new girl!

[scoobygirl]

Hello all! I am Erin(or known as scoobygirl on many other forums) I drive a FWD 95 Impreza L swapped! This car is my baby, it has gone through many many transformations! A few motors, been painted a few colors. My last swap was an na 2.5L out of an outback and that was pretty fun, but my latest swap is an ej22t out of a 91 legacy ss. Its not finished but will be hopefully if i find the right part! I have done just about all of the work on the car myself minus a few things like paint. There are still quite a few things I want done to it before its the way I want it! But any who, here she is(also her many faces)!

Also, I am keeping it FWD for the time being. Its been pretty fun to drag and rally on occasion and i'm excited to see how it does with this turbo motor!

 

The day I brought her home! Bone stock!

Carbon fiber hood that I miss!!

Yucky flat black paint job.

 

and now sexy white!

[92_rugby_subie]

Welcome aboard!

 

Youll find lots of great, useful information, as well as ideas for your Impreza.

 

Lots of great people as well:banana:

 

It shows you as 18, did you purchase her at 18? Mileage, price, etc?

Why get rid of the CF hood?

Future plans?

What part are you looking for lol.

[scoobygirl]

Welcome aboard!

 

Youll find lots of great, useful information, as well as ideas for your Impreza.

 

Lots of great people as well:banana:

 

It shows you as 18, did you purchase her at 18? Mileage, price, etc?

Why get rid of the CF hood?

Future plans?

What part are you looking for lol.

 

I got her when I turned 17. I will be 19 next month! She had about 145k on the stock motor and I got her for about 1800. The motor had a blown head gasket and bad clutch and struts so I replaced all of that! I actually had no idea the head gaskets were blown til I got home, I was so excited to buy my first subaru that I overlooked it when I was checking it out! I spent a little too much for it I think but overall I don't regret it!

And I got rid of the CF hood for a VERY VERY stupid reason. My phone broke and I was in desperate need of a new one so I traded a guy my hood for a phone and his hood. That phone broke about 8 months after the trade so I regret that hugely!! I will definitely be getting another one in the future!

 

The part i'm looking for is a 91-94 Legacy ss ECU and the connector plugs that plug into it. My ej22t swap is at a dead stop because I do not have that :/ I bought what I THOUGHT was an ecu and ended up finding out it was a tcu(my bad because I know NOTHING about electrical crap! hah). So thats what i'm looking for.

 

Also my plans for the future is to most likely keep it fwd and make it a mean drag car! I want to put a bigger turbo on it this winter, bigger tmic, sti injectors, full 3" tbe exhaust, suspension, and all that good stuff! I might be buying a Legacy gt for a daily and use my Impreza as my track car.

(And she is a manual too!)

Edited September 29, 2010 by scoobygirl

[scoobygirl]

Also a few other little upgrades i've done are 02 wrx front and rear seats, 01 rs 6 spoke wheels painted gold, lowered, gone from 2.5rs to replica 22b wing now to wingless, rs hood and front bumper!

And she will be going in again for some new paint because I was involved in an intentional "hit and run" accident by an ex boyfriends ex girlfriend who decided to go nuts and hit my car on purpose with her car multiple times. CRAZY STORY! So she will be freshly painted here soon when I get my nice check for 2600 bucks!

AH I keep forgetting to add this too, I got some wide body front fenders that I installed this week! Pics of that coming soon as well!

[GeneralDisorder]

The stock 22T ECU is garbage if you are going to be modding the engine like that. Just go with a stand alone setup.

 

And if the engine is truely a 91, then you will need a '91 ECU. They changed some stuff in '92 and up 22T's.

 

How are you managing all the electrical if you don't know "crap" about it? A 22T swap has a fair bit of electical - especially going from an OBD-II car to an OBD-I engine and ECU.... just curious.

 

Oh - and you won't be keeping it FWD for long. Properly tuned and with the mods you sugest you could easily be putting down 300 HP - no FWD transmission can handle that nor can it's clutch. You will need to be looking at an AWD turbo transmission swap to get that much power down reliably.

 

GD

Edited September 29, 2010 by GeneralDisorder

[92_rugby_subie]

Crazy ex girlfriend of an ex boyfriend... So at least she should pay for the damage if you know it was her right?

[scoobygirl]

The stock 22T ECU is garbage if you are going to be modding the engine like that. Just go with a stand alone setup.

 

And if the engine is truely a 91, then you will need a '91 ECU. They changed some stuff in '92 and up 22T's.

 

How are you managing all the electrical if you don't know "crap" about it? A 22T swap has a fair bit of electical - especially going from an OBD-II car to an OBD-I engine and ECU.... just curious.

