Just signed up

[BIGMICK]

Just wanted to drop a line and say "Hi" I joined on here after Anna Bruce was a Annapolis Subaru Open House this weekend and told me about the DCAWD website.

I grew up in the Northern Virginia area, moved to Southern Maryland in 1997, bounced down to Pensacola, FL for a couple years, back to SoMD, then spent the last seven years out in California. It was out in California that I bought my Subaru WRX STI. I moved back to SoMD for a job in December I work for the Department of Defense (NAVAIR) at NAS Patuxent River. I have been trying to get back into the car scene. Looking for events to go to, meet good people, and share stories. Feel free to hit me up for any meets or get togethers. I am always up for meeting new people.

Here is a pic of my STi it is a work in progress.

[Mr Kleen]

She isn't subtle.

Willkommen!

[drwrx]

Good to meet you and welcome to the group.
Although not my thing I can appreciate the work that went into that ride.
Very pretty.

Which wheels are those?

[HappyIdiot]

Welcome! I must say, you had the best looking car at the open house.

[PGT]

Welcome! love that car, except for the sills. reminds me of a BIG truck

[Libra Monkee]

Who did the paint for your car? I've been thinking about getting some blue lightning bolts going down the side of mine.

[BIGMICK]

Thanks for the Welcome. My car is definitely not everyones cup of tea! lol I just thought the STi and EVO were the "hotrods of the 4-cyclinder import world so I wanted to try and capture that in a modern way. People either love it or hate it. You guys are a hell of a lot nicer and more open minded the the people over at NASIOC.com I just shrug it all off, it's my car no one else's and like it was mentioned above even when I may not like a design or car I still have respect for the work someone put in. I definitely look forward to sharing a beer or whatever the drink of choice is with this group.

The wheels are DPE Three Piece S20's. Although I am happy I got the rims, I cannot with good conscience recommend DPE as a company. They were a headache to work with. What was supposed to take 4-8 weeks took 6 months. I would have paid the little bit extra and bought HREs if I had to do it all over again.

The bodykit is an INGS+1 Kit. The paint was done by Chesapeake Collision down here in SoMD, and the air brushing was done buy a guy names Joe Kerner (www.joekerner.com)

[Mr Kleen]

I just shrug it all off, it's my car no one else's...

Amen, brother.

The wheels are DPE Three Piece S20's.

I love those wheels, shame you had such a bad experience. HRE's aren't cheap, so when you say you'd pay "a little bit extra" to get them over the DPE's....

I definitely look forward to sharing a beer or whatever the drink of choice is with this group.

These here people are A1 top shelf class. I miss them.
A lot...

[PGT]

I think you'll find that the common thread every member here, both male AND female, is that they're car nuts. Doesn't matter the make/model/year...if its cool, we like it. Pretentiousness gets checked at the door along with ego and uppity BS. I'm a long-time member of NASIOC (OT is the only place I browse these days) but I actively particpate in DCAWD for a reason (see above).

Again, welcome!!!

[BIGMICK]

I just shrug it all off, it's my car no one else's...

Amen, brother.

The wheels are DPE Three Piece S20's.

I love those wheels, shame you had such a bad experience. HRE's aren't cheap, so when you say you'd pay "a little bit extra" to get them over the DPE's....

I definitely look forward to sharing a beer or whatever the drink of choice is with this group.

These here people are A1 top shelf class. I miss them.
A lot...

DPE's aren't too much cheaper then HREs. The reason I went with DPE is one of my good friends from out west (www.carsbykris.com) is in a BMW club with the owner of DPE and got me the wheels at cost. My friend is a SEMA award winning car designer and has never steered me wrong hooking me up with my hood and talking over design ideas with me. In this case he just provided the introduction and I bought the wheels directly through DPE. The first set I recieved was a month and a half late, and drilled to the wrong bolt pattern. Once I got in direct communication with the owner I was promised an improvement in service and my rims would be the #1 priority..... Nothing changed. It was like pulling teeth. Finally after my buddy Kris sent them a scathing message my rims were delivered three weeks later. Kris felt horrible even though he had no direct interaction in the process. The guys from DPE really cared less even after screwing up the order repeatedly. They dont know what the word professional means and have no regard for customer service unless you have something to offer them or drive a Lambo or something high-end.

