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Stew's 98RS

129759 Views 674 Replies 80 Participants Last post by  Combat Chuck, 
Stew3223
The time has finally come for me to organize a members journal! Ive been a member here since I purchased my 98 2.5RS in late December of 2005. My car, not unlike myself, has been through a lot since then and made many changes. And now, upon organizing parts and information for my swap, I though I should get the cars history laid out so I can properly journal its future :D

Current Photos:









Current Mod List 3/13/2023

Engine / Exhaust / Fuel System
Version 9 EJ207
Injector Dynamics 1050X Injectors
IAG Competition series oil pan / baffle / pickup
IAG polyurethane engine mounts
KSTech DBW throttle adapter
2007 2.5i DBW Throttle Body
Roger Clark Motorsports Downpipe
Roger Clark Motorsports Group N turbo-inlet
Roger Clark Motorsports Alloy Cam Gears (Exhaust Side)
IAG V3 competition AOS
HKS Kevlar timing belt
Roger Clark Motorsports timing belt guide
PTP Turbo Blanket
Grimmspeed Turbo Heat Shield
ETS Top Mount Intercooler
Samco intercooler elbow
Tial Q BOV w/Torque Solutions Adapter
Forge BOV
Aluminati Expansion Tank
CSF Oil Cooler (#8119)
RCM Black Series Oil Sandwich Plate
CSF Aluminum Radiator
Spal 12" fan
Samco radiator hoses
iWire radiator shroud
Cobb overflow bottle w/iWire bracket
K&N Filter w/ 3" Vibrant velocity stack & custom inlet adapter
Radium Surge Tank w/Walbro 255
Radium In-line fuel filter
Continental Flex Fuel Sensor



Drivetrain
Kotouc (KAPS) R4 Sequential Transmission (P2 ratios 3.33 / 2.38 / 1.80 / 1.37 / 1.06 / 0.84 )
Version 9 Sti 6MT transmission TY856WB8KA
Version 9 R180 rear diff
ACT StreetLite flywheel
Exedy Stage 1 Organic HD Clutch
OEM Exedy Clutch
Goodrich Stainless Braided Clutch Line
Torque solutions transmissions mount (poly)
Torque solutions solid carrier bearing bushings (Aluminum)
Kartboy transmission crossmember bushings
Whiteline front and rear shifter bushings
Torque solutions solid shifter u-joint
Whiteline rear diff bushings (rear crossmember)
Whiteline T-frame bushings
IAG Competition pitch stop


Suspension / Steering
V9 STI 5x114 hubs
V9 STi subframes (front/rear)
V9 STi sway bars (front / rear)
Feal 441+ Coilovers w/Swift springs (10k/8k) (9k/8k)
Swift Helper Springs
Professional Awesome 777 Bumpstops
JDM GC8 STi Aluminum control arms
Whiteline ALK
Whiteline roll center kit
Whiteline control arm bushings
Whiteline lateral link bushings
Whiteline trailing arm bushings
Whiteline rear endlinks
Whitleine rear sway-bar mounts
Whiteline 22mm adjustable rear sway bar
Whiteline 22mm adjustable front sway bar
SwayAway front endlinks (for 2015 STi)
2015 STi Steering Rack
L&E Rack steering shaft adapter
Whiteline steering rack bushings
Chasebays power steering reservoir
Mooresport power steering pump adapter
IAG -6an PS high pressure line, custom -6an return line, custom -8an suction line


Brakes
C6 Z06 Corvette 6 piston front calipers w/12.8" STI Rotors
STi Brembo rear calipers
Stoptech Stainless Braided Brake Lines
G-LOC R12 / R10 Brake pads
Centric blank front rotors
Brembo blank rear rotors
CompBrake brake servo
Nameless performance 18" Hydro Handbrake

Wheels/Tires
Enkei PF05 17x8.5 +48
WedsSport TC105X 17x8.5 +43
Falken Azenis RT660 235/40/17
ARP Extended wheel studs

Interior / Safety
Sparco Sprint seat on custom fabricated mounts
Sparco steering wheel
Snap-off R1000 quick release
Custom roll cage built to SCCA GCR specs (1.5"x0.120" DOM)
Schroth Profi 3x2 FIA Harnesses
Renscott Harness Collars
6OC lightweight door panels
181stleader Carbon fuel tank access covers
Custom central switch panel
6OC Drivers floor plate
iWire DBW pedal adaptor
Flocked Dash
Rennline/Rennscot fire extinguisher mount w/Maxout 2.5lb extinguisher


