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32 

Pics 

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final 

60 

Features 

26. FresH sQueeZeD 

the freshest creation from 

seMa show 2007. 

32. uNDer tHe raDar 

australian-built, classic 

subaru Legacy turbo. 

38. PrOJeCt Gt reBuILD 

ryan broke it. travis has 

to fix it. What it took to get 

Project Gt back on track. 

42. HeLL’s LeGaCY 

the final hurrah for the project 

car we loved to hate. 

48. raLLY GuIDe 

subiesport’s guide to 

the greatest motorsport 

on earth! 

60. raLLY JOrDaN aDVeNture 

there and back again. 

38 

JULY 2008 CONTENTS 


JULY 2008 CONTENTS 

10 July 2008 

71 

76 

80 

DePartMeNts 

regulars 

12. travis Geny 

14. Letters 

75. Where to buy subiesport 

94. ad directory 

96. spotted! 

Driveline 

16. readers’ rides 

18. subaru news 

sports 

48. 2008 rally Guide 

60. alcan 5000 rally 

68. WrC rally Monte Carlo 

70. WrC rally sweden 

71. WrC rally Mexico 

72. 100 acre Wood 

74. Kumakubo! D1 Drifting 

Project Cars 

76. 2008 Impreza WrX 

80. 2007 Legacy Gt 

86. 1993 Impreza Wagon 

subie tech 

92. Fueled up 

FPO 

Check us out online: 

www.myspace.com/subiesport 

apple itunes: search “subiesport” 

Official site: www.subiesport.com 

a digital edition of this magazine is available at 

www.subiesport.com 

Cover Photo: eric eikenberry

BURNOUT 

It has been a long couple of months for me. 

now, I can’t complain too much. Most of my time 

has been spent either driving or working on cars in 

some fashion or another. but it can get a little tedious 

at times especially when it isn’t your car that 

is being worked on but someone else’s. but that is 

beside the point. While all this wrenching was going 

on, it gave me a chance to really think about all 

that we do to our cars and why we do it. There are 

two basic reasons that I identify with. The first and 

most base reason is to go faster. Faster can mean 

lots of different things; there is faster in a straight 

line, faster through the corners and then there is 

braking more quickly and shorter. Of course this 

relates directly to installing larger turbochargers, 

larger diameter exhausts and big intercoolers, 

stiffer springs, adjustable dampers and larger 

brake discs and calipers. all of these parts, when 

working in perfect concert, will transform your car 

from ho-hum stocker to within a hair’s breadth of 

dyed-in-the-wool racing machine where the point 

is clipping off pass after pass around the track as 

quickly as possible with machine accuracy and 

consistency. 

The other part is the more human side of pushing 

one’s self in both the driver’s seat and under 

the hood. While some of us will just swipe the old 

credit card and hope that a complete and faster car 

will appear complete with the parts that we clicked 

on, some of us play the dual role of driver and mechanic. 

There is no greater satisfaction of installing 

a part or parts, complete with bloodied knuckles 

and hands, jumping in the driver’s seat and going 

12 July 2008 

out on the track and shaving a few tenths or even 

seconds off your previous best. 

Of course, this is all in an ideal world. While 

building our 2007 Legacy Gt has gone pretty 

smoothly, broken piston aside; building our 1997 

Legacy Gt was pure torture. sure, there was that 

moment of satisfaction when the build was done 

and the car fulfilled its intended purpose, but the 

road there brought me to the edge of trading it all 

in to become an insurance salesman. 

Yet, it has given me vital experience and tools 

for future projects; namely, my own 1993 Impreza 

wagon which is currently engine-less. however, a 

new 2.5-liter that was assembled by myself is done 

and ready to be dropped into the engine bay, first 

things first, we have to finish this issue. 

You Legacy fans are in for quite a treat. We 

have three different generations of Legacy sedan 

featured in this issue starting with a first-generation 

australian Liberty Rs turbo. We also have the 

exciting conclusion to our 1997 Legacy Gt Royal 

Purple build and a huge section on building-up 

our 2007 Legacy. If you are thinking of building a 

new engine for any subaru, this is a must-read. 

The racing and driving season is here. The 

days are getting warmer and longer and it won’t 

be long till summer is here. It’s time to wrap up 

winter projects and see that our cars are ready to 

put rubber to tarmac and start whittling away at 

those personal bests. 

Travis Geny - travis@subiesport.com 

SUBIESPORT MAGAZINE 

ISSUE #22 

EDITORIAL STAFF 

Editor in Chief: Travis Geny 

Photography Editor: Yujiro Otsuki 

Style Editor: Armin H. Ausejo 

Alfa Snob: Jeff Zurschmeide 

Copy Editor: Michael Ligot 

Technical editor: Tim Bailey 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Jeff Sponaugle, David Hobbs, 

Amanda Katsurada, Eric Eikenberry, 

Joel Strickland. 

BUSINESS STAFF 

Publisher: Ryan Douthit 

Customer Service: Steven Anderson 

Bookkeeper: Melissa Douthit 

Circulation: Circ. One 

Color Matching: Esmé Douthit 

ADvERTISING SALES 

Ryan Douthit 425-458-4949 ext. 3 

ryan@subiesport.com 

SubieClub Member Publication 

www.subieclub.com 

Subiesport Magazine is published by 

MediaSpigot Publishing LLC. 

Phone or Fax: (425) 458-4949 

Web: www.subiesport.com. 

4176 148th Ave NE 

Redmond, WA 98052 

All subscriptions and subscription correspondence 

should be addressed to: 

Subiesport Subscriptions 

PO BOX 2866 

Kirkland, WA 98083 

For change of address, please include old address along with 

new address and, if possible, a copy of an address label from 

a recent issue. Allow up to six weeks for 

address to be changed. 

1-Year (6-issue) subscriptions are $19.99 (US), $29.99USD 

(CDN) or $39.99USD (EUR). 

Subiesport Magazine is independent of Subaru and its dealer 

network. © & 2004-08 MediaSpigot Publishing., LLC. 

All rights reserved. Reprinting, in whole or part, is expressly 

forbidden except by written permission of the Publisher.

BACKFIRE 

Send us your comments! 

backfire@subiesport.com 

“...in my quest to tune my car to tear-up the middle east” 

Introducing the human element 

I was waiting for February issue anxiously to check out pictures from toronto 

subaru meet and of course to check the picture of my car. It was freezing 

cold that day and I was so sick with flu but I still went to the meet after washing 

and polishing my car. however, browsing through 82 pictures that you 

printed gave no results. There were 84 pics taken that day and you managed to 

print 82 of them. I don’t know who the other lucky person is, but I guess you 

didn’t have space to print another two small pics! Guess what? someone is 

not renewing his subscription next year. 

-Ugur Kumru 

Ed: Not that we exist to make everyone happy all the time, but we did run every 

single photo we received. There might be a million reasons why a photo or two 

might have been missed, but we did not intentionally cut any photos. Hopefully, all 

the great content we do provide will make up for your being left-out. 

no 1.6-l l8vin, m3n? that’s bs, yo! 

(note: this letter has been left unedited.) I recently bought a brand 

new 2007 Impreza. I was reading your 2007 June artical “stI Vs ZeRO” 


well my car is indeed a zero as mine is in the Middle east with a tiny “1.6L 

motor with 105 hP” it’s a great car it takes a beating form the roads there Send pics and info to rides@subiesport.com 

and drifting is only possible going into a turn on sand. I am a mechanic 

My name is Kevin, and a subscriber of Subiesport for a little bit 

from Canada and i was just wondering in your artical your resident tuner 

now. I was wondering if you can give me details of the things I need 

tim baily was playing around with the eCU remapping it on C16 gas my 

to submit to Subiesport to be eligible for the Readers’ Ride section. I 

Question is did you use the Cobb access port to tune the stock eCU or is 

am thinking about submitting my 1997 Impreza L. It really isn’t much, 

the one in the car a after market. because the Car is a n/a like mine and i 

but something I am proud of and something I hope to share with the 

do plan on installing nos on my car in the middle east and i want to remap subaru community. Please let me know. Thanks. 

the car for the different gas there but when i email CObb they told me you 

can’t remap the car unless it’s a turbo b.s i say if you can remap the eCU it 

-Kevin bui 

shouldn’t matter it should be able to do my eCU as well your input would 

Ed: We have been getting a rash of these letters lately, so it is time to school 

be much appreciated in my quest to tune my car to tear up the middle east all you Rides’ hopefuls. Simply send in a brief description of your car 

streets and sand Dunes 

with a mod sheet, include your name and any other funny or interesting 

- steve allam information about your car. Most importantly, include a few hi-resolution 

photos and email the entire mess to: rides@subiesport.com. That’s it. Rides’ 

Ed: Steve, Cobb is indeed correct as currently we are unaware of any reflash 

submissions are taken on a first come first serve basis. Also, just because 

programs or products available, like the AccessPORT, for the 1.6-liter Impreza. 

you submit does not mean we will automatically run your car, it’s the luck 

Your best bet is to pick up a good-quality piggyback like AEM’s fuel and ignition 

controller or the Greddy eManage. The issue is that Subaru tends to use a differ- 

of the draw. Thanks to all who submit and keep them coming. 

ent ECU for each new year and model of car, so a 2004 WRX ECU is different 

than that of a 2005 Legacy necessitating a completely different product for each 

generation of ECU, hence, no reflash for your 2007 1.6-liter Impreza. A pig- 

OOPS! Though we’re normally paragons of accuracy, we did have a couple mistakes 

in the previous issue (Feb/Mar 2008). First, the photographer of the Arizona meet was 

Scott Sykes, thanks for the great pics. Second, photo WA 021 (Page 45) is Jon Green 

gyback should work for what you want to do, or you can look into a stand alone 

and his girlfriend, not Kendrick Gray and his wife. Lastly, the Reader’s Ride submission 

ECU like the AEM or Hydra. 

on Page 15 was from Adam Wright, not “Adam Write”. 

14 July 2008

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EaDErS’ rIDESBoxer 

Rumble 

We love Subarus of all shapes and sizes! Submit yours to rides@subiesport.com 

the FIRst COntenDeR is a 2005 stI decked out in 

more carbon fiber than an apache attack chopper. 

Jason senseney’s 2005 is dripping in the carbon 

weave. he writes: “here are some shots of my 2005 

Carbon stI. I have done a lot of work to her: seibon 

Carbon hood, trunk, front and rear lip, side skirts, 

and vortex generator; also sPt intake, exhaust, radiator 

shroud, turbo shield, front and rear strut 

tower braces, lower chassis brace, and performance 

gauge pack; and of course she wouldn’t be complete 

without blue streetglow. I have intentions of getting 

some paintwork done in the future. Thanks, you 

guys rock!” 

CAST YOUR VOTE! 

Issue 20 winner: adam Wright with 56.25% of the votes 

We PUt the vote to the people, and the people chose adam Wright’s hot Legacy 

Gt Wagon over Kevin hamel’s Legacy Gt sedan. The battle was close but it just 

goes to show that Wagon owners can really pull together when the chips are 

down. We’ll be sending adam a free CG-LOCK for his win! Who will win the boxer 

Rumble in this issue of Subiesport Magazine? Vote for your favorite! 

Vote “a” — Jason Senseney’s “classic” StI in carbon Fiber 

Jason, you had us until “streetglow.” but because 

we try to leave personal taste up to you, and since you 

shot your car during the day, we will let it pass. 


Does the new 2008 STI light you on fire? I so, 

place your vote for Dan! 

Text SUBIE B to 38714 if this is your choice! 

Vote “b” — Dan Moretti’s red hot StI 

WhILe the InItIaL reactions to the new cars were 

a bit unkind, it seems that even the subaru faithful 

are quickly being won-over by the 5-door rally wagons. 

Will this get your vote? Dan writes: 

“My name is Dan Moretti. I’m a 33-year-old 

subaru enthusiast who purchased three subarus last 

year. I bought my wife a b9 tribeca, and myself a 2007 

stI several months later. two weeks ago I purchased 

a new red 2008 stI. at first sight, I had to have it. The 

new styling was certainly eye-catching, and the red 

color stood out like the sun in the middle of summer. 

The entire car is extremely impressive, with its ergonomically-sophisticated 

interior and its incredible 

power and handling. For the money, you can’t beat 

this car. Out of all of the muscle cars I have owned, this 

one certainly takes the cake. I get looks everywhere I 

go, small crowds gather around the car when parked. 

You’d think I was driving a million-dollar enzo.“ 

16 July 2008 

Do you prefer a full worked-over GD-chassis 

STI? If so, place your vote for Jason! 

Text SUBIE A to 38714 if this is your choice! 

rise to the challenge! 

tO sUbMIt YOUR CaR, email photos (no 

smaller than 3 megapixels) to rides@subiesport. 

com along with your contact information. 

to vote, use your 

mobile phone to send 

your selection to the 

number provided 

on each issue. If, for 

example, you think 

the new, red, subaru Impreza stI is the hottest 

thing ever, send a text message of “sUbIe b” (no 

quotes) to the cell phone short code of 38714. 

If you’re all about previous-gen stIs, then text 

“sUbIe a” to 38714. There is no charge to vote, 

however, your carrier may charge you to send 

and/or receive text messages.

Introducing subiesport.com version 3.0 

THE ALL-NEW DESTINATION FOR YOUR SUBARU ADDICTION! 

Frequent blog updates, watch free Subiesport videos, 

upload your own videos — we may even feature them, 

receive blog entries via email, post comments and more! 

DON’T MISS: THE SUBIESPORT DIGITAL EDITION! 

The new Subiesport Digital Edition is 100% of the magazine, 

only in an earth-friendly digital format! Try the free preview! 

Subscribe for only $15 (ideal for international subscribers.) 

Check it out right now, only at www.subiesport.com

DRIVELINE SUBARU NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD 

perrin brings out the stars to christen new digs 

thIs Past MaY, Perrin Performance unveiled 

their new showroom and warehouse facility in 

hillsboro, Ore. While in years past you could purchase 

parts directly from Perrin, they had no real 

showroom or retail outlet to speak of, but this new 

facility not only has room for retail sales, but an installation 

shop as well. 

to celebrate their new digs, Perrin held a big car 

show and barbeque complete with dyno tech ses- 

sion and even a bit of celebrity with Rockstar rally 

stars andrew Pinker and Robbie Durant on hand 

with free Rockstar for everyone. Perrin also displayed 

their latest wares for the 2008 WRX, stI and 

Lancer eVO X. 

For interviews and highlights from the 

day go to www.drivingsports.com. For directions 

to Perrin or to schedule an install, go to 

www.perrinperformance.com. 

Rockstar Rally Co-Driver Robbie Durant Local hero and owner of Get-Primitive.com, Paul Eklund 

18 July 2008 

No, it’s not a Subaru. Yes, it’s awesome. Feature 2008 Subaru STI from Subiesport Issue #21 in the background.

Many MINI’s on hand. 

Subaru STI-inspired Ariel Atom. 

Andy Pinker’s Rally America Open Class Subaru STI. 

Pinker signing posters. 

Paul Nelson’s 1000+ HP Drag EvO. 



24 hours of the nordschleife 

In YeaRs Past, subaru has made a good showing 

at the annual running of the 24 hours of the nurburgring, 

nick named the Green hell by Forumla 1 ace, 

Jackie stewart. 

Last year, sWRt driver Chris atkinson piloted a 

mostly-stock stI in what would be one of his first attempts 

a circuit racing. Once again, subaru is back 

with an experienced all-Japanese roster for a go at 

the famed circuit. The stated goal for this year is to 

test the stI chassis to see where improvements can 

20 July 2008 

be made for future generations of the GRb-chassis 

road car. The car itself is stock save for the suspension, 

brakes, fuel system and breather system. Otherwise 

the eJ207 engine and IhI turbo are stock. The 

car, classed in sP 6 for cars with 3 to 4-liters in displacement, 

competed against the likes of Porsche 

997 Gt3s and bMW M3s. 

after the checkered flag dropped, the little Impreza 

sat 58th overall and 5th in class. not bad considering 

the gaggle of geschwadern.

DRIVELINE 



EntEr: EXIga 

a FeW MOnths aGO we showed you 

the subaru exiga, a 7-passenger wagon/ 

van that has more in common with a Legacy 

than the tribeca (there, I said it, sorry 

subaru). It now appears that this sexymommy 

van will make its way to production 

and is set to be shown in final spec at 

the tokyo auto salon. now the big question: 

Will we get one in the United states? 

Do you really have to ask? honestly, stop 

smoking the peace pipe and join us on 

planet earth. actual details and other such 

vital information has yet to be released but 

we should know the full 2009 model lineup 

in time for next issue. Until then, keep your 

fingers crossed and hug a tribeca owner. 

22 July 2008

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24 July 2008

DRIVELINE 

lEgacy StI S402 

yEt anOthEr hOt lEgacy StI yOu can’t haVE. 

