Project: 2010 Ralliart Sportback
Apr 7, 2010, 08:35 PM
#62
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I should mention that my college chemistry instructor told me that gas companies use ethanol to raise the octane value of their gasolines, due to it being the cheapest way to do it.
Apr 11, 2010, 05:52 PM
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Small update:
I have about 800 miles on the car now. Took it for a drive out to Lake Sonoma in Healdsburg, which is off Skaggs Creek road, one of the best driving road in Northern California, IMHO.
In all honesty, I thought I was going to be really disappointed in the handling of this car but it really surprises me every time I have a chance to throw it around. I'll get this out of the way first, it's not my Evo by any means, but I never expected it to be. I haven't really pushed the car hard and really haven't put alot of heat through it. I know this is where it's going to seperate itself from the Evo, and I totally understand that and have no issue with that, but this thing still surprises me.
I like the SST more then I ever thought I would. Flying into a corner and dropping down gears by just tapping some paddles a couple times and without it upsetting the chassis just amazes me every time. I've been a die hard manual user all my life but this SST continues to impress me.
The low end grunt of this turbo coupled with the SST makes blasting out of corners with the back end wagging out just right and then clicking up through the gears is just straight up fun every time. The stock turbo loses all its fun dynamics at higher speeds like the freeway where the car feels slow as a snail, at least compared to my Evo.
The ride is much stiffer then I imagined it would be. It's not bad but you can tell this chassis is much stiffer then the CT9A, no surprises there. Having a quiet car has been great and I am going to try really hard to maintain that, which has been my game plan with this car and will continue to be.
The huge side mirrors create a TON of wind noise at highway speeds. It's actually a big annoying but i'll trade that for the relentless drone my Evo produces at the same speeds.
It seems really easy to invoke ASC in this car with it all stock down to the stock tires and it's a bit annoying when it starts kicking in so I just started turning it off when I am driving the car with fun in mind.
The car averaged 24 mpg on the way to the lake and back. It's up about 1-2 mpg with the tune. Not bad but I was expecting a bit more with the tune and the car being 100% stock. Keep in mind I am used to 17-20 mpg with my 400whp+ E85 Evo 8.
I've had a ton of use for the hatch already and it's AWESOME. I just throw crap back there and it's really easy to open the hatch and close it back up and go. The hatch just fits my lifestyle right now and to have a hatch with AWD and a turbocharged 4B11 is just icing on the cake. I love it.
This car so far gets much more looks then my Evo ever did, by just normal random average people. Probably because it's a bit odd looking and a bit different then other cars on the road.
This car is going to get really fun with E85 and more power......
- Bryan
I have about 800 miles on the car now. Took it for a drive out to Lake Sonoma in Healdsburg, which is off Skaggs Creek road, one of the best driving road in Northern California, IMHO.
In all honesty, I thought I was going to be really disappointed in the handling of this car but it really surprises me every time I have a chance to throw it around. I'll get this out of the way first, it's not my Evo by any means, but I never expected it to be. I haven't really pushed the car hard and really haven't put alot of heat through it. I know this is where it's going to seperate itself from the Evo, and I totally understand that and have no issue with that, but this thing still surprises me.
I like the SST more then I ever thought I would. Flying into a corner and dropping down gears by just tapping some paddles a couple times and without it upsetting the chassis just amazes me every time. I've been a die hard manual user all my life but this SST continues to impress me.
The low end grunt of this turbo coupled with the SST makes blasting out of corners with the back end wagging out just right and then clicking up through the gears is just straight up fun every time. The stock turbo loses all its fun dynamics at higher speeds like the freeway where the car feels slow as a snail, at least compared to my Evo.
The ride is much stiffer then I imagined it would be. It's not bad but you can tell this chassis is much stiffer then the CT9A, no surprises there. Having a quiet car has been great and I am going to try really hard to maintain that, which has been my game plan with this car and will continue to be.
The huge side mirrors create a TON of wind noise at highway speeds. It's actually a big annoying but i'll trade that for the relentless drone my Evo produces at the same speeds.
It seems really easy to invoke ASC in this car with it all stock down to the stock tires and it's a bit annoying when it starts kicking in so I just started turning it off when I am driving the car with fun in mind.
The car averaged 24 mpg on the way to the lake and back. It's up about 1-2 mpg with the tune. Not bad but I was expecting a bit more with the tune and the car being 100% stock. Keep in mind I am used to 17-20 mpg with my 400whp+ E85 Evo 8.
I've had a ton of use for the hatch already and it's AWESOME. I just throw crap back there and it's really easy to open the hatch and close it back up and go. The hatch just fits my lifestyle right now and to have a hatch with AWD and a turbocharged 4B11 is just icing on the cake. I love it.
This car so far gets much more looks then my Evo ever did, by just normal random average people. Probably because it's a bit odd looking and a bit different then other cars on the road.
This car is going to get really fun with E85 and more power......
- Bryan
Last edited by GST Motorsports; Apr 11, 2010 at 05:54 PM.
Keep up the good work. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it EVOlves. 
Apr 11, 2010, 07:29 PM
#73
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Nice review. I saw a very slick lookin sportback yesterday and i wish it was out when i bought my RA. I could use the extra space sometimes. Like u i also like that it looks different, i hate driving a "common" car. I cant wait to see what u come up with.
Apr 12, 2010, 09:10 PM
#74
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Update:
Zeitronix ZT-2 wideband and ZR-2 multigauge showed up along with Injector Dynamics 1000cc injectors.
Trying to find some time to do the boost pill stage to get more data. Then swap to the Evo 10 FMIC and pipes and get some data collection with that. I've been swamped so it's not progressing as fast as I would like right now.
Some good news is that I have been tweaking a bunch of SST parameters over the last couple days and I am getting the car to shift/downshift pretty close to how I want it to in Sport Manual mode at cruise / part throttle and WOT, nice and smooth but firm.
- Bryan
Zeitronix ZT-2 wideband and ZR-2 multigauge showed up along with Injector Dynamics 1000cc injectors.
Trying to find some time to do the boost pill stage to get more data. Then swap to the Evo 10 FMIC and pipes and get some data collection with that. I've been swamped so it's not progressing as fast as I would like right now.
Some good news is that I have been tweaking a bunch of SST parameters over the last couple days and I am getting the car to shift/downshift pretty close to how I want it to in Sport Manual mode at cruise / part throttle and WOT, nice and smooth but firm.
- Bryan
Apr 12, 2010, 09:14 PM
#75
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Hey Bryan, was wondering did you notice any funky shifting from your SST in stop and go traffic (before actually getting to 0, around 5mph-ish, where it makes a clunky downshift to 1st? Would table tweaks possibly remedy that