Paul Magyar's 1995 Subaru Impreza L - Street Mod/Track build

[Fair!]

Update: This thread is cross-posted to the following forums/threads:

• http://forums.corner-carvers.com/showthread.php?t=44367
• http://www.sccaforums.com/forums/aft/42737
• http://igotasti.com/vBforum/showthre...od-Track-build

Project Introduction, June 2009: Paul is an old college buddy, good friend of mine who happens to be a long time autocrosser and now a NASA Time Trial competitor here in Dallas, TX. After stints in old Pontiacs, then autocrossing in modern BMWs, he's become an AWD Turbo Subaru fanatic. He has owned and raced both a 2005 STi and a 2008 STI, in SCCA's STU class. He's also tracked the '08 STI in NASA TTB:



This '08 was 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. After a few "warranty issues" on the '08, with a little encouragement Paul decided to build a more serious autocross and track effort with a more dedicated and "replaceable" race car. By that I man an inexpensive Subaru chassis that is somewhat "disposable", so he's not running a $35-40K, nearly new, 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 literally minutes of looking at other Subaru track car projects and autocross build-ups, he decided on a class to build around: SCCA Street Modified (I'll call it "SMod" here for short). This generous ruleset allows him to do all of the update/backdate swapping necessary to run the latest/greatest Subaru STi drivetrain (300+ hp 2.5L intercooled turbo and 6-spd AWD transaxle) in the cheapest/lightest/most disposable 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" (emphasis on rough), and here's what it looked like starting this weekend in August 2009:


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; the 2.5L motor is from an '04 STi

The car sat for a several weeks (with parts piling up on the roof!) so I dragged my 4 corner scales by Paul's home garage to force him to remove the 100+ pounds of trash and dead bodies from the interior "to get a starting weight" on the car, and hopefully kick-off his build project. That worked.


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 I helped him pick out almost a year earlier was still sitting, unused and un-powered. He still had no 220V circuits and outlet in his garage, and had almost no lighting or usable 110V outlets... typical track home with one outlet and one 60W bulb, but luckily it was a 3 car garage (the reason he bought this house), and as a bachelor he could do with it as he saw fit. In its current state he couldn't get any work done in there - in the dark without power or compressed air. One thing leads to another and we ended up spending the entire weekend adding lots of 110V and 220V outlets and fluorescent lights to his 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/Projects...aru-Impreza-L/

More soon!

[Fair!]

Project update for June 23rd, 2020: It has been six years since I updated this build thread, but today I did! I no longer cross-post to the other forums that are linked in the first post of the thread (they are all effectively dead - but Vorshlag forums is still here, going on 2 decades!) Paul's 1995 Impreza has actually been raced a few times in 2016-17, but after a re-focusing of goals and then sitting for about 3 years on jack stands, it is under the knife once again.



Paul has 28 hobbies and this car fell by the wayside. But after years of relentless nagging, soul crushing meme abuse, and some inner itch that he had to scratch, Paul has restarted work on this 1995 Impreza / STi swapped build.



Another friend (Jason, his co-driver) and I have gone over for a couple of work days recently to help keep the momentum going, working in his very hot garage during the Summer of 2020. Let's cover the gap of the last 6 years then get caught up to current.

FINISH WORK - IT RUNS!

From January to April 2014 the Subaru was at Vorshlag where we mounted a lot of items, built the exhaust, plumbed and mounted an oil cooler, mounted and plumbed a filter and Accusump, and some other bits and pieces. All told it was about $2K in work and parts for what we did, which was pretty cheap considering.



This Subaru then went straight to COBB Tuning Plano, about a block from our 2014-2018 shop in Plano. They completed the 2007 to 1995 chassis/engine swap wiring, fuel system plumbing, coolant system plumbing, and more. They got it started, aligned, and dyno tuned with a COBB V3 Accessport. It was there for about 8 months and Paul spent "more than he did at Vorshlag" getting the work done. There was 40 hours of wiring alone, and some hard parts. I don't have many pictures from that period. It left COBB in December 2014.



The work they did was pretty good, and considering what a Frankenstein build it was, the price was more than fair (I'm not sharing that). The dyno above is with a 93 octane tune, 23 psi max boost pressure on an HTA68 turbo and a built 2.5L 2007 STI engine. Not bad for an autocross car, and about half the boost that I see the "grenade" TT builds use.



