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Ari's WRB GC8 Turbo Build - Lots of Pics!

239K views 1K replies 78 participants last post by  Ariii 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello there, since I am pretty bored I decided to do a Members Journal.

My name is Ari and I live in Iceland. In 2011 I found this car wrecked outside a garage in a town close to where I live. It had no engine, no gearbox, no exhaust, and every single window, light and body panel was smashed. Right away I wanted to buy it and use the hood, bumper, seats and such to make my Outback nicer.

A few months after I found it I bought it and got it home. When it was home I changed my mind and decided I wanted to rebuild it, thought it was going to be easy, cheap and quick, well in short... I was wrong hah. I finished it two years later, took such a long time because I didn´t want to spend too much money on a turbo engine and tranny so I got a cheap parts car with a 2l N/A and swapped everything over to the GT as we call it here. Then when it was time for bodywork my friend talked me into buying a turbo swap. So I started again... Swapped everything back out again, don´t regret that at all now lol.

I´m not going into much more detail about the process since I already did a build thread on another forum. But I will show you some pictures though :)


When I found it and got it home. Both front wheels, 4pot brake calipers and something more was missing from the car. Might have been stolen since it was there for 2 years or something...



Home sweet home















I´ll skip over to the turbo stuff... Bought an 2l turbo engine, orginally from a Impreza GT and just like the engine orginally in the car. With the engine I got: 5speed GT Turbo gearbox, 3" exhaust, XS Power headers, 4pot brakes, wire harness, ver6 MOMO Steering wheel, ver6 seats (front and rear), orginal RS/GT 5spokes and some more stuff I´m most likely forgetting.









Did some basic maintaince on the engine, timing belt, waterpump, valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, fuel filter changed all oils out for Motul and more.

















Then it was time to swap the harness once again...





Sandblasted and got the wheels painted







Then it was time to take it to a shop where I work were my co-workers helped me with the body work.







All ready for primer and paint









Then the assembly







Painted the lower half of the interior black. And yes, I also painted some parts blue, and I personally like it











Custom made licenceplatelightholderplate (is that even a word?!? :lol:)



Custom gauge pod





Gettin it all together



And on the streets for the first time after rebuild! Oh the joy!





And first time back home after rebuild



New lights arrived





Custom licence plate holder I got made for me





On a local carshow last summer



And here is a roof spoiler I bought way back, it is a bit shorter than the window it self so I wasn´t sure if it would look good enough...







This fall I had a minor accident...



But thats fine, I just got a new fender and it gave me a chance to paint some new stuff, new parts, new look











8000k Xenon installation





Blitz BOV istallation with a custom made mounting plate











New gear knob





Got LED´s for the park lights to match the Xenon







Sparco pedals









And the last thing for now, I started making a trunk lip. Made a thread for that here




Mods

Engine/Drivetrain
XS Power headers
Complete 3" exhaust from turbo
Vibrant Muffler
New radiator
K&N Air filter

Suspension/Wheels
Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 17x7"
GT 4pots in front
GT 1pot rear
ABS disconnected
PB Coilovers

Exterior
World Rally Blue
Antenna Delete
Full trunk debadge
Black DEPO´s
Black DEPO turn signals in bumper
Black DEPO turn signals in fender
Fog covers
GT/RS spoiler
WRX Roof spoiler
Spare trunk, Debadged
Ver6 Grille
Blue Logo in Grille
8000k Xenon

Interior
Ver6 Seats
Short Shifter
Sparco pedal covers
Auto Gauge Boost Gauge
Auto Gauge Oil Pressure Gauge
Auto Gauge A/F Gauge
Custom painted interior parts
LED´s in interior lights

Radio
JVC Headunit
Pioneer 400w Speaker in the rear
Stock speaker in front for now
JBL 1200w Subwoofer in the trunk
Toxic 2000w Amplifier

Future plans
Megasquirt and a Remap
Manual Boost Controler - Owned
V6, P1 or C-West lip
17x8" +35 Wheels
STi Taillights


Soooo... Hopefully you enjoy reading this thread and viewing the pic´s. The other thread I made is on a Icelandic car forum. My thread is in Icelandic but it has some more pic´s and details.

Icelandic Members Journal
 

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#320 ·
Ohhhhh **** I've been lazy... Again... Anyone wanting an update? Well I don't care, I'm giving it to you guys anyway.


