Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 9:14
Hello everyone, my name is Brandon, I'm somewhat of a resident tech junkie lol. I no longer own a Mazda, but that doesn't mean I don't love most of the cars they make! I'm currently 24 years old, and am on my 7th car (5th turbo car), so I go through cars pretty quickly lol. For a short period of time, I used to work with FreeZing Cx7 (Josh) and Blackshark3 (Johan) over at Burt Mazda. For anyone who cares, I'll recount my automotive history, to give a little background about myself. Ahhh where to start...
My first car when I was 16.... I'm reluctant to admit it, but my first car was a 1991 Geo Storm that I bought for $1200 back in high school.... which was a great little first car. I can honestly say, I abused that car more than any other I've ever owned [img]http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] In typical 16 year old fashion, I went WOT everywhere, pitched the car around as many corners as physically possible, no doubt scaring friends of mine at the time and was just overall very hard on that car. Not really any modding was done to that car, just a K&N filter and an abusive driver mod lol. I overheated the car once while driving in downtown Houston, which ended up warping the head... ahh yes, I can remember the first time I had to fix my own car, even though I had helped work on cars since I was about 12, mostly at my uncle Steven's transmission shop in Houston, and helped him work on his badass Nova with a blown 454 rat motor & 2-speed powerglide in it.... but that's another story.... I pulled the head, surprisingly the gasket was fine, but I put a level on the head, and let's just say it was pretty bad lol.... I replaced the gasket set, had the head re-milled, did a quick polish job on the head myself, ordered new torque to yield bolts, a used radiator and got the car back on the road. I kept it until I went to the Army, where I gave it to my little brother Carter for a going away/early birthday present as I would be in basic training on his 16th birthday.
Then at the ripe old age of 18, I began my love of turbocharged cars lol..... I bought a 1996 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS-T. At first I loved the way that car felt, the fact it could spin tires all the way through 2nd... then after taking it to a couple drag strips and an autoX, I wasn't so fond of it lol. The car had a few mods, TBE, a MBC, K&N intake & Apexi SAFC, which is where I first started to learn to tune, on a simple SAFC. On the track, the car was torquey, and FWD with unequal length half shafts and no LSD... needless to say, it was a wheel hopping torque-steering monster, that would push wide coming out of any apex. I considered swapping a LSD in it, but started hearing the dreaded "rod knock" around that time.... I dropped the pan, and sure enough, the car was about to spin a rod bearing, ahhh yes, good old 7-bolt DSM's 4G63 crank walk issues, which was the cause of my bearing going out.... at that time I was tired of the car, and wanted something more track friendly....
I had saved up some cash, and found a beautiful 1991 Toyota MR2 Turbo, which a fully rebuilt motor, the motor only had 12k miles on it since being rebuilt. I was in love all over. Instead of understeering like my DSM, my MR2 had massive lift throttle over-steer lol, that was car an absolute BLAST TO DRIVE! Most of the mods were already on the car when I bought it, but I added a few of my own... all-in-all, it had a TBE, Apexi SAFC (that's right, another one lol), the stock CT26 turbo had some work done to it, I had the exhaust housing clipped, the compressor housing was ported and had a larger compressor wheel in it, Tom's body kit, Enkei 18" wheels, Eibach springs, Hawk pads, Apexi intake, 3 a-pillar mounted gauges: boost, AFR & EGT. My first time at the strip I pulled a 1.8x 60 ft time on street tires, and instantly fell in love with mid-engine RWD, as those cars have awesome traction. At a couple autoX events the car was able to be pitched through corners like a go-cart, although it was difficult to master the proper driving style required. Unlike FWD, AWD or front-engine RWD cars, my MR2 required me to stay on the throttle, almost fully through corners, as letting off the throttle would result in the rear end coming out, and massive oversteer. On to the problems.... so one night I decided it was a wise idea to race my buddy Mathew's bike... well, in my own defense, he had a slow Suzuki 250cc bike (4 stroke iirc) that he thought was quick, so in my ignorant fashion I wanted to show him his bike was slow, in my car [img]http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] So we made a quick run, and yes, my MR2 whipped his ass, then he wanted a rematch, so I said ok, it was at this point where I was getting pretty good at power shifting.... the 2nd run, I actually pulled him out of the hole, but slamming into 3rd gear ended in me destroying my 3rd gear synchro.