 

Oh - and you won't be keeping it FWD for long. Properly tuned and with the mods you sugest you could easily be putting down 300 HP - no FWD transmission can handle that nor can it's clutch. You will need to be looking at an AWD turbo transmission swap to get that much power down reliably.

 

GD

 

Actually my car is OBD-I so the electrical stuff IS minimal thank you very much... I have a wiring guy who is helping me with all of that anyways.. I put a 99 (OBD-II) Legacy outback 2.5 motor in my car with less wiring than this one and it ran perfect. And I do know it is different with a turbo set up so no need to school me on that.

 

And yes I am actually keeping it fwd. You obviously think that I'm not going to be building my transmission. I'm not stupid, that is part of my plan. Sorry that I dare to be different and try new things.

 

Not to be a bit**, but I don't appreciate it when someone tries to tell me about MY car and what I should do to MY car. It really makes me giggle when someone tells me I can't something with my car and I turn around and prove them wrong lol.

 

Cheers.

Edited September 29, 2010 by scoobygirl

[scoobygirl]

Crazy ex girlfriend of an ex boyfriend... So at least she should pay for the damage if you know it was her right?

 

Oh trust me she is. We have been dealing with court stuff for the past 3 months. Monday she went to her sentencing hearing and I will be receiving restitution checks hopefully by the end of next week. Her charges were dropped down to a misdemeanor because the guy (both of our ex) would not press charges on her. (because he is a bit**) The original charge was a third degree felony for aggravated assault with a vehicle and domestic violence. It was dropped down to just assault. But to be honest, I'm fine with that because she still has to pay me restitution and I also filed have a restraining order against her. If she doesn't pay me on time or at all or violates the restraining order she goes back to jail and also has to pay me in full. She is very lucky she got let off that easy because her 2 year old son was about to be taken away from her for those charges. It has been a crazy few months let me tell you.

[robs5788]

HOWDY! and welcome i do have to say damn nice Subie! and also i have to say the cf hood was amazing on it!!! sad sad sad you had to traid it

[eulogious]

Actually my car is OBD-I so the electrical stuff IS minimal thank you very much... I have a wiring guy who is helping me with all of that anyways.. I put a 99 (OBD-II) Legacy outback 2.5 motor in my car with less wiring than this one and it ran perfect. And I do know it is different with a turbo set up so no need to school me on that.

 

And yes I am actually keeping it fwd. You obviously think that I'm not going to be building my transmission. I'm not stupid, that is part of my plan. Sorry that I dare to be different and try new things.

 

Not to be a bit**, but I don't appreciate it when someone tries to tell me about MY car and what I should do to MY car. It really makes me giggle when someone tells me I can't something with my car and I turn around and prove them wrong lol.

 

Cheers.

 

Welcome!

 

I would first like to point out the of all the people that you should really listen to, it's GD. Ya, he's an rump roast (read his avatar), but he knows what's he is talking about. I am sure that if you would have mentioned that you were also building up the transmission, he would had said something different.

 

So on that note, I wouldn't go around just bashing people because you think you might know more, not a good way to start off, especially the added sarcasm. If you didn't want to be a bit** then you should just drop the sarcasm and not be a bit**, it's that simple really. Fill us in more on your whole plan and picture (and that you have more than just yourself doing your project, since that is what you implied at first and what I thought until you mentioned you had a "wiring guy" helping you out), and you won't get comments like his or mine for that matter

 

But anyways and on a non-dickish note, sounds like you have a really fun project, and you have most definitely come to the right place to look for help and knowledge! I can guarantee that if it can be done, it's probably already been done here Good luck!

[92_rugby_subie]

True, he knows his stuff, I believe even has an ej22t right? Great and very helpful, just won't mess around with your head

[GeneralDisorder]

Yes - I do own a 22T. And I've owned, wrenched on, or at least driven nearly every Subaru ever made.....I have other qualifications too and I'm pretty handy with electrons.

 

Good luck *building* a FWD transmission. It can be done, but I doubt you will like the price since it's not done in the Subaru community so there's not much (if any) support for such an endevour. I never said it can't be done - I said it's pointless with that much power on a light frame - it can't effectively transmit the power to the ground. Even the Honda guys will tell you that over 250 HP is nearly worthless with FWD. You can't move the power to the ground to benfit from it.

 

It's great that you are enthusiastic and have this ambition, etc - but you would do well to learn from some of us that have been wrenching, modifying, and driving Subaru's since you were gnawing on a fudge-cicle and watching sponge bob.

 

GD

[TheSubaruJunkie]

Dont let Rick get to you, he acts this way with everyone. But he is right, you are going to want AWD. Your car will be no fun without it.

