Update: This thread is cross-posted to the following forums/threads:
Project Introduction, June 2009: Paul is an old college buddy, good friend of mine who happens to be a long time autocrosser and now a NASA Time Trial competitor here in Dallas, TX. After stints in old Pontiacs, then autocrossing in modern BMWs, he's become an AWD Turbo Subaru fanatic. He has owned and raced both a 2005 STi and a 2008 STI, in SCCA's STU class. He's also tracked the '08 STI in NASA TTB:
This '08 was well setup on AST 4200s, Vorshlag camber plates, custom swaybars, 18x9.5" wheels and sticky ST rubber (and R88s for track use). There's also a racing seat, COBB bits and pieces, even a custom after-cat exhaust I built. After a few "warranty issues" on the '08, with a little encouragement Paul decided to build a more serious autocross and track effort with a more dedicated and "replaceable" race car. By that I man an inexpensive Subaru chassis that is somewhat "disposable", so he's not running a $35-40K, nearly new, daily driven street car on track. It only takes one incident to really ruin your day.
The "gem" of a Subaru he bought, with the parts piling up
So after literally minutes of looking at other Subaru track car projects and autocross build-ups, he decided on a class to build around: SCCA Street Modified (I'll call it "SMod" here for short). This generous ruleset allows him to do all of the update/backdate swapping necessary to run the latest/greatest Subaru STi drivetrain (300+ hp 2.5L intercooled turbo and 6-spd AWD transaxle) in the cheapest/lightest/most disposable Impreza chassis. He picked up a 1995 Impreza L "stripper" with manual windows, teal green paint, FWD and automatic drivetrain from local hot shoe autocrosser/drag racer/Bonneville top speed addict Brianne Corn. This car is a real "diamond in the rough" (emphasis on rough), and here's what it looked like starting this weekend in August 2009:
Starting weight of 2440 pounds is pretty good! The STI starts closer to 3200 in stock form
He had also picked up the transaxle, rear subframe/axle, fuel tank, brake/fuel lines, dash, interior and pretty much everything from a 2007 STI from another local racer who had totaled their car. He still needs to source the motor but he has a hot lead on a 2004 STI motor and turbo. The entire STI drivetrain is going into the old FWD Impreza chassis with a custom harness that allows for full DCCD diff control, like the late model cars have. Its going to have the late model dash as well, which should look pretty slick.
The 6-spd transaxle and various other drivetrain parts are from a donor 2007 STI; the 2.5L motor is from an '04 STi
The car sat for a several weeks (with parts piling up on the roof!) so I dragged my 4 corner scales by Paul's home garage to force him to remove the 100+ pounds of trash and dead bodies from the interior "to get a starting weight" on the car, and hopefully kick-off his build project. That worked.
Somehow I got drafted into re-wiring his garage!? More lights, plus 220V and 110V outlets were added
While I was there I noticed that his giant air compressor I helped him pick out almost a year earlier was still sitting, unused and un-powered. He still had no 220V circuits and outlet in his garage, and had almost no lighting or usable 110V outlets... typical track home with one outlet and one 60W bulb, but luckily it was a 3 car garage (the reason he bought this house), and as a bachelor he could do with it as he saw fit. In its current state he couldn't get any work done in there - in the dark without power or compressed air. One thing leads to another and we ended up spending the entire weekend adding lots of 110V and 220V outlets and fluorescent lights to his garage, moving all sorts of junk out of there, re-arranging the car, and more. It was hotter than hell outside (101°F) and even hotter in his attic, but at least now he can run his compressor, plug in some power tools, and have enough light to work (3 x 8' fluorescent lights).
Paul's Project Pictures from this buildup are located here: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Projects...aru-Impreza-L/
More soon!
- http://forums.corner-carvers.com/showthread.php?t=44367
- http://www.sccaforums.com/forums/aft/42737
- http://igotasti.com/vBforum/showthre...od-Track-build
Project Introduction, June 2009: Paul is an old college buddy, good friend of mine who happens to be a long time autocrosser and now a NASA Time Trial competitor here in Dallas, TX. After stints in old Pontiacs, then autocrossing in modern BMWs, he's become an AWD Turbo Subaru fanatic. He has owned and raced both a 2005 STi and a 2008 STI, in SCCA's STU class. He's also tracked the '08 STI in NASA TTB:
This '08 was well setup on AST 4200s, Vorshlag camber plates, custom swaybars, 18x9.5" wheels and sticky ST rubber (and R88s for track use). There's also a racing seat, COBB bits and pieces, even a custom after-cat exhaust I built. After a few "warranty issues" on the '08, with a little encouragement Paul decided to build a more serious autocross and track effort with a more dedicated and "replaceable" race car. By that I man an inexpensive Subaru chassis that is somewhat "disposable", so he's not running a $35-40K, nearly new, daily driven street car on track. It only takes one incident to really ruin your day.
The "gem" of a Subaru he bought, with the parts piling up
So after literally minutes of looking at other Subaru track car projects and autocross build-ups, he decided on a class to build around: SCCA Street Modified (I'll call it "SMod" here for short). This generous ruleset allows him to do all of the update/backdate swapping necessary to run the latest/greatest Subaru STi drivetrain (300+ hp 2.5L intercooled turbo and 6-spd AWD transaxle) in the cheapest/lightest/most disposable Impreza chassis. He picked up a 1995 Impreza L "stripper" with manual windows, teal green paint, FWD and automatic drivetrain from local hot shoe autocrosser/drag racer/Bonneville top speed addict Brianne Corn. This car is a real "diamond in the rough" (emphasis on rough), and here's what it looked like starting this weekend in August 2009:
Starting weight of 2440 pounds is pretty good! The STI starts closer to 3200 in stock form
He had also picked up the transaxle, rear subframe/axle, fuel tank, brake/fuel lines, dash, interior and pretty much everything from a 2007 STI from another local racer who had totaled their car. He still needs to source the motor but he has a hot lead on a 2004 STI motor and turbo. The entire STI drivetrain is going into the old FWD Impreza chassis with a custom harness that allows for full DCCD diff control, like the late model cars have. Its going to have the late model dash as well, which should look pretty slick.
The 6-spd transaxle and various other drivetrain parts are from a donor 2007 STI; the 2.5L motor is from an '04 STi
The car sat for a several weeks (with parts piling up on the roof!) so I dragged my 4 corner scales by Paul's home garage to force him to remove the 100+ pounds of trash and dead bodies from the interior "to get a starting weight" on the car, and hopefully kick-off his build project. That worked.
Somehow I got drafted into re-wiring his garage!? More lights, plus 220V and 110V outlets were added
While I was there I noticed that his giant air compressor I helped him pick out almost a year earlier was still sitting, unused and un-powered. He still had no 220V circuits and outlet in his garage, and had almost no lighting or usable 110V outlets... typical track home with one outlet and one 60W bulb, but luckily it was a 3 car garage (the reason he bought this house), and as a bachelor he could do with it as he saw fit. In its current state he couldn't get any work done in there - in the dark without power or compressed air. One thing leads to another and we ended up spending the entire weekend adding lots of 110V and 220V outlets and fluorescent lights to his garage, moving all sorts of junk out of there, re-arranging the car, and more. It was hotter than hell outside (101°F) and even hotter in his attic, but at least now he can run his compressor, plug in some power tools, and have enough light to work (3 x 8' fluorescent lights).
Paul's Project Pictures from this buildup are located here: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Projects...aru-Impreza-L/
More soon!
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