RexNuts Subaru Forums

Some of you may have seen my build on w3xn3t, Posting it up here to communicate with some of those bad arse banned members.

It seems there's a few out there that have either done/doing/considering an wannabe STI wagon, all the fun of the STI with the practicality of a grocery getter. I've written a lot so feel free to read as much or as little as you like.

I've sunk a fair amount of money into it over the time I've had it, some of it well spent, some of it not. I consider this car now as my hobby, I could have purchased two 02 STI's by now but I wouldn't part with my wagon.

I've had my WRX for a little over three years, I initially was going to buy a late model commodore wagon but a good freind of mine talked me out of it and found my car for me at a bargain price, $15,500.

It began life as an Auto which suited me as at the time I was basically using it as a rep car around Brisbane. It was completely stock when I purchased it so the first thing I did was put in a new head unit (Alpine XDA-001). I got this from JB HI-FI, the guy installing it for me told me about w3xn3t, Chris(audioexpress). My eyes were suddenly open to the joys of modding.

Next on the list was letting that boxer rumble out, I dropped the car in at Redcliffe Dyno and had a custom 3"TBE exhaust put on the car while I was on holidays. They called me up while in Bali and told me it needed a tune as it was not running well with the exhaust, me being a total noob went with their suggestion and they plugged in an Xede piggyback with a preloaded map, they charged me $1600 for there trouble. This was my first mistake, paid way too much for what it was. I went and got a run on the dyno to see what it was making, came back around 125kw.

Next I added a few bolt ons -
-Perrin Up Pipe
-AVO Silicone Inlet
-Process West TMIC
-K & N filter with a resonatorectomy(search it here)

All was going well for a while until the Auto gearbox decided to blow up, I rang around and decided on Bob Grant Automatics to do the rebuild and beef it up a little, $4500 late I had a shift kitted higher stalled auto, I soon added an oil cooler from Process West to keep the temps down in the box.

I slowly added more bolt on mods -
-Bonnet Struts (Still love the bling factor)
-Walbro Fuel Pump
-TCP Auto Strut Braces
-Silicone Hose Kit
-DIY TMIC Water Spray
-STI Pink Injectors
-VF34 Turbo

After this I had Chiptourque retune the Xede - Now making 183kw

I then started adding a few cosmetic mods
-Took the orange out of the lights
-Pink Subaru badge
-A few bits of ebay rice - oil cap, radiator cap, carbon side reflector etc
-Giant Ebay Fibreglass Scoop - Ripped off on the highway and flew into the forest!
-Window Tinit
- New speakers and and Amp
-Fog light covers

It was time to look at doing something about the ride height. After shopping around i decided on getting some coilovers, I went the Aus spec Tein SS. I accompanied this with a full Perrin swaybar kit, front and rear, end links and stout mounts.

Also added a new Perrin crank pulley and a Process West CAI and a Hyperflow catch can.

By now I had started messing about at the odd sprint day, I soon realised the stock brakes weren't up to the job, after messing around with a few different pad/rotor combos for the 4 pots I decided it would be best to get rid of them and throw on a set of Brembos. I wasted a fair bit of money on the four pots cooking rotors and pads, the Brembos cost a lot less!

A few more little mods -

-Cusco Brake Cylinder Stopper
-Project MU Wheel Nuts
-Varex Oval Muffler
-Quantum Motorsports Brake Duct Kit
-A full set of Defis - Oil Temp, Oil Pressure, Water Temp and Boost mounted on the dash

Interior is 02 STI seats fornt and rear
04 STI Blue Carpet
STI 6MT shifter surround
02 STI Door cards
S204 Red Hazard Switch

All was good once again but the Auto decided it had had enough, I think the feeling was mutual as I was wanting to get into sprints more so I ripped it out and did a full 02 STI driveline swap.

6MT
R180
Rear Brembos
Big pain in the arse!

While it was all going on Russ also put on a set of Perrin Equal Length Headers, Turbo Beanie, braided brake lines.

Russ From Subievolution was an absolute champion, he did the conversion which came with it's fair share of hiccups, being the first 02 Auto to 6MT they had done it was a learning process for all. After lots of Russ's time at no charge we ironed out all the bugs. I added a ViPec Ecu which MArk at Godzilla tuned and installed - Now making 197 KW.

Last mods were an 04 STI defi cluster and an 02 STI Scoop.

I still need a Drivers side STI headlight, I have the LHS, and a STI steering wheel to finish it off.

2010 plans

Sedan front conversion (possibly peanut conversion) DONE - STUCK WITH BUGEYE THOUGH
Lightweight wheels.
EJ257 built motor DONE
Process West Anti Surge Tank DONE
Colour Code Side Skirts DONE
STI Silver Door Sills - DONE
STI Headlights DONE
STI Steering Wheel DONE

At the end of 2010 while I was gathering bits for my 2.5 build disaster struck. Totalled the 2l so it was time to get things going. Russ at Subievolution had a back log of work and wasn't going to be able to build me an engine until 2011, in hindsight it might have been better to wait as it ended up taking just as long, if not longer anyway.

I found a set of v7 JDM AVCS heads that had all the bells and whistles built by the infamous Tony Knight, these hadn't even been bolted on to a block yet so scooped them up, same guy selling had started a 257 bottom end as well with Robin at PMS so I basically brought this off him as well and commissioned Robin to finish putting the engine together.

