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Old 07-26-2016, 07:11 PM   #1
Raggamuffin96
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Default Brad's 1998 Full WRX SF5 Forester Build

What's going on everyone, my name is Brad, and this is going to be my complete guide/journal on my 1998 Forester S transformed into a fully swapped WRX SF5. Like every build, this build is not close to even being done (and probably won't ever be done it seems), but has come a very long way from November. Before I start on the madness of this build, I'd like to give my respects and thanks from the help of some friends giving me a second hand when needed for the heavy lifting and a second eye on some parts of the project. I would also like to thank members of this forum who have done this project and similar ones. Being able to look through their journals as a reference really helped me and my confidence out. Such members are: smitch, MikeDrives1, Lesac, clur, Rob, scottyg2890, and others on Nasioc, rs25, etc. These guys did it right, and I encourage anyone who wants to do a WRX or STI swap into an older 90's-00's chassis go and read their threads.

A little background on me: I am 19 years old, I love all things that move very fast down a road, and I love all things welding and metallurgy. Before this project, the most modding I had ever done to a car was like a catback exhaust.. So not much experience all in all. I never claimed to be particularly skilled or knowledgeable in modding cars, and I still don't. However, I do claim the fact that I like challenges. So a project of this caliber seemed like a decent challenge, right? Seemed like a pretty straightforward swap, because everyone says "Subarus are like legos!", and they are correct...for the most part. Little did I know.. :icon_eek:
I had owned 2 WRXs before this, and I just always felt comfortable in a Subaru. I grew up in a Subaru family, quite literally. My mom drives a '13 Outback, my uncle drives an '08 Outback, my grandma drives a '96 Legacy L, my aunt drives an '09 Outback, and my other aunt used to drive a Saab. And we all live within 10 miles of each other. I, personally, don't consider myself a Subaru fanatic, but they are easy to work on, parts are abundant, and they have an awesome JDM/rally history which I dig.
The point I want to make from this build is this: Like I said above, I have very limited automotive skills/experience. However, I have an intense desire to learn more everyday about cars. I also love to wrench on cars as it turns out. If there are people reading this who want to get into cars and doing projects, I say go for it! I had very little experience going into this build, I had next to no tools, no friends in the industry, and no nice, heated and air conditioned, 3 bay shop to do it all in. But I got a job in the quick service lane at my local Subaru dealership along the way, because I knew I could learn a lot about, well Subarus. I ended up only working there for about a month; but boy did I take advantage of my time there. I became friends with 2 technicians there, who have helped me with this project as well. I bought some Snap-On tools, stole some old tools from my dad, and found an ancient, so called "2 car" garage and got to work. I made the best out what little I had, and it turned out just fine. Having the right attitude and perspective can go a long way. Enough hippy talk, let's get into the madness!


Here is the Forester when I first got it:




And the Forester currently.




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Old 07-26-2016, 10:33 PM   #2
hondaeater69
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much respect. i love these cars, but i don't particularly enjoy wrenching on them! people are doing tons of these swaps these days, get good at it and there's a business opportunity there
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Old 07-27-2016, 09:24 AM   #3
Raggamuffin96
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The Beginning

It all started last Summer when I was working at a Summer camp in wild n' wonderful West Virginia (Excuse the southerness'). A co-worker of mine was looking to buy a used car for a trip out West, and he knew that I knew a thing or two about Subarus. So, he asked me to come with him to test drive a 2001 Forester. I ended up driving the Forester down some back roads, and I just fell in love with the thing! The pure boxiness of the body, the roominess of the interior, the cargo space, and the fact that no one ever second glances at a Forester. He ended up not buying it because it had too much rust, but as soon as I got to a computer, I started looking to buy one for myself. Somehow I ended up landing on this forum, staring at someone's journal of a WRX swapped Forester. Previously owning 2 WRXs, I was immediately hooked on this build.
I found a white 1998 Forester S on craigslist near my hometown of Roanoke, VA. The Forester had blown headgaskets and the motor was trashed (shocking, for the 2.5 DOHC for that year...not) I eventually talked the price down to $750. I took a barely functional truck, an out of inspection trailer, and a gracious friend with me to go haul the foz back home. It was also my first time using a trailer, so it was...interesting. Everything turned out fine, and there I was, one car down. Now if I could just find a running WRX to use as a donor car for cheap..

