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Old 06-17-2011, 12:09 AM   #1
PHATsuby
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to stock is a project too

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Well, Ladies and Gentlemen I have returned.

After a long Hiatus from car obsession due to my epic H6 failure and frustration I have decided to undertake a new project. This project is actually much more reasonable and I have 100% confidence that I will in fact finish it.

From the H6 experience I have grown older and wiser and come to appreciate a few things a bit more. One of those things is OEM reliability and factory turbocharged powerplants.

My car is a 2001 with only 39k on it, however since it has essentially been a constant project from 2004 and up it has never really been complete. For example:

Since I went back to stock motor I have had a constant CEL since I have a TCU hooked up but no auto transmission for it to control. I have no cruise control and no air conditioning. I have a tape player but the other 2 DIN slots are wide open. My speaker grills are missing and I only have 2 front speakers installed. I have various interior panels missing and no spare tire or trunk floor. I could go on I'm sure...

I entertained the idea of the new Subaru coupe when it was rumored to be AWD and turbo, which unfortunately did not happen so that will not happen.

I then decided to utilize my 2001 chassis with only 39k on it and build a car I've always wanted for cheaper than I could ever buy a similar car outright.

I have forever held the S401 as the ultimate car and ultimate Legacy for my model year. Although I can't build an exact replica of that car I would like to build my own version utilizing a STi drivetrain.

Since I am essentially buying a "new" car(but building it), I had some criteria:
1. 100% OEM reliability, working cruise control, working A/C, No CEL's, 100% factory looking swap.
2. All parts must have equal or lesser miles than my current vehicle

With those criteria in mind I began my hunt for a suitable drivetrain. After bidding on a few salvage cars and losing I realized I likely would not find a salvage STi with low enough miles and an unquestionable drivetrain in my price range. I then found a 2006 STi drivetrain with less than 29k miles and snagged it off ebay.

Originally I had planned to bid on a salvage turbo baja and just swap that drivetrain and call it a day. However, after I thought about it I knew I would not truly be content unless I had a 6mt back with all the supporting hardware.

I am planning to swap an entire 2004 Baja wiring harness and run a 2004 Sti ecu. For DCCD I will have to run a DCCDPro unit because having looked at the wiring diagrams this will be the easiest and cleanest way to do it. My goal is to have minimal splicing and wiring needed which is the reason to use the Baja harness since it uses the same manual HVAC and airbag setup.

The swap will start out stock to shake everything down and make sure I have no CEL's. Then I'll move to stage 2 after everything is good and stop there.

Special delivery:


2006 STi motor

My car looks on its future 6mt. I wanted a 2006+ for the better syncros and bit better gearing. The 2007 gearing would have been ideal but the final gear is the same and I don't care about drag racing, only in school zones. I previously had a 2004 six speed so this will work just fine.


And the fun begins...some gems from the previous owner makes me wonder if this was just for gauges. I'll definitely be doing a compression test as soon as it has its first heat cycle. Luckily the seller has granted me a 30 day warranty from the day I actually start the motor, so far the customer service has been top notch.



This was babied right? Should a clutch with 29k miles on it look like this? One of the reasons I'll be doing a compression test.


With my luck the motor will end up being blown after I finish it all but I'm trying to stay positive and definitely feel like if there is an issue I at least won't be hung out to dry by the company I bought it from so that is a positive.

Much more updates in store. In reality I likely won't be able to finish this until the end of July/August with my summer schedule but I'll be doing work as I can.

Here we go again!
Ben
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Old 06-17-2011, 12:10 AM   #2
PHATsuby
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Old 06-17-2011, 12:10 AM   #3
PHATsuby
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Old 06-17-2011, 12:11 AM   #4
PHATsuby
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Old 06-17-2011, 12:11 AM   #5
PHATsuby
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for future fun
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Old 06-17-2011, 12:15 AM   #6
fibuz
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firsties!

and welcome back. can't wait to follow this build!
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Old 06-17-2011, 12:32 AM   #7
notroot
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I can personally vouch that this guy is insane. However, I look forward to spending some time in his garage and maybe even picking up a wrench.
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Old 06-17-2011, 02:09 PM   #8
PHATsuby
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fibuz View Post
firsties!

and welcome back. can't wait to follow this build!
Thanks Fibuz,

It's likely fitting you were first as you are probably the only one still around that remembers the H6.