By the time it was finished I had a pretty tough forged EJ257.
-Full closed deck block
-Dowelled mains
-flange top liners
-Nitrated crankshaft
-Argo conrods
-ACL race bearings
-CP pistons
-PMS 1/2" head stud kit
-Kelford 264 cams
-Heads with massive flow rates (see attached pic)

Had a few bumps along the way but eventually got the engine over to Subievolution who was looking after all the install work.

While the car was sitting in the garage I added a few more bits and pieces

-Process West custom FMIC
-Beatrush lightweight subframe
-Odyssey PC680 lightweight battery under seat
-Alloy front control arms
-Ganador carbon mirrors
-Spec C steering rack
-APR carbon fibre front splitter
-Deleted the roof rails
-Greddy 48mm alloy radiator
-Beatrush engine mounts
-Carbign Craft alternator cover

Russ got the engine in and sorted, also did the fuel system for me
-Process West surge tank with Bosch 044
-ID1000cc injectors
-Turbosmart FPR1200 fuel reg
-Perrin fuel rails
-Bigger braided line from surge tank to engine bay, used standard line as the return

The car then went on a truck to JW Automotive for the twist mount fabrication. Justin was asked to fit the PTE5857and tial 44mm wastegate and sort out the intake, intercooler piping, dump pipe and up pipe.

He also changed the BOV to a turbosmart plumb back, HPC coated the exhaust housing on the turbo, wrapped the dump and up pipie, put on a turbo beanie.

The car ws now ready to be fired up and run in on the dyno. Mark at Godzilla motorsports was looking after this. After a day on the dyno I was given the car back making 140kws at 8psi, I drove it like this for about 1000kms then took it back for some more boost.

I wanted to up it to 25psi but Mark wanted to take things easy so only wound it up to 20psi. It made 275kws atw. The power is great so will run around like this for a few thousand more kms before having a final tune. I'm thinking of taking it down to Michael South to do the final tune and get his feedback on the setup.


Big Thanks to

Russ and the team (present and past Wes) at Subievolution. It's very helpful to have found an honest and genuine mechanic that know his stuff and offers second to none customer service. Call them on 3205 4266.

Skippy at All Things Subaroo - A great asset for the Subi community, we're lucky to have these guys in Brisbane - 3205 655

Kris at Rising Sun subaru - http://www.risingsunsubaru.com.au

Everyone on w3xn3t that has sold me bits and pieces particually Kris and Ray up the coast, all quality gear still going strong at great prices. And all those that have given advice on here, Andy was an absolute legend when I was doing the 6 Speed swap.

Some pics.

Reserved

Reserved

Looks freakin awesome man! well done

Looking Good big Fella.

Needs more boost!

Kris

Love it! keep it coming

Gees thats looking awesome! Keep us posted..

Wow. I'm not a massive fan of Bugeye's, but i can appreciate the work in this! Look forward to seeing more!

Awesome build, this would absolutely crack

Yep

Thanks guys. Looking forward to hitting the track on Thursday.

How do you find the 5857 spool and top end?? I was looking at one but decided on a 6262

Haven't put enough boost into it yet to determine the top end. I'm hoping once it's had a final tune I will see close to 350kwatw. Currently at 275 on 20psi. The spool is okay, a lot different to the VF34 I had previously but hoping a little more work tuning the AVCS will shift it left another 500 or so RPM.

When does the 6262 come on?

Not sure thats the one that I have a problem with money transfer, they said 6262 would see full boost a little lower than 4000rpm in 4th, currently I see 23psi with my GT-K550/650 at 4300 in 4th gear and I make a tad over 310kw

Apparently these Precisions turbos are the guts nuts and make a lot more power than what they are rated at, a 5777 in a 200sx made 380rwkw, a 6268 has made 405kwatw on a WRX that Leemo built, my 6262 should go 400kw with E85 and a bit more boost but I am keen to limit it to about 330-340kw atw

So when do you see full boost now in 4th?

I'm not seeing full boost (20psi atm) until 4800rpm. I think the tune needs a little more work though as it should come on a lot earlier than that. My engine is also 7.8:1 compression ratio so it doesn't wind up as quick as a higher comp motor would either.

4800rpm, frig thats when my dirty ol AVO550 shitter came on full boost, why the low comp?

With that Tial housing i would think you would get a good quick boost response with a built 2.5L.
the precision billet turbo's are alittle like the garrets but garret is 3 years behind them in Tech and depends on what turbo you get precision also make there own exhaust wheels(hints why you cant use a Tial housing with them.
In 2 weeks i will have some things finished on the wagon and i will do a vid of RPM V's boost and post it up(still low 10psi boost)

Pete you just need some more tune time, best thing to do is drop the car of and say to them have it for a week and spend some time on it playing around and cleaning it up. You will never get a great tune if you drop it off in the morning and pick it up 4 hr's latter. Its well worth it just to leave it for a week to get it right.

Kris

What about a clean up tune Kris, I have a fucked low end tune, after 3 grand everything is fine, but idle is shit, do you think in and out in a few hours will fix this?

they need to do that tune with a cold motor, and warm motor, so it helps for them to do some clean ups and stuff around ever morning from dead cold starts.

Kris

Hay Pete,How's things going.

Kris