STiedVR4Guy's VR-4 Build Thread

Nice, you gonna have the exhaust on before automotion?

Sounds cool Preston!

Mike

Poly motor mounts are in and I have no complaints. Very nice improvement in my opinion.

overblown wrote:

Sounds good man. What do you have against your cruise control?

It doesn't work
Plus shortening the throttle cable is supposed to give a little more response from the go pedal.

Overboosting wrote:

Nice, you gonna have the exhaust on before automotion?

Unfortunately probably not, Talked with motorsport matt tonight and figured out a few things that need to be addressed.

These are:
-Steering rack needs to be replaced (the front one)
-Drivers side rear wheel bearing is shot needs to be replaced
-Drivers side front axle boot is torn open so there's been shit getting in there and needs to be replaced

So I figured the steering rack and some other things (rear Motor mount) are going to be a little more accessible with the exhaust out so I'm just going to wait on the exhaust and do it all at once.

Going to get an AC delete kit as well because mine doesn't work and I don't feel like trying to trouble shoot that 20 year old system from start to finish. Rather spend a $100 and have more money for go faster parts.

and here is the current exhaust in all its restrictiveness lol

Is that rack, the Axle boot and the rear wheel bearing going to be alright until after Automotion?

Blackout wrote:

Is that rack, the Axle boot and the rear wheel bearing going to be alright until after Automotion?

I think its been this way for a year or 2 now and I put the car through hell so I think it will be just fine lol. The steering rack just has a slow leak; wheel bearing is shot so I'm not going to be doing any racing or anything just drive it; and finally the axle boot is torn but there is still grease in there matt just said it will probably start ticking soon so I should get a new one.

On order:

AC Delete kit
Braided clutch line
New steering rack
New rear hub
Strut top mounts
Front axle

Hopefully this will put the car in good mechanical condition. Next I hope to be able to check out the engine make sure nothing is wearing out. Good compression etc. Hoping the turbos are alright.

Valve stem seals are shot I think (smokes after idle then takeoff) soooo from what Tye explained the cam's and everything associated with the heads has to come off.... What better time to do a high rev kit along with other seals that are older than dust?

I'll keep thread updated with progress.

So I got some work done on the car Friday. Not everything I planned but thats never how it goes....

So first off: Stuffss



First project, replace rear wheel bearing because its completely shot and vibrates like crazy.



Inside housing: I was told I would likely need a hub puller for this, luckily my dad happened to have 5 different versions of a hub puller of varying size and shape... Why? idk.



Ended up getting the hub out after some nervous hammering. On the left is what it is supposed to look like, and the right is the completely fucked one.



This is a close up of the outer bearing that is supposed to be pressed onto the axle shaft



The outer bearing had actually worn down the part where it is pressed on and came off when we hammered it out of the trailing arm housing. The part that had my dad worried was the housing. On this car the trailing arm and rear hub housing is one big piece and there is an inner bearing that is pressed into it. If that piece was messed up (luckily it wasn't) I would have to get the inner bearing and get it pressed in there or a whole new trailing arm which is $450 for one of these. Luckily... none of that happened.

Ended up calling a shop before hand to see if there was some trick to getting the axle out other than just using a steel hammer and beating the shit out of it. Nope...

Anndd... finally in the car.


No issues there.

Next was lowering springs and new OEM struts.
I didn't remember to take many pictures of this. Here's one... little bit of difference.



This went quite smoothly, we had a little hiccup after noticing we didnt mark the alignment on the drivers side front strut but found a little indicator on it and matched it up. I'm not going to do an actual alignment until I have absolutely everything done that I want to do because it will most likely just get screwed up with something else.

Ended up getting all 4 on and the car looks much better. Not a massive drop or anything but eliminated most of the massive wheel gap that is present on these.

Edit: also forgot to add. The tophats for the struts on the front have a small bearing in them allowing for steering. One of the was shitty and I couldn't even turn the other one with my finger... I think the suspension has never been replaced on this for its whole 160k life.

more updates to come hopefully

My that is a trunk full of goodies. Pics of the drop?

Tusk wrote:

My that is a trunk full of goodies. Pics of the drop?

Not yet... I didn't really think about it at the time. I'll take some later today.

just keep in mind it takes a few weeks for the springs to settle completely unless you bought them used

What actually makes them "settle"? I made sure they were curved into their notches and everything was lined up perfectly before bolting them into the car (would be dumb not to). I don't think they would actually bend further down because that would be dangerous for the shock. If all that is meant by settling is driving the car and giving the springs a workout to get them to seat properly I drove the crap out of it plenty. I don't think they are going down any further lol

If they are new they should "settle" more. From what I hear and read springs will loosen up and come down more. Stiff and hard at first and soft and droopy after. Maybe a whiteline Roll center kit? Always cheap insurance when just using springs.

Great build so far. I love these cars and you have a great example.