You'll probably be the only person posting here haha.

I'll still be posting either way.

Ben
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Old 06-17-2011, 07:45 PM   #9
fibuz
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haha, you're probably right.

What are you doing with the brakes? I think you had aftermarket something, so I guess you're not doing STI brembos? What about the intercooler, going baja hood, or FMIC, or what? And what about visual mods? Black face meter ???
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Old 06-17-2011, 08:03 PM   #10
redlegacygt
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awesome man, glad to see your still following your dream! i remember watching your first build, and even though it didnt go as you (or every other person prob. watching..haha) as planned, im sure glad to see you've still got the itch to transform your legacy!

I cant wait to watch this transform! and welcome back!
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Old 06-17-2011, 09:33 PM   #11
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Good to see you back at it!

Definitely subscribing to this one.
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Old 06-17-2011, 11:38 PM   #12
PHATsuby
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to stock is a project too

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Thanks for the warm welcome back guys!

Quote:
Originally Posted by fibuz View Post
haha, you're probably right.

What are you doing with the brakes? I think you had aftermarket something, so I guess you're not doing STI brembos? What about the intercooler, going baja hood, or FMIC, or what? And what about visual mods? Black face meter ???
I'll be doing a baja hood. The plan is to just stop at stage 2 and have a reliable 290-300whp so I'll just run the stock STi topmount. I do plan to either adapter a stock STi IC duct or fabricate my own from aluminum because the stock Baja duct is made for the skinnier intercooler so it only cools half of the STi intercooler. I can't have that!

I had stoptechs but took them off a while ago. I'll be running a full Brembo setup along with a Sti master cylinder and brakebooster. I looked at sourcing true S401 backing plates for the rear brakes but it was too much of a headache so I bought the KNS adapter brackets.

I'll have some visual mods but it will be subtle and basically look stock outside to the non subaru legacy enthusiast. Interior wise I'll finish painting my door switch panels flat black to match my console and I will be installing leather door panels to replace my cloth and hacked up door panels.

I would like to install a full 2011 STi sedan seat setup but that is currently out of the picture since it's a large cost added that is unnecessary at this point. I am going to do some comparing, I know the front seat brackets are different so I'd need to adapt my 2001's to the 2011. Luckily I have one of the 2009 STi front seats from the salvage car I had before so I can check on that. The rear seats also mount differently than mine but it's possible the seat covers will swap onto my bottom cushion, I'll compare that as well. If the front seats can't be easily adapted, and more importantly, SAFELY adapted then I won't do it.

In terms of other visual mods you'll just have to wait and see. Nothing super fancy but there is one other element I am hoping to do that will be sweet to pull off if I can. The goal is to have it not be noticeable to the untrained eye if you had no idea what the car came with stock.

Ben
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Old 06-19-2011, 04:47 PM   #13
dennybertzLGT
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seems i may have found the guys to talk to bout project stuff, as i start delving into my 05 LGT, gonna be watching closely, and probably pick your brains to mush in the process, as i am new to the forums and subie tuning.
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Old 06-19-2011, 11:35 PM   #14
PHATsuby
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dennybertzLGT View Post
seems i may have found the guys to talk to bout project stuff, as i start delving into my 05 LGT, gonna be watching closely, and probably pick your brains to mush in the process, as i am new to the forums and subie tuning.
Yes feel free to ask questions. If you aren't a member already I'd say legacygt.com is likely an even better resource since you are a 05 GT owner.


Small update, went home briefly for father's day, didn't get any work accomplished but did have some parts waiting for me. Got my 3" 304 Stainless tubing to fabricate my exhaust.

Also today I spent some time working on one of my interior mods I'll be doing. Once I actually make some progress I'll post up some pics.

