Project "Poverty Spec" 1993 Impreza FWD Autocross XS class/Track Day budget build!

[Kostamojen]

First track day (SCCA Track Night) of the year testing out the new mods. Absolutely the most gorgeous, nicest weather I've ever had at Thunderhill! There were even wildflowers in the hills!







Yes that was a Plaid that was there, along with a Ginetta. The Plaid didn't survive the first session, don't know if it was the battery or something else. Lots of other fast cars in the Advanced rungroup I was in, very different from the last event last year.

YouTube (Short URL)

YouTube (Short URL)

So the nitty gritty about the car...

Coolant and Oil temps were great! Coolant temps stayed at below 200, mostly from 185-195. Oil temps stayed at 240 or below. Great!

Brakes: SIGNIFICANTLY better! The master cylinder upgrade really made the pedal feel just about perfect, and the new proportional valve made ALL the different with brake lockup. No longer did the rears lockup first at bad times, I had more confidence braking but took me awhile to have the confidence to really get into them.

Suspension: The new coilovers eliminated any of the odd "slop" I was feeling during high G corners. I believe most of it is due to the camber plates eliminating the rubber from the tophats. Its not good for the street, but certainly made a difference on the track. Being able to easily access the shock adjustment points was so nice too.

Engine: Now here was the issue... Near the end of the second session, the engine started bucking and got a flashing CEL. Checked for codes after pulling off and there were NO CODES in the system. Ran the car in the third session at about 3/4 throttle the whole time and mostly in 4th gear, just focusing on braking zones and lines rather than gear shifting.

YouTube (Short URL)

YouTube (Short URL)

I suspected it was because of the Turbosmart BOV I put in the car, so I sent in some Accessport logs to Travis @ Snail (my tuner) and he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. No knocking or anything like that was recorded on track or during some third gear pulls. Also, the first session on the track, I didn't hear the BOV because it was set to full circulate. During the second session I started to hear it even though I had not touched it.

So today I took the BOV off and put the stock one back on. While taking the Turbosmart one off, I found that when I turned the cap, the O ring just fell out. It was a free used one and clearly needed a rebuild which I should have done prior, but I think I'll just run without it for awhile.

Other Problem: On the way back home, I heard some noise from towing the car and saw sparks! Pulled over and the wheel straps had come off the car on the dolley... UGG! Luckly the chains held the car on. HOWEVER, one of the chains pulled hard on a control arm and bent the control arm! So now I need a new front right control arm and hopefully nothing else... I'll have to get under the car and check for more damage

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[Kostamojen]

A few more photos from the track day...

Forgot to take off the front plate! Knew I forgot something. Amazingly the engine temps were better than previous track days, although that was probably due to weather.

[narrowbodysubie]

This is so cool! I've always wanted to buy a cheap beater and make it into a race car...sadly I'm 18 and broke so that probably won't be happening for awhile. Still...I can live vicariously through builds like this

[Kostamojen]

Originally Posted by narrowbodysubie

This is so cool! I've always wanted to buy a cheap beater and make it into a race car...sadly I'm 18 and broke so that probably won't be happening for awhile. Still...I can live vicariously through builds like this

Ya, don't do a racecar (even a budget one) until you settle down after college and can actually afford being REALLY broke from owning a racecar


Pro Tip: Learn to Weld. Thats the best thing you can do at your age if you want to own a racecar in the future. Take a class at a community college or find someone to apprentice with, maybe some friends who know how. Thats really the one thing I don't know at my age that I should have learned at your age which would have helped a ton.

[Kostamojen]

Just did my first Autocross of the year yesterday! The car is a TOTAL HANDFUL now LOL!

Major issues with traction not having a differential, getting snap oversteer in some corners too. Had to dial down rear tire pressure and the strut settings to try and mitigate it, and I'm still just running the 17mm rear bar.

I decided to torture myself and drive the car to and from the track... Hour 45 minutes without A/C and super rough ride with no sound deadeing, wound up wearing a set of headphones hooked up to my phone the whole ride up and back Didn't feel like towing the car and the engine has been running great so I figured why not, plus it was only like 75 degrees so the temps weren't bad yesterday.

