Considering removing the thermal throttle assembly, but I don't know what the consequence would be on a street driven vehicle. I don't like the set up at all, and I'm tired of all the coolant hoses going to **** around it. Same goes for the hoses going on the BAC.

Anyone else do this and have good experience on a street vehicle?

 

Idle will be a little low when motors cold, but that's it. Ran full tb mod with ported tb for yrs ona stock ecu when it was a daily driver. Never had anything to complain about.

 

my last FC, an 87 GXL, had a frozen thermowax, so i adjusted it not to work. without the thermowax you loose the fast idle when its cold, and so the idle will be ~750rpm, and so for the first few blocks it probably won't idle on its own, my car after 4 blocks would have a really weak idle. once its warmer than that its totally fine.

and i do live in CA, basically our winters are 40F at the lowest, if you actually see snow, i'd leave it in

 

Alright I'll just do that then. Could my thermowax be the reason for my poor idle while cold? Even kinda messed up when warm. Going to re adjust the TPS today (put a new one on but had to wait to replace the coolant hose that runs from the block to the thermowax because it was pissing coolant) via the johnr method. So after that we will see how it is. I'm trying to find which wire is which though on the full and narrow ranges (+5v reference, signal, ground) before I start. For some reason I'm just having a helluva time finding it.

Btw, I was approved by Mazda Motorsports today so now I can start getting a lot more done to the car. Mainly lots of overlooked things like window trim, dash parts, vehicle labels and decals, warning labels and decals, etc. I like the new OEM look.

 

Well everything seems to be fine now. Pulled the codes, got 12 and 18, reset them, then took the car for a break in for setting the TPS. Good drive with a mix of beating the snot out of it and just cruising normal. Turned the car back off, pulled the codes, nothing. Perfect. No idle problems, no on-off throttle problems, nothing. Also fixed the radio, realized you can't ground through the dimmer wire. Im still learning a lot about electronics so don't give me too much **** about it.

Also decided to give my interior a little sprucing up since I already have the new seat in. Got the shift **** from my last car and cleaned it up, polished it back out, and painted the knurls black like on my last ****. Didn't turn out exactly how I wanted because the paint wasn't flat like I thought it was, but I'll just use it how it is and if I need to I'll strip the paint back off and paint again. But I need the short throw, and since the sleeve is seized in the old trans, I have to wait until he can get it out before I can use it. I'll also end up getting a wheel/hub but that is lower on the priority list.

First up is the fuel filter and suspension bushings. Also going to see if anyone makes derlin steering rack bushings. I know a lot of people that clean up a lot of steering slop by. Going to solid rack bushings. Another thing high on the list are springs and ajustable shocks, as well as the exhaust. I need to do some research as to what works best with stock ports and NA sleeves, but the trend still seems to be very long primaries with sort of an x pipe to go to the twin exit. Most likely will have RB mufflers and tips at the back, but other than that just straight piping.

Other small things include strut tower bracing and a harness for the seat. Were making everything ourselves so that will take a lot of the cost out of the equation. Trying to do as much as I can to prep the car for STR class before next season. Hopefully things will continue to move along smoothly.

 

the thermowax literally just pushes the throttle open, so probably not.

the TPS's are picky in these, it took a couple weeks to find the happy spot with mine, if the TPS was new it would probably be less picky...

 

looks great. i applaud you for keeping it stock-ish.

 

Great job, i need to follow in your foot steps and get more elbow grease under the hood.

 

Finally selling my GT5 sim rig for a few bucks so I'm thinking of some cheap effective mods to the suspension. Primarily I'm thinking the energy suspension bushing kit (black bushings for the graphite impregnation). I know springs and shocks will also be wanted for good autocross ediquette, but on my budget that will have to wait. Moving the car to STR on my broke *** college student budget over the course of one off season won't be easy, but as long as things work and pan out how they are supposed to, it shouldn't be that bad. Main concerns are cleaning up slop within the suspension itself so the ride is consistent, not necessarily fast. Also thinking about eliminating the DTSS but I have found it useful on a few courses where I could throw the car into a corner and the rear would come around nicely for good corner exit. So they might stay but replaced with new ones. Maybe progress on the car will once again resume!

 

Your driving skills are worth more than any car

Money will come later in life, that's when you'll need these skills

Keep it up!

 

Thanks I appreciate that

Speaking of which, I had a drive in probably the most rocket-ship-style-driving car I've ever stepped foot in: 2004 STI. No engine work don't but thanks to a ton of suspension work along with some super grippy street tires (Direzza Star Spec), this thing was a blast to drive. I lapped the car quicker than anyone else who drove it that day including the owner. It was awesome.

