The Ultimate Wagonista ... JaiMak's '98 ... Nasioc's Top Scoob 004

JaiMak · 10-31-2007, 01:12 PM

edit: - crash pic on pg 2, rebuilt pics w/new colour on pg 3.

*new* Hi Res gallery http://www.jamesmcintoshjr.com/wagon/

also, some pics from the build http://www.jamesmcintoshjr.com/car2/

The story so far-

My name is James, and I've helped run the Toronto Subaru Club since about sometime in 1999, back in the 2.5rs club days. A few years later I assumed the lead position in the club, and have been running it ever since.

Back in the hey-day, I was rockin a 2 door silverthorne metallic 2.5RS that some might remember... http://www.toronto-subaru-club.com/p...0-0032_IMG.jpg

Unfortunately, due to financial pressures I was unable to keep the car, and a little over 2 years ago was forced to sell it. It was a tough decision, as that car and I had been through a lot, had countless adventures, and it had saved my life on the road on more than 1 occasion. When I sold it, I promised myself that I would replace it with something that I would love equally. I was patient, saved as much as I could, didn't own a car for an entire year (and still tried to run the TSC, even though it's kinda ridiculous to come to meets when you have to take the bus to get there). 14 months after selling the RS the wagon was built in it's more or less current form.

The thing about the wagon is it had to adhere to certain criteria-
1. It would be a street car, not a show car, so it had to be driveable, reliable and easily liveable around the crap roads of toronto.
2. it had to adhere to a BUDGET! Unlike many who buy a car and then continue down the path of endless modification, if I was going to make this happen and still have a functioning life it had to be cheap. The whole project was given the budget of what it would've cost me at the time to buy a used WRX, around $25k Canadian. I did manage to stick to it, and the car you see here is worth about 1/3 the cost of my buddy' Arthur (boeleni's) car, including paint, wheels... everything! It had to very much be an attainable car for anybody with imagination and a half-decent knowledge of Subarus.
3. It had to be as fast as a stock STI.

So you could say the wagon was completely planned out from the beginning, I had started collecting rare and hard to find parts (like wagon spoilers) since the sale of the RS. One notable part being the top spoiler, which I brought back with me from australia after attending my brother's wedding as my carry-on. He went right to MRT to get it for me. The Prova aero kit was chosen because of it's look and also it's rarity, and it took almost 6 months to get it from japan (they had to make it too), which was fine, since I didn't have a car to put it on!

In June of 06 I found a reasonably well preserved 1998 Brighton wagon, the base of base imprezas. Roll your own windows, only 2 speakers for the stereo and a peanut-butter/beige interior. Arthur and I picked it up in Kanata, 400 km away from toronto for $5000. We literally started modifying it as soon as we got it in the driveway! On went a set of 98 golds and the STI version 6 v-limited seats I had found 6 months prior, as well as a few other little tidbits. this only lasted a short while, as the car's interior was stripped in preparation for paint. The entire interior was removed, the beige HAD to go. While the car was in paint, I dyed the dash, door panels and every last piece of plastic trim, pop-rivets and all black. The headliner was peeled and reapholstered with black micro fiber, the door inserts and handles with blue microfiber to match the seats. the carpet was replaced with an 05 STI carpet, and I even managed to dig up an old version 6 v-limited stereo bezel I'd had sitting in storage for 3 years, which where meant to go with the seats.

The day we got the car out of paint, (the paint being mitsubishi A39, AKA medium gunmetallic grey, aka EVO MR grey) in went the suspension. A simple setup designed for street use and light track use - KYB AGX adjustable shocks with whiteline control springs. A whiteline adjustable sway bar was added later, and going in this week is a set of forged STI aluminum control arms and whiteline KCA 313 ball joint kit. an STI carbon strut brace completes the setup (for the time being)

