Easy and Rewarding

[Bizarre]

Is this picture photo shopped? If not what bumper is that?
-Brent-

[aithanmier]

yes it's photo shopped..it's off of a subaru impreza wrx, looks like 90's model.

[hdfestiva67]

Kinda, except the headlights are different. Like rsx lights and such

[FestYboy]

stock head lamps, the bumper is from a 96 STi but it's an aftermarket version (not stock) and i haven't found anyone who sells that version so the WRXtiva project was put on hold indefinitely.

[Desroches]

would shops around town have clear corners? or will I have to g oto the internet?

[FestYboy]

DO NOT use the Aspire rockers with the Festy cam shaft!

you NEED the Aspire cam.

the festy cam lobes are ground on a slight bevel to reduce rocker pad wear. this will cause the Aspire rockers to 'side load', meaning, they will be pushed off to one side, grinding the rocker body into the rocker shaft towers. Also, the lobes are made of a different material. The iron cam in the festy is too soft, and the rollers will eventually wear a trough in the lobe, destroying both the cam and rockers. The aspire cam is made of steel, specifically to prevent this.

well, he's right about the cam being soft and the rockers wearing through, BUT i have some problems with the reason it happened.

let's start at the beginning, when i first did this mod i was using a stock cam and springs. I put about 8k on the engine before tearing it down for the B6. during the disassembly i measured and inspected the cam to compare it to the new one from FMS. At this point there was no noticeable wear on the cam lobes at all, so i assumed things would be OK for the B6.

fast forward to now: The B6 received the FMS cam and heavy duty springs and the same aspire rockers from the B3 were put in. today i inspected the cam after about 8000 miles on the engine and discovered that 5 lobes were severely worn!! i believe the reason it happened to this cam and not the stock one is the heavy duty springs. the added pressure and the fact that it was being applied to a smaller surface area must have been the cause for the wear.

i think the stock springs are all that the festy cam can handle when mated with the aspire rockers. more testing will need to be done to prove this theory.

now my goal is to find a cam that will handle the combination of heavy duty springs and aspire rockers. I'm going to have a stock cam heat treated to see if it hardens the surface enough, and if that doesn't do it I'll take another one and have it cryo treated to see if that works.

[packrat427]

Have it all cryogenically deep froze.

[Desroches]

what kind of muffler could I use that is both Cheap and QUIET!

I don't want to go this low.. but would this work? http://www.rcaerobats.net/Making_Quiet.htm

[FestYboy]

i think that'd be a touch too small for your application and i doubt it'll be as quiet as you'd like. right now I'm using a Thrush muffler ($30) from schlep boys. it sounds good (low burble) and is louder than stock but you can easily have a conversation over top of it at highway speeds. if you're looking for a quiet aftermarket muffler, try to find one with the thickest chamber housing you can get, this helps deaden the reverberations.

BTW you'll need adapters no mater which way you go. my whole setup ran ~$40 with adapters and clamps included.

[muscle_Car1]

So is she(the GF) going to pick up some Euro parts and ship them back to you?

[superduder]

gone

[Desroches]

if hse tried to get me some parts for the car, she'd end up getting a light bulb... I wouldn't trust her with getting electrical tape!!

[nattyphysicist]

Re: Easy and Rewarding

My Girlfriends leaving for three months coming up (To Germany on an exchange ) which leaves me with A LOT of time! I'm planning on doing some little mods to my car. As I read the posts I make mental notes on what I'd like to do, although some are going to be too difficult. So I was just wondering If you guys could direct me in some easy and rewarding modifications.

Here's some ideas I have already:
1 make new door panel, upholster with black vinyl
2 Rear Wiper
3 Sun roof
4 Paint parts of dash (probably green)
5 remove crappy stock decals seen in picture below
6 swap b6 in for my b3 ( my buddies dad is a mechanic for post office so he could pitch in, and he's got lots of connections to help)
7 tint back windows (Should I do it myself?)
8 Paint bumpers to match
edit: 9 Mod a Grill!


and thats all that comes to mind.

So if anyone can give me some more ideas, or tipes on how to do them that would be greatly appreciated!

Wheels and tires! I recomend 14" wheels with 195/45-14 Toyo T1-R. This will make the most dramatic difference in the fun factor of your car, even without doing anything else.