State of the Ralliart Address
 

So, I have been doing a lot of research surrounding the Ralliart over the past several months. I have looked over the braking system, the transmission, and I have plans to buy a new engine as well.

Here is what I have discovered:

The transmission service (30k miles) is something that people should definitely be doing themselves. I will be doing mine over the weekend. The flush that the dealer does does not require any special tools or know-how. I did the service today. There are a total of 4 drain plugs on the bottom of the transmission. When you pull all of them, about 6 liters of fluid should come out. The refill plug is on top of the transmission next to the shifter cable (under the air-box). Just add the new fluid there (making sure to add in as much as came out). Make sure to tighten the plugs in the bottom before adding fluid to the top. Start the car after tightening everything back up and run through the gears twice. Then, you are good to go. It is pretty easy.

People need to beware of the issues associated with the Ultimate Racing fuel-pump kit for the Walboro 255. There have been many instances of problems that have gone unnoticed with this kit. It deletes the sump that allows the stock pump to supply fuel constantly to the fuel rail. Without this sump, it becomes VERY difficult to achieve a solid tune that carries over from 3rd into 4th gear. One gear will be dead nuts on and the next one might be lean at tip-in. If you use this kit, make sure that your tuner is aware of this issue or buy a larger pump (perhaps Aeromotive or D-works).

It appears that tephra is working on the TCU at COBB (or so I have been told). I plan to buy a TCU and have it sent off to be looked at, as well.

There has been significant progress made on the transmission over the past two weeks. There are a couple of things that need to be worked on in the future, but this should be a non-issue very soon (next couple of months). The solenoids, filter, clutches, seals, and fluid are all things which I have looked at, and a parts list is being generated as we speak for these things. The fluid and clutches are almost done. I have a set of Kevlar clutches going on sale soon that should make many people happy. They should be able to hold 500 hp and will cost a fraction of what the other clutches on the market cost.

The next step is the motor. It doesn't appear to be quite as strong as the Evo X variant. Stay tuned for that.

too tired tonight to comment on the other things, but I remember talking with Kozmic about this and he did say something was different/weaker in the RA 4b11t, but it was some component that really wasn't an issue - as in you should be building your block anyway before this part goes or causes problems. sorry I can't remember what the exact part was, too tired :p

I'm going to meet up with him tomorrow to solve a 2011 rom problem that's been going unnoticed for quite some time now, and I'll ask again

I've heard the crank is different. I dont usually believe everything I hear.

The crank appears to be different and the rod hardware looks like it is different, as well. Both of those things will need to be changed before really pushing this motor. There are different head-gaskets in the Evo X from what I hear, as well.

This thread interests me... :)

It would be nice to get actual real data of the internals being different instead of "I think they are different" though. :)

The only thing holding research back is the cost. The transmission has been the largest source of problems, thus far. That is being dealt with. I have a "Top Secret" fluid in my transmission now (which will be available soon). It shifts much more smoothly. The difference is astonishing.

There is actually a pretty elegant little test to determine what (if anything) is different. I just thought about that.

This makes me wonder what I could get for the RAD in my car and if it would be worth it to trade that for a BBX-lite.

kozmic sounded like he 100% knew from experience when they were swapping out the Ralliart block into an SSP Evo MR. feel free to ask him (I'll try to remember when I meet with him sometime this week to fix a 2011 related CEL)

I just can't remember what that part was though blegh

and I'm an advocate of Evo X turbo's (either stock or BBX-lite, any of them). Not a fan of the CBRD RAD really. and people over-estimate the cost you can do Evo X turbo's for imo. it really isn't that much, but the gains and mod flexibility after the swap are way more than any RA-specific bolt-on.

Yeah, I went ahead and lined up a new manifold and all the necessary parts. I will be contacting Chad about a new BBX-Lite within the next few days. I just dropped off the clutch-packs today, so hopefully everything will be done soon. I will mock-up the transmission cooler brackets tomorrow. That should take care of almost everything for the time being. I also need a new DP and HFC, I guess.

This also interests me...