[brapp]

suuuub by Dan Walker, on Flickr



DSC00148 by Dan Walker, on Flickr

The Story

Say hi to Roxy everybody. Finally getting around to making one of these build threads. She's an 05 STi that I've owned since 2016. I bought it bone stock from a nice lady in her 60s who had owned it since brand new. It had 68k miles on it and she was selling it because that seemed to getting up there. She then went and bought a brand new 2016 STi .

Back in 2007, when I was still in high school, my dad bought a brand-new Outback XT. And from then on I was in love with cars, turbo cars, and especially Subarus. I bought my first one (also my first car) just a couple months shy of my 21st birthday -- a 2003 WRX. I absolutely loved it for nearly 5 years when I ended up buying a lightning red 2010 STi. It was a great car... but after a year I found myself missing the smaller, more raw feel of the GD chassis.

Out of curiosity, I started trying to find a GD STi to test drive. My friend told me of a black one that he heard was about to be up for sale... so I went and drove it. I instantly loved it. It just felt right. I bought it a week later with cash and started trying to sell the GR.

It's come along a bit since then. I'm really happy with it and plan on keeping it for awhile, so I've been slowly working on making it exactly how I want it. I autocross quite regularly, as well as try to make it to track days and Time Attack events as often as I can. At some point, it might end up becoming a full out race car... but for right now I'm finding a happy medium between full track car and daily driver.


Mod List

Engine/Powaa
Killer B Holy Header with up-pipe
Grimmspeed downpipe w/high-flow cat
Delta Motorworks Road & Track catback
Grimmspeed cold air intake w/heat shield box
PTP Lava turbo blanket
Grimmspeed turbo heatshield
Koyorad Aluminum Race Radiator
IAG Comp series AOS
Killer B radiator shroud
Killer B oil pan & baffle
Killer B oil pickup
Beatrush aluminium undertray
Intake/box/intercooler wrapped in DEI Reflect-a-Gold
Grimmspeed 3port EBCS
Cobb Accessport v3

Suspension/Handling
Racecomp Engineering Tarmac 2 coilovers
Vorshlag Motorsports front camber plates
Group N rear top hats
Whiteline 24mm swaybars front and rear
Whiteline heavy duty swaybar mounts
Kartboy endlinks
Mishimoto Power Steering Cooler
STi BBS wheels (bronze) 17x8 with 225/45/17 Continental ExtremeContact DW (DD)
STi BBS wheels (silver) 17x8 with 225/45/17 Bridgestone Blizzak WS80 (winter)
Mach V Awesome wheels (black) 17x9 +42 with 245/40/17 Hankook RS4 (track/autocross)

Alignment
-2.7 camber front / -2.0 camber rear / 0 toe (Summer / DD)
-3.4 camber front / -2.0 camber rear / toe out in front, 0 toe in rear (Track / Race)

Brakes
EBC Yellowstuff pads (front/rear)
ATE Type200 fluid
StopTech SS brake lines
Grimmspeed master cylinder brace

Driveline/Transmission
Kartboy short shifter
Kartboy front and rear shifter bushings
Kartboy pitch stop mount
Group-N transmission mount
Whiteline transmission crossmember bushings
Whiteline rear differential bushings
SuperPro rear diff outrigger bushings

Exterior
RallyArmor mudflaps (black w/blue logo)
Debadged trunk (except STi logo)
JNA side window deflectors
15% window tint (everything but windshield)
5% tint visor on the top of the windshield
3rd brake light tinted red
Clear protective film on headlights
Beatrush front tow hook (track use only)

Interior
Recaro Sportster CS front seats, black, heated, with side airbags
JPM Coachworks shifter boot, black with red stitching
JPM Coachworks e-brake boot, black with red stitching
05 WRX black door cards
05 WRX black carpet
05 WRX black rear seats
Schroth Quick-Fit Harness (red, for track/autox use)
s204 black climate control knob faces
Black painted center console
Torque Solutions 3" shifter extension
Killer B Motorsport black WRC shift knob
Raceseng-R reverse lockout
Black STi floormats (summer)
Weathertech floormats (winter)

Gauges/Electronics/Audio
Defi Red Racer boost and oil temperature gauges
AEM wideband AFR gauge
ATI center triple gauge pod
JVC bluetooth head unit
JL Audio W3 10" subwoofer
Audio Integrations 10" subwoofer box
Kicker 500 watt amp
Bass control knob wired into blank switch spot
Valentine V1 radar detector, hardwired, with remote mute button on shifter

 

[brapp]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

Pics!

