Re: Evo X upgrades
 

I'd bring it to MAP for ceramic coating. I'm guessing you won't be able to run your heat shield anymore? If so, you're going to need all of the temp control you can possibly get. They have a nice black coating that holds up pretty decent.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

They say you can use the stock shield but I don't see how when there won't be any holes to fasten it down...I suppose I'd have to use metal straps and listen to the thing rattling like crazy.

I shot an email to Grimmspeed to see if they can do it. Being in St Paul, that'd be convenient for me.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Definately get it coated, but make sure Full Race completely welded all the connections first. Been down that road with them before.

I wonder how much lag that manifold adds over a stock style cast manifold.

Enjoy how pretty it is now, they don't stay looking that nice too long. :)

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

I'm expecting a little bit more lag and another 10hp or so. I'll be putting it in along with a larger turbo so I'm not going to tell for sure. This is just one of those "while I'm in there" things.

I'm no guru but the welds look pretty impressive to me. They certainly go all the way around the joints...

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Just dropped the manifold off at Grimmspeed. They are going to coat it and port the flange side--they thought the exhaust ports looked good.

They had a nice stable of rides in their parking lot and the guys seemed friendly. A good first impression...

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

The tech at Grimmspeed decided that they couldn't do any porting work due to the design of the manifold. I guess they took a close look at it and were impressed with the quality. It was great that they could coat it in just one day. If I ever have the intake manifold off the car then I'm going to swap in one of theirs.

They asked me to drop by next week so their tech could take a look at the EBCS bracket on a X. I guess they've had trouble finding a X owner locally...I referred them here and to EvoMN.

http://mlomker.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8...7dd8286970b-pi

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Never knew Grimmspeed was in St. Paul. Interesting.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

They are moving to a bigger space in MPLS at the end of the month.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Not very interesting, but the Rays lugs and WeatherTech floor mats arrived today. The lugs are very light weight but I'm skeptical that the locking mechanism is adequate for a $3k set of wheels. I'm thinking something along the lines of an armed guard...

http://mlomker.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8...6e33903970c-pi

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Those floor mats are amazing, my roommate just got them for his Audi A3. Highly recommended for anyone driving in wet/winter weather.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Weathertech mats are sweet, I've been waiting for my set for over two months now through the MNSubaru group buy.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Hope you get them before Spring! I bought mine direct so only took two weeks.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

My car is at RS Motors getting the clutch installed. Since he has the downpipe off I'm going to have him get an o2 bung on there for me. I've been wanting to get my PLX gauges installed but didn't want to proceed until I could put them all in at once.

Ron was generous enough to let me borrow his IX overnight so they wouldn't have to rush to finish my car this evening. That was cool since I'd never driven an VIII or IX before.

http://mlomker.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8...7ef23d0970b-pi

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Careful, you might want one! :D

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Sweet ride dude!

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Wow thats a ton of shit for two gauges! What gauges are they? What is all included?

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

It is two OLED gauges, a boost sender, an afr sender, and an OBDII attachment. The sensors are all daisy-chained together.

Once installed I'll be able to program the gauges to display the output of both of the PLX sensors and any OEM sensor.

Would you believe that PLX even has a bluetooth adapter so that you can use an iPhone as a gauge? It's some pretty sick stuff.

http://www.plxdevices.com/multigauges.html

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

I tried a half-dozen ways to start out in 1st gear with that six puck and nothing is smooth. Reverse is fine but there is some definite engine bucking/clunking whenever I start out in 1st. Might regret the clutch decision...I'll try starting out in 2nd gear on the drive home.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Second gear would be worse since you have to try and slip out the clutch more. You just have to get used to it.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

That is the clutch chattering, exactly what I described a 6-puck would do on EvoMN. :redface:

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Less time engaging. On a chattery clutch, the less it's slipping the less it can chatter, so you might have to bog the engine a bit, but it shouldn't be a problem with a new car.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Give it time to break-in too, you will be surprised how much it changes as you approach the 500 mile mark. Give it a bit more revs to avoid chatter when leaving from a stop.

Also, how'd you like driving the IX? :)

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Just be quick and confident with your clutch actions and you'll do alright. Also, yes, it will get much better after you put a couple hundred miles on it. I love my 6 puck now, wouldn't trade it for any other clutch.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Very true. After the 500 mile mark to so my clutch completely stopped chattering. Only time it chatters is if I get lazy.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

With the 6-puck in my wife's 1G, it got worse with time. When I put it in, I couldn't even tell the difference from the organic that was in it before. But within a couple hundred miles it started getting some chatter. But it was still cake to drive.

