2013 Subaru Impreza WRX STI - Project Log

[UltArc]

Look forward to seeing the before and after with those mirrors! Side skirts look great, I had no idea that was coroplast. Just a thought, might it be more efficient to have that covered, adding a bottom portion?

[jedi_sol]

Originally Posted by UltArc

Look forward to seeing the before and after with those mirrors! Side skirts look great, I had no idea that was coroplast. Just a thought, might it be more efficient to have that covered, adding a bottom portion?

Thanks!

While researching side skirts I had the same idea as you until I came across this post by basjoos from 2008

I debated both approaches when I did my car, but figured the side skirts would help to keep the airflow travelling straight and parallel under the car, unaffected by the presence of any crosswinds, that could slant and redirect the airflows under the car, possibly increasing the drag. I'm containing the turbulence created by the wheels into a "pod" running down each side of the car with a straight, parallel airflow underneath the car in between the "pods". I recall discussing it with Aerohead on another site, who recommended the approach I took. Adding the side skirts made a noticable reduction in the dust trail kicked up by my car when driving on a dirt road.

[jedi_sol]

Cleaner installation of kill switch

Since I removed my power mirrors, I decided to install the kill switch in the power mirror control panel on the dashboard.

Before:


During:




Lol, Subaru borrowing from the Toyota parts bin





Lots of dremeling later






After:

[pgfpro]

Nice clean install.

[jedi_sol]

Thanks!

[jedi_sol]

Here is what I'm going for:

Originally Posted by basjoos

The wheels have been integrated into an airflow management system that splits the wind to either side of the front wheels, then keeps this divided flow moving smoothly down past the rear wheels where a wheel boat tail allows it to rejoin behind the car. This keeps the air moving linearly under the car with minimum turbulence and greatly reduces the amount of water spray, road salt, or dust kicked up behind my car.

Fiberglassing:




Next up: trimming, sanding, bondo

[jedi_sol]

I'm back from the dead! Made it out of "2nd" tax season alive! Probably going to put ecomodding the STi on the back burner for now. 100 mile daily commute has really racked up the miles so my manufacturer warranty (3 years/36K) is about to run out. The car has 35K miles, but still 8 months to go until i hit 3 years. I want to try to milk as much of the warranty as I can.

So it's back to taking the train to work. I'll only use the Sti for "around town" trips, which will decrease it's MPG significantly.

On a side note, took the Sti in to the dealership for Check Engine light...secondary air valve, has to do with lowering emissions on cold start up. I wonder if 30K miles of EOC-ing caused this? Perhaps constant EOC-ing does not allow the engine/cat to reach full operating temperature? So perhaps I overworked the "secondary air valve" system?

Luckily it's still covered under the warranty. Dealership gave me a Chrysler 200 for a loaner. I achieved 43mpg @70mph on the commute to work. The best I could muster up on the Sti was 35mpg @55mph. Are the Eco-Gods trying to tell me something ?!?

[wdb]

Originally Posted by jedi_sol

Dealership gave me a Chrysler 200 for a loaner. I achieved 43mpg @70mph on the commute to work. The best I could muster up on the Sti was 35mpg @55mph. Are the Eco-Gods trying to tell me something ?!?

Yes. Buy another car once the STi is paid off and keep the Subie as a fun-day car. I bought a Honda Fit, which saved me enough in fuel costs to pay for itself. I was doing the 100+ mile daily commute at the time, like you are now. Gas was more expensive then so that might affect the payback vector a bit. But Fits are fun, economical, reliable cars, and they hold their value too, so you'll have all that going for you.

[jedi_sol]

With a heavy heart, I've decided to retire the STi from Ecomodding. I'll still keep the car for "fun" weekend driving and drive it like how it was meant to be driven.

So for the next couple of weeks, i'll be "un-ecomodding" the car and transferring most of the mods onto the replacement car. I'll still keep the aero bits (underbelly tray, "tesla style" inner sides skirts, and rear diffuser) on because RACECAR. Plus, those mods are less noticeable to the naked eye. Then I'll give it a nice wash and fresh wax and then relegate it to "Garage Queen" status .

I hope Ecomodder has enjoyed its journey for the past 2.5 years. The car has pushed my limits in terms of custom fiberglass work in order to get that "Almost OEM" look. Big thanks to DARIN (MetroMPG) for the recognition!
http://ecomodder.com/forum/454501-post18.html

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Front paged.

I've seen a lot of negative comments in regular gearhead forums about ecomodders' cars looking like junk because of cardboard, coroplast and duct tape. (I'm guilty of that for sure, but I also don't really care what the car looks like.)

Mods like this can be held up as examples for people who want to have their nice-looking cake and save gas with it too.

Indeed “Having your cake and eating it too” has been my “motto” from the get go. I got a lot of strange looks from other WRX owners out there, but I know I can always count on Ecomodder to keep my spirits up. It was fun knowing I can blast down freeway onramps or carve up some canyon roads, then cruise home while achieving 35mpg. Unfortunately, those instances are few and far between. 99% of my time is commuting 100 miles a day in Los Angeles Traffic (yes, I did take the train for a while, but waking up everyday at 3:30am gets really old). At the end of 2015, I tallied up all of my gas receipts and I ended up averaging $250/month on gas. So 35mpg just wasn’t cutting it. Time to move into something smaller.

Some highlights of the STi’s Ecomodding Career:
Best Tank: 32.54 MPG (63% over EPA's 20 combined mpg)
Best Commute to Work (Los Angeles): 35 MPG (52% over EPA's HWY 23mpg)
Lifetime Fuel Economy: 28.4 MPG
Lifetime % over EPA (20 combined mpg) : 42% over EPA



Almost OEM Upper and Lower Grill Block


Rear-Diffuser


Custom Scangauge Mount




It’s final Ecomodding iteration



Replacement car, you may ask?
THE 1.0 Liter, 3 Cylinder darling of Ecomodder…..Boomyeah…


Will start a build thread soon for the Geo Metro
Thanks for reading!

[Daox]

The end to a great build. It will be missed.

Very much looking forward to what you do with the Metro though!