WIth the CURRent iteration of the Leg- 

acy Gt getting a little long in the tooth, it’s 

time for subaru to use up some of those 

pesky left over chassis and start churn- 

ing out some really cool special editions. 

subaru is unlike any car maker currently 

in business in that they seem to produce 

a special edition just about once every 

two months to commemorate the win- 

ning of a rally or the opening of a new 

facility. however, to those of us stuck on the left side of 

the map, it serves only to frustrate. Read on only if you 

really enjoy drooling over forbidden fruit. 

behold, the 2008 Legacy stI s402. Like its Impreza 

brethren, this Legacy has more power, more fender 

and more suspension goodies than a standard car, 

even more so than a spec b. 

not only do our Japanese friends get a cooler nose 

and more power, but they get more rubber and wider 

fenders. That’s right, this Legacy is sporting fend- 


2008 LEGACY STI S402 

ers that are 20mm wider than stock that even have a 

cool vent ( which must be good for at least 100bhp*). 

Underneath these power bulges you will find 18-inch 

bbs wheels shod in Potenza Re050a tires (these add 

around 20bhp a piece*). 

not content with just bigger wheels and tires, the 

s402 also features 6-pot front calipers with 2-pots in the 

rear (50bhp per pot*). Doing the footwork is a bilstein 

damper setup. another trick little bit is a quicker steer- 

LIGHTWEIGHT SUBARU SUBWOOFER ENCLOSURES AND AMPLIFIER RACKS 

3142 Evergreen Way - Washougal, WA 98671 

02-07 IMPREZA WAGON 

SUBWOOFER ENCLOSURE 

ing rack with a 13:1 ratio (quicker steering 15bhp*). 

but when we are piling on more for the sake of 

more, how about more power? 285bhp and 292lb/ 

ft of torque is on tap from a massaged 2.5-liter boxer; 

whether this is an eJ257 or a worked over eJ255 

in unclear. 

Only 402 of these gorgeous and sure-to-be-fast 

machines will be made and probably spoken for by 

the time you read this (.5bhp per car made*). What’s 

 

02-07 IMPREZA WRX, STI, 2.5RS 

HIDE AWAY AMPLIFIER RACK 

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AMPLIFIER RACK 

more, this stI witch’s brew will be available as a sedan 

or a wagon. but alas, only in Japan so for the rest of the 

world hopefully we can piece one together through 

the subaru parts bin. 

*All hp figures beside the official published numbers 

are based purely on speculation and bitterness and are inserted 

to make ourselves feel better since we don’t get cool 

JDM special editions and we have to make fun of our Japanese 

friends somehow. < 



02-07 IMPREZA WAGON 


SHOP ONLINE: AUDIOINTEGRATIONS.NET PHONE: 360.835.1835 EMAIL: SALES@AUDIOINTEGRATIONS.NET 

26 July 2008

28 July 2008

FrESh SQuEEzED 


Words & Photos 

By Eric Eikenberry 

If we’ve learned nothing else in the 50,000 or so 

years we’ve existed on this planet, it’s that Homo 

sapiens love all things “new”. The first stone age 

cave-dweller to strap round, flat objects onto 

a few hastily carved planks of wood was probably 

the neighborhood celebrity in a matter of a few 

days. Prehistoric women might have been throwing 

themselves at his feet. What this Paleolithic engineer 

didn’t realize at the time is that he’d tapped a rich 

vein deep inside the human mammal: what I’d like to 

call the “Go-Fast Gene.” society has been accelerating 

nonstop ever since. today, we’ve got fine companies 

like aeM and subaru who are dedicating entire 

workforce toward the further encouragement of the 

“Go-Fast Gene.” shortly before the 2007 seMa show 

aeM and subaru, together with harman Motive, 

whipped a new 2008 subaru WRX into shape. here, 

laid out before you, is the, fruit of their labor. 

This interior is beautiful in 

a Spartan, functional way. 

30 July 2008 

They didn’t start with an orange car. That would 

be too easy. Instead, project coordinator Greg nakano, 

of tuning giant aeM, was handed the keys to a 

black 5-door Impreza WRX in early september 2007. 

subaru’s in-house tuning division had already fitted 

it with an sPt intake and exhaust system, a 6-speed 

stI transmission, and an stI twin-plate clutch. 

The idea was to showcase what was possible 

with the new Impreza hatchback for the 2007 seMa 

show. aeM made sure safety was at the forefront, 

with a multipoint roll cage installed by sinister Race 

Cars, designed to protect three occupants. next, it 

was shuffled off to Dan harman’s house of wonder, 

harman Motive, where they performed a baseline 

dynamometer test on their Mustang MD500se allwheel 

drive dyno. The car made 199 wheel hp and 

211 ft/lbs of torque on 11 PsI, proving that the stock 

WRX is certainly no slouch. Down to the nitty-gritty, 

Dan’s techs installed their new Gt3582R turbo kit 

and intercooler. Deatschwerks 850cc fuel injectors 

and a Walbro in-tank fuel pump keep up with the 26 

pounds of boost the Garrett turbocharger supplies. 

a tial 44mm wastegate and 50mm blow-off valve 

control the happily spinning snail, while aeM’s programmable 

engine management system keeps all of 

the electrons busy whizzing on their way through the 

Can-bus system courtesy of a custom wiring harness. 

a revised intake system using an aeM Dryflow 

filter allows a straight shot into the rotated turbo. a 

setrab oil cooler now rests directly below the hood 

scoop. a stock intake manifold was reversed, making 

room for the boost crossover tube from the oversized 

turbo. The mandrel-bent tubing is made of 304 stainless 

steel and can be coated by harman Motive in 

either a black or silver ceramic. aeM chose a strik-

ing shade of blue, which matches the graphics on the 

exterior perfectly. 

harman Motive also used aeM’s aIt and MaP 

sensors and two water injection kits, one for the engine, 

and one just for the intercooler! DC sports supplied 

a custom 3-inch b-pipe exhaust to move the 

spent air and fuel with as little restriction as possible 

back to the sPt cat-back exhaust. We think it has a 

delightfully angry exhaust note. Other sPt parts include 

a 1.3 baR radiator cap, a cool aluminum battery 

tie down, oil cap, and a sport mesh grille at the 

nose. harman’s air/oil separator, hose connectors 

from hose techniques, and a carbon fiber accessory 

belt cover from Carbign Craft complete the welldressed 

engine bay. 

although the WRX came with a pre-production 

interior rendered in smooth charcoal plastic, aeM 

didn’t let that stop them. They ordered up some 

custom carbon fiber inserts for the dash and doors 

from Ridesync and installed a suede leather sparco 

383 steering wheel. Inside the roll cage, they installed 

two carbon fiber s-light Circuit Pro rally seats, and 

one Pro 2000 in the middle in the rear. aeM digital 

display gauges fill a carbon fiber panel where the 

radio would be. an sPt boost gauge is prominently 

mounted to the right side of the instrument pod on 

the dash. This interior is beautiful in a spartan, functional 

way. no leather seats. no suede headliners. no 

booming stereo. With 6-point sparco harnesses, it’s 

track- or rally-ready. 

From there, the attention turned to creating 

something truly eye-grabbing for the exterior. 

Mobworks laid on a coat of striking flat orange 

paint. aPR carbon fiber canards were attached to 

both sides of the front bumper with a carbon fiber 

front splitter added to the bottom for good measure. 

FRESH SQUEEZED 



AEM/HARMAN MOTIVE 2008 WRX 

Powertrain 2.5-liter, Turbocharged EJ255 

Drivetrain 6-speed WRX STI transmission 

Engine Harman Motive GT Turbo Kit, V-Band 

down-pipe connection, Quiet Technology 

waste-gate re-route, Garret GT3582R 

turbo w/ .82AR exhaust housing, Tial Sport 

V44 waste-gate, Tial Sport 50mm blow-off 

valve, reversed stock intake manifold, 

Harman Motive front mount intercooler, 

Walbro fuel pump, Deatschwerks 850cc 

injectors, SPT STI twin-plate clutch, AEM 

AIT and Map Sensors, AEM Dryflow air 

filter, AEM water injection kit, 2nd AEM 

water injection kit (Intercooler Sprayer), 

DC Sports custom 3” B-Pipe exhaust, 

Harman Motive Air/Oil separator, SPT 1.3 

BAR radiator cap, SPT Cat-back exhaust 

system, SPT oil cap. 

Exterior Carbon fiber APR splitter, carbon fiber 

APR canards, Custom Flat Orange Paint 

by Mobworks, Gen X custom decals, SPT 

Sport Mech Grille. 

Suspension JIC-Magic coilover suspension 

Brakes Rotora 4-piston big brake kit front, 

2-piston rear. 

Wheels/Tires Prodrive 4-piston 330mm front slotted 

brake kit, Prodrive GT1 18” x 8” wheels, 

Toyo R888 245/40-R18 tires 

Electronics AEM digital display gauges, SPT 

boost gauge, AEM stand-alone Engine 

Management System (custom wiring 

harness) Custom-tuned by Dan Harman. 

Interior Multi-point roll cage by Sinister Race Cars, 

Sparco 383 suede steering wheel, Sparco 

6-point harnesses, Sparco two Circuit Pro 

Seats, Sparco Pro 2000 Seat, Ridesync 

custom carbon fiber dash and door trim, 

SPT aluminum sport pedals, SPT battery 

tie-down. 

Performance 

(Claimed) 

32 July 2008 

449 HP / 403 LB/FT @ 26 PSI Peak Boost 

Pressure (110 Octane Race Fuel).

aeM also took the time to fit a JIC-Magic coilover sys- 

tem to give their subaru the perfect ride height over 

the Prodrive 18x8-inch graphite gray Gt1 wheels. 

toyo was tapped for a set of 245/40-R18 R888 tires. 

The front brakes were upgraded to 330mm 4-piston 

Prodrive calipers with slotted rotors. 

by the end of October, when the dust settled, 

and all was said and done, there sat a bright flatorange 

screamer swilling 110 octane and spitting 

449 horsepower and 411 ft/lbs of torque through all 

four wheels. Under the lights of seMa at the beginning 

of november, the car was a feather in the cap of 

everyone involved and was prominently displayed in 

subaru’s expansive section of the show floor. 

“We are very pleased with the end result of the vehicle’s 

power, handling, and appearance. I wouldn’t 

be surprised if you see another vehicle built by aeM 

and sPt for this year’s seMa as well,” said Greg. Of 

course Greg was mum on those details. hearty kudos 

should go out to harman Motive and aeM for showing 

all of us mere mortals what sort of power can be 

squeezed out of the new WRX in just a short amount 

of time. now, tells us honestly, “orange” you glad they 

didn’t build an eVO? < 



hEll’S lEgacy rEbOrn 

Story by Travis Geny 

Building cars is one of those uniquely human endeavors. 

It serves no other purpose than the goals 

of personal esthetics and the somewhat subjective 

measurements of performance. building a car is at 

once a great accomplishment of engineering and 

talent, and at the same time the end result is nothing more 

than a symbol of humanity’s ability to turn raw elements 

into a usable means of transportation. 

Our project 1997 Legacy goes a bit further than that. It is 

a testament to just how much punishment and anguish the 

human spirit can endure to achieve one’s goals. 

If you have not been following along with this project 

over the course of the past two years, here is a brief recap. 

The car started life as a well-used 1997 Legacy Gt automatic. 

It came with the DOhC na eJ25. Just about everything 

on the car was either completely shot or worn-out 

beyond hope. every single seat had either holes or tears 

in them, the paint was faded and peeling, the suspension 

was blown, and the engine leaked like a sieve, meaning that 

it also smoked to the point where one needed a fire extinguisher 

just in case. Other than these little foibles, it was a 

great car, and also a perfect place to start for an off-the-wall, 

one-of-a-kind project. 

That isn’t to say that we are the first to ever tackle one of 

these machines, but to say that turbo bD-chassis Legacies 

are rare in the United states is a bit of understatement. 

The car was donated to Subiesport by Royal Purple synthetic 

Oil. The original goal was to build the car up for the 

2006 seMa show, where it would be put on display in the 

Royal Purple booth. The goal then was to turn this weatherbeaten 

and worn-out road warrior from texas into a showworthy 

machine that would blend both usability and showstopping 

looks. how hard could it be? 

Things started well enough. The first stop was the replacement 

of the automatic transmission. While the merits 

of the subaru 4eat are many and it has the ability to stand 

up to lots of power, I don’t like automatics. I like to shift, 

and any performance car worth its salt has some form of 

manual box. so we took the car over to all Wheels Driven 

in bend, Ore., to have the slush box swapped out in favor of 

a Ra-spec 5-speeed from a JDM turbo Legacy. With a 4.11 

gear ratio and Ra gears, this box can take some abuse. It 

also means that the gears are very short, but that is good for 

performance driving, where top speed isn’t really too much 

of a consideration. This conversion basically demands you 

swap everything over, including a hydraulic clutch pedal 

assembly, rear diff, prop shaft and axels. 

With the new gearbox and lower gears, the car came 

alive and almost made me reconsider the next phase in the 

build. almost. 


ut before that could happen, we needed to ad- 

dress the suspension, which was a bit sloppy. Years of 

heat and torment had basically rendered the struts, 

bushings and just about everything else toast. to 

remedy this, we called the good folks at Global Performance 

Parts, the U.s. master distributor for Whiteline 

suspension components. to help out the tired 

chassis, Whiteline donated front and rear sway bars 

with their rear heavy-duty mounts and bushings, 

endlinks, rear subframe lockdown kit, anti-lift kit, 

front and rear strut tower bars and rear-diff bushing 

kit. to this we initially added a set of h&R coilovers 

that were at one time on our project 2.5Rs. The cool 

thing about the bD Legacy is that it shares its chassis 

with the Impreza, so many of the parts that work 

36 July 2008 

on a WRX or GC chassis Impreza, will work on this 

generation of Legacy. This is not the case for later 

Legacy chassis, as subaru made significant changes 

after 1999. 

With the new suspension installed, the car was 

transformed. If you don’t have the money for big 

power mods, invest in suspension pieces; they will 

transform your car, and the Whiteline components 

are top-notch. 

having a sorted driveline and suspension are a 

great place to start, but driving human ambition is 

power, and the more the better. to that end, Perrin 

Performance was approached. Perrin produces all 

manner of go-fast kit, from suspension components 

to exhausts and turbo kits. We were most interested 

in their rotated-mount turbo kits, which are made 

specifically for the GD WRX and stI. since our 

Legacy has much in common with the newer model 

Impreza, we reasoned that the turbo kit would fit reasonably 

well and would be a great way to make more 

power. We were right. The Perrin turbo kit consists of 

an uppipe, turbo, downpipe and external wastegate 

and intake. all of this will bolt into your stock WRX 

pretty as you please. While Perrin is known for their 

use of Gt30R and Gt35R turbos, they had been experimenting 

with the smaller Garrett Gt2860Rs 

“Disco Potato” turbo. since we were not aiming to do 

the same old thing, we decided to give this smaller 

but very efficient turbo a try. 

because we did not have a turbo manifold stock,

we added Perrin’s header as well. In addition, we 

would need an intercooler and a blow-off valve. so 

we installed a Perrin front mount intercooler and 

Perrin atmospheric bOV. to get exhaust gasses out to 

the tail, we sourced a Vibrant exhaust system with a 

canister muffler. 

With the turbo system sitting in our garage, it 

was time to address the engine. The stock na DOhC 

eJ25 is not known for its ability to handle boost. In 

fact, quite the opposite, we knew that a tougher engine 

would be needed. to address this, we contacted 

Crawford Performance, builders of some of the best 

subaru engines in the world. Crawford has shown 

time and again what their engines are capable of with 

countless time attack and rally wins. to keep things a 

little less complicated, they decided to mate our stock 

heads to one of their s2 stI blocks, which feature 

forged pistons atop balanced and blueprinted stock 

rods and crank. This would be more than enough engine 

for our setup. 

Things were looking good, but there was still a 

mountain of work to be done. Initially, all the paint 

removal, sanding, dent repair and molding-shaving 

was done by yours truly. however, there is a point 

where one must realize that one has no idea what one 

is doing; I was not there yet. so while the motor was 

being built, I set about sanding, filling, sanding some 

more and priming the entire car. It was also at this 

point that I fit and primed the new body kit provided 

by Primitive Racing (these kits are once again available, 

and they are very cool-looking indeed.) 

at this point it was late september, just two 

months until seMa 2006, and while we had many 

of the parts we would need to complete the build, 

along with a primer-covered car, we had no engine. 

It seems that because of our choice of heads, custom 

pistons would have to be made for our engine. happily, 

you can now order this combo from Crawford 

for your early-model DOhC car. With time running 

out, we decided that it was time to start performing 

the surgery of getting everything installed. We would 

have to pull the old engine anyway, so the fact that 

the new lump had not arrived was not yet a problem. 

Rallitek in Portland, Ore., performed the initial 

install of the suspension and fitting of the turbo parts, 

which all went together rather easily. The only big 

change to the car was the notching of the stock subframe; 

you can also install a turbo subframe from a 

WRX. The intercooler pipes also went in rather easily, 

although we had to do some cutting to both the pipes 

and the chassis to get everything to fit. 

