STi Help appreciated
Discussion
Evening all,
Have come to the world of Subaru ownership from TVR and, never having driven a AWD car before I have a few questions, your comments would be appreciated.
1st - As i am driving, and more often then not cornering at a low speed, I can often hear noises from the rear of the vehicle, what sounds to me like loose bearings or the axle making untoward noise. The car i own is a 02 STi and passed it's MOT a month before I bought it. Do all AWD cars make these noises or is that something i should get checked out?
2nd - Tyres. Is there a specific brand of tyre I should go for or are any reputable dealer ok?
3rd - How the hell do you get a fast start from the lights without burning the clutch out - I have horrendous pick up below 3500 revs. Is this normal, it's certainly very different from my old TVR.
4th - Will a new (Bailey?) Dump Valve help sort this problem, and if it does, will it leave me sounding like a complete chav everytime I change gear?
Cheers guys, sorry for all the questions!
Cowhead
Have come to the world of Subaru ownership from TVR and, never having driven a AWD car before I have a few questions, your comments would be appreciated.
1st - As i am driving, and more often then not cornering at a low speed, I can often hear noises from the rear of the vehicle, what sounds to me like loose bearings or the axle making untoward noise. The car i own is a 02 STi and passed it's MOT a month before I bought it. Do all AWD cars make these noises or is that something i should get checked out?
2nd - Tyres. Is there a specific brand of tyre I should go for or are any reputable dealer ok?
3rd - How the hell do you get a fast start from the lights without burning the clutch out - I have horrendous pick up below 3500 revs. Is this normal, it's certainly very different from my old TVR.
4th - Will a new (Bailey?) Dump Valve help sort this problem, and if it does, will it leave me sounding like a complete chav everytime I change gear?
Cheers guys, sorry for all the questions!
Cowhead
The noise from the back end doesn't sound right, probably worth getting checked out.
unfortunately there isn't really a mechanically sympathetic way to launch 4wd cars hard, the two nicest options are pull away smoothly, maybe with a small slip of clutch, and nail once clutch up. Or wind the revs way up, dump the clutch, and hopefully get a small amount of wheelspin rather than clutch-spin
Hard launches will wear out your clutch faster though, its just they way they are really, due to having so much traction the forces on the car will be greater before they can be released through wheelspin. (if that makes sense)
unfortunately there isn't really a mechanically sympathetic way to launch 4wd cars hard, the two nicest options are pull away smoothly, maybe with a small slip of clutch, and nail once clutch up. Or wind the revs way up, dump the clutch, and hopefully get a small amount of wheelspin rather than clutch-spin
Hard launches will wear out your clutch faster though, its just they way they are really, due to having so much traction the forces on the car will be greater before they can be released through wheelspin. (if that makes sense)1) The noise from the back end shouldn't be there, just make sure there nothing loose in the boot or spare wheel well first, before getting it checked out.
2) As with any performance car you should buy decent tyres and ideally on 4wd they should all be the same. I use Toyo proxes on mine, they've been fine in the wet but was thinking of trying Bridgestones next time.
3) If you don't have one already I would get a decent boost gauge, so you can see when in the rev range the turbo is boosting. From the sounds of it, its coming on boost just under 3500rpm, if its not boosting you won't have a lot of power and the engine will just bog down.
4) As Gaz said the characteristics will be completly different from your TVR engine, the bigger capacity of the TVR engine will produce lots of torque throughout the rev range. Whereas the STi engine will only produce lots of power when on boost. Changing the dump valve won't make any difference to when the engine produces it power, its a case of learning a different driving style to keep the turbo on boost. Not totally sure on the new age models but mine runs a Air Flow meter so you cant really use a vent to atmosphere dump valve, so it won't sound like a chav!
2) As with any performance car you should buy decent tyres and ideally on 4wd they should all be the same. I use Toyo proxes on mine, they've been fine in the wet but was thinking of trying Bridgestones next time.
3) If you don't have one already I would get a decent boost gauge, so you can see when in the rev range the turbo is boosting. From the sounds of it, its coming on boost just under 3500rpm, if its not boosting you won't have a lot of power and the engine will just bog down.
