What's up guys/girls, Just thought I would introduce myself and my car. I am the manager of tintmasters motorsports in Fargo, ND. Some of you may have visited our Burnsville location or either of our Fargo/Grand Forks shops. I have been a member for awhile, and figured I would try and get to know a few of you on here. I am in the Minneapolis area a lot over the summers (Forest Lake, and downtown to be specific) and maybe I will make it to a Suby meet sometime. Anyways, here is what I currently drive: I purchased the car last October from a guy in Chicago. The previous owner purchased it new, and drove it rarely. I bought it with 50,000 original miles, and now it sits with 55,000 miles. When I bought it, it was completely stock, and have since finished phase I of the build. The color is "Brilliant Red" and to those that aren't deep into the GC scene, it is about 1 of ~200 ever made. The next step will be V6 front end, and painting of side skirts...Also going to be looking for a JDM rear bumper to complete the lipped look. Interior is pretty plain for now, with the 7" DVD flipout and Defi's pretty much being the only changes (also have prodrive floormats and non accordian shift boot). As soon as I get ahold of some extra cash, I hope to pick up some JDM front seats as well. Overall it took the owner and I a weekend from start to finish on the swap. For future customers that want to swap we figure it would take more along the lines of a week. If there is interest in people willing to bring their cars to Fargo (only location that would do the swap), I would be more than happy to purchase a vendor account on here and offer deals on parts as well as swap pricing. For how, here are my pictures: Mods are: 17 x 8 Rota GForce (black with red lip) 225/40/17 Toyo PX4's Rolled fenders EJ20G (96 WRX Z4 ECU 260hp) HKS Downpipe Tial 38mm WG (External Wastegate setup) Invidia Uppipe Walbro 190 Rays Lug Nuts - Black Stoptech Stage 2 Kit (Stainless lines, Motul Fluid, Axxis ULT pads, Slotted Rotors) Tanabe Pro S-S Full Coilovers STi FHI Carbon Strut Bar Panasonic CQ-VD7005U (7" Flipout DVD/MP3/CD w/factory dash mount housing) Ipod Cables (Audio & Video) Diamond D3 400.1 Amplifier Diamond D3 250.2 Amplifier Diamond HEX Pro Components Diamond D3 10" Subwoofer Blitz Bov Group N Motor/Tranny Mounts Exedy Stage 1 clutch (RS tranny) Defi Link Meter 60mm Gauges (Boost, EGT, Oil Pressure, Water Temp) w/Control Unit II Turbo XS MBC NRG Ground Kit STi Catback Denso Iridium IK22 Spark Plugs Royal Purple Synthetic Max Gear (Tranny, Diff) Royal Purple "Purple Ice" Coolant Additive Prodrive Floormats More to come, and thanks for checking it out!
sweet another swap GC! welcome! So you guys got a shop? swap shop? you do all the harness merging youself? I am very interested!
Yes, I don't want to step on anyones toes (we aren't a vendor, so I'll keep it short) The merge was done by us, the install was done by us, and the car started on first turn of the key and has ran without any CEL's now for over a month! I'd beg to differ
awesome! dont mind t-bone. hes high on crack or opium. if not that than its ecstacy. He'll get into his "ghettoness" and drive with one arm at 12 o clock on the sterring wheel. A weekend and you did all the harness merging and install! Thats sick! I may have to contact you guys for harness merging since Garage tuning is usually back up on projects. My swap took 3 weeks and its been running since july 07 w/o any cells and major issues at 16 psi
I think he's talking about how it's technically a GM... generally, gm=coupe, although GC8E2DD is the JDM STi Type R Coupe. sweet swap!
Thanks guys! If anyone has any questions/tips on their swap projects, please feel free to PM or call the shop (www.tintmasters.net - (701)239-8468....ask for Jason)
reminds me of my old car. very nice. You should ditch the IC though, the slanty black old ones were pretty crappy. Most of the EJ20G cars out there have front mounts nowadays.
To be honest, I am not a fan of FMIC's... I drive it in the winter ( a 5mph fender bender can turn into FMIC, piping, etc..)and honestly don't care for the piping all over the engine bay look. Everyone on NASIOC and RS25 runs out and buys the $200 Ebay kit, but I think I am going to save up and try find a ARC TMIC or get crafty with USDM TMIC and IM. Slanty works just fine for now. I will need a tranny before I need a FMIC. I will also need a Koyo before I stuff anything else in front of the radiator. 230-240awhp and a super quick spool is my new best friend for now. Thanks all for looking and checking it out. I really appreciate the compliments and comments.
yeah i agree with the PITA factor on the FMICs. Mine wasn't driven much daily driver so it wasn't bad but even with driving only occasionally it bent a lot of intercooler fins. the ARC ej20g throttle body fitting TMIC is really cool, usually they sell for screw you prices but every once in a while one pops up close to its actual market value.
I'm guessing that is a 1998 since it has the same bumper as the Impreza L's unless its a 2.5 from Canada. I got my version 6 front bumper from the Subaru Dealership for about $220 shipped. Make sure you ask for the one for a 2000-2001 2.5rs because they already have the holes on the bottom for the front lip mounting hardware, I'm sure you knew that already though haha. Awesome car btw, bring it to MINOT and autocross it along with the Lotus
join www.rs25.com if you arent on there already. There are always seats for sale and ej20 parts. Plus I am sure you could find the rear bumper and spats pretty easy. Would Tintmasters by any chance be able to tune a NA Subaru with a bolt on turbo??? I am going to need a good tune I am sure.
Thanks for the info....I am a very active member of NASIOC and RS25.com. The version 6 front end is quite a bit more than just a front bumper (supermoose has a great writeup on NASIOC: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=532092), but yes you are correct in getting a 00-01 RS front bumper so adding the front lip will be much easier. I am not completely decided on the v6 lip, or going with the Rally Innovations light bar.... As far as NA tuning...I would recommend getting on a dyno... We do a lot of road tuning on USDM WRX's and STi's but getting into NA-T is quite a bit different. I have no doubt in my mind that we could get your car driveable, but to tune for your octane and make it reliable...that's up to a tuner on a dyno.
Ok, thanks. I have people with the knowledge to tune it to get it reliable. I would run 91 octane. I was just curious in tuning it for max power and reliability. Yeah, I know what the ver6 front end looks like. All you really need is the bumper and grill and you would be pretty legit in my opinion.
hey, is this the car that had the odd mystery knock/miss in the original ej25? talked with elroy (from muscatell) about it a while back. we thought it was pretty cool that one was still out there with such low miles.
Yup you are correct! Elroy wasn't able to track down the issue, which is what caused me to pull the trigger on this motor. 55k miles is pretty rare. I have only found 2 others with less!
elroy mentioned that you were wanting to swap. glad to see you pulled it off. if elroy cant figure it out you know there is something really wrong.
