Miles Hechtman, the lead tuner of FLI will be working at the Link Engine Management booth (#23516) at Sema this year. Sema is Nov. 3-6, 2009 at Las Vegas Convention Center. Come by to view new products, and feel free to ask questions about any new or old Link ECU products.
Recently Fine Line Imports took a trip to MSI / DMS North America located in Quebec Canada for suspension, chassis and brake system training. MSI / DMS has been designing top quality products and manufacturing them for more then 10 years. DMS started out with manufacturing high end suspension systems for gravel and tarmac rally. After a short time the knowledge they gained on the track allowed them to produce a wide range of coilover suspension systems for daily driving, weekend track day cars and full race cars. While DMS is a Australian based company, DMS North America is based out of Canada to better serve the United States and Canadian demanding market places. DMS North America is equipped with all the specialized equipment to fully re-valve and rebuild DMS coilovers from the ground up. This allows for faster turn around times. Fine Line Imports is now factory trained to service and maintain the basic needs of your DMS suspension in house at our Northern California facility.
Moore Sport Inc (MSI) is a sister company of DMS North America. MSI is a premier designer and manufacturer of top quality motor sports suspension, chassis, fuel and brake components for high end race cars to daily driven street cars. With the latest in 3d modeling, prototyping and machining MSI has the ability to take there concepts from start to finish quickly and with great precision. MSI is also the manufacturer of all DMS suspension mounts. Fine Line Imports is proud to offer the full line of MSI parts for your WRX, STI, FXT or Evolution.
DMS offers a wide range of top quality coilovers from there 40mm street version to there 60mm rally suspension. The DMS 40mm street coilover is there entry level suspension system. The DMS 40mm coilover uses a 40mm mono-tube design with an exceptionally large piston that has 30 adjustments for simultaneous control over rebound / compression characteristics. The dampener housing is made from chrome molybdenum for increased strength and reliability. The DMS 40mm also uses a double progressive spring for better ride quality and increased performance. Below are two shock dyno plots of the DMS 40mm suspension on full soft and hard settings verses a stock STI shock.
The DMS 50mm suspension comes in a wide variety of options based on the type of driving / racing you are doing. DMS offers the 50mm in 2,3,4 and 5 way adjustable versions with a wide selections of springs rates. The DMS 50mm 2 way adjustable coilover uses one of the industry’s largest 50mm inverted monotube pistons coupled with a chrome-moly strut housing. The 50mm 2 way coilover also offers fully independent adjustment of both compression and rebound. The 50mm 2 way coilover is a great entry level motor sports system that offers professional features at a great price.
The 50mm 3,4 and 5 way coilovers use the same 50mm inverted monotube that the 2 way system uses. The 3 way coilover uses a remote oil canister and a hard anodizing process to the shock body for increased corrosion resistance. The 50mm 3 way suspension offers independent adjustments of low speed compression, low speed rebound and high speed compression. The 50mm 4 way suspension adds another level of adjustment by offering a independent high speed rebound adjustment. While the 5 way adjustable suspension adds a high speed compression starting point adjustment. DMS recommends there 3,4 and 5 way adjustable coilovers for professional use only. Like all DMS coilovers they come with a wide variety of spring rate options.
DMS NA / MSI also happens to make one of the nicest if not the nicest front and rear camber plates available for a Subaru today. We have tested these camber plates on our shop cars, motorsports cars we are involved with and they have been proven to be extremely well built with long lasting characteristics. The motor sport version offers camber and caster adjustments. Made from 6061-T6 aluminum and using a high quality virtually noise free NMB bearings. These camber plates are the perfect addition to any coilover.
Recently DMS NA / MSI has released a street version of there popular front camber plates. The street version still uses the same high quality bearing found in there motor sports version. However, the street plates use a more traditional 2 piece design vs. the 4 piece motor sport camber plate design to keep the cost lower. These camber plates will add 3mm to the height of your car if used with the factory or non height adjustable struts.
