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Old 04-03-2008, 12:58 AM   #1
99 rs
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Chapter/Region: W. Canada
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2005 Acura NSX-T
2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

Default My Swap: 1999RS to 2002WRX. Complete Wiring Guide Inside

Note, if you can't see any of the pictures it's because Photobucket decided to be greedy f'ers. If you're on Chrome install the following extension and all pictures will work for free!

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...alioapbifiaedg

****************************************

Finished doing a WRX conversion on my car. I say conversion and not swap because literally every single part that was on the WRX that could fit on the RS is on there now. This swap was done by my brother and I. At the time we were 23 and 21 respectively (shows that anyone can do a swap). This past January (2007) a guy my brother knew bought this rolled over WRX for a really good price. It was running and driving. Most of the stuff wrong was only cosmetic damage. Since the opportunity came up to do an engine swap I bought pretty much everything that I needed for the swap. Straight from the radiator to the exhaust and everything in between. I bought the full drive train, suspension, wiring and the front & rear seats. I documented every single step of the way from all of the mechanical to every wire I spliced needed to run the car. There are over 500+ pictures in this thread. The swap was not “difficult” at all. It was lengthy yes, but it wasn’t hard. For just the motor it took us about 2 ½ weeks INCLUDING the wiring. For the full drive train, suspension, and many extras it took about 5 weeks from the time I drove my RS powered RS into the shop, to the time I drove my WRX powered RS out of the shop (be it with no hood but that’s not the point). The pictures aren’t saved in order on my Photobucket account so if I’m talking about one thing in a picture and then jump to something else that’s why. Also as a warning this thread is mainly pictures with a brief description of the part being installed or the point I want to get across with the picture. The longest paragraph is this one and the wiring paragraph.

************************************

The pictures:

The rolled 2002 WRX:













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Last edited by 99 rs; 12-11-2017 at 10:56 PM. Reason: Photobucket Doing Silly Things
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Old 04-03-2008, 12:59 AM   #2
99 rs
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Member#: 100994
Join Date: Nov 2005
Chapter/Region: W. Canada
Location: Edmonton
Vehicle:
2005 Acura NSX-T
2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

Default














First thing was to strip down the WRX. I have no pictures of this as it was done in haste over the Christmas break between university semesters. For those that remember my old RS engine I had the intake manifold, valve covers and radiator tubing powder coated red. I wanted to do the same thing for this engine. So the engine disassembly:


TD04 turbo.



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Old 04-03-2008, 01:00 AM   #3
99 rs
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2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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Bare intake manifold.


Bare intake manifold.


Parts related to the taking off of the intake manifold



To powder coat things you have to mask all of the important parts off. There is a special high heat tape (green coloured in the pictures) that doesn't leave any sticky goo after the oven. I put the masking tape on to fill in the rest of the holes that aren't touching any metal.




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Old 04-03-2008, 01:01 AM   #4
99 rs
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2005 Acura NSX-T
2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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Some random parts in a box that were sitting for about 6 months before I actually started this project:



HKS downpipe + gasket.


Power steering rack and lines.


Radiator, fans, power steering bottle, pulley cover.


WRX pedals, brake booster, washer tank.


2006 WRX exhaust.


Underside of carpet.



The mechanical tear down.

This took an evening to do and isn’t very difficult. Take a 10mm, 12mm, 14mm and a Philips screw driver and start taking anything you can see off.



Last edited by 99 rs; 04-29-2008 at 10:52 PM.
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Old 04-03-2008, 01:03 AM   #5
99 rs
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2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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Misspelled fog light cover stickers.


Front view of engine.


Driver side view of engine.


Make sure you tie off your ABS sensor and brake line to not damage them.


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Old 04-03-2008, 01:05 AM   #6
99 rs
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2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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The pink wire is for the navigation unit. More on this in the wiring section.


Rear look at RS engine.


For a 10 year old car this thing hasn't rusted a bit even in this 4 season weather.




Engine and tranny separated.


Engine and tranny separated.


Engine and tranny separated.


Engine and tranny separated.


Control arms, front callipers and tranny.
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Old 04-03-2008, 01:06 AM   #7
99 rs
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2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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All the RS stuff (or money back in your pocket stuff).




The replacement beater to drive while doing the swap. Note: I highly recommend that if you're doing a swap you have another arrangement to get around.


The parts back from the powder coating place. The tape is still on in some places.





WRX cross member on the car. Here the RS control arms are being held up to show the "shims" that people do when they don't have the WRX control arms. I ended up using the WRX control arms. These pictures are only for show:




WRX bolt on the left, RS on the right.