COBB changed names to Growler Tuning Labs in about 2017, as each "COBB" service shop was sold off by the investment group that bought the main company. About 2 years later they abruptly went out of business in 2019 - right after taking a lot of deposits for parts and builds. Real shame, but many saw this coming. At least Paul's car was gone before the world caved in on Growler.



The Subaru came back briefly to Vorshlag in March 2015, where we did a little fab work to build a brace for the top mount intercooler. I'm not a fan of top mounts, and begged him to use a proper Front Mount Intercooler. We are still arguing about that to this day, hehe!

SCCA AUTOCROSS USE 2016-17

Paul worked on the last remaining pieces he needed to get it out racing in 2015, including this sheet metal work covering the mismatched hole in the aluminum GC hood to mount the 2005-06 STI scoop + a rear bulkhead to block off the trunk from the cabin. He installed all of the interior panels, door panels, and carpet required to run SCCA Street Mod (SMOD) class.



He and his co-driver Jason autocrossed it 3 times from 2016-2017. I managed to snag a few photographs of this multi-colored melange at the June 2017 SCCA Pro Solo, where it was rainy and hot.



I was there with my #JankyStick, giving him some grief for the multi-colored panels on this Frankencar build. They couldn't roll the windows down, as the chassis wiring from this 1995 car was made for crank windows. Why he didn't keep those ... ??



There were lots of little things that were unfinished on this car, which I pointed out with the Janky stick. I'm not allowed to do this anymore, as it hurt too many feelings (and now some of my own cars look a bit janky under construction, too!) The left rear fender flare I welded on way back when was bodyworked and primed, but that's about it. The rest was either just cut for clearance of these 18x10" wheels and 275mm Hoosier A6 tires, or rusty tack welded flares (right rear).

NEXT MODS - FAST FORWARD THREE YEARS

Well life got busy for Paul and his 28 hobbies, and the Subaru sat awaiting the next round of mods for over 3 years. Paul had good intentions, and made some good plans, but things just stalled out. We had long discussed the ever evolving rules of SMOD class and how things that were once legal on this car suddenly were not.

There were other rules that prohibited him from using the larger wheels he wanted, from allowing the geometry changes the car needed at the lower ride heights, and some things that didn't even jive between SCCA autocross and SCCA Time Trial classing. Paul was worn down from decades of SCCA rules clownery and my relentless pressure to ditch the SCCA rulebook...

NO MORE SCCA = NEW WHEELS AND SUSPENSION!

After removing the burden of arcane SCCA autocross class rules he can now run the wheels he wants without horrendous ballast needed to run a very high minimum weight. He is going to instead focus on more straightforward NASA based "power to weight" classes and then just run "whatever" class it fits in with SCCA autocross. This car should be more fun on a road course anyway, but still would be a damned fast cone carver, too.



Paul ordered these custom spec'd 18x12" Forgestar F14 super deeps from us at Vorshlag in September 2018, which came out great in this dark bronze powder coat he had sprayed locally. I gave him some old 335/30/18 Hoosiers to mount up and we mocked those up on his car. Without the burden of SMOD class rules he could finally clearance the chassis properly to fit tires like this.



We mocked up some Clinched universal flares in their 3.9" / 10cm Eurolook versions in August 2019. These might even be a hair too big, even for the 18x12s, so we will try some more versions soon. Vorshlag is a dealer for Clinched and we have a couple of styles on hand for mockup, but don't normally make house calls. Paul is an old friend, so I make exceptions. There are still more suspension changes to make before the wheels are properly mocked up.



Paul had ordered these drop spindles from Full Spectrum Performance and custom tubular rear subframe / diff mounting frame from TSS Fab. The goal with these is to improve suspension geometry with a lower ride height. The axle is moved up relative to the chassis, which reduces the CV joint angles. The spindles are moved up to improve geometry at a low ride height.



These parts took months to come in, and arrived in 2020. After a little planning Jason and I met at Paul's in June 2020. The two of them worked on removing the rear subframe and mocking up the new TSS Fab tubular bits for two work days over two weeks.



