...but thank you all! It's been a long year of repairing the damage. Thank you to everyone who's answered all my random texts or PM's.....anyone I've bought parts from....anyone that's posted helpful info in the past.
I never thought the car would be driving again, let alone something I could fix myself. None of my friends or family really work on cars to be able to help me with this kinda stuff. So all credit goes to you guys.
The most annoying part of the paperwork was having to give them receipts for the parts I bought to fix the damage. So I had to dig through a year worth of emails to find invoices from parts I bought. Couldn't get everything because a lot was bought with cash.
...then, once I gave them the receipts they made me pay taxes on those parts I already bought. 6% sales tax so it was only like $80, but still really dumb.....thankfully I didn't even have all the receipts. :lol:
Legacy GT is gone. Didn't want to....I love the Legacy GT's.....but it was time to get away from that headache.
Replacement is a downgrade in terms of engine/trans/brakes, but I finally found a clean Impreza and couldn't pass it up.
1998 Subaru Impreza L, sedan
-1 owner
-79,492 miles (79,500 after the test drive :lol: )
-5 speed
-99.9% stock
-no rust (well basically no rust)
I've been looking for another 93-01 for a long time. Finally found this one last week, about 2 hours away (110 miles) at a dealership. Has some small issues, but it's a very clean, and basically rust free chassis.
I found the car on Autotrader, at an actual Subaru dealership. Turns out.....the car was bought at the same dealership in 1998, and was serviced there it's whole life. Every service record and oil change is recorded.
It's not perfect. The passenger fender has a large dent, and the valve covers are leaking. The interior is the ugly brown/tan color....but none of that really matters. All easily fixable or cheap to swap out.
All that I care about is low mileage, clean chassis, 1 owner, and all stock.
Still has some original paperwork and the manuals too. Even though the interior is an ugly color, it's super clean....almost spotless.
Here's a few more iPhone pics for now. Gonna clean up the engine bay and wash the car again. Also have some stickers to remove from the rear bumper.
I really like the 98 fluted headlights vs clear ones on my 01. Might get a set for the coupe.
It has 1 very, very, small spot of rust just starting to form, but I'm getting rid of that this weekend. Besides that it's clean. Even the rockers are good!
The coupe isn't back to full daily duties yet, but I have driven it to work a few times already. Definitely makes driving to work at 4 am more enjoyable. Might alternate days between coupe and sedan to keep miles down.
The Legacy GT was kinda boring, but had absolutely no lag. Pretty much instant 15-16 psi because the car weighted 3400 lbs with the 2.5l and small turbo. Felt like almost like an n/a v6 :lol:
The Impreza (coupe) is definitely faster though. The Legacy GT was too heavy for its own good.
It actually was an older couple lol
They took good care of it, but just let it sit a lot. Most of the time it was exempt from emissions since it was only driven like 4,000 miles a year.
HVAC in the coupe starting making loud noises the second I opened the fresh air vent. Drove it to work today and dropped the fan down during lunch.....just as I figured, leaves. :lol:
That's what happens when the car sits for a year. Cleaned it out and it's back to being nice and silent. Just have to clean the debris of shredded leaves from the interior now. :lol:
As much as I disliked the accordion boot when I first got the red coupe, I kinda like it on the new car. Kind of like a look into the past when the other car was stock.
Thanks! I'm excited to have another 1st gen Impreza to tinker with. Hopefully I can keep it with minimal rust for a long time.
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Taking a few weeks to just enjoy the car before I go fixing more stuff again. I think the catless up pipe made a noticeable difference. The engine just feels more responsive than I remember....even compared to the Legacy GT's ej255.
Also, might be over-boosting a little....basically hit 20 psi at like 3/4 throttle the other day. If I went WOT it would probably be higher. Never really knew what the target boost was supposed to be, but it never went that high before.
I hardly ever go WOT or full boost, so I'm not too worried. The tune is very conservative.....never seen any knock in boost....ever.
Also got some new tires. Went with Michelin Xi3 snow tires again. 205/55-16. So I remember:
(176,800 miles)
Fake rally wheels are back on. They need a repaint badly but oh well.
Crossed over 177,000. Basically 100,000 more miles than the new car. 79,000 vs 177,000. Crazy.
(I know it's a random mileage, but it helps me keep track of things)
Found some parts at a pick n pull too. Finally some more 93-01's (and old foresters) so I gotta go back soon before all the goodies are gone.
$35 total:
-oem fender for the new Sedan
-fuzzy forester glovebox
-drivers lower dash
-extended arm rest
-grill clips
-washer nozzles
-oem hardware
-oem buttons/switches
My washer nozzle was clogged on the passenger side, so I grabbed a set off an OBS. Designed way better than the ones that were on the car. Works better than ever, even with the trunk mounted setup.
New on left, old junk on right.
Some of these interior parts will go to the sedan to slowly get rid of the ugly tan/brown interior. Some are replacement for the coupe.
Gonna drop the fender off to get painted white for the sedan, soon.
And got the ugly stickers off the bumper of the sedan. They were most likely put on the same year as the car was bought.....because they were really stuck..
Not perfect but looks better than before. Needs a wing.
It's not super uncommon to get boost spikes in the cold weather especially with an IWG. I'd take a look at your target boost tables just to see how much you went over.
^^^ Oh yea, completely forgot about being able to look at those. I'll have to take some logs and read up to refresh my memory of how those parameters work. I'm always looking at the knock and A/F learning parameters, and forget about the other stuff.
I never saw it get to 20 psi before though. Even previous years in cold weather, the highest I saw was 17.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY
My Goals:
ID Vehicle: To simplify repairs/fixes/etc I'd love to know the cars history.
Main focus: handling, functionality, reliability.
End goal, yes the beaten horse "22b" exterior styling.
Technical Research (I'll post all my reading/research material links here)...
Hey guys, figured I would post up some pictures of my swap as i'm coming to the turning point where I start putting it all back together again.
I should have been logging everything in order as I went but here is a photo dump to browse through
Exterior looks - This is how the car looks when I...
Picking this up today!
v4 STi Ej20k swapped
4.44 5MT w/ LSD Rear Diff
v1-4 JDM Front Bumper
v5-6 JDM Aluminum Hood
v4 STi 4/1 Pots
Plenty of other goodies!!
She’s got some quarter rust which may get addressed at some point. She’s needs a heart transplant and I already have a 65k Ej20k...
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So, this is my second RS. Not much else to say. All of the info from my first RS can be found here:
Equinox's Impreza 2.5 RS - Crashed - Subaru Impreza GC8 & RS Forum & Community: RS25.com
So. On with it.
This is my 1998 Impreza RS in Rally Blue Pearl. Look...
A forum community dedicated to Subaru Impreza GC8 and RS owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, troubleshooting, turbo upgrades, maintenance, and more!
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