Don't Ask Why: My 06 WRX Wagon Build (CAUTION: Bags, Wideness and Stance Inside!)

[BagRidersJohn]

John's Bagged, Shaved Bay, Built, 6 speed, and Sedan-Converted Wide Body 2006 WRX Wagon
Hello and thank you for reading! I decided to make this post under a new personal user name rather than my vendor account. For questions regarding air suspension please send a PM to my Vendor Account "Bag Riders Air Ride"

A lot of the pictures in this thread no longer work. If you have questions please send me a private message. I don't check those very often so its really best to shoot me a message on my Instagram @john_br

THANK YOU
Bag Riders Air Ride (one stop drop shop, everything air ride)
Air Lift Performance (high performance air suspension and control systems)
VEMS Tuning
Six Star Motors (shortblock)
Gorillaz Garage (custom body work)
Overland Designs (interior trim)
Cyrus House for all his help with the car and other projects here at Bag Riders.

Current State (July 2018)





440whp/422wtq thanks to VEMS


Current Mod List (Updated July 2018)
For those of you who don't want to read any of my ramblings and are in here for straight business, I've decided to put my mod list first and foremost.

Engine / Performance
Built Short Block (BC Rods, CP Pistons, ACL Race Bearings, ARP Head Studs, OEM gasket kit)
GrimmSpeed 3" Divorced Wastegate Downpipe wrapped in DEI Exhaust wrap
Magnaflow 3" Race Catback
Blouch Dominator 1.5XT-R 10cm^2 and 3" inlet
Braided turbo oil feed line
PTP Turbo Blanket (black)
HKS EL Headers wrapped in DEI Exhaust wrap
GrimmSpeed ceramic coated up pipe, also exhaust wrapped
KS Tech MAF housing w/AEM Filter element and black cover thing
Perrin 3" Turbo Inlet
Mishimoto aluminum radiator
GrimmSpeed Electronic Boost Control Solenoid
GrimmSpeed Lightweight Crank Pulley
NGK One Step Colder Spark Plugs
Killer B Motorsports Oil Pickup
Killer B Upper Turbo Coolant Reservoir
Front Mount Intercooler
Reversed Intake Manifold
TurboSmart Recirculating BOV
IAG Billet TGV Deletes, raw aluminum
IAG Billet fuel rails, black anodized
Custom -6 braided fuel lines
Aeromotive FPR
Injector Dynamics 1000cc injectors
Ported, shaved and polished Intake Manifold
Ported Throttle Body
KSTech 19mm Intake Manifold Spacers
Mishimoto 3 port baffled compact catch can

Exterior / Aesthetics (a.k.a. "all shaved errythang")
Complete Sedan Front end conversion (fenders and bumper)
Complete Sedan Rear end conversion (doors and quarter panels) (see progress starting on page 2 and painting on page 5 )
05-07 STi Rear Arch Trim Pieces (whole process on page 10)
Hybridized Wagon + 05-07 STi Rear Bumper (whole process on page 10)
Shaved front bumper license plate and filled in "mustache holes" below where the license plate mounts (see pics below)
Blacked out headlight housings and amber side marker
Custom red tail lights (I'll make a post on this at some point but it is pretty well documented. Paint + Clear Coat + Lots of buffing)
04/05 WRX Side Skirts
Wingless rear hatch (from a 2.5i) + shaved emblem (holes welded and filled) + wiper delete
Scoopless hood (from a 2.5i)
Roof rail delete
BaysonR rain guards
S204 front lip (painted gloss black)
HTAuto side skirt extensions (painted gloss black)
Voltex-style rear diffuser (painted gloss black)

Interior
80mil butyl all panels + inner/outer door skins
MLV over the entire floor panel
Alcantara Headliner & Sunroof slider
Alcantara Sunvisors (one off)
Alcantara A Pillar Trim pieces
Alcantara B Pillar Trim pieces
Flocked C Pillar Trim pieces
Alcantara Shift Boot
Alcantara Center Arm Rest
Alcantara Handbrake Boot
Flocked dashboard
Prova D-Shaped Steering Wheel
Black inner door handles (from a base model)
JDM Red Hazard Button (estimated +9000whp)
Limited STi / S204 Center Console
Red LED Conversion for driver side window and door switches
Red LED Conversion for HVAC Controls
Version 9 STi Gauge Cluster
White LED's for all interior bulbs
STi Floor Mats
SMY Dual Gauge Cluster trim
Prosport EVO Series Oil Pressure Gauge
Prosport EVO series Fuel Pressure Gauge
Cobb AccessPort V3

