Yet another Subaru cherry popped - '03 WRX wagon

Hey all. Just got approved so figured I'd join the noob ranks and start a welcome mat thread.

Wife and I just got our first Subie. As the title states, it's an '03 WRX wagon. Silver, 5-spd, 128k, all stock, and came with Blizzaks on it. I've always wanted a Subaru and the wife loves manuals, so it worked out for both of us.

Anywho, found the car on Craigslist a couple weeks ago and made the plunge. Got it fairly cheap as it had a salvage title and some hail damage, as well as some shady body work to try to make the hail seem not so bad. Lucky for me I work at a body shop so hopefully can, over time, bring her back to respectable looking. None of it's absolutely terrible, just enough little stuff to add up to a decent project. And it's a daily driver, so I'm not gonna get too crazy.

Anywho, it's my first turbo car so we'll see how this goes. Has been pretty awesome so far and hopefully we can make it last for a while.

Also, as a newbie Subie owner, I've got a few questions of course. Have been doing general maintenance stuff (or so I believe) just to get the car updated so I know what's done. Brakes, oil, air filter, gonna check spark plugs (or probably just replace if I'm all ready that far in), and gotta inspect the timing belt and what not as I have no clue if it's been serviced yet or not.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks for everybody's time. Pumped I found a local forum as I know this will drastically improve my chances of scoring deals on used parts as well as increase the mental knowledge.

Now excuse me while I get to go drive this thing in the snow for the first time. WOOT!

 

Welcome! Congrats on the purchase. We like pics on here, so post some when you get a chance.

 

Congrats on the new Subie! I'm sure you're already aware but you'll enjoy it ALOT!! ...and also, WELCOME!

 

congrats on your purchase. Yes, we do like pics on here. Enjoy your stay here. plenty of good information and people.

 

Well, only took me a month to get some pics up...

Pics from the day we brought 'er home. I have since stripped all of the stickers off, minus the airpill on the hood scoop, but I'm not really digging it as much the more I look at it. It was calling to us on the day of purchase as Airblaster is the only outerwear we rock during boarding season. Might replace the pill with a ptery diecut and put it more on the rear of the scoop so you can see it from inside. Otherwise, it actually looks pretty sharp now that it's all cleaned up. Will get some updated pictures sometime. Probably in another month...

If the html coding works the same on here as the other forums I'm on, click for full size/res. If not, I'll need to be schooled in proper uploading technique on here.

 

Looks nice and clean! Congrats!

 

I'm glad you de-stickered it, it looks like someone's idiot child went nuts and randomly put **** everywhere.

Welcome.

 

Word. I'm usually a fan of a few stickers here and there when done right, but looks like the dude got high and just went to town with it.

 

Wagon love! Congrats on the purchase. Now all we need is an actual snowstorm. Yay!

 

You said it. Pics from this weekend (also posted in the snowy pic thread). Click for full size.






Also, a little something my brother got me for late Christmas/B-day present:

 

that shirt kicks ass. wish i had a wagon/hatch

 

I want that shirt

 

Me too!

 

Collected a deer Thursday morning on the way to work. Most likely gonna end up replacing right fender, bumper, and hood. At this point, I'm contemplating just doing the driver side fender at the same time since it's got minor hail damage and slightly mismatched paint.

With that said, if I can get the entire front clip replaced by insurance, I think I'm gonna go with sedan fenders and bumper. Stopped at the Subaru dealer in Roch today to pick up some fog light brackets I had ordered previously and asked him to look up part numbers for both front ends, to check price differences. Said due to Subaru's parts system being ancient/horrendous, it wasn't that easy, and he needs my vin plus the vin from a sedan to do so.

Anybody willing to PM me their vin # for a bugeye WRX sedan? Strictly using it for the sake of looking up part numbers only. Would serially appreciate it.

 

Well, you guys are in luck. Finally found the site where my buddy got it. Only $10, too! Click the pic...

