151 replies to this topic

[Subafreak]

Well the really heavy angle iron peice is what the t-case mounts are attached to. I reinforced all the unibody around where it is welded to and now all the new floor material is welded to it and both sides of the double layer around the tranny tunnel, focusing around strong points like the seat belt and seat anchores. I'm not sure of the exact thickness of all the metal I used, but it is all very solid now.

This weekend I treated all the t-case brakets and new floor board with POR-15.



Here you can get a look at the t-case brakets.




I seam sealed all the joints for extra measure and then recovered everything in sound deadening material.


Carpet going back in and a look at the e-brake in place along with where the sammi t-case shifter boot goes.


With it all pretty much back together. The t-case shifter works perfect right there. I can shift it through all ranges without interfering with the e-brake.


With the drivers seat at the high position it sits level with the raised passenger seat, so it doesn't appear out of place or weird.


So all and all it feels good to have the interior back together and no more giant hole in the floor. Getting one step closer every week.

[czny]

Very nice work there Subafreak!

Looks like all the sheet metal was overlapped for strength of welds.

Where did you get your sound deadening mat'l?

2nd Q: Are you going to add a skid plate to the t-case & pkg brk rotor?

[Subafreak]

Thank you.

Yes the sheet metal is doubled up and folded around most of the edges, spot welded and double seam welded in areas and seam sealed with a heavy duty seam sealer / panel bond material. I want it to last for a long time!

The sound deadening material I just kinda came apon at the rite moment. I had not intended to use any but just last week one of my co-workers was given 3 large rolls of it from a friend of his. He gave me one of the rolls and I realized I had the perfect use for it.

As for the t-case, I do plan on adding a wrap around skid plate to it, kinda like this one.





It makes the t-case stronger and ties all the mounts together.
I might eve just get that one and modify it to better fit my needs. I may also add another skid plate to the body of the car for further protection depending on how I feel about the security of that set up.

[Subafreak]

Another busy weekend. Finally finished up the front cross-member, boxed in all the control arm mounts and added support to the motor and steering rack mounts.




I covered it all in silver POR-15 so hopefully it stays nice and rust free for several years.
While I was waiting for it to dry I resealed my power steering rack. The seals had started leaking years ago. I also swapped on the SVX inner and outer tie rods, they screw right onto a Legacy rack if anyone is wondering. It's kinda hard to tell from the picture but the SVX rods are considerably beefier than the Legacy ones.


Everything all cleaned up and reinstalled.


I also welded on all the mounts for the skid plates. It's gonna be made out of 1/4 inch aluminum plate and will be structural to tieing the whole front end together from underneath. Kinda like the horse shoe hoops on the newer cars.
The angled brakets at the front with the bolts in them is where the skid plate from the front bumper down with bolt. All the bolts along the bottom, the ones at the inner edges of the control arm mounts and the ones under the front diff are where the lower skid plate will bolt to.

[bajavwbus]

How much do you think you would have to charge for another setup like that? There might be dinner in it for your fabricator/welder but not you, sorry dude but you're not even pretty.:-p
Besides I would like to deal with a person from my home state.

BTW it would be for a 90 wagon.

Edited by bajavwbus, 13 November 2012 - 10:36 AM.

[Subafreak]

How much do you think you would have to charge for another setup like that? There might be dinner in it for your fabricator/welder but not you, sorry dude but you're not even pretty.:-p
Besides I would like to deal with a person from my home state.

BTW it would be for a 90 wagon.

Lol. Well my welder, fabricater has officially moved on so I'm haveing to do all the work myself now so I'm afraid you missed out on that oppertunity.

And......I would not subject myself to doing this again. If I had to put a motivational price on even thinking about takeing on this prodject again it would be upwards of the $10g range! I can't wait to get it done, part because I want to drive it! The other part because I want some free time back!

Also I don't live in SC?

[bajavwbus]

No you don't but I used to live in CT. I was referring to a kit or design pkg you would sell, not actually the whole build. I do have to save some fun for myself after all.

[Subafreak]

Oh. Ok. What part of ct?

[bajavwbus]

Grew up in Plymouth, moved to Bristol. Then to Las Vegas for 5 yrs.( don't ask ) then finally to SC.

Edited by bajavwbus, 15 November 2012 - 10:45 AM.

[Subafreak]

Thats a lot of far moving around!

[Scott in Bellingham]

whats the plan for the rear axle?

[Subafreak]

Just gonna stick with the STi stuff for now. It works.

[Subafreak]

So....about 3 years ago when I originally stop driving this car it was because the tranny started makeing a noise like something was whacking the inside of the case. The tranny still shifted fine and drove ok, but the noise was getting louder and louder and I decided I should stop driving it before I broke something that could not be fixed.

