February 17, 201214 yr Well I'm taking the plunge in probably a bigger project than I want but hey, I want something to wrench on and build at my speed; AKA the rate at which money is allowed to flow from my bank account, which is slow. LOL I'm picking up a 1989 Subie RX Turbo coupe Thursday, you've probably seen it on CL. The interior is....well, gone, but that is fine with me as I plan to turn this beast into a rallycross car and boss mob some logging roads with. I'm going all metal dash, center console, door panels and rhino lining the floor, hell maybe the whole inside. Keeping it relatively mild on the outside, maybe a brush guard with some fogs, some rally flaps, possibly paint it flat black (unless the paint isn't in too bad of shape) and prob gonna rock the Enkeis that are on it. Definitely going to look into the suspension department, Bart and Nate might be busy making me some bushings and other fun stuff! In my head I could go on forever on what I want to do to it, but I'm trying to stay realistic with my skills and funds. But, she has potential. Picked it up on Feb 8th, holy crap is it loud and most definitely illegal for Boise lol. It actually ran pretty good, I didn't lay into it at all because it was so loud I really didn't want any attention from Boise's finest. The whole way home I was running through what I want to get done on it. It actually felt good in the handling department, took bumps well, didn't rattle at all (very nice) and soaked up the water drainages like they weren't even there, no bouncing at all. Oh and the power windows WORK! Right now, my list is this: Change all fluids Compression check Install a resonator and/or a muffler in the 3" turbo back (Magnaflow most likely) Tighten up the shifter with the bolt mod Short shifter (not short throw) I feel like I'm driving an old rat rod with how tall it is now. Probably cut and weld it. Relocate battery to the trunk Fab up a dash, door panels and center console (prob need some metal working skills help!) Bed liner spray the interior Equus Tach, Shift Light and Speedo (already has boost, oil pressure and water temp) Toggle switches for head lights/tail lights, dome light, locking center diff, fuel pump, ignition and a push button start (and other things I know I'm forgetting. I like switches.) Roll bar/body brace/harness mount Decent race-ish seats and 5-point harnesses Spare tire mount in trunk Mud flaps Front bull bar with fogs Front skid plate Adjust clutch, like 7/8s of the throw does nothing Check out the brakes, they felt pretty good on the drive Crawl all over it cleaning, that's the best way to find "issues" I am pretty impressed that it had no oil drip spots of any kind underneath it and it had been sitting quite a while, but I'll check again next week since I drove it about 10 miles. He told me he replaced all the gaskets in the engine, installed a Walbro 255 fuel pump, new gas tank trying to track down a problem with it awhile ago, said it was a rusted out fuel tank contaminating the lines. Hopefully the old EA82T isn't too tired yet and we can get some use out of it. But, if and when it blows, I need to come up with a swap plan. It had a little noise coming from the rear end when rolling, could be a bearing, kinda what it sounded like. Not squeaking though.
February 17, 201214 yr Author Here's some pics of the rest of what I'm working with! The current dash. It's not horrible, should come in handy as a template for the new one. My stock WRX shift knob found a home too. Yup, she's naked. Going to get scrubbed clean, wires tucked and rhino lined. Seats gotta go too. Not bad under the hood, needs a little cleaning and some stray issues taken care of. Spectre intake was a plus. The intercooler is off a Mitsubishi Starion apparently, custom mounted with kind of a strut brace built in. May take a 2nd look at that. Sweet pedals and a cluster fluff of wiring to secure behind the new dash. 13" Enkei Bananas Awesome broken side vents. Probably just dremel the center bar out and put some mesh in. They go right through haha. Cracked windshield and more signs of neglect. With big brother over at my new house! Excited to start on this thing, it's going to be a fun project and learning process for sure. Can't wait to run some offroad rallycross in the future! So far the power windows and locks still work, center diff locker, headlights, tail lights, dome light and hatch struts are nice and strong, Hi/Lo transfer case works. The blinkers don't work and neither do the dash or any of the gauge backlights. Stock tach and speedo work, but are coming out anyways. I'm gonna have all kinds of fun switches and lights to put in the dash and center console!
February 17, 201214 yr Where do I get MY pre-made rally project I'll love to see where this goes! Also, Wouldn't that be younger brother?