So, $2000 later the car was back on the road with a rebuilt tranny. At this time, I'm on the road, with the cruise control on coming back from Austin, and I pull off the freeway to grab a bite to eat at Sonic, my buddy Phil is in the car, he looks at me and says "hey man, is that your motor steaming?".... At the time, my temp gauge reading was fine, as it turns out, ALL of my stock gauges were faulty, my gas gauge didn't read about 3/4 of a tank even when full, the speedo didn't kick in until about 15mph ect, so I didn't know it, but as it turns out, my temp gauge didn't read above half-way either. The car died on my way to the Toyota dealership, but not too far from it, I was actually able to coast the car off the off-ramp, around the turnaround and into the Toyota dealership's parking lot... by the time I got to their service department, the car was going maybe 2mph lol. We did a compression test, 0psi on all cylinders. That's right. Somehow I managed to warp a cast iron block.... after receiving a few quotes on longblocks ect, I decided I was tired of fixing old cars, and wanted a new car....
Which led me to buy a car I had loved since it was first launched, the Subaru WRX....
I bought it brand new right after they released the 2004's when Subaru was running 1.9% interest for 60 months (I wish rates were still that low lol), the day the break-in period was over (and I mean that very day lol) I started modding the car [img]http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] . Just a cat-back at first, but then the modding bug bit me pretty decent.... with just a reflash (ECUtek via Vishnu), TBE, crank pulley & up-pipe I was running consistent 13.3-13.4's at my local track, although one night I made too many "hot-laps" and ended up burning up a clutch, as the old 2.0L WRX's don't have nearly the torque of the newer 2.5L WRX's, so it takes a lot more clutch abuse to get them off the line, although it was also the first time I ever pulled a 1.7x 60 ft time lol.
At autoX events, the car would push (understeer), but not as bad as my DSM, and even though it understeered, the massive grip from AWD enabled me to go full throttle coming out of an Apex a little sooner than my previous cars... the car's entry speeds weren't the best, but the exit speeds were awesome! It wasn't the fastest around the track, but there's something about pitching an AWD car into a corner sideways and powering out of it, very fun indeed. Off the track, me and my best friend Tron (we were roommates in the Army and both had WRX's) took our cars up on the tank trails on north Ft Hood, right after heavy rains, talk about a lot of fun! Pitching WRX's around in the mudded tank trails was a blast, although the first time we went, I got so much mud caked on the inside of my wheels the car shook violently above 40mph for about a week lol, but it sure did look badass with mud streaked all over the side of the car [img]http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]
I took the car to my local Subaru dealership after burning the clutch at the drag strip, who just happened to be cool as all hell, told them the clutch was slipping, and even showed them my track slips lol, they told me "good job, but if anyone asks, we didn't see those". They (Subaru of Temple in Temple, TX) replaced my clutch under warranty, no questions asked. Not too long after that, had a bad night on my way back to Ft Hood, some asshat in a Protege wagon pulled over into my lane while I was passing him on the freeway... he didn't use a turn signal, and apparently didn't know how to check his blind spot, I slammed on my brakes to try and avoid him, but it was too late, he clipped the front end of my car, which when combined with the brakes being locked up, sent me into a spin into a guard rail, which I hit hard enough to bounce the car all the way to the other side of the freeway... amazingly I didn't have a scratch on me, and the car ran just fine, I drove it all the way to the Subaru dealership without one problem lol, Subaru's are incredibly tough cars, good old unibody construction lol.