Exterior
Aerosim Research carbon fiber race roof
V6 / RS front bumper w/Fog light covers
JDM Smooth rear bumper
JDM Lightweight bumper beams
JDM Rear spats
JDM Taillights
JDM Clear Corner Lights
Clear side markers
L'aunsport S5 WRC style Rear wing
Bakemono 22B Hood Vents
Bakemono Carbon S201 Mirrors
Shaved side moldings
Shaved trunk
Custom Pearl Blue paint
30% Ceramic window tint
RPG Carbon WRC Mirrors
RPG Carbon Exhaust Shroud
V5/6 Replica front lip

Electronics
Haltech Nexus R5 VCU
Haltech PD16 Power Distribution Module
Haltech 15 Button CAN Keypad
Haltech 8 Button CAN Keypad
Haltech TCA-8 CAN Thermocouple Module w/Prospeed connector brace
Haltech CAN Hub
Haltech TMS-4
ECU Master Dual H-Bridge module
Plex SDM700 Digital Dash Logger
Custom motorsport wire harness
MAPDCCD Center Diff controller
MSEL Solid state battery isolator
Odyssey PC680 Battery
2006+ WRX DBW Pedal / Throttle Body
KA NTC2 Fast motorsports IAT sensor (Intake Manifold)
RIFE IAT charge cooler temp sensor (Intercooler)
Lowdoller Motorsports oil pressure sensor
Lowdoller Motorsport oil temp sensor
Delphi Flex Fuel Sensor w/Raceart Mount
MAC 3port EBCS w/Raceart Mount
AIM Sport 2k PSI brake pressure sensors
Hella Sharptones Horn




Introduction
My name is Steven and this is my long-standing journal documenting the path of my 1998 2.5RS from purchase, daily driving, to now many years later restoration and transition into a dedicated track car. The most recent phase of this project has taken me roughly 6 years. 5 years, but I'm getting close to having a complete car, with the goal for a running driving car later this summer (2021). I'm at the point now where the car is so nearly road-worthy. I'm making a big push, and the goal now is to have it track ready by July 2022. I've now been using and enjoying the car from the summer of 2022. A project like this is never "complete" but its in some version of done. I'll continue to update this as it continues to evolve.

Original Intro from 2005
Heres my Introduction and story for how I got my car:
My name is Steven Stewart and I'm from lower West Michigan. When I was a freshman in college I was in the market for a new car after crashing my first car, a 95 Nissan Altima, into a telephone pole in the snow. Im not exactly sure what sparked my interest in Subarus but It was pretty quickly that I decided I wanted an impreza.

I browsed Ebay, autotrader, craigs list, news papers and such for a couple weeks looking for a new car. One session on ebay, I clicked on a link for this wrecked blue 98 coupe but just glanced at it and moved on. Later, I returned to that link and realized it was about 40min from my house! So the next day I went and looked at it, drove it around the parking lot (it was salvaged title, thats all I could do :( ) and immediately fell in love. They wanted $5500 for it off the lot and that was way too much so I decided to bid on it on Ebay. I Lost the auction to a sniper and it went for $3600 :( I was pretty sad I didnt get it. Anyways, two days later i found it listed again on Ebay! I called them right away, offered $3600 cash and picked it up the next day!

12-21-2005 Purchase!
Heres two pictures the dealer used on the ebay auction



And here she is at the body shop I worked at the day I brought it home



After this, I began the process of rebuilding my new purchase.

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Combat Chuck
Glad you had a good time and overall the car was reliable!

I was going to mention the slotted coilover thing, I've had some friends bump their cars out of rear camber on rumble strips.
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Stew3223
Pitcherman said:
Are the rear lowers on your feal coilovers slotted? I've been dealing with a similar issue of camber slipping at the knuckle on my Cygnus/Fortune auto coilovers. I prototyped a couple of washers that would lock the lower in place by filling the slotted hole. One version centers the bolt in the lower the other give you the option to run max negative or positive camber at the lower. You might look into something like that. Here's a picture of the prototypes. I'm still trying to get a few sets machined for testing.
Click to expand...
So, its funny you should mention this. I was thinking about making something like this as well. My buddy Tayler has Samsonas coilovers on his rally car and they have camber adjustment spacers just like that. I also found that Professional awesome makes something like that intended for Evo's with Fortune Auto coilovers. Those also use a 14mm bolt, and the strut bottoms looks pretty dang similar. I don't know if they're compatible or not, but they look like they could be so I bought a pair of each style to try. Could be $100 down the drain, but I guess we'll see.

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Stew3223
Combat Chuck said:
Glad you had a good time and overall the car was reliable!

