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Old 03-04-2009, 11:54 AM   #1
wishicoulddrift
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Post My Sweet Transvestite RWD GC8

First and foremost I need to extend my thanks to those that made my car a priority in their lives, and helped me complete all that has been done thus far.

Dan from Smart Service Subaru
Erik and Doug @ Up Garage
Ray @ Garage Autohero
Dave @ 360 Auto body
Brian
Josh
Of course***8230; The patience of my wonderful girlfriend

Alrighty, now onto the car***8230;

As I am sure I have mentioned before on here, I have been drifting for four years now, and I started with the car everyone does, a Nissan 240sx. After some time I began to tire with the scene, and that everyone was buying 240s with SR20's in them. There was little originality, and even after dropping 25k on my Nissan, it just was "another 240sx." After seeing Team Oranges GC for the first time, I got a wild hair, and told one of the shops that sponsored me that I was selling my car and building a Subaru. I told only a few people what my plans were, and kept the rest to myself (that only lasted so long***8230;Roland! )

***8230;. In October of 2007 I bought a 95 Impreza L coupe, and in December my friend Dan and I started to tear into it.

Dan Happily getting started on the long journey!


Me getting excited about 20min worth of work***8230;


The engine came out easily enough, but we were doing the swap on the side of dans house***8230; yes those are river rock covering the ground***8230; we went from this***8230;.


To this***8230;.(check out Dan's face, I think I was the only one pulling)


The fun part began when I got to clean this engine bay, and sand it all down to get ready for paint. This was four solid evenings of work, in the dark, frozen awesomeness which is Washington in the winter.


I got it back from the painter and the engine bay had a nice coat of BMW Steel Grey Metalic p.code: #400 for those who want to know.


Doing anything in the conditions we were working in sucked***8230; jack stands weren't stable on this surface so being under the car was just uncomfortable***8230;.


To give an idea of what the whole set-up was, this was our shop for the winter***8230;. BAH!


If anyone can point out what's missing here, you get ten points! It's amazing how much of a difference these bushings made***8230;
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Old 03-04-2009, 11:58 AM   #2
wishicoulddrift
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While down there I installed the Kakimoto Racing exhaust (dp -back, no cat for this system, but it will come later)


No other car that shares the same body has as many things on it that do not transfer as this car***8230; Example: I thought an RS dash swap would be nice and easy. I was wrong, you need the beam, the dash, all of the brackets, all new plugs as they changed in the later model dashes, heater core, and the holes in the top of the firewall aren't all there***8230;. the L steering column doesn't bolt to the RS beam, and from that issue stems the problem of the RS firewall having a larger hole for the steering column and the corresponding bushing. A dremel was utilized to fix this, but even so, I only dremeled enough to knock the solid piece into place. Lastly, all of the tree wiring on the steering column is completely different from these years, and had a different set of plugs and wire colors. This was a fun thing to find out, but I just kept buying till I got everything. I think in the end it was worth it.

Here is an RS dash on an L beam, BOOO!


(I will post the completed dash a little later in the post)

The engine I had bought was blown with the intention of rebuilding it, but here is what fell out of the block when taking it apart***8230; (engine is a Ej20k out of a V4 Sti type-R



While we waited for one of the heads to have new valves installed my Watanabe Factory drift center diff came from www.rhdjapan.com and it was time to do the deed! We removed the naughty bits that make a Subaru so snow worthy (STI DCCD), and implanted the bits that would make it drift worthy. I know im probably going to get some **** for removing a perfectly good DCCD, but if anyone wants to buy them, I have the DCCD and the corresponding STI mechanical rear diff.
DCCD found a new friend***8230;


Here is one solid center diff***8230; I don't think I would want another piece in here, the quality is just too good. Install, including cleaning all of the gasket off and re-applying new gasket, was 15min. Obviously that was with the transmission out of the car, but still, that's pretty good.


Get that tranny put together, and make that bitch unable to recognize herself!


After getting the heads back and another block from Up Garage, Dan began assembling the engine***8230;


Me helping the process***8230;or at least providing much of the comedic relief


JDM front sub with aluminum arms and stub-shafts installed***8230; CHeeeeeeCK
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Old 03-04-2009, 11:59 AM   #3
wishicoulddrift
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Engine installed***8230;. Chaaaaaack


Super Bad-ASS Cusco downpipe***8230;. There it is!