The car then went in for the swap with the fine folks at Planet Motorsports in Guelph. Iain Fraser sourced me a pristine 2003 STI Version 8 twinscroll, with an accompanying Six Speed transmission. The only thing missing was the ECU and the wiring harness. Budget being on mind, and knowing full well an new harness, ECU and MAF sensor were gonna cost big, I went with the logical and elegant solution of a Hydra Nemesis EMS. Making the car fully tunable right off the bat, and avoiding a lot of hassles with finding, then adapting a JDM wiring harness and ECU. A manual DCCD controller was added for the time being (a neetronics DCCD controller is planned). An old, previously enjoyed JIC catback (dubbed the "community exhaust") was tagged on to expell waste gases. The car went in for dyno testing, and with the baseline map supplied by Planet, the car churned out around what stock USDM STI were pulling on Neetronic's dyno (234 whp). It was then tuned afterwords, but just to smooth out the map and increase responsiveness. At just 2800 lbs the car tears up pavement, and is extremely fun to drive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkreRK6pIBA - dyno run

While the swap was going on, Iain installed the brakes I had sourced. Brakes are old-school STI / 2006 WRX 4 pots with EBC Sport rotors and EBC Redstuff up front, RS Discs were put in place of the stock drums out back.

Taking advantage of Arthur's WORK Wheels sponsorship, a set of Bronze XT7s in 18x7.5" were procured, shod with yokohama parada spec-2 in 215x40r18 from Tires23.com, a TSC Vendor.

So there you have it, the STI a dude driving a new RS could afford to build. I think the accessibility of this car gives it it's charm, that and it's a wagon. The car was finished around September of last year, and has pretty much stayed exactly the same since then. I've since gotten married and moved into a shared house, so maybe this year the car's budget can be extended a little bit so I can finish a few things, notably the awful stereo, with the 2 door speakers, and the original acadia green engine bay

Specs
1998 Impreza Brighton Wagon

Engine & transmission
2003 STi Version 8, w/twinscroll
Hydra EMS
JDM Six Speed with DCCD
Manual DCCD Controller
04 USDM STI Crossmember
prop shaft from an automatic impreza
JIC Catback

Suspension & Braking
KYB AGX w/ Whiteline control springs
2004 WRX wagon front sway bar
Whiteline adjustable rear sway bar (set to 22mm)
Group A front and rear endlinks
STI Forged Aluminum control arms
Whiteline KCA 313 kit
Subaru 4 pots (red) up front w/EBC Sport rotors & redstuff pads
2.5RS rear brake setup

Rollers
18x7.5" WORK Emotion XT7 in bronze
215x40r18 yoko parada spec-2

Outside
2.5RS hood
22B Vents
STI Sport kit hoodscoop (aka, S201 hoodscoop)
STI ver6 grille
STI ver6 bumper
STI fog covers (genuine)
STI wagon top spoiler (MRT replica)
STI wagon middle spoiler (replica)
JDM GF8 tailights
Clear sidemarkers
STI version 6 rear bumper w/ JDM re-bar
Complete Prova Aero Kit (front lip, sideskirts, rear skirt)
Full respray in Medium Gunmetallic Grey

Inside
Complete re-dye of all panels from beige-black
Black Microfiber retrim of the headliner, accents on dash cubby, center console
Blue microfiber retrim on door cards and handles
USDM STI carpet & floormats
STI version 6 v-limited seats and stereo bezel
Aftermarket power locks
Compustar alarm
STI Version 4 gauge cluster
Momo Fighter steering wheel w/HKB Boss hub
Crappy headunit & 2 blown speakers.

I owe a lot of people a lot of thanks for helping get this project done on budget, Arthur, Dan, Kevin, Jay, Ryan, my brother Derek, Derek from Group A, Iain and the crew at Planet, Paul and Andy at Neetronics, Rich at CanJam for his advice, and Chris Hoare for the awesome shots!

-James

* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.

chrisarella · 01-03-2008, 10:00 AM

Let me be the 1st to congratulate you. Well done man.

F EVOZ · 01-03-2008, 10:28 AM

congrats man....you deserve it!!