I was going to mention the slotted coilover thing, I've had some friends bump their cars out of rear camber on rumble strips.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think I know what did it too. One session I came into 11 too hot and the car pitched sideways and did this really weird hopping thing that felt pretty violent. It was strange and definitely felt forceful enough to have done it.
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R
Looks like we're on the same boat! Let me know if they fit! I don't feel secure running the rears with only regular bolts holding the hubs on.
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Stew3223 said:
So, its funny you should mention this. I was thinking about making something like this as well. My buddy Tayler has Samsonas coilovers on his rally car and they have camber adjustment spacers just like that. I also found that Professional awesome makes something like that intended for Evo's with Fortune Auto coilovers. Those also use a 14mm bolt, and the strut bottoms looks pretty dang similar. I don't know if they're compatible or not, but they look like they could be so I bought a pair of each style to try. Could be $100 down the drain, but I guess we'll see.

Click to expand...
Ha that's awesome. Looking at their site the Camber lock A is almost identical dimensionally to the one I prototyped. I can't speak for the slot dimensions on the Feal coilovers but in speaking with the guys a fortune and Geoff from cygnus all their GC/GD lowers that use a 14mm bolt use the same lower slot design.
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Stew3223
Small update: Added a temperature sensor to the transmission oil pan. Kotouc recommends the gear oil be warmed to 80°C. Probably I should be doing this by running the car in gear on jack-stands before a session. Maybe overkill? I don't know. But in any case, it's probably good to keep an eye on the temp. So I happened to have a 1/8npt fluid temp sensor from Rife sitting around. And coincidentally I had an M18x1.5 sensor adapter plug thing as well.



Since the new gearbox has a gear position sensor, I no longer need the reverse switch or neutral switch on the transmission. However, they are still installed and wired in. So, I decided to hijack the neutral switch wiring and use it for this temp sensor instead. Made for a clean, easy install. And just like that....


Couple more updates coming before Midwest fest in 8 days!
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Combat Chuck
That's good to know about that camber lock, I'll have to reach out to Fortune about using those. When my friend had his corner go full negative he though he'd collapsed something in the suspension.
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Stew3223
Okay, so I got those camber locks. Like I had mentioned, I bought all 3 types to see what would fit. Probably could have avoided this if I took the car apart and took some measurements but I'm a busy guy (lazy). Because clearly in the end the only one that was close was Type A. Here are all 3 laid out...


So keep in mind, I had already opened up the slot on the upper hole on my rear struts. But the type A inserts were already reaaaally close to fitting straight away. Guess I got lucky. It did take just a touch more filing to get to fit through both sides and the knuckle. But, just like that...




Done and dusted. "That's not going anywhere"

One problem still exists though. The inner wheel rim is contacting the locking collar on the bottom of the coilover. This happened at the track last weekend when we re-adjusted the camber after it had slipped. It's barely touching though. And honestly, if I just torqued the collar down a little to put the gap in the "teeth" of the nut near the rim, it wouldn't touch. However, I decided to just clearance it and ground that tooth down some. It's close but it clears now. So, no worries.



So, I still need to lower and align the car, change some fluids and take care of some other little things but I'm feeling in good shape for Midwest Fest.
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P
Glad you were able to make them work. I ran into that exact issue with my prototypes. If I run the knuckle to max negative it makes contact between the coilover and the wheel. You can flip the washer around 180 degrees but then you either sacrifice camber or end up having to adjust the lateral links out so far it starts to bind the swaybar endlinks. That's why I made a second version that centers the bolt in the slotted hole. It gives you a little room to adjust camber plates and lateral links while still preventing the wheel from hitting the collar. As with most things it comes down to where you want to make the compromise.
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Stew3223
Pitcherman said:
Glad you were able to make them work. I ran into that exact issue with my prototypes. If I run the knuckle to max negative it makes contact between the coilover and the wheel. You can flip the washer around 180 degrees but then you either sacrifice camber or end up having to adjust the lateral links out so far it starts to bind the swaybar endlinks. That's why I made a second version that centers the bolt in the slotted hole. It gives you a little room to adjust camber plates and lateral links while still preventing the wheel from hitting the collar. As with most things it comes down to where you want to make the compromise.
Click to expand...
Yeah, It was already close before but this made just made it a little closer, and with trying to lower the car, it put the spring collar too close for comfort. Unfortunately I don't have adjustable lateral links. I could probably use a space that is closer to center, or I could have slotted the hole a little to both sides, because I have plenty of adjustment now. I can get the rear to 4 degrees if I want now. In any case, I have a shorter set of rear springs coming which should move that collar up to a safe position. And I added a 5mm spacer to the rear just to get a little more clearance.
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Stew3223
Continuing with the alignment discussion....

The mods on the rear suspension got me to my camber goal and should solve the camber shifting issue. I just need to resolve the clearance issue at the current ride height, which will be done with shorter springs and a 5mm spacer.