Almost fully assembled***8230;


First fitment of the bumper headlights and the like***8230;
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Old 03-04-2009, 12:00 PM   #4
wishicoulddrift
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Alright, now this is where **** began to hit the fan. After all of the wiring was done, fluids added, all vacuum lines checked, and all the belts were tight***8230; The engine doesn't start. There is no reason for it after all we had done to make sure we would only need to do this once. So we decide to compression test it. I forget what the exact numbers were, but the driver's side cylinders were at about 25% of what they should be, and the passenger's side was about at about 80%.... It turns out that the engine that was sold to Up Garage had fried piston rings and had scoring on the cylinder wall. I don't blame them, as I should have checked before going to all of the work to get this thing together. Doug (the owner of Up Garage) and Erik (Mechanic at UP Garage) took it upon themselves to make sure that he ordered the parts needed to make the engine run, and that the machine work would get done as needed.

The car headed down to Erik's house, where he could work on it more freely (he regretted this by the end of it I am sure ;-) ). Engine was torn out, and sent to the machinist for a 2 overbore, and Weisco Pistons were ordered for the engine while we waited.


Once the pistons got here, they were sent to the machinist to check clearances, etc. and shortly after were left to take this floor full of parts and make a rumbly STI engine out of it.




Girlfriend decided that I needed to look like I was actually doing something on this car.








Once assembled it was just a matter of re-installing it for the second time***8230; All in all it has been about 10 months of working on this on a very irregular basis at this point and I was getting antsy. Erik had to deal with frequent phone calls about when I could make the 1-1/2 hour drive to his house to work on the car, and when I did get down there, we would be working on the car in the cold garage until 1am or so.
While waiting for everything over the months, I acquired a plethora of parts such as my coilovers, brake pads, Rotora rotors, Prodrive P1 front lip and fog lights, AFC-neo, Greddy Guages, etc***8230;

Here are the 2-pot brakes off of a JDM Forester, with Rotora rotors, and my GP-Sports Coilovers (same ones on Gallery's D1 Street Legal GD.


Tiny Brakes hiding behind Enkei NT03-M's 17x7.5 +35 (thank you Enkei for having ****ty sizes in 5x100 bolt pattern.


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Old 03-04-2009, 12:01 PM   #5
wishicoulddrift
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Engine gets installed, and now its time to go after any wiring gremlins we may have throughout the system. Go go gadget Erik! I am horrible with wiring, and Erik is a god in the Nissan scene, so I thought I would let him give this a try***8230; Once again he hated getting drawn into this, hahaha.




Ahhhh, looking much better***8230;


The car began to be put back together and ready to head home where it would be sent off to paint shortly.






And then it was time to tear it apart and send it off to the body shop. So I ended up driving it down to the shop with no doors, windshield or any other body panels that could be removed! Good fun, Thank you Ray for the suggestion.




Once at the shop I figured I would take one last round of before shots.


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Old 03-04-2009, 12:02 PM   #6
wishicoulddrift
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While on the lift at the body shop..


Itty bitty Subaru R160, soon to be R200



Life at the body shop***8230;

My roof was all sorts of wavy due to the previous owner's ski-rack, and this is how it is fixed. It is a bit messy, but the headliner is going back in, and this was the most structurally sound way to keep it straight.


First round of sanding and bondo where needed.











Goodbye moldings!


After all of the bodywork was done, the BMW paint was applied, and following that, the roof was painted flat black. I thought this would add a little somethin-somethin extra, Plus there will be continuity from the carbon hood, and the carbon center of my 22b replica spoiler.
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Old 03-04-2009, 12:04 PM   #7
wishicoulddrift
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My friend Brian came and installed the new windshield and other window moldings that required some skill to attach them.












And now we are at today***8230; The Impreza is at my friend and fabricator, Ray's Shop, Garage Autohero for the R200 differential w/ Kaaz solid 2-way install, which is going to be a lot of work to either, modify and strengthen the stock rear subframe, or just make a whole new tubular unit. In the end I will leave it up to him, as I trust in his work exceptionally. Not to mention the new drive shaft, and rear axles that will have to be made in order to make the R200 to the Subaru hub and transmission.

I will post up more pictures as things come together, as well as describe everything that is going on. I hate doing these write ups because I don't even keep up with my own. Hence why I posted a little over a years work all at once***8230;

Thanks for reading,
Stephen
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Old 03-04-2009, 01:05 PM   #8
25rsti
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looks great. nice color too
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Old 03-04-2009, 12:54 PM   #9
scoobydorift
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Vehicle:
92 RWD, 96 FWD
05 AWD

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Awesome!
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Old 03-04-2009, 03:14 PM   #10
424wrx
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looks good man. alot of time and money spent. good luck with it.
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Old 03-04-2009, 03:24 PM   #11
mpsti05
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twinscroll35r Love/Hate

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very nice color looks hot
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Old 03-04-2009, 03:26 PM   #12
PSolbergfan
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2010 Legacy 2.5 CBS
2002 Impreza WRX WRB

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All I have to say is "WOW"!!!!!!
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Old 03-04-2009, 03:26 PM   #13
ralli-tart
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AW

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i sense and detect enormous qualities of win in this thread, great build man! cant wait to see the finished product
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Old 03-04-2009, 03:45 PM   #14
PseudoKirby
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why not just get an open differential and send most of the power to the rear wheels?
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Old 03-04-2009, 04:19 PM   #15
wishicoulddrift
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^as this car is a drift specific build, "most" of the power to the rear is not sufficient... not to mention the stock parts just wont handle the abuse of 300 whp being drifted upon for very long. I am already suspicious of the tranny gears as it is, and might have them cry-treated for extra strength.

