Tafumi

After 5 years of researching this car, I finally picked one up. I had may chances to in the past, but I skipped out on it because I felt like I wasn't ready for the cost and responsibility. I still don't think I'm ready really. I don't think I'll ever be ready. But this time I caved in and did it.

She's ugly right now. The previous owner was very, very bad to her both on the inside and outside. It's a project car for me, not a DD. I don't even plan on it moving for at least a year so I can get a new engine built, fix up the tranny, and replace the vacuum hoses at the bare minimum. Of course, I got to get her painted, repair what I can of the interior and replace whatever parts I can rarely scavange off the net. My goal is to slowly build it up past stock. Nothing past the 300-350WHP range. But, I got lots of time to plot the course. I will be referencing this site often in terms of scouring through your archives for information. And possibly asking the occasional question unique to my circumstances that I simply can't find answers to anywher on the entire internet.

The guy was asking 6k for it, but I was able to talk him down to 4.5k. She still runs, but the fuel smell coming from the engine cavity is so insanely strong that I'm afraid I'll blow up if I light a smoke. The tranny sounds like it's dying and the physical shape of the car is borderline shambles. I'm amazed it still drives. 133k on the engine but the engine had been rebuilt once at around 80k or so. Most of the rest of the car is as stock as the day she rolled off the line.








I'm not a very good photographer. I just point and click and I'm done.

FDcoscos

congrats

MADDSLOW

iTrader: (11)

Nice find! Hell, you could probably part that thing out for more than you paid for it...

4CN A1R

iTrader: (6)

+1

i would stick it out a little longer and just part it out. if you have any mechanical or car structure knowlege you could part it out and make a pretty prenny. plus you can learn a great deal about how everything works, and where it is.

you could use that money to buy one thats much nicer. remember, you get wat you pay for. 133k...looks pretty beat up, any engine bay shots?

kwerks

iTrader: (2)

4.5! Thats real good!
Welcome to the 3rd GEN lifestyle I hope you have $ and Lots of $

SINxSELEKTAH

iTrader: (2)

what did you do? beat the previous owner silly with a stick? damn, 4.5k is a damn steal. congrats on the find!

don't forget the industrial sized bottle of Tylenol (or pain reliever/head-ache medicine of choice), i'm already on my 8th or 9th bottle

kwerks

iTrader: (2)

LOL I think you forgot to add beer to the equation.

LT1 RX7

Good luck, you have your work cut out for you.

SINxSELEKTAH

iTrader: (2)

with an FD, who has money for beer!?




i thought it was stocked up in everybody's fridge to begin with

RX7LINK

iTrader: (3)

nice find. great price. congrats!!

bryant

the ones of us that blow are motors and it sits in a garage for a year or more waiting on a replacement.

flunkysama

iTrader: (4)

Please don't part it out. There are not enough FDs left as is. It's gonna take alot of work, but don't consider it work, it's recreation, it's a hobby.

And when you are done, you'll find alot of people who will thank you for keeping another one on the road.

kwerks

iTrader: (2)

He said he has spent 5yrs researching this car...5yrs drooling and to part it out? I doubt it man ... thats love

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

I agree about not starting it with the fuel smell, but you can do a compression test.

The numbers will read higher than normal because the engine is stone cold, but if it's reasonable then I'd go ahead and overhaul the fuel system and rats nest and give it a go. I'll bet you find a leaky injector or FPD. For under a grand you may have a well-running car. Then you can do a real compression test drive it safely and see what's next. There will probably be a lot more in maintenance and reliability but started at $4.5k you are in a decent position.

Your interior is tan, which will help a lot if you are trying to replace interior parts. Anything in black is much harder to find and more expensive.

Dave

SINxSELEKTAH

iTrader: (2)

completely understandable. i waited nearly 3 months for my rebuild from RR&R. that was a lot of beer for me

SayNoToPistons

I'll give you 5,000 for it .

Tafumi

Much appreciated. Pretty much, the previous owner had no real idea of the value of the car to begin with. With advice from you all that I obtained previously, as well as my fair knowledge of motor vehicles in general, I used it to barrage him into the dirt. There's more jacked up with the car than the pictures elude to but it's mainly small, menial cosmetic stuff.

And I wouldn't put too much stock into it when I say "I've researched" the car for 5 years. It wasn't five years straight. I've had a keen interest in the FD ever since I saw one back in the 93-94 timeframe. My version of research is, every few months, I'll suddenly go on a reading spree trying to learn everything I can about the car until my brain can't take it anymore. But I can only learn so much before I really need hands-on to complete the experience.