A1 Top Shelf! WoooHooo I can handle that! Anyway thanks again for the comments. I am out in Cali next week so I will miss the meet I saw on the Calendar but I will be sure to make the next one if I am not on travel.

[BIGMICK]

I also have a GSXR 1000 K5 and a 2002 Harley Road King, so I am down to go on any DC1WD meets or rides before it gets to cold.

[Sabre]

Welcome to DCAWD I have to say, your car actually reminds me of a lambo that I saw at a dyno day (similar paint scheme)! As long as you like it, that is all that matters I see a FMIC hiding behind the bumper. What mods, other than styling, do you have? We're a pretty friendly and knowledgeable group of sometimes fanatical car lovers, haha. Looking forward to meeting you at a meet sometime!

[BIGMICK]

Welcome to DCAWD I have to say, your car actually reminds me of a lambo that I saw at a dyno day (similar paint scheme)! As long as you like it, that is all that matters I see a FMIC hiding behind the bumper. What mods, other than styling, do you have? We're a pretty friendly and knowledgeable group of sometimes fanatical car lovers, haha. Looking forward to meeting you at a meet sometime!

The only mods I have done so far are the TurboXS FMIC, 3.5" APS TBE, TurboXS Short Ram intake, Tein FLEX coilovers w/ EDFC, Cusco rear sway bar, lightened flywheel and upgraded clutch, and an open source tune from Phatron on nasioc.com (a friend of mine from Cali and great tuner) I have a new clutch ready to go in, walboro fuel pump, and an extra short block that I am going to have built. Going to shop turbos equal length headers, injectors, boost control solenoids etc... The car is a labor of love for sure.

[zaxrex]

Ron has had his hands in a few of the members cars on here.
I have the same suspension in my blue WRX, just plugged it back in and found errors on the rear motors.
If yours is a labor of love, then mine is a love/hate relationship.
If you are looking for big power, I have a semi-closed 2.5 deck that needs new sleeves. Might be the same as to what you have, but just throwing it out there.

Now you have to turn that show into go!

[drwrx]

Going to shop turbos equal length headers, injectors, boost control solenoids etc...

Let the discussion commense.
How much whp you are looking for?
Are you looking for peak power or power under the curve?
Are you thinking of adding water/meth injection?

[BIGMICK]

Ron has had his hands in a few of the members cars on here.
I have the same suspension in my blue WRX, just plugged it back in and found errors on the rear motors.
If yours is a labor of love, then mine is a love/hate relationship.
If you are looking for big power, I have a semi-closed 2.5 deck that needs new sleeves. Might be the same as to what you have, but just throwing it out there.

Now you have to turn that show into go!

I am on my second short block. I was told my TBE would be fine to run on the car until I got my Cobb AP........ Well something went wrong. lol So I got the new Shortblock put in installed the AP and was happy.

Ron was getting into the Open Source thing at the time, so I got with him and let him do a tune on my car. He spent hours tweaking and tweaking the map. Even though I wasn't on a dyno the butt dyno definitely felt the difference. I dont know anyone else's experience with Ron but I was thrilled. I rented a place with him when I bought my STi and watched him learn in his early days of building his bugeye. He is literally a rocket scientist by trade so once he get into learning tuning and ECU programing I knew it would take off for him. So all I can do is go offf my experience but I had an excellent experience. One of the things to get done on my car before I even get into this next round of upgrades is to get a solid eastcoast tune from him after I get my new clutch installed.

Going to shop turbos equal length headers, injectors, boost control solenoids etc...

Let the discussion commense.
How much whp you are looking for?
Are you looking for peak power or power under the curve?
Are you thinking of adding water/meth injection?

I want a 400whp daily driveable car. I would prefer to stay away from Meth if I can due to the long term negative effects of it. I dont want a drag car, I want a street/curvy road car. There is aways going to be someone faster so I am not worried about making the most horsepower ever. I have been trying to balance performance and styling as I built the car. The paint and everything I had done recently are the result of getting sideswiped a week after moving to Maryland. (awesome welcome back gift!) I upgrade the area most cost and logistically effective depending on what is being done on the car. So for example since I am doing the clutch, I will have the short throw short shifter installed and all the mounts and bushings done at that time that are accessible.

