2002 Bugeye Wagon DD Build

Hey guys, my name is Gabe, I'm from Nashville, Tn, relatively new to this site, been getting the magazine for a while now however.

So, I recently purchased a 2002 Subaru WRX 5MT Wagon with 120k miles on it. After driving it around for some two weeks as a to school daily vehicle, I'm already wanting a little more power and grip. I'm looking into starting AutoX soon, but I'm by no means looking to be competitive, just looking for some weekend fun.

This will be a thread of my amateur self working on my first Subaru. Hopefully doing the work with myself involved actively. And of the work! I plan to do up and down pipes soon, as well as other exhaust work, and then move to chassis strengthening and other turnin' work.

In conclusion, I don't really know what I'm talking about as I'm new to working on Subarus, and basically working directly on cars in general admittedly, so I am 100% open to comments, suggestions, and just plain insults of my plains hahaha

Apologies on the photos, my fujifilm is having trouble updating new pictures, so these dark ones from the night I got it must do for now!

I dig it, here are my suggestions on how to spend your money:

before you drive it tomorrow) clean the haze off those headlights so you can see! Change all your fluids, ALL OF THEM, and do a basic tuneup.

1a) tires
1b) AutoX
2a) brakes
2b) AutoX
3a) suspension
3b) AutoX
4) fluids
5) perhaps a clutch (just realized you didn't mention if it's a manual)
6) HPDE
7) worry about making more power

Ah yes, did the old "tooth-paste" scrub last week, surprisingly effective at clearing the clouding.

And yes it is a Five-Speed, the Clutch was replaced about 30k back to an unknown aftermarket clutch, so I'm not sure when I'll be needing to strengthen that side of things.

Brakes have surprisingly good bite, ceramic replacement pads were put on by previous owner, I plan on SS lines, and new fluids shortly.

The most notable need as of right now is tires, I'm not really feelin' the Bridgestone Passenger tires. I'm thinking two sets of wheels and tires, econo tires for daily, and wider, taller wheels for "spirited" driving

Ooooohhhh, I miss my bugeye. Nice rig! Add "timing belt" to the list if you don't know for sure that it was done recently. The interval is 60k miles, so it's due for one at 120k(now).

Step 1. Take pictures in the daylight. You look like you're trying to make it on to the craigslist photo thread. Now that I have that off my chest, bugeyes are cool capable cars. Have fun.

golfsierra wrote: The most notable need as of right now is tires, I'm not really feelin' the Bridgestone Passenger tires. I'm thinking two sets of wheels and tires, econo tires for daily, and wider, taller wheels for "spirited" driving

I checked with Chuck Norris, he said you're doing it right

Hahaha no, I'm not trying to make the CL thread, but yes, I know the pictures are trash, I'll get some new pics later today.

I've got 13k miles, 16 auto crosses and two autocross practice days on my Z1 Starspec's. Granted, my Mazda2 is lighter than you car, but I think they might be a spectacular second tire for what you're describing.

I like it. Looks just like my old wagon, which I miss dearly.

Stainless lines do wonders for these cars.

Alright, I'll be going for a new set of rubber and wheels shortly, with SS Lines and fluid to follow.

Also, the Timing belt is definitely noted. I've been planning to order one, but haven't gotten to it yet, also the accessory belts are pretty old, and I'll be replaing those soon. Be it a good idea or not, I had planned to do an A/C delete, but my girlfriend said she wouldn't ride in the car I'd I didn't have ot lol.

On the subject of craigslist, a local listing has 4x 17/7 Team Dynamics "Monza" wheels for $400 obo, being a cheap ass, this is appealing, but should I go with a wider set? Does anyone have experience with said wheels? I'm wanting to run 225s as secondary tires.

It's never a bad idea to look to the class rules you want to run under. I think you're STX and I think (though I could be wrong, you'll have to check) you can run a 7.5 width wheel. Is the 1/2 inch worth it? You'll have to think about it and decide.

My cousin had a bugeye for a while. He did some nice mods to it to make it drive better. The shifter and transmission brace I think was one thing he did that made a nice difference as the stock setup tends to move around a bit. Forgive me though if I'm not being exact all I know is I drove it before and after and it was a lot better.

Pics as promised! Definitely needs a wash, been raining here recently and it's killing me to get mud on it hahaha. <img src="http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh264/Kerotan36/Cars/1EBFD42C-24E7-4BEF-A7ED-5E9380A27629-

You need a wagon mafia sticker...

ValuePack wrote: Ooooohhhh, I miss my bugeye. Nice rig! Add "timing belt" to the list if you don't know for sure that it was done recently. The interval is 60k miles, so it's due for one at 120k(now).

I thought the interval was 105k?

In reply to EvanB:

On SOHC EJ25 cars, interval is 105k. DOHC anything, EJ20 included, is 60k.

Just a couple of dings away from perfection. Those are probably the most attractive Subaru built. I love them.

