Fast and Light Expedition Impreza

worthingtontw

Observer
So the purpose of this build is actually mainly to set the car up as a fun "rally" car, but seeing as I love the prospect of overlanding and a lot of the modifications will be will be relevant I'd thought I'd share. It will mainly be used for travel in Death Valley and Saline Valley but I have aspirations to travel both the Dawson Highway and up to Inuvik in Canada which I think it will do quite nicely. I find it to be a pretty capable platform as I've hit 32mpg at 70mph (post weight reduction) and I helped my girl friends, parents pull 7 18" truck rotted stumps out of their creek with the Subaru when their (albeit 2wd) Suburban couldn't, so I doubt I will encounter traction problems with what I plan to throw at it.

A bit about me, I'm a 21 year old college student that grew up around gear heads. My dad was a Can Am mechanic, so we all ways had something interesting to work on, so naturally I learned from him. We've built a replica of a Lotus 11 from scratch, and I've done some autocross racing with a Miata so I like stuff that goes fast. I've always had a passion for rallying but never had a good reason to go down that path with modifying a car until now. I love the outdoors. I love to snowboard, mountain bike, and hike. I used to be into back packing but these days I'm more into the idea of overlanding because a) cars are my life b) the ability to go so much farther in a given period of time because transportation is quicker.

The car is a 2002 Subaru Impreza OBS which I purchased from a salvage auction 2 years ago. I rebuilt it and took it to Saline Valley after doing only 40 miles of shakedown and it did great!

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Since then I have stripped the interior less the front door cards and dash, manual transmission swap and put a light weight fly wheel in.

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Recently I pulled the heavier than a lead brick double din radio head unit and replaced that with a a 2ch amp with 3.5mm plug for Sirius Radio and iPod (which surprisingly sounds better), and a carbon Fiber switch panel. Since picture was taken switches have been added.

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Current projects are a rear disc brake conversion, bigger brake conversion, and a rally style light bar which are being pieced together now.

Projects in the future will include,
removable rear passenger foot well fresh water tank
gear tie downs for tent, chairs, etc.
replace current Nuvi 255w with topo capable GPS or possibly a removable old tablet with topo software.
removable power inverter
skid plates for fuel tank, rear diff, under engine/trans
mud flaps
improved fender liners
rewire car to simplify wiring harness
HAM radio
rally intercom with practice headsets
larger alternator
reconfigure spare tire hold down
Grp N rally spec suspension
gravel wheels
gravel tires
fixed back Sparco race shells (I think they are comfortable, for whatever reason)
4pt harnesses
4pt roll bar
(If you can't tell I like to pretend I'm a rally driver)


For camping gear I will be using initially my back packing gear but I expect to add things like some sort of collapsible sun shade, chairs, etc. to my "over landing kit". I do however want to stick to the adv mentality of light and simple. I'm going out there to unplug and live simply so I don't need to bring half my apartment with me. At some point I would also like to piece together a really good first aid pack as I haven't really found a kit I like yet.

As you can see it's really going to be more a sports car but it should be very capable getting me to 90% of the places my girlfriend and I want to go, as well as doing it quickly and efficiently.
 
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Pedro

Capitan rally fluffer
word of experience: Do the reclineable backs if you want to do 1000+ mi drives with it. It helps when the co-driver can catch a snooze on the road or if you duck into a truck stop at night.

rally suspension sucks on the road, ask Chris Duplessis
rally tires suck on the road, ask Chris Duplessis

I wouldn't hesitate to run gravels if you were doing a summer treck up the Dalton, but I would have a full set of spares for the tarmac section of the drive. If you want rally strenght suspension talk to JVL. He can build you whatever you want. I would go lighter on the springs and valving as the stiff springs will hurt your more back roads runs more than it will improve your high speed gravel runs.

Use plastic 55gal drums to make your front fender liners and attach them with zipties. The sets that I have seen and put on rally cars are nearly indestructable. You can get cheap barrels from truck wash places as that is what their suds come in or you might be able to snag a couple from a friendly farmer.