Fast forward a couple months and I found a guy selling a totaled 2002 WRX for parts! I eventually talked him down in price, and again, the experience of acquiring the car was...interesting. This time around, I took a van (much better mpg than the now decommissioned truck), a smaller trailer with a fresh inspection, and an ever more willing friend, Alex.
This time the car was smack in the middle of Washington, DC. For those of you who have never driven through that area, don't. It is very congested 24/7, and everyone drives at least 80mph bumper to bumper. Unfortunately, the van I was rocking couldn't even reach 80mph with the trailer attached. Somehow we made it up and back with the WRX still strapped down to the trailer!


So here I am with 2 broke cars for $2,950 and no idea where to start on this project. I spent a good 2 weeks fixing and cleaning up the garage I was going to use in the back yard of a duplex my dad rented out that his tenants didn't use. With both cars inside, the amount of room I had to work with and around was, to put it nicely, cozy. Except it had no insulation, AC, heat, or smooth ground. So, cozy might not be the right word here.. Anyway, I took what I had and made it a little better.
Here is the garage untouched in who knows how many years:

And here it is fixed up:


So with a functional space to work in, I started my endless research. I spent countless hours looking at subaruforester.org, NASIOC, RS25, IWSTI, clubWRX, etc. I kept a journal and wrote down all the usernames and members/threads to look at when I needed to. Ahh the greatness of technology. The amazing thing about older Subaru chassis is that swapping a WRX or STi into a Forester is about the same process as swapping into a Outback Sport or an RS.
Having a donor car was a huge plus. It is really the only way to do it, as opposed to just sourcing all the parts separately (engine from one warehouse, tranny from another, etc.). Now here is a very, very crucial part that I did not think of early on that I wish I did: Do your BEST to find a donor car that is 100% complete and 100% stock. If it has some goodies, that's always a plus, but for the most part you are going to want stock. Also, if it is as complete as possible, you won't have to buy as many replacement parts. Also, try to get a donor car that is in good condition. It can be hard to find a donor car for cheap in the first place, but don't rush the purchase like I did. Whoever had the WRX before must have had an ebay vendor, because almost every mod done to the car was an ebay special..:bling: Said parts went right into the trash can.

Here is the WRX when I got it home:




Now then, I went out to buy an engine hoist, engine stand, and the biggest Snap-On tool box money can buy off the truck... I wish; maybe one day:crying:
Here is the tool box I actually got. It did its job just fine for me.

So now I have all of the resources, for the most part, that I need. From here, I took off and did what novices do best: dismantle things.
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Old 07-27-2016, 10:41 PM   #4
slowgenius
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Keep up the good work! Nice looking Forester.
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Old 08-01-2016, 09:22 AM   #5
Raggamuffin96
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The Tear Down

I decided to pull the Forester motor first, because I happened to find a walk-through on Youtube of a guy pulling the same engine with an automatic transmission. I had never pulled a motor before or witnessed one being taken out, so what could go wrong? Somehow, nothing. I followed the video step by step, and I literally had the motor out in about an hour and a half. It was somehow one of the easiest things I'd done. I'm not trying to come off boastful, but Subaru motors are quite easy to take out.
After familiarizing myself with the process, I went to take out the WRX motor next, and put it on the stand for overhaul.

I then went on to remove the front subframe, transmission, suspension, and brakes. So now there is nothing up under the car in the front, basically.
Next, I moved to the back and removed the rear subframe, diff, axles, struts, brakes, and emergency brake lines. So now, pretty much all of the hardware under the car is removed. Note: removing all this stuff with the car on jacks is not fun. You'll get very dirty and grimy, but it was rewarding to see that I could remove all of that with out breaking anything!

Then I did pretty much the exact same process on the Forester. So, at this point both cars were completely stripped of their undercarriages. I also removed both steering columns and respective steering racks.
Then I took out as much of the Forester engine bay clutter I could. Not pictured, I removed all of the AC lines, fuel lines, and condenser.



I did the same thing to the WRX next.


