Sara32013 Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 Just a warning this is going to very long. Alright everyone, I'm looking for a lot of information here. I've searched lightly and I'm sure most of what I'm looking for can be found elsewhere but it would help me a lot to have as much information as possible in one place. I apreciate all input. I'm looking at a few different cars right now to start with. A '99 Forester with a 2.2 swap, '99 Legacy GT 30th anniversary with the 2.5, and a 2000 Impreza 2.5RS. They're all very cheap at the moment. I believe I can get the Legacy for $300, the Forester is $500, and the Impreza is $750. Of course they're all also in varying conditions. The Legacy needs the most work but the body isn't among the worst I've seen and its a 5 speed that runs and drives. To be road worthy the Legacy needs head gaskets, struts, rack & pinion, and some body work. The Forester has been sitting a while and has unknown issues, but is an automatic. The condition of the Impreza is mostly unknown, I haven't even seen pictures and I'm not sure if it's automatic or standard. At this point i'm mostly interested in the Legacy, below I will go over the plan as organized as possible, starting with the short term. Below is the short term goal: So as stated above the car needs head gaskets, rack & pinion, and struts. I eventually hope to put an EJ257 block in it so as far as the head gaskets go I just plan to do a gasket slap to get me through for a bit. As for struts, I want something comfortable that handles well. I want better handling than stock but I never plan to autocross or anything like that, what do you guys recommend for around $300-$400? Now for the rack & pinion, can the 2015 sti rack go into a '99 Legacy? If not is there an easier one to install that is an upgrade? Also with a car this old I'm sure some of the bushings are starting to get crusty, so in time I hope to replace pretty much every single bushing on this car but i'm gonna start with front control arm bushings. I'm looking at picking up a set of used aluminum control arms and replacing the bushings with Whiteline units and good quality ball joints. What ball joints do you guys reccomend? Other than a coolant flush and other basic maintenance items thats pretty much it for the short term goal. I'll drive it like that for a couple thousand miles until more funds pile up. Now for the long term goal, i'll try to section everything off in the category it falls in, here we go: Block/Heads Like I said above I hope to put an EJ257 block in the car. I hope to install a Manley stroker kit into this block, I believe they also offer larger pistons so I hope to bore it slightly as well. This is uncharted territory for me, I have rebuilt a Subaru block and heads in the past but nothing like this and I never sent it off to the machine shop. One of my biggest questions here is, what is the process of sending my stuff to a machine shop? Can I take them my block and the new pistons, crank, rods, etc and they make sure everything is in spec? I plan to run the heads from whatever car I use on the EJ257 block, which looks like it will be EJ25D heads although, I may replace the valves, springs, seats, etc with better parts, what do you guys recommend as far as valves/springs? Will also entertain cam options and install head studs. Here is the kicker with this engine, I am not boosting it, at least not in the foreseeable future. I want to see what I can make this engine do in N/A form, please do not attack me for this. If I ever do decide to boost it, it will be a supercharger not a turbo. Keep this in mind when suggesting parts please. Does anyone have any idea what kind of compression I can expect. The Manley kit states 8.5:1. I assume that would be with the EJ257 heads, but i'll be running the EJ25D heads. Will this raise compression? Which head gasket should I use? Also would it help to have my heads ported and polished? Transmission/Diff As I said the Legacy is a 5 speed which is why I really want to start with it. That being said, my 5 speed Forester I had a while back was a bear to drive on the interstate. At 70 mph I was doing almost 3,000 rpms. I do want to stick with a standard but I want to swap to a 6 speed. How hard would this be if I start with a 5 speed. I know I have to have the matching rear diff, but I want to stick with 5x100 lug pattern, isn't there a certain year WRX or sti I can pull CVs from to keep the 5x100 bolt pattern? So I believe at bare minimum I would need the 6 speed transmission, rear diff, clutch, and the CVs to make this happen. Do I need to swap the entire rear subframe? Do I need the crossmember? Is the transmission mount different? What driveshaft do I use? What would be the most ideal car to pull the tranny from? Do these cars have a TCM/TCU that would need changing? Any info on this would be amazing. Suspension As stated above I plan to install aluminum control arms with new bushings and good quality struts to start with. I'm mostly looking for comfort and driveability so what do you recommend in the way of struts, can I get decent complete struts for $400 or less? I've seen some complete JDM Bilsteins for around this price on eBay, but want to hear your thoughts. As for most of the bushings i'll be going with Whiteline, not looking at the top of the line stuff just good quality replacements. Also plan to upgrade front and rear sway bars, what would be the best direct replacement? Not looking