Rhyscar's Subaru Type RA of teenage dreams... where less is more

[Rhyscar]

So wife and I have been looking for a sunday cruiser for the family for a while now. Won't be a forever car like the Lexus & Levin, but should be enjoyable to own & do some basic Resto stuff for a few years. 

I've always loved Subaru's based on their rallying pedigree, having spent my teenage years drawing Subaru rally cars and building Subaru models. My family wasn't into motorsport/cars back then so I didn't ever get much exposure to them. 

 

Found this 1996 WRX STI Version II Type RA V-Limited for a reasonable price. This is the first of the V-limited models which was released only in JDM market celebrate Subaru winning WRC manufacturers championship & Colin McRae winning driver title in 1995. It was also the last year Group A regulations were in place - meaning the road car was much closer to the WRC car. From 97 onwards the 2-doors Subaru's were based on World-rally-car regulations and didn't have to adhere to production vehicle specs as closely. 

 

This was the top-dog model with a bunch of special homologation features/quirks;

• Closed deck block, forged pistons, rods, mechanical lifters, fancy valves & TD05 turbo. Reportedly made around 300hp from factory (a shade more than the 206kw JDM gentlemans agreement)
• 5th injector in intake plenum (unused in road form, this was a homologation-special)
• Intercooler water sprayer
• Short ratio gearbox with Centre control diff (DCCD), rear plate type LSD
• Lightweight glass (green tint), lightweight panels/bonnet
• Seats with Colin McRae/Derek Ringer signatures
• Roof hatch, Wind-up windows, no rear wiper, aerial on A-pillar, black door handles, no sideskirts/basic bodykit etc. 
• Weighed in at 1150kg or so. This one may be a little more as it was optioned with AC and a radio. 
• no. 367 of 555 built (Based on Type-RA registry, I estimate theres maybe 100 left in the world?)

 

These were pretty much group N rally cars from the showroom floor. It's 98% original which is super important. Has done high KM's (238,000) but last owner had for 13yrs so hasn't been thrashed too much. Generally rust-free but needs a good mechanical strip-back and freshen up and underbody tidy-up. 

 

To do list (in no particular order):

1. Paint tidy up (bumper, bonnet, roof)
2. Replace Shifter linkage 
3. Clutch
4. Plugs/filter & general servicing stuff
5. Swap out dumpy exhaust to something group A inspired

 

Not planning to do much to this car just drive it every so often and do some basic restoration work. Focus is still on getting the Levin racecar finished by the end of the year. 

 

It was also my first experience towing with the Lexus and god-damn its a great tow car. Good noises, super lush, towed like a dream (even with very poorly loaded car). Used all the fossil fuel. 

 

 

First order of business was to acquire a set of gold Speedline wheels for the full Colin McRae look. These are the 17" version of the wheels used for Tarmac rallies in 1996. Will report back in a few weeks when I get a chance to get these on the car. 

 

 

[Rhyscar]

Putting this brochure here for reference later on:

 

[Rhyscar]

After a couple of goes I managed to track down the right bushes to rebuild the shifter. Feels so much nicer now. 

But man what a prick of a thing to work on! Haven’t sworn at a car so much for years… 

 

Also took on first 15km drive to get fuel from Te rapa and half way the Speedo stopped working and then got a check engine light. 
 

After some research found that without speedo reading and after 15mins of driving it throws a check engine light and limits to 4000rpm. 
 

They use a mechanical drive to back of dash with some whacky clips so will see if I can get cable remade. New ones are available but very pricey so will try a local shop first. 
 

Hoping to take for a Sunday drive this weekend. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly!

[Rhyscar]

Also here’s a sneaky peak at speedlines. Again, found out people selling shit suck as the centre bores are 54 instead of 56 that all 5x100 Subarus have.. 

Were advertised as fitting gc8/Subarus and I double checked with seller also. 
 

on the plus side they are super low offset for Subaru (35p) so fit really well. Hoping the monster truck height will prevent rubbing. 
 

 

Not a big issue, just need to get bore milled to size but this will go on the back burner for a while. 

