The BlueBaru CX Racing Turbo Rebuild

[TurboBRZ]

I finally got the cross member put in and attached all the suspension. After doing so I re-measured some areas on the car (from the ground) to see overall how even the car was (it has been a little off the whole time, but the damage was in an area I do not have the ability to fix). Even though the body panels fit right and everything bolts together as it should, the core support height on the passenger side is about 3/4" higher than the driver side. I never saw where the cause of the problem was before, but now it's painfully evident - the firewall where the frame rail welds in is bent inwards and upwards.





I sent a lot of images with measurements yesterday to different frame shops nearby. This afternoon the tow truck arrives to bring the car in to one who said they could fix the problem without any issues in less than 4 hours (costing me less than $300 with a tow both ways!). While it's there they are also going to paint the engine bay for me and fender wells to the factory 02C Subaru blue. I haven't decided if I will have them paint the entire car yet, as I don't really have an extra $2k a this moment...

On a positive note, this is the first time the Bluebaru has had front wheels that were functional since I bought the car:



Time to go get the rest of it put back together for the body shop!

[TurboBRZ]

After waiting 3 hours yesterday for a tow truck that never came and a driver who kept saying "I'll be there in 15 minutes", I waited 3 hours for another tow company to call me back to setup a time to tow my car - they never did. They were supposed to come this morning and pick up my car - but when I called them "Sorry, all of our trucks are on police runs". Towing companies in my area have the absolute worst service I've ever encountered - without even a shred of decency to call you if they will be 3 hours late.

I don't know why I didn't do it before, but I called AAA - a truck will be here in less than an hour and for only $10 more than the asshole that stood me up for 3 hours yesterday. The BlueBaru is finally going to the body shop. And GOOD news! The 02C paint arrived yesterday!

[TurboBRZ]

I just got back from the body shop and the cost of course went up after arrival. It's hard to argue with anyone after you towed your car to their location, so now I'm out $750 to pull the frame, fix some dents in the door and underpanels (beneath the door) and spray the engine bay, fender wells, inner fenders and inner hood with my 02C base coat. The original quote of $200 was for the frame pull only, but now my "frame work" is up to about $500. In the end the only thing that really matters is that my car will be perfectly straight like a brand new car, it's just hard spending more money when you're already a bit over budget... I wanted to do all this with cash, but now I'm putting some of the bill on my credit cards.

[vroom4]

How are they fixing the dents under the door? Drill and pull?

[TurboBRZ]

Originally Posted by vroom4

How are they fixing the dents under the door? Drill and pull?

I talked with them today and they said they were going to weld a rod to the outside of it to use for pulling it out, then they were going to grind down the rod so there won't be any holes ever put through the metal.

[Sammakko]

you should remove this manifold, and actually flatten the flanges. your silicon sealant is gonna last for maybe a week.

[TurboBRZ]

The frame shop called me on Thursday to let me know they put the car on the machine, so hopefully within another week or two it will be ready to pickup fully painted and ready to drop the engine in. In the meanwhile I've done a few minor things to the engine so I thought I would share.

I installed this before but never took a picture, so here is the 4 BAR Map sensor from Omni:



Here is the torque solution Cam Plate (Suggested by Teclis):



I bought a generic 10-Row oil cooler from eBay that had an adapter plate that was supposed to work with the BRZ - and I think it COULD if they included a spacer for it (which they did not). So I did some searching and found Perrin and one other company selling a thermostat controlled oil cooler adapter - and Chris at Perrin gave me the better deal so I went with them. Really nice people!

[TurboBRZ]

Just got back from the frame shop who said everything should be ready to go by early next week! Here are a few pictures of the car up on the frame pulling machine:

[TurboBRZ]

Just got back from the body shop again today and my god have they done an amazing job! All the little areas that were slightly off alignment are now spot on. Best of all they didn't have to undo any of my work other than sanding down some of the sealant I used to check my welds.

Now they are going to finish painting the engine bay and fender wells before they spray the rest of the car. Next week I'll get her back so I can put the heart back in the beast. Then I gotta wait another 1-2 weeks for a rebuilt inspection before I can have it as my daily driver

To get the firewall issue resolved they welded in some anchor points that they could pull from:



After this and doing some minor pulling on the apron, the car was straight which is being shown the the level in the next image (previously one side of the core support was about .75" higher than the other):



And to make sure everything looks factory when it goes back together, they are spraying the under parts of the hood and inner fenders:

[TurboBRZ]

According to the body shop I will get the Bluebaru back on Friday. I stopped by this afternoon to take some more photos of the progress.

The shop is painting my panels off the car, and will be doing some painting on the car to blend in the doors and rear quarter panel. They have removed every dent that the car came with the car and prepped the engine bay as well as the left and right sides of the car for paint. The car will be shot tomorrow after my panels are finished drying.

The panels were shot with PPG paint with clear coat (like the factory), and by the time it is done you won't be able to tell it was ever in a wreck.

30-60 days after the paint has cured I will be bringing it back to the body shop where they are going to wet sand and buff the entire vehicle, and then wax it.

[P3tras]

Looking good! Final assembly is the most fun part (at least was for me)

[TurboBRZ]

Originally Posted by P3tras

Looking good! Final assembly is the most fun part (at least was for me)

Yeah, I'm getting all giddy inside just thinking about dropping the motor into this beast on Friday!

[Dylan0123]

Great job, I definitely respect all the work you've put into this! Very interested to see how everything turns out, best of luck to you! Keep up the good work

[D_Thissen]

Love the FRS bumper in WRB. Will you be using the BRZ headlights?