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Fastfalcon94's build thread, swapped GC

44K views 75 replies 37 participants last post by  alanspawn 
#1 · (Edited)
Edit: 3/12/2019 - Changed hosting and now have https so my pictures appear again.



I realized I don't have a build thread on rs25, just my local newenglandsubarus.com forum. So here it is. This is my 4th GC. I've been into 3000gt's since I

got my license. I originally bought a 2.5rs coupe for a winter car/dd and that's where it all started:). Being a College student at the time I didn't have a

whole lot of money to mod it so they stayed pretty basic. I knew that someday I'd go through one and do it just the way I wanted it. Well here it is.

Checked searchtempest.com (craigslist) night and day, all 50 states looking for a rust free gc. Found one posted in South Carolina for $3400. I called the

guy 10 minutes after posting it, had him take a pic of the underside and inside the sunroof opening. 20 minutes later he had his deposit. I flew down there

and drove it home. Not pretty at all but ran great. 150k miles, 0 rust





I immediately started buying parts. I live in Northern VT so Canada is just next door. Montreal has a bunch of parts places with real JDM stuff for decent

prices. Some are now starting to be vendors on here (Nagano, jdm engine import, jdm advance motors, osaka etc..)

Picked up a newer style bumper, newer style crystal headlights, jdm corners, real jdm front lip, jdm grill, jdm v5 wing, jdm tails, jdm rear bumper w/

spats. Also ordered some Rally Armor mudflaps. It's the 4th set I've ordered. You'd think they would give me a deal or at least allow for me to buy

replacement hardware but no.



Found an engine posted on Nasioc from a guy parting out an 06 wrx in NJ. Came with Immobilizer, ecu, wiring, steering column, pedals, steering rack,

crossmember etc... I don't have a truck so I had to improvise. Got there around 1:00AM, loaded it up and drove 7 hours home. Stayed awake on redbull.I went

with the 06 as I wanted a 2.5L, with dual avcs.



Picked up some fabric from Ript USA. He went to college up here so I just stopped by his appartment.




Finally found a pair of v7 seats up in Canada. I swear when you are looking for them they are hard to find. I've been up there a few times lately and they

are everywhere.




And another pic. I was messing with my clockspring. I had it rebuilt by a company on ebay for $50. Well worth it.




Didn't take me long to put the motor in.



Also bought an ebay exhaust and gc control arms



Thanks to Brydon's guide and my roomates help we were able tackle the wire merge in about a weeks time. We spent a few hours on it after work. It was a pain

but rewarding at the same time.




EDIT: Current Modlist.

Exterior
-----------
99-01 style front bumper
jdm v5-v6 grill
ebay fog light covers
jdm gc front lip with sti badge
jdm gc rear spats
jdm rear bumper with jdm license plate mount
jdm v5 rear wing
jdm tail lights
jdm aluminum hood
painted side skirts
bakemono high rise scoop
sti rear splitter
05-07 sti 17x8 Golds BBS wheels
Painted WRB by Holler Customs
JDM Crystal headlights
JDM folding mirrors
Rally Armor mudflaps
tinted windows and front vinyl window stripe done by me


Engine and Drivetrain
------------
06 WRX 2.5L engine with wire merge done by me
05 sti complete drivetrain with 5x114.3 hubs, sti axles, sti 6 speed
group n tranny mount
group n engine mounts
VF43 sti turbo heat wrapped with cobb heatshield
STI TMIC
Air vacumm pump deletes
HKS Carbon TI exhaust
3" downpipe
kartboy SS with poly bushings
DCCDpro
grimspeed EBC
aluminum radiator with jdm overflow tank
powdercoated intake manifold


Suspension and Handling
------------
ISC coilovers
aluminum front control arms
poly steering rack bushings
05-07 sti quick steering rack
Poly diff bushings and T bushings
Kartboy front and rear endlinks
eibach 25mm swaybars
Perrin stout mounts
Whiteline ALK
Whiteline bump steer kit
jdm sti front strut bar
cusco rear strut bar
STI brembos with stainless lines
Dunlop Direza Star Spec Z1 tires



