2008: A Tough Start

September 5^th, 2008

For Immediate Release:

Team Up TwoMountains had a rocky start in the first half of 2008. The year began with a blown turbo and engine due to a broken air filter (cold air intake) allowing dirt to be sucked up at an event (another good reason to not use a CAI) and destroying the turbo and wrecking havoc on the engine and heads.

Time for upgrades!! Including…

Blouch 20g Turbo

FLI Stage 2 WRX heads w/Jun 256 cams

STI 2.5L block

COBB Intake and Cold Air Box

Custom Cusco catch can

Act flywheel and 6-puck race clutch

GrimmSpeed ported/coated headers and uppipe

GrimmSpeed 3mm phenolic spacers and coated intake manifold

APS TMIC (coated by GrimmSpeed) w/recirc BOV

APS Turbo Intake

Two months later and a lot of rides into work with Krista (thanks, honey!), Fine Line Imports delivered a tuned 2004 WRX that pumped out 320wtq/325whp. The power came on early and pulled all the way to redline! The best part was, during this time, COBB TUNING and BLOUCH TURBO stepped up as sponsors and helped with Cobb’s new intake/cold air box and the 20g respectively. Thank you Trey Cobb and Mike Malin!

Miles Hetchman (FLI) even came to NorCal’s first FRX rally event at Prairie City OHV Park in March and helped tune a few extra maps for running high revs on slick/dirt surfaces.

However, at about 4K miles in, disaster struck again as a faulty stock ECU caused over boosting at high rpms during a rallyX event and cylinder 4 had a catastrophic failure… pieces of the STI stock piston broke off and went through the turbo…umm, more upgrades!? And to make a long story short (too late!) FLI stepped up to the plate (again) and rebuilt the engine with Supertech forged pistons and a 100mm bored out STI block w/race main and rod bearings. Blouch Turbo stepped up again and rebuilt the practically brand new turbo that still needed a once-over to make sure this engine would still be in top shape. The results came out the same on the dyno, with some key differences.

1) More area under the graph from 3400 to 6100rpms (see dyno)

2) Temp. was 10degrees hotter on the 2^nd engine’s dyno pull, so peak WHP should be higher

3) This engine also includes a Link G3 ECU to replace the wrecked stock WRX ECU.

Click on image for larger dyno graph

Red/Purple: 1^st engine torque/hp

Blue/Green: 2^nd engine torque/hp

On top of advanced data logging controls and gear base boost maps, the G3 includes launch control, flat foot shifting and anti-lag…we’re sure at least two out of three will be utilized in the future!

This of course is all a precursor to the tuning necessary for stage rally next year, but in the meantime, it’s a great daily driver and rallyX vehicle with way too much power! A huge thanks to the team at Fine Line Imports, without them, this project would have ran out of steam a long time ago!

Despite a rough beginning, the 2^nd half of the year is looking good…a ‘new to me’ set of DMS 50mm suspension has just gone on and is being dialed in. The car will also make an appearance at SubieFest with the DirtyImpreza crew in September.

Lastly, Jon Burke made his Stage Rally debut at Gorman Ride Rally co-driving for Keith Jackson in his open class 2006 STI. Keith and Jon came in 3^rd in their class and 5^th overall! The two will also be competing at Prescott Rally October 2^nd and 3^rd. This experience is critical to next year’s entry into rally driving!

Upcoming events/schedule:

September:

Glenn Helen 3 RallyX

SubieFest

Antioch 1 RallyX