I got the car repaired, and I thought back up to par.... although not even a full day after I got it out of the shop, I made a quick shift into 2nd gear which ended up searing all the teeth off of my 2nd gear.... I called my insurance company, and argued that it had to be something to do with the accident, they declined it... I ended up selling most all of the parts on my car to friends of mine to pay the $1800 I needed to fix the tranny... then when I thought the car was ready to be picked up, I called my dealership, and they told me that on their bench, the tranny shifts great, but when they put it back into the car, it won't hardly shift at all.... I even attempted to drive it myself, which was very difficult.... they ended up pulling the bell housing, to see that the clutch was toast, and accused me of "hot-rodding" the car, at the time, that clutch had only been in the car for a couple thousand miles and I hadn't returned to the track or even launched the car since, I told them there must be a mistake, as I hadn't abused the clutch since they installed it.... then when they looked at it further, they told me they could actually see where the clutch had came loose from the accident, and wasn't engaging properly...
So I called my claims adjuster, he came out, saw the clutch, and agreed it was accident related, and paid for my clutch. Although I couldn't get them to reimberse me for the transmission, even though several ASE certified mechanics even put on paper for me that if a clutch wasn't engaging correctly, or at an improper angle, it could cause premature transmission failure... i.e. like searing all the teeth off of a gear. By the time all this was said and done, I was about to return to Iraq, so I didn't have the time to fight the issue further.
While out there, I decided I was going to make the car better than ever, and bought a TON of parts.... STi RA v.6 gearset (shot peened and cryo treated), VF34 turbo, 565cc injectors, walbro, TBE, ECUtek license'd ECU, TXS TMIC, springs, Konis, sway bars, Rota SDR wheels w/Pirelli P Zero's ect ect. When I came back, I did most of the installs myself (except for the gearset/transmission as I didn't have a gear-press lol) and the injectors, which I had installed at the same time as the gearset/tranny, both by a Subaru ASE cert mechanic.... after everything was in the car, it was a blast to drive, I ended up having it tuned down at MZM Performance, where it put down 306whp, with conservative AFR's, anywhere from 11.2-10.8:1 so pretty rich/safe.
With all of this done, the car was wicked fast! Running a personal best of 12.7@107mph, the car was able to pull just about anything it was confronted with. Also the suspension mods & wider stickier tires drastically cut down on the understeer, and made the car hug the corners. I never got to autoX it with that setup, which was disappointing, but on several drives down twisty roads, it was very impressive. It never felt as "natural" as my MR2 did around corners, but no doubt about it, it was faster around them.
Not too long after getting the car tuned, I was getting on it one night with a buddy of mine in the world, when I heard a horrible sound.... it sounded like shaking up BB's in a can... coming from my engine bay [img]http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img] That's right, audible detonation.... my first thoughts were "WTF"?!? My AFR's were very rich, my injector duty cycles were right around 80% so enough headroom, and I was using a reflashed stock ECU which had the ability to pull timing, cut fuel ect... shorty after, my car started throwing a flashing CEL, mis-fire on cylinder #4.
I discovered when the Subaru dealer installed my injectors, they didn't re-glue or zip-tie my fuel pressure regulator hose... that's right, a small vacuum hose on my intake manifold caused my motor to go... the way Subaru fuel system work, you have a FPR which is essentially "controlled" by the amount of pressure you're seeing at the intake manifold, the hose going to the FPR slipped off under 20psi of boost, running the motor lean, and cracking a ringland on cylinder #4. Did a compression test and cylinder #4 was about 50psi low. I think the guys at Subaru of Temple felt partially responsible, either way, without a problem, they got my motor covered under warranty.... at the time, I was faced with a bit of a decision, they said since they were being paid regardless, they would either slap in a stock piston, or if I wanted to buy forged internals they would install them at no charge.... it was tempting, but at that point, there had been so many problems with that car, I just wanted it back to stock, and to get rid of it.
So total, that car went through a major collision, 2 clutches, 1 transmission and 1 motor. I was done. I contemplated getting an STi, even test drove a couple of them.... but every time I got inside, I was reminded of the problems I had with my WRX, I just wanted something different at the time....
