[dodger]

Build Posts:

UPDATE 1: Prepping the Shell
UPDATE 2: Chassis Completion



Jan 18,2010 - First Build Post

A little history: (feel free to skip past it)
BTW The date stamps on some of the pictures are incorrect, this is all recent.

I bought my 99 Impreza about 3 years ago. I went back and forth about which enthusiast vehicle to buy and given my personal needs and preferences ended up deciding on a GC Impreza RS. I found one for sale at a very good price at a dealership in Ohio. I made the 300 mile trek with a friend to end up with this:

It was the most money I had ever spent on a car and the nicest vehicle I had ever owned. I daily drive it whenever I can and autocross it on the weekends. I ended up doing many incremental upgrades to the chassis and engine. After always being down in power in autocross I decided that I needed to do a turbo build. I ended up pulling the motor and doing a turbo build from the ground up. Parts list:

First Build Motor:
Stock ej251 block rehoned
Stock STI pistons and rods
EJ251 sohc heads
CX Racing FMIC - piping remade to fit better
Bosch 1000cc injectors
FP td06 18g
NGK bkr7e plugs
Blow through maf using a wrx maf (how I finally ended up I tried many different ways)

Electrical:
Stock 99 NA ecu
E-manage Ultimate
J and S Safeguard
Prosport boost gauge, egt gauge, and UEGO wideband in modified center pod

Suspension:
Group N motor mounts and trans mount
Zeal Function Coilovers

I installed the motor then slowly began the process of trying to tune such a strange build. If you are considering doing a turbo building using your stock ecu please read this. A mild build with slightly larger injectors and a small turbo can be made to work properly but it still requires a lot of fine tuning and drive ability will without a doubt suffer. The more you change the harder it is for anyone including a professional tuner to tune. The tuning is long and tedious because you are constantly trying the ecu within learning limits along with a million other variables. The pressure compensation is almost impossible with anything other than a small turbo or hundreds of hours. You just cant get piggyback systems to function that smoothly. Idle problems boost, boost control, controlling huge injectors its all more variables in a very complex equation. Even with a proven build small turbo and injectors if you are a finicky person you will be disappointed. It will never run 'right' and when you try a radical build you end up in a worse position. The car never does exactly what you want it to do and you are always fearful it going to blow. I have been running various piggyback systems in various wiring schemes for over a year and I can tell you that you will inevitably end up swapping for more reliable and non-custom power if you try a piggyback build. My build never ran properly just okay. You might get lucky and you might get away with your build,for me eventually I was down on compression in a cylinder and the car ran worse every day. I decided to do it right this time and do everything from the ground up. This is where I am now.

End of the history lesson

I kept driving the car although it ran worse everyday and began my planning. My build plan goes like this:

-Buy a wrecked WRX and swap every bit of wiring possible, minimal wire merging, full dash swap
-The motor will use the heads from the wrecked wrx, forged pistons,and an STI 2.5 block
-While the vehicle is stripped for the swap take it further and take the body to a bare chassis
-Strip the underbody to bare metal removing all rust and properly repair rear fender rust
-Repaint engine bay,interior and underbody
-Install new motor along with the wrx wiring and dash, reinstall interior
-When summer rolls around repaint the exterior of the car aswell

A donor car is always preferred for a swap if not essential. You'll spend far more money buying parts separate and small little things will always be missing unless you get the entire car.

I drove out to Tennessee to pick up the wrecked wrx I bought, frontal collision but I'm not using the motor besides the heads so it doesn't matter. I bought it at insurance auction for an amazing price of $700 out the door. I recommend using a broker to find insurance auctions, I used a broker in Michigan for copart.com which allowed me to bid on insurance auctions all across the country. Direct from insurance auctions is without a doubt the best way to get a donor car.

Hey at least the battery didn't explode.

I brought it back to my shop and took my RS off of the road.

