Topic: diamondedge's 2007 WRX - "STi TMIC, Redux"

[diamondedge]

2007 Subaru Impreza WRX Sport Wagon
"Katheryn"



This is the story of a young man's foray into the quirky, loving and ever vibrant Subaru community......

Fine...over the top. I'm not a writer, see seat safety switch for that.


It's a thread on an internet forum. A thread about my dream car.

When I graduated high school, the 06/07 WRX's and STi's were just coming out. I told myself, one day, I'll own a hawkeye. Fast forward to 2009, I landed my first internship job. 2007 WRX's were still fetching pretty good cash (23-25k) and it was hard to find a WRB 2007 2.5i wagon. I decided to be sensible and bought a 2007 Toyota Matrix. Cheap to buy, cheap to run, point A to point B university car. I wrote her off  bless her for saving me that day.

Seeking a new vehicle, I decided with the girl I was dating at the time that a Subaru would be a safe choice for us the foreseeable future. Since she couldn't drive a manual, I temporarily put aside my dreams of owning a WRX and we compromised with a 2010 2.5i in automatic. She was a noble machine - I even took it to Ghost Lake this time last year.


20150117_121700 by diamonD.edgE, on Flickr

The GF and I broke up shortly after. As time went on, I started entertaining the idea that if a 2007 WRX wagon appeared, I'd buy it. I would casually check WSC, Kijiji, AutoTrader, and the rest of internet for one. Nothing really turned up that caught my eye. August 2015 rolls around and this is how it went down.

I had emailed a dealer in Red Deer about a picture-less WRX ad that was posted on Monday and promptly forgot about it. Friday comes, I'm off to meet some friends at Fort Calgary for Chasing Summer Music Festival. Dance my face off. I head home for a shower and sleep, yearning for the warm embrace of Dove body wash to rinse off the teenage hormones and spilled cider.

BZZT. BZZT. It's Saturday morning - I get a text from a random number. "Hey Gabe. It's so and so from Gord Scott Nissan. I heard you were interested in the WRX. It's a great car!" I'm half awake and pay no real attention to it... Some more texts buzz in. A picture. It's World Rally Blue. It's a wagon. The mileage is low. Those wheels though...ugh! Whatever. I text back, hey. How much? I get a reply.

I'm awake now. It's 11am. I hop into the shower, scarf a granola bar n' apple jooce and start my trip to Red Deer. I get there...I see it. I go in, meet my texter - Cam. He hands me the keys, she fires up right away. I pop the hood, she's completely stock. Bone. Stock. I'm already getting nervous that I'll be test driving something that I've only dreamed about. I put those thoughts aside - I don't know how to drive manual. (I tried it in a buddy's car 10 years ago...) The car is filthy with clay dust inside. We get out onto the road, the sales guy, Cam, we hit it off right away. Calmly chatting. I stall a bunch. He tells me that we'll jump onto the QE2 to do a quick run. I start rounding the cloverleaf to the highway, I manage to not fluff my first ever 4th to 3rd downshift and merge. Yep. That was the very moment.

Finishing up, I pull into the dealer lot, full of glee. As Cam goes inside to start the paperwork, a man comes up to me and asks me if this car is for sale and if he could take it for a test drive. I look over and say, "I don't work here, but she's a pretty car." He looks perplexed. I go inside, haggle. Done. Turns out the man from Edmonton didn't want it badly enough. I drove back home to Calgary to catch the second day of Chasing Summer with the biggest grin all night.

I named her after the actress Katheryn Winnick. You might remember her from the TV show Vikings. Also if you're old enough, she played Cody's brief love interest from the Canadian student sitcom, Student Bodies.
I present to you WSC, my 2007 World Rally Blue WRX Wagon.


