Car enthusiasts all face exactly the same conundrum when considering time to getting a family car: They suck. It seems that each and every time we get on your way in a lowered vehicle, a team of ugly, lumbering, gas-guzzling monoliths decides to surround us and obscure our vision while driving. Not only would be the average SUVs poorly designed, they also pose a real danger to everyone around them, with their blind spots and all sorts of. So, if we become some of those jackasses, we’ll be damned. But what do we buy so we subsequently don’t need to sell to the SUV/minivan franchise of America? For Brian and Pam Carroll, it was an issue that was plaguing them way back in 2007, once they realized these folks were sick and tired of the ’04 Nissan Pathfinder they had been using as being the family hauler. Sure, the Pathfinder had served its purpose as a family vehicle, but the mundane feel and look and lack of power was driving Pam nuts. So, in true enthusiast fashion, they decided to upgrade.
Pam Carroll has always had a fascination with fast, well-built cars. She loves any car that boasts having both raw speed and precise handling. At that time, her husband and coBrian and conspirator, had an ’05 Legacy GT sedan, and she loved how zippy it was around town. Since the Carrolls loved their little Legacy a lot, they opted to start their search on the local Subaru dealership by testdriving a WRX wagon. But once inside the cabin, they knew it absolutely was way too small for long family road trips, and they bailed from the car feeling a little cramped. Next up on the agenda was really a crisp ’07 XT Forester, which came complete with a sharp-looking sports package and a bunch of extras. It absolutely was at this moment the Carrolls hit proverbial pay dirt.
From the moment they hopped inside the little Fozzy to search over the interior, they knew that they had found the perfect family car. This conclusion was solidified when Pam took it out for the quick testdrive. As the turbo spooled up, the Carrolls realized these people were in love. So because of their new member of the family safe at home in the garage, the Carrolls were truly happy .Brian, day and Pam took their Subarus towards the local dragstrip for a dash of heads-up fun. If the Forester could be faster than Brian’s modified Legacy, after a few adrenaline-filled passes, Pam had a thought, How awesome would it be? ! Not being totally sure where to begin, Pam approached Brian with her idea. You see, Brian is always dreaming up new ideas, projects, and plans, so it was an easy sell. After a lot of time of online research and drooling over pictures in the JDM version of the Forester, they decided they were going to turn her Subie into an American interpretation of the JDM STI Forester.
Brian addressed the Forester’s utilitarian ride handling and height first. Local Cincinnati-based performance automotive specialists Turn in Concepts was contacted for the performance bushing kit and suspension upgrades. Larger Whiteline sway bars were then thrown into the mix, along with some aluminum STI control arms and Subtle Solutions’ fender and trunk braces. All this time, Pam was working right alongside her husband,listening and learning, and yearning for the faster Forester. So making use of their newfound connectivity, it was time to manage the Forester’s power supply.
In the following months, they swapped three different turbo-back exhausts on / off the car looking for the right style and sound. An upgraded STI -spec IHI VF48 turbo replaced the stocker, and a noticeably larger STI intercooler finished off the engine mods.
All of these parts actually finished up swapping to the car with great ease, with the turbo upgrade bringing the most noticeable results to the table. Pam was ecstatic! It sure as hell didn’t look the part, even though her Forester was really performing such as a real STI now.quite a bit from all of the other cars in traffic. To capitalize on these interesting OEM Pam, Brian and attributes decided to start things off by sourcing Canadian-spec OEM HID headlights for the little Foz, along with some seriously rare Australian-spec JDM headlight washers. They then perched an authentic JDM STI hoodscoop on top of the bonnet which not only looks good but also opens up airflow to the STI intercooler. Meanwhile, a Subtle Solutions chimney duct tucked within the hoodscoop helps circulate heat away from the engine bay. In the back, an STI undertray and rear diffuser were installed and paired with a set of ’08 USDM Forester taillights in black to better match the general theme of your car. Carbon bits just like a slick Carbotron muffler shield and Ravspec front lip, along with the Moore Performance plate delete and name tag finish off the exterior, while a set of pink STI decals in a few appropriate spots now provide the Forester its well-deserved STI status.
, even though things didn’t stop there Eventually a set of custom STI-upholstered rear seats, a complete STI pedal set, along with a one-of-two Moore Performance intercooler sprayer kit made it into the Forester. Having a Brembo big brake kit, a rotated twin-scroll turbo, and some bigger wheels already in the pipeline, things are looking great for the future of the build. If things go as Brian, intended and Pam are even thinking of ditching the stock auto trans to get a JDM six-speed.
