Topic: Jay89's Project Rex - The End

[Jay89]

So, after about 3 and a half years of owning the car, i decided its finally time to start a build thread since its now going through bigger changes. better late than never i guess.

Let's start off with what I had before. Bought a brand new 08 Impreza in May of 08. At this point, I was still fairly new to stick shift, so it was quite abused haha. Some things were attempted, but failed miserably.


I wanted to make it as fast as a wrx, but very quickly realized that without incredibly heavy investment, it was not going to happen. Besides, it was cheaper to buy a wrx than build one. Also easier to mod a wrx than an Impreza. So I started looking. Things picked up when I had developed a large oil leak. So much so, that I had to stop driving it completely. I was convinced at the time by my own twisted logic that it was for sure a head gasket leak. And so, I ended up buying my wrx. It was about a half a year later that I found out it was only a leaking oil pressure switch.


I purchased the car back in July 2011, from the original owner who was forced to sell due to "the wife". So, i got lucky and was able to pick it up at a fairly good price. Very first thing I did, was swap the wheels over from my Impreza. Less than 48 hours after i take ownership of the vehicle, i decided it was a good idea to take it on a road trip down to bc with my friends on our annual camping trip. it was there that i finally was able to get a good picture of the darn thing.



So, as time went on, i just started with small things. short shifter, swapped over the projectors from my impreza, rally armors, a few bushings here and there. The exhaust was the first mod that cost more than 200 bucks. picked up a cobb accessport, then finally got myself a lip that ive been wanting for a while. a good friend of mine who is also a member on here (exp_photo) decided to "hang out" a bit for some pictures of my car.

If you have seen him do rollers, he will quite literally hang outside the car to get the shot.







Over the next little bit, i bought a set of OZ racing wheels, replaced the chrome tail lights with the grey ones from an 06, lowered the car, installed engine mounts, and a pitchstop, a downpipe, and a ebcs. then paused for another while.

Last winter, i decided that the OZ racing wheels were just a bit too.....cheap. so i bought myself a brand new set of Gramlights 57Dr from invisions auto imports. around the same time, i decided that its a good idea to buy a up pipe, and crosspipe....and because the guy from invisions knew a good friend of mine, i bought a front strut bar too. as well as a single Bride seat. God i hate that guy sometimes. ever since i met Gerald, hes made me spend money i didnt know i had...

anyways. so, that leaves us with this past summer. ive spent a lot of time doing nothing more than small mods, and visual things. the car as of last summer looked like this. Pictures were taken courtesy of exp_photo during our annual camping trip with our friends.







After we got back from our trip, i decided its time to fix the hood scoop problem i have. its too darn shiny, and it gets a bit blinding at times. so i got the hood and roof wrapped by Derek from car pretty, thanks to danny (my_dad)

since the beginning of fall, i have been collecting parts, and planning for next summer, as i have very big plans for it. the appearance of the car will change drastically from last year. partially due to the flares that will be going on. partially because i bought another set of new wheels from Gerald at invisions. partially because i will be going even  lower.

Parts still required
...

But due to winter being here already, ive been forced to put on the winter wheels. kinda sucks but i guess ill have to deal with it till spring.



Current List of mods on the car

Engine
Cobb Accessport V2 - Custom tune by Airboy
Cobb EBCS
Moroso Oil pickup tube
Grimmspeed AOS
Grimmspeed LWCP
Turbo XS FMIC
Blouch Dominator 1.5 xtr 8cm
Perrin Short ram Intake
Perrin Turbo Inlet
Injector Dynamics 1000cc

Drivetrain
TIC Shift Linkage Bushings
Cobb Short Shifter
Kartboy Front and rear Shifter Bushings
Group N Engine mounts
Agency Power Pitchstop

Exhaust
Perrin catback Exhaust
Cobb Up Pipe
Cobb Downpipe
Injen Crosspipe

Steering and Suspension
Whiteline Steering Rack Bushings
JIC Magic Front Strut bar
Kartboy Front Endlinks
Airlift Suspension
Accuair Management system
Cusco Rear Strut Bar

Wheels and tires
Project Kics Conversion Spacers 11mm
Project Kics Leggdura Racing 2pc Lug Nuts
Bridgestone Potenza S-04 (265/35/18)
18x9.5 +22 Volk Racing ZE40

Interior and I.C.E
Prova O Steering Wheel
Pioneer Double-din Multimedia Headunit
JL audio  C2 6.5" component fronts
Focal 5.25 Access coaxial rears
JL audio 10" subwoofer
JL audio 250 watt amp
Audio integrations subwoofer box
ATI triple gauge pod
Innovate Motorsports AFR
Defi Boost gauge
Defi Oil pressure gauge
Faux Alcantara shift boot and e-brake boot
Bride Stradia II
Takata Drift III Harness

Exterior
ABW Fender Flares
APR cf Rear Diffuser
HT Autos Side Skirt Extensions
HT Autos Rear Aprons
Carbign Craft cf Lic Plate surround
06 Rear Tail lamps
Limited front lip
Racing Solutions Duckbill
Modified headlamps
Tagyourtires tire lettering

[Jay89]

Due to the plans for the winter, i had to pick up a second vehicle. Got possession of my new winter beater today. It's an 04 bmw 325 xi. Not the most exciting car, but it'll do what I need it for.

[Fredrico]

17x9 +38 Gramlight 57 Dr

Love those Rims! Car is looking good.

