147 replies to this topic

[Miguel]

Copypasta from my thread on RSLC

Started off with this RS a friend of a friend was selling with a blown head gasket, wanted $1500 for it.
Made him an offer for $500 and he went for it so then it was mine.

Here's some pictures of how it looked when I first got it.





Pretty neglected old thing with some poor choice in modifications. Random Mitsubishi alternator was in there too with bodgy wiring and was dead so went to Jollys and managed to get a near new aftermarket Alt out of a GX with stock wiring for $50.
Grabbed some 00 GC8 rims off ebay, sorted the alt, took it for a quick wash and got the first good look at the car I'd just bought.
Cleaned up pretty decent but she was still not a really nice example.



Attempted to get it home (Seaford to Heathcote about 2 hours drive) but we barely got it off the Frankston freeway before it was overheating and carrying on so another half hour and a hire trailer and we were on our way home. Now I could start tearing into it and fixing all the dodgy crap from before.

First was the dodgy aftermarket wiring including a cheap "magicalarm" sure was magic cus it was malfunctioning and wouldn't turn the car off :/

Started off with this


After ripping out all this(Yes that hektik blueneon was chopped into the boot light, thankfully the original light was still there.)



Ended up with this


Another of the first things to fix was the bootlid, the original spooler had been ripped off but obviously it wasn't the first time, seems the obvious solution was to go to town with black silicone sealant and just sit it over the top so that had to go.



Next I pulled the engine/box out while waiting for my new engine to arrive.
Pulled stock VF12 off to discover exhaust housing was full of cracks and compressor wheel looked like this..


So posted on here and ended up with a pair of very good condition VF8's


Pulled engine and box after having a fun time trying to loosen the driveshaft nuts(Didn't get many pics around this time)


Clutch didn't have much meat left so ordered a new GD Exedy from the US


And discovered I had a lightweight flywheel which was a nice surprise(and pretty terrible for daily driving so won't be a modification I'll be repeating)


New engine arrived


Very clean inside, seller told me it had 105k on it and gaskets timing belt etc were done at 90k and it certainly looked like it. Very happy with this.


Painted cam covers and intake mani in wrinkle black


Couple of split front CV boots so replaced all 4 and painted the shafts



Assessed intake manifold and decided which bits I wanted.


Looking tidy


Will continue on in next post...
Replacement spoiler from a member on here arrived so I installed that straight away(Sorry anyone whom I bought parts off if I don't mention your name just trying to write this up quickly, I am still very grateful for your help though )


Nardi Gara, Momo/Nardi hub adapter, worn(but cheap) GC8 gearknob arrived and grabbed a bunch more stock parts to replace damaged stuff including handbrake so replaced all those horrid bits. Looks like I installed my Greddy boost gauge sometime around this time as well.
Interior now looking somewhat more respectable


Pulled out dash to replace heater and AC cores as heater core had been bypass and a previous owner had removed the AC and snapped the fittings in the bay off


Found some eggshell underneath the dashboard which was weird, how did that get there!?


New clutch arrived(and genuine subaru filters next to it)



Had flywheel machined


New spigot bearing installed


All installed and torqued to spec


Engine in!


When I was installing exhaust manifolds I noticed a redback had decided to make its home in an exhaust port, sure he got a shock on first startup


Installed new Walbro I'd bought for my previous R33 but never installed


Engine bay all sorted



Some of you who read my previous thread may recall I spent a week chasing both a no start issue and trying to work out why my dash all stopped working. Dash was my stupid fault, didn't plug main plug back into fuse box as I for some reason thought it was an unused plug for the height adjustable suspension or something, Tested all relays, pored over wiring diagrams, pulled the dash back out, started testing wiring while looking over diagrams again. Looked at plug, looked at diagram then it sunk in, whoops.

One problem solved now why won't it start, checked spark, checked fuel, checked over a bunch of other things, swapped injectors, swapped injectors back again and it started up. Still not sure what the original issue was but never happened again so no worries.

While scratching my head with wiring I grabbed stock headunit plugs from a GX at wreckers and soldered it in to replace the twist and taped nightmare install from before


Then I bought a pair of ISO harnesses and stuck a terminal block in so I could add/remove aftermarket controllers, gauges etc without worrying about hacking up the factory wiring


HKS EVC IV installed in the glovebox


All light up


Very pleased with interior now, Legacy 5 piece floor mats and big DIN pocket out of an LX made it complete


Next going for rwc.
So Book in for RWC, get quite an extensive list back...

