2002 Impreza WRX Wagon

Picked up this stock 2002 Impreza WRX Wagon (5 speed) pretty reasonably because it had a burned exhaust valve. The original owner gave up on fixing it after taking it to the dealer and having them mis-diagnose the problem, actually they made things worse: (replaced an injector, managed to cut the o-ring on isntallation causing a nasty fuel leak). I pulled the motor and popped the heads off to find out about the valve. Decided then was the time to go a head and throw a few goodies on the car. Since then I have basically just gotten more and more carried away with this...

UPDATES: (Starting with the most recent becoming older as you scroll down.)

*7.19.10: Cleaned up my heads, installed my new BC valve springs. I am re-using them as is... the valves don't have excessive wear so I replaced the stem seals, new springs etc. and put them back on the new motor with some ARP studs holding them down. I had to machine new dowls to line the heads up. Installed my 11mm STi oil pump (shimmed it as well) and water pump etc. Next I need to install the cams and measure valve clearances so I can start ordering the shimless buckets I don't already have.

*4.10.10: Couple weeks ago I assembled the bottom end of my new motor. First Subaru motor I have built. It was surprisingly easy to do! I don't have my heads ready yet, so just the bottom end is done. I bought a new pan, pickup etc. to avoid putting chunks of the broke rode back through a built block! Pictures below! Also recieved my new BC 280 stage 3 Cams!

*1.19.10: Update: After 7 months the machine shop had not bored my spare block so I picked it up and will do it myself. New parts for built motor project include:

• Aeromotive Fuel Rails
• Magnafuel Filter / fittings
• Custom Designed fuel system (Earls splitter, Aero regulator & rails, custom fittings, 3/8" feed line from A1000/surge)
• Mocal ext. Oil cooler adapter w/ 180deg thermostat (removing factory cooler)
• Mocal 13 row Oil cooler -10 an
• New 11mm STi oil pump
• OEM Gasket kit, new timing belt tensioner, idlers, etc. and other misc. items.
• Eagle 4340 H-Beam Rods
• CP forged Pistons (20 over)
• New forged Crank (updated oil drilling)
• ACL Race bearings
• Brian Crower stage 3 280 cams (234 deg actual duration)
• Brian Crower upgraded valve spring kit
• ARP head stud kit
• Ferrea performance valves (soon)
 

*10.31.09: What a day! Went to PMP to the last weekend of racing this year. Other than a slight headwind, conditions were great. I made a new personal best time of an  11.75 @ 119 mph!!!  I made about 6 passes. The world record for a stock long block EJ205 2.0l WRX is an 11.6X I decided to step it up a notch and try to beat that record. I switched by UTEC over to ignition cut LC/FFS and uppded the boost some more. I had the best 60ft of the day on this pass (1.70 vs a 1.77 on the 11.75 run) and was on the way to making a pretty serious pass when I FFS'd into 3rd gear and busted a rod in half and knocked a 2 inch hole through the top of the block!! I knew that I was asking for it by stepping everything up in reach of the record so it's no surprise. This is little motor took a lot of abuse, always came through for me when I needed it, and allowed me to run some great times... 172,XXX miles is nothing to complain about. Now it can rest in peace lol. Time to focus on getting whats left for the built motor and get that done this winter! In car Video here

*10.30.09: Built an aluminum 3 quart Surge tank to work with the A1000. Installed it all tonight (track tomorrow). Lots of plumbing and tedious work but it's all in and working well. Somehow I ended up with a non-constant duty relay so it was getting hot and not working correctly. I managed to get one on the way to the track and install it there and now it works great.

*10.24.09: Installed a 3.5 bar AEM MAP sensor today. I was running real close to limit of the factory sensor with the boost turned up and cold temps etc.. (with SD extra fuel is not injected beyond that point) This will allow SD fueling at boost levels higher than I will need to go! Built a little adapter plate that mounts to the TB where the factory MAP was, works great. Had to do some tweaking to my tune afterwards, but everything is back in line. Just picked up a new Aeromotive A1000 for $230 shipped... too cheap to pass up. It wasn't needed yet, but I am going to install that and probably run a -8 AN feed line and use the factory feed and return lines both as returns. Just need some Aeromotive rails to finish the fuel setup.

*10.20.09: Video of Todd's Camaro dipping into the 9's for the first time! 15psi (about 12 relative to sea level). His car was leaning out on the top end, so he added a second A1000 pump and I did a quick re-tune. Added a little more timing and it's running at a safe 12:1 AFR @ 15 psi (12 relative to sea level).