So I ended up buying a Nissan 350Z [img]http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]
I bought it at sea level, when I was still stationed down at Ft Hood, TX. Down there, the car was very quick, it was able to spin tires causing the traction control light to come on in 3rd gear on the freeway lol. I was able to hang with my buddy's STI from a roll, it was my first front-engine RWD car, and it was fun to drive. There's just something about turning the traction control off and doing smoky RWD burnouts lol. I had a few mods on it- JWT popcharger (short ram intake), test pipes, Nismo cat-back exhaust, 5/16" plenum spacer, crank pulley ect. Needless to say, it was a cool car, that got tons of attention, and after modding, had an awesome exhaust note! It had high handling limits, but with TCS turned off, if pushed hard, would over-steer almost controllably, at least driving at 9/10ths or above.
Then I moved back to Colorado.... Naturally Aspirated cars feel like shit up here compared to sea level. I'm sure the car lost at least 50hp. No matter how many mods I did, I could never get it to feel the same as a stock Z at sea level... I remember a sad day, when I couldn't even pull on a stock looking/sounding Legacy GT [img]http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img] At sea level, the LGT would have got smoked, but at this altitude, turbo cars have too much of an advantage.... then came the snow. The Z sucked in the snow. No if's, and's or but's about it, it just sucked. So it was time for that car to go....
That's when I got my 2006 Mazdaspeed 6! I bought it from FreeZing Cx7 (Josh), I got it for S-plan (invoice)+ $3500 rebates, it was too good to pass up. I had come back to the land of turbo cars lol. The Speed6 was fun to drive for a mid-size sedan, it had great build quality, nice stereo, great gearbox, and was comfortable. Most of you have seen my former Speed6... it didn't stay stock for long... AEM CAI, gutted OEM DP, TXS RP, TXS DTEC FCBC, 1G DSM BOV, RX-8 wheels, ect. Never took it to the track, but on MAC's dyno, it's highest pull, it put down 284whp & 361wtq! The car was fun to drive, while still acting like a luxury oriented sedan under most conditions.
The car honestly handled MUCH better than I ever expected for a car of it's size, in it's class. It didn't understeer nearly as much as I thought it would have, actually you could induce a little bit of snap oversteer, which you could easily power out of. It wore snow tires during the winter, and I have to say, the car's near 3600 lbs curb weight, snow tires, AWD & DSC combined for an absolute TANK in the snow! Also after I modded the clutch, & AWR motor mount, the thing was a beast from a launch, I never took it to the track, but I'm sure I could have pulled off at least 1.8x 60 ft times if I had. All in all, it's a great car for people who would like a sporty, yet practical sedan, that's quick but easy to drive daily and doesn't sacrifice too much in the way of comfort.
I loved the car's low end torque, and comfort, while still having serious balls. My biggest frustration was with the car's ECU... Mazda's ECU are a PITA lol, but I won't get into that. I never had any significant problems with the car, a couple of minor hiccups here and there, but nothing major.... but the itch came back.... while the Speed6 was a great car to drive, I longed for another car that was more raw, and hardcore driver oriented.... and easier to mod/tune [img]http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]
So not too long ago, I bit the bullet and traded my Speed6 in for a 2006 Subaru WRX STI! I've made a comparison already of these 2 cars (here- http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=275 ), but compared to everything else I've ever owned, the STI is the most fun to drive, with my MR2 coming in 2nd place lol. For all the power my Speed6 had, my STI feels faster stock. For all the suspension mods I did to my WRX, my STI feels like it has more grip stock. It's raw, and not the nicest car in the world, but man is this thing fun to drive lol.
That's it, that's my automotive history, hope to see some of you guys at meets sometimes, and feel free to ask any questions you might have, anyone who's just getting into the modding scene, I'm more than happy to give any knowledge I've gained by modding and breaking things over the years lol! Over the years, I've worked on and helped tune several different kinds of cars, WRX/STI's (played around with a few UTEC's & AP's w/ST software), DSM's, VW's (mostly 1.8T's), Mustangs, F-bodies, a couple EVO's, of course the Mazdaspeed cars lol, a few Honda's here and there (to include a buddy of mine's extremely nice supercharged RSX-S) ect. So I'm not limited to experience with just one platform lol.