[scoobygirl]

I have done quite a bit of research and talked to a lot of people that are willing to help me do this build. And see how well the transmission can be built to handle it. Since this wont be my daily for long it can be messed with a bit. My brother in law has been working on subarus, swapping them, and all that good stuff for quite some time and he is the one who got me into it. He started his first wrx swap in his gc about 4 or 5 years ago and then got a job at COBB and has been there for about 3 years I think? He gives me a lot of advice and stuff so it helps a lot. He encouraged me to try the fwd and see how it works and holds up, and so far it has been great. I don't plan on throwing a big turbo on and calling it good. It will undergo lots of work. If the fwd doesn't do well(which I wont know until I try it) then I will do an awd conversion later. But honestly, its not bad to TRY to do something different and see how well it can be achieved. I'm the type of person that if someone tells me it probably wont work i'm gonna do it anyways. So far I haven't been disappointed with my choices. This being fwd has actually been a blast for me so far, i've rallied the piss out of it, dragged, drifted in snow, and it is VERY fun! But I have also tried that in an awd car and its also fun. So I guess we will see in the near future how well it turns out with what I have planned. My car being fwd doesn't make it any less "good" than anyone elses, it is just different, it's what I chose, and I don't regret it. It has taught me a lot.

[scoobygirl]

Again, sorry to come off as a huge bit**! I just get a little offended when people tell me I probably shouldn't do something or its not going to work out so great. People have told me that my whole life and i've proved them wrong every time so I guess i'm still doing that hah. I may not know EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW!!! But I am learning still, and whats not better than learning on my own car! I still need to get the hang of wiring, I am stumped when it comes to reading a pin out or diagram. But this ej22t swap is helping me learn a lot more about it, and also what a pain in the rump roast it is! But, I will keep posted on the swap process(its almost done!) I'm gonna take a video of the start up and first drive/burn out and all that good stuff lol. I get my license back tomorrow after 60 days of suspension for speed contest/exhibition of speed so it will be fun to drive her again this weekend(within the speed limit)!

[eulogious]

No worries. Just keep in mind that most everyone here does actually want to help others out, so GD comments where mainly to "steer" you in the right direction so you don't waste a ton of money. There are a TON of noobs that come on here saying the same sort of thing with big thoughts, and then they just waste money and then end up doing it a different way. It has happened before, so that's why he said something. Seems to happen all the time on here...

 

But it sounds like you at least have any idea of what you are getting into. Thanks for all the info, now we have a good idea of what your plans are and what you kinda already know. It will be interesting to see how FWD stand up to the EJ22T power... Keep us posted!

[scoobygirl]

 

But it sounds like you at least have any idea of what you are getting into. Thanks for all the info, now we have a good idea of what your plans are and what you kinda already know. It will be interesting to see how FWD stand up to the EJ22T power... Keep us posted!

 

I completely agree, and to be 100% honest i'm a tad bit nervous to do any kind of launch hah. But, we shall see. Should be starting her up friday afternoon hopefully! I will definitely keep everyone posted and if I do decide to stay fwd, could possibly help out some noobs in the future! I know it isn't going to be cheap if I decide to stay fwd that's for sure lol. I can usually get pretty good hook ups on parts if I need them or if I need shop help I get good deals. Thanks to being a woman! Haha totally kidding!

[GeneralDisorder]

I think the main problem is going to be the gearset in the FWD tranny. The gears are narrow, not shot-peened, and basically just not designed for that much power. There's hope that the slip at the wheels will put some "give" in the system but then you are just letting all that power go to waste.... put large enough tires on it and then you are back to narrow, weak gears as the weakest link.

 

My prediction - somewhere north of 200 HP you are going to get the tires nice and sticky - and on the shift from 1st to 2nd it's going to rip every tooth off the 2nd gear set. I've seen it on AWD's putting down less power.

 

Ultimately - if you can't replace the gearset inside it (maybe with something from a turbo AWD box), then it's just not going to hold. That tranny was designed for 110 HP.

 

Then there's the problem of grip - over 200 HP and light cars that were once "fun" with FWD and 100 HP become a pain to drive because the slightest tap of the skinny pedal breaks the tires loose. I helped install a frankenmotor (high comp. EJ25 with torque cams) into a Brat (lighter than your coupe) with a 5 speed D/R (FWD unless it's in 4WD) and it almost has too much power to use with only FWD even with upgraded tires. It's probably somewhere around 180 HP. More would be unusable in it's current config.

 

I'm all for building stuff - I just don't like build stuff that breaks. Most people here would probably say I over-engineer my builds. But I rarely have a problem with my designs and I'm about as anal as they come about wrenching. It's an engineering attitude that comes from a previous life.

