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Dan7140's "T-Minus" Track Car Build

36K views 156 replies 15 participants last post by  mike-tracy 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi guys! I am back with another Subie. My old thread can be found here. The goal of this new car is to get it ready for Auto-X over the winter and then build it over time for the road course as well.

A very good friend of mine whose username on here is Snowbum has owned it for probably the last ten years or more. It is a 2001 2.5RS with 117000 miles. It is painted Porsche Seal Grey 6B5.
The rust on the outside and the dings and scratches here and there aren't the greatest, but inside the car and underneath it is in very good condition.

I need to start recording my weight and what I have done to get there:
Currently weighs 2260 lbs with a full tank of gas - 1420 front and 840 rear. (even lighter now, will weigh later)
Carbon fiber: roof, hood, doors, side windows, and trunk lid - All on Quik Latches except roof
Antigravity 3 lb battery
DSS Carbon Fiber Driveshaft
Sparco single seat - Sparco aluminum seat rails
Flat aluminum panel trunk with spare tire tub cut out (wasn't even heavy :( )
SSR type Cs
ABS delete
Power Steering delete and gutted rack internals and welded lines shut. Wheel bearing grease used.
No sound deadening but has full interior put back in.
No A/C - completely deleted everywhere even in heater core area
No airbags, NRG steering wheel
lightweight crank pulley
ACT lightweight flywheel
Gutted sound deadening from firewall to trunk, interior is pretty much mocked up but bolted down.
Sunroof motor assembly removed and sunroof is bolted in place.
Aluminum GD front control arms
Intake manifold and heads are ported/gasket matched
Reversed intake manifold for less FMIC piping
No IACV and very trimmed/ported throttle body.
Side impact bar delete :run:
Both bumper beams are pretty much non existent
ISC Coilovers
No radio
No speakers
No fogs

Current upgrades: (Installed as of now)

Engine

Hydra Nemesis v2.5 - Tuned by RS Motors 15 PSI
EJ22E shortblock ~90-100k miles on it (welded 10AN turbo oil return in pan)
EJ257 crank/rods/ARP rod bolts/oil pan
2.5RS SOHC ported heads
Supertech Dual Titanium Valvesprings
Delta Cams (2000 on intake and 1000 on exhaust) .006 in .008 ex
ARP Head studs
Garrett G25-550 Turbo - AN coolant/oil lines
Reversed manifold
Injector Dynamics 1050X injectors
Aeromotive WRX fuel rails
Aeromotive RRFPR
Parallel fuel lines with AN fittings
Walbro 255lph pump
Killer B Holy Header low mount (321 Stainless)
Tial 38mm EWG
(Spot reserved for EBC)
NGK BKR7EIX-11 (1-step colder plugs, can't remember what I gapped them too, should be around .028-,032)
10mm oil pump
05-20 EJ257 Oil Pan with 10AN return bung welded on
CXRacing FMIC
Trust/Greddy Front Mount Oil Cooler with Earl AN-10 lines and Earls swivel fittings
Mishimoto aluminum rad/shroud/ electric fans - aluminum sheet riveted in to fill in side air gaps
Silicone hoses
Forge BOV FMDVSUB03
Grimmspeed AOS
Lightweight Crank pulley - not dampened
Turbosmart Manual Boost Controller
JDM coolant in-fender overflow tank
Antigravity THREE POUND Battery AG-1201 12 Cell
DEI 2" x 35ft Titanium Exhaust Wrap
PTP Turbo Blanket Heat Shield - Lava

Drivetrain
Version 6 STi RA V-Limited 5spd DCCD Helical front diff (TY754VB1EA) Up to 47% wider teeth and steel shift forks instead of aluminum
Group N transmission mount
Whiteline Transmission Crossmember Bushing
Whiteline Diff Support Outrigger Bushings (destroyed these trying to press in, went with Powerflex PFR69-118 Instead)
Whiteline Rear Trailing Arm Front Bushing Kit
Whiteline Rear Trailing Arm Lower Rear Bushing
Laile Beatrush rear diff brace
Laile Beatrush forged pitch stop mount
Cusco hyper gum shift linkage bush
DSS Carbon Fiber Driveshaft SUSH1-C
R160 SureTrac rear diff
05 Forester XT rear axles (were the same length - so confused)
ACT SB9-HDSS Clutch
ACT lightweight flywheel
Kartboy Short shifter
ARP Extended wheel studs (did all 4 OEM wheel bearings as well)
MUTEKI SR45R Burned Titanium 45mm M12x1.5 open end lug nuts

Suspension
ISC N1 coilovers 10K Front 8K Rear Track valving with thrust bearings
GD STI front lower control arms
M4iF Fender Braces/Cowl Stays
Whiteline Rear Lateral Links for GD STI width
Whiteline Anti-lift Kit
Whiteline Front Lower Control Arm Bushing
Whiteline Steering Rack Bushings 25MM
Whiteline Tie Rod Ends - Roll Center Adjustment
Whiteline Lower Ball Joints - Roll Center Adjustment
Whiteline Subframe Locking Bolts
Mines H-Brace
20mm front swaybar 05 WRX
Turbo front subframe
WRX year? 17mm rear swaybar with Audi solid front endlinks in the rear

