The owner of this 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX has been bringing it to WJPE since he bought it. In addition to the general maintenance, WJPE has performed some modifications to enhance the cars' power, handling, and style.

For the first modification, WJPE wanted to get the engine to breathe better. We did not want the exhaust to be too loud though because the car is daily driven. WJPE decided to install Magnaflow's 2.5" stainless steel cat back exhaust system. This system not only flows better than the stock system, it produces a deep, mellow exhaust tone.

The next step was to upgrade the handling and appearance of the WRX. The customer picked out a sharp looking set of ROTA wheels. WJPE ordered in the 17x7.5" ROTA Torque wheels finished in flat black. We wrapped the ROTA wheels with 225/45/R17 B.F. Goodrich KDW2 rubber.

The next time the WRX came to WJPE it had an intermittent misfire. After some diagnostics we found the #1 cylinder spark plug had carbon tracked. We replaced the #1 cylinder coil boot and swapped out all spark plugs for Denso Iridium plugs and set the gap to factory specs. While working on the misfire issue, we noticed that the air filter was dirty. Instead of replacing the air filter, we installed an AEM long ram cold air intake system. This intake system flows more air than the factory air box, plus it mounts the air filter in the inner fender well so the engine get cool, fresh air from outside of the engine bay.

A few months later, the stock clutch started to slip at times. WJPE decided to replace the stock clutch with a SPEC Stage 2 clutch kit. The SPEC Stage 2 clutch has smooth, stock-like engagement and is capable of handling 400lb-ft of torque. This leaves plenty of room for future power upgrades!

 2003 Corvette Z06 The owner of this immaculate 2003 Corvette Z06 has been bringing his vehicles to WJPE since we opened in 2003. While he likes to work on his vehicles himself, he trusts WJPE to perform the work he does not want to do himself.

Recently he installed a supercharger system by A&A Corvette along with a set of American Racing Headers (purchased from WJPE). After dyno tuning, the car produced 590RWHP but the check engine light came on as he was leaving the dyno shop. The dyno shop scanned the computer and found a code for the camshaft position sensor.

The customer stopped by WJPE to ask us about the camshaft position sensor code. Luckily for him, we had seen this issue before. We informed him that the code usually sets because the bolts that hold the timing gear to the camshaft loosen and allow the camshaft to "walk" away from the sensor. After hearing this, he made an appointment with WJPE and did not drive the car until we could work on it.

We removed the timing cover from the motor and found two of the three bolts that hold the timing gear to the camshaft had backed out about a quarter inch. We proceeded to remove and clean off one of the bolts, then clean out the bolt hole in the camshaft. We applied Loc-Tite to the bolt and tightened it to spec. Now the other bolt that appeared have backed out only a quarter inch was about a half inch out and the bolt that was flush with the camshaft gear was now a quarter inch out. After cleaning and applying Loc-tite, we torqued all three camshaft bolts and reassembled the car and gave it back to the customer.

He was very happy to have his Corvette back and very thankful that our knowledge and expertise saved him from costly catastrophic engine damage.

This supercharged 2004 Corvette Z06 came to WJPE in need of a stronger clutch. The stock clutch was slipping and the clutch pedal would stick to the floor when trying to shift at high rpms. We decided to install a SPEC stage 3+ clutch set, which is capable of handling 850 lb/ft of torque. WJPE also installed a complete header system from American Racing Headers. This system features all stainless steel construction with extra thick flanges, large diameter primary tubes, high flow catalytic converters and a full flow x-pipe. On a supercharged car, this system is worth 35 hp over the factory manifolds.

To help the transaxle deal with the added power, we installed an ECS transmission/rearend brace. This brace strengthens the transmission and rearend cases and prevents case flex which could result in case breakage.

The owner brought us this “bone stock” Mustang and said he wanted more acceleration from a standing start and more horsepower. We developed an array of options for him with estimated installed cost of each. The customer selected the options that addressed his goals and met his budget. The project was divided into two phases. The first phase was the easier steps that included a high flow air filtration system and new rear end gears, the factory 2.73:1 rear gears were replaced with 3.55:1 gears.

The second phase was more serious and focused on increasing airflow through the engine. We installed high flow intake manifold; full-length headers and H-pipe with high flow catalytic converters and a performance exhaust system. We also installed weld-in sub-frame connectors to help the chassis handle the increased power.

These “bolt-on’s” resulted in an increase of 56 horsepower to the rear wheels.