Top Scoob: From Canada With Love, Top Scoob 030

Hello NASIOC, my name is Arthur and this is my 2007 STI!

I don't even know where to begin! The car and I have been through so much together. I first picked up the car at Carter Subaru in Seattle, WA in August 2007. From then on, the car kept going through changes and I had never ending plans (I honestly thought I would stop somewhere).

From a young age I always thought myself as being more hands on and more experienced with technological/mechanical things. When I was 12 I was already building computers for family and friends. By around 14 I was building and maintaining Nitro R/C cars and trucks and racing them on the weekends with friends after school. This is probably where I learned about air/fuel ratio's tuning the 3 needle carburetor, learning about how a clutch works and how different friction materials work, also about shock oil weight, spring weight, brake disc upgrades, and etc. A lot of the small scale stuff was a great stepping stone for me. I also rode downhill mountain bikes with 5 way rear shocks and 3 way front shocks. This is honestly where I learned how to tune compression, rebound, spring rates, and pre-load on my car. Everything I learned was self-taught through reading manuals, researching online for hours on my spare time, or just trying it out and hoping for the best

My parents are both accountants and they know nothing about hands on stuff so I didn't have that type of dad to teach me anything. If they need a dishwasher changed out they didn't call a plumber, they made me do it after I finished my homework!

I worked on friend's cars before I even had my Subaru. My good friends had Acura RSX's and liked to modify them. Started with cold air intakes and exhausts, then we moved onto header installs, and coilover suspension with adjustable arms. Then getting more advanced doing ecu tuning through a Hondata K-Pro learning how to log and do adjustments. Finally got bored of NA power and went forced induction with a turbo kit. That was good fun and a great learning experience installing that. Point is, everything I did was step by step and was a learning process. I definitely didn't just jump in and build a Subaru motor

.

Anyway, enough of my life story leading up to my Subaru. When I got the car, I already had Defi gauges my friends bought me for my birthday; had those installed the same day. A few weeks later I read on Nasioc how bad the factory tunes were. So instead of just getting a stage 1 reflash, I got a catless downpipe and exhaust, and flashed on an open source stage 2 tune with some of my own tweaks. After that, coilovers, wheels, tires and I took the car to autocross in 2007. That was fun till I took my car to a track day in 2008 and that is when the bug hit. It was really fun and I learned a lot about suspension setup and how to drive a car properly through the instructors at Proformance Racing School at Pacific Raceways. However, the car was pretty low on power compared to the 997 Turbos, GT3's, Z06's, and M3's out there so I was getting passed like I was driving a 200hp Civic out of low speed corners and on the straight. That winter I tore down the stock engine and the 8 month process of going from stage 2 to 511whp began.

I rebuilt the engine myself with new pistons, rods, bearings, and an ACT XT clutch that could hold more torque. I slapped on a custom made twinscroll T4 manifold and up-pipe mated to a 68lb/min Borg Warner S300sx 83-75 turbo and dual Tial 38mm MV-S wastegates. I planned and built the fuel system to include new feed and return lines, a surge tank to eliminate having to run more than ½ tank on the track, and an external fuel pump and filter. I also stripped as much weight off as I could. Removed everything from the whole dash to get the insulation mat out to the rear brake vibration dampeners to drop some more weight. Afterwards, I got the car tuned by Dominic Acia at Maxwell Power Services and the car was a blast to drive.

Soon I was passing the cars that were passing me just a season earlier. Best feeling I ever had. Stock seats didn't cut it anymore as my knees were getting bruised trying to brace myself in the corners so in came the bucket seats and 6 point harness. Then soon I got bored of the stock heads restricting my power and the Cobb AP not releasing the speed density that they said they would at that time so I got a pair of built heads, wired in my own Vi-Pec V88 standalone ECU and off to Maxwell Power I went again. End result: 597whp @ 27.6 psi on 92 octane + 50/50 meth injection. Did many track days after that and after a firmware update on the ECU caused my meth injection not to spray, I damaged a few pistons. With a track day coming up, I had the engine torn down 2 weeks before the event, dropped the rebuilt engine 2 days before and I tuned the next day! I actually did this a couple times. Hats off to the crew at Maxwell Power (Dom, Craig, Dave) for always getting my stuff completed in such a short time frame and fitting me into their busy schedule.