MSI is also the manufacturer of a complete new rear sub frame for 2002-2007 WRX / STI. Out side of seam welding your car or adding a roll cage there is not one single mod that can firm up the rear of your car like the MSI rear subframe does. The MSI rear subframe comes in two forms, a TIG welded DOM steel street version and a TIG welded 4130 Chormolly steel race version. Both subframes come with multiple mounting points for the rear lateral links depending on how low your car is along with spherical bearings for the rear diff mount. This modification is only recommended for someone with a coilover suspension, as significant suspension tuning will be needed after installing the rear subframe.
MSI fuel rails come complete with Goodridge fittings and Goodridge 6000 stainless steel braided lines for excellent fitment. Made from 6061-T6 aluminum these fuel rails have been precisely engineered and tested to out flow all of there competitors. MSI fuel rails come complete with a distribution block, return block, stainless steel lines, swivel fittings and the fuel rails. The MSI fuel distribution block comes with the option of running a two fuel rail 8 injector system as well as the standard 4 injector system. Below is a graph showing injector duty cycle between the same car using the stock fuel rails and the MSI fuel rails. Notice the drop in IDC with the MSI fuel rails with the same boost curve.
These are just a few of the exciting new products Fine Line Imports has been factory trained on and will be stocking. Fine Line Imports can not thank Mark Moore of DMS North America / MSI enough for all his help in getting us factory trained and brought up to speed on all the latest products that DMS and MSI has to offer. If you have any questions regarding any DMS or MSI part please don’t hesitate to contact Fine Line Imports.
For the complete Article visit here.
Once again Team Up Two Mountains has proved that years of hard work, money and time eventually pays off. FLI wants to congratulate Jon and Tucker for there hard work and dedication. FLI is looking forward to the last race of 2009 (Seed 9 Rally) and the 2010 race season!
Here are Jon Burke’s words from the event:
Up Two Mountains Rally Team: Jon Burke and Tucker Heiner were pleased to finish all 8 stages of the 22nd Annual 2009 Prescott Rally! We finished 6th overall (out of 29 total competitors), and 2nd in the Open AWD class.
The finish was hard fought, as we had a big ‘off’ on stage 6, and a flat tire on stage 5, we were running out of spares, fast!
We actually lost very little time with the ‘off’ and were able to replace the front right control arm at service with NO road points! The flat, however, cost us several minutes on stage, and then we got stuck in the dust of a slower competitor and couldn’t get close enough to pass…that cost us 5-6 minutes and as you can see in the final overall results, that would have put us in the running for 2nd place overall (oh well, that’s rally!).
Learned quite a few lessons about self-control, the ‘mentality’ of racing, and keeping one’s cool…as well as learning to grow and pair and how to take corners at +75mph!
(Jon Burke and Tucker Heiner Come Flying out of a ‘Left 3′ on Stage 6 Ssaturday Morning. Photo by: Mustafa Samli)
Here’s the play-by-play that started late Friday afternoon went through Saturday afternoon:
Stage 1 – Drove like my grandma to get used to the car, the roads (BIG +200ft exposures!) and the brand new Lassa rally tires we’ve never used before.
Stage 2 - Picked up the pace a little bit, getting faster, more key experience.
Service 1 – Car and engine are running tip-top, but saw our times on Stage 1… time to pick up the pace!
Stage 3 and 4…put up top 3 stage times and drove very clean (See our youtube videos)
Day 2
Stage 5…got a little cocky on one turn and that’s how we lost a tire. See the video here: Prescott Rally Stage 5
Stage 6 – Stage 5 in reverse, with the lesson learned, we drove fast but smart, a
mislabeled turn at the end (was labeled a 5, should have been a 4) and a lot of spectators
(lesson #2 learned: ignore spectators!) snuck up on us and we went off pretty hard, but the car took the abuse and kept on going…we finished the last 1/2 mile and put up a decent time.
Service – Went 9 miles back on a de-beaded rim….NO damage to the Lassa rally tire (other than the de-bead), AND it also protected my TD rim….I LIKE these tires. Replaced control arm and re-set the car in 40 minutes with help from DirtyImpreza crew member, Zach Dickinson.
