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setnev
04-22-2016, 01:52 AM
Thanks for the add. My name is Steven, I live in Northern Arizona. I am the proud owner of 2 1/2 Subarus. My two project current projects are my 92 SVX and my 99 Legacy L 30th Anniversary Wagon that is giving my 99 Legacy Outback Limited a new lease on life. I purchased the 99 L for $400 with a wrecked front end and rebuilt it partially. I don't have a body shop so I did most of the work myself and found myself an inch off so the hood doesn't even line up with the fenders. I dumped about $200 into front end parts to put it back together, then another $400 into a new clutch & flywheel, full timing kit with water pump, and a new radiator. The original plan was to convert it into a rally car, but per the rule book, the car cannot have a sunroof unless it is filled in and strengthened to at or above the structural integrity of a non-sunroof car.

While doing the rebuild, my buddy in Canada turned me on to the idea of an EG33 swap. When I got back to AZ, I happened to find a complete SVX for $300 that ran and drove and had the common bearing failure. My plan was to rip apart the SVX for it's motor, harness, and ECU until I started doing more research on it and posted pics of it on some of the SVX forums and found out its true value. It has a custom carbon fiber hood with scoop, one of only 6 made, WRX coilovers, slotted/drilled rotor and caliper upgrade, full aluminum upgraded radiator custom made by PWR, custom spoiler, and a motor and transmission that was rebuilt about 8 years ago and some money dumped into some performance parts. Not to mention, it was a one owner car with production code 7001, making the build date inearly 92. I didn't have the heart to tear it apart and the car was 99% complete and functional, minus the radio and two front speakers and the bearings needing replacing. I have learned a lot from my experience owning the SVX and the thing is crazy fast and a ton of fun to drive. Right now it is sitting on jack stands awaiting the final bearing to be installed, which will be done in the next week. Everything else is great on the car, all power options work fine, I spliced in a harness from a more common vehicle (Hyundai Accent) because the P/O hacked up the radio harness and installed a new radio. The only thing cosmetically wrong is a few spots of rust, which is being taken care of soon, faded green paint, which the entire car is going to be repainted, and a couple of interior trim pieces missing.

While on the hunt for a decent donor car to swap my EJ22 into, a friend of mine was selling his 99 OBW Limited with Dual-Moonroofs with no motor or tranny and threw in a 5MT and a set of 08 WRX wheels for $400. I had no need for the 5MT, due to the magnitude of 5-speed swapping my SVX, so I sold it to someone who needed it for $260. The Outback is fully loaded with every option imaginable and the body nearly flawless with the exception of a busted front bumper and a small dent on the back passenger quarter panel that I can pop out, so I am going to do a full swap of my EJ22 and 5MT into it so that I can move the car to my new house in a few months. My buddy in Canada is donating me an EJ25D with 150,000kms to put in the OBW for the low price of come get it, so next month while I'm visiting family in NY, I'm going to go grab it and build it. I'm either going to be doing a turbo build on that motor or going to swap an EZ30D into it down the road as EZ30D's are not too hard to find here for a good price.

foohfooh
04-22-2016, 12:20 PM
Welcome! Can't wait to see some pics!

Go Mifune
04-22-2016, 01:23 PM
Welcome Steven! I know this is a Legacy site but I really want to see your SVX.

setnev
04-22-2016, 02:47 PM
Thank you all for the welcomes. Here are some photos of my Subies including the SVX (I know it's Legacy forum, but the people have spoken). More pics of the 99 Legacy in the condition I bought it and after pics.
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setnev
04-22-2016, 02:48 PM
My new Outback Limited Wagon with the rare dual moonroofs
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Go Mifune
04-22-2016, 03:14 PM
Thanks for the pics! Are you going to paint the SVX hood or polish it?

setnev
04-22-2016, 03:18 PM
I haven't decided on that yet. I love the CF look of the hood, but it has some areas that could use some filling in where the cross hatch was damaged. I might epoxy it to restrengthen it and then polish it up.

Muse
04-23-2016, 05:03 PM
Fair warning on your EZ30 plans, it will throw a check engine light if it's not hooked to an automatic and reading the TCU. I don't know if that's a hitch in getting it inspected in AZ or not, but I figured you should know.

Big congrats on the SVX, those are pretty sweet cars.

setnev
04-24-2016, 01:36 PM
Fair warning on your EZ30 plans, it will throw a check engine light if it's not hooked to an automatic and reading the TCU. I don't know if that's a hitch in getting it inspected in AZ or not, but I figured you should know.

Big congrats on the SVX, those are pretty sweet cars.

Thanks for the heads up. My buddy in Canada has told me about the CEL issues with the EZ30D into a manual car. If that swap is in my favor, I would be running a piggyback standalone ECU for the engine and the stock EJ22 Manual ECU for the rest of the car. I've got the schematics to splice the ECU for what I need and bypass the rest. I live in Northern AZ, so we don't have any inspection or emissions requirements, which is bad because you see some hoopties that have an obviously blown head gasket spewing white smoke everywhere. Even in Phoenix it's an emissions only inspection and test. You would not believe what they allow some people to drive here. Anyways, back to the point at hand, I know it's not an easy swap, which is why I hope to find another EG33 from a parts car some time in the future before I attempt the EZ, but the SVX's come at a premium and are not easy to find anymore. They occasionally pop up here on Craigslist, but people think the rough ones are worth their weight in gold because they're "rare" and "collectors". Rare, yes, collectors, no. My SVX without the mods would bring in about $1000 as is, with the mods, I can sell it to the right buyer for $2500-3000, but I'm keeping it and going to make it a very nice car.

Muse
04-24-2016, 05:06 PM
Yeah, I'm in CT. We only have emissions, but a CEL is an automatic failure, no matter the reason.

setnev
07-19-2016, 01:52 PM
Update on my Legacy: Stripping it for parts over the weekend. I can't believe that in less than 2 days I pulled apart half the car. Definitely one of the easiest cars I have ever worked on. There were a few hiccups, but overall, it's coming along smoothly.
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Wiscon_Mark
07-20-2016, 05:08 PM
EG33 will require a lot more fab work than an EZ30D since it's so much longer. I saw a swap into a GC Impreza and they had to do some weird stuff with the radiator and relocate/mod the radiator support beams as well as the front bumper supports. If you're really handy with a welder, it may be no big deal, but the EZ30D will fit a bit nicer into the bay and give you more power off the bat.