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at to mt swap

('03-'05) 
2K views 18 replies 4 participants last post by  philosophical 
#1 · (Edited)
Advise needed for buying car to swap drivetrain

I found an 03 with a siezed wheel bearing that needs new tires, clutch, and a battery but otherwise is running.

I want to swap the transmission and driveline into my 03 with the 4eat that I rebuilt the engine on. It sounds like the perfect scenario, everything I need should be right there for the swapping.

I've been pondering this swap but since the 03 apparently has the oddball ecu I wasn't sure if it would be possible unless I found the exact same year but with a manual transmission. the donor has about 220 kilometers on it. I am hoping to pick it up for under $500.

do you think I can make my money back after the swap and buying a new clutch + fluids by parting out the donor and my old 4eat + driveline?

also will I be able to use my existing hubs and just swap the driveshafts and diff's in?
 
#2 ·
well I talked to the seller today. he says that the wheel is locked up from the bearing being siezed and the car cant be driven. its also been sitting for a few months. I never heard of a bearing actually seizing and locking up a wheel before, I thought the wheel would fall off first, but I guess its possible. whats a good way to check the car out to see if its just a bearing and not something more serious like the rear diff or center diff or even transmission? I've never worked on a manual transmission car before.

I cant imagine it would be very good for the diff if one wheel locked up while driving, but its my understanding that the center diff would just slip in such a situation and as long as you dont drive with it like that, it should be okay?

still trying to decide if its worth even looking at it.
 
#3 ·
well I picked up the forester for what I thought was a good price. turns out the car's brakes were all rusted together. the flatbed had to drag it onto the bed and shake the heck out of it to get it to come back off again. we ended up putting a jack under the rear diff while he drove ahead so the back wheels would come off. it was quite the experience and the kids had fun watching (im sure the driver didn't love being watched though!).

soon i'll be tearing into it. the good news is that the engine runs nice and there are no cel codes, and everythign seems to work. plus I scored a decent set of alloy wheels. the bad is that everything is pretty rusty. gonna need some cleaning up.
 
#5 ·
The car is a rust bucket, but it will be geting the sawzall treatment. its literally a donor and I cant wait to chop it all up and send the shell to the junkers, once I rip all the useful parts out that is!

I have searched and I cant seem to figure out if the 2003 NA forester is push or pull type clutch. can anyone chime in?
 
#16 ·
I was kinda pissed when the blots holding the fan shroud to the rad broke off inside the rad. Im hoping to have as many spare parts as possible to keep\sell. now i'll have to drill out snapped screws if I want to make use of the rad! seriously, its a steel screw in plastic, how does that snap off? lol
 
#18 ·
so this is a bit off topic but I've been busy with life and havn't had a chance to do much work. I started taking the dash apart and found some wasps that had made a home in the passanger mirror. So I had to deal with that. Then the very next weekend the little buggers were at it again, this time trying to make a home in the crack between the two passanger side doors. talk about annoying, It sure slows you down when you have wasps constantly buzzing around your car!

but he main reason I havn't had time is this.



spent a few weekends driving around looking at different trailers and then trailer parks until we finally found what we wanted!
 
#19 ·
I am just pulling the last parts off of my donor car now, and the carcass is going on sunday (good riddance!). but I didn't pull the whole wire harness out as it just looked like it would be too much work to swap the harness into my car and I don't have the time anymore to pull it out. so can anyone tell me what plugs I should cut off and save? obviously the ones that go to the tranny itself but are there any other plugs I can cut off that will make my life easier down the road.

thanks!
 
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