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2001 Impreza L | WRX swapped | Rust repairs and weight reduction!

189K views 1K replies 66 participants last post by  bue car 
#1 · (Edited)
This is mostly the progress of my srp 2001 L coupe, but also some 98L and 2018 brz stuff.



Backstory:


I got the car in August 2011 with 100,500 miles. It was my first car, and it had lots of problems at the start. Almost sold it a few times, but once I read about all the swap stuff, I decided I had to keep it.

I messed with weight reduction, and fixing/upgrading the suspension while I gathered funds for the swap...lots of maintenance too...although the ej22 ran strong the whole time. It really was bulletproof. I had to have the transmission rebuilt, but was finally was able to start the swap summer 2014 and I got an ej205 in and running.

Fall of 2015 it was totaled (not my fault) and I spent a year slowly fixing the car myself with no collision experience. After tons of spot welds, test fits, wiring, and double checking......I got the car inspected and legal to drive again in November 2016, with a reconstructed title.

2017 and on will be dedicated to rust repairs,weight reduction, and self tuning.




Here are some up to date pictures, regardless of the different seasons:

















The goods:


ENGINE:


-USDM 02/03 ej205 (6/28/14)

-TGV deletes

-Grimmspeed catless uppipe, ceramic coated

-Cobb catted downpipe, ceramic coated

-02-05 wrx, Invidia q300 catback

-STi oil pan

-KillerB oil pick-up tube

-Avo turbo inlet

-lighter crank pulley, and no p/s or a/c pulleys

-Protune by Jermaine @TurboXS

-v3 accessport

-iWire merged harness



TRANSMISSION:


-'01 5mt (3.9) and cable clutch;
AndrewTech rebuild

-custom reinforced clutch fork

-'01 (oem) TOB, and pivot ball

-'06+ wrx clutch

-'06+ wrx pressure plate

-'06+ wrx flywheel

-TiC shifter linkage update and pivot bushings



SUSPENSION / HANDLING


-KYB excel-g struts (2/2/14)

-Eibach pro-kit springs 2/2/14)

-Group N front top hats (2/2/14)

-3/8 saggy butt spacers (2/2/14)

-18mm Outback rear sway bar

-20mm WRX wagon front sway bar (6/28/14)

-JDM GC8 crossmember (6/28/14)

-Whiteline steering rack bushings (6/28/14)

-Whiteline rear endlink bushings

-group N front-of-trailing arm bushings

-power steering delete



WEIGHT REDUCTION&DISTRIBUTION:


-Currently about 2690~ lbs.
-***Was at 2590, but the turbo engine swap and a full-size spare added well over 100 lbs back.

-Aluminum jdm gc8 hood

-USDM front bumper beam cut in half

-deleted a/c

-deleted power steering

-washer fluid tank relocated to trunk

-battery relocated to back seat

-removed hunk of metal from glovebox and under dash

-removed most sound deadening

-stripped trunk besides spare

-lighter wheels

-removed keyless entry system

-random little things. More soon.



----------



Here's the progress from the beginning mostly in order. I'm going to add in some dates/mileage later on. Bear with the potato pictures for the first few pages. I eventually got a digital camera, and now a DSLR, so the pictures get progressively better in quality.







Warning, picture heavy:







-Bought late August of 2011, bone stock.















--some actual wheels to replace the steelies and decent tires too.







16x7 with 205/50-16 Conti DW















--This is the oldest pic I have of my car, and the only pic from the beach driving I have left.























--Rally armors, which get used on a daily basis on PA's crazy roads :unamused:























--Homemade light bar that mounts 2 hella 500's























How it looked last winter:























--Polyurethane rear end link bushings







This is when I learned how hard pressing bushings is.....















--New outer tie rods, ball joints, and front wheel bearings.







This is when I learned to hate wheel bearings and ball joints......















This is a ball joint removal tool......mine were really stuck.















j
 
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#93 ·
I think they're 3" x 3" but yeah it needs something to fill in the empty area. That's why I was thinking of making some sort of trim piece that goes around the lights, and get them paint matched.

Kinda like how the p1 fog lights are, just square.
(Bad quality google image)


The only other place they could go, is behind the grille....but I prefer to have them lower and farther apart to shine light on the sides of the road.
 
#94 · (Edited)
2001 Impreza L | WRX swapped | lightweight daily driver project

Ok, so here's the basic, rough shape so far. I still have LOTS of smoothing out and blending to do, and a bunch of adjustments to make.

They're just foam, so I'm adding layers of epoxy resin to give a smooth, hard surface to paint....I wanted to use fiberglass, but fiberglass resin dissolves the foam. Obviously the bumper and fog cover things will all be painted SRP....I just made them white for now since the bumper is currently white.

I'll get a picture with the lights actually in the trim pieces when I get home.



