Forester SJ XT Enthusiasts

Thanks! I'm really excited to see how they'll look.... and yes, matte black, or flat black as he preferred to call it.

 

Yea you're welcome to check mine out again. You do need to trim both sides. I found it easiest to hang the muffler by the hangers and leave it un-bolted. Hold the muffler roughly in place, then trim a small amount, then test fit again. It was tedious and time consuming, but if you rush it, you might trim more than you need to. If I recall, I had to trim the outer edge of the each opening more than the inner edge.

Interesting...as in you could put the FXT tips on the WRX mufflers? That would have been a lot easier, and more reversible lol, although I kind of like the look of the quad tips.

 

Yes exactly. I too like the look of the quads but would be nervous about trimming my bumper.

 

Well, thats a lot of sidewall

18x8.5 +38
225/55 18 stockies

 

that's a good thing.

 

I haven't watched more than the first 5 minutes, but here is the video for the Last Human's Garage ep about cutting the bumper for the quad tips.

 

Wrap Wrap


Slap Slap

 

Any of you running an AP? Is it really worth the money?

 

I am not because I value my warranty. I've seen some decent feedback on the AP in the SJ FXT facebook group, but I've also seen quite a few CVT failures (stock and modded). Due to the number of CVT failures, I don't want to void my warranty.

If you do decide to get an AP, I'd highly recommend getting a custom tune and skipping the OTS maps.

 

Have you guys coughed up some extra cash for an extended warranty due to this? What's the standard power train warranty? 60k miles?

Edit: I guess I could have just googled it. https://www.subaru.com/owners/vehicle-warranty/warranties-2016.html

 

Nah. My unofficial plan is to sell mine at 5 years/60k. That would also be the longest that I've ever kept a car, so we'll see if I actually keep it that long lol.

My 2nd unofficial plan if I keep it past 60k is to go stage 2...but we'll see how many CVT failures there are over the next ~4 years.

Side note...tomorrow marks my 1 year anniversary with the FXT!

 

I've got 5 years and 100k on my warranty, not overly concerned about failures if I have it for that full time frame since my deductible is cheap and it covers everything.

 

I have just over 4k left on my 60k mile warranty, and have toyed with the idea of doing the stage 2 route and getting an AP because of the same feedback that @TMF was talking about...but I also did say that this car would be just a DD with little to no mods beyond a few aesthetics... we will see. If a killer deal on an AP came by I'd try to grab it to at least start playing with a stage 1 tune.

 

reports of CVT failure being semi-common are disheartening

 

I've read the CVT have started slipping between 280 and 300+hp. Now I'm not sure if thats at the wheels or at the "crank" as they say. iirc, I believe I saw somewhere that a stock SJ FXT gets ~215hp at the wheels.

I "plan" on keeping my Forester for more than 5 years, I bought the 100k warranty. I haven't quite decided if I'll actually go stage 2 or not. I'm with @TMF... we'll see what happens in the coming years with the CVTs.

 

I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone swap a CVT from a WRX into an SJ yet, supposedly they can hold more power.

 

I think they are the same HTCVTs. I think its the way the engines are tuned and a higher compression in the WRX that makes the difference in power. There is a thread on NASIOC about CVT failures in the WRXs due to power increases.

 

@Clem There is a guy looking for the chrome trim for his 2017 on subaruforester.org. I see you removed yours.
http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f92/forester-sj-2017-lower-door-trim-w-chrome-674474/

 

I think one of the things about the CVT to 6spd swaps that I heard maybe a year ago is that it will be much more costly than older Auto to manual swaps... I have no further details to back it up, but I remember someone bringing it up on either subaruforester.org or the fb group.

 

on the foz forums it looked like the FXT one is infact different from the WRX one.

 

The CVT's on the FXT's seem to be unrelated to power. Some folks are reporting leaks from the CVT and the dealers are replacing them, and others are getting horrible whining noises from the CVT, and the dealers are replacing.

It is really tough to say how prevalent the failures really are when I'm mainly seeing these cases on the FB group and forum. You have to keep in mind that forums/FB groups represent a niche market of "enthusiasts" along with people that may seek out these groups when they in fact have a failure.

I'm going to drive mine just like I would otherwise, and not modify the drivetrain so that I can keep my warranty. We'll see how things are looking in another 4 years!