While I was down there, I also took out both fuel tanks to swap them. The reasoning for this is two reasons. One, the GD fuel tank has two drain plugs, which I think can be useful in the future for emptying the tank quickly, and the SF tank does not. Two, the wiring for the fuel pump and level sensor is different from GD to SF. So I swapped to the GD tank/pump to get the GD wiring to connect to the GD rear harness, so no splicing back there.

Now that the heavy stuff was out of the way, I moved on to removing the dash out of the Forester. Everyone I met said removing a dash was very hard and annoying. I found that removing the Forester dash was pretty easy all in all. Luckily, Subaru kind of separates their older dashes into 2 parts: a lower portion and upper portion. Take out the bottom first, and then the upper. Just locate all the mounting points, both obvious and hidden, and take out the fasteners. Keep pulling on the dash and if it doesn't seem like it wants to pop out, you've missed a screw or a bolt somewhere.

After that, I took out all the seats, carpet, consoles, HVAC, dash bar, etc.
Once the dash is out of the way, you will find, hidden beneath it, a world of mess and complication.. Although looks can be deceiving. Believe me, I had seen pictures of the bulkhead harness before, but pictures do not do it justice. At first glance, I thought to myself; what have I gotten myself into? But once you sit down, accept the puzzle, and start sorting through it, it becomes easy. Well, easier. What's more; the WRX bulkhead harness has 3 times the wires..


Once you wrap your head around the wiring of a car, it becomes less of a headache. This is how it works for most Subarus: Think of the car's wiring like a big, messy, interconnected loop. Every harness is sectioned off according to location. Start with the bulkhead (behind dash) harness. Its the central harness. To the left of it (driver's side), it connects to the SMJ, which is basically splitting that bulkhead harness to the front wiring harness. This harness starts at the left fender wheel arch. It goes out and runs to the outside fuse box, starter wires, battery cables,headlight connectors,etc. It then runs under the radiator, with wires running to your horns, radiator fans, etc. It then runs up to the right headlight connectors and ABS pump. It then continues along the right fender and connects back to the bulkhead on the right side.
Then there's the bulkhead harness (in engine room). This is a two part harness that runs from the right side of the bulkhead harness (behind dash) and runs out into the engine bay. It also connects to the ECU on the other end. One part of it runs to the transmission, starter, wiper motor, etc., and the other half runs to things on the right side of the engine bay like EGT, MAF, wastegate solonoid, etc.
That takes care of the front half of the car basically. Then comes simpler harnesses like the roof cord, under carpet harness, rear harness, trunk, etc. Basically, don't let wiring get the best of you, it can all be dealt with when you put the time into learning how to read diagrams.

And here it is completely stripped inside.


Now I did the dash removal from the WRX. This dash was a little harder to take out, but still not too bad. Just be patient and it will pop out.


And on to removing the bulkhead harness and everything else from the interior. Looks like fun, doesn't it?


Here it is completely stripped inside as well.


In summary, you have to take both cars 99% apart to begin with. From there, you start the swapping of EVERYTHING. The more GD parts you can swap, the better. More swapping means less splicing/merging of wires. Just make sure you have wiring diagrams for both the GD and SF/GC. I used all of my GD diagrams from Ken-Gilbert Impreza Manuals, and I got my SF diagrams from an alldatadiy. You won't be able to get 100% full diagrams for everything, so you have to make the best of it all.
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Old 08-02-2016, 04:14 PM   #6
Raggamuffin96
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Rear Harness Swap

Since everything was stripped on the inside of the Forester, I decided to start with the interior first. I still didn't have the confidence to mess with the bulkhead harness at the time, so I decided to start with the rear harness because it is a lot simpler.
My goal with all of the wire harnesses was to make it look as factory as possible. I used all the original mounting points and plastic fasteners. I made sure there were no hack jobs here what so ever.

I started with the rear harness, which is everything from the SRS control module back. I laid in the the harness which goes from the SRS control module to the center console/emergency brake switch. It then splits and runs under the driver's side front seat and runs all the way to the rear left door switch. From the center, it splits again and runs, similarly, under the passenger's side front seat to the 3 big connectors that split the rear harness from the bulkhead harness on the right side. It then runs back to the trunk area for the fuel tank harness/trunk harness. Then comes the fuel pump controller on the right rear wheel arch. I made a little custom mount, and plugged in the harness and worked my way across the spare tire wall and ended at the left side with the tail light plugs.