I am fairly close to having what I believe should be 99% of the parts to do the swap. I may end up needing some more of the Baja harness but I think my list is down to:

Rear wheel bearings/hubs(want to replace them while I do this).
Baja Turbo hood w/ scoop and splitter

After looking over some more wiring today I may need the Baja instrument panel wiring harness. I may also just buy main fuse box and fuse panel inside the car for good measure. The issue is that the plug on my GT is only a 10 pole plug going to the bulkhead harness and the Baja is a 22 pole plug. Depending on how many poles are actually used I may need the Baja setup.

The other thing I am trying to plan out in my head is how to assemble everything and when. I plan to put the engine and tranny together before putting it into the car. However, if I raise the car enough I could attach the steering rack and engine crossmember and control arms and just install it all at once.

I am leaning to just doing the motor and tranny and doing the engine crossmember/suspension separately because I will need to be working in the engine bay to get the STi steering rack to work with my GT steering column so any extra room would be helpful.

Ben
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Old 06-20-2011, 06:35 PM   #15
rougeben83
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If you could put an STI steering rack in there, do it, it's well worth the effort...even moreso if you get the matching alum control arms that are wider and have added positive castor.

DCCDPro is a good unit, I've had the auto version in mine for 3 months now, no complaints and there is a discernible (not really OMGAMAZING) change in how the car handles. Oh and you can definitely feel it shifting power when conditions are slick.
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Old 06-20-2011, 08:44 PM   #16
PHATsuby
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rougeben83 View Post
If you could put an STI steering rack in there, do it, it's well worth the effort...even moreso if you get the matching alum control arms that are wider and have added positive castor.

DCCDPro is a good unit, I've had the auto version in mine for 3 months now, no complaints and there is a discernible (not really OMGAMAZING) change in how the car handles. Oh and you can definitely feel it shifting power when conditions are slick.
Thanks for the feedback Ben!

I figured the GD control arms would be too wide? Due to that I got some BH aluminum control arms supposedly should have shipped today but I have yet to get tracking...

Isn't the GD track significantly wider? My car is already "hellaflush" as i assume you have the same wheels(I have the 17x8 sti weapons). I figured pushing it out more and adding significant camber would not be ideal.

I have the steering rack, I'm assuming I'll need to adapt the Sti coupler to my GT coupler to work so that is my plan.

Thanks for the info.

Ben
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Old 06-21-2011, 08:47 PM   #17
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its wider by 20mm, I'm on a laptop right now, but if you fish through the my car thread in the My Rides section of SL-i you should see pictures of my car with various 17x8 wheels on it after the GD arms. I'm running about -2.25* camber right now with the WL strut tops. I've fit 225 R compounds (essentially 245 width street tires) under there with no problems. For the steering rack coupler, mine has the coupler off a BE bolted to the coupler from an STI with a small steel rod in between. I know others have used tig welders or popping the pins out to connect the two ends before...the former needs a very competent welder to do (ie, I'd pay someone experienced), the latter is sort of iffy for me...
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Old 06-21-2011, 10:19 PM   #18
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What happened with the H6 swap? I have no clue. Eg33 or Ez30? I am Eg33 swapped.
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Old 06-21-2011, 10:56 PM   #19
PHATsuby
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rougeben83 View Post
its wider by 20mm, I'm on a laptop right now, but if you fish through the my car thread in the My Rides section of SL-i you should see pictures of my car with various 17x8 wheels on it after the GD arms. I'm running about -2.25* camber right now with the WL strut tops. I've fit 225 R compounds (essentially 245 width street tires) under there with no problems. For the steering rack coupler, mine has the coupler off a BE bolted to the coupler from an STI with a small steel rod in between. I know others have used tig welders or popping the pins out to connect the two ends before...the former needs a very competent welder to do (ie, I'd pay someone experienced), the latter is sort of iffy for me...
Cool, thanks for the info! I have the BH ones on the way so hopefully it will be an easy install.

I think I can handle the welding on the coupler since I'll be TIG welding my exhaust. Again, thanks for the info.

Ben
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Old 06-21-2011, 10:58 PM   #20
PHATsuby
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UPDATE:

So here is what I started working on yesterday and worked on some today. I am working on fitting a Ver 8 STi prodrive cluster into my legacy. This has one has DCCD and is in MPH, there were supposedly only 500 of these made to celebrate Solberg's WRC win.