Until then, the Forester remains a workhorse. Pam has utilized this car to orchestrate charity fundraising events for Scoobies for Boobies, benefiting the Keep-A-Breast foundation, she’s logged road trips to Canada, a cruise along the infamous Tail of the Dragon in N . C ., along with multiple autocross and rallycross events over the last few years. Pam can now put down a respectable 12.9-second pass in the local quarter-mile and after that go pick up her son and all of his gear from football practice, all without having to fold down a single seat. So provided that Brian and Pam keep sourcing parts, and Brian keeps teaching Pam how to set them up, she’ll keep the car ready for any task that falls in her lap. And since they first got The Gray Goose, in 2007, the Carrolls have purchased two more Foresters for the family since they love them so much oh. I guess that old saying was right on all along: Love. It’s the thing that makes a Subaru, a Subaru.
2007 subaru forester xt sports 2005 STI blue seats
2007 subaru forester xt sports subaru EJ255
2007 subaru forester xt sports hyperBlack rota wheel
Specs & Details
’07 Subaru Forester XT Sports
Engine Subaru EJ255
Engine Modifications IHI VF48 Turbocharger; STI TMIC; Walbro 255-lph fuel; Perrin turbo inlet; KS Tech 73mm cold-air intake; Moore Performance Parts 3-inch divorced catteddownpipe and midpipe, and custom TMIC sprayer manifold; Cobb Tuning axle-back muffler; ’05 STI Header; Grimmspeed lightweight crank pulley; Electronic boost control solenoid (hybrid system); Manual boost controller (hybrid system); Turbo heat shield; 160 thermostat & oil cap; Subtle Solutions Forester XT Chimney Duct
Drivetrain B&M Super Duty trans cooler / Group N Mounts
Engine Management Cobb Tuning Accessport Sub-003
Suspension Tokico D-spec struts; STI lowering springs & aluminum control arms; Kartboy endlinks & subframe locking bolts; Primitive Racing rear diff skidplate; Subtle Solutions fender and trunkLured to come jump on the bandwagon as it approaches your local stop? The Initial D anime craze has completely saturated the global AE86 “Hachiroku” market, skyrocketing the black market prices of the vehicles. Sometimes cars are marked up above $10K. Alternatively, almost within the general price range where a new car can be acquired. The animation successfully tainted the AE86 market having its over-glorification of the seamless archaic automobile by propagandizing on the youth that it’s a supercar, unbeatable in the mountain roads. But what these bandwagoners don’t know is the fact that there are plenty of other chassis that happen to be similar in vehicle and configuration class on the AE86, and the best part is that these vehicles come without the extra “fanboy tax”. One of the prime instances of such chassis is the Toyota Starlet. Sadly it wasn’t exactly your “weekend cruiser” or “chick magnet” form of whip, while the KP61 Starlet had its first breath in 1978 when it first came off of the production line.
In the late ’70s and early ’80s domestic muscle cars still roamed and ruled the streets, and these flimsy Japanese go-karts were virtually ignored from the public eye, where the only beneficial aspect for owning one was the great mpg. On the flip side, things were completely different overseas within the Land from the Rising Sun, where these Starlets were more modified than your average plastic surgeon’s wife and were actually pretty quick. There was endless one-make Starlet races taking place, pushing forward the Japanese motorsports technology as large corporations, such as TRD (aka Toyota Technocraft), spent millions producing parts and sanctioning these races. For your current old schoolers, they were the heyday of TRD in terms of motorsports involvement, as well as the parts that were circulated are pretty much priceless now and cannot be acquired without knowing someone.
