Reed's RSTi Project From Hell

Reed's 1998 RSTi Build Thread

The RSTi From HELL​

​

Table of Contents (Organized by Page):
Page 1 - Introduction post (That is this), Discussion of Blue STi
Page 2 - Tear-down of the RS and arrival of some exterior parts
Page 3 - Interior trimmings, RS's media blasting and Introduction of the new Donor STi
Page 4 - RS media blasting discussion
Page 5 - More Media Blasting
Page 6 - Donor Tear-Down and Calipers
Page 7 - I leave to go to College and "Learn"
Page 8 - Back from paint, terrible cell phone pics
Page 9 - More painted stuff
Page 10 - Nothing
Page 11 - Suspension and Interior installation progression and I cut my finger open
Page 12 - More Installation
Page 13 - Engine Assembly

The Parts:

Engine rebuild:
OEM EJ25 Shortblock (Resurfaced+honed to OEM spec)
2012+ Heat Treated STi Crank
OEM Rods
OEM Pistons
ACL Race bearings
Cometic .051 Headgaskets
Cleaned up heads

Go Fast Parts:
Grimmspeed 8mm Phelonic Spacers
Tigwerks TGV Deletes, Blasted and painted
05 Stock STi intake, I/C and Fuel system
VF39 Turbo
APS 3.5inch Turboback Race exhaust;catless, kartboy hangers
Gimmick Aluminium Radiator
UEL Header + Uppipe; Ceramic Coated
STi Gas Tank
05 ECU

Drivetrain:
05 STi 6MT
ACT Heavy duty Street Clutch
Resurfaced Five Speed Flywheel
Working DCCD
05 Rear diff
5x114.3 Hubs (Re-finished)
STi Brembos, Re-finished black/grey
New OEM Replacment Rotors, coated
STi hardlines
Goodridge SS brakelines
OEM Replacement pads
O.Z. Ultraleggera 18x8 ET48 Re-finished Bronze
Nitto Invo Tires 235/18/40

Suspension/Steering Parts:
Full 05 STi Suspension Swap (Subframes, Control Arms, Lat Links)
BC Racing Coilovers (Swap), Front Camber Plates
Whiteline Bump Steer kit (Tie rod ends and Lower control arm ball joints)
Whiteline Steering Rack Bushings
Perrin ALS/SLS kit

Exterior Parts:
Bakemono S201 scoop; CF
99-01 Front bumper + Fogs
Lightweight front bumper beam
Clear turn signals and side markers
RB5 Wing; Painted CF
JDM smooth rear bumper
JDM lightweight rear bumper beam
JDM Rear Spats
JDM Red/white tailights

Interior Parts:
STi Dash; Flocked black
05+ Center console
Pioneer "Appradio"
Kenwood Speakers
04 WRX passenger and rear seats
OMP ARS fixed back drivers seat
Custom all black interior (Headliner, pillars, door cards, etc.)
JDM V8 STi steering wheel, with Cruise Control
ATI Clock pod
Prosport EVO Gauges (Oil press, Boost, AFR)
STi Pedals
Black 04-05 WRX carpet

The Story:

Part I: Getting the RS

In September 2011 I ended up buying an Aspen White 2005 STi from Stivers Subaru here in Atlanta. In the months leading up to that purchase I was between buying a GD STi or building an RSTi and, of course, just buying the STi won over and I ended up with that until I got the nagging to build and RSTi while trolling around all of the builds on RS25. What really got me off my ass what seeing the Allpro 98 RS swap and seeing Liltoua's swap in person. So, fast forward to May 2012, I have some cash from putting my 05 STi back to stock and some left over from other endeavors (Prostitution. I am referring to prostitution) so I began to look for a good swap candidate. I end up finding a HOT 98 RS in Pennsylvania for sale on RS25 and, decided to buy it. The seller did not want to ship it down to me because the title had to be notarized or some BS. What that basically meant to me was ROOOOAAAADDD TRIP. So I borrowed my Mothers's Merc GL450, got a u-haul trailer and stopped by cracker barrel to get some audiobooks.



That was the route. 14 hours or so one way. John Grisham's The Litigators got me to a lovely truck stop outside of Harrisonburg, VA at around 1 AM on my first day of driving. I was trying to save some cash so instead of spending the night at some motel, I bedded down in the back of the merc, which wasn't so bad. There was no shower and the bathroom was just outside the door, so I couldn't complain.