With only a scant two weeks before the show, 

the engine showed up and was installed. With everything 

hooked up and ready to go, we fired the engine, 

which it did on the first go. This was a great relief, but 

was only half the battle. We now had a running car 

with all the cool kit installed, but there were a few 

HELL’S LEGACY REBORN 


more details to sort. 

First, we had a whole set of gauges from autoM- 

eter. They had sent us their nexus gauges, which are 

fully electronic, color shifting and really cool. We had 

made some gauge pods for it, but had not wired or 

installed them. The reason for this was that we were 

planning on also installing an aeM standalone system. 

however, with little time remaining, we decided 

to leave this and install it later. We did not want to install 

the gauges twice since wiring in the aeM would 

mean rewiring the gauges, so the gauges sat in their 

pods dormant. In the meantime, a Perfect Power 6 

would have to do for engine management. 

at this time we also installed seats from a 2005 

2.5Rs. We also installed a leather shift boot and new 

shift knob. What we were lacking was a paint job, and 

with only a week to go, I decided I would spray the 

car in my garage. 

The less that is said about this paint job, the better. 

but to illustrate just how wrong things had gone, 

it was now 40 degrees Fahrenheit in my garage, I had 

never painted a car before, and I had never mixed 

paint. It did not go well. between all the runs, orange 

peel and other flaws, the car looked bad to say the 

least. but it had to get to seMa. so with the paint this 

side of dry, I hopped in and drove to Fleet signs and 

Graphics, so that they could install 48 hours worth of 

stickers in just under 12. We added a few touches to 

the stickers along the way to try to hide the hideous 

paint job. This did not work out so well. 

In the end, the truck driver loading the car onto 

his truck would prevent the car going to seMa 2006 

when he rammed the front lip into a winch on his 

truck. This was a blessing in disguise, as the car clearly 

was not ready for the show. 

however, the story does not end here. Just after 

38 July 2008 

The knocking that we heard turned 

out to be a broken cam-cap bolt. 

seMa 2006 was the first running of subiefest, where 

the car sat on display in all its home-painted and 

broken nose glory. While the plan was to run the car 

around the track, there were a few problems with this. 

First was the fact that the monster 18-inch Konigs 

wrapped in 235-wide nitto race rubber was in no 

way going to fit under the slab-sided fenders. two, a 

freak crash closed the track before the car could turn 

a wheel. This was also a blessing in disguise, at least 

for the ill-fated Legacy, as on the way home from the 

track the car started making an ominous knocking 

sound. normally when something like this happens, 

you pull over, shut down and call aaa. however, I was 

at least 100 miles from home, and it was night with no 

aaa, so I had to press on. early the following Monday 

I drove the car back to Rallitek for a diagnosis. sure 

enough, the car was knocking; no, they could not pinpoint 

it; yes, the motor would have to come out. 

With a heavy heart I drove the car, gingerly, 

up to the barn/shop of Mazdasport editor Jeff 

Zurschmeide, where I would pull the motor to send it 

back to Crawford for analysis. This I did with a severe 

sinus infection, not fun when trying to work on a car. 

still, I made it through with a mix of advil and cold 

beer at the end of the day. a cold beer makes a great 

ice pack when you are trying to relieve the pressure 

on your head; plus, it has the added effect of getting 

you good and drunk so that you can pass out. O.K., 

it isn’t the healthiest way of beating the flu, but it 

worked. 

With the motor out and the engine back at Crawford, 

there wasn’t much I could do, and the car sat 

while other projects got priority and the engine was 

torn down, inspected and rebuilt. 

The knocking that we heard turned out to be a 

broken cam-cap bolt. apparently these can break 

from time to time, and we just happened to have one 

of those engines. Further digging found that a tuning 

issue we had been having had washed the cylinders 

with fuel and the rings had scuffed the bores; not 

good. Further more, the oil pickup tube had a hole 

in it and was not getting sufficient oil to the bearings




40 July 2008 

which were chewed up as well; again, not good. so it 

was to be a complete rebuild. With just 1,000 miles on 

the block, the car seemed to be cursed. 

In the meantime we decided that it was time to 

get cracking again, since the car had sat, engineless, 

in Jeff’s field for the past six months or so. to this end, 

we decided the first step was to repair the body kit 

and get a new paint job. to do this, we turned to JMI 

autoworks in arlington, Wash. JMI is the same crew 

that painted and did the amazing bodywork to Phil 

Grabow’s 2006 stI after it had seen its share of the 

countryside during the 2006 time attack season. 

JMI was more than happy to help us out, so we 

loaded the rolling chassis into Jeff’s trailer and headed 

for JMI’s shop, which is actually an airplane hangar. 

It turns out their main business is custom paintwork 

on small aircraft and the occasional show car. 

You have seen their work on several other cars on the 

covers of other import tuning rags. 

Once at their shop we picked out a brand new 

hue for the wounded Legacy, a metallic purple GM 

color. JMI also informed us that repairing the cracked 

bumper would not be a problem; this was the first 

good news in a while. 

In the meantime, the engine returned from Crawford, 

rebuilt and ready to go, and I prepared to reassemble 

the car, this time in my own garage with my 

own two hands. While I had never personally done 

this before, I have helped drop in numerous engines; 

just never solo. For this endeavor I had to get my own 

engine crane and engine stand. We also decided that 

the car needed a bit more attention in the interior 

department, so we contacted the folks at nRG, which 

sent along a pair of their eVO seats and one of their 

steering wheels and quick-release hubs. The nRG 

bits are really cool-looking and certainly went a long 

way to making the car look top-notch. 

The goal at this point was just to finish the car. We 

had no show aspirations as of this point. but a chance 

meeting would change all that. Mark McFann, Royal 

Purple honcho and owner of the car, ran into the boys 

from sony at a nOPI event. It turns out that Mike 

bryceland of sony not only is in charge of sponsorships 

for sony’s Xplode line, he also is in charge of 

who gets to be a part of sony’s seMa displays. Mike 

also owns a bG Wagon which is turbocharged with a 

Gt30R rotated kit, and he was very interested in not 

only seeing that our sedan was decked out in the latest 

sony gear, but that we would have another shot 

at seMa. 

armed with this knowledge, the pressure was 

back on to get the car ready for seMa 2007. With the 

car back in my garage, the parts assembled and the 

rebuilt engine standing by, it was time to make our 

now-purple metallic Legacy roar back to life. 

Reassembling an engine and dropping it back 

into the car isn’t as hard as it might seem. You really 

only need a few ratchets and wrenches to do this, 

plus an engine crane. The first step was to assemble 

as much of the engine as possible. This meant reattaching 

the manifolds, clutch, turbo, accessories and 

making sure that everything was tight and plumbed. 

From there, the motor more or less could drop right 

into place. Of course, just as I began assembling the 

engine I came down with another sinus infection. 

not to be deterred, I swallowed a handful of advil and 

made sure that I had cold beer in the fridge. 

The car went together without incident. everything 

bolted back together just as it had done before, 

and it fired up on the first try. Of course, I discovered 

that I had not tightened the intake manifold all the 

way, which rewarded me with a high-pitch screech as 

air rushed past the intake manifold seal. The Perfect 

power also managed to ground itself on the chassis

shorting-out itself and some of the main fuses. again 

we trailered the car back over to Rallitek, who were 

quick to discover the blown fuses and rewire the per- 

fect power. 

another interesting foible also reared its head. 

When we built the car the year before, the car would 

run fine at cold start, but then would either die or 

idle poorly, dumping loads of fuel into the engine, 

which caused the initial cylinder wash. The solution 

was elusive, but one clue was slapping me in the face: 

The MaF was reading twice the voltage it should have 

been at idle. Replacing the MaF sensor did nothing 

to fix the problem, which meant twice the air was getting 

past the MaF. but why? 

however, time had run out for me diagnose small 

problems, as the car had to be taken up to audio Integrations 

in Camas, Wash., to have all the sony gear 

installed. and not just slapped in with generic subboxes 

and dash kits, but installed in a way fitting for 

seMa. 

Ryan, todd and nick let me know that they could 

have it all installed and ready to roll in a week; furthermore, 

they could fix some of the sins in the interior 

to make the car truly show worthy. Our gauge 

install, while good enough for a gearhead, wasn’t 

exactly pretty, so they decided to redo the pods, 

even making one from scratch since we would have 

to move the gauges from the center console to make 

room for the double din, sony touchscreen head unit 

and DVD player. They would also build custom cabi- 

nets in the trunk for the subs, amps and battery. This 

they would cover with vinyl and accent with purple 

LeDs and laser-cut plexiglass plates with the appropriate 

logos. They even recovered the door inserts to 

let everyone know whom the car was for. 

true to their word, Ryan and todd went to work 

on the car with zeal and not only produced an incredible 

end-product, but they did it in exactly the 

promised time frame. What they did for the car again 


gave it that extra nudge to make it look more the part. 

I could not have been happier. 

The next step was to try to take one last stab at 

our idle problem before driving the car up to seattle 

for stickers. after consulting with Jeff Perrin, he suggested 

moving the MaF away from the turbo and 

supplied me with some additional tubing to do so. 

however, time was running out, and we needed to 

get back to seattle and Fleet signs and Graphics to 

have our sticker package once again installed. First, 

though, we had to make a quick stop at Pacific Import 

auto (PIa) to have our brand new endura-tech 

coilovers installed. 

I mentioned our problem with the idle to owner 

steve talbot, his son and head tech Mike. They quickly 

agreed that the MaF was probably sitting too close 

to the turbo and offered to whip us up a new intake, 

which they did with skill and speed. With the supplied 

pipe from Perrin, they routed the intake down 

into the fender, well away from the turbo. success. It 

seems that with the free-wheeling ball bearing turbo, 

it spins fast enough at idle to draw in a good amount 

of air. however, at idle, the throttle is closed so that air 

The pressure was on to get the car 

completed in time for SEMA. 



does not get to the engine. Yet, the MaF is telling the 

eCU to add fuel to compensate for the extra air. The 

end result is too much fuel and poor idle. The new intake 

fixed all this by moving the MaF away from this 

airflow. 

suddenly, our rough idle was gone and fueling 

returned to normal. The only thing that worried me 

was that all the tubing in the fender was a little close 

to where the wheels sit, and knowing that we would 

reinstall the 18-inch Konigs, albeit with narrower 

Yokohama s.Drive rubber measuring 225/35/18, 

it would be close. but no matter. We had to get the 

stickers on, as the truck that was coming to take the 

car away to Vegas was just three days out. 

at this point I have to take a moment to thank 

someone who, without his help and hospitality, none 

of this would have ever happened. eric Lyden is one 

of those friends that you meet by sheer chance, but 

also is just one of the coolest guys I have ever known. I 

met him last year when we were scrambling to get the 

car done. he runs and owns Fleet signs and Graphics. 

not only did eric do an incredible job with a very 

complex sticker package, but eric opened his home 

to me for three days while we feverishly scrambled to 

get the car done before its ill-fated date with a winch. 

This year, eric again came through in the clinch, offering 

me the guest room for well over a week while 

I sorted the final details and he single-handedly designed 

and saw to the printing, cutting and application 

of yet another overly-complex sticker scheme. 

Without him, the project would never have been 

completed. 

On Wednesday, October 24, the weather was 

clear and bright and we had just under 12 hours to 

get the car finished and on the truck. again, we had 

lots of stickers to apply and not a whole lot of time to 

do it. In addition, I decided that the old rotors needed 

to be replaced, so I hit up World One Performance for 

a set of ebC rotors which look oh-so-pretty in their 

anodized finish, perfect for a show car on its way to 

seMa. 

as I set about installing the new brakes and fitting 

the Konig wheels with the new Yokohama rubber, 

eric busied himself with the final preparation of 

the stickers. 

With the wheels and tires installed, I was to drive 

over to eric’s shop to fit the biggest of the vinyl. This is 

where my fears were realized. There was indeed not 

enough clearance between the new intake pipe and 

the big tires. however, it only rubbed if you turned left 

all the way, so I would just have to be careful. 

The car made it to the shop without incident and 

eric and I were able to get the stickers installed. as 

the sun went down, and the time to meet the truck 

42 July 2008 

approached, we fitted the final stickers. as we applied 

the last sticker, a window banner, the truck driver 

called to let us know he was ready and waiting. With 

a final once-over to make sure we had everything, I 

drove the car to the lot where the truck was waiting. 

We were relieved to see several seMa-bound cars 

already loaded. after we related the horror from last 

year, the driver allayed our fears and loaded the car 

without incident. he even covered it once in the enclosed 

trailer to ensure that nothing got on the paint. 

as the car was loaded onto the truck and the 

trailer was buttoned up, a wave of relief washed over 

me. two years of late nights, begging, busted knuckles, 

bleeding, sickness, frustration, disappointment, 

inconvenience, paint fumes, sanding, broken tools, 

sweat and hard work rolled away into the dark. I had 

done it. I had finished the car. suddenly I felt almost 

empty. The largest project I had ever worked on in my 

life was now finished. There really are no words to describe 

this feeling. 

I came to the realization that the next time I 

would see the Legacy, it would have arrived at seMa 

without my having to do anything. someone else 

would have driven it off the truck, parked it at the 

sony booth and would have possession of the keys. It 

was now out of my hands. It would be the only car of 

its kind at the show. I would like to think that it is the 

only bD chassis Legacy ever at the seMa show. 

to be sure, building cars is one of those uniquely 

human endeavors. at the end of the road the only 

thing I have to show for all of my efforts is my own 

satisfaction at completing such a difficult project. a 

project that at times made me want to quit my job 

altogether and forget the world of cars. but like all 

humans, that bitter taste is quick to fade and I once 

again find myself looking for another chance to do it 

all again for next year. < 

ROYAL PURPLE 1997 LEGACY GT 

Powertrain EJ257 Hybrid, 2.5RS heads, Crawford S2 

STI block. 

Drivetrain JDM Legacy Type-RA 5-speed 4.11:1 ratio, 

Automatic to Manual conversion, Exedy 

Hyper Single clutch and flywheel. 

Engine Perrin Header, Perrin rotated mount turbo 

kit, GT2860RS turbo, USDM STI Injectors, 

Walbro fuel pump, Perrin FMIC, Perrin/ 

PIA custom intake, Modified WRX Vibrant 

exhaust, Perrin BOV. 

Exterior Primitive Racing body kit, Custom paint by 

JMI Motoring. Stickers by Fleet Signs and 

Graphics. 

Suspension Endura-Tech Coilovers; Whiteline: front 

and rear sway bars, antilift kit, heavy-duty 

sway bar mounts, front and rear endlinks, 

rear subframe lockdown kit, differential 

bushing kit, steering rack bushings, front 

and rear strut braces. 

Brakes EBC slotted and vented rotors. 

Wheels/Tires Konig Maxxim Guilt 18x8-inch rims. 

Yokohama S.Drive 225/35/18 tires. 

Electronics Sony: dual DIN touchscreen headunit, 

6-inch component speakers, tweaters, 

Slim Line amps, Slim Line 12-inch 

subwoofers, HD Radio receiver, AutoMeter 

Nexus gauges (boost, oil temp, oil 

pressure, fuel pressure, tachometer), 

Audio Integrations custom enclosures and 

gauge pods. 

Interior NRG EVO seats, NRG steering wheel with 

quick release, 2.5RS rear seat.

2007 STREET CLASS WINNER 

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44 July 2008

unDEr thE raDar 


Story and Photos 

By Joel Strickland 

Being young and owning any form of perfor- 

mance car in australia is becoming harder 

and harder these days. The Police are being 

more and more vigilant on modified cars 

driven by young drivers. 

Most of australia has now enforced “hoon” laws, 

where your car can now be confiscated for 48 hours if 

you are caught breaking the law, and for a second offence, 

the car can be impounded for three months. 

This is a very daunting law for drivers of modified 

cars, as something as simple as spinning your wheels 

can cause your car to be taken by the police. as a re- 

sult of all of these laws, more car owners are going for 

the stock/sleeper look. 

tim Fowler is one of these car owners that does 

not want to attract unwanted police attention. after 

falling in love with that great subaru boxer rumble, 

he started to look for an appropriate car. WRX’s may 

be getting cheaper, but they still come with unwanted 

attention from the police because of a few troublemakers 

that have ruined the cars’ image for all WRX 

owners in australia. 

so tim went on the hunt for a Rs Liberty. his previous 

car was also a Liberty but only a n/a version; he 

was ready for some forced induction! 

When he found what he was looking for he struck 

gold at a local dealership. It was a 1991 generation 1, 

series 2 Liberty Rs turbo with only 174,000 kilometers 

(108,000 miles) on the clock. The bonuses were 

that it had a rarely fitted sunroof and abs. 

