[livid_wrx]

There shouldn't be many introductions needed at this point, but I am Jay aka Livid_wrx and I have had nothing but bad luck in the last year

(Originally posted this in "Everyday Impreza talk" but figured it might fit better here)

Hey all. I joined Club wrx earlier this year after buying my girlfriend an 05 Saab 9-2x. Well after the snowpacolypse hit last year we got the Saabaru and it dominated the roads that left lesser cars (like my 2000 Si) in ditches. I made it my mission to own a WRX before the 2014-15 winter hit. I have always wanted a Subaru, more importantly I've always wanted a wrx or an STI.

Luck would have it that Zax was selling his Bug Eye around the same time I was looking to buy. Seeing as the bug eye wagon is my favorite looking of the WRX's it was perfect. Plus he has a really well documented and well put together thread on his build. A ****ing awesome build too.

Well at the end of this past spring, as we were setting things up for me to buy at the end of summer several things went horribly wrong. Being a full time college student I am somewhat reliant on financial aid. I got turned down for this past summer semester. So that hit me hard in the pocket.

Then my roommate bailed on me with no notice, and no money to cover his half of rent. My girlfriend and I can't afford all the rent on our own so we had to move. Another pocket draining obstacle, but it's not the worse.

After all this, a weld on my 2000 Civic Si at the catalytic converter went bad and cracked. I it took into a shop that quoted me $25 to fix the weld. The place seemed shady but I figured oh well, I'll just watch them do the weld and make sure no one steals anything off my car.

As they lower it they pop the hood and start the car. I figure it's no big deal. They all hover over the hood, talk and I'm like "okay what's wrong?" And I walk up. I ask if "everything is okay?" And they say "yes" and close the hood.

I pay them and leave, but I feel like I am being followed. I feel like I am being paranoid but still take the extra long way home to be sure. Like EXTRA long.

My Si was stolen 2 days later.

It devastated me. Like, this was one of my dream cars as a kid and I busted my ass for years to buy it. And even though I had out grown it, I still loved it. Not to mention selling it was a key part of being able to buy Zax's wagon.

Called the cop's, there's an investigation that's still going on. But there's no proof the shop I went to has anything to do with the theft and at this point my car is probably in a thousand little pieces on a bunch of other cars. Heartbreaking honestly and is one of the reasons I just haven't been on this forum or really any forum in a while. That and I have been busy trying pay bills.

But I had to move on. I file a claim with my insurance company and deny me because I don't have theft coverage on my car. That is my fault because I owned a popular car for theft without that particular coverage .

At this point I have $2000 in my bank account. Zax's bug eye is no longer even close to being in my neighborhood of options.

I find a really clean 2003 MK4 24V GLI with a six speed and jump on it. Lucky me.

(All pictures taken at my moms house as that's where I wash my cars and where I keep my tools.)

Even came with Michelin run flats.

And honestly, this was actually a super upgrade from my Si. This car was fast, torquie, luxurious and the six speed was straight sex. But VW's are a bitch to work on and super expensive to maintain. Plus I'm so over FWD.

So after a month and a half I put it up on Craig's list offering to trade for a WRX. No one bites. Until last weekend when I offered to trade for a WRX add I found.

He took the offer and we met up and traded yesterday.

So after a decade +2 years wait I finally got my WRX. and I'm in love.

It's not the one I wanted. It's not in the best shape either. But runs strong and one of the 3 previous owners was a Subie tech, so a lot of things are done right. But some were done wrong, so keep an eye out for my build thread.

My WRX is dead.

I was semi tboned so hard in an intersection that it spun us 180 degrees and had a gallon of oil blow up in my trunk. The picture of that oil is through a broken window.

I'm going to take a minute to recollect myself and take everything in. I'll answer any questions once I'm ready. This seriously sucks, I'm devastated.

Now onto the story:

I was making a legal right on a red. This lady was probably 300-400 feet away and unbeknownst to me until an eye witness told me, was speeding, she was in the inside lane as well. By my estimate she was not going that fast. I lost traction (yes I have snow tires) and ended up sideways, but I was able to get back into my outside lane. I was facing the curb and I thought I had gotten into a safe area where I wouldn't be hit. But at some point she had changed into my lane mid intersection... I noticed this as I looked to make sure I was in the clear.

Like I said she was speeding and attempted to get back into her lane at the last minute. I gunned it and tried to jump the curb but it was too late. She nailed me in my rear quarter so hard she spun us 180 degrees and my front passenger end smacked her rear.

We ended up backwards on the curb, my frame is twisted. Drove it home but had to keep the wheel turned at 90 degrees to stay straight and that barely worked.

As far as insurance, I can't make a claim. In Michigan we have no fault. My insurance will ONLY cover me if I am not in fault. The officer said with the way our laws are written it says that even if I am going 1 mile an hour and I rear ended some one I will be at fault. And because I didn't yield to her I am technically at fault even though she broke several laws during the accident and the witness said she was driving reckless. So her insurance won't cover anything but her and mine won't cover me.

I am severely screwed, �� what a ****ing year.

You can read more about that here: http://www.clubwrx.net/forums/new-member-hangout/134432721-my-wild-story-how-i-completed-dream-became-2002-wrx-wagon-onwer-yesterd.html

So, today after a long wait (5 months) I am starting work on getting my wrx back on the road. I'll be doing that by moving my wrb wrx drive train into this white rolling chassis.

Got the blue wagon to my parents garage, which has been a too familiar of an area in the last few months

Organization is key

Removed the battery, washer reservoir, coolant reservoir, diconnected the fuel lines.

Then removed the belt cover, belts, radiator fans, and radiator.

Worked my way around and pulled entire intake and intercooler assembly. Also removed all the other; miscellaneous wires, cables and cooling lines.

