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Tinton
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Post by Tinton »

jomotopia wrote:
lordhamster wrote:The Darned STI is such a great car, and they had to go and ruin it by factory ricing it. I would have bought one were it not for the damned wing.
you could always swap trunk lids for a wingless or WRX spoiler, or buy a wingless trunk and swap them back and forth when you want. the wing is at least functional, producing lots of rear downforce at highway speeds and above.
The wing IS functional, but not the entire wing. I have a friend with a WRX with a STI conversion on it, and he tracks it at Road Atlanta about once a month. He says that due to the angle of the top of the wing, the top doesn't give it downforce. Its the bottom that actually does, IIRC it has like a lip on the bottom. Really, that's all you'd need. Supposedly the rally version of the WRX STI has a different angle on the top of the wing and it gives insane downforce at higher speeds. But the stock wing on the STI doesn't need to be so huge, they just made it so so it'd stand out.
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Post by Leedeth »

IMHO, some cars just don't look complete without a wing.

For example:

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Eh? Eeeeeeeeeeh? :wink:
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Post by jomotopia »

Tinton wrote:
jomotopia wrote:
lordhamster wrote:The Darned STI is such a great car, and they had to go and ruin it by factory ricing it. I would have bought one were it not for the damned wing.
you could always swap trunk lids for a wingless or WRX spoiler, or buy a wingless trunk and swap them back and forth when you want. the wing is at least functional, producing lots of rear downforce at highway speeds and above.
The wing IS functional, but not the entire wing. I have a friend with a WRX with a STI conversion on it, and he tracks it at Road Atlanta about once a month. He says that due to the angle of the top of the wing, the top doesn't give it downforce. Its the bottom that actually does, IIRC it has like a lip on the bottom. Really, that's all you'd need. Supposedly the rally version of the WRX STI has a different angle on the top of the wing and it gives insane downforce at higher speeds. But the stock wing on the STI doesn't need to be so huge, they just made it so so it'd stand out.
i'm not so sure about that. the whole point of the roof vane spoiler that they added in 06 was to direct air straight to the top portion of the rear wing. i saw wind tunnel pics of it doing just that. why would they go to the trouble to engineer something to send more air to a location if that location didn't provide downforce?
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Post by Leedeth »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoiler_%28automotive%29

Sports cars are most commonly seen with front and rear spoilers. Even though these vehicles typically have a more rigid chassis and a stiffer suspension to aid in high speed maneuverability, a spoiler can still be beneficial. This is because many vehicles have a fairly steep downward angle going from the rear edge of the roof down to the trunk or tail of the car. At high speeds, air flowing across the roof tumbles over this edge, causing air flow separation. The flow of air becomes turbulent and a low-pressure zone is created, increasing drag and instability (see Bernoulli effect). Adding a rear spoiler makes the air "see" a longer, gentler slope from the roof to the spoiler, which helps to delay flow separation. This decreases drag, increases fuel economy, and helps keep the rear window clear.

Unless Wiki is wrong, there's your answer.

EDIT: Check this out as well, but I'm not sure how much of it applies to the spoilers used on cars. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoiler_%28aeronautics%29
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Post by Nychold »

I had a guy in a turbocharged 280 SX try to rev on me...in my little NA Scion. :roll: However, I can honestly now say that the HKS SSQV blow off valve sounds like dog doodie. :lol:
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Post by hai1206vn »

Nychold wrote:I had a guy in a turbocharged 280 SX try to rev on me...in my little NA Scion. :roll: However, I can honestly now say that the HKS SSQV blow off valve sounds like dog doodie. :lol:
what's a 280 SX???????
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Post by eaglecatcher »

hai1206vn wrote:
Nychold wrote:I had a guy in a turbocharged 280 SX try to rev on me...in my little NA Scion. :roll: However, I can honestly now say that the HKS SSQV blow off valve sounds like dog doodie. :lol:
what's a 280 SX???????
lol, really.