Here's a few pics of a few of my cars, I apologize as I can't find pics of my first 3 cars, but I'll post them if I do, but here's a few shots:
Here's my current STI on the night I bought it via POS cell phone cam:
Here's one of my former Speed6 also via shitty cell phone cam lol:
Here's a few of my Z shortly after I bought it:
Here's one of my WRX on MZM's dyno:
That's about all, sorry for the long post, but feel free to say hi!
My first car when I was 16.... I'm reluctant to admit it, but my first car was a 1991 Geo Storm that I bought for $1200 back in high school.... which was a great little first car. I can honestly say, I abused that car more than any other I've ever owned [img]http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] In typical 16 year old fashion, I went WOT everywhere, pitched the car around as many corners as physically possible, no doubt scaring friends of mine at the time and was just overall very hard on that car. Not really any modding was done to that car, just a K&N filter and an abusive driver mod lol. I overheated the car once while driving in downtown Houston, which ended up warping the head... ahh yes, I can remember the first time I had to fix my own car, even though I had helped work on cars since I was about 12, mostly at my uncle Steven's transmission shop in Houston, and helped him work on his badass Nova with a blown 454 rat motor & 2-speed powerglide in it.... but that's another story.... I pulled the head, surprisingly the gasket was fine, but I put a level on the head, and let's just say it was pretty bad lol.... I replaced the gasket set, had the head re-milled, did a quick polish job on the head myself, ordered new torque to yield bolts, a used radiator and got the car back on the road. I kept it until I went to the Army, where I gave it to my little brother Carter for a going away/early birthday present as I would be in basic training on his 16th birthday.
Then at the ripe old age of 18, I began my love of turbocharged cars lol..... I bought a 1996 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS-T. At first I loved the way that car felt, the fact it could spin tires all the way through 2nd... then after taking it to a couple drag strips and an autoX, I wasn't so fond of it lol. The car had a few mods, TBE, a MBC, K&N intake & Apexi SAFC, which is where I first started to learn to tune, on a simple SAFC. On the track, the car was torquey, and FWD with unequal length half shafts and no LSD... needless to say, it was a wheel hopping torque-steering monster, that would push wide coming out of any apex. I considered swapping a LSD in it, but started hearing the dreaded "rod knock" around that time.... I dropped the pan, and sure enough, the car was about to spin a rod bearing, ahhh yes, good old 7-bolt DSM's 4G63 crank walk issues, which was the cause of my bearing going out.... at that time I was tired of the car, and wanted something more track friendly....
I had saved up some cash, and found a beautiful 1991 Toyota MR2 Turbo, which a fully rebuilt motor, the motor only had 12k miles on it since being rebuilt. I was in love all over. Instead of understeering like my DSM, my MR2 had massive lift throttle over-steer lol, that was car an absolute BLAST TO DRIVE! Most of the mods were already on the car when I bought it, but I added a few of my own... all-in-all, it had a TBE, Apexi SAFC (that's right, another one lol), the stock CT26 turbo had some work done to it, I had the exhaust housing clipped, the compressor housing was ported and had a larger compressor wheel in it, Tom's body kit, Enkei 18" wheels, Eibach springs, Hawk pads, Apexi intake, 3 a-pillar mounted gauges: boost, AFR & EGT. My first time at the strip I pulled a 1.8x 60 ft time on street tires, and instantly fell in love with mid-engine RWD, as those cars have awesome traction. At a couple autoX events the car was able to be pitched through corners like a go-cart, although it was difficult to master the proper driving style required. Unlike FWD, AWD or front-engine RWD cars, my MR2 required me to stay on the throttle, almost fully through corners, as letting off the throttle would result in the rear end coming out, and massive oversteer. On to the problems.... so one night I decided it was a wise idea to race my buddy Mathew's bike... well, in my own defense, he had a slow Suzuki 250cc bike (4 stroke iirc) that he thought was quick, so in my ignorant fashion I wanted to show him his bike was slow, in my car [img]http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] So we made a quick run, and yes, my MR2 whipped his ass, then he wanted a rematch, so I said ok, it was at this point where I was getting pretty good at power shifting.... the 2nd run, I actually pulled him out of the hole, but slamming into 3rd gear ended in me destroying my 3rd gear synchro.
