Quote :

"They're definitely cool, but they're not avail. in anything other than an auto FWD configuration in the U.S. BTW, when I say throw the bike in the back, I mean without removing either of the wheels. My WRX barely does that, I'd be surprised if any non wagon hatch can (save for maybe a Saab 9-3 or something)."

Really, I could have sworn the 850 Turbo, later T5, or R model at some point was available with a 5sp manual. (my parents are addicted to Volvo wagons so I'm always in the know).

Yeah for the GS-R I have to take the front wheel off the mtn bike, but thats not a huge deal. Hell I can fit two mtn bikes in the back with just their front wheels removed.

11/26/2008 9:38:33 AM

^^ that's an absurd looking setup right there. And I love how he has a big external wastegate as if he's going to spool all that and still get creep...

11/26/2008 10:58:56 AM

diesel much?

that shit would make your wankle feel like a hobby shop engine

11/26/2008 11:38:27 AM

THATS WHAT I THOUGHT

NO REPLY

11/26/2008 2:25:32 PM

11/26/2008 2:32:55 PM

IMMAD

11/26/2008 2:37:28 PM

I'd just like to say that I've been driving my M3 more, and yeah:

It's awesome, and maybe I'd keep both, but then I want a 911. In other news, I think I'm getting over my Corvette kick.

The WRX is still lots of fun, just got a few parts for it today, and looking for a sway bar. We'll see how much more fun I can get it to be, but man the M3 is... definitely awesome to drive. I'm so tempted to put seats/harnesses and more tires on it, keep tracking it. Ah, life and it's decisions.

STILL cleaning mud from the undercarriage.

12/4/2008 1:18:00 AM

Ive got my eye on an M5...

12/4/2008 1:58:09 AM

^O'RLY?

12/4/2008 2:18:04 AM

thanks for the blog update.

12/4/2008 7:31:54 AM

Thanks for the blog update.

and

Quote :

"In other news, I think I'm getting over my Corvette kick."

I read that as "Mark and I can be friends again"

12/4/2008 10:46:21 AM

On an intersting related note, in this month's Car & Driver issue they tested a WRX in a comparison article. They recorded 0-60 in 4.7 seconds. Impressive indeed. Also VERY INTERESTING since its faster than anyone's managed with an STI.

12/4/2008 4:21:22 PM

^ Didn't C&D also get the extremely low time that Subaru used in all their ads when the WRX first came out? 5.5 or 5.7 seconds iirc while all the other tests were in the 6.x range?

12/4/2008 5:14:53 PM

^yeah, I think it was 5.4. I'm sure they dump the hell out of the clutch. Not that it matters. I mean they tested the STI too.

12/4/2008 6:54:19 PM

AWD on track is for fucktards.

dirt now, thats fun.

12/4/2008 7:43:42 PM

^f0' shizzle.

drive the car where it was meant to be driven.

nigguh

12/4/2008 8:05:52 PM

say what you want but I <3 my awd on track.

12/4/2008 8:56:45 PM

There's a place for everything. I absolutely adore how a well set up e36 M3 drives, though I must say it's getting to be a bit too simple. It's not exciting unless it's not in control. With it's solid RTABs, it's SO much more controllable. I think my testes are dropping again in the wet with it. That said, the WRX is much faster in the wet.

I'm a bit torn between them. I did not want to have them at once, but I like them for different things. I prefer the M3 sideways. I don't want to get rid of the WRX before I explore it (much) further however. The WRX's brakes have superior feel (but lack real stopping power), ABS is easier to get in and out of (the M3 is very sensitive to pads here), and it's more intuitive with clear signals under trail braking, especially over bumpy surfaces. The fast rack and the good seats really help here, also the ABS doesn't go bananas if you touch the brakes while more than one wheel is airborne and take forever to stop pulsing. Side note, the current M3 which is close to an inch lower, and a bit stiffer than my last one is a lot more aggressive with the ABS not pulsing when a front wheel airborne under heavy braking. I wonder if it's a 97 vs 98 thing (doubt it), or something else. It's sad that both a Type R, and the 944 turbo S (20 years old now) and better ABS systems.

