ghostdriver
02-24-2008, 05:45 PM
So after doing plenty of research online I decided that I could swap my subaru and go from there and I started looking for a car. At first I was looking for a 2.5RS but couldn?t find an affordable one. It was then that I realized that the L was just as good a candidate for a full swap.
After a little more time searching I found this gem in New Jersey for 4100:
It was about a 22 hour round trip to get it.
T
he next order of business was to get rid of those hubcap steelies and replace them with something brembo compatible. (rota tarmac 17X7.5 with 205/40/17 to fit with L struts)
I also needed a hood for the tmic (1999 2.5RS)
paint and install?
Then it was time to find a suitable donor. After struggling to find an affordable set of parts to swap I decided to look for a wrecked donor car. It was one of the best/worse decisions I made. I will explain the worse part in a little while. I highly recommend using a wrecked car as a donor because trying to source the parts is very difficult. While ECS has great kits, some of us don?t wanna spend the big bucks on them. I saved almost 5000 on parts by getting this from erepairables.com for 9600 shipped:
Then I found the place to do the work. My parents garage. I borrowed a friend?s cherry picker and some extra jacks/jackstands and prepared for a 2 week long adventure. Here is the space we had to work with.
The first order of business was to get everything I needed out of the sti
We stripped the car
removed the wheels
the exhaust
the brakes, hubs, and suspension
disconnected the driveshaft
pulled the front axles
dropped the rear end, crossmember, diff, axles, control arms, sway bar, everything
unplugged everything from the engine (hoses, lines, wires, etc) as well as draining all fluids
took the nuts off the engine mount studs, moved the cherry picker into position, attached the chain, and lifted
here is where I goofed up. I did not inspect the internals of a wrecked motor before installing it into my car. Always disassemble an engine that has been in a wreck. Mine recently dropped 2 valves and im looking for a new long block now.
we repeated the process for the L
we took out the wiring harnesses (my great wiring friend with the sti harness):
it was finally time to actually swap things
rear end and suspension into the L
no modification required for rear end. The suspension had eibach springs and ground control. We had to swap the top hats on the rear and do some dremel grinding to make the L hats fit.
Hubs and brakes (must swap ebrake cables)
we swapped over the front crossmember, steering assembly, control arms, suspension, hubs, brakes, and steering column. The u-joint was a tight fit but we made it work without modification. We also swapped the pedals. Thanks to ECS for the gas pedal bracket. I highly recommend this for sti gas pedal in gc8. Brake and clutch pedals were a sinch. We replaced the brake booster with the sti one but kept the L master cylinder. I didn?t want to change out the hard lines to install the ABS system. I replaced the L cable clutch with the STi hydraulic one. I also swapped the fuel pump into the L gas tank. Shoulda swapped the whole tank but by the time I realized that we had already installed the rear end and time was running short. It just means a permanent CEL due to an evap sensor missing on the L tank.
Then we lift the engine back up
drop it in
and its happy
We then attach the driveshaft, axles, all wiring/hoses, and exhaust (sti fits). There is a slight issue with clearance between the shift linkage and the driveshaft. My reverse security cable (the one that makes you have to lift up on that thing on the stick to put it in reverse) seems to have been snapped. I believe that it got cut between the linkage and the driveshaft but I haven?t inspected it yet. Subaru fail safe reverse system FTW!
The wiring work was made possible by alldatadiy.com. its not free but its worth the money. Things that are not swapped obviously require merging harnesses. Everything in my car (besides A/C) is fully functional. That includes the head lights. If you can read a wiring diagram then you can make anything work right with some cutting and soldering.
I had to get a new timing belt, timing belt covers, radiator hoses, and radiator. I went with a nice koyo. Sti radiators require some custom fitment into an L.
Also the A/C system uses different size hoses. I kept the L HVAC, blower motor, and condenser. I swapped the L compressor onto the STi engine. Hoses require some bending to fit around intake manifold.
It took a while to get it started because I had unknowingly switched the fuel lines (oops). After that we spent some time testing (compression, leak down) because the engine ticked. It passed the tests.
We then installed the dash with the STi gauge cluster in it. That took some dremel work and it isn?t a perfectly clean fit but it doesn?t look bad
We installed the interior, including STi front seats. The rear seats will come later.
After some tweaking of the gas pedal bracket (to prevent the high voltage of more than 80% throttle) we had a fully functional car with a ticking engine.
It?s a lot of fun. The 205s are way too small for a torque monster like this engine in such a light car. The brembos stop like a dream. I love the six speed. On a very slow and kind of warm night at the drag strip the car ran a 13.6 at 99mph. the 205s do not get traction on the launch and the get squirrely shifting into 2nd.
After about 5 months of hard driving the ticking finally manifested itself in the form of damage
After the new long block is in performance upgrades are in order. Look for a full-race GT3076R TS kit in the not so distant future.