 

You would think so. I'm assuming the dude just drove all over going to hills/resorts, or maybe he lived out there for a little while and worked at one. Bought it just north of the cities.

 

Hit another deer (possibly two) this morning on the way to work again. This time was a little more solid impact. Killed the hood, right headlight, right fender even more, and the bumper. Haven't claimed the incident from a couple weeks ago so this couldn't have come at a better time. Looks like I'll be getting that new front end after all...

Also, still would really appreciate somebody's bugeye sedan VIN # if possible. Again, strictly for parts lookup at the dealer.

 

Round 1:



Round 2:

 

JF1GD29682G506777
Two minutes on craigslist and you could have had a vin.. You're welcome

 

I think "The Poacher" is a fitting nickname for this thing.

 

Thanks. I would never think of that, as I've sold multiple cars on there and have never put the VIN in the ad.

 

Don't give up little mac! Join the Nintendo Fun Club today!!!!!

 

I probably came off as being a dick head. But yea I thought of it because I've seen a lot if CL ads with the vin in them

 

Thanks for the link! Def. gonna get me one now, maybe even two?

 

Adjuster met at my work this morning to look at the Poacher. Got $20 less than my boss wrote up for an estimate so I took the deal and will be on my way to a whole new front end shortly.

Woohoo!

 

A month later and I'm finally getting to putting in work. Got the hood and fender jambed tonight. Front clip teardown begins tomorrow morning. Hoping to have it completed sometime this weekend.

 

Just cross posting/pasting this from my misfire thread (in hopes that I won't have to post there again) and to consolidate into this one just for the hell of it.

Just a little update for anybody interested. Been quietly/slowly making some progress on this thing and it's finally nearing the stages of rumbling once again. I ended up having my heads redone at a local machine shop down here since my boss is pretty good friends with the guy. Got two valves redone and the rest of them checked over. Heads cleaned up, seals replaced, valves all set back to spec (probably typical head job).

Anywho, have been assembling a pile of "Christmas presents" in the meantime. Figured now would be the ideal time to do any performance mods I've ever wanted to do, so got an EBCS, lightweight crank pulley, phenolic spacers, and complete exhaust gasket set from GrimmSpeed. Also new silicone turbo inlet since my stocker was pretty much crap. Put the aftermarket up and down pipes in and will have the thing wrapped up hopefully within the week. Just gotta get a tune lined up and should be good to go.

Buddy came down this weekend and we put in a 14 ish hour day yesterday. Got the motor completely reassembled and into the car. New clutch kit in, most of the motor hooked back up. Gonna go get a cam sprocket holding tool tomorrow to get them retorqued then can put the front back together and finish the task. Fingers crossed the beast will live.

My only progress pic, as of about 1230 last night. Nothing special to look at, but damn it feels good.

 

Put the downpipe and the EBCS in the last two nights.

Downpipe was an absolute animal to put in. I guess that's the price you pay to save a bunch on used parts. That or it's just normal for aftermarket stuff in general (it is with hot rod parts, I know). The catback I had put on before seemed to fit up to the stock downpipe with no real fitment issues other than a couple spots towards the back where I had to shave a few areas in order to eliminate rattles and rubs. Put the downpipe in and it wasn't even close to lining up with the mouth of the catback. Ended up using a ratchet strap around the downpipe to pull it to one side and then a series of different length bolts and clamps to pull them together at the flanges. Was a total pain in the ass but now that they're together it actually fits under the car better than the old stuff. Seems like it's got plenty of wiggle room on all sides, so hopefully won't have to modify anything else underneath.

EBCS was about the most straight forward thing to install so far. Wish it was all that easy.

 

It lives!

Got it just about totally wrapped up today/tonight and actually fired the beast. Sounds pretty gnarly with no cats and can totally tell a difference by having the lightweight pulley on there. Almost didn't want to put it on as it looked so cool in the little box they ship Did both the resistor mod for the uppipe EGT and the mechanical fix for the rear 02 sensor, didn't get a check engine light yet so assuming they're working.

