Are there any caveats to installing and running them with Koni inserts?

Kevin

[sachilles]

My caveats. The stock wrx tophat can be kind of soft. So I suggest the camber plate as a way to eliminate that, or use a group N mount. So that suggestion is independent of your strut choice. Camber plates cost more money and can affect ride height. Some camber plates allow for some change in caster, which can be nice.
If money wasn't an issue, I'd choose Koni over the kyb.
I honestly don't have an opinion on the cobb springs good or bad.
An adjustable rear sway bar is also a good option, you just want that dialed in at something other than a hillclimb. If you go too stiff it might get very tail happy/jumpy.

IF this wasn't a daily driver I'd suggest other things, as I know Joey, Nick and others are running coilover setups.

[Mopar 151]

So's you know, we are quite insistent on crotch belts as part of the harness. If you don't want to hack the seats/heaters for a 5th point , use a 6-point running back to the lap belt mounting points.

[davisk6]

So's you know, we are quite insistent on crotch belts as part of the harness. If you don't want to hack the seats/heaters for a 5th point , use a 6-point running back to the lap belt mounting points.

I'll keep that in mind

So after some research and lots of searching I've narrowed down my choices to the following:

• Koni Inserts
  Cobb Front and Rear Sway Bars
  Kartboy Front and Rear Sway Bar Endlinks
  Camber Bolts (Front)

Also, I can get the following for FREE as I have a bunch of Subaru Bucks leftover

• Front and Rear Group N Top Hats
  Rear SPT Strut Brace

Now, I'm still up in the air on Springs. I have it narrowed down to the following choices:

RCE "Black" Regular Guy Springs (285 F / 269 R)
JDM STi Pink Springs (257 F / 217 R)

I like the RCE Springs and they have good reviews on NASIOC. What do you think?

[STI NICK]

Sounds like you have some good choices. I would go with the RCE springs my self. There is nothing wrong with either really. Other than that Seth gave some good advice. I would say more, but I dont think I need to.

[sachilles]

if you are getting the rear strut brace for "free" with the subaru bucks, then great. However, it doesn't do all that much for a sedan....but is great for wagons. Sedans have the bracing across the rear strut towers under the parcel shelf anyway.