| Hey guys,
I wanted to do a post about one of our current builds that I figured may be interesting and helpful to the community. This 2011 STI Limited came to us with some catastrophic engine failure (Rod through the top of the block) It was in bone stock form when we got it, but isn’t going to stay that way for long. This car is getting the full treatment! Everything is absolutely top notch with no real expense spared. We have already pulled the motor and sent the heads to be prepped for the cams and valve train…we will start assembling the block next week to get this build underway. THE PLAN: -TSM RR1 Built Short Block *CP Coated Pistons -TSM Street Heads -ARP Head Studs -TSM/AMS GTX35R Rotated Turbo Kit -Borla CBE I will post pictures of the build up as it happens for you guys, the car should be really strong when she is done! Here are some pictures of the car with the motor out, and just some of the parts that are going in her. |
Category: Subaru
Hey guys, we have been crazy slammed here at the shop so we have been trying to spend the late night hours working on this project. Here is the first test, I have one more I am working on I should have posted later this week. Also weather permitting we will be at the drag strip this saturday for some stock turbo quarter mile numbers.
Doug
This will be the first of many tests to come…
For this test we will installing and testing the new Invidia EL Race header, and uppipe. This is the latest Invidia design using larger primary runner diameters in an equal length package. It also has yet to be tested back to back so we figured this would be a good first test to share with the community.
In an attempt to make this an accurate comparison we wanted to be sure to maximize the potential of the car before and after the install, as well as do same day testing. For this test the TopSpeed 2011 sti was baselined with a full Invidia turbo back system using a catted downpipe. Once the baseline dyno tune was completed and the car mapped for the parts already installed we moved the car onto the lift for the header and uppipe install.
Prior to installing headers or uppipes we prefer to wrap them in heat wrap. From years of testing we have found that heat wrap plays a major role in subaru’s. It helps keep the IAT’s down, as well as increasing spool and power delivery. If you have the chance to wrap your headers and uppipe do it as there really isn’t a drawback in doing so.
Installing both the header and uppipe were straight forward and we give them a TopSpeed fitment of A++. Everything lined up perfectly… as expected since we chose to use all exhaust pieces from one manufacture and not mix match pieces. Included were all bolts and gaskets needed, we chose to run factory gasket on the heads instead of the supplied ones in the kit.
Now the part everyone wants to see…. the dyno graphs and data
Run#14 is with the header, uppipe, TBE and custom tune
Run#09 is just the TBE and custom tune
It is quite obvious that the header and uppipe allow the car to make more power from the above before and after dynograph. What isn’t so obvious is with the new header and uppipe the car actually made less boost for most of the dyno pull. This is because of many different factors. Mostly though it can be summed up that the header and uppipe have made the engine a more efficient air pump and the stock VF turbo is not able maintain the CFM required. Even still less boost doesn’t mean this is a bad header. Because now we are able to run more timing on pumpgas safely because of the drop of exhaust density and egt’s 
Here are the boost plots and timing plots from both runs so you can see the differences. Notice on the boost plot it is down about 1psi from 4k up, yet we am able to run 3deg more timing through most of the rpm range.
Boost Plot
Ignition Timing
At the end of the day we think this is an amazing header. Anything that allows the motor to breath better and make more SAFE power gets a TopSpeed thumbs up.
We will also do this test again when we upgrade the turbo as we expect the gains with that test to be even better.
We will be stocking these so if interested give us a call..
Thanks,
TopSpeed Motorsports
TopSpeed wins 2008 Redline Time Attack Unlimited AWD Championship
Atlanta, GA – October 6, 2008 – TopSpeed and driver Luke Russell clinched the 2008 Redline Time Attack Unlimited-class all wheel drive championship this past weekend at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virgina.
Russell drove the TopSpeed Subaru Brighton to a winning lap time of 1:58.5 beating the Crawford Subaru STI driven by Japanese time attack star Tarzan Yamada by a half-second.
The win extended TopSpeed’s season-dominating event Grand Champion total to four and was the third consecutive – an impressive task considering international and factory-backed competition participating in the series. The Grand Champion’s trophy is given to the team with the fastest lap time of all competitors at each event.
Russell and TopSpeed also clinched Grand Champion honors at St. Louis, Nashville and Summit Point, West Virginia.
