jake1989

iTrader: (4)

had my wrx 7 months now and done quite abit to it,so thought i would share my progress so far!
background of car- i bought the car off a middle/late aged chinese chap who bought the car straight from the showroom 10 years earlier!
-mint throughout
-full subaru service history to 20k
-full specialist history (scoobymania in essex )up to 50k
-completly unmolested example
-only mods were sti spoiler and ninja back box both fitted by scoobymania at the first servive they done
-every single receipt.tax disc from new,including brake pads,tyres etc! everything!
-came with private plate but originally a 53 reg
-he had it up for sale for £5000,i gave him £4800 cash.okay i know this was top dollar as seen them for half this price,but for me is worth it knowing how he had looked after it!
-went to see 7 cars before this one all priced from 3.5k-6k and walked away from them all within 10 mins
-hasnt missed a beat since ive owned it,ive now covered 6000 miles in it

jake1989

iTrader: (4)

when i got the car was like this
(bar the raptor exhaust and de tangoed headlights)

jake1989

iTrader: (4)

so now i had the car i wanted for a long time! kept it for about a month just to make sure all was okay,which it was,so let the modding begin!!!
ive done all the work myself,bar mapping(JGM) and turbo upgrades (done by colin at ignition motorsport in newbury,great chap and highly recommend him!!)
as in pictures first mod was get rid of those horrible orange bits in the lights!
next up was a full turbo back exhaust,ninja sports cat and 3" back to the raptor box.which does sound insane by the way!

so i had the sound,but the wrx comes in at 225bhp new,and previous i had a 325bhp focus st.so although not a slow car,im one to always want more
so then came the k&n typhoon induction kit
decat afterburner up pipe
put a prosport pillar gauge in too
didnt really know the scooby scene then as i came from the st,
so chose scoobyworld to give it a remap, made a happy 278bhp
was a lovely difference and felt ALOT better

jake1989

iTrader: (4)

jake1989

iTrader: (4)

With power bumped up a bit I was happy,so started thinking about the looks.
First up was debadge the rear,too much on there for my liking.easy enough to do and took about an hour.tidys it up nicely!
Next was the rear lights,I like the oem style and im only into subtle mods.so got out the tint spray!
Masked off the clear section and tinted the rest,was very happy with how they come out! After lacquer coat I used a Buffon machine with cuttin compound to make a mirror smooth finish and they look oem finish still just a few shades darker,also done the side repeaters while I was there.
Then round to the front,front grill off and to the spray shop to go gloss black,put on the "I" badge and looks a lot smarter IMO.
Sti good scoop as well just for a bit more aggressive look!
I then knew I wanted to go black on blue,so back of with the headlights after de tangoing them and spraye the surronds satin black,and while split open I also spray tinted the small plastic piece which goes infront of the side light bulb.front done
Inside the standard stereo sucks!! So out with that and a new Sony double din unit fitted,highly recommend this unit,£300 and does the lot!! Although a bit of trimming was needed to the surrond trim,so while Filling that sprayed the centre dash console satin black.looks a lot smarter than the horrid silver/gunmetal oem colour!
Also a set of wrx mats with blue trim and then the sti blue lined door cards just to add a bit of colour in there,I'm keeping the black wrx seats as I don't like the suede on the sti ones!
Back to the outside the standard rims far from cut it,so a set of t103 gloss black multi spokes 17x7.5 rims put on looked much better!
Then a set of apex springs(30mm drop) where put on which tightened the ride up spot on! apex springs are great value for money,I had a set of eibachs on my st and took them off after a week,where horrible made the car skip/jump round corners, put a set of apex's on and sorted.
So I went back to them a a brand I know are good, at half the price of some others! Strut brace on aswell and handles a lot tighter.Also went for springs not coilovers as my area has some crap roads and I still need the clearance height,and want a fairly decent ride.so an extra £8/900 on coilovers to break my back didn't seem justifiable
Also stuck a set of good ridge brake hoses on front and rear plus ebc red stuff pads which greatly improved the brakes,enough for what I use the car for!
Next up power time :-)
So from the 278bhp I went for sti injectors, sti top mount intercooler, viper inlet hose,denso 3port boost solenoid and an AFP 18G turbo,all fitted by ignition Motorsport and then a map by JGM to see a healthy 351bhp and 330ft lb torque.
But now the bug has got me,I've just bought an sti lump bottom end,and the thoughts are running through my head now,would like 400bhp plus and I will be happy..... For now! Lol pics to follow when I'm on a laptop!

adz556

iTrader: (5)

Sounds good mate! I know what you mean as I'm running 350 in my blob wrx ATM...... Fancy an sti gearbox but at 2k with everything you need makes it expensive + fitting if your not going to do it yourself!

jake1989

iTrader: (4)

I know not cheap! And I don't like 6speeds to use,much prefer 5. I'm gonna be on the look out for a ppg 5speed when it comes to it I think,about the same price as a full 6speed conversion and is a straight swap

jake1989

iTrader: (4)

heres the interior so far,probably leave it now,maybe a black roof lining,not to sure though?

jake1989

iTrader: (4)

then for the few subtle mods ive done on the outside










all i want more is light window tints and a set of genuine sti winglets,just to finish the front end off and make it a bit more aggresive looking

jake1989

iTrader: (4)

power time










alot of work still needs to be done to tidy this bay up!!!

jake1989

iTrader: (4)

so thats the car to date,next on the ever growing to do list is
-fit sti8 bottom end
-ported or gt spec headers
-fmic
-tgv deletes
-fuel pressure reg and fuel rails
-alot of new bling parts under the hood
seen hydrotek custom coatings work and looks very good! will probably be using him to paint and coat my parts.

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

Why not buy an STi at the offse?

jake1989

iTrader: (4)

knew someone would ask that- couple of reasons
1.i would only buy a mint low mileage well kept one,looking at about 7k-8k.i didnt have that money in one lump.
2.im 23 and the insurance is crazy.i still pay £1750 a year now.sti was another £800 plus monthly interest etc topped out over £300 a month.

so i got a wrx which is still a great car and doing my own thing to it over time,which is the fun part for me