 
#99 ·
Please, please use some fiberglass. Epoxy resin alone will not add any strength. The very first rock chip will destroy your covers if you're not adding any fiberglass cloth/mat.

Tip:

Wrap the foam covers with aluminum foil, then cover that with packaging tape. Do your very best to get all the contours and crevices. After that, start laying the fiberglass on top of the tape. One layer of .75 oz, then 2-3 layers of 1.5 oz. will suffice. The tape will act as a barrier. Once completed, dump some acetone over the foam to dissolve it, then rip out the aluminum foil and tape. After that, smooth the face of the cover with bondo.
 
#100 · (Edited)
2001 Impreza L | WRX swapped | lightweight daily driver project




Ooof....thanks for the warning, and the tips. Definitely don't want them to break easily, especially with the shitty roads here.

What if I keep using the epoxy resin, but use fiberglass cloth with it? They make fiberglass cloth that's compatible to bind with epoxy resins.

Also, I didn't plan on removing the foam core, just cover the whole thing with fiberglass/epoxy and paint it. That way it's not just the layers of fiberglass and/or epoxy....it'll have the foam as some sort of inner structure.

Although, I didn't know about using acetone to easily dissolve the core. I may have to try that if I can get the layers of fiberglass thick enough.

I'm definitely open to any advice here....I didn't think it would be this involved to coat the foam and make it durable.
 
#102 · (Edited)
2001 Impreza L | WRX swapped | lightweight daily driver project

So.......on Monday I dropped the bumper off for paint. They called me yesterday saying it was ready, and I was going to pick it up today.

But.....unfortunately......yesterday I got into an accident. Wasn't my fault, no one was seriously hurt, and everyone had insurance.

I'll update once the insurance adjuster dude comes out, but it doesn't look good. L models aren't worth much, so it could easily be totaled out. Engine sounded a bit funky, so I'm thinking it jumped timing.....I'll diagnose the engine this weekend. Suspension on that corner also got messed up.

:( :( :(

 
#110 · (Edited)
2001 Impreza L | WRX swapped | lightweight daily driver project




I was going around 40mph and someone coming from the opposite direction tried turning left too late (crossing my path of travel) and I didn't have enough time avoid him. I was on the brakes hard and swerved to the left....just hitting their rear passenger corner. Could have been MUCH worse.....like head on, or directly into their side.


Doesn't look too bad, definitely repairble.

I agree, it can definitely be fixed, but unfortunately the car isn't worth much to the insurance companies. Air bag stuff alone will be a lot....plus all the body and suspension stuff. I'll probably have to buy it back from them.

If it's totaled out by insurance I'll try to swap everything over to a new shell....either that, or get a bugeye wrx.
 
#112 ·
Insurance dude came out, and he said it's definitely totaled. Just have to get the exact numbers on what I get back.

So I'm on the hunt for a clean 93-01 impreza or 02-03 wrx. I'd really like to swap everything over to a new 93-01 shell. A WRX just has so many things I don't want/need, much heavier, and just not as cool as a 93-01. :lol:

That being said, I don't have the time and space to do a swap all over again....at least not right now. Maybe I'll just get a bugeye WRX for now, and swap another 93-01 next year or something.

Decisions, decisions.
 
#115 ·
Sorry for the slow response. I've been waiting on the idiots from insurance and crash reporting system to finalize everything.....people not sending paperwork that needs to be sent.....ect, ect. Still waiting right now actually. Hoping to finally have answers next week.

I've decided to just get a GD wrx/STi for the time being. I won't be able to find a clean 93-01 and swap everything over before winter......and I need AWD by winter. I'm pulling off all the good swap stuff from the impreza and saving it for later. Hopefully next year or the year after I'll be able to swap again.



Definitely buying it back to get the goodies off....only $200.


I know the damage didn't look too awful on the picture I posted, but the insurance adjuster sent me the numbers.....he quoted the damage well over $8000!!!!

In the pictures below you can kinda see how far the suspension and core support/frame got pushed back (see crooked top hat). It also pinched/cut a bunch of wiring at the front. I'm gonna start stripping the car this weekend so I'll get more pictures then.








well fvck. just returned your pm about the bumper. :(

sorry to hear about this man. glad you're okay though.

It's even more depressing because I still have to go pick up and pay for the freshly painted v1-4 bumper. :(
I was also done like 95% of the fiberglass for those trim pieces for my LED's.
 
#116 ·
Damn mang, sorry to read this.. Have heard too many moto wrecks this past month, with grim outcomes.. Car's are replaceable, glad everyone was ok! $200 bucks to buy it back? Deeecent!

