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  #1  
Old 10-26-2017, 10:38 AM
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SoCoNoHa SoCoNoHa is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Southern NH
Posts: 99
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Project Berserker

I have been perusing eBay quite a lot over the past several months, acquiring parts for my SVX; some necessary, some not so necessary:









But that's not what this thread is about. My SVX will be tucked away, safe from the elements and especially the road salt for the winter. Since I still need to get to work and such, I've been keeping an eye out for an older Legacy. Well...





I found it on CL about 20 minutes from my house.
It's a 1995 Impreza L Coupe, with AWD and a 5 speed from the factory! Curb weight is 2605 lbs and you can definitely tell. It handles pretty damn amazing for stock suspension and winter tires. Plus no pesky OBDII to interfere with my plans...



Right now I'm loving the car, even though the 1.8l engine is the Slowest. Thing. Ever. Unfortunately I can't stand the gearing of the 3.90 trans, it just doesn't feel right. Huge gap between 1st and 2nd, but 2nd and 3rd are extremely close. And on the highway the motor is actually spinning faster than the 4.111 in my SVX.

So I've got a lead on a 4.111 from a 2000's Outback as well as a recently rebuilt phase 1 EZ30. My intention is to get both into the car before the snow flies, but we'll see. I'll start with that, get it running well and buttoned up. Given the chassis weight, it should be extremely quick. Next year I will hopefully have saved up enough to rebuild the engine with forged internals for some delicious forced induction! But first things first...

She's a little rusty underneath(understatement) and when I got it there was an old tube sock ziptied to the MAF sensor for a filter, wish I had pics of that! Anyway I scored some cheap H6 brakes and newer Impreza suspension for it. I believe all I need to do is redrill the rear strut mounts and I'm golden. I'll hopefully be tackling that this weekend, and then the real fun begins!
__________________
1992 SVX LS-L : King of the Stable
LGT 5MT, ABS Delete, Short Ram Intake, Custom Exhaust, Drilled/Slotted Rotors

1993 Legacy sedan : winter beater, supposedly.
1994 Legacy wagon : future drift car?
1995 Impreza coupe : EZ30++, daily racecar.
1997 Legacy GT : date night rocket?
2003 WRX : future winter beater
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  #2  
Old 10-28-2017, 08:33 AM
wdb wdb is online now
dances with roads
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 630
Registered SVX
Re: Project Berserker

You crazy, dude.


Please keep us updated.
__________________
1995 Caterham 7 Twincam
2002 Porsche 911 targa -- now with FSI 4.0L power!
2007 BMW 328i Cabriolet
2012 Tacoma 4wd v6 Access Cab
2013 Mercedes E350 4Matic Wagon
2005 STi - totaled after 10 great years
1994 SVX LSi 5spd - sold but not forgotten
2000 Legacy GT 5spd sedan - gone after 150K miles of bliss
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  #3  
Old 10-30-2017, 01:42 PM
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SoCoNoHa SoCoNoHa is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Southern NH
Posts: 99
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H6 Brakes

Picked up some misc stuff for the swap last weekend from an L.L. Bean being parted out. Got the grill, steering wheel, PS pump, PS lines, and the rotors and calipers all around. Figured I'd try the infamous H6 Brake Upgrade, although I've only been able to find info on the rears, no idea if the fronts will fit so I'll just try it and see.









Didn't get them all disassembled, just the rears for now. Next weekend I'll clean and paint them. I'm thinking shiny black to go behind my future gold wheels, what do you think?
__________________
1992 SVX LS-L : King of the Stable
LGT 5MT, ABS Delete, Short Ram Intake, Custom Exhaust, Drilled/Slotted Rotors

1993 Legacy sedan : winter beater, supposedly.
1994 Legacy wagon : future drift car?
1995 Impreza coupe : EZ30++, daily racecar.
1997 Legacy GT : date night rocket?
2003 WRX : future winter beater
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  #4  
Old 11-01-2017, 05:54 AM
wdb wdb is online now
dances with roads
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 630
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Re: Project Berserker

