Team Scream-Wagon-Sedan Conversion-Insanity

[Team Scream]

So, after a 4 year hiatus, having sold my last major project, which was a 2001 GC Coupe that I did an Aerosim Widebody conversion to, and then went out and won best overall at SubieFest 2012 with, the bug finally hit again, and I needed another project.

I have always liked wagons, which is probably why I have (2) SG Foresters, (1) GF Wagon and now a GG Hawkeye Wagon.

This thread will document my progress, and hopefully, will not disappoint. Those who know me, know I go a bit overboard with my projects. I guess "all in" is a better term, being that I really try not to cut any corners.

The glaring shortcoming of the GF and GG wagons, is they have a "fleetside" look to them. Subaru REALLY dropped the ball on these cars by not giving them the same flared fenders that the sedans, starting with the Bugeye and ending with the Hawkeye all had. If they had done that, I would have probably never owned a sedan, but when I bought my Hawkeye WRX (which I quickly did a full STi conversion to), I looked at both cars on the lot at the dealership, and just could not wrap my head around how flat the wagons were on the side. They had absolutely no personality, when compared to the sedans, so I found a sedan and the rest is history. That was 2006.

Along the way, I have acquired and built 3 Subarus that I have done complete STI swaps to. A 2006 Forester, a 2001 GC (widebody) coupe, and the 2006 WRX Sedan. I have never lost sight of the GG wagon, and every Bugeye or Hawkeye wagon I have seen, has caught my eye, and the itch to build one, has ALWAYS been there.

Fast forward to Christmas 2016.

In need of another project, I started looking for a Hawkeye wagon in early 2016. It was not until, completely by accident, I was browsing Nasioc classifieds, when I saw a 2006 Hawkeye wagon, with 34,000 original miles on it, unmolested, stock exhaust, stock wheels, spotless interior and decent paint, but most importantly, an adult ORIGINAL owner!!!

The only problem was, I live in Los Angeles, and the car was located in Oakland. No big deal. I was just beginning an 18 day break from work, so after a few phone calls and more pictures being sent to me by the seller, I booked a ticket, and flew up to Oakland to look at the car. Long story short, 4 hours later, I was driving it home from Oakland, and thus begins the story.

There is a WHOLE lot more to the story which I will get into later, but the bottom line is, I knew 2 things were an absolute certainty. This wagon would be an STI, and it would have the Sedan "widebody" conversion done to it, so that when it is completed, it will be what it should have always been from the factory.

One of the best examples of what these wagons should look like is probably Gigs90's Bugeye Wagon. His project was DEFINITELY an inspiration for my project....


https://i.imgur.com/2QKRxwW.jpg



Regarding my project: As it sits right now, the STI swap is done. The widebody conversion is well under way, with the bulk of the metal fabrication done.

There are several examples of sedan/wagon conversions here on Nasioc, and they all look amazing. There were a few things about those conversions that I did not like so much. Primarily, the way they grafted their quarter panels in by splicing them at the door jamb, and then grafting in small pieces of donor metal to fill in spaces that were left open after they got the various pieces to sort of fit. I also did not like how (at least the ones I have seen on Nasioc with journals of the builds) the owners carried the quarter panel metal almost all the way to the tail light. Doing it that way results in way too much body filler build up to feather the lines, right at the tail light section... I wanted to leave a couple of inches for feathering back there.....

Anyway, I decided that if I was going to do it, I was going to do it the way Subaru would have done it and that is by using much more of the donor WRX panels. I decided that everything needed to be split at the factory seams and spot welds, as much as is humanly possible. It was also decided that the area where the rear bumper and quarters meet, needed to be all donor metalwork, to preserve the integrity of the lines and strength of the quarter panels, which meant cutting away much more of the wagon's original metalwork below the bumper line.. Lastly, the decision to use the entire donor sections at the door jambs on the rear (striker) side, was done to ensure the factory curves and nuances that are responsible for the door seal interface to remain intact. This was probably the single most important consideration for me.

