Some pictures of the rear flares. Fitment is very good.



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Some more pictures of the detailed fender work..



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Looking pretty darn good...



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Car on its way to the paint booth all primered and ready to go...



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The above pic is with or without the wheel spacers?

 

I am not sure as I got the pic sent to me from the body shop, I would probably say without, I know the rears do not have the spacers. I can check with them, but probably without. Once everything is complete I can show some close up pics with and without. Either way the wheels are going to look a little sunk in with the flares, I did not plan for the flares and only purchased a 9.5 inch width rim. The guy I purchased these from is running a 10.5 inch rim with 295 series tires with no rubbing, so I am definitely leaving a little on the table. The spacers will take up some slack, but I definitely have room and will be upgrading to a 10.5 inch rim and some 295 or 305 series tires when I get my 6 speed swap and strong hubs. I am very excited to do the six speed swap next, as it will be a large purchase but totally transform the car, a step similar to the one I am nearing in completion. Bulletproof drivetrain, aggressive diffs, intelligent center diff control, proper coil overs, and massive tires. It would be nice to throw some wiinter tires on the rotas and still be able to take my wrx anywhere and only worry about a wheel swap....

 

Minor update and a very lucky change of plans. With all the work the body shop has been putting into the car, they are using it as a way of showcasing their talents to the everyday subaru community in the bay area, and called me offering to paint the entire car except for the roof for a couple bucks more. Definitely hopped on this, and would have loved to get some 3m protective film done as well except I am already so over budget. I will be saving up and having this done as soon as I regain some budget. Painting the whole car will clean up the car, ensure perfect color matching, as well as fix all the dents, paint chips, etc. Very very excited, and is another step toward a really nice looking final car. Here is how the car sits now, and should be painted any time. Then install the dv valve, tune at gts, and go habve fun and save for a six speed and proper shocks.



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Got these pics from Kris at the body shop. So excited to see the car getting sprayed. Car is making progress and looking absolutely fantastic. Very excited. Car should be ready for pick up on Wednesday:ritz::ritz:


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Look at how precise they got the fender flares to fit to the car. Top notch work, I am very impressed. I love it when a shop surpasses my expectations and works on a project as though it was their own pride and joy.



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So I got this picture sent to me from the bodyshop on Monday. I get this text asking if I am busy, and I start freaking out wondering if something went wrong, and Kris sends me these pics on my iphone. Immediately, I can tell these look absolutely amazing and way way beyond anything I was expecting or even dreamt of on my car, so I immediately email it to my computer so I can look at it in actual sizing. Wowwww!!!! Absolutely exceeded my expectations and blew me away at the quality. Like I said in an earlier post, it is so refreshing and satisfying when a car treats your project like its their own car, I can see why this shop has so many projects in the import magazines due to their amazing work, and the pricing was amazing fo rmy initial quote before we decided to spray the car. Very reasonable pricing with outstanding work quality. The next text I got said "we haven't even polished it yet".

All I can say is my car looks absolutely f***ing amazing.
I pick up the car tomorrow, as we had a recent storm in the bay area and we want to make sure the adhessive totally sets on the rear door insert pieces before pickup. Pickup is tomorrow, pictures and links to their website to follow.



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Getting my tune this morning by mike over at gst. Very excited to start wrapping up this phase of the build. Full Write ups to come this afternoon about body shop and final tune. Very excited at the quality of the end product. Definitely feeling like its going to be a fun daily driver that can be fun and toss able on the track.

 

I figured it would be easier for everyone to respond to the multiple pm’s I have recieved in regards to the process of the bodywork done on my project wrx, who I used for my work, and most importantly the results.* For those following my project know I am running a very aggressive track fitment wheel on my gd wrx, with 275/35-18 nitto nt05 tires on rota dpt 18x9.5 inch rims.* This has resulted in a massive increase in mechanical grip, I have a picture of the rims and tires stacked and just barely over three of my new tires was equal to all 4 of my oem rims with 225 series bfgoodrich g force kdw’s.* Obviously, the tire needed someplace to go, and here lied the problem.* Wrx’s are known for not having as much fender space as say a mitsubishi evo, plus the fact that I had a wrx and not an sti with the more aggressiv edifferentials, which meant I could not run very much negative camber in the rear.* Well, I could, but it would be unfunctional and detrimental to the handling.* As the wrx inherently understeers, and with know dccd to bias more power to the rear wheels, I would have to run minimum negative camber to help the car rotate, much like a front wheel drive car.* Of course, this made it even more difficult to fit the tires on the car under compression, as the tire would not tilt in nearly as much as on an sti.

So I searched and searched, took it to one chassis shop to get the work done prior to dropping the car off at GST Motorsports for the mechanical work, but after being assured they could do it over the phone and having explained multiple times over the phone what the job entailed, I was turned away and saying to go elsewhere and they were unable to do the job.* For an idea of how difficult it is to perform these aggressive fitments and the work involved, here ar elinks to two articles posted on t3hclap’s blog whose website was the only source of information I could find for functional track oriented fitments (two articles:How To: Properly Modify 05-07 GD STi Rear Fenders MORE! AKA Fender Pulling! | t3h_Clap's Wheel33tist Blog, http://t3hclap.com/archives/49).* Huge thanks to t3hclap for all the info on his website, I used it enough times I should probably send a check to him in the mail, huge resource of very helpful information.* It was on this website that I first saw the Karlton fender flares and immediately was impressed at the look and functionality it gave to the gd chassis, as I did not want to go through the expense of installing a wide body kit to fit wide tires.* People that know me know I am very much suspension oriented, and coming from light weight 240’s I feel that heavy subaru’s are usually severely undertired for track work.