Air Suspension Details
Air Lift Performance Struts
Bag Riders Air Management Package
Air Lift Performance 3H Control System
Air Zenith OB2 Compressor
Seamless 4 Gallon tank (painted gloss black)
Custom hard line trunk setup

Other Suspension / Driveline / Handling Stuff
USDM 2004 STi Transmission
ACT Heavy Duty Clutch (SB10-HDSS)
OEM STi Short Shifter
Chase Bays clutch slave line
Chase Bays brake line relocation kit
Chase Bays brake proportioning valve
Chase Bays power steering reservoir
Chase Bays high pressure power steering line
Custom AN low pressure power steering lines
Mooresport power steering pump inlet flange for AN
Whiteline transmission crossmember bushings
Whiteline Adjustable 24mm Rear Sway Bar
Whiteline Rear Strut Tower Bar
Kartboy Front End Links
Karboy Rear End Links
Kartboy Pitch Stopper
Group N Transmission Mount
Group N Motor Mounts
StopTech Drilled Rotors
StopTech Performance Pads
StopTech Stainless Steel Brake Lines
Enkei NT03+m 18x9.5 +30f +33r final offsets
Hankook Ventus V12 245/35

Audio
Alpine SPS-610C 6 1/2" front speakers (tweeters in OEM position)
Alpine Type-S SPS-410 4" rear speakers
Alpine MRV-F300 4-Channel amp powering the speakers
Infinity BassLink SM 8" under-seat/compact subwoofer
Kenwood DDX574BH head unit
All panels except roof damped with 80mil buytl (dynamat)
Stinger RKCP12 RoadKill Carpet Pad over the entire floor panel

Miscellaneous
Raised OEM wheel tubs about 2.5" for wheel clearance
Smoothed/painted engine bay w/motorsport-style tubs over the raised OEM tubs
IAG Performance brake and clutch fluid reservoir caps
IAG Performance black anodized oil dipstick
GrimmSpeed delrin oil filler neck cap
GrimmSpeed High Lift Hood Struts
Outfront Motorsports alternator relocation bracket
A/C deleted
Kartboy shift linkage bushings
Perrin Coolant Overflow Can, custom tucked mounting
07 STi Alternator
Odyssey PC625 mounted in the trunk (passenger tail light)
Removed all unused plugs from engine harness

About Me and my love for Subarus
A little about me... My name is John, I'm 26 years old living in beautiful Burlington, VT. I'm a professional nerd of the "Full Stack Developer" type with a passion for Linux administration and Web Application development. I graduated college with a degree in Computer Networking and Information Security with a focus on server administration and enterprise security. I work full time alongside a few of my best friends at Bag Riders Air Ride. My day-to-day job involves maintaining our internal network and server infrastructure and developing internal business applications. I became interested in modifying vehicles the first day of college, where I met fellow future BR employees Will and Rali (and a few months later, Kevin), as we all shared the same freshman dormitory. The shenanigans we shared throughout our freshman year I'm sure will be retold for years to come. I love these guys to death!

My first Subaru experience was driving my mom's 2.5GT back in high school. My high school was at the end of a 2 mile long dirt road which in hind sight is really what made me fall in love with Subaru's.

Chapter 1 : How it all Started
Fast forward to 2009. I was driving an Audi B6 3.0, which was by far the most unreliable vehicle I ever had the misfortune of owning. After spending an entire summer's worth of earnings on repairs, I knew I had to get rid of it. I don't really want to think back on that 4-ringed POS, but I do have it to thank for getting me back into a Subaru. I traded my Audi in for an '07 Impreza 2.5i. It was the base package, it had an automatic transmission, and I never intended on modifying it at all.... damn, was I wrong about that!

Fast forward again. My 2.5i ended up looking like this:

Flickr (Videos)

Flickr (Videos)

Flickr (Videos)

Flickr (Videos)

by taylormenezes, on Flickr

While I loved the stance, the automatic transmission and naturally aspirated engine were just downright disappointing. I wanted more. I wanted a WRX.

