Where do we begin with this project! What started as a pipe dream has become our most recognized build to come out of our shop. Igor purchased the BMW 2002 sitting in a field 10+ years ago. The car sat until a few years ago when we talked about bringing it back to life. Ideas were tossed around from JZ to LS drivetrains and whether the car would get a ground up restoration or not.
Being a Subaru shop, we came up with the idea to swap the car with a Subaru heart. We began looking into measurements and seeing what would work and what wouldn't. From here things escalated quickly.. we acquired a wreck 2002 Subaru WRX and well.. we will let the pictures do the talking. Igor let loose on this build and things haven't ever stopped.
We began by cutting up the 2002 into a skin. The car was so rotted, so this was really the only option moving forward.
Then came the WRX tear down! This was a fun and entertaining afternoon.
Here comes the tricky part! Making the two cars become one. This was a massive team effort. Many hours of cutting, measuring and welding..
Once the two were combined in their final resting spot we sent it off to our friend Matt @matticfab for some safety and structural fabrication! He absolutely crushed it for us.
From here we focused on making the car run properly, setup the suspension, build the interior and figure out lighting. Headlights and tail lights are off Amazon, meant for motorcycles! For the interior we were able to make the Subaru dash and carpet fit with some massaging. Seats are out of a JDM STI forester! Topped it off with a nice Nardi vintage wheel on a quick release NRG hub.
Now it was time to make the exterior fit the rest of the car. Various ideas were tossed around and we decided on a english wheel style flare setup. Added some 2005 STI wheels, fibreglass side skirts, custom front lip and sent it for version one!
Igor enjoyed the car for the rest of the summer, we tweaked some things here and there but for the most part just enjoyed the view. However, this wasn't the end goal and Igor's love for DTM style cars consumed his thoughts for the next winter. We ditched the version one kit and Igor dove head first into building his own, one of one metal widebody kit. Check it out!
The entire kit was designed, measured, welded and finished free hand by Igor. This was a process that stretched weeks in-between regular work flow. Many modifications and iterations were completed to get the final results. Wheels are from a C4 Corvette CR1 and they are WIDE.
We had the opportunity to attend the LZ World Tour in Toronto with three of our builds. We made a weekend out of it and brought our team, family and friends to enjoy the event. What a BLAST! On top of an amazing time, the vehicles received a ton of attention. It was super cool talking to people about the cars and the business. The 2002 garnered the most attention and we even had coverage on it from Speedhunters, Drift Games YouTube and some other large social media accounts.
Here's a link to the awesome SpeedHunters article by Dave Thomas.
Here are some close ups including the rear mounted radiator setup we made!
That's all we have for now, plans are to just enjoy the car and maybe add a few more horsepower! Stay tuned for future updates, thanks for reading!
Drew