Yes shiny black. I'm not a fan of brightly painted calipers (says the ex-STi owner).
__________________
1995 Caterham 7 Twincam
2002 Porsche 911 targa -- now with FSI 4.0L power!
2007 BMW 328i Cabriolet
2012 Tacoma 4wd v6 Access Cab
2013 Mercedes E350 4Matic Wagon
2005 STi - totaled after 10 great years
1994 SVX LSi 5spd - sold but not forgotten
2000 Legacy GT 5spd sedan - gone after 150K miles of bliss
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  #5  
Old 11-03-2017, 12:02 PM
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SoCoNoHa SoCoNoHa is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Southern NH
Posts: 99
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H6 Brakes

Ready for painting, mostly.



__________________
1992 SVX LS-L : King of the Stable
LGT 5MT, ABS Delete, Short Ram Intake, Custom Exhaust, Drilled/Slotted Rotors

1993 Legacy sedan : winter beater, supposedly.
1994 Legacy wagon : future drift car?
1995 Impreza coupe : EZ30++, daily racecar.
1997 Legacy GT : date night rocket?
2003 WRX : future winter beater
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  #6  
Old 11-03-2017, 05:32 PM
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SoCoNoHa SoCoNoHa is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Southern NH
Posts: 99
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H6 Brakezerker

Painted



Assembled





Before



After



They don't look that impressive side by side but that's just because the H6 rotors are considerably larger. These things really grab, too. Much better feel and stopping power than the stockers. Tomorrow I'll see if the fronts fit.
__________________
1992 SVX LS-L : King of the Stable
LGT 5MT, ABS Delete, Short Ram Intake, Custom Exhaust, Drilled/Slotted Rotors

1993 Legacy sedan : winter beater, supposedly.
1994 Legacy wagon : future drift car?
1995 Impreza coupe : EZ30++, daily racecar.
1997 Legacy GT : date night rocket?
2003 WRX : future winter beater
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  #7  
Old 11-06-2017, 08:53 AM
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SoCoNoHa SoCoNoHa is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Southern NH
Posts: 99
Registered SVX
Early Christmas

I didn't get to the front brakes this weekend as I was running all over creation to gather more parts. What a haul. Got a resealed longblock, all the extra parts and gaskets to finish, radiator, AC condenser, a buttload of wiring harness (completely intact), and a very nice binder with detailed instructions and specifications.













Got a trans from an older outback after my first target got sold before I could get it. Got the matching rear diff with it, as well as the clutch hydraulic master and slave. Right now the clutch in the car is cable actuated but I'm a little afraid of it breaking and leaving me stranded, so I'll look into the conversion to hydraulic. Hopefully I can use the original pedalset.

So now that I've got basically everything I need, it's time to get to work!




On a side note, it looks like one of my old rear calipers wasn't doing much...

__________________
1992 SVX LS-L : King of the Stable
LGT 5MT, ABS Delete, Short Ram Intake, Custom Exhaust, Drilled/Slotted Rotors

1993 Legacy sedan : winter beater, supposedly.
1994 Legacy wagon : future drift car?
1995 Impreza coupe : EZ30++, daily racecar.
1997 Legacy GT : date night rocket?
2003 WRX : future winter beater
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  #8  
Old 11-11-2017, 12:46 PM
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SoCoNoHa SoCoNoHa is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Southern NH
Posts: 99
Registered SVX
Wiring

Got the front H6 brakes on, bolted up with no issues. This thing stops!

...And then there's the wiring. It turns out I picked up a VDC setup. I have read these can be a pain to swap/convert/what have you, so I spent a few hours (like 7) digging through the wiring diagrams and decided it was possible to convert my harness to non-VDC. I had to re-pin the TCU connectors, as the VDC unit has three connectors while the non-VDC unit has two, and remove the extra wires not found in the non-VDC harness. I also removed the six wires from the VDC unit to the ECU. The ECU pinouts are the same between the two systems. The downside is the VDC controller uses the ABS sensors and appears to take the place of ABS. So if you want to convert your VDC wagon to non-VDC, there's considerably more wiring fun to be had, and possibly mechanical fun as well. But it should work for my purposes. Below are the re-pinned TCU connectors, with the nearly empty 3rd (green) connector, as well as my cheat sheet for the task.





