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87 GL10 body, 2002 wrx at heart


ea2ej fingers x
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Hey all, I'm not going to go into great detail at the moment as the cobwebs are creeping in, but wanted to share the (near) finished beast you all helped me build.

 

It's got the 02 drive train from engine through rear differential, wrx rear cross member (rear sway bar yet to be installed), 2" lift, intercooler hood scoop, drilled out hubs to 6 on 5.5, blended pedal assembly for the hydraulic pull style clutch (and kick rump roast wrx pedals;), wrx shifter, wrx front and rear seats, exedy stage 1 clutch, blitz nur spec r performance exhaust...I said I wasn't going to get too detailed, but I wake up a bit when I start talking shop :)

 

Anyway, thanks to all for the wealth of knowledge you share on the site and I intend to help pay it forward. More to come...

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Fair enough :) I will follow up with more detail soon. Truthfully, I'm a little a.d.d. and I would get so focused on the project I literally never took progress photos. I'm a general contractor and have been trying to build my website for 3 years, but the same is true there :banghead:

 

Anyway, the interior is far from done and there are still some mods and other tweaks I want to do, but I took it on its first long drive today and it was really fun. Definitely the most rewarding project I have done in awhile.

 

I think the funniest thing is how many of us there are out there. Some people find a car like this unremarkable. Some people recognize it as something neat and different. And then there are the ones who will stop mid sentence, or change direction, walk up and need to know what you've done. Usually they have their own interesting build they are into. Once again, it's a super cool community of creative kids we have on these sites and I'm glad to know you-ish :) I can't post more pictures right now, but feel free to ask any questions you might have. :drunk:

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*If you just want build details you may want to skip this post as I decided to introduce myself and give some background before launching into the build. Also, it's raining so I don't want to crawl around taking pictures :)

 

When I was 19 years old attending the University of Alaska Southeast, I bought a 1984 subaru turbo wagon and I loved that car. It met an untimely death at the hands of the salt air of Juneau, Alaska and a weak head gasket. A penniless college student, I couldn't afford to fix it's blown head gasket, and didn't have to equipment or know how to repair its frame. I always thought those old subarus weren't appreciated enough and I was eventually going to get back to one.

 

Late last year, as gas prices continued to sky rocket, I found myself near tears filling the two tanks of my 1976 ford f150 (also a sweet ride btw), and decided to invest in a runabout that I could use when I didn't need to drive the truck to work. I searched craigslist for weeks trying to find the right subaru to fix up and drive. I snapped up a rusted out 87 gl-10 for $800. Very practical decision right? Here I sit $7000 later ;)

 

The project started with the 2" lift (I think most on this site refer to it as the "sjr lift" even if we just stole the idea and fabricated it ourselves :) But many thanks to SJR

 

I then ran into the issue all old subie modifiers encounter: With the 2" lift, I want larger wheels and tires, and I can't find anything with this bolt pattern (other than some pretty horrid Peugeot wheels). So I drilled out to 6 on 5.5. Got some used wheels off craigslist and started driving it. It was a fun little rig, but two things happened at the same time that ruined me for the next 8 months. I started having some fairly major mechanical problems at the same time I came across Numbchux's manifesto on the ea to ej conversion. I got the bug bad. Every day I told myself, "take it slow, wait till the time is right, you really can't afford this right now". Two weeks later I had an 02 wrx engine, 5 speed transmission, seats, and the car was up on blocks in my driveway with a tarp over it :)

 

I've always been mechanically inclined, but really knew nothing about subarus. Depending on your point of view I luckily/unluckilly had enough experience with tools that I was brave enough to think I could do anything, and the adventure began.

 

I promise actual build details next time and less wind ;)

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