My search began, knowing exactly what I wanted: a clean (unmodded) Limited 06/07 WRX Wagon with < 100k on the odometer. After months of scouring the internet for classifieds across the United States, and nearly jumping on one in California, I found the perfect candidate just four hours away in Massachusetts. A single owner WRX Wagon, owned by a 40-something year old lady, who had just moved cross-country from California. The car had seen just one New England winter, and was one of the cleanest Subarus I've ever seen up here. I was confident the car hadn't been driven hard, and the price tag was more than perfect. Upon arrival, I found that the vehicle had plenty of dents, dings and scratches which enabled me to negotiate the price even further. I didn't care- I had some major plans for the exterior of the car which I knew would eventually involve a respray. My coworker and roommate Kevin (he has a bagged silver 05 RS on BBS RS') accompanied me on the drive down and I left as a very proud owner of an '06 WRX Wagon.

Chapter 2 : Let the Modding Begin!
I began the process of ruining (I say that with a grin/sarcasm) my beautiful new WRX by ripping out all of the interior trim pieces and giving them a extremely thorough clean. If I had to guess, the previous owner's favorite foods included peanuts, crackers, and was an avid drinker of coffee but didn't care for using a lid Needless to say, while the interior LOOKED clean (the leather was in great shape), the nooks and crannies needed some love. With all of the plastics out of the vehicle I gave the carpet a nice round of shampoo and cleaned every individual trim piece outside of the vehicle. With all of the trim pieces out of the vehicle, I gave them a thorough hand cleaning then did a nice vacuum and scrub of the carpet. It wasn't a new car when I bought it, but after this round of cleaning it sure did feel like one!

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[BagRidersJohn]

Before diving into anything too major, I continued with relatively minor interior and exterior modifications. I was in no rush, and I wanted to continue to transform my cabin into what I wanted it to be.

I got these way too expensive black HVAC controls, horrah!


I completely blacked out my seatbelt position adjusters. Something I always wanted to do!


I replaced all cabin lights with some nice LED's, I love the difference!


The brackets for my seats were a little rusty, so I pulled the seats, sanded the brackets, and hit em with some black rustoleum. No more rust, yay!


This one goes out of chronological order, but I got rid of that silly secondary air pump.


I prettied up my engine bay with some sexy alternator and radiator shroud's from Killer B Motorsports.


Roof rail delete was one of my favorite mods on my 2.5i, so I had to transfer the trim pieces to my WRX


Everyone's favorite mod: Kartboy Short Shifter and Shifter Bushings! The bushings sucked to install, but the difference is well worth it!


I got this shift knob that I really like


And it looks really nice along with my S204 console

[BagRidersJohn]

Here's a nice shot of my interior all cleaned, thanks to my wonderful girlfriend


I really love the SMY Gauge Pod, so OEM!


Chapter 3: Finally Something Interesting. Power Mods and a FMIC

POWER MODS WOO! At some point, I installed an Invidia Bellmount 3" Catless Downpipe and a 3" Magnaflow Catback. I also replaced my Turbo with a VF43 and flashed to "Stage 3" via the Cobb Accessport. I've got a bunch of plans over the winter time for the motor, and plan on getting a "Pro Tune" sometime over the winter, or this spring time. I'm not including any pictures of this stuff since it isn't really all that exciting.

In order to keep the clean look going, I decided to go the route of a front mount intercooler. I'm well aware of the downsides of a FMIC, but like I said, I want to shave the hood scoop so the TMIC has to go!

I picked up a Perrin Coolant Expansion tank and mounted that where the secondary air pump used to be


The intake elbow put my Cobb SF Intake in the way of the IC piping, so I replaced that with a 2.75" silicone coupler. Now my intake filter is out of the way of the intercooler piping, horrah!


I painted the intercooler with a very light coat of black for that stealth look


I hacked out a big ol' chunk of my bumper beam to fit the core


It fits real nice!


With the bumper cover on


In order to maintain the stealth install, I painted the T-bolt clamps for the endcaps black so they're much less noticeable

[BagRidersJohn]

Chapter 4: Air Ride Management

I began the process of the air ride install by running the power wire from the battery back to where I planned on housing the air management in the spare tire boot.