After early season performance driver Russell was unsure of their chances for a championship, but he was proud of how the team pulled together to bring home the title.
“The crew at TopSpeed came back with a vengeance,” he said. “This is all due to their hard work. All I did was turn the wheel and push some pedals.”
Russell may be shy about his accomplishment, but car-owner Doug Wilks isn’t as modest about his driver.
“Luke has never let me down,” he said. “He has always held up his end of the deal when push comes to shove.”
Wilks is also quick to point out that it wouldn’t be possible to do without teamwork, including sponsor JRZ Suspension.
“Without Bryan from JRZ our car would not be nearly as quick as it was today,” Wilks said.
The TopSpeed team also had some help from their competitor at the event – Crawford Performance, who got them an air-oil separator.
“They made sure we had the right part,” Wilks said, “and it performed flawlessly.”
Despite the tough competition, teams often help each other when it comes down to it.
“Everyone is there to win, but at the end of the day we can all sit around a table and still drink a beer with friends,” Wilks said.
The TopSpeed team is looking to repeat their championship in 2009, but that may be tough without sponsorship.
“I know our car has a lot left in it,” Wilks said, “and I won’t really be happy until it’s done.”
TopSpeed is an Atlanta tuner specializing in tuning, turn key builds, chassis setup and parts sales.
Supporting sponsors of the TopSpeed Time Attack car are Brian Crower, GSC PowerDivision, Cobb Tuning, Whiteline, Urban8designs, Carbonetics, Traqmate and Nasioc.
-Doug Wilks
First off TopSpeed would like to thank all the companies that have supported us this season.
JRZ, Cobb Tuning, Whiteline, Brian Crower, Playmoreonline, and Urban8designs
Onto our weekend of many emotions.
Thursday started out pretty tough, after searching high and low for our tires
we usually run we kept getting the same answer.. “Sorry sir, those tires are on backorder”. Crap…. well after a long search we finally found a set in Knoxville, Tn. So I told the guy to hold them for me as I would be driving up first thing Friday morning.
So Friday morning I wake up at 5am and hop in my car, destination Knoxville, Tn. After driving 3 1/2hrs through some of the most amazing twisties and mountain roads I arrive at the Hoosier south distribution center. Spending a total of about 10mins there, to relieve the 3 redbulls, sign a few papers and load the car up with a fresh set of stickys I am back on my way to Atlanta. Back at the shop we mount the 4 new tires, and load up the rig.
At 8pm we leave TopSpeed and make the 4 1/2 hr drive to Nashville Super Speedway. Once we arrive at the track we are greeted by Todd, and Nick from redline. Chat with them for a few and then call it a night.
Saturday comes and we have the car ready to go but no driver.. Luke isn’t scheduled to arrive till later Saturday night. So while sitting around I get bored and decide to take the car out for a spin to check a few things. Saturday’s fast practice times are around 1.07′s to 1.10′s for all the teams.
Sunday, finally our driver has arrived, but not without issues. Luke’s flight that was supposed to arrive Saturday night was canceled. With his only option to fly out first thing Sunday morning he loaded up.
Luke finally got to see the track for the first time about 10am Sunday morning. In our third lap out in Luke’s first practice session we set FTD with a 1.05.6. Not bad for our first outing. After a few more practice laps we decide to sit and wait for the timed session to get one on the books. First session, we leave the car on our low boost mapping since we felt confident that we could secure the overall and then go for lap record on second session. The plan worked as we ran a 1.04.5 first session out securing the Overall.
Knowing the car had alot more in it we felt confident we could break the overall track record. So with the car set on our high boost map we headed out. On Luke’s first flying lap it happened, A 1.03.7 the new track record for any bodied car there even faster than the GT1 times. Second lap around looked to be an even faster lap, however on the back straight the clutch decided it had enough and gave out. Pulling the data from the second lap it looks like we should have run a low 03 or even possible a high 02.
This wraps up TopSpeed’s second Overall Grand Champion win and first Track Record. Not to mention back to back GC wins
We should have some wicked video up in a few days after the editing is done.
Summit Point and VIR here we come, hope to see everyone out there.
Doug
TopSpeed Wins Overall Champion
What an exciting weekend, we couldn’t be happier with the Overall Win. After months of preperation we have something to show for it.
