[sncej20]

Out of absolutely sheer luck, a source reached out about a 20375AA011 he had sitting in storage! Only all the way in Ukraine, no biggy! Finally getting the proper suspension combination to run 04-07 springs!!!

 

[sncej20]

So good news! 1 of the 90-91 upper rear seats came in. Bad news, it feels like it was all for nothing based on Rich’s current findings.


Quick recap: 2005 wrx sedan struts, 04-07 RCE yellows, 90-91 4wd legacy rear tophats, and 20375AA011s.


Now, we don’t see a whole lot of difference from the 90-91 4wd legacy rear spring seats and the 92-94 legacy rear spring seats, specifically diameter. I measured my new in package 20375AA011 to be just under 4.5” inner diameter and approximately 5 7/8” outer. My builder said they (92-94 he has for mockup and the 90-91) are identical. In order to make the mockup seat fit in the top of the spring, it needed a good bit chopped out of it to fit in snug.

At this point, idk how worth it it was to dig up all the old forum posts for this combination. It seems like I could have just gotten the 92-94’s if they needed to be chopped anyway. I’d hate to chop these brand new 90-91’s.

Anybody have any insight? Am I missing something?

 

[mike-tracy]

Hmm, I'm not too sure. For me the critical part was the actual rear tophat itself, not the rubber isolator.

 

[sncej20]

Hmm, I'm not too sure. For me the critical part was the actual rear tophat itself, not the rubber isolator.

I ended up comnenting on that several year old post “Gd struts on a gc” with a similar comment. We’ll see what happens.

 

[sncej20]

Hmm, I'm not too sure. For me the critical part was the actual rear tophat itself, not the rubber isolator.

Go ahead and disregard. The part is not correct. It was mis-labeled. 20375AA011 has different measurements. 1 being 3 15/16” inner diameter which sits perfect in the 4” 04-07 spring opening. What I received is closer to 4.5” inner diameter. Assuming it is from a GC.

 

[sncej20]

Soooo yeah, the RCE’s are not the best, but will work for now. RCE yellows with the 05 wrx sedan struts, modified spring seats, and 90-91 legacy rear tophats. Time to save for kyb’s and eibachs for next year!

 

[mike-tracy]

Nice! Who cares what the springs look like, its how they ride that's important. And the rce yellows ride really nice on a GD

 

[sncej20]

Nice! Who cares what the springs look like, its how they ride that's important. And the rce yellows ride really nice on a GD

Yeah we just worry about them getting so brittle that they crack and do more harm. They rode just fine, surprisingly comfortable. I got so caught up in the moment when I found the car I didn’t consider the suspension to be modified at all, so I thought I was just riding on oem with 17’s.

Got the AEM 340 fuel pump in and the interior should all be together soon! Minus the rear seats since they are a PREMIUM right now. I cannot believe what people are asking for rear coupe seats. Plus I found a 98-01 accordion boot and a black leather with black stitching momo shift knob too, so it will be missing those in the final pictures. The car is so close to being drivable!!!

 

[sncej20]

.

 

[sncej20]

L coupe meet RS hood, Along with just about everything else WRX😍😍😍
Suspension is complete, brakes and spindles went on without a hitch. All that is left is interior and radiator with fans!!!

 

[Aaronredbaron]

great thread with great info, thanks for posting! I just brought home a similar coupe, but mine is not running at all with a big hole in the block, but that only made it more attainable for me and its motivation for the swap! I hope I can follow a similar path that you have, but I'm going to be doing all the work myself, (except going to iwire). I found a black 140MPH cluster in the trunk with mine, I didn't realize it was desirable!

 

[sncej20]

great thread with great info, thanks for posting! I just brought home a similar coupe, but mine is not running at all with a big hole in the block, but that only made it more attainable for me and its motivation for the swap! I hope I can follow a similar path that you have, but I'm going to be doing all the work myself, (except going to iwire). I found a black 140MPH cluster in the trunk with mine, I didn't realize it was desirable!

