If someone smarter than us journalism school rejects at Modified ever did a proper survey of our readers, the data would probably show that a good number began modifying their car for show rather than go. Maybe it's because as teenagers we're all looking for an edge in that time-honored mating ritual of hard parking at the local hangout, or maybe it's because we're too broke to afford any genuine performance parts (or a car worthy of them). But as time marches on, we all tend to graduate to better cars - the dream machines we coveted as teenagers - and set about modifying them for serious performance purposes.
Jacob Barnes, who lives in the small town of Morenci, Michigan, near the city of Toledo, Ohio, fits this profile to a T, having been into cars as long as he can remember. While in high school in the late '90s he built a pretty radical Infiniti G20 show car with a crazy House of Kolor color-changing paint job and all the custom audio he and sponsor Polk could stuff into it. As time passed, Jacob's taste in cars and tuning goals changed, finding himself drawn to the AWD turbocharged performance embodied by Subaru.
Having graduated from college in 2002, Jacob found a solid government job and put in an order for a brand-new '04 WRX sedan. According to Jacob, "That car didn't stay stock for very long as I quickly modified nearly every aspect of it. I went with a very clean JDM theme for it, but later that same year the STI came out and I was determined to own one."
Exterior Euro Subaru Steel Blue Mica paint, APR 16-piece widebody kit, carbon-fiber front
After enjoying his WRX for a while, Jacob sold it in 2007 and began the search for a clean STI. "I really liked the '04-05 STI body style, and since the '05 had many improvements over the '04, I focused my efforts there. Eventually, I found a bone-stock black '05 STI in Texas with low mileage but a few dents on the exterior. I talked to a friend of mine, Nick Eschhofen, who is an expert in paint and body repair; originally, we were going to keep it stock and just respray the car in its original color, but one thing led to another and I ended up contacting Peter at APR Performance, who supplied me with a full 16-piece widebody kit."
Jacob was drawn to the APR kit because it maintains the STI's stock body lines but broadens its shoulders by 4 inches. Rather than going with a boy-racer color, Jacob opted for a rare European Subaru tint called Steel Blue Mica. As you can see, Jacob's body man, Nick, completed the body work and paint to a better-than-OEM level of fit and finish, having put more than 600 hours into the project. Jacob chose this color because he felt it's subtle and clean while providing a different appearance than any of the standard USDM shades. They finished off the exterior with a Voltex rear diffuser, a JDM STI Spec C lightweight aluminum trunk and an APR GTC-300 wing, along with seriously wide 18x10.5-inch Enkei NT03+M wheels wrapped in 295/30-18 Advan A048R rubber.
According to Jacob, "Other than the paint/body work and ECU tuning, I have done all the work on the car, many times with help of a good friend and big-time Honda guy Stephen Buie. Stephen and I have spent many hours on the car getting everything just right." Tough to argue with the quality of this dynamic duo, who've started their own part-time tuning shop called Tuned Perfection Autosports (see sidebar on page 39 for more info on their shop).
Since Jacob plans to compete in time attack with his STI, he knew he'd need some serious dampers, so he ordered a set of Stance USA's three-way adjustable coilovers with remote reservoirs. He also stiffened up the chassis considerably with a full complement of braces and tie bars from Cusco as well as Whiteline adjustable lateral links, larger diameter antisway bars with spherical endlinks and JDM STI Spec C pink trailing arms with spherical bearings and a custom track-oriented alignment.
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Engine Modifications P&L Motorsports rotated GT3076R turbo kit, reverse manifold FMIC kit,
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By David Pratte
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