I would like consistent power under the curve. The last thing I want is a car that is undrivable because there is too much peak horsepower and lag. So I am thinking FP Red or something along those lines, definitely ball bearing, I want to avoid going rotated mount.

Any lessons learned or suggestions are definitely welcome. I look at doing the setup on my current stock block, and then migrating it over to the built motor when it is ready.

[Mr Kleen]

I've seen several Scoobies with water/meth injection on daily drivers. It's also getting really popular with the BMW guys on the N54 and N55.

[BIGMICK]

I've seen several Scoobies with water/meth injection on daily drivers. It's also getting really popular with the BMW guys on the N54 and N55.

I just heard that t is corrosive to your motor.....

[Sabre]

I've run water/meth (50/50) for over 75k. Zak has been using it for years as well. No ill effects as far as I can tell. Go back to the people who said it's corrosive and ask if they have actually run it and seen it's effects or understand how it works. The "water" is essentially steam when it's in the combustion camber and is thrown out the exhaust before it would ever have time to be corrosive.

400WHP takes 850cc injectors (although you will be maxing them out at 90% injector duty cycle), fuel pump and a turbo with around 58lbs/min of air. The Dominator 3 XT-R will get you there and keep great spool. The FP Green is also a great turbo that can make 380WHP. The Red is actually a little larger than you probably want to go for your power goals, but don't let that stop you. If you're going to do the Red, you'll need to do TGV delete's and you'll want upgrade more of your fuel system in order to handle the amount of air that it can put out. Take a look at my build thread in the Cars section to get a feel for what it takes.

[BIGMICK]

I've run water/meth (50/50) for over 75k. Zak has been using it for years as well. No ill effects as far as I can tell. Go back to the people who said it's corrosive and ask if they have actually run it and seen it's effects or understand how it works. The "water" is essentially steam when it's in the combustion camber and is thrown out the exhaust before it would ever have time to be corrosive.

400WHP takes 850cc injectors (although you will be maxing them out at 90% injector duty cycle), fuel pump and a turbo with around 58lbs/min of air. The Dominator 3 XT-R will get you there and keep great spool. The FP Green is also a great turbo that can make 380WHP. The Red is actually a little larger than you probably want to go for your power goals, but don't let that stop you. If you're going to do the Red, you'll need to do TGV delete's and you'll want upgrade more of your fuel system in order to handle the amount of air that it can put out. Take a look at my build thread in the Cars section to get a feel for what it takes.

I really appreciate the info and input I am sitting in the airportin St Louis for the next couple hours so I willbrowse the threadsfor sure.

[Libra Monkee]

I thought about doing the water injection thing for a while but there's a lot of science involved and my car's already not all that user-friendly.

[drwrx]

Julian is talking wisdom with his advice. FP Red ($1,499) or DOM 3-XTR ($1,795) are easy choices and will make 400 whp easy.
Go w/ the 3" inlet and the 10cm housing.
I would go 1,000 cc injectors if you want to be safe.
Water injection is the one reason I would consider using a UTEC or standalone ECU like the Hydra.
You can have several easily swappable maps.

[Mr Kleen]

Do you believe everything you read on the internet?
Check out THIS THREAD for some lulz.

CN: guy says Meth = doom!!1!; guy ends up being a doofus.

[drwrx]

I'll make a quick point on why I'm not running water/meth injection.
If anything goes wrong with the water injection system (nozzle clog, pump failure, piping failure, wiring failure, water/meth runs out, etc.) the consequences can be devastating.
Imagine full boost and the pump fails or the nozzle clogs . . . bye bye block.

That does not mean I am against it however. It can make very impressive power. Much like running race gas or e85.

[zaxrex]

I have been running water/meth injection for the better part of 8 years.
Methanol is corrosive to aluminum when left in contactfor long periods of time. That is basic chemistry. But the difference is that you are only injecting under boost, the dwell time is so short that there is almost no time for the chemical reaction to take place.
If you build your short block with iron sleeves, then your corrosion is limited to your injection port. Almost negligible.
I have been lucky that my tune has been conservative enough that when the injection system fails I have not blown anything.
If you spend the scratch for a stand alone EM with dedicated water/meth system, you can tune to the limit and see great returns.