What Plugs In:
Since I swapped the fuel tank, it's the same connectors and everything for that.
The tail lights were plug and play.
I swapped the license plate lights from the WRX so the connector from the GD harness would match up, otherwise you need to splice there.
The rear defogger is the same connector, you just need to extend the wire to accommodate for the hatch, as opposed to the trunk on the WRX. Same with the ground.

The only headache in the rear is the simple fact that I had a hatch, not a trunk. This is why I suggest to get a HATCHBACK donor car, so you won't have to do as much extending of wires. The third brake light was pretty annoying to wire up because it runs up inside the hatch, and there's just no room to solder or run wires. Also, if I had a wagon donor, I would have had a rear wiper connector to merge to rear wiper on the Forester.
I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting, but you get the idea. Just break out a multimeter to check for 12v when needed.
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Old 08-02-2016, 04:15 PM   #7
Raggamuffin96
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Bulkhead Harness Swap

Now that the rear harness was in, I moved on to the bulkhead harness behind the dash. First, I laid in the harness to rough it out, then secured it to the original mounting points. It was a little difficult because the whole harness weighs a good amount!



I know, firsthand, that it can become overwhelming, but just take it step by step. Get the complete bulkhead wiring harness (in compartment) diagram and map it out. The better you can secure it to the front of the car, the better. The better the harness fits, the better the heater core and blower motor will fit, as well as the dash bar and dash.

Don't forget that you'll have to swap over all the relays/modules on both sides of the car under the dash. Like the fuel pump relay, main relay, cruise control module, etc. Just put them in the factory locations as well. Mount the ECU in the same place as it was in the WRX; and im pretty sure you can use the WRX ECU shield/brackets.

Now for the two harnesses that run out into the engine bay on the right side:


The harness on the right fits through the factory hole in the firewall, but the one on the left is different. The factory hole in the firewall is an oblong shape and too big, so I made a little sheet metal cover to cover the rest of the hole. I also used more sheet metal to cover the holes that aren't used anymore in the firewall.

Then I put in the steering column loosely with a floor jack to test fit it. The GD steering column fits fine, I just made sure to swap out the corresponding gaskets where it goes out into the engine bay. Then I fit in the heater core and blower motor. I had read that you needed to beat the transmission tunnel down to fit the heater core, so that's what I did. Although, looking back, you don't need to beat it down much at all. I also swapped the pedal box, which was kind of a pain to swap. Looking back, it probably would have been fine to keep the SF pedal box and simply swap the pedal covers, but oh well.



Now, there's no factory fit here for the heater core.. I had to make custom mounts for both the blower motor and heater core. I just fit it in the best I could.
Then there's the cutting of the firewall to make room for the GD heater core lines and AC lines. I took out the grommets from the GD firewall for the heater core hole and AC hole, and measured where the holes were in regards to various points on the firewall. I then took those measurements, and marked the center points on the SF firewall. Once I was confident with the placement, I took the grommets and traced their shape on the firewall. Remember that the hole you cut is going to be slightly smaller than the outline of the grommets though. You can make out the green markings of the two holes here:

And then the holes cut:


Now the bulkhead harness is secured, heater core and blower motor is secured and lines run out to engine bay, AC line hole is cut and lines can be run, and the bulkhead harness (in engine bay) is ran. That pretty much wraps up the bulkhead wiring harness swap and the hardware behind the dash.
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Old 08-03-2016, 11:00 AM   #8
Raggamuffin96
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Dash Swap

Here is a part of the build that I do not care to do again, honestly. I could have sent my harnesses to a company like iWire, and kept the SF dash, but that's not really what I'm about. I am a do-it-yourselfer king of guy. Plus, I liked the idea of someone looking into an old Forester, and seeing a WRX dash, and being confused by it

So, at the time, I had my harness all tucked in and HVAC figured out, and now I got started on fitting the GD dash bar. The SF and GD dash bars are the same length, but have different mounting points and designs. I will be completely honest here; I had no idea how to even start with this part.. I had studied tenebrion's swap on RS25.com (I recommend looking at his extensive RSTi build) to get a few ideas on how to start. Although, I ended up doing it differently then tracing the template on both ends of the bar.
I can't give super great advice on the dash bar swap.. It wasn't something that was easy to do at all.
Think about it, you are taking a dash from a car 4 years newer and trying to put it into a different car. It can fit pretty much perfectly with no gaps (look at MachV Motorsports on NASIOC) if you have the right tools and a welding source. I did not have access to a welder or any extensive fabrication tools except for a drill and a grinder.

