coco26

I have been using Continental's ExtremeContact Sports (the summer-only version of the DWS06's), and have liked them but will be switching to something else at the end of their life (the end of this summer). They have plenty of grip for spirited driving, and probably enough for a "gentle" track day. Wear is good on the street, but picks up fast if you slide them. My only major complaint are the sidewalls... they are very soft. My General Altimax winter tires with over an inch more sidewall (overall) feel stiffer when you lean on them.

I had to tighten mine after the engine was in, and it was definitely a pain. I just used a regular wrench and went in from under the car. I think I managed to get a socket on the upper one somehow. I'd probably take the mount out if I had to do more than two turns or so.

I would guess that he means its taking more duty cycle on the solenoid than usual to make the expected boost... the "tight" can come from the wastegate actuator linkage needing lubed, or on aftermarket wastegate actuators, where you have to apply a certain amount of tension to the linkage. When you're done we can compare duty cycles and see how much of a difference the 3 port makes. Do you know what ECU software version you're using?

The bolt that goes in that hole should seal it well enough. One drive so far on a salted road and my bolt is already rusted enough to seal for sure. I was considering painting the fronts yellow too, but once I realized there's no yellow showing once that boot is in place, I didn't bother.

When I was doing pulls, the rpm's would jump 500-800 before the clutch would re-grab and they'd drop back to normal. Afterwards (with more weight than just me in the car), I've noticed some CVT-esque rpm's in 4th gear, where it rises quickly then stays somewhat constant until the car speed catches up. This is of course at full throttle, and usually only happens when I get on it before the turbo is spooled. I think the transient wave of torque just temporarily overpowers it.

So our only "performance" difference is the cat-back exhaust (I have the magnaflow catback after the invidia downpipe), but I'm sure they're nearly identical. Should be a good 1:1 comparison. I'm interested to see how your clutch does as well... I slip my stage 2 southbend when the boost comes on.

My car has been in upstate New York for 90% of its life, and mine came out fairly easily a few months ago. As long as you've had that under cover on the car, they should come out alright.

What engine parts do you have? Clutch? I'm also interested to hear your experiences compared to mine. Ed also did my stage 2 tune.

Yep, I also had one back off almost 1/4". I torque them a little extra now.

Update: Bought some new ones and put them in today. Fixed my issue. It seems like there was a fair bit less NVH overall that I apparently had gotten used to. I love cheap fixes, even if it took replacing the entire suspension to narrow the causes down

I installed them last June when I had my engine out. They survived the winter with minimal rust. The fit isn't perfect- one side leans against the O2 sensor (might be because I have an aftermarket downpipe), the other rubs on the V shaped support bracket. I think long term durability is still my only concern, but I can't comment on that yet. If you follow the advice on here of how to install them, I expect you'll get similar durability to the OEM hard lines. Only downside is that you have to shorten one of the rubber lines on the engine, so you'd have to replace that if you ever wanted to switch back.

I'm referring to the sleeves that go on the end of the pin inside the caliper bracket. Should've clarified that a little better. These ones:

Does anyone have any thoughts on the purpose of the rubber sleeves on our brake caliper slide pins? I was talking to a mechanic familiar with subaru's and he said they only hold moisture and cause the pin to corrode, so I removed them when I did a brake job in the fall. Yesterday helping my roommate work on his mini cooper brakes, I noticed they have a rubbery plastic section on the pins that are specifically for taking up the slop in the hole. I've been trying to hunt down a rattling noise, and I'm wondering if ours could serve the same purpose.

I'd believe their diagnosis, but not their repair method. Sounds to me like you just need valve cover gaskets. The "complete engine reseal" likely involves pulling the engine, resealing the timing cover, replacing valve cover gaskets, and maybe even head gaskets (or more) based on their comment. I'd definitely get a second opinion.

