[Bauer]

Title Page...

Right below this you will find my first post here. See it? It's nice, huh?

Page 2 has pictures of disassembling the STi interior.
Page 4 has one picture of the engine bay from the STi on the Fuse box side.
Page 5 has STi engine removal and some misc pictures of the wire harness and empty STi interior.
Page 6 has RS interior disassembly and installation of the STi fuel tank, rear STi suspension & brakes and Stance Coilovers.
Page 7 has one misc picture of some wiring piece from the STi, not worth looking at this page.
Page 9 has HVAC fitments and custom work, pedal assembly customizations, RS firewall and some misc work.
Page 11 has custom throttle pedal adapter and steering shaft customization pics.
Page 12 will have some custom door wiring pictures for the power mirror controls.
Page LAST has some pictures of it on the Dyno...The car isn't completely done but it's inspected and runs great. Remaining pieces are power locks, DCCD, new coil overs (Stance coilovers are shot in less than 2 years and less than 12,000 miles on them... and then I think it's done)


Time line:

Dec 19, 2007 Bought the 1999 2.5 RS STM ~94,000 miles
July 2008 Bought the 2007 WRX STI ~8600 miles
Dec 2008 Finally got the STI into a garage
Jan 2009 Dash has been removed. It's a starting point at least....
Feb 2009 Radiator out and most engine bay wiring disconnected....
May 2009 Engine, Trans, Suspension, Basically entire driveline is out.....
May 2009 All Interior and complete wire harness out.....
All ABS stuff and brake lines removed....
June 2009 Rear subframe and diff and axles, fuel tank, Evap stuff, STANCE coils installed....
Found out my rear subframe is bent...waiting on a new one and some new trailing arms.....still waiting....7/1/09
Nov 2009 Tranny, engine, all wiring, complete dash, and a few misc other thing have all been removed from the RS
Jan 2010 Front cross members have been swapped. Began wire harness install. What a pain.
uh, this part really fell through because I have no idea what I have done from the previous date until today....3/2011

..............

Photobucket address: Chris B's Library | Photobucket

People I have met up with from RS25.com
1. Hobo Joe 10/2009
2. Archer1.8 10/2009
3. RussianMafia 11/2009
4. Jeenyus1001 11/2009
5. Supers587 12/2009

 

[Bauer]

And in the beginning there were 2...

Here goes something...

The beginning platform, for the second time:

Stumbled across this today....The original window sticker to my RS...pretty cool

**2-7-2009**Finally got around to getting some pictures of the RS The car is not clean. It has been sitting under my carport for a few weeks. But here are some better pics of it.

I know the CEL is on. Having a problem with the MAF (I think) I forget the code number. It will only tach to 3500 then sputters and carries on. Runs fine up until 3500 RPM though...

A friend of mine leased this car new in 1999. I still have the window sticker. The original MSRP in 1999 for this particular car was $20,952.00 For a model without any additional what-so-evers and gadgets Subaru had a MSRP of $19,195.00 according to my sticker. I bought it from him for $10,000 somewhere around 2003 and did a bunch of suspension work including Cusco front and rear strut tower braces, I think they were whiteline swaybars (could be wrong it was so long ago) and Eibach lowering springs with KYB AGX adjustable struts. Also I put on a Stainless Greddy EVO II Exhaust for a nice sound. It also had some crappy cold air intake that I think is still on it now. Anyhow I also did SS Brake lines and all new brake components and then decided to sell it to my brother's girl friend who eventually became his wife. Longer story short I just bought this car back from her shy of a year ago for $3200. It currently has just under 98,000 miles on the odometer. The head gaskets are going bad and it will blow a huge white smoke cloud every now and then. This led me to my current stage of the 2007 USDM STI swap.

The 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STI:

I just bought this car in July of 2008. I ended up paying $11,500 for a running, driving, smashed, STI. I also had to foot the bill of around $250 for fuel to drive down and get it. I live in Philadelphia and the car was just west of Charolette North Carolina. I left at 6:40 PM on Friday and got there at 5 am Saturday. Slept for a few anxiuos hours did paper work, DROVE the car onto the trailer, tied down and onto the return trip by 9:45 AM saturday. Finally made it home at 10PM on Saturday after a dinner break with my cousin in Harrisburg. I was tired to say the least. Hopefully nothing else is wrong with it. I am planning to do a full swap as soon as I find a two-car garage in my local area to set the two cars side by side. That is about it so far. More to come.....

Cheers
-B

 

[01rs25]

A+


Sounds like a good project!

 

[Skatermxracer]

you doing this yourself? where exactly are you located? if not too far i can lend a hand if needed

 

[Kirk]

sick ride bro. looks amazing..... haha jk

 

[fusionchicken]

your RS is going to be a beast with full 07 STi stuff! just be careful with the factory tune and maybe do a compression/leak down test to make sure esp. cylinder 4 is still looking good, a few ppl on nastyioc reported #4 piston failure from bad factory t00n.

i wish i had an 07 STi 6spd. the gear ratio for 2-4th gear is pretty damn sweet.

 

[Skorpius]

Nice! You'll have one hellavu GC when finished.
BTW-how did you find the STI? Where'd you look? I'm sure you need someone on the inside to at least procure one for you?

 

[JDMPREZA713]

Very Nice 1st Post!!!!!

 

[Oz10]

wow thats cool. You got it back for cheap!

