Author Topic: RB93's Laggin Wagon Ver 2  (Read 15670 times)

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Offline jellynuts

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Re: RB93's new project - Good News Everyone!
« Reply #50 on: April 21, 2017, 09:04:11 am »
Yeah :( I'm doing brakes on the forester today :(
uckfay, Johnny with the back-handed slap. You're clearly the Oracle.

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Offline RedBimmer93

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Re: RB93's new project - Good News Everyone!
« Reply #51 on: April 21, 2017, 09:56:03 am »
Yeah :( I'm doing brakes on the forester today :(

It seems like everybody is working on their car this weekend :(

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Re: RB93's new project - Good News Everyone!
« Reply #52 on: April 21, 2017, 02:32:28 pm »
Yeah I'll be occupied tonight, but if I find an hour or two before it gets too late I'll pop over. Gotta get the fozzy moving on its own power again to make room for tomorrow  :)

Offline RedBimmer93

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #53 on: April 23, 2017, 10:22:46 pm »
Everybody was out working on their cars last weekend... so I figured I would be time for me to get started on mine.

But before any of that happened, I figured it was tome to give good old Laggin Wagon 1.0 a sendoff that could only be described as "good 'nuff"...


 
 
Starting with a quick drive around the block, where we met with the doppleganger for the current, undeveloped LW2.0



We brought it back to the garage, and noted the car's final mileage

 
 
The Laggin Wagon was built around the mantra of "Simplify, and Add Lightness"...

So we brought the car into the garage and took some things off...

 
 
...and grinded some things off

 
 
...and set them aside for later

 

Even a 90lb man could not compromise the car's impressive new ride height

 
 
...then this happened



 
 
At this point, i realized this is what the car should have been from the start. It accelerates and turns so much better without the excess weight of doors and things...
 
 
 
 
 

In other news, I sold the bumper off the green car.... however, it was after this point that I realized a JDM GF8 front bumper will not bolt right up to a USDM GF without some modification, and i accidentally sold the only bumper i had that would be a direct fit. The bumper beam is huge, and the fog bezels and the lower grille area wont clear past it :(

This will be a challenge for another day
 
20170423_165722 by Cole Maynard, on Flickr

Offline RedBimmer93

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #54 on: April 28, 2017, 10:07:56 am »
Further work on dismantling the LW is going to happen tomorrow afternoon. (Saturday)

Anyone who wants to be involved is more than welcome to help. I will provide beer and pizza

Offline RedBimmer93

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #55 on: May 09, 2017, 11:03:00 pm »
This past weekend has been very busy for me. There are a lot of parts that I want from the old Laggin, and I figure that, while the summer is young, the time  to start is now.

Considering my lack of mechanical skills, I feel like i got a lot accomplished... Also, many thanks for diamondedge and 05LGT for stopping by to lend a hand.
 
 
I started work in this general area, here:
 

 
 
I started out by breaking the axle nuts loose.

Things were off to a great start. I got 3 of 4 axle nuts broken loose... Then this happened:


 
 
Mastercraft has a lifetime warranty, right??? ???
 
 
 
 

 
Considering these were my final moments with the car, I figured that I would see if the pinch welds still worked as jack points


 
 
Pinch welds worked better than ever! The metal on the car formed itself around the shape of the jackstand upon lowering the car, which made the car very secure. It passed the push test with flying colours :)


 
 
Now on to the main task at hand:


 
 
I began removing items from the engine, during which process i noticed a few key bolts were on the motor only finger tight. This included such items as exhaust manifold bolts, bolts holding on the starter, and bellhousing bolts,

Also, ew, battery acid..... The battery must not have liked being exposed to the atmosphere over the snowy winter months ::)


 
 
 
Through some persistence, and continuing to disconnect things i forgot to disconnect...



...this result was eventually achieved:


 
 
Factory rust-inhibitor on the subframe, with tree needles adding extra fragrance.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Next up was the transmission. I know a certian someone on the forums who is interested in cracking it open and rebuilding it.
 

I started by pulling the plug to drain the fluid... and I noticed a few chunky pieces of metal stuck to the magnet


 
 
I cut the zip ties holding the brake lines in place so I can remove the front CV axles...

(both of which were still fairly new)


 
 
...and disconnected a few more things...

...Continued to find hardened mud to drop on the ground...

Then eventually, this happened
 

 
 
 
 
Considering the rear end of the new car was making horrible-sounding noises, and the bushings appeared to be pretty shot, I wanted to grab as much as I possibly could from the old car while i still can to transfer them over, hopefully eliminating any chances of this clunk continuing to happen... also, gotta reclaim those precious rear disc brakes ;D
 

 

 
 
 
....oh god, what have I done :-X

Offline ultimatt

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #56 on: May 09, 2017, 11:05:48 pm »
Hahahaha. I know that feeling!
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Offline RedBimmer93

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #57 on: May 09, 2017, 11:22:42 pm »
Hahahaha. I know that feeling!