The battle for the top wagonistas was a long one..but one to remember..keep up the good work!

bigboy · 01-03-2008, 11:38 AM

so sweet man..congrats

JaiMak · 01-03-2008, 11:45 AM

thanks all, got big plans that I'm not quite at liberty to share just yet, keep your eye on this space in the next few months!

topguneagle1 · 01-03-2008, 12:48 PM

nice ride. congrats.

Stickee · 01-03-2008, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaiMak

thanks all, got big plans that I'm not quite at liberty to share just yet, keep your eye on this space in the next few months!

Congrats! Can't wait to see what you have in store...

Handsdown · 01-03-2008, 01:27 PM

woot! congrats, you had my vote every step of the way!

evilWagon · 01-03-2008, 01:30 PM

Congrats again JaiMak...

Everyone else: His car looks even better in person!

Butterz · 01-03-2008, 01:36 PM

Congrats! It was a pleasure doing battle with you.... even though you ran away with EVERY round.

Wagons for life.

ahowell · 01-03-2008, 01:36 PM

One day my wagon will look this good.
Great job!

kiwee · 01-03-2008, 02:13 PM

boooooYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!
james in da house!

JaiMak · 01-03-2008, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stickee

Congrats! Can't wait to see what you have in store...

1nsp · 01-03-2008, 02:54 PM

Congrats from a fellow GF owner.

psyber_0ptix · 01-03-2008, 02:54 PM

VERY nice. i've now decided i'm going to build a wagon someday (after graduation)

ghibli99 · 01-03-2008, 04:18 PM

Congrats! You had my vote.

-Mike

EdWRX · 01-03-2008, 07:02 PM

Beautiful wagon you have, top condition! keep it that way!

saxer · 01-03-2008, 09:09 PM

Nice wagon.

04ts · 01-04-2008, 06:04 AM

congrats James!
that's makes 2 top scoobs for Toronto Subaru Club!
(JaiMak and Boeleni)

AG_MY'98GT · 01-04-2008, 09:59 AM

nice ride man...congrats !

Metaphormc · 01-04-2008, 08:53 PM

Nice! Congratulations. I voted for you.

David Glasscock · 01-04-2008, 09:29 PM

congrats i new you would win!

MBREX02 · 01-05-2008, 03:38 AM

Congrats!!! Your car deserves it!!

