what would be a better use of my time and money

[greg donovan]

my SS is very rusty in the usual spots.

i can deal w/the door, rear decklid, and fenders.

however, the stuff on the rear quarters and behind the rear doors and the rocker back there by the rear wheel well opening stuff is going to be very hard to repair.

ok aside from the uniqueness and rarity of the SS what would be a better use of my time?

1.fix the rust on my 94 SS w/new sheetmetal and paint it all pretty.

or

2.finding a rust free 90-94 legacy sedan w/a bad drivetrain and stripping that shell and painting it my favorite color. and then swap everything over from my 94 SS.

or

3.finding a similar impreza and doing the above w/it.

or

4.finding a nice 95-99 legacy wagon shell and making a nice single turbo GT-B touring wagon clone.

or

5. say the hell w/it, sell it and go out and buy a nice 02 WRX.

[Manarius]

Fix the SS and repaint it. If you were to do any of the other options, your SS would never be the same.

[scottzg]

impreza!

[professor]

6. find a reasonably rust-free SS and keep your current ride 'til the new one is to your liking, or the current one dies, then strip the good parts and crush it

[greg donovan]

Fix the SS and repaint it. If you were to do any of the other options, your SS would never be the same.

you missed the disclaimer at the beginning. this is a scenario in which the uniqueness of the SS is not a factor.

believe me i would love to make this car look like it just rolled off the assembly line.

however, the best way to do that might be to put EVERYTHING into a nice clean bare 90-94 legacy shell. and i mean everything from the carpet to the trunk lining to the headlights, bumpers, and spoiler. from radiator to muffler. and everything in between.

what i was hpoing to find out here is what all you of you thought would be the ideal subaru for the money and time invested.

i know the bulk of you will be SS purists (it is where i am leaning too). but it is hard to deny the superiority of the 93-01 impreza chassis. i would more than likely build it as a wagon if i did it w/an impreza shell. or a sedan w/a silly large STi spoiler on it. and yellow or orange.

[greg donovan]

6. find a reasonably rust-free SS and keep your current ride 'til the new one is to your liking, or the current one dies, then strip the good parts and crush it

why would the replacement shell have to be a SS?

all i would be doing was paying a premium for stuff i allready have.

2-3 grand for a rust free SS or 500 bucks for a rust free L w/a blown motor/trans? kind of a no brainer in my book. also buying another SS could quite possibly be the hardest/most impossible thing in the world to justify to my wife and myself. buying a 500 dollar L Shell would allow me to have it sit in my garage as start stripping it out and getting it painted inside and out.

the shell of a SS and a L are the same thing aside from the sunroof (which i have a love/hate relationship with, that leans more towards hate)
so loosing the sunroof would be a good thing in my book.

[Kelly]

Honestlly, go with the WRX. There really not very fast out of the box, but they already have the potential, with not a lot of investment. The chassis just feels so confident. Plus its a new car. All the maintainance problems of a 15 year old car wont be there to bog you down. Theres HUGE aftermarket support for it, the bug eyes are just plain classic cool subaru, the interiors are nice and have good seats. Downside would be the initial cost, why I dont have one yet.

We have an 00RS, with a full STI swap and a bunch of goodies, and personally I hate it. I dont like the GC chassis as much as the BC, or the GD. I think its a weight balance thing. I think its the only car Ive driven that had too much power. Thatsa notta inspiring my a driving confidencea.

[greg donovan]

maybe i should get a GD w/a blown motor and drop the ej22t into that?

i wonder if a 93-01 wagon would have better balance.

after seeing all the 02-03 wrx's last weekend the bugeyes have grown on my again.

i have never heard anyone dislike the GC before.

[Manarius]

you missed the disclaimer at the beginning. this is a scenario in which the uniqueness of the SS is not a factor.

No, that's not the point. Uniqueness my ass. The fact is that if you were to do any of the other options, it would be like having a car you built. And nothing is like having a car from the factory. IMO, no one can ever do something as good as it came from the factory.

[mhrallyteam]

I repaired my somewhat salt impregnated rusted legacy two years ago, to do a good job on the rear fender you have to replace it with a rust free one.

Believe me, it`s a scary job. If you dont replace it will rust again in a year.

The rear quarter panels are not bolted, they are welded. So i drilled every spot weld and cut in the wheelwell, put a rust free panel in place and welded it back. I`ll never do that again

[greg donovan]

you missed the disclaimer at the beginning. this is a scenario in which the uniqueness of the SS is not a factor.