We used the WRX radiator. It's twice as thick as the RS and it was designed for the car. The RS fans are 2 wire; the WRX's are 3 wire. I didn't want to do any extra wiring or splicing (especially where they are exposed to the elements) so I switched out the RS fans into the WRX fan housing.
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Old 04-03-2008, 01:07 AM   #8
99 rs
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Location: Edmonton
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2005 Acura NSX-T
2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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Still all WRX parts.


WRX fan. Notice 3 wires. I believe this is for low speed and high speed but I'm not sure.


RS fans in WRX fan housing's mounted onto the WRX radiator.

RS radiator with WRX fans.



WRX rear suspension:







Some random pictures here and there:

Looking behind the driver side rear wheel.


WRX engine with no intake manifold.
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Old 04-03-2008, 01:08 AM   #9
99 rs
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Chapter/Region: W. Canada
Location: Edmonton
Vehicle:
2005 Acura NSX-T
2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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Looking behind the passenger side rear wheel.



WRX cross member on the left, RS on the right. Notice the extra lateral bushing on the WRX cross member.


RS on top, WRX on bottom.


RS on the right, WRX on the left.



More random pictures:

Front part of the rear differential support.


RS rear diff with axles.


Rear cross member hole. Gas tank in front.


Rear cross member hole. Gas tank in front.


WRX rear cross member and diff. Bolts right up to the RS chassis.
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Old 04-03-2008, 01:10 AM   #10
99 rs
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Location: Edmonton
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2005 Acura NSX-T
2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

Default

Putting the powder coated parts back on the motor:











The WRX rear axles have a little collar on them which the RS's do not. It isn't a big deal but it prevents the axle from sliding all the way into the hub. It's still fully driveable but since I had the WRX hubs I put them in.

Said collar:


This is how far the axle nut can go with the RS hub and WRX axle. It needs about another quarter turn to make it:




On the inside of the hub.
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Old 04-03-2008, 01:12 AM   #11
99 rs
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Location: Edmonton
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2005 Acura NSX-T
2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

Default

WRX brakes on.



More interior tear down. You pretty much have to take everything out of the car. Some people try to do it with the dash beam in the car - don't bother. It's so much faster to work on the harness outside of the car.


Dash off.


Heater core out.


It looks bad but it really isn't. Don't let this picture scare you.



RS driveshaft:


WRX driveshaft:


WRX on top, RS on the bottom. Notice the sliding joint in the middle of the WRX shaft. If you RS guys want to quiet down some of your driveline noise then try to get a WRX driveshaft.



RS on the right. WRX on the left.

Last edited by 99 rs; 04-29-2008 at 11:08 PM.
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Old 04-03-2008, 01:13 AM   #12
99 rs
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Location: Edmonton
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2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

Default

More random pictures:

RS stuff.




Difference in WRX and RS trailing arm lengths:








Massive ride height with no engine.



Hosed off the engine bay:



Last edited by 99 rs; 04-29-2008 at 11:09 PM.
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Old 04-03-2008, 01:14 AM   #13
99 rs
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Location: Edmonton
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2005 Acura NSX-T
2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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WRX engine obviously.



More of the engine going back together:


Intercooler on for fun:








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Old 04-03-2008, 01:15 AM   #14
99 rs
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2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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WRX motor.


WRX motor.


WRX motor.



More interior tear down. All the loose wiring you see around the center console is all cleaned up now.


RS ECU.


Bulk harness peeled away from inside of firewall.






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Old 04-03-2008, 01:16 AM   #15
99 rs
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2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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RS ABS sensor on the left, WRX on the right:


RS ABS sensor on the left, WRX on the right:


RS sensor:


WRX sensor:


The RS has the ABS sensors magnet nubs on the rotor itself:


The WRX has these same nubs but on the axle itself:


My brother made a makeshift solid mounting point for the ABS sensor wire:

Last edited by 99 rs; 04-29-2008 at 11:10 PM.
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Old 04-03-2008, 01:18 AM   #16
99 rs
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2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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Now for everyone's favourite part - the wiring. In total took about 3 weeks to wire everything up the way I wanted to have it. We soldered and shrink wrapped every wire we did. The wiring really isn't difficult at all. It's more of a searching game. If you can do a Where is Waldo book you can definitely do the wiring for the swap. Just see what wire you are working with on your car and then find the same one on the WRX. It really is that easy. I took a picture of EVERY single wire we soldered. One word of caution, you HAVE to be able to trace a wiring diagram. Many of the website I used had wrong information for the wiring. Ultimately, I always ended up turning to the OEM diagrams.

You'll need some essential reading material:








Some preliminary pictures:







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Old 04-03-2008, 01:19 AM   #17
99 rs
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2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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The big black box is the "integrated unit". Many wires go into it including a bunch of ECU wires. On the RS there are about 3 modules that do the job of this one.




The fuel pump controller. Very important.