I just had to get into it and start working the dash bar in. It helps tremendously to have a second person to hold the bar/give a second opinion. My Dad and I tackled the dash bar and just tried to do the best we could. Just be prepared to drill, grind, and put the bar in and take it out and put it in a million times. The better the bar fits, the better the dash will fit.



In progress:


Looking back, I can't say whether or not it would have been easier to merge the SF dash harness with the rest of the GD harnesses throughout the car and keep the SF dash. But I'm glad I did the dash swap because it's unique, and I have the piece of mind knowing all the GD wiring is as consistent as possible.

The part of the dash swap no one likes to admit: The Gaps..
Like I said, this dash wasn't ever intended to be put into a GC or SF chassis. If you want a 100% perfect fit and seamless look, it can be done, but at a cost. The cost being time. I spent countless hours and days on the dash. Of course I wanted no gaps, but at the same time there was a thousand other things to do to the car. I didn't want to keep spending time on the dash day in and day out.
So, I got it to the point where the gaps were minimal and moved on. However, when you are the one driving the car, the gaps really aren't that bad. The fitment of my dash could have been better, yes, but it could have been a lot worse too.

Another thing to mention: Going into this build, I knew from day one that it wouldn't be a show car worthy of a nicely edited YouTube review or anything. The Forester has paint chips all over, the engine bay was cleaned but never repainted, the front bumper is trashed, etc. So it is an imperfect build all in all. But it was my first project car ever, so I wasn't expecting a crazy good restoration or anything. Therefore, if the dash didn't come out looking like a factory job, I wasn't going to cry over it. Although when ever I sit in the car, it immediately feels like I'm in a WRX.

So at this point, I left the bottom part of the dash off to start the MERGE, and figure out all of my electronics. So much fun to come...:shake:
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Old 08-03-2016, 11:03 AM   #9
Raggamuffin96
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The Merge:

Front Door Merges:

So here's the rub: The WRX bulkhead harness (on both sides) has a completely different connector for the front door harnesses than the Forester. The WRX connector is just one big connector with 25 wires on the driver's side, and one big connector with 25 wires on the passenger side, whereas the Forester bulkhead harness has 2 connectors on each sides. Can't just plug and play here, unfortunately..
I started with doing as much research as possible, because there are a ton of wires here to sort through. I found good information from clur's build and smitch's build. However, when I got down to comparing that with the actual wiring, it didn't add up. I tried to merge what they did, and practically nothing worked. I'm not sure why that was, maybe different production dates of our cars differed the orientation of the wires or what. So I had to start from scratch, and just do it the long way.

Here is where having diagrams comes into play. I got the WRX diagram for the power locks, power mirrors, power windows, and audio. I then got the corresponding diagrams for each for the Forester. After staring at the pages and back at the wires and back at the paper, it started to make sense.

To start, I got some big wire cutters and cut the big, single FEMALE WRX connector on both sides, so all I had were bare wires coming from the bulkhead harness. Next, go over to the pile of Forester harnesses, and cut the FEMALE connectors out with plenty of length of wires. Make sure to leave the 2 MALE connectors coming out of the Forester door cord on both sides.

So now you have all these wires coming out of the bulkhead harness on the driver's side, and 2 pigtails with wires left on them from the Forester. It gets hard to explain everything from here on, but your end goal is to merge the two pigtails to the wires coming from the bulkhead harness that can then plug into the Forester door cord and power everything. Having diagrams and jumper wires is going to be key here.
I just followed the diagrams, and tried different wire to wire options. Eventually, I got the hang of it and instead of plugging two random wires together and hoping they power a window, I could plug two wires together and (with certainty) know that they would power the LH rear window, for example. I soldered each joint, heat shrunk it, then taped it all together as well.