YouTube (Short URL)

YouTube (Short URL)

[Scooby South]

Awesome.... Any plans for a LSD in the future??? even a OBX one is better than nothing... hard to picture a FWD Subaru Snap Oversteering.....Bit sounds like are getting it dialed in..Congrats


Bill

[Kostamojen]

Originally Posted by Scooby South

Awesome.... Any plans for a LSD in the future??? even a OBX one is better than nothing... hard to picture a FWD Subaru Snap Oversteering.....Bit sounds like are getting it dialed in..Congrats

Ya, an LSD will be the next thing I spend money on. Might be awhile though cause I'll have to save up for one...

There are other options, like going to AWD or RWD, but pretty much anything other than adding a LSD to the current trans would be an even more expensive route and cause issues with transporting the car and such. I'm also trying to decide if I want to go EVEN MORE track orientated with ditching more interior bits and more DIY aero mods, or going to a more STREET use setup by adding A/C back in with sound deadening and other things to make it usable for regular use. Not sure right now which way ill go

[Flo_BRE]

Did you have to make any modifications to make the fortune auto coilovers fit. I have a V2 and just ordered and wondering if its a direct fitment since they say 97-01 only???

Originally Posted by Kostamojen

I've been shopping around for awhile to find a car to autox with and just have fun with, but I wanted to do it on a budget, around $5-6k tops. LOTS of miatas out there of course, but they stretch that budget to the max.

Couple weeks ago found this car on Craigslist, its a 1993 BASE model FWD!



What is a base spec Impreza you ask? Its the POVERTY SPEC version with unpainted bumpers, no AC, no power windows, no power locks, no basically anything! Its front wheel drive as mentioned, and according to my old curb weight thread (as seen here: https://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=915025 ) it was the LIGHTEST Impreza ever sold in the US!

After contemplating it for awhile, the SCCA announced a new Autocross class for this year called XS. This class is basically CAM class, for those who are familiar, but for all the non american cars. It allows also for JDM cars and right hand drive conversions plus a rash of other interesting modifications AND unlike Street Mod, you CAN'T run R compounds, limited to 200tw only which keeps this class as basically a better street car class for the folks who want to do whatever and just run for fun.

More info here: https://www.scca.com/articles/201339...lo-competition

Within the class rules it states that AWD cars have to weigh over 3000lbs, but in XS-B FWD cars can be as low as 2000lbs. This means that this poverty spec Impreza wound be able to run even with a slew of upgrades and ever more weight reduction as the curb weight sits at 2350lbs (I ran it on scales, it did indeed come up as 2350lbs).

I started off thinking about what I wanted to do, but then with how slow the forums have been I decided to try my hand at other social media. Here is a youtube vid below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1pWvXPWc1A

I'm not too comfy with any other social media yet, and other media like Facebook, Instagram, etc. don't work well with keeping all the info in one place and chronologically ordered... So I'm starting this thread!



I have a lot of other photos to post here, but I'll start with just this for now.


Adding current status of car picture in the first post I will try to keep updated:





Mod List currently:

Engine -

2002 WRX Engine Swap (New OEM EJ205 short block) BAR Certified
Full wiring harness swap
Headwork by M45 Automotive w/ GSC +1 Valves
11mm Oil Pump
Dom Cylinder 4 cooling mod
VF48 Turbo
AEM performance stock box air filter
AEM 320 Fuel Pump
STI Catless Uppipe
STI "Blue" Injectors
04-07 STI Intercooler
Grimmspeed Intercooler hoses
Turbosmart Dual Port BPV
DIY Intercooler Sprayer w/ Wagon washer
Kartboy Lightweight no A/C pully
Kartboy Carbon fiber pulley shroud
Killer B Oil pan/Baffle/Pickup
PTP Lava turbo blanket
COBB Heatshield
COBB EBCS
COBB Air Oil Seperator w/ CARB sticker
COBB v3 Accessport
Protune by Snail Performance
Koyo Aluminum Radiator for 93-98 models
DIY Radiator shrouds sides and top
Group N Engine mounts
Group N Pitch mount
Odyssey Lightweight Battery
Kartboy battery hold down
110amp Alternator
DIY simple grounding kit
SPT 02-07 Catback
DEI Heat shielding on intake, Heatshield, PS lines, and Intercooler

