I originally bought an 04 Subaru STi back in 2009 with 40k and only an intake. I bought and installed every bolt on imaginable and told myself I wouldn't build the motor or buy bigger turbo until one or the other "popped". At 150k, 6 years later and a bunch of auto-x, drag racing and beating the **** out of it I found myself wanting more. I couldn't manage to break the thing....

fast forward a few months I was dailying the STi and purchased a BBY 2003 GSR from a guy in Virginia. The car car had 110k which "spooked" me at first however I've never had a showcar so I wasn't requiring it to be perfect.

THE GOOD-
Atlantic Motorsports 2.3 striker with 400 miles on it
Fully built head with Kelford 272
Exedy Triple with 400 miles
Being BBY!

The rest of the car was either deal parts or busted stock parts.

Upon completing my break-in for my motor and clutch with the **** gt30 the car came with it was time to begin my build!

*My goal was a daily capable 550-600 whp on a mustang dyno.*

I sold the STi and began the build, I purchased the following:
-FP Black JB w/ SS housing
-FP Ported exhaust manifold
-Tial MV-R wategate
-FIC 1850CC low-z injectors
-Buschur double pumper
-Buschur bullet exhaust
-MAP SS housing downpipe with wastegate record
-ETS test pipe
-ETS 3.5 Intercooler
-ETS short route piping with TIAL BOV
-ETS mini battery
-SPOOLIN UP undercover kit
-radiator and fan and other irrelevant things.

On 1 Jan 2015, Justin and Babi of Force Fed performance came in on their day off for a day full of problems! We ran into problem after problem, however after about 6 hours of working out issues, the tuning began...

Babi was able to squeeze 618hp and 450 ft lbs on e85 and 485hp and 400ft lbs on 93. The thing is ridiculous and I've been extremely happy UNTIL....the first time launching in which the transfer case blew and the spider gears inside grenaded.

I wanted to kill 2 birds with one stone so I pulled the trans which had 5th gear grinding and synchro problems and the blown tcase and sent them to none other than JON from T.R.E. I drove them to his shop in Michigan from Ft. Campbell, KY. He had both disassembled and was showing me a while slew of stuff that had me on awe. He was very helpful in the process. I did the 4.11 final drive with the optimal gearset in the trans and a new bell housing as mine was cracked. The tcase got the wavetrac LSD and everything else that was busted. 6k and 4 months later and she was put back together! I have almost completed the break-in on the trans and tcase and fall more in love with the car everyday....THANKS FOR READING AND I WILL CONTINUE TO POST MY PROGRESS

I will have to post pics from my computer when I'm home.

Also I'm from Lexington, NC but stationed at Fort Campbell of there are any locals on here.

 

I was looking at your list of mods and wondering where your built trany was with that sort of HP but you learned the hard way, fp black on a built 2.3 is a serious weapon, treat that beast with respect and welcome to the best forum in the world

 

Hard way indeed, I was planning on building it. Just never got around to it until it was too late. The car is pretty quick, Im ready to make it to the track and see how she runs. Thanks and I'm glad to be here!

 

Thats awesome man, congradulations, I guess when you get up in the 600's stock parts are just meant to go, unless you have an RS tcase

 

HAHA no doubt! Those sh*t gears that come in the 03 gsr Tcase suck. However all is right in the world now other than having to replace a cracked bell housing due to manufacturing defects?!?!

 

yeah, unfortunately, after my fp red is bolted on along with my cams and other mods, my stock 03 tcase is going to see a button of abuse, lets hope it dosnt break too soon lol.

 

That is exactly what I was hoping for when I finished the build lol. One word of advice is if you can afford the downtime and to do it now, DO IT! When I blew mine it broke a lot more than the gears and it ended up costing my more in the long run! Either way i see both sides..."If it aint broke dont fix it" and now my new view of "Do it right the first time".

 

Great story.
Can't wait to see pics