Dylan's Subaru Liberty 1998 RX Bilstein Edition
Well.. I bought this car after seeing Luke's (XoN's) car. Exactly the same, but blue.
I was on the hunt for my first car, so I spent some time finding the right car for me. Originally, I was considering getting an old Corolla Seca one of the 1.6 models - would have worked out an anooseload cheaper in the long run, but such a crappy car.
After around 3 months of looking around for a manual Bilstein edition, Luke informed me that one of the guys that works for his company in Melbourne was considering selling. This was fantastic news! I got some pictures sent through after getting in touch with the seller, and this is what I saw:
Car had around 114,000K's on the clock, only a few minor car park trolley dints and that was it. Everything worked, paint was in excellent condition and so I arranged for an RACV comprehensive inspection of the vehicle before I commited. After having the car checked by the RACV (for around $300) the report came back that everything was OK - a couple of issues with 2 tyres but nothing major.. apparently.
So... After that I talked with my bank, got finance and purchased the car for $16,500. I then, had to arrange to get the car back to my home in Sydney, from Malvern in Victoria. I had only gotten my P's about one month before this, so I did consider flying to Melbourne and driving the car back - however I decided against doing this and arranged for the car to be shipped up here on a truck with PATRICKS. This ended up costing around $650 for memory, which wasn't too bad.
Once the car arrived, it had to go through blue slip and I got my mechanic to check over it. What I found out as a result of this I was less than pleased about. She Needed 3 new tyres - sidewall's were stuffed, and the head gasket had gone - great! Another $3,000 later - the car was good to go. I got it registered, insured and things were all good! I loved my car, I did about 30,000K's on it in 6 months.
A POD filter, and a front strut brace were amongst the first modifications I did to my car
I also purchased a sticker to represent the car group I was in (and proud of, at the time).
I took great enjoyment out of cleaning my car, and helping her look her best.
A HID kit was also installed to my car, to improve lighting.
All was going well, the engine was losing a bit of oil (would usually drain out 1.5L less than what I put in there every 6,000K's) but the car was going fine. In hindsight, I drove the car fairly hard and was a little bit silly (Red P plater, huh) and I had a couple of hairy moments. I also in the time I had it bought and fitted a 22mm rear sway bar from Whiteline.
Around April 2007 I took my car for a drive just before I was due to do an oil change on it the next day. As it turns out, that drive would be the death of the 2.5L DOHC engine, which died at just over 142,000K's.
From diagnostics given to me by Subaru and a local workshop, I had spun a big end bearing. According to Soop, who eventually received the engine (Via Alexxx in Wollongong who bought it first) - there was far more damage to it than first thought. I believe a head gasket had gone again, and there was more damage (I'll leave it up to Soop to comment).
Unfortunately for me, this left me in a bad situation as I really could not afford to rebuild the engine, nor was I in a situation to buy a halfcut. I had to make a choice.
I decided, that I would proceed with diong a turbo conversion - and that I would undertake this job myself with the help of a few clued in friends and a Haynes workshop manual.
On the first of May, 2007 I started working on my car and started taking everything apart to prepare it for the new engine. I knew this was going to be a big job, a huge job - and something I had never done before. I was excited, and worried.
Work starts.
Bits are slowly coming out...
Bye bye bonnet.
More bits gone, and the engine hoist was in there way too early - we weren't ready to take it out yet!
One of my good mates helped me rain, hail or shine (or night) throughout this, and we finally got the old engine out (hoisted out the top with the box joined) at night.
I love fluro globes...
The engine, and gearbox finally out, and split.
The empty engine bay... and parts storage bin.
It looks so empty. As you can see, my garage is completely friendly to mother nature.
Fortunately for me, one of my friends who had converted his Gen2 RX with a 1996 JDM WRX halfcut, had his car written off (hard luck, eh). I purchased ALL the running gear from him, for $3900. This included 3" TBE (Xforce Tbear edition w/ 4 1/2" cannon!), rear diff, gearbox, engine, ECU, and loom (that was done by AL @ AMAuto).
The donor Liberty.
The WRX engine and 4.11 gearbox being lifted out.