Anybody with questions about the car or the swap feel free to pm me.
I hope this thread is interesting and helpful to the community
After a little more time searching I found this gem in New Jersey for 4100:
It was about a 22 hour round trip to get it.
T
he next order of business was to get rid of those hubcap steelies and replace them with something brembo compatible. (rota tarmac 17X7.5 with 205/40/17 to fit with L struts)
I also needed a hood for the tmic (1999 2.5RS)
paint and install?
Then it was time to find a suitable donor. After struggling to find an affordable set of parts to swap I decided to look for a wrecked donor car. It was one of the best/worse decisions I made. I will explain the worse part in a little while. I highly recommend using a wrecked car as a donor because trying to source the parts is very difficult. While ECS has great kits, some of us don?t wanna spend the big bucks on them. I saved almost 5000 on parts by getting this from erepairables.com for 9600 shipped:
Then I found the place to do the work. My parents garage. I borrowed a friend?s cherry picker and some extra jacks/jackstands and prepared for a 2 week long adventure. Here is the space we had to work with.
The first order of business was to get everything I needed out of the sti
We stripped the car
removed the wheels
the exhaust
the brakes, hubs, and suspension
disconnected the driveshaft
pulled the front axles
dropped the rear end, crossmember, diff, axles, control arms, sway bar, everything
unplugged everything from the engine (hoses, lines, wires, etc) as well as draining all fluids
took the nuts off the engine mount studs, moved the cherry picker into position, attached the chain, and lifted
here is where I goofed up. I did not inspect the internals of a wrecked motor before installing it into my car. Always disassemble an engine that has been in a wreck. Mine recently dropped 2 valves and im looking for a new long block now.
we repeated the process for the L
we took out the wiring harnesses (my great wiring friend with the sti harness):
it was finally time to actually swap things
rear end and suspension into the L
no modification required for rear end. The suspension had eibach springs and ground control. We had to swap the top hats on the rear and do some dremel grinding to make the L hats fit.
Hubs and brakes (must swap ebrake cables)
we swapped over the front crossmember, steering assembly, control arms, suspension, hubs, brakes, and steering column. The u-joint was a tight fit but we made it work without modification. We also swapped the pedals. Thanks to ECS for the gas pedal bracket. I highly recommend this for sti gas pedal in gc8. Brake and clutch pedals were a sinch. We replaced the brake booster with the sti one but kept the L master cylinder. I didn?t want to change out the hard lines to install the ABS system. I replaced the L cable clutch with the STi hydraulic one. I also swapped the fuel pump into the L gas tank. Shoulda swapped the whole tank but by the time I realized that we had already installed the rear end and time was running short. It just means a permanent CEL due to an evap sensor missing on the L tank.
Then we lift the engine back up
drop it in
and its happy
We then attach the driveshaft, axles, all wiring/hoses, and exhaust (sti fits). There is a slight issue with clearance between the shift linkage and the driveshaft. My reverse security cable (the one that makes you have to lift up on that thing on the stick to put it in reverse) seems to have been snapped. I believe that it got cut between the linkage and the driveshaft but I haven?t inspected it yet. Subaru fail safe reverse system FTW!
The wiring work was made possible by alldatadiy.com. its not free but its worth the money. Things that are not swapped obviously require merging harnesses. Everything in my car (besides A/C) is fully functional. That includes the head lights. If you can read a wiring diagram then you can make anything work right with some cutting and soldering.
I had to get a new timing belt, timing belt covers, radiator hoses, and radiator. I went with a nice koyo. Sti radiators require some custom fitment into an L.
Also the A/C system uses different size hoses. I kept the L HVAC, blower motor, and condenser. I swapped the L compressor onto the STi engine. Hoses require some bending to fit around intake manifold.
It took a while to get it started because I had unknowingly switched the fuel lines (oops). After that we spent some time testing (compression, leak down) because the engine ticked. It passed the tests.
We then installed the dash with the STi gauge cluster in it. That took some dremel work and it isn?t a perfectly clean fit but it doesn?t look bad
We installed the interior, including STi front seats. The rear seats will come later.
After some tweaking of the gas pedal bracket (to prevent the high voltage of more than 80% throttle) we had a fully functional car with a ticking engine.
It?s a lot of fun. The 205s are way too small for a torque monster like this engine in such a light car. The brembos stop like a dream. I love the six speed. On a very slow and kind of warm night at the drag strip the car ran a 13.6 at 99mph. the 205s do not get traction on the launch and the get squirrely shifting into 2nd.
After about 5 months of hard driving the ticking finally manifested itself in the form of damage
After the new long block is in performance upgrades are in order. Look for a full-race GT3076R TS kit in the not so distant future.
Anybody with questions about the car or the swap feel free to pm me.
I hope this thread is interesting and helpful to the community