Use Primitive Skids with the stinger for your trans protection. You probbaly don't need a larger alternator, I have never seen one needed on the rally cars with tons of lights. But if you are concerned, look into using some LED bars for less consumption of watts. Also spend the change and swap all of your interior (maps dome) lights and your parking and running lights (leave the brakes incandesent) to LED as well. It will lower your draw by a bit and they aren't as prone to failure during harsh bumps.

if you have any specific questions let me know. I have a number of years of experience running rally service and events. With a boat load of subaru specific stuff.
 
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worthingtontw

Observer
word of experience: Do the reclineable backs if you want to do 1000+ mi drives with it. It helps when the co-driver can catch a snooze on the road or if you duck into a truck stop at night.

That's a good point, particularly as I did not think of sleeping in truck stops but I plan on modifying the seats to make them a bit more comfortable. I find fixed backs with the lumbar support pads to be very comfortable but my girl friend has never sat in a race shell before but she'll probably appreciate having a reclining seat. My dad has Sparco evo's in his Lotus Elite right now so I'll have to see what she thinks of them on a long drive sometime.

rally suspension sucks on the road, ask Chris Duplessis
rally tires suck on the road, ask Chris Duplessis

I wouldn't hesitate to run gravels if you were doing a summer treck up the Dalton, but I would have a full set of spares for the tarmac section of the drive. If you want rally strenght suspension talk to JVL. He can build you whatever you want. I would go lighter on the springs and valving as the stiff springs will hurt your more back roads runs more than it will improve your high speed gravel runs.

I've heard gravel tires on tarmac, particularly in the rain are really terrible so I was thinking of building a small trailer for hauling extra fuel and the proper tires for the situation. This would also be useful for traveling to rally cross events also. I'm probably going to run at least initially, a rally cross valved inverted dampers from Feal with King springs, but I would eventually like to get something like the All Wheels Driven coil overs with custom valving more aimed at comfort than absolute speed and also for the reason you sited above.

Use plastic 55gal drums to make your front fender liners and attach them with zipties. The sets that I have seen and put on rally cars are nearly indestructable. You can get cheap barrels from truck wash places as that is what their suds come in or you might be able to snag a couple from a friendly farmer.

That's a clever idea! I'm more familiar with people ordering bulk sheets of UHMW-PE to make underfloor protection as well as the fender liners and mudflaps. I was planning on copying this. http://www.dirtyimpreza.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1613. I'll definitely look into this though.



Use Primitive Skids with the stinger for your trans protection.

I'm actually planning on making my own as my dad's shop has a metal break but I plan on mimicking that exact skid plate.

You probbaly don't need a larger alternator, I have never seen one needed on the rally cars with tons of lights. But if you are concerned, look into using some LED bars for less consumption of watts. Also spend the change and swap all of your interior (maps dome) lights and your parking and running lights (leave the brakes incandesent) to LED as well. It will lower your draw by a bit and they aren't as prone to failure during harsh bumps.

The alt. I currently have is the 75 amp unit and I'm planning on adding 23amps worth of load just in lights so a larger alternator is necessary. The common upgrade is to get the 130amp alt. from the forester (about $150). There's no way my budget is in the same ball park as LED bars unfortunately :( but I am planning on switching the marker and indicator lights over to LEDs at some point in the near future.

if you have any specific questions let me know. I have a number of years of experience running rally service and events. With a boat load of subaru specific stuff.

What association were you with? I'm trying to get involved with the California Rally Series right now. I'm sure I'll have questions for you down the road. For now I'm just trying to get some seat time at rally crosses instead of focusing on getting the car all built and not being able to drive the dam thing to it potential.
 

Pedro

Capitan rally fluffer
I ran Erika Detota's crew for Prescott in 2010 And I have done a few others in the Rally new York Series and Eastern NASA events. I am the Heavy Sweep team leader for New England Forest Rally, and have done the Team O'Neil rally when it runs as well as Maine Winter Forest Rally when it ran.

You can find some lesser priced LED bars at DDMTuning(.com). I have ordered HID retrofits from them and have been pleased. I was planning on trying the 10" bar ($160) on my car, and then possibly add some of the smaller flood lamps to the truck.

as far as hauling some extra gear, check the forester EXPO thread (I can't think of what it was called) There is a nice example of the Jackson Rally forester project (video white SG forester). They built a nice roof hugging rack. You could do something like that to carry extra fuel for the longer treks or you could do a hitch mounted carrier for fuel. I would personally steer away from gravels as they have poor performance on anything but gravel and they are difficult to mount (BTDT).