How she looked when she came home



Swapped to the bronze wheels (already had from my 2010 STi), put on a roof rack, and off on her first road trip.



Road-trip with friends to Rocky Mountain Subaru Festival



Came back with some goodies!



Goodies on, getting tuned...



Cam said it performed unusually well for the mods...



Friend sent me this, original ad from when the STi was released.



Down in Phoenix for Thanksgiving (and first track day!)



Early morning at the track



After the track day, the pads started screaming like a thousand babies, pulled them off and this is what the grease on the backs looked like...



Downforce, check. Drone launch pad, also check.



Fall adventures




Winter adventures











Spring adventures



Recaro goodness



Decided that the leather looked sick but was just way too warm, so I switched to cloth black covers. Then changed interior to full black cloth (Recaro sportster CS with side airbags and heat, 05 WRX door cards, carpet, and rear seats).

Custom roof rack mounts, bolts to the roof with a single bolt in all 4 corners, like the GR models.

 

[jvsoundwave]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

Welcome!!! Man pretty damn sick!!! My fav is the seats, where did you purchase them?

 

[yamahaSHO]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

Love the seats.

Where in Colorado are you located?

 

[brapp]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

Welcome!!! Man pretty damn sick!!! My fav is the seats, where did you purchase them?

Thanks! I actually got the seats from a European dealer. Look up Recaro Max on Facebook if you're interested. He's been good to me.

 

[brapp]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

Love the seats.

Where in Colorado are you located?

I'm down in Durango.

 

[BaronOBeefdip]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

I also love the seats.....pretty jealous actually

That power output does indeed seem a bit generous considering your mods and elevation though...welcome to the forum though. :tup:

 

[brapp]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

I also love the seats.....pretty jealous actually

That power output does indeed seem a bit generous considering your mods and elevation though...welcome to the forum though. :tup:

Thanks! Actually been on the forum for a few years... just finally getting around to making a journal.

The seats are pretty great for sure. I knew pretty much from the start I was going to swap the seats out... went through a few different OEM takeoff options before deciding to just go for the Recaros.

I agree it's a pretty happy lil dyno for sure :lol: But I really don't care. I've always been one to think of dynos just as tools for tuning and for tracking gains... the car feels great, if it had the same power and felt the same but the dyno said 200whp I really wouldn't mind.

Thinking either later in the year or (probably) next year looking to go with some Killer B headers, EWG setup, and bigger TMIC and see how much more I can get out of the little VF39. In the meantime though... it's time to get the suspension a bit more dialed in!

 

[PSM_85]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

That interior and those seats >

👀👀👀👀👌👌👌👌👌

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

 

[BaronOBeefdip]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

Oh, my mistake, just never saw your name pop up.

Anyways, how/where the heck did you get the custom work done on those seats?

I'm sticking with the VF39 as well for a while, but it has been rebuilt and upgraded a bit. We'll see how it performs before I even consider something bigger. +1 on the plans though!

 

[brapp]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

That interior and those seats >

👀👀👀👀👌👌👌👌👌

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

Thanks man!

Funny I've never really been someone terribly concerned with interior. But I have some pretty good back pains from ski/bike crashes and from spending wayyy too much time hunched over a computer. The stock seats really amplified the issue (in the GR too), so when I had some extra money left over from selling the GR and a couple really big projects at work... I decided to go for the Recaros more from a comfort standpoint than anything. Then they looked so good it seemed silly not to spend the fairly marginal extra amount to do the door cards as well.

