After owning and selling two very nice Turbo 2000s I decided I was done with Subarus until a 1997 WRX appeared locally on eBay. It was covered in stickers but was a 2003 import with low mileage, I didn't get to see it before the auction ended but took a punt.

So I have ended up with an apparently rust free and generally tidy V3 WRX which needs the following doing to it before I can drive it anywhere without a bag on my head:

Stickers removed
18" clown wheels (Speedline Turinis, pretty but horrible ride) replaced with 16" ones
Dump valve that sounds like a parking bus replaced with stock recirc valve
Exhaust that you can fit your head in replaced with something more sensible
Stink of raw fuel fixed (due to "sports cat" it turns out)

If it all runs OK after that then a full service and a bit of paint will follow.

"Before" pic for posterity:

 

Many hours of effort and quite a lot of white spirit later:



Also changed the engine oil to check for bits of bearing and none found. Next up: replace wheels with proper sized ones.

 

Very nice Mike.................However I would have got rid of the Gold Alloys and kept the Graphics..........To each his own and enjoy it mate

 

Well done bud, cracking job, now i wat to buy it

Looked a complete mess, now looks a nice clean Impreza.

 

those wheels would look better on a newage, the wheels that would look good on yours are Gold Revolution Millenniums IMO

 

They would probably be OK if they were 17", as they are they look too big and they are too wide.

I have some MY99 STI wheels ready to go on for now but no bolts to make them fit yet.

 

I hope your joking

 

Fraid not squire - hate gold alloys.....love Graphics....all 3 of my Scoobies when I brought them I made sure they didn't have Gold Alloys and 1 of them have had 2 different sets of Graphics - silver 555 for a couple of years and Red Bull Rally USA for another couple of years..............as I said to each his own

 

So you think the Subaru with the worst mess up of grafics i've ever seen in my life looked good?

 

The OP's car had the same graphics as the factory fitted V2 WRX STi 555. which is now worth a f**k of a lot more than other stickered up chav chariots.

 

To be honest my old fruit Graphics are a matter of taste......One is a bit old to be a chav (Grafics!!!!).....

 

The op's orignally stickered up mess does not look like the orignal car, some stickers missing and in wrong place, wrong body parts, people on this site get knocked for making non turbo Impreza's into turbo lookers, no difference with this, its not an orignal V2 WRX STi 555.

So whats the point, it was stickered up mess, not a nice looking replica. And i can't see it making thousands more with a few poorly placed stickers.

 

Now put the stock dump valve back in and swapped the 18" wheels for 16" ones. Next: wheel alignment (desperately needed) and fit new exhaust which will bring the important bits back to stock at which point I will see what needs doing next.

Also will probably replace the boot lid for one with a OEM mid level spoiler on it as the current one is cracked, needs painting and has destroyed the boot lid.

 

Post some pictures up mate

 

Well after sorting a few of the annoying issues out, and flawless running in the meantime, I have decided to move the car on as it is spending most of its time in a shed and I have my eye on a rather different project. Here's a pic as it stands now, a big improvement I think:





It's going to a very enthusiastic chap who I think will get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

 

Looks cracking bud, loads better with alloys aswell. Is it already sold?

 

Yep it's gone. Onto a potentially much more ruinous project now.