Stage 7 and 8…had some alignment issues because we borrowed a GC arm and forgot the washers, car still drove pretty good and we put up respectable times to finish 6th over all.
Next…we’re trying for a waiver to compete at Seed 9 Rally this December 4-5th, but the event is sanctioned by Rally American, and I don’t have 18 coefficient points required for all drivers in Open AWD turbo cars. If we can’t run Seed 9, this is our last event for 2009, and we’ll be making plans to run the full California Rally Series Championship in 2010!
Last…a big thanks to all our sponsors, Michel Hoche-Mong (HANS, Intercom and trailer), and Eli Gilbert (another HANS!).
UP2MTNS Rally Team is proud to be sponsored by:
Redline Synthetic Oil
L&E Fabrication
FEAL Suspension
Project Solo Gear
GrimmSpeed
To view Team Up Two Mountains Blog visit here.
FLI has been involved in Jon Burke’s 2004 Subaru WRX for many years. He started out in competing in FRX (Formula Rally Cross) events which is basically an auto-across on dirt. From his experience in co-driving rally events, attendence in rally schools and years of racing in FRX, Jon has completed his first Rally Event. FLI is very excited for Jon’s future and his passion for rally racing.
Here are Jon’s words from the event:
“Here are Driver Jon Burke and co-drive Tucker Heiner made their stage rally debut this past weekend at Gorman Ridge Rally, pars of the California Rally Series (CRS) and United States Rally Championship (USRC). (Photo above: Louie Minette)
Saddled up in an AWD Open Class 2004 Subaru WRX which was literally finished just days before the event, the detuned turbo engine was fitted with restrictor and tuned at Fine Line Imports; putting up 267wtq and 210whp was still a peppy and responsive car for the rookie team.
The weekend started on Friday with final adjustments to the suspension (raised 1.5” for Gorman’s notoriously rough roads) and several hours of recce. Jon had co-driven these roads at the 2008 Gorman Rally and was able to create accurate notes with Tucker who is new on the rally scene.
Saturday started leisurely with the driver’s meeting at 10:15am and our out time was just an hour away. Being new, we were lined up at the back of the pack; but Stage 1 was good to the new team…putting up a respectable 5:20 time, they passed one competitor and almost caught up to the next by the end of the stage….they were on their way!
Stages 2 was interrupted when a competitor rolled on a fast downhill section of Power Line Rd…everyone was safe, but most teams received the same bogie time. Stage 3 (same as Stage 1) was also good to the team, with a 19 second improvement.
The Rally Gods struck early in Stage 4 with a broken drive shaft which put the team out of contention for CRS points, but started a service crew frenzy to replace the drive shaft and keep competing under USRC ‘Super Rally’ rules. With key help from Aaron Ekinaka (founder, www.DirtyImpreza.com) and other DI volunteers, they were able to swap out the aftermarket drive shaft (whoops, don’t fix what ain’t broke!!) with the OEM one with time to spare to eat some Rally BBQ!
At this point, the race was on to just finish… a loose battery cable almost kept them from starting Stage 8 and small boulders took off their exhaust, but they were able to start Stage 9 with literally a minute to spare. They finished Stage 9 (same as stage 1 and 3) with a very fast 4:44….only 12 seconds slower than the stage record of 4:32 set by Keith Jackson and Marra Estep…showing that the rookie team has what it takes to be fast! (Photo: Zachary Dickinson)
The next obstacles were a faulty co-driver light and a flat tire on stage, but the Jon and Tucker prevailed and rolled across the finish at Stage 12!
We’d like to thank all of the help from individuals and sponsors who made this rally happen for us:
Ray and Donna Hocker and Mike and Paula Gibeault and all the volunteers for putting on such a fun event!
Lars Wolfe – for building us a great cage, and the tons of rally advice.
Michel Hoche-Mong – letting us borrow the intercom, car trailer, and HANS device…oh, and for scrutineering my cage, and passing us at tech! (and for tons of advice)
Miles, Ryan and Steve at Fine Line Imports (www.finelineimports.net) for building us a great engine with a great tune!