*10.13.09: Exciting news. Got the car up and running on factory 16bit ECU speed density! Tuned it tonight... AFR's at high boost need a little tweaking but otherwise it runs fantastic! Throttle response is improved!!, car is very smooth overall. We didn't have an option for SD on the 16bit ECU until the Group N rally map was discovered. It took some modification to the rom, since it was originally designed for the JDM ecu, but it's working great now!

*10.12.09: I have been tuning cars on the side for 5-6 months now. Going very well. My tuning website is: TJI Tuning Just realized I had never mentioned it on this site. Been a lot of fun, and I have met some really great people while doing this!

*9.28.09: Been doing some weight reduction to the car... and I have been working with my tune and slowly making it more aggressive (yes my motor hates me). Other new mod's include replaceing the NGK wideband w/ an AEM wideband, Seibon carbon fiber reverse scoop and a custom Crown Royal shifter boot :) (Pics below) Also picked up 4 Hankook K106's (225 / 50 /16). And a set of Eibach springs (1.4" drop)

*6.30.09: Added another catch can today.... this one on the crank case. It was a project modifying the POS unit to work with the larger lines. Had to build an aluminum lid for the top that I could tap for the larger fittings. Pic below... 

*6.16.09: Forgot to put up the video of the 11.99 run.. here it is: HERE (footage in the video includes the Green Z28 from below making a no traction pass and still trapping 132. Since then I have made some changes to his tune, and he has made some changes to his suspension- the car went a 10.1 the other day at Bandimere! 9's are in the near future...

*5.29.09: 11's Tonight!!! Finally! Slip below... 11.99 @117.6 mph at PMP 4800+ ft! Stock EJ205 with over 170,000 miles!! Best trap of the night 118 mph

*5.22.09: Took my car to PMP and ran it. 4900ft elevation and a strong headwind again all night (usually pick up 29mph on the back half, not tonight) Best run was the first run with a 12.1 @ 115.9 Slip below. Vide of the run HERE

*5.19.09: Road tuning of Todd's car video HERE (HQ avail)

*5.12.09: My friend Todd brought his Camaro out tonight and I tuned it for him. It's a fully built 383 stroker, AFR heads, nasty cam, F1 procharger, caged, etc. car on E85. It has a FAST XFI standalone. (It is a pretty impressive unit, although the logging function sucks pretty badly). Talk about a fun car to tune. This thing is extremely fast and quite a handfull. We took some video I'll try to get posted up soon... after tuning it doesn't hook on the street in any gear, even on the MT 325's!! We might have pulled the chute to see how that works... lol

Tonight after tuning his car I finished up building my 4" Intake and cutout. Everything came out pretty good! Pics of the tuning and the custom intake / cutout below. Thanks

*5.7.09: Ran my car at Bandimere last night. Conditions were decent- fairly cool, but the 5900ft elevation and slight headwind are never a good thing. Anyway, I managed a best of a 12.3, and 2 or 3 of my runs I trapped 116mph. I couldn't 60ft to save my life. Bandimere is extremely sticky, actually hooked so well it may have worked against me slightly. I ended up with the LC at 6200 and still bogged! A tiny bit of spinning would have helped me keep it spooled. Big turbo, 2.0, high elevation and a light flywheel is proving to be a PITA to launch! duh! Should have a video up tonight or soon at least.

*4.28.09: Finished the Aeromotive Regulator and installed a new catch can (pic below). Upped fuel pressure enough to get about 50cc's more flow and then re-tuned tonight.

*4.22.09: Started to install my Aeromotive AFPR. Very nice unit! Hopefully I can get a little more out of these injectors this way until I can get some Bosch 1000 cc's. And eventually I'd like to pick up some Aeromotive Rails and run new lines. We'll see. Mounted it right above the factory unit. (pic below)

*4.13.09: Finished Painting my wheels to help out the new "look" I now have going with the Hood I just painted black. Why do I have a black hood?? Because it's easier than paint matching a red hood after you leave the hood pins out of the original hood and take off down the road... pictures of the wheels below.

*2.3.09: Installed a used TurboXS UTEC on my car. After fighting with what turned out to be a bad serial cable, it's up and running. RIght now I'm only using it for the Ignition cut Launch Control (insane!) and Flat Foot Shifting... I may utilize the speed density capability later on.

