Help me build the ultimate SVX.
 

The SVX I bought last Saturday fulfilled one goal that I had been dying to reach for 14 years.

I promised myself that I would not buy an SVX until I had enough money to mod and customized to exactly my specifications.

My thinking here was that I could buy a new car for 20k and still wish I had an svx - or I could save 20k buy an SVX - and spend the rest on modification.

My SVX account has been filling for 3 years - a recent upswing in business has finally allowed me to hit that goal

Money left for modifications after the purchase of this car? $15300.00

So help me out here. What would you do? I've already decided to run boost (ECU's Stage 3) As soon as its available.


My goal here is to maintain the feel of the car overall (No diets that include stripping of any features)

My main goal is horsepower - then handling - the rest is details.

What tranny and gear ratios do you feel are optimal (Manual please) - suspension components? I'd like to get the unsprung weight of the car a little lighter - Lightweight rims? What kind? Who makes the best after market rotors? What else would you do to the engine after the S/C is installed? How many horses do you feel can be squeezed out without seriously degrading engine reliability.

Does someone make a carbon fiber or fiberglass hood for these things that could allow a S/C with minimal modification?

I know I'm asking a lot - I'm really going to need a lot of help from the gurus on this site to make this car a true beast. I'm competent around cars - but this is an entirely new kind of project for me.

Thanks a lot for your help - I'll be posting pictures of my progress and I hope to finish the car inside of six months ( yeah right )

Patrick & SeViX.

I would go for braking first...then handling....then power.

- Jim

You rock...

I'd go with the ART rotors, stainless steel braided brake lines, and axxis premium pads in front, prbably ceramics in teh back..

Suspension I'd go with the Koni inserts, and if you can order them, the GC springs.

There are a lot of lightweight wheel options, rotas are a popular brand.. i'd try to find a look you like, and then find a lightweight wheel that is made with that look.

I believe Longassname was talking about doing a supercharger setup on a built engine as a "stage 4" which might sound like a winner for you. the only carbon fiber hoods i know of are on www.motorsportwarehouse.com has a scoop.. however i really don't know how much that would help, if at all.

The ECUTune Stage 3 would be a great option for reliable, safe power. In terms of drivetrain, go for the STI 6MT. With those mods alone, you car should be making close to 300 awd hp at the wheels.

In terms of brakes and suspension, go with drivemusicnow's recommendation - you won't be dissapointed.

Other than that, you'll need to upgrade your exhaust to a 3" single system (as you'll be using a S/C), and I'd go with either Magnaflow or Flow Master over Stebro.

Good luck!

-Chike

P.S. Do you plan on taking your car to the drag strip at all? It be nice to see some timeslips after your mods!!! :cool:

Yep - drag strip, I want to get into autocross also.

Thanks for the advise so far guys!

Patrick.

I agree. Too much Power with not enough braking and handling and things go BOOM!!

Anyway, read through the posts in this site to get an idea of what's available for what you want. (Power / Handling / Racing feel vs. Everyday drivability, etc.)

Dayle at MotorSport can be a big help with a lot of what's available:

http://store.yahoo.com/svx-motorsport-accessories/

Don't know about CF parts that aren't custom, but check this link here for custom body parts from a member of this forum:

http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/show...threadid=10908

&

http://www.x35performance.com/

As for Rims; LongAssName is running 18 X 8 with a 49MM offset, and says that 255/35 rubber fits with no rubbing. You're gonna have to check with him sooner or later anyway I would think, since he's working up the SuperCharger project now.

http://www.ecutune.com/subaru_svx.htm

Hope this gives you a start.

Jonathan

Re: Help me build the ultimate SVX.
 

That is such an awesome thing to be able to say. I wish i had money like that to MOD up my SVX. Congrats to you and i wish you luck in modding it up :)

If i had 15 grand to mod the SVX i would,(lots of theses ideas have already been said)

1.Get a Sti 6spd, r 180 rear end, and the hub that wold work with STi brakes. $6000

2.Ecu tune Stage 3 super charger hopefully 400 horse. $5000

3.Koni insets, and ground control springs, sway bars. $2000

4.CF hood, light weight rims, some nice looking light weight racing seats, and some light weight lexan glass replacement, and those really cool side skirts, the rest of the money. $2000

I realy wish i could do this. Or maybe wait untill the Stage 4 ecu tune(soem else mentioned) and get a built engine with more than 400 horse.

Dont let people talk you out doing this like they have before on this site, the SVX is a good car stock but easy can be made better, and almost no car would be better than this one.

With that money I'd do a significant departure from established mods. Here's what I dream of:

1. Bored/Stroked 3.5l H-6
2. 11:1 compression custom pistons w/Deves rings
3. Chrome-molly rods
4. Stage 2 cam regrind
5. Upgraded valvetrain including competition valves, HD dual valve springs, aluminum retainers, ss seats
6. High strength main studs, rod bolts, head studs
7. Light to moderate port/polish on the head
8. Copper head gaskets
9. STi 6-speed conversion
10. CAI
11. Custom exhaust, 2.5" off the headers and 3" cat-back.
12. 150 shot of nitrous
13. To control it all a Simple Digital Systems (SDS) EM4-6F. This means dumping the stock ecu/tcu and and having full controll of you entire engine map setup.


Of course I'd want to make it stop and handle well first but that's the easy part.

Oh yeah, it would need a kick-ass stereo and a custom paint job too.

Horsepower
If you stick with the EG33 motor, my guess is that 350 HP is the maximum amount of reliable power that can be extracted from the motor without rebuilding the bottom end and fixing up the cylinder head seals. If you do a complete rebuild, you could probably get 450 reliable HP via forced induction of some sort.

If you want a powerplant that can easily be modified and will have huge aftermarket, use the USDM STi motor. Its got to be at least 100 lbs lighter than the EG33, and with very little modification (larger turbo, better exhaust, careful tuning), can push 400 HP at the crank. Toss more money at it, and you could easily reach 500 HP at the crank. You'd need to get an aftermarket ECU. The Hydra ECU is the only option that I know of at the moment.


Drivetrain
Might as well go with the STi 6 speed tranny and driveline. Its probably about 150 lbs heavier than the 5-speed driveline, but it can handle more abuse. Should probably offset the weight savings by installing the STi motor, but the weight will be more evenly distributed from front to rear.


Handling
This really depends on what you want. Koni/GC is one option. Moderately stiffer springs with either stock struts or Koni strut inserts is another option. I'd recommend driving cars with both before you decide. Light weight wheels are abundant if you want to spend big $$$. If you are on a budget, Rota wheels are your answer. They have good offsets and rim widths.

I don't want to be a bubble-buster or discourage you from doing this in any way, but I sure hope the money you've saved up will be enough.

I am no expert on the subject of tuning but I will caution you about one thing: I don't know what year your car is or how many miles it has on it, but you will probably want to give the engine at least a partial rebuild if you're gonna be upping the power and driving it hard.

I wish you the best of luck and I can't wait to see what you come up with.

--Mike

I dunno about that.

I'd just go buy the pace car.

Having driven Alex's 6-speed SVX, I don't necessarily agree with this. The box was great and feels very nice. But it's just too many gears for the SVX.

With that kind of $$$...
 

Be the FIRST to get the Flatt-Racing exhaust! Check out their SVX parts. Dayle at MSW can get you that exhaust and some other stuff. That's definitely what I'd do. Check out K-Staff also.
-Nathan

Re: With that kind of $$$...
 

Good call! I've always wondered what that exhaust would sound like... :)

-Chike