Unbolted all the ball housing bolts and downpipe bolts......

So, after all that I'm done here for the day, I need 2 tools and if course I don't have em. Otherwise the engine and transmission would have been pulled.

But some one decided to walk off with my 14mm wrench and my 10mm hex, and I have no ride.

Tomorrow I'll disconnect the clutch, remove the final ball housing bolts and tank the engine. I'll also remove the transmission and rear diff.

 

[Goose42]

I will leave this here, good luck Jay!

 

[RichD514]

Sub'd because I can.

 

[TownLine500]

So the swap begins.
I'm hoping everything goes smooth for you.
Good luck, and keep us posted.

 

[livid_wrx]

I will leave this here, good luck Jay!

Thanks man, I need it haha.

Sub'd because I can.

No you can't

So the swap begins.
I'm hoping everything goes smooth for you.
Good luck, and keep us posted.

Yes it does! Thanks, I believe it will, only a few very small hiccups so far. I will be keeping this as updated as possible.

 

[RichD514]

No you can't

Yes I can

 

[livid_wrx]

So today was productive, got a decent amount done.


Ran in the Color run I'm the rain with the girlfriend and her co-workers in the morning!

Then, after the shenanigans were done I got to work.

Got the clutch fork pin or whatever and the two remaining bellhousing bolts and removed the entire turbo back exhaust.

I then sat down and took a small break before getting to the engine removal. The view was discouraging and heartbreaking...

I then sucked it up and pulled the damn thing. Lol

Then I got to work on removing the trans.

Disassembled the both driver and passenger side hub assembly in order to remove the cv axles.

It's held in by a cotter pin that goes through the axle and the transmission. It needs to be pushed out using an Allen wrench. The first came out easily...

The second came out in pieces and parts are still lodged in there.

Haha, I called it a day...

I then assessed the engine itself.

Turbo looks good.

No shaft play. Wasn't expecting that... Lol

Some blow by.

The flywheel might need to be resurfaced, but it really smooth.

The clutch was dead though.

I was under the impression that it was the original one from factory. But it was a Clutch Master, not sure what model but it felt oem to me. It was slipping hard towards the end.

It was definitely on its last leg.

Gross....

 

[livid_wrx]

Yes I can

Okay, you can.

 

[RichD514]

:thumbup:

 

[livid_wrx]

So I pulled the transmission and rear diff today. It was about a hundred times harder than it was to type as it entailed bench pressing a transmission several times haha.

First, like I said yesterday the cv shafts are attached to the trans via doel pin. Well, the one came out easily and the other decided to be a little bastard break apart inside the connection. Then my Allen wrench decided to join in on the fun and wedged itself in nice and tight.

And then it decided to break.

I got everything clear out of the inside by buying a drive pin set and smashing the bejesus out of it.

But the dust cover was still stuck to the cv shaft when I removed it.

But I consider everything a success as I got everything off in a relatively good amount of time and in pretty good condition.

 

[livid_wrx]

So, in order to reliably do an auto to manual swap I need the bulk head harness, ecu and a few bits and pieces.

In order to do that I needed to pull the dash, so that's what I did today.

Let me begin by saying that the dash removal guides online are complete garbage. So I'll be doing one for us to use in the future.

First you need to remove the shift boot and center consol

Then you need to remove cup holder.

Then the vents above.

The head unit and climate controls come out next with the glove box.

Get underneath where the glove box used to be and remove the air bag.

Please for the love of all that is amazing in the world! Disconnect your battery. There will be serveral screws hidden up there.

Remove the gauge cluster and the side screws on both the dash itself.

Disconnect all the wires that are tied down on the dash, remove pillar plastics and the top vent that rest in front of dash. It is NOT a part of the dash itself.

Lift off dash and boom

It was a headache doing it blind haha.

 

[livid_wrx]

I pulled my bulkhead wiring harness.

Come along for a ride people

To get to this point; I had to drop the steering column, remove that brace and pull that box which contains the heating and cooling components.

To get this box out you need to disconnect the heater core and ac system. Make sure the a.c. is properly vented and done in a ventilated area.

For reference

Well, that's the inside.

It then exited out here in the driver's side and headed to the main fuse relay through the fender.

Which I had to disassemble.

It then snaked around to the headlights.

Attached to the abs and a few other things.

Went back under the passenger fender.

Yes. Yes it goes BACK INTO THE FLIPPING CABIN! AND CONNECTS BACK TO ITSELF! Why!? I have no flipping idea!

Anyway it also goes into the rear two doors which was a pain to pull the connectors out of.

It now sits like this until tomorrow.

That's what I did.

 

[06wrx4me]

Oh boy! Looks like fun.

 

[livid_wrx]

Oh boy! Looks like fun.

Oh yeah man! Lol

Been busy today, got halfway through installing the manual bulkhead harness into the new chassis.

 

[McBill]

sub'd

EDIT: and as always, in for the bewbs

 

[livid_wrx]

sub'd

EDIT: and as always, in for the bewbs

Nice.

Welcome to the dark side, we have plenty of bewbs.

 

[livid_wrx]

Been hard at work, the harness is almost completely swapped over. Also added the master cylinder, and all three pedals.

Put the bar back in.

Got everything hooked up and bolted on.

But in true form, I botched it.

The bar was wedged when I was trying to place it and when it came free it shot up and whacked the windshield.

Oh well, I have a perfectly fine windshield on the other wrx.

 

[livid_wrx]

Not sure if my sister is trolling me

On a side note, my sister only hits me up if she or her friends need help with their cars...

 

[livid_wrx]

Goodbye Blue..

 

[livid_wrx]

That car gave me everything it had.