Jen's 2009 WRX build

[MiniGrrrowl]

Hey there, I'll let the pics do most of the talking...


September 2008 - Leased my first Subaru - 2008 WRX - upgraded from a 2002 Honda Civic LX Sedan...

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/WRX%20PhotoShoot/subie9.jpg




Fast Forward - January 2009 - Was somewhat distraught that the 09's came with a bigger turbo, sunroof and suspension upgrades... Traded in the 08 and Financed a 2009 WRX.

Picked er up and immediately went on a 1000 km trip up North for the weekend. Got the dealership to paint the hood black... I thought it would stop here... but I was wrong...

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/LOWRX/LOWRXJUN09001.jpg





March 2009 First things first... got the rest of the paint done. Black grill, roof & trunk

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/IMG_0175.jpg




April 2009 Decided to get some wheels:
(Powder coated satin black 18" Volk TE37's wrapped with Falken 452's - Stock ride height)

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/FOR%20SALE/bf58f2d5.jpg




June 2009 - finally Tein releases their basic coilovers for the Sedan. Woot. Front and Rear shots for comparison.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/LOWRX/LOWRXJUN09030.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/LOWRX/LOWRXJUN09051.jpg




Fresh off the hoist, actually needed some wood to get off (Yeah, that's what she said... :P)

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/LOWRX/LOWRXJUN09063.jpg




New ride height - front is a full fist gap lower, feels so much stronger and stif over bumps and hard cornering. Absolutely love this suspension. <3

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/LOWRX/LOWRXJUN09083.jpg




June - September 2009: Purchased my Invidia Catted DP, Perrin Stealth CBE, Turbo Inlet, Up pipe, CAI & Accessport. After many tunning issues (over boosting and all, finally found an awesome tuner (Mike) for the 3rd gen wrx's in Innovative Tunning out of Buffalo, NY)




October 2009 - after lapping a few times at the track, realised quickly that my stock brakes were not going to cut it. Upgraded the brakes to a Rotora BBK, 4 piston front and 2 piston rears. They are red, and gave a lil umph to my black and white theme. Will post of close up pic of them when I can find one/take one. Can somewhat see them below:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/f73ec7d7.jpg

[MiniGrrrowl]

November 2009 - After all my parts are installed, go back to Innovative for a what was to be a final tune. Pretty decent results. This tune was done on a Mustang Dyno. 254 whp and 272 wtq. Still aiming for 300 whp. Maybe next year.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/LOWRX/JenM09WRXVs08STI.jpg



December 2009 - Purchased a Ralitek Skid Plate (my stock one has holes in it from bottoming out lol) & Tial 38mm External Wastegate and a Grimspeed up pipe with open dump tube. Decided to wait until after Christmas to get this installed.



January 2010 - Shit happens, and it happened to me. Heard a slight grining noise when deaccelerating. Orginally thought it was a fender liner on my weels or something equally unimportant.

Took the car to the local 'Mod Friendly' Dealership. After a few days of test drives by their techs, they finally diagnose the issue to be my transmission and the noise was coming from the rear tail stock/centre diff area. They dropped the rear tail stock and found that the snap ring at my centre diff had snapped and started to chew finger sized chunks out of my final drive gear. They were not able to put the car back together. It was deemed that I needed an entirely new transmission and was notified it would not be covered under warranty due to the modfications on the vehicle.

Subaru of Canada then proceeded to void my entire power train warranty. FML.




February 2010 - decided what the hell, lets do a 6 speed swap. Realised that the stock 5 speed would eventually fail again. This brings me to my favourite mod as of yet. A 2004 JDM imported Sti Non DCCD transmission. The japanese Sti's have the same final drive gear as the WRX's - 3.90. I was able to use my stock rear diff. (yay!) Got a local shop that builds rally cars to modify the front axle hubs to accept my stock front axles.



New (to me) 04 Sti transmission VS my broke ass stock transmission.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/wrx265/13a37adc.jpg



Needed to switch out the clutch and flywheel as well, so went with the Exedy Stage 1 clutch & pressure plate and a re surfaced flywheel.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/wrx265/5f19d156.jpg



In the off season last year, got some Rcomps & powder coated my stock wheels to have a neat set of track wheels. Yes the stock wheels are heavy for tracking, but it was like a free set of wheels. I also wont slide around as much on the track ;) Powder coated them bright efffing blue...

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/4c4517b3.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/69c0d3d1.jpg





That brings me to March 2010: Changed the Perring air filter on the CAI to a K&N filter.

/story for now. :)

[Jonathan]

Hmmm... I can't help wondering what on earth you are going to do when the lease is up ?

I bet you will have one huge massive "back to stock" sale.

[EDIT: Opps ! This one is financed, the '08 was a lease.]

Very impressive car, Jen.