I ran the power wire along the driver side, first I went behind the rear seats...


Then into the rear door sills...


Up to the front!


The wire passes through the grommet by the clutch pedal. You can see the blue wire which is the power wire for my amp, which I installed under my driver seat. I'll upload pics at some point!


I housed all my wiring in this foam compartment behind the rear seats in my wagon. I started by cutting out a piece of MDF, including a cutout for the E-Level ECU


I plumbed the tanks outside of the vehicle and dropped them in to place. There was plenty of room to spare so I went on working!


More test fitting... Everything will fit perfectly!


I made this cardboard template to drill the holes for the tank mounts


... continued...

[BagRidersJohn]

Then I drilled a bunch of holes


I chiseled away all of the sound deadening or whatever it is underneath the spare, then proceeded to paint the boot black and install a few fittings. The two on the right are bulkhead unions for my rear air lines, whereas the one near the middle is where the exhaust port on the VU4 goes, therefore exhausting air to the atmosphere rather than in the cabin. There is no benefit to this, other than the noise of air leaving your bags is much more audible from outside the vehicle, and sometimes I shoot up a little dust cloud


It was a quite a rats nest while I got all of the wires situated...


I tucked the VU4 harness under the EXO mount as so


Almost done... The box on the bottom left is the TouchBox wireless controller. The harness splices into the existing valve wiring, so I had to run wires behind the tank which it is mounted to and up into where my "wiring zone" is going to be. At this point, the setup is all plumbed, there is just wiring remaining.


I used the NPT ports on the back side of the VU4 manifold to output air lines for each of my gauge's pressure sensors. I use the DigiGauge digital air suspension gauge, the sensors are nice and small, so I tucked them in another one of my wagon's trunk compartments. Here I have all of the sensors connected to Female Straights, mated to each air line, labeled per corner so I don't get them mixed up!


I tucked all the gauge lines into some wiring loom and hid it away in this compartment



The final result!
Parts are:
(2) AccuAir 3 Gallon Air Tanks
AccuAir EXO Mounting System (painted teal, locally)
AccuAir VU4 Manifold (pictured, top left)
(2) VIAIR 400C Compressors
Zaetech TouchBox Wireless Controller (pictured, bottom right)
Zaetech DigiGauge Air Suspension Gauge (not pictured)


Remember that piece of MDF I cut? I affixed all of the wiring accessories to that so it is nice and tidy! Just one relay, a few fuse holders, the i-Level ECU, e-Level ECU, and two distribution blocks (one for power, one for ground). I grounded to a nearby seat post.


That does it for air management!

[BagRidersJohn]

Next up I went about mounting the RockerSwitch controller, routing the TouchPad controller cable, and running some air lines.

This looks like a good spot...



This little guy was preventing the RockerSwitch from going into the OE spot nicely



Mmmm perfect! OEM+


I routed the controller cable for the TouchPad, and the screen cable for my pressure gauge underneath the carpet and through the center console. My TouchPad lives in the box between the driver and passenger seat when it isn't being used


My front air lines are routed up the passenger side in the door sills, behind the glove box, and then out through this grommet in the engine bay.


The rear air lines pass out of the spare boot via the bulkhead unions, then follow the rear swaybar to each rear bag


Up front, the control arm will hit the subframe, preventing the last 1/8" or so of drop. This is after the axle hits the subframe, and tires hitting the wheel well. I'm being preemptive here


The front strut towers have a lot of little metal studs and other sharp stuff, so I ground them off. In order to clear more room and make full use of the camber plate, I also took a 5lb sledge hammer to the towers walls


Oh and I got a Vanity Plate

[BagRidersJohn]

Zaetech DigiGauge

I picked up the Zaetech DigiGauge to use as my air suspension gauge. It's cheaper than the Dakota equivalent, comes in a variety of screen colors, includes a wiring harness, and is overall just better in every way I look at it. Props to those guys for making a stellar new product!

Stock image:


The product comes with a beautiful aluminium bezel but I immediately voided my warranty by removing it from the case so that I could install it in place of the OE clock. I can't recommend doing so as it will void your warranty!