Two hours up the road and I met with the dude to get the RS. Everything was good, no rust and only some minor exterior damage. We agreed on $2000 and I loaded it up, and was back on the way home. At this point I had picked up Calico Joe from another Cracker Barrel.



It was a fun trip back. I stopped at a state park in VA, I think, enjoyed the sights. The sunset over the Appalachians was really something else. I wanted to get back that evening so I would only have to pay one day's rent on the trailer, but as I was going through North Carolina, I started to get seriously tired. I looked in the rearview mirror once and said "Christ! That guy is following me really close!". Then I remembered that I was towing a car behind me. It was at this point that I decided it would be a good idea to stop at a Waffle House and grab some good eats. One awkward conversation with my waitress, a power outage, 2 cups of coffee and and delicious waffle later, I was back on the road.


This is what it was like

One hour later, a reluctantly pulled into a Cracker Barrel (This is starting to become a theme) and bedded down for the night. The next day one uneventful and I arrived home safe and only slightly disgruntled.









Part II: Everything that goes in the RS

So the idea was to buy a wrecked STi and then just yank all the parts off of that and slap them on the RS. The first donor car was a blue 2006 STi I found on Copart. Not a smart buy on my part. Read about it below.

The second donor car my friend found for sale in Charleston, SC. So we load up in his F150 and make the 6 hour drive there in mid July. We get to the guys house and check out the Silver 05 STi. He rear ended someone on the interstate so some front things were broken. Other than those things, everything was just fine. My friend bought the car from the guy and we got ready to load it up. As soon as we started to push it out of his driveway, we heard the loudest tunderclap. It was like a giant snapped an oak over his knee a few hundred feet away from us. The inevitable downpour soaked all of our clothes in about 20 seconds. Luckily, we had some backup shorts and shirts and the P.O. was nice enough to let us change in his house. We made it home alive.

We had to tear down the car in a storage unit which sucked pretty back because 100 degree heat and metal builds aren't a great mix. It got done though, so there is no use in complaining.









With some direction from friends, I found a EJ255 Longblock for sale, "Brand New". Turns out a subaru dealer was throwing this away due to a blown bearing, some dude found it and sold it to me on the cheap. So I had to rebuild the engine, which was a whole other fiasco which I won't get into.









Part III: The actual work

So while all of this other stuff was being done, I was doing a lot of other stuff. I has been a hell of a lot of work, hundreds and hundreds on man hours, good think I haven't kept track. Nothing really to talk about, and most of it is already in this journal, so here are some pictures:

 

car sounds like it was a theft recovery... I would look at the vin numbers on the trans and block. You may be able to contact the previous insurance carrier or owner and talk with them.

 

Interior was nasty


Blasted


Waiting to be put together


Mocked up over Thanksgiving break


It is nice to be putting things IN the car


Rear Suspension and gas tank in


Mock up


RAAMat


Door harness merging, not so bad with the right resources


Dash beam fitted to near perfection


awww yea


03 WRX seats and OMP ARS driver




New long block


Getting artsy here


Together


It's in


90% on the exterior

First start on the engine was not without it's heart attacks. I accidentily forgot to label the gas tank lines and ran the return line to the EVAP and the EVAP to return. So, after the car had run for about 30 seconds, fuel starts pouring out of the back of the car. A thorough cleaning, switch lines and lots and lots of cursing later, everything was kosher. Unfortunately, I had to go back to school the next day, so I left the car to my father to get emissions and an alignment and I will be back soon to pick it up.:coolugh:

 

So is any progress being made on the RS, reed? And i need to swing by and get that diffuser...

 

Headed over there today to grab the headlights off of it and make it pretty.

I got a V6 wing coming in for it, as well as JDM red/white tailights and I am trying to get a guy to sell me his s201 scoop.

 

2006 STi Donor Car:

So as summer approached I was wanting a project before I headed off for college in the Fall. At the time I had an 05 STi with most of the bolt on mods everyone does. The 04-05 STi had always been my dream car to have growing up and it was awesome owning it. I loved the car but I wanted to do an RSTi swap this summer. That meant selling the 05. In April I laid out the plans and began searching for an RS and an STi donor.

