Perth-WRX.com - Yeti sled

[QUOTE=Kremer930;823401]Ahh. Sorry. That is what happens when I only read the last 6 or so posts. Good to see its back on the track then.

That is some pretty serious rear suspension. How much difference do you think the arms and braces etc made, taking into account your comments about doing the parts that provide the greatest impact...?[/QUOTE]

The spherical bearings at all suspension joints, combined with all the upgraded mounts and such make a noticeable difference. The car is incredibly direct and very responsive. Steering input and road feedback is instantly felt. There isnt any slop in the driveline. So its very twitchy and any throttle input or engine decel is also instantly felt. You can really feel whats going on under you. NVH on the other hand is just plain retarded.

I probably wouldnt go ikeya arms again though, i think id go the cusco full set of laterals and trailing arms. (Or even look at other brands like hard race or tss fab etc) id still go for heim joints every where though, and stay away from poly bushings etc where possible. The feel is very crisp and direct with heim joints. Going the cusco/tss/hardrace instead of ikeya is a bit cheaper i think that way, and probs wouldnt notice the difference going from the ikeyas.

The ikeyas are really overkill as far as strength goes. And they are really very heavy due to the strong thick steel, beasty joints and over the top engineering. And also heavy because of the extra hardware used to adjust the roll centers at the hub knuckle end. Thats one good thing about them, is that they have a built in roll center modifier (the only product for the rear of a subaru apart from a aftermarket crossmember that ive ever seen do such a thing), and adjustable squat characteristics. But really, you probably dont need it. Going from SG9 rear crossmember to STi rear crossmember already modifies the rear roll centers on the forester platform. And going from SG9 to STi trailing arm mounts also changes trailing arm geometry on the forester platform. Plus if i needed more (which i dont unless i want to super slam it), then a better alternative would be a tssfab rear member, which has a optional set of holes to mount the arms to, to modify roll that way.

One thing with the ikeya rear arms that i didnt realise was beforehand, even though they are fully adjustable, you still need to keep the standard toe adjustmemts. But not to adjust toe, to adjust them so they dont bind up during suspension travel. Toe (and track) adjustments on the arms are handled by the turnbuckle link and the outer threaded main joint. But because the 2 sets of lateral arms are 'linked' together to form a solid control arm. The stock toe adjuster in the crossmember is really important so you match the arms to the trailing arms and center it so as to not cause binding at your chosen wheel base. I welded up my rear crossmember to delete the stock toe adjustments, then realised after that i kinda need them for the ikeyas. Any other adjustable set of arms, and you can delete the stock toe. But the ikeyas need it. But then, if i had it, i would run into problems with the GTspec T braces. They kinda hinder stock toe adjustments.

What i probably should have done is gone with a TSS or similar tubular crossmembers, instead of the stock STi parts plus all the multiple braces. It would be close enough price wise, but get the job done alot better. And it would be a neater end product. When you get under the car and look at it, there is lower arm bars and tie braces criss-crossing everwhere in an attempt to stiffen up the pressed sheet metal crossmembers. Tubular steel members are plenty rigid, and you dont need near as many extra braces. STi crossmbers are substantially more meaty than stock forester crossmembers. But tubular frames are stronger again. I thinl i would have been better going straight to the moat beefy availbable, rather than trying to stiffen up stock sti parts.