Interior and Audio
----------------------
retrofitted sti cluster in dash
depo boost gauge, oil pressure gauge and innovate wideband in compass pack
Polk component speakers all around
painted headlights black
iva-w505 head unit with navigation
jdm v7 sti seats front and rear
usdm blue sti carpet
blue door inserts from ript-usa
sti pedals with matching deadpedal
sti shift knob
JDM v7 momo steering wheel
sti dccd switches
 

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#2 · (Edited)
More action shots. I got the lift from the local nissan dealer that merged with saturn. Only cost $1k although I had to modify the ceiling in my garage to

make it fit. Looking back it was well worth it.



After spending a few hours troubleshooting, I realized I had a weak starter. Just coincidental that it would fail at the time of trying to start my new

engine. It was a weekend and everything was closed but I had a friend who happened to have an extra one for sale. Picked it up and the car started right up

first try.




Found this on Craigslist for $1k. 04 sti drivetrain (minus tranny) with brembos and aluminum control arms. I kept the control arms, rear diff, and brembos

and sold everything else. I was also able to sell my gc aluminum control arms.




My stock rs clutch that I probably should have replaced when putting in the wrx motor started slipping really bad. Rather than buying a new clutch and

risking destroying the RS tranny I decided it would make more sense just to do it right. So I pulled the entire rust free drivetrain out of my suby (tranny,

rear end, struts, axles, brakes etc..). I sold it on a local forum for $500. I then found an 05 sti drivetrain for sale in South Carolina. It was still in

the guys car up on jack stands in his driveway. It was a little far, but my roomate had also just sold his dsm stroker motor to a guy in Florida. So we

talked and decided to just make the trip, drop his engine off, then pull and pickup my drivetrain. Now my roomate has a truck, but 10mpg is not something we

liked so we decided to take my 3000gt. This is a car that I restored from a shell and only had on the road for maybe 1000 miles. (more pics of 3000gt

project at 404 Not Found | Vermont Tech if anyone is interested) So we pulled my rear seats, rear plastic panels, rear seat belts out of my

3000gt, wrapped his dsm motor with ceram wrap and strapped it into my 3000gt right behind the front seats. We drove all the way to Florida and dropped it

off, then to south carolina. I fit an 05 sti transmission, axles, hubs, lateral links, rotors, and shifter assembly into my 3000gt. The guy also let me take

the sti carpet for $40. It was packed. It was a little sketchy knowing we had that much mass right behind us in the car and if we got into an accident it

would be flying at us, but we made it. Here's a pic of it riding low.





The drivetrain went right in with the help of my trash container acting as a tranny jack. I lowered the lift down onto it. I picked up some ISC coilovers

while I was at it.



And since I went with 05 hubs I needed some nice rims. I got these bbs wheels off of nasioc.




Here's a pic of my first venture with the new drivetrain.




I took another trip to canada and ended up coming home with a v7 momo wheel. Also note the gauge cluster. I took a jdm cluster with dccd and the dccd chip

fit right into my 98 cluster. I went with the dccd pro. This worked well for my 06 wrx swap since it reads mph still, and the 98 (dohc 2.5rs) engine

redlines at 6500 just like the 06 wrx.

 
#3 · (Edited)
Picked up some new jdm bumper beams. They are a much cleaner alternative to my modified USDM bumper beams.




Modfied USDM beam:D






And an aluminum hood from jdm advance motors. I told them what I wanted and they tracked one down for me. I wanted a blue hood just so I wouldn't have to

paint the underside.




I was messing around with some center gauges. The cluster lit up green so I was going to go with that. This is the ebay defi style pod. It just didn't look

right.





Decided I wanted an sti cluster. I used a wrx one at first just because I already had one. Wanted to make sure it would fit and that I'd be happy with it.



had to modify the mounting points so the cluster would clear



still some gaps in the corners



I think I'm the first person to do this.

 
#5 · (Edited)
19t vs vf43


used some thermotec heatwrap. Consider trying this on my vr4. I can touch this stuff after driving the car all day.



added cobb heatshield for extra barrier. Shouldn't heat soak top mount at all



wiring up sti cluster



installed, notice the compass back thing in the center of the dash. I'll be putting gauges there soon





custom drivers seat



hks carbon ti exhaust, someone actually gave this to me!