Did two street legal nights in my car, both times I only got one pass. First time I ran an 11.34 and then because the track got too cold, it was closed and couldn't do another pass. Second time I got kicked out for running 11.24 @ 127 with no cage on my first pass (see video where he says I have to slow down). That was the low boost map too on street tires! Have not had time to go back to do that 10 second pass because drag racing really never interested me. At the beginning of this season I needed more down force and grip to cut those lap times down so I added fender flares in the rear to allow full wheel travel of 275/35/18 slicks and I built my own 6mm thick splitter/100mm extension supported by its own aluminum frame bolted to the chassis. In addition I added a Kognition Design chassis mount wing to provide down force to the rear. After an unfortunate event with bad gas at the track, my forged CP piston took a dump and out came the engine again (at least I cut a few seconds off my personal best time). This time a Maxwell Power Signature Series block went into my car consisting of a Dan Benson sleeved block, JE custom pistons, and MPS +2mm long rods. Right now it's running at 25 psi putting out around 540whp on low timing/boost. Soon we will turn it up to 30+ and we'll see how she runs.

Currently working over 30 hours a week with 10 hours of school (studying Chartered Accountant in Canada) combined with studying, girlfriend and relaxing time, hard to balance time with the car and all but I end up getting it done somehow! Whether it be getting 12 hours sleep over 3 days I'll always have that drive to get the car ready for anything! I get the drive to keep going because I love the challenge and feel it's a great opportunity to learn some life skills that maybe I can even pass onto my own kids some day. People always think I'm a mechanic at a shop but I'm actually an accountant that works with a calculator. Playing with the car is just an expensive hobby and doing everything myself allows me to save money. Basically the only time I have paid for services is getting an alignment, corner balancing, dyno tuning, and machine work as it's quite expensive for those tools! I enjoy the satisfaction of not only being able to drive a built Subaru but being able to drive it hard and enjoy it. As you can tell from my YouTube channel I'm not easy with the car and I'm not afraid to put my work through its paces!

Thanks for reading and hope you understand the learning process I went through with this car and hopefully it is worthy to be a Top Scoob on Nasioc after its long journey! I am putting on the front fender flares on right now and hopefully will get a full photo shoot soon so I can post pictures up of the car in street trim as this is actually my daily driver although I take public transportation to work. Good luck to all and thanks to those who encouraged me to enter

JE 925SD Custom Forged Pistons 99.75mm
Maxwell Power Services Super H-Beam +2mm Long Rods
Factory STI 79mm Crankshaft
Dan Benson Racing Darton Sleeved Block
Engine Fully Blueprinted and Balanced
ACL Race Rod and Main Bearings
Kelford 276/272 AVCS Cams
5-Angle Intake Valve Job
3-Angle & Radiused Exhaust Valve Job
Ferrea +1mm SS Intake Valves
Ferrea +1mm Super Alloy Exhaust Valves
Supertech Dual Valve Springs
Supertech Titanium Retainers
ARP Custom Age 625+ Head Studs
ARP Case Bolts
STI 11mm Oil Pump
Gates Racing Timing Belt
Gates Racing Alternator/PS Belt
Mocal 19 Row Oil Cooler -10AN Fittings
Mocal Sandwich Adapter w/ Thermostat
Koyo R2704 53mm Racing Radiator
Custom Twin-Scroll Header and T4 Up-pipe
Custom 3.5" Catless Downpipe
Borgwarner S300sx 83-75 .91AR T4 TS Turbo
Dual Tial 38mm V-band Wastegates w/ external dump tubes
MAC 3-Port Boost Solenoid
AEM 3.5Bar MAP Sensor
Cobb MAP Adapter
Custom 4" Aluminum Intake
Boost Logic Turbo Blanket
JIC Titanium Exhaust
APS DR725 FMIC with Custom Pipes
Tial Q BOV
TGV Port and Delete
Ported Intake Manifold
Ported Throttle Body
Rotated Intake Manifold
A/C System Removed
Crawford Performance V2 Air/Oil Separator
GrimmSpeed 8mm Phenolic Spacers
Walbro 255LPH Fuel Pump Intank
Bosch 044 External Fuel Pump
Canton Racing 8 micron Fuel Filter
Custom Fuel Surge tank
Aeroquip -8AN Feed and -6AN Return Fuel Lines
Injector Dynamics 1000cc Fuel Injectors
Aeromotive Top Feed Fuel Rails
Aeromotive A1000-6 Fuel Pressure Regulator
Aquamist HFS-5 Meth Injection System 2x1.0mm nozzles
Spec C STI 12L Intercooler Spray Tank
Vi-Pec V88 Standalone ECU with Anti-Lag and Launch Control
Odyssey PC680 Battery