 

[skyline]

badass project dude but please tell me thats not a crashed nismo 350z sitting beside yr sti in the second pic

 

[Bauer]

Thanks so far everyone. Like I said, I need to procure a garage then I will start the project. I will try to answer all the questions here...

just be careful with the factory tune and maybe do a compression/leak down test to make sure esp. cylinder 4 is still looking good, a few ppl on nastyioc reported #4 piston failure from bad factory t00n.

Thanks for the heads up on this Fusion, I will look into that. Is this something that I can cure by getting a Cobb Tune or other set up other than stock?

you doing this yourself? where exactly are you located? if not too far i can lend a hand if needed

SKater, Yes I am probably going to do all the work myself. I am not the best wiring guru but my famous quote being "How hard can it be?" I am sure I'll be able to figure it out with the posts and help of Silent and Brydon and probably a few others. Thanks for the offer of help and I am in the Lansdale area, about 40 minutes south of you.

badass project dude but please tell me thats not a crashed nismo 350z sitting beside yr sti in the second pic

Skyline, I wish I had a Skyline! HA Anyway I think that was what you think it is. The guy I got the car from had tons of HOT cars down there. Check my reply below this for the guy.

Nice! You'll have one hellavu GC when finished.
BTW-how did you find the STI? Where'd you look? I'm sure you need someone on the inside to at least procure one for you?

Skorpius, I got this car from Robbins repairables in Charlotte NC. Their site is
http://www.erepairables.com/index.html
***SIDE NOTE***
I specifically asked if the suspension components were perfect and he said yes. This was prior to me purchasing the car. I drove down to get the car and told him that the suspension parts were NOT as he claimed, perfect! He said he would get some off a wreck and mail them to me. For this I allowed him to keep a new rear window he was going to give me with the car since I didn't need it, obviously. Long story short...he stiffed me!! Screw these guys. If anyone deals with them get everything that day.
***End of rant***

**ANOTHER NOTE**
After a full year they are finally going to send me a cross member and 2 trailing arms....What a pain in the ass....

**Last Note**
They never sent me a darn thing. They are terrible people. I honestly dislike them. I ended up going to Millennium in Michigan or whatever and they suck too. Their story is in this thread somewhere.


When I first started looking I got an account with Ridesafely.com
www.ridesafely.com
They are helpful once you get a high bid through them, although you don't always get the car because when it goes to auction they usually sell higher than what I wanted to pay. The key is to be patient and wait for the right car. But ridesafely is a great starting point and you can do your deposit by Paypal for protection and what not. I personally bid on three cars with them over the last year and lost all of them. Once you are their high bidder they usually call you the say of the auction and you can raise your bid according to what they say the car looks like.
The other place I was watching was Ebay. There are always cars popping up on ebay with buy it nows. of course doing an entire swap like I have in mind wont be cheap. If you want there are guys out there that will do the work for you and give you the motor trans and brakes for around 15K. So use that as a starting point. If you are just looking for the motor there are numerous places to check also. But back on topic...other places to look may include...
http://www.argoauto.com/main.php

http://www.elitemotorcars.com/result...23&submit.y=11

http://www.thebidclub.com/

I have no experience or ideas what the bid club is like or its safety of use...

You can also buy the entire packages or any pieces you want through places like ECS and garage tuning and millenium motor sports.

They are the only ones I can come up with right now. hope some of that helps.


-Cheers
-B

 

[SubaruRally555]

lucky

 

[Bauer]

So I am finally done another semester of school and hoping to make some progress on this car before I go back January 20-something. I got the car into a garage, good thing cause it's freezing here in PA. Lucky for me my brother bought a house with a 2-car, and it's only 2 miles down the street from my house!! YAY!! I hope to be able to document the entire thing as I go with pictures and write ups. If anyone who has doen the swap before has any tips/pointers/things to watch out for/ things you would have done differently/ you get the point.....let me know!

-Cheers
-B

 

[sense of nature]

Should be a sick build ! G/L & keep the pics comin !

 

[leonwrx13]

i wish i had an 07 STi 6spd. the gear ratio for 2-4th gear is pretty damn sweet.

whats the difference in the gear ratio on other sti 6 speeds over the 07?

 

[Bauer]

Interior dismantling

Well I finally got to working on this thing. I started tearing apart the STI interior and front end. I have it down to the motor with no hood or anything and I almost have the entire dash out. I just need to finish up some of the gauge cluster and make sure I am prepared to ahve it immobilized to remove the steering column. After that I will be moving on to taking out the engine and trans and other useful donor parts. So far there have been no troubles except that a mouse was at some point nesting in the E brake area. He/she chewed through the E-Brake light wire and a few other had the sheathing chewed through but will survive. here are some pictures to keep this journal going.
Interior before:

The "could be driveable" interior:

The now "NOT-SO-COMFY" interior:

 

[bubba2533]

I hope to do the same swap in the future. After I graduate most likely.

 

[Bauer]

Dash board GONE!

So tonight I get a few freezing cold hours in. Finished removing the dash, steering column and a few other tid bits. Next I will sort out some wiring and then try to back the car up far enough to be able to begin working on removing the engine and trans. School has started again so I am going to "attempt" to dedicate one night a week of about 3 hours working on it. Here are a few shots from the night....

When I said "Good night"

 

[the beej]

nice! anything going in the rs yet, or are you just getting the stuff out of the sti for now?

 

[leonwrx13]

your looking good so far man. i think im gonna start my swap backwards sense i dont have an sti donor car yet hahaha