I have an old Baja cluster I will be using as well to try and make it look like an OEM part.

Here is the pattern I made using various parts of each cluster. I will be scanning this in and then making a model in SolidWorks to get it cut out by a CNC or waterjet. My plan is to use a thin plastic sheet, maybe 1-2mm thick. I left all the different lines even though most won't be needed just so I'll have reference when I'm making the model in SolidWorks.



To get an idea of how it may look.



A better idea. It's hard to tell in this picture but the different ridges of the STi cluster surround made it so I will have to put the overlay on the outside of the cluster. I could put it under but would still look odd in my opinion.



Here you can see what I mean, it would fill in the air space but you could still see the skeleton once you put the BE surround on.



This is just a rough idea, once I got this all cut out assuming I could put it behind the cluster I realized I needed to have it on top so I will need to model it like I originally thought in SW so I can have exact and clean lines.



This is the backing on the Baja cluster. I am still trying to figure out the best way to do this but I would like to have the frame of the Baja bolt together but the STi cluster outer dimensions are very similar. Yes I will have to hack on the STi cluster to remove the tabs on it's stock housing...




That is all I have for now, once I get it modeled in SolidWorks I'll post up a rendering.

Ben
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Old 06-22-2011, 10:03 PM   #21
MitchGT
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Former BE crew checking in.

Ben I love that you're getting back into this. An STI powered BE would be the ultimate Legacy and something I always wanted to do. I'll be following this one closely.
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Old 06-22-2011, 10:49 PM   #22
PHATsuby
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MitchGT View Post
Former BE crew checking in.

Ben I love that you're getting back into this. An STI powered BE would be the ultimate Legacy and something I always wanted to do. I'll be following this one closely.
Thanks Mitch, I'm excited too. I'll be even more excited when I start it for the first time and get to drive it.

UPDATE:
I did a rendering in SolidWorks tonight. I will have to print it out and see if it works before I get it made but this should be a much cleaner and more precise way of doing it. I'll likely send it in to get a quote on the cost tomorrow as well. I'm just hoping they can do it in a thin enough material that is plastic.





Ben
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Old 06-22-2011, 11:32 PM   #23
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looks good Ben.

Forgot to add, which crossmember are you going to be using? That will pretty much dictate which steering rack you have to go with, maybe the control arms as well (stock BE/BH's came with 55mm wide front control arm bushings, WRX's and STI's use 60mm, you'll need to swap to whatever bushing width corresponds with your crossmember).
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Old 06-22-2011, 11:46 PM   #24
PHATsuby
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rougeben83 View Post
looks good Ben.

Forgot to add, which crossmember are you going to be using? That will pretty much dictate which steering rack you have to go with, maybe the control arms as well (stock BE/BH's came with 55mm wide front control arm bushings, WRX's and STI's use 60mm, you'll need to swap to whatever bushing width corresponds with your crossmember).
Thanks Ben,

I specifically asked for a matching STi crossmember and steering rack. I will likely have to figure something out for the bushing width since I have the BH control arms. Can I just buy STi bushings and put those into the BH arms then?

On second thought would I be able to just use some washers to take up the extra space? I assume no since that would be metal on metal but figured I'd ask.

Thanks for the help!

Ben

Last edited by PHATsuby; 06-23-2011 at 12:59 PM.
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Old 06-23-2011, 09:19 PM   #25
rougeben83
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The guy named bigskywrx here made a how to on pressing out the control arm front bushings and putting in polyurethane ones that are of the right width (in his case, he used gd arms to fit his gc cross member 60mm--->55mm, other way around). I would go that route as its more simple and elegant over shimming. My only resevervation with shimming is that the shims will need to be made of hard steel (not the regular stuff washers are made off) as they could deform over time, leading to excess play...also you need to make sure all the washers you use are of the same thickness so the arm alignment are close to each other...

However, I would hold off until making sure the control arms won't fit (I'm 95% sure, but I havent seen alum BH control arms, or baja turbo control arms personally, so I can't jump to conclusions)
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