Again the fuel pump controller.




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Old 04-03-2008, 01:20 AM   #18
99 rs
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2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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This branch of wires come out over the right side frame rail of the WRX. They connect to things like the O2 sensors, EGT and such.




WRX ECU.




The brown relay is the "main relay". The green one is the fuel pump relay.






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Old 04-03-2008, 01:21 AM   #19
99 rs
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Join Date: Nov 2005
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Location: Edmonton
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2005 Acura NSX-T
2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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Instrument cluster wiring.






Fuel pump wiring. Not really needed but keep it around until you're done; just for reference.


Fuel pump controller. This is needed along with its wiring.


Heated seat wiring.


Heated seat wiring.


Half of the SMJ junction. This comes out behind the battery in front of the washer tank.


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Old 04-03-2008, 01:22 AM   #20
99 rs
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2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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Old 04-03-2008, 01:23 AM   #21
99 rs
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2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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There was not too much to document here. What I did was trace every single wire back from the WRX ECU and got rid of the rest.




SMJ again.


Once again the SMJ. The stray yellow wire you see is for the injectors. Splice it into the other yellow wires when you're merging.


It looks like a mess but every single wire is coiled on it's own and marked. Notice the masking tape.


Stuff that's not needed.


Only a few more wires on the WRX harness holding the ECU back:


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Old 04-03-2008, 01:25 AM   #22
99 rs
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2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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Glove box light wiring.


You don't need to use this. I didn't know if the plug for the alternator would be the same (I sold my RS engine before I started the wiring) so I didn't want to risk it being different.


The "leftover" box:





Some immediate things you don't need (airbag harness and ABS stuff):




ABS G-sensor. If you shake it, it makes the same noise as the ball inside of a spray can.


Heated seat plugs (VERY easy to install in the RS since the car is already wired for them):
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Old 04-03-2008, 01:26 AM   #23
99 rs
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2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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Heated seat relay plug:



This is one half of the all important SMJ plug. The wires you see that are cut are the NUMBER ONE REASON WHY PEOPLE'S GAUGES DON'T WORK ON THEIR CARS. Yes, I needed to shout that. If you ever get some free time stroll around on rs25.com and see how many people complain about their gauges not working after their swaps. It's because they got lazy and tried to do everything at the ECU. So your ECU gets signal from your motor but your gauges don't. What I'm saying is don't be lazy and make sure you get every wire connected. More on what these wires do specifically later:

More random stuff:








Notice the green plugs on the right. Make sure you don't leave these out (as it is easier to do). You'll need these if you ever want an AccessPORT.


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Old 04-03-2008, 01:27 AM   #24
99 rs
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I love slurpee's.


All important branches tied off into their respective components.


All important branches tied off into their respective components.

Engine related stuff on top, ECU plugs on bottom.




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Old 04-03-2008, 01:28 AM   #25
99 rs
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2007 Audi S4 Avant 6MT

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So all the above pictures were only the prep for the wiring job. What I did was take one wire at a time that leads from the ECU and followed it to whichever plug it went to. After I found said plug I marked the number of the plug (OEM style numbering) and labelled the position of the wire in the plug and also a general note such as "to gauge cluster" or " to fuel pump". Doing this made the wiring job MUCH MUCH easier when it came down to start soldering. I would strongly suggest this as it's hard to find some wires in the diagrams and you could spend many extra hours just searching for wires in the damn diagram books. Plus, on the 2002 WRX and 1999 RS the colors of the wires are mostly the same. Many times I marked a wire as going to the cruise unit or some other device, when I searched for the same wire on the RS it was the exact same colour and sometimes even in the same position. What I'm trying to say is take more time to prepare the harness and you won't be sorry. My car started up the first time without any check engine lights or any problems what-so-ever. I listed all the positions of the wires in the car (1999RS and 2002WRX). So on the following pictures if I list something like B134-19 RS, this means that it is in plug B134, pin #19 on the RS. It's really easy to figure out this system once you're in there. The next pictures really don't show much but pay more attention to the pin numbering instead.

***************************************
The first wire; AC Pressure Switch. B135-27 (RS) to A2 (WRX)
Both cut ends of the wire.



Leads to this plug which plugs into the side of the AC box.



Soldered wire.



Shrink wrapped wire (still AC Pressure Switch).



*********************

Starter Switch. B135-28(RS) to A16(WRX). This is one of the few thick wires. Notice we got ahold of the sticky blue tape that Subaru uses and made the same type of connection they do along with soldering.



The electrical tape made that same connection look ugly but it's more to make sure it's protected.



************************************

Test Mode Connector. B135-14(RS) to A14(WRX).






************************************

Fuel Level Sensor. B136-28(RS) to B25(WRX).
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