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95 coupe usdm wrx swap, first subaru

37K views 195 replies 14 participants last post by  Henry95impreza 
#1 ·
Finally starting a thread here for my coupe build, i got the shell last April from a friend, and it basically sat until mid November. Once i heard it was a coupe, and for free, i had to have it, so it got dropped off and then sat while i started reading and learning about subarus and deciding what i wanted to do with it. This is my first subaru, and first manual car, im coming from jeeps and offroading, building up a cherokee to take to king of the hammers in a few years.
Heres how it sat for the first few months.


Of course had lots of big ideas, i would like to cage it and start doing some rallies soon, i also drive alot on the backroads and want some more fun for that, but things changed and i want to get it together in a somewhat "stock" form. I did want a turbo so i decided on a usdm wrx swap for simplicty of mods, and parts availability. Mid November i found a deal on a jdm 5spd with 4.44 final drive and diff, should make for a bit more fun in the twisties. Next purchase was a crashed 02 wrx minus engine and trans, pulled everything i could from that to swap into mine. Got everythijg mostly fit, gotta get a windshield put in then ill do final fitment. Got an engine from an 04 wrx, put arp headstuds and all new gaskets getting engine together, gotta get a few parts to get it finished and bolted in then I will finish the rest, just want to run it before putting everything together

Parts starting to come in

Jdm 5spd with 4.44s and diff
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New rear subframe, suspension, disc swap, diff mount, and trans crossmember
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Sti fuel pump
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Jdm 4pots, aluminum lcas, and axles
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04 wrx engine
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3" full catless exhaust
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02 wrx for interior, wiring, ecu and misc parts
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Act flywheel
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Bolts for almost everything and anything on a subaru



Getting the trans in
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Engine going together
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Getting the wrx dash fit and seats in
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Getting a clutch, bellhousing bolts, and hopefully clutch fork pin and a gastank and lines, gonna try to have engine in this weekend if possible and start hooking up wiring and neatening everything up, cant wait to get it started!
 

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#4 ·
here it was a few years ago iin the best state it was almost ever in, 3.5 rubicon express superflex short arm kit, wj steering conversion with heim steering and custom trackbar, on 33x1250 ats

later went up to 5.5 coils, shackle relocation, 20 gallon fuel cell and 33x1050 km2s, then ripped a control arm mount and ive kept upgrading while building since, finally its a no f**ks given build, getting fully caged, linked front and rear, basically will be a tube buggy with some xj sheetmetal, LS, 14+ coilovers and bypasses all around, custom axles, 37s, to race at king of the hammers one day!


and dads jeep, 7.5" lift(rubicon express springs, and clayton longarms), trussed and locked dana 30, 8.8, disc rear, 4.10s, rear locker, 35" km2s, 4spd atlas, gonna be building a cage for his soon as well


gsla72; said:
Looks like you're off to a great start! I'll be watching this thread closely - your car looks shockingly similar to mine when I started.
thank you!! and to think that last april when i got it i knew nothing about subarus!!
 
#5 ·
Damn, going full retard on the Jeep! I built mine pretty far and it ended up being to capable for the local trails. Was a bunch of fun though! Ford axles, front long arm, np435 and twin stick Dana 20.



 
#7 · (Edited)
More parts gathering

New oem


Intake clamps


Dropped the engine in, swapped the rear main seal, and put in two new studs to the bellhousing, going to get flywheel and clutch on, and put the trans back in. Still need to get a timing belt so i can get the engine complete and start putting everything together. Also going to be getting mapdccd wheel speed signal processor, that will take care of my speedometer.