The weekend started off running the entire Friday and Saturday practice without one single issue. With two days of testing in the bag we were feeling pretty confident, as we didn’t have one single issue. We were sitting 1st overall with a healthy margin.
So on Sunday with the Buschur Magnum out of the running due to an unfortunate wreck, we decided to take it easy for our first timed session on Sunday and just seal the overall win. Running a meek 20psi of boost we set the winning time of 1:04:6
We figured we would then push it on the final timed session to break the track record, and take home all the glory.
But as luck would have it right after the first timed session while I was checking tire pressures on pit lane the cars fuel surge tank somehow got a small pin hole leak causing a fire. The fire was quickly put out causing no damage other than a huge mess of powder to clean. With our spirits broke the search began to find a tig welder to fix our surge tank. With no welder to be found at track or within driving distance we settled for a temporary fix.
Or only option without a tig welder close by was to try and JB Weld the hole closed. With 4 hours to our last timed session we hoped we had enough time for it to dry.
With ten minutes to go we put her back together and fired her up. Great… it looks like its holding, so I load up our “KILL” map which bumps the boost from 20psi to 28psi giving us a huge jump in power.
Sitting on pit out it would seem again our luck ran out. The car started leaking fuel so we shut her down and called it a weekend, ending our attempt at breaking the track record.
All in all we had a great weekend and are very happy for the Overall Win but wish we had gotten our chance to break the track record. Oh well… there is always next year.
-TopSpeed Team
Well we fired Lucy up tonight for the first time since all of the new parts went on. She sounds amazing and revs like a crotch rocket now with the new intake. We can’t wait for tomorrow’s dyno session. Doug and the team have completely re-done the entire car’s intercooler setup, intake manifold, and build a custom one off turbo kit as well.
The car is making amazing power now. We put it on the dyno today and let our tuner Doug Wilks work his magic. After a couple of pulls at ONLY 20psi she made an amazing 520 whp! I think the graph will speak for itself.
Updated pictures and dyno graph.
Year: 2008
Make: Subaru
Model: STI
TopSpeed 08 STI “BabySeat to RaceTrack”
Starting with Subaru’s new GR chassis we at TopSpeed are going to dive into addressing the key performance additions needed for the new GR STI to make it the ultimate daily driver for our customers. Initial upgrades will be with suspension, wheels & tires, brakes and then finally power. All of these would need to work in perfect harmony if we want to obtain the “Ultimate Daily”. Many cars do one thing really well, but not only is ‘really well’ something we at TopSpeed won’t settle for, doing just one thing would never satisfy us. Instead we wanted to design and build this car to do everything perfectly.
Some initial goals include: 10 sec quarter mile, 500whp on pumpgas, Track ready and daily driven, and to put the icing on the cake the ability to strap the kids in the back and take the wife to dinner!
With our initial plan set, the parts breakdown looks like this:
Suspension
BC COILOVERS 8K/10K
WHITELINE SWAYS
WHITELINE BUSHING KIT
WHITELINE ROLL CENTER KIT
WHITELINE FRT BRACE
WHITELINE CAMBER KIT
Brakes
STOPTECH 355MM 6POT FRONT
STOPTECH 343MM 4POT REAR
PFC01 PADS
ENDLESS BRAKE FLUID
STAINLESS BRAIDED LINES
Wheels & Tires
ENKIE 18X10 +38
285/35/18 YOKO ADO7′S
Power
TOPSPEED SS1 SHORT BLOCK
GSC S2 CAMS
COSWORTH FMIC
TSI 4-1 HEADER
AMS GT35R TURBO KIT
DW 900CC INJ
COBB V2 AP
CRAWFORD AOS
TOPSPEED BOOST ACTIVATED CUTOUT
We decided that for the ’08 season we needed to come out swinging. With the custom headwork we have done and the customer GSC cams, the factory intake manifold was slowing us down. Things are very much in the development stages, but we wanted to fill you guys in.
We are very excited about building this manifold as we have yet to see one that we feel was built right or impressed us much.
FWIW we have 14inch runner length from valve to end of velocity stack, and a 5.2 liter plenum volume. The velocity stacks run a 7 degree taper to a final 2″ id runner size. Also, to allow the cylinders to pull an even amount of air, the opening of the velocity stacks sit about an inch away from the walls on all sides. Throttle body will be mounted where the A/C compressor used to sit and feed the middle of the plenum from the underside.