The other thing that I was really passionate about, was that the entire replacement process be either tig welded, or brazed. I did NOT want any wire feed weld joints. Tig'ing makes everything much cleaner, and allows the subsequent body work to be much easier, and less prone to cracking or shrinking. I really think that for quality metal fab, tig is the way to go.

I will try and describe the process as I get pics edited and ready to post?

Here are the donor quarter panels I bought for the project.







Here is a pic of the cuts to one of the donor panels (this basically shows what is left after separating everything at the welds and cutting what needed to be cut:




These pics show what was cut out or off of the Wagon. In the 3rd pic, the smaller blue pieces laying on the ground, are the sections below the tail lights near the vent openings, jack storage area....

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[Team Scream]

Here are some pics showing the quarter panels in place. I will edit these posts to insert some more pics of the deconstruction of the wagon and the mock up process. Those pics are on CD that I forgot to grab, so I will have those up in a couple of days.

Here is a pic of the left side mock up after the wagon was cut, and the donor section was mostly ready to go.





And a few pics of the metal work finished:














This next pic shows the how the donor panels were replaced at the spot welds.





And here are a couple of pics showing the inner left panel. This is a view inside the jack storage compartment.

[Team Scream]

So here is the progress on the bumper. I decided for now, to try and utilize the wagon bumper for a few reasons. One being that it fits really nice, and I already own it. That being said, I did purchase 2 used sedan bumpers to use as donors, should I decide that the wagon bumper can't be made to work and sit flush on the rear quarters. So far, with a few mods it looks like I can pull it off.

Here is a pic of just how far the wheel arch section of the bumper sits into the wheel well, pre-modification. Notice the sharpie marks, as that is where I cut .600" out of the bumper to be grafted back in.



Here is a wider view of the overlap...



Here is a look post cut:




Here is the piece that I cut out, ready to be trimmed.... Notice the sharpie mark near my hand. That had to go to make the piece fit back in place properly.



Here is how that piece will sit once I plastic weld it in place.




Here is the piece clamped in place. Notice I use aluminum screen as a strength enhancer...




Here is what the opposite side looks like pre-weld.





This is the section I cut out of the bumper. This is my plastic welding rod. Nothing better than using pieces of the bumper material as filler.




This is a pic showing the first part of the weld process. Small sections at a time, lightly pressing the doubled up screen into the bumper cover as the plastic melts.




Now I will move up towards the top and weld the screen to the bumper near the point....

[Team Scream]

And now for the horizontal cut (vertical as seen here) This is the most important part of the weld as far as structural integrity is concerned. If this isn't flat and totally welded on both sides, it will crack and look like crap.




Here is the section completely welded in place on the backside. You can see that by using the air assisted plastic welder (Harbor Freight $70.00) it actually injects molten plastic through the gaps to ensure a solid weld. Once I go over the outside cut with the welder and some filler, it will be completely welded from both sides, ensuring a solid bond.





And there it is, first side done. Nothing left to do here but lightly go over the outside gap with some heat and filler material to give it a 100% weld . Even like it sits, I tried to bend the welded section to see how strong it was. After letting it cool for 15 minutes, the weld is every bit as strong as the rest of the bumper.

[Team Scream]

Zzz Saved For Pics And Progress

[Team Scream]

Ccc Saved For Pics And Progress

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Lllll Saved For Pics And Progress

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Kkkkkkk Saved For Pics And Progress

[8you4t]

Subscribed !!!!

[rexworx]

Looks great sir!

[mellow]

Oooooohh. Your build threads are my favorite. I'm in for this one.

[TRinityMtrSprts]

sweet!!!
you gotta bring it by the friday night meets when it's done

[181stLeader]

Hey Dav! Nice to see another build from you. I'll be following! Your GC build helped me with mine and gave me awesome inspiration.

Originally Posted by TRinityMtrSprts

sweet!!!
you gotta bring it by the friday night meets when it's done

What is the location, it's been a while since I have gone to a meet.

[monkeyposeur]

This outta be good! And make me feel bad about not having a widebody wagon.