at super expensive sway bars just bigger ones off of another Subie. Like I said just looking for comfort, its not going to be a track car or anything of the sort, give me your suggestions please. Brake/Wheel/Hub As far as brakes go I was thinking about running '05+ LGT brakes on front and back with some good quality pads and maybe some Brakemotive brand drilled/slotted rotors. Brakemotive is a cheap brand you buy on eBay but I have used them on other Subarus in the past and they hold up very well. Now this brings me to the knuckles, I don't believe you can mount the LGT brakes on the old style knuckles, or maybe I'm wrong. Either way I plan to use the '05 and up style knuckles/spindles on all 4 corners. I want to do this solely because of the ease of changing the hubs on the newer style. I have, in the past installed an '07 front knuckle on a 2000 Legacy, it fits but the axle for the 2000 is a hair too long and the nut doesn't seat properly. I'm sure I can find a work around for this and infact the axles I would use for the 6 speed tranny may remedy this problem entirely. It will take a little trial and error but i'm sure I could make it work. As for wheels I was thinking maybe 2017 17" Crosstrek wheels with some nice quality tires. Interior As for interior my plans are pretty modest, I want to replace all the factory speakers with good quality after market units and install a Pioneer touchscreen. Also would like to consider a momo steering wheel. May look into better seats as well. Are there any seats out there that will swap directly over in the front and back, while keeping the heated seats? The driver seat is powered I believe but I'm not so worried about keeping that function. All interior lights will be switched to good quality LED lights. Exhaust Not entirely certain what to do with the exhaust, I think I'm just going run a cheap EL header. As for the rest of the exhaust i'm looking for suggestions, I want to keep the o2 sensors in play. I would like to have the dual muffler setup from a newer Subaru but I don't believe the underside of the car is shaped in such away to accept it. Miscellaneous So we've made it this far and there are a few things I didn't mention in the engine section because I think they deserve their own spotlight. What do you guys recommend when it comes to moving fuel more efficiently. What sort of injectors and fuel pump should I run? I see Cobb makes a flex fuel sensor for these cars, I was considering something like that as well. I'm not trying to run on E85 but where I live I can get flex fuel rated up to 84% ethanol for about $1.70 a gallon and going down. Are there any oem intake manifolds that bolt directly to the EJ25D heads other than the one on the car now? I'm looking for one that flows better, would I be better off having this one ported and polished? How about the radiator? I want to go with an all aluminum radiator but was wondering, is there anything wrong with the eBay rads? I know Mishimoto makes good rads, but at the end of the day they both have the same job, do they both do the job in a similar manor? Obviously every gasket will be replaced, would I be ok just running Subaru oem gaskets with the upgraded head gaskets, or is there a better master gasket kit out there? As for fluids I think I want to run the newer blue antifreeze. I'm use to running Valvoline oil but I hear there are better oils to run and I am open to interpretation. Tuning Ok so this is another gray area for me. Can the oem ecu be used for tuning, are there any ecu's that plug in directly and can be tuned? Does anyone know about what it costs to have a car tuned? Alright everyone, just a few closing statements. I'm sure there are plenty of things on here you may deem unnecessary but remember this is going to be my car, i'm building it for me. Please do offer feedback and recommendations on anything here. Thanks everyone for reading. Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leggyobw97 Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 I gotta be honest, that's a ton to read for a hypothetical. My advice is not to sink $8,000+ of performance mods into a $300 clunker. Start with a car in decent shape. I'm sure you'd hate to spend all that time and money just to find out that your car has cancer (aka rust) 5 years from now and it starts falling apart under your nose. I did the same thing: got my Legacy for like $900 and put like $1200 into it and had a great car that lasted me for the past 5 years. But now the rust is spreading and I'm literally about to fly 2000 miles to buy a 1999 Legacy Outback with 0 rust that has an engine that was professionally rebuilt 40k miles ago, for $2300. Which is way cheaper than repairing the rust on mine and rebuilding the engine. So take that into consideration. Also, you're asking a lot of complicated questions at once, for a project you're not even sure is going to happen... I'm going to suggest doing a little more background research first. Good luck though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 Personally, I'd go for the RS (especially if it's a real one) they are fairly sought after and in my mind, would make a good temp car and a good investment as long as you don't sink too much money into it. The GT legacy is a good choice but they were a lot more common so it won't really be anything other then a $2500 car in good shape. If you plan to do what you are talking about, you will very easily have $10k in any of those cars. I've