Enjoy some of the pictures as we start the fabrication.
Just wanted to fill you guys in. We have spent the last few weeks tearing Lucy down for some updates in preparation for 2008 domination! Not a whole lot has been done quite yet, but we wanted to post a few pictures. We have been very busy here trying to knock out customer’s cars first, the team is going to take some off over the holiday and work on the car. Our fabricator has most of the cage done, we are just waiting on the seats so he can mount them and put the diagonal and harness bar in the main hoop. That and some extra bracing here and there it should be done. We also mounted the new Enkei RPF1′s 18×10 +38 mm offset sitting on 285/35/18s
A few pics of the updates
Just wanted to update from the race this weekend. Speed Vision was at the track and decided to follow us around. We are not sure what may come out of all the press and interviews, but we had a good time with those guys. This is the first race that the car has really run in that the car was setup and ready to go. We placed 2nd overall which we are very happy with. Enjoy the pictures.
~TopSpeed Team
We got a new front bumper and sideskirts fitted. We still need to do some small tweaking to get it all aligned right and mount the front splitter. Then it’s off to the paint shop. I think we are going to paint the hood, front bumper, side skirts, and flares all red to match the rest of the car. Should look like a new car then.
Until then… enjoy the new pics.
Well we hit the track for the first time with Lucy, and let me tell you did we have fun. The car definitely needs some tweaking here and there, but overall we were extremely impressed. Here are just a few pictures from the event. Sorry we didn’t get more, but we had our hands fully trying to make adjustments and play around with the car.
Enjoy
We just got Lucy off the dyno for the second time… now @ 22psi, conservative timing and 11.8 afr’s. Still on 104oct unleaded, Doug is thinking there may be a boost leak so he is going to stop and check for leaks, then put her back on the dyno to finish it up.
Here is the final graph @22psi, and a couple more pictures after we rolled her out of the shop.
464hp 427tq @ 22psi
Well we got Lucy fired up, and put her straight on the dyno today!, after trying a few different turbine setups and swapping headers we was able to make three pulls, before the radiator sprung a leak so we had to stop. Oh well, guess that gives me a good excuse to put the PWR radiator I have here in her now. Doug was however able to tune the car at wastegate pressure @ 15psi. This run was made on 104oct 15psi. Doug was extremely happy with how much power the car is making so far. Tomorrow he will put her back on the dyno and tune it to 23psi. Hoping for high 400′s, maybe 5 (keeping fingers crossed).
Note the insane quick spool up for a GT35r, our customer turbo kit is hitting full boost by 4k. Not to shabby.
Here is a picture of the graph, and how she sits right now.
We have continued to work diligently trying to bring Lucy all together. Just figured we would put some more pictures of the progress up. The goal is to have her ready for track by spring so that we can start shakedown runs for the season.
Stay tuned, and enjoy the pictures.
We have just finished completely swapping over an 06 sti suspension, drivetrain, and front and rear crossmembers. Here are a few more pics for your viewing pleasure.
Just figured we would share some pictures of the fresh in house built cage! Enjoy!
We at TopSpeed have purchased a 96 brighton, for the sole purpose of building a true racecar to compete with. Our plans for the car are as follows: 2.5L RR1 TopSpeed race motor, STI 6sp, complete fuel system, AEM standalone, GT35r turbo, wicked JRZ suspension, custom wiring harness, custom intake manifold, custom intercooler setup, custom oil cooler, big brakes, STI hubs and suspension, Stack digital dash, full 12 point rollcage, 285/35/18 tires on 10″ wide wheels, racing seats, tranny and diff coolers, and few other things here and there. Plans my change some, over the coming months, but as of now these are our thoughts.
For now These pics are of the 2.5L motor, STI tranny, 22 gallon fuel cell, 06 sti roof spoiler, and R180 diff. As the car sits right now the car weights 1910lbs, We figure there is still about 450lbs to put into her with the turbo kit, plumbing, cage, and few other things here and there.
Follow our blog to watch as we turn a $300 car into a National Champion Time Attack Car!!
Here is a picture of Lucy the day we got her!
