Body swap my Rusted 93 SS into a 93 none SS?

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Tommio RS
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Body swap my Rusted 93 SS into a 93 none SS?

Post by Tommio RS »

Hello legacy central!

Long time no post by me, have been busy with many customer cars and such.
Also buy a Corvette some how in the mix???
Dont worry, Still have my mint 93 Legacy SS fulled moded!!!

Anyways,

My other poor 93 legacy SS body is soo rusted i dont know what to make of it anymore....
I replaced the rear sub frame and a hole bunch of junk last year on her and got it better. But the rust is never ending.

I have soo much rust inside the rear quart panels and wheel arch and fender liner area i have holes straight into the trunk area. O and the area where the jack is located, you can see the pavement in many many areas... Like the size of my fist.

So the body is shot and its sad.

This 1993 Legacy SS is my daily car and has zero mods done to it at all.

My plan would be to swap everything good into the NA from my Turbo car.

I found this link about "making" a NA into a Turbo:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=45769

I have a few question about performing this swap.

Wiring the turbo motor i would have to add wire?
MAP, wastegate,pressure exchange solenoid i thinks?
How hard is it to just take the entire turbo harness from my car and install it into the NA car?
I have done a fair share to bulk head harness on all sorts of subarus and the harness connectors DONT like going in or out of the fire wall..... Thoughts?

Also the plan in my mind would be swapping EVERYTHING from my turbo car to the NEW donar NA car.
Interior, Engine, Exhaust, Sway bars, brakes, ECM, hood, trunk, bumpers, lights, Wiring???? NOT the Turbo trans though. Its slips when hot into 3rd gear very bad. Like 3-4 seconds between shifts. NFG.

I would do this by swapping full assembly's and hoists and such.
Full front cross member minus the steering rack
Entire dash board and wiring IF necessary.
And what ever parts else i cant think of.

Also im a Subaru technician by trade. I fear nothing about doing this job. Just my back and how much time i need to spend doing this. Less time the better.

Thoughts

Tom
93 Legacy Turbo AT Sliver Stock, Ultra Rotty Body
93 Legacy Turbo MT Silver Rob Tune 550cc Lowered GT28 AWIC 4.11 05 Leg GT rims Mint body
95 Chevy Corvette MT ZR-1 Black X Brace Chipped
94 Legacy Turbo AT Blue Stock SOLD
06 Pontiac G6 AT Green Stock SOLD
The.wee.baby.seamus
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Re: Body swap my Rusted 93 SS into a 93 none SS?

Post by The.wee.baby.seamus »

Most of the plugs should be the same. Harness swap shouldn’t be to difficult.


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nosyt
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Re: Body swap my Rusted 93 SS into a 93 none SS?

Post by nosyt »

I did this swap when I went from my 92 turbo wagon to my 93 L model wagon. I swapped everything over including dash and wiring harness, most of the interior, and front and rear sub frames. The only thing that didn't swap over was the radiator as the NA radiator support is a few inches higher than the turbo rad support.

Two fixes for this would be either swap the radiator support which can be a big job if you haven't done that sort of thing before.
or like I did, run a NA radiator with the rad cap gutted so it constantly bypasses, use the overflow hose off the rad cap neck to feed the coolant tank on the intake manifold.

have been running this way for 6-7 years and have never over heated or have had any issues. of course will need to run NA rad fans with this setup as well or something aftermarket that would fit.
Tommio RS
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Re: Body swap my Rusted 93 SS into a 93 none SS?

Post by Tommio RS »

Hmm interesting.

This seems more doable than i might think.

My current concerns are this wiring and radiator business.

I know the 3 engine wiring connector by the washer jug go somewhere back into the car then into the ECM and what ever else.
Are these connectors PART of the dash board harness or is there a sub harness.
Also can these 3 connector be pulled though the firewall with a dash pull if necessary?

The radiator support i would have never guess would even matter?
Is the upper rad support lower or is it the bottom section where the radiators pegs sit in?
If its the upper core support that every easy. Just bolts. The lower is very likely welded in from factory....
Thats my guess.

Thanks for the reply's.
93 Legacy Turbo AT Sliver Stock, Ultra Rotty Body
93 Legacy Turbo MT Silver Rob Tune 550cc Lowered GT28 AWIC 4.11 05 Leg GT rims Mint body
95 Chevy Corvette MT ZR-1 Black X Brace Chipped
94 Legacy Turbo AT Blue Stock SOLD
06 Pontiac G6 AT Green Stock SOLD
cj91legss
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Re: Body swap my Rusted 93 SS into a 93 none SS?

Post by cj91legss »

The 3 connectors you're asking about go to the SMJ deep under the dashboard high up almost to the windshield on the left side of the steering column.

If you're planning to re shell the SS just swap everything over, you wont have to worry about wiring issues if the car already runs well, which i assume does because you're considering doing this.

radiator support..