Here's the stuff I need



And the stuff I don't need



So that's basically all set. Once I get my engine and trans ready to drop in, I just have to take a week off so I can merge the harnesses. My SVX should already be in storage but I shredded a tire on my supposed ' last hurrah of the year' a few weeks ago and had to swap wheels. Finally got around to it today and took her for a ride... DAMN I love that car. SO much faster than my Impreza... for now...

__________________
1992 SVX LS-L : King of the Stable
LGT 5MT, ABS Delete, Short Ram Intake, Custom Exhaust, Drilled/Slotted Rotors

1993 Legacy sedan : winter beater, supposedly.
1994 Legacy wagon : future drift car?
1995 Impreza coupe : EZ30++, daily racecar.
1997 Legacy GT : date night rocket?
2003 WRX : future winter beater
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  #9  
Old 11-18-2017, 09:25 AM
wdb wdb is online now
dances with roads
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 630
Registered SVX
Re: Project Berserker

Shredded a tire! Oh my. Glad that it didn't turn out too badly.
__________________
1995 Caterham 7 Twincam
2002 Porsche 911 targa -- now with FSI 4.0L power!
2007 BMW 328i Cabriolet
2012 Tacoma 4wd v6 Access Cab
2013 Mercedes E350 4Matic Wagon
2005 STi - totaled after 10 great years
1994 SVX LSi 5spd - sold but not forgotten
2000 Legacy GT 5spd sedan - gone after 150K miles of bliss
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  #10  
Old 12-09-2017, 05:55 AM
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SoCoNoHa SoCoNoHa is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Southern NH
Posts: 99
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wdb View Post
Shredded a tire! Oh my. Glad that it didn't turn out too badly.
Yea, I got lucky! I was just a stone's throw away from my house at the time.
__________________
1992 SVX LS-L : King of the Stable
LGT 5MT, ABS Delete, Short Ram Intake, Custom Exhaust, Drilled/Slotted Rotors

1993 Legacy sedan : winter beater, supposedly.
1994 Legacy wagon : future drift car?
1995 Impreza coupe : EZ30++, daily racecar.
1997 Legacy GT : date night rocket?
2003 WRX : future winter beater
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  #11  
Old 12-09-2017, 07:26 AM
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SoCoNoHa SoCoNoHa is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Southern NH
Posts: 99
Registered SVX
I finally unwrapped the engine I picked up from Craigslist. It's much cleaner than the one I already had, but somewhere along the line some dirt/grit found it's way into the unprotected intake ports. I'll clean them out as best I can I guess.







I also did a bunch of cleaning.

Timing Gear


Rear Diff - Before


Rear Diff - After


Transmission Bellhousing


'Stage 2' EBay Clutch Kit


I discovered the new engine didn't include a water pump, so I had to scavenge that from my other engine. No worries, I was already disassembling it to scavenge some stripped bolts for the timing cover.

After removing about 70 brutally soft allen head bolts and all the timing gear, out she popped.


Looks like it's been sitting, alright.
__________________
1992 SVX LS-L : King of the Stable
LGT 5MT, ABS Delete, Short Ram Intake, Custom Exhaust, Drilled/Slotted Rotors

1993 Legacy sedan : winter beater, supposedly.
1994 Legacy wagon : future drift car?
1995 Impreza coupe : EZ30++, daily racecar.
1997 Legacy GT : date night rocket?
2003 WRX : future winter beater
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  #12  
Old 12-09-2017, 07:28 AM
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SoCoNoHa SoCoNoHa is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Southern NH
Posts: 99
Registered SVX
Upon closer inspection of the newer parts, I found the section of the rear timing cover that seals against the water pump was gouged up pretty good. My old one may be dirty, but the mating surfaces are all smooth and flat so I'll just use that. The FSM states that inner timing covers and oil pumps are selective, so I'm gonna throw in the old oil pump as well to keep things consistent.

