club.liberty.asn.au

So the VX is gone, after many hours of searching and haggling came across this in NSW, picked it up for 5.5k

Year: 2005
Odo: 228,XXXkms [Chassis], 160,XXXkms on everything but the shell.
Colour: Blaaaaack
Engine: EJ20T Boxer.
Transmission: 5sp Manual.
Exhaust: AVO Rear Mufflers
Electrics: Power Windows, Cruise Control, Climate Control


Plans

- Lowering
- PDX 4ch and Audison 3 way fronts
- Re-tint
- New exhaust
- Get chips filled, car cut & polished
- Paintless dent removal

Servicing, etc

- Upper engine clean, oil, filter, plugs & leads, change clutch fluid at 160,XXXkms - 27/11/15

Clean looking Wagon Nathan,
Hope the clean up / future mods goes well.

Welcome mate, that vy Calais has a turbo ls1 doesn't it? Recognise it from just commodores its seriously one of my favourite cars in existence, welcome to the Subaru side of the fence you'll enjoy it

QWIKB4 wrote:Clean looking Wagon Nathan,
Hope the clean up / future mods goes well.

BigBCalais wrote:Welcome mate, that vy Calais has a turbo ls1 doesn't it? Recognise it from just commodores its seriously one of my favourite cars in existence, welcome to the Subaru side of the fence you'll enjoy it

Cheers guys, yeah that's me thanks for the kind words here's my thread on jc.

been loving the subi, great on fuel and loads of fun to drive. doesn't have 350kws (yet) but gets me around. car's getting rwc'd in vic soon, new brakes arrived the other day so new brakes all round going on and going to pain the callipers, maybe cherry red?

Changing front CV shafts for the roady.. slightly rooted. One came apart as I was pulling it out of the gearbox.





New CVs ready to go in

So the gearbox broke on the subi.. I probably drove it a bit hard. Not a biggie, snapped 1st gear shift fork, common issue. But still, what a great opportunity to go turbo.
Picked up this sedan GT donor car, 160,000kms, manual.







Stripped it..



















Scrapped the shell..



Cleaned up a bit, entire house full of parts.









Pulled the motor on the wagon and started installing the new bits.





Played tetris to get the right motors facing the right way..





New motor & dash in (including full wiring swap)





Cabin filter change, self explanatory.










GT bonnet on looking mint





All done. Car drives great, fresh driveline in absolutely everything swapped over from the donor car. Also grabbed curtain airbags and appropriate wiring/modules from a gt wagon at the wreckers, every single item on the car is low km, it was all getting a bit long in tooth at 245,000kms. Carpet from the donor car was perfect so in it went, love the way it drives now the turbo is a reasonable size on the manuals although it could be slightly bigger.
It was a bit more involved than I thought but still a great outcome.

Way to nail your 2nd timing belt service

Great effort!!!

Pretty impressive job- it's a lot of work, but you CAN do it yourself (and it's the only way I could recommend doing this swap). I know you've also learned so much about the car by putting it all in yourself, and you can't beat experience.

.. now time for performance upgrades

bigBADbenny wrote:Way to nail your 2nd timing belt service

Lol, we just did the timing belt on the n/a motor ah well, got a decent price for that. Now just have to figure out when the timing belt was done on the wreck, in theory should've been done at 125k, so not due for a while yet.

jslayz wrote:Great effort!!!

HardwareBoB wrote:Pretty impressive job- it's a lot of work, but you CAN do it yourself (and it's the only way I could recommend doing this swap). I know you've also learned so much about the car by putting it all in yourself, and you can't beat experience.

.. now time for performance upgrades

Thanks guys, love the 4 gen so easy to work on and a great experience and platform to start modifying..

Buying a complete wreck is the ONLY way anyone should ever consider a swap like this in my opinion.. Even with the complete wreck I still needed parts, thankfully the guys I bought the wreck from were extremely helpful.

Cold air intake, exhaust, tune and maybe a bit more boost (boost controller upgrade if they need it) are next up on the list as well as fit the stereo that's been waiting to go in. Oh and sunroof

nathanVY wrote:Cold air intake, exhaust, tune and maybe a bit more boost (boost controller upgrade if they need it) are next up on the list as well as fit the stereo that's been waiting to go in. Oh and sunroof

Basic mod list -
silicone inlet (200ish), 3 port boost control solenoid (100ish), dump (depends, but 400-1000), tune (400-1000 depending on where/what you do). This will get you the most gains for the least money. The rest of the exhaust is not necessary at this level. You should get about 170kw atw I think.

As a constant nay sayer of the non turbo to turbo conversion I doff my cap to you.

The only caveat was "maybe, if you can DIY it" and so it was

bigBADbenny wrote:The only caveat was "maybe, if you can DIY it" and so it was

kiahatsiu wrote:As a constant nay sayer of the non turbo to turbo conversion I doff my cap to you.

Thank you sir. This wasn't my first engine/driveline/loom and the workshop manual was very helpful too (PM me if you're interested I have all the PDFs, so handy) - but anyone can do it if they are willing to learn and have a few good mates willing to help out

HardwareBoB wrote:Basic mod list -
silicone inlet (200ish), 3 port boost control solenoid (100ish), dump (depends, but 400-1000), tune (400-1000 depending on where/what you do). This will get you the most gains for the least money. The rest of the exhaust is not necessary at this level. You should get about 170kw atw I think.

What's wrong with the stock inlet hose / benefits of silicone hose?

The boost solenoid upgrade confuses me a bit, does the stock ecu just magically read the new inputs or are they very versatile ECU's so the tuner can make use of it in the tune? What about a stand alone boost control system like eboost street? Either way absolutely first up on the list, good boost control is essential.

Exhaust I was mostly thinking decat dump pipe, that one right at the back of the turbo must kill it a fair bit, high flow cat in the middle and whatever sounds good for the rest.

Better aerodynamics, less likely to rot and tear from blowby contamination.

3-port requires a flash tune on your ECU, eg ThrottleHappy/kido, just ask for a reliability drivability tune and keep the boost realistic eg 15psi max, or whatever you think your engine can take based on fuel, supporting mods & research.

Get a BtSsm or Tactrix or both to log the car and virtual gauges.
That way you'll know where your systems are at, for better or worse