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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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#76 ·
Did some work that night and got everything off the manifold. It fits fine but the hood clearance is <1mm. I am working on removing the turbo to see if it can be rotated so that the pressure side will point to the left but not the right side. Also started to wonder how much boost it can make, I want to run something around 18psi and I think that is just about as much as it can make. It might be a good idea to try and find a STi turbo... And some bigger injectors might also be needed.

Then there is the problem to get the car mapped... I'm thinking that WRX harness will be to much of an effort and cost compared to a standalone ECU. I have been looking into Megasquirt II and I am leaning towards getting one.

Here are some pics because, what would an update be without pics right? :screwy:

As you can see there are plenty of cutting to do on the manifold to get it to look nice...








Also... :D Got the Celica painted this weekend :sunny: And dear god do I love that colour!









2 of my 3 cars inside my garage, both with a shiny looking paint :cool:

 
#77 ·
I did some work tonight :) Removed the turbo to see if the housing could be rotated, which is can. There is actually a tiny pin on the housing that goes through a hole to keep the housing in place and keep it from rotating. I will have to drill a new hole for that pin.





Here you can see the pin, it is below the second bolt hole



Damn this thing is tiny though...







But, when I got the housing of I saw that the thing I don´t know what is called (I am reaching my English knowledge limit here lol) was damaged...



I guess I'm crazy lucky because I have no idea were the piece is... I didn't hear anything moving in the cooler when I shaked it and it is definitely not in the manifold...
The car wasn't even having boost issues, every single thing was just fine and it worked fine. So maybe I can just use it again..?

 
#79 ·
Yeah but the housing doesn't look damaged at all... Anyway I'm planning to get a new turbo.



I wanted to upgrade to a bigger turbo but I didn't plan on doing it until next summer. I got offered a used STi turbo for $800, it was supposed to have been rebuilt 1000km ago. I started searching for turbos on Ebay and found a cheap 20G turbo (from china) for $275. It'll cost me around $400 with shipping and additional costs so I am seriously thinking about buying it. I know it is probably not a quality turbo and won't last as long as more expensive onces but I don't really care...

As far as tuning the car goes I have been looking into MegaSquirt but I don't really know what to go with... A friend who had a car like mine told me he sent his ECU to Britain and got it modified by EcuTek so it could be reprogrammed and tuned and it costed far less than a MegaSquirt. I will have to look into that a bit... :yapyap:

I don't have any update'd pics of the car but I got this in the mail yesterday, the COTM Prize I won in June, finally :rolleyes:


 
#80 ·
Hey guys not much has happend since the last post but I'm still going to give you a little update. I was working on the Celica and the plan is to sell it in the summer. It's almost finished but I haven't been doing much work on it lately because of my Outback. I had to get that thing through inspection and there were a few things I had to fix. Then I decided to paint it (with a paint roller, don't judge it's just a beater :)). A few days ago I ordered an intercooler which will hopefully show up early march and then I'll order a turbo. Decided to go for a china made no name 20G turbo which does although have a 1 year warranty. If it blows up on me so be it, it is dirt cheap and I have no expensive internals in the engine to damage. Once the cooler gets here I'll start working on the setup and get my friend to make some pipes for it :) Anyway, what is an update without pics right? Sorry there aren't that many of the GC but hope you enjoy them. Ohh and btw, I tried plasti dipping the 5 spokes yellow and I rather like it so that might be a spare set for next summer. And I scored a strutbrace :)

The GC and the Toyota chillin in the garage :)



Gave the Outback some love, then lifted it and painted it orange :)











And the plasti dipped 5 spokes :)





 
#81 ·
So I've been planning this build thing and am currently looking for some sidefeed injectors around 800cc... Already got myself a walbro 255 fuel pump. Washed the car the other night since it was really dusty :) Everyone loves pics right? :bump:



 
#90 · (Edited)
Finally got some piping to work with



Cutting out of the bumper for the pipes





Removed the horn bracket. My friend who's helping me with this insisted on that we moved the battery to the trunk, so I will be doing that too







Gonna be getting this intake manifold to go topfeed. Also I like it way better than any other factory manifold I have seen. It will need some customation for the throttle body to fit tho... any one used this intake on a drive by cable car?

 
#91 ·
Sooo, I bought that manifold. And it's big... So big that I'm lacking 45mm to clear the hood... I'm looking into how I can modifi it to work. Will be working on the car tonight so hopefully I can give you some updates soon :)







 
#92 ·
Here is what we got done last night, I feel like we did alot. Atleast something happend :)


My friend welded on the bracket that we made, preatty awkward that his welds are better than the ebay ones on the IC lol





We finished removing the battery seat thingy





Then we cut out for the piping to enter the engine bay


















Edit: some of the last pics are sideways because I took them through snapchat because my phone was dying on me (wouldnt let me use the camera)
 
#100 ·
Yeah thats what I've heard to, people have advised me to get legit shafts and then I should be good. But I'll probably run it as it is and see :)

Wish I could weld too :/ I can fix exhausts and other minor things but I can't weld nothing so it will look good, and definetaly not aluminium. My friend who does the welding and is helping me with this is really good tho :)
 
#102 ·
The manifold is pretty much finished, might do some shaving tho but it's good for now :)









I also took the compressor housing of the new turbo to see if it could be rotated easily and it won't be a problem. And that size difference, damn!





 
#103 ·
Did some test fitting tonight. Shaved the intake manifold a little and got a alternator/ac pump bracket. I'm having some minor clearance problems with the alternator but nothing serious. I also moved the cooling fan to the right side of the radiator to make room for the ic piping. It's awesome to see this coming along, can't wait to finish this :)



















 
#105 ·
Did some work tonight. First off, got a hose for the turbo inlet. It's a tight fit but it fits. I'll also have too shorten the rust free 90° bend a bit.





My friend who's helping me made me these brackets for the ic, it's not going anywhere now



Then we fabbed up the piping on the manifold side



Then we welded what we got already (those welds tho)









And we also modded the alternator bracket, still have to weld it properly



Still haven't really figured out the turbo side piping yet



 
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