I started the tear-down and parts prep from my 2005 Impreza RS wagon (2.5 NA engine) over a year ago (Sept 2013), but I have just recently been convinced by Frank (CanadianYank) to create a build thread for my 818S.

I'm not creating this thread to showcase any particular skills as I am a complete noobie to building cars, and mechanical skills in general. I am creating this thread more to assist any others who may be in a similar situation to myself. Here are the challenges / obstacles that I faced from the start:

I am new to car building - I'm actually an accountant by trade
I chose a Normally aspirated donor to keep it as simple as possible, and I don' need too much horsepower
I have a Canadian donor car, which is NOT always the same as the typical American equivalent
I had to import everything into Canada, which had it's own challenges (Al Beix was a huge help)
I cannot weld, paint, fabricate, or design custom parts like so many others on the forum do so well
I have limited tools and resources at my disposal for this project.

Since I have received so much help and guidance from forum members, and from local builder friends and car nuts alike, I want to share the sorts of struggles and triumphs that I have had, and share my lessons learned as well. Most experienced builders may not get much out of my thread, but if I can either help out one builder or inspire another noobie to take on this awesome project, then it will be worth it.

I'll be posting pics and my own lessons learned along the way soon, so stay tuned.

Thanks again to Frank for encouraging me to share my experiences, and to my family and friends for all of the help along the way.

Regards,

Dave