Drivetrain -

2002 WRX Transmission Converted to FWD
Exedy Stage 1 Clutch place/disc
Southbend 16lb flywheel
PDM snout repair kit
STI short shift kit
Kartboy Shifter Bushing kit
Turn in Concepts linkage bushing
Sickspeed 6" Angled Shift knob attachment
Tomei Duracon shift knob
Group-N Trans mount

Suspension -

Fortune Auto 500 Coilovers
Fortune Auto rear camber plates
Beatrush Front camber plates
Group-N rear front control arm bushings
Superpro front control arm bushings
2015 STI 13.0:1 Steering rack adapted to 93-01 fitament
Group N Power steering cooler
Superpro steering rack bushings
Whiteline 22mm adjustable Rear Swaybar
Superpro front and rear trailing arm bushings
TSS Fab Rear trailing links
Kartboy front endlinks

Wheels/Tires/Brakes -

Rota Grid 15x8 +20 Bronze
245/40r15 BFGoodrich Rival S 1.5 (2)
245/40r15 Falken RT660 (2)
Motegi Black Lugnuts
Subaru 4 Pot front brakes w/ WRX rotors
H6 rear disc brakes w/ Legacy rotors
Stoptech Performance brake pads
Stoptech Stainless brake lines
Grimmspeed Master Cylinder Brace
JDM Type-RA non abs proportional valve
2002 TS 1 1/16 4 port master cylinder
Motul 660 Brake fluid

Exterior -

JDM Version 2 Aluminum Hood
S209 OLM Replica spoiler
2015+ Roof shark fin kit (cut to fit)
Version 5 front bumper
Lasek Rockblox front lip
Carbon Foglight covers
JDM front and rear lightweight Bumper beams
Ebay Clear side markers
Ebay Antenna Delete
Trackdecals SCCA Autox numbers/stickers
Hella Supertone Horn w/ DIY horn switch
DIY Cut and pulled front fenders
DIY Rolled and jeavily pulled rear fenders

Interior -

2002 WRX Dash swap
Autometer triple gauge pod
Autometer Oil temp gauge
AEM Oil Pressure gauge
Corbeau Forza Red Seats
Corbeau Seat brackets
DIY Red Ozite Carpet
Schroth Rallye 3 harness
6overcrest Rear Seat Delete
Sparco 2 spoke steering wheel
Sparco steering wheel adapter
Kartboy Dead Pedal
Amazon Basics rubber floor mats
DIY 1/2 facelift front door panels
Removed rear door panels
Kartboy door strap handles
DIY fire extinguisher mount
DIY Sound deadening removal (whole car)
DIY Speaker system + Radio delete
DIY Accessport radio area mount via DDMan
Panavise Portagrip Phone Mount
DIY Aibag system delete
A/C not included with model
DIY Stickerbombed vinyl roof
Eject Button

[Kostamojen]

Originally Posted by Flo_BRE

Did you have to make any modifications to make the fortune auto coilovers fit. I have a V2 and just ordered and wondering if its a direct fitment since they say 97-01 only???

Are you FWD or AWD? AWD there isn't any difference in any 93-01 model, but if you are running FWD like I am, you need the rear camber plates for the tophat angle and to adjust the shocks a ton to compensate for the taller FWD rear strut distance.

[Kostamojen]

Had another Tracknight last Thursday.

Pretty fun event despite the 100+ degree temps that day. Lots of 90's and early 2000's cars in the Advanced group making it a bit of a nostalgia trip

Car did pretty good minus another flashing CEL and misfire code P0000. Not sure what it is, took a look at the plugs and coil packs today and they look fine, no knock detected with the Accessport and no other issues I can see. Had to not go 100% with the engine most of the day, but still set a personal best lap time on Thill West:

YouTube (Short URL)

YouTube (Short URL)

Full third session, this was the session that turned into a little bit of a battle. Efrain is the driver of the blue coupe, has a EJ207/6 speed swap but he was battling temps all day and couldn't drive it too hard. My temps were good though, coolant stayed below 190 and oil temps below 240.

