So lately has been more rushed and the projects are becoming more difficult and challenging than usual. This comes as we finish several very big projects, each difficult in their own way.

Dan’s Impreza WRX Wagon

Last week we finished Dan’s Impreza WRX Wagon. He used the car for 3 years as a track-only car and finally the stock Subaru EJ205 motor gave up. It had more blow-by than the catch can could handle and Dan decided to go all in on a rebuild. It was still on the stock clutch, stock 5 speed and motor. We built the car on a fairly tight timeframe with all the other projects around, installing an Mfactory close ratio semi helical 5 speed gearset that took about 45 days to get after being lied-to by their top distributor. The engine we installed was an Axis 2.5 (EJ257) liter that we assembled at the shop, decking the heads and opening the quench area. The new power came with the help of larger injectors, a huge MAF housing and a new Tomei Arms 7760 turbocharger. (305whp at 18psi) During disassembly, the factory clutch fell to the ground in a clattery cloud of dusty friction material. When it spun to a rest it revealed that the rivets were the only thing left on the disk. It was due time for a complete overhaul. After the car was done we checked and rechecked everything. We replaced all four wheel bearings, seals, axle boot seals, repacked the axles, broke the engine in on the dyno and then Matt tuned it. It was up about 80 ft lbs from before and with less boost! (270 ft/lbs)

We still worried that Dan’s first outing, 8 hours away in Canada and including 5 days of track time was a huge risk for a complete new build. This made me nervous but I had promised him that we could do it. (why do we do this?)

Over 3 years, we’ve learned from Dan’s car that wheel bearings in early Subaru are good for about 3 events with no ducting and R compound tires. 5 Events with brake ducting and R Comp Tires and about 7 events with the bearings cleaned of their factory grease and repacked with NEO Synthetic grease from the outset. This should show how many times this car has been to the track. We have replaced the front bearings and hubs about 5 times. The stock motor had about 20 weekends on it before it expired.

Jim’s Porsche 930

Next, onto Jim’s 930. This one was challenging because we were in a new area on a new chassis for us, changing the suspension from torsion beam to coil-over strut; JRZ 3-ways. The transformation started last year when Bill added some serious support to the rear end with a roll cage augmentation/addition. This was needed as the stress of the suspension was soon to be on the strut towers and not on the torsion beam mounts. Months later we finished the job, adjustable trailing arms, knuckles, the JRZs, bladed sways… the works. The car took about 25 hours to finish. Compare that to a 2 hour Subaru Strut installation! We took the car to Direct Tire to use their laser alignment table and with the help of their master alignment tech, Scot and he squared the car and we brought it back to the shop to dial in the rest of the alignment. What a huge endeavor. Next the car went onto the dyno with Matt to tune the HKS AIC. For those not around cars 10 years ago, the AIC is an “Additional Injector Controller” the oldest “new” technology in fuel injection. The kit comes with an injector bung which gets welded to the inlet stream. It’s triggered by boost and fuel is shot down the engine’s throat to roughly richen the mixture. It sounds sort of wild but it works. We ordered the part from Japan, new old stock – “Dead stock”; very hip. It was the only way to get extra air into the intake with the stupid Bosch CIS injection. Matt assures me that CIS was used in WWII airplanes. Well, it sucks. Next year we’re doing real fuel injection in the car because it’s a beautiful car that has an incredible motor that will be awesome with the right engine management. Jim agrees. The AIC shut off at his first event and the car didn’t run right. That was strike 1 for DSG. Apparently the gains were so high that it stopped working. Disappointing. Tomorrow Scot travels to NHMS with Jim to make sure that the car is sorted on the track. This is an exercise that we’ve wanted to do with a customer for a long time. Thanks Jim for letting us see it through.

(update from NHMS- 7/13/09- Jim wins this weekend making it DSG’s first SCCA track win. He ran as low as 1:12 on NHMS road course with the single-oval configuration. He reported that the car is handling better than ever and that he hopes to beat his longtime success-marker with an RSR soon. )

Rons RASpec Impreza

Finally in on to Ron’s motor which spun a rod bearing at NHMS last week. Total bummer. It’s made me wonder how long Subaru motors are supposed to last at the track with a lot of power. I’m guessing a year at 400whp between teardowns. Awaiting data from other engine builders. I remember hearing that the Grand Am Legacy did one motor per event..hoping for better news. We hope to have the car back together for Redline Time attack in TN. At this time we’re guessing on several causes and hope to post results once we talk to the machine shop and come up with some answers.

