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Thread: David/Kenny's 1996 LGT

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    Kenny's Avatar

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    David/Kenny's 1996 LGT

    I originally acquired this car in early December of 2010 with about 152k miles on the clock. It was in original, well taken care of condition. At first, it was just a car I didn't plan on keeping for more than 6 months. Little did I know that it would send me on my way to learning just about everything I know about cars.

    During the first year, I drove her around 15k miles and put it through hell. I took it to the mountains, drove trails like Colin McRae, and pushed it as hard as I could on off road terrain. Within a few weeks I had a couple of huge cracks in the windshield. After about 8 months, and an accident, it started to take it's toll. The front passenger side CV joint failed, exhaust leaks started, heat shields broke loose, the power steering rack started to fail, brakes started having issues, tires came out of round, the head gaskets went, and the transmission started having binding issues. I ended up driving around for about three or four months with the blown head gaskets until I finally had the extra cash to buy parts and do the job. It drove well over the following four months until the motor failed. It had spun a rod bearing just short of it's current 170k miles. I parked her, ripped the motor out, and she sat unused until 3 months ago when I sold it to my buddy David with plans to completely rebuild the car.

    When I first got her with a friends 94 SS



    After the accident, during the rebuild and when I replaced the body panels that were damaged





    I still haven't learned.....





    One of the MANY pictures I took of her next to other Subies



    After six plus months of talking and planning and parts hunting, three months ago I officially sold the car, and many many parts to David and moved the car to a storage unit where we would be working on it. I replaced the stock 5 spokes with the 16" snowflakes from my old 98 LGT. It makes a world of a difference in how the car looks. I also replaced the dented up and bent front fenders.

    She's dirty....





    At this point the car was still without a motor. So the hunt began. The original plan was to purchase an EJ22E. After having no luck after a few months of searching. I came across a 99 Phase 2 EJ25D and got it shipped immediately. The motor itself has very low miles, and has has the head gaskets and water pump replaced along with the timing belt and components just as preventative maintenance. It just needed an intake manifold, harness, and sensors. All of which I had from the cars original motor, which is literally sitting in a pile of oil and speedy dry at the moment. Only having one day a week since the purchase two and a half months ago, it took us until a few weeks ago to get it all put together and running.We were missing a tons of small parts that took way too long to acquire through the dealers... Even up until today, it is still not inspected and registered. We are getting the exhaust finished on Monday and she will finally be street legal.

    I will add some updated pictures and video when we pick the car up. She's been cleaned up a bit and a grille has been added. She's still in need of a few things, but a plan is in motion and the entire car will be perfect sans the body by the end of summer.

    Current upgrades:

    - Phase 2 EJ25D
    - Speedy Racer UEL header
    - Glasspack muffler

    Planned upgrades through the summer:

    - MSD coil pack
    - A1 Cardone rebuilt steering rack, with Moog ball joints/tie rods and Whiteline rack bushings
    - Whiteline F/R sway bars, bushings, and end links
    - Whiteline rear sway bar mounts
    - Raceland Optimo coilovers
    - 4EAT sport mode and 50/50 mods AFTER the trans is repaired. It needs a new pan, filter, fluid, and possibly a clutch pack duty-C repair kit.
    - StopTech Cryo treated rotors all around, with undecided high performance brake pads.

    Once the suspension, brakes, and small performance mods are done we will be moving on to the body work. She'll be getting a 97-99 LGT front bumper cover to be used with the 97-99 fog lights that we picked up. I'll be learning how to do body repairs and how to paint, and will be painting the entire car myself. The color is going to be the original blue.

    She'll look pretty much like this, but better



    We have a lot planned beyond this, but it's staying under the table for now. You'll have to wait several months to a year to find out.

    Stay tuned for updates as we add more upgrades and parts to the car!

  2. Top Of Page | #2
    System Operator IGOTASUBARU's Avatar

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    Great write up!
    Without you, we cease to exist. Without your support, we stop growing. Without your involvement, we remain at a standstill.
    Thank you for your faithfulness to our organization and your creative ideas and support.



  3. Top Of Page | #3
    Kenny's Avatar

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    It was my first Subaru. So I thought it deserved a nice, detailed thread. I'll be updating with more in the next few days!

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    Daily Driver Robert Viehweger's Avatar

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    I can't wait to see how everything progresses. You've definitely put a lot of thought and effort into it. Awesome job!

  5. Top Of Page | #5
    Kenny's Avatar

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    Just a quick update:

    We've done a little bit of work on the car in the past month. Nothing big as it's mostly been repairs.

    We swapped the 96 intake manifold for the 99 intake manifold. We also swapped the fuel filter as it's brand new, and the coil pack. We swapped the intake as we were experiencing a lot of running issues that were causing miss-fires and generally running rough. I knew the 99 intake and all it's associated parts were in perfect condition as the 99's motor ran smooth with no issues. We also replaced the garbage spark plugs. The only issue now is I have to figure out a way to connect the charcoal canister to the system as 98/99 models had the canister in the rear of the vehicle and all the sensors and vacuum lines are a bit different. It's setting of a CE light at the moment... And there's a weird low RPM stumble. It's as if it's loosing fuel pressure. I'll get a video sometimes this week... It could be a a number of things.. Vacuum leak, crappy fuel pump, etc.. Ah, and the upper radiator hose has sprung a hole and leaks when the system hits a high enough pressure. So, now that has to be replaced.

    Overall, though, the difference after the intake swap is monumental. She's running smoother than ever. More so, the swap rid the motor of quite a few ticking and knocking noises. The only remaining noise is the lower end knock after David ran her quite low on oil, but it's nowhere near as bad as before. These motors make WAY too many noises.. The past few years of it all is starting to drive me insane.

    Overall the car is slowly heading in the direction we've wanted. We're going to be building the high compression motor sooner than we thought though. It will consist of:

    - 99 Phase 2 EJ25D block
    - STi crankshaft
    - ACL Race main/rod bearings
    - Eagle ESP H-beam rods
    - EJ251 OEM pistons/rings
    - Cometic MLS head gaskets
    - Delta 1000 grind camshafts

    I'm shooting for 11.0:1 compression with this motor.


    The 4EAT is starting to get a little rough. She's binding up more and more lately. When the motor is built and ready to go in, we'll be pulling the current motor along with the trans and doing some work to it. We'll be replacing the duty-C, clutch pack, filter, pan, and fluid. Hopefully, with those repairs and the sport mode mod, we'll have a kick *** combo.

    We'll also be doing some body work along with the motor install.


    OH, and we took her to the track! I wasn't very impressed though. She actually ran 2/10th's of a second and 4 MPH slower than my original best time a few years ago. That could have been because of the weather and such, but it surprised me since the car should be making much more power. The original motor made 155 HP when new, and the current motor made 165 HP when new and now has a UEL header and a free flowing muffler as well.

    *shrug*.... The transmission bind could just be that bad.

    On my best run:

    60' - 2.432 seconds
    1/4 - 16.8 at 80 MPH


    Here's a quick video of how she sounds at the moment. We have plans to have the entire exhaust behind the header upgraded. A single high flow cat, 3" mandrel bent piping leading to a Vibrant race muffler. I'll get some better videos/pics of the car in the next few weeks.

    Last edited by Kenny; 08-14-2013 at 02:15 PM.

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