Colonel Red Racing 2005 STI Race Car

[xt2005bonbon]

Thanks for the info. I like it when you say the 'temps stay fine around 200-220' . Most people would freak out!

I do not race (yet) but I usually drive around with a car fully loaded with lots of crap on the roof (i.e. heavy bikes, cargo box) and weight inside the wagon. I live in southern Utah and it gets hot here. I do go through several mountain passes quite often, and have to stay in boost if I want to maintain the 80 mph speed limit. And if IAT gets above 90F, I can easily get in the 215-220F if I stay in boost. Still running stock radiator. I do have a Grimmspeed TMIC.

 

So yeah, contemplating to upgrade the radiator so I can stay in boost for longer period of times when hot and steadily climbing with weight on the car.

 

 

 

Any reason why you did not select Koyo rads?

[Sgt.Gator]

Any reason why you did not select Koyo rads?

 

The warranties are very different. Mishimoto's is far better, especially if you buy direct from their website.

Try to find Koyo's warranty and when you do read all the fine print....

[xt2005bonbon]

So, not necessarily because it is a better performer then.

[boxkita]

So, not necessarily because it is a better performer then.

 

there's street use and track use. figure track use at 4x wear of street. A better warranty is more better.

[Sgt.Gator]

IMHO you should seal up the spaces around the radiator edges first and see how it goes.

[xt2005bonbon]

IMHO you should seal up the spaces around the radiator edges first and see how it goes.

 

 

Sure. I am definitely planning on doing that. I kept reading this over and over.

 

 

 

Do you think these radiator shrouds do help? For instance like this one?

[boxkita]

seal means air only goes through the radiator. the shroud is nearly bling

[xt2005bonbon]

Don't you think air can go up as well (between radiator support and radiator)? I guess if thick foam is added there, then air can't escape up and shroud would not be needed.

[boxkita]

yer trying to create a wind tunnel. the biggest openings on the front all ducted through the tightest surround of the radiator. you don't want the air to have any other way to go except through the radiator. otherwise the air flow can stall and stagnate. which is bad

[ehsnils]

And when the air has passed the radiator it has to go somewhere too.

[boxkita]

hence the ductwork through the hood or wheel wells or someplace other than stalling on the engine block

[Sgt.Gator]

Yes on all of the above. Regarding fan shrouds: They make the fans far more effective when the fans are on. They are a hindrance when the fans are off.

On my race cars I only have one fan, and no shrouds because at speed on the race track they get in the way. They only come on idling in the pits/paddock, usually while waiting to be weight scaled after a race.

But you need them for towing up a mountain! Or idling in bumper to bumper traffic with the A/C on.

 

One other interesting aero thing, the opening to any air duct that is "ramming" air into a duct should be smaller that the widest part of the duct, anywhere from 50% to 35% of the wide part. Think of it as a reverse cone shape. The small end is the opening, the large end is at the radiator.

Edited April 29, 2021 by Sgt.Gator

[xt2005bonbon]

But you need them for towing up a mountain! Or idling in bumper to bumper traffic with the A/C on.

 

 

Or when I go play in the sand dunes and rev/boost the car while going 15 mph or less! It gets hot quick!

[Sgt.Gator]

The Mini Enduro at PIR was great. The car ran well with just a minor boost spike issue that I'm sure can be tuned out. The 818R showed it has promise in the P1 class, running about 1.5 to 2 seconds per lap behind the class leader. The most important thing was the data image, if you race a Subaru powered car you know how sweet it is to have these numbers on the fastest lap, 17 laps into the race.

 

 

Now that the critical temps and pressures are solid we can get on to tuning the suspension, tires, and most important, the nut behind the wheel!

Thanks to our sponsors and partners at Subaru of Bend and Arcflash.

 

The grid:

 

 

[boxkita]

wow, Gator! you're finally getting to the payoff. looking forward to seeing progress now that the engine stays together

[Sgt.Gator]

wow, Gator! you're finally getting to the payoff. looking forward to seeing progress now that the engine stays together

 

Thanks!

 

One more track note. I love the Garmin Catalyst. The little Garmin lady's voice..."next right turn brake later". "Good Job!". Amazing.

 

Except at the re-fuel we took the rear wing off to see how it effected my lap times. This race is a non-chicane race at PIR, which means a very long front straight at WOT. Would the higher top speed make it worth it?

 

It only took a few laps to say naught. At the end of the straight the braking was not nearly as solid, drastically reducing my braking confidence. So I started braking sooner and lighter. That meant each lap with no wing the Garmin Lady kept saying "Next Right Brake Later", "Brake Harder".

 

After I spun out in another corner I pitted again and put the wing back on.

 

Taking the wing off resulted in quicker acceleration down the straight 1-3mph faster, but ultimately with the wing and without the wing I hit the same top speed before the brake zone. The bad aero of the roll cage was limiting the ultimate top speed, the added drag of the wing didn't matter. My fastest laps were with the wing installed.

Edited May 5, 2021 by Sgt.Gator

[boxkita]

bigger wing? or more front splitter?

[Sgt.Gator]

bigger wing? or more front splitter?

RE: the 818R

1) Raise rear wing above the halo roll bar turbulence.

2) lower front end, possibly with 15" wheels if I can make them fit.

3) Re position the front splitter angel. Right now it points up slightly. I need to get it flat or add a air dam.