What doesnt kill us makes us stronger :)
 
 

In other news, I sold the bumper off the green car.... however, it was after this point that I realized a JDM GF8 front bumper will not bolt right up to a USDM GF without some modification, and i accidentally sold the only bumper i had that would be a direct fit. The bumper beam is huge, and the fog bezels and the lower grille area wont clear past it :(

This will be a challenge for another day
 
20170423_165722 by Cole Maynard, on Flickr

Sometime earlier last week, I was tasked with bringing a set of truck tires into the shop so they can get a new set of tires installed on them. I sold my front bumper, so I had to get something set up so I could drive the car around.

I did have a bugeye bumper kicking around, but I had no way of getting that to fit over my huge bumper beam... but fortunately I had another one kicking around that should do the trick


 
 
Fits like it was meant to be there


 
 
The rear corners of the bumper needed some way of connecting to the car....

Fortunately I had a set of fenders kicking around that quick release hooks already installed and ready to go ;)


 
 
Might as well also put in the cool headlights while the original ones are out ;) ;)

Also came up with a temporary solution for the front turn signals :haplo90:


 
 
 
It almost feels like deja vu :o


Offline RockThePylon

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #58 on: May 09, 2017, 11:28:46 pm »
That there is a cluster of uckfays.

Well done.
I may scream like a dainty lady, but I punch like a fairly strong 11-year-old.

Offline jellynuts

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #59 on: May 10, 2017, 12:07:51 am »
Pinch welds worked better than ever!

...I started by pulling the plug to drain the fluid... and I noticed a few chunky pieces of metal stuck to the magnet

...but fortunately I had another one kicking around that should do the trick

...Fortunately I had a set of fenders kicking around that quick release hooks already installed and ready to go ;)

Reading these with your voice.  So many well timed punchlines.  I'm dying
uckfay, Johnny with the back-handed slap. You're clearly the Oracle.

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Offline RedndWhite

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #60 on: May 10, 2017, 03:17:27 pm »
... I kinda like where you put the front turn signals on the bumper...
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Offline RedBimmer93

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #61 on: May 10, 2017, 06:00:00 pm »
... I kinda like where you put the front turn signals on the bumper...

They seem to do the job well enough. Also, no my hyper-flash!! ;D

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #62 on: May 10, 2017, 06:59:58 pm »
I don't know the laws of turn signals... but aren't they supposed to be positioned to be seen from the side profile too?

Offline GrantC

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #63 on: May 10, 2017, 07:08:51 pm »
^--- Those fenders have side markers... are they hooked up as signals?

Offline RedBimmer93

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #64 on: May 25, 2017, 11:14:14 pm »
Over the past little while, I have been eager to get some work done on the little green car... so I brought the car out to be dad's place in the forest, and began wrenching on stuffs.

The rear end of the green car made some horrible noises when driving over bumps (particularly on the passenger side), felt very loose (some side-to-side play), and im pretty sure the struts were also worn out.
 

I set about to swap in the following items from Laggin Wagon Ver1:
-GD Rear Struts + Springs
-Rear control arms

and...

-Rear drums to Disc conversion... because why the hell not!! 8)


Work began in this general area here:


 
 
 
Taking one last look at the shoddy rear drums of time long past
 



 
I figured this would be a 4 or 5 hour job, get it done in one, maybe two work nights....... yeah, no

First major obstacle cane when I realized my dad didn't have any metric brake line wrenches. None of the imperial ones he had would fit snuggly... which made me nervous because the brake hose fitting looks like it never came off in the whole life of the car.

So we improvised...



...and we proceeded to begin rounding off one of the brake line fittings.
(even after letting it soak in penetrating fluid for a few minutes)

So my dad asked 3 or 4 of his neighbors if they had a 10mm brake line wrench that we could borrow.

Eventually we were successful! We we took a stab at removing the brake hose on the other side of the car (after letting it soak in penetrating fluid for even longer)

...We proceeded to begin rounding off this fitting as well.

Pro tip: If you plan on removing brake hoses, don't fuss around with brake line wrenches, go straight for the vice grips.
 
 
Also, turns out my dad has a very small selection of metric-sized wrenched. We ended up using imperial-sized sockets that matched the 19mm and 17mm fasteners "good nuff"

(Man, I need to stop drawing cues from the old thread :-\)
 
 
Fast forward a few hours... we removed most of the rear of the car. I'm glad I decided to go ahead with this work

The outer control arm bushings are VERY worn.