So, $2000 later the car was back on the road with a rebuilt tranny. At this time, I'm on the road, with the cruise control on coming back from Austin, and I pull off the freeway to grab a bite to eat at Sonic, my buddy Phil is in the car, he looks at me and says "hey man, is that your motor steaming?".... At the time, my temp gauge reading was fine, as it turns out, ALL of my stock gauges were faulty, my gas gauge didn't read about 3/4 of a tank even when full, the speedo didn't kick in until about 15mph ect, so I didn't know it, but as it turns out, my temp gauge didn't read above half-way either. The car died on my way to the Toyota dealership, but not too far from it, I was actually able to coast the car off the off-ramp, around the turnaround and into the Toyota dealership's parking lot... by the time I got to their service department, the car was going maybe 2mph lol. We did a compression test, 0psi on all cylinders. That's right. Somehow I managed to warp a cast iron block.... after receiving a few quotes on longblocks ect, I decided I was tired of fixing old cars, and wanted a new car....
Which led me to buy a car I had loved since it was first launched, the Subaru WRX....
I bought it brand new right after they released the 2004's when Subaru was running 1.9% interest for 60 months (I wish rates were still that low lol), the day the break-in period was over (and I mean that very day lol) I started modding the car [img]http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] . Just a cat-back at first, but then the modding bug bit me pretty decent.... with just a reflash (ECUtek via Vishnu), TBE, crank pulley & up-pipe I was running consistent 13.3-13.4's at my local track, although one night I made too many "hot-laps" and ended up burning up a clutch, as the old 2.0L WRX's don't have nearly the torque of the newer 2.5L WRX's, so it takes a lot more clutch abuse to get them off the line, although it was also the first time I ever pulled a 1.7x 60 ft time lol.
At autoX events, the car would push (understeer), but not as bad as my DSM, and even though it understeered, the massive grip from AWD enabled me to go full throttle coming out of an Apex a little sooner than my previous cars... the car's entry speeds weren't the best, but the exit speeds were awesome! It wasn't the fastest around the track, but there's something about pitching an AWD car into a corner sideways and powering out of it, very fun indeed. Off the track, me and my best friend Tron (we were roommates in the Army and both had WRX's) took our cars up on the tank trails on north Ft Hood, right after heavy rains, talk about a lot of fun! Pitching WRX's around in the mudded tank trails was a blast, although the first time we went, I got so much mud caked on the inside of my wheels the car shook violently above 40mph for about a week lol, but it sure did look badass with mud streaked all over the side of the car [img]http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]
I took the car to my local Subaru dealership after burning the clutch at the drag strip, who just happened to be cool as all hell, told them the clutch was slipping, and even showed them my track slips lol, they told me "good job, but if anyone asks, we didn't see those". They (Subaru of Temple in Temple, TX) replaced my clutch under warranty, no questions asked. Not too long after that, had a bad night on my way back to Ft Hood, some asshat in a Protege wagon pulled over into my lane while I was passing him on the freeway... he didn't use a turn signal, and apparently didn't know how to check his blind spot, I slammed on my brakes to try and avoid him, but it was too late, he clipped the front end of my car, which when combined with the brakes being locked up, sent me into a spin into a guard rail, which I hit hard enough to bounce the car all the way to the other side of the freeway... amazingly I didn't have a scratch on me, and the car ran just fine, I drove it all the way to the Subaru dealership without one problem lol, Subaru's are incredibly tough cars, good old unibody construction lol.
I got the car repaired, and I thought back up to par.... although not even a full day after I got it out of the shop, I made a quick shift into 2nd gear which ended up searing all the teeth off of my 2nd gear.... I called my insurance company, and argued that it had to be something to do with the accident, they declined it... I ended up selling most all of the parts on my car to friends of mine to pay the $1800 I needed to fix the tranny... then when I thought the car was ready to be picked up, I called my dealership, and they told me that on their bench, the tranny shifts great, but when they put it back into the car, it won't hardly shift at all.... I even attempted to drive it myself, which was very difficult.... they ended up pulling the bell housing, to see that the clutch was toast, and accused me of "hot-rodding" the car, at the time, that clutch had only been in the car for a couple thousand miles and I hadn't returned to the track or even launched the car since, I told them there must be a mistake, as I hadn't abused the clutch since they installed it.... then when they looked at it further, they told me they could actually see where the clutch had came loose from the accident, and wasn't engaging properly...
