Invidia Exhaust install on a 09 WRX Sedan!

We don’t get many 09 WRX’s around, especially sedans. It was a treat when a good customer came in asking for the best exhaust for the car that didn’t have a drone or was loud. He also wanted to make sure that he didn’t want a melon shooter style canister. Enter the Invidia Q300 exhaust.

To tell you the truth, the stock exhaust is pretty sad. It’s an eye sore, heavy, and the piping is very narrow. We will change that.

We pulled the exhaust off. We unbolted this and it was quite easy.

Mufflers came off with no problem.

Big difference in the size of the muffler. You can see the Invidia muffler is smaller and it was lighter. The muffler tip was nice and rolled for great looks.

A high quality resonator is going to reduce the drone and the large diameter piping is going to help the flow. Horsepower please!

Even the piping to the mufflers are larger diameter that increases the flow.

You can notice the difference right away with the piping. The customer was super excited at this point.

Here’s the catback on the car. Looked amazing!

The mufflers are great looking but doesn’t draw too much bad attention. The exhaust sounded quiet but had the rumble.

 

We install the Harman Motorsports External Wastegate UpPipe

We have customers that are really good about ordering the best stuff for their Subarus. This customer has been getting all the right items on his 07 STi. He recently ordered the Harman Motive External Wastegate UpPipe to make sure that his boost levels are regulated when he’s “wide open”.

The Flange that connects to the External Wastegate is extremely high quality with superb welds.

No cheap stuff here. We suggested to our customer that he go with TurboSmart Hypergate 45mm External Wastegate. It’s an extremely great product and we run it on all of our demo vehicles!

Here’s Danny rotating the Hypergate 45 so that the dump tube can clear the firewall.

Here’s the band that holds the Hypergate 45 to the Harman Motive UpPipe.

Here’s Danny and his luxurious hair taking out the stock turbo and getting the Harman Motive UpPipe ready for install.

Here’s the stock UpPipe and the Harman Motive UpPipe side by side. You can tell by the quality flanges that this UpPipe is worth every penny.

Here’s the TurboSmart Hypergate45 and the Harman Motive UpPipe in it’s home. Fits NICELY.

Here’s the underside of the Harman Motive UpPipe witht he dump tube that is fed from the TurboSmart Hypergate 45. Overall this install was extremely easy for us and it fit nicely. If you want to purchase this UpPipe visit HERE and you can select to have the External Wastegate as well!

 

Behind the scenes of a clutch install at Apollo Performance

So, we’ve been doing a lot of clutch installs. Unfortunately, the clutch to a performance enthusiast is often forgotten as a “performance” part. Why? Well, maybe you can see it or hear it but you can most certainly feel it. It’s extremely important that the clutch is appropriate to your power output and we emphasize this to all of our customers that are seeking proper clutch / power combo.

Here’s Danny and Gino removing the necessary items on the customer’s car to get the transmission out and reach the clutch. This customer’s car was basically wearing pretty badly on the clutch because of his power output.

There are a lot of moving parts on Subarus especially with their AWD set up. So, the drive shaft, axles, and downpipe have to be removed. This is normal when doing clutch jobs.

With all those things removed we were able to separate the motor from the transmission. Here’s where the fun begins!

With our Tranny Jack, we have to lower it. Once it’s lowered we strap it down with the chains so we can have some clearance.

Here’s the customer’s old clutch still on the block. We’ll be removing this stock piece shortly.

The tranny was out and the flywheel was out as well. You can see how it’s a bit scotched.

Flywheel that has been properly resurfaced, disc, and pressure plate all placed in the proper spots. Of course, we highly recommend any of the Clutch Master’s products. Our customer brought his own clutch.

With the clutch in, we put everything back and the customer drives away happy. Remember, we highly recommend the clutch being broken in properly by driving it very conservatively for about 500 – 700 miles. If you want to contact us about our clutch specials and installs, please give us a call at (909) 997-3418! Thanks!

We install one of the nicest downpipes from Harman Motive

We recently signed up with Harman Motive and have become an official dealer of their products.

Recently we had a customer that wanted the best products for his 2007 STi and he wanted the products that won’t break apart, fail, or ruin the car. We suggested Harman Motive products for his STi. He ordered the Harman Motive Catted Down Pipe.

First thing we noticed was the super thick flanges that will be essential since the downpipe will be one of the hottest parts of the car. Additionally the bellmouth is essential for proper power and also preventing boost creep.

The 200 cell cat showed extreme quality. Our customer wanted to stay as street legal as possible.

Tyler began the install by removing the STi Top Mount and the recirculating valve among the brackets and lines so he had access to the downpipe.

The stock downpipe came out with ease.

Here’s the side by side view of the downpipes. You can see how big the piping is on the Harman Motive downpipe compared to stock.

Here’s the mouth area of the downpipes. You can see how the Harman Motive downpipe is wide open to allow all the exhaust gases out and also prevent boost creep by allow the internal gate flapper to open up at the right moment.

We slapped on the downpipe onto the turbo and it fit like a glove.

The cat back portion fit on perfect. The customer had an Invidia exhaust. Everything fit perfectly and we highly suggest this product to those who want the best! Check it out on our site and it also qualifies for FREE SHIPPING!

