[mrmarcdee]

Hey all,

I just got home from my latest craigslist deal, bought a 2003 WRX. Let's do some pics first.

Its got 260k miles on the odo, engine is newer with only about 38k. Stage 2 turbo. Catback straight piped. It has been lowered a bit. Seems to be in great shape and is very clean. It was over my budget, but I just couldn't resist. I drive a '02 Outback otherwise, and had always wanted a WRX. I also always wanted a yellow car haha! I'm not a newbie to doing my own car work, having done head gaskets on my Outback myself (youtube walk throughs!), and many other lesser jobs, but am definitely a newbie to more performance-oriented car stuff. Like I don't particularly know what stage 2 turbo means in this case. Its got a Cobb tuning access port, I'll have to learn all about that I guess. It came with the stock muffler, if I put that back on does it have to be re-tuned? I'm also wondering how to go about "un-lowering" it, and would it be beneficial to lift it past stock at the same time? I am an outdoor sports enthusiast so lots of gravel & dirt roads for me. I got the suspension inspected at a shop, that guy told me it was lowered the "correct" way with the springs, but if I wanted to lift it back it would probably need new struts.

I'll definitely be doing a lot of searching and reading, if anybody has some particular favorite resources they'd like to share to get me started that'd be great. Is there any particular difference between this forum and nasioc? I'm also looking for a repair manual.

Glad to be a WRX owner! Thanks so much,
Marc

 

[mycologist]

Hey Marc, welcome to the club. I have the exact same color/car since new but mine is getting rusty now.

You can do a lot with the AP. Stage II is a turboback exhaust and the AP uses a different map with more boost. It is like 50hp at the wheels. You can check the IAM and log anything you want with that to see how it is running - there is plenty of info available.

To lift it back up you just need to put the stock springs back on there - you need a spring compressor but can rent one. Not that bad. It will need an alignment if you do it. I wouldn't lift it beyond stock, I don't think it is really a WRX then.

 

[mrmarcdee]

Cool man. Yah I messed with the AP a bit, totally nerded out on it. The guy at the shop made a logical-sounding point about the struts being more worn out from being lowered, however looking at the car records I don't think It has been lowered for very long, so hopefully just springs + alignment is all it needs.