I tried searching all the forums for an answer to this question, but most people are swapping up in years not down. I assume the answer is the same, I need fenders, hood, bumper/bumper beam, headlights, misc brackets, but do I need to change the radiator support?

Always dug the bugeye, but wanted a new wrx...

 

I'll swap you if it can be done and I'll even pay to have it re-painted to match your car - seriously.

 

I'm looking into it. It seems that most people have to swap the radiator support. Not sure how much that will cost....

 

I really really like the looks of the hawkeyes. I like my bugeye but the hawk is more my style. Let me know. My cousin has a body shop in San jose too if you need some consultation, though he'll probably need to see the car in person

 

Sweet. I might be in San Jose this weekend. Would not mind making a detour. Send me a pic of you car whenever you can.

 

So I figure that since most ppl are posting about swapping from 02/03 to 06/07 that it would just be the reverse. Anybody have a general cost figure on this?

 

So thanks to BSMdriver (Devon) we got this swap underway. Took me about nine hours just about nonstop to swap most things over. There's still some nit picky stuff to do (and redo) but here it is for those who want to do a bare minimum swap... Sorry, didn't get pics the whole way.

Here's a before shot


Once we took off all the side skirts, fenders, hood, bumper and bumper beam, we tried test fitting everything.

The problems for me was that the bugeye fender mounting bracket did not match mine sooo...


I had to fab a bracket to support the fender


Added a brace from TiC. Yay! no more soggy noodles!!


Same with Devon's, except he had to hack out a lot of his fender and the buckets for his headlights (a before shot)


Test fit 02 on 07




Test fit 07 on 02


The biggest problem was getting the bugeye headlights and hood to fit, we had to cut a channel out of the radiator support. Unfortunately, it still is not sitting to my liking so I plan on going back and replacing it with the right support beam and headlight buckets.


I had to drill holes and use sheet metal screws with washers to hold the headlights and side grills in place. The headlight harness was not a problem.


Same for the center grill


This is after 9 hours of sweat and dirt...


I will post more updates as I fully complete my swap.

 

HAHAHAHAH wooooooowwww. Thats so cool!! Good work! I cant imagine the headaches that came with this. I have trouble putting in a 05 sti center console into my 04 wrx, lol.

 

Thanks! It wasn't as bad as it could have been... overall it was a good experience. I can't wait until I get new some new parts and paint =)

 

Im glad you got it to work but I offered in another thread i believe to give you some pointers. I did not have to do any of that fab work to fit the bugeye front end on my 05 sti. but like i said, glad you got it all to work out.

 

Wow good job! Congrats! Welcome to the bugeye mafia =p

 

Thanks. I did get those tips and I appreciate the insight. The guy I was working with was kinda in a rush to go to work (bad timing) so we did it the fastest we could. I definitely plan on going back and putting in a new radiator support and headlight buckets just to clean things up... I hate being ocd sometimes...

 

Thanks! I can't wait until I get it setup exactly how I want it

 

This is jizztastic!!!

 

wow good work