The reason why the mockup was so necessary was that these parts pass under the stock fuel tank. And Paul wanted to make sure everything fit before he powder coated the subframe. TSS Fab told him the steel fuel tank would need to be "massaged" and they weren't lying. Wow, lots of hammering was needed. Then the bolts that came with this kit were far too long, and those had to be altered in length - otherwise they would poke right into the tank. Part of the joys of dealing with aftermarket parts designed to fix geometry - they tend to create new problems you need to fix. This stuff is always a compromise.



After going in and out of the car a number of times, and after swinging some hammers on 2x4s to nudge the tank for clearance, it is finally ready for powder coat.

DROPPING WEIGHT IN THE DOORS

Another thing that was holding this car back were the full weight, power window doors he had to run for SMOD class. Without the comically high "minimum weight" he would need to run for SCCA he could remove the ballast weight he had bolted in the trunk AND get some more interior bits out. This car will never be a "Daily Driver" without air con, so why not shed some weight in the doors?



Paul earned his NASA Time Trial license over a dozen years ago and this car will be run in track events (SCCA, NASA, etc) and autocrosses alike. It already has a nice 2007 dash and center console that we worked extensively to fit this 1995 chassis, and I am encouraging him to keep that. But things like the door panels, carpet, those can go away now that this car is no longer tied to SMOD class.



Now the sharp eyed out there might have noticed he went from dark blue doors (circa 2014 at left) to these aqua doors (today at right). The dark blue doors were original 1999 RS coupe electric window doors he bought from Brianne Corn back ~11 years ago when he started this build. He needed those RS doors because they had the correct inner door panels to better fit the 2007 dash... all of this hassle was done to meet SCCA "interior" rules for SMOD class.

With those rules out the window, Paul and I went down to Brianne's ranch about a year ago and bought this car's original "crank window" 1995 doors. It was bout 7 hours of driving and we had to cut the chest-high grass to get to the car that had these doors on it, but we found them and brought them back for this car. He also felt less guilty about cutting up 1995 Impreza crank window doors than original RS doors.



I spent a few hours over two different days removing as much weight as possible from these WHILE keeping the doors strong enough to take a side impact. Why? There is no cage in this car, and until Paul adds one these doors need to keep the crash beams in place. But that still means I could remove the glass, regulators, and cut away the inner sheet metal.



Getting the glass and regulator bits out was a bit tricky but we did it without breaking the glass. Once that stuff was out of the way then I got busy cutting the inner sheet metal away. This is there to mount the door panel, window motor, and other bits but it provides minimal additional crash protection.



As you can see the inner "beam" is there, as is the upper structure at the base of the windows. I left the felts in place to give the top a more finished look. This is all the structure doors got back in 1995; modern doors have more structure and heft. After getting both doors cut down I used an old detailers trick - WD40 - to get these nasty doors cleaned up. They spent years sitting in a field so they had some funk on them. They look and fit great now.



The dark blue electric window 99 RS doors started out at 72 pounds and the 1995 hand crank window doors started at 70 pounds. The final weight on both "partially" gutted doors was 36.0 pounds. So in the end we dropped 72 pounds out of this car from the door work, and when he goes to a cage I can get these doors around 20 pounds each, so another ~30-32 pounds out.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Who knows what else he has in mind? We are going to keep pushing Paul to get this back in race trim and then go so some fun track and autocross events in it. THEN PAINT THE DAMN THING! Of course we always encourage folks flaring for giant tires to do some testing before it is painted. And in this case, I think he will do some testing with the 12" wide wheels before he even flares the car, so make sure the clearances at the unibody and inner fender areas are all adequate before it is "locked down". Then we can work with the Clinched flares, then test again, THEN go to paint. Lots to do - and as the build moves forward I will update this again in the future.

Thanks for reading!

[CJ68]

Re: Paul Magyar's 1995 Subaru Impreza L - Street Mod/Track build

It's about time! Congrats to Paul for making some headway after all this time.

[Fair!]

Project Update for January 13, 2014: Game on! Paul's project Subie isn't dead - this '95 Impreza L / '07 STi swapped Frankestein Subaru is finally at Vorshlag. It is being worked on again, "for reals."