 

RE: the STI electric power steering:

Pump on passenger floorboard:

 

 

Reservoir mounted in air bag space:

 

[boxkita]

If Igor still runs and hasn't moved onto a new mounting system, he used an ingenious cable method to suspend the front edge of the splitter with a flexible rear mount. It survived the occasional off/collision and then dropped back down. The cables had a slight kink in them so it would pass the height check during inspection then drop down to skim the pavement at speed.

 

someone had to stand on the splitter while someone else did the angle check/adjustment.

 

Technically it was active aero but compared to rest of his questionable rules interpretations, it was small potatoes. ymmv

[Sgt.Gator]

Update on this: "Saturday at ORP was a downer. The STI was running lean and still has boost control issues despite installing a new downpipe and re-plumbed the Tial EWG. A compression test showed fine, but the leakdown test showed a leak in an intake valve. I have a spare engine ready to swap in, so we called it a day and took it to the shop to start the swap."

 

1) The Tial EWG was cooked to the point of the EBCS vacuum lines being brittle. They were literally toasted. We've rebuilt the ewg and and are running hard lines for the EBCS and coolant to it, see pics. The EBCS lines are stainless. The coolant lines are temporarily aluminum, we'll swap those out for stainless at the next service after we break in the engine at ORP.

 

2) We sent the heads and block to Outfront for their evaluation. They found one cam lobe and it's follower/bucket/lifter damaged. Did the bucket damage the cam or did the cam damage the bucket? Hard to tell, it's a chicken and egg thing. BC cams was contacted and they have agreed to replace the cam under warranty. Thanks BC for support!

Outfront is doing the head work including replacing all the buckets.

 

3) Outfront went thru the block and although no damage we went ahead and replaced the bearings and rings. This block/heads will become the new spare engine. I hope not to need it for a very long time, but history says that's not likely between running the STI and the 818R. :o

 

These pics are a work in progress on the engine stand. The lines will have heat protection and will be secured before it goes in the car.

 

...............

[shralp]

Burly AN to your EBCS! Thats NFA!!

[Sgt.Gator]

We swapped the failed turbo in the 818R for a new IHI VF48 High Flow. We now know the what caused the turbo to fail:

 

 

A tiny RTV gasket plug stuck in the oil feed banjo line in the turbo. The oil feed line did not have the oem wire filter, most builders remove them. The plug was a little cone shape small enough to move thru the line from the engine, but large enough to completely plug the line into the turbo. I have no idea how it got into the pressure side of the oil system without being caught in the oil filter first.

 

We are installing a Vibrant oil feed -04AN filter in the new line.

 

A new LINK ECU is also going in along with a fuel cell. More on that soon.

 

Meanwhile testing the new engine in the STI went well. No boost creep/spike. I'm really impressed with how cool the engine is staying. On a 100 degree day we ran 4 sessions for a total of 1.5 hours of track time. The coolant temp, oil temp, tranny temp, diff temp all stayed below 195 degrees! Oil pressures rock solid lap after lap in all corners. And for the first time I can ever remember on a 100 degree day, when I came off track after each session and idled across the grid and up into the paddock, at engine idle the oil pressure still read 25 psi! Normally it drops to 15 or even under 10 psi because the oil is approaching 250 degrees. I'm optimistic we have figured out the right recipe for keeping the engine cool.

[boxkita]

it's amazing how the smallest things make the biggest messes. Looking forward to the next run day.

[xt2005bonbon]

We swapped the failed turbo in the 818R for a new IHI VF48 High Flow. We now know the what caused the turbo to fail:

 

 

A tiny RTV gasket plug stuck in the oil feed banjo line in the turbo. The oil feed line did not have the oem wire filter, most builders remove them. The plug was a little cone shape small enough to move thru the line from the engine, but large enough to completely plug the line into the turbo. I have no idea how it got into the pressure side of the oil system without being caught in the oil filter first.

 

We are installing a Vibrant oil feed -04AN filter in the new line.

 

A new LINK ECU is also going in along with a fuel cell. More on that soon.

 

Meanwhile testing the new engine in the STI went well. No boost creep/spike. I'm really impressed with how cool the engine is staying. On a 100 degree day we ran 4 sessions for a total of 1.5 hours of track time. The coolant temp, oil temp, tranny temp, diff temp all stayed below 195 degrees! Oil pressures rock solid lap after lap in all corners. And for the first time I can ever remember on a 100 degree day, when I came off track after each session and idled across the grid and up into the paddock, at engine idle the oil pressure still read 25 psi! Normally it drops to 15 or even under 10 psi because the oil is approaching 250 degrees. I'm optimistic we have figured out the right recipe for keeping the engine cool.

 

 

I am wondering if that RTV came from one of the intake AVCS. It is easy to put a little too much RTV there.

 

 

When it is a 100 deg day, what kind of IAT do you see? And at what elevation are you racing?

[Sgt.Gator]

I am wondering if that RTV came from one of the intake AVCS. It is easy to put a little too much RTV there.

 

When it is a 100 deg day, what kind of IAT do you see? And at what elevation are you racing?

 

 

I can't think of a way the rtv can get from the AVCS into the pressure side of the oil system. Certainly the return low pressure side to the pan. But to get into the pressure side from there it has to go thru the oil pump, then the oil filter. The filter should catch it.

 

It could come from the case halves rtv when manufactured. Some could get into the pressure side. This longblock is stock STI. Only the valve covers and oil pump have ever been off. Either of those send rtv to the filter first.

 

On the STI IAT: Max IAT was 127 for just a couple seconds. Mostly IATs were 108 to 117. This was running Min boost.

ORP is at 2,300'.