I actually had to cut the bumper beam and pry it out to get the motor out. The block was cracked, not that I need it, and the transmission casing was cracked, the gears should be fine but I need a new casing. Bummer considering I wanted to use it. I guess the stock RS trans will be going back in unless I find a new case asap.

Here it is after I got the dash out. I labeled each connection with blue painter tape and a sharpie, should make reassembly and merging easier.

Let the stripping begin!

Motor is out! I'll have to tear it down to check out that cylinder that was down on compression.

Interior and wiring removal.

Here is my parts storage, my shop is shared so I can't take up too much room. My shed is almost entirely full of parts at this point.

Chassis almost entirely bare.

I removed the sound deadener using the dry ice technique I'll try and get some pictures of it soon. The driver footwell had some good rust but nothing all the way through the floor just some pitting.

The sills by the rear wheels have some minor rust and the rear wheel arches on both side have some good rust going. No reason to scrap it though, my friend Dave who builds muscle cars is welding in new metal to repair it. Currently one side of the car is finished.

The easiest i found to remove the paint and rubber undercoat is to use a large grinder and wire wheel. Sandblasting hard to reach areas. The under body is stripped to bare metal right now. I'm trying to make the chassis even more corrosion resistant than the day it left the factory so epoxy primer over the bare metal is the name of the game then either rubberized undercoating like from the factory or a pickup spray on bedliner. Any help deciding which to use is welcomed.

Thats where I am with the car right now, a little more metal repair and some more paint stripping and it will be ready for paint. Remember the body exterior isn't getting painted until after the car is running again so the crappy black paint will remain until summer then its wrb time. The engine bay and interior are getting painted however, probably gray. I don't know if I should attempt the seam weld any of the chassis before painting. Where are the best areas to seam weld an impreza anyway?

The chassis should be ready for reassembly in a week or two. The block is already machined and I'm going to start building the motor soon. Any questions or comments about the build are welcome!

 

[dodger]

extra room

 

[dodger]

extra room

 

[dodger]

extra
room

 

[WhiteGhost2.5]

I have a spare WRX trans case if intrested

Josh

 

[The Scooby]

wow, you got guts gettin that wrecked wrx. but good luck with everything.

 

[Tim.Flat4]

It's nice to see essentially a full restoration build.

As far as seam welding goes, if you do realize the downsides to it and you're still willing to do it then I suggest you stitch every seam from the front to rear strut towers.

I look forward to progress. Keep up the good work!

 

[dodger]

wow, you got guts gettin that wrecked wrx. but good luck with everything.

Even at insurance auction prime cars go for a fair bit. Copart like other insurance clearing houses acts as a middle man selling wrecked cars from insurance companies,they auction cars on behalf of the insurance companies. Many places only allow dealers in, however you can use a broker to get an account to bid on a car for a fee of around $250.

Suitable cars are also hard to find, I wanted an 02-05 wrx before the conversion to 32 bit ecu's because the wiring was much simpler with fewer sensors and the cars are much closer to being like a GC. I like the simplicity of the earlier cars and of a factory ecu. I can't use a standalone anyway due to my areas obdII emissions scan. I found several within a hundred miles but the rear ended cars with good motors go for around 2k+ when I watched the auctions. I had long since decided that I was going to build up a 2.5 so the fact it was a frontal collision wasn't a big deal, it just lowered the price. I didn't realize how bad the collision was from the pictures, and since the car was nearly 500 miles away I couldn't inspect it. I payed a total of $400 in fees between broker and copart and I won the auction for a mere $300. The auction is live at the yard and can take online bids. You literally have to wait an hour at the computer for the car to show up in line and have about 15 seconds to bid. It's worth it though because you get the best price possible for wrecked vehicles. Anyone selling engine swap packages would be buying from the same auctions, stripping the car and selling the parts to you at good profit. I've learned from previous swaps that buying an entire car is key to getting everything right and having all the tiny parts.