vtecTHIS · 01-05-2008, 10:11 AM

sweet my propaganda for you worked

it was all me, nothing to to do with the car

M-e-X-x · 01-06-2008, 12:19 PM

2 in-a-row for TSC

10-31-2007, 01:12 PM	#1
JaiMak Top Scoob 004 Member#: 697 Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: TSC headquarters Vehicle: 1999 Top Scoob #4 Satin White Pearl	The Ultimate Wagonista ... JaiMak's '98 ... Nasioc's Top Scoob 004 edit: - crash pic on pg 2, rebuilt pics w/new colour on pg 3. new Hi Res gallery http://www.jamesmcintoshjr.com/wagon/ also, some pics from the build http://www.jamesmcintoshjr.com/car2/ The story so far- My name is James, and I've helped run the Toronto Subaru Club since about sometime in 1999, back in the 2.5rs club days. A few years later I assumed the lead position in the club, and have been running it ever since. Back in the hey-day, I was rockin a 2 door silverthorne metallic 2.5RS that some might remember... http://www.toronto-subaru-club.com/p...0-0032_IMG.jpg Unfortunately, due to financial pressures I was unable to keep the car, and a little over 2 years ago was forced to sell it. It was a tough decision, as that car and I had been through a lot, had countless adventures, and it had saved my life on the road on more than 1 occasion. When I sold it, I promised myself that I would replace it with something that I would love equally. I was patient, saved as much as I could, didn't own a car for an entire year (and still tried to run the TSC, even though it's kinda ridiculous to come to meets when you have to take the bus to get there). 14 months after selling the RS the wagon was built in it's more or less current form. The thing about the wagon is it had to adhere to certain criteria- 1. It would be a street car, not a show car, so it had to be driveable, reliable and easily liveable around the crap roads of toronto. 2. it had to adhere to a BUDGET! Unlike many who buy a car and then continue down the path of endless modification, if I was going to make this happen and still have a functioning life it had to be cheap. The whole project was given the budget of what it would've cost me at the time to buy a used WRX, around $25k Canadian. I did manage to stick to it, and the car you see here is worth about 1/3 the cost of my buddy' Arthur (boeleni's) car, including paint, wheels... everything! It had to very much be an attainable car for anybody with imagination and a half-decent knowledge of Subarus. 3. It had to be as fast as a stock STI. So you could say the wagon was completely planned out from the beginning, I had started collecting rare and hard to find parts (like wagon spoilers) since the sale of the RS. One notable part being the top spoiler, which I brought back with me from australia after attending my brother's wedding as my carry-on. He went right to MRT to get it for me. The Prova aero kit was chosen because of it's look and also it's rarity, and it took almost 6 months to get it from japan (they had to make it too), which was fine, since I didn't have a car to put it on! In June of 06 I found a reasonably well preserved 1998 Brighton wagon, the base of base imprezas. Roll your own windows, only 2 speakers for the stereo and a peanut-butter/beige interior. Arthur and I picked it up in Kanata, 400 km away from toronto for $5000. We literally started modifying it as soon as we got it in the driveway! On went a set of 98 golds and the STI version 6 v-limited seats I had found 6 months prior, as well as a few other little tidbits. this only lasted a short while, as the car's interior was stripped in preparation for paint. The entire interior was removed, the beige HAD to go. While the car was in paint, I dyed the dash, door panels and every last piece of plastic trim, pop-rivets and all black. The headliner was peeled and reapholstered with black micro fiber, the door inserts and handles with blue microfiber to match the seats. the carpet was replaced with an 05 STI carpet, and I even managed to dig up an old version 6 v-limited stereo bezel I'd had sitting in storage for 3 years, which where meant to go with the seats. The day we got the car out of paint, (the paint being mitsubishi A39, AKA medium gunmetallic grey, aka EVO MR grey) in went the suspension. A simple setup designed for street use and light track use - KYB AGX adjustable shocks with whiteline control springs. A whiteline adjustable sway bar was added later, and going in this week is a set of forged STI aluminum control arms and whiteline KCA 313 ball joint kit. an STI carbon strut brace completes the setup (for the time being) The car then went in for the swap with the fine folks at Planet Motorsports in Guelph. Iain Fraser sourced me a pristine 2003 STI Version 8 twinscroll, with an accompanying Six Speed transmission. The only thing missing was the ECU and the wiring harness. Budget being on mind, and knowing full well an new harness, ECU and MAF sensor were gonna cost big, I went with the logical and elegant solution of a Hydra Nemesis EMS. Making the car fully tunable right off the bat, and avoiding a lot of hassles with finding, then adapting a JDM wiring harness and ECU. A manual DCCD controller was added for the time being (a neetronics DCCD controller is planned). An old, previously enjoyed JIC catback (dubbed the "community exhaust") was tagged on to expell waste gases. The car went in for dyno testing, and with the baseline map supplied by Planet, the car churned out around what stock USDM STI were pulling on Neetronic's dyno (234 whp). It was then tuned afterwords, but just to smooth out the map and increase responsiveness. At just 2800 lbs the car tears up pavement, and is extremely fun to drive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkreRK6pIBA - dyno run While the swap was going on, Iain installed the brakes I had sourced. Brakes are old-school STI / 2006 WRX 4 pots with EBC Sport rotors and EBC Redstuff up front, RS Discs were put in place of the stock drums out back. Taking advantage of Arthur's WORK Wheels sponsorship, a set of Bronze XT7s in 18x7.5" were procured, shod with yokohama parada spec-2 in 215x40r18 from Tires23.com, a TSC Vendor. So there you have it, the STI a dude driving a new RS could afford to build. I think the accessibility of this car gives it it's charm, that and it's a wagon. The car was finished around September of last year, and has pretty much stayed exactly the same since then. I've since gotten married and moved into a shared house, so maybe this year the car's budget can be extended a little bit so I can finish a few things, notably the awful stereo, with the 2 door speakers, and the original acadia green engine bay Specs 1998 Impreza Brighton Wagon Engine & transmission 2003 STi Version 8, w/twinscroll Hydra EMS JDM Six Speed with DCCD Manual DCCD Controller 04 USDM STI Crossmember prop shaft from an automatic impreza JIC Catback Suspension & Braking KYB AGX w/ Whiteline control springs 2004 WRX wagon front sway bar Whiteline adjustable rear sway bar (set to 22mm) Group A front and rear endlinks STI Forged Aluminum control arms Whiteline KCA 313 kit Subaru 4 pots (red) up front w/EBC Sport rotors & redstuff pads 2.5RS rear brake setup Rollers 18x7.5" WORK Emotion XT7 in bronze 215x40r18 yoko parada spec-2 Outside 2.5RS hood 22B Vents STI Sport kit hoodscoop (aka, S201 hoodscoop) STI ver6 grille STI ver6 bumper STI fog covers (genuine) STI wagon top spoiler (MRT replica) STI wagon middle spoiler (replica) JDM GF8 tailights Clear sidemarkers STI version 6 rear bumper w/ JDM re-bar Complete Prova Aero Kit (front lip, sideskirts, rear skirt) Full respray in Medium Gunmetallic Grey Inside Complete re-dye of all panels from beige-black Black Microfiber retrim of the headliner, accents on dash cubby, center console Blue microfiber retrim on door cards and handles USDM STI carpet & floormats STI version 6 v-limited seats and stereo bezel Aftermarket power locks Compustar alarm STI Version 4 gauge cluster Momo Fighter steering wheel w/HKB Boss hub Crappy headunit & 2 blown speakers. I owe a lot of people a lot of thanks for helping get this project done on budget, Arthur, Dan, Kevin, Jay, Ryan, my brother Derek, Derek from Group A, Iain and the crew at Planet, Paul and Andy at Neetronics, Rich at CanJam for his advice, and Chris Hoare for the awesome shots! -James * Registered users of the site do not see these ads. Last edited by JaiMak; 05-30-2008 at 11:04 AM.

