Battleships & Blackbirds : Brad x Leng’s STI
A week later after IA weekend and we still have a few features from that weekend to post up. This is one of the 3 that we are working on and it may be the only time you will see these 2 cars photographed together. Leng’s STI (the battleship) may be new to a lot of folks that do not live in Atlanta, but the last time it was seen was exactly 1 year ago when it was freshly built the first time at SF: GRILLIN & CHILLIN at Mainstream. Since that time, it has been through hell with the engine build. Brad’s STI (the blackbird) is out way more often, but never too long as he is a busy man. But he always finds time to come and kick it at anything SouthrnFresh hosts. We have been trying to shoot it since last summer and every other month it’s on a different set of wheels. I do believe Brad has found his fix with the VS-XX wheels, so we stole their keys and took them around the shop and snapped some photos…
I did not realize how similar these two STIs were until actually looking at the photos and looking at their power numbers and mod lists. Both make similar power, Leng’s making 490hp at its current tune, and Brad’s making 420hp.
Leng’s STI is sitting on a meaty setup with the 18×9.5 Te37s in the classy gold. The body color, which was pulled from the latest generation Scion tC, is what truly brings out the gold of the TEs. Leng, being a well known paint / body man at Nalley Lexus, was able to paint the car the right way, even before the dealer tag was removed.
On the other hand there is Brad’s STI which has its own mellow style to it. I have been around the car for a long time, and I never knew it had some extra punch under the hood. Brad being the mellow type of guy never mentioned anything of it until I noticed the “AMONSTA” tag (seen here) one night at the Varsity and asked about it. And being the modest guy he is, he calmly said it makes around 400 or so.
I mentioned earlier that Leng’s STI has been through some issues with the motor, and that is a understatement. It has been through a total of 3 motor rebuilds, all caused by the same notorious compression loss on cylinder 1. I am no Subaru master, but I have learned from talking to Leng about his car and issues that this is a common problem with built STIs and proper tuning means everything with these cars. Just a week before IA weekend, Leng had some issues with the car after just getting it back on the road a month before. He was fed up with the car and was about to rebuild it stock and sell it. But to his fortune it was just a small issue and was fixed so as of now it’s all good.
Brad’s build seemed to go a lot smoother than Leng’s. A lot of it is mainly due to the fact that Brad’s build has not gone too deep into the EJ25 as of yet. Visually you can see that Brad’s STI has a more aggressive setup with the 18×10 VS-XX and a bit of a stretch on his tires all around. It’s no stranger to parking lot pimpin’, but there’s still a little “umph” to give you a good run on the highway.
Leng’s motor as of now makes almost 500hp at 19lbs, so there is a reason why there is a nice meaty tire setup as opposed to Brad’s, but as mentioned having a completely built STI opens up all sorts of headaches. I am not sure if Leng plans to open up the car and reach for more power or not, but I am sure it’s good for a lot more power out of the built motor.
Stop Tech brakes behind the VS-XX.
Hopefully Leng will hold on to his STI and keep on going with it after all the issues with the motor. It’s only right to continue. If throughout the feature the name Leng rung a bell, it may be because most of you all know his old car which was one of the baddest S2ks around. Check it out here to jog your memory.
Same goes with Brad, hope to see this build continue. I have talked to brad a few times about his car, and he sometimes mentions getting rid of it. But I know we all have our days when we want to sell or cash out and start over.
KHRIS H. also snapped some photos of his own while Jon did his thing as well, check them out here