On the front, however, I needed to modify the camber plates even more to get the front beyond -2.5 degrees. Since I was taking this all apart again, I decided to swap the camber plates left to right to gain as much caster as I can as well. Increasing the caster should also help with front camber since it will effectively improve the camber curve of the outside wheel. So anyways, hogged these out as much as I can and put it all back together. I was able to get to about -3.5 on both sides which should probably be the most I'll want to run (for now?).




So now, My alignment is currently:
Camber F = -3.5
Toe F = 1/16" Out
Camber R = -3
Toe R = 0

Some other not super interesting updates...I dug out my old doors to finally get the old lock cylinders out. Up until this point the car hasn't had lock cylinders in it. I will feel better knowing I can lock the doors now.




I also made some little finder liners for behind the front wheels. Should have done this a while ago, but priorities. Without these, I get tons of pebbles and rubber kicked up into the door jam. A couple rocks have been big enough that it dented the rocker slightly when I opened the door against them. Kind of a bummer, but it's not terrible.



I also changed all the oil. Engine, rear diff, and transmission. I've been changing engine oil before every event. This might be overkill with the 300v. I took a sample this time which I'll send off to Blackstone for analysis. The rear diff hadn't been changed since last year. So, probably way over-due. And for the transmission, Kotouc says to change the oil every 250 race kilometers, or 150 miles. Rallispec said for track-car type use I could go 500-1000 track miles. I'll do about 150-200 track miles in a weekend. So if I follow Kotouc, I change it each event. If I follow Rallispec, I could go ~2-4 events. I figured it was probably a good idea to change it after the first event, thinking it could still be breaking in.

Aaaand finally, I got the car out to a local Subaru meet on Sunday. I had a friend drive my wagon too, so that was cool to get them both out together. Another friend brought his V3 STi and let me take it for a spin as well.




I still have a few things to get done before Gridlife Midwest this coming weekend, but I'm feeling like the car is in pretty good shape. Just a few little things left to do!
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Stew3223
So in order to resolve the clearance issue with the rear struts and rear tires I did two things: I added a 5mm spacer behind the rear wheels and I installed 1" shorter springs. Of course being last minute for an event is always fun trying to get parts. My best option to get parts on time were some Hyperco 7" springs and lo and behold I got them the day before I left for Gridlife.



After some last minute wrenching. You can see how much this moved the lower spring perch position at roughly the same ride height setting.




And the added clearance looked good, so...problem resolved.


So with that out of the way, the car was "ready" for Gridlife. I'll have to make a longer post once more photos are available, but man....Midwest Fest was a really great time. We got to registration early enough that we ended up with a really great trackside paddock spot. Overall, the car ran really well and I didn't have any major issues. The Haltech tech support guys helped me figure out some improvements to the gear cut calibration, so the sequential was working really well. I also figured out before the event that the issue with my wideband was a firmware problem on the Haltech. So, switching back to old firmware solved the issue for now.



Ultimately I didn't hit my target to run a new personal best time at Gingerman. And again, I actually didn't break the 1:40 barrier all weekend. I ended up 9th out of 12 in Track Mod. I'm satisfied with not being the slowest in class, especially considering everyone else had aero and lots of cars with more power. All things considered, it's not too bad.

Conditions all weekend just weren't great (very hot and lots of surface issues). My best shot at taking advantage of a cool morning run got cut short due to a fueling issue - For some reason the car had fuel starvation with about 9 liters of fuel in the tank. This was really strange because I've run the car VERY low on fuel at the track before and haven't had an issue with my surge tank setup. The lift pump in the tank is old, so I will be replacing that just out of caution.

Anyway, maybe I'll write up some more detail later. I had a great time - lots of fun with good friends racing cars. Here's some in-car video from my Q3 session. I had a great time trying to keep up with this widebody corvette. And spicy shifts are very tasty.

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Combat Chuck
Congrats on a satisfying weekend! I noticed you're throttle blipping to rev match on the down shifts, is that something you think you'll try to offload to the Haltech?
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Stew3223
Combat Chuck said:
Congrats on a satisfying weekend! I noticed you're throttle blipping to rev match on the down shifts, is that something you think you'll try to offload to the Haltech?
Click to expand...
I played around with the rev-matching throttle blip on the Haltech right after I got the gearbox installed. It seemed to work OK on the street, but on track back in March it wasn't working too well. However, I haven't given up on it. I think it would be a distinct advantage to have it working. Ideally allowing me to have smoother more consistent braking sessions.
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Combat Chuck
How is it to heel toe brake with? Would that be easier and more consistent?
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