[Team Scream]

Updated posts 2 and 3 with bumper progress pics. Both sides are done, but I only documented one side since it was like 102* and sticky as hell today. I just wanted/needed to get this part done with.

Originally Posted by rexworx

Looks great sir!

Thank you rexworx.

Originally Posted by mellow

Oooooohh. Your build threads are my favorite. I'm in for this one.

Thank you too mellow, I appreciate it!!

Originally Posted by TRinityMtrSprts

sweet!!!
you gotta bring it by the friday night meets when it's done

Will absolutely bring it by!

Originally Posted by 181stLeader

Hey Dav! Nice to see another build from you. I'll be following! Your GC build helped me with mine and gave me awesome inspiration. .

Right on 181st !! Stay tuned brother!

Originally Posted by monkeyposeur

This outta be good! And make me feel bad about not having a widebody wagon.

Don't feel bad, just start gathering parts like I did. When you get them all in place, start the build!!!

[monkeyposeur]

Thanks for documenting this! I will just have to go widebody in a year or two. How did you go about sourcing the rear quarter panels? There are rarely salvageable panels at my local junkyards but I will keep looking. I'll have to get a cordless sawzall I guess or find a local dude parting out a sedan.

[Team Scream]

Originally Posted by monkeyposeur

Thanks for documenting this! I will just have to go widebody in a year or two. How did you go about sourcing the rear quarter panels? There are rarely salvageable panels at my local junkyards but I will keep looking. I'll have to get a cordless sawzall I guess or find a local dude parting out a sedan.

I searched locally for several months and I trolled the complete part out forum here and nobody had anything that was usable. I also drove an hour each way because someone here on the SoCal forum claimed he had a set that was perfect, but when I got there the fenders had been rolled with what looked like rebar. I was so angry that I actually gave the guy a bad review and made a separate post about it because I asked him at least 3 times about the condition and was told they were perfect.

Ultimately, I bit the bullet and called LKQ and had them search their nationwide inventory. They had a set (actually a complete rear half) in New Mexico. They were originally supposed to cut the quarters out based on the diagram I gave them on a cut sheet they emailed me. They delivered the complete rear half of the car in a box van, but I had to tell them to take it back because I did not want to deal with the extra, nor did I want to cut it.

I had to call the regional manager and complain, and they agreed, and took the rear half back to the local yard, had them cut it, and they delivered the sections you see in my first couple of posts the next day.

I spent just shy of $500.00 for both panels, delivered to my buddy's shop.

Check out LKQ and call them. They can troll their entire inventory way faster than you can indeed.

The other option is car-part.com, which is a nationwide salvage yard database that you can search. There are a CRAPLOAD of quarters out there right now, you just need to find your pain threshold for price with shipping.

[bue car]

Looking sexy


OP that is

[monkeyposeur]

Originally Posted by Team Scream

I spent just shy of $500.00 for both panels, delivered to my buddy's shop.

Check out LKQ and call them. They can troll their entire inventory way faster than you can indeed.

The other option is car-part.com, which is a nationwide salvage yard database that you can search. There are a CRAPLOAD of quarters out there right now, you just need to find your pain threshold for price with shipping.

Cool! Thanks for answering. So do the panels have to come off an 02-03 or can you use 04-05 as well?

[Team Scream]

Originally Posted by monkeyposeur

Cool! Thanks for answering. So do the panels have to come off an 02-03 or can you use 04-05 as well?

It is my understanding that all GD rear quarters are the same. The rear bumper covers are different between 02-03 and 04-07, but the metal is all the same. I just happened to find 05 bodywork to play with, but I would take bugeye rear quarters in a minute if that is what they had available..

[monkeyposeur]

Any updates? I will be buying a donor WRX to swap into my '93 Turbo Legacy SS in the next year or so. The bonus will be I can chop off the bits I need to do the widebody conversion! This is going to be my guide!

[bue car]

That sounds like a sexy build, love a classic legacy turbo

[Patrick Olsen]

What are the horizontal welds going back from just above the wheel arch to the rear of the quarters?