I will also answer the question of, "why i didnt weld my center diff and save money?" right now as well... because i dont trust it, and because this is the same center diff that Team Orange has on thier cars. So if its good enough for them, its good enough for me. Dont fight me on it, because my opinion will not change. (not trying to sound like an ass, i just have been getting this question more often that i would ever like to answer it)

Thanks for all of the replies to the thread, I'm glad you guys/girls like it! even though it is a bit sacrilegious.

-Stephen
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Old 03-04-2009, 05:30 PM   #16
Turn in Concepts
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Many Track Records
Let us help you go fast!

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Very nice!

BTW, you're missing the big ol' washer that goes on the outboard side of the front shifter stay bushing.
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Old 03-04-2009, 05:31 PM   #17
wishicoulddrift
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^and the return spring! Sucked to drive around without

good eye
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Old 03-04-2009, 09:29 PM   #18
beaviscih
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FTW

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I really like the color. Good luck with the rest of the project.
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Old 03-04-2009, 09:31 PM   #19
mannac
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I'm not a fan of drifting or converting a perfectly capable awd subaru to rwd, but this is a really clean build. Good job!
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Old 03-04-2009, 10:05 PM   #20
wishicoulddrift
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^been waiting for that one

oh the troubles of being different. But i understand the view as well. Hence why i bought another GC as my daily driver!!!!

-Stephen
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Old 03-05-2009, 01:58 AM   #21
bugeye-brawler
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bad ass I love the paint job-- how much did the body shop and paint run you if I can ask?
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Old 03-05-2009, 09:10 AM   #22
vermonturbo
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covered w/ snow

Default great job!

a lot of work that looks like it will pay off nicely!i can't believe that bennington college sticker on the rear window...oh the irony you should leave that on there just for teh reactions of those in the know. cant wait to see the finished ride. good luck!
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Old 03-06-2009, 03:52 AM   #23
wishicoulddrift
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it came on the car, and i will be removing it as soon as i can!

i looked up the school after buying the car, just out of curiosity, and it solidified why i would be removing it from the back window!

-Stephen
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Old 03-06-2009, 04:14 AM   #24
BarnzyRX02
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PSM 17x9 +17

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I almost wish that I had not seen this thread...

me and my buddy, who is pretty serious about drifting and being original (he does the drift comps at Evergreen, etc., in his E36 BMW), have been throwing around the idea of converting my wrx to rwd to drift in the summer.
i'm opposed to making a perfectly good awd car rwd, but if I could do it easily I would do it in a heartbeat haha

so just keep our crazy idea going...where did you find that front output shaft delete sleeve for the center diff? i've tried to contact RocketRally about it, but no response.
what problems other than the rear diff would I face? this whim would get real expensive if i needed to swap in an R180 or R200..

your car makes it seem to plausible to do this conversion...considering you're also in the western washington area and those shops are capable of doing this...

other than that, badass car man. props on braving the flammage to get that subie sidewayz haha
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Old 03-06-2009, 02:49 PM   #25
wishicoulddrift
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As far as the drift center diff, here is where i got mine. (long ago when they were cheaper to get a hold of, same part Team Orange uses)

http://www.rhdjapan.com/jdm-low/Wata...f-Type-A-25040

make sure you pick out the one that is suited for your transmission.

The rear diff is the toughest part of everything:

Sourcing an R200: ~$100
Buying a 2-way LSD: ~$900
Appropriate LSD oil: ~$40/ can
New Rear axels to mate between R200 and Subaru hubs: ~$200
New Drive Shaft to handle the power, and to mate to R200: ~$300
Fabrication work to make the rear-sub stronger and hold the diff: ~1,000-2,000 depending on the shop

If your going to do it right, its going to be about $2,540 on the extremely cheap side, and that's not including the $600 drift center diff.

If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask. I will be posting up on the fabrication process as it goes down, but that wont be for another week or so.

Also, whats your friends name? I have been drifting out at Evergreen since they started having events out there, so i might know him.

-Stephen
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