2003 Impreza WRX - original owner, hybrid EJ257, stoptechs

[Zoinks]

 

For sale is my 2003 WRX, which I bought new in ’03. Still not sure how I can sell it, but its replacement is already in the driveway, and maybe eleven years is long enough. This car has been autocrossed a lot, tracked a few times, and been my full time DD from purchase until a few weeks ago. Sitting at 101,xxx miles right now. I’ve tried to take good care of it.

 

The headline here is that the engine spun a rod bearing at about 72k miles, in 2009. I took the car to IAG in Maryland (iagperformance.com) to have an STi EJ257 short block installed in a “hybrid” setup with the (reman’d) EJ20 heads. Various supporting modifications were added at this point as well (detailed below, but includes VF39 and STi intercooler).

 

After the break in period, IAG flew in Jorge Carrillo to tune the car. My thinking at this point was that I was going to be doing track days with the car, so, in addition to a number of reliability mods that were done on the engine, I talked at length with Jorge about doing a safe tune that would target reliability and low boost instead of a big dyno number. The result is pictured below, 284hp and 315lb/ft at the wheels, with peak torque at about 3400rpm. Boost is kept low. Plenty of faster Subarus out there, but with that torque curve this car feels very powerful everywhere in the RPM range, and everywhere I’ve driven it - street, track, autocross.

 

 

 

 

Anyway, the car has been bulletproof since the build in ’09, just like I hoped it would be. Several years and 25k mi later it’s still Camry-reliable and an experience to drive. In the end I’ve only tracked it two or three times since the rebuild, and probably less than ten autocrosses. But looking at the mod list below, you’ll see a number of things designed to keep it alive in hard use.

 

Engine:

EJ257 STi Shortblock

VF39 Turbo

Cobb Accessport V2

Gimmspeed EBCS

565 Blue injectors

Walbro 255 fuel pump

NGK 1-step colder plugs

Killer B oil pickup tube

STi oil pan & baffle (design retains oil in the pan better than OE WRX)

Samco silicone turbo inlet tube

DC Sports catless uppipe

STi intercooler

JDM STi hood scoop (WITH proper JDM OEM ducting to the intercooler)

Koyo racing radiator

Grimmspeed 160deg thermostat

3” Helix catted downpipe

Stock intermediate pipe

2.5” Prodrive oval exhaust

 

Other:

Stoptech ST40 332mm BBK

Rear H6 brake conversion

17x7.5 Rota Torque wheels

225/45/17 Conti DWS tires

EDM STi projector headlights (meaning proper LHD beam pattern)

Prodrive springs

Cusco front and rear swaybars

Kartboy rear endlinks

Kartboy short shifter & shifter bushings

Kartboy knuckleball shift knob (first mod!)

Whiteline steering rack bushings

Omori boost and EGT gauges in dual gauge cluster pod (color-matched)

VDO oil temp/oil press/water temp gauges in ATI dash pod

STi shifter surround

Matching metal dead pedal cover

JVC KW-AV61BT head unit

Plasti-dipped the silver plastic console pieces and ATI pod

Windows professionally tinted 35%, 3M Colorstable tint

 

I have most of the stock parts still around if a buyer is interested.

 

Maintenance:

Clutch replaced & flywheel resurfaced with engine swap at 72k (didn’t need it, but we were in there)

Oil pump, water pump, oil cooler, timing belt replaced then too, along with accessory belts

 

Issues:

Rock chips and door dings commensurate with 100k mi

Parking lot ding on front of hood (hard to photograph, not very obvious)

Power mirrors currently inoperative, but still manually adjustable

Mild high idle (1500rpm) on hot days in traffic - this is a common issue that I believe is related to the cruise control cable - oil/water temps remain stable & car has no problem driving in traffic

Think that’s it

 

Asking $12k. Totally negotiable depending on what I hear.