STI run #2 - YouTube

Sorry for being off topic of my car, but I thought this would be worth sharing

 

I know this is mainly a personal preference sort of thing, but since I just ordered my bushings I figured I should get the DTSS eliminators as well. I have not yet ordered them yet, but since RB isn't open today it gives me all day to hear your opinions and make a decision. I know what they do, but I'm more interested in hearing how you guys like them. So, lets hear it

 

I prefer the eliminators, as sometimes my rear end does step out when I'm too heavy on the throttle. Recovering the car was a bit unpredictable with the factory DTSS (mine had worn out).

I've never driven a car with a properly working DTSS, so I can't note any differences between the two - other than I've read that it actually works pretty well.

 

Great build and thread! I'm trying to do something similar with mine, as far as cleaning up little things and getting factory systems working right before throwing tons of new stuff at it. Except mine is currently in 1,000,000 pieces and up on jackstands. But someday!

 

Nice driving in the STI, just wait til you get some suspension, tire, and power in your FC , you'll be hooked anew heh.

 

Got my bushings yesterday

http://www.flickr.com/photos/globekidd/8145162428/http://www.flickr.com/photos/globekidd/8145162428/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/globekidd/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/globekidd/8145164850/http://www.flickr.com/photos/globekidd/8145164850/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/globekidd/, on Flickr

Will start swapping this weekend. On another note, had a chat with our manual trans instructor about the vibration problems I've been having. As of right now, we have narrowed it down to the clutch/pressure plate being out of balance. So, new exedy stock replacement will be in order as my next purchase. It makes sense since I have my vibration in all gears, clutch both engaged and disengaged and rpm based. Since weights can be used on the assembly, they can also come off and throw it out of balance. Hopefully this will fix it and I won't have to open up the trans.

 

the DTSS bushings do work, the car can turn in harder with them. however the way it feels makes them driver preference.

anyways, i find with them that turn in is really aggressive, and its maybe nonlinear? its like the car can over respond to steering inputs. its probably why i like the slower 17:1 rack instead of the 15:1 rack. it feels more natural.

without the DTSS bushings the turn in becomes more predictable, and IMO the car feels better. however the FC can bite when the rear looses traction, and the DTSS eliminator seems to make this worse. ie it bites harder when you do something dumb

 

I think I'm going to leave them in for the 2013 season and see how I feel about them with the upgraded suspension. I will also be taking some tips from the grassroots motorsports article regarding the camber/caster adjustment with the strut mount.

 

yeah do that first. the FC badly needs more camber in the front.

 

To be honest I was really surprised to see them say the car handled better with a zero toe setting. My experience has always been you get better turn-in with a slight toe-in setting. But this is also good news considering it means eating up less tires from feathering. And I'm also trying to find a replacement steering rack bushing, preferably urethane. If not, we had an idea to fill the stock ones with window cement. Street Touring rules say that steering rack bushings may not contain any more metal than originally provide by the manufacturer, which specifically prohibits solid metal bushings. And I know a lot of steering slop is a direct cause of 23 year old, oil soaked rubber bushings.

 

Are you allowed to use delrin bushings?

 

Yes, you just can't use metal. From the rule book:

"Steering rack bushings may be replaced, but must attach in the factory location(s) without additional modification or changes. Steering rack position may not be changed. The amount of metal in a replacement bushing may not be increased relative to the amount of metal found in a standard bushing for the particular application. Solid metal bushings are specifically prohibited. It's does NOT allow shimming or otherwise relocating the steering rack."

This is pulled from the 2012 SCCA SOLO book, but I do not see them changing something like rack bushings in the 2013 book so I'm prepping as per 2012 rules.

 

Noble Green Mica. It's happening.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/globekidd/8154909078/http://www.flickr.com/photos/globekidd/8154909078/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/globekidd/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/globekidd/8154907540/http://www.flickr.com/photos/globekidd/8154907540/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/globekidd/, on Flickr

Love releasing copious amounts of cancer into our atmosphere

http://www.flickr.com/photos/globekidd/8154910216/http://www.flickr.com/photos/globekidd/8154910216/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/globekidd/, on Flickr

Old bar and bushings

http://www.flickr.com/photos/globekidd/8154916112/http://www.flickr.com/photos/globekidd/8154916112/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/globekidd/, on Flickr

New ish bar and bushings

http://www.flickr.com/photos/globekidd/8154913640/http://www.flickr.com/photos/globekidd/8154913640/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/globekidd/, on Flickr

Bushings were pretty straight forward, hardest part was getting the 23 year old bolts out aithout problems, and as always, I ran into some. The front driver side sway bar bolt sheared off and the ball joint punch bolt rounded out so it wont go in all the way since i cant get enough torque on it before it slips off. We also only did the front bushings since I didn't want to worry about those just yet. So tomorrow its a trip to the dealer to get the bolts i need and then ill get those changed ouy so I can take some corners at speed and really feel the difference. Just driving around normally it already feels better.

 

Awesome build thread man. Keep up the good work. It's looking great!