So I called my claims adjuster, he came out, saw the clutch, and agreed it was accident related, and paid for my clutch. Although I couldn't get them to reimberse me for the transmission, even though several ASE certified mechanics even put on paper for me that if a clutch wasn't engaging correctly, or at an improper angle, it could cause premature transmission failure... i.e. like searing all the teeth off of a gear. By the time all this was said and done, I was about to return to Iraq, so I didn't have the time to fight the issue further.
While out there, I decided I was going to make the car better than ever, and bought a TON of parts.... STi RA v.6 gearset (shot peened and cryo treated), VF34 turbo, 565cc injectors, walbro, TBE, ECUtek license'd ECU, TXS TMIC, springs, Konis, sway bars, Rota SDR wheels w/Pirelli P Zero's ect ect. When I came back, I did most of the installs myself (except for the gearset/transmission as I didn't have a gear-press lol) and the injectors, which I had installed at the same time as the gearset/tranny, both by a Subaru ASE cert mechanic.... after everything was in the car, it was a blast to drive, I ended up having it tuned down at MZM Performance, where it put down 306whp, with conservative AFR's, anywhere from 11.2-10.8:1 so pretty rich/safe.
With all of this done, the car was wicked fast! Running a personal best of 12.7@107mph, the car was able to pull just about anything it was confronted with. Also the suspension mods & wider stickier tires drastically cut down on the understeer, and made the car hug the corners. I never got to autoX it with that setup, which was disappointing, but on several drives down twisty roads, it was very impressive. It never felt as "natural" as my MR2 did around corners, but no doubt about it, it was faster around them.
Not too long after getting the car tuned, I was getting on it one night with a buddy of mine in the world, when I heard a horrible sound.... it sounded like shaking up BB's in a can... coming from my engine bay [img]http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img] That's right, audible detonation.... my first thoughts were "WTF"?!? My AFR's were very rich, my injector duty cycles were right around 80% so enough headroom, and I was using a reflashed stock ECU which had the ability to pull timing, cut fuel ect... shorty after, my car started throwing a flashing CEL, mis-fire on cylinder #4.
I discovered when the Subaru dealer installed my injectors, they didn't re-glue or zip-tie my fuel pressure regulator hose... that's right, a small vacuum hose on my intake manifold caused my motor to go... the way Subaru fuel system work, you have a FPR which is essentially "controlled" by the amount of pressure you're seeing at the intake manifold, the hose going to the FPR slipped off under 20psi of boost, running the motor lean, and cracking a ringland on cylinder #4. Did a compression test and cylinder #4 was about 50psi low. I think the guys at Subaru of Temple felt partially responsible, either way, without a problem, they got my motor covered under warranty.... at the time, I was faced with a bit of a decision, they said since they were being paid regardless, they would either slap in a stock piston, or if I wanted to buy forged internals they would install them at no charge.... it was tempting, but at that point, there had been so many problems with that car, I just wanted it back to stock, and to get rid of it.
So total, that car went through a major collision, 2 clutches, 1 transmission and 1 motor. I was done. I contemplated getting an STi, even test drove a couple of them.... but every time I got inside, I was reminded of the problems I had with my WRX, I just wanted something different at the time....
So I ended up buying a Nissan 350Z [img]http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]
I bought it at sea level, when I was still stationed down at Ft Hood, TX. Down there, the car was very quick, it was able to spin tires causing the traction control light to come on in 3rd gear on the freeway lol. I was able to hang with my buddy's STI from a roll, it was my first front-engine RWD car, and it was fun to drive. There's just something about turning the traction control off and doing smoky RWD burnouts lol. I had a few mods on it- JWT popcharger (short ram intake), test pipes, Nismo cat-back exhaust, 5/16" plenum spacer, crank pulley ect. Needless to say, it was a cool car, that got tons of attention, and after modding, had an awesome exhaust note! It had high handling limits, but with TCS turned off, if pushed hard, would over-steer almost controllably, at least driving at 9/10ths or above.
