Hello everyone, my name is Dan and I am building an 818C with my father, son and friends. Some of you may recognize me from the 818 Builders and Dreamers Facebook group. I also have an Instagram account dedicated to this build. I decided to name the project "Lightweight 818" not because I aim to make mine lighter than anyone else's, I just thought it worked well as a name. Link here: https://www.instagram.com/lightweight818/

I decided to track my progress on here as I journey along the build process because I have seen great ideas and inspiration come from these threads. I have been dreaming/planning this build for over 5 years and I still feel so unprepared. I have been working on Subarus since I was 15 (I'm 30 now). I have swapped engines in my 03 and 05 wrxs when they needed work. But I am by no means a fabricator. I have no idea how to weld (I did it once in college) so I'll be avoiding that if at all possible in my build. Or I will outsource the weld work to my uncle who welds scrap to make artwork on the side.

Anyway, when the thought of building this car first sparked, a few hurdles presented themselves.

1. I need a garage
Long story shot, I tackled the first hurdle after drawing my own site plan, buying a custom pre-engineered metal building, submitting a building permit request, being denied, applying for a variance, attending the variance hearing, getting approval, having the slab poured, waiting a year for the carport company to get their **** together, having the metal building installed, getting the permit inspection approved then filling the garage with the necessary tools and equipment to get the job done.

2. I need more tools
I obtained most of my tools as Christmas or Birthday gifts from relatives. Every year my list was packed with tools that were on the list of required/recommended tools in the FFR build manual. This is a seemingly endless endeavor when you are just starting out collecting tools.

3. I need a donor
I took my time in trying to find a donor that wasn't completely trashed. Finding a low-milage donor with little to no modifications and being outside of the rust belt was extremely difficult. So...something had to give. I found my donor on CoPart. It's a 2007 WRX, 1 owner, 57k miles that was in a light t-bone accident on the passenger side. The car ran and drove as listed. I bought it site-unseen as it was located in Wisconsin (basically Hell for cars), and I am located in PA (a slightly less intense circle of Hell for cars). One owner and low milage is great but MAN was this thing rusted all to **** underneath. I had no idea because the pictures did not show this (of course). You'll see in the pics just what I am talking about.

4. I need a kit
I ordered my kit December 8th 2021 on a hunch that prices were going to increase soon. I am glad that I ordered when I did, because no more than a month later the kits actually did go up in price (thanks Covid). My kit was delivered by Stewart Transportation on May 26th 2022. This was one of the most exciting days of my life. I had been looking forward to this for SO long!

5. I need free time
I am still in college, but will be graduating in Spring 2023. I have been going for 8 years part time to get my BS in mechanical engineering. I also have a 2.5 year old son (Cameron) along with my wife (Marina) that I balance my limited free time with. Once I am through with school, I think my build will progress much faster.

When you want something this badly, you find ways to start making your dream into your reality. I am a Subaru Ambassador (have been for 5 years) and most of my life revolves around the brand. People refer to me as "Subaru Dan" at school. As much as I thought I knew about these cars, I am diving into an 07 Wrx donor which I have never owned or worked on. Nor have I ever disassembled one to this extent. I am learning so much about these cars and am really enjoying the build. This thread should have been started a long time ago, and I am very behind on posting pictures. I won't post them all here (see the full album on Instagram), but I'll post some of the main milestones up to where I am now.

Thanks for taking the time to read about my story and what my build is about. There are a lot of very talented builders here and I am looking forward to interacting with you. Here are some donor car arrival day pics to start things off!

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