Well it would appear I was to late.


I don't know how this thing still shifted fine back then. Unless all the compleat destruction of second gear happened from just moving it in and out of the shop all this time. Regardless this tranny is junk.

So this weekend I swapped in an 02wrx tranny with the turbo legacy transfer housing and the welded center diff on the back. While I was doing that I had treated and POR 15ed the rest of the front end components.

I added another support to the control arm drop brakets that bolt to the front subframe just to ensure no unwanted movement.



Also added the finishing parts to the tranny mount.


With that don't the front end lift is compleated and bolted in for good.

[Subafreak]

Well being so close to mechanically done I guess it's about time I tackle some of this body work.

I had patched up this spot at the bottom of the fender years ago, it held up very well, never rusted thru. But I figured I'd clean it up again and use the por15 on it along with the bottom seam of the rocker panels.


Gonna treat as much of the inside of this as I can before I weld in some new metal. I hate doing rot repair.


Another shot of the big hole in the trunk to fill in. A few weeks ago I had take the rear springs out to see how much room I had to make to allow full compression. It turns out the tires clear pretty well. I wish I hadn't gotten so over zealous with the sawsall in the beginning. Lol.


This shot just looked cool. I had thrown it up on the alinement rack to do a quick check of how well I would be able to get it into alinement. It was all in check.


Here you can see why I'm gonna have to move the battery to the trunk and rearrange things in the engine compartment. The areas where the battery and airbox sit are going to be cut out and boxed in the opposite way to clear the tires under compression.


More progress to come.

[Subafreak]

One hole almost done. I hate body work.


Just gotta finish up welding it together.


Did I mention I had body work?

[monstaru]

Bunch of boogers there :)but it's just body work:-p
Turn down your speed if you are going continuous on that plate.An inch or so at a time is fine as long as everything Is already tacked together. Take your helmet off if you are spotting, that way you can see what you are doing, and do more fitting/banging .Obviously closing your eyes when you weld(hint :keep them closed longer than you think you need to until you get your timing down.Getting flash burns sucks as you probably already know ,sucks bad....
Sorry for the blab, it looks good.
Nice shape .Looks like its coming together!!!Awesome.

I really want to solid axle Stella next.Every bump up in power or tire size equates to more breakage.It just feels like polishing turds is getting old.

Cheers

[Subafreak]

Lol. Yeah I'm still fine tuning my thin metal welding skills. It don't help that the end of the welder is getting pretty loose and worn out. Very aggravating, but it's free so I shouldn't ***************.

[smackvt]

I usta be a big fan of bondo and chicken wire .. Now I use sheet and Black window urethane""! it's the best f@cken thing in the world .... Next to not having Any rust holes it looks like your killing it keep up the good work .. Maybe next summer ill have the plow car with t case in it we can get them together for some good east coast wheeling / photo shoot

[Subafreak]

Lol. Yeah I'm definitely avoiding the Bondo route.

It would be awesome to have enough subys around here to go wheeling together. Like those bastids on the west coast! *shakes fist in the air!*

[torxxx]

Cars look good! Makes me really wanna go take a plasma cutter to my 98 OB, and change the lift design around.

[Subafreak]

Time to go bigger? Lol.

[Subafreak]

Ugh. One side done.














One to go. :/

[Subafreak]

Close enough to finished to toss an exaust on this thing, that and I work on it pretty late at night most times and if I need to move it out side it's very loud.

Got the down pipe made tonight. It was a tight fit but not as tight as the photo makes it look.


There is a braket that bolts to the bottom of the tranny there to make sure it doesn't move around and hit anything, and I added a 4 bolt flange just past the O2 sensor so I don't have to mess with the turbo flange and it's constantly seizing bolts should I have to remove the down pipe to service anything.


I wanted to use 2 1/2" pipe but it just wasn't practical or economical for me to do so just went with 2 1/4". The stock turbo flange is only 2 1/4" anyway.

I will be useing some of the old peices from the exaust that was on this car before. Like the cat, magnaflow resonator and muffler, since there is nothing wrong with them other than a little discoloration and I got to spend money on other things I don't have for this car yet.

I also got my power steering lines hooked up tonight. Had to take them out and straiten them as much as possible so I could add my own bends where I needed them.

[Scott in Bellingham]

looks like some good quality work there , thanks for sharin

[Subafreak]

Thanks!

Well I got the center pipe made up today. I'm waiting on 2 more flanges to come in so I can do the muffler pipe.


I got it tucked up as high as the t-case, so if I add a belly pan to this thing at some point it will protect the exaust also with no loss of ground clearance.