 

 

An aggressive fitment on a Bugeye and it works…

For you flushness fans, this Subaru is an example of a wheel / tire fitment with out stupid goofy stretched tires. Some of the “Flush” fans think you have to put a 195/30/18 (exaggeration folks… that tire size doesn’t exist so don’t ask) on a 18 x 9.5 tire which is, first not safe, and second looks just plain stupid. This customer that came in with these 18 x 9.5 Rotas had the right idea when it came to Tire / Wheel sizes.

His set up with a 255/35/18 tire with the 18×9.5 was a perfect fit and it gave the right amount of aggressiveness and stance that the customer wanted. The look was perfect. Of course, he was rolled and pulled for this so if you want a fitment like this, contact us and we’ll set you up!

Okay, this is a first… a really messed up clutch

We’ve stated this before and we’ll keep telling all of our customers this but if you drive your Subaru hard, you’ll have to change your clutch… often. Now, if you want your clutch to grab harder, hold more torque, perform better, and drive to its potential, upgrade your clutch.

A customer came in recently with a slipping clutch but he drove it to the point where it stopped grabbing. This is BAD. When your clutch begins to slip, that’s a tell tale sign that you need to change it. You can see a bit of “fuzz” on the plate. What is that?

No this is not a fur ball… this is part of the organic disc. It shredded it up and spat it out. You should NEVER do this to your Subaru. We love the fact that we are an official dealer for Clutch Masters and that their products are outstanding! So, if you are planning on upgrading your Subaru, get an upgraded clutch first otherwise you may end up shredding more than just your clutch and flywheel.

Good Reason why you should take advantage of our Timing Belt Deal

So a few weeks ago, we had a customer come in with a WRX that was over heated, CEL on, and car just not wanting to start. With all the symptoms pointing towards head gasket we took the motor out and took off the cam covers and saw this:

Basically, the timing belt looks like it was ravaged by a crazed badger. In turn, this caused everything else to fail including the water pump and the pulleys.

THIS doesn’t usually happen unless you drive for some time with a shredded timing belt which this customer did. See, he has racing gauges but didn’t see the warning signs and proceeded to drive.

The friction of the belt going against the pulley was so intense that it actually scorched the metal! So, what did we learn? Well, if your Subaru is approaching close to 100k and you haven’t changed your timing belt, DO SO! Also, if you drive your car very aggressively you need to get this done.

So, if you haven’t heard that we’ve been posting like nuts on our Facebook Fan Page about our Timing Belt Specials for Subarus, well we’ll get EVERYTHING you need including the water pump, pulleys, belt, and labor for only $850.00!!! We  will require a $200 deposit when making your appointment but this deal won’t last long! So Contact us at (909)997-3418 or email us at apolloperformance1@yahoo.com!

 

Random Pic: Another day in Subaru Paradise

This was our parking lot one day. FILLED with Subarus. This was NOT some random meet or we parked customers’ cars in the lot. These were customers coming in to get parts or get work. It was pretty satisfying.

What your stock clutch will look like if you drive your car hard

Lately, there are more and more customers coming in with clutch issues. We have been seeing a lot of different types of drivers. One driver, drives the car easily and has put on moderate miles on the clutch. Usually needing the clutch to be replaced at the normal rate. The other has low miles, car is beaten, and the clutch is toast. We here at Apollo Performanc want to make sure that we show you how important it is for proper clutch replacement and how it will help your performance in the near future!

This is the clutch and this is the overall picture. You can see how there are ‘hot spot’ (more like hot glob) marks all over. This is evidence that the customer drove the car extremely hard at prolonged time. The stock STi clutch can only take so much abuse. Customer also had an upgraded turbo and parts on his STi which means that the clutch was pushed well over the limits of the stock clutch.

Mind you that this is a 06 STi and the clutch should not look like this based on the mileage. This should be grooved enough where you can feel the bumps. This was smooth. Most people neglect the fact that a clutch is a must have for any high performance vehicle that is modified and once you start bumping up the power, if you don’ t have the proper method of transferring power, then you get what you see here. Also the wear should have been even. Not here.

The flywheel didn’t fair well either as there was further evidence that the car was driven unreasonably hard for being a stock clutch. There were scorch marks all over the flywheel which can cause warping of the flywheel rendering it unrepairable. At Apollo, all of our higher horsepower shop cars have upgraded Clutches from Clutch Masters, Exedy, and Spec Clutches and we can help you achieve the power you want, reliably!

In the end, the customer did NOT want to replace his clutch due to budget. Unwise but it is his car. In the end, it will save you money, headache, and time if you do replace your clutch before it gets too bad.

Visit our online store to see our selection of Clutch Masters kits at the lowest price available plus discounted installation!!!

http://shop.apolloperformanceonline.com/searchquick-submit.sc?keywords=Clutch+Masters

Godspeed Type RS Coilovers installation

Lately, our Godspeed Project products have been selling quite a bit with many happy customers. We recently had a customer purchase a set of Godspeed Project Type RS coilovers for his WRX.

Easily installed and fit perfected. Godspeed even compensated for the lowering issues.

Camberplates in the front with the dampening knobs on top. Very nice!

After we put on the wheels, we measure to make sure that all sides are the same.

Looks great! Customer said that it was very sporty while comfortable. Best bang for the buck when it comes to coilovers! When you purchase any Godspeed Coilovers receive a discounted installation at Apollo Performance!