 
#12 ·
Picked up a few more parts last night, starting to see getting it on the road soon!
2.5 oil pan and moroso pickup



Mishimoto rad and hoses, will have to figure out some slimmer fans to clear the timing cover



and two switches for something ill be picking up in 2 weeks


which is this:

from my inderstanding i should be able to unbolt the rear portion with the dccd and swap that to my 4.44 5mt, also later i should be able to swap the better 1-5 into my trans keeping the 4.44 final drive? I have spoken with MapDCCD about their dccd controller and wheelspeed signal processor
 
#13 ·
few things changed and the trans i was going to be getting i was going to pickupearlier than planned, then i was messaged earlier in the day that i was gonna ppick it up that it had been sold.... but now im working on getting all my final parts ordered so i can make major progress very soon, hope to test fire it this week, driving in the next few
 
#15 ·
found it on a local subaru facebook page, I find alot of parts on FB and CL, ebay, amazon, rockauto, dealer, all depends on what im looking for.
Timing belt, shifter bushings and spark plugs came in today, rear main seal, fuel line, and an inch pound torque wrench wil be in tomorrow, have a bunch of parts coming from rockauto(exhaust gaskets, harmonic balancer, belts, oil filter), all new silicon vacuum lines, headed to the dealer now to order a bunch more parts(4 pot rebuild kits, more gaskets, turbo studs, clutch fork spring). Every time I cross something off the to buy list I add at least 2 more but still looking like ill be able to get it test run in the next week, then driving wont be long after, still need bumpers, windshield, few other bits to make it 100% driveable.

also got a price from subiesavers for rocker panels and quarters, gotta look at how people cut for widebodies and see what i can get away without fixing for now, if it will be getting cut out soon for fiberglass anyway. rockers definitely need to be done though.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Thank you!!

Yea idk what to say as to how this has happened hahaha after it sat for 7 months its going pretty quickly somehow, currently planning to have it at least test fired in the next week then the last parts and assembly will happen still doesnt look like much has happened besides me just clittering my basement since i kind of need everything to assemble it. trying to find all the random little brakets tabs and bolts im missing is the killer, and im trying to do select mods right away to speed up later performance upgrades
 
#19 ·
hahaha

Oh yes im sure, i cant wait to drop it in gear for the first time :D Thank you!

picked up a throttle cable, intercooler bracket, radiator overflow, and a set of goodyear offroad//snow tires 215/65-16, and getting a set of studded hankooks on 06 wrx wheels as soon as it runs, found some great roads near my friends place in pennsylvania so i want to try to get out there in the coupe before all the snow is gone

my inch pound torque wrench just came in so im off to get my cams in, rear main seal also came in, tmrw a bunch of rockauto parts will be here and vacuum lines. also borrowed the company 23 cam tools so ill get this thing timed today, just need some 8mm fuel line and then i have everything i need to start it i think!!
 
#20 ·
got the engine back out, did the moroso pickup and 2.5 pan, rear main seal, and got the cams torqued in on one side, getting the tappets sorted out that came out but by the end of the weekend the motor will be in again. i have everything i think i need to get it running, so now time to make progress!!





got a bunch more parts in this week, timing kit, spark plugs, oil filter, turbo and exhaust gaskets and hardware, accessory belts, crank pulley, and all new vacuum lines




getting engine together while watching King of the Hammers on Livestream


had some fun in the Honda this past weekend, found lots and lots of gravel roads so now im really excited to get the coupe together. had one little slipup but saved it

buddy who was riding passenger needed to change his pants when we got home, going back out with the coupe on studded tires once it runs!!
 
#22 ·
Thank you!!! if i had found a donor that was running and driveable to any extent it would have been a fairly stock swap, its not a daily, nor is my honda really as my work provides a take home vehicle, so downtime isnt a major concern but trying not to have this be a 5year build like my jeep haha
 
#23 · (Edited)
Made some good progress on removing the uppipe and turbo studs, still got a few left, i think im gonna need to drill them out







Got going on the 4pot rebuilds as well




Half of my very clean uncluttered basement, subaru and jeep parts everywhere, ls aparr on the rear bench, turbo rebuild on the right, 4pot rebuilds on the left


Almost got the engine wrapped up, discovered im missing the drivers side rear timimg cover so i need to get that and finish it and drop it in
 
#24 ·
its been a little while since ive updated here, this will catch up to where i am, working on final wiring and plumbing, few more parts im crossing off the list. Shouldnt be much longer before it moves!

so the stud removal ended up moving across town to dads to get the torches on them, got all out but one for the uppipe bracket, so ill just weld the bracket on not a big deal.


