2002 WRX damage rebuild project

[lettucemanatee]

dec of last year i royally messed my car up.

before:

after:



this is just a thread picture logging my rebuild progress.

mods that i had already done to the car in black/blue/whatever default colour, new mods installed from start of this thread to present in redmods awaiting to be installed in green

Handling
-Koni inserts w/ D-Rex bumpstop extenders up front
-Eibach springs 350F/325R
-Ground Control sleeves
-Ground Control top mount camber/caster plates
-Cusco 21mm FSB
-Cusco 22mm 3-way RSB
-Cusco front "Power Brace"
-Kartboy RSB endlinks
-Whiteline HD RSB mounts and poly bushings
-Whiteline poly FSB bushings
-Whiteline poly steering rack bushings
-Whiteline Plus lateral link bushings
-Whiteline roll center adjustment kit
-MSI chromoly lateral links
-Oswald Performance subframe
-Oswald Performance front bumper beam
-Paranoid Fabrications fender/cowl braces
-STi aluminum control arms

Brakes and Rolling
-RacingBrake slotted rotors
-Hawk HPS
-Stoptech SS brake lines
-ATE Superblue
-Enkei RPF-1 17x8
-Falken RT-615 235/40/17

Engine:
-Accessport 93 Protune
-Samco turbo inlet and aftermaf hoses
-Blouch TD05-E316G
-Process West TMIC and hoses
-PDE catless flex UP, Swaintech ceramic coated
-Perrin DP, catless, wrapped halfway, additional O2 bung welded for wideband
-HKS Carbon-Ti from downpipe on.
-Grimmspeed 3 port EBCS
-Ron Davis/Speedmonkee fat single core radiator
-Crucial 160 deg t-stat
-Deatschwerks 650cc
-Walbro 255

Drivetrain:
-STi SS clutch line
-ATE Superblue for clutch
-Scotty's cocktail

Misc:
-Seibon CF hood w/ Sparco pins
-Painted OEM sideskirts
-Oswald tow hook
-RallyArmor urethanes
-Hella Supertones
-Innovate LC-1
-STRI DSD SLM II 60mm boost, oil pressure
-some eBay painted oem style headlights off the parts car
-a few stickers LULZ.

pics and updates will be posted as i progress.

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[vilar17]

how did it happen

[lettucemanatee]

had the car taken to a shop i've worked with before that is also locally known as doing very good work to do some body work. they replaced the upper radiator support, fender, headlight bucket, fender cowl (with OEM parts i provided) and did some work on the frame rack. i got a printout of the before deflection/compared to after. i will be going back to a seperate frame place after this work is done and the car is drivable for a few weeks to check and see if there has been any deflection during this shakedown period i intend to give it. if so, additional body work and seam weld reinforcement will be done. i'm holding off on any paint that isn't there for a base anti-rust coat until the very end.

back here, i mounted some headlights i took off a parts car and a new oswald performance lightweight bumper beam:

[lettucemanatee]

Originally Posted by vilar17

how did it happen

too cold, too worn tires, residual ice on the road from a snow the day before and a loose nut behind the wheel driving too fast for those conditions.

[lettucemanatee]

the subframe was not damaged in the accident but since the car hasn't been a daily driver and i'm interested in dedicating it more to a track/auto-x only car without more than 100miles on the street a month, i got an oswald subframe to tie up the front end better since there was some minor frame deflection as i mentioned and drop some weight.

i've been eying the STi aluminum control arms for some time and since i was at having to disassemble the suspension to put those on, i grabbed a whiteline RCA kit as well:

someone local bought my stock control arms (the car has 61k miles) so i was able to re-coup a little bit of the money for that.