My last update on this project was around April 2, 2011, and in the nearly three years since that post Paul's Subie has had very little done to it. What happened? Well, you know how it goes... people get busy, priorities change, and life gets in the way. For me, mostly things got very busy here at Vorshlag after we moved into our new building in July 2011 (but we're already looking for a much bigger space). I went from a 5-6 day work week to a 6-7 day work week (and from 8-9 hour days up to 12-13 hour days) with too many races on our schedule (25-30 race weekends a year for the past several years). That left me very little time to help Paul wrench on this project at his house. He obviously needed some motivation...



Paul himself also got very busy - with work, with his side business, and with his other hobbies including competitive shooting. Paul even roped me into that and we've done a couple of IDPA shoots together, which were a lot of fun (but it gets expensive for the ammo and eats entire days). Paul also bought a '11 Mustang GT and started racing that a little, then got mired up in the Chump Car build with McCall and me. He did manage to bodywork one of the GC's rear fender flares that I welded on so many years ago, with some bodywork guidance from his girlfriend's brother, which you can see above.



Paul (with help from McCall) also built one of the oil lines that will eventually go to the Accusump unit, which is visible at the back of the motor in the picture above. It goes to a bulkhead connector on the firewall, which is the right way to pass a line through a bulkhead or firewall. We mounted the JDM market GC "Version 5" STi front bumper cover, just for fun, and I had all of the front lights installed at one point. And he got one of holes for one rear shock reservoir cut and the 2-piece grommet installed. We will finish the other 3 reservoir holes/grommets and mount all four with some brackets, underhood and in the trunk.

Getting The Subaru Here Took Two Years


This is what we found after we opened the garage and moved a LOT of stuff off the car. It was buried inside a cocoon of boxes

That's right, it took two years of me hounding Paul to get this car to our shop. I borrowed a key to his house, took my enclosed trailer over there, and we grabbed the car last week. The Subie had no wheels on it, no brakes, was covered in boxes and lawn equipment, and there were parts everywhere. The model of neglected projects!



Kyle and I cleared a path, got wheels on it, figured out the e-brake worked, and pushed it down his driveway and dragged it into our trailer to get it to Vorshlag. The front toe setting was about 3" out, so it didn't roll worth a damn and hence the "pushing down hill" comment. Yes, we make house calls, but it doesn't come cheap!

Small Amount of Work Planned

Our punch list is fairly short for this round of work on this project car. First, we are going to install a GD Subaru COBB downpipe. Then install some Titanium exhaust, also made for a GD STi. Then somehow make the two fit this 2 door GC chassis... Lots of fun.



The rear valance was trimmed and the (what looks to be MagnaFlow?) Titanium rear section of the exhaust was mounted, tweaked, and rotated until the best possible fit could be found. Its made for a GD chassis but mounted on a GC, so it is a little compromised - but it is SO light. The GD COBB downpipe needs a little tweaking, and is a bit too short to mate up to the GD rear section. Ryan started off by cutting the ball-and-socket flange off the back of the downpipe, which will be replaced with some 3" stainless steel tubing and a slip-fit flange.



Normally we'd weld a V-band onto both the end of the downpipe and the start of the rear exhaust, but since it is titanium... not so easy to weld. In case this rear section doesn't end up working out we want to keep it intact, because Paul could sell it for some $$$ and probably replace it with a custom stainless exhaust that fit better for the same money he sold the Titanium stuff for. The pictures above show the ground clearance, which we are working to improve. There is a lateral misalignment of several inches that will be fixed with a cut/splice on the downpipe as well. New hangers for the GD downpipe will be made to align with the GC transmission crossmember as well.



Next we are going to install the wastegate and plumb the bypass into the downpipe. We've gotten started on that. I already mentioned the shock reservoir mounting and seals for the chassis hole pass-throughs.



Last but not least we are mounting the 3 quart Accusump in the rear seat area. This car is being built around SCCA Street Mod class rules, so it has to have an "interior" but the back seat can be removed. Once this huge oil reservoir is mounted we will make -10 AN braided lines from the firewall bulkhead to the Accusump, then plumb in the valves (he has a manual and an automatic valve). Then we will mount, plumb and test his oil cooler and supply lines.