*12.16.08: Edited up a new video.. some of the same footage of the new Holset build, but also a couple mins of Legacy SS back road rally fun! Check it out here!

*12.6.08: Started tuning the car today, got the MAF scaling dialed in close enough to up the boost and make a few pulls. It's still running a little rich but not bad at all. Pulls very hard and is flowing more g/s at the same PSI vs the t3/t4 setup. Had a friend help me take a video of some pulls. The video link is on the "Videos" page and can also be found HERE (HQ mode available)

*12.2.08: Had to modify my IC piping because the MAF was too close to the TB. I moved the MAF to where the BOV used to be and moved the BOV down to where it comes out between the brake booster line and fuel lines. This should clear up the issues. I just need to extend the MAF wiring now to reach.

*11.14.08: Took the t3/t4 off a few days ago and tore it down. Time for a new upgrade... after doing many hours of reading / research I pulled the trigger on a Holset HE351 turbo from a 2003-04 Dodge Cummins pickup. It has the smaller 9cm exhaust housing, but a similiar compressor setup (90 deg outlet) to the newest VGT turbo). I have been working on this setup like crazy, decided to also go to a front mount intercooler at the same time. I'm adding some pictures of my progress on this new build below (not in the main photo album)

I designed the front mount to have extremely short piping. To do this I had to cut out the hood latch beam and go to hood pins... I also had to cut out a lot of crap to make room for the 90 degree couplers that go on either side of the radiator... this took quite some time. But, it was worth it for the short pipe length and simplicity of the system. I bought a KS-tech steel MAF adapter flange so I can build a blow through setup to go along with this.

*11.02.08: Went to PMP dragstrip in Pueblo, CO to run my car one last time this year. Didn't turn out the best, my turbo seems to be finally crapping out on me. Trap speeds were low, but I did cut a 1.56 60 ft with launch control set at 5900 and 205 Blizzacks at 46psi... little tire spin and I let the clutch out smoothly. Still trying to figure out what happen to my turbo, it's not building proper boost anymore :(

*9.24.08: Ordered a set of CP Forged Pistons / rings / etc. for the motor build

*8.22.08: Ordered a set of Brian Crower "272" Cams and Heavy Valve Springs for the bare motor I'm slowly building...

*8.1.08:Today I installed my Mishimoto Aluminum Radiator and Curcial 160 deg thermostat. While I had everything apart, I finished the AC removal by taking out the condensor. I then got a wild hair to modify my grill. I'm actually really happy how it turned out.. I cut out the grill, painted everyting behind it... built a little bracket to hold the red STi badge I bought... painted the grill... re-installed.. has a very clean look IMO. Pictures below (not very good, too much light at the time)

*7.28.08:Built my own Catch Can today. I'm not sure my design will work, but it's worth a shot :) .... hey I needed something to fill in the large gap left after removing my AC compressor!  (pics below) Also ordered a Mishimoto aluminum radiator, and a Crucial Racing 160 deg. thermostat. And an AMSOIL Ea Air Filter to replace the crappy k&n.

*7.23.08: Finished getting some break-in miles on the clutch / flywheel so I attempted a launch. It just blows the rear wheels off, but the fronts arn't spinning... time for a DCCD box. I did some research on how the DCCD works... it's not quite what Subaru tells you it is. Also, I found out you can send 12v to the DCCD to lock it up solid, but there is some risk of burning up the solenoid inside... it runs off of 12v but it's variable-ness comes from the frequency.. in the 0- 100hz range from what I gather. I decided not to risk it, and bought a manual controller from www.dccdpro.com I really don't need the auto box and the manual controller was very reasonablly priced.. furthermore Jeff (Spiider) is a great guy- and he has put a lot of work and time into these boxes... Mine should be arriving soon and then I'll be able to launch properly!

*7.16.08: Installed the 07 STi 6 speed this weekend. Took two FULL days of work... had to rebuild the EWG dump tube completely to fit by the transmission... pulled the input flange on the rear diff and machines the holes out to accept the STi driveshaft... new Exedy Stage 1 STi Clutch / ACT STi streetlight flywheel etc. Lots of work, but it works great!!! shifts very easily and smooth... liking the lower ratios... so far about 220 miles of break-in.