No plans on turning this car into an e-bay part baby or anything like that. I'll tough it out. Despite the condition of the car, I've started off with worse. My previous project car was a 97 2.5RS Impreza that I spec'd out to an STi of equal year. I agree with the sentiment that there aren't enough FD's around, and to kill one that has potential to get back on the road at the pace of former glory would be a shame. Another part of the reason I bought it. I hate to sound cheesy, but the part of me that loves this car practically forced me to save it from it's previous owner before the damage became too far-gone and it ended up in a scrapyard somewhere.

My wallet doesn't hurt yet. Haven't even owned it for 24 hours. But soon, I feel the hurt coming. My immediate concern is to pay off the small signature loan I took out for it before I do anything major to the car. Once it's 100% mine, the game is on.

Here's some pictures of the engine cavity. Again, I suck at pictures. I seem to have a thing for glare in my shots. Of course, the camera I have is dinosaur old by most standards.

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

I would:
1) carefully remove the UIM, do a fuel pressure test and find the leak. Do a cold compression test too.

2) fix the leak. Do a hot compression test. Check the turbos for blow-by and drive it around to see if the coolant seals are ok. Replace both of the couplers on the crossover pipe (the big black plastic pipe running past your alt) since the one is bulging and the other is probably worse. Do a boost test. Look for ECU codes.

3) replace the vacuum hoses, coolant hoses, wiring harness if it's crispy, test/replace solenoids, delete a few things (AWS for example) if you want, clean/rehab the fuel injectors. Change all fluids and the fuel filter. You can do all this while fixing the fuel leak depending on how 'deep' you have to go to fix the fuel leak.

4) Take off the exhaust components and inspect them. If the precat is there, put a downpipe in its place. Remove the wheels and inspect the brakes and bushings and pillowballs. Replace as necessary. Figure out what if anything needs done with the tranny.

I'm building an order here so that if you find for example that the engine needs rebuilt you don't have to redo work that's been done, and you can discover the big expensive problems early on.

Dave

Montego

iTrader: (1)

First and foremost. Nice find. $4.5K not bad at all.

The question really is if was it really mistreated or was it just left out in the elements? This picture lets me to believe that the car was just left out for years. Checkout how clean the carpet is…



I don’t have the car in front of me so I can only go by the pics. Most cars that have been beaten on usually look like **** in all aspects, paint and body (dings), the interior is trashed i.e. dirty, parts are broken ect, and of course the car runs like it looks. I think most of your mechanical problems are going to come from the car just sitting there rather than from abuse.



Yeah it was definitely left out a long long time ago. Good find!

bajaman

That car is not bad at all. Looks pretty straight with no major dents or dings.
All in all, a good find and a good buy.

DK

iTrader: (5)

Thank you for saving it.

Good luck with your project!!

(Any pictures of the Impreza??)

theorie

iTrader: (31)

it still blows me away how some people abuse their vehicles like that. good steal...nice little fixer-upper project you got there.

mrb63083

iTrader: (4)

Great find, can't beat that price either. Don't part it out, keep it and make it beautiful.

Tafumi

The interior abuse is hard to see. I'd need a much higher resolution camera to show it.

For the most part, it's more "left in the elements constantly" along with never washing the car at any given point. Let alone waxing. The interior looks like a 3 year old was locked inside the car for 6 hours with nothing but a bucket of dirt and a straight edge razor.

Many parts on the drivers side door are cracked or chipped badly.

But still, nothing beyond repair.


- Thanks for the advice dgeesaman. I'll run the process you have suggested to see what comes up. However, it will be a week or so before I really start to get elbow deep in the car. Right now I'm doing my detailed inspection on what I can see that needs to be repaired, restored, or replaced that only requires my eyes to evaluate fully.

Thus far, all she really needs is a good scrub-down on the inside. New steering wheel and a new drivers side seat. Or, at least, have the drivers side seat redone.

JConn2299

Still, with all that, it looks structurally sound. Is there any rust on the car that you've spotted?

From my observations, this is one area where FD's seem to do fairly well. They don't seem prone to rust. Fairly resistant to it, actually. This isn't true of the 1st and 2nd Generation cars.

If there's been no crash damage, then you've got a firm foundation on which to rebuild. FD's that have been in serious crunches then rebuilt scare me. The chassis is so tight and precise with such great handling that it's a shame to lose that with a car that isn't straight even though cosmetically it may fool you.

Good luck with the job ahead. Keep us informed of your progress.