So up until recently my daily driver was a 1991 BF5 legacy brighton, she was a sohc na automatic slow as hell and not the most inspiring drivers car however it was a bloody good car. I made a stupid decision and bought a honda god forbid integra vtec it was full of issues and a bit of a stuff up on my part not a good buy. Shortly after I sold the wagon, from the moment it drove off I regretted the decision, from the point I vowed to own a turbo model off the same car I had before.
After whinging on facebook about missing my beloved wagon a friend of mine messaged me about a Series 1 (big plus for me) Gt he had that needed a new home, it was cheap and very tidy drawback being no wof no reg auto and something off with the engine a misfire, lack of power.
Unlike the integra this was a car I was determined to have so i got it for a nice deal arrived at my house with a v3 sti gearbox in the boot and all the bits I'd need to manual it.
So it was looking to be a manual conversion and diagnose the engine project, I mucked around with changing spark plugs etc as it had 1.1 gap plugs in it haha. The engine was not looking to e running any better I got told its likely a burnt exhaust valve.
Immediately I pulled the engine and started the manual conversion.
Engine was sent away to be fixed the burnt exhaust valve theory was 100% correct and the only issue the shortblock is perfect even after 207,000ks.
V3 wrx heads were fitted as an upgrade over the dated GT HLA heads.
While then engine was away I cracked on with the manual bits, cluster swap to manual, auto box removed driveshaft and all related bits.
Manual box back in manual gt driveshaft, pedalboxes and clutch cylinders.
As it sits manual swap stuff is 90% done and the engine just needs some gaskets and misc replacement parts.
Unfortunately I didn't take much photos during this and I also formatted my phone so lost alot of photos. But I do have some for now I will just post photos showcasing the car, I will upload more over the next couple days as I finish it up.
The main goal of this project is to build my perfect daily drive a subaru wagon with power but stock reliability while preserving the immaculate factory car that it is. Loud exhaust is a must for me so the factory nana pipe is getting binned but aside from that stocko.
been sitting a while but bone stock unmolested engine bay!
Gt and the banana RS lurking in the background
gt and the flatmates R33
pristine interior
Aesthetic shot of the series 1 garnish
thats all for now more to come in the coming week.