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

[Kostamojen]

The new plates and new official name for the project have finally arrived!

Trying to decide if I want to restart a new thread with the new title and ditch all the dead pics here, but the forum is so dead its hard to decide if its worth the effort...

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[Kostamojen]

Also picked up a couple Black Friday parts...





With this Whiteline bar that actually clears the AOS, and the new LSD plus 20mm rear sway bar, the car is handling VERY good right now!

So I picked up a couple other things to start changing some other stuff...





iWire battery relocation kit and grounding kit so I can put a battery in the trunk. Still trying to figure out where to put it, and I plan on moving the washer reservoir back there too.



Picked this up to for the crazy BF price (GS JB400). Not sure if I'm going to use it though or just sell it, have no clue how it will run with the EJ205 with the stock downpipe, but I really want the torque band to not drop from 4k-7k and the HP curve to stay so flat, but this might kick in way too late.

[Gixhost]

Nice!

[Kostamojen]

Finally got around to making an update video... My social anxiety hates doing these

YouTube (Short URL)

YouTube (Short URL)

[Markuli]

That's cool, usually you see strut bars route back towards the firewall.

[Kostamojen]

Finished my battery relocation project...

Used a Noco NLP20 battery in the spare tire well and put a universal washer bottle from Amazon where the jack sits to make it hidden as well as move weight to the back of the car and make more room in the engine bay to make it easier to work on. Turned out pretty good.

[Kostamojen]

First track day in what, 3 years with the car today!

YouTube (Short URL)

YouTube (Short URL)

I'll have more vids and pics to come.

Also, current photo of the garage

[500_19B]

Interesting and diverse garage. The size differences are striking!

The track video is great. Having the three viewing angles really adds to the amount of information.

[Kostamojen]

Video from a journalist for SpeedSF test driving the car. Will be a blog article about it next week. Also filming possibly two reviews tomorrow for Youtube channels

YouTube (Short URL)

YouTube (Short URL)

[bemani]

Wow, you replaced the Macan with 2 new cars!

[Kostamojen]

Originally Posted by bemani

Wow, you replaced the Macan with 2 new cars!

Well the I5N was the direct replacement and just a short cheap lease, and the Miata has been my plan for years when it was just me so I can travel around in it.

BTW I did test drive a 2025 GR Corolla Auto and really liked it, but its more of a 1 car garage car not a 3 car garage car

[Kostamojen]

Reviews from Zygrene and Jubbal & Cars coming soon!

[bemani]

Originally Posted by Kostamojen

Well the I5N was the direct replacement and just a short cheap lease, and the Miata has been my plan for years when it was just me so I can travel around in it.

BTW I did test drive a 2025 GR Corolla Auto and really liked it, but its more of a 1 car garage car not a 3 car garage car

Yeah its not too different from any number of STis, I5N is a better choice for a more diverse experience.

[Kostamojen]

Pic finally came in from the track day...

[Kostamojen]

As promised, the article from Tommy at SpeedSF about the Impreza is out today!

https://www.speedsf.com/blog/2025/4/24/steves-impreza

Steve's Impreza: Simplicity Trumps Traction

With the hope of building a lean, honest, and uncompromised track car, Steve Martegani knew which Impreza would suit him best. The 1993 base model came sans every power amenity. This "poverty spec" car lacked painted bumpers, AC, power windows, power locks, and any drive to the rear axle. The lightest Impreza ever sold Stateside, this car weighed in at just 2,325 pounds - which would make it easy on his wallet, lively, and encouraging.

The timing of this acquisition couldn't have been better. With a moderate budget set aside and the world then ground to a halt, this COVID project would serve him as a vessel into which he'd pour hundreds of hours and all the know-how he'd accumulated through trawling NASIOC and other Subaru-specific forums. When life is put on pause, you better have something to occupy your time with. Steve did.

The ponderous Impreza front end would not be up to par, so in went a '15 STI steering rack, poly steering rack bushings, poly front control arm bushings, and Group-N rear control arm bushings.


The rear end was a point of contention between Steve and some of his friends. While some suggested he implement a four wheel-drive drivetrain, Steve was adamant to keep the car remain front-driven, partially for reasons of weight, but also because he believed he could build a better handling car without powering the rear wheels.

"Because of the location of the rear axle, the rear strut goes in front of the center point of the rear axle, so the suspension is off-kilter. With the front wheel-drive setups rear suspension, the strut stands straight."

Even without half-shaft angles to consider, he had to think about the stock geometry and maintaining that while lowering the car some. His solution was simple.


"One of the things he wanted to avoid was inverting the arms. If excessively low, it's easy to burn out axles and CV joints - it's the same reason lifted Subarus destroy axles quickly. So, I went with lower tires.

With a 245/45-15 tire, I maintain the same suspension angles while lowering the car an inch lower than 17s or 18s would, and I keep the car a little higher off the ground. I didn't know if it would work, but that experimenting paid off.

Originally, Steve wanted to keep the car normally aspirated, but once he stumbled upon a laughably cheap front clip from an early 2000s USDM WRX, he figured he'd try going the turbo route.