When tim first bought the car he planned to keep 

it fairly unmodified, but it did not take long for that to 

change. a month later, a set of King springs was fitted 

Something as simple as spinning your wheels 

can cause your car to be taken by the police. 

46 July 2008 

and the car was lowered. at the same time the stereo 

was given a well-deserved upgrade, tim replaced the 

standard factory unit with an alpine CDa-9856 head 

unit Mp3/iPod adapter, JVC front splits with 6-inch 

woofer and tweeters, and Kenwood rears measuring 

6-inches. 

after a few more months of ownership, tim became 

dissatisfied with the power and it still did not 

have that perfect boxer rumble. so, a 3-inch mild steel

turboback exhaust was added, as well as a manual 

boost controller and a autometer Pro Comp 2-inch 

boost gauge to make sure the car was hitting the desired 

14psi of boost. This sorted out the power and the 

sound. 

two months was all it took before the next mod 

bug bit. This time it was to improve the looks, so the 

factory 15-inch Rs rims were ditched and some MY05 

WRX rims in bronze were fitted in their place. but tim 

was not happy with the look they gave, so they lasted 

three weeks before changing them to the MY01 WRX 

Rims in silver. 

as a result of increasing the boost, a few issues developed 

with the standard ignition system. In order to 

fix the problem bosch coils were added and a Walbro 

fuel pump was also added as a safety measure to protect 

the engine. 

When you change and modify your car, the next 

thing you usually do is to go and test the mods, so up 

to the mountains tim headed for a day out to test the 

package. Unfortunately, the inevitable happened: The 

engine decided it wanted to destroy a piston ring after 

winding up the boost a little too much. 

When something like an engine lets go, many 

things run through your mind. Do you sell the car and 

start again? Do you replace the engine or do your take 

the opportunity to modify to a whole all new level? tim 

decided to take the last option. 

a low-kilometer 1993 Legacy engine was sourced 

and installed. tim had worked hard to afford it, and 

AUSTRALIAN LIBERTY EqUALS U.S. LEGACY 

The Legacy was introduced back in the late 1980s 

when Subaru was bringing the first batch of cars into 

Australia, and it had a problem with using the Legacy 

name. In Australia there is an organization called Legacy. 

It is a uniquely Australian organization, established in 

1923 by ex-servicemen dedicated to the task of caring 

for widows and dependents of their fallen comrades. 

Legacy would not allow Subaru to use the name for the 

car. Hence in Australia the model is called the Liberty. 

UNDER THE RADAR 


1991 RS LIBERTY TURBO 

48 July 2008 

1991 RS LIBERTY TURBO (AUS) 

Powertrain EJ22T (From 1993 Liberty donor) 

Drivetrain Stock 5-speed, Exedy replacement 

clutch, custom short-shifter, standard RS 

gearbox, standard RS rear diff. 

Engine Version 5/6 STI VF28 BB Turbo, custommade 

front mount intercooler, 3-inch 

turbo, back exhaust with Magnaflow twin 

tip muffler, Bosch ignition coils, Greddy 

Profec Spec B II boost controller, Walbro 

fuel pump, Apexi power intake, K/N pod 

filter, radiator splitter, turbo timer. 

Exterior Custom front lip, clear side indicators, 

custom grill. 

Suspension KYB damper adjustable struts, King spring 

lows, carbon fiber WRX STI strut brace, 

Whiteline H-brace, Selby rear swaybar, 

rear strut brace. 

Brakes WRX front 4 pot calipers, RDA slotted 

rotors front, Bendix ‘Ultimate’ pads, Rear 

RDA slotted rotors. 

Wheels/Tires 17-inch ‘04 GT rims with Bridgestone 

Potenza rubber 215/45/R17. 

Electronics Stewart Warner boost gauge, Alpine head 

unit Mp3/iPod adapter CDA-9856, JVC 

front splits with 6-inch woofer and tweets, 

Kenwood rears 6 inch, intake temp sensor. 

Interior Momo ‘Race’ steering wheel. 

Attributions Thanks must go to Mum, Dad and my 

sister for putting up with the late nights in 

the garage. All of my mates who helped 

in different ways, my girlfriend Kate, 

Lucas Automotive for doing the engine 

and gearbox swap, and the people at 

www.rslibertyclub.org for all the technical 

support and advice.

after working overtime it was back on the road after 

a well-learned lesson. The car stayed the same for a 

while until it was time to upgrade the brakes. tim had 

found some WRX Front 4-pot calipers as well as RDa 

slotted rotors and bendix Ultimate pads at a price he 

just could not refuse. 

at this point in time, after owning the car for a 

year, tim was happy, but for some reason he could 

not control himself and kept modifying. a custommade 

front mount intercooler kit was added to the 

car and that cured tim’s power obsession for a little 

while, but then it was time to look at turbos, and there 

are many to choose from. 

a tD05 turbo from a 1996 WRX was added for 

more top-end power, but was later ditched for a 

VF28 from a 2000 WRX V5/V6 stI. at the same time a 

Greddy Profec spec b II boost controller was installed 

to cure any boost spikes and set to 1-baR of boost. 

The clutch did not like this power upgrade and 

an exedy replacement clutch was added, as well as 

a lower-kilometer gearbox and rear diff at the same 

time. 

It was now time to look at the handling aspects of 

the car. a Version 5 stI carbon fiber strut brace was 

added, as well as a Whilteline underbody h-brace. 

a selby rear adjustable 20-millimeter sway bar and 

a rear strut brace were fitted to the rear of the car to 

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reduce the well-known understeer. 

after tim got a bit bored with the current wheels, 

a set of 2005 Liberty Gt rims wrapped in bridgestone 

Potenzas were fitted. The standard struts did not 

work well with this set up, so a set of KYb adjustable 

dampers were fitted. 

at a recent dyno day the car made 152.7 kilo- 

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watts (roughly 205whp) at the wheels with nice air/ 

fuel ratios. 

now for tim, this is where the modifying stops, as 

he has the overall package he has been striving for. he 

now has a clean, quick and great-handling car. at this 

stage there are no longer any more urges to modify 

anything further…for now anyway! < 

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Insert new engine, here.

2007 LEGACY GT PROJECT 

Repeat, as necessary. 


sO YOU haVe copious amounts of smoke pour- 

ing from your tailpipe, you have that “thud” from 

the starter when you turn the key, and your car is 

making less power. Chances are, you have a blown 

engine. If you are going to swim in the performance 

tuning pool, you will have to at some point dive into 

the deep end, and that means rebuilding an injured 

engine. a fair amount of casual tuners will want to 

try to push their setups to the edge of what a stock 

block can take and then pray that something doesn’t 

go wrong. however, in a world of dodgy gas, high 

ambient temperatures and less-than-stellar tuning, 

the chances of some amount of knock causing engine 

failure are pretty good. Then there are those of 

us who, despite better judgment or sage advice, just 

want to “turn up the boost” past what is reasonable 

or safe. You know who you are. 

Knowing that at some point your engine will fail 

is a good place to start from. having that knowledge 

in the back of your mind, and perhaps some rainyday 

cash set aside, will help ease the blow-by. 

having done extensive modifications to our 

2007 Legacy Gt, and also having done some rather 

hardcore driving on and off the track with our car, 

it was only a matter of time before the stock eJ255 

bottom end would give out. 

and so it did at our secret test track. after a hard 

day of lapping oil-smoke would billow from the tailpipe 

on startup. We also had the telltale “whump” 

52 July 2008 

Smoke: not good. 

“We chose to go a middle road that is 

a solid and popular choice...” 

on startup. Usually when you start your car, for 

those first few cranks before the engine fires, the engine 

will turn over smoothly and uniformly. On a car 

with a dead piston the engine will “thud” unevenly. 

Combined, these two symptoms should be enough 

to let you know something is amiss. The next step is 

a compression and leak-down test. sure enough, we 

had 140psi of compression in three of four cylinders, 

with cylinder number 4 being the low man on the 

totem pole with only 75psi of compression. 

Once you know for certain that your engine is 

toast, you have several options. The first, and probably 

the easiest, method is to just buy a new stI 

shortblock from the dealer. These are relatively inexpensive 

at around $2,000 and are a direct replacement 

for all 2.5-liter turbo Imprezas, Foresters and 

Legacies. For 2.0-liter cars, you can use your WRX 

heads on top of the 2.5-liter block; however, you will 

need to use a thicker head gasket readily available 

from Cometic. 

The next easiest but a bit more expensive option 

is to buy an aftermarket shortblock. These are usually 

stI shortblocks with forged aluminum pistons 

in place of the stock units. blocks like the Crawford 

s2 are a great way to bolster your engine without 

breaking the bank. 

Of course you can buy engines that take this 

much further, like blocks built by Cosworth. These 

engines, while quite expensive, feature upgraded 

rods, billet crank, race bearings and forged pistons. 

These engines are very durable and are made for 

extreme performance conditions; a bit overkill for a 

road car, but a very good option nonetheless. 

Then there is the build-it option. If you have 

never built an engine, we would recommend hiring 

a professional machine shop for this route. The 

upside here is that you get to choose exactly how 

you want your engine to be assembled and what 

components to use. The downside is that choosing 

the proper components, especially if you are going 

all out with rods and a new crank, etc., can be a bit 

daunting, but research and perhaps a guiding hand 

from your tuning shop of choice can ease that burden. 

We chose to go a middle road that is a solid and 

popular choice with subaru tuners: the “drop-in” 

piston in a fresh stI shortblock. One of the virtues of 

the subaru engine design is that the pistons can be 

removed without splitting the block or even removing 

the rods and crank. This means that you can purchase 

a factory-built shortblock and simply replace 

the pistons with forged stock bore-size units without 

having to re-torque the main and rod bearings. This 

makes building a solid and very stout subaru engine 

very simple. Keep in mind this is specific to subaru, 

and your buddy with the evo will have to remove the 

bottom end to perform the same upgrade. 

There are currently several pistons on the mar-

ket specific to the subaru 2.5-liter turbo engine. so 

far, it appears that these pistons are a universal fit 

for the eJ255 and eJ257 and will not alter the compression 

ratio for either as long as you are using a 

stock compression piston. We contacted Cosworth, 

which sent over a set of its 99.5mm stock bore pistons. 

(note: this my be different for 2008 and newer 

eJ255 engines so make sure you consult with your 

parts supplier before ordering parts.) 

If you decide to reuse your old block, again you 

have options. normally, a broken ring-land will not 

cause too much damage to the cylinder wall. If this 

is the case, and the crosshatch marks on the cylinder 

wall are in good condition, then you can probably 

install a set of forged stock-size pistons. If the bore 

is in poor condition then you will have to go to an 

overbore piston. Generally speaking, the first overbore 

size for the stI is 100mm, although you can 

bore further for more displacement. normally, however, 

you don’t really want to push it much past this 

cylinder size. also, if you are going to overbore, you 

will have to split the case and redo your bearings, 

which will add to the overall cost of your build. 

an additional note. not all eJ257 blocks are created 

equally, and there is some variation in bore 

sizes. This is inherent in the manufacturing process. 

Fortunately, subaru marks the blocks at the factory 

so that you can tell a tight block from a loose block. 

blocks are marked with either a “b” or an “a” on the 

top. This refers to how loose or tight the bores are on 

a stock sized piston. “b” means the bore is tighter 

and “a” is looser. so a block marked “a b” on the passenger 

side means Cylinder 1 is looser and Cylinder 

3 is tighter. Ideally for a drop-in piston setup, you 

would want to run a block that is marked “b” for all 

four cylinders. Looser bores are fine too, but you will 

probably have a bit of smoking on startup as oil will 

seep past the pistons in a looser bore. Our block was 

marked “bb” on both sides of the case, indicating 

tighter bores. 

In our case, the number 4 piston had fractured 

and was the cause of our excessive smoking and 

the low compression. happily, the bores were still 

in good shape, so this shortblock can be used again 

and will find a home in the Dreadnought, with some 

slightly used CP forged pistons. Oddly enough, this 

case was also marked with “bb” on both case halves, 

so again, we should have a reasonably tight engine, 

despite not honing this used block. 

a final note: Dropping the coin for an engine 

build or a built engine can be a serious proposition, 

so ask yourself this question: Why am I doing 

this, and what are my goals? If you want a 700whp 

daily driver/drag car/track car exotic killer, etc., you 

may be in for a rough journey as it is very difficult 


Tim Hadfield from F.A.M.E. Automotive in Redmond, Wash., 

listens to the block and checks compression. Our fears were 

confirmed: loss of compression on piston #4. (Below) 

“Why am I doing this? What are my goals?” 

and very expensive to execute this all-arounder effectively. 

nor will a built engine be the end of the 

road. If you are looking for a streetable fast car that 

occasionally sees track time and just needs the extra 

insurance that forged internals offer, then your goals 

are more rooted in reality. to be sure, all things are 

possible, but those possibilities are closely tied to 

your budget and expertise. 

The following is a guide for building up a fresh 

shortblock using forged “drop-in” pistons. hopefully 

these hints and tips can help you along if you 

do decide to do-it-yourself. In addition to the usual 

set of metric wrenches and ratchets, you will need 

some specialty tools. 

- an engine stand 

- an engine hoist (cherry picker) 

- Piston ring compressor 

- extra long screwdriver (12-inch plus in length) 

- Piston ring grinder/gapper 

- high-quality torque wrench 

- Parts washer or a basin to wash parts in 

- Lots of brake cleaner 

- Fuji bond (available at the subaru parts counter) 

- assembly lube 



Rebuilding the LGT: Better, Faster, Stronger. 

0. The reason for our engine teardown: The ring lands have 

cracked. This condition results in low compression and excessive 

blow-by. If left unchecked, the piston can completely break 

apart and cause catastrophic failure. 

3. While the car is in the air, undo the front oxygen sensor and 

unhook the ground straps. There is one on either side of the 

engine. 

6. Unhook the top “dog bone” mount for the transmission. To 

ease engine removal, jack the transmission up a few inches so 

that you can get the engine free of the cross member and the 

dowels in the bottom of the bell housing. 

9. Remove the downpipe. 

54 July 2008 

1. To begin, get the car in the air and undo the motor-mount nuts. 

There is one on either side of the car. 

4. Drain the coolant and remove the radiator. Since the engine 

will have to come forward in the engine bay, taking the radiator 

out gives you more clearance. 

7. Unbolt the downpipe. The turbo can stay with the engine. 

10. Remove these lower nuts on the bell housing while the car is 

in the air. There is one on either side of the transmission. 

2. Drain your oil. This will make life easier down the road as you 

pull the engine apart. 

5. Remove the alternator, A/C compressor and power steering 

pump. Don’t disconnect the lines for the A/C or power steering; 

just move these off to the side so you don’t have to refill the PS 

or recharge the A/C. 

8. Unhook the fuel lines. This requires a special tool, but you can 

get it with a screwdriver if you are tenacious. 

11. Undo the lower alternator bolt. This is also a bell-housing bolt 

that holds the engine to the transmission.

12. Once all the engine bolts are removed and the harness has 

been unplugged, you can pull the engine out with the aid of an 

engine crane ($200 at any auto parts store). It helps to jack the 

transmission up a few inches to give the engine a little room to 

wiggle off the dowels in the bell housing and the input shaft in 

the transmission. 

13. With the engine out, you can begin stripping down the block. 

First, remove the crank pulley (air tools or an impact gun will be 

needed here), and then remove the timing covers, pulleys and 

timing belt. You will need a new timing belt and belt tensioner. 

Also, check the idler pulleys for smooth operation. If they feel 

worn or don’t spin freely, replace them. 

15. Remove the clutch and flywheel assembly. Ours was com- 16. Remove the turbo and exhaust manifold. Inspect the coolant 

pletely toast. Now is a good time to upgrade to a beefier clutch 

dba_subie_ad.qxd and lightened flywheel. 2/8/07 6:04 PM Page 1 

and oil lines and replace as needed. Sometimes these lines can 

bake onto their fittings and have to be cut off with razor blade. 


14. Remove the intake manifold. It is held in place with eight 

bolts, four per side. You will also need new intake manifold 

gaskets. If you are going to install new injectors, do that with the 

manifold out; it is easier. 

17. Unbolt and remove the water pump and oil pump (left 10mm 

bolts). Even though you drained the coolant and oil there is still 

LOTS of water and oil left in the engine. Have a drain tub handy. 



18. Remove the smog pump components. There are solenoids 

and tubing on both sides of the engine. Take a few snapshots so 

you can remember where things go and how they are routed. 

21. The windage tray and oil pickup tube. Remove both of these 

and set them aside. Note: If you intend to reuse this case or have 

to split it, there is a 10mm stud underneath the tray that will need 

to be removed. 

24. Unbolt the cam cradles and remove the cams. Note: The 

cradles and cam caps are line-bored and must be put back in the 

same place you removed them from; otherwise they will not line up 

with the cams properly and will either fail or eat into your cams. 

27. “CC’ing” your heads. To make sure that your pistons and 

heads will combine to make the proper compression ratio, you 

must determine the volume of your heads. Go to www.subiesport. 

com for an instructional video on how to CC your heads. 

