greenspeed's 98 Lgt (bd) ej205 swap

[greenspeed]

well I've been pretty active here on sl-i for a little while and have chimed from time to time, but time to bring out what's been done to my car and a little history leading to the ej205 swap.

While going to school at NMU in marquette, MI I began looking for a 98lgt and found one that i had made a deal on and so forth in Grand Rapids, well after 3 weeks and the dealer unable to get a title I started looking around. I found my future legacy down in Tampa florida. Had my cousin test drive it and it all checked out. Got a plane ticket and flew down there the next day to buy it. After I got it, the front caliper seized and since my cousin had no tools at his house I took it to a shop. $800's later I seemed to be on my way with all new front brakes and calipers. Well got 215 miles and the engine started making a noise. Sure enough the dreaded internal hg failure took out a rod bearing. Got it towed to what letter became the best subaru dealer I have ever done business with. SOJax's other wise know as Subaru of Jacksonville.

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After it got towed home I started looking around and found a 2.5L out of a rs sohc and decided to swap it in. Figured a complete ej25 for $600 was a great deal. 4k miles later I was at a rod knock and no car again. I ran my DOHC heads on the SOHC block and all seemed well with that swap.

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After running around and dealing with crap from the rents and the bank account screaming at me for what I had just gone through in a 6 month time frame. So I decided i needed to just do the ej205 swap i wanted to do from the beginning and be happy with my car and dirt arse poor. So I did it...this is the chronicles of the swap:

First things first...this swap wasn't cheap, it wasn't easy, and for most it wasn't just boom boom boom...there were some tie ups and a lot of help was given to me from Dylan at DS1 motorsports when the day came to get things together and i was missing a ton of random parts. My short block I actually drove so it was a nice guarantee in a way...

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wiring harness laid down and mapped out from Zephyr on nasioc

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the first official connection...since going the soldier route seemed to be too time consuming

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sti crossmember

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shims that are needed when using the wrx or sti crossmember

now the final stages
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and as she sits today...
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Alright so what all is done one may ask...ej205 swap, full harness merge, Romraider tune from matt at 555, defi gauges, aem wideband, retro fitted gc8 a piller gauge holder, borla header, Gimmick 3" inlet, invidia N1 full cat back with 3 inch flex pipe to fill the extra length needed on the legacy over the wrx, ebay bellmouth downpipe, welbro 255 fp, and jdm legacy airduct...

so what you may ask is wrong? well after 3 months the mod bug's hit. The td04 has to be the most inefficient turbo made imo...I'm planning to go with an 18g ball bearing turbo, 650cc injectors, fmic or really large tmic, an aftermarket up pipe because that's robbing me bad right now, jdm projectors, outback sus front end swap, and some nicer front seats...

let me know what you all think...

When I had the dash out for my swap I remembered I had this water leak on the passenger side of my dash. My buddy and I spent a half hour water that side of the car looking for it.

I've kind of let it go cause it was snowing and not a big deal. Well it's now raining and it's still kind of bad. It's just a drip drip drip but my interior is starting to smell and frankly I'm not sure what is causing the leak. There is water coming down the crack of the dash and the a pillar but I'm sure the weatherstripping there isn't the cause. Is thee a drain for the sunroof that might be causing it to drain in the car? Or something under the cowl?

[Bdubs]

It's a good chance the hose from the sunroof has come off. You are probably going to have to drop the headliner to reattach it.
To test if the drain tubes are working, park the car on an incline, and poor a glassful of water into the trays on the side. Within seconds you should see the water start to come out near the tires. If not, well then that water is going somewhere else, and that's your problem.

[greenspeed]

I c...thanks...I was kind of thinking that...have to wait til it get over 32 here so I can do it...rained yesterday and -10 below today...the midwest sucks!

[greenspeed]

pulled the headliner down on the passenger side and noticed that the tube had come disconnected off of the sunroof drain...the headline didn't go to crap because of this and things were fixed...thank God

[greenspeed]

It took me 6 months to find a decent deal on a set of 02 wrx seats and get money to buy them.

Install from 1 to 10. I'd say they were a -5 they bolted right up to the bd mounting points and just had to swap the seat belt latches. I love the seat and there are amazing. I'll have pics tomorrow mom made steak and nothing better than a hearty steak after a day working on stuff in the garage.

[T_F_E]

congrats, look forward to seeing the pics :smt023

[2.5GT]

Definitely post up some pics when you get the chance. Did you get the rear seats too?

