The Impreza 2.5RS has become quite the unseen Subaru over the years. Unlike the newer models of the WRX and STi, the 2.5RS was offered in a 2 door option making it lighter and more desirable to someone that wanted a coupe instead of the 4 door sedan we are used to. Although in America, the turbo-charged option wasn’t readily available in this model, the platform was perfect for swapping in parts from the newer STi Models.
Justin North Bought his 2.5RS in 2005 as a fun daily driver at the time. “The original plans were just to have a fast light weight Subaru that looked good. I Wanted the 2 door because I liked the looks and it was lighter weight. I had a 2005 STI at the time and had more fun driving the RS so I sold it the STI.” Justin started swapping STi parts from a later model into the RS. “I wanted to make it fast, but still keep it as much of a street car as possible. It still has Full AC, Stereo, STi swapped interor, something I could race but still drive home comfortably.” This is how the RSTi was born, RS platform with the heart of the STi.
As Justin spent more and more time building his now RSTi, his knowledge and passion for Subaru’s grew into an everyday way of life. In January of 2014, Justin started Off The Line Performance in Des Moines, Iowa. Off The Line is known for being a high performance Subaru parts distributor/ builder that specializes in Subaru performance products, and they also deal in the GTR community with product sales and maintenance. “Off The Line Performance bridges the gap between the Subaru street car scene and two of the premier engine builders in the business, IAG Performance and Outfront Motorsports. Outfront was born in the sand and continues to feed the demand for horsepower in the dunes. IAG performance has taken the street car scene by storm and has some of the world’s fastest street, track and drag Subaru’s. Each with their unique closed deck block designs has demonstrated a level of reliability that has yet to be seen with any other solution.” Products and services can be found here at www.offthelineperformance.com.
Over the years the RSTi has gotten faster and faster. Just to name a few of the updated mods, Justin is running an Off The Line Performance 2.5L Spec’d Closed Deck, B25 STi Cylinder heads, APR Head Studs and a Custom Stock Location Blouch Performance GT35R Turbo tuned by JR Barrios (JR Tuned) on the Cobb Accessport V3. The RSTi makes around 670hp, run through an OEM 05 STi transmission to the wheels. With M&H Drag Radials on all 4 corners, the RSTi launches violently and hooks up hard. The RSTi sees plenty of street and track action, and has even appeared on a few of the 1320Video Cash Days.
As far as future plans for the RSTi, Justin stated “I have some carbon fiber custom exterior pieces on the way for it to dress up the exterior. We are shooting to hit 9’s with it or get as close as we can with the current set up. Also the car is on the hunt for the stock location turbo world record which is 10.0. The RS has gone 10.5 and the current tune has it trapping near a 10.3-10.4 but I just haven’t gotten a good pass in on the 1/4 this year. We are going to push it at the Subaru Nationals this year and see what she does!
Good luck to Justin and Off The Line Performance on hopefully grabbing the record at the Subaru Nationals!
