so i picked up a new toy

[tt383lt1]

so i got a 03 wrx at auction for decent enough and I'm doing a 2.5 evac swap with a jam front end and right hand drive conversion. i got over 3/4 of parts and i figured i post it up

[95albinobird]

?????????????????this is not post whatever car.com:laugh:

[KoolPwny]

?????????????????this is not post whatever car.com
It is in the off topic section though lol

OP Nice car

[popo8]

Nice... what is ur body/mechanical background? Thats a huge undertaking.

[tt383lt1]

im a body tech and use to be a mechanic

[SSlowBoat]

Nice, look forward to seeing what you do with it

[popo8]

im a body tech and use to be a mechanic
Ok... I was gonna say, thats a huge diy job gor someone without an extensive back ground.

[tt383lt1]

yeah 150 hours to swap the rhd over and fix the front end. i have to cut the usa wrx firewall out and replace it with the euro firewall. and my old man makes wiring harness all day so i ask him if he could make me a body harness and engine harness.

[Fastbird]

I'm curious, what's the big draw for a RHD conversion? I just don't understand it.

[popo8]

I know a few people that have done this...I think its just a TO BE DIFFERENT or BECAUSE I CAN kinda thing.

[tt383lt1]

to show how good im at body work you have to cut the firewall out and replace do a lot of work. plus kinda different. and it only cost me 100 bucks to do the swap.

[popo8]

So its the "BECAUSE I CAN" reason? LOL

[tt383lt1]

yeah plus people reactions when they see me on the passanger side. i like to be different also. the thing is. the car is a 03. and got hit, i need a full front clip (hard to find a full clip the usually cut short.) i was going to put a 06 sti front end on with hawkeys for $2400 than i found this one with bug eyes for $2500 and with the rhd conversion. so in my head, get a 03 with a facelift to 06 or get a rhd for 100 more. i also have to pull the engine to do the repair to the frame rail and front apron, so perfect time to do it. im also building the engine and fuel system.

[popo8]

Sounds awesome. Keep us updated with pocs and progress man.

[popo8]

How is this MAJOR project goin?

[tt383lt1]

so i got the body done i had to cut the inner apron out and replace sectioned the rail and replace the radiator supports and headlight pockets took me 14 hours to do that with cutting the parts off the donor car. now I'm doing the wiring for the rhd conversion. i pulled the dash down to the firewall yesterday and today im cutting my main wiring harness in 6 spots and fipping it over. there is a fuse box and ecu that has to get swap from pass to diver and driver to passenger. but im cutting the wires here( 2 for the engine bay, 2 for the inner aprons and 2 for the rear taillights.) than flop the harness over. im putting oem 10 pin water proof connectors and making 6 exteneion harness instead of soldering them but i wouldnt recommend this to no one with out a electician doing this. there is about the size of a baseball of wire in there maybe 1000s wire

[tt383lt1]

this is where im cutting the wires

[popo8]

WOW... that is alot of work...

[tt383lt1]

kinda looks like alot of work. but after the wiring its nothing to finish. but im guessing a month ill have the wiring done. my dad makes wiring harnesses all day for a living. one harness at work took him 5 or 6 months to make. he looked at this and said no problem. i said how long. i want it done in a month he said ok. the hardest thing on the whole swap in my opinion is the heater/ac. the stock u.s is mechanical and euro is electical

[popo8]

Well Im impressed. I dont have alot of knowledge on the SUBY world... but is it worth all this work rather than just finding one?

[tt383lt1]

yeah. the conversion is 6 grand in labor. the car is from japan thats probley 15k to 20k for the car shipped from japan ill have 9k into everything and a built sti engine. the wiring is the worst and we can do it. if you seen what we did to my camaro for wiring. we striped all the wires out and made it street legal and all runs through the stock steering colum like stock. but now thats old school no bcm, no computer ect. now where keeping this one like stock. just extending wires.

[tt383lt1]

plus anyone can buy one and ship it in. its nice to do the work.

[95albinobird]

plus anyone can buy one and ship it in. its nice to do the work.
nice work......but not anyone can buy 1 and ship it in the feds cracked down on that..check it out you tax dollars hard at work
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/05/29/wisconsin-man-avoids-jail-by-agreeing-to-have-his-nissan-skyline/

[popo8]

That was a little more than just trying to ship a car...

[tt383lt1]

so i got the harness cut and switch over and the fuse box and ecu are un the right spot and all the wire in the middle line up also. (radio, air bah module, heat control ect, but im going to start punching the hole out in the firewall tomorrow and hopefully have the harness done in two weeks. but i got excited and wanted to see the dash in. so i just set evreything in for now

31551

[tt383lt1]

so i got the harnnes cut and swapped and got the fusebox and ecu where they go and everything lines up in the middle radio, air bag module, ect, but im going to cut the firewall holes out tomorrow and hopefully have the harness done in two weeks.maybe 200 wires need to be stretched. not as bad as i thought but still enough.but i want to see what it looked like with the dash and stuff in so i through them in just to see there coming back out. and i also figured out the heater and ac. im using the u.s controls on the euro heater box i took the electic controls off the euro heater box and making my u.s mechanical work on the euro box

[95albinobird]

that was a little more than just trying to ship a car...
lol you got me there

[tt383lt1]

i got all the mechanical done. brake pedal, booster, abs block, clutch, gas cable, rhd firewall insulation, heater/ ac box and line, steering column, so pretty much just the electical is left and i already started on it and these are the electical connectors im using. so pretty much a plug and play. you do all the connectors and than make a harness to fit it.