All the help we received from individuals at www.DirtyImpreza.com, www.RallyAnachy.com and www.SpecialStage.com
COBB Tuning (engine and interior parts)
GrimmSpeed (engine parts/porting/coating)
Redline Oil (all fluids)
L&E Fabrication (quick steering column)
Safe Drives (ALL our safety gear)
Metropolitan Motors (tire mounting/balancing)
Project Solo Gear (skid plate, which did its job!)
Jon and Tucker will be at Prescott Rally (http://www.prescottrally.com/ ) the first weekend in October, with the goal to finish each stage and take home some CRS points.”
Here is the video from Gorman Ridge Rally 2009:
Good luck at the next rally event Team Up Two Mountains!
Here is the link to Team Up Two Mountains blog.
Here is the link to an I-club Post.
Here is the link to the You Tube video.
Fine Line Imports is proud to release the FLI two piece rotor upgrade kit for any 2004-2009 STI (FLI Stage 2.5). This rotor kit has been perfected with many hours of hard work. In conjunction with WR racing we have designed and tested a heavy duty two piece rotor that can not only withstand your track day abuse but also your daily driving. This high quality 72 vane slotted Brembo race rotor is matted to a CNC machined light weight hat made from 7075-T6511 aluminum. Each rotor is a little more then 5lbs less then a stock rotor and total rotor diameter has increased by 3mm (1.5 on each side). The thickness has remained the same which allows them to be used with the factory Brembo caliper.
The only complicated part of using these rotors is that a modification needs to be made to the existing or new pads that will be used. On the set below we had the pads slightly cut on a waterjet in order to make enough clearance from the out side diameter of the pad in relation to the outside diameter of the rotor hat. FLI will offer any Ferodo, Hawk, OEM Brembo and Pagid pads already cut with the kit. If you want to use a certain brake pad that we do not offer, then send them in and FLI will have them cut for fitment.
Overall I am very happy with the way these have turned out. After performing the correct heat cycling bedding process, verification was made that there was is no clearance issues. Fitment is A+ and they are drilled for both 5×100 and 5×114.3 so one rotor works for everyone with a STI or Brembo brake take offs.
To visit the I-Club post visit here.
Rotor Highlights
1. High quality 72 vane Brembo race rotor. (Used on open wheeled race cars)
2. 7075 light weight and strong rotor hats for both 5×100 and 5×114.3
3. Weight reduction of a little over 5lb per corner.
4. Two piece design saves money when reordering rotors.
FLI is excited to offer this very high quality brake rotor/pad upgrade kit to the Subaru community for any STI car. If you have any questions please let me know.
This past weekend the Bay Area put on its 9th annual Mt. Hamilton/BAM meet at lake Stafford park located in Novato, California. This event is organized by the I-club moderator and all around good guy Daniel a.k.a Brucelee. This year the event turned out to be the largest one yet with over 300 cars in attendance. This year proved to be the best year with a car show showcasing some of the Bay Areas finest Subaru’s plus a great raffle with prizes ranging from oil changes to a built 2.5 liter Subaru engine.
This years sponsoring vendors showed up in force bringing some of their best street and race cars. Sponsors included Fine Line Imports (FLI), LIC motor sports, DB tuned, Speed Element, GST, EQ tuning and many others. Between the Vendors cars, the car show entries and the 300 Subaru’s in the multiple parking lots, this event was a Subaru lovers dream.
Fine Line Imports would like to thank all those were responsible for making this happen. This includes Daniel (Brucelee) , I-club, all of the awesome people who volunteered there time as cooks for the event and all of the Subaru enthusiasts who came out and made this even what it was. Without them this would not be possible.
Here are 3 of the cars FLI brought to the meet:
Here are some other pictures. All the above and below pictures are courtesy of Bad Bay Troy Racing. Thank you Troy for taking them!
FLI wants to also give a special thanks to all of our great customers that came to the event. We really appreciate your business and hanging out with you all! We look forward to our next FLI event together.
