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.
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...
As we had mentioned in some of our earlier posts, the Golf GTI is sharing a much larger portion of screen time in this season. This was one of our biggest mods on the GTI, and it actually took longer to install than we had originally expected. Not because it was difficult, but because we ran into some "technical difficulties".
Well, not really technical difficulties, it's just that we broke a hack saw in the process. [Pause for effect] If you feel that cutting some intake piping is a bit intimidating, don't worry. Honestly, pretty much any cutting tool with some teeth will eat right through the intake piping. Though I would suggest cutting tools rated for metal cutting, unless you don't mind shortening the lifespan of your blade. I think power tools are the way to go though, but at the time, we couldn't afford any. This is what it means to be modding in your own garage, taking whatever you have and making it work!
As far as a bolt-on goes, this was a pretty straightforward installation. If you are going to be doing this as a first time thing, then expect to spend two to three hours on it. If you are a veteran, it would probably take you thirty minutes or so. Again, we took longer because of our broken saw, and also because we had to film each step.
We would like to thank our sponsor, Apex Performance, for their help on this episode. Modding can get expensive, but we can work on our cars a lot more often with their help. Be sure to check them out, let them know Machine Zealots sent you, and I'm sure they would take care of you!
The Kartboy Short Throw Shifter is probably one of the most popular short throw shifters out on the Subaru market today. I've heard tons of good reviews on this shifter when I was researching, and though many other brands had just as many good reviews, the Kartboy shifter seemed like a no brainer.
Needless to say, I am giving this shifter a five star review. The build quality is solid, and in some ways, it feels even more solid than the stock unit. The installation itself, as you can see in the video, isn't too daunting of a task. However, there are some little things we learned on the way to make the install even easier.
In one part of the video, we came up with an easy solution for re-installing the reverse spring pin. By using a paper clip, we bypassed one of the toughest steps in the installation. Try not using the paper clip, or equivalence, and see what I mean.
The only thing that could be a potential issue would be the reverse check cable under the car. Some people have had their cable utterly chewed up because of the spinning drive shaft. The solution to that problem is shown in this video, though it is referring to another video on the actual instructions on how to bypass it. If you are smart, you can do it just looking at this video.
The video it's referring to will be a future episode, relative to this one. However, once that video has been uploaded, viewers of this video will have the luxury of moving straight to that video.
I would say the difficulty of the installation is a 3/5. With the help of a partner, it becomes even easier. Installation time should be around an hour to three hours, depending on your skill level. Having the tools listed in this video will help the process as well. We know that people in the past have used substitute tools to do some of the tasks, but it's up to each person.
Again, overall super satisfied with this mod, and would recommend anyone who has a stick shift Subaru to pick one up. I'd say, a short throw shifter and a cat-back exhaust are the bare minimum modifications you must have on any WRX or STI.
This is the third official episode to air for Season 4. We mentioned this car show back in the summer of 2014, the 5th Annual Ironmen Show & Shine. We had the opportunity of volunteering as the primary photographers at the show, so we also took the time to plan a video for this event.
While both Puyang and I are usually around the tuner scene, we did enjoy some of these American classics featured in the video. What was most amazing to me was how these men and women are so attached to their cars. They made every chrome piece as shiny as possible, and the conditions of the cars are just spectacular. Truly living up to the name of "Show & Shine".
Now I'm inspired to give my car a nice good detailing.
Since admission to the car show is free, perhaps one day our cars may join in the fun too. Just saying.
(Oh, in case anyone asks about the firetruck at the beginning of the episode: No one was hurt during the making of the video. It was a live demonstration of how local fire fighters would save a life from a devastating car crash! Thank God for men like these!)