The early KP61 Starlets were equipped with a carbureted 1.3L 3K engine, along with the later 4K versions in 1983 were transitioned into EFI in Japan. The U.S. versions came built with 4K variants that were carbureted or fuel injected according to its year. Of course, this is one of the great ingenuities that led to the prosperity of the Japanese automaker; they equipped their cars with a smaller displacement engine along with a lighter chassis in comparison with their rhinoceros-bodied Detroit counterparts. The automaker’s philosophy to the vehicle was to get the passengers from point A to B utilizing the least amount of gasoline as you can, and the marketing timing couldn’t be more perfect than the 1979 energy crisis. Currently true aficionados seek the KP61 Toyota Starlet for its extremely short wheelbase and front engine rear-wheel-drive (FR) configuration. The Toyota Corolla FX16, unfortunately, superseded the Starlet in 1985, where fuel and drivetrain efficient front-wheel-drive vehicles became more practical coming from a production viewpointDie-hard gearheads who appreciate a lightweight FR vehicle of the ’80s, such as Edward Feliciano of Southern California, still exist,. That’s the good news. Edward spruced the KP61 after seeing it sit in his cousin’s garage for 20 years. Edward needed a project car to work on and pass on to his son, like his father had accomplished for him. Eager to get he, started and his son picked up the wrench and stripped the entire shell, leaving the bare-bones chassis in the hands of none other than the premier old-school autobody expert PJ Bonifacio. Since everything regarding the factory Starlet lacked speed, looks, and elegance, plus the fact that nothing was available out of the box in terms of performance parts, Edward had to custom-fabricate everything.
The 1.3L OHV factory 4K engine produced a substandard 58 hp at 5,200 rpm. It might take tremendous amounts of custom work and finances to even get it up to today’s standards, which is an at least three-digit power figure. The economical and most efficient method for Edward was to get a transplant coming from a second-generation 2.0L MR2 3SGE engine. And since it was previously a non fuel-injected vehicle, from the fuel pump to some full chassis wiring harness had to be manufactured from scratch. The stainless steel high-rise header and minimize center of gravity engine mounts were also welded and fabricated up, as well as the oil pan to remove the KP61 front crossmember. Individual throttle bodies were mated for the head assembly along with a vacuum collector block to accumulate each cylinder vacuum pressure to channel with the MAP sensor. An Electromotive TEC 3 stand-alone ECU having a direct ignition system was artfully hidden, unnoticeable to a layperson’s eye. Now there is more than enough power to perhaps wheelie the 1,500-pound go-kart into Jupiter, though naturally, the engine internals remain stock. A 225hp engine in a 1,500-pound machine computes to some 1: 6.7 power-to-weight ratio, comparable to the omnipotent 500-plus horsepower Dodge Viper SRT10. The only thing keeping ample weight within the rear of the vehicle may be the FS Racing fuel cell. Tilton Racing master cylinder, brake booster, and calipers are in charge of both stopping and braking chores.
The rest of the machine features a mix of parts used from other Toyotas including a larger cylindrical volume AE86 shock casing/spindles to the front suspension. Cusco and TRD competition components were helpful to make up the front and rear suspension, customized of course. A full disc-brake setup from an AE86 were adopted, which had been a given as there is no way that the stock KP61 solid rear axle could withstand anything over 70 lb-ft of torque. The brake setup was then upgraded to yourfrom the vehicle exemplify that of the TRD catalog of the ’80s. Most of the components are practically rare artifacts now so they had to be purchased used; extensive restoration practices had to be implemented in order for the various components to look spick-and-span. Starting with the inside, low-back TRD bucket seats with brackets were chosen for the seating option. These seats certainly are a perfect fit for the nostalgic flavor that the machine gives, also perfect considering the vehicle’s era. A Sabelt racing harness supports the driver and passenger in place because the vehicle is steered with yet another TRD product, the leather steering wheel.
An entirely new aero kit was based off the TRD N2 widebody kit by PJ Bonifacio. This includes the front, hood and rear bumper, fender flares, side skirts, rear diffuser, and rear roof spoiler. Staggered 15×10.5 front and 15×11.5 rear Panasport wheels squeezed with 225/45-15 Advan tires were set up to come millimeters away from the fender lip, but by no means making contact. Japanese-spec fender mirrors were bolted down as being the final touch to the aggressive exterior, which unmistakably screams “old-school JDM”.
Despite the Starlet being an unpopular choice when compared to Hachiroku, the fanboys will indeed drool and break their necks trying to get a further glimpse of a KP61 with this caliber. The Toyota Starlet will keep increasing in price as time go on, but the good thing is which it will probably never have some sort of absurd popularity tax tacked onto its price,. That is the bad thing. Edward invested an overall of $30K for this taught and build his son the powerful art of son and father bonding.
Most of the components are practically rare artifacts now so they had to be purchased used; extensive restoration practices had to be implemented in order for the parts to look spick-and-span.