Fall 1999: It has a 2.2L "boxer" flat-4 (just like a Porsche, or a Cessna) engine (137 hp), full-time all-wheel drive, roof rack, monstrous hood scoop and hood vents, cassette and CD player, cruise control, 4-channel ABS, A/C, and dual air bags. The holes in the hood are for show only, but many Impreza 2.5RS owners have opened them up for custom intakes and turbo intercoolers. Additions to the car include cruise control, factory fog lamps, leather-wrapped gearshift knob, leather shift boot, and leather-wrapped steering wheel. No sunroof, since there's a luggage rack.

Spring 2000: For non-winter use, it has Legacy Outback alloy wheels with Yokohama AVS Intermediate tires. These tires aren't bad at all, but next time I'm going to get some with stiffer sidewalls. Perhaps the Bridgestone RE88's that came OEM on the '89 240SX (I loved those tires, despite the dismal 140 treadwear rating and mediocre rain performance). The AVS-I rides quite well and is quiet for a performance tire. But when pushed in the corners, will start to rumble as the contact patch starts to hit the mysterious holes in the shoulder blocks. I have no clue why Yokohama put them there, except as an audio warning? However, traction in rain is incredible, especially with AWD - virtually point and go driving.

Fall 2000: The hood scoops are at last made functional, with the recent addition of a Turbonetics T3/T4 turbo from Redline Engineering and quite a few other accessories. Professional installation was performed by the very capable hands of the guys at Rallispec. Running at 7 psi boost can be scary at times in any car, but this huge turbo winds up slowly and really propels the car at the upper rpm ranges after it gets going. Midrange takes a little time, but redline comes very fast. I am currently in the process of tuning it, after finally successfully troubleshooting the Bell Engineering 20005 rising-rate fuel pressure riser (RRFPR) installation. The state of tune changed as soon as the temperatures dropped to well below freezing. So I'll just run it as-is for now, and tune it again come spring and summer.

Spring 2000: Well, it's now spring, and I've had a chance to re-tune the car in preparation for a high-performance driving school at Virginia Internation Raceway (V.I.R.) with an Audi Quattro club. I also changed out the brakes shortly prior to this event, upgrading the front single-pot calipers and 10.1" rotors to the 2-pot calipers and 10.7" rotors from a 2.5RS, and the rear 9.0" drums to single-pot calipers and 10.5" rotors from a Legacy. The wagon performed well, although I had to back off a bit a few times on the straights due to excessively high exhaust gas temperature (EGT) readings of 1600°F. I got up to 110 mph on the straights, not bad for a stock ECU with piggy-back fuel and ignition controls. The KYB adjustable shocks were set to 4F/4R, in combination with a 20mm rear sway bar. I used the Yokohama AVS Intermediate tires with tire pressures set to 38F/36R. We ran in wet conditions on the second day, and I got a good opportunity to learn more about the tires. I found that the tires broke away and oversteered much more quickly in the rain than in the dry, and I almost spun the car once at turn 17. Once it dried up in the afternoon, the car was happy again.

Spring 2001: Forgot to mention that I may have a blown head gasket from V.I.R., as coolant would fill up in the reservoir tank from driving under boost. I added an APEX'i ITC to add a little ignition retard at the higher RPM's to add some safety margin against detonation, and tried out larger fuel injectors. First was a set of EJ25 injectors that are rated for 280 cc/min, compared with the stock 220 cc/min units. This combination ran well with 5.5 psi boost at a 3-day track event at Watkins Glen. The leaking head gaskets forced me to have to refill the radiator after every 30-minute track session.

Summer 2001: I swapped out the EJ25 injectors for a set of EJ22T injectors from a 1991 Legacy Turbo, rated at 390 cc/min. This set allowed me to bump the boost to 7 psi for a hillclimb at Mount Okemo, VT, as well as a 2-day track event at Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant, Québec. The head gasket leak seems to have worsened a bit, but I was still able to survive the 25-minute sessions by short-shifting on the straights. The AVS Intermediates performed well, and are getting close to the wear bars after three track events and more than one season of autocross.

Fall 2001: Took up Mark Fitz' offer to use his garage and his help to replace the blown head gaskets. They showed signs of gasket failure caused by detonation, although the pistons, cylinder walls, and heads showed no signs of any stress or damage. It took us almost two whole days to finish the job, although I did take the opportunity (while the motor was out of the car) to convert the cable clutch to the hydraulic system used in the 2.5L Impreza and Legacy models.