I still do have the stock dark blue carpet and the dark blue/black bugeye rear seats. I'll probably change all that out at some point, but for now it's fine.

Plus, the car sees quite a bit of racing/track time, so the extra holding ability of the seats is pretty awesome.

 

[brapp]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

Oh, my mistake, just never saw your name pop up.

Anyways, how/where the heck did you get the custom work done on those seats?

I'm sticking with the VF39 as well for a while, but it has been rebuilt and upgraded a bit. We'll see how it performs before I even consider something bigger. +1 on the plans though!

It was actually all done by the dealer I got the seats from. He takes used seats and completely redoes them... so I actually had that work done as a separate service before getting them.

He also installed the heating element and installed the correct Subaru airbag connector, so I didn't have to deal with any wiring like some others with these seats have.

What all have you done to your VF39?

I've gone back and forth a couple times on getting something bigger... but I think I'd like to keep the stock block right now. Thinking that maximizing the potential of the stock turbo is a good start -- everything else will transfer over to a bigger setup anyways. Thinking that right now 360-380ish (on that same happy dyno) would be a pretty good goal. ~40-50whp over where I am right now.

 

[PSM_85]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

Thanks man!

Funny I've never really been someone terribly concerned with interior. But I have some pretty good back pains from ski/bike crashes and from spending wayyy too much time hunched over a computer. The stock seats really amplified the issue (in the GR too), so when I had some extra money left over from selling the GR and a couple really big projects at work... I decided to go for the Recaros more from a comfort standpoint than anything. Then they looked so good it seemed silly not to spend the fairly marginal extra amount to do the door cards as well.

I still do have the stock dark blue carpet and the dark blue/black bugeye rear seats. I'll probably change all that out at some point, but for now it's fine.

Plus, the car sees quite a bit of racing/track time, so the extra holding ability of the seats is pretty awesome.

What's the retail on those seats?

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

 

[brapp]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

What's the retail on those seats?

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

Sent you a PM.

 

[Adam WeSTi]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

What's the retail on those seats?

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

More than you can afford pal...Recaro! Sorry couldn't help the Fast and furious reference lol

 

[brapp]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

More than you can afford pal...Recaro! Sorry couldn't help the Fast and furious reference lol

:lol:

Dammit -- missed opportunity on my part. Glad someone thought fast :tup:

 

[brapp]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

So next up... getting suspension up to par. First autocross is the end of April... so have until about then to figure out what I want to do.

I was going to go for Feal fixed perch struts + RCE blacks + Whiteline camber bolts.

But... thinking to cut back on the budget just a tad. So I was thinking RCE blacks + camber bolts.

Then I did a bunch of research and found out how often camber bolts can slip. Also not tooooo stoked as I'm in a fairly small town, and no performance shops around. My last alignment (and the one on my 2010 STi with camber bolts) was done by one dude who really knew what he was doing and cared to take the time to get it perfect. But he moved out of town. So thinking to keep it simpler.

Now thinking... ideally this year I'll do RCE blacks + some sort of camber plate. Currently debating between the RCE camber plates (non-lowering) or the Whiteline Com-C plates. The Whitelines are a good bit less expensive and claim to offer up to -3.5 degrees camber plus some caster. The RCE ones are claiming similar. I do like the adjustability of the RCE plates though.

Any thoughts out there?

 

[jvsoundwave]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

Thanks! I actually got the seats from a European dealer. Look up Recaro Max on Facebook if you're interested. He's been good to me.

Found the group! Thanks man, you mind asking how much they were? I may hit him up!

 

[brapp]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

Found the group! Thanks man, you mind asking how much they were? I may hit him up!

Sent you a PM.

 

[Kyle_05_STi]

Re: Brapp's 05 STi - "Roxy" - now with extra awesomesauce

I'm with everyone else, those seats are sick! Love what you've done with the car - keep the photos and updates coming!