I've actually been working on this same idea for a few months. My main hold-ups are satisfying both the torque and space constraints at the same time. Other systems like Tein's EDFC and Cusco's require much less torque than the Koni's to adjust which ruins the retrofit idea. I have a setup that should work, I just need to figure out mounting. Also interested in any plans you have for this...

Insert solenoid into the washer fluid line at the corner of the hood, one output continues to the washer nozzles, the other routes up the hood to the scoop area. There I made a bracket to mount a fuel injector rail (3 injectors, from a v6) to spray across the intercooler. Solenoid can be switched remotely to switch between windshield and intercooler sprayers. Getting a set of windshield nozzles and additional pump would probably be easier to package and acquire at a junkyard than that, but its what I had laying around.

I may or may not have already acquired and assembled all the parts necessary, and ran out of motivation to install them... my setup is a little more crude than this though.

Got Koni shocks, H&R springs, new strut mounts, and whiteline rear control arms installed. I also attempted to replace the front control arms with mevotech's, but the ball joint pinch bolts and pancake bushing bolts on both sides are completely seized. They'll need to be cut and replaced in the future. I also found out the rear toe adjusting bolts are seized to the bushings, so toe can only be changed by changing camber. They'll have to get cut too, and probably replaced with the more adjustable whiteline pieces. Impression so far with the new suspension setup is that it is definitely smoother than the Tein coilovers I took off, and the increased damping is noticeable, even on full soft. Looking forward to stiffening them up more. Only negative is that I have an occasional click when individual corners are loaded heavily... I suspect the springs are shifting on the seats.

I believe that's for a secondary washer fluid pump, for the rear wiper on outbacks. Someone can correct me on that though.

Turns out the alignment was further out than what I thought, so that's what was causing my issue. The rear toe adjusters ended up being seized, so the final result still isn't optimal but its similar to what I've been running with. Install was pretty straight forward. I also replaced the rear lower arms which was also pretty easy. I attempted to replace the front control arms, but the ball joint pinch bolts and rear bushing bolt are permanently stuck. One pinch bolt broke and I was able to repair it, but I gave up on the others before it got worse. Initial impressions: I'm coming from basic Tein coilovers, which I felt were slightly oversprung and fairly underdamped from ideal. These feel generally similar, but with the negatives of the tein's fixed. I'm still on full soft, but body roll seems reduced (a sign of increased damping) and bumps are slightly less severe (lower spring rate, H&R springs). Until I get to experience some firmer settings, I think the difference in cost is only justified by the expected durability. Compared to stock... as previously mentioned, it doesn't compare.

Got the koni's installed. Have some issue that makes it feel like the car is crabbing occasionally. Back in the air tomorrow to make sure I didn't forget to tighten something...

FWIW, I too had to cut my endlinks off because the hex was rusty when I swapped RSBs, and replaced them with Moogs from the local parts store. Fast forward about a year and a half, I noticed one of them had come loose, apparently some time ago. Tried to tighten it, and what do you know, it's already so rusted that it strips again. I now have kartboy endlinks that use bolts and nuts so I never have that problem again.

For wheel bearings, I'd get Timken or SKF (name brands). Both can be had on rockAuto for about $100. I replaced both of mine with SKF and haven't had any issues in the 20k miles since.

I got new KYB's. I wasn't too concerned with the structure of the bodies, but the amount of sanding/prep work I'd have to do to get them paintable wasn't worth it. I'm trying to make these last many many thousands of miles...

I am doing a similar full swap to koni's, possibly as soon as next week. I live in the rust belt, so the only parts I saved from my stock struts were the bump stops and dust covers. I probably could've reused the spring seats, but I hate the idea of putting rusty parts back on my car. I can confirm GTeaser's list is everything you need. I also preemptively got the Whiteline arms, mainly to even the camber side to side. I was prompted to do the swap sooner than I'd like because of my failing strut mounts- I currently have Tein coilovers and a 1" lift, and I think that combination really did the bearings in. They were brand new about 15k miles (a little over a year) ago.