I also hope to blog more on specific events, both Okemo Hillclimb and Jim’s experience at NHMS with Scot as his engineer in practice. I think that they both did something awesome last weekend and someone should write about it.

PS- My car spins the tires through second launching uphill.

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Ted and Lise Mendham won the P4 class at Rally of the Tall Pines this past weekend in their DSG-Tuned Subaru Impreza WRX, securing the season P4-class championship. This win comes after a 4-event season for the team, winning all of the events they entered.

Congratulations to both of you guys, you’ve earned it!

Photos from Stephen Gardiner, Performance Rally Images and Joel Sanford.

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Check out the image gallery for some more photos!

Alex went out in the first run-group, excited to feel the changes to the suspension that were the result of DSGs’ Scot corner weighting the car prior to the event. Unfortunately only a few laps were made before the water pump belt was shredded.

Luckily Bill, Nick, Matt and Scot had planned to come up to spectate at the event, so were able to buy a belt on the way up. Alex made quick progress and fixed the problem.

Ron had to make it thought tech-inspection in between the drivers meeting and the first run group. It was a rushed operation, and the time-trial days typically don’t have a tech on duty for the morning. The car passed tech, and Ron headed out to the pit lane. Ron was excited to see if the new fuel tank changes they made prior to the event would stop any of the fuel starvation issues he was seeing at VIR.

During the warm-up lap, in the first corner after turn 6-”The Bowl”, Rons hood flipped up, smashing the windshield, breaking the support lattice under the hood, and denting the roof.

“Luckily it happened in the warm-up lap, in a place where I was able to take the car off-line safely and correct the problem. I think in my rush to get out in the beginning of the first session, I failed to double-check the hoodpins after the tech-inspection. I assumed the hood pins were secured. It a hard lesson to show how important preparation and focus is not-only on the track, but in the pits as well.”

said Ron about the incident.

Tech inspectors deemed the winshield damage too severe, and the car wasn’t allowed back on the track.

Alex headed out during his second session, having fixed the water pump belt problem. At this point the track surface was drying up and conditions were good. The first few laps were fairly solid, with a 4-wheel drift on cold tires into a damp corner #3, but he manage to save it. A few laps later however, 4th gear gave way, forcing Alex to quickly pit in. The tranny was useless.

According to Alex:

“The day was a mixed success. Obviously breaking a brand new gearbox wasn’t in my plan but experiences like this show the observer a few things. One, the car has to be balanced. No amount of power is going to win an event. The rest of the car has to be developed properly. In this case, we knew the course of action but money was the obstacle for equipping the car with a proper racing gearbox after we broke the 500whp mark. We’ll work on that. Second, you can never be too ready. Preparation, as I’ve found will only increase your luck, because in the end you have to be lucky in motorsports.”

Ron on his thoughts on the weekend:

“Overall I’m pretty disappointed, If i had gotten some hot laps I would’ve been less-so. Its not the repair costs or the wasted money for the weekend that pissed me off as much as that I didn’t get a single competitive lap in. On the bright side, I learned a useful lesson, and got it on video, so a few people have said that they got some lolz out of it. It could’ve been worse.”

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NHMS Time Trial Practice COM Club 2008 October from Alexander Grabau on Vimeo.

Forgetting is expensive from Ron Adams on Vimeo.

Angelo brought his new 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI over for some power upgrades

DSG first tested the car on the dyno in stock form to see what the car was capable of. The engine produced 150 ft/lbs at 3000 rpm and a peak torque number of 240 ft/lbs at 5200rpm. (Initial torque in red. Post-install torque in black)

We installed an Invidia downpipe, Invidia cat-back exhaust with an HKS drop-in filter and Omori boost gauge.

After installing pre-ordered parts supplied by DSG, Matt finishes off the job tuning the car on the dyno. The car picked up another 150ft/lbs at 3350rpm, with maximum peak torque at 320ft/lbs and horsepower at 280.9. (Post-exhaust + tune torque in dotted black, HP in solid black)

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This was a particularly exciting event for Dent Sport Garage, as this was the first competitive event for both the 240RS and the RASpec Impreza in their new 2008 configuration.

Despite the blown engine, I’m actually really excited, I had a ton of problems all weekend, and was only able to complete 3 hot laps; however the car felt unbelievable for those 3 laps. said Washburn about his feelings on this event.

