Brydon's "L Box"

[Brydon]

So since everyone else is making one I thought I would too! I bought this car off a very good friend of mine. It was a 93, FWD, 140k miles, dented Impreza L. I never drove the car FWD or stock I just drove it into the shop and started breaking it down. 9 months later a not so stock "L Box" was born.

While I was putting it together everyone started calling it the "L Box" ... Maybe because it had no interior for awhile or maybe because it is just a little shit box. Who knows but it stuck and now even I refer to it as the the "L Box" ... To really appreciate this car i guess you have to know how much pain this car has caused me and how much time and how much money.

At first I set out to make a super cheap car that would run 12s and be fun for track days. The first setup didn't even make it down the road. I wanted bigger and better before it even pulled out of the shop. I origanally planned on a 20g turbo setup but ended up doing a twin-scroll gt32 setup after I had already finished the up-pipe for the 20g. The basics of the first setup are as follows:

ej22t shortblock rebuilt
ej205 heads and manifold
Custom twin-scroll manifold made to a rotated kit.
gt32
Custom down pipe
tial wastegate
Stock STI exhaust
04 WRX dash/wiring/sensors/etc
Custom FMIC setup
modded injectors
Walbro pump

Very simple and fairly cheap. Most parts where free or super cheap. It's to bad I never took a picture of it at the time but I did get some pics after I gave it to my friend for his turbo legacy.



Phase II:

So after 5000 miles of driving this motor I decided to pull the engine and go bigger and better. I decided on a ej257 shortblock with WRX heads and a gt35r.

The basics where the same as above plus better EM. I went to the emanage ultimate at this point over the pp6 I was running.











At this point the motor was pretty much tapped out. Fuel pressure was starting to fall at high boost because the Walbro couldn't keep up. Also the heads were so limiting that it would fall of hard at 6000rpms unless I forced crap loads of boost though it. This was not a good idea.

Phase III

I really wanted to go further so I stopped looking back and started moving on. I had no choice but to buy a daily driver. Thanks to Jon who sold me his RS, I now had a great daily driver and could go all out.

The goal was more turbo, more fuel, better heads, bigger FMIC, shorter FM piping, better EM, cage, better track Rims/tires.

It has been a few months and I have been gathering parts but here is the full mod list as of today.

ENGINE\TRANS:
EJ257 Block
Wiseco forged pistons
WRX heads
DPR STGIII cams (272in/272ex)
Crower valve springs
Crower Titanium retainers
Self ported heads
TGV deletes and ported and matched to manifold
Ported and polished manifold and TGVs
gt4088r with .95ex by precision/ also have a .85ex garrett
New Custom Up/downpipe for T4 flanges and V-band
1200cc injectors
Perrin fuel Rails
Aeromotive FPR A1000-6
3/8 fuel line from the tank to engine bay
-8an fuel lines
HKS 46mm Wastegate
Huge FMIC core made for and EVO
custom IC pipes by me
Invidia catback
Custom painted manifold\valve covers\IC pipes
Dual Walboro 255lph

TRANSMISSION:
AWD conversion
ACT 14lbs flywheel
ACT stage 2 clutch\pressure plate 450ft.lbs (This will need to be replaced soon)
00' RS transmission
00' RS LSD
STI short throw shifter
Redline tranny fluid

ELECTRONICS:
AEM EMS with tuning by me!
5bar Map sensor from AEM
AEM Injector Driver for Low Impedance Injectors
PLX wideband hooked to AEM EMS
Blitz EBC
Alpine head unit some number fancy thing who cares it plays music!

SUSPENSION:
H&R coilovers (Probably going Cusco ZeroR2)
Cusco strut brace front\rear
Cusco sway bars front\rear
Whiteline lateral links
Perrin endlinks
Whiteline rack bushings
04 WRX hubs all around

BRAKES:
STI front brakes
WRX rear brakes
Braided lines
Project mu front\rear pads
STI master cylinder\proportioning valve
ABS delete

WHEELS:
04 STI Golds (Sold)
04 STI powder coated black (Sold)
Rays Gramlight 57-F (Forged, 14lbs, 17x8.5) (coming soon unless the guy backs out on me )
235/45/17 Yokohama Advan racing slicks

INTERIOR:
04' WRX dash
RS seats front\rear
Version 5 door cards
Cage Soon!

EXTERIOR:
RS front bumper w/ fog covers
01 RS front lights
V6 grill
RS side skirts.

And now for some pics of the progress:

















So the point of this car was to be self built, self funded, self tuned, and self raced. So far no one has made anything for the car except me. All the motor work and turbo kits have been built by me. All the wiring has been done by me. I will be doing the body work and paint also. If it looks like crap it's my fault but there is hardly a person that can say they did it all. Frankly I really don't care because this is my hoddy and it has been a fun ride.

[Brydon]

Pictures of the hoopty in process.

[Brydon]

[imprezsing04]

wow, all that on an RS tranny still? looking good man. ever planning on doing a v4 front end? it would look sweet

[Ackit]

cant wait to ride in it when you finish it. you gonna be going with the dog box like we were talkin about before? Oh and i need to get you that V6 lip.

[Brydon]

Originally Posted by imprezsing04

wow, all that on an RS tranny still? looking good man. ever planning on doing a v4 front end? it would look sweet

Version 5 with the version 6 lip. Plain RS nothing special But I'm looking into fender flares and 06+ STI mid spoiler.

[Brydon]

Originally Posted by Ackit

cant wait to ride in it when you finish it. you gonna be going with the dog box like we were talkin about before? Oh and i need to get you that V6 lip.

I'm still on the fence. It's either dogbox or JDM non DCCD 6 speed. Frankly I want the dogbox but the 6 speed would give me a clutch that could hold more power. It's a tuff decision.

[1999impeza2.5RS]

Originally Posted by Brydon

I'm still on the fence. It's either dogbox or JDM non DCCD 6 speed. Frankly I want the dogbox but the 6 speed would give me a clutch that could hold more power. It's a tuff decision.

and a higher top speed. if your in to that.

[Rob T]

Originally Posted by imprezsing04

wow, all that on an RS tranny still? looking good man. ever planning on doing a v4 front end? it would look sweet

I was reading down the mod list and saw that and I was like, "no way". I hope whatever you decide on you have it ready as soon as the car is finished to avoid any more down time. Did you run the same trans on the GT35 setup at 480whp?

[Brydon]

Originally Posted by Rob T

I was reading down the mod list and saw that and I was like, "no way". I hope whatever you decide on you have it ready as soon as the car is finished to avoid any more down time. Did you run the same trans on the GT35 setup at 480whp?

hell yes! But the car has only seen 11.66@122 Oh, yes stock trannys are great. I will admit my 60' times suck. But that is because I can't seem to bring myself to brake the tranny.

If subaru wasn't so slow getting my parts then I would have made the last 1/4 mile day at PIR and I could have broken the tranny then but allas. I even had the car trailer ready to go.