[JO5HUA]

What rear subframe is that? It's beautiful

Subframe is a local guy's, TSS from tssfab.us and I painted it myself

Lately it's been hard to stay focused on one thing with this car, I just bounce around from loose end to loose end trying to wrap stuff up. While I enjoy mixing it up, it gets frustrating not being able to just do one thing without depending on all these other things to be done. I guess so long as the parts pile is getting smaller I can call it progress

I cut out the quick connect from one of the spare lines and cut the hose down to join them, I'm a little sketched out by the hose connection so this may be revisited

By cutting the rubber tabs off the outrigger I made the gap too large for the bushing and it could move around, solved that problem by adding Outback plates to the bottom and it's tight again

Trying to get the underbody work all done so I can drop the car back down so I got the shift linkage in and replaced all the bushings with Kartboy

Making it extra super short shift causes a lot of problems but nothing a cutoff wheel can't handle, center axle and heat shields can get installed now

Got the rear sway bar in and decided to test fit the muffler and see if it plays nice with everything, looks like fitment is perfect despite the huge 3" piping

The subframe is lacking the 3rd exhaust hanger for the axleback so I had to install the midpipe for it to hang, the subframe heat shield tab is also nonexistent so I need to figure something out for that too

I wasn't sure how I would like the angled cannon look and I'm still not sure if I like it, I don't hate it so I guess it's good

I turned my attention to the engine to complete the exhaust, TD04 turbo is in but I'm trying to get the oil separator installed while I have access to the block drain that sits super close to the turbo

That reminded me to swap the heater core hoses from the 2.2 and another list of more stuff to do before the downpipe can go on

Positioning the oil separator so the drain line doesn't go uphill had me under the car for a minute and I noticed I still haven't connected the power steering lines to the rack, then I got to installing the reservoir and cooler

 

[GT-Turbo]

Nice build thread , are there any new updates.???

 

[bue car]

I wonder how many still remember where your title came from :lol:

Oh the good days

 

[George.of.the.Jungle]

:lol: good times.

 

[JO5HUA]

All winter long this car remained in the garage untouched but now I'm back in it doing stuff

This is the mess I was greeted with, I actually had to read my last few posts to remember where I was at with all the little details

Because the inside gave me anxiety I started at the nose and getting the fan/light harness bundled and fitted, then I put the in fender coolant tank in place

Sorted the wiper and brake/starter trigger wires and got them hung at the top of the bay, it was super difficult to get all the forester plugs through the Impreza grommets but mission accomplished

I was looking for the best place to disconnect and swap the feed and return lines but in a stroke of genius I just swapped them where they connect to the hard lines

The Forester intake box sort of fits but it isn't perfect, the angle it puts on the pipe is less than desirable also

I may have to modify the box but I really don't want to, I was able to get the hood closed only by taking the rain catch off the hood vent but the filter still sits too high for my liking

Getting the GC brace to fit on the GD subframe was a learning experience (aka huge pain in the ass) I tried going from front to back and it was impossible to line up the holes in the FCAR mount, they were always about 1cm off no matter how much I yelled curse words. What ended up working was loosening the nuts on the subframe, placing the forward part of the brace above the holes so that the rear was more mobile, getting the rear bolts threaded in then pulling the brace down to push the crossmember forward. I'm not sure if it is so tight because the GD control arms have just a little more width at the bushing and the crossmember is just that much wider or if yelling curse words with the garage door open is the only way

Speaking of things not fitting correctly, I have no idea why the swaybar endlinks will not clear the swaybar

It's like the swaybar is too wide but it's a GD bar on a GD crossmember with GD control arms, the endlinks are huge moog parts but I tested them on my Forester and no issues

I don't really see any other way than to swap endlinks with the Forester and just use the smaller ones on the Impreza

 

[crazyskiier3989]

I'm excited that this is a little bit closer to being swapped and drivable. My question is in the first picture with the subframe brace, is the inner boot on the cv axle actually falling off or are my eyes just playing tricks on me?

 

[FryphaX]

Need some of these bad boys!

 

[George.of.the.Jungle]

nick wins.

 

[bue car]

I support the locals and use KartBoy atm...pending some changes

 

[JO5HUA]

I'm excited that this is a little bit closer to being swapped and drivable. My question is in the first picture with the subframe brace, is the inner boot on the cv axle actually falling off or are my eyes just playing tricks on me?