[Rhyscar]

Speedo cable fixed by local company apex auto centre for a fraction of what a new cable would have cost. Massive win. 
 

drove it to brunch with family this morning and god damn it goes like a cut cat! And then the clutch decided to start slipping…. So will put that on the next-year list to sort… 
 

Here’s an engine bay shot because speedo cables aren’t very interesting. Everything is mostly there, bar a few bits of trim on intercooler and turbo shroud. These are common to all v1-2s so shouldn’t be too hard to find.

 

interestingly, the RA’s never got the red sti manifold cause this one has an extra unused injector in it. 
 

It has an aftermarket radiator which I’ll paint the top of black (not available through Subaru anymore) and generally give everything a once over with black rattle can. 

[Rhyscar]

Oh also added a genuine Subaru air filter cause the k&n filter was giving me anxiety about my MAF fucking out. 
 

[Roman]

So cool. 

In my mind, when I think of WRC. The first thing that comes to mind is the era of WRX vs evo battles for supremacy.
Maybe with a sprinkle of Puegeot 206 and ST205 GT4.

Everyone loves the group B monsters, but the 90s were a golden age for Japanese performance cars gaining some credibility. Generally speaking.
It feels like the rally results helped cement this in a decent way.

Having the opportunity to own a homologation version of something is so damn cool.
It seems crazy that this is even a car that is in any way still affordable to buy.

[Rhyscar]

Yeah I agree the group A era was the closest WRC has ever been to production cars and it produced some amazing cars from Toyota, Subaru and mitsi. The European manufacturers couldn’t keep up with what Japan was producing. 
 

I need to take you for a ride when you’re in town it’s quite an experience for a factory car from 1996. 

 

Toyota was actually dominant in 95 and I’m not certain Subaru would have won the championship if Toyota hadn’t been caught cheating. 

But I look at a Toyota GT4 (even an RC) and I’m not inspired the same as there is such a massive disconnect between the production and rally cars as they were marketed as an executives fun toy with plush leather seats etc.

Whereas I feel Subaru and mitsi were selling type RAs/RS’s in a form that was true to their rally beginnings. 

[GARDRB]

My old pre-trade automotive tutor worked at Ralliart in the Tommi days. He has the best yarns and some pretty epic tech drawings.

[Rhyscar]

19 hours ago, GARDRB said:

My old pre-trade automotive tutor worked at Ralliart in the Tommi days. He has the best yarns and some pretty epic tech drawings.

What an epic time to be involved with Ralliart! It's amazing what they did to make production vehicles survive the beating they got. 

[GARDRB]

1 hour ago, Rhyscar said:

What an epic time to be involved with Ralliart! It's amazing what they did to make production vehicles survive the beating they got. 

Yeah, a couple of my favourite things were Kevlar-lined rear quarters for snow rallies so they could smash through snow drifts without damage, 10:1 compression HKS built 4G63s, and all the parts of the body acid dipped to within an inch of their lives to reduce weight.

There was also a good yarn about them leaving an evo three in Kenya (they must have sold it) and everything that went into the country had to come out (legally, including used tyres etc.) so they took a local fwd lancer the same shape back with them which was eventually built into a 4wd turbo reccy car using spares from around the workshop.

Also, tales of being caught by the cops at Rally of NZ in a speeding convoy of Canters loaded up and heading to the next service stage. He had a Kiwi, Aussie and UK driver's license and the cop told him he was taking his license off him. Cop didn't know how many he had, so he handed over the Australian one, they swapped drivers and continued on their way.

[Rhyscar]

As summer arrives, have been using this for the odd Sunday drive.  Passed a warrant with no issues which was slightly surprising. 

The more I drive this, the more impressed I am with the performance. It hauls ass for a factory car and has super short gearing. 

My daughter Finley loves it so that’s the main thing 

 

Just a couple of 90s jdm classics out for a cruise

gave the engine bay a good clean/detail. Came up pretty good. 

 

thanks to @Guypie for machining the centre bores for the speedlines out to Subaru size (the reason they were cheap). Also fitted a set of very used 215s as the 235s they came with were a bit balloney. 