Winter 2002: Little work has been done, except that the two aftermarket Bosch Universal Heated O2 sensors failed within months of installation. I'm now back on the original O2 sensors. If it wasn't for a query by a local i-Club/NESIC member about his blown KYB AGX struts, I wouldn't have thought that the rattling sound in the back was not the exhaust hitting the rear differential protector. Chances are, one or both rear struts are blown.

Spring 2002: It's finally brake upgrade time in preparation for another VIR track day with the Audi Quattro Club in April. I have four solid rotors, cryogenically-treated by Diversified Cryogenics, a.k.a. Frozen Rotors. It turned out that pricing on treated rotors is on par with Subaru OEM rotors from Subaru Parts and aftermarket rotors from AutoZone. I also have Carbotech Panther Plus brake pads and Goodridge Stainless Steel brake lines. I also Installed a set of Koni Sport Shocks ("Yellows"). The Konis have somewhat more damping than the KYB AGX', and also seem more balanced front-to-rear. The rattling sound was probably caused by a loose nut on the strut piston, as one of them came out with little effort. The heads have been o-ringed by Function First Motorsports (East Wallingford, VT) and a new set of head gaskets was done (again at Fitz'). All timing and accesory belts were also replaced simultaneously.
Track "testing" at an Audi school at VIR proved that the Konis and brakes are more than adequate. Carbotech Panther Plus pads worked consistently lap after lap with no fade whatsoever. Pad wear was hardly measurable - 1mm at the fronts, and at most 0.5mm at the rears. If I had run street pads, I would have gone through at least one set of rear pads and half a set of front pads. Head gaskets held up to 7.5 psi of boost with no leaks. The weakest link was the tall AVS Intermediate tires, as they simply got too greasy by the second lap - not too bad for $80 tires. I also had issues with the valve cover breathers filling up the 1 pint breather tank after only three laps, so I simply plugged them for the last few seesions. I still need to investigate a permanent fix to this problem.

Summer 2002: Came to the conclusion that the valve cover breather problem is caused by having the turbo oil return line emptying into the right side valve cover. The high volume of oil is being pumped up the valve cover vent during high-g turns to the left. I have since removed the breather tank, added a big toilet-trap-style loop to the valve cover vent hose, and am simply putting up with the occasional oil getting sucked back into the turbo inlet. I will have to fix the oil return issue at a later date.
The AVS Intermediates were put through its ultimate test at a Fairfield County Sports Car Club (FCSCC) autocross in CT. Since one of my BFG gForce R-compound tires decided to leak, I autocrossed on the AVS and challenged a 240SX driver to a drifting contest. The penalty was severe chunking of two of the tires, plus they've become practically slicks now. I certainly got my money's worth from the Yoko rubber.

Fall 2002: Fortunately, the New England Rallycross Championship was alive and well this season, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the Burlingtoncars.com Rallycross at Essex Junction, VT, and the Covered Bridge Rallycross at Killington, VT.
During a warm spell in the middle of an early winter, I swapped out the open rear differential for a limited slip version. You can read about the details here.

Winter 2003: During a late-evening drive home from the Catskills before Xmas 2002, the engine threw a rod. The temperatures were in the low teens, snow was starting to fall, and the car was fully loaded with two people, gear, and groceries. During a passing maneouver on a slight uphill at 7 psi of boost, around 4000 rpms, and 60 mph, the engine made a loud popping sound ,completely lost power, and siezed. After flatbedding and trailering it from NY, I decided to park the Impreza in VT for the winter and drove the 240SX instead. Mileage was just over 84,000 miles, where 40,000 miles of that were with the turbo.