Wow, that looks like it's in great shape!

I was thinking about my performance mod list on my old car. Here's what I can remember:

-Kartboy short shifter and bushings (do this NOW)

-Kartboy subframe and rear differential bushings (get these too, kept the diff from slapping the floor on hard shifts)

-Subaru Group N dog bone mount (helped keep the engine in place)

-ATI triple gauge clock pod with Prosport boost, oil pressure and EGT gauges (pod was awesome, gauges and sensors/probes were not the best but cheap)

-MadDad bellmouth 3'' catless downpipe and Autospeed 3'' catback twin-tip exhaust (they don't make this catback anymore, it was loud and droned)

-Basic off-the-shelf "Stage II" tune from OpenEcu.org, tweaked a little to be safer (ran this for over 60k miles with no issues)

-Stainless brake lines and Hawk HPS pads (best brake feel and stopping power I've had on any of my cars)

-Enkei RP02 18x7.5 wheels (a bit big for the car diameter wise, but they were strong and light, I'd go with a 17x8 like I had on my 2009 WRX)

-eBay STI knock off rear strut tower bar (believe it or not, it actually did something!)

-STI "Pink" wagon springs and Tokico D-Spec adjustable struts (this was the perfect suspension setup on this car, I highly recommend it, it made the car handle incredibly well)

-2002-03 WRX sedan 20mm rear sway bar (tightened up the rear a bit and helped take the slop out of the rear of the car)

Appearance-wise, I did a STI scoop and clear front sidemarkers. Man, I miss that car.

Raze wrote: I dig it, here are my suggestions on how to spend your money: before you drive it tomorrow) clean the haze off those headlights so you can see! Change all your fluids, ALL OF THEM, and do a basic tuneup. 1a) tires 1b) AutoX 2a) brakes 2b) AutoX 3a) suspension 3b) AutoX 4) fluids 5) perhaps a clutch (just realized you didn't mention if it's a manual) 6) HPDE 7) worry about making more power

You forgot Rallycross. Ain't a Subaru if it doesn't get muddy.

Super fleet, what did you run your tune through?

I opened this thread expecting to see a Bugeye sprite estate car, sorry, American translation, a Frogeye sprite station wagon.

In reply to golfsierra:

I used a Tactrix cable and my laptop. The early cable was $70ish with the jumpers, but the new ones are about $100 more because they can data log with a Micro-SD card right on the cable. I forgot what the names of the map loading programs are, because they changed a few times, but it was pretty easy to do. It is a lot cheaper than an AccessPort, and you have full customization to do whatever you want without having to get the additional Cobb Street Tuner software, or whatever it's called.

Even a "stage 1" tune is enough to wake the car up a little. It's not all that bad to do, seriously. I liked the fact that you could check the status of every sensor and electronic doodad on the car, down to the HVAC controls. We used to data log by hitting the rear defrost button to start the logs!

You could also tell the car to "ignore" certain sensor parameters. This came in handy when deleting the catted up pipe. The cats in the up pipes on these early cars like to disintegrate and go through the turbo, so changing to the later-style catless ones is a good idea, except you have to disconnect the factory EGT probe in the stock pipe. You can tell the computer to "ignore" the fact that it's missing.

And I should change my name to SuperFleet. I only have one silver car left, LOL

Hahaha just noticed I did that, my bad Silver Fleet.

I've been looking at the AP and the Tactrix cable, but the Cable had me worried that I would be overwhelmed by the full customization of the maps. Is it manageable for someone who's never worked with custom mapping?

Also, yeah, the stock up pipe seems a conern, restriction and break up of Cat wise. I'm gonna go for a catless UP soon.

In reply to golfsierra:

Essentially, I had no clue what I was doing when I started. I had only messed with tuning carbs, and wasn't even good at that.

I found the OpenECU forums and read up on it, and was able to start off by uploading a known good base map to the car and tweaked it a bit here and there. Fellow GRM'er Pseudosport had the same car at the time (except it was a black sedan) and he actually bought the cable and did the tweaking. We flashed and reflashed both his and mine countless times, and then his 2007 WRX TR, and I think a few other people's cars. We data logged with it too. He had the cable, and I had the laptop.

The best is when we swapped all my Stage 2 stuff (full exhaust, tune, suspension, etc) from my 2002 wagon to his 2007 TR during an ice storm in NH using nothing but hand tools and lit by candlelight. The power was out, and we had to find a place at 2AM that had power and wireless internet to download, in this case a cheap hotel's parking lot, and reflash his 2007 because we forgot that he had to run a different map for the 2.5L cars. Good times!

Oh, and be VERY careful which catless up pipe you choose. DO NOT GET ONE WITH A FLEX SECTION!!! Pseudosport and I got cheap eBay ones with a flex section, and his flex section eventually collapsed on itself! Mine didn't do that, but I wouldn't take the chance.

You can hollow out a stock one too. I have one somewhere that you can snag cheap if you want to go that route.