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Stew's '98 L wagon - Bastard JDM Swap + Standalone ECU Daily

45K views 178 replies 31 participants last post by  mike-tracy 
#1 · (Edited)
In anticipation of needing another reliable daily driver car, and having always wanted to build a GF wagon, I've been looking for a clean wagon for a month or so. This past Friday I purchased this 1998 Impreza L wagon to be the basis for the project. I'll use this journal to document my plans and mods as we go, slowly at first. With no further ado...

Current


1998 Impreza L Sport Wagon
Purchased on Friday May 5th, 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona
Brilliant Red L wagon 5MT with no factory options
127,643 miles

Goal: a quick, fun to drive wagon for less money than a good used WRX

Maintenance

05/09/2017 Front Main Seal
5/18/2017 Repaired shift selector U-joint
5/29/2017 Re-charged A/C System
Re-painted Intake Manifold
11/18/2017 Oil Change (134829 miles)
05/01/2018 Alignment - Camber set to -1.5 F/R, 0 Toe
6/24/2018 Oil Change (140641 miles), Cleaned Air Filter
12/02/2018 Replaced front axle and fixed hatch wires.
01/11/2019 Oil Change (145,803 miles)
06/27/2019 Oil Change and Cleaned Air Filter (149,138 Miles)
Fixed broken exhaust

Mod List
Exterior

Debadged
Honda Odyssey rear wiper arm
Pink i
RS Hood
Rally Armor UR Mudflaps
OBS Top Wing
Rust Proofing
GF8 STi Top wing

Powertrain
'98 V4 STi EJ20K Swap
EJ20K Intake Manifold / Sensors / Turbo / Intercooler
'96 V2 WRX EJ20G Block / Heads
Microsquirt Standalone ECU (See: The $300 Standalone)
Grimmspeed MBC
Turbosmart 34mm Kompact BOV
Samco Turbo Inlet
Custom intake w/K&N Filter
GM 3 bar MAP sensor
AMK Bellmouth Downpipe
Blitz Nur Spec midpipe w/Custom axle back
Mishimoto Radiator
Subaru OEM Block Heater
V4 STi 5mt 4.44 Transmission (TY752VBCAA)
Rear Viscous LSD ('01 Forester S Auto)
Exedy Stage 1 HD Clutch
ACT Streetlight lightweight flywheel
Kartboy Short throw
Kartboy Shifter Bushings
Group N Engine mounts

Updated data with the new setup -
20G block/heads, 20K intake mani, VF24 @ 1 bar



Suspension / Brakes / Grip
20mm RSB
KYB AGX Struts
Tanabe GF210 Springs
Paranoid Fab 3/8" Saggy Butt Spacers

215/45/16 Falken Azenis RT615K+ on '98RS Gold Wheels
Front WRX 2-pot Calipers/Rotors
Rear Disc Conversion w/WRX Rotors/calipers
StopTech Stainless Steel Brake Lines

Whiteline roll center kit

Interior
AEM Wideband Gauge w/Custom column pod
Momo/Subaru Shift knob
Weathertech floor mats
Custom A/C Control solution
GReddy 52mm Gauges + Defi 52mm Gauge

Planned
JDM EJ20G Swap Now EJ20K - Completed
JDM WRX 5mt and Hydro clutch swap Completed
Microsquirt EMS Completed
JDM Tails
STI top Wing OBS Top Wing - For now
KYB GR2's KYB AGX Completed
H&R Springs Tanabe GF210 Springs Completed
20mm RSBCompleted
Clear turn signalsCompleted
98 Goldies Completed
Extreme rust prevention measuresCompleted (For now)
Antenna Delete / Relocation Completed
Keyless Entry
Cruise Control
 

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#69 ·
I wanted something cheap. So I went with this....

$116 in materials. Dynomax mini bullet muffler, Thrush Hush muffler, 3" tubing and flange, and some half inch hangers.



Blackulated for stealth.


And Voila.



Not too bad. Sound is good, still has rumble and a good tone. Volume is MUCH less, maybe just louder than a stock STI. Much better suited for daily driving, although there is still some drone on the highway, probably due to wagon.



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#70 ·
Started the first stage of rust proofing today. The idea here is to get ahead the game and seal this baby up before it ever sees it's first salty Michigan road. It still feels sorta bad to plan on diving a pristine chassis through a Michigan winter, however I'm sure with the right measures I can make it last longer than normal. And after all it took my Coupe more than 10 years in the Midwest for rust to rear its ugly head. That, and this IS a daily and that's the point.

Moving on! SEM Cavity wax with a 3 foot 360 degree spray wand. This is designed to be shoved down the rockers and coat all sides as it's pulled out. So, rockers is where started.

Removed all the plastics, taped over the holes, shoved 'er on in and blasted away.




This stuff has got to be the best option for this. The fact that it came running out of the pinch weld highlighted two things: 1.) the rockers are obviously prone to getting salt spray into them as they obviously aren't sealed very well and 2.) this cavity wax will fill in those gaps and congeal, effectively sealing the rocker as planned. Awesome.


And here's how it looks on a test piece...


definitely getting another can and gonna go hog wilds.


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#73 · (Edited)
Just been driving and working on tuning the last few weeks. So far the car feels very strong, but lacking midrange and spool.

