Atte Taivainen‘s curiosity in automobiles began at an early age. He grew up within the Jap Finland countryside, the place there was loads of room to play and tinker with toys. This led to Atte studying methods to restore and do all kinds of upkeep work by himself.
Atte purchased this two-door 1998 Subaru Impreza WRX STI Kind R again in late 2017. The performance-packed four-wheel-drive coupe assured smiles and energy slides on the snowy Finnish winter roads. This was Atte’s third Subaru, and the one he determined would go underneath the knife for a serious efficiency and visible overhaul after its preliminary winter beater duties. As you do, or no less than, as you did earlier than these automobiles grew to become a lot extra useful – I’m undecided what number of are getting used as beaters anymore…
The preliminary plan was to easily supply and match a wide-body package to the GC8. Duplicate STI 22B fenders seemed promising, however then Atte laid his eyes on an excellent wider package – the WRC model. This duplicate package would widen the automotive by 50mm per aspect, so Atte would additionally want a fatter wheel and tire combo to fill the fenders. A set of used 18×7.5-inch SSR Professor SP1 3Ps offered their centres, with new huge lips and barrels ordered to carry them as much as the specified spec.
The check match wasn’t what Atte anticipated although, so an enormous determination was made: the package was reduce into items and stretched out with fiberglass till they measured +100mm per aspect. The reshaping took a couple of months, however Atte labored the fibreglass panels to perfection earlier than becoming them.
Suspension was subsequent on the record, and for this facet of the construct Atte put in BC Racing {custom} coilovers with shorter shocks with a purpose to obtain his desired low trip peak with improved dealing with.
Because the WRC fender arch line was 50mm larger than commonplace to accommodate gravel-spec suspension journey, every thing on the chassis needed to align accordingly with the totally adjustable arms additionally fitted. The wheels sit straight with minimal camber, providing most grip from the semi-slick tires.
Now that his Subaru was sitting proper, Atte turned his consideration again to the bodywork. The minor harm collected over a Finnish winter’s price of snow-laden observe days was straightened out and prepped for paint by Atte’s buddy Jussi Svenn. However this was simply the beginning.
The bonnet misplaced its trademark hood scoop after the intercooler was relocated to the entrance of the engine bay, the marginally modified entrance bumper obtained air ram scoops to ship recent air to the filter, and the underside of the bumper received a brand new entrance lip – all {custom} in fact.
Subsequent, the rear bumper was modified to permit the exhaust – a full {custom} 2.5-inch stainless metal system constructed by Antti at Luisu’s Storage – to exit via the middle of the automotive.
The night time earlier than the Subaru was due on the paint store, Atte was nonetheless determining the colour. Finally he selected a toned-down mocca latte brown for the outside, whereas the engine bay can be a mint inexperienced coloration to match the Undertaking Mµ brakes. Anything within the engine bay that may very well be coated matte black was.
Whereas all of the bodywork was being taken care of, Atte had left the Subaru’s working gear within the trusted arms of Keit from Keitmotorsport, who was tasked with rebuilding it. The method began with the transmission, the place the 6-speed DCCD (Driver’s Management Centre Differential) gearbox went via a primary overhaul earlier than being mated to a 6-pad sintered clutch to make sure it might deal with the brand new energy ranges. The DCCD permits the middle differential locking to be adjusted from the cabin, which Atte says could be very useful for observe days.
The EJ20 CDB engine was rebuilt to deal with excessive RPM and the excessive compression that larger enhance would carry. The cylinders have been bored to deal with new Mahle 2618 cast pistons which connect to Manley H-beam connecting rods with ARP 2000 bolts. Becoming a nitrided, later-model 79mm crank required the tip bearing – one among the total suite from ACL’s Race catalog – to be relocated and modified to go well with the configuration. Lastly, newer STI Model 5 cylinder heads have been secured to the block through ARP studs, with an RCM 1.5mm head gasket sandwiched in between.
The tip outcome was a 2.1L boxer prepared for motion.
And there’s loads of motion because of the modified Holset Tremendous HX40 turbocharger, with enhance management from a KKD 60mm wastegate and consumption cost cooling courtesy of the {custom} front-mount intercooler. AN8 Teflon gasoline traces are used to ship ethanol from a Walbro 450lph gasoline pump to 1,500cc injectors.
Tuned via an Autronic engine administration system, the EJ produces 450whp and greater than 600Nm of torque, which Atte says is a good quantity for road and observe use.
Inside, Atte fitted the entrance half of a Cusco roll cage and {custom} made the rear part, rendering the Subaru strictly a two-seater. It’s not stripped again to metallic as you would possibly anticipate although. Atte was taking part in round with automotive audio earlier than he received to modifying automobiles themselves, so a good sound system was at all times within the plan.
The inside panels and seats are wrapped in darkish brown Alcantara with a {custom} diamond sample in silver stitching. When trying nearer, you understand that every diamond has an excellent quantity of stitches, with the road beginning and ending in the identical sew gap. It’s not a simple factor to do.
Inside, you’ll additionally discover TAKATA Racing harnesses and a QSP steering wheel on a Sparco quick-release hub.
The aforementioned sound system is constructed round an Alpine CDE-178BT head unit, with a DD Audio 5-channel amplifier to spice up the indicators. The door playing cards are {custom}, housing 3-way energetic Floor Zero Competitors 6.5-inch mid-range audio system, whereas the tweeters are mounted to the roll cage’s entrance pillars with their wiring hidden contained in the tubing. For the all-important bass, Atte runs a single 8-inch DD Audio 608 subwoofer in a 20-liter reflex-style enclosure.
In 2019, the completed product seemed like this. Atte named the automotive ‘SubieMonster’, with the Sesame Avenue-impressed graphics incorporating 22 cookies per aspect to pay homage to the STI 22B. Sure, Atte likes cookies.
As you’ll have observed, the Subaru appears to be like fairly a bit totally different now although.
Over the lengthy 2020-2021 Covid winter in Finland, Atte was bitten by a carbon-Kevlar bug. He determined to take molds off his modified WRC duplicate package, and remake it Kevlar aramid. The mold-making course of required a whole lot of fiberglass and the appropriate kind of epoxy to make sure they have been inflexible sufficient. Atte then rigorously prepped and waxed the Kevlar within the molds and infused them underneath a vacuum. This process was used for the entrance fenders, rear fenders, bonnet and aspect skirts. A brand new Kevlar rear diffuser was additionally custom-made, together with new aspect splitters, entrance canards and mirror housings.
Previous to becoming the brand new light-weight carbon-Kevlar package, Atte eliminated all the surplus metallic from the bodywork he might, ensuing within the automotive dropping estimated 150kg (330lb) all informed.
One in every of standout features of the outside is mounted out again. Atte sourced a WRC Prodrive S6/P2000 wing, the identical model that was used on Petter Solberg’s 2000 Impreza WRC automotive. This pulls this tarmac-spec race look collectively very effectively.
Since ‘finishing’ the automotive for the second time, Atte has run his Subaru at quite a few summer time observe days. The engine has confirmed to be dependable, and faster lap instances have include the decreased weight.
That was final summer time. Atte says the construct will at all times be evolving, and his Subaru is at present again underneath the knife over the chilly winter months. We’ll simply have to attend and see what 2023 brings for the SubieMonster…
Vladimir Ljadov
Instagram: wheelsbywovka
as a result of@wheelsbywovka.com
www.wheelsbywovka.com
Particular because of Henri Kemppinen for the detailed data and textual content enter.