It was pretty surreal for me to suddenly realize we were in Ann Arbor, Michigan on a Saturday evening in July, meeting with some guy who had no idea who any of us were, only to have him drive an hour to meet us for a photoshoot of his car.  This is a build I’ve been following for years on the NASIOC forum.  While planning our Subiefest Midwest trip, I realized Joey was from Michigan… and we would be just below him in Indiana…  I HAD to get in touch with him somehow and try to set something up.  Thankfully, Joey was an awesome dude willing to give us a shot and agreed to meet up while we were in the region.

I attempted to make plans about a month before the actual trip, not quite knowing our official timeframe, but it all happened to work out nicely.  We got to Indiana, hung out around the city with friends, drove up to our hotel in Valparaiso (just south of the Michigan border), and shot two features in one day on different sides of the state.  Truly one of our most productive days – we were in total work mode.  After shooting with Mike (one of our previous Limelights) on the western edge of Michigan in the morning, we drove three hours east to Ann Arbor, a cool little college town, home to the University of Michigan.  Joey met us in a tiny gas station parking lot downtown.

It was a long day and we were getting tired from the tight schedules and long hours in the car, but we all lit up the second we pulled into the parking lot and saw this gorgeous wagon sitting there waiting for us.  We parked and eagerly jumped out of the car to introduce ourselves and get to talking with Joey.  Right away, he struck me as the most interesting and knowledgeable Subaru enthusiast we’ve come across thus far.  Seriously, I have never met anyone that has this much random information about Subaru or even just cars in general.  He’s from Detroit, so I guess it comes naturally.  Joey’s also hilarious and a great time to be around, which definitely helped make the feature more entertaining.

Our first shoot location was under a highway overpass along a river.  After several different shots and confused passersby, we headed out to get some rollers on a nice winding road lined with trees.  These were some great rolling shots thanks to the scenery – and obviously the subject.  CJ was laying halfway out the back of our rental Nissan Rouge while holding his camera a foot above the ground.

The story with this one starts in the Spring of 2013.  Joey traveled to Columbus, OH to pick up this 2003 WRX Wagon with 106k miles.  It had minimal modifications like struts and exhaust, and it made for his perfect daily driver for the following two years.  Joey has collected a wide array of parts for his car and has created a masterpiece over the years – would ya just look at it?

The main attraction I have for this car is probably (definitely) the sedan widebody conversion.  Joey’s wagon is one of my biggest inspirations for my own wagon and studying it in person really reassured me of my goals.  The sedan widebody conversion is a huge and expensive project.  Wagon owners go to these lengths to do this conversion because if you haven’t ever noticed before, the wagons don’t have the same “flared” fenders like the sedans do.  This widebody conversion consists of putting sedan front fenders, front bumper, rear doors, swapping rear door glass (the wagons and sedans have slightly different sized rear windows), and most significantly, a quarter panel transplant.  Most wagon people who attempt to widen their cars just do the front end because it’s easy.  Few have done the full conversion, and when they do, it looks incredible.  In my opinion, it’s the perfect “widebody” option for these cars.  Nice, subtle and OEM-styled, just how I like it.

Another quite impressive project Joey has taken on with his wagon would be his EJ207 swap.  It was an S204 engine with only 11,000 miles at the time that was purchased to replace his original EJ205 at around 150,000 miles.  Joey said the main reason for the engine swap was the fact that it was the best stock engine he could get his hands on.  He said it was definitely a bonus that it was out of an S204.  “It’s extremely smooth and has a lot of torque for a two-liter.  Equal length headers change how the car feels.  It’s just a wide powerband.”  After hearing his car while driving behind him, I’m pretty attracted to the equal length noises too.

What really makes me happy about this car is the fact that it is used as intended.  Joey frequents Gingerman Raceway in southwest Michigan and has tons of photos over the years to prove it.  When talking to him, I could tell he cares about results when modifying the car, and how it will perform during track driving.  He built his car for a mixture of track and daily duty, and every part he throws on has a lot of thought put into it.

That brings us to the wheel setup, one of the most prominent pieces of any build.  During the photoshoot, Joey had some gloss white GDB STi RA-R wheels on.  They’re great looking wheels too, which is why he doesn’t use them on the track – his track setup is a set of 17” Mach V Awesomes in gold.  Behind those wheels are some STi Brembos, centric premium rotors and PFC Z-compound brake pads.