-All brake hoses not secure at struts(Grabbed clips from wreckers and job done)
-Engine Misfire(Turns out one of the coilpacks which were fine before had died after putting the new engine in so it was only running on 3)
-Check engine lamp on(One way valve to MAP sensor was the wrong way so it was chucking a hissy)
-Windscreen(New one installed)
-Wiper Blades(Replaced with good silicone blades)
-Fog Lamps not switched(Not sure what he was on about here, think he got confused with the 2 fog switches)
-Flat Battery(Really?)
-Park Lamp L/H Dull(Plastic bit in lense had popped out, popped back in)
-Adjust handbrake(Easy)
-Machine all disc rotors(Took them to same place as fly and did a great job)
-Front Pads(Grabbed a full set of cheap pads off ebay for $40)
-Lube caliper slides(Easy)
-Brake Fluid Flush(Easy)
-Muffler not supported, loud?(Stupid catback which didn't fit the car properly and was just all around horrible, borrowed stock catback)
-F&R Swaybar link bushes(Replaced with Superpro)
-Power steering oil leak(Pressure washed and hoped it didn't show up again quickly )
-RH FR Balljoint(Bought a decent OE replacement pair off ebay)
-RH headlight cracked(Bonnet slammed down on it , wreckers sorted that easily though)
-Tint too dark(Yep, removed. Would like to do some light bronze tint I think)
-Incorrect speed rating on tyres(Grr, had grabbed another set of tyres in a trade for some Skyline hubs but two of them were no good. Ended up buying another pair of used tyres off ebay for $30)


Quite a list, sorted everything easily enough though glad it wasn't anything major. Also installed used Whiteline ALK and new Superpro Rack bushes I bought when I did the balljoints

Don't really have any photos of any of this work except the swaybar bushes. My little baby vice was too small to force them in without flexing off to one side so I made a special tool out of some big sockets and a spring compressor


All done




All ready for RWC



So I had it all sorted, passed the second time no worries. Rego'd enjoyed it immensely for a couple of weeks.


Then on my way to have a new exhaust put together this happened..






Exiting a roundabout doing maybe 40-50 the back end completely came out without warning spun me 180 over keep left sign on the centre divider across 2 lanes of opposite direction traffic 180 back the way I started on the grass on the opposite side of the road.
Quite an experience to say the least, very thankful I wasn't hurt and there wasn't any other vehicles involved especially given(Due to my own procrastination/stupidity) I hadn't yet insured it.
I think a variety of factors(Wet road, heavy exhaust parts all stacked right in the back of the boot, raised tyres pressures that morning in an attempt to improve fuel economy, tired neglected rear end) all probably contributed to it behaving how it did. Certainly learned my lesson about insurance though, sorting a replacement stung a little bit.

Here are some photos taken later in the afternoon after it had dried up, you can see where it slid across the road. I started off in the lh outer lane and ended up near the gumtrees



Next up, finding a replacement.
Now finding a replacement car...

I was already on a fairly tight budget getting the first car sorted and now I needed to find another, whilst I'd thought about repairing it to get it to an acceptable standard just wasn't going to be viable no matter how I swung it so I hit FS sections, facebook pages, gumtree & ebay and searched for something that would suit my needs. Enquired about a couple of shells on here interstate which would have been pretty tough to get back down here and looked at a white Ausdel RS wagon with a dead engine which although tidy(and the seller was a super cool guy) had 550,000k's on the clock and was showing wear consistent with such.
Whilst I did want a wagon I wasn't particularly keen on a white car either(Sorry guys but they do look a bit like a fridge)
I looked at a burgundy JDM GT wagon which came in through that dodgy rebirth scheme in the early 00's too. It had lots of very nice fruit(Monsoons, 5 piece mats, black interior, DIgital climate control, remote central locking, bronze glass, mudguard pods, pretty much specced with all the cool Japanese parts) Unfortunately it was an auto and also had front end damage which looked like every hanging panel forward of the firewall would need a decent amount of work or replacement so for the money he was asking I just wasn't interested.

Then John(Snowball) posted in my EOI for sale thread about Blackcitydiamonds car. I went and had a look and it seemed like a pretty good buy. Had a couple of bits of fruit(4 pots, wrx 5 spokes, 3" stainless turbo back) Put down a deposit and had it delivered to my mates a couple weeks later so we could start sorting which bits I wanted)
Here's a couple of pics of the condition it was in(They're not very good sorry)






While I was waiting for my tax return to come through to pay for the remainder I did some things to occupy my spare time.
Painted grille insert black like factory


Picked up some 98 GC8 wagon front seats for $120



Very dirty but oh so much more supportive than the stock RS seats. Wrapt with em, the shoulder support in the stock seats was lacking(i.e. nonexistent) so they became quite uncomfortable on longer trips. These are brilliant!

