a few cheap tricks I tried this weekend

adc0642

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02 P5
I spent a couple hours this weekend working on my woman's p5, it is at 30k and I figured it was about time to flush the radiator, check wheel bearings, that kind of thing. While at it I tried a few things
-Put Redline MT90 in the gearbox (manual trans) ($16)
-Kartboy shifter bushings ($25)
-$4 160F thermostat from O'reilley's, generic coolant, and a bottle of Redline Water Wetter. I also drilled a couple 1/8" holes in the thermo so the coolant keeps circulating a bit even when closed, this is an old trick to keep the coolant temps a bit more constant
-$15 polyurethane bushings on the rear sway bar. The stockers are huge mushy rubber things. I want to put them on the front too but they're buried under the subframe and it looks like I'd have to take the car half apart to get at them. I can feel that the fronts have much thinner rubber, and the rubber feels pretty firm, so not worth messing with now...
-I'm the fool who bought the $25 ebay short-ram intake thinking it was the fancy Injen lookalike, don't have it together yet, but i'm going to piece it together with some pvc pie and make it work.

So anyway, the car feels much different now. The shifting is WAY better; really fast, precise, smooth, with a nice polished mechanical feel to it. The stock shifting feel is good, but this is awesome! the temp guage sits a bit lower and doesn't budge, and supposedly should make a touch more power, but if it does, it's too little for my butt-o-meter. The car handles more solid, doesn't push quite as much through corners, because the rear is staying more level and is a bit more willing to come around. Overall, not a bad investment so far. I'm looking forward to getting the intake together.

So a few questions: is a short-shifter worth it? Any recommendations? I saw an Ebay one for like $50, rather not spend $100+ for a chunk of pipe...

Exhaust: I plan on knocking out one or both cats, and running it with just the silencer or welding on a decent muffler. Those pricey catbacks are nice but the stock exhaust piping looks good so why mess with it. Any muffler recommendations that give it a nice restrained sound? Preferably no flatulent rice-boy sound!

Suspension: I'm really looking at Eibach's but how well do they work with the stock struts? Is the ride degraded much?

Long post, but these are the first mods on the P5 and I'm pretty happy :)
 
i have the katboy short shifter with bushing. i love it. it's a big difference as far as throws and stiffness. i recommend it. i heard B&M and TWM are good also. where did you purchase the polyurethane bushings from?
 
jophus14 said:
i have the katboy short shifter with bushing. i love it. it's a big difference as far as throws and stiffness. i recommend it. i heard B&M and TWM are good also. where did you purchase the polyurethane bushings from?
Got the bushings from JCW, just measured the ones on there and ordered the same thing. I've done this to every car i own and it makes an amazing difference. The stock rubber stuff even on pricey cars is junk, the poly feels so much better and lasts forever
 
adc0642 said:
Suspension: I'm really looking at Eibach's but how well do they work with the stock struts? Is the ride degraded much?
Firmer and lower springs will require different struts.

- ZoomFive
 
What is the JCW part number? I'd rather order the part first and then install it w/o having to measure it.

Share the (info) wealth.. :D
 
Dimitrios said:
What is the JCW part number? I'd rather order the part first and then install it w/o having to measure it.

Share the (info) wealth.. :D
I'll have to get home and check,I'll try to have it up tomarrow. You do have to bend the JCW bracket to fit but it's not bad.
(redp5)
 
grindMARC said:
2nd that!
Whiteline wants $130 for new rear sway bushings for the WRX.
Hmmm, I wonder if I can get a set for that car too.
(wow)
Holy crapola
These are just the bushings that mount onto the body of the car. Some cars have endlinks, etc, and I'm not familiar with most of them. Energy Suspension makes kits for lots of cars with control arm, sway bar, motor mounts, tranny mounts, body-to-frame bushings (for the truckers among us), basically replacements for all the rubber on the car, and the whole set is like $150. Souds like Whiteline has a good racket going
 
adc0642 said:
(wow)
Holy crapola
These are just the bushings that mount onto the body of the car. Some cars have endlinks, etc, and I'm not familiar with most of them. Energy Suspension makes kits for lots of cars with control arm, sway bar, motor mounts, tranny mounts, body-to-frame bushings (for the truckers among us), basically replacements for all the rubber on the car, and the whole set is like $150. Souds like Whiteline has a good racket going
Yeah, tell me about it. The price was so insane that I did some research about how hard it would be to go into the 'thane bidness. It can't be more than a nickle worth of rubber.
Looks like the Prothane version of the Whiteline product costs $12. (nana)
The shipping from Australia (home of Whiteline) is more than that!
 
Sorry so slow, been pretty busy. I believe the part # was 85ZX9776U, measure your bar to make sure I'm right. Keep in mind you have to bend the bracket. The oe bracket is bent at like 240degrees or so instead of 180, and it's a bee-atch to bend the new one. i took it to the machine shop where I work and got them to bend it. It's worth it though, very nice improvement for not much $
 
IMO the Short Shifter isn't worth paying for. I got motor mounts, which made a huge difference in shifter feel (and many other areas), and I recently removed the extension on the stock shifter and put a Sparco knob. It's great and the only cost was the shift knob.

Poly bushings are always a great upgrade. I put them on every car I've had so far.
 
Every car I've owned has had a short shifter. Maybe it's just my opinion but I think they're much better than stock. Best and shortest throws I've come across is TWM. I have the generation 2 short shifter with the ball bearings instead of plastic bushings in the bottom of the shift lever, and it makes an awesome difference. Pair those with the Kartboy Bushings and I'm in shifting heaven. :)
 
you can run the eibach springs with your stock struts, i did for over 30k miles, no problem. i did just install the 5 way luminas, wow! anyway the ride becomes much stiffer, but not bad or harsh. it's my car so......but if it was my wifes, she wouldn't like the ride.
 
Mike R said:
IMO the Short Shifter isn't worth paying for. I got motor mounts, which made a huge difference in shifter feel (and many other areas), and I recently removed the extension on the stock shifter and put a Sparco knob. It's great and the only cost was the shift knob.

how did you take off the extension on the shifter?? I was lookin at that one day and was wondering what it would take...
 
adc0642 said:
So a few questions: is a short-shifter worth it? Any recommendations? I saw an Ebay one for like $50, rather not spend $100+ for a chunk of pipe...

Just bought and installed the eBay short shifter for $50 and am pretty impressed with it. It looks like the B&M and is installed in exactly the same way. Shifts really nice! Kartboy bushings are going to installed soon!
 
sorry to drag up an old one... but did those bushings come with the moly grease???

how did ya go with them springs?
 

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