Only issue I know of is an exhaust leak somewhere in the front, on the right side. Will have to get under there sometime Sunday or next week and do some inspecting. Anybody have any tips/suggestions on this? I put all new gaskets in the whole thing during reassembly. The good ones from GrimmSpeed. Didn't really do anything other than crank the sh!t out of the bolts at the flanges. Did I miss something? Will know more when I figure out which one is leaking.

Lastly, the tool worked awesome. Really got to use it for about 30 seconds total and it made the job laughably easy. And I found a home for one of the several GS stickers I've gotten recently.

Pics!

 

What seems different about the crank pulley? I've got one that im putting off installing because im skeptical itll change anything..

 

It revs noticeably quicker, like it's not working as hard (essentially what it's meant to do). And I also read that it can help with low speed shifting and take off, 1st and 2nd type stuff. I can vouch for that as I putted down the road and back in 2nd tonight for my test drive. It's much easier to start rolling from a stop.

I'd say if you've already got it there's no reason not to try it. If that's the only thing to change out I can't imagine it taking very long.

 

Well, found the exhaust leak...





So, my current question is this. I've now learned the hard way about buying cheap, used stuff and either not inspecting it close enough or it was possibly just really weak and broke upon install. I've got it pulled back out of the car and welded the sh!t out of it, probably half an inch up from the flange. Do I a) put it back in the car and hope that it lasts for the remainder of the car's days, or b) source a new or used GrimmSpeed uppipe that's constructed considerably better and has a flex section to help with gasket mating as well as vibration absorption?

I've got a decent chunk of "extra" money currently due to the birthday cards/presents coming in. I wasn't pumped on the idea of dropping $200 on a new uppipe, but if I spend another $90-ish on gaskets to put it back together with the current piece and it fails again at a later date, I know I'll be a little peeved with myself.

I probably sound like I'm answering my own question, but always appreciate the input of those with experience. Part of me thinks it'll just be fine and enough companies make uppipes without flex that it shouldn't be an issue, but I also don't have any flex joints in the turbo back anymore either. Seeking advice.

Thanks much!

 

Someone with a lot more experience should chime in, but I'm thinking that since you just put the gaskets in, you should be able to reuse them with a very high degree of success?

 

Yea, unless the gaskets are burned out, you can reuse them.

 

I'll give that a whirl then, thanks. I was under the impression that since they're the mls style ones with the crush ring, once they were crushed they were "junk". But yeah, they've got a total of about 30 minutes run time on them. I did notice one had some brown on it where it didn't fully seal the first time. Hopefully that'll get rectified a new uppipe.

Another question - I put new valve cover gaskets in when we reassembled the motor, including the little half moon things. The heads were spotless from the machine shop, and the valve covers were thoroughly scraped and cleaned in a parts washer. I've got a leak on the right side one already, in the same spot as before (bottom, towards the rear). What gives? Should I put silicone around the whole damn thing as well as the rubber gasket? Wouldn't mind so much if it was the left, but it's gonna drip right onto the uppipe again if I don't fix it.

 

I seem to recall there's certain spots that the factory says to put fujibond sealant on, did you do that? I think the info has been posted here before.

 

Hmm. I put black RTV in the "arch" of the half moons, and then across the tops of them to cover the plastic. I've got a Subaru manual for the car but can't find a section specific to the valve covers.

I've read a bunch today with people saying they put RTV around the entire sealing surface. Can't imagine it'd hurt anything to do so. Also have seen a lot of posts suggesting HondaBond instead of the FujiBond.

 

Check this link out. It shows where you're supposed to put the sealant. Page 6

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8Nawrcpwo37YjBSY1VoVXBzcVU/edit?usp=docslist_api

 

Hot damn! Much thanks, sir.

 

No problem! It came up in a thread of mine a few months ago, and @Sjogun posted that link. Very helpful stuff in there!

 

Do you have a link to that full manual or just that section? That's actually the one I've got but mine is considerably harder to read.

Also found that page in mine once I noticed what section it's in. Didn't think to check there.