Unimpreza

A year after my NB Miata was irreparably modified (see photo below) by a red light running Toyota Avalon, I bought a project car - a 1997 Subaru Impreza Brighton Coupe.  

Miata: 

The new-to-me Subaru delivered by the previous owner. The car looks nice from 20 feet away in the dark.

Sorry to hear about Miata! Subaru does look good from 20ft. Fwd? 

Many photos of the true appearance and condition:

Sunburnt silver on red, with lots of minor body damage. Missing hood scoop and peeling window tint.

Ripped and partially removed front bumper.

Ratty interior

Paint and lock missing.  Hatch seems out of alignment.

Aha - trunk lid was replaced.  I think one or both hinges may have been damaged. Inside the trunk is evidence of repair to the left fender.  No serious structural damage.

Sorry about your Miata but looking forward to seeing this build.

Are you updating real-time or catching up on a project underway? 
 

Great name for the project 

I thought briefly of building a B22 replica, then remembered that I know jack about this sort of thing.  Instead, I'll do my best to make the car look like a Subaru Impreza. 

Bought front fenders off Amazon and bumpers from a local junkyard.  I'd also like to replace the hood, passenger door, and trunk lid.

Seats and carpet, along with the damaged fenders and bumpers are at the curb for tomorrow's bulky pick up.

Hole ripped in the floor behind the drivers seat - probably from a jack.  Welding a patch is easy.

Damaged rocker panels behind the front wheels. Although it looks like rust damage in the photos, they are just badly bent.  Maybe a tern drove over a curb?

I'll bend the pinch welds back, and hide the damage with fiberglass rocker skirts.

In reply to Professor_Brap (Forum Supporter) :

I miss the Miata, but promised my wife to get something a little larger.  This isn't what she had in mind.

In reply to Cooper_Tired

I bought the car last week.  I'd like to get most of the bodywork done by December.

sllewwp said:

In reply to Cooper_Tired

I bought the car last week.  I'd like to get most of the bodywork done by December.

Based on this car, if you can handle all that bodywork, you can do a 22Bish conversion too.  And since a 22B is so expensive, a replica is more affordable and still desirable.

Not much progress since my last post - many other things had higher priority. 

One unexpected problem that was the battery in my daughter's SUV died.  The Subaru donated its large AGM battery that was meant for a truck.  The Subaru now has Autozone's cheapest battery.

The Unimpreza is a long way from being reliable transportation, so we bought a BMW 330ci in reasonably good condition.  Replaced shocks and struts; cooling system is next.  

I've been doing a lot of reading about engine swaps, and decided on EZ30.  That won't happen anytime soon, as the body needs a lot of attention.  

While vacuuming the interior, I found two more holes in the floor: a pencil size hole near the long tear behind the driver, and a half-dollar size hole between the rear seats.  The latter is a Subaru hole that's missing a plug. 

Front fenders ordered from Amazon arrived in November, but one had minor damage.  The seller shipped a replacement, but that one had even more damage.  The third fender arrived undamaged.

I cut the front bumper, removing thd lower beam, in case I find a RS cover later.  The junkyard provided Outback bumpers in good condition for cheap.

Next task is to buy an argon bottle so I can weld up the floor holes, antenna mount, and door trim holes.

Slow going. Because much of the body has poorly repaired damage, and my limited skill and time, I decided to make the car look ok from 20 feet away.  The paint will be flat black, so that the many imperfections won't be as noticeable.  

The car will be wingless.  The trunk lid already has several holes filled with bondo, so I did the same for the wing mounting holes.  I'll replace it if I find a lid in better condition at one of the local junkyards.

This weekend, I beat the dent behind the right rear wheel back and the dent in the roof into shape.  

Instead of an RS front bumper cover, I bought the earlier style one from a junkyard Outback and removed the plastic that would cover the lower portion of the metal bumper (that I cut off).  I bonded patches to fill the holes.  Unfortunately, I learned too late not to use coarse sandpaper.

I also cut the center, which includes the Subaru emblem, out of the grill.  I'll bond in metal mesh from Home Depot.  

First coat!  It looks much better than I expected, though roller marks are noticeable.  I'm hoping they'll disappear after the second coat, or I'll have to sand.

I liked how the gray primer I had used on the trunk lid looked - much better than black.  Rustoleum doesn't come in flat gray, so I mixed a pint each of black and white.  The gray does a great job of hiding dents. 

I had spent a couple of hours each day for about two weeks sanding and doing barely competent body work.  The passenger door no longer looks like chewed bubblegum - but it's not good.  I had to replace the Harbor Freight cordless sander after it overheated.

The hole in the floor behind the driver is patched.  I used flux core wire and a cheap welder from Amazon.  Not pretty, but it isn't structural and will be hidden under carpet.

Photos later.

Progress!

Paint is pretty much done.  The hood was frustrating because black showed roller marks no matter what  I tried.  I ended up using spray cans.

Looks good from 20 feet away, but at least it isn't silver on red.

I couldn't find good junkyard seats, for which they want $60 each.  I bought a pair of cloth "racing" seats off Amazon for under $300, and a pair of mounts off ebay for about $70.

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