As of 12/18/2022: 190251 chassis miles
Swapped at 188706 miles
1545 miles on swap
This is my 2000 Impreza RS coupe which has been my daily driver since 2004. I bought it used from a gentleman in Dallas who had it set up for autocross. Faced with the prospect of buying a new car, I couldn’t find it in myself to part with it! Now after years of wear and tear I am committed to making this thing new again, and to eventually make it into the STI it always wanted to be
I finally got a beater. I put over 25k miles on the RS in the past year, and my front bumper paint took a beating from all the rocks and debris on these crappy roads. I bought a 2003 Outback for $1200 from a local guy. It needed/needs quite a bit of work, but I've got it to a semi passable state. Work performed on the Outback:
Resealed leaky engine including main seal, oil separator plate, crank access plugs, cam seals
New oil pan
Timing belt and components
Water Pump
Oil pump
Brake calipers, pads, and rotors
New AT transmission oil pan, internal oil filter, spin on oil filter, ATF flush
All the usual fluids
New engine ground wires. It still has some electrical issues I'm chasing down though.
Now that I've got a new daily, time to engage project car mode on the RS! I bought an engine crane and engine stand when working on the Outback. Methinks its time for an engine swap...
The powertrain came via freight today. I unpacked everything and the motor and trans look extremely clean. There's some minor damage to some connectors and some refurbishment is needed for the rear diff. All in all, it looks pretty nice.
Yo i'm also in the MD area. Where in MD r u located? O btw, where did you get all the trims? Im trying to get my car whole car repainted in the spring/summer time and trying to replace everything while it's out. Do u have part numbers?
The differential I received looked pretty rough, but seems mechanically sound. It was very rusty, was missing a bolt, and had a cracked differential cover. I opened it up and inspected it. I verified the tooth count to make sure it was indeed a 4.444 diff, inspected the bearings for play, and looked for any damaged or overly worn teeth. Everything looked good inside. I cleaned up all the rust and painted the housing black. I installed a new cover, oil seals, o-rings, breather cap, and all new bolts, plugs, and studs. Its looking pretty fresh.
I got the engine and transmission separated today. The flywheel and clutch look pretty rusty so I plan on replacing those. I cleaned up the transmission bell housing, and installed new output shaft and axle seals.
Any recommendations on pull-style clutches? I'm not really looking to exceed 300WHP any time soon, so I think a stage 1 organic would fit the bill nicely. This isn't going to be a race car (yet), so drivability is important. I'll be sticking with an OEM weight flywheel. I've been looking at the following:
While I'm waiting on my flywheel and slave cylinder to get here, I've been working on upgrading to the 06 WRX 4/2 pots. Instead of using the adapter brackets in the rear, I opted to replace the backing plates with the 06 WRX ones for a more OEM look. While I was down there I replaced the bearings, hubs, and parking brake shoes and components. For rotors I used Brembo 06 WRX OEM replacements.
I got the old 5 speed out. It had a lot of overspray on it from my paint job, the usual clutch dust, and the TOB was complete trash. It had about 158k miles on it. I originally bought it from enginesong on Nasioc back in 2015 to replace my original trans which froze up. I had the stealership replace it for me back then 🤮. I've had zero problems with it since.
I'll be starting install on the WRX transmission tomorrow. The plan is to swap in the transmission first with the existing RS engine and test it out for a while. That will keep the car driveable while I work on refreshing the EJ205.
I've got the transmission installed and everything buttoned up. I took it for a test drive and everything seems to be working fine, except shifting into 3rd and 5th can be a bit sticky at times. I'm hoping it will loosen up over time given the transmission has been sitting for who knows how long. I ended up purchasing an XClutch Stage 1 clutch and chromoly flywheel combo. XClutch is a fairly new brand in the US, but is very well regarded in Australia. I figured the community could use some more reviews on this brand so I took a chance. So far the clutch feels great with OE feel. It does grab close to the floor, but I did change out the entire clutch system and it could use some adjustment. Here's a list of parts used:
I started on the engine refresh. First I upgraded the oil pan, baffle, and pickup to the 04+ STI version. Next I'll be doing the head gaskets and replacing every gasket and any rubber or plastic parts. I'll be leaving the short block intact since it has passed compression test.
I'm still having shifting issues with the WRX 5-speed. 3rd and 5th gears continue to be difficult to shift into. I've tried changing gear oil to Motul 300 with little effect on gear change smoothness. I have a new Cobb shifter on the way to rule that out as well. I don't suspect that will help much, since it shifted just fine on the old 5 speed. Here's a rundown of gear change difficulty:
Shift into 1st at stop: OK
1st -> 2nd: OK
2nd -> 3rd: Difficult
3rd -> 4th: OK
4th -> 5th: Difficult
Reverse: Normal
While stopped:
1st -> 3rd: OK
1st -> 5th: OK
3rd -> 5th: OK
5th -> 3rd: OK
If the new shifter doesn't fix anything I'll be pulling the transmission to check the shift lever, shift forks, and rails. I hope its not synchros... Any other ideas before I dive in?
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