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Luke's Green GF8 Wagon - To 400k and beyond

29K views 102 replies 16 participants last post by  LYH45 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi.

This is my Dec 1997 GF8 Impreza RX. Bought for $2200 in January 2017 with 309,000 km's stock and original after my my old gc8 became a lost cause. Nothing too special but it's a clean Wagon and nothing about it says it has 350,000 km's.

I never clarified this in any posts but this car has the original motor and gearbox.

This Project so far cost Roughly $3350 (not including tyres and rims) and I'm sure there are things I've missed in the mods list. The plan is to focus on handling and other cheap mods, and once (well if at this point) the engine dies then I'll look at the EZ30/EZ36/EJ207/EJ206/EJ22 options.


Mod List

Handling
- Front Brakes off a 2008 Outback
- Rear Brakes off a 2002 Outback
- GC8 5 Spokes Wrapped in Federal EVO ST-1's
- Unbranded Alloy Front Swaybar Links
- Lowered on Low King Springs
- Whiteline 22mm Front Sway Bar
- Whiteline 22mm Rear Sway Bar


Visual
- Axleback off a GC8 WRX (Came with old car so unsure if accurate)
- Felted Dash and Glove Box Pocket out of a Forester
- Brushed Aluminium Radio Trim
- V4 STI Steering Wheel
- Black Generic Floormats
- Leather Handbrake


Other
- Blackvue Dashcam
- Rola Crossbars
- Variable Wiper
_______________________________________________________________________________

Stock Options Equipped - All the things that are usually done that I don't have to.

Engine
- EJ20E

Exterior
- V4 Front Bumper with Fluted Fog Lights
- Side-Skirts/Rear Spats
- Front and Rear Aero Guards
- V4-V6 Smooth Rear Bumper
- Smooth Doors and Fenders
- Smooth Fuel Door
- Roof Rails
- Rear Fog Light
- Top and Mid Wing

Interior
- All Black Interior
- Red Hazard Light



Luke
 

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#3 · (Edited)
Thanks CJenator.
So here are some photos of the work that I've done to the Wagon.

Here she is stock as a rock.



New Brakes



Then I decide to finally got around to lowering it. This is a photo with new wheels, brakes, and springs. Would like to get some KYB AGX when these struts die.




Finally painted the syms wing after doing repairs with fiberglass for the first time





Thanks for reading.

Luke
 
#4 · (Edited)
Time for the next installment. Took the wagon for a skiing adventure where I camped in the back for 2 days in about 20cm of fresh powder. Car also ticked over to 320,000km finally.



I picked up some RS 6 Spokes for $60 ($45 USD) in brand new condition, and some RS Goldies for $80 ($60 USD). Sadly the Goldies has been painted over in black, to the plan is to plan them back to gold.

My brother also got a car. So what else apart from a Subaru wagon with way to may Km's. So I found him a 2001 Blue Forester with 360,000km (224,000 Miles). We picked some roof rack and a few other pieces to clean it up. He want's to go the battlewagon direction so I'll up date that on here as well.



I also rough concept of what my wagon could look like. It won't but it could.



And that's been that for a little while.
 
#6 ·
nice work so far. that quick sketch looks awesome! can't wait to see what you come up with.

as for the spats up front..you could also use a heat gun to soften up the plastic and then mold it shape and tape it down to cool and harden.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Today, discovering damage, paint prep and the deal of the year. I finally managed to remove the rear bumper to see the rear quarter damage. It's not as bad as I expected and I think i can get away with just replacing the panels below the quarter and just pull the quarter back to shape. I'll use the panels off the parts car and I'm just waiting for spot weld drill bits to arrive.

I've started to repair the WRX 5 spoke in preparation for paint. This is one of the ones in better condition. The plan is to paint them gold and put them on the wagon.



Hope this was off some interest.

Luke
 
#10 ·
Yeah I knew it was the first thing that had to be done on the car. I'm seeing if they sell and if they don't I'm going to get rid of them with a sledge hammer and get someone to film it. Thanks for the tip on the night shades. He gave then to me for free so i wasn't going to say no even if I couldn't remove it.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I suggest tannerite.
I had to google what that was. I now know that's the right choice. Sadly it isn't available in Australia due to our gun and explosive laws. So I'll have to think of something else.

Thanks Brian. In future plans for the wagon are roof racks/ basket and maybe some rectangular fog lights. No engine swaps atm because I'd like to see how far the ej20e will get me. So far at 323,000 it still has no leaks and doesn't burn oil at all. Its also more than fast enough to get my into trouble.

I forgot to add yesterday I managed to pick up the remaining pieces for Peters (brother) forester. OEM fog lights and a cargo cover for the back. Just waiting for it to stop pouring down with rain so we can install them.

I also have a small projects to show. I picked up a takara 22b that I'm going to get my spare key from the wagon and put the key through the grill.



Hope this has been of some interest

Luke :)
 
#25 ·
i think. think. that might be the hill holder feature. i personally have never seen that item before on a usdm car. or well, any subaru for that matter, and the hillholder is the only thing i can think of it possibly being.

LYH45 said:
I think if the struts where solid steel bar they would be more comfortable than those.
i :lol: 'd pretty hard at this one.
 
#26 · (Edited)
i think. think. that might be the hill holder feature. i personally have never seen that item before on a usdm car.
Thanks Brian. I was wondering if it was crucial to the clutch but that backs up my mothers theory on it. I don't think it was ever on a usdm car as all the drivers stuff is on that side with probably gets in the way of it. I probably won't use it on the sedan but I'll remove it for the wagon and install it in like like 50 years.