Exterior-wise, the most obvious thing about this WRX is the WRC-style livery.  It adds so much flair to the car and looks so exciting racing around the track.  To add to the rally car styling, Joey has a Prodrive front bumper and grille, and a Spec C roof vent too.  He’s done a roof rail delete too, one of the best mods you can do to a WRX wagon, and of course that sedan widebody I mentioned earlier.  What a great looking bugeye, right?

Inside the car, Joey has kept it nice and tame – good for daily driving if needed. He added Evo VIII Recaro seats, an STi shift knob, a Prodrive gauge cluster and a couple Defi gauges.

The next and final shoot spots were outside the University of Michigan.  We positioned the car on the center of this horribly pothole-ridden road lined with trees and got some great shots.  Joey’s wagon is very photogenic, and the livery really pops against his World Rally Blue paint.  We moved the car to a couple other places near the road and rushed to get some final shots in as we quickly lost daylight.  We decided we had enough photos and started planning on where to get some food before our three-hour trek home that night.  Luckily, Joey knew of some good places to go.

We easily spent over an hour, maybe even almost two, just hanging out and talking.  This is usually our ritual after Limelight shoots – it’s nice to hang out and get to know the people we shoot with.  Joey told us all about the local Subaru scene in Michigan and convinced us that we need to get back up there sometime in the future, especially for Gridlife, where Joey puts his wagon to work.

I asked Joey what his inspiration was for his car and the modifications he chose.  It kind of sounded like a snowball effect – pretty much what happens to any enthusiast.  “After putting over 35,000 miles on it in one year I decided that instead of replacing the clutch, I would do a six-speed swap.  That was in the Spring of 2014.  You develop an emotional attachment to it.  It would have been far cheaper to just get a new shell but I fixed it up.  Building the car was to also kinda prove a point – you don’t need stupid low offset wheels, crappy coilovers or eBay aero parts to enjoy a car.”  Although Joey has driven in over twenty track days throughout the years with this wagon, it’s not a serious track car and he doesn’t intend for it to be.  His goal is to keep it a daily-friendly street car that can handle track abuse every now and then.

There are car enthusiasts, and then there are Subaru enthusiasts.  Joey is a true Subaru enthusiast.  He knows more about these cars than anyone I’ve ever met, and sure knows how to build a good one too.  This feature was a great experience for all of us, and it was great to meet Joey as well.  He’s a good guy and an even better source of Subaru knowledge.  His wagon is one of my favorites out there, and I loved getting a chance to see it in person.  Just another reason why we do this whole thing – putting faces to cars we’ve seen online for years and building connections with others like us.

To see more of Joey’s car, build history, updates, and photos of him throwing it around a racetrack, I urge you to check out his blog www.jngarage.com, his extensive NASIOC build thread https://goo.gl/LsY5JA, and of course his Instagram account @jn_garage.  Thank you, Joey, for meeting up with us for this feature, it was an honor!  Check out his current full build list below:

Joey’s 2003 Subaru WRX Wagon Full Build List

Engine/Drivetrain:

• S204 EJ207
• 3 Port EBCS
• Tomikoa downpipe
• Greddy TI-C catback exhaust
• CSF Racing Radiator
• Samco hose kit
• Spec C oil cooler
• Group N Bushings
• Exedy twin plate clutch
• Version 7 R180 suretrac LSD
• Version 7 Limited STi Transmission

Suspension/Brakes:

• Version 7 STi Brembo calipers
• Brembo Rotors
• PFC Z compound street pads
• PFC01 Track pads
• Centric premium blank rotors
• 21mm Front and Rear STi S204/ RA-R Sway bars
• STi Pink trailing arms
• Version 7 STi lateral links
• Ohlins PCV coilovers 7k/5k spring rates
• MSI Front camber plates

Wheels/Tires:

• 18×8.5+53 STi RA-R wheels (street)
• 245/40/r18 Dunlop SP sportmaxx tires (street)
• Mach V Awesome 17×9 +42 (track)
• 255/40/r17 Falken R615K+ (track)

Exterior:

• Sedan widebody conversion
• Prodrive front bumper
• Prodrive grille
• JDM Spec C roof vent
• Cusco tow hook

Interior:

• Custom Evo VIII Recaro seats
• Sti shift knob
• Prodrive gauge cluster
• Defi ZD clubsport
• Defi NS boost gauge
• Valentine 1 radar detector

Words by Ethan Pfab – @supwagon

*some photos taken from Joey’s build thread/website and are used with his permission.

The post It Doesn’t Get Much Better Than This – Joey Navarre’s Glorious EJ207-Powered “Troll Wagon” appeared first on MFortyFive.