The build of the offroad WRX
 

As requested by Marc.

Page 1

I bought this about 6 yrs ago from Fowles, I just happened to be there looking at a different car and had also locked my keys in my car so I'd organised a lift home with a guy I'd got talking to and he wanted to stay till the end, this was the last lot to be auctioned and it was at a time when just about any re-registerable WRX was fetching at least 5-6 grand.

Anyhow the first and only bid was 3k & I'd barely even looked at this hideous thing but as the auctioneer was about to chuck the hammer down I threw my hand up and ended up getting it for $3,100 so that's the start of a rather long story, pics as I go.

The previous owner had the coil overs wound down that tight that he turned off Leach highway a bit fast and hit a rock on the road, the car bounced off the road and hit some trees and a sand bank.....that's what he told me anyhow.

The radiator support was held on with 2...yes 2 welds instead of about 30, obviously from a previous prang which was great as one of them had broken so it was all off in about 2min, I think it had every piece of C West crap available on it

As bought
[IMG]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c119/d_generate/TomsPohtoscarslancelin132.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c119/d_generate/TomsPohtoscarslancelin129.jpg[/IMG]

Get ready to vomit
[IMG]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c119/d_generate/Cars/PhotosofredWRXSharonscar001.jpg[/IMG]

So I had it towed home and got it running, got some std struts and ripped the coil overs off and sold them.

I went up to JWS when Darren owned it and discussed buying the r/h side of a hatch he had sitting there and lined it up with the panel beater (Paul) who did most of Darren's quicky work to do the job, after looking at the car and the donor I was going to buy it was decided to do a complete rear cut from the A pillars back, just as easy & in the end a shit load better as I ended up with a mint 97 V3 STI body and interior for $1,200 which I sold at least $2,000 worth of stuff out of (it had been left as a bit of a storage bin lol).

So after paying $2,500 to have the entire rear welded on.... complete r/h A pillar and cut through the l/h A pillar and sill and sill retaining the floor pan for legality + putting the new radiator support on from a 98 stat write off that I bought as another parts car I had it towed back to my ex gf's place as it was easier to work on there (unfortunately no pics of that car but it was bent in half so badly the center console was pushing the drivers seat out of the door and l/h seat was 6" wide when I took it out...)YUK. I paid 3k for that one at Pickles but the owner had just spent a fortune on handling mods, computer etc so I made more money than I paid selling on the parts I sold and kept the bits I needed.

This is the V3 front cut I bought for my liberty but you can see the rear of the blue wagon donor up on the top shelf in the original JWS workshop
[IMG]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c119/d_generate/Tom18-1-2005031.jpg[/IMG]

Anyhow, once back at her place I started getting all the electrics sorted 94 front to 97 rear then started patching all the little dings in the doors etc.............then we broke up & I dragged it home & stuck it under a tarp where it stayed for four and a half years untouched and unloved and not really not knowing what to do with it, although I always had in the back of my mind to turn it into an offroader so in the mean time I was collecting bits and pieces like Forrester GT wheels, rear wheel carrier, forester struts etc, anyhow I finally decided to drag it out from under it's hiding place and do something with it, first off was to get it running again (thanks seagull) then I stripped it completely & organised a panel beater to come over and sort all the little dings out.

As it lived for a very long time.
[IMG]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c119/d_generate/CIMG0609.jpg[/IMG]

Getting ready for paint
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When the panel beater was here I asked if we should sand back the work he had done but he said the (so called expert he worked with) would do that as it was the painters job.....Well that useless lazy shit who said it would take 5 days to paint called up 2 days later saying the car was ready and had organised a tow truck to bring it back, no shit I could have done better myself, he hadn't rubbed a thing back so if you look you can see all the area's that had been patched....he wasn't getting it back so I paid a fair bit less than quoted.

As it came back and starting the re construction process
[IMG]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c119/d_generate/CIMG2011.jpg[/IMG]

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Under the bonnet
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Ready for rego
[IMG]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c119/d_generate/CIMG2241.jpg[/IMG]

As it is now
[IMG]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c119/d_generate/CIMG2290-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c119/d_generate/CIMG3213-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c119/d_generate/CIMG3936.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c119/d_generate/DSC03005.jpg[/IMG]

At the moment it is off the road getting a new (old) re-built 92 Liberty hi/lo box with 4.44's & a front LSD, a bit more lift at the front, a smaller VF8 instead of the laggy TD05, the roo bar fitted properly, a huge alloy bash plate, diff plate,3" TBE, tow bar, different induction system and a bit more than the 8lb of boost it was running all thanks to the help of seagull................................That's all for now.
Oh at last count there were parts from 32 DIFFERENT cars in this thing

looks good mate

top effort :thumbsup:

The ole panel beater/spray painter who's job is this will never end mate, I once accidentally left some two way tape from a door mould on a job that went to paint and it was just painted over o_O 'whilst at Skippers'.

Thats awesome dude.

Thanks, and as of next week the only original parts left will be the floor/firewall, engine, possibly tail shaft and front rails/inner guards, it's also fully engineered for the lift kit, GD alloy arms, forester struts and wheel carrier.

And the remainder of the arse end didn't go to waste either, the area over the r/h rear wheel went to repair one car and I later bought this hatch and the rest went on to be used to fix it lol,

[IMG]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c119/d_generate/PhotosofWhiteImpreza002.jpg[/IMG]

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love the nice clean look of the wagon, wow alot of effort has gone into your ride... i want to get the sti spoilers and tailights for my wagon also, i think last time i asked JWS they had some, i just need to save up a bit first

haha seems you made everything at your disposal work for you, bet that saved a bit off your wallet, nice work!

nice work!

Top job mate. Looks really good. Well done.