BATTLE OF THE BOXERS — RUNNER UP FEATURE

Chris Loney's Right-Hand Drive Forester SF

What started as a winter-driving solution in Winnipeg turned into a decade-long obsession with one of the most uniquely built SF Foresters in the community. Chris Loney, Battle of the Boxers runner-up, sat down with us to talk blown engines, a Frankenstein drivetrain, and the advice he gives every newcomer: just start.

Meet Chris Loney

Chris Loney's path into Subarus was driven by Canadian winters. Growing up in Winnipeg, where snow covers the ground for six months of the year, he needed something that would actually get him around. "I had a rear-wheel drive truck before and I just wanted all-wheel drive so I could actually get around," he says. "And then I kind of fell in love with the platform."

His first Subaru was a non-turbo '97 Legacy — real sensible platform. Then came a twin-turbo Legacy imported from Japan, a little more exciting.

That one didn't last long though - a cracked oil pickup took the engine out early, and without the knowledge to rebuild it at the time, he parted it out. A year later, he was back in the market, and this time he went for a turbo SF Forester — another Japanese import — and by then his appreciation for right-hand drive culture was already taking hold.

The SF chassis was an easy choice once he dug into it. "It's pretty much just a GC8," he explains. "Light, nimble, relatively rigid. It just made sense." He bought it with 40,000 kilometers on it — practically new — for around $6,000 CAD. Not bad Chris, not bad.

Remember earlier when we were talking about Chris needing AWD? Naturally we asked if he’s ever pulled someone out of a ditch.

Spoiler alert, he did.

The Forester's best Winnipeg moment was the time he towed a Sprinter van out of a snowbank. Not a car — a full-size Sprinter van. "It'll just go," he says. "It doesn't matter what's on the ground. As long as you got good tires, it'll go." That reputation is part of why he stuck with the platform, just so capable from the factory with room to build from there.

The Hard Way

If there's a theme to the story of this Forester, it's that nothing came easy — and Chris made the best of every setback. The original automatic transmission gave way to a manual swap after his second Subaru engine expired. Then the first five-speed lasted a month. The second one survived two years before he fried the center differential doing donuts — the rear tires caught concrete and that was that.

So up next was a 2011 STI transmission. Then hubs, axles, and brakes sourced from an 05 STI to tie everything together. "It's a hodgepodge of a bunch of different stuff," and he means it in the best possible way. Every upgrade came from a real need, Every piece earned its place.

Under the hood, he's running a version 6 EJ207 sourced from a '99 JDM Impreza which was much needed after the original engine gave up the ghost. He combined that with turbo upgrades, larger injectors, and the supporting mods that come with chasing more power, and the result is a car that punches well above its original weight class.

Right-Hand Drive and the Show Circuit

Chris has been deep in the Pacific Northwest show scene for years, making the trek south from Canada regularly. He’s done Subaru-specific events, Stance Wars (where he took Best Right-Hand Drive), and WebTech Fest (Best Subaru). There was one stretch where he was winning almost everything he entered.

The Forester isn't just a show car, though — it's been his daily driver through all of it. "It's mostly been a daily as much as anything else," he says. That dual-purpose nature is baked into how the car was built: capable enough to compete, reliable enough to depend on for day to day use.

One of his favorite memories with the car predates most of the mods. Before the engine swap, before the transmissions, he and his wife loaded up the original automatic Forester and did a 10-day road trip through the Pacific Northwest — starting in Sandpoint, Idaho, looping through Washington, back into Idaho, and all the way out to Yellowstone. "It was a long enough trip I had to do an oil change," he says with a laugh. "It was a good time."

Chris's Kartboy Story

Chris's relationship with Kartboy goes back to 2014, when a local speed shop in Winnipeg had product on the shelf. He was driving the twin-turbo Legacy at the time and picked up a six-speed shift knob — even though he was running a five-speed. "I liked it better.”

You remember the part where the car was right-hand drive? That means his shifting hand is his left — the same hand where he wears his tungsten wedding ring. The ring kept scratching the shift knob and so he sanded the whole thing down, polished it, and has been running it that way ever since. Beyond the shift knob, he's also running Kartboy bushings throughout.

What's Next

The Forester is in what Chris calls its "complete phase" with no major plans unless something breaks. He'd love a fully built engine someday, and the idea of a rear-wheel drive conversion has crossed his mind. But for now, the focus has shifted to other projects.

The main project being a 1969 Datsun 521 pickup body going onto a G35 chassis — complete with a roll cage connecting to all the strut towers, a stretched cab, and a VK56 Nissan Titan V8 under the hood. "It's almost a boxer," he says of the wide-angle V8. "It barely fits in the strut towers." The plan is a slammed drift truck, built mostly by hand at a buddy's shop.

Then there's a long-wheelbase Mitsubishi Pajero Evo — a 2.5 turbo diesel — where he's learning the ins and outs of diesel tuning and planning a modest power bump with a larger turbo and more fuel. That’ll be super fun.

Full Mod List

Drivetrain

— EJ207 (Version 6, sourced from '99 JDM Impreza)

— 2011 STI 6-speed transmission

— 2006 STI hubs and Brembos

— GTX2867R turbo

— Radium Engineering fuel rails

— DeatschWerks 1200cc injectors

— Hand-polished intake manifold

— Mishimoto intercooler and catch can

— Aluminum radiator

— GrimmSpeed headers

— 3" Helix stainless steel downpipe

— 3" stainless steel custom exhaust with valve

— 4" carbon intake

— Muffler from SCG Performance

— AEM 320lph fuel pump

— Wire tuck

— Modified Legacy twin-turbo ECU

— Tuned by Project Lambda Tuning (JDM specialist)

— ChaseBays ABS delete

Suspension

— AirLift P3 air suspension

— 24mm Whiteline sway bars front and rear

— 2006 STI front aluminum LCA

— Full TSS Fab rear arms

— Cusco chassis bracing

Interior

— ATOTO head unit

— Black interior sourced from a Forester STI

— 2012 STI seats

— Full LED lighting inside and under the car

— Hardwood trunk setup

— Kartboy shift knob and bushings

Exterior

— Kansei Astro 18x10.5 +12 wheels

— Custom retrofit headlights

— Forester STI Type M2 rear bumper

— Burn-Up front bumper

— Carbon fiber hood and hood scoop

— Fenderist widebody

— STI roof rails

— HIC rain guards

Advice for New Builders

When asked what he'd tell someone just getting into building, Chris didn't overthink it.

"Just start. Start slow. Do a set of lowering springs first if you can't afford coilovers. Just start slow and appreciate building it from the ground up."

The Forester wasn't conceived as a show car or a competition vehicle. It started as a winter daily in Winnipeg, became a platform to learn on, and grew into something Chris built entirely on his own terms. None of it was part of a plan. It just accumulated, piece by piece, into something that reflects exactly who built it.

That's what makes the runner-up finish in Battle of the Boxers mean something. Chris wasn't building for a bracket or a trophy. He was building for himself. The competitions and shows just gave other people a chance to see it.