fornetti14 said:Car looks solid even though it has that surface rust near the back. That's the one thing I hate about late 90's cars in Michigan. They tend to be total crap buckets.
Found a pair of Impreza's near me for $600. Hmmm....
https://grandrapids.craigslist.org/cto/d/2-impreza/6471067162.html
Growing up in Maine I feel you there, Im still surprised how easily is coming apart so far and hopefully it keeps up lol.
Knurled. said:fornetti14 said:What not swap the 2.2 out for a 2.5L?
I suppose that would push you into a different class, but isn't the fun running and not necessarily winning?
These cars look great going sideways & throwing dirt!
Manual swap puts him in Mod, period. But seriously, i thought a certain 2.2l Outback Sport was a funner car to drive than a 2.5rs because the engine was so flexible... Maybe less power, but that means nothing if you're always in the wrong gear because the engine is so peaky.
Yeah I think im going for more of a fun car but im thinking it might change over time after getting my ass handed to me in MA.
Wilbur now has 3 pedals!
Anyone looking for a tcm and brake pedal? Lol
It has surprised me the ease of most of this so far but then again I still have plenty left to do.
More progress today, the wrx 3.90 rear is in and though I need every bushing on this car I wanted to make sure everything fits.
Now I might have a slight snag, the lowest bolt you will see a white gap, that Is a crack, so might have to look for a new side plate for the passenger side, and after some research the OE rear cv shafts are 22 inner spline and 24 outer while the wrx is 25 inner and 24 outer so another item to put on the list.
So waiting on fed ex today I figured I should get cleaning random stuff as opposed to pacing around, would have to say the valvetrain looks good for 264k.
Slightly cheated and took the valve covers to work to clean, I would say they turned out well.
Now being a rallycross car and an old Subaru it likely will never be as clean again but why not put forth some effort lol.
Well folks a positive is I got my package from fedex finally, was about to do spark plugs and I saw this......
Not just one plug or bank either....
In a a last ditch effort for hoping I’m wrong I drain the coolant, this is what I’m greeted with,
Guess im living the full Subaru lifestyle now, I’ll give it to this 2.2 though, it started and ran up to and kept temp with no issues whatsoever the 4 times I started it, goes to show don’t trust the bright green coolant that’s in the radiator and the expansion tank, will have to put thought into where to go from here...
Well it’s not wanted but might as well see what’s going on while in side the heads pending the whole water in the spark plug wells, passengers side is not hateful but some MLS head gaskets will be needed, still can see the crosshatches in the cylinder walls so let’s hope the other side is just as good looking so I don’t have to pull the rest of the block.
You pulled the heads in chassis? There are literally ten more bolts/nuts holding the block in...
In reply to Knurled. :
Yeah so I don"t have an engine hoist or an engine stand (first home garage problems) so this is how its going for now for better or worse.
Passengers side head cleaned up very nicely for 264k, due again to the lack of a hoist at the moment the drivers side is on the block due to one head bolt but will deal with that soon enough.
Progress!!!!
Engine hoist and stand were scrounged up and now we can make good progress and some much needed cleaning.
This is before the cleaning but the pistons look good, cylinder walls are fairly good (one cylinder the cross hatching is getting a bit thin and 2 cylinders look like there is some suspect stuff going on but I might just be paranoid) also when I pulled the oil pump the 2 lower bolts were finger tight so those are better now and hopefully loctite will hold those 2 in lol
Issues start here though, these bits were in the galley by the oil filter housing and I have no idea what they are, where they came from, or how they got there, if any EJ22 people know what I might have found any help would be much needed!!
These 2 bolts are block connecting bolts and they are corroded as berkeley, so I guess I’m now splitting the block to do coolant o rings and giving ARP a call to get all sorts of new hardware, against what my budget wants.
How it sits right now, still don’t really want to split the block but I don’t want to go back in this anytime soon lol.
On the plus side of things I was able to find some junkyard goodies like a m/t cross member, shift knob, needed bolts, a few newer sensors and a m/t starter that I have no clue if it will work but I’ll find out at some point.
Progress is still being made, cleaned up everything on the engine and decided to not split the block so it will just be an engine refresh, luckily things still looked really good. Also been visiting the junkyard and luckily found an Outback sport which will now be a donor for Aesthetics for the front end even though it will be all the colors at least it will physically look better .