I did have to drive out to Tennessee from the Chicago area with a large truck and trailer to get it.That was a sleepless weekend if I ever had one. :lol:

All in all it worked out good. 04 wrx for $700 I'll probably make a profit on the car when I sell off its good parts that I don't need. I was hoping the trans survived but I still have what I need. I only have to repair a few scraped wires, all the rest of the wiring survived fine and most of the motor parts and the dash.

 

[dodger]

It's nice to see essentially a full restoration build.

As far as seam welding goes, if you do realize the downsides to it and you're still willing to do it then I suggest you stitch every seam from the front to rear strut towers.

I look forward to progress. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the encouragement! Yes it is effectively a body restoration,very few things beside the body itself will be left from 1999 though, I just enjoy the car so much that I want it to last. I will be driving it every winter though, its a crime to keep such a fun winter vehicle off of the road I would have gotten another shell if the rust was too bad to properly fix, but my friend Dave who restores muscle cars barely batted an eye when he saw it. One side of the car is done already. Needless to say I'm not taking any chances and I'm using the best paints and procedures I can. I still haven't decided if I should use body schutz(rubberized undercoat) on the underside or if I should use a urethane spray on truck bedliner. Anyone have any thoughts?

I don't have anywhere near the time to seam/stitch weld every seam. The car will be moving ahead quick since I usually daily drive the car and want to get it back on the road. I'm hoping to turn the key in a month maybe two but no more than that, I work on it daily. I know that the chassis can be more stressed when seam welded so if anything I wanted to keep it fairly mild. Where would be the key areas to seam/stitch weld?

 

[trailzmp]

IM going t be doing the exact same thing as you.. i started with a 96 2.2L and as of now im just striping it down, going to find a donor car through copart as well.
i have a few friends with dealer license so should make it a bit easier.

i want to follow your dash install! that to me seems like it would be the only real pain in the ass

GOOD LUCK WITH THE BUILD!

 

[dodger]

IM going t be doing the exact same thing as you.. i started with a 96 2.2L and as of now im just striping it down, going to find a donor car through copart as well.
i have a few friends with dealer license so should make it a bit easier.

i want to follow your dash install! that to me seems like it would be the only real pain in the ass

GOOD LUCK WITH THE BUILD!

Yeah details about the dash install are few and far between but it doesn't look too bad. I still need a passenger airbag though if anyone has one. I'm probably going to try and modify the existing wrx dash bar to fit into the GC. My biggest issue is the hvac system. The wrx one was totally destroyed. I think I can keep my 99 system if I can make the controls fit into the WRX plastic, it looks like its possible. Then I have to make a sheet metal adapter from the outlet of the older hvac box to the dash inlets as they are shaped differently. Plus a little rewiring. The dash will probably take while to get right. Btw one thing to remember is that the WRX dash will not work with very many of the older door cards,they hit when you close the door,it usually only works with RS ones.

 

[dodger]

Update

UPDATE 1

Jan 25,2010 - Chassis Prep

So I've been hard at work making the shell as bulletproof as possible to the harsh Midwest winters. Heres a picture of some of the nearly completed rust repair. The 'infected' area was completely removed and remade using some new steel.

The gray in the picture is a light coat of body filler over the welded in repair.



Getting the underbody totally clean is a royal pain. I tried numerous different ways and wanted to avoid chemicals if I could for fear they would soak up into the seams.My plan to use a large angle grinder and a wire wheel failed, it just makes a big mess, the rubber coating heats up and melts more than it is removed making a big sticky nasty mess. The old method isn't much better but I've got all the rubber off now. Using a torch on low heat you gently heat the coating until it is warm enough you can scrape it off. Lots of little fires and pieces that don't come off so cleanly result. It's a really crappy job. The rubberized undercoat was on there very tight. Once torched somewhat clean the surface was wire wheeled and sandblasted in tight spots to remove the remaining residue and factory primer.

Only a few small areas remain. The entire underbody should be into epoxy primer by the end of the week. The factory undercoat did a very good job I hardly found any rust and it was all around the rear end of the shell.

