Project Subaru powered Mazda B2200

[mazda ej22t]

truck...is on its journey lads

[mazda ej22t]

i shipped it away to my buddies shop just before christmas. my friends dad owns a business that makes custom transport truck trailers that regular beds wont hold. meaning...lots of metal to work with, and good welders and other big fun toys. me and my dad worked on it for 4 days. quite a bit of it was by myself though. a lot of trial and error. first frame the axle was hitting our angled piece. so thursday i had to rip it all out and start from scratch again. heres some pics so far of whats been achieved.

first we ripped off the bed to remove the gas tank. better safe than sorry right


picture of the gutted interior


heres the truck frame etc with the inner fender cut out


first i tacked together the strut towers to the required distance, then just shaved off the outside until it fit into the bay


tacked it up into place



rolled the suspension under to get some ideas and measurements as to what to do


first started with the horizontal piece that would attach to the subframe drilled the holes to fit, then tacked the distances. here was my first mistake. when i did this i simply drilled the holes in the center of the frame. when i did this the downward angle of the frame hit the lower control arm. so i had to move this piece back, angle it out and redrill a couple holes.




put the suspension in this morning to pull it out back


heres where she stands now. towers are still just tacked in. wanted to make sure everything on the frame was right before we weld up the towers in place



so far so good im thinking. once the engine is put in the weight of it will bring the suspension down 3" me thinks from some measurements. stock tire is very close to flush on the fender. so down the road when i pick up some wide rims the truck will be going widebody as well. my buddy let me keep the truck at his shop out back as well so him and his dad are allowing me to do the rear suspension as well before i bring the old girl back to my place. hope you guys enjoyed my progress cause i enjoyed learning and build it so far

[kimokalihi]

I don't think it's going to bring it down 3" from the engine weight alone. It was only maybe an inch when I had the engine and trans out in my car. 1.5" at best.

[vrg3]

Unbelievable. This is so awesome.

[mazda ej22t]

I don't think it's going to bring it down 3" from the engine weight alone. It was only maybe an inch when I had the engine and trans out in my car. 1.5" at best.

your right i wasnt thinking when i posted that lol but its not from the engine alone. i forgot about the weight of the trucks front end brings it down a bit as well. i havent set the engine in yet but it will tuck it pretty close to stock height of the legacy when all said and done.

thanks vrg thats what im aiming for! lol

so i ended up working on the truck again yesterday for a few hours. i brought it in, took the cab off and welded up my new frame porting to the existing frame. that was my goal for yesterday. was a little more difficult than i had planned trying to get it all squared up. but now straight back from a bolt center to the box bolt center its dead on, and going across diagonally im off 1/32" over 100 1/4" so im happy with that. after that just basically rolled the truck back under the frame and pushed it outside. i forgot the cam so i didnt get pics but it was just welding, nothing special really.

next weekend i'll be working on the rad support and tying in the front portion of the frame to the rad. then we move onto the rear cant wait to have this truck sitting on full legacy suspension!

[Legacy777]

Very nice fab work! This will be pretty awesome when it's done!

[turbo-baron]

Looking good dude! I'm stoked to see this thing on the road! Your forester still sound like a tractor? lol

[mazda ej22t]

hell ya lol i really should get it fixed lol i ended up helping my friend on his derby car today so no update. hes running in monster jam in toronto next weekend so we had to make a push to get it all buttoned up for smash time lol

[mazda ej22t]

well i got a little work done on the truck. i was only allowed to stay till 12 so it put a damper on what i was wanting to do. anyways last time we had to cut the cab bolts because the nuts were seized on. today we took the cab off knocked out all the cab bolts and replaced with new. not a good update but everything counts i guess and puts me a step forward.

nice that he has a crane for me to use! no broken backs and laying on the ground.




im digging this pic! stock legacy rim flush with the fender. cant wait to put some beefy rims on!



im in the works of getting a kaaz lsd 4.44 gearing for the rear end. might as well have some quick acceleration right? lol
also probably mid next month i'll be ordering megasquirt and start playing with the wiring. that'll be the "fun" part of the build

[kimokalihi]

Exciting. It would be cool to have a legit AWD turbo truck.

[Falken-18c]

ima have to come up and see this truck when your finished

[mazda ej22t]

im hoping to get it running for the spring fling. keep that one the down low bud. if not the main meet it should be ready or maybe towed there to show off

[Falken-18c]

im hoping to get my car running clean soon just no time with work borowing brother in-laws car for work. no money lol and i might be done work soon which sucks so less money but will have time but is time good with no money lmao.

when i do my taxes i should be good for some money lol also i have more then enough hours for ei but that only 55% of your wages but its better then a kick in the nuts lol.

AWSOME BUILD... I know if anything this will be at the next hypermeet for sure.