No, that's not the point. Uniqueness my ass. The fact is that if you were to do any of the other options, it would be like having a car you built. And nothing is like having a car from the factory. IMO, no one can ever do something as good as it came from the factory.

and here is where we disagree. i do think that a car w/a swapped drivetrain and brakes can be just fine. those are the only major differences.

i would not re-engineer anything just swap parts. and this is all bench-top building at this point so...

[greg donovan]

I repaired my somewhat salt impregnated rusted legacy two years ago, to do a good job on the rear fender you have to replace it with a rust free one.

Believe me, it`s a scary job. If you dont replace it will rust again in a year.

The rear quarter panels are not bolted, they are welded. So i drilled every spot weld and cut in the wheelwell, put a rust free panel in place and welded it back. I`ll never do that again

better not tap a tree too hard back there.

did you get a new panel? if so where? and if you dont mind how much?

that would probably be about as much work as swapping everything to a new shell.

however, i would have to do both sides. but that still wouldnt solve the rocker panel problem. thus making a shell swap more attractive.

[legacy92ej22t]

How about finding another EJ22T to swap into an Impreza and just run the piss out of the SS and not worry about the rust. Then when the SS shell is beyond hope you can swap it into another Legacy body of some sort? Then you'd have the best of both worlds.

If you have to just do one then I'd like to see it go into another BC/BF/BJ. I like the WRX but you'll just be another rex owner with one of those and Impreza swaps are a dime a dozen anymore too. Newer Leg swaps are becoming pretty common place also, it's nice to be different IMO.

[JasonGrahn]

3.finding a first generation impreza and doing the above w/it.

[greg donovan]

3.finding a first generation impreza and doing the above w/it.

that is what i am leaning towards myself. finding a rust free 90-94 legacy is going to be very difficult. finding a rust free first gen. impreza shell is pretty easy. i knew a rally guy would probably say this and not be too daunted by the prospect of reshelling a car.

and regarding the comments about not being able to do a better job than factory.

how is what i plan any different than replacing a blown motor, bad ecu, shot tranny, bad struts, new brakes, adding an intercooler, changing seats, building a race car any different than what i have planned?

the only difference i can see is that i would do it all at once.

the upside to "reshelling" my car (into a impreza or legacy) would be that all the seals, hoses, and what not on the drivetrain could be VERY easily replaced. and things would be so clean afterwards.

of course the sixth option is to say to hell with it and go out and buy a used rally car dump all my money into that and continue to drive the current SS into the ground.

[greg donovan]

How about finding another EJ22T to swap into an Impreza and just run the piss out of the SS and not worry about the rust. Then when the SS shell is beyond hope you can swap it into another Legacy body of some sort? Then you'd have the best of both worlds.

If you have to just do one then I'd like to see it go into another BC/BF/BJ. I like the WRX but you'll just be another rex owner with one of those and Impreza swaps are a dime a dozen anymore too. Newer Leg swaps are becoming pretty common place also, it's nice to be different IMO.

i really dont care about being different. people should do what they like regardless of what others are doing.

i was just fishing for opinions here. and looking for stories like mhrallyteam's. not sure what i am gonna do.

[legacy92ej22t]

i really dont care about being different. people should do what they like regardless of what others are doing.

True, I just like being diffferent.

[LaureltheQueen]

Why not get a wrx, and do a block swap. Then you'll have the best of both worlds.

Really, the only cool thing about the legacy from a performance standpoint is the block, might as well swap that over and work on engine management at that point.

[legacy92ej22t]

The BC has better weight distribution and weighs less too.

The BC probably isn't as rigid though.

[JasonGrahn]

Where did you get the information that the BC is both lighter and better distributed then the GC?

[legacy92ej22t]

I'm talking about in comparison to the WRX, in answer to Laurels comment.

[greg donovan]

Where did you get the information that the BC is both lighter and better distributed then the GC?

i do believe the BC has a better F/R chassis balance but the GC is lighter. Both are lighter than the GD chassis.

[JasonGrahn]

You do believe, or you actually have information that backs that up?

[legacy92ej22t]

Why, do you have information to counter the claim?

It has been said many times, on multiple forums, that the BC had better weight distribution but I personally have never seen any solid numbers from FHI or anything. Doesn't mean it's not true.

[greg donovan]

You do believe, or you actually have information that backs that up?

i remember seeing somewhere that the BC has near 50/50 weight distribution. whish i could remember where that was.

and by using the info found here, http://www.internetautoguide.com/car-sp ... index.html , it appears that the cars did get heavier over time. however, the oldest car is the 95 legacy. i know those wieght may not be totally accurate but the general trend was for each chassis change to get heavier. the GC was the lightest of them all. some cars had only CW but some had GVW.