Spring 2003: When the Subaru engine was disassembled, pistons 3 and 4 had failed, and a large crack was found in the #3 cylinder wall. Charlie North of Function First Motorsports (East Wallingford, VT) speculates that the car was making maximum torque when the #4 rod failed. The #3 cylinder failed afterwards when pieces of metal from the #4 failure found their way into #3, resulting in mechanical interference that bent the #3 rod and destroyed the #3 piston and cylinder.
The engine block was a write-off, and I replaced it with a slightly used Turbo Legacy 2.2L (EJ22T) shortblock, retaining everything else from the original engine. This EJ22T engine was originally used on the 1991-1994 Legacy Turbo, delivering 160 hp at 181 ft-lbs from 8 psi and 8:1 compression ratio, without the aid of an intercooler. The main benefits of the EJ22T engine are its closed deck cylinder head design, reportedly forged rods, and piston oil squirters that direct oil to the bottom of the pistons to help cooling under turbocharged conditions. When combined with a thin headgasket from the 2.5L SOHC engine and the original 2.2L SOHC heads, the compression ratio is now calculated to be 8.5:1. This reduction in compression ratio from the stock 9.7:1 is very noticeable off boost. Below 3000 rpm, it feels a lot less like the small block V-8 from before, and more like a classic turbo inline-4.
Charlie also re-routed the entire exhaust to reclaim a lot of the ground clearance lost by Rallispec's 3-year-old low-slung roadcar setup. The low ground clearance resulted in regular contact of the flex pipe and catalytic converter with road crowns, speed bumps, pothole lips, and dirt berms. Where I used to have 2.5" of ground clearance, it is now back up to over 4", and Charlie also fixed some inteference between the turbo piping and the frame rail. Although the flex pipe had plenty of surface damage, I retained it since it was not punctured. Another side benefit of Charlie's work with moving the muffler and resonator is a quieter exhaust sound than before.
Charlie sealed up Rallispec's turbo oil return line to the valve cover and created an oil return line with AN fittings directly to the oil pan. This last fix should solve my problems with oil being sucked up into the intake from the valve cover breathers.
I also replaced a failed Westach EGT probe with a new one. The Westach failed after more than 18 months, making it much more durable than the Autometer Competition probe, which lasts only between 6 and 9 months before failure.
I also obtained a LinkPlus standalone engine management computer from Link ElectroSystems. I will install it later after sorting out the rest of the bugs in the car.

Summer 2003: I replaced the slick and corded AVS Intermediate tires with Yokohama AVS ES100 in the same size. The ES100 is very similar to the AVS-I in most respects, except that tread pattern looks much more impressive and the sidewalls are much stiffer - a very welcome improvement!
The rear O2 sensor wire broke at the base of the sensor, and I had to buy a replacement from AutoZone.
The Tial wastegate had become frozen and there was a leak in the wastegate pressure line, and this combination caused boost spikes. I took the wastegate apart, cleaned it with Orange Clean, greased it with WD-40, and the electronic boost controller works like a charm again.

Fall 2003: I seem to have finally repaired all vacuum leaks, and coincidentally have not had a plugged O2 sensor for months. The Westach EGT probe also seems to be holding up. The only thing left to fix appears to be an errant Check Engine light for engine misfires in all cylinders during highway cruising.

Winter 2004: Just past 94,000 miles, the flex pipe developed a puncture, and was replaced with a custom setup by Bob Dumont of Muffler House (Lebanon, NH). This repair recovered another 1/2" of ground clearance, and made the exhaust a tiny bit quieter as well (although it still has the distinct booming note of an aftermarket exhaust).
During the annual state inspection, Bob also found that the rear brake light and windshield washer wires had broken. He repaired it, and in the process, also fixed the problem where the windshield washer does not "return home", and fixed the problem where the rear hatch stopped responding to the power door locks. Perhaps not coincidentally, I spent a few hours the previous weekend replacing a broken rear windshield washer fluid hose.

Spring 2004: Took the car down to Lime Rock for a track day with the BMWCCA. There was a light snow flurry in the morning, but I had fun, despite spinning out at the entrance to the front straight on R-compound tires. I have been rusty at track driving and it showed, especially since I had no time to even think about steering into the turn to catch the slide before I was well into it. The good news is I have it on video, and the only memories of the "off" was lots of dirt and cuttings blown into the car after I stopped on the grass.
I upgraded the radiator cap to a higher pressure model (1.3kg/cm^2 or 1.3 bar) made by Greddy. It seems to have eliminated the small coolant consumption problem I had with the original radiator cap. The original was probably due for a replacement, but I got the Greddy for under $20 from subaruparts.com.

Fall 2004: Just past 106,000 miles, more wires at the rear liftgate broke. I repaired them on a cool September day. I also replaced the coolant while installing an engine block heater, Subaru part number A0910AS100. Now that I have moved out of the apartment and into a real house, I finally have a garage and an outdoor electrical outlet. The car will stay outside, but I can finally plug the car in during the coldest of New England winter nights, and not wonder if the battery will have enough juice to turn over a completely frozen engine in the morning.

Last updated: 21 October 2004.