So it can go from this mess:


To this:


As it turns out, you can match color to color on most of the wires, but its not as simple as a radio install or anything. The WRX wiring has more wires than the Forester, so you'll be left over with WRX wires. I just used tape and wire nuts to terminate them. But I got the windows, mirrors, locks, and speakers to all work correctly.
The power mirrors were a pain to wire up, because the switch for the WRX mirror is located in the center console, and the Forester's switch is located in the driver's side door. I got the JDM power folding mirrors, so it was twice as hard to wire in the power folding function. I will do a write up on that someday.

Here is a little cheat sheet. This is all the wires I merged using the OEM diagrams from a 2002 WRX and 1998 Forester. Again, the power mirrors are a little harder, and I can't remember off the top of my head what I did. I can't say with certainty that this will be how it is for different model years.





And this is the Forester connectors schematics that I figured out, and used to keep up with individual wires.




My method to my madness was to go through and mark off each pin/wire I used, mark the function that wire performed, and record the color and what color wire I soldered it to in the WRX bulkhead harness. I did that until all of the Forester wires were used up, but like I said I still had a few wires not used on the WRX bulkhead harness.

SRS Merge:

Now, this is another somewhat complicated part of the wiring. The WRX has twice the amount of airbags in it than the Forester. The WRX has front impact sensors, seat belt tensioners, seat airbags, curtain airbags, etc. While the Forester only has the steering wheel airbag and the passenger dash airbag. So you see the problem.. The WRX has all of these extra yellow airbag harnesses and the Forester does not. I ended up using the Forester SRS control module, because it was simpler. I was only going to use the steering wheel airbag and dash airbag in the Forester, because that's all it will take.
So I cut out every other airbag harness (except the two mentioned above) from the WRX harness. I then made my own modded airbag wiring harness with a ground to power the driver's airbag and passenger airbag. Now the SRS light comes on and goes away upon ignition. It looks like this:


And then there was miscellaneous wiring like getting the Forester clock to work on the roof as opposed to the middle of the dash, getting the interior lights to work in the roof and trunk, radio, glove box light, etc.

To sum up the wiring, you pretty much have to wire the entire car.. It wasn't very much fun at the time because it was during the dead of winter, and my garage had no heat or insulation. Just be prepared to have your brain racked more than a few times with the wiring. :grin2:
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Old 08-05-2016, 10:01 AM   #10
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Front Harness Swap:


Now there's only one more major harness that needs to be dealt with; the front harness. This harness connects to the bulkhead harness (in compartment) on the left side at the SMJ and hooks back up with the bulkhead harness on the right side at the B200/F74 connectors. The swap is pretty straight forward, except for the fact that the WRX harness is slightly longer than the Forester harness, so you'll have some harness left over in the right fender.
Just keep up with everything and put the harness in the factory locations. My SF ABS pump fit the GD harness plug, so I kept the ABS pump the same. I also swapped all the SF ABS sensors with the GD to keep it consistent with the GD wiring.

The GD headlight plugs are different than the SF, so you have to cut off the SF plugs and merge them to the GD pigtails. I just matched color to color here. The turn signals were the same connector, so I left them in. The fog lights are different, so you have to merge the SF pigtails to the GD wires. Only a power and ground, so not too hard. I used the GD radiator, so no cutting there for the fan connectors. Everything else is pretty straightforward with the front harness.

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Old 08-05-2016, 10:06 AM   #11
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Engine Bay Swap

At this point, all of the major wiring is in. I then moved on to the engine bay.

Progress:



AC Swap:

I used the GD condenser and all AC lines. It all fits since I already cut the hole in the firewall for the AC core. All of the other lines are easy to bend/manipulate; which you will have to do.
Fitting the condenser was a little pain. The GD condenser is smaller than the SF condenser, so when you bolt it in on the top, you have a big gap before it hits the bottom of the frame.
So I made these little spacer brackets with a hole in the top for the bottom studs of the condenser to fit into. At the time, all I had access to was an oxyacetylene torch.




That and the Cobb SF intake box were the only things I had to modify to make fit. I then put in the front subframe, steering rack, transmission, axles, lower control arms, and everything under the car for the front.



Then I cleaned up everything in the engine bay and prepped the engine to be put in.
A friend and I took the engine apart and replaced tons of seals, headgaskets, reseal the oil pan, valve cover gaskets, headgaskets, timing belt/water pump, etc.