New cover on left, looks like a hammer/screwdriver job...


So now I'm collecting fluids and rtv and a torque wrench so I can button this thing up. I'd like to paint the timing/valve covers, but I don't have anywhere indoors I can paint, and outside is well below the recommended spraying temp.

For now, I picked up a timing kit for the EJ18 because my t-belt idlers sound like skateboard wheels, and I'd like it to last till spring.



Non mechanically, I ordered a 99 grill, then discovered I need 98-01 headlights to fit so ordered those, some cheap aftermarket black housing things that actually look pretty good. Also grabbed a sweet shifter, just because I can.



Before


After




I mean, how could I say no?
__________________
1992 SVX LS-L : King of the Stable
LGT 5MT, ABS Delete, Short Ram Intake, Custom Exhaust, Drilled/Slotted Rotors

1993 Legacy sedan : winter beater, supposedly.
1994 Legacy wagon : future drift car?
1995 Impreza coupe : EZ30++, daily racecar.
1997 Legacy GT : date night rocket?
2003 WRX : future winter beater
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  #13  
Old 12-09-2017, 11:10 AM
wdb wdb is online now
dances with roads
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 630
Registered SVX
Re: Project Berserker

Ninja baby!
__________________
1995 Caterham 7 Twincam
2002 Porsche 911 targa -- now with FSI 4.0L power!
2007 BMW 328i Cabriolet
2012 Tacoma 4wd v6 Access Cab
2013 Mercedes E350 4Matic Wagon
2005 STi - totaled after 10 great years
1994 SVX LSi 5spd - sold but not forgotten
2000 Legacy GT 5spd sedan - gone after 150K miles of bliss
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  #14  
Old 12-26-2017, 06:57 PM
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SoCoNoHa SoCoNoHa is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Southern NH
Posts: 99
Registered SVX
I ordered a spoiler for it, the usual gc wing. Showed up broken.





So I found one on craigslist haha, shoulda gone there first.



Unfortunately I probly won't make any real progress until springtime, unless someone wants to share their nice heated garage...
__________________
1992 SVX LS-L : King of the Stable
LGT 5MT, ABS Delete, Short Ram Intake, Custom Exhaust, Drilled/Slotted Rotors

1993 Legacy sedan : winter beater, supposedly.
1994 Legacy wagon : future drift car?
1995 Impreza coupe : EZ30++, daily racecar.
1997 Legacy GT : date night rocket?
2003 WRX : future winter beater
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  #15  
Old 04-11-2018, 10:32 AM
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SoCoNoHa SoCoNoHa is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Southern NH
Posts: 99
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Re: Project Berserker

I was convinced to join RS25.com by a guy I bought a BUNCH of parts off of, and I started a members journal for my Impreza. I'll probly update that one primarily just because it's a site for Imprezas.

Catch up on things here:
http://www.rs25.com/forums/f145/t243...-8t-3-0-a.html

Also I decided to hold off on the EZ30 swap (I know) and instead I've been putting together a turbo kit for the ej18 (I KNOW)that's already in the car. As it turns out, ej18s have forged rods and crank, thick cylinder walls, and have been known to withstand ungodly amounts of abuse. I'm talking some guy drained all the engine oil and was still able to drive one around the block, pegged to the rev limiter no less!

Anyway the 1.8 has a 9.5:1 CR and aggressive timing, making low boost setups very rewarding. I, however, have acquired some EJ22T heads that will drop the CR through the floor and allow me to run 'gobs' of boost.

And if I should blow up the engine? Then it's swap time!

Boy howdy, now that the weather is turning I can't wait to get back to working on (and driving, of course) my SVX!!!
__________________
1992 SVX LS-L : King of the Stable
LGT 5MT, ABS Delete, Short Ram Intake, Custom Exhaust, Drilled/Slotted Rotors

1993 Legacy sedan : winter beater, supposedly.
1994 Legacy wagon : future drift car?
1995 Impreza coupe : EZ30++, daily racecar.
1997 Legacy GT : date night rocket?
2003 WRX : future winter beater
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