56 July 2008 

19. Remove the bung for the oil cooler (you will need it again) 

and unscrew the oil pan. 

22. Unbolt the valve covers and set them aside. 

25. Un-torque the cylinder heads: This is done in reverse order 

of the torque sequence: Start in the top right corner, then go to 

the bottom left, bottom right, top left, bottom middle, and then 

top middle. Do this in two stages: Relieve the torque about half 

way first, then completely in the same sequence. Note: The cam 

buckets must be kept in order. If these are rearranged at all, your 

cams will be out of adjustment, don’t mix these up. Marking 

them with a sharpie is a good idea since they will have to come 

out. 

28. The parts washer. All parts that are to be reused must be 

washed. The first step is to run them through a solvent tank. If 

you don’t have one, a basin and a good solvent with a plastic 

brush will do. 

20. Remove the oil pan. This can take some doing as it is bonded 

to the engine with Fuji Bond. A paint scraper and a hammer will 

help separate the pan from the engine; just don’t ding the block. 

23. This is what the inside of your engine looks like if you don’t 

change your oil frequently or use inferior -grade oil. Project LGT 

made two trips back-and-forth, Seattle to Las vegas, in the span 

of 4 weeks without an oil change. 

26. Light scoring on the top of this cylinder wall is a good indicator 

of a cracked ring land. 

29. Clean vs. Dirty. You want to make sure that your new 

engine is as free of old oil and contaminants as possible. When 

you are done with the solvent tank, spray everything out with 

brake cleaner to get rid of the solvent, then blast all parts with 

compressed air to make sure nothing is left behind. Solvents 

and cleaners can dissolve oil inside the engine and that would 

be bad.

30. Even the heads go into the solvent tank. Clean these out well. 

In addition to oil, try to remove any carbon deposits. 

33. Here is our table with all of our new parts laid out. Make sure 

you have a clean and more-or-less sterile working space to reassemble 

your engine in. 

31. Once you are done cleaning … clean some more. Any foreign 

particles can ruin a freshly-built engine. 

34. Disassemble and clean your oil pump. Ours was mostly new, 

so we did not need to replace it. 


32. Clean heads. Your old parts should be looking like new. If 

you don’t want to do this yourself or have no way of disposing of 

chemicals, most machine shops can clean and hot-tank parts for 

you for a modest fee. 

35. Remember to shim your oil pump. Subaru uses these washers 

to increase oil pressure. More shims mean more pressure. 

However, more than two are not needed. Place the washers 

inside the plunger and then replace the spring. 



36. Our fresh short block from Subaru. You can buy a newly built 

STI short block straight from any Subaru parts department. Since 

we are using forged pistons, we will have to remove the stock 

slugs from this block. 

39. Pull the wrist pin free and continue cranking the engine over. 

The rod will push the piston out. 

42. The ring in the bore. This is how you will check the gap. Once 

the initial measurement is taken (it should be very tight) grind a 

bit of material off, re-install the ring and re-measure. This is a 

long and tedious process. 

45. Of course there is a proper tool for installing rings, but if you 

are careful you can slide the rings on with your hands. Do the 

secondary first, then the top ring. Also, install a new retaining clip 

into the inboard side of the piston. Once the piston is in the bore, 

there is no way to get to the inside of the piston. If you forget this 

clip and start the car, the wristpin will slide out and bad things 

will happen. 

58 July 2008 

37. To remove the pistons, first remove these inspection covers 

with a 17mm star drive in the front. You’ll need an impact driver on 

the rear plates. Install the crank bolt and rotate the engine over with 

a 22mm socket so that the wrist pins line up with the inspection 

holes. Remove the wrist pin retaining clips with needle nose pliers. 

40. With the stock pistons out, push the forged units into place 

to check the piston to cylinder wall clearance. 

43. A ring “gapper.” This is the proper tool for grinding off ring 

material to get the proper gap. Take your time and don’t grind 

too much off in a fit of trying to get done faster. Doing so will 

remove too much material; then you will have to get a new ring 

and start over. 

46. Installing the pistons. Lubricate the rings and pistons with 

fresh motor oil. This will make everything easier to work with, will 

save parts from damage, and reduce bore scoring. Note: Most 

pistons have markings on them, which tell you which side of the 

piston is up, especially with offset wristpin-type pistons. Installing 

the piston incorrectly can result in skirt slap and excessive 

noise, requiring you to completely take the engine apart for a 

do-over. 

38. Using a long screwdriver, push the wrist pin out from the 

opposite side of the engine through the inspection hole (there are 

inspection holes on both sides of the engine). 

41. Piston ring gaps: Your piston rings will grow when they get 

hot, so we will have to set a proper gap so that they don’t bind 

or let excessive oil by on cold-start. To do this, push the rings 

into the bore with a piston to make sure they are square with the 

bore all the way around. Then, use a feeler gauge to check the 

gap. The top ring on our engine was gapped to .22-inches and 

the secondary gapped to .18-inches. The oil scraper rings do not 

have to be gapped. 

44. Your pistons should have five rings each; the top, secondary 

and three scraper rings. The top and secondary are self-explanatory. 

The scrapers have a top, middle and bottom. Slide the 

middle “sectioned” ring on first. Then the bottom ring. The top 

ring will have a notched end on one side. Slide this one into one 

of the oil ports on the piston (small machined holes). This will 

keep the oil rings from rotating around on the piston. 

47. To install the pistons into the bore, you must first compress 

the rings with a ring compressor. This is a specialty tool that you 

can get at most auto parts stores and Sears.

48. Tap the piston into the bore with a rubber mallet. Do not use 

a metal hammer. A rubber dead blow is also acceptable. Once 

the pistons are in, insert the wrist pins (reverse of removal) and 

install retaining clips. Be sure to replace the retaining clips. Then 

reinstall the inspection plates. On the two rear plates, reseal with 

Fuji Bond. 

51. Prepping the head gasket. You will need new head gaskets. 

We used stock STI metal gaskets sourced from the dealer. 

Before laying the gasket down, prep it with some copper gasket 

spray. This will help the gasket seal and fill in any imperfections 

in the material. 

54. If you use stock head bolts (be sure to get new ones) the 

process is a little more complex. Use the same pattern but do 

the following: 

- Tighten all bolts to 22lbs in the proper order. 

- Tighten all bolts again to 51lbs in the proper order. 

- Back off all bolts by 180-degrees in reverse of tightening order. 

- Tighten all bolts to 29lbs in order. 

- Tighten all bolts by 80-90-degrees in order. 

- Tighten all bolts by another 40-45 degrees. 

- Tighten the center bolts by another 40-45-degrees. 

The reason for “radiusing” the head bolts is to make them stretch 

a bit so that they don’t lose clamping force when they are finally 

tight. If you do not radius the bolts, they can stretch and cause 

head gasket failure. 

49. With the pistons in place, rotate the whole assembly over to 

make sure nothing is binding and that the rings are seated and 

not hanging up. It should turn over smoothly since you used motor 

oil to drop the pistons in. You used motor oil, right? 

52. With the studs installed and the gasket sealer tacky, you can 

lay the heads down on the block. 


50. Installing the head studs. We decided to use ARP head 

studs for our engine. They provide more clamping force than 

stock head bolts and can be reused if you have to do a rebuild. 

53. With the block in place, install the ARP nuts and then torque 

the studs down. The ARP torque sequence is simplified over the 

stock sequence. Torque from the inside out, starting with the top 

middle stud, then middle bottom. Then move to the left top, right 

bottom, left bottom, and then the right top. Torque all the nuts 

until you start feeling tension (barely hand-tight). Then torque to 

36lbs in sequence. Then toque to 72lbs again in sequence. 



55. Reinstall your cam shafts and buckets. Make sure your buckets 

go in the proper place or your valve lash will be off. 

58. The complete long block. You can now start reinstalling 

components and accessories. 

61. Reinstall your manifold and engine mounts. Now is the time 

to install those Group N STI mounts if you want to. 

64. Install the crank sprocket and line up the arrow with the 

notch on the crank-angle sensor housing. 

60 July 2008 

56. Dress the front portion of the cam girdle with Fuji Bond. 

There is no gasket here so if you do not apply a bit of FB here, 

it will leak oil. 

59. Reinstall the windage tray and oil pick-up tube. Replace the 

small o-ring at the base of the pickup tube. If you don’t, you will 

get air past this tube and you will lose oil pressure. 

62. Install your rear timing belt covers and then the cam sprockets. 

Line up the single marks on the sprockets with the notches 

in the belt covers. 

65. The passenger’s side pulleys, lined up with the timing marks. 

57. With your cam caps and girdle in place, torque them down. 

The caps are torqued to 14lbs and the girdle bolts are torqued to 

7lbs. DO NOT OvERTIGHTEN. You can easily strip the bolt holes 

or snap the bolts here. 

60. Reinstall the oil pan. Use a generous amount of Fuji Bond on 

the pan. If not, it will leak. 

63. Line up the two hashes on the sprockets with each other. 

66. The driver’s side pulleys, lined up with the timing marks.

67. The timing marks should be lined up as shown. The timing 

belt will line up with the marks on the wheels. Start in the 

center with the crank pulley with the arrows on the belt pointing 

clockwise. 

70. We installed a lightened crank pulley from Group A. This will 

help with parasitic loss. 

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68. Timing belt and all the pulleys installed. The pulley bolts 

should all be torqued to 24lbs. 

71. We also installed some lightened accessory pulleys, also 

from Group A. This is another great way to free up power. Please 

note, these are not under-drive pulleys. 


69. Install the timing belt covers. 

72. Before final assembly we ported out our tumble generator 

valves, or TGv’s. These are only on U.S. cars and are only an 

emissions device, but they massively hinder airflow, especially on 

a big turbo car. 

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62 July 2008 


73. Stock vs. ported. Make sure you block off the holes in the 

sides of the TGv with pipe plugs. You can also weld them shut if 

you are maniacal. 

75. It is now time to reinstall your turbo. Re-install the turbo coolant 

and oil lines now as well. Then, reinstall the intake manifold. 

77. Torque your flywheel bolts to 54lbs and your clutch cover 

bolts to 15lbs. That’s it! Your engine is built and ready to drop 

back in. Reassembly is the reverse of disassembly. 

PROJECT SOURCES 

PDX TUNING 

Installation and Sales 

Phone: 503-624-2919 

Online: www.pdxtuning.com 

COSWORTH 

Forged Pistons 

Phone: 310-534-1390 

Online: www.cosworth.com 

74. Another quick item, we installed larger injectors, a must for a 

big turbo build. These are Deatschwerk 750cc nozzles. 

76. Our new clutch assembly. This is a heavy-duty unit for the 

newer Legacy GT, from Advanced Clutch Technology. Their 

catalog didn’t list it at the time of press, but it’s available. 

Make sure that before you start your engine, 

you fill it with regular non-synthetic, non-detergent 

oil and crank the motor over a few times with the 

coil packs disconnected (a remote starter will work 

here too) to build up oil pressure and circulate oil 

in the engine. starting the engine dry will result in 

instantaneous failure. Once the engine starts, listen 

for any excessive noise like piston slap or valve/ 

piston interference. also, let the engine go through 

a complete warm-up cycle and burp the coolant 

system of air before driving the car Give your car a 

good 500 miles of easy break-in, keeping revs below 

4,000rpm, and using only light boost to seat the rings 

and break in bearings. some say that the oil should 

be changed after the first 100 miles, again with basic 

10w30 non-synthetic oil. Then change it again after 

500 miles with whatever oil you intend to use for 

there on out. a proper synthetic is best. after that, 

your new engine should be ready for a tune or track 

use, and, if properly built, should give you miles and 

miles of hard-driving performance. < 

GROUP A PERFORMANCE 

Pulley Kit 

Phone: 416-628-3559 

Online: www.groupa.ca 

ADvANCED CLUTCH TECHNOLOGY 

Clutch Kit (#SB5-HDMM), Flywheel (#600480) 

Phone: 661-940-7555 

Online: www.advancedclutch.com

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Insert bigger turbo, here. 

64 July 2008

The Quest for More Power 

Story by Travis Geny 

Photos by Ryan Douthit 

FOR anY tURbOChaRGeD car, there are several 

ways to make more power. The first method is to 

open up intake and exhaust passages and use larger 

diameter piping; this reduces intake and exhaust 

flow restrictions and allows the engine to operate 

more efficiently. another way to increase power is 

to increase boost pressure, which forces more pressurized 

air into the engine. When combined, and 

with proper tuning, these two methods of increasing 

power can realize serious gains. 

Yet, there will come a point in your quest for 

power where bigger pipes will not do and your 

stock turbo has simply run out of breath. to get 

more go for your chariot, you will need a larger 

turbo. That is exactly where we found ourselves 

with our Project 2007 Legacy Gt. While we had a 

pretty solid setup going, we were still not a part of 

the 300hp club. This, even though we had a largerthan-stock 

turbo. The blauch, topspeed 18G, the 

turbo that we have been running, is a compromise 

of sorts. It stuffs the guts of a larger turbo into the 

stock compressor and turbine housings of the VF40 

Legacy Gt turbo. We were also running a full Perrin 

turboback exhaust with catalytic converters, Perrin 

tMIC, and an eCUtek reflash. This was good for a 

peak of around 290whp and 300lb/ft of torque. not 

bad. The problem is that while the blauch turbo is 

a great turbo and makes much more power over 

a stock unit, it is essentially limited by the housings. 

In short, we can only cram so much intake air 

and exhaust gas through the stock housings before 

they choke off. normally on a true tD05 18G, peak 

horsepower levels of 320-340whp can be achieved, 

but because this was not a true 18G, peak power 


was limited. to be sure, turbo lag is at a minimum 

with this setup, but it does run out of breath on the 

top end. 

The Legacy also presents another challenge. 

since the turbo bolts directly into the intercooler 

and the intake manifold is quite a bit different than 

that of an stI, bolting in an stI-style turbo is not an 

option without swapping over an entire stI intake 

manifold setup, difficult indeed since the two are 

quite a bit different. however, there are a few companies 

that make Legacy-specific turbos, like aVO. 

It should be noted that you can use a stI-style turbo 

with your stock manifold and a standard Perrin front 

mount intercooler kit; however, this can be a costly 

option and larger turbos can spell doom for your engine. 

see our engine build article in this issue. 

aVO sells a range of turbos for the Legacy owner 

wanting more go than the stock snail can provide. 

The aVO 380 is the baby of the bunch, about the 

size of a 16G. The aVO 420, the turbo we installed, 

is a bit bigger, about the size of an 18G. There are a 

few design elements that make the aVO turbo a very 

robust unit. First, they are based on Garrett ballbearing 

turbos. second, they use slightly oversized 

These turbos will work with the 

new 2008 Impreza, too. 

turbine housings, which reduce wear on the center 

cartridge but do hurt spool somewhat. 

aVO rates this turbo at 420bhp (flywheel hp). 

Keep in mind, these hp ratings were achieved on 

australian 98 octane wonder gas, not our anemic 92 

octane, which is even more anemic if you get it in 

Washington. The aVO turbo comes with everything 

you need to install it and fits very well. however, if 

you have a later Legacy Gt with the smog pump, be 

warned that the turbo oil return tube will have to be 


AVO 420 TURBO INSTALL 

slightly modified to clear the smog-pump tubing on 

the back of the head. 

also note that these turbos will work with the 

new 2008 Impreza as it shares the same intercooler 

and turbo setup as the Legacy Gt. 

Our results with this turbo are a bit mixed. 

While this turbo does make good power, it falls 

a bit short of expectations, especially when compared 

with Mitsubishi turbos of similar size, 

namely the tD05 18G. secondly, we found spool 

to be an issue. since the aVO 420 uses a larger hot 

side with a smaller compressor, it takes a while for 

1. To get to the turbo the intercooler must first be unbolted. 

Undo the hose clamps at the throttle body, unbolt the mounting 

bracket and then unbolt the intercooler from the turbo and then 

pull it free. 

4. Unbolt the downpipe. The Perrin pipe has two sections making 

it easier to remove. You will also have to unbolt the lower turbo 

studs from underneath the car. 

7. Unbolt the other side of the oil feed line. Since the line is rigid, 

it helps to completely remove it to ease turbo removal. 

66 July 2008 

the turbo to come up to boost. We did not hit peak 

boost until 4,000rpm. 

“The car is a blast to drive. The only problem is 

with the power being so far up the tach, I usually run 

out of road before I really get into it,” said subiesport 

publisher Ryan Douthit. “I think it’s a turbo that is 

best suited for track applications and may do better 

with higher octane fuels than what we can find on 

the corner here in the United states.” 

While the aVO may not rock the house in the 

power or spool department, it makes up for this 

somewhat in ease of installation and longevity. 

2. With the intercooler removed you now have easy access to the 

turbo. Unbolt the oil feed line (top bolt with red mark underneath 

the turbo outlet) and undo the downpipe. 