So, story update. I didn't tell you to much about the swap because **** went south real fast after I bought it... When it arrived I saw right away that the clutch was burnt, and the flywheel was toast. Also the guys who removed it obviously didn't know about the clutch fork that you need to release to separate the tranny from the engine, so the used some heavy tools to split the tranny from the engine so the clutch housing was pretty beat up honestly... They also placed the rear diff ONTOP of the clutch disc and shipped it that way... Couple of axle boots were torn and the drifeshafts joints were pretty stiff, not to mention everything was super rusty and I did not have fun getting the brake calipers off. Anyway, the guy said he'd get me a brand new exedy clutch and oem flywheel and he'd cover 80% off the cost, okay cool I agreed. Then I realised he didn't get me the shifter bracket thingy, so I contacted him again and yeah np he was gonna ship that over to me too. After that this became a basic fraud story really, he didn't anwer my messages nor calls until days later. Anywho, not gonna go into to much detail, after maybe 3, 3 1/2 weeks I had everything I was supposed to get for except that he bailed on the new clutch, new flywheel thingy and I got a used STi clutch and flywheel, supposedly with 25k kms on it, looked alright and will probs work fine. One thing that I ****ed up myself was to agree on full price knowing all rotors were shot... And one more thing, I thought I was buying a DCCD tranny but I wasn't. It came out of a 05 STi though but it has to be EUDM model or some. Good news are that it has front and rear LSD though, which is cool I guess. Enough talk, here are some pics.












I also bought this steering wheel of the same guy, for 80bucks. Don't know if Imma use it yet








Which brings us to were I left off on my last post.

Plasti dipped the caps






Started making new brake lines. Relocated the brake divider or what ever it's called, can't remember just now
















Okay so then I started sandblasting the hubs, they were so nasty I couldn't think of installing them as the were. The brake shield thingy was rusted away so I had new made for me, this was just the rears, fronts were good.








Primered and painted black








Also gave the rear diff a quick spray cuz rust...




Bought 15mm adapter spacers






Bought new hub brackets for the coils. Actually got WRX ones first but got to keep them and got the STi ones free

WRX


STi



Had to drill into the wheels for them to clear the bolts on the hubs






Installed the rear hubs with new brake shoes and rotors






Same story up front








Aand finally complete STi drivetrain installed




Motul fluids




Took some parts to the paintbooth








Installed the engine just a few days ago








Sorting out the harness






Current




Ohh and I got these










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#322 ·
Noo actually I didn't measure them, just layed them up to the firewall and bent them were they needed to be bent. And if you're referring to the oem non abs lines I just didn't really feel like using them. Besides, they wouldn't really have fit my master cylender, and the brake divider would have to be placed on the ugly oem place too so... Making my own seemed like the way to go

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#325 ·


Wiring? I though that was Spaghetti... Just needs a few meat balls! :lol:


Also OP, paint on the hub face were the wheel/spacer mates is bad juju. I'd strip off any paint on the hub mounting face. I had a friend who had their brembos powder coated and the shop didn't mask the mounting ears, the coating get soft and made it so the caliper was no longer torqued and the bolts backed out and the caliper came loose!

On another note, I love WRB on the GC! I'm gonna paint mine the same color! Clean car!
 
#328 ·
The perfect OEM setup for rear disc brakes is:

Non-ABS Lines
Single Stage Brake Booster (Early Impreza, I Personal Have:1995 Impreza Nabco Brake Booster [834-06206])
1994 FWD SVX Master Cylinder (Centric Premium Brake MC [130.47019]
WRX STi Type RA Brake Pressure Control Valve [27673FA001]

All fits and in plug and play. In case you don't like how your brakes work when done.
 
#330 ·
Of course!

Since he wanted non abs, non-abs lines.

Single stage booster will allow the lines to match the MC.

1994 FWD SVX Master Cylinder - This was the largest MC that came on a non-abs / all disc brake car. I give you the replacement part number because I bought the last OEM subaru one in the states, i have the number somewhere in my builds.

WRX STi Type RA Brake Pressure Control Valve [27673FA001] - This was a Non-abs / rear disc impreza. The SVX lines are not the same length so that valve is useless.
 
#338 ·
But yeah I was gonna try to update regulary. So, pics. Since I was still using the oem location fuel filter I lowered the bracket so it wasn't so in your face, looks cleaner this way. I should get an aftermarket filter but I'll get to that later






I also finished most of the wiring, and accidentaly did more tuck than I originally planned, which I like honestly. I managed to tuck away all harness that should be seen on the right side of the engine bay. So the only place you'll really notice wires is on the left side and on the firewall




And I mocked up the ic and pipes to see how much they'll cover the harness, was not dissapointed with the look!





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#343 · (Edited)
All harness work is done!
















And, since my brake lines weren't perfectly straight I added this wire loom thingy on it to clean up the look a little. I've since also added that on the harness I lengthened and the alternator is installed. What is left is installing the injectors, headers, uppipe and turbo, and thats basicly it :)

Edit: Basicly it for the engine. Still have to paint the Brembos and replace two worn seals/boots (idk) on the front ones



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