Hi everyone,
I am new to I-club and Subarus all together, so I would like to first just introduce myself. My name is Steven and Im and 18yr. old college student from west Michigan. I just recently picked up my first Subaru after wrecking my previous (and first) car last month. Soon after I purchased my new car; A 98 Impreza RS. The car is damaged and needs work and my plan is to document its recovery through this forum. I have posted some of this on RS25.com but I think this forum will lend itself better to keeping a diary of the repairs. So thanx in advance for welcoming me to your awesome website and I hope you will enjoy my project.

To begin this first post, I will show everything I have done to this point. Here are some pictures of the car just after I picked it up:





I drove the car home and it went well, however I did notice the car was acting funny. The dealer had told me that the drivers side rear wheel needed an alignment and it was evident from the position of the steering wheel when going strait that the would infact need an alignment. I took the car to the shop I used to work at to get a look at what I had gotten myself into. We put the car up on the lift and discovered that the drivers side rear lateral links were infact bent significantly. Also, the sway bar endlink was broken in two. The front end was unscathed suspension wise, however the radiator support has been moved over towards the passenger side about and inch and a half causing the fenders to sit slightly askew. This would mean that car will have to go onto the frame machine to get the body work to line back up. Some pictures of this...




The muffler was rusted to junk so I replaced it with an OE muffler for now. Any mods that will be done will come after the car is road worthy, I decided.
Old muffler v.s. new...




A few days ago I received these as a late christmas gift. Not exactly helping the repairs any, but the are hot...



Today I picked the replacement lateral links used for $75 each. Not bad since new OEM parts were around $100 each. Today was also the begining of disassembly on the front body parts to get the car prepared to go on the frame machine. Heres how the progress looks:






Thats It for now. I will keep updating as things happen.

-Steven

 

Lookin good! These threads where there are detailed repair/install pics are awesome.

 

looks cool...just gotta get the 00-01 front bumper and you'll be set!
I am also on RS25.com. I hang out on I-club for the laughs mainly, RS25.com for rs specifics, and nasioc when i just want to find info only. Its nice to see another GC around here, welcome

 

I just got back from the Subaru Dealership. I needed the long bolt that holds the lateral links to the hub. $30!!! blah.

 

what kinda car did you have before?

 

A 95 Nissan Altima with a 5 speed.

 

nice upgrade, welcome!

 

Thanx!

 

great write up so far.

 

Alright, Well today I got the bolt and Ive had the lateral links for about a week so that means it was time to install!

I unbolted the long bolt on the hub and pulled it out about an inch but the bend in it was keeping it bound up. I unbolted the rear lateral link first and then was able to slide the long bolt on the hub out. Heres what It looks like compaired to the new one. Notice the bend towards the head on the old part...


Next I unbolted the front lateral link and pulled it off as well. Here you can see just how bad each link is.




Now this is where things got interesting. I got everything back together as you can see from this picture right here...But see If you notice what is wrong with this....


The shop where I got the parts from (I used to work there, they usualy hook me up with good deals) got me a passenger side rear link instead of a drivers side link! You can see in the comparative picture that the peices are oposites. Oh well, It just means more waiting which Im TIRED of. Blah, Ill update whenever I get it back together.

-Steven

 

wow awsome thread. Props for saving a very nice car thats becoming more rare espicially in that color

Keep us updated.

 

Wow....great find and an awesome project/restoration write up.

How much did you get the RS for (if you don't mnd me asking)

Good luck with it, looks amazing on the passenger side. Can't wait to see when you've got her road worthy and dressed to impress!

 

$3800, 65K on the clock.

Heres a short update:
I finaly got around to bolting up the OE exhaust. I picked up a tip from autozone so it doesnt look too terrible. I also finaly got the correct lateral link and put my suspension back together on the drivers rear (YAY). I took a couple passes up and down the road (good thing the shop im working out of is in the sticks) and the car drove MUCH better. I couldnt believe it, no more bump steer! ha! When I got it back into the shop I took the front bumper off and called it a day. Now I just need to get money together for parts. Being layed of recently wont help that much. :-(

Heres some pics, Enjoy.






-Steven

 

Nice progress... keep it up take it one thing at a time you're on the right track.

 

if i lived where it snowed, i would drift non-stop.