I would suggest that you figure internal storage for two spares and carry a pair of tubes as well as a patch/plug kit with some rugged AT tires. If you have to plug a rally tire you may be SOL without a drill to open up the wound.
 

Beamer pilot

Explorer
Great, keep building and I will learn.
I bought a new Impreza as a DD in 2008, keeps impressing me daily on my 3hrs commute Monday to Friday. In winter in the dark both ways on snow and ice, so far hit a deer once, a coyote destroyed the plastic bumper and lately a pocupine that re-destroyed the bumper and fog lights.
I plan on building it up to sub rally standard to make it safer (the only comon parts with the cars we drive and the rally ones are usually the headlights), I did rally a long time ago with a Renault R8 Gordini (obscure to most Americans) against the likes of Datsun 510s and Lancia Stratus no need to discuss the outcome...Last one was the Rallye of the Rideau Lakes, Toyota took it driven by Walter Boyce I believe, yes I am a somewhat older than you.... Long story short, I suscribed to your thread. Keep the pictures coming...Good start, I bookmarked the http://www.dirtyimpreza.com site.
Cheers
 

worthingtontw

Observer
I ran Erika Detota's crew for Prescott in 2010 And I have done a few others in the Rally new York Series and Eastern NASA events. I am the Heavy Sweep team leader for New England Forest Rally, and have done the Team O'Neil rally when it runs as well as Maine Winter Forest Rally when it ran.

Those are quite the credentials you have! Any reason you've never done anything with Rally America?

You can find some lesser priced LED bars at DDMTuning(.com). I have ordered HID retrofits from them and have been pleased. I was planning on trying the 10" bar ($160) on my car, and then possibly add some of the smaller flood lamps to the truck.

That's actually not a bad price at all. The other reason I'm hesitant on LEDs is I haven't seen any beam patterns in person and for me it's alot of money to justify for an expeiriment so I kind of want to stay in known territories.

as far as hauling some extra gear, check the forester EXPO thread (I can't think of what it was called) There is a nice example of the Jackson Rally forester project (video white SG forester). They built a nice roof hugging rack. You could do something like that to carry extra fuel for the longer treks or you could do a hitch mounted carrier for fuel. I would personally steer away from gravels as they have poor performance on anything but gravel and they are difficult to mount (BTDT).

Haven't seen the Forester but I'm well familiar with the Impreza they did all of the high clearance work on. I'll have to check it out. I'd really like to avoid using a roof rack because of the decrease in fuel economy, however something low profile might be the way to go for extra fuel storage.

Yeah, I'm starting to rethink using gravel tires but a wheel and tire package is a long way away anyways.

I would suggest that you figure internal storage for two spares and carry a pair of tubes as well as a patch/plug kit with some rugged AT tires. If you have to plug a rally tire you may be SOL without a drill to open up the wound.

I actually carry 2 full size spares when traveling stacked in the stock spare tire location using ratchet straps crossed over the top which has been very effective in terms of load security but I really ought to get a patch kit as well.

Thanks for the quality advise. Any other input is much appreciated.
 

worthingtontw

Observer
Great, keep building and I will learn.
I bought a new Impreza as a DD in 2008, keeps impressing me daily on my 3hrs commute Monday to Friday. In winter in the dark both ways on snow and ice, so far hit a deer once, a coyote destroyed the plastic bumper and lately a pocupine that re-destroyed the bumper and fog lights.
I plan on building it up to sub rally standard to make it safer (the only comon parts with the cars we drive and the rally ones are usually the headlights), I did rally a long time ago with a Renault R8 Gordini (obscure to most Americans) against the likes of Datsun 510s and Lancia Stratus no need to discuss the outcome...Last one was the Rallye of the Rideau Lakes, Toyota took it driven by Walter Boyce I believe, yes I am a somewhat older than you.... Long story short, I suscribed to your thread. Keep the pictures coming...Good start, I bookmarked the http://www.dirtyimpreza.com site.
Cheers

That's to bad about the animal collisions. I take it a fair bit of your commute is on backroads?