280Z maybe, or 240SX, but there was never a Nissan called a 280SX
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Post by Tinton »

BTW, I'll race you dude. Old Pontiac vs. New Pontiac. I'd get my ass beat thoroughly though....you have what, like 240 more hp than me? :roll: You also weigh about 1000 lbs more though. After my engine swap I might beat you.
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Post by Draklen »

Nychold wrote:I had a guy in a turbocharged 280 SX try to rev on me...in my little NA Scion. :roll: However, I can honestly now say that the HKS SSQV blow off valve sounds like dog doodie. :lol:
Don't 240's sound weak and whiny though?

I thought mine sounded pretty neat with the boxer rumble around it. But I changed it back to a BPV, when I finally found one, cuz I wanted my engine to run smoother and last longer. No Rich/lean situation.

Maybe I'll put it back on after I pay off my car and definately have enough moneys for a new car.
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Post by hai1206vn »

yea the stock 240 engine is rough and makes average power so when you sit there and rev it's really whiny. One with a turbo'd or a swap usually sounds a lot better.

i'm beginning to hate seeing wrx and sti on the street. not because the cars are annoying - they sound and look great, i can tell the subaru boxer sound from afar. but because many (not all) sti drivers i've seen seem to think their car's the fastest thing on earth. Sure it's fast as shit but none of them wants to admit the car's limitations.

btw i don't see anything wrong with the STi wing. Looks crazy but functional - that's what counts.
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Post by jomotopia »

hai1206vn wrote:but because many (not all) sti drivers i've seen seem to think their car's the fastest thing on earth. Sure it's fast as quit but none of them wants to admit the car's limitations.
unfortunately as WRXs and STis get older and cheaper, you get more and more "i live my life 1/4 mile at a time" teenage ricers driving them.

though i must confess, before i actually got my STi, i had an impression that it was faster than almost any car on the road that didn't cost at least twice as much. it's the media and video game hype. you really can smoke just about everything with an STi in Forza and Gran Tourismo. what i didn't understand is that a lot of the STis dominance comes from the AWD launch, which is abusive to the car. it's a quick car. 0 to 80 or 90 it freaking owns. but from a roll and at higher speeds there are lots of cars that can walk it. it's real strength is in the turns and on low traction surfaces, which don't exist in the vocabulary of street racers.
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Post by comingbackdown »

jomotopia wrote:
hai1206vn wrote:but because many (not all) sti drivers i've seen seem to think their car's the fastest thing on earth. Sure it's fast as quit but none of them wants to admit the car's limitations.
unfortunately as WRXs and STis get older and cheaper, you get more and more "i live my life 1/4 mile at a time" teenage ricers driving them.

though i must confess, before i actually got my STi, i had an impression that it was faster than almost any car on the road that didn't cost at least twice as much. it's the media and video game hype. you really can smoke just about everything with an STi in Forza and Gran Tourismo. what i didn't understand is that a lot of the STis dominance comes from the AWD launch, which is abusive to the car. it's a quick car. 0 to 80 or 90 it freaking owns. but from a roll and at higher speeds there are lots of cars that can walk it. it's real strength is in the turns and on low traction surfaces, which don't exist in the vocabulary of street racers.
So, basically... Track/Rally you'd spank the shit outta some people...
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Post by watkins »

comingbackdown wrote:So, basically... Track/Rally you'd spank the quit outta some people...
The entire point of the cars existance is a street legal rally machine.
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Post by hai1206vn »

jomotopia wrote:it's real strength is in the turns and on low traction surfaces
i see wrx understeer quite a bit during turns. But at corner exit it rules - no oversteer, traction goes to the right places
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Post by jomotopia »

yeah they understeer from the factory, as a "safety" measure for the general public. but sway bars go a long way to getting neutral handling. the axiom of slow in, fast out holds really well for these cars. get it in there, get it set, then just get back on the gas and go. lift-throttle oversteer is pretty common. scared the crap out of me the first time. :lol:
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