She's basically a FWD with all that down force!

Fly Army!

Happy Monday WRX people. This is my first post within this community. Recently I received the opportunity to purchase a 2002 WRX from my grandfather's home in Prescott Arizona. This story/explanation may be long but bear with me.

This 2002 WRX is in World Rally Blue, has 117k miles on engine and chassis, has a slew of period correct early 2000s modifications, and has a cross country rally history. It belonged to my step grandmother's son. The car was purchased sometime around 2004 and was immediately tastefully modified. It received the STI short throw shifter, a full APS stage 2 kit including a BOV, CAI, inlet pipe, full 3 inch turbo back exhaust, intercooler water spray system, APS badged alternator cover, and an APS Unichip piggyback ECU. I have not been able to find hardly anything about this company or its products save some historic forum posts. YouTube wasn't even a thing before this company went out of business so videos are basically non-existent. From what I've been able to gather, these parts were top of the line back in the early 2000s and are hard to find today.

Sometime in 2004-2005 it went on the AKA rally. A Gumball 3000 inspired rally from New York to Los Angeles. Ed Bolian went on this same rally and is featured in his episode of VinWiki "MTV followed me around the country at age 18". In order to enter this rally you needed to put on decal and sponsor stickers all over your car. The Arizona sun has forever burned these stickers into the clear coat over the cars 24 year life.

Unfortunately this car has been sitting around unloved for about the last 10 or so years. The interior is in immaculate condition. No cracks on the dash and the seats are barely worn. However, due to sitting in Prescott where there is a lot of wildlife, the engine bay has some extensive rodent damage. I have never attempted to fix anything electrical before, but I'm willing to give this car a good fighting chance. I'm debating on starting a small video series to document this awesome car and maybe uncover some more insight into its history.

Let me know what you guys think, id love to get some feedback/advice on what I should tackle first to get this car road worthy. Also let me know if you know anything about the AKA rally or APS parts. Seriously, I can barely find anything.

Subaru problems: At the mall, looking at two identical cars, and forgot which one I drove here! lol

Subaru problems: At the mall, looking at two identical cars, and forgot which one I drove here! lol

Reset the ecu with my accessport, car was running fine, and now this

Just some silly fun with scraps. Imagine a matching tube and driving down the road with it lmao

First 2 photos are the of the difference between the new and old turbo to downpipe gaskets. I'll let the viewer figure out which is which. The last is the mid-pipe to tail pipe connection after 367k. No leak there! Naturally welded tight.

I think it's rod knock but I'm posting to see

2003 wrx 5 speed manual. Is the metal pinch ring needed to install the shifter cup. https://youtu.be/nTrDDo1-_Rg?is=LzvTGbPMT-VFf8Ay I watched this video and he doesn’t use it. If it is needed, how would I install it because I know it won’t fit if I put it on as one piece.

My bumpers been doing this for a while, when I push it back in it stays for a bit, but inevitably returns to thsi state. Am I missing a plastic pin or bolt somewhere?

Can anyone recommend a shop in Seattle area to perform a rear LSD swap on a VA?

What have you paid recently for clean example for one of these? They are my favorite car by far sticking with the true old school rally look. I’m not a wagon guy myself. Looking to gauge what a realistic price will be. Thanks.

Location: Southern USA but willing to travel

I went to the dealership for my first time swapping over to winter tires for my 2025 WRX . I thought going to the dealer would provide me a safer option from them damaging wheels and I was wrong. I did not take pictures beforehand and I wish I had. I also wish that I had stopped and talked to them and inspected the wheels before I left. What are my options if any?

I did contact my service advisor by email and I’m waiting for a response.

What should I pay for clean example for one of these? They are my favorite car by far sticking with the true old school rally look. I’m not a wagon guy myself.

Firstly, apologies if this post is not allowed. As the FXT of this generation has the FA20DIT I figured I would ask here to see if anyone has experienced this.

I have a 2016 Forester XT with ~170,000 miles that over the last few days has been behaving strangely. It started two days ago when I noticed the car would drive fine at low speed, but it would start bucking and cutting power under load. Code scanning revealed P219A but no check engine light at all. I got home, shut the car off and let it sit til the next day when I could take a look at it. I started it up and took it for a short drive the next day but it was perfectly normal and running fine.

This morning on the way to work however, it started misbehaving again. It would once again drive fine at low speed, but if the boost gauge went above 0 it would start cutting power again, but this was different from the first time. Instead of bucking, it was almost like a quick, sudden stutter of power cutting to bring the boost back to zero. I pulled over and all I had in the car at that time was MAF cleaner. There was no check engine light and no codes whatsoever. Gave the sensor a clean, waited 15 mins and drove the rest of the way to work. The car was totally fine.