[lettucemanatee]

i had a PDE uppipe i bought 5 years ago and never got around to installing that i sent off to swaintech in NY to get ceramic coated. figured this was the downtime i was waiting for to get it on the car!


when i bought the HKS Carbon-Ti catback, it was part of a used TBE deal from someone local with an 04 STi. i got the catback and a perrin div wastegate downpipe (both used for in b/w 5-8k miles, i don't remember, that was a long time ago as well) and decided now would be a good time to do the downpipe that's been keeping my uppipe company in the closet. i sprayed the pipe, then wrapped it in DEI titanium exhaust wrap, then sprayed it again with the DEI silicon sealant paint.

there's the downpipe attached to another stock turbo i pulled off a parts car along with the ceramic coated uppipe.

downpipe on the car, modded stock heatshield, painted (paint bubbled a little when i baked it, i guess it wasn't dry all the way :/) and the stock lower heatsheild too since the PDE uppipe retains the mounting bracket like stock!

downpipe clearing the subframe. note extra bung welded on to accommodate a wideband in the future.

haven't snapped any pics of the uppipe on the car, kinda hard to see.

[lettucemanatee]

for the same reason i got the oswald subframe, to tie the frame together stiffer, i ordered a cusco front power brace:

i had to notch the bracket on the light bumper beam about a square centimeter on each side for clearance, but it fits perfectly! i'll be making a more suitable mounting bracket for the 3rd, most bottom, mount point since that flimsy tab off the lower radiator support is poo. probably tie it into the two points in the lower radiator support that i'm not using that the stock subrame went into that the oswald one no longer does! everything seems to be fitting together nicely

oh yeah, and what WRX isn't complete w/o some supertones.

note some headlight/fender/hood fitment issues that will be corrected when i bring the car and the bumper cover i have in my living room in to get fitted and mounted up properly and professionally.

[lettucemanatee]

PnP'd a throttle body off the parts car, lmk what you think, any suggestions? i plan to do an extra set of TGV's i have next.


also relocated the battery to the trunk:

i'll take some pics of the way i have it mounted in the back. still need to secure the distribution block and relay for the horns.

the gold stuff is some DEI gold heat reflective tape. i just put some on the low press a/c line today to see if it makes the a/c a little cooler and i wanted to see the bling

waiting on an infrared thermometer to come in so i can take some before/after readings of surface temps. i plan to put it on the PS lines that go under the uppipe and some other lines and wires in the turbo area. also want to try it out on the intercooler sides to see if i can drop intake temps (will be measuring those with the accessport) over a constant period of closed hood idle times.

the abs solenoid was replaced with the one off the parts car as that was damaged by the mud shoving the headlight crap back into it. i still need to get a new PS reservoir from someone on here since mine has a hairline crack in it.

[1VIPWRX]

coming along good

[lettucemanatee]

'preciate you, its been a long road to this point. the pictures have caught up to present day, i've got some more parts waiting to go on, but i need $$ for the body shop man first. once he's done with his touch this round, corner weight at a friends shop, then alignment $, then tune $, then drive for a little while to make sure everything on it right now is good to go.

[N/A_junkie]

looks like it's coming along nicely

i want those oswald bumper beams sooo bad, lol. i check them out every now and then and i can't convince myself to buy them yet!

how tough was your battery relocation? i know it's not a big job...but i'm curious how you ran your lines. i never have found a thread giving any hints.

[lettucemanatee]

Originally Posted by N/A_junkie

looks like it's coming along nicely

i want those oswald bumper beams sooo bad, lol. i check them out every now and then and i can't convince myself to buy them yet!

how tough was your battery relocation? i know it's not a big job...but i'm curious how you ran your lines. i never have found a thread giving any hints.

i ran my battery up the driver's side of the transmission tunnel, but on the inside, not the exterior of the tunnel. so in between the carpet and the floorpan. then routed it behind the gas pedal bracket so its tucked out of the way and through that hole in the firewall.

i used goodyear horizon 2ply stitch reinforced tubing to protect the cable in some pinch/bend points. just cut the tubing down the middle, put it where i needed on the cable, zip tied it around the cable tight. some insulated cable stays in areas as well to keep the cable from moving.

its mounted in the trunk in the spare tire well. i used the cone thing that comes up out of the well with the hole already tapped in it and drilled 2 holes forward of the well so the box and underplate that the actual battery is tied down to is mounted in a triangulating fashion. smack in the center of the trunk almost.

