Impreza Group-N project.

[gon]

this project is amazing ..... I truly admire your patience
keep up the good work

[Aram]

New goodies!

I finaly know how I'm going to make my brake set-up.

I will be putting in stainless steel piping, this better than copper which does extend under presure.
I always felt the brakes were a bit vague in the Impreza, so in a new quest for better feel I wil delete the brake booster and will only use a master cilinder.

To compensate the loss of the brake booster and to have a legaly needed separated brake system and to have a way to change the brake balance of the car I will use 2 Master Cilinders, one for the front and one for the rear i.c.w. a balance bar.

To finish things up there will be hydraulic parking brake also.

To get the best, the 2 master cilinders are by AP Racing:



The balance bar is by Wilwood:




And I collected a "new" TIG welder, this is so much better than a MIG imo, especialy with the loom in the car, there is no sparks flying around or anything!

[Aram]

A friend of mine was coming by to see how the project was coming along, so I put him to work of course.

I was working on the centre console before so that's where we started.

To see what had to be cut away the seats had to go in, the driver seat had already been in the car so it fitted very nicely.
The passenger seat had some work on it, it did not fit very well probably because the side plates were by OMP instead of Sparco, I will adres this later.
The seat did fit in the end so cutting could begin.

Danny, in the driver seat:



Placing the passenger seat:



Oh yeah...:



Height difference, this chair is sitting back a bit and also higher than the driver seat, probalbly custom in rally cars:





Cutting away the console in line with the seats, the gaps will increase a bit when putting the new sides in:





Ehm, I bought these aswell....




Oh, if your wondering where they will be placed....in the footwell, lighting up when opening the door, just like the new 2008 STI.

[mc68]

i am very jealous of that master cyl/bias bar setup!

that template for the dash is smooth, i never would have thought of that.

showcar or rallycar?

[Aram]

Showcar and racecar.

[Aram]

Was talking to a guy yesterday who works freelance for Prodrive.

2 things came out, one of them is switching the master cilinders to the shorter versions and then moving them from the engine bay into the cabin, just behind the firewall.

This has 3 advantages, first the heat, it's cooler inside the cabin, second the distance is shorter so the loss of feel by bending material is reduced and third, the firewall on the Impreza is pretty weak, now I have the chance of making a very rigid mount increasing pedal feel again.

Then I have decided to try something that I have not seen before, at least, not in Holland.

According to this guy it is possible to move the engine 25mm back and 15mm lower in the car with the standard subframe too.

So this week I want to put the car the carlift and see if it is possible, of course from some things I already know that they will nee to change.

The gearlever and propshaft need to be shortened, maybe the exhaust will touch the subframe, and the gearbox subframe will need to be adjusted.

All of this is pretty easily done.

My biggest question is if the wheels axels will fit, they also move back so there is the risk of them getting to short.

I have the GC8 chassis with the 5mm wider GDB lower wishbones and GDB Spec-C axels, anybody have any ideas about this?

The advantages are clear of course, lower centre of gravity, weight moving further back in between the wheels, equals better handling.
Small extra advantage is more space for my radpack shroud.

[Aram]

Last week I removed the inlet manifold so I can rebuild it to my taste:



Throttle body's ready to have the valves removed:



Feul rail:




Today I started with the pedalbox, it needs to altered to make the 2 master cilinders fit.
First up is the brake pedal, I had to weld in the tube that will house the bearing from the brake balance divider:






Sandblasted:



This is how it looks standard:



Trail fitting:




After that the box itself needed some attention, I needed to make some space:







Trail fitting:







On the other side there is a bracket that holds the clutch pedal, the cilinder extension needs to go in between them, so I had to remove the bracket first:



Repeat from the other side:



Trail fitting with both cilinders:



Here is the brake pedal with the balance divider:




Finaly I made a start with the bracket, hopefully I have time to finish this up soon.

[Miguel - Newera]

I've just spent the last hour reading this. What a fantastic project...! Love the attention to detail, dedication and thought you're putting into this car - You could see right from the start it was going to be built perfectly!

Makes my effort at building a perfect AE86 look positively amateur, lol!
Look forward to seeing it take shape!

Will you be putting a large rally style roof vent on the roof? If you need parts like the original RA Roof scoop or harder to find parts from Japan, we'd be pleased to help!

[Aram]

Hi Miguel!

I know you from the Skyline forum, and I know you have seen your share of home made projects in Japan, so hearing this from you does have some weight to it.
We actually had some correspondense about a great white R32 GT-R a few years back, but it never materialized.
I decided to stick with what I know, and then some.

I followed your AE86 project from the beginning, made me kinda jealous of your connections over there in Japan, only the best products you put into it.


As for the roofvent, I will keep the airco so there's no need for it, plus it will give additional wind noise and it can leak etc.
I like a clean look, like the black Saurus R33 you have for sale now, so no stickers, spoilers etc, just clean.

If I need parts I will shoot you a mail!


greets

[Aram]

Today I did some more work on the pedalbox, not much to say, so just some pics then.