Banging Gears in the Last Frontier

On April 2nd, 2016, I drove my dream car home, without any issues (besides my mudflap fucking flying off, but we don't talk about that.) I was honestly ecstatic, at the age of 19, to have completed a STi swap, and finally have my car back after half a year.

Waiting for over two months for my ECU to return, Spencer and I could finally start the car, which turned over on the second try. Sadly, the car did not return home for another 2/3 weeks, as Spencer and I had to track down the source of a mystery misfire, which ended up being my fault for mixing up two wires while repining a plug.

Sorry for the lengthy gap, Marine training happened. So after the EJ253 was ripped out, Spencer ripped out the interior bits so I could send of the harness to iWire to be merged. Outside of a smashed O2 sensor from maybe dropping the engine six inches off the jack stand, the engine and transmission went in rather seamlessly. And with the return of the wire harness in early January 2016, Spencer and I were able to button up the swap and wait for my ECU to be chip tuned by RobTune

Once I got back from Wasilla, I was greeted by a giant box that contained my latest and most stupid investment, the STi engine and transmission. So that weekend, with the help of a friend (huge shoutout to Spencer, this swap wouldn't have happened without him) the gutting of the 2.5RS started, and its long transformation began.

Right before my engine and transmission came in, I had to make a trek to Wasilla (about 720 mile round trip) to pick up a Burschur Racing exhaust that I had found online. This was the last trip as a stock car, and it turned into a beautiful one.

The build started, well, with no intention to build. My first car (a 99 Eclipse RS) had just broken down, and I had decided to switch over to a different car. One of my friends was selling his 2.5RS, and I decided to jump on it. I had the car for maybe a month before I decided to do a compression check, revealing that three out of my four cylinders had low compression. Having no prior mechanical knowledge, I posted on a local Subaru page for help, and one of my friends suggested swapping it, and sent a link of a 1996 EJ20G STi motor with a transmission for sale on eBay. Within 24 hours, with no prior research, I had ordered the engine and was having it trucked to my house in Fairbanks. 

So, moving my build thread over here (on the insistence of Hartley) so this will be the beginning of my EJ20G swapped 2.5RS, and the journey that is has taken me on over this last year and a half. PC: Elora Libal