Scooby-Doo it All

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 Entertainment After 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.

The sub enclosure was the interesting part. The roll cage had been routed through to the rear of the car for chassis stiffening, not leaving much room for your standard enclosure. Sean contacted long-time friend, Jeff Cowell, who makes custom enclosures (when he's not building cabinetry). Jeff commenced work with some strict dimensions, some MDF, and fiberglass. The finished product was a perfect fit, leaving just enough room for the other trunk mounted accessories. The final touch were the ports which Sean installed in the rear deck to better transfer the low tones into the driver's compartment. Although the roll cage had been at first considered a hurdle for install purposes, it turned out to be quite an asset, proving to be a very solid structure on which to mount the system's power. First a 4-channel Audiobahn A4600E amplifier was employed to boost the mids and highs. Then a 2-channel Audiobahn A2600E bridged amplifier on the sub is used for some powerful hitting action. All the components were linked with Ampking wiring and powered by an Optima battery mounted securely to the roll cage in the trunk.

For those times when a jump has left the driver so discombobulated as to disorient his direction there is a GPS unit mounted right below the head unit. It's not your average navigational system; it's an Eagle Accutrail which is mainly used by the off-road community to help keep from getting lost while out in the middle of nowhere. Sean uses this little piece of technology to keep track of his many jumps and drifting spots in suburbia. When asked to provide us with a list of his hits, something about the Internet was mentioned, and then the subject was changed purposefully. (The search is on!)

Exterior Next came the exterior of the car. Sean wanted to catch the style of the real deal rally cars. He contacted Scott at SPO Motorsports in Washington in search of some WRC (World Rally Car) parts. Scott was able to come up with some of the things on Sean's list such as the very aggressive wing (a WRC replica), and 22b hood vents. These components were delivered to Anaheim Prestige Auto Body along with the factory rocker panels for paint matching. After the paint work was complete Sean installed Sparco hood pins, factory Japan taillights, and Outback wagon mud flaps ordered from Renick Subaru. Once everything was installed the car was off to Modern Image Sign works for the graphics and roll call. The graphics with the swoosh and stars were designed to look like an actual competition vehicle. Sean wanted to run a 15" wheel and some aggressive tires, but elected to stay with a factory size 16" wheels in order to accept a bigger brake package in the future. Team Loco 16 x 7s were chosen for their appearance and their proven strength. He was able to find a very aggressive snow tire made by Wintermark, perfect for all road conditions -- especially the dirt. Performance

Tuning the Subaru for enough power without taking away from its reliability was most important to Sean, especially since he knew he would find himself in some very remote places. The decision was to help the motor breathe a little easier with the custom cat-back exhaust system built by McLeod Muffler Service in Placentia, CA. They elected to use a Magna-flo polished stainless steel muffler and a 2-1/2" aluminized mid pipe. The system was tucked as far into the chassis as possible as to not take away from ground clearance. Using an already available aftermarket intake system proved to be impossible due to the location of the engine cage, so Sean set out to build his own intake system. The final product turned out looking factory with the air intake pulling its resources through the factory hood scoop. His handy work on the intake seems to have virtually eliminated a midrange flat spot often experienced with other available intake systems. That accompanied with the major increase of low-end torque has him working on mass producing them. The final mod to the motor was the unorthodox under-drive pulley, designed to cut down on horsepower robbery by other motor driven functions (e.g. alternator, and power steering pump). The drive-train was next in line, starting with an SPO Motorsports sports clutch and 15 lb. chromoly flywheel installed by ISR Performance in Huntington Beach. He also felt that a short-throw shifter was in order, and installed the Syms USA kit himself, to further complement the more aggressive bite of the clutch.

Driveability
Chassis tuning was the backbone of the project; the car was to see some extreme conditions; so the suspension had to control the ride quality and protect the electronic equipment from getting too much abuse. Ride height (1.5" higher up front, and 1.25" higher in the rear) was achieved with a new combination of strut components. The struts are 4-way adjustable KYB AGX'S in the front, and 8-way adjustable KYB's AGX's in the rear. The Intrax heavy rate coils are height adjusted with a Ground Control coil over kit made for the Impreza. To help get the car to pivot upon command Sean removed the tension from the front sway bar and installed a Gravel Sports/ Sway-Away 22.225 mm rear bar. He also took a little time to install a switch to the left of the steering wheel dedicated to eliminating the ABS function while on the dirt and other rough surfaces (a necessity). We caught up to Sean while he was doing a little suspension testing in suburbia before heading for the desert. He spends a lot of time in the back country, testing products for his latest business venture, "Gravel Sports." This company is dedicated to bringing rally-related performance products to market. You can get more information on it by visiting gravelsports.com. Sean says it should be up and running by the time you read this. And look for the new European-style light pods, too!