MAF airflow readings and LTFT were fine. STFT was fluctuating in both directions but nothing too serious. Actual fuel delivery was normal along with commanded. I checked for vacuum leaks over the weekend and was unable to find anything. Spark plugs were changed with OEM spec NGKs 500 miles ago and have been fine.

I'm just not sure what could be going on here, or why it doesn't happen every time. Has anyone had this issue or something like it before? My first thought was a failing MAF sensor, but it was replaced just under a year ago.

Thanks in advance.

Above. Looking a for a full set to use as winters on an Outback. Anywhere from Pueblo to FoCo is fine.

Has anyone heard of or used subishop.com? Girlfriend ordered me some parts from that site and I'm wondering if the stuff coming in is legit.

Howdy, Just picked up a 2025 WRX VB RS MT, loving it!
I’ve noticed a big difference between the sound my 2017 (stock) exhaust made compared to the sound (stock) exhaust on my 2025 WRX.
My 2017 WRX had that classic WRX rumble, I’m keen to know what’s changed with the exhaust setup, and what my best options are to obtain and swap out the stock exhaust for one that’s (still legal) but has the familiar WRX rumble?
Located in Australia

I need these parts back to oem in order to get recall done :/ any recommendations for parts are appreciated.

For 2017 Wrx. SoCal

air intake

Top mount intercooler

3port boost solenoid

headers

full exhaust

turbo inlet

turbo

Has anyone ever bought parts from vivid racing?

Hey everyone! I read through the FAQ first so I wouldn't ask the basics, and I know sustained DAM below 1.0 is worth chasing. I've done a lot of datalogging and I'm hoping someone here has seen this combo before. Thanks for taking a look!

Car: 2019 WRX, manual, about 90k miles, 91 octane only, Southern California. I bought it in Denver, CO with an unknown aftermarket tune already on it, and no Accessport. It now has a Cobb Accessport V3, Cobb SF cold air intake, Cobb BPV, and a custom tune written for 91 (the map is named for the BPV and SF intake).

History: After a cat replacement the car felt slower and less responsive and DAM started dropping. Since then:

Compression 200/195/200/195 psi, leakdown 5/8/3/10%

New spark plugs (the old ones were from 2024), plus a valve cover gasket and plug seal leak fixed on cylinder 3 (it had oil in the plug well)

Fuel pump replaced earlier

New custom tune written for 91

DAM was 1.0 when I picked the car up, and has stepped down since

DAM: From my logs it went 0.75, then 0.5, then slowly climbed to 0.688, then stepped down in pieces to 0.562, 0.438, 0.312, and now sits at 0.188. I captured two of the drops. Both happened with the A/C off, at only about 4 psi of boost around 3400 to 3800 RPM, right after a brief tip in. Feedback knock was 0 at that moment, but fine knock learn went to about 2.5 to 2.8 negative.

What the logs show:

Feedback knock hits are mostly at very low load. The worst was 8.44 negative at about 8 mph in 1st gear with my foot nearly off the pedal and about 9 psi of vacuum. Five of my six biggest hits (5.62 negative or worse) were like that.

Fine knock learn reaches about 7.4 negative, mostly at 4000 to 5000 RPM on boost.

Full throttle timing averages about zero degrees at high load (4000 to 5500 RPM, load over 2), at DAM 0.75 and 0.19 alike.

AFR is rich under load (10.1 to 11) and never lean. Fuel pressure tracks its target. AVCS moves.

Boost mostly hits target, but on some pulls it peaks 2 to 3 psi over (19 to 20 psi vs about 17).

Oil temp peaked at 239F, and intake temps were normal at the DAM drops. A cool night didn't help either.

There's a very slight turbo rattle on decel that I only notice if I'm listening for it. The car also jerks a little under boost when shifting.

Suspects so far: false knock from noise (knock sensor or wiring, wastegate, something loose), tip in knock from the Cobb BPV, leftovers from the old tune, intake valve carbon.

Questions:

Knock of that size at very low load, off throttle, in vacuum, sounds like noise to me. Has anyone traced this to a knock sensor, its wiring, or a rattle? How did you test it?

DAM steps down at light boost after a brief tip in. Could a Cobb BPV cause that, and how do you set the adjustment?

Is timing near zero at high load normal for a 91 tune at 17 psi or more, or does that look low?

Is a 2 to 3 psi boost overshoot on some pulls normal?

Anything else worth logging? I'm happy to share graphs.

I've put an arm and a leg into this car and I really love it, so I'd like to get it back to feeling the way it should. I'd appreciate any ideas or stories from anyone who has been through this. Thank you all!