Do need to find an OE scoop and rain guards though.
My garage is a damn mess too lol, need to start putting stuff on.
Well after a nice cleaning today there was a nice discovery I don’t know why in the hell I did not see earlier...
Drivers side inside.
Fffffffffuuuuuuuuuu.......... So folks of GRM I am not too much of a body person but I do know this is not good at all, I’m open to any suggestions at this point from finding a friend with an F350 and some chains to pushing it in to the James river after taking the gas tank out and starting new.
Shifter bushing install with an attempt at the thread tape trick, worked fairly well, that is without physically shifting anything yet lol.
In reply to JtspellS :
I wouldn’t worry too much about that subframe damage. It can be pulled out. Nothing an oxy-acetylene torch, chains and a Tractor can’t take care of.
So I’m beginning to think $300 is the magical number for this car, that and Facebook market place is the new Craigslist.
A little dirty and the lower bolstering is a little beat up but much better then what’s in there atm, they did come with headrests Incase any one was wondering.
M/T wrx driveshaft, starter, front wrx hubs, and a full disk brake kit from you guessed it a GD wrx, finally the crowing piece...
The entire rear subframe (minus the diff, already have that and the trans, thanks again Brian!) so this car is going to be almost more GD then GC, earning it a new nickname, The G.D.C. (The g.damned conundrum.)
Just a few more items left part wise (minus the engine, staying with the 2.2 for now) working with a few body shop friends to see what we can do about the frame, though it would make it ineligible for the GRM challenge (they work at a high volume body shop and have access to everything one might need) I’m still going to shoot for under this years price!
JtspellS said:
Is this the repair shop across the road from Hanover County Airport? I really don't want to get Facebook, but everyone tells me it is replacing CL for cheap deals.
Nice work on the progress! Any chance you can drive it to the car show on the 22nd?
In reply to Flynlow :
Yes it is in the air park GnG motorsports is the name, really good people and not far from COTU brewery. Lol sry I did not get with you earlier, life kinda got in the way but it was good to see you at the open house!
Well it’s been a while since an update, between vacation, crazy work hours over the summer, and just plain not wanting to do anything to it I figured it should be time to get back to it again.
So out with the old drum brakes and subframe.
And now he is LT. Wilber, the pig with no legs!
Still riding a momentum of relative success I decided to clean up & paint the mount points and surrounding areas and start slapping things in, all is going in well (minus a harbor freight torque wrench mishap which will now make me drill out a new berkeleying bolt no thanks to no clickage....) to this point, but it is not quite the simple ass swap I was initially thinking which is unsurprising lol.
This is the new DD who is named Hanz of SNL Hanz & franz fame lol and it was yet another thing that was eating time mostly due to the fact I was able to pick it up at a ridiculous cheap price thanks to being a former fleet car which means a bunch of work was needed to get it road legal again but it’s been worth it...... so far lmao!
Update on everything to this point, thanks to a bad looking mole I’m going to be laid up for a bit but I did make some progress on the Subaru.
Frame looks much better now, but I must confess I did cheat a bit to get it to this point....
Was able to pick up this shell for cheap and it came with a lot of extras for a 2.5rs clone and best of all very little rust (in comparison.)
Now what am I going to do with the old pig?, well I’ll have to pull a large amount from the now doner red car because the new shell is a 95 and everything from the pig is a 96, will have research ahead of me for now. Time to make the 2.2rs now I guess? Lol
Hello again everyone, back at it and here is the latest progress,
Had to bring it home from where I was storing the 2 door and using my tow rig for its first haul with me,
currently taking obd1 harness out of the 95 and putting the obd2 harness in, about 30% of the way so far,
Glad I still have the 4 door for spares, don't think I could have done it cheaply otherwise!
I thought this was supposed to be the easy button, Tom?
If you had an BMW, you'd already have done a full season of rallycross in it ;)
In reply to irish44j :
Just wait I might be ambitious enough to put a rotary In it.........
looking somewhat normal again
Still a ways to go though.
97 EJ22 Manual lifted. Feel your pains brother. Though I have no issues yet I do plan on a high compression build when it does happen........
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