I also went and picked up a new set of doors this week. My old ones had a fair bit of rust, especially around the bottom seam which is nearly impossible to repair without the rust returning.

I bet if I sandblasted the area around this handle the hole would be all the way through. Luckily I found another set within an hours drive and also rain into a goldmine of other Subaru parts. Needless to say I'll probably going back for more.

A couple hundred bucks got me these. Not black but they're the WRB that the car will eventually be painted. One little bit of rust to be fixed by the trailing edge of one of the doors, but no real problem.


Reassembly should start in a week or two, its hard to get a lot of work in with my college courses going on. The underside will be finished by the end of the week but I still have to clean up and repaint the engine bay and interior. I also have to decide on an undercoating, I'm pretty convinced that a good 2k urethane truck bedliner product is the way to go, but open to suggestion. Hopefully I can get an update with the underside in primer by next week. :banana:

 

[dodger]

Update 2

UPDATE 2

Mar 23,2010 - Chassis Completed


Its been a while since I updated the build but things have been progressing quite well. I collected alot of parts I need like a twin disc clutch,built trans, axles. I've really been bogged down by my courses and the realization that properly refinishing the chassis was going to take alot longer than intended. Managed to find lots of little bits of surface rust that needed to be taken care of, nothing serious thankfully.The details are really the killer on a project like this. I'm not building a show car, its a driver and a track car, but thats no license to cut corners. Properly preparing all of the surfaces and removing the tiny bits of tar, bad paint,underbody coat and seam sealer are the real time consumers. The last 10% of the details probably take over 50% of the time.


Sorry the pics aren't high quality, my camera is broken.

Here's the inside of the car nearly ready for final scuffing and laying down the epoxy primer.

And here it is after laying down the primer. Looks pretty good if you ask me. The engine bay received the same treatment.

After laying down the color coat of RBP. Used a quart and a half for everything. Lots of tiny crevacis and angles make the interior of a car horrible to paint. The uneven color look is just from the camera. It came out nearly perfect just a few spots of some missed sand/dust/whatever. Its the interior though so its not noticeable. Too bad 95% of that paint and work is getting covered up by interior

Heres a shot from the back of the car. My shop is too dusty and cold to paint the entire exterior now. So I painted everything that would be hard to paint at a later date when its reassembled, the sills,sunroof area, taillight area and most of the window trim area, and lots of other spots.

The engine bay in all its RBP glory. Finally I'm rid of that ugly scratched up black. By this point I've also clear coated everything that was painted blue. Factory cars are almost never clear coated on anything but the exterior because it shows imperfections and its very expensive. I didn't want the high maintenance of shiny clear coat but I wanted its protection so I added a flattening agent my clear coat thus giving me a thick durable surface with no shine.

Overall view of the whole chassis. All of the blue painting is completed.

One of the wheel wells after Dave finished working his magic. All of the major body work is done just small stuff when it comes time to paint the exterior. All bodywork is sealed with epoxy primer.

The underside in epoxy primer after spending god knows how many hours scraping, wire wheeling, sanding, prepping and painting. Seriously its pretty much the worst job in the world. At least I have a lift or it would have been an even bigger PITA.



So that's whats happened with the car over the last month and a half. After alot of research I bought a product called Al's liner to spray on the underside of the car. Its big with the Jeep guys. Its a sprayable urethane based truck bedliner that should serve coating the wheel wells and underside perfectly. It isn't as durable as a super thick a rhino liner or line-x coating but its a better option because its lighter while still protecting amazingly. I also don't have to cart the chassis to an outside company this way. From what I can tell this will be about 10x more durable than a factory undercoating and lighter than factory aswell. Its going to take alot to make this thing rust again.

The underside is all scuffed up, I just have to finish masking and then I can spray it. I should be able to spray it Wednesday, then I'll get some pics up of the completed job. After spraying the undercoat the chassis is complete and ready for reassembly! :clap: