A quick note: I no longer have this car. It did this project around 2000-2001, before the WRX was sold in the US and was looking to make my own. I drove it for a few years and never had any problems with the bodywork, engine or swapped components. I was going to put in a turbo motor but never did. It was sold to someone in CA who was going to make it into a 22B replica. I never heard if they finished it.

I changed this plain looking 96 Impreza:

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to something that looked alot better:

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First I found a lightly wrecked car, only had 43,000 miles as I remember.

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Then I cut out everything that was wrecked, fender well, hood and radiator support and headight mounting:

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Then start welding in new parts:

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Seal up the joints to keep the water out then spray everything with a primer sealer:

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Now you have something like this:

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I actually drove it like this for 6 months or so I believe then got it painted at Maaco for about $600. Now I have this:

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Now I felt like having more power then the little 1.8 so I got a SOHC 2.5 from a 99 Impreza RS and swaped in it.

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Theres not much to take pictures of. I had to modify the wiring harness,the Phase 2 using different fuel injectors and coil. To make things easy I used the 1.8 throttle body and 1.8 ECU. I also had to use the fuel pressure regulator from the 1.8 as I would get a check engine light after a few days for the motor running richer than expected.