Project STF Domination

A well-driven 2002(?) 2.0 Focus sedan on OTS Koni yellows and H&R springs (not coilovers) took 6th at Nationals--STF is pretty wide open, I would say.

FSP_ZX2 wrote: A well-driven 2002(?) 2.0 Focus sedan on OTS Koni yellows and H&R springs (not coilovers) took 6th at Nationals--STF is pretty wide open, I would say.

Chris. He's a good dude and a phenomenal driver in that car. STF is pretty wide open right now and that, to me, is what makes it more interesting.

Winter is over. Seriously... it's over, right? So I got the car back together ready for the first auto-x in Wilmington, OH on April 13th. Full suspension installed for the first time, ever.

Alright spring, it's your turn. I did my part.

if you didn't follow the Dixie Nationals, Lee Chhit stomped the STF competition by almost two seconds in his Mini. Daniel, his brother took the third place trophy co-driving. These guys are from my home region in Huntsville, AL. I expect Lee to be tough all season. He and his brother are heading to Blythville today for this weekends event. "My" RSX finished one spot out of the trophies in 6th. In all, 27 drivers made the event from Alabama bringing home 10 trophies.

ok, quick update on this. Finally installed my lightweight battery I've had on the bench for 2 months +. Exhaust dropped 4lbs over stock, intake dropped 8 (yep, 8 lbs of plastic!). This dropped 28 more. Between that and the 6lbs per corner wheel/tire weight loss we're up to a total of 64lbs off the car, most of it on the nose.

BRINGING this back from the edge of oblivion..... about to do some final upgrades and mild repairs. Car turned over 69k miles last night and it STILL runs/drives great. Swapped back to "stock" suspesion. The rear shocks are Koni Sports, the fronts are Bilsteins on stock springs/mounts. Couldn't be a better combo.

This winter's updates/upgrades will be: -Header -cat -tune -control arm compliance bushings from Whiteline. -engine mounts

THose last two are due to abuse, no doubt about it. This car has seen well over 250 hard launches in the last 3 years at auto-x's and that doesn't include letting the wife drive it!

So more to come!

OK, I am calling this creation: "Bilstonis". Bilsteins up front, Konis out back (set to 1/2 turn up from soft) on stock springs. Ride height is atrocious (think Subaru Outback), but handling and ride are fantastic. Stock struts used a 20mm shaft, Billies use a 24mm shaft. Built better, and they work.

Definitely the way to go on this chassis. Hell.... if I wasn't so dead set on STF, I'd probably write my letter to get it put down into HStreet and go play there. It's that good.

So the purchasing starts.... http://www.sharkracing.com/2010-2013-forte-koup-2-0-4-2-1-header/

Yay for christmas monies! Plus I had a $50 off coupon code which made this the same price as the cheaper OBX which would also need an O2 bung welded in.

Also, made the first long-ish trip on the Bilstonis. Over the past long weekend we ran to NJ and back. 1600 miles and they rode and handled great.

Engine mount urethane and high flow cat ordered. Only things left are the header wrap, intake wrap and tune. Gonna be a good year!

Nice! Will you be hitting up the Wilmington events next year?

Looking good! Can't wait to get the Rabbit out to the autox!

In reply to Spoolpigeon:

At least one. Wilmington was where I learned the car was able to pull 1.4g peak and 1.2 sustained on older under inflated bfg's. Great site and amazing grip.

Woo hoo! Header shipped from Korea. How long does that take?

First shipment of awesome is here.

OK so it takes 5 days to get a card from Indiana to Arizona with the post office. But it takes 3 days to get a header from South Korea? Anyone see what's wrong with this?

And it's all in.
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Quick first impressions. Midrange is definitely stronger. Louder. Considerably louder actually. Especially when the intake switches over to the short runners around 3800rpm. Not completely unpleasant but the tone has changed. It's more raucous and entertaining. No more "silent autocrosser"!

Very nice!

Just came back from lunch where I rolled back with the windows down. Man... this thing is in your face when you are on it. At least theres no highway drone!

Clearly we require audio evidence!

Yeah, I need to get the go-pro charged and get a new video.

Not sure how I missed this before but awesome build / progress thread

Acme Lab Rat wrote: Clearly we require audio evidence!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/bobnjenmiller/GOPR0171_zpsyksiv5za.mp4

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/bobnjenmiller/GOPR0167_zpsm2gc95on.mp4

In reply to Bobzilla:

+1,000,000 for braps!

yeah, at the 2500-3000rpm range under load it gets a bit boisterous. ALMOST farty but not quite. What I do miss is hte decel burble it had before. I LOVED that burble. I'm guessing it was the cylinders fighting for collector space on the stock manifold that caused it as the new design they have a free and clear path.

This is just that range: https://www.facebook.com/bob.miller.1804109/videos/10207189505549009/

ok, After 5 weeks of leak chasing I FINALLY (I think) have all the little leaks sealed. Burble is back but much less. sound is phenomenal now that I"m used to it. Tune in 2 weeks.