"The priority with the turbo motor was heat management, so I installed a Koyorad, a power steering cooler, and laid out lots of gold foil on the IC and intake. With the foil, I can touch the intercooler without burning my hands right after pulling off the track, but I couldn't before the foil. There's a wrap on the turbo, a heat shield, and lots of shielding on the downpipe, too. The vents on the GC hood help, and having no ABS pump on left side, or a battery on right side - which was relocated to the trunk - clears up a lot of space."


The EJ205 is an old engine by now, but it's still responsive enough for a course like Thunderhill West with an abundance of hairpins and second-gear corners. With a larger VF48 turbo from a contemporary STI, the engine produces a healthy 268 horsepower and 285 lb-ft at the front wheels, most of which is experienced in the mid-range. Towards the top of the rev range, the turbo runs out of puff. However, that midrange grunt is accessible and keeps more powerful cars from pulling away too quickly.

A large part of why that modest power figure seems so healthy is because it doesn't have to pull much mass around. Throughout the entire build, Steve kept an eye on the scales. Any item which could trim a few pounds was considered. Some compromises had to be made to maximize weight reduction, but since he wanted to drive the car on the street and run in an autocrossing class which requires some interior, he left the carpet. That was about as luxurious as it got, though.

Putting the car on a diet didn't mean style had to suffer. Cheap and quirky, the interior has a 2002 WRX's dash, a 1999 Legacy's rear seats, and custom door cards using the cheapest available fabric.


Though the off-center information is poor, the rack comes alive with a little more steering lock, and it is quick and fairly informative. This is a vital quality since, with so much torque going through the front tires alone, it isn't difficult lighting those tires when the boost arrives. Ideally, the turbo shouldn't join the party until the fronts have straightened sufficiently to drag the car forward. Light the turbo too soon, and the front end crabwalks until the steering wheel is straightened.

Fortunately, it's easy to avoid a lot of time-sapping understeer. Fortune Auto 500 Coilovers with 8k/6k rates soak up bumps, but provide an impressive degree of response as well. To aid in rotation, a pair of four pots from a 2006 WRX up front and a pair of two pots from a 2004 Outback H6 are easily controlled, even without ABS.


"The car originally had rear drums, and they had to go. Unfortunately, the brake bias with a drum arrangement is so wildly different to a car with front/rear discs that I had to change the proportioning valve to something suited to four-wheel discs. There were only a few cars with four wheel-disc setups that didn't incorporate ABS.

After I found a part number floating around the forums, I bought one of the last in existence from Japan. While I was at it, I also upgraded the master cylinder. People used to buy the non-ABS Subaru SVX master cylinder for these swaps, but it turns out there's a 2002-2003 Impreza Ts Wagon which came without ABS. This is identical to the SVX's, which few people know about."


Not only is the outright stopping force impressive and reassuring when the Falken RT660s are providing the footprint, but modulation is detailed, too. The way the car can be slowed and rotated repeatedly is truly special and what makes the Subaru so damn engaging. Time the release of the brake pedal correctly, carry a reasonable amount of speed into the corner, and it is quite easy to repeatably rotate the car as the trailing period ends. Thank a 2002 WRX's 20mm rear sway for facilitating this repeatable rotation.

Time everything correctly, and the car backs into the corner slightly, and as the apex passes, the steering is virtually straight, which is when it's best for the boost to begin building.

Few cars I've driven at Thunderhill West feel as composed over the curbs. The compliance is something that helps the car waft along at reasonable speeds without really taxing the driver. There's just a sense that, no matter what, it won't snap or surprise you.

Currently, he's content with the state of the Subaru, though are some minor items that could be improved, though. "It needs a better seat, and possibly better brakes up front - something more track-oriented without dust boots.

At some stage, it would be nice to keep building power towards the redline. The turbo falls off around 6,000 rpm, so I could upgrade to a hybrid VF48 for better flow at the top end - all it would need is bigger injectors and a bigger hot side, some porting, and some ceramic coating. As it sits, the car is totally smog legal, too.

The build has kept him sane through a trying period in life. As Steve started out on this project, his father began to decline. Having to deal with a parent with Alzheimer's as well as COVID simultaneously would make some people go a bit kooky, but working on the Impreza at the end of a long day was the respite he dearly needed. Now, after years of fine-tuning and forum trawling, he's finally able to enjoy his pandemic project.

Copyright © 2017 Speed SF Track Events. All rights reserved.

[Kostamojen]

First of the two reviews is up! This one is a POV comparison by Kevin from Jubbal & Cars.

YouTube (Short URL)

YouTube (Short URL)

[Kostamojen]

Autox video from yesterday. Thinking of retiring it from Autox, its a better track car now plus I'd rather autox the Miata or I5N (several folks wanted me to bring out the I5N )

YouTube (Short URL)

YouTube (Short URL)

[BasicMal]

What a dope build!

[Kostamojen]

Last of the 3 reviews of the car is up, this time by Zygrene:

YouTube (Short URL)

YouTube (Short URL)

[flyboymike]

Originally Posted by Kostamojen

Last of the 3 reviews of the car is up, this time by Zygrene:

http://youtu.be/9WOhMlyRw1s?

I love seeing forum OGs getting some recognition. I've enjoyed reading about your builds over the years.