Also picked up a Syms strut brace from an ebay seller in Malaysia, it's designed for a BD but fit no worries. Will restore the end plates soon.


So now have both cars together


Originally I was planning on pulling my still very fresh engine from the other car along with my new clutch etc but decided to do a compression test on both engines first.

Results
Old car 160/140/150/150PSI. Good and strong
New car came up 150PSI all around so it seemed a logical decision to save the hassle and keep going with everything else

After spending the first day doing two fifths of bugger all decided to write up a bit of a list to get things rolling properly.


With some mucking around(and quite a few beers) on the way..


Given we weren't swapping the engine and drivetrain this left suspension components(I wrote coilovers but well it was just easier than writing springs and struts, they're just 99 GC8 suspension nothing fancy yet) and interior/exterior parts that needed swapping over.

As blackcitydiamond car was unfortunately stolen and the locks damaged I replaced all the locks and the entire drivers door with those off the old car.
I also had a windscreen bloke come out and replace the broken rear quarter window with the one off the old car. He did an excellent job so if you're in South East Melbourne and need windows installed I definitely recommend Top Class windscreens.

Now Blackdiamondcity had had the roof lining re trimmed in charcoal and all the roof plastics were sprayed in vinyl paint. It wasn't really my cup of tea so pulled the filthy old bits out of the old car and set to work cleaning them up.

This is the headlining, you can see where it looks like someone spat something at the driver, gross.


Everything cleaned up and drying in the sun


All bare


Clean! Almost looks brand new



Cleaned out the whole rear interior before refitting too.


I'd thought I took more pictures during but apparently not. It's great having 2 of the same car in the same spec though. Picked the best bits out of both interiors and ended up with a nice tidy setup. This is the only photo I have of the finished interior, I'll try to take some reasonable quality shots sometime soon.


Spotted this gem at the carwash too, I think that's a late model Falcon spoiler :S


People on the Facebook page will have seen these already but for those who haven't here are a couple of photos of the end result. Took us 5 days to finish it all up but I am very pleased.(Before anyone asks I made sure this time to have the car insured before I even had it back home )



Full Spec list at current

MY1992(1991 Build) Charcoal Grey RS Turbo Sedan
Exterior: Stock
Wheels: MY00 GC8 6 Spokes
Interior: 98 GC8 Wagon front seats, Nardi Steering wheel, WRX gearknob, Greddy boost gauge, Legacy floor mats, Broadway rearview mirror
Engine: Bog stock, 3" Turbo back exhaust
Handling: WRX 4 pot front brakes with slotted rotors, Whiteline Anti Lift Kit, 99 GC8 springs & shocks, Syms front strut brace, unknown rear strut brace, Superpro swaybar endlink bushes

[Barbbachello]

Noice work. I really dont get how someone could look at the "finished" job of that wiring or boot silicon and think, yes ive done a good job and am happy with this

[Miguel]

Now after all of that plans are really just to fix minor things I'm unhappy with and keep it cheap and cheerfull till my bank balance has recuperated a bit

Firstly set about repairing one of the foam mudguards that was damaged. Will paint up the rest of them and install on the car soon.



I used a 2 part superglue which has formed a really strong bond and still has some flex in it.




Then painted satin black, I'll be sanding a bit more and repainting before I'm done as the colourmatched paint they'd previously been painted on was cracked and it still shows through.



Next up I removed the black that had been painted over the chrome on the bodymouldings, The moulding on the bumper will need to be replaced(But really the whole bumper needs repainting so will worry about that then) and I grabbed another moulding from the wreckers for the drivers door as it had been colourmatched with the rest of the old car.

Some time, acetone and a lot of cotton balls later I had this..




Much better.

I also painted the front calipers black, I really like the sleeper aspect of these cars and the red brakes stood out a bit too much.


Next I will be FINALLY sorting out the exhaust I set out to have put together on the old car, the system currently on the car will be up for sale.

A not so exciting update, did turbo gaskets and resealed cat(Was leaking from both flanges cus someone had only sealed it up with selleys all clear :S)

Bought same permaseal gasket kit as I did for the other engine from same seller, different packaging though?


Also found out dump I was hoping was bellouth is a split dump Doesn't look too badly designed though but I might see if I can rip that divider out.


Turbo came off pretty easily, except for this bastard clamp, who decided to install it facing that way!?!?


Yay not munted!