This is a second gear pull, so not the best data. Virtual dyno says 241/228 even with some wonky AFR's. Should be able to easily pull that peak torque value up and some power near redline. Definitely going to have to check for boost or exhaust leaks though.




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#74 ·
Okay, I got a couple of decent 3rd gear pull in this morning. The first one (yellow) was on an on-ramp so not a perfectly straight shot. Results are close, spool is still later than I think it could be. Can anyone with a EJ20K or VF24 on a 2 Liter comment?

 
#75 ·
Stock EJ20k w/ VF24 tune has boost come up a bit before what I am seeing in your bottom graph. I'll have to double check, but I am usually seeing .7bar just before 3500RPM if i lug it a bit and 1.4ish (call it 20psi) revving it out.

Doesn't look too awful at all though.

AFR seems a bit lean, but I know the OEM tune shoots for like a 10:1 at WOT. I have no data to back this up on an EJ20k ECU though.
 
#76 ·
I will say that there is a pretty large spool differential based on ambient temp and a heatsoaked IC. They V4 IC really kind of sucks, so I blame that.

Also no AVCS like in newer cars and an engine really designed to be revved leads for just a TAD of lag when everything is super hot.
 
#77 ·
Thanks for the feedback. Maybe I'm not too far off where it should be then.

I've notice that this thing heat-soaks BAD. These we're from my morning drive in crisp cold air. Intake temps were 18-22C, so pretty normal.

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#78 · (Edited)
I paid for premie! Just working out issues.

I'd say you're not too far off stock at all. I'm also pretty sure the Microsquirt uses BETTER electronics than the OEM ECU has from 1998 haha. Super interesting.

I'd just worry about a 12:1 AFR at full boost a little. Dats a lot of heat!

Powerwise, if your power graphs are correct, you're right on the money for what people have dynoed stock EJ20ks at and it also goes with the theory that the 276hp at the crank they were rated at is pretty much BS haha.
 
#79 ·
Normally a pre-requisite of mine before I'll tune a car is it HAS to have an EGT measurement to safely do WOT cal's. Since this is my car, and I've done a number of Subaru's before, I felt pretty safe targeting 11.8 - 11.6:1 and going blind on exhaust temp. If she melt's down its my problem to deal with :lol:
 
#80 ·
It should be fine with the forged pistons, and as long as there isn't any engine ping.. run it!

I'd be interested in going for a ride in your car to compare it to my stock 20k... though I've been thinking of getting one of those ESL daughter boards and having a play at making it go a little faster...
 
#81 ·
I'd be interested in going for a ride in your car to compare it to my stock 20k... though I've been thinking of getting one of those ESL daughter boards and having a play at making it go a little faster...
Samesies. Let me know if you're coming to any meets out this way.
 
#85 ·
My local Subaru network came through. $50 OBS hood in Brilliant Red. Scoop and vents are badly faded and the hood itself is pretty well scratched up. But for 50 bucks it's all one color!



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#86 ·
Extreme rust proofing part two is complete. Here's the arsenal...


I removed the rear bumper to get access to all the surfaces where the bumper meets the body. I wanted to coat these with rust bullet because it's super tough and will prevent scratches into the metal.


Look at that beautiful virgin Impreza goodness.


I sanded the areas I wanted to paint including the lip of the fender and then masked it off.


Rust bullet automotive in the areas you won't see, and rust bullet blackshell in the areas you will.





Next comes the cavity wax. I've already done the rockers, now to seal the rear inner fenders.



Then I did the doors and hatch


Anywhere I could get the 3' nozzle i buried it and blasted away. Any hole that led into the bowls of the chassis...



I even blasted it down into the bumper holes/frame rails


I hope that does the trick!





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#90 ·
Getting some winter wheels ready...

I had some WRX 16's laying around. I had painted them 4 times already so I had a friend sandblast them for me.


Primed...


And painted. It's a dark bronzey metallic.




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#95 ·
No real update. Just been clicking off miles. Car is still running awesome! Just wanted to document first oil change post-swap.

Been using Motul Ecolite in our Crosstrek since new. The Excess gets really good reviews. Figured I’d give it a shot in the wagon.


~135k chassis miles. ~3k miles post-swap.



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#96 ·
I also swapped over to the Motul 8100 5w-40 after the Rotella T6 formula change. It runs well when warm, but when still cold the motor seems to shake more than with Rotella. It's weird.

But after about 10+ autox events, it's doing well. I'll keep using it and get an oil analysis done on this first test sample.
 
#97 ·
I'm interested what your test results might show. All the UOA's I've seen for Excess looked really good.

Before, I was on Castrol synth 10-40. It's starting to get pretty cold here, especially for morning start-ups and I had noticed a little more "mechanical clatter" in the cold. Probably the 10-40 was too heavy for these temps. Either way, the engines a bit quieter now on cold start. Hopefully it holds up!
 
#99 ·
Had my winter tires swapped over to the WRX wheels and installed them over the weekend. I really like the look. Car still needs a drop...


Also picked up a be-winged hatch over the weekend for cheap. I’ll use the mid wing for sure and scavenge the brackets for the top wing. Hopefully I’ll get a JDM sti top wing at some point, but for now I’ll probably use the baby top wing, just cuz.



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