So my buddy offered to paint my car if I paid for supplies and gave him an sti RA tranny I had laying around from a different suby I parted.
He's been doing body work for a while now.

 
#10 · (Edited)




added sti vinyl sticker to the trunklid




And finally some long needed swaybars and endlinks. I have always thought subarus handled well. I should have done these a LONG time ago.




And some more pics of my gauges. They are depo gauges and I love them. They are quiet, they light up red, blue, green etc.. You can change the color of them

via a button panel. They also have peak hold, warning, sound on/off. But most importantly they are dimmable. There are 9 different brightness settings. You

set a brightness for day, and one for night. Then when your headlights turn on it switches between modes. They are affordable too and didn't require a

controller. I created a review thread for them on here. The gauge on the left is an innovate wideband. I painted the trim ring around it silver to match the

other depo gauges.




And here are some more pics








These pics are from Wicked Big Meet. Car made the trim from Northern VT.

 
#12 · (Edited)












I had VEMS tune my car for drivability. I'm going to get some bigger injectors, fp, and fpr and spend some more time on it. I just
wanted it to be safe.



So I did my first autocross too at SLMP in NY. I made sure everything was snugged up good and put in the bump steer kit,
ALK, and had an alignment done. Here are some pics under the car. THis is why I found one down south:)

 
#17 · (Edited)


And here are some shots from the autocross. Just some friends. Only 2 suby's there.







I trailered it there just in case. It was 2-3 hours away. Got there Friday night, camped, and raced all day Saturday. I left
Saturday night but could have stayed another day.




My buddy from work made me these. He's a waterjet operator.



starting to get colder. Suby is put away for the winter. Here's a pic of my truck warming up. Looks like i'm freezing the suby.

 
#18 · (Edited)
So What's next? I'm really starting to run out of things to do to the suby. Injectors, FP, and FPR are next. Aside from that I'll probably just enjoy it now

and maybe get a photoshoot lined up. For now my main project is my 3000gt. I've been working on it for a while and it's finally coming together. This isn't

the green one from up above. It's a black one I bought a few years ago. I sold the green one to my friend Joe. As of right now I just have my SUby and

3000gt. I've had A LOT of car for my age (probably over 30 cars), but this suby and my vr4 I plan on keeping forever. The vr4 engine is built with forged

internals and dr750 turbos (look them up:p) I fabbed up the intercooler piping and my roomate welded it together for me. It's got a DD tune on it right now,

but I'll be cranking up the boost soon:)









 
#22 ·
Garett Holler did mine. I paid for materials (~$600) and gave him a lightweight flywheel and jdm v4 RA transmission that would sometimes want to pop out of 3rd for it. I helped him pull the body panels, prep some stuff and re-assemble everything as well. But he did all the priming/sanding/masking/painting/clearing/wetsanding/buffing. I was very happy with his work. He was 20 years old at the time too,but he's been working for a body shop for a while. Eventually he is going to have his own place.
 
#25 ·
May I ask what it is you do? Ive been through many cars my self including some dsms and 3kgts among others, Those are not cheap cars to built and the 6G72 isnt a common build, why the DRs over the e3 16g? those seem more common and cheaper are they not? regardless, beautiful cars, an awesome garage and beautiful house.
 
#26 ·
The dr750s are not cheap but they spool faster than 9b turbos and outflow evo3 16gs. Really the best of both worlds. I had td05 manifolds too but sold them to go with the dr750s. Why pay 4k instead or $1100? They bolt on like factory. Using factory oil feed and return lines. Also use factory heat shield. Didn't have to change my downpipe or ic piping. No overheating issues or clearance issues. Also saved 1k in td05 manifolds. So I paid a little more for better turbos and a lot of saved fab time.

I am a developer for a healthcare EHR software company. But vt is a lot cheaper to live in than Cali. Plus being an old man at 27 with no kids or wife yet. Some day though.
 
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