What is different between turbo and n/a models is the 2 side pieces spot welded to the channel the radiator actually sits on. If you wan to use the turbo radiator you'll have to swap that over as well. It may seem like a big job, but it actually isn't. You can get spotweld drill bits at harbor freight. They look like mini hole saws.

This however isn't necessary. Josh, me, and many others have ran with the n/a coolant system for quite some time with no cooling issues.
91 L-TW Wagon with a full Swap -RIP
92 SS Prefaced, GD dash swapped, 22T/205 Hybrid 20 psi - BEAST!
93 SS Bone Stock Gone!
94 TW Bone Stock Gone!
91 SS 4EAT Sold!
98 LGT 4EAT
98 LGT Wagon 4EAT
Tommio RS
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Re: Body swap my Rusted 93 SS into a 93 none SS?

Post by Tommio RS »

Ok.

All great info!

Good to know that the NA Rad setup will work with a turbo motor swap.

I assume a few guys here have done these swaps.

So if i yank the entire dash board and as much as the wiring as i can in one shot, these 3 connector for the intake manifold harness are coming with?

I ask this question because i have pulled countless Subaru dash boards on 2008+ Subaru's.
And the ECM on basically any newer subaru is on the passenger floor or in that area.
Those wires never get touched on a full dash pull.
But we know where the Legacies ECM. Does it come out with the dash also?

Im sorry if im asking a lot of question, just never pulled one this old before.

Tom
93 Legacy Turbo AT Sliver Stock, Ultra Rotty Body
93 Legacy Turbo MT Silver Rob Tune 550cc Lowered GT28 AWIC 4.11 05 Leg GT rims Mint body
95 Chevy Corvette MT ZR-1 Black X Brace Chipped
94 Legacy Turbo AT Blue Stock SOLD
06 Pontiac G6 AT Green Stock SOLD
cj91legss
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Re: Body swap my Rusted 93 SS into a 93 none SS?

Post by cj91legss »

Dont be sorry.

No it doesn't. Its mounted to the half dash beam behind the dash.
91 L-TW Wagon with a full Swap -RIP
92 SS Prefaced, GD dash swapped, 22T/205 Hybrid 20 psi - BEAST!
93 SS Bone Stock Gone!
94 TW Bone Stock Gone!
91 SS 4EAT Sold!
98 LGT 4EAT
98 LGT Wagon 4EAT
Tommio RS
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Posts: 502
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:08 am
Location: Winnipeg MB

Re: Body swap my Rusted 93 SS into a 93 none SS?

Post by Tommio RS »

Wow.

Ok then!

Time to start look at the FSM and get educated.

Any other problem area's that i could be missing?
93 Legacy Turbo AT Sliver Stock, Ultra Rotty Body
93 Legacy Turbo MT Silver Rob Tune 550cc Lowered GT28 AWIC 4.11 05 Leg GT rims Mint body
95 Chevy Corvette MT ZR-1 Black X Brace Chipped
94 Legacy Turbo AT Blue Stock SOLD
06 Pontiac G6 AT Green Stock SOLD
nosyt
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Re: Body swap my Rusted 93 SS into a 93 none SS?

Post by nosyt »

The wiring harness is one complete harness. comes out the driver side fender from the ecu to the front of the car and has the three main plugs and the front lights and rad fans and horns. The rest of the harness runs behind the dash to the passenger side where it enters the engine bay behind the heater box. the entire dash and heater box need to be removed but its fairy straight forward once you get in there.

Remember to swap fuel pump to the turbo pump equivalent.
Legacy777
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Re: Body swap my Rusted 93 SS into a 93 none SS?

Post by Legacy777 »

I'll give you my thoughts...

If you decide to swap the wiring harnesses you might be causing yourself more grief and work then you need. I say this because old wires aren't as flexible and could be prone to breaking. This could cause you more troubleshooting and work trying to figure out why things don't work once the wiring is in the new chassis.

So from an engine stand point, as you pointed out the things you'd have to add to the non-turbo chassis is MAP sensor, pressure exchange solenoid, and boost control solenoid. You can pull these wires from the turbo wiring harness and repin them in the non-turbo ECU pins. The MAP sensor wiring is shielded and one continuous wire the entire way. The others are not shielded so if you want you could snip wires for those three at the turbo's ECU and use new wire when you route everything to the sensors/solenoids. This is what I did.

The other electrical difference is the cam & crank sensor positive pins are reversed. You will need to swap those at the ECU if you stick with the non-turbo harness. Additionally, you'd need to remove the engine electrical harness from the non-turbo engine and relocated the coolant temp sensors. It's not a big deal or a lot of work, just something you'd need to do.

Regarding the radiators, the non-turbo radiator is fine. However, if you want to "upgrade" here is another option. I've been running the 2.5 Legacy GT radiator since 2011.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=48162
Josh

surrealmirage.com/subaru
1990 Legacy (AWD, 6MT, & EJ22T Swap)
2020 Outback Limted XT

If you need to get a hold of me please email me rather then pm
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