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01-03-2008, 10:00 AM	#2
chrisarella Scooby Specialist Member#: 35584 Join Date: Apr 2003 Chapter/Region: South East Location: www.chrisarella.com Vehicle: 1965 FFR Roadster Coyote + TR-6060	Let me be the 1st to congratulate you. Well done man.

01-03-2008, 10:28 AM	#3
F EVOZ Scooby Specialist Member#: 134516 Join Date: Dec 2006 Chapter/Region: Tri-State Location: Ny Vehicle: o2 WRX BlankitaRIP o6 STi Blanca	congrats man....you deserve it!! The battle for the top wagonistas was a long one..but one to remember..keep up the good work!

01-03-2008, 11:38 AM	#4
bigboy Scooby Specialist Member#: 117384 Join Date: Jun 2006 Chapter/Region: MAIC Location: The Burgh PA Vehicle: 2003 WRX sonic	so sweet man..congrats

01-03-2008, 11:45 AM	#5
JaiMak Top Scoob 004 Member#: 697 Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: TSC headquarters Vehicle: 1999 Top Scoob #4 Satin White Pearl	thanks all, got big plans that I'm not quite at liberty to share just yet, keep your eye on this space in the next few months!

01-03-2008, 12:48 PM	#6
topguneagle1 * Banned * Member#: 115620 Join Date: May 2006 Location: los angeles Vehicle: 2000 Impreza coupe FALCON 9	nice ride. congrats.

01-03-2008, 01:27 PM	#8
Handsdown Scooby Guru Member#: 29355 Join Date: Nov 2002 Chapter/Region: NWIC Location: seattle	woot! congrats, you had my vote every step of the way!

01-03-2008, 01:30 PM	#9
evilWagon Scooby Newbie Member#: 128739 Join Date: Oct 2006	Congrats again JaiMak... Everyone else: His car looks even better in person!