End result is it looks great on the speedlines. Classic Colin McRae/95 WRC car look 

 

Next on the list is replicating the Group A back muffler and looking for some wind up windows and door cards? 

[Rhyscar]

Done a few summer drives. Speedo cable broke again, replaced the whole thing this time. Clutch is starting to slip a little more, need to give it a bleed (starts slipping after a period of driving so thinking old fluid/leaky cylinders losing their ability to hydraulic things). Clutch is probably near end of life too, but a good condition hydraulic system is the first step... 

 

Had a mare with trying some new wheel cleaner. It stripped all the clear off the Speedlines and ruined a centre cap. Supplier was good about it and we'll look to get these repainted soon (they weren't in great condition anyway). 

 

So now we're back to factory wheels. 

Finley loves this car. Every time it gets kicked out on the driveway she has to go and sit in at and tell me all about it.

 

We had a dad-daughter date out to raglan which was an awesome memory to create with the car. Also it's fucking fast on the divvy... 

 

Getting sick of dumpy big bore life. Any suggestions on where to purchase a good value 3" chambered muffler? Mild steel will be fine, I'll hide it away and put a 2.5" stainless tip on it to replicate the group A look. 

Doesn't need to be anything flash, but would like quieter and more refined boxer rumble. 

 

 

 

[CaMpylobacter]

this is lush

I have an apexi muffler that'd probably go well on this. will try remember to measure the inlet on it when I get home

was ex a wrx, then pipe section modified (roughly) to fit an NA SF forester. 

I got it to slap on turbo SG forester but turns out seller didn't know it was na size modded. 

 

[Rhyscar]

5 hours ago, CaMpylobacter said:

this is lush

I have an apexi muffler that'd probably go well on this. will try remember to measure the inlet on it when I get home

was ex a wrx, then pipe section modified (roughly) to fit an NA SF forester. 

I got it to slap on turbo SG forester but turns out seller didn't know it was na size modded. 

 

That'd be great I'm sure I can make something work with it! As long as it's 2.5-3" it'll be fine. 

[CaMpylobacter]

I'll flick you a couple of pics on the Facebook messenger machine

 

 

[Rhyscar]

On 16/01/2024 at 18:52, CaMpylobacter said:

I'll flick you a couple of pics on the Facebook messenger machine

 

 Dude this looks so good. Mounts were perfect already. Just need to find a bit of 3” exhaust bend and I’ll glue the bits together. Keen to hear what it sounds like. 
 

Suits the car perfectly. forever grateful!
 

[CaMpylobacter]

mate that's amaze! glad it's gone to a perfect home

[Rhyscar]

Wow this muffler is super quiet. Amazing how much it’s changed the sound and volume considering this muffler has only a 2” piece at the front that opens to baffle and the rest is straight through. 

Got quite a different Subaru growl to it now too. It’s a different car to drive at open road speeds now. 
 

 

[Rhyscar]

Been driving this bit lately for a few events/occasions. Maybe a bit much - watching the kms. 

 

Perhaps two of the finest cars built in Japan in 1996?? Prove me wrong. 

 

Got out to watch some Targa in North Waikato over the weekend. Did a quick reece over one of the roads and wow when you get in it, this thing is a beast. Wound the diff up and it just glues to the road and clunks at low speed. Steering is super precise, gearbox is perfect which makes for a lot of fun carrying speed through corners. Very impressive for 1996, a modern car would need 450-500+ hp to keep up with the 1180kgs of 90's engineering. 

Unsurprisingly, the brakes suck but that's a later issue (has a slightly leaky master cylinder and rusty booster). Its done 240kms so its to be expected. 

 

New exhaust makes it a pleasure to drive on all occasions. Can hear BOV & wastegate doing their thing now which is cool. 

 

Car feels at home in the service park. All the old Targa geezers were fizzing. 

 

 

Found a gravel road to test out some launches. Goes better on gravel than tarmac 

 

Going in the shed for a while now. Need to give it a clean/wax and get the Speedlines repainted.