Subiesport Magazine - April/May 2008 - (Page 86)

PROJECT DREADNOUGHT Words and Pics: Travis Geny Breaches cleared, deck swabbed IT HAS BEEN a busy month for the Dreadnought. Our illustrious publisher has decided that it is time for Mediaspigot Publishing to go racing, and what better way to promote this fact than with a little friendly inhouse rivalry? So, Ryan being Ryan, he went out and snatched up an older Miata and plans to essentially out-do the Dreadnought in both handling and power for top honors at the track. While I don’t take any challenge lightly, I think Ryan has bitten off more than he can chew in many respects, like the Dreadnought itself. When we last left the car, it had received a few tweaks here and there, like a new radiator and upgraded coilovers. This time around, things have gotten serious. While at SEMA, I stopped by the Whiteline booth and chatted with U.S. distributor Glen Dirkse from Global Performance Parts. Glenn has helped me out with cars in the past and I really like the quality and performance of the Whiteline bits. After discussing the goals I had in mind for the car, we decided on an entire catalogue’s worth of suspension parts that would take the car to the next level. There is also the issue of how much rubber we can run. While 225-wide tires are pretty good, we can always do better. To that end, we contacted HTAutos. co.uk in Great Britain for a 22B style widebody kit. This kit is made for GC-bodied coupes, sedans and even wagons. It is 40mm wider than the stock fenders, which will make room for some very fat rubber, indeed. Another weak point of the Dreadnought was the clutch. The stock clutch in no way had enough clamping force to hold the power generated by our turbocharged powerplant. Fortunately, we had a lightly used Exedy Hyper Single with a lightened flywheel from a 2000 2.5RS hanging about, so that went in as well. Lastly, we mark the end of the Zero to Hero project. While some may see this as a cause for sorrow, it means that all the hot parts from the 2005 RS can be installed on the Dreadnought, including the Racing Brake big brake kit and Prodrive seats and steering wheel (Ryan insisted that the 18-inch GC-06s go on the 2007 Legacy GT project car). So, with a huge pile of parts and about a month to get it all together, I started wrenching, and I must say the results are impressive. The car now stops, handles and feels like an entirely new car. With everything done, we had replaced every single suspension piece, save for one bit: the front knuckles. As you can probably guess, one of these failed, although in the most fortuitous way possible; while backing out of a parking spot. Had this piece failed while I was driving through the hills on a nice early spring day, I may not be here writing this. Failure was traced to one part age, one part stress and three parts “over-torqueing” on the ball joint retaining bolt. Then after removing the passenger’s side knuckle, I found that this had also failed, just not to the point of completely collapsing. Remember, do it right, do it once, and replace all old and worn parts if you plan on doing any sort of performance driving; it might just keep you alive a bit longer. 86 MAY 2008 http://www.htautos.co.uk http://www.htautos.co.uk

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Subiesport Magazine - April/May 2008

Subiesport Magazine - April/May 2008 Contents Travis Geny Letters Readers' Rides Subaru News Wicked in White Pink Rules Harman Motive Nouveau Tuning the 2008 STI 2008 Rally Guide Alcan 5000 Rally Alcan Unleashed WRC Rally Monte Carlo WRC Rally Sweden WRC Rally Mexico 100 Acre Wood Kumakubo! D1 Drifting Where to Buy Subiesport 2008 Impreza WRX 2007 Legacy GT 1993 Impreza Wagon Fueled Up Ad Directory Spotted!

Subiesport Magazine - April/May 2008

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