Topic: What to do to make STI swapped forester drive better

[Mason]

Title is itshay, I know.

I have always noticed that the forester isn't the easiest to drive, and this really hit home when I drove a hawk eye the other day. I noticed right away that my shifter bushings are completely gone. The other thing I noticed is that the engine and transmission in my car have a lot more play. I assume the engine mounts  are worn out on the forester and need replacement.  have some questions on what you guys reccommed on correcting this.

1) shifter bushings? Should I replace with metal bushings, or any other suggestions to fix the slip?

2)engine mounts? What's the best route? I would like stiffer than group n, but not as stiff as a solid mount. It would also be awesome to drop the engine down a bit. I have zero room to go any higher up.

3) is a pitch stop with it? .

4) any information on transmission mounts? They seem to be the most expensive part here, has anyone run and after market mount on here? Does it make a noticeable difference?

I have read a bit on all of it, but I would like first hand experience instead of companies pushing sales and track dude saying it's chill to run soils everything because racecar

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

I ran all the mounts (in my STi).

Shifter bushings will give you the most feedback in terms of immediate feel.
I wouldn't go stiffer than Group N Engine/Transmission mounts, the NVH is awful enough. But I'm old and grumpy.
Pitch stops look cool. I doubt they do anything. Mine was all for bling.

[jellynuts]

LDS beat me to it.  Pitch stop is not necessary.  I also have whiteline shifter bushings installed. 

I would absolutely recommend stiffer than Group N tranny mounts.  I have a beatrush and the NVH is amazing.  I'm older than LDS and super cool. 

I think anything would make a significant upgrade for old Forester bushings.  To ask if they've made any improvements on the STI...  I have no idea anymore.  I'd need to drive a stock GD to tell. 

[Mason]

Thanks for the feed back guys! I also just found out that great north performance has 90a poly transmission bushings, and shifter bushings. I believe that would be significantly stiffer than  OEM and not wear nearly as fast.

I wouldn't mind risking the NVH as it isn't a true daily driver and it can't really get worse than it is with the worn mounts. Biggest worry would be the chassis taking the stress instead of the mounts.

It's actually pretty difficult to drive in the condition it is in with the clutch (can't be OEM), light weight fly wheel And the sloppy bushing. 

[diamondedge]

I think anything would make a significant upgrade for old Forester bushings.  To ask if they've made any improvements on the STI...  I have no idea anymore.  I'd need to drive a stock GD to tell.

You are old. You drove mine at autocross.

+1 for GNP. Great service.

[DaDuke99]

Use your magical powers to turn it into a hawkeye 

[Mason]

Use your magical powers to turn it into a hawkeye 

Rally car driver thinks that the clutch is too heavy man.

[jellynuts]

Oh right. Yes, I completely forgot about GNP. If I could start over, I would try them out.

Now that I remember, I took the short shifter out after doing all the bushings. The throw was short enough on the oem shifter, and everything was tighter. Too tight with the short shifter. Also improved the left/right slop significantly.

Does your sti swap include the drivetrain?

[Mason]

Oh right. Yes, I completely forgot about GNP.

Does your sti swap include the drivetrain?

Their prices are more than reasonable compared to other brands.

Everything  that could was swapped from the blob eye Impreza. What was on the blob eye is a mystery for these kind of parts.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

For the left/right slop, that's not a bushing, that's an OEM joint, that tend to wear out. I had to replace mine, and if yours is from a blobeye, it's probably toast. I'll see if I can remember which one it is.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

#11
35046FE010

[jellynuts]

Yeah, I remember Adam being under your car for that.  Still, in my experience, the bushings helped for that left/right play, albeit, there still is some movement.  I thought I had documented it, but couldn't find it. 

Also,

LDS beat me to it.  Pitch stop is not necessary.  I also have whiteline shifter bushings installed. 

Kartboy, not Whiteline.  Man, I'm not good at this.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

I also had kartboy stuff installed. It predated GNP.

[Mason]

Also,

Kartboy, not Whiteline.  Man, I'm not good at this.

Its all good, you sold your hawk so long ago now. I wouldn't remember either.

I had kartboy in my bug eye WRX, and they were great. Honestly side to side slop isn't THAT bad. I assume the bushings would be enough to eliminate most of the slop. The hawk I drove had a one piece Titanium shifter without bushing apperantly, which had almost no play but was notchy and loud.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

He still owns his hawkeye!

[jellynuts]

Its all good, you sold your hawk so long ago now. I wouldn't remember either.

He still owns his hawkeye!

lol, I think he's joking...  I hope? 

The hawk I drove had a one piece Titanium shifter without bushing apperantly, which had almost no play but was notchy and loud.

Wait, WUT? Tell me more

[Mason]

Thats what the kid claimed. Can't vefiy anything past that other than it didn't feel like OEM or poly bushings. The only thing similar I can find on Google search is brass bushings

[Mason]

I dug this up online.
https://deltamotorworks.com/products/ultimate-u-joint-repl

Replaces the u-joint with solid ti. Looks interesting. I think I'll do front and rear bushings first and see how that goes. If it still doesn't feel good  I might look into this replacement

[jellynuts]

Whoa, that looks cool.  This is stirring up my memory, and I have the TIC for this part. 

[Mason]

I think I have got the list together:

Group n engine mounts
Group n trans mount
GNP trans bushing
GNP pitch stop
GNP front shifter bushing
GNP rear shifter bushing


Dollar for dollar this seems to be an alright set up to start with. Should be a night and day difference than the worn OEM parts, and there is still room to go stiffer if need be.

Might get around to this before tuning day. Probably a wise idea

[mojikita]

I may be way off on this, but is the difference in driving feel perhaps related to the steering rack, too?

I’m not sure what’s in your car, but the Forester and Impreza steering racks have different ratios.

After having my XT for a couple of years, I drove an Impreza and was surprised how much more positive it felt.

[Mason]

I may be way off on this, but is the difference in driving feel perhaps related to the steering rack, too?

I’m not sure what’s in your car, but the Forester and Impreza steering racks have different ratios.

After having my XT for a couple of years, I drove an Impreza and was surprised how much more positive it felt.

100 percent sure it doesn't have a forester rack in it. Pretty sure Its either a 2004 Impreza or 2004 STI rack (2.5ish turns to lock)
Handling is pretty good on the foz. Its mainly in the shifting that I notice the rocking and jerking

[Asstuna]

Front uni joint on the shifter