So come May, I had found both of my cars. The STi I found on the online insurance auction website, Copart. I had both a few cars off of there with a friend and had good experiences and bad. The car was an 06 STi with 107K miles on it. It was on all spares, didn't start and looked perfect on the outside expect for the missing front bumper. So I bought the car for $6200 ($6890 after fees). I had the car shipped by "Cuban Alien Express Shipping" from North Miami. I swear I could understand every fifth word the lady I was speaking with on the phone said. This is coming from a guy who considers himself a decent Spanish speaker having taken 4 years of Spanish in high school. Anyways, The car arrives here early one morning and low and behold, the driver can't find the place to drop it off. I actually passed the truck on the way to school (had to take an exam). After some phone calls back and forth with my Father, we got the guy to the right place. I get out of my exam and call my Dad to see what he thinks of the car.

Dad: "Reed, the car looks good on the outside but I don't thinks it has a transmission because it has two axles hanging underneath."

.....

So I get to the garage and check the car out. As he said, the exterior was good and the interior was good. A little bit of dog hair, but oh well. I popped the hood and everything looked to be there. Checked immediately for a transmission and there was a hunk of metal there so no sweat. Must have just put the wrong axles on the car. First surprise was the missing Brembo calipers. Then I look under the back of the car. Awesome, no rear diff or axles. I jump inside the car and get a closer look at everything. Play with the shifter and it just wobbles around.........Probably just forgot to connect the linkage, right? Wrong. Sent a picture to a Steve (forgot his name on here) and put it on here. Yep, 4EAT. Looked under the car and the engine was missing the oil pan. Weird. Although the rods were aftermarket so that might be good, right? Wrong.

Okay, take a break from reading. Here are some pictures at this point.















So here is what was missing at this point:

-Rear diff
-Brembos
-BBS's
-Tranny
-Oil pan+pickup
-Downpipe
-I/C sprayer
-Steering wheels airbag
-Shift linkage
-Front bumper + Grill
-Injectors

A little later I got a leakdown tester, cranked the engine to TDC and had a busted ring on cylinder 4 and 2. I didn't even bother with cylinders 1 and 3. Oh by the way, the turbo had massive shaft play. So I said, :fauk: I will part the bitch out and buy another one. I begin the tear down the motor. The TGVs were rusted in place and there was a pool of water in the intake valves on cylinders 1 and 3. I took off the timing belt cover. No belt. No pulleys. No cam gears. No cams. Awesome. Everything in the car was barely bolt or screwed on.



Here is what I think happened with the car. I bought it from Copart, but it was sold through them by "C&A Motors United" in Florida. I think that is a fake company that some turd bag uses to sell cars that have been stripped. That or it is a company going out of business and liquidating there assest. I say that because there is nothing about them on the internet and the phone is "disconnected" when you try to call them a cuss them out. They took all the good stuff out of the blue car, put in enough bad stuff to make it sellable and ran away.

In the meantime I had put the car up on NASIOC as is just incase anyone wanted the thing. I got to talking with a French Canadian guy about buying it. I got into parting it out and I was telling him I didn't want to sell it to him because I felt like I could be selling him a headache. I tried to tell him to just don't worry about it because I didn't want to sell this car and have someone end up as pissed as I was with it. He pretty much convinced me to sell it to him like this:

No 4EAT, all the engine parts, no seats or door cards.

He ended up buying it and I learned a fairly expensive lesson.

 

Nice story, it'll be worth it in the end

 

Keep up the work man, as you already know give me a call anytime if you need help!

Would you be interested in selling that fin right above the back window?

 

Man I really hate that you got shafted so badly on the STi. Good luck with the future progress!

 

I think I may have some stock cams and forged pistons for sale

 

Yeah sounds like the guy wrecked it, or blew the motor and decided to swap parts over to another car that had the 4eat in it. Pretty much what happened with another former members car here. He flipped it, we then proceeded to go to the junkyard and swap parts onto my old GC before insurance took possession of it. Literally the car had no front brakes, well it did, had GC front brakes sitting in the floorboard of the passenger seat with stock GC seats. Which is why I would never buy a wrecked car, sight unseen....

 

I would go with the blown motor suspicion you have. There is an STi going up for auction that is in Loganville so I will go out and check it out.

