Before I start rambling on about my car let me share a little background about myself. My name is Bryan Meyers from Charlotte, NC, and I have been a contributing photographer for Carshype since July of 2014. To be completely honest I don’t remember how everything played out when I first talked with Anthony about joining the team but I gotta say I think we both made the right decision. Before CH, I had been doing graphic design and photography for maybe a year in a half, mostly automotive with some small commercial real estate jobs here and there and at the time it wasn’t necessarily a huge part of my life like it is today. I basically took photos to incorporate into marketing and advertising material instead of using images off google. I went to many drift events and car shows just snapping off shots without actually knowing what the hell I was doing. Fast forward to July of 2014, I had a decent “portfolio” on Instagram, if you want to call it that, which I guess made an impact on Anthony’s decision to bring me on board. Before joining I had no idea what wordpress was, I was terrible at writing content for stories and thought people only liked the standard photo dump posts. I took a shot in the dark and to my surprise there are still people out there who like a back story and aren’t just in it for the pictures.
Anywho, enough about me, this section is really about what we the contributors here at CH drive, wrench on, build, etc. Since 2014, I have owned two cars. A 2005 Subaru Legacy GT-Limited wagon and a recently purchased 2000 Subaru Impreza RS. The Legacy was definitely my favorite car I have ever owned, it was also the fastest, and first manual, and I believe the longest car owned by maybe 2 months. It had a bit of stuff done to it; different turbo, full exhaust, wheels and tires, suspension, accessport, etc…nothing too extravagant. It was sold back in July of 2016 for a car that I’ve always wanted.
My current build in progress is a stupid clean 2000 Impreza RS. I picked this car up from a co-worker at my last job who worked as a body shop guy. I’ve always wanted this car…actually let me rephrase, I’ve always wanted a Impreza 22B or even a regular GC8 wrx/sti but since I live in America and we have bullshit regulations I can’t get what I want…or can I? Before I took ownership, the previous owner sourced the rust free shell from somewhere in California. From there, the doors were shaved, a JDM rear bumper with rear spats, Version 5 front lip and side skirts were added, and then repainted in the OEM Blue Ridge Pearl paint. A set of JDM tails lights, non-flutted amber corner and side markers were put it along with some flawless glass fog lights really set off the whole car. The car gets complimented daily about how clean the overall body is and I’d love to take credit but I cant.
Fast forward to the new ownership, it wasn’t long before I started changing things. The wheels were first in order but I didn’t have an idea as to what brand I wanted to go with. I just decided to paint the stock 6 spokes in the classic STI bronze…well I tried to match the color. I rocked those wheels for maybe 2 weeks before I officially picked out my new set. I went with Konig and I gotta say they have stepped up the wheel design for the better. For the longest time I thought Konig wheels were a joke. They were heavy and ugly, case in point the Konig Lace which is by far the ugliest wheel ever yet people still buy them. I went with a 17×8 +40 setup so that I could still run a meatier tire. For tires, I was on the fence about ordering summer or all seasons because at some point I would like to track the car but eventually went with a set of 225/45 Falken Pro G4’s. Its my second set of these tires and I ran the firs set on the Legacy and absolutely loved them. It’s a pretty grippy all season and hardly wears.
Next on the list were brakes and I desperately needed them. Back in October I took my first trip to The Tail of the Dragon in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. Being my first time I didn’t know what to expect and experienced quick brake fade comng down the long sweeping turns of the mountain. Had a blast though and I cant wait to go back. When I got back I tried sourcing 4/2 pot WRX calipers and rotors but ran into the issue of not having the money when awesome deals popped up and having money when people got greedy and deals were hard to come by. I went ahead and went with Powerstop drilled and slotted rotors with Evolution Z23 pads made for street and track. I haven’t ordered any stainless steel lines or new brake master stay but that may happen at a later date.
While covering and event down at Road Atlanta called Gridlife, I was chosen at random by the guys Super Street and SPEC Clutches to win a new single disc clutch kit of my choosing, which by the way was great timing cause my existing clutch was slipping and running out of life. I went with the Stage 2+ and paired it with an ACT streetlite flywheel. I also went ahead and fixed the terrible Subaru slop and replaced the old worn out linkage with a Turn in Concepts updated linkage. All work was done by my buddy Jake because when it comes to transmissions I don’t want any part in trying to work on them. He did a fantastic job and the overall difference is night and day.
In the past month I’ve gained my first sponsor which I will be doing product reviews in the future for. Rally-tech,com has hooked me up with a new weighted shift knob and Prodrive style fog lights in which I need to do a little modification for but everything will be worth it in the end. At some point I will be ordering some of their aero because everybody likes aero right???
The plans for this car will be a turbo swap. I had planned for an EJ255/257 swap but have since changed my mind and go with a 207 swap. I don’t plan to make more than 400hp because I’d like to keep the 5 speed and it will still be a daily. Either a dash swap or full STi interior swap will be the last on my list. Im sure many more things will be changed here and there but I plan to have this car for awhile.
Current Mod List
2000 Impreza RS sedan
Blue Ridge Pearl paint
Version 5 WRX/STi rear bumper with spats
Version 5 WRX/STi rocker panels
Version 5 WRX/STi front lip
Rally-tech Prodrive style fog covers
JDM tail lights
Amber side markers and corners (currently switched out for extra set of corners)
17×8 +40 Konig Hypergram Matte Gray
225/45/17 Falken Pro G4 A/S
Raceland basic coilovers
STi strut tower bar
Cusco rear strut tower bar
Front and rear bugeye sway bars
STi Muffler
Version 4 WRX STi 5 speed with 4.44 FD
Spec Stage 2+ clucth
ACT Streetlite flywheel
Turn in Concepts shifter linkage
Rally-tech weighted shift knob
Shift light
Powerstop Evolution drilled and slotted rotors
Evolution Z23 brake pads
NGK plugs and wires
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