Subaru Impreza WRX Bug Eye Build: From Bare Shell to a 341bhp Show Stopper

Some builds start with a plan. This Subaru Impreza WRX Bug Eye build started with heartbreak, a bare shell, and a wife who refused to let a good Scooby story end badly.

Ian Eccles, known to his mates and the wider Subaru scene as Scooby Eccles, has spent the last year turning a stripped-out shell into a fully sorted, road-legal WRX Bug Eye, and there's a lot more to it than horsepower.

Losing the First Scooby, and Starting Again

Ian's original Impreza was written off by a now ex-friend, which is about as rough an ending as any Subaru owner can imagine. Losing a car you've built and loved is one thing. Losing it to someone you trusted is another.

"Obviously I was devastated when I lost my car," Ian says, "but my wife convinced me to get another and build it better than the last one." So the search began for a new base car, one that could be turned into what Ian calls the perfect Scooby.

He wasn't short of help. A circle of good friends got behind the project early, and the decision was made to go all in: a fully stripped-out WRX, 2.0-litre, built up rather than bought finished. Ian didn't want a newer, easier model straight off a forecourt. He wanted a Subaru Impreza WRX Bug Eye built exactly to his own spec, warts and all.

Building From a Shell

Calling this a restoration undersells it. This was a full rebuild from a bare shell, and every part of the car reflects choices Ian made himself rather than whatever the previous owner happened to leave behind.

Engine and Turbo

• 2.0-litre Subaru WRX engine, fully stripped out for the build
• VF35 turbo conversion
• Pink injectors
• Mapped at TEG Sport in Carnforth
• Currently putting out 341bhp

That last figure is no accident. Getting a VF35 turbo Subaru mapped properly takes a shop that knows the platform inside out, and TEG Sport's work on this one has given Ian a car that pulls exactly the way he wanted it to, not just on paper but on the road.

Suspension and Interior

• New coilovers
• New seats
• New harnesses
• Fully stripped interior

Ian is the first to admit the parts list doesn't stop there. "OMG, the list is endless," he laughs, and anyone who's ever built a car from a shell will know exactly what he means. It's the kind of build where the spreadsheet never quite closes.

More Money In It Than It's Worth, and He Wouldn't Change a Thing

Ask Ian if the build makes financial sense and he won't pretend it does. "I have more money in it than it's worth," he says, "but it's mine, and it's been made to my spec."

That's really the heart of this Subaru Impreza WRX Bug Eye build. Ian isn't chasing a number for bragging rights. "I don't think it's all about how many horses she has under the bonnet," he says. "It's also about how she looks, drives and makes you feel. If you're happy with it, then I think that's all that matters." For a car built to replace one he lost through no fault of his own, that attitude means a lot more than a dyno sheet ever could.

A Transport Manager With No Time to Spare

Ian's day job is transport manager for an Irish haulage company, which doesn't exactly leave him with spare afternoons to spend under a car. Time was always going to be the biggest obstacle to this build, and for a while, buying a newer, ready-built model looked like the sensible option.

Sensible lost. Ian decided to build from scratch instead, so he could have a Subaru shaped entirely around what he wanted rather than what someone else had already decided.

That's where Alan Wyatt came in. A very good friend, Alan offered to build the shell up to Ian's spec, and set to work on it right there in Ian's driveway. Then lockdown hit, and a project that was already going to take patience took a lot more of it. The build dragged on far longer than planned, but it got there. The car is now fully road legal, and by Ian's own account, a genuine pleasure to drive.

Getting Back Out to Shows and Subaru Meets

With the car finished, Ian's focus has shifted from spanners to shows. He's keen to get the new build out to a few events and meets, and admits he's looking forward to whatever comes after any remaining Covid restrictions ease, so he can properly show off his new pride and joy.

Ian isn't just a builder, either. He's an admin of a local Subaru club, the Morecambe Bay Subaru Club, which holds regular meet-ups built around exactly what you'd hope: a get-together, a laugh, and a joke. From there, the group started taking their cars out properly, hitting local shows like Cleveleys and Blackpool, and gradually venturing further afield into Cumbria and beyond.

Ian also attends regular meets with the ExtremeBHP car clubs, and gets invited to help out as staff for their events too. For him, the car scene isn't just a hobby. "The car scene means a lot to me and my wife," he says. "We have made so many good friends, and hope to make more as we venture further afield."

A Build Dedicated to Lisa

Every build has a reason behind it, and this one has a very personal one. Ian dedicates this Subaru Impreza WRX Bug Eye build to his wife, Lisa Eccles, who lives with a long-term terminal illness, cystic fibrosis.

Last year, the couple held a charity car meet in her honour and raised a significant amount of money for cystic fibrosis research and support. Lisa loved the last Scooby, but this one carries a different kind of weight. She's watched this car come together from a bare shell to a finished, running build, start to finish. "I couldn't have done it without her support," Ian says, and it's clear this Bug Eye means as much to her as it does to him.

The Final Word

This is a build about second chances. A car was lost, a marriage backed the rebuild, friends turned a shell into something real, and a community of Subaru owners gave it somewhere to be shown off. The numbers are good: 341bhp from a VF35-turboed 2.0-litre is nothing to sniff at, but the story underneath them is what makes this WRX Bug Eye worth featuring.

Big thanks to RCA Photography for the photoshoot that captured this build properly.

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Shout out to RCA-PHOTOGRAPHY for the awesome Photoshoot