Made some progress on the coupe last night and this morning. The engine is ready to be yanked, I just need to get the hoist here and un-bolt two tanny bolts. The interior is coming along but it is NASTY!!! I look like someone or something died in there. Once everything is out I might rent a steam washer and clean the inside out. Hopefully the smell isn't there to stay. :eek4: :crying:

 

Looks like it's been wet back there. Judging from where it came I suspect passengers with wet snowfilled shoes.......

 

Well either way it smell like death. Once I get everything stripped out you guys think steam washing it is a good move? then wet vaccing out any water.

 

Yeah. Steam then wipe it down with some type of bleaching agent to kill off mold etc.

 

I made a whole lot of progress these past two days. I talked with the man who will be painting the car and he offered a lot of insight on how to progress with the tear down. He gave me the number of a friend of his who will come out to your house, blast all of the paint off your panels for less than what it would cost to sand down the whole thing yourself. Suffice it to say, I'm in. I also will have some dude come cut my windows out.



I managed to get the transmission out last night, which was a nightmare. I have done a few trans pulls, but never an automatic. After about 30 mins of wiggling, I noticed the pitch stop mount need to be removed. Removed it, wiggled and CRASH. The front of the transmission managed to completely miss my jack and fall the the ground, send the engine forward and dumping the remaining coolant on the floor. I threw some kitty litter on the plethora of fluids on my floor, and called it a night at 2AM.





I cleaned everything up this morning and got to work on the interior. Pulled the heater core and AC. Then I addressed the gunk on the floorboard with a flathead and a putty knife. It is amazing what a vacuum and about 4 hours of scraping, scrubbing and cleaning did.







I know all of these updates are rather boring. SO, I got the first of my shiny new parts in today. They would be a set of pristine JDM Red/white tailights I got from a member on NASIOC. I have the wing en route as well as the s201 scoop.



ATTN: I am still on the lookout for a gc8 bumper or other "better than L" bumper. let me know if you guys have anything/see any around por favor!

 

Just got my awesome bakemono s201 scoop from the USPS man!

 

I'm proud of ya for not going with the 2004 STi style ginormous child eating scoops like the others on here.

 

I think I got my fill of that on my 05! I liked the low and wide look of the s201.

 

The spoiler/wing came in yesterday.

That and I am pretty much ready to get the paint stripped and glass taken out. Just need to take a few grommets out and remove the doors, trunk and hood.

Also if anyone is interested in an engine/tranny let me know. Also I'm going to head to the dump and throw away all the trash from this car.

Still looking for a good donor...

 

Starting work on the interior bits while I'm waiting on the car to get ready for paint.

 

Work continues on the interior pieces. I covered an upper door card with some nice faux leather and it was perfect. It almost looked like something from JPM, then I promptly ruined it by covering the insert improperly. Still trying to get my head around those.

I'll do the headliner tonight and that should be pretty easy. I really enjoy learning how to do the interior bits. I feel like any monkey can go and turn a wrench but this requires a little more refinement, which, I may not have.

As far as the rest of the car goes, I have the media blasting scheduled for Tuesday. Then, hopefully, I can trailer it fresh from that straight to paint!

ALSO: THE BLUE STI IS SOLD!

Hooray! Now I can begin seriously looking for a decent wrecked STi, and I have a few I would like to check out.

 

you coming to the meet the 8th reed?

 

Yeah I'll be there. I might bring some food too, who knows.

Anyways, tuesday American Surface Prep came out and media blasted the car. They did a great job of explaining how everything works and what to do. They took about 5 hours to get everything done and once they packed up and left I sprayed a quick coat of biting primer to make sure no moisture gets in the bare metal.





I opted to prep and paint the inside of the car myself to save some cash. I went out and bought some basic primer and enamel paint and here is what it looks like now:









I have to go over everything tomorrow with a light filler coat but it should be good. Now I just need to find a trailer to get this puppy down the road to the paint shop and have them do their magic!

 

Anxious to see how she turns out... Subscribed...

 

I don't think you want me to see it in person... I called you last weekend and you nvr called me back...
You gonna be around this weekend?

 

Going to try and get something like this. It is called singapore grey.

I think I will be around Saturday. I was going to drop by when you were tuning Ryan's car but I had to pick up my Dad and Brother at the airport.

 

He'll be back this Saturday evening again.

 

Okay big update.

I have been working of the door cards and perfect my method for trimming them. They are turning out great and I am getting back to work on them this weekend hopefully.





