I had a thread earlier about my past cars and my current ride but i figured i'd put together a build thread on my latest 2012 Evo GSR.i bought a 2012 GSR on a whim after driving a rental a few days as my daily 2012 Rubicon Unlimited had the heads replaced under warranty. I few years ago while in school i had a 2007 wrx that i spent entirely way too much money on and realized a lot of the bushings and suspension parts actually made the car more uncomfortable to drive after all it wasn't a track car, in addition i just felt like it turned into a garage queen and i never was able to enjoy the money and time i spent on the car, the car was totalled out in 2010 and i've been away from the scene since then. I was driving a 2005 Grand Cherokee while finishing up residency. I'm finally done with school and residency and am finally settled down in a home and have some time to devote to a car i can really drive the crap out of and enjoy. My goals were to keep the build SIMPLE and RELIABLE, nothing crazy and nothing that was gonna cost more than about 6K, just improve on what was there from the factory and build a solid, fun and driveable car. This is not my daily so its nice that i can take my time on installs and not have the pressure of having to finish before i need the car again. So as of today everything is ordered and by the end of next week all the parts should be here and it's time to get the installs going. bought the car 3/6/2012 and currently has 1007 miles.

2007 WRX(totalled)






2005 Grand Cherokee(traded in)


2012 Rubicon Unlimited (Current daily) 2.5 lift and 34" tires



2012 Evo GSR, SSS and leather, a few days after i took delivery and already debadged

 

Factory Aero Kit(front air dam, aero side skirts, spoiler gurney, rear aprons, front brake air guides)






Painted the front emblem and added Yellow lamin-x fog overlays(MR left fog grill will get installed with the FMIC when the bumper comes off)


evolution x trunk badge


Redline goods black leather shift boot with light grey stitching, matches very well lighting was bad in the photo


35% Madico CharCOOL tint, thanks to matt at TNT tint in alexandria, VA. great guy and great work


Defi Racer White boost gauge 52mm, used the no drill writeup on the the forum, worked great. also got the Works Short Shifter, Works shifter console bushings, works underhood shifter bushings, and ams shifter gate bushings. installed pic of shifter in neutral, very very happy with the works short shift kit and all bushings, the shifts are much shorter and more precise, still a bit notchy when cold but hopefully get cleared up after the fluid replacement.

regular with no headlights on(full brightness)


Dimmed with headlights on


Got home today and opened up the wheels! thanks to Topspeed Autosports in Chicago for the super quick shipping and great price, not to mention one of the few vendors that had the SBC finish in stock






And the parts are piling up. Enkei RPF1 18x9.5 +15, Whiteline Rear Sway, Swift Sport Springs, ETS UICP, AEM Intake, Beatrush Engine Roll stopper, Beatrush driveshaft bushings, Amsoil MTG trans fluid, OEM filters.



Still waiting on the ETS FMIC, ETS HFC test pipe, ETS LICP, Perrin Catback, AMS Downpipe, Muteki Lugs, Hub Rings, Kumho XS 265/35/18 tires, TPMS Sensors.

So i had some free time today 4/28/2012 and i just broke 1k miles, 1007 to be exact, so i decided to change the trans fluid and do the first oil change. i used amsoil mtg for the trans and mobil 1 5w 30 for the engine oil and an OEM filter. got the car up on jack stands and drained the oils, here's shot of the trans drain plug. just used the write up on this forum, used jack stands at the factory points using the front jack point to get the entire front end up and the rear diff to get the rear up.


while i had the car up on stands i decided to do the beatrush engine roll stopper and beatrush driveshaft bushings. i forgot to take a picture of the driveshaft bushings but they are solid aluminum pieces, the roll stopper is super easy to get in 5 min max, the driveshaft bushings are kinda a pain, you def need a swivel and a razor blade as the stock rubber bushing are glued on and won't just push out




just took it for a drive and i can say the beatrush engine roll stopper adds ALOT of NVH to the cabin, at idle the entire car vibrates, in a good way though, at 4000 rpms it's pretty loud in the cabin, i don't have the exhaust on yet but the car feels like one piece now, hard to explain but as loud as it is it kinda fells good, i didn't have the rear diff bushings yet as they're on backorder from beatrush. this isn't my daily and i would not recommend this for a DD car, that being said i'm not sure if i'll keep this or go back to stock engine mount, i'll keep it until the build is done and fine tune and tweak from there. couldn't really tell if the driveshaft bushings did anything but then again they were installed along with the engine roll stopper


as for the trans it def feels smoother it doesn't grind going into 2nd or 3rd now, still get locked out when it's cold but overall it feels better.

 

So finally got around to doing the springs today, springs are swift sport 1 inch drop in the front 0.6 in the rear. seems like right after the install before settling the rears dropped about an inch and the front about 5/8 of an inch so we'll see how they settle out.
before:


after:


also got my tires in today, i was going to go with star specs or r-s3's but from the tests i've read you can't beat the all out dry traction of the kumho ecsta xs tires, since this isn't my daily wet traction isn't a concern as it will never see the rain. in all honesty i'll probably never see the limits of any of the above tires on the street. not to mention i got a killer deal on them $600 shipped for brand new kumho ecsta xs tires in 265 35 18, about 1100 any place online.


a couple more wheel teasers, got the tires mounted and lugs just came today, just need to get my fender roller from my friend and roll the fenders and get the wheels on and get an alignment. wheels look black in one of the pictures but they are 18x9.5 +15 SBC finish, lugs are Muteki SR48 neo chrome open ended




more parts came in today ETS 3.5" intercooler. Flat black UICP, Flat black LICP, ETS HFC Test pipe






Finally got around to rolling the fenders and getting the wheels on. waiting another week or so before i get the alignment but the front camber bolts are already flipped, no rubbing in the rear, very very slight rubbing in the front on full lock, i'm gonna take a heat gun to those spots after the alignment. the rear was slightly pulled.
rears




front












out to the grocery store for a test drive, so far so good

 

Looks like this is going to be a great build. Looking forward to seeing moar pics.

I want to see the SBC on WW..

 

can't wait to see moar!

 

Looks Good. Super jealous of those leather saets

 

looks great so far, can you pm me the info on the shift boot?

 

Sbc are nice

 

I like what you've done so far.

 

bump for amsoil trans fluid change, mobil 1 oil change with oem filter and crush washer, beatrush driveshaft bushings, beatrush engine roll stopper. see the end of post 2

 

Looks like a good build man. Your not too far from me, I'm in Clifton/ Centreville. I'm looking forward to seeing those SBC RPF1s on WW. I got the matte for mine.

 

i should have the tires and new tpms by wednesday and then i need to get them mounted, and roll my fenders, so it'll probably be another 2-3 weeks until they actually get on the car. i'll be sure to get proper photos once they go on!

 

I like the cars

 

Get a good set of coilovers. Takes the EVO experience to an entirely different level.

 

i'm not completely sold on going to coilovers, for now i'm going try the swift sports, like i said this is going to be a street car only, part of the reason i might take the beatrush motor mount as well, might be too much NVH, if i do go coilovers i'll be doing some ohlins, ast or kw v3's