Best of luck moving forward, I vote buy a decent running swap-able L/RS. Drive it stock for the winter then swap the pair when the weather warms up
 
#118 · (Edited)
2001 Impreza L | WRX swapped | lightweight daily driver project

I vote buy a decent running swap-able L/RS. Drive it stock for the winter then swap the pair when the weather warms up

Well, before the crash I was going to buy a second Subaru as a spare car by winter anyhow. I kinda need 2 cars. It was very stressful with only the swapped car to drive.

Since I'm not re-swapping until after winter, I have 2 scenarios:

1. Buy the L/RS/OBS now, swap after winter, then buy a spare car

2. Buy the "spare" car now, and look for a really clean L/RS/OBS in the mean time to swap after winter

I prefer #2 because it'll give me more time to find a really clean 98-01 L/RS/OBS. I don't wanna quickly settle for a rusty one with a bunch of problems.
Also...I'd rather drive a turbo car (WRX) than n/a while I wait to re-swap. :lol:

Once I swap again the WRX will become the spare and I can go back to dailying a turbo'd first gen impreza.


I'd agree with Steezy, there are a lot of nice RS's for sale now.

Idk....I'm having a hard time finding a good condition, manual, 98-01 L/RS/OBS within 200 miles. If a rust free one pops up, I'll jump on it, but I'm in no hurry. The rust on my L wasn't too bad, but I don't want something in worse condition.
 
#119 · (Edited)
I say you get your winter beater/ second back up car/ daily.
Then use this car. cut off all the damage. continue with operation loose weight. I have been thinking about cutting the front of my car off, everything in front of the struts. make a tube frame rail/bumper beam. make some small light brackets to support fenders and headlamps. fill in the gaps with plastic sheet or thin metal. you can still cover it all up with some new fenders, oem bumper skin, oem grill (attaches to lights anyway), and oem style hood and hood pins.
Shave a 100 lbs, and go full racecar. You can do a similar treatment to the rear and shave 50-100 lbs back there.
Ditch speakers, stereo, back seat, oem rear seat belts...

Go full racecar!

EDIT: I didn't realize the strut towers were so badly damaged... That's a tough call. If you wanted to start from scratch, These re-inforced strut tops would be a good starting point. build new strut towers. you could even increase your suspension geometry how you like it (basically ride height and caster, and camber).

Rally.Build | Subaru Impreza GC weld on strut top reinforcement
 
#120 · (Edited)
2001 Impreza L | WRX swapped | lightweight daily driver project

I say you get your winter beater/ second back up car/ daily.

Then use this car. cut off all the damage, make brackets, go full racecar

I've thought a lot about this also. Not as much the full racecar part :lol: ....but cutting off the damage and fixing it up. Like you said, the fender and bumper will cover most of the repairs.

There's 2 concerns with that:

1. The control arm is bent quite a bit, so I'm not sure what else got tweaked. Strut tops like you mentioned, and other mounting points might be messed up. I'll have to do some measuring.

(Bad picture I know, I'll get better ones soon)



2. No garage + mid-atlantic area. The car will develop a TON of rust and become a wildlife habitat just sitting outside without moving for so long.

Decisions, decisions....
 
#122 ·
A tarp, extension cord, shotgun (to keep critters away)... Problem solved.

seriously though, lower control arms bend VERY easy. I wouldn't be surprised if everything else was ok. Even then, the control arm attaches to the subframe, and the rear mount would likely bend/brake before it bent the chassis. Subframes are replaceable.

Replacing strut towers would be scary, trying to locate the mounting points perfectly would be scary. But if you have a daily drive with the same chassis, it would be a good guide and easy to get dimensions from that one.
 
#123 ·
2001 Impreza L | WRX swapped | lightweight daily driver project

After MUCH, MUCH thought and looking over....I've decided to keep the car and try to fix it. :banana:

Still getting a second car in the mean time, but I'm going to gradually attempt to fix the L over the next 6 months or so. It'll be drivable soon (very long driveway).....but to get it legally back on the road will take some time. Once winter is fully here progress will slow a bit. I'll also take this time to fix and install some other stuff.

I've already bought a new fender.....also mocked up the v1-4 bumper just to see how it'll look. I took some pictures from the good side of the car for motivation. :lol:



My first order of business is to get a useable control arm, and go for an alignment. If they CAN'T get it within spec, I'll know something else is bent. Almost everything else seems fine. The strut and axle are probably junk....but the JDM crossmember, sway bar, steering rack, and strut tower look fine.

Then I'll fix all the core support stuff up front...replace the hood, airbags, lights, ect....and finally get the R-title to legally get it back on the road and insured.

Hopefully I'll get around to most of this list too:
--fix rust at rear 1/4's and rockers
--pull engine to re-seal some stuff and install goodies
--lots of weight reduction
--respray wing
--possibly respray whole car
--install rear discs
And more stuffs
 
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