That’s awesome man! The best approach is to have a running driving donor mostly untouched. Maybe find something all rusted out but runs like a champ. Plan on the car being down awhile. Thankfully my wife and I have other cars and I also flip Subarus on the side, so I could afford having this off the road most of this year. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to bring them up. Good luck!

 

[Aaronredbaron]

That’s awesome man! The best approach is to have a running driving donor mostly untouched. Maybe find something all rusted out but runs like a champ. Plan on the car being down awhile. Thankfully my wife and I have other cars and I also flip Subarus on the side, so I could afford having this off the road most of this year. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to bring them up. Good luck!

I'm hopeful I can find a reasonable donor car without too much rust. I just moved home to the Pacific Northwest after living in the Midwest for 8 years, and almost everything is rusted to junk there, but not the same situation at all where I am now. I am planning on 2.5-3.5k for a donor car, and everything I've seen so far is free from rust, but might have a broken rear hub, or mismatched bumpers and hood, etc etc, but no rust, I can work with this!

I am thinking 02-03 WRX donor + going to iwire + customized catback should get me most of the way there. I'm not trying to glaze over important details, but I've been told if I get a running donor car I will have a fair amount of what I need for this project. I have a beater legacy I just put a clutch in which is my new daily, and I have a Sienna my wife drives. Selling my Mini Cooper S with a stage 2 tune to help fund this project. I love the Mini and it's very impressive for FWD... but as fun and quirky and fast as it is, I am drawn to the flat 4 and AWD and so happy to have a little green coupe again. This will be my first turbo, coming from the supercharged Mini.... (long story short, I traded a model airplane for a Miata, fixed that up and traded that for the Mini...)

 

[sncej20]

I'm hopeful I can find a reasonable donor car without too much rust. I just moved home to the Pacific Northwest after living in the Midwest for 8 years, and almost everything is rusted to junk there, but not the same situation at all where I am now. I am planning on 2.5-3.5k for a donor car, and everything I've seen so far is free from rust, but might have a broken rear hub, or mismatched bumpers and hood, etc etc, but no rust, I can work with this!

I am thinking 02-03 WRX donor + going to iwire + customized catback should get me most of the way there. I'm not trying to glaze over important details, but I've been told if I get a running donor car I will have a fair amount of what I need for this project. I have a beater legacy I just put a clutch in which is my new daily, and I have a Sienna my wife drives. Selling my Mini Cooper S with a stage 2 tune to help fund this project. I love the Mini and it's very impressive for FWD... but as fun and quirky and fast as it is, I am drawn to the flat 4 and AWD and so happy to have a little green coupe again. This will be my first turbo, coming from the supercharged Mini.... (long story short, I traded a model airplane for a Miata, fixed that up and traded that for the Mini...)

Do yourself a favor and read through as many blog posts on iwire’s website as you can. It was very helpful to me for how I decided on my donor.

Your donor will get you MOST of what you need. You are going to learn the subtle differences and annoyances requiring parts from other chassis’ as well. I’m going through that right now as we speak and have gotten so burnt out I’m just keeping the original radiator/condenser assembly until the spring just so I can keep AC.

Those trades sound fascinating. When you make a journal, be sure to share it mire in detail!

 

[sncej20]

I wanted to share the progress of my partout of the donor WRX plus some original Impreza parts that couldn’t be used. Keep in mind, I let things go VERY conservatively as I care more about my space than making top dollar. My goal was to be able to make back what I spent on the donor: a running driving WRX ($2000), while keeping the engine, trans, suspension and all swap related components and I easily exceeded it. Buying 2 running driving vehicles was the best option for me. Some parts I can’t seem to give away: 05 wrx dash, doorsills, pillar and seatbelt covers, seatbelts... stuff like that. Just thought it might be useful info. to some of you. Most of the above mentioned parts from the image sold very fast. I only sat on one or two items for a week, and typically because of delayed meeting times.

Anyway, here’s the latest update on how the interior is coming together! Also a couple other sneak peeks of parts I’m not sure I ever mentioned but have always been part of the image.

Shoutout to Con10der8 on instagram for this sick diffuser we went back and forth on. Can’t wait to mount it up!

