VIP GT-BBB

[bigBADbenny]

Good for you with the renos. I put those off this "summer" too.
Sub mods stat, UZ is telling me the sub is under-driven

[alexeiwoody]

Hey, at least you got something done! My wife doesn't drink wine, so when I open a bottle I need to drink it all myself, although I'm usually partial to a bit of whiskey.
I have spent most of my spare time recently fixing up our backyard so we can enjoy it over summer, which should eventually come, right?

Melbourne weather reports this year have been very roughly - "between 15-32C, sunny with showers". Sounds like even the weathermen gave up.

[bigBADbenny]

Oil change today... With extra tinfoil hat.
I followed the seafoam / UEC instructions linked in my tune faq, and put 1/3 can of UEC in the oil last night before a 100klm drive in this instance to my son's bball game in Werribee.



Then this morning, the rest of the can in the bov vacuum port at idle, dumping the last bit in and letting it sit for 20 minutes.



Let it smoke up on restart, then drove to the nearest Mazda dealership to buy an 08+ RX8 oil filter. They are the same bypass pressure as the stocker, a little longer and around $16 at Max Kirwan. Then I filled the tank with 98 and added Subaru injector cleaner.



Then off to Little Sam's Garage where a spare hoist just happened to be available: WOOOT!
Its an uplifting feeling, DIY in style...



Errmmagawwwd! UEC really works, Fumoto means one less crush ring and nut to crush and bust mine



Locked and loaded, filtermag attached, I pre-filled the filter with oil, of course...



Lastly I topped it off with 4.5L of Penrites finest 5w60 Full Syn and added their service sticker with a reminder to revisit the situation at 219000klm!
Smooth as silk

Is the Tokyo Roki RX8 filter really necessary?
Is life even possible without a fumoto??
Do we really need filtermags???
5w60 FFS????



Did I enjoy my oil change?


I'm also going to start reading the dipstick in my driveway which is flat, left to right, when the car is cold.
The oil level when hot is just too variable for my liking.

[andy_mac]

Are those the wrx muffs in that rear end pic?

[bigBADbenny]

Yep and if I were get another set modded (which I'd hope to diy) I'd go my15 Wrx STi stock muffs and set the tips with about 1/2" of poke and offset them to the bumper line a la tbSTi wag muffs.

[jakey]

Is the Tokyo Roki RX8 filter really necessary?
Is life even possible without a fumoto??
Do we really need filtermags???
5w60 FFS????

This is why we love you

[bigBADbenny]

Love/hate yeah

[HardwareBoB]

Well, that is one hell of a service!
I always say, why do something when you can overdo it
Also fumoto oil plug is such an awesome idea, mine was just fitted, I'll use it for the first time soon!

[bigBADbenny]

Yeah little sams is 100% penrite and they recommend that 5w60 for mature engines that use a bit.
No real k's yet but slightly less chuff and tap on idle so far: smoother again

Since I'll be measuring the oil level cold I can keep more accurate tabs on useage...
But more looking forward to swapping out the pcv which is probably a contributing factor.

I finally made it to Pick a Part in Kilsyth, basically a male dominated adventure playground, open weekends, where I found some lock buttons and window winders for the Baur, then went for some GQ Patrol bush bashing on a mates property in Yarra Glen.

Lovin life!!!


No E30's at that Pick a Part, but these chrome embellished items from an E28 suit the chrome bumpered Series1 Baur.
I have one S1 E30 winder spare and 2x E36 winders if anyone needs


The coolant bottle would overflow a little sometimes so for good measure I replaced the accessory resistor (which was still smashed up from the previous owner) with one that came on a s/h AC heat exchanger (thanks Gug!)... Not sure what it does but no more overflows



Inner glow of fine fettle

[bigBADbenny]

In the last couple of weeks a few select mods have been made to my car that have totally transformed it into the car of my dreams.
It is, in my view, almost perfect at the moment.
Thanks to this community the entire project finally makes sense as an excercise in improving, through research, on what was a package with some potential yet completely lacking in any real resolution.

How did I get there?
Firstly the suspension is now fully developed with Shockworks coilovers (thanks again, Owen) complemented with a massive decrease in unsprung weight through a full JDM alloy arm install, along with the previously installed Brembos (thanks to cruisn) and lightweight Enkeis (thanks cruisn again).
The other suspension mods are AVO caster offset bushes, AVO HD RSB mounts, WhiteLine rear caster bushes and AVO rear braces (all: thanks Owen) on stock sways and links.

The cherry on the cake is my latest ThrottleHappy tune where I requested that all SI Drive throttle angles are equal, leaving boost only (gate, 12psi and 15psi respectively) as the primary variable.
That plus whatever contemporary magic Matt is rolling into his tunes at the moment, have made the car feel just so right.
Without the throttle angles providing unwanted variability of input between modes it's simply a purer more predictable experience to drive. I wish I'd requested that 3 years ago, but good outcomes are worth waiting for, everytime...

That and the super-capable composed coilovers just make the driving experience complete.

At the end of a drive any logs and LV's I've made with the btSsm are automatically synced with my Dropbox over wifi using Tasker.

I'll enjoy it this way for a while whilst I work towards the smart waterspray, knocklink and afr/boost failsafe installs... And then think about the HD clutch, PW tmic, El headers, ID1000s and AVO400 etc that are in the stash

[shav]

Thats awesome to hear Ben.

I had no idea the throttle angles could be matched to all the SI modes. How much of an improvement does this make?

[bigBADbenny]

No improvements to perceived performance... but a huge change in drivability, for the better.

Basically if you just hold steady revs off-boost and change modes there is little to no change in response.

There is if you have even a little boost.
The car will do a little jump forward thanks to eg: the wastegate closing and the boost going up to its target.

Its still a bit of a slug to get going in "I" mode as if the throttle angle is as weak as it was previously...

BUT: it no longer requires consideration or caution using "S#" mode, as "S" and "S#" modes just mean more boost (no longer a moonshot change in throttle angle)

I farken LOVE it, its what I always wanted from SI Drive, no more.

[shav]

No improvements to perceived performance... but a huge change in drivability, for the better.

Basically if you just hold steady revs off-boost and change modes there is little to no change in response.

There is if you have even a little boost.
The car will do a little jump forward thanks to eg: the wastegate closing and the boost going up to its target.

Its still a bit of a slug to get going in "I" mode as if the throttle angle is as weak as it was previously...

BUT: it no longer requires consideration or caution using "S#" mode, as "S" and "S#" modes just mean more boost (no longer a moonshot change in throttle angle)

I farken LOVE it, its what I always wanted from SI Drive, no more.

Driveability is something you can't buy. But in this case it's just a tune away. Im keen to try this in my car when Matt comes to town. Id be interested to feel the differences in throttle positions and if it does make an improvement. Because currently in I mode (which I dont ever use) its a slug and you basically have to mash the pedal to get it to move. To some degree its the same with S mode.

I can foresee this being a good tune to have to compare each mod (before and after) you fit on yeah?

[bigBADbenny]

I like all modes, and occasionally switching between them.
"I" mode when smooth progress is required, "S" for personal use and "S#" just for kill mode, or when I want to feel the full effect of max boost.
The new settings make the transitions between modes more ergonomic and manageable for me.

[shav]

I like all modes, and occasionally switching between them.
"I" mode when smooth progress is required, "S" for personal use and "S#" just for kill mode, or when I want to feel the full effect of max boost.
The new settings make the transitions between modes more ergonomic and manageable for me.

This sounds right up my ally. If you dont mind, Im gonna see what Matt can do for my tune next time I see him.