After all of this is done we will top off all of the fluids, test the systems as best we can, and he is taking the car to another shop (COBB Tuning Plano) for some final harness wiring and a custom tune. COBB is the premier Subaru tuning shop in the North Texas areas, so that is a smart move. They have also worked on these Frankenswap Subies and know the tricks to getting them fired up.

What's Next?

After it has the engine properly wired and tuned, maybe it will come back to Vorshlag? It needs a hundred little things to be perfect, and maybe we can tackle some of that here. Its all up to Paul, really. We will stick the front fenders and hood back on it, trim the fenders to clear the 275mm tires, at the very least. Paul picked up some 275/35/18 Hoosier A6s and has another set of 18x10" D-Force wheels we built the flares around, in addition to these 18x9.5" TR Motorsports wheels that are on the car now.

Lots to do...

[Paul]

Re: Paul Magyar's 1995 Subaru Impreza L - Street Mod/Track build

STREET MODIFIED
ITEM 22) Add new subsection 16.1.T:
“T. Alternate subframes are allowed to facilitate motor mounting only. Suspension pickup points on the subframe must
retain stock geometry. Weight of the subframe must be equal or greater than the stock unit."

Well that worked out nicely.

-Paul

[modernbeat]

Re: Paul Magyar's 1995 Subaru Impreza L - Street Mod/Track build

The new SP reorganization was going to force Paul to replace his subframes, but the new Fastrack has the new SM rules and one of them allows full on subframe replacements (even aftermarket subframes) to allow engine swaps. No need to notch and reinforce an early subframe. He can keep his late model RS/STi pieces and stay legal!

[CJ68]

Re: Paul Magyar's 1995 Subaru Impreza L - Street Mod/Track build

First, We need some updates! You told me through PM that you have been getting some work done. Let's see it!

I am going to start shopping around for wheels and tires so I can start hacking up my GC. I've decided to convert my '04 STI running gear to '05 STI to get the better bolt pattern and beafier front wheel bearings. As a data point for me could you tell me what the offset on the 18X9.5 wheel you guys used for mock up is and a general idea of clearance you had around the coilover, etc. Specs on the 18x10.5 would be great too if they clear on the inside. I haven't swapped over the parts to my GC yet so I can't measure anything myself. I also don't want to drop loads of cash on a set of wheels that don't fit or don't use up all off the available space efficiently and if I can avoid it i would rather not use any spacers. I've been digging around the subaru forums and haven't found any good info on how far we can tuck these big meety tires under the car. All most of those guys care about is how flush they look... A roughly accrucate measurement from the hub flange face to the nearest obstruction front and rear and at full lock be awesome but that would be much more work then telling me the offsets you have and throwing the wheels on for a quick glance. Thanks a lot if you can help.

[Fair!]

Re: Paul Magyar's 1995 Subaru Impreza L - Street Mod/Track build

I have a couple questions as well if you don't mind. When installing the GD dash I have seen one project where they did some extensive massaging of the fire wall to get the dash further forward because they didn't like the gaps on the sides of the dash where it meets the A pillar. Thoughts? What did you guys see as you fitted this up? In this other project they also sectioned the firewall where the steering column mounted. There was no mention in this thread about fitment issues so I am curious.

No, the firewall was completely left alone. We just made some small brackets to mount the front edge of the dash panel to the firewall. Having the windshield out made this possible - its inaccessible otherwise. The sides lined up pretty well, too. We re-drilled one hole on the dashbar to side mount. Not a big deal.

Paul has been wrenching on the car all last week and weekend. I'll try to head over there one night this week and take some pics of the progress.

More soon!

[CJ68]

Re: Paul Magyar's 1995 Subaru Impreza L - Street Mod/Track build

I learned about his build over on the Subaru forum rs25.com. I have been trying to figure out what metal flares would work on a GC other than 80's Camry flares. This looks great so far. I can't wait to see what the front flares look like then see the whole package when it is done. I am the early stages of planning out my '01 RS GC/ '04 STI swap so I am absorbing all the info I can to make my build go as smooth as possible.

This is also the first thread that someone actually explains what I was going to do and remove the springs from the shocks and check full compression clearances. Props to you guys for a thorough and meticulous build.