The RS shell was picked up and taken to the paint shop. I dropped the doors and hood off today and I am sure it is competent hands. It is surrounded by Mercedes Benz's and I got a little chuckle when I told the head body man that I had the stripped out 90s Subaru in the corner. Still waiting on the JDM Bumper and spats to arrive and I need to pick up the 99-01 RS front bumper from Subaru of McDonough. Other than that, the body is pretty much good to go.

I went down the Charleston with a friend to pick up a wrecked 05 STi he was buying to part Tuesday. I wasn't planning on it, but everything I need to use off the car is in good nick so I will use that as my parts car and pay him. Tonight we started pulling off parts and I went through and labeled all the wiring so I know which connector goes where. Not looking forward to having to adapt the door wiring hnoes:



Possibly the biggest find for the car was this:



A brand new OEM Longblock I picked up from a dude in Riverdale for $2000. That's right, $2000[/brag]. Really cool guy who works for a Lexus dealer that bought out a Subaru Dealer. He said they were taking the thing to the dumpster and he asked them if he could have it. He has a mustang so I took it off his hands.

BIG THANKS to stirhino to forwarding me the CL ad for the thing. :bowdown:

Anyways that is about it. I know I haven't been updating for a while but not much has been happening until now.

Car should be painted in 2-3 weeks and then the swap will begin! :naughty:

Can't wait!

Take care,
Reed

 

Are you sure thats a 257 long block. I've never seen that AC Bracket on a turbo engine.

 

It's a 255.

 

So I went down to the paint shop to drop off a few parts that came in for the car a couple days ago (JDM smooth rear bumper + spats, RB5 CF wing, tailight garnishes). Here is what happened.

The owner of the shop, Mr. Suggs, was outside as I pulled up and he had some bad news for me. We went back to my car, shadowed by fancy Mercedes and BMWs, and he got to telling me that the media blasting company essentially ruined my car. The jist of it is this. The company used a coarse media, on a hot day, outside and warped a fair amount of the sheet metal on the car. And by fair amount I mean Doors, fenders, trunk lid, hood, sunroof and quarter panels. He said that everything except the 1/4 panels and roof were pretty much beyond repair unless I want 3 tons of bondo on the car.



So, I call the media blasting company and they tell me that, "Well there was some bondo on the car, but we will replace your hood."

No.

So the guy comes out to meet me at the body shop this afternoon and we take a look at the car. Mr. Suggs tells him what he sees and he ups his offer to, "Well, we can replace the hood and trunk lid since those didn't have bondo on them."

No.

That doesn't work either. So I told him that payed them a fairly large amount of money to essentially ruin 3/4 of my car, push everything back on my schedule and cause me even more of a headache than what this build has already become. So I am going to need some more.

He will talk to his boss about it. If I don't hear from them tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to have to call them.

I'm loosing some serious motivation. Especially taking things off the swap car, I see how much work there is to go. Hopefully I will be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel if IF the car gets painted.

Anyways.



Take care,
Reed

 

why did it get media blasted a 2nd time?

 

It didn't. It only got done once

 

geez man, seems like the hits just keep coming. Sorry for your troubles, hang in there!

 

Oh, so he just didn't notice the issue when he primed them at home after the media blast......?

 

I sprayed an etching primer on the car to avoid any rusting from moisture in the air. I didn't go over the panels in detail because I don't know much about paintwork and I fug red I would leave the body shop to give me that bad news.

Why does it matter?

 

It matters cause you are getting rammed up the arse left and right on this project.

Good luck and hopefully it can all be sorted out.

 

Should have bought my STI and made it your project!

 

Reed, who did the media blast?

 

American surface prep.

 

Yes but if I had noticed it while priming the panels I would only buy myself another week of time back.

The blue STI is totally on me as it was an impulse buy and I didn't check all my boxes before buying. The media blasting shouldn't be pinned to me at all.

And texsun I should have. It would be a lot less hassle.

 

lemonade is a 22B body kit and quit your bitching

 

Find me one that can get here quickly and I'll take it.

 

It doesn't, I was just confused and sought clarification.

 

Should've media blasted with plastic. It doesn't warp as bad. That or acid dipping but I understand hard to find.

What exactly did they media blast with? Sand?

 

Crushed glass essentially.

 

Sell his for more $ and buy mine cheap to perform the swap