The Exedy twin discs for the Evos are just about the easiest clutch in the world to drive, while most of the twin discs for DSMs kinda suck to drive.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

I tried a quick engagement in 1st once and that's the one time that I killed it. It loves quick shifts once the car is moving.

Yup, I've been experimenting with how much I need to rev it. The truth is that I've never been a smooth shifter so this is just forcing me to refine my skill...not a terrible thing.

I'd say I liked both cars equally. The X has a far better interior. The IX feels lighter, has better visibility out of the windows, and is quieter.

I like having the turbo in front of the motor much better. The turbo on the X is really loud right on the other side of the firewall! The IX feels lighter. The IX clutch feels like a conventional clutch whereas the X is quite different (even before the pedal effort doubled). Ron's car had the leather/cloth combo in the interior. I like that better...I may very well end up with leather front seats later on.

On the drive home I started to distinguish between the new sounds. The engine bucking is causing my uicp to beat against my cooling plate (ron's suspicion) so I'm going to experiment with that tomorrow. I also could hear the chatter which doesn't bother me at all...it's the motor movement and whatever is rattling that is unsettling me.

That was the other obvious possibility. The price is rather crippling, though. The X's have a weak master cylinder and Exedy twins are guaranteed to break them. SSP just came out with a metal replacement.

$1800 Exedy twin
$500 SSP master cylinder
$800+ labor
=
Twice the price of the ACT.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

I've had a Competition 6 puck in my car for about 6 months now, and I love it. The engagement is still a little chattery if I get lazy with the pedal or don't rev it up high enough, but other than that, I love it so far.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

It's certainly drivable since I've only killed it once. It just requires some effort in the parking lot and only shifts smoothly if I'm on the gas.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

A pic of the stock X flywheel and clutch, in case anyone is curious.

http://mlomker.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8...7026248970c-pi

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Those are some huge springs in that disc!

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

I decided to order Boomba motor mounts and a few other billet bits from them. I'm now thinking about their 75mm throttle body...at that point I'll have everything but their fuel rail. They seem to offer a good value in the stuff that they sell.

I wish I'd gone with a twin disc clutch but I'll just make do until it needs to be replaced. Motor mounts should help control engine movement but I'm not sure what the NVH trade-off is going to be.

http://www.maperformance.com/products/boomba_EvoXMM.jpg

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

To be honest, if you aren't completely happy with your clutch I don't see how those motor mounts are going to help the cause at all.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

It might not but the tech at RS suggested it. I just don't like the sounds I get when I put this thing in gear...not sure if the clunking is coming from the driveshaft or under the hood. I can live with the chatter but it feels like the engine is moving.

I may need to put the car on a dyno and watch while it goes into gear to see what is actually going on. The car will need to be tuned when cams go in, anyway, so it might just have to wait.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Well now instead of feeling the engine moving you're gonna feel your ass moving. :p

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Nice car dude, when did you have the seat massagers installed? I agree that anything I do is just heading further down the hard-core path that I hadn't wanted to go.

--
For the next round of upgrades I'm debating whether or not I want to open up the motor. I'll be doing the cams and realistically I'll never have another chance to do anything with the rods/pistons if I don't do it now...whether that is just rod bolts or doing drop-ins.

Buschur sells the Manley rods and custom JE pistons. It seems to be what the X owners are doing when they dive into the motor.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Setrelease.jpg

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

I don't remember who it was, maybe AMS. But they put down 600whp with a completely stock X engine. I think cams would be a great idea. Other than that I'd just leave it be.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

It's definitely overkill for what I'll be doing with the car, but sometimes I do things anyway. The only genuinely weak part of the X motor is the valve springs--you can't rev over 8200 or so without replacing them. Buschur toasted a motor going to 8500.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

I decided to order the pistons & rods. Who knows, I may eventually end up with a 3586 and actually need a semi-built motor to hold it. Hard to think that far down the road right now since I'm breaking the bank on 'round 2'.

The six puck seems to have smoothed out a bit now that I have 100 miles on it. Either that or I'm learning how to drive it. heh.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

If you don't mind telling, how much have you spent on this thing now?!?!? This thing has an insane amount of expensive parts on it already for how new the car is.