Old gaskets


Car seems a teensy bit more responsive now which is good. Is quieter too since fixing leak.

Some minor updates, been driving a fair bit, working out where to go wth things.

Replaced the GF8 seats with 99 GC8(Black with red inserts), would really like a pair of the very early GC8 seats with the red tiger stripe pattern though.

Grabbed a resonator delete and pair of front shocks with unknown red lowering springs on them. Chucked em both on the car pretty much straight away, definitely enjoying the subtle bit of additional intake noise and improvement in throttle response the resonator delete has provided and the springs bought the front down almost perfect to match the height of the GC8 rear bits.


Also bought a pair of new steering rack bushes, I'd replaced them in the other car but couldn't be bothered pulling them out as they're only $30 but steering was starting to feel pretty hairy so they definitely had to be done.



Whilst I was under there I noticed ATF coming from both bellows :/ so plans are GC8 2.7 rack, rebuild power steering pump and new tie rods/tie rod ends, should feel nice and tight after.

[Jordan]

Good read mate, Keep it coming!

[aekOne]

Welcome to SubClub. wow thats cool story mate. what a ride!

[Miguel]

Cheers guys. Yeah it's been pretty interesting, especially given this is my first foray into Subi ownership(I didn't really know much about them at all before buying the first car) Have some more updates I'll be posting up very shortly and some others which I'm just waiting on parts for

[Liberty]

Long and detailed. Well done man.

[Richo]

oooh, RB conversion, nice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hypnotic]

Hello and welcome.

 

Very good read, car/s has come up a treat.

[CRUISN]

Great write up, progress and end result.

Well done.

[Jimbo]

Well done mate, you have put so much effort into it! Shame about the prang on the original one. I love seeing these old girls brought back to life and given a fresh start instead of rotting in a yard somewhere.

High fives all round, bud.

[duncanm]

wow -- props for ploughing on after that fairly shattering setback.

[Miguel]

oooh, RB conversion, nice

 

Yeah was a tough decision between that and a Gallo 12

 

Hello and welcome.

 

Very good read, car/s has come up a treat.

 

 

Great write up, progress and end result.

Well done.

 

 

Long and detailed. Well done man.

 

 

Well done mate, you have put so much effort into it! Shame about the prang on the original one. I love seeing these old girls brought back to life and given a fresh start instead of rotting in a yard somewhere.

High fives all round, bud.

 

 

wow -- props for ploughing on after that fairly shattering setback.

 

Cheers guys, to be honest as painful as it was for me to have wrecked the first one in all honesty it was a pretty tired old girl who'd had a hard life so in a way it almost couldn't have turned out better.

The car I have now is just so much nicer than that one in every way and with a bit more work in some areas should be fantastic to drive.

 

Now how about some belated unexciting updates!

 

First off I grabbed a really cheap MX5 Momo Cobra/Monte Carlo(Which is the same wheel fitted to early JDM RS' & RS RA's) and wow does this wheel feel good in the hand. Neither the stock ausdel Momo nor the Nardi Gara even come close to how good this feels in the hand so I'll definitely be on the lookout for a mint one of these(and a horn pad without a Mazda logo )

 

Then week before last I went to my visit my dad when on the way home going through stop start traffic the temp guage is rising :S. I pull over have a look and there's coolant sitting on top of the engine so I nursed it back to my dads, let it cool down still not entirely sure where the leaks coming from(and sorta deep down hoping it's a bhg cus an sti engine sure would be nice ) got it the hour and a half home without the temp needle moving and spent the weekend ripping the intake apart to find out what the problem is.

 

Turned out it was just the O ring on the coolant bypass so $2 for a pair of new O rings and it's happy as anything again. Of course as is the case with old cars I managed to break a couple of things, fittings on that blue pressure exchange solenoid? both snapped off so I just bypassed it. then I managed to break the the nipple off the BOV. went to pull the BOV out and the 90deg on the shitty plastic intercooler snapped off (luckily I had a spare) so epoxied a brass nipple onto the bov for the time being(Will either buy a new OEM or a Forge Motorsports billet OE replacement unit down the line)

 

Whilst the intake was all off gave everything a proper clean. SHINY!

 

Before

 

During

 

After

 

Replaced all the vacuum lines and bypassed the coolant flow through the TB and IACV whilst I was at it. Save the hassle when inevitably more 20 year old rubbers decide to fail.

 

Also picked up some alloy rear C links for $30 from a DOBC member and chucked them in.

 

 

That's it for now, still waiting on some bits and pieces then I can get into some more exciting(But still maintenance related) updates.