Now, somebody show me how to sign up for a drift event/school. I don't want to get a ticket or worse, I've been getting too sideways/remaining too sideways on the street, being retarded.

12/5/2008 2:31:13 AM

Were you over at my shop the other Night with Jordan?

12/5/2008 6:42:23 AM

That depends, are you mr. Turbo Time, what/who is your shop?

12/5/2008 6:08:39 PM

I am one of the guys that work at turbotime, big balding guy with a beard with the blue 02 wagon.

12/5/2008 11:34:18 PM

Ja, that would've been me. Cool bunch you guys seem to be. I was actually looking at your wagon earlier, I think I've seen it around from time to time...

Optmus, as I'm sure you're aware, the e39 M5 (assuming) is an awesome car. A few maint. items scare me a bit (clogged heads for example), but makes me giddy to drive something that solid, that large/tight, which can still smoke it's tires on demand, and look/sound so sexy doing it...

12/6/2008 1:58:00 AM

Alright, got my first "issues" w/the car. Idles rough, and misses under light load. Looks like it could be spark plugs, crossing my fingers...

Mark, thanks to both you and Ryan for the hospitality! I like your shop and the cars around, keep in touch.

12/10/2008 2:41:56 AM

unlike to be the plugs if it just started randomly. i'd guess more sensor'ish related.... vacuum leak maybe?

12/10/2008 2:43:45 AM

Yeah, I'm slightly baffled. My first thought was a vacuum leak ahead of the turbo (as it seems like the car's running lean. Hesitation/miss under light load and at idle) but I hooked it up to a smoke machine and didn't see any obvious leaks. The smoke machine quit half way through though, so who knows.

It never ran really smooth to begin with, but it definitely got worse 2 days ago, and has been bad since. I'm guessing/hoping it's the plugs, though I imagine it could also be a vacuum leak or a burnt valve or something. It's both exciting and sucky to be playing with a car I know nothing about. Doesn't help that the average post on a WRX board is about a giant front mount intercooler and the latest purple fart can exhaust.

12/10/2008 2:51:02 AM

what happened to signing your posts?

12/10/2008 3:00:44 AM

^^pressure test it. you can easily build yourself a tool with a few bucks and some parts from home depot.

12/10/2008 4:25:45 AM

One plug was loose and all four were in need of replacement. The issues seem to have been solved, though the adaptive ECU has dialed the boost to 14psi as it relearns that it can handle more boost (aftermarket mapping). I would've hooked it up to another machine if I hadn't already planned on looking at the plugs. Anyway, I'm surprised that it wasn't a vacuum leak, that was my first guess also.

12/10/2008 11:07:44 AM

i, too, own a car

12/10/2008 12:46:41 PM

HMMM, as the boost came up I feel like there's a small amount of hesitation still present. Japanese turbo cars don't build boost that smoothly, maybe I'm expecting too much smoothness from a 2 liter 4 cylinder turbo with power. My wideband is on the fritz also, meh

12/10/2008 8:04:16 PM

What's wrong Ahmet? I thought you'd have this shit fixed by now... >_> lol...

12/10/2008 9:06:05 PM

Well, I just bought a race bike, and I've been busy playing with that too.

I just spent an hour drifting the M3 (installed it's 3rd set of rear tires in 2 months yesterday). Switching between the two, I really like the one I end up driving. Too bad the M3 already has a buyer. Maybe I can convert the WRX to RWD only... I'm so retarded.

12/11/2008 12:28:57 AM

^^^yeah, it's no bmw... can't expect but so much from a budget pocket rocket.

^you can adjust the bias so it's like 90/10 or 80/20 or something like that.

[Edited on December 11, 2008 at 12:32 AM. Reason : i think it's pretty hard on the center diff/viscous coupler though]

12/11/2008 12:32:08 AM

Ja, I'm not disappointed with it... There's a few really big cookie point earning hard core things on the WRX for me. Truly great seats in cloth, is available without a sunroof and LSDs standard. The GT3 comes with terribly inadequate seats in the U.S., the new ones can't be ordered w/out a sunroof. No sunroof is ultra rare on the M3s, which also have horrible seats, and forget about cloth. At least in Europe you can order a 911 with a bar/harnesses, kill switch, etc.