WSC_1 by diamonD.edgE, on Flickr


IMG_9746 by kijho66, on Flickr
(thanks kijho for the roller)


Modification List
Purple = Wish List
Orange = To Be Installed

Engine / Drivetrain
MadDad Whisper 3'' CBE Dual Tip - installed at 144,426 km
KartBoy Front Shifter Bushing / KartBoy Rear Bushing - installed at 145,568 km
Killer B Oil Pickup - installed at 151,574 km
Killer B Windage tray - installed at 151,574 km
Mishimoto Aluminum Radiator - installed at 153,201km
COBB Catted Downpipe (COBB OTS Stage 2 ACN91) - installed at 209,393 km
COBB Turbo Heatshield
STi TMIC
GroupN Pitch Stop


GroupN Transmission Mount


Interior
Plasti-Dipped Center Console
Pioneer AVH-X2700BS w/ custom AUX and panel mounted USB dash integration
JDM Hazard Button
Black + Red COBB Knob
Phillips LED map and dome lights
Weathertech Digi-Fit Mats (front and rear)
OEM STi Carpet Mats (front and rear)
ATi Triple Pod + 60mm STi GeNome Gauges (Boost, Oil Pressure, Oil Temperature)

Exterior
Tint (from previous owner)
RallyArmor UR mudflaps w/ blue lettering
Phillips LED license plate bulbs, front and corner markers
Sylvania ZEVO LED brake lights, third brake light
Nokya Hyper-Yellow fog light bulbs
Infinra 3000K Super Yellow Light fog bulbs (garbage life span)
Hella Optilux Extreme Yellow fog light bulbs
Wrinkle Black Hella Supertones w/ SubiMods V2 Harness, Grimmspeed Bro-Tie.
Grimmspeed High-Lift Hood Struts
Ikon Motorsports STi style front lip
2006 STi HID headlights w/ Lightwerkz STi harness
OSRAM CBI 66240 D2S bulbs
Morimoto 4TL Retroquik or equivalent HID retrofit

Suspension, Brakes, Wheels, Tires
Centric Refurb Front Calipers
Akebono Rotors
Endless SSY pads
Techna-Fit/Mach V Motorsports SS Braided Lines
Endless RF-650 Fluid
Bilstein B16 PSS9 Coilovers w/ 02-03 Group N rear top hats
Super Pro TRC0002 Front Roll Center Adjustment Kit
Whiteline KCA335 Com-C camber/caster front top hats
JDM Spec-C titanium front strut brace
Whiteline 24mm Rear Adjustable Sway Bar BSR36XZ
Whiteline Rear Endlinks KLC26
Whiteline Rear Strut Tower Brace w/ Quick Release KSB586Q
Whiteline 22mm Front Adjustable Sway Bar BSF12Z
GNP Front Endlinks
Eibach camber bolts (all corners)
Eibach 10mm spacer kit + extended studs (rear)
WRX_RA/VEX 3/16'' skidplate (pending what I do with my front subframe)
Feal 441 Max Travel ("Jeff/Jonny Spec") Coilovers
Whiteline AntiLift Kit (Comfort? Probably) (KCA362)
Kartboy Rear Subframe Lockdown Bolts
Front/Rear Strut Tower Bars c/w with "this adds 5HP" stickers, rear quick release

Winter Shoes:
Subaru 2.5RS 16x7 w/
205/55/16 Nokian Hakkapeliitta 9 Studded

Summer Shoes:
Enkei TS9 17x8 (Gloss Black) +45 w/ 225/45/17 Yokohama ADVAN AD08R
BBS RG345 17x7 WRX Options w/
225/45/17 Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 (RIP. Camber cupped shoulders haha)
Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs (thanks Cole!) w/ 3mm slip on spacer (Sold to a racekar driver named Dazzle xD)
Muteki Black SR45R Lugs


The day I picked her up - made it all the way from Red Deer to Calgary without stalling - then I stalled waiting to turn left 2 minutes from home. Got three honks. uckfay. I'm christened!!
130,173 km.