I first tucked the ECU and all the sensors in one of my wagon's many hidden compartments, this one is near where the OE jack is stored. I had to cut out a piece of foam to fit the ECU in there but no big deal. All of the wires route out underneath the foam and up towards the front of the vehicle.


I cut out a piece of an old DVD case to make a bezel for the clock pod, as I removed the OE part. I later cut out a square the same size as the DigiGauge LCD screen and spray painted this piece black. This is just showing how I cut it and stuff.


Here is that same piece painted black with the square hole cut for the DigiGauge display


All done! Looks good to me, and the readability is awesome in the OE clock spot!


Other Stuff I forgot to include

Kartboy end links and a Whiteline 24mm adjustable rear swaybar. Woo!


Front bumper shave / license plate delete is my favorite aesthetic mod I've done...


I slept with my wheels in my bedroom for a really long time. And yes, I own a ton of flannel. DUH! I LIVE IN VERMONT!


Also, this part is pretty obvious but if you're going low you should tuck this harness a bit so it is out of the way of the wheel. I unbolted the chassis fender support bracket and re-routed the harness under that and along the outer upper side of the wheel arch. It was previously run along the top of the wheel arch and would rub when driving low. This doesn't just apply to air ride so anyone that has been static low will know to do this, or at least should!

[Cruz5350]

Liking this so far! PM me where you got the suede from please!

[mattyl526]

Innnnnnnnnnnnnn

[Silver Sedan]

Awesome. Always loved your car, man!

[pwnx0rz]

diggin the interior. keep it up

[NikeCheck246]

Throw up some pictures of what you have to do to get it to lay...I am particular interested in those

[kh15]

looking good

[habskater11]

awesome John! It's funny yet informative haha

[besthaticouldo]

John, looks sweet dude.

[Jive Turkey]

love how clean it is, great wheel/color choice.

how man winters have you had this for? any issues with salt, snow etc?

[03boxer4]

I love this car, I follow you on IG as well so most of these pics are very familiar lol

[LeodCeb21]

When you said you "died" you interior..how did you do it? kinda curious...

[Vt_rdr]

Awesome work! I'm from Burlington as well (born and raised), and I recall seeing the RS around. I was impressed by the car. Keep up the good work.

[BagRidersJohn]

Thanks for all the love folks. I updated one of the reserved posts with some pictures of my air gauge install along with some other stuff I forgot to post before. Still have a ton of pictures to upload including the whole "getting low" process.

Plans for the winter are primarily cutting of the rear quarters to graft in the wider Sedan counterparts and if budget/time allows, fabbing an EL header, uppipe and downpipe for a front mounted turbo. I'm thinking about shaving ABS and putting the turbo around where the ABS module resides, but I may be able to fit it there and keep ABS. The intake side of the engine will be getting some love in the form of a reversed intake manifold, TGV deletes and some good P&P love for the IM and TB. Should be a fun and eventful winter, hopefully the work will make the cold months go by quicker :P

[BagRidersJohn]

Added a full-ish (I think) mod list to the first post. There's a lot of stuff that I've left out of pictures but I'll hopefully find some as I rummage through my collection of iPhone dumps. My old Droid has a ton of pictures on it which I need to recover at some point too.

[ocdpvw]

John, car is always an inspiration! A ton of hard work and great craftsmanship right here.

[ocdpvw]

PS. where are the pics with the new wheels?

[Bag Riders Air Ride]

derp wrong account.

[BagRidersJohn]

Originally Posted by ocdpvw

John, car is always an inspiration! A ton of hard work and great craftsmanship right here.

PS. where are the pics with the new wheels?

Thanks for the kind words Corey! I'm holding off on photos until I finish a bunch of stuff over the winter... namely grafting in sedan quarter panels and rebuilding the wheels to meet the wider body components If my measurements are correct (big "if" sometimes ) once all is said and done I should be able to get an entire extra inch of lip so the wheels will measure 17x11 all around. I'm switching up barrel sizes as well in order to run a little bit less negative camber. Not to mention my front end is still embarrassingly not low due to the lack of notch/tub which brings me to my next point...

I should finally be getting around to notching/tubbing this weekend (or next week, if this weekend doesn't pan out with the GF :P) which will get the front end to sit nicely and I'll be uploading photos of that process to this thread for those that are interested