After seeing Karlton’s car on t3hclap’s website I searched the internet to find his car, and read his whole blog on iwsti (xtremeyolks) and was blown away.* The guy had a serious car, and liked to drive the hell out of it.* I loved the look of his fender flares, which he had a bodyshop near him custom make to fit the gd chassis.* So I contacted Karlton and inquired about the flares, and he was super, super helpful on tips and ideas for the car, and had a set of his fender flares made for me (he has a bugeye specific version of his flares). Within a day the body shop was making the flares, and I picked them up with hardware within a 7-10 days.* I was shocked that a privateer was so helpful with all my noobie questions and had it ready so quick.* I drove home with the flares and savored the smell of fiberglass.* Upon just holding them up to my car, I could tell the fitment was very precise to the oem bodylines.

 

So I called up my friend Kelby who I got the tires from who was tracking a well sorted gc impreza with a wrx swap in it, and asked for some help as I couldn’t find anyone willing to fit the tires functionally on my car.* I clearly remember him asking one question, “Well do you want them done right?” and I responded, “Of course, everything else is pretty top notch on my car, I want to pay once for bodywork and have it done right the first time and not ever have to worry about it again.”* He responds with something like, “Call Kris at 5fifteen autobody, tell him what you need and he will be able to do it.” I asked if he could do everything quick release front bumper, paint matching, fender flares, sealing my rear quarter panels from cutting, etc.* Kelby just says, “Call them, they will take care of whatever you can think of.”* I did, and boy was I glad I did.*

I called Kris at 5Fifteen Autobody and scheduled an appointment.* I went out there and immediately knew it was the right spot to have work done on the car.* These are true import enthusiasts, with multiple custom widebodys in the parking lot.* I also saw the daily grind of a body shop, insurance repairs, was just as flawless as their more extravagant builds.* If you can think it, they have done it.* Everything I asked for they said they could do, even brainstorming ways to do a better job and ensure reliability (little things, like making sure my bumper doesn’t fly off the car).* They even told me they were about to move into a new facility, they could do it at their current location, but the quality at the new facility would blow me away if I could wait two weeks for them to move.* Of course, after having my car on jackstands for 8 months, I could wait two weeks to have the work done to the highest level possible, and I was not disappointed.

I dropped the car off at their new location and saw a parking lot full of amazing cars, Porsche’s, NSX’s, BMW’s, everything from show to full on track cars, I knew my car was in good hands.* The walls are decorated with pictures of their work in all the big auto magazines, and their workshop was amazing.* All I asked for was Kris to send me one or two pictures showing the progress for my thread.* I was expecting a couple pics throughout the process, Kris sent me a picture or two everyday showing what was done and keeping me informed of problems and solutions. *

The end result speaks for itself, and will look even better after a week or two and I take it in to be professionally detailed (have to give the clear coat some time to finish adhering/drying).* I have very very high standards, I purchase quality parts and expect high end results.* 5Fifteen surpassed my every expectation, and my car looks fabulous.* My fenders fit amazing to the body, paint is absolutely breathtaking, front bumper done correctly and able to be quickly removed with 4 dzus fasteners.* Every person in the auto world has a horror story of a body shop, and the highest praise I can give to the crew at 5fifteen is I will never go to another body shop.* Very reasonable on pricing, top top quality work, the work was done the proper way, quick turn around, good customer service and communication, everything about this shop is top notch.* With my current setup, my car would not be far away from a show car if I wanted to, and now I know why they have such amazing products under their roof.* So if you’re looking to have some bodywork or performance modifications done to your car, I highly recommend giving them a call, if I had known about them in the beginning it would have saved me a lot of headaches and frustrations (like wondering if you’re going to have to sell your brand new tires for a loss and buy a smaller set to get your car to roll properly.* The highest praise I can give is they treated my car like it was their own personal project, which is very hard to find in todays market. *

Check out some of the projects they have going on at the shop on their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/5FifteenAutoBody.* Kris and the crew at 5Fifteen Huge Huge thanks for all the amazing work you did on my car.* People are constantly snapping their necks staring at the car, it just looks plain bad a**.

 

How'd the tune go? I'm excited to read that part!

 

Minor update, pic of Synapse BOV prior to being installed. These are made to mount specifically to the wrx tmic. The fast acting valve is highly tunable, allowing tuning to be done to reduce or eliminate driveability issues such as fluttering. The higher lift of the piston valve design allows more air to pass through, reducing loss of spool during shifts and can eliminate surge. I will be configuring the valve in the pull configuration as that is the fastest responding and will work well with my maf setup. I am initially configuring the valve in its fastest reacting setup, with a pull on just vacuum port b. This should work well for my setup, but I will be contacting Synapse on Monday for their recommendations, if it changes it is very easy to change what port the vacuum is pulling on. Of course, my dv valve will be full recirculated, as I am less about the noise and want a car to run and function properly. Pure function on this car... hopefully the response will be a very positive and effective modification.



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