Re: Paul Magyar's 1993 Subaru Impreza L - Street Mod/Track build

Update for August 21, 2009: Went by Paul's this weekend to get some furniture and saw the Impreza L. Paul's been busy and has all of the old interior, drivetrain, suspension and crossmembers out. The added garage lighting and compressed air did indeed kick off this project as I had expected. The "L" is now stripped down almost to the bare shell - which is how all real race cars should be started. He has acquired a 2.5L STi motor (thanks, Henry Lin!) and all sorts of other bits and pieces for that. Still looking for a stock STI turbo and intercooler...

We've been both pouring over the rules for SCCA Solo Street Prepared and Street Modified, looking for changes and areas to maximize. Paul noticed that SP (and SM by default) now allows for full weld-in 8-point roll cages, which is a big change from before (it all had to be bolt-in style, before) and now he and I are both planning cages for our project auto-x/track cars. This will let us both run the cars in NASA Time Trials safely and still maintain SCCA Solo class legality (we've since decided to delay this for both f our cars).

While I was there Paul mocked up a wheel and tire on the L (no rear subframe or suspension in the way):



This is a TR Racing 18x9.5" wheel with 245/40/18 tire. Its almost touching the inner fender sheet metal and is pretty much touching the outer section as well. So it would likely need some baseball bat rolling to fit this tire initially, which I think is the route he's going to want to go with. I keep telling him - get it together with the major parts initially, and worry about the tires/wheels last. This way he can get it running and driving and sorted using his HUGE selection of used ST tires and wheels, before blowing $3500+ on any custom wheels & tires (CCW?) needed for SMod. When its time for 18x10's its going to need flares, too.

As for the other upcoming body mods, he's going with some sort of GC8 2.5 RS or STI front end:



Personally I think the stock, 2 door GC8 STi look is pretty damn sharp. I think we can custom make flares that look good, maybe even similar to the profile in that picture, but just make them wider to clear the 285/30/18 tires.

Next up Paul is going to finish prepping then painting the front fender wells and engine bay. After that he is installing the stock '07 STI fuel tank, subframes and suspension, then plumbing new brake lines for the ABS. Hopefully the built motor is going together in the next 30 days....

More soon!