I have a couple questions as well if you don't mind. When installing the GD dash I have seen one project where they did some extensive massaging of the fire wall to get the dash further forward because they didn't like the gaps on the sides of the dash where it meets the A pillar. Thoughts? What did you guys see as you fitted this up? In this other project they also sectioned the firewall where the steering column mounted. There was no mention in this thread about fitment issues so I am curious.

Because I was considering it as an option as well, what made you decide on the FP 68hta? I was dead set on picking up that turbo to replace my blown OEM unit but I was pretty much convinced by a few people to not bother and go bigger with something like a 20G. Do you want early spool above all else because of the autox duty this car will do? I have been leaning toward fabbing up my own plumbing to wedge a standard Garret GT3076r under the hood rather than go the stock location route but I am still eager to see what your setup does on the dyno after tuning. I could be swayed back to my original ideas.

Can't wait for the next update.

[Pete07]

Re: Paul Magyar's 1995 Subaru Impreza L - Street Mod/Track build

Yeah thats what were trying to figure out right now where to put the remotes since the hoses are so short. Were working on figuring it right now i will keep you posted on what we end up doing.

-Peter

[Fair!]

Re: Paul Magyar's 1995 Subaru Impreza L - Street Mod/Track build

Terry you need to go to Paul's house and get his coil overs installed I want to see how your going to mount the reservoirs. I just got a set of the 4200RR with your new high caster plates that I need to install. The car looks really nice can't wait to see it when its done.

-Peter

Agreed. I've spent 3 days in the past couple of weeks working on McCall's Z3 LS1 so I need to give some time to Paul on his Impreza, as these two are locked in a battle of "who can finish their project first".

Paul did locate some nice 2-piece 2" diameter grommets for the holes in the chassis needed to pass the entire reservoirs through. We also have some brackets to test that will be used to mount the reservoirs inside the trunk and under the hood, also.

More soon!

[Pete07]

Re: Paul Magyar's 1995 Subaru Impreza L - Street Mod/Track build

Terry you need to go to Paul's house and get his coil overs installed I want to see how your going to mount the reservoirs. I just got a set of the 4200RR with your new high caster plates that I need to install. The car looks really nice can't wait to see it when its done.

-Peter

[Fair!]

Re: Paul Magyar's 1995 Subaru Impreza L - Street Mod/Track build

Project Update April 11, 2011: Not much to add here, although Paul has been rounding up parts for the past week. Fuel system parts were one of the big purchases yet to be made, plus a lot of little stuff. Just for kicks I mounted the throw-away 315/30/18 Hoosier A6 to my 18x10.5" ET38 mentioned in the previous update. Haven't had a chance to add it to Paul's car yet but here it is mounted and weighed.



That's a lot of tire! 11" of tread on the ground.

Like I said we'll put this on the Subaru (and the '11 Mustang) soon and shoot some more pics.

Cheers,

[Fair!]

Re: Paul Magyar's 1995 Subaru Impreza L - Street Mod/Track build

Project Update for April 2, 2011: I had this past Saturday open - well, after stopping by the Dallas Cars & Coffee show (pictures here) and then looking at a new trailer across town, so I scheduled half the day to work on Paul's Subaru. It had been 6 weeks since my last chance to stop by and help out on the Subaru project, but Paul had knocked out a number of things in that time. I'll touch on those updates then get to the work we did the rest of this Saturday.



The picture at left is the Enkei PF-01 we ordered for our Mustang. It is an 18x10.5" ET38 (7.2" B.S.) with a Hoosier 285/30/18 mounted for testing. Paul borrowed this a week ago and slapped it on the front of the Subaru... it fit perfectly without a spacer. Turns lock to lock with plenty of room. Sticks out about 1 inch, but the flare will more than cover that. Too bad it weighs 22 lbs. Still, its worth a look if he wants to use a wider 295 or 315mm autocross tire. Paul just picked up a 315/30/18 Hoosier yesterday to test with on the Mustang, so we'll see it on this wheel soon. At right is some Bondo work. Another friend of Paul's is a body man and had stopped by to help smooth out one of the rear fender flares. The LR flare is almost done, just needs a little more mud and smoothing.



