AspenItIs'sss SWP BRZ leisurely build!

[AspenItIs]

My Subaru journey began in 2005 arriving at the local Carmax to pick up my WRX, it had just been delivered from a Carmax a few states over. After a few months of tracking the exact model/trim/color I was looking for, the day was finally here, I was going to become an owner of a 2002 Subaru WRX Impreza in Aspen White!...or so I thought.

After waiting 20 minutes in an office, the salesman came in to say he was having trouble finding my car and would be right back. I knew something wasn't right when he returned with the manager. "We couldn't locate the car in the lot because it was in the service bay...". Hmmm, I thought to myself - Okay, give me the keys and lets get it outta there already! Luck wasn't on my side that day. It turned out that one of the porters decided to take it on a joy ride the night before and clipped another car in the lot...front end was crushed and because of their strict resale criteria it was deemed unsalable...AW WRXs were already on the endangered species list so it was a sad sight to see. I licked my wounds and continued my search...

About a month later, I spied another 2002 AW WRX at Sunset Honda in San Luis Obispo, CA...Clean title, no mods, traded in by the original owner with 42k miles on it - SOLD! After spending 5 days in transit to VA, it was delivered to my driveway. YAY! 110,000 miles later I was moving across country and it was time to part ways. I sold it to a member on NASIOC, she was to be a transplant for an array of goodies off a 2003 JDM STi...She will be missed but at least someone was going to have some more fun with it...




Enter BRZ...

The BRZ wasn't even on my radar for my next car until a Craigslist'r came to pick up my 17x8 Enkei RPF1s. He was driving a BRZ! It was the first time i had seen one in person and I was pretty impressed. Even more impressed that all four of his OEM wheels/tires fit in the back...WHAT?!...I asked for a ride and he said, "you can drive it if you want!" I wasn't going to tell him he was crazy for letting me drive so I instantly hopped in the driver seat and off we went. Mannnn...everything felt great - the steering, handling, the throw of the shifter, the seats, EVERYTHING! After 15 minutes, I was sold.

A few short months later I picked up a 2013 SWP BRZ from Desiree at Frank's Irvine Subaru in CA. I showed up the day it was delivered to the lot, didn't want another Suby to risk death by porter! An hour or two later, I was the owner of my 2nd Subaru, a slighty different type of Subaru. Like most of us I had a difficult time deciding on a color, they all looked so damn good! Even though I wish Subaru would re-introduce Aspen White, I did love the look of the Satin White Pearl on the BRZ and that was that.

So far I've put 2k on the odo and I am loving every bit of it. Recently I have been hit with the 'itch' though...I told myself I would keep it stock but that went out the window pretty quickly and I have begun the slow process of building her up. I have some upgrades ordered/shipped/being fab'd/collecting dust so I will have some updates soon, hope you all enjoy the thread!

[Turbo95eg6]

Nice profile pic lol. Nice looking car too.

[kendalldwhite]

Hell ya to the profile pic

[mfbmike]

Pull over! Pull over!

No, it's a cardigan but thanks for noticing.

[AspenItIs]

Hahaha, good to see BRZ/FRS fans appreciate a comedy classic.

I spent two days in Aspen a couple months ago and must have quoted that entire movie at least twice.



"You've had this extra pair of gloves this whole time?! "
"YEAH, we're in the Rockies..."

[TRD_07]

Great choice man and welcome to the forum!

[Kuri]

nice! I said the same thing when I moved from a WRX

[AspenItIs]

After researching exhaust after exhaust after exhaust, I finally went with the Invidia Q300. I wanted something on the quiet side, and I fell in love with the look of the Ti tips on the SWP. I really liked the rolled tips on the Invidia compared to single wall tips that many other manufacturers went with ... +1!

Thanks again to the guys over at@RallySport Direct, for the awesome black friday deal!









Ordered some other exhaust goodies - will wait for all to arrive before installation.

[AspenItIs]

Another update - de-heinous'd my tails the other day!

Tools/Items Used

- 1 Can of VHT Nite-shades paint
- 1 Can of Automotive Clear coat (@Carquest)
- 3M 1000 WETORDRY Sandpaper
- 3M 2000 WETORDRY Sandpaper
- Poorboys SSR3 HD Compound
- Poorboys SSR2 Medium Compound
- Poorboys EX Sealant with Carnuba
- Microfiber towels, foam applicators
- Masking Tape

Took my time with these, ended up being a 10 day project as the clear coat recommended 5 days of drying time before sanding. After masking everything up, I cleaned the lenses with Isopropyl Alcohol to get all the finger prints off. I laid down 4-5 coats of the VHT nightshades with about 15-30 minutes of drying time between coats. Once that was dried, I followed up with 2 thin layers of clear, then another 4 thick coats. Drying time between layers was about the same as the red.

After waiting 5 days, I wet sanded with the 1000 grit followed with the 2000. Still some orange peel but I was okay with how it came out so i was ready for some compounding. The compound I used, SSR3 is made to remove swirling from 2000+ grit sandpaper. I applied it by hand with a dense foam applicator, and was able to get 95% of them out but they could have used a pass or two with my DA polisher. Another day...

Finished up with a sealant and buffed clean with a MF towel...pretty pleased with the results. Can't fork over the cash monies for Tom's just yet so these will hold me off until then.

[AspenItIs]

The other half of my exhaust came in! Thanks to the guys over at Nameless - ordered the downpipe w/ helmholtz resonator to mate up with my Invidia catback.

First impressions, the downpipe looks great! Packaged very well, double wrapped in heavy packaging paper. The welds are very clean, smooth and straight and all the bends in the piping are mandrel bends so there is no collapsing in the piping to restrict the flow through the bends. Very impressed with the quality and super pumped to get it on the car. They even threw in some Nameless SWAG - Stickers and a koozie. Install pics to follow.

[Turkish]

Great looking start to your build! I am probably going to do a black tint on mine, since I am not ready to spring for after market tails just yet either. Can't wait to see pics of your exhaust installed and I bet it will sound amazing! What are your plans for exhaust manifold?

[mfbmike]

So, you're saying....there's a chance?

[AspenItIs]

Originally Posted by Turkish

Great looking start to your build! I am probably going to do a black tint on mine, since I am not ready to spring for after market tails just yet either. Can't wait to see pics of your exhaust installed and I bet it will sound amazing! What are your plans for exhaust manifold?

Thanks man! Tint is probably the most underrated mod on a car, completely changes the whole look and its not too harsh on the wallet. What % are you going with? I'm still trying to decide myself.

As far as exhaust manifold, going to keep it stock for now, might be too loud of a setup for me. Although If I had to choose I would get a JDL manifold. They look amazing, are hand made, and they put up good numbers

[AspenItIs]

Originally Posted by mfbmike

So, you're saying....there's a chance?

Hahaha

Can't wait for the release of "Dumb and Dumber To"...20 years later!