Hello everyone. My name’s Devon, I’m 18, and on Friday, July 22nd 2011, i purchased my first Subaru. I have a 2002 Subaru Impreza RS 5spd in White. I don’t know why, but I decided to name her Samantha, (Samii for short). She is in rough condition, but after a little work, she will be all of my pride and joy
What she needs:
-new front subframe (check)
-new front bumper cover (waiting on painting)
-rear bumper cover work
-some tiny rust spots here and there to fix
-a couple paint chips to fill
-new sway bar end link (front) (check)
-new clock
plans:
-short throw shift kit
-STi 5spd shift knob
-Suede shift boot w/ red stitching
-new shifter bushings
-intake (possibly custom)
-borla rep UEL header
-HFC
-2.5"catback exhaust
-Delta 2000 grind cams
-upgraded valve spring
-port and polish heads, intake mani, and header (gasket match)
-Exedy stage 1 clutch and ACT streetlite flywheel
-Crawford Performance SRS-30 ECU
-replace head gasket and timing belt
-20mm rear sway bar
-H&R Sport springs+KYB AGX
-HID kit
-new amp (previous owner left all the wiring but EVERYTHING is wired to the amp so i have partial stereo right now with my old amp)
-pedals (maybe?)
-Stock WRX Momo steering wheel
-blacked out headlight housing
-5 spoke rims off my old car (aftermarket, but same size)
also, my dad thought the alternator pulley bearing was bad, (turns out it wasnt) so he got another alternator for it, but he kept it for good preventative maintenance. also, i sprayed my pulley covers blue! ill post pics of them on the car once we get the idler pulley back on. oh yes…and we replaced the belts and are in the process of replacing the pulley.
Ok so when i bought this car it had a few things wrong but nothing too extravagant. totally drivable, not bad. Well this winter, the troubles shall cease and the fun begin. The car has a small head gasket leak, nothing too major though and still drivable. also, at 103k, my clutch is starting to go. Timing belt/water pump and junk will need to be done. So me and my dad are going to pull the motor, do head gaskets, clutch, and timing belt. Soooo i say, why rip apart the block now, and have to do it again in the future if i wanna do stuff later? So i decided, lets go with some Delta regrind cams…(2000 grind) the price is great, and they’ve had a VERYYY high satisfaction rate. But with the upgraded cams, where does that leave my valvetrain? So after some research, i learned that 2006 AVCS springs are the same height and width as my stock springs, but a higher spring rate. Sooo 06 AVCS springs, retainers, and keepers are now added to the list. Hmm…my dad owns a repair shop…hes got connections. Gasket match port and polish the heads, intake manifold, and header for some extra air?? Sure! now to hold all this power, i decided to go with the Exedy stage 1 clutch kit, and ACT lightweight flywheel. That takes away some drivetrain loss and what modded car isnt complete without an intake, (custom yay for MAP ) header (UEL for that s00per sexy Boxer rumble!) and an exhaust. (2.5" manderal bent for Xmas) all in all, my calculations lead me to ~210-225 BHP (based off of stock being 165) which should equal ~160-175WHP. Lemme know what you think about these numbers. Am i being too optimistic? i tried to keep all the numbers rational… (~20BHP for I/H/E+PnP, 5BHP for de-cat, then 15-20% increase with cams, theoretical 5hp increase with lightweight flywheel, so appx 223.5BHP then -~5% drivetrain loss for stage 1 clutch so like 22% loss? 174.5WHP (+/-10WHP…most likely minus haha), but downlplayed the numbers a lil after cus i know a lot of hopes of people are unexpectedly killed) lemme know what you think in terms of numbers, and suggestions!! Thanks guys
Edit:ill also probably pick up an SRS-30 reflash ECU from crawford with this group buy that should bump my numbers about 10hp
im HOPING for ~180WHP when all said and done…but probably not even still, i hope to be running somewhere around/with stock WRX’s
02-05 was 2.0L and 06+ moved to the 2.5. i want to keep it NA for a little while and slowly move up. if i ever go turbo, itll either be a full blown track car with an STI swap, or a Porsche 944 turbo…wonder where number 2 came from
and the NA parts actually arent that expensive. Delta Camshaft does regrinds to different performance profiles for cheap. their Xmas special right now for my engine is $147 plus shipping for cams (73.50$ each cam, SOHC opposing 4cyl=2 cams) and crawford performance does ECU reflashes (last available year was mine ) which a sale is on right now for 280$ ECU! the thing had to come apart for headgaskets and clutch anyways…figured i might as well have some fun with it plus its about 1/2 if not 1/4 what a swap would cost…sure theres more potential with a swap, but at 17 and second car, (we wont talk about #1…) im pretty damn happy with it
There is a damn good reason why the guy with the 5L V8 says NA is best and why no one sticks with NA on a 2.5L subie motor. Let’s not pretend like the goal is originality. Of all the reasons to go NA “originality” has to be the shittiest.
RS25.com has a few…lots of little modders, swappers, and inbetweenies
yea “originality” isn’t really the goal…but being different and original is a byproduct that happens to be awesome in this build. Everyone thinks why buy a subaru if its not a wrx or sti? Sure they may have more potential being turbo, but There aren’t many NA built scoobies, which even if I’m not making gobs of power, its still sweet knowing what it is. and I don’t need 400whp either. It’s gonna be a great all around car
just found out my dad has a customer with a bad lower end stock rebuilt EJ251 with 2000 miles on it…guess who gets new heads!! sending them out to the machinist to be checked, ported, polished, and possibly milled (to ensure theyll fit correctly and all) and sending the cams out to Delta on monday maybe tuesday! this build is gonna faster than i thought…(although we arent pulling the motor till the 22nd)
Baldauf. And I used to go to bkw but now i go to cba. If you know where maple Inn restaurant is, I’m about 2 miles up 443 towards 85. we’ve got 2 white fences out front, big garage, and long brown house.
White is sexy as hell, and any car with fogs is sweet…and as for naming cars, I dunno. It just sounds cool I guess. haha and it should be done (motorwise) the last week of december, minus a few little things like high flow cat. suspension, no clue when ill be able to do that…whenever I get money I guess. haha
but EVERYTHING is wired to the amp so i have partial stereo right now with my old amp)
even still, i hope to be running somewhere around/with stock WRX’s 
) which a sale is on right now for 280$ ECU! the thing had to come apart for headgaskets and clutch anyways…figured i might as well have some fun with it 