5. If you want to be clean and enviromentally friendly, drain your 

coolant as you will have to remove the coolant lines from the 

turbo. 

8. Unbolt the turbo from the uppipe. Heat and corrosion can 

bake the studs to the nuts, make sure you can apply the proper 

amount of leverage. 

aVO claims that, thanks to its larger turbine housing, 

Garrett ball-bearing center sections and superior 

grade of construction materials, this turbo will 

outlive our car, or at least live as long as we own the 

car. This is important when considering that some 

journal-bearing turbos may live very short lives indeed 

of around 30,000 miles or less, depending on 

how hard you push your turbo. 

to have our aVO 420 installed, we turned to 

IPD/Rallitek in Portland, Ore. to see a short video of 

this installation complete with helpful installation 

hints, go to www.subiesport.com. 

3. You will have to get underneath the car to remove the downpipe 

and drain fluids. First, remove the splash tray. 

6. Use a pair of pliers to undo these spring clips which clamp the 

coolant lines onto the turbo. 

9. Make sure you have a place to keep your hardware. This 

colander is a great way to keep you bolts from going astray.

10. Remove the turbo inlet tube. Easier said than done, if you are 

reusing it be careful as you can easily snap-off fittings. 

13. A “dental pick.” This makes reinstalling the turbo much easier 

as it can help pry and tease stubborn couplers over the turbo 

inlet and throttle body. 

16. Reinstall the turbo inlet tube. Again, this can be tricky, 

patience helps here. 

17. With the inlet tube in place, torque the turbo down. 

11. Pull the turbo free. There is a spring clip on the oil return tube 

underneath the turbo, make sure that is undone before tugging 

on the turbo. 

14. Reinstalling the turbo. Make sure you get the oil return tube 

on with the spring clip first, then loosely bolt the turbo to the 

uppipe. 


12. The AVO turbo vs. the Blauch/stock hybrid. The AVO (left) 

has a decidedly larger turbine housing and a slightly larger 

compressor cover. 

15. Reinstall the coolant lines and spring clips. If any of these 

lines are split or worn, replace them. 


AVO 420 TURBO INSTALL 

18. This adaptor fits the new oil line to the stock one. 

21. Reinstall the downpipe and bolt it into place. Use anti-seize 

on the bolts to make further servicing easier. 

24. Double check all your coolant lines and make sure everything 

is tight and sealed. 

68 July 2008 

19. Bolt the adaptor onto the stock line, then screw the braided 

line on top of that. 

22. Reinstall the intercooler. First, get the throttle body coupler 

installed, the bolt the intercooler to the turbo. 

25. Reinstall your Blow off, or recirculation valve. 

20. The new oil feed line in place. Make sure to use new crush 

washers. 

23. Make sure you rebolt-down the mounting brackets. 

26. Make sure you refill your fluids and burp the coolant system. 

Not doing this can cause overheating issues. 


AvO TURBO WORLD 

AVO 420 Turbo 

Phone: 425-835-0475 

Online: www.avoturboworld.com/avoshop 

RALLITEK PERFORMANCE 

Installation and Sales 

Phone: 888-773-1212 

Online: www.rallitek.com

HOUSE AD

Dead bugs, not included. 

70 July 2008

1. Remove your filter. Ours had quite a bit of dirt, sand and 

leaves in it. If for nothing else, check your filter every time you 

do an oil change. A Perrin (or like performance filter) is a great 

upgrade, as it is reusable. 

4. Remove the clips holding the fender liner to the bumper. 

7. Bumper beam and bumper skin removed. 

2. Remove the filter box. You will not need this with the front 

mount. 

5. With all the clips in the fenders and under the grille removed, 

remove the bumper skin. 

8. Unbolt these brackets from underneath the headlights. Then, 

drill out the spot weld. The smaller piece you can discard, then 

reinstall the upper bracket. 


Project GT gets a Front-Mount 

tO FInIsh OFF our Legacy Gt power build, we 

needed to address the intercooler. With our big 

turbo installed we decided that a front mount intercooler 

was the way to go. There is just one problem, 

not too many companies make front-mount kits for 

the Legacy by the simple virtue that the turbo bolts 

to the stock top mount. This means that if you want 

to run a front mount on a Legacy, you have to adapt 

a turbo and intercooler setup from a WRX or stI. 

happily, Perrin Performance has solved this 

problem by developing a front mount kit made for 

the Legacy Gt. They also have a kit for the 2008 WRX 

and stI available as well. 

since we now have a larger turbo and a built engine, 

which will allow us to run more boost, a front 

mount is a must. We had previously installed a big 

Perrin top mount on our car, but even this was too 

small for the aVO turbocharger we installed. More 

boost and a bigger turbo means more heat and so 

you need a larger core to cool that increased mass 

of air. since there isn’t a whole lot of room under 

the hood to fit a huge intercooler, the front of the 

car right in the flow of air, is a great place for a big 

intercooler. 

Installing the intercooler is pretty straightforward 

and the Perrin kit comes with everything 

you need to install it. What you will need to do on 

your own is trim your bumper skin back a bit so that 

the core will fit behind it. This takes patience and a 

steady hand. If you are all thumbs with a rotary tool 

or a razor blade, you might take your car to an experienced 

shop to do the cutting. If you are a brave 

soul or a virtuoso with a cutting wheel, read on. 

3. Remove the under tray and the clips holding the bumper skin 

in place. 

6. Unbolt the stock bumper beam. The Perrin kit includes a new 

beam. 

9. Fit the new bumper beam and intercooler into place. It bolts 

directly to the stock beam location. 


FRONT-MOUNT INTERCOOLER 

10. Detail of the bolt holes for the beam. The Perrin kit includes 

spacers that go between the mounting bracket and the factory 

sheet metal. Don’t forget to install these, too. 

13. Detail of the fender liner cut away. 

16. Detail of the trimmed headlight. 

19. With the coupler installed, the rest of the “cold side” boost 

tube can be installed. 

72 July 2008 

11. Unbolt the horn and its bracket. This will also need to be 

modified to accommodate the boost tubes. 

14. Test fitting the boost tube on the driver’s side. 

17. Test-fitting the passenger’s-side boost tube. 

20. Take a moment to unbolt the air splitter from the hood, as it 

will interfere with the boost tubes. 

12. Cut and trim the lower fender liner, again for boost tube 

clearance. 

15. Some of the headlight will need to be trimmed back to accommodate 

the new bumper beam. 

18. Install the coupler on the throttle body. This will make it easier 

to get the coupler clamped down in the future, as the throttle 

body is tucked under the manifold. 

21. This “hot side” tube is a tight fit between the battery and the 

smog pump, but it will fit.

22. The lower “hot side” boost tube installed in the car. 

25. The stock overflow tank has to be removed to make room 

for the boost tubes. Perrin includes an overflow tank with the kit, 

which is installed on the passenger’s side of the car. 

28. Detail of the bumper trimmed back. This can be difficult, so 

take your time as you can always trim more away, but not add any 

back. Be careful when cutting; use gloves and safety glasses. 

31. Jeff cuts away a bit more material at the corners to clear the 

big front mount. 

23. If you are running a stock-style Legacy or 2008 WRX turbo, 

this elbow bolts to the turbo and connects to the boost tube. 

26. Next, trim back the bumper skin. Perrin starts with about 

2.5-inches in from the front of the bumper skin. 

29. Check to see that everything is lined up and the hood can 

close before test-fitting the bumper. 

32. It’s a good idea to mark where you want to cut with tape so 

that you can have a reference. It makes for cleaner and straighter 

cuts. 


24. The intercooler tubes installed. Note that the Perrin kit uses a 

short ram intake in place of the stock airbox. 

27. Use a razor blade to score where you want to trim first. Then 

go back over with a cutting wheel or rotary tool. 

30. Test fit the bumper to check for rubbing and to see if more 

material needs to be cut away. 

33. The tow-hook cover will also have to be trimmed back a bit. 


FRONT-MOUNT INTERCOOLER 

74 July 2008 

HOUSE AD 

34. Also trim back the fog light housing a bit as well. 

36. The bumper reinstalled, and everything fits. Just a few last 

touches left. 

38. The finished product, with a Perrin sticker so all your friends know you are cool. 

35. Go over all your clamps and couplers one last time before 

re-installing the bumper. A loose coupler will be harder to tighten 

with the bumper in place. 

37. Jeff cleans up any rough spots on the bumper for a cleaner 

appearance. 


PERRIN PERFORMANCE 

Front-Mount Intercooler, Installation 

Phone: 503-693-1702 

Online: www.perrinperformance.com

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ally like a 

Rally is very well the most demanding 

motorsport on the planet. 

not only must teams struggle in 

competition against one another, 

probably some of the closest rally racing anywhere 

to be found. With four drivers all within reach of 

the championship, each rally was literally won with 

seconds to spare, right down to the final round. The 

not only does Pinker co-own the cars that he 

and tanner drive, but he pays the mechanics that 

work on them, and to a large extent he even built 

both cars. between races, he drives one of the three 

but they must also battle the harshness of Mother main fight was between the factory-backed subaru 60-foot rigs that drag the cars and all their spares to 

nature as she does her level best to turn a rally car effort of Ken block and travis Pastrana and the whatever corner of the country the next rally hap- 

into a crumpled wad of tin. For drivers who have Rockstar energy Drink/syms-backed privateers anpens to be in. and when they get there, andy will 

the luxury of factory backing and a team of full-time drew Pinker and tanner Foust. 

either finagle or rent a space from whatever local 

mechanics and engineers, they can focus on the job While block and Pastrana enjoy all that being subaru dealership or performance house happens 

at hand: winning. but for many privateer teams, the factory-backed drivers can provide, for joint team to be closest and tear the cars down to prepare them 

challenge of keeping the car on the road and on the owner, operator and driver, andy Pinker, the Rally for the next round. 

podium is only half the challenge. 

america championship is a different ballgame alto- This year, Rockstar continues to back the team 

Last year’s Rally america championship was gether. 

financially as well as provide it with a good supply of 

76 July 2008 

ally like a

Rockstar 

Rockstar 

Story & Pictures by Travis Geny 

the energy drink, and while syms has stepped out, 

aeM has come onboard with its vast experience in 

eCU tuning and technology, as has Garrett with turbos 

and tial with other turbo-system components 

as well as Cosworth with help in the engine department, 

not to forget the Pirelli supplied tires. 

With the end of the Missouri based 100 acre 

Wood Rally, the team found itself based in the 

northwest for a good three months, which gave the 

team a chance to find a good home base to refit the 

cars for the Olympus and Oregon trail Rallies, the 

next two rallies on the calendar. During that time, 

they decided it was time to upgrade their turbo sys- 

tems, which were in large part stock spec C, Group 

n VF36 twin-scroll setups, in favor of a larger Garrett 

Gt30R-based system. 

Through a twist of fate and a bit of luck, andy 

and co-driver Robby Durant stumbled upon Perrin 

Performance, located in hillsboro, Ore., a stone’s 

throw away from the Washington County fairgrounds, 

which is the start of the Oregon trail rally. 

since the cars would be in Portland for just under 

two months between the two rallies, the team 

decided to take advantage of Perrin’s vast subaru 

turbo-kit fabrication experience and have head engineer 

and R&D guru, Jeff Perrin, build new turbo 

setups for the two open class cars. 

“This year, we wanted to have more of collaboration 

between aeM, Cosworth, Garrett and tial 

and develop a proper open class power plant,” said 

Pinker. 

Last year, the team was able to stick it to the 

more powerful subaru team cars as well as some of 

the other teams, like that of the Mitsubishi Canada 

backed evo driven by andrew Comrie Picard. 

“Competition progressed throughout the year 

and the factory team moved on (power wise), and 

we even had more competition from the Mitsubishi,” 

said Pinker. “We were giving up power to all the 


RALLY LIKE A ROCKSTAR 

open class cars and straight-line speed. We knew at 

the end of last year that we needed to move on with 

development even though we were getting the very 

most of a well-prepped car.” 

While last year’s car was mostly a Group n car 

prepared by Prodrive in the United Kingdom for 

european Group n competition, a few modest 

specification changes between Rally america open 

class cars and Group n give the U.s. cars the power 

advantage, most notably the use of a larger 34mm 

restrictor, as opposed to the 32mm Group n restrictor. 

The team worked with Garrett engineers to 

piece together a new turbo, knowing that was necessary 

to be competitive with the factory team in 

2008. While circuit track cars operate in the 5000-to- 

7000rpm range, a rally car mostly sees loads in the 

3000-to-5000rpm range, so they needed a turbo that 

would give the cars good low-end grunt and not be 

gasping at the top end. These turbos also need to be 

able to stand up to the rigors and heat of the antilag 

system the team runs. The result is a Gt3071 that 

has been slightly tweaked to be more responsive at 

low engine speeds. 

“The Garrett engineers pieced together a turbo 

that would be matched to our engine, restrictor and 

the stress of stage rally,” said Pinker. 

Unlike your road stI, the Rockstar cars have to 

be easily serviced in the field, and while it may not 

be difficult to pull your own engine in the normal 

sense of the word, the Rockstar team needs to be 

able to swap a transmission in under 40 minutes. 

This means that every part has to be engineered with 

serviceability in mind. Initially, when the team contacted 

Jeff about mounting the new Garrett turbo, 

which is very similar to the unit Perrin uses in their 

own rotated kits, the first thought was to just use an 

existing Perrin kit. however, it was discovered that 

the turbo sits too far back in the engine bay and thus 

restricts access to the transmission, making access 

to the bell housing impossible without removing 

the turbo system. That was unacceptable in a world 

where removing too many parts would be the margin 

between victory and not starting a stage. 

It was then decided that the turbo would be 

mounted on top of the factory twin-scroll headers 

using an adaptor that would push the turbo and 

wastegate forward, and allow the team to use their 

slip-fit quick disconnect fittings to allow maximum 

access in the engine. The turbo, wastegate and 

downpipe can be removed as one piece if need be. 

to make things even easier, the team employs 

“dry-break” fittings. These are basically quick-disconnect 

lines for fluid and oil. When the connection 

is broken, a valve in the connector keeps fluid in the 

78 July 2008 

Left, the new GT3071 used in the Rockstar cars. Right, a standard 

GT3076 that Perrin uses in their own rotated turbo kits. 

Since Jeff has to make four exact copies of the new turbo setup, 

he constructs templates from paper so that he can make exact 

copies of each pipe in the manifold. 

The finished product with adaptor plate, wastegate, turbine 

housing and downpipe welded and bolted into place. Notice the 

slip joint on the downpipe. 

The turbo kit in mock-up. Notice that Perrin has rotated the compressor 

housing to eliminate the Y-pipe making installation easier. 

Jeff then used this jig for the actual welding of the turbo setup, 

that way each spare turbo kit will be identical. 

Jeff Perrin (right) and co-driver Robbie Durrant (left) configure 

Alta’s in-house Dyna Pack dynamometer. While the cars may not 

make huge amounts of horsepower they do make mountains of 

torque.

lines so that a turbo swap does not mean draining 

the oil and coolant, which means saving precious 

minutes in the service park. 

as you get deeper into the car, you notice lots of 

other little bits that give you pause for those “ah ha” 

moments. For one, many of the bolts on the car are 

now aluminum. This may seem like a small touch, 

but hundreds of steel bolts all add weight; changing 

them to aluminum cuts that weight significantly. all 

the windows are thin and light Lexan, save the windshield. 

The brakes are two-piece with aluminum 

hats, which is, again, lighter. Where your local club 

rally car will use big sheets of plastic or aluminum 

for under-tray protection, the Rockstar cars use carbon 

Kevlar for both resilience and weight savings. 

even the alternator bracket is aluminum with big 

holes drilled in it to take the weight out, as well as 

the hood hinges have been drilled out (this last bit 

takes lots of time to get right, said andy). 

With the turbo installed and the car back in running 

condition, the next step is tuning. but while the 

tools you use on your car may be the same to tune as 

this car, the ethos and results are a bit different. 

“We have a power and torque goal, but it’s more 

of a usability goal rather than just looking at peaks 

on a graph,” said Pinker. “It’s not about getting the 

biggest number, it’s about the whole package and 

using the car on a series of different roads.” 

In addition to tuning for the turbo, the team also 

has to tune for the restrictor and the turbo anti-lag 

system as well, which can add up to a bit more tuning 

than your stage 4 car. 

“We will even take into consideration different 

conditions or specific types of roads and change the 

car as a whole to suit those conditions; this includes 

springs, swaybars and dampers as well,” said andy. 

Once the car is built and ready to go, the next 

step is testing. “testing” falls under several different 

categories. The first is of course on the dyno, where 

air-fuel ratios are optimized, as are boost settings, 

and the overall tune of the car is ironed out. next, 

the team will even head out on the road for a bit of 

road tuning and drivability testing to make sure that 

the system operates as well on the road as it does on 

the dyno (at legal speeds, of course). The next step 

is stage testing. 

