A faster grocery getter - 04 WRX Wagon

[12vsex]

Super super impressed . Im not a super huge subaru fan , but this gets me all giddy . Love it

[Recoil889]

I'm really impressed with this build.
I'm a massive impreza fan, and this is just brilliant.

I think my favorite part though (and I dont mean any offence by this) is that duct through the headlight. Serious man points for doing that yourself

Thanks man! Getting that headlight lens cut was pucker inducing. I still need to make some fine adjustments to it, but I'm not in any particular hurry on that part of the project.

YES. Bcl wing on a wagon? That is going to be killer!

Holy shit. DO EET.

I'm glad the BCL wing has been so well received. I'm meeting up with a buddy of mine this weekend to come up with some mounting ideas.

In the mean time, my front lip and new bumper showed up. Still waiting on the Chargespeed fenders.

[SnazzyQ]

Until next time..

Holy shit. DO EET.

[KyleBour]

YES. Bcl wing on a wagon? That is going to be killer!

[Peeunit]

I'm really impressed with this build.
I'm a massive impreza fan, and this is just brilliant.

I think my favorite part though (and I dont mean any offence by this) is that duct through the headlight. Serious man points for doing that yourself

[Recoil889]

Alright, I've got a little bit of an update:

I sanded, cleaned and sealed up the new metal in the engine bay in a 2k epoxy.


I started working on sanding down the rear driver's side door to get it prepped to panel bond the widebody.


My 6 speed showed up from Japan. I placed an order for a longer 5th and 6th gear out of a Legacy Spec B and carbon synchros for 4th, 5th and 6th gear on Ralispec. With the steel shift forks that come stock in the Ver. 7 6 speed, the taller gears and the carbon synchros, I should have a pretty bulletproof transmission set up that will allow me to push power through 4th and 5th gear really well.
I need to get in touch with the drive shaft shop and order a set of high horsepower rear axles. That should just about finish up the drivetrain on the car minus bushings and fluids.

I picked up an EJ257 short block real cheap from a buddy of mine that I'll use to send into Benson to get machined, sleeved and o ringed.



In the mean time, I ordered 20mm wider front fenders from Chargespeed. I chose these because they add more on the front end, but still work with the stock STI bumper. In order the change the look of the front end a little bit, I also ordered a Chargespeed lip that deletes the factory 'splitters' but retains the foglight bezels (so I can run the JDM multi-color foglights).



Sometime in the next couple of weeks I'll try and get up to the dealership and get a new STI bumper so that I can start piecing the exterior together.

[Recoil889]

I was just thinking about a hatch mounted wing the other day can't wait to see what it looks like.

Yeah, I've got some ideas to mount it based on some things I've seen on sedans. I went over to talk to Gabe at Rampage Fabrication today to come up with a game plan.

That wing looks pretty rad man, very badass project you've got going on!

Thanks, man! I'm starting to really like the direction the car is going.

[smiles]

Until next time..

That wing looks pretty rad man, very badass project you've got going on!

[Camip]

I was just thinking about a hatch mounted wing the other day can't wait to see what it looks like.

[Recoil889]

I'm happy to report that the car made it home safe and sound. All the fabrication work turned out great. I'm happy to be able to spend some time on the car myself doing the body work. It's going to be nice to get my hands dirty again.





I was able to get some plastic hung in the garage, too. Hopefully this will keep some of the dust at bay from all of the sanding that's in my future.




I haven't done much to the car since getting it back. There is still quite a bit of tear down left to do (removing the rest of the harness out of the car, the glass, etc). I did decide to drill out the radiator support. The WRC Subarus have the radiator support in a bolt on configuration rather than spot welded, so I'll go with that route.



In other (way) more exciting news, I fully dry fit the widebody and rear bumper today. My friend was also kind enough to let me borrow his BCL wing and dry fit it on the car. I have been flirting with the idea of hatch mounting one for a while now. I'm in love and planning to contact big country labs tomorrow to talk pricing.







Until next time..

[Recoil889]

I received a call from the fab shop today. The car is finished. I'll be headed up tomorrow morning to take a peak at everything and make sure it's ready to leave.

Today I'll be cleaning and prepping the garage for the car to return. I got some plastic drop cloth at Home Depot, so I'll be turning half the garage into a 'booth' where I can sand and work with the body filler without making too much of a mess.

For the time being, here's a preview of the new strut tower bar. More photos after I get it into my garage and settled.

[Recoil889]

I was able to get up to Godspeed Fabrication on Friday and check out the progress of my car.

Firewall:


Rear tubs:








We made a decision on the passenger side rear tub to not cut into the "pocket" that holds and reinforces the fuel filler neck. I wasn't committed to having a custom fuel tank fabbed and fit into the car, so that was our next reasonable option. I'll have to do some work with body filler to take care of the gap and smooth everything out.

For fun, those are 20" wheels with a 315/35/r20 tire. I'm hoping that means I'll be able to comfortably fit 18x12s (19x12s?) all around.



It's looking like the car will be back in my garage at home on Wednesday. I ordered a JDM Version 7 STI 6 speed transmission, r180 rear diff, axels, hubs and drive shaft yesterday, too. That's pretty much it for my budget for this calendar year. Next up is lots of body work to get this thing ready for paint. It's going to be a long winter.

[Recoil889]

That's pretty flippin' sweet.

Thanks!

Fellow Silver Wagon owner here! This thing is gonna be amazing when it's all done. Props to you for doing all this work to it.

Thanks. Yeah, I'm happy to see it progressing in an identifiable way finally!


I just want to say thanks to everyone that's following and checking out my project. It's encouraging to know that I'm not totally out of my mind over here.

I made a trip up to the fab shop on Friday to check out the progress of the car. As of now, the front end looks just about done. There are a couple small things that need to happen, but it's pretty close.

Lots of diversity up at the shop when I went to check everything out.









Next up on deck is the rear tubs and cutting into the body to prep for the widebody to be attached.



I'm working with a buddy of mine who has experience as a bodyshop/paint guy. After the car gets back, I'll be getting the garage turned into a clean area where I can sand it down and prep for the wide body to be attached. Things are looking up!

[PD63]

Fellow Silver Wagon owner here! This thing is gonna be amazing when it's all done. Props to you for doing all this work to it.

[fortbrick]

That's pretty flippin' sweet.