YouTube (Short URL)

YouTube (Short URL)

Made a little video of the battle with the Civic with some of Efrains footage! The other fast Honda in the run group threw a rod (Integra w/B motor) during the second session

YouTube (Short URL)

YouTube (Short URL)

[Kostamojen]

Spent some time redesigning my front bumper for the track and to make it quick release so I don't have to uninstall the lip every time I load/unload the trailer...

I used two quick release tabs on each side and one in the middle. Found one of the quick release tab kits that uses an M6 thread, so its able to be used with a couple of perfect bolt locations on the side and the bolt hole under the license plate up front. Combine that with a quick modification of an extra grill I had laying around so I could access a couple of plastic popper spots on top for extra security and it works pretty darn well. Can have it off in just a few seconds now!

I also redid the lip because the plastic one was deforming on the track and having issues due to the shape of the front bumper. I used a $30 96x2" strip of aluminum from Home Depot to make a new lip. Its a little heavier of course but I was able to shape it properly and it will retain its shape at speed. Aero wise I have no idea but I'll find out LOL

[Kostamojen]

So I'm on the hunt for an STI Front LSD to try as an experiment with this car... Preferably looking for something used, so if you know anyone who has one laying around PLEASE let me know! I can get a new one for ~$600 so only looking to spend a couple hundred max on a used unit, but would prefer not to mess with a brand new one if I don't have to.

[BlueSTI4Me]

Originally Posted by Kostamojen

So I'm on the hunt for an STI Front LSD to try as an experiment with this car... Preferably looking for something used, so if you know anyone who has one laying around PLEASE let me know! I can get a new one for ~$600 so only looking to spend a couple hundred max on a used unit, but would prefer not to mess with a brand new one if I don't have to.

Message me Max on Facebook (Max Schrager) might have one. He's located in Kalamazoo MI.

[Kostamojen]

Originally Posted by BlueSTI4Me

Message me Max on Facebook (Max Schrager) might have one. He's located in Kalamazoo MI.

Ok, sent you a PM as requested.

[Kostamojen]

Quick bumper revision again. Used the aluminum lip to mount the other plastic lip I had, worked pretty well.

[Scooby South]

Question??? Why are you parting it out??? What's your plans now???

Bill

[Kostamojen]

Parting it out? The limited slip I bought from Storm is arriving today

[Scooby South]

Originally Posted by Kostamojen

Parting it out? The limited slip I bought from Storm is arriving today

I just noticed all the GC parts you were selling on FB.... so I was curious..

Bill

[Kostamojen]

Originally Posted by Scooby South

I just noticed all the GC parts you were selling on FB.... so I was curious..

Bill

Just getting rid of some stuff. Also setting up the car so I can drive it normally as well as on the track so I can enjoy it more.

I will post more about it eventually.

[Kostamojen]

Alright, update post as promised...

First up, YES a front differential has arrived courtesy another old school Scoob guy Jay Storm!



Its just a torsen OBX. Had an option for a Cusco diff for a lot more money but didn't want to deal with maintenance. This should solve a bit of my one wheel peel problems going forward.

Going to have to get a trans gasket kit too of course, will be a LOT of work to do this but I've done two transmission pulls on this car already. When I'm in there, I should probably change the clutch again because of the lift off decel rattle I'm getting from the Exedy clutch kit I put in... REALLY wish I spent the extra money on the ACT kit from the start, as this is a common problem with this trans and clutch kit.


So I also made the decision to setup the car more for street use now, but still keep it track capable. I REALLY wanted to just drive it around for fun and work on fixing up the body a little to make it look half decent. Driving it around obviously means putting more interior back in and making the exterior more subdued and less full racecar.

I was looking for a rear seat to use at Pick n Pull since I didn't have one, found a 98 Legacy GT with a really good condition interior. I knew the rear seats work, and from I remembered, the fronts as well, so I bought the lot... Especially since the rears are fold down. Almost had heat stroke pulling them and getting them out of the junkyard though!





