I originally acquired this car in early December of 2010 with about 152k miles on the clock. It was in original, well taken care of condition. At first, it was just a car I didn't plan on keeping for more than 6 months. Little did I know that it would send me on my way to learning just about everything I know about cars.

During the first year, I drove her around 15k miles and put it through hell. I took it to the mountains, drove trails like Colin McRae, and pushed it as hard as I could on off road terrain. Within a few weeks I had a couple of huge cracks in the windshield. After about 8 months, and an accident, it started to take it's toll. The front passenger side CV joint failed, exhaust leaks started, heat shields broke loose, the power steering rack started to fail, brakes started having issues, tires came out of round, the head gaskets went, and the transmission started having binding issues. I ended up driving around for about three or four months with the blown head gaskets until I finally had the extra cash to buy parts and do the job. It drove well over the following four months until the motor failed. It had spun a rod bearing just short of it's current 170k miles. I parked her, ripped the motor out, and she sat unused until 3 months ago when I sold it to my buddy David with plans to completely rebuild the car.

When I first got her with a friends 94 SS



After the accident, during the rebuild and when I replaced the body panels that were damaged





I still haven't learned.....





One of the MANY pictures I took of her next to other Subies



After six plus months of talking and planning and parts hunting, three months ago I officially sold the car, and many many parts to David and moved the car to a storage unit where we would be working on it. I replaced the stock 5 spokes with the 16" snowflakes from my old 98 LGT. It makes a world of a difference in how the car looks. I also replaced the dented up and bent front fenders.

She's dirty....





At this point the car was still without a motor. So the hunt began. The original plan was to purchase an EJ22E. After having no luck after a few months of searching. I came across a 99 Phase 2 EJ25D and got it shipped immediately. The motor itself has very low miles, and has has the head gaskets and water pump replaced along with the timing belt and components just as preventative maintenance. It just needed an intake manifold, harness, and sensors. All of which I had from the cars original motor, which is literally sitting in a pile of oil and speedy dry at the moment. Only having one day a week since the purchase two and a half months ago, it took us until a few weeks ago to get it all put together and running.We were missing a tons of small parts that took way too long to acquire through the dealers... Even up until today, it is still not inspected and registered. We are getting the exhaust finished on Monday and she will finally be street legal.

I will add some updated pictures and video when we pick the car up. She's been cleaned up a bit and a grille has been added. She's still in need of a few things, but a plan is in motion and the entire car will be perfect sans the body by the end of summer.

Current upgrades:

- Phase 2 EJ25D
- Speedy Racer UEL header
- Glasspack muffler

Planned upgrades through the summer:

- MSD coil pack
- A1 Cardone rebuilt steering rack, with Moog ball joints/tie rods and Whiteline rack bushings
- Whiteline F/R sway bars, bushings, and end links
- Whiteline rear sway bar mounts
- Raceland Optimo coilovers
- 4EAT sport mode and 50/50 mods AFTER the trans is repaired. It needs a new pan, filter, fluid, and possibly a clutch pack duty-C repair kit.
- StopTech Cryo treated rotors all around, with undecided high performance brake pads.

Once the suspension, brakes, and small performance mods are done we will be moving on to the body work. She'll be getting a 97-99 LGT front bumper cover to be used with the 97-99 fog lights that we picked up. I'll be learning how to do body repairs and how to paint, and will be painting the entire car myself. The color is going to be the original blue.

She'll look pretty much like this, but better



We have a lot planned beyond this, but it's staying under the table for now. You'll have to wait several months to a year to find out.

Stay tuned for updates as we add more upgrades and parts to the car!