Some jobs are a service. This one was a resurrection. A blue blob eye Impreza came to us as a WRX with a plan attached: build it into a genuine STI spec car, and give the shell the kind of underbody and chassis restoration these cars need if they are going to last. Around eighteen months later it rolled out as one properly sorted Subaru, built from the good parts of two.
The Plan: Two Cars, One Keeper
The starting point was two Imprezas. A blue WRX shell that was worth saving, and a black STI that would donate the parts that make an STI an STI. The STI driveline, the diff, the brakes and the subframe running gear all came across into the blue car. The black shell had given what it had to give, so it was stripped of everything useful and scrapped.
We are always straight about this kind of thing. The finished car is a WRX bodyshell built to STI spec with genuine STI hardware, not a factory STI with a plate to match. Done properly, with the right parts and the metalwork to back it up, that is a stronger and more honest result than papering over a tired original. This is the build we wanted to document warts and all, because the warts are the interesting part.
Strip Down, And The Truth Under The Seam Sealer
The blob eye and its GD Impreza siblings hide their rust well. Ours was no exception. With the suspension out and the shell on the ramp, the inspection told the real story, and some of it had been deliberately covered up by a previous repair.
What we found
- ›Rear inner arches gone from the sill back plate up to roughly twelve o’clock on the arch. The passenger side had been hidden under seam sealer, so the true condition only showed once we dug in.
- ›Both sills needing inner and outer skin work, with the back plates to the sills past saving.
- ›Rear strut top towers soft and inflamed. The passenger side turned out to be a real mess once it was opened up, with corrosion reaching into the boot floor and the top mount panel.
- ›Rear subframe outrigger mounts where the inner upright support panels were completely missing. Not weak, not patched. Gone.
- ›Front floor sections, the front radiator support and crossmember, and a set of corroded brake hard lines that were never going back on the car.
None of this is unusual for a GD Impreza that has lived through British winters. It is just rarely all in one place, and rarely this far gone. That is the point at which a lot of cars get walked away from. This one had a plan, so we got stuck in.
The Metalwork: Cut Out, Fabricate, Weld In
This was the heart of the job and the bulk of the hours. Where good genuine panels exist we used them, including genuine rear inner arch panels, outer sill panels, inner sill panels and a new front radiator support. Where panels do not exist, or where the repro panels were not good enough, we made our own.
The highlights, and the headaches
- ›The missing inner upright panels for the rear subframe mounts were fabricated from scratch and welded in. You cannot buy back a structure that is not there, so you make it.
- ›The reproduction repair panels we did buy were not perfect. On one, the mounting holes and captive nuts were in the wrong place, so we cut the captive nut out and re welded it in the correct location rather than trust a panel that would not line up.
- ›Both strut towers were rebuilt. The driver side had its support plate cut out and a full new panel made, welded in and stitched into the surrounding structure. The passenger side needed repairs right through into the boot floor and top mount before the final tower panel could go on.
- ›Full length sills were opened along the seam so every cavity could be cleaned, treated and sealed from the inside before the outer skins went back on. Rust loves a closed seam, so we do not close one up until we know what is behind it.
- ›The front end got a new crossmember and radiator support, and the intercooler setup was modified to suit the new front end.
The car was also fitted with a wide arch over fender kit and front spats. The kit panels needed a fair bit of fettling to fit as they should, and the inner arches were reshaped and closed off to suit, so the wide arches sit on proper structure rather than fresh air.
Protection: Doing It Once
A restoration is only as good as how it is sealed back up. Once every repair was done and the welds were dressed, the whole underside was taken back to bare metal, the corrosion was treated, and the shell was built back up in layers: a rust encapsulating primer, seam sealer run over every joint and high wear area, and a tough stone chip coating over the top. Cavities were primed, sealed and waxed. The engine bay and boot floors were painted and sealed inside any area we had welded.
The aim is simple. The next person to put this car on a ramp should find a clean, protected underside, not a fresh coat of stone chip hiding the same trouble we just spent months removing.
The Build Spec: STI Underneath, And Then Some
With the shell sound, the running gear went back in as a proper uprated package rather than a like for like refit. The subframes and brackets were stripped, refurbished and powder coated, and we fabricated reinforced diff outrigger and mount brackets to tidy up and strengthen the rear end. Everything went back on new genuine Subaru hardware throughout, with fresh bushes, new wheel bearings and a steering rack refresh.
On the suspension and handling side
- ›BC Racing coilovers, with the blown rear damper stripped, measured and rebuilt by BC to suit.
- ›Hardrace fully adjustable lateral links and arms.
- ›A Whiteline package and roll centre adjusters to get the geometry where it should be.
- ›Uprated subframe and diff mount bushes.
Brakes came over from the STI, with new discs and pads, Proline stainless braided lines to all four calipers, and a full set of new brake hard lines front to rear to replace the corroded originals.
Back Together, And Off To Engine Tuner
With the hard part behind it, the car went back together as a rolling, sorted shell. Brake lines and fuel lines in, tank refitted, subframes, rack and arms assembled, hubs and bearings built up, interior refitted, and the bumpers, side skirts, front wings, lights and over arch kit fitted. From there it went on to Engine Tuner for its own build, which is a story for another day.
What it left us as is the thing we are proudest of. A blob eye that was quietly rotting from the inside out is now a strong, protected, properly built STI spec car with a foundation that will take whatever the engine side throws at it.
The Takeaway
If you own a blob eye or any GD Impreza, the rust is not a question of if, it is a question of where, and how much of it someone has hidden. The honest answer is to open it up, deal with what is actually there, and protect it properly so it lasts. That is the kind of underbody and chassis restoration we take on. If you have a car you are thinking about saving, we are happy to take a proper look and tell you straight what it needs.
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