 

GD

Edited September 30, 2010 by GeneralDisorder

[True2Blue]

Again, sorry to come off as a huge bit**! I just get a little offended when people tell me I probably shouldn't do something or its not going to work out so great. People have told me that my whole life and i've proved them wrong every time so I guess i'm still doing that hah. I may not know EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW!!! But I am learning still, and whats not better than learning on my own car! I still need to get the hang of wiring, I am stumped when it comes to reading a pin out or diagram.

 

it is really hard to win an argument with GD you better have good google skills (im serious you really have to know how to search) ive been on usmb since i was 17 ive changed my name since but my point is: that ive been around for some time. i hate to set him up on a pedestal but he is a subaru encyclopedia. if you think your right and your actually wrong his spidey since will tingle and he will find your post and tell you are "WRONG" followed by the correct answer.

 

youll probably get mad and walk away from the computer (i google his response usually sayin god damnit cause i post novels like this but they are full of facts)

 

i wouldnt call myself a favorite i actually dont think half of these guys even like me hah. i ARGUE alot is why.. and listen to my music LOUD oh and i didnt wheel my wheeler (hah rob loves it) my only real friend "eulogious" backs me up when these guys hit capslock and pound away at the keys

 

ill say a girl on here is rare ive never talked to a girl on usmb in my 5 years of being a member.

 

ill also say you dont sound like you need help you sound equipped, and if you wanted help its going to be through the computer (lazy usmber's)

 

i am a schematic MASTER when it comes to humvees unimogs and tanks but this is the wonderful work of subaru:rolleyes: . i can do just about anything to them but i do turn to this board alot (mainly google) blah blah i know but the real solder/wiring genius is eulogious, if you can fix a old blown amplifier or mod ur tcu.... you just rock.

 

Numbchux is a harness conversion guy also a good source

 

oh and hey

 

welcome to the board

Edited October 4, 2010 by True2Blue

[scoobygirl]

Thanks for the welcomes guys(and also the advice!) I'm also the argumentative type lol. I just really like to try new things even if its gonna cost me an arm and a leg. IMO, a fwd 2.2t Impreza would be SICK, I dream haha. I've got a pretty good hook up for my wiring and he's also taught me a few things so i'm slowly learning that! But other than that, this swap is just about done. The harness is almost finished, just gotta cover the wires up and start her up! If my transmission goes out in a week, its amazing how easy it is to come by a fwd trans in junk yards haha. I've also talked to a guy who builds transmissions, usually just for trucks, but he said he's going to look into it and see what he can do.

 

And True2Blue us subie(car in general) ladies are hard to come by! I've loved them for years and always will(love em so much I have an emblem tattooed on my wrist)! I may not know everything, but I know enough and i'm also still learning! I'm not your typical female. Although I do get my nails done haha, I still turn wrenches and not afraid to get dirty.

[corvette6698512]

First of all, Nice car. I have always liked the white with gold theme on the newer subarus. I have one question though, why do you want to keep it fwd? There is really no advantage at all except fuel mileage, AWD is superior in almost every way... Maybe it will just take one ride in a AWD subi to realize it, but in the end, I think you would enjoy that path much better. The best part is you can make your car AWD if you want to bad enough. Whichever you choose, good luck, and again great looking car

Edited October 4, 2010 by corvette6698512

[Suberstar88]

+1 what corvette said, AWD is what makes the almighty subaru a beast, and why the honda prelude cowers like a small puppy.

[scoobygirl]

I've driven an awd Impreza and WRX and they are very fun. But i'm doing something a little different. I want to make this into a drag car.

[Qman]

Good on you scoobygirl, disregard the boys. They still think they need to pound their chests to prove things. You keep on keeping on with your build. There are enough things you can do to it to make it fast.

 

To the rest of you(Rick). Your opinions obvious carry little weight. Back off!

[Fairtax4me]

and driving Subaru's since you were gnawing on a fudge-cicle and watching sponge bob.

She might have done that yesterday.

 

FWD + lots of power is a LOT of fun until you get to the point where traction in everyday situations becomes a problem. But it all comes down to weight. Cadillac used to run the 300 hp Northstar FWD, and they had some torque steer but no real problems getting the power to the ground because there was a V8 sitting on top of the wheels. Meanwhile most Hondas have a hard time with much more than 150 hp.

You might be able to run ~200 hp without much trouble in that car, but it's gonna be a trick to keep it in a straight line. Might invest in a limited slip diff to help keep the tires spinning the same speed.

 

As for a better transmission setup. If you blow up the FWD trans, go find an AWD trans and weld the center diff and see how that works for you.