Lastly, I dropped the motor in and hooked up everything. The engine fits pretty perfectly. At first, I thought it would be a tight fit on the sidewalls where the valve covers are, but it couldn't be better, actually.




I recently replaced the spark plugs, and I didn't have to jack up the motor or anything. Just take out the windshield wiper fluid reservoir and battery on one side, and the intake box on the other and boom, spark plugs are out.

So now the engine is in and everything done to the engine bay is complete. I fired it up and it started first try. I was super nervous because I had never done anything like this before, but it turned out pretty good. Had to do some minor adjustments here and there, but now this thing was running!


All that was left now was to figure out the exhaust, finish up the interior, cut the hole in the hood for the scoop, and start the shake down/break in process.
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Old 08-06-2016, 10:27 AM   #12
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Interior Swap

After being outside of the car for awhile, I moved back inside to finish up the interior. I swapped the GD grey carpet for the SF tan, because the grey looks so much better with the black dash and floor mats.
The carpet does fit, but it's not perfect. I ended up cutting and making custom mounting points to secure the carpet. The only thing that kind of sucks is the GD carpet has a cut out for the fuel door and trunk latches, so when you swap it you end up with a cut out. I cut out some of the carpet and sewed it under the cut out so its not so obvious. But it came out looking really good.



Then I swapped some 04-05 USDM STi seats into the car. They fit perfect. They really make the interior pop. Before I bolted them in, I removed all the SRS wiring for the seat airbags, because I didn't use them.




To finish, I put the steering wheel back in, installed Defi boost, oil pressure, and AEM wideband gauges, and put back the Forester rear seats. I also made a circuit with a voltage regulator to make the outside air temp. gauge work on the JDM version 7 STi cluster.
It had been a long time since the interior didn't look like complete chaos, so it felt good to finish up the inside
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Old 08-07-2016, 11:20 AM   #13
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Final Tasks

To free up some much needed garage space, I stripped the WRX to it's bare shell. I called up a few of my friends to see if they would help me remove the car from the garage. A few of them started working out this summer and kept bragging about how "swole" they were, so I put them to the test. As it turns out, the shell wasn't very heavy at all.



It was really cool to see the WRX at this point: It was on the same trailer, and same van that I took to D.C to get it when it was a full car.
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Old 08-07-2016, 11:25 AM   #14
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Exhaust:

For my setup, I got the Invidia V3 downpipe with the Q300 catback. Only problem is it's meant for a WRX, not a Forester..
Without any modifications, that exhaust fits up perfectly to the Forester. I mean, you couldn't ask for a better fitment up until the tip. But its about 3 inches short of the rear bumper, and sits a little high..




So, me being a perfectionist, I hated the way it looked with the tip recessed in that much. I've seen other people just let it ride that way, but I couldn't. So I got to practice my welding skills (which are shotty at best), and cut up a high dollar exhaust. :icon_biggrin:

When I got the downpipe at the beginning of the project, I got the catless one. Fast forward a few months, I found out I was moving to Newport News, so I knew it would take awhile to find a shop that wouldn't mind if I didn't have a cat. I didn't feel like going through the hassle of that, so I got a high flow cat to install so I would pass inspection with no hesitation. This isn't a race car, its a daily driver, so I didn't mind losing some power with a cat. I also knew the cat would be a good way to add some length to the exhaust.




So long perfectly designed exhaust..




I measured where I wanted the tip to be at the rear bumper, which was 2.5 inches longer. I cut that much out the downpipe where I added the cat, and welded that extension right behind the muffler to extend it. Because of this, I had to cut the 2 brackets on the muffler and move them back to match up with the hanger location on the Forester. I also moved them up some to adjust for how high it sat.


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Old 08-07-2016, 11:27 AM   #15
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Exhaust Continued

As you can see, the exhaust now sits lower and is extended to where I wanted it to be. It came out a lot better than expected.



The two Subarus: note the exhaust tip difference :laugh:

[url=http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/prescottbradley929/media/IMG_6181_zpsh2bqhpka.jpg.html][/URL
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Old 08-08-2016, 09:16 AM   #16
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Hood Scoop:

What's a Subaru without a hood scoop? Not a Subaru.
Here, you have a couple options. You can source a JDM hood with a scoop cut out, but those are rare and $$$. Or you can do it yourself like I did. It wasn't very fun though..