“We will take a couple of days testing with tanner 

and myself on the dyno and some on the road,” 

said Pinker. “Then we will do some actual stage 

testing, which is sometimes set up by the organizers 

(and can cost a fortune), or someone will have a 

piece of land, which is always nice. before 100 acre 

Wood, we tested on a bison ranch in Missouri run 

by this guy named skip who wore an american flag 

tracksuit everyday we were there. It was bison burg- 

thIs YeaR, there is a new rule that states that 

if a car averages 80mph for any stage, then it 

is awarded a fastest minimum (bogey) time. 

What’s more, if a significant portion of the field 

achieves an 80mph-plus stage time, the organizers 

must alter the stage in some way to bring 

speeds down, like install artificial chicanes with 

hay bails or alter the route altogether. barring 

that, the stage would be removed. The reason for 

this, like all things in this country, is for insurance 

reasons. event insurers are not prepared to 

cover very fast rallies, so to keep the man with 

the clipboard happy, fast stage times are essentially 

not posted. 

While this makes event organizers happy 

and keeps roads open to rallies, it also has a 

leveling effect on the field. say you enter a stage 

mere seconds in the lead and trounce the competition 

and open a big gap, but you complete 

that stage at an overall speed of over 80mph, 

you are awarded the bogey time and your brilliant 

driving is, essentially, nullified. This year’s 

Olympus rally saw most of the top 20 cars best 


THE EigHTy milEs-pER-HouR cap 

the 80mph limit, and thusly all received the 

same stage time from open class cars all the way 

down to 2WD production cars. 

“stages over 80mph are not really rallying to 

me,” said Rockstar driver andy Pinker. “It’s fun 

(to drive fast stages) but one or two stages, not 

a whole lot. It just becomes a horsepower race, 

who has the fastest car in a straight line. There 

is not one rally in the WRC that has an 80mph 

average speed.” 

While this may be a frustration for the teams 

and drivers, it is really a big problem for the organizers 

who must struggle first to find roads 

that are open to a rally, and then find roads that 

are both quick enough to offer an interesting 

race but slow enough to avoid the 80mph cap. 

“There is a bit of geography in this problem,” 

said Pinker. “It’s a big, open country with lots of 

big, open roads. There is no shortage of good 

roads, however. It’s just getting the permission 

to use them. The roads in Olympia last year were 

just brilliant, but we couldn’t get the permission 

to use them this year.” 



ers every day for lunch, it was awesome.” 

There are a few other little pieces that the team 

will be testing with this new setup. One of these bits 

is an “ice box” for the intake. General wisdom says 

that if a car is running and air is moving up through 

the engine bay, then the air would be no warmer 

than ambient. On a road car cruising down the highway 

with a steady stream of high-velocity air moving 

through the engine bay, that may be true enough, 

but this is a rally car. 

“We will be running a sectioned-off area to get 

cold air and not ‘engine’ air into the engine,” said 

Pinker. “There is a dead space where the filter sits 

and sucks in hot air. Cutting vents in the hood helps 

draw that hot air out. We see big differences in engine 

bay temps, depending on how fast a stage is. We 

can actually see it in the graph of intake air temps. 

Plus, the car isn’t always pointed straight ahead; it’s 

a rally, not a circuit race.” 

to tune this whole wild mess, the team relies on 

the aeM standalone for racing applications. You can 

go right out and buy a unit similar to this for your 

own road car, if you really want anti-lag and launch 

control, that is. again, the turbo is a Garrett unit that 

can also be had from the Garrett catalogue, although 

in a slightly different spec. tial has stepped up to 

help the team with a stiffer blow-off valve, which 

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ORANGE APPEAL 

2008 IMPREZA 

APOCALYPSE OR GENIUS? 

The juice on Team Orange’s all-new 

D1GP Drift Impreza. Plus: complete 

Subiefest2, where it made its sid 

THE INDEPENDENT SUBARU AND RALLY MAGA ZINE - SUBIESPOR 

Subaru Impreza WRC2007 

challenges at Rally Mexico

82 July 2008 

Story by Amanda Katsurada 

Photos by Author and 

Subaru World Rally Team

thIs YeaR the World Rally Championship saw 

Jordan joining its round of events as the first Middle 

eastern country to hold a WRC round. Rallying in 

the Middle east is not an entirely new idea. It has 

been around for decades now and the popularity is 

on a continuous rise. Qatar, the United arab emirates 

and Jordan in particular have been producing 

great drivers. Jordan’s King abdullah II has been a 

driver with Phil Mills as his co-driver, and he must 

have gotten his rallying itch from his father, the late 

King hussein, who was also into the sport. Rallying 

is in their blood, and it’s almost as if it is the modern 

alternative to the traditional camel racing. There is 

more to a rally than who won, what the road surface 

was like and what the temperature was like; it is also 

about the place and the people where the rally is 

held. so really, what is it like to go to Jordan Rally 

as a spectator, with no previous experience in the 

Middle east? 

since there’s a good chance this will be my last 

trip to the Middle east for a while, I took two weeks 

off and began planning the trip. My friend in the 

United states, eric, was happy to join me for the trip; 

it’s always good to have a history buff who can enjoy 

the seemingly endless list of historical ruins in Jordan, 

from Petra (which made the new seven Wonders 

of the World list) to the Roman city of Jerash, 

to dozens of the Crusaders’ castle-forts that were on 

our must-see list. 

During the first ten days, we traveled across the 

country, from Jerash, one of the best-preserved Roman 

ruins in the world in the north, to aqaba, the 

port town facing the Red sea with egypt and Israel/ 

Palestine in view, before going to the rally. by this 

time I had a pretty good picture of the country, its 

people and culture. First of all, the Jordanians are 

very friendly. The first few questions they throw at 

you are, “Where are you from? Do you like Jordan? 

Good?” and when they say “good” they always do 

a thumbs-up, which I found charming. because 

the country is only about the size of Ohio, it can be 

crossed in four to five hours of driving. The terrain 

is rather smooth, mostly rolling hills with villages, 

towns and the very few cities dotted around them. 

april is the peak of tourist season for them, with 

flowers in full bloom and temperatures still livable 

at around 80 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit during the 

day and dropping quite a bit lower at night. It was 

quite dry, though not parching. Faced with a scorching 

hot sun, one would have to make sure not to go 

anywhere without a big bottle of water. Luckily, 

there were shops stacked high with bottled water on 

every street corner. 

The code of dress seems to be very liberal here 

RALLY JORDON TRAVELOGUE 

Desert Discoveries 

compared to the ultraconservative images I’ve seen 

in the news and on the Internet. There are few men 

wearing the traditional garments with headdress 

and even fewer women wearing the head-to-toe 

burka than expected. however, in Petra, where the 

bedouin run their own businesses of camel/horse/ 

donkey rides, shops and cafes for tourists, many still 

live in a traditional nomadic style. Mohammed, a 

young bedouin that I spoke with, told me, “all bedouin 

here own a cell phone and a car. see the village 

over there? That’s a village the government built for 


DESERT DISCOVERIES 

Relics from “The Monastery” at Petra. 

Other than a Legacy Taxi, this was the only local Subaru. 

84 July 2008 

the bedouin. We make good enough money and can 

live over there if we want, but many of us prefer to 

live in traditional ways. I live in a cave myself with 

two donkeys. I love this lifestyle and wouldn’t give 

it up for anything.” he took us to his favorite spot 

that overlooks el Khazneh (the “treasury” of Indiana 

Jones fame) and offered us traditional mint tea 

when he saw that we were wiped after two hours of 

grueling walking in 90 degree-plus heat. Then he 

took off, saying, “Well, take care!” 

My friend and I ended up spending three full 

days wandering around Petra, and I have to say the 

people living there were as nice as the spectacular 

ruins of the past. everywhere we went, when I told 

them that I was in Jordan for “the Rally.” The locals 

reacted as if they all knew about the event. From 

what others told me, the national tV station had 

been doing a countdown on the upper corner of the 

screen around the clock for a month, and Jordan 

Rally stickers had been distributed throughout the 

country. We saw them on taxicabs, trucks, cars, and 

even on room service wagons in a hotel. The whole 

Our rental car had two punctures and many engine problems.

country knew of the rally, which was rather refreshing 

after experiencing almost the exact opposite in 

Japan around Rally Japan time (“Rally? What’s rally?” 

was one of the most common reactions in Japan). 

so when we went out to the stages and hardly saw 

anyone, it sort of threw me off. Where were the local 

spectators? Maybe it was the locations we went to, 

but at some spots I saw more members of the press 

than locals. but the few spectators we saw were all 

enjoying the rally under the blindingly hot sun, 

cheering loudly whenever a rally car went by. Many 

were young people, often in single-gender groups as 

Subaru World Rally Team driver Petter Solberg 

enjoying local hospitality prior to competition. 

RALLY JORDON TRAVELOGUE 

is common in Jordan (unmarried singles aren’t supposed 

to be together out in public). The service Park 

was very compact, with vending areas in the middle 

with starbucks and burger King. after eating only 

local food for 10 days straight and sweating all day, a 

Frappuccino and a Whopper sure tasted good. 

Getting around the country was quite easy. all 

the signs in the country, from big cities to small 

towns, were in both arabic and english, and with 

the three major highways running north-south, 

you couldn’t really get lost. My friend and I didn’t 

even have a detailed map of the area, but the general 

maps in our guidebooks and the rally map did 

the job. If you’re a traveler and love having the freedom 

of choosing your own places to visit during the 

trip, renting a car is highly recommended. The occasional 

spotting of herds of goat, sheep and sometimes 

camels adds to the fun. The only drawback is 

that your rental car is likely to break down or have 

a puncture very, very often. The customer service 

aspect of local companies (ours was a local branch 

of an american rental car company) is very, very 

weak, and you’re not likely to get the service you 

deserve, such as a replacement to your problemridden 

rental car. but if you’re a mechanic and can 

handle mechanical problems, go for it by all means. 

The country is full of amazing places, and it’s best 

to get around on your own without relying on public 

transportation. The locals drive in a style I would 

describe as ReCKLess, and overtaking cars in front 

of you is expected; drivers often cross over to the opposite 

lanes in order to pass cars in front, but as long 

as you don’t crash into others it’s not a big deal. Jordanian 

highways are all beautifully paved, and with 

the rolling hills with a great view (although very dry 

and brown for most part) it makes for a great driving 

experience between historical sites and nature 

reserves. 

after spending two full weeks in Jordan, I can say 

that I look forward to going back there again soon. I 

couldn’t see all the places that were on my list, but 

moreover I want to see how Jordan Rally evolves, especially 

with the way they set up the ceremonial finish. 

a great distance was felt between spectators and 

the drivers/co-drivers, because the podium was so 

far away and facing only the photographers (general 

spectators were allowed only on one side). I personally 

didn’t feel that the spectators were considered 

part of the ceremonial finish, which is regrettable 

because that’s one of the highlights for spectators, 

but that’s probably the organizers’ first-year promotional 

effort. The stages were easy to go to, so I 

do hope that won’t discourage rally fans from other 

countries from going. I look forward to floating on 

my back in the Dead sea again, and next time I’ll 

make sure to do the “Dead sea Float” – with an issue 

of Subiesport in hand. < 


86 July 2008

ChRIs atKInsOn’s seasOn just gets better and 

better after a second successive runners-up spot at 

Rally argentina lifted him to third in the 2008 WRC 

drivers’ championship. 

but subaru could have left south america with 

so much more if Petter solberg had not been forced 

to retire from the event with only two stages remaining. 

The norwegian was running in a comfortable 

second place when complete electrical failure on 

the first stage of Leg Three denied him and co-driver 

Phil Mills their best result since Portugal last year. 

The team’s disappointment was compounded 

by the knowledge that two other drivers, Mikko hirvonen 

and Gigi Galli, had completed less distance 

because of retirements, but had still secured four 

and two valuable points, respectively, because of 

the supeRally rules. Meanwhile, solberg was left 

empty-handed after competing 305km of the total 

348km. 

solberg had enjoyed a sensational second day of 

the rally when he traded stage times with his teammate 

in a battle for second place. solberg was nine 

seconds behind the australian at the end of the first 

day, but five stage wins on Leg two helped to turn 

the deficit into a 49-second advantage. 

atkinson was the second driver to start on Day 

two, with solberg immediately behind him, and 

even though the mud was knee-deep in places both 

experienced better road conditions than on the 

opening day, when they began further down the 

order. atkinson lost second place on the first stage 

and was unable to prevent his teammate extending 

his lead, in spite of picking up two stage wins of his 

own. In fact, solberg was on a charge and finished in 

the top three places in all but one of the day’s nine 

stages. 

towards the end of Leg two atkinson eased 

off, safe in the knowledge that fourth-placed Dani 

sordo was more than a minute behind. by a stroke 

of good luck, the australian would reclaim second 

place the next day and strengthen his position in the 

overall standings. 

sébastien Loeb won Rally argentina for the 

fourth successive time, but he was also the recipient 

of some good fortune when it looked as though he 

had no answer to the speed of hirvonen. 

WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2008 

The norwegian started the event in dramatic 

style by winning ss1, La Cumbre - agua de Oro 1, by 

48.1 seconds, a huge winning margin over a distance 

of just 18.7km. The Ford driver held onto his lead 

until ss5, when he hit a rock that caused enough 

damage to his Focus Rs to make him retire on the 

spot. after that Loeb knew he just had to reach the 

finish to pick up his 39th WRC victory. 

—David Hobbs 


MOTORSPORTS 

UnKnOWn teRRItORY GReeteD competitors in 

Jordan as the WRC reached the Middle east for the 

first time – and there was plenty of drama to make it 

a debut to remember. 

The roads in Jordan presented great challenges 

for crews, being quite unlike anything experienced 

elsewhere on the WRC calendar. The road surface is 

as hard as asphalt, but with grip more reminiscent 

of a gravel event. The Pirelli tires used by all teams 

struggled for grip, and tire wear, exacerbated by the 

heat, was high. 

after taking part in the Rally Jordan recce last 

year, Petter solberg used his experience to share 

the early lead with Citroën’s Dani sordo. although 

he slipped down the order over the next four stages, 

the norwegian was still holding his own until disaster 

struck. 

Forced to go off-road to avoid a large rock over 

an unsighted crest on ss5, solberg retired at the end 

of the next stage because of broken front suspension. 

he was able to restart under supeRally regulations, 

but the subsequent time penalty meant he 

was 16 minutes behind the leaders. 

as it turned out, the poor run of luck that has 

blighted solberg’s season continued on Leg two. 

suffering rear damper problems and then a leaking 

brake caliper, his rally finally came to an end on 

ss16 when he slid off the road into a ditch, rolling a 

couple of times for good measure. 

Meanwhile, a cautious but consistent drive from 

Chris atkinson was enough to give him his fourth 

podium of the season, as he benefited from the misfortune 

of drivers ahead of him. 

The australian slid off the road and suffered a 

spin on Leg One, but did enough to finish the day 

in fifth. ahead of fourth to sixth places by a big gap, 

atkinson knew his job was to hold position and see 

what happened on the second day of the gruelling 

rally that was being run in in-car temperatures of 

more than 40 degrees Celsius. 

In the end, he didn’t have to wait too long, 

thanks to a bizarre accident on ss11. after setting 

the fastest time on the stage, rally leader sébastien 

Loeb collided with Conrad Rautenbach in a narrow 

part of the road section. both cars were immediately 

sidelined. 

This put sordo in front with Jari-Matti Latvala 

and Mikko hirvonen second and third, respectively, 

and atkinson promoted to fourth. The Ford driv- 

88 July 2008 

ers quickly overtook sordo, but on the final stage of 

the day both slowed dramatically to allow the Citroën 

driver to retake the lead. This gave them road 

advantage for the final and longest Leg of the rally, 

because now sordo was first driver on the road; he 

was effectively clearing the surface. Citroën were 

furious. 

Ford’s hopes of a one-two were dashed on Leg 

Three, though, when Latvala slipped down the order 

after he damaged his suspension, hitting a rock 

on ss18. hirvonen took the lead and held on for his 

first victory of the season ahead of a disconsolate 

sordo, while atkinson enjoyed the fruits of a consistent 

drive with a well-deserved third place. 

—David Hobbs

Is thIs the enD of the Impreza WRC2007? 

Just days after the sWRt left Rally Italy, the team 

announced that the brand new WRC2008 would 

make its long-awaited debut on the unforgiving 

acropolis Rally – the very next event of 2008. The 

old shape Impreza, a rally icon for 15 years, would 

finally be consigned to motorsport history. 

Which kind of made the sardinia result even 

more of a damp squib. While sebastien Loeb was 

busy racking up his 40th – yes, 40th – WRC win, Petter 

solberg was left struggling to find any pace at 

all on the soft and sandy gravel roads of the Italian 

island while Chris atkinson drove an anonymous 

race to sixth. 

Loeb’s success, helped by a dose of bad luck to 

the increasingly impressive Jari-Matti Latvala and a 

lackluster Mikko hirvonen, underlined the difference 

in fortunes of two drivers who were thrilling 

fans with close battles just a few years ago. 

