My name is Matt Hovin and I'm originally from Park Rapids, MN but have lived in Duluth for the last three years now. Right before I moved here I knew I had to ditch my VW Jetta 1.8t but I wanted something that had a lot of parts available for as well. The euro tuning scene was just slightly too small for me and decided to part ways to get an 03 WRX that I had found in North St. Paul three years ago. The car came with a shaved trunk lid, 04 wrx interior swap, and a fancy STi shift knob. A month after I bought the car I got cut off by an old lady in a Buick Century. Four months prior to this I got hit by another old lady driving a Buick Century with the same color and insurance company. Since it was only front end damage I got the opportunity to change things up a bit. The insurance company tried to call my hood stock in the quote but I made them get me a shiny new Seibon one, black headlights, a JDM grille, and a Mishimoto radiator and hose kit. I replaced the stock stereo with a Clarion 2DIN head unit soon after and sold the 6 disc cd changer that came out of the 04 STis. I had bought a new set of Drag wheels and tires, not entirely one of my proudest purchases. Learn from mistakes I guess. After flipping around on suspension ideas. I was thinking about a Koni Yellow with Tein S-tech springs but I dropped that idea and decided to get 15 way adjustable Stance GR+ coilovers. SLAMMED. Next I wanted to start doing some engine work so I got an Gimmick Motorsports turbo inlet, Perrin MAF hose, and converted it to a cone filter from K&N. Will be getting a different filter soon because these are oiled instead of dry. A few months later the TGVs were deleted DIY. Reevaluating my wheel situation I really wanted to get something cool and IMO I got very lucky. I went to the dealership on a random day and asked if they had any BBS wheels laying around. I was expecting them to come up to the counter with the STi BBS that typically come on the 04. Instead they came up with the factory wheel option that gets imported from Japan. The guy almost shot my dreams down when he said 700-800 a piece for the wheels. Then he told me he'd let em go for 850+tax since they were sitting around for years collecting dust. These wheels sit in the wheel wells a little bit and not the greatest offset but I'm glad to have a one of a kind wheel that I have never seen anyone else with.
Welcome to the forum. BroCo and I both live in Park Rapids on the weekend (cabins). Been going up there for 31 years... its my home away from home.
The interior has a few modifications done to it. Last fall I re-upholstered the headliner with lumberjack plaid and custom made a beer tap to fit as my shift knob. [/URL][/IMG]I made a custom adapter with a lathe to be able to swap it over from my STi shift knob and the glorious PBR Beer tap.
On another note last summer I installed some APEXi gauges with the controller. Best investment I've had in gauges in all of my years. I went with electronic to see how it handled and it's crazy responsive. The clock was removed to wire in the gauge controller.
I don't keep it on there all the time, it gets confusing going from a 2 foot shift knob to one that is 6 inches. No short throw.
^^ about your links that aren't working, Photobucket pissed me right off when they changed their {img} code to include URL tags.
well with that headliner you can sure tell you came from the vwtard scene. Nice car otherwise, I really like the wheels.
Haha I put it in there because I wanted to add a lumberjack northland feel to it. It's a fun and easy DIY project that is basically the price of the fabric and headliner glue from O'reilly.
Yeah if I could post more than 10 photos on here I definitely wouldn't be using it. But it works for now I guess!
^If you don't mind me asking, do you work somewhere up here? I go to UMD, and I'm trying to figure out where I've seen that car before... Has it been at SVS at all in the past year by chance?
I live on Lakeside but I'm around UMD a lot on Waverly Avenue. I also work at Aluminum Cabinet Company up by the airport as well (If anyone needs powdercoating that's a good place to go).
I did an overhaul on the brakes around last summer as well. I was really hung up on either getting the Wilwood brake kit that would fit under a 17" rim or a upgraded stock set-up. I decided to do the upgraded stock set up with Powerslot rotors, Stoptech pads, and SS lines to make the brake pedal feel gnarly. A few weeks after that I got some GrimmSpeed exhaust manifold porting done as well as a cross pipe to make it rumble even more! Surprisingly quick spool up time as well.
Last summer I was looking for a wider set of wheels and I found a set of 17x9 RPF1s +35mm that was on a group by via THmotorsports. I was too late to get on the list for the special order but one of the guys gave me a call in the fall and said someone failed to make payment on them so I scooped them up as fast as I could. Unlike a lot ofRPF1s these ones have a deep lip on them and that's mainly why I only wanted to get the 9" wheels, most of the other ones look bubbled out. About a month ago I slapped on some Continental Extreme Contacts 235/45/r17 and they turned out pretty good! Have to roll the fenders very soon though...
At Lake Superior College they have an auto body that gives discounts to students who need work done. So I had them order and paint an 04 rear bumper along with a shiny new set of tail lights. While it was in storage for the winter I installed a Whiteline Center Roll Kit and an Anti-lift kit to kill the notorious understeer WRXs have.
Thanks! If anyone knows of anyone with leads on swapping the grey interior pieces to black ones let me know. I believe they came in the 06-07 WRXs?
I painted those black too. Just had to tape off the mirrors. Hell, i painted everything black including all of the grey carpeting(headliner & truck pieces). Lol. Primer and then some flat black Duplicolor Vinyl and Fabric paint. And then, i WINned.
Within the last few weeks I've made a tow hook and got rid of the nasty fart can for an exhaust. The Tow hook took about a day to CNC on the mill with carbide tooling. For the exhaust I cut out the 4" tard can and used a CNC plasma cutter to get the bottom plate welded on for the pipes to have something to weld on to. The sound is better too!
Also upgraded to an Agency Power pitch stop mount and Torque Solution engine mounts. I took the ****ty studs out of the engine mounts, machined some new ones out of stainless steel. Those suckers will never rust now!
So, I got a wild hair up my ass and made a long throw shifter adapter for the beer taps. I also picked up a Rogue Dead Guy Ale tap handle.