*7.7.08: Fixed the oil burning issue... had to losen and rotate the turbo to more of a straight up and down position.. this required re-building the drain line and makeing some adjustments... I'm also running a .060 restrictor in the pressure line. So far no puffs of smoke on shifts!!! (Turns out I didn’t fix it completely… the oil seal on the compressor side of the turbo is shot)

*6.25.08: Track Day- took the WRX to Bandimere in Denver for a track day. Elevation is 5800ft!!!! Track temp was 97 degrees!! Not very good conditions... but managed to knock off a 12.6 @ 113 mph!! (only a 2.0 sixty foot). Went easy on the launch control, only letting it build 5psi, trying to keep the 5spd alive.. but this turbo pulls very hard on the top!! 

*6.20.08 Thanks to Clark on NASIOC for giving me the idea to move the MAF further from the turbo... my idle issues are now gone! Running all around great. I also pulled the restrictor before my turbo and downsized it hopeing to eliminate my oil burning issue.. but it didn't work.. so it looks like the turbo has to come out for a rebuild.

*6.16.08 Project Finished!!! and it runs.... runs very strong! having an issue with idle being very rich, might be a bad MAF or possibly MAF too close to the turbo. But up top it pulls very hard!! Finished pictures below-

*6.14.08: T3/T4 progress- Lot of work, building flanges from scratch, lots of surface grinding to get them nice and flat... ported turbo, custom brazed oil lines for the new turbo using the factory location for feed and return... just a lot of time, but it's very rewarding to see it coming together in just a couple days!! Hopefully it's up and running by the 16th.

*6.12.08: The vf30 I bought is no good. So after getting the shaft on that deal, I decided to get creative and attempt something big. I like custom fabrication, so I am in the middle of building a rotated setup for a Turbonetics T3/T4 and Turbonetics Evolution EWG I have. Two days in, and so far so good... I ended up using the headers I have, and building flanges to adapt right on top of them. This raised the turbo up a couple of inches, but it allows easier access to the turbo itself, and easier access to build and install the piping. Looks good, I think I have managed to squeeze all this in along with my TMIC. Pictures of the progress so far below.

*6.1.08: Purchased an ihi VF30 Turbocharger, from a J-spec v7 STi. It's not much of an upgrade to the vf39, but it will provide a little more top end power (another 15-25whp), at the cost of a little more lag. I got it for a good price, so after I swap it on, I should be able to sell my vf39 for about what I paid for the vf30. Hopefully this turbo will hold boost to the redline, my 39 drops a couple psi as it revs out.

*5.30.08: Built a custom CAI system using an APS short ram MAF tube, some 3" pipe, silicone connectors and a little mod'ing to the fender... sounds great! runs great! Took some work on my tune to dial it in, but it wasn't bad. Still tweaking the lower end of the MAF table to get things just right.

*5.24.08: Took my car back to Pueblo Motorsports Park (4900ftft elevation) and ran it again after my E85 switchover and Launch Control, this time I ran a best of a 13.0 @ 107mph with a 1.98 60-foot. Pretty decent for the altitude, and decent considering a pretty mild launch (trying to keep the 5spd alive).

*5.23.08: Purchased a 2007 STi 6 Speed Transmission out of a wrecked car with 11k miles. (Bought the whole package, rear diff, axles, drive shaft etc.) I will most likely be selling the R180 and axles because I need the money for a lightweight flywheel and clutch etc. This should greatly improve the reliability of the driveline and allow for some harder launches!

*4.24.08: Now running 100% E85. Ended up having to put in my Walbro 255 fuel pump, with the extra amount fuel flow required with E85 it was leaning out  pretty quickly. Getting things tuned in pretty close now... I added in maybe 1 more PSI of boost, and a couple degrees of timing and it pulls very hard. Still working on the low end closed loop correction, but WOT feels strong and smooth!! Neat stuff!!

*4.23.08: Pulled my stock injectors and ground the caps off... should have raised the flow from 420 to approx 800+ Enough to run 100% E85 and still remain around 90% IDC or less...  Still trying to dial in these just right, best luck I've had so far is using 720cc for flow rating, stock latency settings, and I skewed the Tip-In across the range about 30%. WOT AFR's are very close to being dead on, but there is some strange AFR correction going on in closed loop.... not sure whats going on there yet...

*4.08.08: Since then I have installed the STi Intercooler and STi air Splitter, and added in the Launch control capability- thanks to xswrex for creating the patch for ECUflash. It's set to 4500rpm's and will build 7-8psi of boost!! These two mods should drop my ET a few tenths!

