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Thursday, April 23, 2015

Kartboy Shifter Stay Bushings


Continuing on with our little car journey, we install the Kartboy front and rear shifter stay bushings. Most cars are designed with comfort in mind as one of the highest priorities. Being a Subaru, this does not mean that aspect is overlooked. As a result of this, most cars, even sports cars, come with very soft rubber bushings all around. While the rubber bushings does indeed make the drive to the grocery store less tiring, it is inevitably one of those things most Subaru enthusiasts modify.

When it comes to the shifter bushing though, I think it's one of the lowest priority bushing upgrades needed for the STI. By installing these polyurethane bushings, you really tighten up the shifting feel, making each gear change more distinct. I bought the Kartboy short shifter, with the bushings together, and I'd say it was a fun installation, and a worthy mod. To be perfectly honest though, I think the short shifter is a more worthy investment in comparison.

By now, you probably already have the shifter bushings, and if you don't, I'd suggest getting a feel for it in someone else's WRX STI before you get it. What I'm saying is, it's not a must have. To each their own, right?

As for the quality, it's great. I can't say anything bad about it. It's what you would expect from Kartboy. It's a good product, though a good ten dollars off the listing price would be nicer.

For function? It does what it's set out to do. Limiting the "wiggles", the soft shifting, and the play between the gears. I don't even know how I rate products anymore, I should have that figured out. For the time being, I'll say this mod is a solid 9 out of 10.

What did you think about it when you installed it? I mean, it's no Turbo back exhaust. After I've installed the short shifter, I drove around with a smile on my face. After I've installed these bushings, I thought to myself, "Okay, I feel it."

Again, if you are on a budget, you can be getting other more important bushings first. Eventually, I think you'll want to change these anyway, just to get the "completeness" feels.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Importfest 2014 The Movie! Not really


This is just another Machine Zealots 'field trip'. A couple of months ago, we posted on the details of going to this car show. Not much to say in addition to what you see in the video. There was lots of loud music, people taking photographs, and beautiful cars.

One of the highlights to this show was getting some of the free gifts available. Another interesting bit was the test drive of the Scion FR-S. We lined up for a really long time to drive the car. 'Why not just test drive at a dealership' you ask? Well, I never had the time, nor the extreme eagerness to do so. I test drove the car because I was curious, but mainly for the gifts that were given to anyone who participated in the test drive. (It was worth it.)

The FR-S isn't bad to drive. However, I won't be selling my STI anytime soon for an FR-S though...