So in bargain of the month I manage to pick up a set of KYB AGX with some kings superlows for a gf8 for $150 AUD. Unfortunately that means the rear will be higher, which will give it a muscle car rake. If i don't like it I'll sell or swap them for the sedan equivalent.
On the wagon front I have gone back to the stock top wing. This is because I was pulled over out of a line of traffic traveling as the same speed and fined for speeding, I might loose my license for a few months as a result. She still looks good though :). Also ran into a V3 WRX wagon at the servo in Acadia Green and had a good chat with the owner. It was stock and has 295,000 km on it which is awesome.



Turn away now if you can't handle nerdy stuff. Another one of my small projects is to make a Lego V4 STI Coupe which is almost at completion. The steering wheel needs changing. Excuse the shitty photos. I'll try and uplode some better photos if there's any interest.



Both doors open and so does the boot and bonnet. And there is an ej engine in there but it needs a lot of work. It's a nerdy project but a fun one and something no one has ever done.

Hope this was of some interest.

Luke :)
 
#30 ·
Thanks, it looks a bit E30 in the rear at the moment. But its been a fun little project

I think stock top wing looks better.
Its too big!
Yeah at first it was a bit of a shock to see it missing. But after having it for a few days the stock wing it's sitting with me a lot better. I was going to sell the syms wing, but I decided just to keep it for now. I might see if a can swap it for a OEM STI top wing.

I'm currently on the lookout for a green top wing without warping with good paint.
 
#31 · (Edited)
So not much more to report as I'm up in Sydney for the next few weeks for work. So I've just cleaned up the journal up again to make it easier to read/view.

The other day I picked up a Liberty (Legacy) steering wheel or so I've been told. It's identical to the V4 STI steering wheel but it has cruise control which is pretty cool as I didn't know they even existed. Best part is I lowballed the guy and he gave it to me for $80 ($60 USD)



I also picked up a front and rear sway bar of a 2006 WRX for $20 ($15 USD). Sadly from what I've read I can't use the front but is was still cheap.

I also have picked up some BBS 16 inch wheels with tires off a 3rd gen B4 Libery (Legacy) for $100 ($75 USD). The tires don't have much life left in them but I'm tempted to put them of the wagon to burn through whats left. I ended up selling them as all 4 were bent.



I also found I think my favourite photo I've ever taken. This was taken way back on the way home from my skiing trip. It need to be view in a larger size to fully appreciate it. It's not to bad for an iPhone picture.



Sorry for the boring update but I'm stoked about the Momo steering wheel and the B4 BBS wheels and had to share.

Cheer, Luke :)
 
#33 · (Edited)
love that steering wheel. i have the same one. love the part that it's blacked out-ish. i'm not a fame of the momo ones with the chrome center nonsense.
Thats what I loved about it. This will go on the sedan as I'm on the look out for a Wood Grain Steering wheel that I'll put a V4 Airbag in for the wagon.

those BBS wheels will look awesome on there. do it stat.
Unfortunately I realised when I got home that two of the wheels were 40's and two where 45 so I feel sorry for the B4 that these where previously on.

I also finally secured a Job in my field which mean there will actually be funds for the car finally. It also mean I won't be able to work on the car during the week as I'll be returning to Sydney for the work.

Hope this is of some interest.

Luke :)
 
#36 · (Edited)
So it's been a little while, and a fair bit has changed. I've been avoiding posting for a little while as I came to the realization that I didn't have the time, energy nor the resources to hold onto the sedan. So today I sold it for a young kid who is going to fix it up to become a 'P' plate car.

I sold it for $900 dollar, which included everything that I had with the exception of the blue front bumper, and I thought was a fair price. The bumper I'm going to fix up and sell separately.

This means I made a profit of $730 on it which isn't to bad, as the car had cost me $170 excluding the front bumper.

I also sold the Syms wing for $350 which is about what it cost me. Some guy didn't read the ad and decided to offer me $150 for the entire car, missing a zero or two in my biased opinion.



About 2 months ago I had the airbag light come on in my car. I took it to subaru and they diagnose it as a bad clockspring. They quoted me $420 to get a used replacement and fix it, I said yes. They ended up ordering the wrong part, which I had a hunch they would. I tried explaining to the guy, but he wasn't having any of it.

They said they would have to order a new part from the VIN, which would cost $980 with labour, so fuck that. I turns out that my local wrecker had just brought in a 1997 LX wagon with airbag clockspring. It fixed it and only cost $77 which I was pleased about.

I gave the engine bay a quick clean, and it still looks great.



Also gave the car a wash which show the paints age a bitand finally got the brake dust off the tires. The wheel now look amazing and I fall in love with the car every time I look at it now. Sadly no photo of that as of yet.

The car also ticked over to 333,333 kms so I guess the car is now half the devil or something.



I also got a nice photo in the forestry near my parents.



In actual progress of the car, I kept the V4 steering wheel and am waiting for a restoring kit for it. Today I got some gold paint for the 5 spokes so I keen to see how it will turn out.
And I finally picked up some fog light cover and for only $30. Rep with no mountings but that's ok.



I finally ordered a RS25 wagon sticker because I think I should rep the site that has helped me do everything.

Sorry for the long read, it got slightly out of hand.

Cheer, Luke
 
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