Wow, I'm quite jealous of your experience with rallying. Not familiar with that Renault but I've driven a few 510's and wish I could say the same for the Stratus. I wish I could just hear that Ferrari v6 just fire up. Very very jealous...

Dirty Impreza is a great community. It's tight nit but very friendly, and there is a wealth of information, particularly DIY low budget stuff which is great for tight budgets like mine.
 

Pedro

Capitan rally fluffer
Those are quite the credentials you have! Any reason you've never done anything with Rally America?



That's actually not a bad price at all. The other reason I'm hesitant on LEDs is I haven't seen any beam patterns in person and for me it's alot of money to justify for an expeiriment so I kind of want to stay in known territories.



Haven't seen the Forester but I'm well familiar with the Impreza they did all of the high clearance work on. I'll have to check it out. I'd really like to avoid using a roof rack because of the decrease in fuel economy, however something low profile might be the way to go for extra fuel storage.

Yeah, I'm starting to rethink using gravel tires but a wheel and tire package is a long way away anyways.



I actually carry 2 full size spares when traveling stacked in the stock spare tire location using ratchet straps crossed over the top which has been very effective in terms of load security but I really ought to get a patch kit as well.

Thanks for the quality advise. Any other input is much appreciated.

New England Forest Rally and the Team O'Neil rallies are RA events. So I get some organizing experience there, and we have had some interesting stuff in the last decade.

I had the chance to check out some SolTek LED's at Prescott. I was pretty impressed with the spread especially for the size and amp draw.

I am looking to do a roof rack for my project 02WRX at some point. It is going to be a rallyX toy/reccee/rally service mobile. I am hoping to use a few ball detent pins to secure the sides for loading tires/fuel ect for remote services. But if you get to that point I can share my sketches.

If you get really fancy you can always try a third spare ala WRC:

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I admit I haven't even looked to see if there is any room under there, but you could probably stuff a compact spare under there if you tried hard enough.
 

GroupSe7en

Adventurer
I love this thread!

Got my first Subaru in 1980 and always wanted to 'build' one.

Keep the pics coming.

Cheers,
Mark
 

worthingtontw

Observer
New England Forest Rally and the Team O'Neil rallies are RA events. So I get some organizing experience there, and we have had some interesting stuff in the last decade.

Ah, my bad. I'll admit as much as I love rally racing, I have to be the worst fan in the world when it comes to knowing which events are ran by who. I just love watching the WRC recaps.

I had the chance to check out some SolTek LED's at Prescott. I was pretty impressed with the spread especially for the size and amp draw.

I guess I should take a serious look at them then. The only LED array I have seen in person was a 4 LED work light that's beam pattern was far from desirable though that was a few years ago.

I am looking to do a roof rack for my project 02WRX at some point. It is going to be a rallyX toy/reccee/rally service mobile. I am hoping to use a few ball detent pins to secure the sides for loading tires/fuel ect for remote services. But if you get to that point I can share my sketches.

Are you going to attach the rack to the factory roof rails or do something totally custom with it's own mounting system?

If you get really fancy you can always try a third spare ala WRC:
I admit I haven't even looked to see if there is any room under there, but you could probably stuff a compact spare under there if you tried hard enough.

Wow! I had no idea that spares were mounted there on some of the WRC cars but that makes alot of sense. Because of how low that spare tire cavity hangs I think you might struggle to maintain clearance even with a space saver. Having said that, if I need to be carrying that many spares just to travel on improved roads, I'm doing something wrong.

It would be cool though to maybe remove the spare tire cavity, make the cargo area floor flat and mount the spare under as shown and protect with an aluminum diffuser... hmmm... Sure is fun to dream.

Edit: Just went and looked under the car. The spare tire cavity is even with the rear bumper cover so without reworking the cargo floor nothing will fit under there unfortunately.
 
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Storz

Explorer
I had a set of gravel tires for mine and will echo what others have said, they are magic in the dirt but a bit unnerving on the pavement.

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