5 Reasons Why Air Lift 1000 Air Bags Are Amazing 1. Improved Stopping Distance When I first towed my rally car with my Nissan Pathfinder, I had to be extremely careful with my following distance. There was so much sag in the rear of the SUV that it affected breaking efficiency. Most of the braking power is on the front wheels of a vehicle. Because most of the weight is over the front wheels, you have more effective braking when applied to the front wheels. When the rear end sags, you are doing the opposite. The weight is concentrated on the rear end of the car, and the rear brakes...
Black River Stages 2017 Earlier this week, I showed you all how the Subaru's roof was repaired. Doing that repair really cut it close to our next event, Black River Stages (BRS). We did a few modifications to the car since STPR, as well as some repairs: Modifications: Added a rally roof vent. Replaced the factory dash bar with a single bar made out of 1.5" x 0.095" DOM tubing. Replaced the stock fuel lines with -6AN stainless steel braided fuel line. Replaced the stock HVAC system with a motorsports/hotrod heater. Added a wink mirror to help with the poor visibility...
Roof and Body Repair After STPR, we had a bit of a tumble.... This was a quite a lengthy repair, but I was ready to tackle it. The first step was trying to find a 4 door Subaru Impreza without a sunroof at a scrap yard. After waiting for about one and a half months at my local scrap yard, I decided to just pull the trigger on a scrap yard 2 hours away from me. They were asking for $300 for the roof cut, compared to $100 that my local scrap yards would charge if they had it. Two weeks after I bought...
Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally 2017 If you remember from last time, I had to do quite a lengthy repair before our next event, Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally (STPR) in Wellsboro, PA. It was the weekend before the event that the engine was finally put back in the car, and it fired back up without any problems. Along with the frame rail repairs, I made the following modifications: Group N Engine Mounts Group N Transmission Mount Polyurethane Transmission Cross-member Bushings Polyurethane Steering Rack Bushings Swapped Pirelli K4 195/70R15 tires to Yokohama A035-E Soft 185/65/R15 Added Fog Light Covers and repairs: Warranty replaced the...
Rally Radiator Support and Frame Rail Reinforcement "Damn, didn't see that coming." These words ran through my head as I nosedived at NJ's Raceway Park Rallysprint back in April. This event is half dirt, half tarmac, and I expected it to be good practice for me. The dirt section was modified to be used as a rallysprint course since it's normally used for motocross. Rain from the days prior made many sections slippery, but that wasn't what ruined the day for me. Some of the motocross jumps were kept in the course design to be used for the rallysprint. I ended up taking one of them a...
Subaru Steering Quickener Installation Today, I will walk you through my steering quickener installation for my Subaru Impreza 2.5RS Rally Car. I have been contemplating this installation in the past, but after the BMR Rallycross I felt that it was necessary. Before, my mindset was, if you need that much constant steering effort, you are not driving efficiently. Even though I believe this is mostly true, I think it would be very beneficial for odd understeer and emergency situations. A better response rate is just an advantage right? As far as the driving experience goes, I believe it will improve my driving quality...
Sandblast Rally 2017 I always envisioned this rally to be my first full stage rally, and I'm glad it was. Sandblast is a very safe rally in my opinion. There are barely any dangerous spots, and the deep sand does a great job at stopping the car when it goes sideways. There was no recce, though, so I had no idea what to expect. The only help I had was through word of mouth and YouTube. Just like Waste Management Winter Rally tire choice was a big decision for us. I brought medium compound gravels and non-rally snow tires to the event. Since...
Waste Management Winter Rally 2017 Ever since last year, I've been waiting to do this event myself as a driver. Derek and I put down some competitive times last year in the 2 wheel drive class, and I felt that my co-driving experience from last year would carry over to this year. This year the event was even slushier than last year. The car was put back together the night before the event because I was painting the interior. Since it was my first time using an HVLP gun, it took much longer than I'd planned, but I'm glad it was finished just in time....
First Vinyl Wrap Experience Today, I will share with all of you my first vinyl wrapping experience. I knew it would be difficult before I even bought the vinyl, but I knew that a few little mistakes would make the car look hundreds of times better than without it. A wrinkle here and there would not bother me. I brought the car to Jack's house since he wrapped some sections of his STI. We started with the hood. Roughly cut it out, peel back the paper while laying it flat, and squeegee carefully while pulling up the vinyl. Sounds easy and looks easy when...
Dealing With A Lack Of Motivation We've all been there before, I'm sure. You have a big project that you're working on, one that you've been waiting for so long to complete, but then progress becomes slow. It gets more and more difficult to follow your dreams. Why is that? Why does this happen even when doing something you really want? It partially has to do with expectations. I am in this lack of motivation state right now as I am writing, so I will use it as an example. Right now, I am getting the interior of my car prepared for paint. I originally expected...
