teranaut Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 Greetings, I have a '97 LSI that I picked up as a transportation necessity purchase six or seven years ago. It drove great on everything but ice; but, developed issues due the prior owner's disregard for regular maintenance. I had the head gasket and valves replaced; drove it for a while, then gave it to my wife to drive until she could find a new car. Nine months later, the overheating and head gasket issues resurfaced. Now, it holds the dirt in my driveway down and collects only the finest of leaves that fall from the tree above it. After fondly remembering all of the fun I had driving that car, I have developed the desire to turn it into something fun to take into the desert and create some dust clouds. Being that it's an LSI, it came stock with a 4-speed automatic transmission; and that will HAVE to go. After reading much of the advice of members here I have decided to plan out a build for it; and, will probably just go for an STI build. The reasoning is that I am too tall to fit comfortably in an Impreza; and, I would find it hilarious to have this thing howling like a banshee and running like a top. Given the car's age, condition, that the car is long paid off, and not going anywhere any time soon; I thought the 'sacrilege' of carving out a 'limited production' vehicle could be excused. My primary focus is getting it converted to a 6-speed manual and upgrade all of the steering and suspension components. Additionally, I'd like to get rid of the God awful tan interior and go with a charcoal or grey color instead. All of these plans create the potential to do a power train swap correctly and unrushed. I figure it would be a perfect time to get into the harness and run connections for, ideally, a 2.5L turbo capable motor. I have no illusions of this being a quick project; but this thing needs to live again. No, this will be a couple years in the making at least. But, the end result is what I would want out of my Suby; a quick, nimble, and effective driving machine. If any of you have some "don't do's", "do do's", suggestions, ritualistic hazing remarks for noob members; I'd love to hear 'em. I suspect the main suggestion would be to find a totaled '04-'11 STI and begin harvesting components from that. Thanks for your input! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twisty Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 sounds like a good plan to me. theres a guy (brokndarkagain) that posts here on occasion that has a LSi he raised up and takes out with a couple 4x4 clubs also, he just made his own 2" strut spacers and everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teranaut Posted September 18, 2014 Author Share Posted September 18, 2014 I had a question come up in my mind while surfing for interior parts. Are the mount points for the seats (front/rear) the same; or did it change from generation to generation? I imagine they'd be relatively close; but, may require a custom mounting bracket if changing the seats by five years or more. I was thinking about upgrading the seats to some from an '05 Legacy GT since they look a bit more comfortable than what's in mine right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenix_guyver Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 Hi! I'm doing a v3 STi swap into my Liberty, I'll be keeping tabs on yours. I also want a ez30 swap as well as fun project down the track. I know it might not help but first and second Gen impreza seats front and back bolt on I found out. Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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