I found an Aspen White hood scoop on eBay from an '04 WRX, and got to work. I measured from one side to the other of the hood and found the center points. On the up and down location of the scoop, you have some play. Just try to center it over the TMIC as best as possible. I traced the outline of the scoop, then measured a little in and traced another shape for the actual cut. I used an angle grinder here. Make sure to tape off your windshield and everything else subject to the heat from sparks.



Mounting the scoop to the hood is another thing. It would take to long to explain the process I used, but there's no proper way to do it. I just got creative and welded up some brackets.



One Key To Rule Them All:

Don't ask me why I did this bit at the very end.. I wouldn't have a good reply, except that there's like a million things to keep track of for this build. It gets overwhelming, and you forget things :shrug:

Since I swapped the GD steering column in, it takes the GD key to start it. But the Forester has different lock cylinders for the doors/trunk. So you have one key to unlock the car, and one key to start it. I knew this would get really annoying after awhile, so I took apart the recently finished dash. Luckily, I saved the SF column, and took out the ignition cylinder.
To do this, you have to drill a hole in the middle of both bolts securing it to the column. Then you have to get a reverse drill bit and remove the bolt. From the factory, they tighten the two bolts, and then snap off the heads for some anti theft feature I guess. Although, if someone managed to get in my car, get tools, and disassemble the steering column/kick panel, and take out the cylinder; he/she can have the car by that point. They're obviously dedicated!

So then I did the same thing to the GD column, swapped cylinders, hooked up all the ignition wiring, and bolted it in. Now I have one key for the locks and ignition.

Here is the two bolts on each side:

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Old 08-08-2016, 09:43 AM   #17
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Final Thoughts

So that pretty much wraps up the swap as of now. I know I skipped over some parts, as I couldn't detail every singe step I took. But if anyone has any questions or concerns, feel free to email me at:
[email protected].

Here are some final thoughts looking back, and to anyone who wants to do a swap like this:

First off, this build makes no financial sense what so ever.. So many people asked me, "why don't you just get an XT?" I'm sure you could find an early XT for about as much as a swap like mine would cost. But I personally like the first generation forester the best. There is just something about all Subarus from the early '90s-'00s that really intrigues me. I don't know, I just like old cars.
In the end, the cost didn't outweigh the personal things I gained from the swap. Just be prepared to spend way more money than you care to!

Be prepared to get bitten by the bug! During this build, at times, I would get so mad and curse at the car. I swore I would never do this again! But now that I'm somewhat over the "hill", I think about doing it again.. But to a 97-01 RS or Impreza L, early 2000's outback, or old legacy. Now that I know the steps to the swap, you can pretty much do it to any older Subaru.

Like I said, this car is far from being done in my book. I plan to upgrade suspension/handling components, possibly more power, and turn it into an ST/B clone on the outside with all the JDM goodies and repaint it monochromatic.

Just have fun with whatever you do, and thanks for looking!
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Old 08-08-2016, 01:57 PM   #18
monkeyposeur
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Awesome swap!!! Good job man!
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Old 08-21-2016, 08:42 PM   #19
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looking good, dude! My car is your black twin, LOL. My swap is going to be completed soon. I started with a 98 automatic and it will be an 04/05 wrx when it's done. Interior too The scoop is recessed in my hood like it is on the wrx hood. (hood isn't latched and grille isn't snug in these pics)


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Old 08-26-2016, 09:50 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by civichx97 View Post
looking good, dude! My car is your black twin, LOL. My swap is going to be completed soon. I started with a 98 automatic and it will be an 04/05 wrx when it's done. Interior too The scoop is recessed in my hood like it is on the wrx hood. (hood isn't latched and grille isn't snug in these pics)


Nice! Black and white twins, I like it. I'd love to see more [progress on yours.
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Old 06-08-2017, 06:48 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Raggamuffin96 View Post
Nice! Black and white twins, I like it. I'd love to see more [progress on yours.
How's your forester running? My black one is finally done, haha. We custom made the hood with a recessed scoop



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Old 03-04-2018, 02:07 AM   #22
Ragdoll19891
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Nice build
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