St. Patrick's day 2007:  I drank nothing at all, and it was awesome.

Picked up my MY02 WRX from a local forum member back home in Ontario, and spent the entire weekend driving backroads near my town, getting to know this ridiculously quick new car. Coming from a body-kitted '92 Toyota Paseo, the WRX was my "graduation - new job - grown up car" gift to myself.

I had two glorious days with the car before allowing a fellow WRX owner to drive it. My first "modification" was a transmission rebuild, thanks to that. Following the tranny, I needed a new EMS, since I wasn't about to drive to Detroit every time I wanted a retune on the piggyback UTEC system. After that, I learned as I went - every time something needed replacing, I learned about that part of the car, and upgraded where I could.

We've driven 165,000km together (just hit 250K!), to the office, to job sites, cottages, road trips, autocross events, and across most of Canada!

Enough nostalgia, here's a Mod List:

Exterior
Prodrive Front Lip  Greddy Replica Front Lip  Subaru OEM 3-piece Lip
Subaru OEM Rear Lip
Subaru OEM Painted Side Skirts
JDM HID Projector Headlights
Subaru JDM Spec-C Wingless Trunk lid
STI Hoodscoop
GrillCraft Grill Inserts
STi Foglight covers – Solid & Mesh w/o STi Logo (not currently installed)

Interior
Slowboy Racing triple gauge mount (double-DIN) (not currently installed)
Autometer Triple gauge clock pod
Stewart Warner Gauges – EGT (needs sensor), Boost & Oil Pressure (needs sensor)
Autometer Single Gauge A-Pillar pod
AEM UEGO Wideband O2 (needs sensor)
Subaru Radio Mount (clock location) (not currently installed)
Pioneer Premier F90BT Double-DIN Navigation Unit
JDM V7 STi Gauge Cluster – Odometer matched
Artic Start Alarm/AutoStart & Turbo Timer

Suspension & Wheels
Tein Basic Coilovers (Never seen snow)  Tokico D-Spec Adjustable Struts with rear adjuster extenders
Tanabe DF210s (lowered 2.5” FR, 1.5” R)
Group N Top Hats
Whiteline 22mm Adjustable rear sway bar w/HD Mounts
Helix Rear Endlinks  Kartboy Front & Rear Endlinks
EBC Front Rotors  DBA 4000 Series T3 club spec slotted Front Rotors (to be installed this weekend!)
Ferodo DS2500 Front Pads (installed this weekend)
H6 Rear Rotor upgrade – DBA 4000 Series Slotted
EBC Greenstuff Rear pads (IIRC...)
SS Brake Lines all around
Motul DOT 4 Brake Fluid  WTF am I running now..? Still RBF600?
Perrin Master Cylinder brace
17”x7.5” Rota Sub-Zeros Royal Bronze (race rims)
Bridgestone Potenza RE01 tires 225/45/17  Toyo R1Rs 225/45/17 (ST2 race tires w/ 140 treadwear)
Stock 16” WRX Rims powdercoated lime green w/ Dunlop DS3 winter tires 205/50/16

Performance
TurboXS UTEC tuned by Dan@TuningFactoryInc.  310awhp@20psi on 103oct. & 280awhp@18.5psi on 91oct.
EcuTek EMS tuned by Andy/Paul@Neetronics. Dyno’d 290whp/270wtq @20psi on Petro94. Dyno Plot
TurboXS BIG TMIC
VF34 Turbo (15000km)
STi Pink 565cc Injectors (15000km)
DC Sports Up-pipe
Bosal Shorty Downpipe with racepipe (3rd cat installed, racepipe incl.)  Invidia V2 3” downpipe
Borla “Hush” 3” Exhaust (5000km)  Invidia Q300 3” catback exhaust
Samco Radiator Hoses
Perrin Inlet Hose
ACT Street/Strip Clutch & Pressure Plate (6000km)
5-spd stock WRX transmission Rebuilt by Planet Motorsports rebuilt by FourStar Motorsports w/V5(?) JDM Gearset  (85000km)
GP Moto Silencer delete
K&N Panel Filter  WIX air & oil filters
Turbosmart Dualport BOV
Group N Engine & Tranny mounts
Optima Red Top Battery


Photos (more to be added)!

Spring detailing done! Previous white Prodrive GC06Hs:


Pre-Invidia Q300, Borla Hush; subtle (maybe a little TOO subtle):




Autocross events (Mosport, Peterborough, Picton)


Picton Airfield (longest autocross course in Canada? smthg like that) - 2 day event, camping at Sandbanks Provincial Park overnight. RV'ers loved us leaving at 06h00 


Early on (Greddy lip):




What's next?

There isn't a car out there, that I'd consider over my WRX (...BRZ Sti?). He's getting on in kilometers, so I won't be messing with my conservative daily driver tune any time soon!
Cosmetic bits (gold Rota Grids 18x8.5", find a JDM grill?, replace JDM headlights; and possibly review my suspension setup (coilovers are so cheap now, but winter/summer hassle).

Lookin good!! Can't wait to see further mods!
We should all get together sometime this summer and get a shoot with the bugeyes that WSC has

Beautiful Bugeye!

nice bugeye! we should definitely put our cars beside each other haha...same lip kit, jdm scoop, yellow fogs but just black

Gorgeous car and good write up. Thanks for sharing!

Nice list you have there, I have always loved how your car looked when I see you in the mornings!

Fist couple pics look super clean dude,  nice whhhiip.

She's a girl   

Also, maybe I missed something but are you running 290 whp on the stock ej205?

Wow!  Is that the original paint job?  Your car is amazing.

Errr, the repainted bits are adding up. FR & R bumpers, hood, and my dent guy told me the rear passenger door & fender have been repainted sometime in their lives. Plus the trunk is JDM, so it's probably seen less wear & tear..  But let's put it down to my awesome claybar and polishing efforts every year!

She's a girl   

Also, maybe I missed something but are you running 290 whp on the stock ej205?

288whp, on a Dynojet dyno, which I understand can be optimistic? Oh, and, that's at or near sea level. Imagine my sadness to realize what higher altitudes do to bragging numbers... Maybe I should qualify that line in the OP! ...All stock, though, yeah.

Excellent mods, very classy. It's nice to see a well appreciated classic!

What an absolute Beauty of a Bug-Eye, love it!  If you're not up to anything at the end of August you should try and get out here to Boxer Battle, since it's obvious you enjoy a little racing!  Check it out at the very least, the more the merrier!  http://saskboxerbattle.com/

Thanks! I'll definitely keep the 24th weekend open - it's been 12 years since I lived in Stoon, should be interesting to visit again!

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I just broke out some claybar after work today. WOW, what a dirty car I have - even after washing all winter, it's ingrained! How do you guys keep clean?!
 

Rims! Nice car!

I know this car !!!     lol     Looking good with the new rims..