The Rally Car aka: “Sassy” (She is a bit of a mut of a car, but the team loves her and poured their hearts and souls into building her in just 3 1/2 short months to be able to debut at Sno*Drift 2012 for my first stage rally) 1998 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS Coupe Original color: Gloss Black BUILD TIMELINE August 2011: Gut car and prep for cage September 2011: Cage install. Body work, paint and graphics October 2011 thru January 2012: Finish complete build (suspension, brakes, engine install, wiring, light bar, clear engine bay of things such as A/C & ABS, safety equipment etc etc… to be updated over time) January 2012: Debut at Sno*Drift April 2012: engine spun a bearing April thru May 2012: Engine pulled and New engine installed June 2012: New engine blew up.. July 2012: Saved enough funds and purchased a 2.2L NA engine from All Wheels Driven for reliability. August 2012: Install new engine, wiring harness, ECU and reevaluate safety and functionality of the car. I was also surprised with an awesome roof vent (custom designed by TRF) and scoop (primitive rally) from Derrick… STOKED! :D CAGE: Installed by Thompson Racing Fabrication. ENGINE & TRANSMISSION: A 2.5L mysterious engine and 4:11 Forester transmission replaced the blown motor and disturbed 5 speed originally used in the rally car. Shortly after their second race, the crew, with the help of Grant Hoxie of SubieGuys rebuilt and swapped engines yet again as the mysterious motor had a spun bearing from the beginning. The original ECU was mated with a 2000 Forester. Engine #2: a naturally aspirated 2.5L DOHC engine from a 1996 legacy wagon mated with their 2.5L SOHC Impreza heads. What we think may have been caused by a part failure… the new engine blew with less than 1,000 miles on it.. 3rd time is a charm… Engine #3: I have decided to go with reliability (and cost effectiveness) and convert our 2.5RS into a 2.2RS ;) Car should be up and running with the NA 2.2L engine in the next couple of weeks as we prep for Olympus in September! SUSPENSION: Suspension from a 2002 WRX was mated to the 98’s original suspension. EXHAUST: The leaky exhaust was replaced with a 2 ½ inch stainless steel exhaust and high flow catalytic converter. PAINT: Paint and graphics were done by crew member Matt Peterson. (design originated from Amanda’s ideas and drawn and brought to life by Matt). OTHER: Hydraulic handbrake Homemade lightbar with Hellas Ikea homemade mudflaps “Custom interior” What interior?… exactly! :P Lots of used gravels on steelies ;) 2012 SPONSORS: SubaRoots Rally Racing Japanese-Creations.com SubieGuys 31 Motorsports Ainove Inc. Ken’s Body Shop SafeDrives.com TIM (Team Illuminata Motorsports) TRF (Thompson Racing Fabrication) Discoveryparts.com Impression Center The team has poured their own blood, sweat and tears into the rally car, and in just 3 ½ months, the car debuted at Sno*Drift 2012. If you have any questions or would like to know more, please feel free to ask! :D
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