Beginner’s guide to WRX modifications

“No way, that would give you at least 2 seconds at Winton” … How many times have you heard this or something to this effect around a discussion about the WRX modifications. Well I have heard plenty and I will tell you now that I would be the one of the least ‘car technical’ person around this club. So what am I doing writing an article about WRX modifications? Well because I am starting down the modification path AGAIN on my second WRX, and I felt compelled to write about my experiences and mistakes and hopefully others may learn something from it. 

To mod or not to mod, that is the first and most important question of all. The biggest enjoyment I’ve got from modifying my cars is the process itself. Call it “kid in a lollies shop’ experience or just ‘spending therapy’ if you will. And I won’t lie to you the real motive is to make the car go faster offcourse. Beep… Wrong, if this is your only goal and you have not own a standard rex for more than 2 years or haven’t taken it out on the track for more than several times and burn more than a couple set of tyres then the best modification you can make to get the car go faster is to upgrade the ‘nut’ driving the car. Get some driver training and seat time, Wayne George has written many times about this, and remember the club have driver training with most of our organised track day, not too many better way to get seat times.

Ok so for one reason or another you have decided to play the game, like many of us have. Set yourself a goal, if you don’t then you should asked yourself the question “When is it going to end?”. Next step is to do your research, talk to people around the clubs who have gone through the process, I am sure most are happy to share their tales. There are also plenty of discussion forums on the net to do with this topic. Like everything else in life you will need to sift through the truths, the half-truths, the unintentional lies and the outright lies.  Most people have a tendency to be “defensive” about the mods they have done, but every now and then you will find someone who will say what I have in my car is not worth having, I know which advice I would put more weight on. Be weary if someone trying to tell you that a certain mod can cut his lap time down by x seconds, especially if his first name isn’t Cody or he’s not getting paid to race. Also take whatever the vendors say with a grain of salt, because they have commercial interests at stake.

So what’s your story?

After 18 months with my, then new, MY97 I went out and put on a power up kit and a handling kit with little ‘research’. Needless to say within a couple of months the power kit was thrown out because it failed to meet my expectation. And also losing power around Honda corner at PI wasn’t much fun, I went home and counted my lucky stars it didn’t happen at turn one or on top of Lukey Height. The handling kit turn out to be a bit of a fluke and it was quite a good investment. After a year running around in the ‘Super-Modified’ class with 115KW @ the wheels and getting my butts well and truly kicked at every events, when the car lease was up I got myself another rex with a promise not to mod the car unless I can feel that I have at least got to explore 85% of its capabilities. With less than 3000 clicks and a new wheel alignment and some ‘rotor chewing’ pads, I was down at PI for my first event in a bog stock standard car, and oh boy I had just as much if not more than previously, simply because I could get the car nearer to its limits than I ever had with a souped up car.

Twelve months have since passed and I am now ‘in the game’ still making some ‘not so minor’ mistakes which has proved to be quite painful on the hip pockets. I have compiled a list of mods that I have done in the same order that I have done them:

1)      Wheel Alignment, there is no optimal settings you need to experience with what will suit you best.

2)       Brake fluid replacement with DOT 5.1 fluid or higher, stop the spongy pedal feel at the end of back straight at Calder after you have boiled the fluid slowing the car down at the end of the front straight.

3)      Get a set of race brake pad for the track, or a compromise set of pads that will work well on both the street and track.

4)      Racing Harness for the track, keep you sitting tight, very helpful for turn 1 at PI.

5)      ECU and exhaust, even if your first name isn't Cody you can still put your right foot flat to the floor on the straight bits.

6)      Anti-Lift Kit, Rear and Front Sway bars, car handling feel much, much more neutral as opposed to stock understeer cities stuffs. Improved lap time? I am not good enough to tell.

 That’s it for now, and here is a list of performance shops that I have had great experience with in alphabetical order:

1)      Apexi/BGT, power up kits, service, suspension, one stop shop really.

2)      APS, power up kits famous for their Unichip and its derivative kits.

3)      Race Brake, brake specialist Howard really knows what stop a car.

4)      Trutrack, suspension specialist, you could do worse than getting Ralph to do a wheel alignment.

 The first 3 shops are club sponsors so there are even more reasons to go to them, and NO I don’t get any benefits for mentioning them here.

 I must reiterate this is my methods and as always there are ‘more than one right ways’ of doing things and plenty of ‘wrong ways’. Half the fun is finding it out but hopefully you don’t burn too big a hole in your pocket in the process.

 And remember the next time you are out on a track and a standard car just pass you down the straight, the answer is:

a)      The ‘driving nut’ is finely tuned.

b)     He just has bigger nuts.

c)      It won’t be me, I am not in standard class no more :-(

d)     All of the above.

Hung Do

Member 209.