Paul also got the start of the remote oil cooler lines installed underneath the motor, as well as the line built for the Accusump, which is routed through the firewall.



We installed the Whiteline tie rods and got the toe "eye-balled" enough so the car could be rolled around before going to COBB for an alignment. Then we burned about an hour or so getting the shifter installed. Paul had located almost everything we lacked before to install this, and after dropping the trans down to gain more access to start the poly shifter alignment guide at the back, it was all buttoned up. Then the various transmission crossmembers were bolted back up (what a big mess of steel that requires).



With the shifter work underway below I worked top-side and removed the stock steering wheel and airbag from the steering column. I read the "how to" on the interwebs and managed not to screw up the "clock spring" mechanism so all of the OEM '07 steering wheel parts can be sold. Installing the Sparco race wheel and column adapter was easy; I brought proper screws that I used on another one of our Sparco wheel installs.



Once the shifter was in place we installed the knob and it felt fine. The 18x10.5" on front once again, just to show how much it protrudes. We put the COBB downpipe on, locked down the motor mounts, installed the new aftermarket transmission mount, and then got to the motor. The coolant crossover pipe was bolted on and then the intake manifold was mocked-up. There were several vacuum lines on the intake Paul wants to plug so that isn't staying on lone. He also has some fuel line parts to procure before the fuel system is finished.



Last we installed the radiator, now that Paul had rounded up the factory OEM lower isolators. The STi versions were too large for the GC holes in the radiator surround, so they were opened up and then slide into place. We need to make some upper brackets, but he has to locate the correct radiator hoses first. Finally I cleaned off the white board and we made one big list of items to buy (click thumbnail above for large version) as well as the final work to be performed before it goes into COBB for a custom tune. The list is as big as ever but its also more detailed than before.

Paul has already purchased almost everything on this list and its in transit so we should have more progress soon.

[Fair!]

Re: Paul Magyar's 1995 Subaru Impreza L - Street Mod/Track build

Project Update for Feb 15, 2011: I had a busy weekend, working on Paul's Subaru project on Saturday and McCall's Z3M LS1 project on Sunday, but we got a lot accomplished on both cars. Here's what was accomplished on Paul's Impreza... most notably the engine is in!



My wife and I met Paul for breakfast Saturday morning while he had new tires put on his Tahoe at Discount Tire. While we were there we mounted up one of my 285/30/18 Hoosier A6 tires onto his Enkei 18x10 mentioned earlier. We went back to his place and I slapped it on the rear of the Subaru (see above). Fits great, no spacer - and that's with no camber in the rear (it needs some). With a little fender rolling it will have tons of room at full bump travel. The floor was such a mess I didn't feel like pulling a spring to check that. The whole garage was a complete mess. The car still needs tie rods installed, and the front fenders cut, before we can even hope to get it on up front.

I quickly realized one thing - Paul hasn't set foot inside his garage since we last worked on the car together late last November. Every tool we left out after that weekend long "fender flare thrash" was still on the floor, as well as all of the dirt, weld spatter, tons of used parts he needs to sell, and hoards of new empty boxes. Oiy...


Left: One of many sets of used parts we put in the attic. Right: After hours of cleaning, we had room to work

So we spent the next 5+ hours cleaning out his garage and sorting usable and sellable parts from useless junk. I took pictures of all of the parts he needs to sell (which I'll post up in a detailed "for sale post" later, and handle the sale of all of this stuff - mostly stock and aftermarket Subaru bits) while we put them away in his attic. Cut up dozens of boxes, swept out the entire garage, moved the car so we could have room in the front to install the motor, installed his wall clock and some street signs he's had for years, and on and on. Paul removed the VIN plate from the old dash, we pulled the Sparco race steering wheel from a busted steering column, stuff like that. It went from a pig sty to a squeaky clean 3-car garage with tons of room around the car once again. Ah, now we can get some stuff done!

We finally started the real car work in the afternoon. Paul worked for a while installing header wrap on the crossover and up-pipe exhaust sections and installed the turbo, blow-off valve, and some turbo oil lines. He also mocked-up the (beautiful) COBB downpipe he picked up to fit the GC, mostly to make sure we had everything installed the right way. This all gets installed for good once the motor is in the car.