I'm thinking of switching over to cloth seats. These leather seats are killing me :lol:

[greenspeed]

I did get the rear too...I was thinking of using the cloth off them to put over my lgt seats but not sure what I will do about the back i don't want to try and make them fit...it looks like a pita to get it to fit right and really not worth it for 3 head rests lol

[2.5GT]

Yeah, definitely a reupholster shop to do that kind of work.

Is the seats all black? or half black and beige type?

[greenspeed]

Went to the bank and was on my way home and blew 2nd gear!

Anyone got a 5mt 4.11 push trans?

[greenspeed]

I was out and about a week ago and after a little pull in first and up to 3rd I stopped at the next stop light and when I went to shift into 3rd just driving regularly my trans was a stuborn girl shifting. It lasted that night until it cooled down.

Well this weekend after putting 1500 miles on my car in 10 days just driving in town back from the bank my car begins to make this metal on metal noise in 2nd gear only.

Well 2 weeks of college left and the weekend I should be working on a senior project I spent in the shop tearing the 5mt out....

I,m not sure what I'm going to do trans wise now. I have a 4 month employement contract at denali national park and decided because of the trans I'm leaving the legacy in Wisconsin and going to pick up with in September when I get back... :sad banana:

Or might get another trans as a temp to make it drivable during the 4 weeks I have before going to ak...
Kind of a sad day. But now I'll have time to buy parts and get ready for my new build idea that's been brewing.

[fischer881]

I have WRX seats in my 97 LGT I love them, but the guy who installed them might have not done a good job because the fold down arm rest/trunk entrance door thing doesn't latch and falls open alot.

But they look really nice in the car! :smt023 I have blue and black WRX seats with my car being the dark blue color. I can't remeber the actual color name!

[greenspeed]

Today was a mildstone for the bd.

Put the new to me 2daa in and after 2 hours of fighting the Trans to get it to go in. We pulled it back out and realized the pilot bearing off the flywheel decided to fall out and get lodged awkwardly inside the pressure plate.

So fixed it and it slid right in. Bringing me to a good point. Check your shit before starting to do things and don't force it!

Tomorrow is going to be left to doing the wheel bearing and putting the ps on. I'm going to be so glad driving my car again. These 3 weeks without my baby have been hell!

Leaving for alaska on Sunday. I hope to make a day by day post for you all to enjoy with pics when I leave. So stay posted. It will be in the off topic section.

[Navi271]

nice one lol, i just replaced a wheel stud.. Oops.. the nut wasn't catching the threads very well so like anyone else I just forced it on.. BAD IDEA, yay for driving around with 4 of 5 wheel bolt thingers on for a few days
have fun with doing the wheels bearing and ps and such!

[Sarra]

I was tempted to do the clutch myself in my WRX, but I'm glad I didn't. Not only was the transmission bellhousing rusted to the back of the engine, but the new kit's throw out bearing refused to go in properly. My mechanic fought with the car for 3 days before he said 'hell with it', and bent the retaining clip for the throw out bearing slightly, popped it in, slid the gearbox in, and voila, it clicked together.

[greenspeed]

catchy title you think...you can thank kat williams...so on to the topic at hand...

whatcha guys/gals think?

http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv5/greenspeed/wisconsintoalaskaday2031.jpg

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after

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sadly this one makes it look like a bug eye

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i dunno what we're supposed to be looking at

edit: ohhh! i see it now... i like it... get projectors then do that :smt023

but for the time being that looks pretty clean

[Reason]

Painted headlight housing?

[Benfolio]

DO THE FOGS TOO!!!

:smt023

[greenspeed]

I got the housings blacked out good call reason. Yeah I would get projectors but then I loose my old skool look. I'm going to be making a light bar with about 4 rally lights on it looking at hella 500's cause they are decent and cheap.

As for the fogs I'm not blacking them out. They are clipped and glued would be really hard to seperate. I really just love the jdm fogs so they will be going on.

Also blacked out the chrome cause I hate chrome Lol.

Just need a new bumper cover and the front end will be tits.

[greenspeed]

can anyone hold me out a bit. I can't seem to find any way to adjust my trunk from side to side and as far as i know my car's never been wrecked, but I'm really tired of how far off the gap is...take a look

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[Huffer]

Maybe if your pic was a little closer up we could see something.

[greenspeed]

yeah...I was in a hurry to leave work also since i stare at it everyday I notice it regardless....this should be a lot better

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if you look at the reverse light on the driverside on how it lines up with the outside corner light light that;s waht i am talking about it's flush on the passenger side.

[dodik]

most likely someone put something in the trunk and try to force it closed while whatever it was was hitting the driver side leg in the trunk, <== i dont know how much sence it makes but most likely left trunk support is a bit bent or croked or something along those lines.