done probably 2/3s of that list to my legacy and I stopped keeping track of the money in it once it got to 5 figures. Not to deter you from doing a build, but the cheapest and easiest thing to do is to buy a wrecked wrx or sti and swap literally everything into the old chassis. Building a car by buying a few parts here and there will add up very fast, so to have a complete car to pull parts from is the best route to save money and get you most of the stuff on your list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara32013 Posted February 6, 2019 Author Share Posted February 6, 2019 As far as rust goes, the Legacy already has some rust, I'm not too worried about that. As long as the underside and strut towers are ok it doesn't bother me. Down the line I may buy complete new quarter panels from Subaru and have them welded on. I have a family member who welds and probably wouldn't charge me anything. I love the Legacy body style and this is probably the absolute best model you could get in '99. It seems to be a good starting point. I know it would be easier to start with a cleaner car but I would rather save this car from the scrap yard. I received some pictures of the "2.5 RS". Turns out its just a very beat up L model. The seller had it listed wrong. I'm very aware of the cost of this build and I'm expecting to have $10k in just the engine/transmission/diff. I could see having $25k or so invested by the time this is done. I will not buy a wrecked sti or anything like that. I refuse to build another cookie cutter turbo car. I don't care what the car is worth when I'm done, I'm building it for me. Thanks for input and please send some suggestions my way. Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 You can't get 2nd gen rear quarters anymore. I have the body shop quote manual for late 90s imports which has ALL of the part numbers for ALL 95-99 usdm cars and when you try to order quarters, you will find that that have been discontinued and there aren't replacement part numbers. (ask me how I know haha) As long as you know what you are getting into financially then by all means build something awesome! Best to learn how to do fab work or befriend someone who knows it because you'll need it for more expensive mods. Our body style is not well supported so you'll have to do some planning and fabricating to do what you are thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leggyobw97 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 As far as rust goes, the Legacy already has some rust, I'm not too worried about that. As long as the underside and strut towers are ok it doesn't bother me. Down the line I may buy complete new quarter panels from Subaru and have them welded on. I have a family member who welds and probably wouldn't charge me anything. I love the Legacy body style and this is probably the absolute best model you could get in '99. It seems to be a good starting point. I know it would be easier to start with a cleaner car but I would rather save this car from the scrap yard. Rust is car cancer, it's going to keep spreading unless you totally replace the compromised area. You're not going to want to go too fast in a car that's all rusty, it's not going to be sturdy enough to withstand that air pressure. In some states, you can't even register a car that has any exposed body rust (mine happens to be one of them). If you really want to sink that much money into a project like that, look for something that's lived its whole life in a warm-ish climate where roads don't get salted every winter, something that hasn't gotten beaten on and "tuned" by some kid who thinks he's a rallycross driver, like something that was owned by some middle aged lady who didn't know that some people think her old Subaru is a "cool car" nowadays, and build on that. You can't get 2nd gen rear quarters anymore. I have the body shop quote manual for late 90s imports which has ALL of the part numbers for ALL 95-99 usdm cars and when you try to order quarters, you will find that that have been discontinued and there aren't replacement part numbers. (ask me how I know haha) I talked to a guy who owns a body shop yesterday and he said he might be able to find the rear quarter panel for like $500. He was just guessing though. If you've done the research then it sounds like that option is totally off the table. I also have a friend who does body work, and he says he can weld in a new piece of metal and have it come out looking pristine. Then it's just the cost of repainting. My rust is only in one rear fender and it's not thaaat bad, so I might hold off on flying out to buy that other car. It's nice though... but this car is my baby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 If you want to try and find quarters, the parts numbers are found below Wagon With Sunroof 95 L 51410AC550 95R 51410AC530 96 L 51410AC551 96 R 51410AC530 97-99 L 51410AC552 97-99 R 51410AC531 Without Sunroof 95 L 51410AC540 95R 51410AC530 96 L 51410AC542 96 R 51410AC530 97-99 L 51410AC542 97-99 R 51410AC531 Sedan With Sunroof 95-96 L 51410AC370 95-96 R 51410AC350 97-99 L 51410AC370 97-99 R 51410AC351 Without Sunroof 97-99 L 51410AC360 97-99 R 51410AC350 The rust on my car has gotten to the point that I'm either going to cut up a set of front fenders to Frankenstein replacement quarter panels or buy universal/commission custom metal fender flares and then weld it all in before the car gets repainted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leggyobw97 