Recently a customer of ours asked us to help him compete in the 27th annual Hoopa hill climb in Hoopa California. For those not familiar with this small town it is a little over a hour east of Eureka California. Every year the town and tribal council of Hoopa allow the Redwood Sport Car Club (RSCC) to close down a section of paved road leading up one of the many wooded hills in the town for a weekend of hill climbing. This year Fine Line Imports was happy to help out one of our best customers in prepping and racing his 2005 STI for this event.
In preparation for the hill climb FLI fitted the car with a new Ron Davis radiator, Greddy oil cooler. Crawford air/oil separator and Aquamist HFS-6 kit. This is on top of the ATP GT30 and supporting mods already on the car. For a complete list of mods please check out this thread. With the new mods in place and a retune for the Aquamist it was time to head north.
Once race day rolled around and we arrived arrived at the hill I was surprised at the number of cars that showed up to attend. All told forty four cars were entered and they ranged from every day drivers to trailered track cars. Being this was our first time at this event and our customers first time racing up the hill I was hoping for a top three finish in our class. The course itself was a little more then 2.5 miles with a 13% average grade of wooded uphill switch backs. The road was very well paved and in good condition which was surprising.
Below are a few pictures of our customers STI and a few of the competition.
The first run up the hill turned out to be the fastest of the weekend for us at 2:25 which broke the SM class record for the hill buy about 2 seconds. Even with the radiator and oil cooler by the time the car to the top of the hill it was running hot but thanks to the Ron Davis radiator the temps quickly fell down to normal operating temps. Later on in the day as temps started to climb past 100 out we noticed a drop in the times of the STI but after having a great first day with no problems we were very much looking forward to the next day of racing.
The second day of the competition turned out to be hotter then the first. With temps reaching about 110 the best run we had was 2:27. We ran in the second run group of the day which started till the afternoon so we ran at the hottest point in the day. Coolant temps remained high all weekend but not hot enough to do any permanent damage. By the end of the second day out customer was 1st in his class with a record braking run and 7th over all.
Overall the entire event was really fun and a good time was had by all. The RSCC put on a great hill climb that I am sure we will be back to next year with our own cars. The town of Hoopa was very small and I would recommend to anyone looking to to this event next year book your hotel rooms early as they fill up fast. Make sure your cars cooling system is in good condition because it will be taxed over the course of the weekend.
FLI would like to thank our customer Brian for not only his patronage over the yeas but his good driving. Considering this was his first time driving in a hill climb, a new bracket record and 6th best overall for the weekend is not bad! We look forward to going out and racing with him more.
Here is a You Tube Video of the record breaking run.
For the complete results for Hoopa 2009 visit here.
For more info on Redwood Sports Car Club visit here.
FLI is proud to announce the long awaited release of the Link G4 Plug & Play ECU for any 04-07 US STI. The G4 is one of the most powerful ECU’s on the market and comes with a plug and play wire harness. This includes the Xtreme G4 ECU, Plug & Play wire harness and mounting bracket.
The Link G4 standard Plug & Play kit includes:
The Special Pre Order price is $2200, after the ECU is released the price will be $2450.
This customer’s 2004.5 Nissan 350Z has an APS twin turbo kit, high flow cat converters, 2.50 inch cat back exhaust and front/rear Stoptech large brake upgrades. Making 352 wtq and 352 whp in a very hot room, 95 degrees is quiet impressive!
With only 8 psi max boost (manual boost controller), this is a quiet, sleeper-street killer. Watch out next time a blue Z with red Stoptech brakes rolls up to you at a light!
Full Article soon to follow-
For more information, please email tuning@finelineimports.net
2004.5 Nissan 350Z coupe AT:
FLI custom AccessTuner mapping, dyno room temperature 95 degrees with 30% humidity. Mods: APS Twin Turbo kit, high flow cats and 2.5 inch cat back exhaust system. This was mapped on 91 Californian octane fuel.
For more information, please email tuning@finelineimports.net
2004.5 Infinity G35 coupe MT:
Cobb Stage 2 mapping with Injen CAI, dyno room temperature is 72 degrees with 42% humidity.
Test Info-
FLI Stage 2 custom mapping with Injen CAI, Greddy Cat back exhaust, dyno room temperature is 72 degrees with 42% humidity.
