Wentz's Phoenix. Building from the Ashes.

[wentz912]

So, as some of you have seen, my Bomber! build was totalled when I rear ended another car. This is my new chassis, which for the board I have dubbed "Phoenix" since the build will be, for a while, resurrecting the ashes of the Bomber.

Found the car in Vancouver on CL after a quick, urgent search for a new wagon, since I needed a car to get me back and forth to work.

The Phoenix is a 1997 Legacy 2.5 GT Wagon, with the EJ25D, 4EAT Automatic, and 201,568 miles. Scooped her up for $2500

This is how I bought the little gem.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2014/05/20140428_200419_zps3659092f-1.jpg

And how she sits now

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2014/05/20140501_124310_zpse856c7eb-1.jpg

Exterior: All factory GT :smt020 Scoop, wing, skirts, rear lip, sun roof. Paint matched door handles, trim, and mirrors. JDM Projector headlights with Camron's H4 adapter harness. (Thank goodness these weren't on the car I wrecked!)

Interior: Factory dark cloth, wood grain at door switches and shifter surround.

Engine: Factory EJ25D

Transmission: Factory 4EAT

Suspension: Newer KYB GR2's, H&R sport springs designated for an Impreza GC chassis wagon.

Wheels/tires: 17x7 05+ LGT alloys wrapped with 215/45 Cooper Zeon RS3's

[wentz912]

Short term future plans include:
-Getting the windows back down to 20% like I had the bomber.
-Back to OB front bumper, I already miss it.
-Steal ALL the 5 speed stuff from the bomber (The automatic is fine, but good grief is it boring)
-Cat back exhaust from bomber.
-Stereo head unit and A-pillar tweeters from Bomber
-Home craft mud flaps from Bomber (On fence about this one, not sure if it will look right with skirts and lip)
-Early style intake tubing from Bomber.
-Switch out current ash tray for storage pocket
-Wire charge port to constant on power



With that being said, does anybody know if the GT and OB share a bumper beam/support shape? I know they aren't the same as the Brighton/L models Hoping to save a couple of bucks by just getting a skin and not a whole assembly.

[Huffer]

OB Bumper skin should be same as GT bumper beam - both have the "dip" where the grille is.

Nice. Looking forward to more on this thread.

[86bratman]

I've ran both the outback and gt bumpers o the the same support beam. You will need to swap the fog light thread inserts if you're going to use oem outback fogs.

[wentz912]

Excellent! I've got a buddy that works in a collision shop working on sourcing me a factory new OB bumper skin, glad to hear they are interchangable as far as the skins go. I will be going with the Hella's again when I get to that point, so no worries about the fog light mounts.

Today I got the cat back exhaust from the wrecked car onto Phoenix. Sure sounds better! Definitely missing the thump due to no header though. Not sure if I'm going to try and pick one up for the interim or just wait until I get the damn thing turbo'd.

I also mocked up the JDM spats/mud guards I have laying around the garage too. Definitely not the right look for me, anybody interested in those?

[wentz912]

So I have been doing some research on my pending five speed swap, and am finding it a little lacking in available information.

I would like the car to end up being like it came that way from the factory, in regards to being a manual at the end. Which means to me, no silly jumpers for the TCU, "tricking" of the system to think it's in neutral and the like.

My donor car is a Brighton, with Cruise, but no ABS. I don't mind losing the ABS one bit on this car, but definitely want to keep my cruise. Is there a simple way to make this happen? I plan on using the Brighton's ECU along with my transmission swap, if it makes things easier.