[Barbbachello]

 

Replaced all the vacuum lines and bypassed the coolant flow through the TB and IACV whilst I was at it. Save the hassle when inevitably more 20 year old rubbers decide to fail.

Any downsides to bypassing the IACV coolant? I know its for de-icing but i figure id ask. Also any sweet hook ups/sources on the replacement lines, silicone i presume?

[Miguel]

Any downsides to bypassing the IACV coolant? I know its for de-icing but i figure id ask. Also any sweet hook ups/sources on the replacement lines, silicone i presume?

I'd say there probably would be side effects in climates that see subzero temps regularly but doesn't seem to really be an issue here. Just used standard rubber coolant hose for now. Might replace it with something a bit nicer later down the track. Am actually kind of annoyed I had to take the intake off now as there's a bunch of minor intake off jobs I was hoping to do in one hit but of course I didn't have any of the parts yet so it'll have to come off again at some stage for all that.

[Barbbachello]

Cool thanks. I broke that hose when pulling mine off so am thinking of just bypassing it as well

[Miguel]

Suppose I should stop procrastinating and update this.

 

So a few weeks back I parked the car, cam back to find this.

No note or anything, pretty annoyed. Figured it would've cost me less to repair it myself than I'd pay in insurance excess. Started talking to people in NZ looking for a Jap spec Legacy bumper and garnish. Getting close to pulling the trigger when an RS for sale in Sydney pops up on my FB newsfeed. Burgundy, sunroof, whiteline swaybars, looked nice and tidy from the photos.

Thought about it a few minutes, made an offer minus a couple of other bits of fruit and the owner accepted it so within a couple of hours I'd transferred a deposit, booked a flight and endured a few seemingly endless days whilst I waited till I could pick it up.

Left my place at about 3:30 on Saturday, Taxi to the station, Train to Southern Cross, Bus to the Airport, Plane to Sydney, Train from the Airport to Wolli Creek then another train to Sutherland and FINALLY I got to see the car I'd commited to for the first time. Gave it a quick look over, took a quick test drive then handed over the cash and set off back home.

Just after I picked her up.

And 6am Sunday morning after a couple of hours nap. Ended up driving straight the whole morning, stoppng every couple of hours. Drove along to the Subyclub BBQ and then home after that.

Got it back home and got to take a proper look over everything.

Paint and bodywork are awesome. Unfortunately sunroof had apparently been leaking and previous owner had pulled the seal up above the roof and sikaflexed it to both the roof and peeled around the glass. I'd put a seal on order through Amayama but later found out that the seal I'd selected was different to my car and mine came with the glass. which Subaru wanted $1500 for D: Luckily I found a guy wrecking an NA with a sunroof so will be buying the glass off him.

Boot looks almost like new and OEM jack and full toolkit were cool to see.

Even cooler to see though was a full set of original RS decals in a dealership envelope sitting in the service books folder!

Interior on the otherhand, although in good condition. Was pretty dirty. Was also a smokers car at some point in its life so there was browny nicotine/tar gunk on all the vinyls/plastics and some cigarette burns in the back seat and shifter surround trim. The interior was the first thing I set about fixing.

Pulled out the carpet and Karhered it till it came up nice and clean then let it dry in the sun for a couple of days. Chucked in my GC8 front and better condition rear seats when I reinstalled the carpet.

Noticed a JDM flare holder as well which was an interesting find. Accidentally installed or respecced whilst it was on the production line perhaps?

Cleaned this type of gunk off of the vinyl, yuck!

Wasn't happy with this messy chopped up headunit wiring either so like any sane person would do I pulled the entire dashboard assembly out of both cars and swapped the entire loom over. Much better

 

And because I suck at remembering to grab all the right photos off my phone I'll post the after photos in the next post but it looks and feels a lot better than before. Couple more bits and pieces to sort out till I'm completely happy but that's cars

 

Had been sorting out some bits and pieces in the last month or so so all of these will now be making their way onto the red car instead of the grey one.

 

JDM RS cams.

V1/V2 WRX coilpacks with apparently only 23k km's on them so should be much better than the failing 2 bolt coils.

Power steering system upgrade. New tie rod ends, rack ends & rack boots. Legacy PS cooler, WRX 2.7 turn rack and WRX pump and lines(Not pictured)

Also picked up a used Koyorad for a great price so that'll be another nice addition.

[Cam.]

Imgur. Resize the photos...They are huge.

[Hypnotic]

Awesome stuff.

[Miguel]

Imgur. Resize the photos...They are huge.

Whoops. Didn't realise they were so gigantic, fixed the whole thread