 

[sncej20]

Sooooo, the day is finally ALMOST here. I pick up the coupe next week. All that’s left is fitting the 91-94 legacy turbo koyo 1819 rad with the 98 forester condenser and hardlines and HOPEFULLY being able to make my 2.2 fans work with the 98 metal shrouds since I was sent 99-02 fans with everything else from a 👎🏼NASIOC👎🏼 partout. If anyone has any leads on 98 forester/98 2.5rs fans, that’d be great.

Idk if it’s bad luck or not, but whatever, here is how she looks on the suspension setup we came up with as well as a bit of aligning of the hood.

I am ecstatic about its height. It came out great and with the suspension having room to settle, it will sit just how I anticipated, just a hair under stock. I also have a little treat in the works in the wheel category that I hope works out this weekend...🤫😏

I am SO glad I went with the jdm wrx seats. They sit much better in there than the 05 wrx seats. As much as I do love the interior, I do think the doorcards are clashing a bit, too much gray. So I might be changing that up with the doorcards from that junkyard coupe I pulled the bc pillars from, if they’re still there...

 

[sncej20]

Great update for you all! I’m sure it’s been tried before, but has most likely been buried in with all the others. Today Rich successfully removed the plastic shrouds off of my 98 L coupe’s fans and replaced them with metal shrouds from a 98 forester.

All he needed to do was remove the lower rad support from the one shroud, like so, to clear the overflow hose or rad hose, I forget.

Presto! Metal fan shrouds to offer more clearance with the koyo 1819! A bonus to be able to keep the car’s original fans and connectors too!

Just like many others have done too, he did flip the passenger side shroud. Look at all that room!!

Upper radiator supports from 98 forester work just fine as well👍🏼

Also gonna give this exhaust a little attention.
It was fine attached to the factory downpipe, but now that my grimmspeed one is installed, there’s a slight leak. Going to have a 3” flange welded on and get rid of this reduced diameter section. Also got to re-locate this exhaust hanger to fit better to the coupe since it’s lined up for 02-07 fitment.


....

....

Drumrollllll


If all goes well tonight, tomorrow will be its first official road test!!! Fluids were all going in tonight, final checkover to make sure everything’s tight, then on the road she goes. After the exhaust is all welded up, it’ll come back for final inspection and torque-down where needed then I can go pick it up! Hell yeah! Great way to end 2020!!!

 

[sncej20]

Just a bit of a delay. The car did get out for its road test according to plan and Rich said everything worked the way it should. He did recommend a professional alignment. He got it as good as he could, but to prevent wearing out tires among other components, I will get that scheduled right away. We had 1 little hiccup that cut the drive short, which was a cracked power steering line. I ordered that last week from rockauto and I’m hoping it’s here sometime this week. I’m really hoping I can bring the car home this weekend.

Also working out the logistics to go pickup my new wheels!



I wanted RG345’s in a bad way, but when these 02-04 BBS Option wheels showed up in state with tires, albeit nexens👎🏼, I had to hop on the deal. I found them on NASIOC surprisingly and they were from a young kid. Very happy with the purchase, now just debating what tires to go with in 215/45/17.

 

[sncej20]

Look what decided to show up🙄

Not worth the hassle. Take your GC/GM ones and modify as shown above. Way easier.

 

[sncej20]

Finding the proper AC setup has been a world of fun. Tried multiple junkyard setups, 98 forester, 99-01 forester, 95 legacy, and tried my 98 L condenser as well. None of them worked. Through some pestering on facebook pages, I’m onto something. Though I cannot confirm yet myself, the trusted source did have pictures to back his reasoning. The 98 2.5rs is just too one-off to ignore its significance. Here is why it is THE ideal condenser to pair with the koyo r1819 to retain air conditioning.

I’m keeping these pictures large and obnoxious so there’s no confusion. As you can see, the brackets where the AC hardlines bolt up swing out laterally gaining the extra room needed to branch around the massive 1819 core. The source has been running this setup a few years now and I look forward to being able to do the same.
This is supposedly the part number for this condenser: 73210FA150
Configuration: 98 2.5rs MT EJ25D
Now I’m just hoping that the 98 coupe’s hardlines will work out. Find out in the spring!