Competing at GT Live was my main goal for 2008, I reached that goal, and being able to get 2nd place was an added bonus. Next year i’ll be focusing on setup and building driver confidance. said Ron about his thoughts on the 2nd place finish.

Ron and Bill were supported by Scot Ehrlinger of Dent Sport Garage. Bill would like to thank UTI for making this trip possible. Ron would like to thank DSG for their continued support and build of his car. Both Ron and Bill appreciate BTM Sports’ Burak Tuglu for his continued support at this event.

Post-event wrap-up

Wednesday 9-24-2008 8pm
Ron drove down to the shop to drop off his track equipment in order to be loaded into Old Mother Hubbard (OMH). Nick was busy finishing up the DCCDpro wiring on the RASpec Impreza, and Bill had the 240RS Maxi on the dyno. Afterwards Nick, Scot and Bill aligned the RS Maxi and got home late around 12:30/1am.

Thursday 9-25-2008 4:45am
Mitsuru picked up Ron and Quy at 4:45am in order to rendezvous will Bill and OMH.

Thursday 9-25-2008 5am
Dunkin Donuts.

Thursday 9-25-2008 7:45am
We arrive at the track, and begin unloading the equipment and vehicles.

RASpec Impreza

The RASpec Impreza is a new beast to be reckoned with. Out of the paddock, I spent two laps to warm the tires up and get a feel for the new handling characteristics of the car.

Power-wise, the car feels amazing. The first time the wastegate opened, and the true engine scream was released with full boost, my heart almost skipped a beat. The power onset is much more aggressive compared to the TD04 (obviously). The engine is also much more revv happy, it loves to stay above 5000k to 8200rpm. Spinning all-4 tires on power into turn 11 was a jaw dropping experince. The shift points are now vastly different with the 6-speed transmission. The rear differential makes the car turn in a lot different, and I love it. Its more aggressive to handle, but more fun.

The car was amazingly reliable, despite the complicated nature of the changes made. She had a very very minor oil leak from the drain plug crush washer and a CV boot leak, which got grease all over the insides of the brand new Enkei RC-T4s. We did however have a minor power issue. Under full load, the car occasionally cut power briefly and abruptly, similar in feel to fuel starvation. It was intermittent and preventable with throttle control. This is most likely due to a limitation with the ECU and MAF sensor, so we’ll put her back on the dyno and try to ferret out this issue.

Overall the day was amazingly successful and fun.

I give big thanks and appreciation to Nick for putting in the extra hours to install the DCCDpro controller at the last minute. Top-notch installation! You guys are awesome.

Photos

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RASpec Impreza – first lap from Ron Adams on Vimeo.

Initial Impression – The RASpec Impreza from Ron Adams on Vimeo.

We got her to pull 345.9 wheel horse power at 20psi revving to 8300rpm. At that point we started to run out of resolution with the factory 2004 WRX ECU/MAF sensor, so we left it at that. Eventually I’ll use an Autronic ECU with speed/density. From there I expect to pull in the 425-450whp range.

I’m quite happy about the power levels. Double the power i had in January, with tons of potential for next season. I’m also super excited to hit the track on thursday. 345 whp is DOUBLE what my previous engine made for power. It should be interesting at the track, with my new black beast and Bills Baby Blue spaceship.

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Patience and foresight is a virtue that are frequently exercised when building any major project car. The foresight to buy parts before they’re required in the build, and the patience to wait for them when you haven’t.

This past week there was a flurry of activity at DSG headquarters with regard to this build. I’ve been posting most of the details on the Impreza forums. The engine machine work finished towards the end of July, and was assembled by Mid-August. It was installed early last week. A few items were ordered for the build, including the blow-through MAF flange, the ITG air filter and we decided to use the DCCDpro dual-mode unit for the DCCD center differential controller. This will enable an automatic mode or manual mode. This week was spent finishing the electrical wiring, connecting the oiling lines and breather hoses, coupling the intercooler and radiator hoses.

This afternoon the car rolled out of the shop under her own power! After initally running on 3 cylinders, Matt worked his magicks with the ECU map and it quickly cleared up. He settled the idle map, and let it warm up to operating temperature. Detailed checks were done to find leaks in the heat dissipation systems and intercooler couplers. No rattling noises were heard in the engine and no knocking.

So things are looking bright for the RASpec, we’ve got a Test & Tune day scheduled for next Thursday the 25th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS). GT Live is just around the corner!

PS: I’ve updated the older article on the RASpec with more details on the parts list.

-Ron

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