writer: Scott G.
photographer: Scott G.
Sean Mahaney of Master Image Customs spends each and every day working to create beautiful show vehicles. He has just about mastered the art of building quality adjustable suspension systems for any and every type of vehicle you could imagine. That's no surprise; he has been contributing to the show scene with his creative energy for some 17 years now.
When it comes to his own rides, he gets a little crazy. Sean has been known to stir things up in just about all he sets out to do; thus, setting trends in a wide variety of markets. After consulting two rally-crazed individuals, Rodney Wills (editor of CA&E) and Tor Johnson of Renick Subaru, he set out to put his own little twist on the import street scene. He started with a rally-bred 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS for the platform. His intention was to jump in a whole new direction with this project and get some attention for rally-styled street vehicles. His only real demands after the completion of the modifications were: the continued use of all four seats (for the kids); it definitely had to jump, not hop; and rock at the same time. He discovered that the roll cage/audio system integration was going to be difficult, but with simplicity in mind he pulled it off smoothly. The following covers the major modifications Sean made to the platform.
CockpitHe started with the inside, removing all of the interior in preparation for the roll cage work and audio install. His intention was to strengthen the car as much as possible, and keep it safe for all of its occupants. The impressive roll cage construction was completed by Sean himself after hours at the office. During cage construction, the interior pieces were sent out to Eric's Auto Upholstery to be modified and matched to his Cerullo driving seats. Enduratex (who produced the blue vinyl) and Cerullo were both kind enough to get enough material together for a matching baby seat cover for Sean's little guy. The safety harness for the driver's side is from Crow Enterprizes. Cerullo provided the navigator side harness which makes back seat loading a little bit easier. Sean upgraded the driver's controls with a custom steering wheel, shift knob, and pedals from American Boss. He also made the navigator's position a little more cozy with a foot plate made by Sparco. The back seat floor board became home for a custom tool kit for emergency purposes.
Cockpit EntertainmentAfter roll cage construction was complete, Sean began the system install, starting with some key decisions that had to be made. One unique aspect of this project was the intent to jump it on a regular basis. Sean has been known to jump a car in a parking lot or two in the past. With this in mind, he was in dire need of components that would last and stand up to continued use (that is, abuse). He selected an Alpine CD changer commander/receiver (model CTA-1505) in conjunction with an Alpine 6-disc changer (model CHA-S624) for improved selection. The front-end was livened up with some Audiobahn Aluminum components: the ABC525X was mounted in the factory locations (5-1/4s in the door and tweeters in the door handle faring). The rear was brought to life with a set of Audiobahn 6 x 8 coaxial plates: The ACX680P was mounted in the stock locations of the rear deck lid. An Audiobahn 10" sub, the AW1000, was selected for pounding.