Our original seat brackets--which fit the past three generations of Imprezas, but not the new `08--were modified by Scott at SPD Metal Works in Placentia, California, to line up to the new locations. The newer Impreza's wider tranny tunnel meant that all the bolt points were relocated to a narrower width, even though most mounting points retained a similar geometry. Our new gangster-low seating position is great for taller drivers, but it puts the center console and armrest in the way of large arm motions.
The new 13-inch floating rotor uses an aluminum hat that allows for axial and radial expansion so the rotor always stays aligned with the caliper and pads. This reduces pulsing as well as relieving stress from the different thermal expansion rates of the iron rotor ring and aluminum hat. The AP Racing rear big brake upgrade uses a four-piston cast aluminum caliper, a 13-inch two-piece rotor and beefy prototype caliper bracket. Our prototype unit uses an aluminum hat, which also acts as the drum for the integrated parking brake. Production units will use a more robust steel hat.
Our final addition to the interior was a stealthy window film application from 3M. Originally designed as a means of keeping houses cool, the 3M Crystalline window tint was refined for the curved surfaces of automotive applications with almost no visual distortion. While we normally frown on window tinting since it reduces day and night vision (as well as being a potential headache with law enforcement depending on where you reside), the heat-rejection advantages are great when parking the car under the sun or saving gas on A/C usage.
Jeffrey Kalmar, of Prescription Windshields in Chandler, Arizona, came all the way out to Southern California to apply this soon-to-be-released Crystalline 70 material. Like most tints, 3M Crystalline will reject 99.9 percent of UV radiation, which saves black seats from turning purple and keeps composite parts from sunlight deterioration. The material also allows 68 percent of visible light in, which conforms to DOT standards. This means the tint can be applied to all windows, including the windshield. It's also clear enough to be hardly noticeable. The main advantage is the 50 percent rejection of solar energy.
Electronics
In case you're wondering, no, hell hasn't frozen over. We're messing with audio equipment in a project car. There's a reason for the upgraded in-car entertainment system and it doesn't have anything to do with cruising or show-car looks. Early in Project WRX V.08's SEMA build, Editor Leh came up with the great idea of tripling everyone's workload by having it filmed. The concept was to edit the tapes into a short video segment (available for viewing on our website) and then loop the video on a huge display next to the car in Subaru's booth for extra promotion and coverage. The only problems we had to conquer were how to best play the video at the show and how to make sure people in the crowded Las Vegas Convention Center hall could hear anything at all.
We chose Pioneer's AVH-P4900DVD head unit, because it's one of the most affordable and reputable video-capable units out. It can play DVDs, output video to an external screen and has a video input, which is a nice option that will allow us to test an in-car video-overlay data acquisition system at a later date.
With the video portion covered, we turned to audio. As we were temporarily turning Project WRX V.08 into a DVD player and speaker system while it sat at SEMA, sound quality was paramount. The video would have to be played loud to be heard at the show and we didn't want any distortion. We used 250W-max Pioneer 6.5-inch TS-C160R component speakers up front (three pounds versus 2.25 pounds stock) and 260W-max 6.5-inch TS-D161R two-way speakers in the rear doors (2.75 pounds versus 2.5 pounds stock). Both feature Kevlar cones for damage resistance during large movements (i.e. loud volumes) and a healthy 90dB/W/m sensitivity rating. This is important, because a higher sensitivity rating means that a speaker will be able to play a louder note with the same amount of power. This was essential to us--we weren't going to mount a four-channel amplifier permanently.
SPT's cat-back exhaust system uncorks much of the stock WRX engine's potential by reducing the backpressure the stock turbo has to push against. The 2.5-inch tubing extends the entire length of the exhaust and the SPT system weighs five pounds less than stock by deleting the stock resonator and using smaller mufflers with less packing material.
Surprisingly, all four speakers only added up to a two-pound total increase, even though they feature much larger magnets. The stock WRX speaker mounts are pretty good for factory units, featuring sound-absorbing foam surrounds against the door panels. We simply separated the brackets and dropped in our Pioneer speakers.
When we installed the 1000W-max Pioneer TS-SW1041D Premier 10-inch slim subwoofer (10.5 pounds) and PRS-D2100T Premier amplifier (6.5 pounds), we resisted going with anything heavy or permanent. The Pioneer slim subwoofer uses a thin design to minimize weight while keeping sound quality high (and excessive booming low), and requires a subwoofer box between 0.35 and 0.70 cubic feet. We got a simple sealed MDF box and installed it in the trunk. This makes the entire system easily removable.
Brakes
Our last SEMA additions weren't so cosmetic. Just two weeks before the show delivery date, Stillen/Brake Pros came through with the prototype four-pot rear addition to our AP Racing front brake set-up. Even though the front brake kit is identical to the AP offering for previous WRX models, the completely redesigned rear suspension required a new kit. Brake Pros used the basic model AP Racing AP5100 cast aluminum caliper with non-staggered 38.1mm pistons as the base. This makes the calipers easier to manufacture since they're not directional. All the pistons are sealed for better street life.