Then I moved back to Colorado.... Naturally Aspirated cars feel like shit up here compared to sea level. I'm sure the car lost at least 50hp. No matter how many mods I did, I could never get it to feel the same as a stock Z at sea level... I remember a sad day, when I couldn't even pull on a stock looking/sounding Legacy GT [img]http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img] At sea level, the LGT would have got smoked, but at this altitude, turbo cars have too much of an advantage.... then came the snow. The Z sucked in the snow. No if's, and's or but's about it, it just sucked. So it was time for that car to go....
That's when I got my 2006 Mazdaspeed 6! I bought it from FreeZing Cx7 (Josh), I got it for S-plan (invoice)+ $3500 rebates, it was too good to pass up. I had come back to the land of turbo cars lol. The Speed6 was fun to drive for a mid-size sedan, it had great build quality, nice stereo, great gearbox, and was comfortable. Most of you have seen my former Speed6... it didn't stay stock for long... AEM CAI, gutted OEM DP, TXS RP, TXS DTEC FCBC, 1G DSM BOV, RX-8 wheels, ect. Never took it to the track, but on MAC's dyno, it's highest pull, it put down 284whp & 361wtq! The car was fun to drive, while still acting like a luxury oriented sedan under most conditions.
The car honestly handled MUCH better than I ever expected for a car of it's size, in it's class. It didn't understeer nearly as much as I thought it would have, actually you could induce a little bit of snap oversteer, which you could easily power out of. It wore snow tires during the winter, and I have to say, the car's near 3600 lbs curb weight, snow tires, AWD & DSC combined for an absolute TANK in the snow! Also after I modded the clutch, & AWR motor mount, the thing was a beast from a launch, I never took it to the track, but I'm sure I could have pulled off at least 1.8x 60 ft times if I had. All in all, it's a great car for people who would like a sporty, yet practical sedan, that's quick but easy to drive daily and doesn't sacrifice too much in the way of comfort.
I loved the car's low end torque, and comfort, while still having serious balls. My biggest frustration was with the car's ECU... Mazda's ECU are a PITA lol, but I won't get into that. I never had any significant problems with the car, a couple of minor hiccups here and there, but nothing major.... but the itch came back.... while the Speed6 was a great car to drive, I longed for another car that was more raw, and hardcore driver oriented.... and easier to mod/tune [img]http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]
So not too long ago, I bit the bullet and traded my Speed6 in for a 2006 Subaru WRX STI! I've made a comparison already of these 2 cars (here- http://coloradomazdaclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=275 ), but compared to everything else I've ever owned, the STI is the most fun to drive, with my MR2 coming in 2nd place lol. For all the power my Speed6 had, my STI feels faster stock. For all the suspension mods I did to my WRX, my STI feels like it has more grip stock. It's raw, and not the nicest car in the world, but man is this thing fun to drive lol.
That's it, that's my automotive history, hope to see some of you guys at meets sometimes, and feel free to ask any questions you might have, anyone who's just getting into the modding scene, I'm more than happy to give any knowledge I've gained by modding and breaking things over the years lol! Over the years, I've worked on and helped tune several different kinds of cars, WRX/STI's (played around with a few UTEC's & AP's w/ST software), DSM's, VW's (mostly 1.8T's), Mustangs, F-bodies, a couple EVO's, of course the Mazdaspeed cars lol, a few Honda's here and there (to include a buddy of mine's extremely nice supercharged RSX-S) ect. So I'm not limited to experience with just one platform lol.
Here's a few pics of a few of my cars, I apologize as I can't find pics of my first 3 cars, but I'll post them if I do, but here's a few shots:
Here's my current STI on the night I bought it via POS cell phone cam:
Here's one of my former Speed6 also via shitty cell phone cam lol:
Here's a few of my Z shortly after I bought it:
Here's one of my WRX on MZM's dyno:
That's about all, sorry for the long post, but feel free to say hi!