98 RS ej255 swap (06 wrx)

[Salvator Rizzo]

So quick background.

I don't come on here much but i do rallyx's and such whenever the opportunity arrises.
I bought my car (1998 RS) a year ago with 123k miles on it an a bunch of goodies (kyb agx's, some nice exterior mods, beefy cobb sway bars, tower braces and some other stuff). the car has been fun so far. I beat the hell out of the first set of tires through multiple rallyx's, many spirited mountain drives and an autox. I even tried doing a rallyx with them with basically no tread, which was fun, but my times were terrible.

Fast Foward

a couple months ago I found a 2006 wrx tr for sale on ebay for 3 grand that had been totalled. No one had bid on it, so i called him a couple times and picked it up for 2800. Everything minus 1 strut was good (besides cosmetic stuff). little did he know how much is worth. o well, my gain.
I worked on it for the past 2 months (on weekends here and there) and stripped the thing of everything. The shell got hauled away monday. Now the garage is clear for my car to roll in and be disable for abit :) . should be fun though, hopefully it won't take too long.
Not sure what i am going to do with it when i am done. its definetely going to be at a lot of rallyx's and autox's, but i want to push it to a higher level somehow. I was thinking getting more serious into rally because i have found that a lot more fun than street driving.

when the car is completed, it will basically be a 2006 wrx mechanically. I will be doing the dash swap as well, but im selling the seats so i can pick up a fixed back seat.

anyways, on to some pics

some pics
how the car started:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/for%20sale/wrx001.jpg

how it is now (just not in my garage)
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/for%20sale/DSC02970.jpg

my car (removed mudflaps, they get a little annoying for everyday driving, also have some mcrae decals now):
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/for%20sale/DSC02894.jpg

[Not All There]

very awesome, whats the story behind the original crash on the wrx?

Your car def looks good, this will be a nice buildup.

[Corruptmotors.com]

really nice project,

keep us updated

[Salvator Rizzo]

cool thanks guys


So the guy driving was driving on original re-92's with pretty much no traction left, drunk. He was going around a corner at 75mph (in a 35) and started to slide on black ice. the car hit a dry patch of road and (according to the seller) flipped into the air acouple times, landed on the smashed in side and rolled onto the wheels. The guy who was driving is now in jail because its his 3rd strike being drunk while driving

[Salvator Rizzo]

some updates, car right now is completely stripped minus a couple things, should be ready for reassembly next weekend. Going to clean it up a bit after i finish things up tomorrow.
here are some pictures from last week.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2294/2027632184_c71a86b189.jpg?v=0

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2003/2026830993_60fc4bb3e3.jpg?v=0

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2083/2026833257_500b936976.jpg?v=0

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2360/2026838689_f1c95d448c.jpg?v=0

right now the car just has the gas tank and rear suspenion/differential and that stuff on it. There's 4 bolts holding that stuff on, so it will be off pretty quick, as will the gas tank.

[409industries]

wow, that black car is F'ed! his loss, your gain. Should be an excellent build, cant wait to see the progress documented. A buddy of mine did a full swap into a GC wagon. I asked him what the toughest part of the whole project was and to my suprise (above ECU wiring, transmission, etc) he said the GD dash swap was the most time consuming and difficult. It looks SO awesome though.

Can i be the first to say your garage looks awesome! nice driveway, etc. I'm so jealous.

[Salvator Rizzo]

did more work

here we are

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/DSC03213.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/DSC03214.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/DSC03225.jpg

have to figure out a way to mount this right
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/DSC03226.jpg


put the wrx gas tank and rear brakes/diff/axels all that in yesterday. getting some coilovers so no suspension right now

[Salvator Rizzo]

did more work today. its hard to get stuff done because finals are coming up and i have a lot of school work to do.

took me awhile to get this done, WRX dash bar and wrx heater core are now in as well as the harness is placed in the car. I screwed up when i first did the cuts in the firewall, but im going to go back and fill it in with some heat resistant tape/foil stuff later

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/DSC03479.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/DSC03486.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/DSC03488.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/DSC03489.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/DSC03490.jpg

[overtheover]

i want a setup like this soooooo bad.
youre making me jealous damnit.
its good to see you are moving along quite well

[Salvator Rizzo]

speaking of moving along:


Major Update
engine is now in the car. its bolted in but nothing else is hooked up. took awhile to put in, but we got it

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/car2.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/car4.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/car5.jpg

slammed yo
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/car10.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/car9.jpg

a bit tidier
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/car12.jpg

[wr-ecks]

lookin good. :headbang:

[strat]

nice so far...

great find on the wrecked wrx

[sebhockey]

That is looking like one great car.

