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.
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
Motul 5w40 oil
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
DIY Intercooler Sprayer w/ Wagon washer
Liquiddampr Pulley
Kartboy carbon fiber pulley shroud
Killer B oil pan/baffle/pickup
PTP Lava turbo blanket
COBB heatshield
COBB titanium catback
COBB EBCS
COBB air-oil separator 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
NOCO NLP20 battery
iWire battery relocation kit
110amp Alternator
DIY simple grounding kit
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 OR Stock 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 fitment
Group N power steering cooler
Superpro steering rack bushings
Whiteline 22mm adjustable rear swaybar
Superpro front and rear trailing arm bushings
TSS Fab eear 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
DIY Rustoleum yellow paint job
JDM Version 2 Aluminum Hood
ORM mudguards
Facelift L bumper w/ Paver Edging lip, deleted blinker lights, plugged foglight
OR
Version 5 bumper w/ Lasek Rockblox front lip and covered foglight holes
JDM front and rear lightweight Bumper beams
Facelift side mirrors
Ebay clear side markers
Depo orange corner lights w/ dual filament bulbs for signal conversion
Hella Supertone horn w/ DIY horn switch
DIY cut and pulled front fenders
DIY pulled rear fenders
Outback side molding third party painted
Rear bumper cover
Interior
2002 WRX Dash swap
05-07 Center console conversion w/ DIY upholstery armrest
Autometer triple gauge pod
Autometer Oil temp gauge
AEM Oil Pressure gauge
98 Legacy GT sedan seats
98 Legacy GT rear fold down rear seat
98 Legacy rear deck cover & trunk carpet
DIY Red Ozite Carpet
Schroth Rallye 3 harness
Sparco 2 spoke steering wheel
OR
Momo Leather steering wheel
Sparco steering wheel adapter
Kartboy Dead Pedal
Kartboy Yanky Mcstrapy in red (front doors)
Amazon Basics rubber floor mats
Front OBS door cards with DIY upholstry
Rear L model pre facelift door cards
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