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Bast's MY99 RS - Prodrive P1 Replica

374K views 2K replies 143 participants last post by  Bast 
#1 · (Edited)
About Me:
I've been browsing this forum for a bit and finally have a reason to create a journal. My name is Jess and I purchased the RS I wanted in July 2013. I had a couple opportunities to purchase a sedan RS, but I wanted to hold out for a coupe. Being that I lived in Oregon, the prices for RS' were laughable. While waiting for the right car I went through 4 other cars. I started with a 2003 Suzuki Aerio, to a 2003 VW GTI 20th Anniversary, to a 2005 Legacy GT Limited wagon (loved that beast, but it had a busted short block) and then to a 2000 Audi A4 Quattro. This was in a span of a year and half. :lol:

About the Car:
I purchased the RS from a Subaru 'specialist' dealer in Oregon in July 2013. They had completely overhauled the engine (new parts mentioned in post #2) when I picked it up at 124,500 miles with a 5-speed manual transmission and new tires. It had some blemishes (the rust spot I somehow missed until I got home) and a broken driver's side mirror. It came with the OBX axleback and OEM subwoofer, but any other addition has been added by me. All in all, I am completely happy with my purchase.

The main plan is to keep the car N/A and focus on cosmetic and chassis/suspension/brake upgrades. There will be no 'lowlife' or flares or widebody. It'll be something of a Prodrive P1 replica. I definitely want to update and refresh all the bushings and old OE parts; it really needs it... A possible far future plan would be to purchase a wrecked 05-07 STi and do a full USDM swap, but I'm in no considerable rush to do that.




Interior
  • JDM STi MT blue pedal set
  • JDM STi V5/6 front door cards
  • JDM WRX gray HVAC trim
  • JDM WRX gray shift trim
  • JDM Subaru red hazard button
  • OEM black coupe carpet
  • OEM Subaru barometer pack
  • LHD dash cubby
  • Prodrive P1 cluster
  • Prodrive P1 front seats
  • Prodrive P1 rear seat
  • Prodrive black 5MT shift knob
  • Prodrive floor mats
  • STi V9 steering wheel
  • GD all-weather mats
  • WRX wagon intermittent wiper stalk
  • Slate alcantara rear door trim inserts from Zealous Interiors
  • Shiba dog hairs

Audio & Lighting
  • Kenwood 6x9 rear speakers
  • OEM subwoofer
  • OEM trunk light
  • Prodrive P1 Hella spotlights
  • White LED map/dome lighting
  • White LED HVAC lighting
  • Natural White LED corner lights
  • Retrofit headlights (smushed)
= E46-R shrouds
= Morimoto Mini H1 7.0 projectors
= Morimoto XB35 ballasts
= MotoControl Bixenon harness
= 4500k bulbs

Exterior
  • JDM Subaru taillights
  • JDM Subaru clear corners
  • JDM Subaru front aeroguards
  • JDM Subaru rear aeroguards
  • JDM 22B OE hood vents
  • JDM STi V5/6 grille
  • JDM STi V5/6 rear bumper
  • JDM rear spats
  • JDM flat fuel door
  • EDM frosted bumper lights
  • Prodrive P1 OEM trunk badge
  • Prodrive P1 OEM fender badges
  • Prodrive P1 OEM spotlight covers
  • Prodrive P1 OEM spoiler
  • Prodrive P1 replica front splitter
  • Prova blue mirrors
  • Depo clear side markers
  • Depo glass headlights
  • Paint-matched side skirts
  • JDM rear wiper conversion - needs install

Engine & Exhaust
  • 04/05 EJ205
  • GD STi top mount
  • VF43
  • Killer B pickup
  • Paranoid Fabrications grounding kit
  • Grimmspeed catted downpipe
  • Grimmspeed EBCS
  • Grimmspeed TMIC Y-pipe kit
  • Grimmspeed black engine bay caps
  • TurboXS midpipe
  • Prodrive oval tip axleback
  • Kartboy exhaust hangers
  • DeatschWerks DW300 fuel pump

Chassis & Suspension
  • KYB AGX struts
  • Eibach 'Prodrive' P11L springs
  • Group N rear tophats
  • GT Spec fender braces
  • CUSCO lower rear subframe brace
  • CUSCO front strut bar
  • CUSCO front power brace
  • CUSCO pitch stop
  • CUSCO h-brace - need to install
  • Whiteline steering rack bushings
  • PERRIN front endlinks
  • Kartboy rear subframe locking bolts
  • COBB front shifter bushing
  • COBB rear shifter bushing
  • STi rear sway bar
  • STi trailing arms and lateral links
  • 2015 STi 13:1 steering rack
  • GD column and linkage
Brakes & Wheels
  • Winter: 205/55/16 Bridgestone Blizzak tires with OEM gold RS 5 spokes 16x7 +55
  • Summer: 225/45/17 Falken Azenis RT615K with Prodrive GC010e 17x7.5 +47
  • Muteki black lugnuts
  • USDM WRX 4-pots painted Titanium Blue
  • USDM WRX 2-pots painted Titanium Blue
  • Centric premium rotors
  • Stoptech street performance brake pads
  • Stoptech SS brake lines
  • Kartboy rear 2-pot adapters

Notes
  • Cluster swap #1: Mileage of stock RS cluster: 139,758mi / Mileage of V6 cluster: 167,948km
  • Cluster swap #2: Mileage of V6 cluster: 199,259km / Mileage of P1 cluster: 191,398km / Chassis mileage: 159,214mi
  • Actual mileage: 194,425 as of January 3rd, 2019
  • Rebuilt NA motor swapped in at 203,500mi December 2019. Rebuilt motor has anywhere from 30-50k miles.
  • EJ205 motor installed at approximately 219,800mi March 2022 with 30k-ish miles.