[RS-ti_Andy]

hmm i may need your knowledge soon! lol very very nice!

[04caliwrx]

wow car is Gonna be so sick!

[sebhockey]

Hey I just noticed you're in Santa Rosa. I might need to come up there and check this project out.

[Salvator Rizzo]

yea dude anytime.


not going to be any updates for a bit. Im in Colorado right now doing some snowboarding and wont be back until later in the week

[RS-ti_Andy]

yea dude anytime.


not going to be any updates for a bit. Im in Colorado right now doing some snowboarding and wont be back until later in the week


lucky! lol..there arent any hills/mts around here

[Salvator Rizzo]

bringing this back after a bit of a break, kinda. was gone touring colleges and stuff

pics kinda suck but the lighting wasnt too hot

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/newcar5.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/newcar3.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/newcar1.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/newcar.jpg

merry christmas to me

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/newcar7.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/newcar9.jpg

still having some trouble with the center console, tips?

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/newcar2.jpg

[Not All There]

looks great, electrical issues?

[Spatizzle]

I have a 2000rs, and now you've encouraged me to consider a future swap =]
of course, i wont be as lucky to find an engine for that price-ish [or maybe i will] but what you did so far, ive been wanted to do, rallyx and autox..

Very well done, and I thank you =]

[wolfman79]

Wow, you've done an excellent job with your build so far and I am truly impressed. We have thought about swapping the OBS numerous times( ok all the time) but are hesitant. How difficult has the wiring/harness merge been?

Can't wait to see more.

[donutking]

doing very well! your progress is going well on car. hope it turns out better then u wanted! its a kickass project for sure

[sebhockey]

Looking good, what kind of problems are you running into with the center console.

[Salvator Rizzo]

kinda neglected this page a bit, here is its current stance, going to finish wiring today


http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/down.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/down1.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/down2.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/down3.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/down7.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/down6.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/down5.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/down4.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/exha1.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/exha2.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/exha7.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/exha8.jpg


kartboy long exhaust hangars came yesterday, so im going to put those on, exhaust will hang right

[Not All There]

love the rear license plate trim! hahahah

[Salvator Rizzo]

So it's been a long time since I've been on this site/updated this thread. For those not on rs25 or anything, here is what has happened since then.

I finished the swap only to find out the car didn't start because the timing belt had slipped, casuing head damage/no/minimal compression. I had my car LIC'd to get it running and they rebuilt the heads for me. Got that all back together and then I had to completely rewire the ECU because the ECU pin wires were all F'd up from various shops.

With all that done, the car ran, and was fun as hell. I picked up an HKS catless Dp and got the car tuned here in Santa Rosa at Fine Line Imports. The car put down 227whp and 275wtq on a mild/conservative tune, stock engine minus downpipe.

Since then, the only thing I did was put on some 17's with Azenis and get some general Tires for the 16's.

I have some stock suspension that I'll be running for rallyx when that comes around up here, but for now, the street suspension stays on for the autox season (hoping to be competitive this year) which actually starts Saturday, Feb 1.

anyways, here is the car now and a mod list.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/25%20RS/carhalfsm.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/25%20RS/fin4.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/25%20RS/fin6.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/25%20RS/fin7.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/IMGP1996.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/M24/keiblack2.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/M24/keiblack1.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/M24/keiblack5.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/M24/keiblack.jpg

During rebuild :/

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/sitting2.jpg

No more AEM Short ram

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/Buildup/rust4.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/shankskank/dynoplot_p01.jpg

[wolfman79]

Car looks great, awesome job. Such a clean swap, and that dyno plot looks sweet.

[bigjoshsubyfan]

beautiful car I love it and you have done alot of you good on you nice job

[MatthewakaMatt]

Excellent work on the swap.