100A fuse on the battery box close to the battery, distribution block under the hood. i got a long as hell starter cable from autozone for like $8 and ran a new one to the distribution block. extended the cable that goes from the battery to the factory fuse block and put that in the distribution block. cable from the trunk to the block as well, naturally. my supertones are connected to the block too. grounds run, started up. vroom!

the 0ga cable i got from summit in my kit was kinda stiff and hard to bend kinks out of at times. i made a relocation thread on here and was told that welding wire is a cheaper alternative and much more flexible, like how high end audio cable is flexible because of the many many strands in it.

i'll take some pics and post em up here tonight so check back if they're not up when you read this.

[Ryan25i]

That second pic in your first post literally made me cringe, going from what used to be a beautiful car to the carnage that emerged from your wreck. Glad to hear it's being put back together well, even if it is piece by piece instead of all at once. Nice to see you're taking the time and doing it right.

[lettucemanatee]

yeah, it was hard to see it in that state, its still kind of hard to see it how it is now, but its coming back, and i think its going to be happy how its coming back lol

lot of memories in this car, i've had it since november 02.

n/a junkie, hope these pics help:

box with 3/4" MDF plate for it to sit on cut and sprayed black. the battery ties through the box and sanwiches the battery to the box/MDF and the tie down strap. there is one bolt with washers through the box/plate into the spare tire well hole. the optima is multi cell and there is a recess in the bottom of the battery that the hex cap sits in so the battery sits flush with the bottom of the box.

hex cap bolts with nylon washers through the box/plate into the body, where there is another washer and nut securing them down tight. there is another nylon washer under the box/plate in between that the cone in the spare tire well so that the battery sits evenly and not angled.

foolish me forgot to run my ground through the box, so i gotta do that soon.

and clean up my trunk

[Sleepy Wagon.]

Wow Nice build man. Cant wait to see this all together! I also ****ed up my bug i also, but its in the works. If you dont mind, where did you get the cusco front brace from? I want one for my wagon!

[Ryan25i]

It's definitely going to be happy how it's coming back, everything's looking good man, keep it up!

[lettucemanatee]

Originally Posted by Sleepy Wagon.

Wow Nice build man. Cant wait to see this all together! I also ****ed up my bug i also, but its in the works. If you dont mind, where did you get the cusco front brace from? I want one for my wagon!

i ordered from rallitek.

[N/A_junkie]

Originally Posted by lettucemanatee

pictures and info, info and pictures

wow! i wasn't expecting such a good response

thanks a ton that gives me some good ideas. especially with the goodyear hoses as protection.

looks damn good

[lettucemanatee]

thanks!

i like to give complete responses when i can. i usually search for threads about a particular job i'd like to take on so i can see what potential problems i may have and figure out ways around them before i encounter them. the more information the better



about 10 mins of work on one of the y-pipe to i/c elbows, another 10 minutes of work and it'll be bitchin'.

[blakkboxer]

interesting..



subscribed

[Sleepy Wagon.]

Originally Posted by lettucemanatee

i ordered from rallitek.

Kool Thanks. Can you notice a change from it?

[lettucemanatee]

Originally Posted by Sleepy Wagon.

Kool Thanks. Can you notice a change from it?

not drivable yet and honestly, i wouldn't be able to isolate what change it would make with all the other stuff that's changed up front. like i said, only reason i got it was since the vehicle spent a little time on the frame rack and i want as much reinforcement on those rails as possible.

[bluesube2]

nice job, i like the supertones

[lettucemanatee]

put the ram back in place and did some hood closed tests to compare with my no ram hood open tests i did the other day.

also wanted to see if the gold on the low pressure a/c line made it colder. idk if it was just in my head, but the a/c definitely felt cooler than normal. popping the hood after 15 minutes idle and the line feels like cold metal. intercooler slightly warm, i'll be putting the tape on it and getting actual numbers when the ir thermometer arrives like i said.

i can put my whole hand on the wrapped downpipe after 15mins idle for 4-5 seconds. want to get actual temps on that too and compare them to 15 mins driving with numbers before and after timed cooldowns.

[bjohn21]

Ah man that sucks!
I applaud you for rebuilding it right though. Looks like its coming along quite nice!