Also, the struts were indeed very blown


 
 
I wanted to avoid drilling slots in the stop strut mounts on the car if i didnt have to, so I wanted to see if I can swap over the tophats from the old assembly and slide these right in.

I knew they were different, but I didnt know they were quite this different... the springs seem to be larger in diameter on the GF struts as well




Unfortunately, the GF tophats to not simply swap over to the GD springs like I hoped they would... I ended up putting the old GF springs and top hats into the GD strut assembly.
 
 
but after hours of faffing around, we eventually got to this point.



It's beginning to look like a car again! and a cool one at that 8)

Offline seat safety switch

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #65 on: May 26, 2017, 07:24:26 am »
Yeah, the springs are the determinant for the tophat. 04+ Impreza is a different tophat.

uckfay drums.

Offline RedBimmer93

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #66 on: May 26, 2017, 08:44:38 am »
Yeah, the springs are the determinant for the tophat. 04+ Impreza is a different tophat.

uckfay drums.

So what you're suggesting is bugeye tophats will fit??

Hmmmm....

Offline GrantC

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #67 on: May 26, 2017, 09:38:51 am »
So what you're suggesting is bugeye tophats will fit??

Possibly.

Also, that's exactly the same faffing around we did prior to slotting it.  Only we _really_ wanted the bump to GD sedan spring rate as well as the new dampers, thus the slotting.

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #68 on: May 26, 2017, 10:43:06 am »
If it were my car, I would slot it, then paint the freshly cut slots with the ghettoest cheap-assay rust paint you can find at Home Depot, then install a GD tophat with 04+ GG WRX wagon springs.

Also, add an eBay rear strut tower bar. They're like fifty bucks and you can tack weld a hook to them to carry your shopping bags.

Offline RedBimmer93

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Re: RB93's new project - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #69 on: May 26, 2017, 05:25:18 pm »
Possibly.

Also, that's exactly the same faffing around we did prior to slotting it.  Only we _really_ wanted the bump to GD sedan spring rate as well as the new dampers, thus the slotting.

Stiffer spring rates would be nice... For now this setup will get the car back home, but there is a good chance that this will be temporary. The 2005 struts arent nearly as shot as the 98 ones, but they're not in great shape either.
 
 
If it were my car, I would slot it, then paint the freshly cut slots with the ghettoest cheap-assay rust paint you can find at Home Depot, then install a GD tophat with 04+ GG WRX wagon springs.

Also, add an eBay rear strut tower bar. They're like fifty bucks and you can tack weld a hook to them to carry your shopping bags.

I have some GF8 STi suspensions in my garage. I might consider going to those. It's from an STi model, so im expecting some stiffness.

Also, those ebay strut tower bars are on my bucket list of items to be swapped ;)


Offline RedndWhite

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Re: RB93's Ugly Green GF Wagon - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #70 on: May 26, 2017, 05:40:30 pm »
Pretty sure Jarod welded it to the chassis... but I could be very wrong.
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Offline 05LGT

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Re: RB93's Ugly Green GF Wagon - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #71 on: May 26, 2017, 06:20:31 pm »
Pretty sure Jarod welded it to the chassis... but I could be very wrong.

I already solved that last month with an angle grinder  >:D
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Offline RedBimmer93

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Re: RB93's Ugly Green GF Wagon - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #72 on: May 27, 2017, 06:51:05 pm »
Last night, i got the car finished up, and drove it home. Left my dad's house at around 130 am last night. I ended up throwing on 05LGT's strut assemblies for the sake of simplicity, rather than use the spring compressors to install scoobies struts into the brighton's spring and top hat assembly. Also, decided the control arm bushings on the drivers side looked okay, and it wasnt worth changing those out. I just wanted to get the car home.

First impression: the clunking is gone! The car feels solid as a rock! I'm not as much scared to drive it anymore!  ;D

Unfortunately, the new rear hub assembly with the discs pushed the hub outward from the car a little bit, and now i have one hell of a rubbing issue. I didnt have on the original car. I think the stiffer spring rate of the blobeye springs might be a necessity...


Offline RedBimmer93

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Re: RB93's Ugly Green GF Wagon - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #73 on: June 02, 2017, 05:47:49 pm »
Brief update.
 
 
New trend... All WSC'ers who see the car are encouraged to leave their mark 8)
 
 
 

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Re: RB93's Ugly Green GF Wagon - LW2.0 in progress
« Reply #74 on: June 02, 2017, 08:51:50 pm »
I love the hood! Of course there's dickbutt