The new wiring loom.
Pulling wiring from donor car.
In with the new!
Luke (XoN) getting down and dirty.
Interior is mostly back together!
The WRX engine being taken to my car.
Just tap it in... Tap tap taparoo...
WRX Engine in.
All swoit.. mate.
So... the conversion started 1st May 2007, and was finished just before Christmas 2007. A long time yes, a lot of it was spent waiting for the ground to dry, money to be saved and working things out.
As it turns out, my mechanic ended up finishing it for me (putting rear diff in, bolting a few things in and troubleshooting the car when it didn't start) as I got sick of it being on my lawn, as the rain would not eff off.
Turns out the ECU I had was cracked in the accident the donor car had, so I sourced a replacement through BMI in QLD.
So the car was registered in Feb. 2008 and things are all sweet. The car has no error system (no check engine light - no codes), I don't know if thats due to it not being wired up or something, but I guess I will look in to it in future.
Since then, I have removed the POD filter and returned back to an airbox (mix of V2 STI top of the airbox, and Gen2 NA bottom) and a panel filter. This has reduced the induction noise and now means the factory plumbback is quiet (as opposed to sounding like it was atmo before with the POD).
I also (At Marv's suggestion) did the Bosch HEC716 coil coversion (Thanks RSLC), and fixed the missing issue I was having.
I have made a few cosmetic modifications to the car, which include a set of projectors and new HID lights, a Legacy garnish and RS badge and I have some monsoon's waiting to be fitted.
I am waiting to do a FMIC for the car soon, as the scoop on it is a WRX scoop cut in to a Liberty bonnet (that looks ugly as hell). I have the core, just have to source the piping - I am considering giving this a crack myself.
I would also like to move my water bottle and battery to the boot, to give myself some more room in the engine bay.
The car as it is today.
This post really sums it up nicely, and makes it all seem that no time has passed at all. I really enjoyed doing the conversion on my car, and it has taught me many things. I would do it again, and I think that with the right tools and area, such a project can be done by a few boys in no time at all. If anyone is considering doing this, I am more than happy to lend a hand, a workshop manual or stories.
I will update this post as I do further things to the car, but ultimately I am looking to get the car looking as stealth as possible, and sounding fairly quiet.
I am also now, considering saving up for a brand new EJ257 and doing a build with that, V3 heads and other goodies (Although a PPG 1st - 4th box will be required I think) however this is still a few years off, if at all.
Hope you enjoy,
Dylan.
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09 Dec. 2008:
Well... Just a little update.
Came home to this:
Then I attacked it...
Then I spotted it...
And then...
Pair of V5 / V6 STi seats + GC8 STi front strut brace, and a Juran (fully jdm spec., y0) rear strut brace.
Will post pics once fitted
Note: Seats are immaculate, there is just a leaf on there courtesy of Aaron @ Import Monster (and also a pen - score!)
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14 Dec. 2008:
Well... Rain pissed off so I fitted the seats today.
Pardon the stained carpets, sir. Taken the original seats out, and vacuumed the carpet along with taking the floor mats out for a nice steam clean.
Passenger seat in.
Both seats in.
inside view (Excuse the bits missing, and dirty windshield).
GT Bonnet Fitted, JDM Fogs and Legacy front grille fitted (taken from a phone camera, SLR pics to come).
25 Mar. 2009:
GoFastBits short shifter fitted to the car tonight. Bleed valve (Turbo XS) is ready to be fitted, however I need to chase down possible leaks (thinking cracked up-pipe) first, before increasing boost as I am having some minor performance related issues. Clutch needs replacing, timing belt needs to be done. Considering doing a 2.2L or a 2.5L build up and using V3 STi heads. More on this to come, but I may not concentrate on the V2 WRX engine that is currently running in it -- too restrictive for big numbers.
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26 Apr. 2009:
Few new pics below.
Hanging out with Will's B4.
Nice front-bum.
4 Oct. 2009:
Not much has changed, few bits and pieces but new clutch and flywheel have been fitted. Will add more pics soon but for now this is just the flywheel.
It is a Fidanza Aluminium 4.7KG lightened flywheel.