4) As Gaz said the characteristics will be completly different from your TVR engine, the bigger capacity of the TVR engine will produce lots of torque throughout the rev range. Whereas the STi engine will only produce lots of power when on boost. Changing the dump valve won't make any difference to when the engine produces it power, its a case of learning a different driving style to keep the turbo on boost. Not totally sure on the new age models but mine runs a Air Flow meter so you cant really use a vent to atmosphere dump valve, so it won't sound like a chav!
cowhead said:
1st - As i am driving, and more often then not cornering at a low speed, I can often hear noises from the rear of the vehicle, what sounds to me like loose bearings or the axle making untoward noise. The car i own is a 02 STi and passed it's MOT a month before I bought it. Do all AWD cars make these noises or is that something i should get checked out?
its hard to tell without being there to hear it. from my albeit limited experience of scoobs, the diffs on the STI's are a bit more noisey than their WRX counterparts when locking, but if its that noticeable i'd suspect at something not being right.
cowhead said:
2nd - Tyres. Is there a specific brand of tyre I should go for or are any reputable dealer ok?
not really, but Goodyear eagle F1's and Toyo T1-R's are the best premium tyres for sensible money in my opinion, certainly a good tyre for scoobs.
cowhead said:
3rd - How the hell do you get a fast start from the lights without burning the clutch out - I have horrendous pick up below 3500 revs. Is this normal, it's certainly very different from my old TVR.
dont rev it so hard, and dont slip the clutch. 3000rpm starts should be easy on a standard STI clutch. if the biting point is high and it slips easily i'd probably get a new clutch kit for it. i wouldnt bother with hard starts either to be honest, just get off the mark at say 2k rpm and get rolling, then nail the loud pedal.
as far as uprated clutches go the likes of exedy make them for scoobs, and are very reasonable. AP Tuning are exedy dealers, and Gary is a legend with a spanner in is hand if your not too far from norwich. i wouldnt trust anyone else with my cars and i'm 300 miles away from him. www.ap-tuning.co.uk
remember hard launches in permanent 4WD's give the transmission, particularly the clutch and diffs a hell of a hard time, and can shorten their life quite drastically as many have found out at events like ten of the best and drag strip days.
cowhead said:
4th - Will a new (Bailey?) Dump Valve help sort this problem, and if it does, will it leave me sounding like a complete chav everytime I change gear?
please whatever you do don't fit a bailey. leave it to the cossie boys. they're loud ( and sound crap imo) and dont serve any real purpose.
from what i remember from the last scoob i looked under the bonnet of they have a recirculating dump valve as standard. if this isnt up to the job get an aftermarket one, but make sure its a recirc if you a) dont want to sound like a chav and b) want it to do the job properly.
when you vent to atmosphere you're losing air thats already been accounted for and thus fuelled for for by the air flow meter / map sensor etc. thus these cause overfuelling, which, although is good if you like exhaust flames, isnt the best for the cars performance. they really dont serve any useful purpose imo. a good recirc valve like the blitz or HKS SSQV, Sard R2D2 etc will be your best bet if you're staying with a mild state of tune and want something a bit more meaty than the standard recirc.
bren at www.apex-performance.co.uk can get you just about anything you need for scoobies by the way, another place i use for parts
hope this helps mate
i dont have a huge knowledge of scoobies so thats about as much help as i can be, but feel free to ask if you need any more info. >> Edited by MeLLoN Stu on Friday 26th May 02:41
cowhead said:
Evening all,
1st - As i am driving, and more often then not cornering at a low speed, I can often hear noises from the rear of the vehicle, what sounds to me like loose bearings or the axle making untoward noise.
I had some random noises from the rear of mine and it's only done 4K miles. I took it to the local Subaru dealer where I bought it and they said they would have it in to strip the suspension down while I was on holiday.
Before I took it in curiosity got the better of me and I took the rear wheel off to find a stone behind the disk between the rear shield. Some of the noises it made were scarry. Worth 1/2 an hour to check for this.
cowhead
The noise could well be a rear shock absorber - it's a common problem with Scoobs - I had one go on each of the Scoobs I owned (that said, they were the only real things to go wrong in 140K-odd miles over 6 years). Take it into a dealer - they should be able to sort it quite easily.
Tyre wise - good advice here already. By far and away the best tyres I ever fitted to my Scoobs were Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3s. Highly recommended.
Stu's advice on dump valves is about right. I used to have a Bailey - it did make a nice noise and the exhaust would pop and bang, but it isn't good for the engine and eventually I got fed up with it and put the standard one back on.
Chris
>> Edited by scoobybloke on Monday 29th May 22:05
>> Edited by scoobybloke on Monday 29th May 22:05
The noise could well be a rear shock absorber - it's a common problem with Scoobs - I had one go on each of the Scoobs I owned (that said, they were the only real things to go wrong in 140K-odd miles over 6 years). Take it into a dealer - they should be able to sort it quite easily.
Tyre wise - good advice here already. By far and away the best tyres I ever fitted to my Scoobs were Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3s. Highly recommended.
Stu's advice on dump valves is about right. I used to have a Bailey - it did make a nice noise and the exhaust would pop and bang, but it isn't good for the engine and eventually I got fed up with it and put the standard one back on.
Chris
>> Edited by scoobybloke on Monday 29th May 22:05
>> Edited by scoobybloke on Monday 29th May 22:05
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