Stripping my Impreza - what do I need to know - any advice !

[M@H]

Hi All,

So I have jujst got my donor car sorted for my engine and gearbox transplant into my '59 splitty. I have bought a 53 plate Impreza sport (non turbo) with FSH, tax and MOT for £770 (granted it is missing a door as it got T boned but it still drives perfectly)

Before I begin surgery on it can you give me any pointers or specifics that I need to do / not do. All advice gratefully received

Many thanks,
Matt.

[jp]

Have you checked out the sticky's at the top of this section of the forum?

Good luck
_________________
1971 Devon Bay with 1800 Ford Turbo Diesel Engine (wip)
1983 VW Golf GTI Campaign
1979 Mini 1275 GT
2013 Scirocco TDI GT

[M@H]

Hi, Yes I have.. I'm pretty clear on all the things I need to save, was just wondering if there were any pearls of wisdom on here with regards to issues in the procedures.. e.g. don't disconnect X until you've done Y.. mind the Z when removing the A.. that sort of thing

Cheers

[Obonobo]

As far as stripping the car, no rules apply, I guess. Although it is handy to document/label/take photos of how things were connected (especially the wiring loom). That prevents a lot of head ache later on.
_________________
Greetings from Sietze
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Driving a '75 Bay with a EJ22 '93 and 091 6-rib box.

And it's a long time since it looked anything like this!

[M@H]

So far, not much progress:

It takes much longer than you think to remove the wiring loom. From what I have seen on the RJES website a '53 plate is WAY more awkward to unwire than an earlier car that they have an example of.

I think there is probaby 18-20 hours work in it at least if you are not too familiar with the car (I have not finished yet after 4 part days at it). The entire interior from the back seats forwards needs removing including lifting the seats, carpets and pretty much all the tim panels from floor to headlining (thankfully the doors are on plug connectors so they can be disconnected).

The '53 impreza has a factory alarm which is integral in the loom, and more significantly has an extensive safety loom (for airbags, seatbelt tensioners etc) mixed into it too that runs from the front of the car just under the passenger headlight, all the way across the dash area to behind the drivers seat where it crosses under the carpet to the centre console area around the mirror multi switch and also connects to both seatbelt reels.

There are four different sections of the the loom that go through the bulkhead from the interior to the front of the car:

1. A simple one that goes to the wiper motor, the bonnet switch, and the alarm siren (you'll have to cut the siren and bonnet switch wires)
2. A chunky section that goes forward through the passenger front wing (from passenger footwell area) to the main fuse/relay box and onwards to the impect sensor at the front - you need to remove the passenger wing to get this out.
3. A central section that deals with the six connector blocks under the airbox
4. Another chunky section that goes forwards through the drivers side wing. Not got this one out yet, but it again looks like I have to remove the drivers wing to do it.

Oh and you have to drill the ignition barrel assembly off the steering column which is a pain.

Getting a bit bored with the wiring side of it now

Oh and finally - I cant find the mystical air pressure sensor in the bonnet area at all !?!?

[Sydney]

Sounds like you've got your work cut out - literally.
Not done it myself so can't offer any knowledgeable advice, but it sounds like you just need to be methodical. As Obonobo says, keep everything labelled documented and photographed.

[M@H]

Finally.. the loom is out.

..and its massive !





The challenge of removing the final section that goes to the front via the drivers side wing was somewhat large, that section goes through the front wing, across under the radiator (which needs removing) and up the other side, into the passenger wing, then back out again to get to the relay box and onwards to the alternator

I later found out having got the whole thing out of the car that I had an option on 3 large connectors to disconnect this 12 foot long monstrosity from the loom in the car, however it was going to have to come out at some stage anyway. (the connectors were hidden within a grey plastic boxy bit).

As for the rest of it, well I have a wide range of odd little boxes with connector blocks into them, and everything else all labelled up where connectors were undone. In total I only cut three wires to get this lot out. One to the bonnet switch (part of the alarm), one to a front foglight when I couldn't shift the connector, and one to the alarm sensor in the middle of the dashboard. I'm not too unhappy with that.

Other areas of nuisance were the connections up in the B Pillars inside which required the seatbelts to be removed, and also getting the lower radiator mounts out as the front cable section mentioned above goes underneath them too.

Now what I need to know is which bits I need to keep, which I don't, and where is the mythical air pressure sensor !?

[M@H]

..next job - Engine out

[M@H]

Ok so in an attempt to keep this thread going I thought I'd add this motivational shot for anyone else doing this:



The removal was relatively straightforward actually:

Remove undertray (6x bolts, 2 x plastic stud fixings)

Remove Exhaust (3x studs either side)

Undo engine mounts (1x bolt either side)

Undo the 8 transmission to engine bolts (6x bolts to remove, 2x nuts to remove leaving a long bolt engine side)

Remove starter motor (only held in with 2 of the above anyway)

Remove clutch slave cylinder

Detatch Power steering pipes from pump to reservoir and rack

Detach vacuum pipe from servo to inlet manifold.

Thats about it from memory, all dependiong on how much wiring you too out in previous work. I needed a long bar on the 8x bolts holding the trans to the engine, but they are all reachable if you prop the bonnet completely open (beyond the bonnet stay) so its vertical. Then you can work a bar in straight downwards to the bolt heads.

Working the engine loose was another matter. In the end I had to take a blunt screwdriver and gently chisel the two casings apart. Once I'd got a small split showing I was able to work on it from both sides of the case with a range of wedges and little bars, whilst also changing the angle of the engine against the gearbox to try and find the correct angle for them to come apart. This part probably took me a half hour I guess.

Now I'm left with this:



And I've got someone buying the remains off me for £300 so all in all I'm not at all unhappy with the cost of my donor parts! The running sum is:

Cost of car £770 (ebay - taxed and tested, driven home)
Refund of Road Tax -£180
A few parts sales from ebay advert -£35
Shell and Remains sold and removed -£300

Total cost of engine, loom & ancilliary parts £255 Not bad for a 53 plate EJ20 with under 100,000 on the clock

Plus I've still got a load of stuff from it I will sell on over the next few months.

[ttriebler]

Quick - save the manual transmission - you can use it too!
That way you get the 5 speed that your engine was desgined to use.
www.subarugears.com for details
_________________
Reversed gears for Subaru Transmissions
Fit a 5 apeed to your rear engined car
www.subarugears.com

[Obonobo]

I wish I had saved my front brake calipers: they could've made a cheap front brake upgrade!
_________________
Greetings from Sietze
-------
Driving a '75 Bay with a EJ22 '93 and 091 6-rib box.

And it's a long time since it looked anything like this!

[M@H]

Hi both,
Thanks for the comments.

Regarding the Subaru Transmission we have email exchanged about this before and it just doesn't really make commercial sense i am afraid. I have bought a late bay box for under £150 and Bears Motorsoprt have quoted me £950 for a full strip and refurb with a new 2.0l ring and pinion instead of the 1600cc one, therefore increasing the overall gearing by 18%. This will give me a gear ratio that is as high as the subaru 5th gear for less than the cost of just buying the parts from you to reverse the subaru box. Granted I need to buy a RJES bellhousing kit but thats small-fry compared to getting the subaru box re-built and shortened.

On the brakes, its a good idea and if it wasn't minus 5 degrees outside I would pull a lot more off the shell for a "rainy day" - In my case however am buying a complete wishbone setup from Red 9 along with a big brake upgrade so I don't need them in this instance.

I'm looking forward to getting the donor car gone from the drive on Saturday actually.

Cheers,
Matt.