 

I avoid the FB groups like the plague, there is definitely a different type of person that's a member on those.

 

I agree, there are some FB groups that are like the plague (MNSubiez = beyond plague).

However the FB group that I'm referring to is for SJ forester owners only, and it is actually a pretty good group. It helps that not every bratty kid drives a SJ forester, and the group is actually very mature and mostly educated.

 

Fair enough, I just generally avoid facebook groups in general these days.

 

Good strategy.

 

I was driving home from work today and the good ole butt dyno felt like there was some lack in boost. Both in S and S# mode I was only able to hit 10psi... it touched 11 once, but dropped right back down to 9 and 10psi when typical boost is upward of 14-19psi.

This kind of stuff I am not very familiar with so I'm not too sure where to do start digging. I do know that there are many different factors that can lead to this, but does anyone have any ideers?

I have no powertrain mods, I haven't tinkered with anything under the hood, running 93 octane, 19k miles. My vehicle did have the recall done before I purchased it.

 

It is most likely due to the cold weather. Colder air is denser, which means less boost is required to get the same amount of air. I'm not an engineer, but I'm pretty sure that's the reason.

When it was really cold (around 0), I wasn't hitting full boost (14-19) either...I was closer to 10-12 IIRC. I didn't pay attention to the boost pressure when I drove today.

 

Fixed that for you.

 

That could be it. Although today felt different than any of the other more colder days we've had. Torque seemed lacking. I didn't get that fly back in your seat feeling when under boost.

 

You facebook stalking me? I've been on like three times in the past month. lol

 

Lol. No. It was more a statement that avoiding Facebook is good policy. Because it is a cesspool.

 

So I just bought an Eastwood fender roller.

 

No Farcebookz for me. My cat had an account once though.

 

By the way, thanks for shooting that link to me. I ended up selling the complete panels to him.

 

Great! Glad to help.

 

You are correct on this.

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f207/cvt-cobb-s1-map-max-power-torque-544626/

Post #35 explains the similarities and differences of the two HTCVTs.

 

I thought I remembered reading that, thank you for verifying I'm not loosing my mind.

I have zero intent to even try launch control in my FXT at this point, the increased midrange, better throttle mapping and increased MPG's are a welcome change so far.

 

I got new wheels for the FXT today. All I gotta do wait for is all the snow to go away.

 

On the fenders you rolled, where any of the rears the double walled fenders? If so, how did you go about rolling those? Besides using heat, a lot of patience and slowly increasing the angle of the roller, do you have any advice or tips on rolling those? Did you roll them completely flat?

I'm not worried about the fronts... might not even need to do the them. I just don't want to "dimple" the rears.

 

I don't think any of the fenders were double walled...my 05 saabaru wagon had a rubber trim piece that need to come off, but then it was just a single layer of metal. My 08 STI had a rubber seal/lip on the inside of the fender that eventually peeled off as I applied heat and rolled. There was gray metal underneath, but I'm almost positive it was the primer color.

And you listed the main tips. Just don't overheat it and bubble or crack the paint. If it gets too hot to touch, it is probably too hot.

My other tip is determine the total length of the circumference that you want to roll, and then try to bend in that whole length at the same rate (e.g. don't bend in the middle part of the total length first, and then try to roll the edges).

Also, be careful when rolling near the seams, as circled here (I stole your photo...thanks )



I had to roll near a seam on my 08 STI, and it tended to bow out at that area. Don't apply too much force, and try to apply pressure (with your hand or something) from the outside when you roll in that area.

If you're not careful, it will bow out like this (ha, I had this photo sitting in my imgur from years ago...apparently I like to give directions on rolling fenders):



And about rolling flat...yea, go for it, you might as well. Once you get it rolled/bent past about 45 degrees, it gets easier and will be pretty easy to get it flat.

 

My hope that they were the same is now gone ... thanks for posting the link. Going to have to pull back the power upgrade long term plans.

Anyone know off-hand what years the SPT exhaust bolts up to our SJ's? I'm in the market for one - I want to say 2012 and newer will mate up to our stock midpipe. The rest of the exhaust and tune will wait another yr or 2.

 

So I couldn't wait and I had some free time today.

 

I'm not a giant fan of gold personally but they look sharp on the black Foz or is that the dark grey. What size?