Winter Mode 3

We’re back on the lake again, and my car is much changed… last year I enjoyed the car a lot when it was completely stock, but I’m never one to leave well enough, alone. It often behaved inconsistently in tight maneuvers, which was something I blamed on the nancy viscous rear LSD. It didn’t have the ability to transfer noticeable torque side to side unless I really flogged it to get it into humping mode. The stock front diff, being open, didn’t seem like a great hindrance. When doing some maneuvers, the ability to blow up only one front tire, yet both rears can be convenient for creating yaw, but it certainly feels like a losers method. So I locked the rear diff and installed a front helical LSD. The difference is very noticeable… but it’s not all positive. As expected, the car does behave much more consistently, however it does tend a lot more towards understeer on turn in. It took almost a full day to get used to, and hopefully I’ll find more improvement with time, but it takes a pretty careful touch to get the car set up to turn. Once it is pointed the right way however, serious improvement is noticed.

I’m also sans power steering this year. Chopping all that plumbing out was as much about improving steering feel, as it was cleaning up Subaru’s mess under the hood. On the ice, not having power assist is fantastic. It’s much easier to identify brake lock up or excessive front slip angles. On the street everyday though, it’s kind of terrible. I’ve driven lots of cars without PS and liked them all, but this is a failed experiment. It is just too heavy, and the ratio is too slow. I often find myself thinking about the weight of it, rather than the road ahead… it’s an absolute bonk… but seems to work on the ice where the throttle does most of the steering and ice seems to minimize friction and weight. Before re-installing the pump, I’ll probably try an aftermarket wheel that sits a little closer to my body… and if that fails, maybe I’ll try modding the crossmember and column to fit a fast AW11 rack.

I really hate power steering!

Tires this year are not the true race units I was planning on… and that’s a regret. It was probably a matter of budget. They are Chinese brand Sailun’s which can hold a lot more studs than other DOT tires, but I’m not really that impressed. I should have stuck with Kumho, or gone real WRC.

I’m also now using a Cobb Stage2 tune, which gives not only a bit more boost, but a bit more boost a lot sooner. The stock car was a dog under 3500rpm, but this one is drivable from about 3000… although anytime I notice that the car is not doing what I want it to, I also often notice that it’s low in the revs. The gentle touch of engine braking is very useful on ice!