20150818_160012 by diamonD.edgE, on Flickr

Turbo vs. Non-Turbo

20150818_191446 (1) by diamonD.edgE, on Flickr

During the test drive, and on my way home, I noticed a sound when braking to a stop. My rotors were excessively rusty and totally had high spots. First matter of course - I had VEX do full fluids, the timing belt, and brakes at 130,830 km. I followed snacker's post on here on how to bed the brakes. Yep - purple and smelly. Was a conversation starter for a few days lol.

I started looking around for wheels that would clear the 4-pots and also look dece. Turns out, the GC wheels clear! Found them in gold on kijiji. Great price too. They were mismatched in colour though - but that doesn't bother me. They are winter wheels after all. Cleaning them up - check that grot!

Clean vs Dirty


The aftermath


The set


I was told when I bought the car that the center rear seat belt receptacle wasn't working. I can fix that. SGP to the rescue.


Pulling the rear seat is easy, two bolts. Some more of that dust that I found during the test drive.


Oooo. What's that? A Swedish Berry. I won't lie, I was tempted to taste it, MCM Moog style. It was still squishy.


Fortune! Didn't win the LottoMax that week with those numbers. Damnit.

How about installing the RallyArmors? Cue more grot.


Cracked front bumper, flappy flappy. Zip ties to the rescue. It was strange drilling into the plastic...made for a nice Friday morning activity though.

[diamondedge]

As a Christmas present to myself, I bought a new double DIN deck. Factory 6 CD changers are great, if you like living in the 2000s. (justin timberlake bring sexyback.) Plus the
damn factory deck wouldn't uckfaying read my CD-RW's so I had to take things into my own hands.

While I had the console taken apart, I figured I'd Plasti-Dip it since it was scratched to heck. Dip will spray in winter  - I filled a cooler with some warm water, warmed the can and shook 'er up. Kept it in the warmer cooler in between coats.



I had this idea. The Impreza w/ AUX input uses up the cubbyhole by the cigarette lighter for an AUX jack. This AUX jack has a sense-pin that detects when you jack in, so the factory deck can enable the CD/AUX button when you have a cable in.

Now I didn't want to mess with trying to find out how to utilize the existing jack - some searching on NASIOC explained there was a special harness that went into the factory deck. I kiboshed it. Spent a few dollars at MRO and NCIX. I also didn't want to route the USB cable into the glove box so...

Soldered an AUX cable to run to the back of the new deck,

20151219_155457 by diamonD.edgE, on Flickr

....and a 3 foot USB A to A panel mounted cable

20151223_003840 by diamonD.edgE, on Flickr

Yields you...

20151223_013357 by diamonD.edgE, on Flickr

Finished product


20151223_224529 by diamonD.edgE, on Flickr
Interior_New by diamonD.edgE, on Flickr

Lighting, iPod, and Android USB connectivity right thru the front.

[kijho]

Good to see you start a thread man!  Great photos so far!

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Awesome. One day, I'll own a WRB 06 STi.

[RedndWhite]

About time!!



I've been wanting to post this one for a looooong time.

[Jay89]

Haha sweet another hawkeye! Look forward to seeing what you do to it

[jellynuts]

One of my favourite OEM wheels. 

If you want some suspension ideas, Epic Springs are a good affordable option.  If you want to affordably go all out, Feals. 

That USB mod is nicely done!

[Longlivetheride]

Nice wagon my favorite year

[cha0tik]

Great looking wagon! Can't go wrong with WRB and gold wheels (except on a KIA).

[seat safety switch]

Nice work all around.

[diamondedge]

Thanks all! It's been six months and she still puts a smile on my face.

My wish list in no particular order...

Dash cam
Front and rear swaybars, new endlinks, maybe mounts
As Jelly noted, a suspension setup. Epic? RCE regular guys? Feals? Tokico D? I unno now. Need to research more.

Exhaust. I'm set on the Borla Hush/Touring. I've always loved it ever since I first heard it.