everything is getting tapped from now on, bought taps for just about everything on this car


new studs


got the timing belt cover and got the cam pulley bolt removed after some struggle







engine dropped in



found my rearview mirror and mounted it up


interior mostly in, not dealing with the heatercore yet, more concerned with getting it together and driveable


picked this up off a bugeye, i have a few ideas that should make it fit better


calipers rebuilt



just put a deposit down on this to pickup soon



and this is in the mail

 
#25 ·
Picked up more random bits last night, sti y pipe, rear axles, throttle body hose, boost solenoid, and a starter. This morning picked up a crawford aos and got that mocked up today. There are a few hoses for it I want to replace and relengthen.





So theres not much room between my rad and belts as is, im going to try to get some aluminum elbows and add some clamps and straight hoses and see how that works


But the internet is a bad place and goves me ideas, so i pulled out some sawzall and removed some sheetmetal, in my defense it was bent up any way and ill end up placing the whole core support. Im going to try to find someone who could tig some new adapters and a taller cap on this rad for me so i can go vmount, ill be getting s die for my bender to make a new dom crashbar. I also need a bumper to see what fits where exactly



And rear subframe diff and axles mocked up inside


Intercooler should be here this week and ill be making alot of progress, should get to test start soon!!
 
#28 · (Edited)
That's the second picture I went off of haha..but I didn't know what to do about the port I mentioned so I teed it in to the blue line .maybe that port can just have nothing attached ?

This is the port I'm confused about the diagram doesn't show because you take the oem line from that and run it to the aos and it's just left open


Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
#34 ·
Ive been making good progress, which means minimal to no pics, and right now its none, partly as well because i left my dslr at a friends shop so i have yet to get back there.

Ive collected a bunch more parts, GD rad fans, mishimoto intercooler hoses, new to me top mount came in, got a bunch of coolant hardlines i was missing, got parts to redo the rear brakelines, battery, fuel line, oil and filter, coolant, gear oil for trans and diff, power steering fluid.

This past weekend a friend of mine and I worked on it til late while the time jumped forward, got to 6am and everything to run it is hooked up, trans and front axles bolted up, gastank setup underneath and connected until i get straps and drill the bolts, it cranks over but doesnt fire. I dont hear the fuel pump coming on, tested that to a battery and it works, i need to double check on getting voltage at the pump with the key turned, as i recall we were getting a low reading, so my thinking is that the battery is too low to start the fuel pump and ecu while it cranks? checking on some voltages at the pump today to see where that gets me. once its fired up ill have more motivation to attack the few bolts in the rear that need to be drilled/extracted/removed but I have made some progress on those even still
 
#35 ·
I've had problems with broken bolts on mine too.had a lot of hole saw action when I re did the whole rear end .waiting on some last parts. A couple more installs and it'll be on to fluids and such similar to you! Summer is coming

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
#37 · (Edited)
I think what happened for my subframe and sway bar mounts the nuts broke from the welds rusting so ya I cut holes took it off with sockets etc. And put new hardware in.

Pretty simple concept but was kinda hard guessing where to drill holes and get sockets down in the holes and all that..but only option
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#39 · (Edited)
Last friday i picked up some federal 595s, turns out the wheels dont clear 4pots so theyre getting switched for another set that will. Also ordered a set of mishimoto intercooler hoses.



And got myself a new to me topbox from a friend for my birthday a few days ago


So we had 18-20" of snow on tuesday which slowed up everything for a few days, including ups which delayed delivery on my ic hoses, they just came today.



So the gd exhaust doesnt quite line up...but im not exactly sure what its off, I think a blobeye wagon


Probably not much getting done tonight, Happy St Patricks day! Gonna try to get the ic hoses on and the new passenger ic bracket mocked up tonight/am


Gonna try to get the battery on a trickle charger or a jumppack to see if that helps anything. I really hope to get it started this weekend

Also the brakelines i mentioned above, one day this week/weekend dad will help be bend and flare a few new lines and ill be that much closer to driving!
 
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