*3.29.08: I went to the drag strip in Pueblo, CO (4900-5000ft elevation), and laid down a 13.6 @ 102 with an 'ok' launch... so for this altitude that is not bad. (NHRA sea level corrected 12.77)

*3.12.08: I have been tuning on my car via Enginuity/ECUflash/Romraider/ECUedit since receiving my Tactrix cable and have things dialed in pretty well. I have probably flashed it close to 40 times in a couple of weeks trying to get my timing and a/f's dialed in just right!! But its running great! I tuned out some of the specific CEL's I didn't need to be alerted for (TGV's, rear o2 etc). I'm running 17-18ish psi of boost and my stock 440's are over 90%,  so that is a soon to be fixed issue. My STi TMIC should be showing up today, that will help out things a little- with the exception of pushing my stock injectors even harder...

-Here are some pictures of the latest part of the build, eventually these pictures will be found in the photo album-

Remember to visit the video section here on my site!

Performance Parts and Mods

• Holset HE351 Turbocharger (9cm exhaust housing) 4" anti-surge inlet, 4" V-band outlet
• Turbonetics Evolution EWG - 38mm
• 2007 STi 6 speed transmission - 11k when I installed it
• CXRacing 12"x24"x3" Custom Front mounted IC
• ERZ Stainless Turbo Headers / Up-pipe
• Custom 4" Downpipe / v-band
• Pair of Heads with 35k miles/ reset valve clearances etc.
• Aeromotive A1000 fuel pump
• Aeromotive AFPR
• Modified Stock Injectors (approx. 820-840cc... 940cc w/ 55psi base)
• Exedy STi stage 1 clutch
• ACT 14lbs Light Steel Flywheel
• Turbo XS UTEC (for 2step LC and FFS)
• DCCDpro.com Manual DCCD controller setup
• Cometic MLS Head Gaskets
• Turbo XS RFL BOV
• Mishimoto Aluminum Radiator / Crucial 160 T-stat
• Hallman Manual Boost Controller (21psi RSL)
• STi aftermarket shift Knob (SPT)
• Kartboy front and rear shifter linkage bushings
• Groupe N tranny mount
• Eibach lowering springs (1.4")
• Perrin 22mm Adjustable RSB
• Whiteline Steel RSB Endlinks
• Noltec Aluminum FSB Endlinks
• AEM Wideband
• Apexi EL2 Fuel pressure / Controller (memory playback)
• Apexi AVC-D rpm based boost controller
• HKS Type1 (black) Turbo Timer
• Autometer Gaugeworks Center Pod
• Autometer Carbon Fiber Boost, Oil press
• GReddy EGT
• Automter Shift Light and Pro Light (oil press)
• Seibon Reverse CF scoop
• JDM Fog Light Covers
• Rally Armor Black/Red lettering Mud Flaps
• Remflex Exhaust Gaskets (Crucial Copper gaskets waiting to go in, remflex and ignition cut don't mix)
• Gates Kevlar HD Timing Belt (the blue one)
• DENSO IK22 iridium plugs
• New OEM Water pump, seals, hoses, belts etc.
• MOTUL / Redline / AMSOIL Synthetic Driveline
• Tactrix 1.3 obdII - USB cable

Custom Modifications

• Custom self built rotated Holset setup (custom 4" DP, intake, and adapter from the standard headers up-pipe flange)
• Custom EWG setup / dump tube
• Custom built Blow through setup (KS tech maf flange) ~ 3" pipe (Running speed density now)
• Custom Surge Tank setup and fuel system
• Ported / Polished Turbo Housings
• Custom Machined V-band for downpipe
• Tuned myself via UTEC / ECUflash /  Romraider / ECUedit & Tactrix cable (E85) - 16bit group N Speed Density rom
• Custom built CAI 3" (in fender)
• Custom built 2.5" FMIC lines
• Custom mounted FMIC, pipes beside radiator, hood latch removed, bumper beam kept
• Modified Catch can
• Modified the Stock Grill
• TGV Deletes / Polished Runners
• Custom Built 4" exhaust turbo back
• Custom shortened STi shifter
• Modified Rear Tranny Mount (custom nylon spacers)
• TB Coolant Bypass mod
• Custom Built Turbo XS RFL BOV Intercooler Adapter Pipe
• AC removed, consensor, pump, lines etc.

Photo Album of the project

Thanks for looking!

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