[Down5hift]

Sharp looking unit!

[jellynuts]

Dang, I always thought of OZ's as high class!

I love that second shot, bending around the cliff side.

[Jay89]

Thanks guys. I'm pretty excited to get working on it this winter.

@jellynuts
They are....compared to Gramlights. And Gramlights are cheap compared to volks lol. volks are not cheap by any standard though.

[Infusion]

great work with the car, really liking the looks of your car! what a drastic change during your ownership.

cant wait to see when you become part of the fender flare crew

[Dev]

I remember selling you my tail lights from the STI !!  Great looking car there! Nice pics too

[chico_kj_23]

Great looking car! I gotta say, I think I prefer the look of it with the WRX wing though.

Either way a great looking car and it looks like you have some nice ambitious plans for the future!

[Jay89]

Over the past few weekends I've recently done this. Kind of a pain in the butt

Kinda getting to the point where I just want to be done. It's been a very frustrating winter for me. I'll be happy when it's all said and done, but for now I just got to get through this little rough patch i guess.

[Jay89]

So after several weekends of swearing, yelling, and losing a few litres of oil...erms I mean uh...blood... decide its time to send thing away for a while.

I decide to send it out to get my suspension put in. After careful consideration and lots of debating, I finally decided to get..........air suspension. A very big thanks to e13tankbuster for taking the time to answer all my questions that I had about your car, as well as taking me for a ride in it.

I went local and contacted the guys at bagbarn for my air suspension needs. They ordered all the parts, and are actually doing the install now. Steve from bagbarn had asked me to drop off my car Thursday as we originally had planned to drop it off Saturday. By around 5, I get a text message with a picture regarding progress. One pic is from Instagram and one was sent to me.

Kinda looks goofy with stock wheels on the ground

[Tremor]

Thats exciting, can't wait to see it with your summer wheels on it!

[JohnnyCanuck]

I'm intrigued with that '66 Chevy project going on behind your hawkeye.  Looks like a chopped surbaban with a pickup cab on it, very cool.

[Jay89]

I'm intrigued with that '66 Chevy project going on behind your hawkeye.  Looks like a chopped surbaban with a pickup cab on it, very cool.

Haha I was looking at that too. Didn't get a chance to check it out while I was there

[Jay89]

Car is just about finished, they are just doing final testing and it's set. Should be able to pick up tomorrow. Oooooo I'm so excited.

Hate to say it but I think they have it set a bit too low lol. I'll probably be raising it back up a bit for a less broken look. Might try to play around with corner balancing too if possible with these struts. Won't really fit my summer wheels if I leave it like that lol

[Dev]

Looks awesome!!! It'll look even better with Volks Did you decide which ones you're getting?

[Jay89]

Looks awesome!!! It'll look even better with Volks Did you decide which ones you're getting?

Decided a long time ago. Ordered a set of gold/bronze ze40 18x9.5. They will go on when my flares go on. The sizing I chose would only fit with flares

[jellynuts]

That is a super clean installation!

[Jay89]

That is a super clean installation!

I actually asked them to do their best to hide as much as possible. I was imagining e13tankbuster's setup and how it took up like half his trunk. This may be a summer toy but I still want it to be functional and sorta practical when I do take it out.

Although I did ask for it, I never expected it to look as clean as it does. Very impressed with how they did it. Not show quality arrangement but good enough.

[otakusan]

Decided a long time ago. Ordered a set of gold/bronze ze40 18x9.5. They will go on when my flares go on. The sizing I chose would only fit with flares

nice... what offset did you go with?

[Jay89]

I'll be honest, I don't remember. I told Gerald to decide for me lol. We changed so many times I just don't remember anymore

[Jay89]

Got it home early last week. Very happy with it all to be honest. It's much more comfortable than I thought it would be. As an overall, bagbarn did a great job at the install. Most of it was very clean and done quite nicely. However due to me being slightly ocd, i had to re-route a few of the wires. Make them more hidden. Tbh, i wouldn't have seen them unless I looked underneath,  but that was just enough to bug me.

Now just need to adjust the height to what I want, complete an alignment and possibly corner balance it. Not sure how self levelling suspension will do on the scales though

[Jay89]

Got my summers on a couple of weeks ago.
Final touches pretty much done for this year. just need to get tuned by sunny and it's ready for fun this summer. 

Really disappointed that I ran out of time and money to do my flares this year. I'll have to put that in the plans for next year I guess.  Lots to do next winter.  Things already piling up.
Complete hub conversion to 5x114.3
Get flares on
Obtain a set of gold brembos
Get new clutch

never ends does it

[Jay89]

So....today was the big day for my little wrx.  The day it gets to meet sunny. tbh it was a lot more stressful than I thought, as well as more than it should. I wasn't sure what was going to give up first. the glass 5spd, the old 200k motor,  or the stock clutch. Luckily none went, and he finished without too much trouble. Anyways here's the results

A very big thanks to sunny for the great work he did on the tune. It pulls very hard once the turbo gets going. Now to think of the next thing to do to improve on what I got.

Beefing up bottom end and drivetrain is a must. But I think there's still more I can pull out with some mods lol. Tgv still in the car for one, maybe pnp both intake and exhaust manifolds? Probably not a bad idea to get valves adjustment too. Haven't done that yet.

[Zac]

Nice numbers for the mileage!