Whats also cool is that the Legacy seats sit LOWER in a GC Impreza than just about any seat I've tried, almost as low as JDM GC seats. GD seats when in an Impreza, sit VERY high so I certainly didn't want those. These don't have very good bolstering though, but the driver side has lumbar AND height adjust. Plus I really liked the retro cloth pattern.

I went back again a couple days later and bought some interior bits from a 93 sedan that showed up at the same Pick N Pull in rather good shape. Bought the trunk bits plus the trunk carpet from the same Legacy which is extremely plush and nice compared to Impreza trunks and only needed minor trimming to fit.



Also FINALLY got a trunk without any holes in it, something I've been looking for awhile for. Not seeing many Sedans or Coupes around here in yards anymore. I picked up a facelift L bumper too and set it up so I can swap between that bumper and my track bumper really quickly since they are both quick release now!

As you can see, the stickers on the outside are off the car now too...




Finally, I got a leather steering wheel that doesn't have as much dish to it and took off my shifter extension for regular driving. The steering wheel can obviously swap with my track deep dish wheel very quickly too.

I came up with a simple cupholder addition solution too... Used the plastic piece of the cupholder from the 02 WRX center console and mounted it to where the useless ashtray was at the back of the pre-facelift GC center console. Works great for the water bottle I always keep in the car!




So in any case, the rest of the things I'm going to try and do this winter while its nice and not hot:

1) Add A/C back into the car. I have about everything needed outside of a new condenser (should be $100 or so). This will be a tough process though, as the whole interior and dash has to come out along with the radiator. I will probably add some kind of lighter weight sound deadening back behind the dash along with maybe redo the carpet at the same time, which would also be when I would paint the interior with something or add some kind of light weight sound deadening there as well or both.

2) Paint the car. Need to figure out a $100-200 solution for painting the car. I picked up a door as well so I won't have to have the pass side rear repaired. Doing some experimenting with painting myself (NOT spray painting, trying to limit use of spraying) possibly even doing an art-car type paint job? Not sure, going to try and take my time with this.

3) Install that LSD... Will be a big job there too, pulling the trans. Might replace the clutch.

So anyway, lots of changes are in store. I still need to find front door cards! No luck with those at junkyards. I'm even contemplating changes with suspension and wheels/tires too. The springs are just too stiff right now even for the track. I could take the 6k rears and put them up front and put some 4ks in the back, but that won't solve the stiff ride caused by camber plates front and rear.

For wheels, there are 15x8 +40 Rota Slipstreams that exist, but I don't think they clear the 4pots... Still have issues with rear fender clearance since they are +20 and want to move the wheels in some, but I'm REALLY liking the short 245/40r15 tires for basically everything. I could even put on some street narrower tires on the current wheels and get those Slipstreams and run the 245s, I just don't know, its a lot of money to pull that off even so it will have to wait.

[D-Rodman]

Looking good, thanks for keeping the thread interesting.
I split dd duty between two old cars, 05 Saabaru an 02 wrx sedan.
Fun.

[D-Rodman]

Double post, apologies.

[500_19B]

Really enjoyed reading through this thread! Quite the journey... to track car with a turbo motor and now evolving to a dual purpose car. I found it particularly interesting to see the detail of the FWD suspension.

As an alternative to paint, you may also want to consider wrapping. The only caveat is the the wrap will not likely adhere well to the unpainted bumper parts, but if they are only going to be run on the track set up, then maybe that is no issue.

[Kostamojen]

Originally Posted by 500_19B

As an alternative to paint, you may also want to consider wrapping. The only caveat is the the wrap will not likely adhere well to the unpainted bumper parts, but if they are only going to be run on the track set up, then maybe that is no issue.

I've done wrap before, its more expensive than people think. It also won't work with this particular car because there are a lot of bad imperfections with the paint and in some areas, missing paint!

So prep for wrap would at the very least require a full sanding and primer coat with some areas of body filler. At that point, might as well just paint it.

There are a lot of videos out there for how to do it too, but its a lot of prep work that I'm pretty terrible at... I have lots of time though and I'm going to experiment on a couple spare pieces I have sitting around first.

YouTube

YouTube

[Scooby South]

Damn dude.. thats awesome.. quite the update for sure. Good luck with it

Bill