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Brighton Swap Project

47K views 295 replies 54 participants last post by  ryansport22 
#1 · (Edited)
My name is Ryan and Im starting this members journal to document my Brighton swap. So let start at the beginning. In 06 I bought my first new car a wrx.

I immediately started modifying the car to my liking.

Table of contents:

Page 1- WRX accident and bought brighton
Page 2- Little stuff
Page 3- New wheels
Page 4- Roll and pull fenders, rear end swap
Page 5- Stripping down the two cars
Page 6- Sound deadening out, trans in, coilovers built, paint and roll bar in
Page 7- Not much cool pic of the car
Page 8- Engine and front mount intercooler in
Page 9- Working on wiring
Page10- Swapped finished sorta
Page11- Car weigh in and street vs race wheels/tires
Page12- Pics and some talk
Page13- First autox run
Page14- Suspension thoughts and autox pics
Page15- Bye bye glass and doors get lightened
Page16- Lexan and new hood
Page17- New rain tires, side windows and DYNO!
 
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#218 ·
Im just going to leave the fenders cut for the time being.

As far as the brakes-

Single stage brake booster
JDM 4 wheel disk non abs prop valve
non abs brake lines or custom

I think you can use whatever master cylinder you like that will work with the non abs lines.

After changing brake parts and flat spotting tires I now have a system that works as good as my old abs system. Just changing one part or pulling the fuse will downgrade the brakes in my opinion. If I could do it all again I would probably keep the abs system, but I do get a 50 pound weight break for not having it.
 
#223 ·
Are you SM legal, if so that will be an "easier" class. SM means full interior minus back seat, things like ALK are not legal, and so on.

XP is far more open though there are still rules.

Solo should be XP
Pro Solo should be R2 (I know less about pro solo but want to try it soon)
 
#224 ·
I have the minimal interior for SM. Dash + center console and door cards. It says you can remove the back seat and head liner but I took a lot of sound deadening out. I dont have an ALK but theres lots of controversy on a roll center adjust kit. Even though it doesn't change the pick up points.

The only problem with no ALK is im trying to run 17x9.5 with 275/40/17 tires , ALK would help them fit but Ill probably have to do some removing of things to help them fit.
 
#227 ·
At the local clubs I run with in Socal we have an in between SM class that allows engine swaps. CST / California street tire. Its almost a catch all with less power than the monsters in SM. Can run engine swaps , engine managment, gutted interiors ( minus the dash) as long as you have street tires instead of r-comps your good.

And the BMW club just groups everyone thats not a BMW against each other so I dont need to worry about classing for that
 
#230 · (Edited)
Also one of my competitors let me know that he though my car was not legal for XP. I looked into to further after the event and that appears to be true under the "no cutting the unibody rule". So after a little research it looks like I'm going to be moving to E mod. Pros of this are that the rules are much more open and I can build the car how I like in the years to come. Cons are that it will probably never be nationally competitive. (not that it was anyways)
 
#232 ·
I agree about the gearing, 1st is only for getting off the line and 2nd is geared very tall (75 to 80 mph). I did hit the limiter in one spot of the course though.

I think another part of the problem is that I was much to timid with the gas pedal. Last year I ran 225 tires with open diffs, this year its 275 with lsd. I need to learn to get on the gas at or before the apex.

Over all I feel like the car is better than me now and I need to do some catching up.
 
#234 ·
Well sir I'd figure I'd comment since I just competed in my first scca pro solo for nationals in california. Probably the best format i've ever run so far. I've done at least 6 autocross's in this car now but still working a lot out. I found out that you cant run a stripped interior in SM. only thing you can remove is the rear seats and everything else has to stay. So I need to work on getting all those pieces because XP out here is a different monster I can't even touch. winner of xp at this one was a fully modified lotus running e85 with around 700hp and the 800hp rx-7s.

and but swapped GC's the first group they can run in is SM because of turning a NA car into a turbo and engine managment and boost. Ill post some videos but the format is awesome. you definitely need to get to a pro solo 1 day of practicing your drag launches and 60ft times and 2 days of full racing 2 courses
 
#235 ·
Ill do a prosolo someday soon for sure, Ill love it, my 5 speed wont. I wouldn't be so scared of the 700hp lotus and 800hp rx-7s, I think our cars can keep up and even win against them. SpeedyHam and Storm are good examples of this. SM is a great class though, some of the rules are a little tight about ALK, bracing, roll center adjusters, ect.

Now can I ever get down to minimum weight in E Mod 2150 pounds with driver, that would mean the car would need to be around 1975 pounds.
 
#236 ·
Your mine weight would be pretty crazy if you could get it down there. Probably need to start getting carbon fiber roof , trunk, fenders , lightweight driveshaft, tubular subframes and you would almost be there. there was a A mod car that weighed in at 1555 but he had a snowmobile motor

I think im definitely stay in the SM class for prosolo's and our local CST class for regional events. I almost didnt make weight but I had to call in the rule if tires are 275 or under you get to take off 200lbs from your min. weight requirment. So 2820 dropped to 2620 and I was 2645. When I put some of the interior back in I wont have a problem with the weight anymore at least.
 
#237 ·
I hope to use our club scales soon to corner weight the car, but if I had to guess I would say the car ready to race is around 2100lb now.

Some adjustments I am working on currently to make the car easier to drive and hopefully faster for next autocross-

Swapping front and back springs, will now be 450lb front with the big front sway bar, and 400lb rear with no sway bar.

Removing dash and stripping a few more pounds off the dash beam and steering column.

If I have time I will clean up the wiring harness some more, and I am thinking about a lexan front windshield.
 
#238 ·
Well the Packwood National Tour was a great success. Took 1st in E Mod but to be fair if any of the really fast E mod drivers would have came they would have beat me. There were more full prep cars than I have ever seen and I learned a lot by talking to the drivers of these cars. Videos and pics soon...
 
#239 ·
Congrats man. I had an auto-x last week was hoping for good news. I just threw on my 275s and the tires that were on the rims were horrible. Never buy continental extremes. The sidewalls just roll over and you get traction like half way through the turn. Plus a leak from the tail of the transmission to driveshaft oil leak and seems my r180 might be shot from the clutch packs.

Glad to hear the you and the car are performing well, your thread was the main reason I swapped an L !
 
#241 · (Edited)
jbug- I am having the opposite problem with my tires (v710's), the side walls refuse to roll over to the edge of the tread. I have about a 1/4 inch on the outside and 1/2 inch on the inside that have never touched the ground. I have ran down to 18 psi and this did not change but the transitional response got worse. I'll be on different tires next season, either BFG R1-S or Hoosier A6.

I have been fighting a massive oversteer issues this season too. I ran 0 rear Toe at the tour and I think I am going to try a little rear Toe In at the next local event. One of the videos shows me spinning across the START line, that was a little embarrassing. I need to trust the car more especially under power.
 
#243 ·
The v710s are a great tire but better suited for a full weight car with limited camber control. Both the A6 and R1-S are light load tires (better for light car imo) with a softer compound that heats up faster.

For street tires I think the R-S3's are probably one of the fastest but I haven't ever run them.

Its fun to win a class at a national tour but it also showed me how slow I am compared to some other drives. I figure I needed to be 2.5 sec faster on Saturday and 5 seconds faster on Sunday to be competitive at all if real E mod cars showed up.

Maybe next year Ill be that fast.
 
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