Took the car to the local 'Mod Friendly' Dealership. After a few days of test drives by their techs, they finally diagnose the issue to be my transmission and the noise was coming from the rear tail stock/centre diff area. They dropped the rear tail stock and found that the snap ring at my centre diff had snapped and started to chew finger sized chunks out of my final drive gear. They were not able to put the car back together. It was deemed that I needed an entirely new transmission and was notified it would not be covered under warranty due to the modfications on the vehicle.

Subaru of Canada then proceeded to void my entire power train warranty. FML.

February 2010 - decided what the hell, lets do a 6 speed swap. Realised that the stock 5 speed would eventually fail again. This brings me to my favourite mod as of yet. A 2004 JDM imported Sti Non DCCD transmission. The japanese Sti's have the same final drive gear as the WRX's - 3.90. I was able to use my stock rear diff. (yay!) Got a local shop that builds rally cars to modify the front axle hubs to accept my stock front axles.

New (to me) 04 Sti transmission VS my broke ass stock transmission.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/wrx265/13a37adc.jpg

...

Powder coated them bright efffing blue...

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/69c0d3d1.jpg

Dare I ask why you chose that shade of blue for your track wheels ?
I like the colour, but it really doesn't have anything to do with your white/black theme.

My guess is you really got hosed on the transmission. Snap rings generally don't fail, and if they do its typically because they were defective. While I can certainly understand if your stock transmission failed because of all the mods you did to the motor causing synchros or gears to disintegrate, your warranty would be voided, for sure. In this instance Subaru should have paid for the repairs as it didn't have anything to your driving style or the power modifications. At any rate the JDM six speed is visibly a much larger, and I suspect a much more robust transmission.

What does FML mean ?

[xxthat girlxx]

Looks good!!

I might be really off here... but I don't see how suspension, exhaust and a tune has to do with your transmission. I had 3rd and 4th gear rebuilt under warranty with a stage 2 tune and turbo back. That tranny also ate a bearing that some have suggested had to do with whoever put it back together. :cough: subaru :cough:

Very exciting on the 6 speed though. I loved my Exedy clutch before something stopped working with it. My transmission/clutch saga continues. I hope this is the end for you!

Jonathan: I think it means eff my life.

[MiniGrrrowl]

Dare I ask why you chose that shade of blue for your track wheels ?
I like the colour, but it really doesn't have anything to do with your white/black theme.

It a bit of a trend that I fell into. A lot of Subaru's up here do crazy track wheel colours like neon and such, and we also do it for our winter wheels. I think we like attention :P


My guess is you really got hosed on the transmission. Snap rings generally don't fail, and if they do its typically because they were defective. While I can certainly understand if your stock transmission failed because of all the mods you did to the motor causing synchros or gears to disintegrate, your warranty would be voided, for sure. In this instance Subaru should have paid for the repairs as it didn't have anything to your driving style or the power modifications. At any rate the JDM six speed is visibly a much larger, and I suspect a much more robust transmission.


<3 this transmission so much. Feels sooo much stronger.

Looks good!!

I might be really off here... but I don't see how suspension, exhaust and a tune has to do with your transmission. I had 3rd and 4th gear rebuilt under warranty with a stage 2 tune and turbo back.


It's a very long drawn out story. But to keep it short and not bash the dealerships too too much (for as much as I would like to, since they sold me the AP and downpipe), Subaru of Canada sent a rep down to check out my car. The dealership did not notify me of this, otherwise I would have put it back to stock beforehand. SoC said it was due to the reflashing of the ECU 'making more power than what the stock transmission was designed for' - the reason that warranty was being voided. Complete bull if you ask me but what could I do? Fought with two dealerships and Subaru of Canada. Bit the bullet and did the swap.

Reading on NASIOC - I found and was in contact with other 08+ owners that had transmission work done under warranty. One guy's snap ring failed too. It was due to an 'incorrect tollerance' that caused his to fail. He was bone stock, and got fixed under warranty.

Syncros and everything were still fine and in place. The car was driven to the dealership for them to take a look at. They had even said that all seemed fine with the car except the noise upon deaceleration. Ah well, live and learn...




March 2010 Did this today though - Installed the Rallitek skidplate. What a pita this was not doing it on the hoist.

http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee358/Soundwave_vr6/skid.jpg

[Lperkins88]

its a panda! lol
and i LOVEEEEE the color of the blue wheels..
looking good =)

[MiniGrrrowl]

^^ thanks! :D

April 2010

Switched back to summer wheels and back to my summer ride height. :)

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/03b92841.jpg

[SubyFr3ak]

^^ thanks! :D

April 2010

Switched back to summer wheels and back to my summer ride height. :)

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/MiniGrrrowl/03b92841.jpg


Lookin good! :cool:

[TI07STI]

your car is sick, nice work!!