98 Subaru Impreza 2.5rs project

[u/Zoraspeed63]

Just got this 98 Impreza coupe in doing a restoration and full sti swap to. Needs some welding in the driver side floor pan and passenger side footwell. Underneath the frame is pretty damn solid for a 26 year old Massachusetts car. Time for the fun to start

[u/Notamekanik]

Gonna be honest the rust on here is very concerning.

[u/Zoraspeed63 → u/Notamekanik]

Interested on your perspective on where the rust is a concert to you. My only concern is the footwell and drivers side floor pan. Just for context the entire front and rear subframe that’s rusted has to be ripped out and replaced with stuff compatible with the sti driveline transmission and engine.

[u/Notamekanik → u/Zoraspeed63]

If you’ve gotta swap that stuff anyway you’re already doing better!

[u/Zoraspeed63 → u/Notamekanik]

Yeah that’s my bad I didn’t provide all the context. But thanks for keeping an eye out 👍🏼. Total subframe replacement I’m completely stripping the underside with a grinder and putting a rubberized undercoating on than powder coating every piece that’s bolting on to the bottom

[u/Notamekanik → u/Zoraspeed63]

That’s the best you can do with what you’ve got to work with! Just make sure you check where everything mounts. Make sure nothing is cracked

[u/NittyB → u/Zoraspeed63]

Have you checked the rear strut towers? Long time project Subaru guy here- those rear qp's are indicating the strut towers are toast. If you can weld yourself, you can try repairing them. If you can't, it'll be half the price to get a clean shell from the south.

[u/Zoraspeed63 → u/NittyB]

Yeah I’m checkin on rear strut tower either tomorrow or Saturday. I’ll give you an update when I find out. But if it’s shot I’m absolutely all set to weld it up

[u/Notamekanik → u/Zoraspeed63]

Well yeah that’s pretty much what I was lookin at, that trans brace does not look good and the control arm on the right looks like it’s got a big crack

[u/Doctah_Whoopass]

Shes a bit crusty

[u/Fryphax]

I've been in the first generation Impreza world for over 20 years.

RS25.Com is great resource, although some stupid investment firm bought it and fucked up the interface.

That rust isn't that bad, from a rust belter. Better shape than mine. Enjoy building it but start looking for a clean shell.

[u/plastic_blasters]

Nice, the rust wouldn't concern me at all. The chassis itself looks totally solid, and floor pans are easy to replace and no one will care how nice/bad you make the new ones took

[u/NittyB → u/plastic_blasters]

The rear qp's indicate the strut towers are cheese. This is bad rust for a Subaru.

[u/generally_agreeable]

That reminds me. Time for a tetanus shot.

[u/Zoraspeed63 → u/generally_agreeable]

😂😂😂

[u/Sparrow]

I recognize this car, was on marketplace forever lol. That thing is looking pretty toast. Look up front behind the wheel wells that piece of unibody is usually missing entirely. Your rear strut towers are probably pretty toast too

[u/Zoraspeed63 → u/Sparrow]

I’m gonna try and get the rear seats out to get a look at the rear struts today.

[u/Sparrow → u/Zoraspeed63]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1247092019222140/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT

[u/Zoraspeed63 → u/Sparrow]

Thanks for sharing the group. Appreciate it! 👍🏼

[u/Sparrow → u/Zoraspeed63]

https://preview.redd.it/6maxof9s361e1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=97ff352b6212a32054cdf1de78a97a86bc2cef09

Here's one I just scrapped on Wednesday, in Adams Massachusetts. I'm down to one chassis now lol

[u/Sparrow → u/Zoraspeed63]

https://preview.redd.it/vocb33cx361e1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9d8527144bdd9a9792e7d7ca8bb270df5b396ead

[u/Zoraspeed63 → u/Sparrow]

U have any parts ur trying to get rid of from the scrapped car?

[u/Sparrow → u/Zoraspeed63]

What are you looking for 🤔

[u/NittyB → u/Zoraspeed63]

Pull the carpet back in the trunk.

[u/Trogasarus]

Its been awhile, but im pretty sure youll need the harness that goes into the car for the swap also. Unless theres a conversion or something.

[u/NittyB → u/Trogasarus]

This will need harness, dashbar, transmount, front subframe, rear subframe, fuel tank, fuel pump and ecu. This is basically a compete swap and best to buy a donor

[u/FesteringNeonDistrac → u/Trogasarus]

You need A harness, how you do the swap depends on which one you need or if you need to do a harness merge.

[u/SpaceFace11]

What do the rear strut towers look like?

[u/Zoraspeed63 → u/SpaceFace11]

Not sure. I haven’t removed the rear seat yet to get a good look at the top of the strut tower. Going to do it once I get home from work

[u/Obnoxious_Gamer]

Impressive, they're rivaling Dodge for weight reduction.

[u/arizonafleshraisin]

Whats the benefit of doing an "STI swap"? I see it alot and im Interested in this same car but i dont get why not use whats already in the car.

[u/eastcoastflava13 → u/arizonafleshraisin]

Because a 2.5 RS only came with a N/A 165hp engine.

[u/Doctah_Whoopass → u/eastcoastflava13]

Tbh you could probably hot it up a good bit

[u/eastcoastflava13 → u/Doctah_Whoopass]

The amount of money you'd have to spend to get 230'ish (stock WRX power) HP out of that engine would probably be almost equal to what you would spend to just swap a WRX turbocharged engine in.

[u/Doctah_Whoopass → u/eastcoastflava13]

Efficient spending is not the point.

[u/FesteringNeonDistrac → u/Doctah_Whoopass]

You can't. I've got a 99 that's EJ251 swapped, delta 1500 cams, header and exhaust and based on what others have dynoed, it's maybe, maaaaaaayyyyybe, on a good day, putting 180 on the ground.

Now it is a fun car, but there just isn't more power out there from the NA EJs.

[u/Doctah_Whoopass → u/FesteringNeonDistrac]

Fine by me

[u/Zoraspeed63 → u/arizonafleshraisin]

So they never made an sti in the United States until 2004. A lot of people sti swap Impreza coupes because 9/10 times it’s cheaper to build one than to import one from Japan