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 97-99 L 51410AC542 97-99 R 51410AC531 Price: "$329.97" Me: "sick" Estimated shipping: "$249.94" Me: "f***" At that point I'd rather go to a junkyard with a sawzall and cut out a giant piece from a wagon with no rust back there. My friend said he'd just use a piece of sheet metal. Tbh if I got the new panel we'd end up throwing 90% of it out. Fender flares are a good idea too. Definitely post progress pics if you do something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara32013 Posted February 7, 2019 Author Share Posted February 7, 2019 Hey guys thanks for the info, I will express my opinions on that soon but I have a major question. I'm looking to use a 2004 sti steering rack. From what I've read it bolts in just fine, but the splines do not line up. It seems most people cut the old one and weld the new one on. I've heard, but am not sure, that you can just buy the sti steering coupler, is there any truth to this? Also, is it possible to remove the shaft/worm gear from the top of the sti rack and replace it with the Legacy one? I'll post a picture of what I'm talking about below. Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara32013 Posted February 7, 2019 Author Share Posted February 7, 2019 Ok just wanted to update with my opinions. As for this being a "hypothetical" build, right now my ducks are in a row, as long as they stay in a row everything will be going as planned. I'm not sure how much power this thing will make, like I said there are no plans to boost the car in the foreseeable future. It will be stroked, and hopefully slightly bored with some other upgraded parts (injectors, fuel pump, valves, springs, etc.) I'm not sure how much power it will make but honestly its not going to be a race car ever so I'm not too concerned about rust as long it's not on the strut towers or something like that. However, if the rust does get too terrible on this car, I could always find another car and swap everything over. I'm going to look at the Legacy tomorrow and i'll update after that. Please let me know about the rack & pinion, i'm trying to get some prices put together and that obviously matters. Thanks everyone! Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 I've heard the racks will work but as you said, you need to cut and weld on the other splined section to make it work. I am not sure about just changing the worm gear in the rack but let me know if you find anything! I've been wanting to do a quick ratio rack for a long time now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara32013 Posted February 9, 2019 Author Share Posted February 9, 2019 Hey guys just wanted to update. I went to look at the Legacy today and well the body isn't bad. One quarter panel has a hole in and the bottom.of the driver door is rusty. The strut towers, rockers, trunk pan, etc is all clean. However, the engine is a 2.2, of course it was originally a 2.5 but someone has swapped it over, the owner has no idea when it was done, he didn't even know what engine it had. Anyhow, my grandmother has a wrecked Impreza with a great running 2.2. I believe its about a '95 model, do you think this would swap into this '99? I know '99 was a funny year but the engine in this car has the single chamber exhaust manifold, which would make me believe that it is an older 2.2 Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyposeur Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Subisavers makes partial quarter panel replacements: https://www.subiesavers.com/legacy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Subisavers makes partial quarter panel replacements: https://www.subiesavers.com/legacy Holy hell this website needs to be shared everywhere! This will save me literally days of fab work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leggyobw97 Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Subisavers makes partial quarter panel replacements: https://www.subiesavers.com/legacy It looks like they only go like 4" up from the wheel well though? It seems like most of the rust extends further up than that. Mine goes up at least like 6" and it's not even bad enough that it's broken through the paint. The junkyard I go to said they wouldn't care if I took a sawzall to one of the rear fenders of their cars to cut out however big of a piece I'd need. Probably end up being way cheaper than the $85 plus shipping. Now the trick is waiting to find one at the junkyard with no rust back there... *daydreaming* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublechaz Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 But their parts look to cover the parts that would be hard to fab. The basically flat parts they don't cover. I'll keep it in mind, but I live in AZ and hope to never need them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara32013 Posted February 16, 2019 Author Share Posted February 16, 2019 Holy hell this website needs to be shared everywhere! This will save me literally days of fab work.Holy heck thanks for this, I'm picking the car up Tuesday. Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara32013 Posted February 16, 2019 Author Share Posted February 16, 2019 Subisavers makes partial quarter panel replacements: https://www.subiesavers.com/legacyApologies I meant to quote this. Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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