Parts Wanted
  • V5/6/Prodrive P1 rear doorcards
  • STi 6 speed
 

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#141 ·
Thanks Chaz; I love this bumper! Would you be going back to OR?

Haha, if there was ever a time to ding up a car it would be before taking it in for repairs/paint. I still hate that it happened but it didn't raise the estimate too much. I'm trying not to have too high of expectations, as it is Maaco. Fingers and toes crossed ;)
 
#145 ·
Nice!

Looking at the invoice, it's a single-stage urethane and sealer with 3-year warranty. Any peeling, cracking or loss of gloss I can bring it back. The body work and plethora of removed/extra parts is what racked up the cost for me haha.
 
#150 ·
Maaco called this morning--not picking up the car tomorrow.

He said the paint had a chemical reaction and created fisheyes all over the car. From what I read, that's from poor prep work. Yeah, I know, "You get what you pay for." yadda yadda.. I'm hoping that this second time around they pay extra attention to their prep and do it even better. If not, they'll just have to do it again until I'm satisfied. I'm at least thankful that they didn't try to deliver it in that condition.

Now I have to drive this obnoxious thing around.
 
#154 · (Edited)
Finally picked her up; yay all one color!


I didn't get any better photos while putting it back together. I also didn't take any when I first saw it all disassembled. I was tired, grumpy, hungry and in a rush. Just imagine no bumpers, spoiler, lights, etc.

A few things about Maaco; orange peel is abundant, I expected that. There are a couple drips and some parts were not painted well. I expected that too. All in all, it's a decent paint job and I'm happy to have everything all the same color, shiny, and no rust or dings (and 3 year warranty). Once the paint has cured long enough I'll see what can be done about the peel.

There was instance where I got pissed off. My hood would not lock shut and was wiggling about. I tell the guy at the desk about it and he comes out to look. He says, "Oh, just don't go fast on the highway. Take the side streets and you'll be fine," Okay cool, you want me to drive away from your business with an unsecured hood? Will you be replacing my windshield when it flies open? Eff that, I got another person to look at it and they fixed it. /rant

I didn't put everything back on when I was there.

So, things to put on:
hood scoop
side moldings
side skirts
fog lights
spats
roof trim

I should probably revitalize my exhaust tip too. It's looking rather drab.

We're leaving for Indiana tomorrow for Tyler's grandmother's 80th birthday so no time for better photos. Sorrrrrry.
 
#156 ·
Thank you! It's definitely an improvement over how it was previously.

In other news, a fellow RS owner back in the PNW is selling me his 70k RS steering rack. The money I save on the used part will go towards Whiteline bushings. Making progress on fixing all the issues.
 
#160 · (Edited)
School parking this morning.


I should be receiving my steering rack tomorrow. Turns out, he sent me a 40k 07 2.5i Impreza rack and pinion along with the 99 RS rack (and the steering pump, hoses and TREs). I'm under the impression that there is no difference in racks between the 99 and 07. So if not, I'll use the newer one for sure.
 
#161 ·
Took advantage of a class being cancelled and installed my JDM red hazard button, WRX intermittent wiper, and 2 out of 4 of the STi pedals. I didn't have the right bolt length to get the gas pedal on and I need to find the best way to get the dead pedal on.


Side note: Maaco ate all of my gum except for one piece.. :facepalm:
 

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#162 · (Edited)
Finally gave this thing a wash since the paintjob. Overall, it's really not that bad. There are two spots on the trunk that are dumb. Behold:


I don't know how, as a painter, you step back and be like, "Eh, looks good to me," That said, I don't feel like taking it back and risking it looking worse. I also have things that need to be done to the car that are more dire than paint drips. Such as the steering rack hopefully getting replaced this weekend.

Here's the rest of my terrible CA sunny day iPhone photos





I was going to put the side moldings back on, but I forgot the grommets at home and didn't want to halfass it. The roof moldings not being there are really annoying as well, but some of the clips broke when removing it :rolleyes:.
 
#218 ·
I don't know how, as a painter, you step back and be like, "Eh, looks good to me," That said, I don't feel like taking it back and risking it looking worse. I also have things that need to be done to the car that are more dire than paint drips. Such as the steering rack hopefully getting replaced this weekend.

Good call. I never take anything back to a place who in the first place did a crappy job. BTW nice RS. My wife has a silver one and I have a wagon which is kind of similar to you and your boyfriend.
 
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