ACT XT-SS Clutch
STI Group N 6spd Short Shifter
STI Group-N Tranny Mount
STI Group-N Engine Mounts
STI Group-N Pitch Stop Mount
ACPT Carbon Fiber Driveshaft

STI Limited Front Lip
STI Badging Removed
Headlight Blackout
40% Front Tint
20% Rear Tint
LED License Plate/Daytime Running Lights
Seibon Carbon Fiber Trunk painted White
Rolled/Pulled/Cut Fenders
04-05 STI Rear Tail Lights
KS Tech Hood Scoop Block Off Plate
WRX Side skirts
LIC Motorsport Dry Carbon Fender Flares
Custom 6mm splitter with 100mm extension
Kognition Design 71" Chassis Mount Wing

RCE Tarmac 2 Coilovers
Hyperco Springs 600/500lb
Corner Balanced
Whiteline Anti-lift Kit
Whiteline Rollcenter Kit
Whiteline Max-C Motorsport Camber/Caster Plates
GTWorx Rear Camber Plates
SPC Front and Rear Camber Bolts
STI S204 Carbon Fiber Front Strut
Cusco Carbon Fiber Rear Strut Bar
Kartboy Rear Diff Outrigger Bushings (Black)
Kartboy Rear Subframe Bolts
Turn in Concepts Rear Diff Mount Bushings - RACE
Turn in Concepts Lateral Link Bushings
Turn in Concepts Forward Trailing Arm Bushings
Turn in Concepts Rear Trailing Arm Bushings

Street: Volk TE37SL 18x10.5 +22 Special Color Diamond Black Hankook Ventus Evo v12 295/30/18
Track: Rota DPT 18x10 +35 Hoosier R6 275/35/18
Rays Black Lug Nuts
Street: Hawk DTC30 Front Brake Pads
Track: Hawk DTC70 Front Brake Pads
Hawk DTC30 Rear Brake Pads
Motul RBF600 Brake Fluid
Girodisc 2pc Front Rotors
Quantum Motorsports Brake Ducts

Compustar Pro 2W9000FM-AS
Defi Amber BF Boost, Oil Pressure, EGT
AEM Digital Wideband Gauge
Aquamist Meth Injection Gauge
Subtle Solutions Ashtray Gauge Bezel
Gruppe-S CF Triple Gauge Pod
STI Titanium Shift Knob
STI Limited Hazard Button
Pioneer AVH-4300DVD
Stripped Interior
Sound Deadening and Heat Shields Removed
Airbag System Removed
Valentine 1 Radar Detector
Beatrush Rear Firewall Division Plate
Recaro Profi SPG Seats
Buddy Club Seat Rails
Amerex 2.5lb Fire Extinguisher x 2
Autopower 4pt Race Rollbar
G-Force Camlock SFI 6pt Harnesses
Works Bell Short Hub
NRG 2.5 Carbon Fiber Quick Release
Nardi Deep Corn 350mm Leather Wheel w/ Red Stitching