February 17, 201214 yr Author That car is hot and I hate you.That is all. Where do I get MY pre-made rally project I'll love to see where this goes! Also, Wouldn't that be younger brother? I lucked out having found it already stripped of the interior for sure! And yeah, it is younger brother, you're right haha. I guess big brother power-wise lol.
February 17, 201214 yr Sad to see a black RX end up like this Not sure if you are aware how rare these are, look in my gallery to see mine. Damage is already done, so have fun with it. They make great RallyX'rs.
February 17, 201214 yr Author Yeah, I know they are super rare, but it had already been terrorized a year or two ago. I don't plan on jumping it or anything crazy, just racing around some cones in the dirt. I've actually seen lots of pictures of yours, it looks amazing! Made me want one to fix up, but I found this one already stripped and figured I'd work on it and run some rallyX.
February 17, 201214 yr Have fun with it! Did you also read about the love/hate relationship I had with the old engine (EA82T)? I went thru 4 blocks then put in a rebuilt from CCR. It was running a TD04 and TMIC and did ok till I was doing some donuts in the snow and it got oil starved on one side. After that I did a swap, went to a EJ22T and couldnt be happier. Even a NA EJ22 would be better than what you have in it now.
February 17, 201214 yr Author That was my engine of choice should this one grenade on me sometime. If it comes to that I hope you don't mind me asking some questions!
March 9, 201214 yr Author Here's a clip with the Magnaflow race muffler installed. I think it sounds really good! Will update again once purchase the next thing on my list! Seats!
March 9, 201214 yr Sounds nice! I plan to re-do my exhaust. Going with a UEL, 2" back to a 2.5" glasspack followed by a magnaflow muffler on an EA82
March 10, 201214 yr Sweet project! Also you turnsignals not working is because you don't have a hazard switch hooked up( from what I could see anyway) And it may be the same thing for the dash lights because there's no dimmer switch
March 12, 201214 yr Author Sounds nice! I plan to re-do my exhaust. Going with a UEL, 2" back to a 2.5" glasspack followed by a magnaflow muffler on an EA82 Nice! Yeah I think the 3" is a bit excessive, but that's what she came with! It sounds really good in person. Sweet project! Also you turnsignals not working is because you don't have a hazard switch hooked up( from what I could see anyway) And it may be the same thing for the dash lights because there's no dimmer switch Yeah both the switches are still hooked up, just tucked behind the temporary dash right now. I still haven't had much time to work on it yet, moving into the house it's sitting at in about 3 weeks, so hopefully once we are settled I'll get more time to work on it!
May 15, 201213 yr Author Seats will be in today! Can't wait to get working on the install. Also does anyone know of any steering hub adaptors for these cars? I really want to replace the stock wheel with a GT or Rally Style.
May 15, 201213 yr Author New seats arrived with sliders! Still need to assemble them and get the mounting brackets ready to go.
May 15, 201213 yr Author I haven't even started the real work on this thing yet! Still have lots to do before it is ready for any RallyX.
May 21, 201213 yr Author Ok, I found where to get steering wheel hub adapters finally! I found them at http://www.accessoriesonline.com.au, I e-mailed CS and Stuart told me exactly which kit I needed. I guess the RX is the "L-series" down under, so that's what I'm going to go with. Shipping is a bit much to the States, but I've been looking for 2 months for a solution and finally found them if anyone cares!
May 22, 201213 yr New seats arrived with sliders! Still need to assemble them and get the mounting brackets ready to go. were did you get these seats at I really like them.
May 22, 201213 yr Author were did you get these seats at I really like them. Picked them up off Ebay cheap, was $240 for the pair shipped. Put them together a few days ago, they are pretty good for the money. The rails are narrower than stock, so I have to come up with some brackets to mount them.
May 22, 201213 yr Author Dibs on the factory RX seats if they aren't totally trashed? They are thrashed bad, grease covered, drivers side is duct taped back together all down one side. They are pretty nasty. I ruined the sliders on the passenger seat too.
May 23, 201213 yr Pm me Pics of how bad they are? My stock GL ones are TOTALLY trashed, the part you sit on slides around independent of the rails coming to a stop etc. It's my work car so they're gonna get greasy anyhow...
May 23, 201213 yr Author I'll see if I can get you a pic. Like I said, the passenger side will need new sliders, both seats are just aged. I probably won't have them both out for about a month at least, have to get it to a buddy's shop 100mi away to get the brackets made for the new ones.
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