Anyway, do you have any info on the torque split thing, I believe it's viscous, and there's no viable way to adjust it on the base WRX. I want to say the stock split is 45/55 front to rear in the absence of slip.

12/11/2008 1:47:24 AM

for yours, since it doesn't have dccd you would need to weld the center diff and pull the front cv shafts. if you really want to do it, just get a spare center diff to weld. it's not terribly hard/time consuming to swap, and that way you could go back to normal awd if needed. you'll also need to run a set of dummy stub shafts on the front wheels to keep the unit bearings happy. a couple of companies make an actual locker for the center diff also if you didn't want to bother with welding one.

or, if you're hardcore just run the welded unit all the time. it's just like running a truck in 4wd all the time. the only adverse affects would be sharp turns in parking lots and stuff, assuming you had the front shafts in.

[Edited on December 11, 2008 at 2:44 AM. Reason : seems like i remember some companies offer center diffs with differently biased torque splits also]

12/11/2008 2:43:27 AM

Yeah, just spent some time reading up about it. People who've done it seem to break rear diffs and axles. I suppose that's not surprising... I'll probably not get that far into this car.

12/11/2008 3:04:14 AM

yeah, definitely not surprising considering it was engineered to only take ~50-60% of the power. it's also not like the people doing this mod are doing it for gas mileage or something. they're doing it to drag race, drift, or otherwise see a smoke show.

12/11/2008 5:30:27 AM

you could conceivably switch to the STI R180 rear section and that woudl provide more power handling, but would be hell on the half shafts

12/11/2008 12:58:47 PM

sounds like you should have just bought the Evo, ahmet!

12/11/2008 1:18:56 PM

keep the e36 m3. you know it inside/out, less complicated to fix. if you really want to add fun, there are few used technique tuning turbo kits for sale out there.... 500whp with $4k-5. best part is that you don't have to touch internals.

12/11/2008 6:31:12 PM

get a yugo

12/11/2008 6:38:26 PM

^yugo>m3.

always.

12/11/2008 6:56:10 PM

I already took a deposit for the m3 (and I'm already regretting it, selling way too cheap also). I love them, just wanted a change, same as when I had owned 7 944 turbos in different stages of modification over the course of 4 years 3 years ago... Like I said, I think the e36 chassis is awesome, but there's so many cars out there, I don't want to keep myself limited to one thing for too long. I have the WRX to get out of my system, and there's still the 911 issue that needs to be addressed...

12/11/2008 7:49:19 PM

let me sell you my civic, you arent going to need another car after that.

im just sayin'

12/11/2008 8:23:15 PM

Like clock work, 2 seconds after I made that post, I get a call from the dude about how his insurance won't cover him if he wrecks the car on track, and so he can't buy it. He also wants his deposit back, hmmm.

12/12/2008 1:21:50 AM

Alright, replaced all 4 plugs and the wideband/oxy sensor (not cheap), reset the ECU, and everything's smooth now. Feels like it's about ready for a bit more boost. I'll try to update as things happen.

12/17/2008 8:59:30 PM

^^ Sounds like a quickly made up excuse to me. He should have thought about that before he even wasted your gas/time on a test drive. I'd tell him to call http://prosure.net/ if he has to have insurance or kiss his deposit good bye.

12/17/2008 9:09:43 PM

Quote :

"replaced all 4 plugs"

ALL 4

12/18/2008 8:40:31 AM

Hell, I shudder at the thought of on-track coverage for insurance. Eek!

12/18/2008 8:54:07 AM

n00bs get on track insurance

if its a driving school. you can get away with an accident if you dont screw up too bad. meaning if the instructor can also confirm that you did everything correctly, you'll get covered. but its something like a "1 time deal"

ive heard and seen a handful of people who have had it done. but they are strict and will find ways to not cover it. meaning if you go solo during the school and they find out that you got in your accident while driving solo, your SOL-o.

12/18/2008 9:09:40 AM