While solberg must look back to Wales Rally Gb 

in 2005 for his last victory – and only taken when 

Loeb refused to claim the title after the death of codriver 

Michael Park – Loeb has won 22 rallies and 

three world titles. The reality is stark; solberg did not 



MOTORSPORTS 

90 July 2008

ecome a slow driver overnight once he’d won 

his world title, rather it was subaru that got left 

behind as Ford and Citroen rapidly look over. 

Much will rest on the Impreza WRC2008 to take 

the fight back to sWRt’s rivals. 

Ironically, solberg made a good start in Italy 

ending the first Leg in third position. he complained 

of damper problems after the morning’s 

three runs but after changes at midday service 

his speed improved immediately; he was third 

fastest on the first run of the afternoon. by the 

end of the day he had done enough to overtake 

championship leader hirvonen in the order. 

atkinson finished the morning in third after 

three good runs; he was helped when Latvala 

slid wide on ss2 to drop well down the order 

and although he couldn’t match the leaders’ 

pace in the afternoon he held fifth overnight. 

Leg two completely belonged to Latvala. 

Down in 14th after his off-road excursion, the 

Finn had clawed his way up to second by winning 

all six of the day’s stages, leaving his teammate 

trailing in his dust. 

atkinson drove hard but he could not match 

the pace of Ford and Citroen and had to be content 

with five sixth fastest times over the day 

that put him in sixth overall. solberg suffered a 

puncture on the opening stage of Leg two that 

cost him five minutes and any chance of a podium. 

The norwegian finished Italy in 10th but it 

was atkinson who, after another difficult day 

on Leg Three when he failed to make the top six 

on any of the stages, still managed to hold sixth 

place and claim three valuable points. Lying 

third in the drivers’ championship, the australian 

is only 12 points adrift of Loeb. 

With nine rallies still to run, can the 

WRC2008 provide him – and subaru fans – with 

something spectacular? 

—David Hobbs 

KUMAKUBO! 

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M E G A G U I D E 


Get the inside scoop on 

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American, Canadian and 




Wrc2009 

Makes Debut 

behOLD, the neW 2008 Impreza WRC. by 

the time you read this, the new car will already 

have competed in anger and we will have a 

better idea if the new car will be the salvation 

of the sWRt, or another disappointment. 

The subaru World Rally team has had a 

tough go of things over the past few seasons 

and has had to claw every single podium finish 

out of a faltering chassis and a huge case 

of bad luck. however, the team appears confident 

that this brand-new chassis will prove 

to be the saving grace of subaru’s World Rally 

efforts. 

earlier spy shots have suggested at a 

McPherson-strut suspension in the rear instead 

of a multi-link and a front-mounted intercooler 

setup. 

as we write this, the team is gearing up 

for the acropolis Rally in Greece. The fate of 

the subaru rally world hangs in the balance, 

watch this space for updates. < 

92 July 2008

WIth OnLY thRee events gone in the Rally america 

series and six left, it is still anyone’s ballgame. how- 

ever, I predict that this will be the year that Ken block 

and alessandro Gelsomino take the crown for them- 

selves. after two years in the shadow of teammates 

travis Pastrana and co-driver Christian edstrom, 

block and Gelsomino have won two of the first three 

events in dominating fashion. however, we can’t rule 

out those two brothers of mayhem, Chance and Fate, 

in shaping the outcome of this season. 

“I’m definitely going to try for the championship. 

This year, we’ve got a plan,” remarked block at the 

Olympus podium ceremony. 

Whatever that plan is, it’s working very nicely. 

block won seven of the 16 Olympus stages outright 

and finished second on four more. On the five remaining 

stages, a quirk in the Rally america championship 

rules created a tie with up to 17 other competitors. 

as a safety measure, FIa and Rally america require 

event organizers to keep average stage speeds 

below 80mph. They do this by limiting the minimum 

possible stage score to an 80mph average. If any competitor 

exceeds this on a given stage, that stage must 

be changed or eliminated the following year. 

because this is the first running of the Olympus 

Rally on new roads outside Pomeroy, Wash., the average 

stage speed was exceeded on five of the 16 total 

stages. each stage of the rally was run at least twice, 

and on the last stage of the event the top 18 competitors 

all earned the minimum stage time. The first 

running of that stage saw 16 of the top 17 competitors 

earn the minimum time. 

From its days as a WRC round in the 1980s 

through 2007, the rally was based in Olympia, Wash. 

but due to a management change within a key landowner 

there, the organizers lost their signature roads. 

The town of Pomeroy, though, was ready to step in to 

provide a new home for the event. 

Pomeroy is a small farming town located in the 

Palouse hills near the Idaho border. The terrain is 

windswept grassland, covering steep hills and narrow 

winding canyons. The stage roads normally 

serve as farm access to the cattle ranches and wheat 

fields of the area. even in mid-april, snow threatened 

throughout the entire event, but held off to give Rally 

america its first dry and unfrozen event of the year. 

The new Olympus roads were exceptionally 

smooth and featured long, straight stretches that encouraged 

speeds above 120mph. a cooperative county 

sheriff used his radar gun to record trap speeds on 

the event, and the top speed of 124mph was not set 

by an stI, but rather by a venerable Volvo 240 driven 

by John Lane and Jason Grahn of Washington. Who 

could have predicted that? 

In the end, Pastrana and new co-driver Derek 

Ringer took second place overall, winning the four 

stages that block didn’t. Pastrana/Ringer finished the 

rally 23.9 seconds behind block/Gelsomino. Contenders 

tanner Foust and Chrissie beavis took third, 

1:12.8 behind block/Gelsomino. 

Fourth place went to the Mitsubishi evo team of 

andrew Comrie-Picard and Marc Goldfarb, keeping 

them in second place for the season so far. two-time 

PGt Champions Matt Johnson and Jeremy Wimpey 

kept their X Games hopes alive with a strong fifthplace 

finish. 

2004-5 national champion Patrick Richard and 

co-driver alan Ockwell finished sixth overall. because 

he doesn’t compete in the entire Rally america 

series, Richard is something of a wild card when 

the series comes to the Pacific northwest. With past 

P-WRC experience, Richard is tough to beat on his 

home turf. Look for this team to keep the pressure on 

at next month’s Oregon trail Rally. 

Last year’s Group 5 champions Kyle sarasin and 

Mikael Johansson finished seventh in their open 

class subaru. The 18-year-old sarasin continues to 

drive well and finish in the top 10. Last year’s Olympus 

runners-up andrew Pinker and Robbie Durant 

finished in eigth position. They usually do better in 

the Pacific northwest, having won the last two Oregon 

trail events. Look for this team to go all out next 

month in Oregon. 

also new at this year’s Olympus Rally, Primitive 

Rally enterprises owner Paul eklund and co-driver 

Jeff Price debuted the first 2008 stI to enter any stage 

rally in north america. The car arrived in Produc- 

RALLY-AMERICA SERIES 

block/gelsomino earn decisive Olympus victory. 

Photo: Lars Gange, rally.subaru.com 

tion Gt trim, sporting snow tires and stock front suspension 

because no rally tires will fit on the 17-inch 

wheels required to clear the stI’s front brakes. “The 

car performed great, and I love the active center diff,” 

eklund said. “I just left it on automatic the whole 

time.” eklund and Price finished 16th overall and fifth 

in the Production Gt class. Look for them to climb up 

the standings at Oregon trail as they get the new stI 

sorted out. 

speaking of Production Gt, the class was won by 

stephan Verdier and scott Crouch, followed closely 

by Patrick Moro and Mike Rossey, each team driving 

a WRX. among two-wheel drive cars, Group 5 honors 

went to the Canadian team of Zbigniew szewczyk and 

tomasz Karzynski in their Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer, 

and Group 2 was won by local northwest favorite Lou 

beck and co-driver Jerry Mizar in their Ford Focus. 

Production class was taken by the brothers team of 

Jan and Jody Zedril in their Mitsubishi Lancer. 

Production is not normally a popular class in the 

Rally america series. because the class is limited to 

stock cars of low power, Production lacks the sex appeal 

of faster classes. but a new rule could change all 

that – at least at the regional level. new for 2008, Rally 

america has eliminated the 4-valve-per-cylinder 

multiplier in the Production formula. This change allows 

1.8-liter aWD subaru Imprezas into the Production 

class. 

For all the high speeds of Olympus, the event 

was kind to equipment. none of the top contenders 

damaged their cars, so they should all be in top form 

for the Oregon trail Rally, to be held May 16-18 outside 

Portland, Ore. block and Gelsomino may have a 

strong lead, but this season isn’t over for a long time 

yet. < 



advertiser 

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COBB Tuning..............................................................................59 

Cosworth ................................................................................... 37 

Disc Brakes Australia .............................................................51 

Easy Street...................................................................................8 

Endura-Tech...............................................................................19 

Flatirons Tuning .......................................................................46 

H&R Special Springs ..............................................................15 

HarmanMotive ...........................................................................11 

Hawk Performance Brakes ..................................................5 

JSC Speed .................................................................................53 

Mach V Motorsports ..............................................................13 

MediaSpigot Photo Services .............................................20 

OAKOS Automotive ................................................................ 78 

Performance Race Engineering ....................................... 57 

Subiesport.com ....................................................................... 17 

Primitive Enterprises ............................................................95 

RacingBrake.com ....................................................................91 

Rally Armor ................................................................................31 

Royal Purple ...................................................................Cover 2 

Slowboy Racing ......................................................................58 

Subaru North America ....................................... Back Cover 

SubaruGenuineParts.com ................................................... 67 

Subiesport Subscriptions ...................................................79 

Whiteline .................................................................................... 57 

This directory is provided as a service to 

our readers. To advertise your company in 

Subiesport Magazine, contact Ryan by phone at: 

425-458-4949, ext 3. 

or email: ryan@subiesport.com 

94 July 2008 


Oregon trail rally cranks up the heat 

the FIRst DaY of the Oregon trail Rally, driv- 

ers and co-drivers alike were all smiles, happy to 

be back in a “proper rally.” The days leading up to 

the rally were cold and wet, a hallmark of Oregon 

weather, but day-one set the tone for a hot, dry rally 

that would see a full half the field leave the road, including 

most of the top ten. 

It would be easier to list the teams that didn’t 

crash and burn, but here’s the casualty list for the 

weekend. The seemingly unstoppable team of Ken 

block and alessandro Gelsomino were sidelined 

early with the car stuck on a hillside. The 2006 and 

2007 Oregon trail winners andrew Pinker and Robbie 

Durant saw their car catch fire in the unseasonably 

hot weather, taking them out of contention. 

Pinker’s teammates tanner Foust and Chrissie beavis 

also fell by the wayside, along with two-time PGt 

Champs Matthew Johnson and Jeremy Wimpey. 

sensational young driver Kyle sarasin and co-driver 

Mikael Johansson also ended up with a severely 

bent car and a DnF to show for their trip to the West 

Coast. 

In the PGt ranks, stephan Verdier and scott 

Crouch, norm Leblanc and Keith Morison, Piotr 

Wiktorczyk and benjamin slocum, travis and terry 

hanson, and the local Oregon team of Mark tabor 

and Kevin Poirier (2004 Production class champions) 

were all out by the end of the weekend. 

In the end, victory at the Oregon trail Rally was 

all about survival - being there at the end. 2006 and 

2007 Rally america champion travis Pastrana stayed 

on the road and delivered an excellent performance 

in his third outing with new co-driver Derek Ringer. 

Pastrana finished the event 3:36 ahead of Canadian 

Mitsubishi evo pilots andrew Comrie-Picard and 

Marc Goldfarb. Five minutes farther back came 

West Coast regulars and 2004 Oregon trail winners 

Carl Jardevall and amity trowbridge in their Mitsubishi 

evo. 

This year’s Oregon trail Rally featured 16 stages, 

but two runnings of one stage road were cut due to a 

six-foot accumulation of snow on the road. This was 

hard to believe, based on the 90-plus degree temperatures 

through most of the weekend, but there 

was still snow to be seen on several of the stage 

roads. In the hunt for the win, Pastrana/Ringer won 

eight of the 14 stages that were contested. Foust/ 

beavis won four of the remaining six, and Comrie- 

Picard/Goldfarb won the other two. 

The weekend was a tremendous disappointment 

for block/Gelsomino. The duo expressed their 

displeasure with the lack of a pre-event reconnaissance 

at this event. The previous three events all allowed 

teams to pre-run the course at slow speed to 

make additional pace notes. after winning both the 

Rally in the 100 acre Wood and the Olympus Rally in 

dominating fashion, the team has dropped to third 

place in the season points standings. 

highlighting the importance of consistency, 

Comrie-Picard/Goldfarb have moved into the 

points lead with two second-place and two fourthplace 

finishes. Pastrana/Ringer are in second place 

with two seconds and a first. 

With many of the top teams dropping out due 

to crashes or mechanical failures, new faces began 

appearing at the top of the standings. Chief among 

these is the sort-of/almost subaru Rally team Usa 

“third car” driven by Dave Mirra and co-driven by 

alexander Kihurani. The team was third on stage 14 

and turned up fourth on stage 16 as well. The team 

was already time-barred due to earlier troubles, but 

still gave a good showing.

In the Production Gt class, the win was taken 

by Patrick Moro and Mike Rossey in their 2002 

WRX (pictured above), followed by nathan and 

brandy Conley in their 2003 WRX wagon and local 

favorites Paul eklund and Jeff Price, driving the 

only 2008 stI currently competing in north american 

rally. eklund is the owner of Primitive Racing 

enterprises, a Portland-based rally school and rally 

supply store. 

In the two-wheel drive classes, andrew havas 

and Pete Pollard took the Group 5 victory in their 

1989 honda Civic, followed by the MaZDasPeeD3 

of eric burmeister and bill Westrick and the 2003 

Dodge sRt4 neon of John Conley and Keith Rudolph. 

Group 2 honors went to Michel hoche- 

Mong and Jimmy brandt in their 1985 VW Golf, 

followed by the 1982 alfa Romeo GtV6 of first-time 

rally driver austen angell and veteran co-driver Jeff 

Zurschmeide. Production was won by the sole surviving 

entry, a 2004 suzuki swift driven by Jim stevens 

and co-driven by his daughter Marianne, both 

NOW AVAILABLE 

Autographed by 

the author. 

Only $23.95 

of Kingsville, Ont. 

The Rally america series now moves to the east 

Coast for next month’s susquehannock trail Rally 

on June 6 and 7. The Pennsylvania woods will be the 

venue for a comeback attempt by block/Gelsomino 

and the rest of the contenders. With just three weeks 


intervening, there’s a lot of repair to get done on 

many of the top Rally america cars - it will be interesting 

to note who makes the event and who is 

forced out for the season. Only one thing is certain 

- this season is now almost half gone, and there’s no 

telling what will happen next. < 

Next RALLY DRIVING 

SCHOOL CLASS 

forms SOON! 


SUBIESPORT SPOTTED! 

Greg Hightower brings Ken Block with him to the Arctic 

Circle as he competes in the Alcan 5000 Rally. (See 

Page 60 for our coverage of the Alcan 5000.) 

Soldier John Kostrzynski shares a copy of 

Subiesport with a contractor as they rebuild Iraq. 

Have a picture of an unusual place with someone holding a copy of Subiesport Magazine? 

96 July 2008 

Michael Traphagen and his wife, brought a 

copy of Subiesport on their honeymoon to 

St. Lucia. That is, until the Captain of 

the ship commandeered this very issue, “The 

guy driving the tour boat was a big Subaru 

guy.” Michael continued, “I whipped out a 

copy of Subiesport and he was so excited, 

he was driving the boat and reading the 

magazine at the same time. That magazine to 

this day is living in St. Lucia.” 

Thanks for spreading the Subiesport 

love, Michael. We’ll be sure to include a 

replacement of that December 2007 issue 

when we send out your swag bag. 


Ugur Kumru was visiting his home country of Turkey when he whipped out a 

copy of Subiesport for this pic. Ugur writes, “This place is a wonder of 

nature where the volcanic lavas have been shaped by water and wind during 

millions of years.” And, by the way, we’re really sorry your picture wasn’t 

included in the World Meet article. Seriously, it was not intentional. 

James King of Las Vegas posing along with Tottori 

Subaru Dealership employees in Tottori Japan. 

Send it, if selected, we’ll send free swag: spotted@subiesport.com

DRIVING SPORTS HOUSE AD

A 305-horsepower 

pledge pin. 

Swear your allegiance to torque. Push it at every turn. Experience the pure 

performance of the turbocharged Subaru Boxer engine. The confidence 

of road-gripping Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive. And 0-60 in 4.7 seconds* 

all fueling your passion. Love. It’s what makes a Subaru, a Subaru. 

The 2008 Impreza ® WRX STI at subaru.com 

Always obey the traffi c laws and wear your seat belt. *Motor Trend, March 2008.

TEXT FPO - Driving Sports TV

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