GGevoX wrote:

If they are new they should "settle" more. From what I hear and read springs will loosen up and come down more. Stiff and hard at first and soft and droopy after. Maybe a whiteline Roll center kit? Always cheap insurance when just using springs.

That would be stupid though if they aren't MORE stiff than normal they are going to travel more which you DON'T want because it will wreck the strut. They should just stay stiff all of the time. They need to as they are already lower than stock giving them less leeway.

GGevoX wrote:

Great build so far. I love these cars and you have a great example.

Thanks Trying to get it back to its former glory. Foundation first power last.

I wanna see this! Pics or it didn't happen

Looking good Preston keep up the good work.

Keep up on the pictures.
I love vr4s and want to see this build come through.
Good work presto!

Just curious as to why getting rid of the AWS thought that helps handling.......

brngrhd wrote:

Just curious as to why getting rid of the AWS thought that helps handling.......

The main reason is weight. I am not SET on it yet but it's just another weak point that can break and cause me more issues. I am going to do a little asking around for opinions on what people think that have done it. Its 30 lbs off the car and less things to go wrong.

Also the kit that deletes it comes with adjustable control arms which I need anyways to correct the camber (I think its camber?) from lowering springs so might as well.

Once I get all the diff's I want I think it will handle like my STi if not better, and that car was EASY to drive.

The AWS delete looks much cleaner and would probably make it easier to work on.

Im not sure how much it really helps handling on a small track. It only engages above 31mph.

Update:

Did the AC delete on my car Saturday.

Radiator removed


AC compressor and OE belt setup

Compressor off the car

Modified tension-er bracket with new pulley installed

Installed on car

Removed stuffs


Everything went rather smoothly until we got to the belt. The one that was sent to me was to short and wouldn't work. We tried removing the 2 pulley's that just make things loop around other things and the belt would have been rubbing on a bracket (no good).

2nd idea was to try and put that pulley back on to go around but then the belt was to short with the tensioner using all of the modified bracket although it was VERY close.

We guestimated that we needed a belt 2-3 inches shorter and it would work just fine. Went to town got one and it did.

Also removed the charcoal canister as it's just for emissions.

Total removed weight = roughly 40 lbs

Afterwards I drove into town went to see a movie car was fine. Drove all the way through downtown and then left stevens point headed for madison. Got 70 miles everything seemed normal. Stopped at a rest stop and noticed that there was steam coming from my hood.... Checked the temp gauge, looked fine. Ok checked under the hood and there was coolant blown everywhere. Both overflow tank and the filler cap were on securely. Checked all the hoses couldn't really fine anywhere it could be coming from.

HMMMM. I was worried but it was still running normal temp, coolant levels were fine, so I just decided I would try to limp it back to SP as I was only about 20 miles out.

No go, got about 10 miles away from the rest stop and saw the temp gauge start to climb. pulled over and called a flatbed. Got it towed back to my appt and put in the garage.

Looking at it after getting it back off the tow truck, the driver pointed out. Your fan is unplugged..... WHOOPS.

I think I caught it in time, I can't see anything else I forgot to connect sooo I think I can just refill with coolant and make sure to "burp" it and get all the air out. Overflow reservoir is full up to the top (which it wasn't) so I'm pretty sure there is air in the system.

I didn't hear anything from it but I hope I didn't fuck up the water pump :/ Although the 180K service is coming up here so it will get replaced soon anyways. I don't think I did any damage.

to be continued...

Sooo got all of my radiator issues worked out. Here is the new one...


A little ghettoness on the mounting at the moment but I'm working on that.

Got a few things done over the weekend.

-Replaced front ball joints
-Replaced worn out suspension bushings with polyurethane
-Installed rear adjustable control arms to correct the camber created by lowering the car


Next up, alignment, tires, all wheel steering delete, various other suspension bushings.
After those are completed I will probably move on to the brakes which will entail stainless steel braided brake lines (hard lines will remain in place), rotors and pads

nice, what brand is the radiator? I like the zip tie haha

Mishimoto, it was cheap and I needed something quick

I ended up not using some of the bushings that came in my kit to set in the holes it sits in on the bottom so its not metal on metal. It can't really move the way I have it right now.

Going to have someone take a look at the stock brackets and see if the can modify them to fit.

oh, nice. Mishimoto is really not bad at all for the price.

So did a little more work on my car this Sunday.

Got the front stainless steel brake lines installed and new rotors. Now some of you may recall I have warped several sets of rotors on this car... So recently it came to mind the little plastic rings that came with the aftermarket wheels on my STi (known as hub centric rings).

So after someone bringing it up on another forum I realized I don't have those on my VR-4 wheels.... Fuck.

So I went over to discount tire and ask them about it, they have the exact ones I need in stock. If this fixes the problem I will have wasted so much money diagnosing this problem when the issue was a set of $15 plastic rings. God damn it.

anyways.... Brakes feel much stronger