With Paul on the motor I installed the new Certifit OEM replacement right front fender, replacing a mangled and ugly green original fender. Then I swapped out the Vorshlag GD main camber plate portions (always meant to be temporary) for a pair of the all new "high caster" Vorshlag GC camber plates. This set-up orients the camber slots in the right direction, and the new HC design adds a good bit more positive caster up top to supplement the added caster at the bushings below. Looks great, very strong, and the caster is maximized perfectly; there's about .025" of room from the inboard camber adjustment bolt to the strut tower ring, so its got all the caster it can get up top. Plenty of max negative camber and total camber adjustment range, too.



Once I wrapped up those two little projects I helped Paul finally get this lump off the engine stand. Installed the pretty Fidanza aluminum flywheel and aftermarket pressure plate (both balanced to the new motor/crank), but he chose to use an old STi clutch disc. Some weird logic about an organic disc having more consistent (Pro Solo) launches with more clamping force from the pp. I dunno, it sounds kooky to put in a used disc into an all new set-up like this, to me. What do I know - I am not really a die-hard a Subaru guy. I don't have the Scooby hat, for one.



Once we got the flywheel torqued and the disc and pressure plate installed (hey Paul - buy a factory shop manual so we don't have to wade through internet forums looking for the proper torque settings, please) and the clutch alignment tool lined up, we hauled the chained up motor over tot he car for the motor installation. The trans was already in the car connected to the drivetrain, but the front crossmember was filthy, so I cleaned that to "shining". Still the car had no connected e-brake, no shifter installed, and no clutch hydraulics. Hmm, I'd sure like to have a way to put it into/out of gear, to hold the drive wheels via the e-brake, and a way to engage/disengage the clutch. I've stabbed many a trans and all of those things being hooked up always help... but what do I know - I'm not a Subaru guy.



Well Paul had never stabbed a Subaru motor, either, and we soon found out that two inexperienced Subaru guys was worth about jack squat. We forked around with that motor for an hour, and couldn't get the splines lined up. Several calls to experts offered up no obvious errors. It was well past 7 pm and we had both skipped lunch, so we called it a day. Paul joined Amy and I for dinner at the Purple Cow and we had a very filling and delicious meal.



The next day Calvin of COBB Tuning Plano stopped by and had it stabbed properly in no time at all. They hooked up the e-brake to help hold the drive wheels, and that was the trick. Color me shocked. Well, at least now we know. Calvin also heli-coiled the buggered-up, tapped knock sensor hole in the block that somebody back in October stripped on accident. So now everything can go back in place above that.

We still have some work to do before the car is finished enough to go to COBB for the custom wiring/tune and finish-up. All of the top end parts (intake, intercooler, etc) needs to be bolted on, and the power steering lines need to be hooked up before the motor is bolted to the subframe. Tie rods, clutch hydraulics, shifter installed, then things like the hood, the new headlight and taillight assemblies (and associated old-to-new car wiring splice work), brake system hooked up and bled, and fuel added to the car. Nothing we cannot handle in a couple of nights work. Let's just hope its not 10 weeks of waiting for the next work night! Since March is a crazy busy with 5 events already on that months' race schedule, we're trying to cram in as much work on the Subaru (and McCall's Z3M, and our E30, and our Mustang) in the next couple of weeks as possible. And if we're lucky Paul and McCall can get their cars running enough to make some races this year!



Meanwhile, in case the Subaru project gets bogged down further, Paul has his brand new 2011 Mustang GT to play with at track events. He bought it in January and loves it - this car is his new daily driver (the '08 STi is, sadly, gone bye-bye). The GT has the optional 14" Brembo brake package and we're going to install some Eibach springs and Vorshlag plates on it this week, and he can then have fun with it in NASA Time Trial TTB class for a bit. The Subaru's 18x10" Enkei's bolt up to the '11 GT (we're testing them here this week on the Vorshlag '11 GT), so that set of wheels could do double duty on both cars. Once the Subaru is running the GT will likely just go back to just DD status, but at least its a running, fast, reliable car he can take on track with little effort for the short term. Even the stock brake pads are solid, so all he really needs for it is a real set of tires and more negative camber, to keep the tires from eating themselves.

Until next time...