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Written by Armin H. Ausejo
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Page 1 of 3
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First-time Subaru owner Nick DiBlasi had a problem. Back in early 2001, the WRX had just hit the United States market and was truly the next big thing. “I had always wondered what the craze was about Subarus,” Nick explained. “It always seemed like it was a cult thing, but once I bought it I understood why people loved them so much.” Being the Sport Compact Specialist for JE Pistons, Nick had a long history of working with high-horsepower Hondas and Toyotas, but when he purchased his WRX back in June 2001, he was a complete Subie newbie.
“I bought the car with the intention for it to be a daily driver and just cruise around with it,” recalled Nick. “At the time, I really knew nothing about the Subaru EJ series engine and its internal workings.” Nick had no idea that his then-daily driver would later become a fire-breathing green monster of a WRX, along with becoming one of the most famous and well-loved WRXs in the Internet Subaru community.
Nick wasted no time testing the capabilities of his new bugeye. Many longtime Subaru owners may remember an infamous video of a black 2002 WRX climbing up a large sand dune amongst many shocked dune buggy onlookers; that was Nick in his car, back in the day (a quick YouTube search can bring up this video fairly quickly).
Nick gradually began to test the potential of his WRX while trying to keep the car as sleeper-looking as possible. His black bugeye looked almost completely stock from the outside as he first experimented with the standard exhaust, boost, and intercooler modifications. He even made sure the front-mount intercooler was painted black so that he would not attract any attention.
No crazy body kits, swapping of headlights, or addition of a rear spoiler was done; the car looked like someone’s daily driven economy car.
At this time, Subarus in the United States were barely inching into the 11s on the drag strip, so Nick started experimenting with nitrous to see what type of results he would yield. “The car started off with a 50-shot and went all the way to a 150-shot.” Nick said. “We took the car around for a good six months with a 150-shot. This got the car to 12.068 at 111 mph with the stock turbo, an uppipe, downpipe, a boost controller, and a front-mount intercooler.”
Amazed that the EJ205 motor could stand up to such abuse, Nick pushed the motor to its limits, producing an amazing 540 wheel-horsepower and 480 ft/lbs torque, using a Toyota Supra T04R turbo and his own custom fabricated air/water intercooler, which was virtually unheard of before the 2004 STI was unleashed upon North America.
Nick documented the process meticulously online, keeping keep his friends up to date with pictures and videos. For a long period of time, Nick’s car was regarded as the most powerful street Subaru in the country. Nevertheless, since Nick still viewed this as only a street setup, he put his WRX under the knife once again.
After almost a year of research and development, Nick’s car was back on the road, but not as a street car, and no longer a bugeye. A turn of the ignition unleashes a cacophony of impending doom to anyone within earshot, a far cry from the sound of an Impreza with a turboback exhaust.
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