01-03-2008, 01:36 PM	#10
Butterz Scooby Specialist Member#: 21205 Join Date: Jul 2002 Chapter/Region: TXIC Location: ATX Vehicle: 2004 WRX Wagon Brown	Congrats! It was a pleasure doing battle with you.... even though you ran away with EVERY round. Wagons for life.

01-03-2008, 01:36 PM	#11
ahowell Scooby Newbie Member#: 152106 Join Date: Jun 2007 Chapter/Region: MWSOC Location: Detroit Vehicle: '96 One More Part For State Of The Art	One day my wagon will look this good. Great job!

01-03-2008, 02:13 PM	#12
kiwee Scooby Newbie Member#: 119232 Join Date: Jul 2006	boooooYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! james in da house!

01-03-2008, 02:54 PM	#14
1nsp Scooby Newbie Member#: 147093 Join Date: Apr 2007 Chapter/Region: Tri-State Location: Central Jersey Vehicle: 1997 Impreza Obs White	Congrats from a fellow GF owner.

01-03-2008, 02:54 PM	#15
psyber_0ptix Scooby Guru Member#: 60671 Join Date: Apr 2004 Chapter/Region: MAIC Location: DC Vehicle: 1992 Turbo Miata 402hp/375tq	VERY nice. i've now decided i'm going to build a wagon someday (after graduation)

01-03-2008, 04:18 PM	#16
ghibli99 Scooby Specialist Member#: 90761 Join Date: Jul 2005 Chapter/Region: SWIC Location: Phoenix Vehicle: 2003 S2000 Save the Manuals!	Congrats! You had my vote. -Mike

01-03-2008, 07:02 PM	#17
EdWRX Scooby Specialist Member#: 108068 Join Date: Feb 2006 Vehicle: 2016 WRX CBS	Beautiful wagon you have, top condition! keep it that way!

01-03-2008, 09:09 PM	#18
saxer Scooby Newbie Member#: 168131 Join Date: Jan 2008 Chapter/Region: W. Canada Location: Lower Mainland Vehicle: 02 Impreza TS	Nice wagon.

01-04-2008, 06:04 AM	#19
04ts Scooby Specialist Member#: 57517 Join Date: Mar 2004 Chapter/Region: E. Canada Location: Ajax, ON Canada Vehicle: 2010 Impreza WRX Ltd Satin white Pearl	congrats James! that's makes 2 top scoobs for Toronto Subaru Club! (JaiMak and Boeleni)

01-04-2008, 09:59 AM	#20
AG_MY'98GT Scooby Newbie Member#: 167714 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Vilnius (Lithuania, Europe) Vehicle: 2002 WRX Wagon Black	nice ride man...congrats !

01-04-2008, 08:53 PM	#21
Metaphormc Scooby Newbie Member#: 161645 Join Date: Oct 2007 Chapter/Region: BAIC Location: San Jose, CA Vehicle: 07 2.5i Wagon Newport Blue Pearl	Nice! Congratulations. I voted for you.

01-04-2008, 09:29 PM	#22
David Glasscock Scooby Specialist Member#: 25033 Join Date: Sep 2002 Chapter/Region: NWIC Location: lakewood wa Vehicle: 06 sti my $$ pit 05 xt sold	congrats i new you would win!

01-05-2008, 03:38 AM	#23
MBREX02 Scooby Specialist Member#: 82733 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: San Antonio Texas Vehicle: 2004 WRX STi Aspen White	Congrats!!! Your car deserves it!!

01-05-2008, 10:11 AM	#24
vtecTHIS Scooby Guru Member#: 48048 Join Date: Nov 2003 Chapter/Region: International Location: Japan Vehicle: . Nasioc, serious Bidnazz	sweet my propaganda for you worked it was all me, nothing to to do with the car

01-06-2008, 12:19 PM	#25
M-e-X-x Scooby Newbie Member#: 112089 Join Date: Apr 2006 Chapter/Region: E. Canada Vehicle: 2007 CDM, CGM GD6 SE 2006 CDM, SGM GG6	2 in-a-row for TSC