Your eyes are working, I need to get some new boot straps and put them back on. I thought they would be like the automatic and be able to come off and go back on without touching the clamps but nooooo

Need some of these bad boys!

I've been looking at a lot of options but I'm probably going to just use something from the junkyard unless a stupid deal comes up on pillow ball links

It's been very slow progress but I did manage to get the hearer core and dash beam in with the bulk harness tucked behind, eventually it will all have to come back off to wrap the harness

Fitment of the Forester column is less than perfect but it does work, getting the mess of wiring to meet back up with all the connectors is more challenging

So far I have the door switches taken care of, only a million more wires to go!

The engine side of the harness is almost ready to be wrapped up but while I was down there the splash guard caught my attention, a little trim and perfect fit

Fenders came off to get better access to the harness, there's only a few wires on the passenger side but the fender needed to come off for another reason too...

I picked up a set of fender braces off a true RS from the junkyard, sprayed the holes with pb blaster and tapped them to get all the crap out

Probably won't make any difference but they were cheap and easy to install, the added weight is just a bonus

The driver's side was super dirty so I really wanted to tap these threads, the amount of wires on this side was just too much to try and wrap the harness with the fender still on

I had to clean everything up before I could start working, it was so dirty I think it was driven without a fender liner for a while and this is the side where I have found the most surface rust

I put this on for a joke but now I go back and forth between liking it and thinking it's stupid, ordered some more parts to keep this project moving so the next update won't be so far away

 

[Flat4awd]

I liked the badging how it was before; WRX on the trunklid and "Type-R" below the tail-light. I thought that looked cool/proper, not too many peeps doing Type-R styles at the moment.

 

[George.of.the.Jungle]

why not spend a few extra coins and get some fender braces that are actually going to do something?

 

[bue car]

Have you read the title?



I miss the spam :lol:

 

[JO5HUA]

why not spend a few extra coins and get some fender braces that are actually going to do something?

Have you read the title?

Exactly, it's not John Hammond's Hellaspared-No-Expense Kitchens. I did spend some money at iwire recently though...

Not on a wiring harness unfortunately

I gave up on the GC power steering cooler, nice thought but not worth the effort so the reservoir is mounted and both FXT hoses used

Started wrapping the harness from the passenger side and worked my way over, believe it or not it is just as boring and tedious as the pictures suggest

The 3 wire fans are just running at full speed with both hot wires twisted together in order to use them with the FXT 2 wire system, all wrapped up and secure

I wanted to use the plastic belt cover that was originally on the motor but it needs the A/C compressor to be installed, tried using the one from the EJ22 but it was hitting the power steering hose but this one from a bugeye fits perfect

Went with iwire for the DBW adapter plate, it wasn't hellacheap but I liked it best when weighing the options

Install couldn't be any simpler and pedal position is perfect, the opposite is true of the jumbled mess of wires

Making my way back to the interior slowly but surely, I wrapped and rewrapped the section under the headlight so many times until everything fit perfectly but after this section the engine side will be finished

Almost looking like a real engine bay, switched out the battery cables for the Impreza set and used just one of the FXT horns

The fitment of the fender was total crap before so I was careful to get it as exact as possible this time, it's a little more push at the bottom but much better overall

The other thing I spent money on was this splitter for the GR intercooler, it cost almost as much as the intercooler but again it was my top pick from all the options out there

 

[FryphaX]

why not spend a few extra coins and get some fender braces that are actually going to do something?

Have you read the title?



I miss the spam :lol:

Haven't y'all learned? You have to have the OEM braces first. Then you can add functional stuff!

 

[bue car]

Right?

 

[George.of.the.Jungle]

Exactly, it's not John Hammond's Hellaspared-No-Expense Kitchens. I did spend some money at iwire recently though...

so you spend coin with keener..but not 60 buck for some paranoid fabs fender braces..

 

[bue car]

Did you miss the photo above?

I heard you like braces yo, so put braces over braces

 

[George.of.the.Jungle]

i saw it. but he wont do that. he put flimsy tin in there instead.

 

[bue car]

You're killing me smalls!

You do realize the OEM ones are on the car below, under the aftermarket ones?

:blol:

Haven't y'all learned? You have to have the OEM braces first. Then you can add functional stuff!