Project Introduction, June 2009: Paul is an autocrosser and NASA Time Trial racer from Dallas, and he's an AWD Subaru fanatic. He has owned and raced both a 2005 STi and a 2008 STI, both in SCCA's STU class. He's also tracked his '08 in NASA TTB:
This '08 is 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. Anyway, Paul has decided to build a more serious autocross and track effort using an inexpensive Subaru chassis that is "disposable" cheap, so he's not running a $35K 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 hours of looking at other Subaru track car projects and autocross build-ups he decided on a class to build around: SCCA Street Modified. This allows him to do all of the update/backdate swapping necessary to run the latest/greatest Subaru drivetrain (2.5L turbo and 6-spd) in the cheapest/lightest 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", and here's what it looked like starting this weekend:
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; 2.5L motor is from an '04
Anyway, the car has sat for a few weeks (with parts piling up on the roof)! so I dragged the Vorshlag scales by Paul's to force him to remove the 100+ pounds of trash from the interior, get a "starting weight" on the car, and hopefully kick-off his build project.
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 he bought almost a year ago is still sitting unpowered, since he had no 220V outlet in his garage, and he also had almost no lighting or 110V outlets... he can't get any work done in there like that. One thing leads to another and we ended up spending the entire weekend adding outlets and lights to his 3 car 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/gallery/8728308_BULQh
Thanks,
Terry Fair @ Vorshlag
This '08 is 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. Anyway, Paul has decided to build a more serious autocross and track effort using an inexpensive Subaru chassis that is "disposable" cheap, so he's not running a $35K 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 hours of looking at other Subaru track car projects and autocross build-ups he decided on a class to build around: SCCA Street Modified. This allows him to do all of the update/backdate swapping necessary to run the latest/greatest Subaru drivetrain (2.5L turbo and 6-spd) in the cheapest/lightest 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", and here's what it looked like starting this weekend:
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; 2.5L motor is from an '04
Anyway, the car has sat for a few weeks (with parts piling up on the roof)! so I dragged the Vorshlag scales by Paul's to force him to remove the 100+ pounds of trash from the interior, get a "starting weight" on the car, and hopefully kick-off his build project.
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 he bought almost a year ago is still sitting unpowered, since he had no 220V outlet in his garage, and he also had almost no lighting or 110V outlets... he can't get any work done in there like that. One thing leads to another and we ended up spending the entire weekend adding outlets and lights to his 3 car 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/gallery/8728308_BULQh
Thanks,
Terry Fair @ Vorshlag
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