Wheels/Tires/Brakes
SSR Type C 17x8.5 +48
Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R 255/40/17
Cadillac CTS-V Brake calipers and adapters
DBA 4000 rotors
Hawk HPS pads F
Hawk HP+ pads R
ATE type 200 fluid
SS Brake lines
Brake master cylinder brace

Exterior
Ebay flares riv-nutted on(2 sets of fronts all the way around)
STi Fog covers
V6 style front lip
Rally Armor mudflaps
JDM Rear bumper
JDM tails
JDM rear spats
APR Carbon Fiber race mirrors
Carbon Fiber Hood ~several lbs
Carbon Fiber Roof ~several lbs
Carbon Fiber doors that detach with Quik Latch ~4 lb total door weight
Carbon Fiber Trunklid that detaches with Quik Latch ~several pounds
Carbon Fiber rear side window deletes

Interior
6 pt cage that is also welded in numerous places. DOM 1.5"x.095" and .120" wall 1020 steel
Some gauges Boost/Oil Pressure/Oil temp/Water temp/AFR/Fuel Pressure - will be tidying/refreshing that)
Sparco seat with Sparco aluminum seat rails
CROW 5 pt harness with quick release cam
Fire extinguisher

Fluids
Rotella T6 in engine
Regular 50/50 in cooling system
Extra S in transmission
Redline 75/90 and a little bit of Extra S in the rear diff

For me:


I didn't take too many pics before tearing into things I wanted to get done.




Mr. Earl loves this car so much for some reason!




 

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#2 · (Edited)
Starting right away I took a look at the oil cooler since I wanted to put mine on instead.



Turns out it was an oil "fooler" (check the missing lines where you see threads). I remembered Snowbum got rod knock when he was running a 22T block with forged internals (while on the dyno tuning!), and didn't want to reuse the oil cooler since all the metal shavings made a home in there. This car has no factory heat exchanger above the oil filter so I will use my Trust/Greddy one with the built in thermostat and oil pressure/temp sensors instead:



The front swaybar clunked so I bent the subframe plate back into shape and removed the 5 lb metal chunk above it that the JDM cars don't have:



I started chipping rust - this is the inside of the rear left fender:



I want to go with a sleek look and I immediately took off the trunk/wing combo to sell. I will post a thread here and CL. I am buying an L trunk in 2 days and I put my old L hood on in the meantime:

 
#5 · (Edited)
So apparently the car has an oil leak coming from the rear of the oil pan. This is not an easy place to get to if you don't want to pull the motor.

I pulled the 2 14mm nuts holding the engine mounts to the subframe and also removed the tranny pitch mount and hoisted the engine up. I had to loosen the radiator as well so I didn't rip the lower rad hose off.

This is the gap I was left with:

^ Do you think that dent is affecting the oil pickup?

I broke the bolts loose with a 10mm socket and had a TON of help by using a flexible screwdriver twisty bendy rod thingy. Thank you Subaru for putting Phillips slots on those bolts!

Voila!



I had already loosened the dipstick tube from the top so I could wiggle it around and fandangle it out of there.

Cleaning the dirty pan:




Nice job welding an oil return line from the turbski:


By the way, are all RS pans silver??? ^ I've only ever seen black oil pans on Subarus, both turbo and non.

All clean!



I started chipping away at some of the rust. I have repaired rusty fenders a few times now, this should be a breeze. My initial plan was to get the sheetmetal flares of Ebay and go wider STI suspension links and wider wheels, but this car ended up being in way better shape than I figured. Now I think I will fix it to "factory spec", and if needbe I can always go wider in the future.




^ From the door trim removal :sigh:
 
#9 · (Edited)
I got the Permatex Red to do the oil pan and started cleaning the bolts. I didn't take pics after the bolts were cleaned:




Time to get the bigger oil cooler mounted:




I ended up using a totally new mount:



Not too bad:



I took out the "broken" oil pressure sending unit and the T-fitting in the factory oil pressure hole broke off:




I replaced it with my other one even though it turned out to be a bad gauge:




Soldered the wires for the new pressure sending unit. I had to use both sandwich adapters sadly:




T6 changed their look. I heard soon they are changing the formula and it won't be good for Subies anymore.

 
#10 ·
So the oil lines for the oil cooler decided to assplode when I went for a test cruise. It took almost a gallon of backup oil I brought with to get me home. I wasn't even that far away. Lol luckily no harm just oil ALL over the place

I ordered new braided line, and will post pics once it's here.
 
#13 ·
^this, when I had my prosport gauges back in the day I went though about 3 senders before I figured this out. Defi senders are pretty stout, I mounted the Defi one directly to the block and had no issues.

Lol on the oil fooler! Good idea sending it to the trash bin if it has been on a motor with a spun bearing. (plus the blue GReddy one looks cooler anyway.)
 
#16 ·
I got another wingless trunk from a junkyard that was in MUCH better shape for 30 bucks :)

I forgot to take a pic. Also the RS hood is back on, whatever, screw the attempts at getting all the air to flow through the front mount(s).
 
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