Found some time to clean up the valve covers and bolt them back on. Then I spent some time looking for my STI motor mounts... stopped soon after starting to lol at the boxes of parts overflowing out of the attic and taking over the garage and spare bedroom.
The bitch of it is I know theyre in a cardboard box at the bottom of a white plastic basket and I can't for the life of me find that basket!
Made some good progress in 6 hours. Installed the merged harness, heater core, and upper dash. Chux quickly fabbed up an ecu mounting bracket by hacking up the svx bracket and using it with the RS X bracket. Pulled apart the front and and took out the motor and exhaust: Swapped the motor with a Chux: Measured for the radiator and started cutting... I'm gonna need a plasma cutter lol: Got hungry and parked it. Reminds me of an evo x:
how much do you need to cut out of the beam? maybe it would be easier to make a new beam (ask martin about the "beam" we did on the rally car)
Just suspension and cosmetic/comfort stuff until the warranty runs out. Then thinking about AMS 16g hybrids and a gt2 clutch conversion. Looking for stock or faster spool and 500-550whp. Don't want to go over 600whp/550wtq. omg ONLY tires Met Martin for burgers tonight and he mentioned that. There's not a whole lot to cut out, it's just really thick steel and a real pain in the ass with a 35gal compressor. The oem beam looks like it will be perfect for mounting the svx rad. I probably won't even need to weld brackets or anything. Just drill 2 holes for the lower mounts, spin the upper mounts 180 degrees and tap new holes for them... maybe notch the upper support for hose clearance. It's 1000x easier than people make it out to be. Otherwise a 15" tall 27" wide 3.5" deep or smaller core will work. Looks like I'll even be able to fit a small AC condenser with push type fans or no AC and 8" pull type fans. Steering wheel is coming this week, so I'll be working on dash mounting the horn switch and cruise control switch.
And AC! But no carpet or headliner lol I'll see how much I can keep functional and start deleting and stripping stuff as I go.
Thanks for the advice. I have a cheapo ryobi, but the chuck is seized and I'm out of wheels for it lol I'll see if I can fix it. If not, I'm at the point where I'll just upgrade to a nicer one instead of spend 3 hours cutting 6 lines with the air tool!
My DeWalt was around $60 and has lasted me a few years and some decent use. It is a bit noisier than more expensive models, but cutting metal isn't exactly a quiet operation.
I could cut 2 of the lines with a jigsaw and probably 1 of the 2 remaining 27" long lines with my circular saw if I had it bolted to the frame. The beam is currently off the car so I can get to a couple tight spots. I think an angle grinder and cutoff wheel are going to be the way to go on this one. It's the principle of it tho. If I can get $500 for the ej251, I've recouped my entire initial investment! jk, I don't mind spending money on tools, unless it's a specialized tool that gets used once.
All the parts are here now except for the steering wheel. I may need to order a couple more gaskets and bolts, tho. Harness and upper dash are in. I just have to find time to finish cutting the bumper beam, inspect and reseal the oil pan, and finish putting the intake manifold (wiring and hoses) back on. I won't be able to work on it much Saturday, but if I finish my detail on Sunday early, I'll finish that stuff up and think about dropping the motor in. If not, I'm hoping to get the motor in sometime during the week or skip rallyx and get it done next Saturday.
Hey, thanks man! I've tried not to get to attached to this project, but it is slowly becoming a labor of love. It's been really difficult lately finding even an hour or 2 of free time. Did make some progress tho. Big thanks to thunderdan for motivating me and helping. Pulled the oil pan and inspected the valve seats, cylinder walls and bearings. Previous owner made a mess of the pan (sloppy rtv job) so we spent a good amount of time cleaning out the pan and pick-up screen. Bumper beam is pretty much good to go too. Here's a progress pic of the bumper beam/rad support. We cut out the black part and trimmed it up a little more than what this pic shows. I'm sure Dan will post up finished pics for those thinking of mounting the radiator this way:
Indeed! Someone at some point made a mess of the valve covers too lol. Broke my first meaningful (kinda) bolt... I think it's an egr line that goes to the exhaust manifold. Also found a razorblade under the coolant crossover. That came in handy for scraping the rtv off the block and pan. Bonus! added pics to above post, Dan will probably have some more soon. I might try to mount the bumper beam and radiator Thursday night, then start sanding the exterior and prep it for a rattle can respray. Still deciding on semi-gloss white, semi-gloss black, or john deer green.
FYI, a wire brush on the end of a drill makes quick work of the silicone on the pan. The groove on the pan makes scraping a futile attempt at cleaning it.
For sure, I need to take the wire wheel to the outside since it needs some rust treatment anyway. Pressure washer should take care a lot of it too lol
I'm leaning toward matte or semi-gloss black since it means I can be sloppy with masking off the trim lol semi-gloss should be easier to upkeep. I'll probably end up with whatever I can find on sale.
Did some test fitting... pretty close, but it's gonna need some more trimming before I can fab lower mounts and bolt everything back up: Also installed the new steering wheel and hub. Mounted the cruise control to the column but still need to wire it in... need to wire the horn in too.
View attachment 22093 View attachment 22092 forgot a cuter for the cigar. thank god for air tools View attachment 22091 View attachment 22090 try to see if the wall will start on fire View attachment 22089 View attachment 22088 View attachment 22087
Getting closer! Plan to reassemble the motor tomorrow and test fit the bumper/grill. I'll go with a shorter, narrower aluminum radiator eventually. Need to fix some engine bay rust before dropping the motor in.
lol, it looks huge when it's not hiding behind all the other stuff, huh? It's the stock svx radiator and is acually the same length as the stock impreza radiator only slightly wider and actually shorter... either way it's gonna melt my headlights lol
the brackets are plastic and it would be hilarious if they fused with the radiator endtank. No need for zipties!
1 hour at a time lol. Put the oil pan back on and started to put the intake manifold back on... I'll need to order a new knock sensor and buy a few feet of fuel/vacuum hose. Motor will have to wait another week or so. In the meantime it's starting to look like a car again! Need to work on the grill and finish up the interior (gut the door cards and reinstall the lower dash) while I wait for parts to ship...
LOL at that radiator. You are going to get some ricers messing with you thinking its an intercooler. At least you'll be able to throw down.
Also, I wouldn't commit on those plates. A pair of TD04's would make that thing a monster with a great powerband. :stickpoke:
ha! yeah it would be pretty cheap to do too, except for the engine management. We'll see. I just want to get it running for now. Then I can strip it down and build it up... wash rinse repeat until I wad it up or the chassis rots out from under it lol