[greenspeed]

I'm retarded...I just bought sti suspension last week...and just bought a evo 3 16g...what is wrong with me?

:smt021

[Huffer]

Should have bought transmission.

[greenspeed]

Should have bought transmission.

quiet...if i don't tell ellen (my ej205) that there is a 16g on her...she won't eat it...

[hapatimmy]

hey how are you liking the black housing? I'm thinking if I should do it or not, and how difficult it is. But it looks great I can already see.

[BE-Fresh]

It's amazing how such subtle touches make a huge difference

[greenspeed]

I'm kind of leary on going a lot further into getting a trans and playing with the ej205's power until I can get a lot of my worn up parts a look see :smt018

I read a thread a few down about some whiteline stuff. I'm ganna order the anit lift kit and teh whiteline tie rod end kit with ball joints. should solve some issues up front, unless I'm missing something.

I'm instally a set of 07 STI JDM take off struts paired with a set of 05 sti springs, should clean a lot up also.

But What about the rear?

I'm not sure what these are anyone able to help out?

http://www2.kartboy.com/x4/product.php? ... 260&page=2 (http://www2.kartboy.com/x4/product.php?productid=16177&cat=260&page=2)

[HeresMyMind]

stock GT fogs separate extremely easy bwt. i retrofitted mine with lexus es300 yellow projectors. then got bored and did a JDM retrofit. which was something I never will do again

-B

[greenspeed]

hey how are you liking the black housing? I'm thinking if I should do it or not, and how difficult it is. But it looks great I can already see.


thanks my friend on Nasioc did um for me. Basically it isn't something I'd do. It requires patients. which I don't use. I tore my grill off and broke some tabs cause I did't feel like searching for the tab and figured it just pulled out, during the project. My buddy sat there with a head gun to seperate them and them I did the painting lol. :smt027

[Benfolio]

Are you doing STi struts in the rear as well? You'll get some butt sag and will need spacers.

The outrigger bushings replace the flexible rubber diff mounts so the whole assembly moves less, and won't clunk under hard shifting as they usually do. You will get some increased NVH with them though, especially the HARD bushings. But you'll put the power down to the wheels better, and it won't be as sloppy when you transition from on to off the throttle. Been wanting to do mine.

Also look into getting sway bars if you haven't already. I was happy with the ride of my WRX struts, but the body roll in the corners still sucks.

[greenspeed]

Are you doing STi struts in the rear as well? You'll get some butt sag and will need spacers.

The outrigger bushings replace the flexible rubber diff mounts so the whole assembly moves less, and won't clunk under hard shifting as they usually do. You will get some increased NVH with them though, especially the HARD bushings. But you'll put the power down to the wheels better, and it won't be as sloppy when you transition from on to off the throttle. Been wanting to do mine.

Also look into getting sway bars if you haven't already. I was happy with the ride of my WRX struts, but the body roll in the corners still sucks.

I just put the springs on the struts today and noticed that they seemed a little short than I had hoped. I do have a bd figured sedan springs would be fine. I may have to tweek it some and just find smoething that works. I know that I may have to use a spacer to take up the gap on the top hats not fitting just right into the strut tower mounts.

and what is NVH?

I looked in to sway bars, but first things first. I may get this done, hate it and just go with some Ksport coils..idk yet. Just something needed to be done suspension wise, I'm tired of feeling like I'm driving a huge dumb truck when I'm cornering :smt022

[jey]

Noise Vibration Harshness

[greenspeed]

I left my CD card at my place in denali, so hopefully I can find one for tomorrow...I'm doing the strut install...I'm doing a walkabout on nabisco...I will do it here too

[anothernord]

I've got rear subframe outrigger bushings from Kartboy. I got the "race" version, expecting to get a lot more NVH, but it isn't bad at all except for around ~60mph I get some vibration, but its a small speed range, and the "klunk" is nearly gone; replaced by a slight "click".

[greenspeed]

A little update on what i've done.

I'm now running an evo III 16g on stock wrx injectors and stock top mount. It's do able and everyone says you need huge injectors. Well I'm at 102% idc at 16lbs at redline. I had an issue with wastegate flutter and spiking at the track and put down a 14.48 with a 2.31 60ft cause I'm still running my stock Trans and basically no upgraded mounts at all.

I've also installed 07 sti suspension and struts. I am working on some retrofits and need to get a camber kit to adjust that a bit. It really made a huge difference.

Really happy with my ride just need to get more fundage to get her to the next level. Plus the Alaskan winter is creeping up fast. Excited to run studs for the first time, and may get in on some rally-x

[rougeben83]

A little update on what i've done.