My goals for this car - I don't know. A spirited DD with maybe auto-x in the future. I've never owned anything I've really wanted to mod until now so anything shiny will catch my eye. I've been following Project Harmony/rs_two_five's build and man... That's a wagon.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

I had RCE Yellows w/ Tokico D-specs on my STi, and it was great. I only upgraded to feals, as I needed the extra adjustability for wheel fitment.

[jellynuts]

Thanks all! It's been six months and she still puts a smile on my face.

My wish list in no particular order...

Dash cam
Front and rear swaybars, new endlinks, maybe mounts
As Jelly noted, a suspension setup. Epic? RCE regular guys? Feals? Tokico D? I unno now. Need to research more.

Exhaust. I'm set on the Borla Hush/Touring. I've always loved it ever since I first heard it.

My goals for this car - I don't know. A spirited DD with maybe auto-x in the future. I've never owned anything I've really wanted to mod until now so anything shiny will catch my eye. I've been following Project Harmony/rs_two_five's build and man... That's a wagon.

Brian has some EVO X Recaro's sitting around if you can peel them off his hands. 
Jory has some EVO IIX Recaro's sitting around if you can peel them off his hands. 

[RedndWhite]

Brian has some EVO X Recaro's sitting around if you can peel them off his hands. 
Jory has some EVO IIX Recaro's sitting around if you can peel them off his hands.

Jelly... those seats will be peeled from my hands when they're cold and dead

I'm a particular fan of the borla headers I had on the subie... That thing sounded so mean... *listens to sound clip* Get a borla system!

catback and headers

[jakesubie]

I really like this picture. and love the gold wheels!

[Jay89]

I had the epic engineering springs on my sedan. Loved it. Nice comfortable ride but still handles pretty good. Only reason I got rid of mine was because I wanted to go lower. I would recommend them if you're looking for a moderate drop with great comfort. Highly recommend getting some good struts to go with them. Factory stuff don't quite cut it for me.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Brian has some EVO X Recaro's sitting around if you can peel them off his hands. 
Jory has some EVO IIX Recaro's sitting around if you can peel them off his hands. 

You'd have to pry them from my cold, dead fingers.
And I believe it's VIII.

[seat safety switch]

On my '06 WRX wagon I ran Koni Yellow inserts in '04 WRX wagon housings with RCE wagon springs. It was a good setup, I would do it again.

Best mod I did was a Whiteline anti-lift kit.

[diamondedge]

On my '06 WRX wagon I ran Koni Yellow inserts in '04 WRX wagon housings with RCE wagon springs. It was a good setup, I would do it again.

Best mod I did was a Whiteline anti-lift kit.

Oh yeah, the ALK! Add that one to the list. I remember your wagon now SSS... *goes to re-read build thread*

I've also dreamed of gold Enkei or OZ's...then I realized that Gram Lights and VOLKS are expensive as uckfay. RPF1s are still cool, right? Am I out of touch?

[Rathburn]

Gabe, get one of those giant dildo-like shifter knobs.

[JohnnyCanuck]

Nice! Love the hawkeye hatch so much.

[05LGT]

Great color choice 

[jellynuts]

I've also dreamed of gold Enkei or OZ's...then I realized that Gram Lights and VOLKS are expensive as uckfay. RPF1s are still cool, right? Am I out of touch?

I love RPF1's, and, you lucky bum, they're offering a special edition colour right now in 5x100.

http://www.westernsubaruclub.com/smf/index.php?topic=50275.0

[RedBimmer93]

WRB suits no subaru chassis better than it suit's the GD/GG models. I have always admired your car

[Jay89]

I've also dreamed of gold Enkei or OZ's...then I realized that Gram Lights and VOLKS are expensive as uckfay. RPF1s are still cool, right? Am I out of touch?

Gram lights aren't that expensive though. Only about two grand for the set. Volks are about double that, or more depending on the set you choose.

Enkei are still cool. Actually to me, any high quality brand wheel is pretty cool. No reps. OZ, Enkei, bbs, rotiform, volks, work, etc...are all good in my books. Enkei makes the factory 07 WRX wheels if I remember correctly.