I'm now running an evo III 16g on stock wrx injectors and stock top mount. It's do able and everyone says you need huge injectors. Well I'm at 102% idc at 16lbs at redline. I had an issue with wastegate flutter and spiking at the track and put down a 14.48 with a 2.31 60ft cause I'm still running my stock Trans and basically no upgraded mounts at all.

I've also installed 07 sti suspension and struts. I am working on some retrofits and need to get a camber kit to adjust that a bit. It really made a huge difference.

Really happy with my ride just need to get more fundage to get her to the next level. Plus the Alaskan winter is creeping up fast. Excited to run studs for the first time, and may get in on some rally-x

People aren't saying its physically impossible, its just that the 16g is more than capable of 20psi, and maxing out your injectors is never a good thing in any situation. It's just not a smart and safe way to tune.

[greenspeed]

heres the new look and my custom light bar

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https://sl-i.net/FORUM/

[greenspeed]

Since I got bored tonight and started looking at all these pics. I am going to take some shots tomorrow and post up what my beast really looks like in close dept, however she doesn't like getting a bath, so I am not washing it, cause really who washes there subaru? They are made to play in the dirt and mud

[LiftedGT]

Gotta love trans problems :smt013 My thermostat just went out, sending my temp gauge well above H, and forcing me to leave it at my parents until my brother (my savior Subaru mechanic) can come replace it tomorrow after work. Then the drive belt, hg, et al. in the next 2 weeks. Needless, the wife was very happy :shock:

[Soarer]

Went to the bank and was on my way home and blew 2nd gear!

Anyone got a 5mt 4.11 push trans?


Yes, I'm running a 4.11 push trans. I've got it mounted up to a ej205 out of a 2002 wrx. I've got an ACT clutch and pressure plate, stock flywheel and a 4.11 mechanical limited slip rear diff.

What FMIC kit are you using? That's the next thing I need to do.

[greenspeed]

Update: (since I forgot about this thread) Sold her to Grayguy aka Max, then moved back to Alaska. She's now residing in the state of Minnesnowta

Also had a lot done since this thread was last update :smt017 my bad

[grayguy]

And so far All I've done is take the hitch off, de-tint it (at the request of the MN state patrol), add a 20" resonator (that didn't quiet it down at all) and collect a few parts.

I have eibach springs on the way for my 04' Sti struts, an 05 Sti scoop to cut into an L hood, my BIG tmic to install, and a "new" dash to install...

I Also have a ej255 short block that might make it's way into the beast this year too if I'm ambitious...

[greenspeed]

And so far All I've done is take the hitch off, de-tint it (at the request of the MN state patrol), add a 20" resonator (that didn't quiet it down at all) and collect a few parts.

I have eibach springs on the way for my 04' Sti struts, an 05 Sti scoop to cut into an L hood, my BIG tmic to install, and a "new" dash to install...

I Also have a ej255 short block that might make it's way into the beast this year too if I'm ambitious...

How dare you take the trailer hitch off. That was a sweet low clearance detector :smt018

[grayguy]

That reminds me, I took all the rally armor flaps off too because they kept rubbing everytime I went in/out of the driveway and one ripped off haha.

[greenspeed]

That reminds me, I took all the rally armor flaps off too because they kept rubbing everytime I went in/out of the driveway and one ripped off haha.

Yeah the Alcan killed one anyways lol

[grayguy]

random question, what does this thing have for injectors? I could have sworn you said uncapped sti pinks?

[greenspeed]

random question, what does this thing have for injectors? I could have sworn you said uncapped sti pinks?

Yeah it has some decapped pinks, the 560 pinks. They flowed at something retarded like 820 for the tune, and were a nightmare to begin with, to be honest ditch um and get some decent injectors that come with flow charts, I will never run decaps again, seems like the flow is hard to tune and they don't particalize right when they spray and theres a ton of raw fuel.

[grayguy]

So what size your I be looking for, 650-800?

Also, are they top or side feed?

[greenspeed]

So what size your I be looking for, 650-800?

Also, are they top or side feed?

:smt021 Top feeds, only fags run side feeds come on now

Let's just say that with the stock 440cc injectors the ecu was displaying 125% duty cycle. So 650's are big enough for the e316g, but if you want to go bigger turbo then go bigger injectors. It's not really going to push a set of 650's over 90% so should be good. I got a good deal on those that's why I snagged um

[grayguy]

Ok, I was figuring like 700ish, I don't plan on going bigger turbo in the near future

[greenspeed]

After 5 years, she finally came back home today. It'll be a long rebuilding process, but regretted selling her from the moment I did.

[Muse]

Congrats!