Possibly interested in the suspension when the time comes. Also, hopefully you don't have to drop the tank. My buddy had a leak in his tank when he had the car and the labor to pull it was insane. It leaked when he'd fill it full, so he basically just stopped filling completely up.
Let me know. I was thinking if I could sell them then it'd help pay for a new set instead of trying to find someone to swap with. That's what I've currently been doing. The kid who sold it to me had a replacement tank but after looking at what it would take to drop it I decided it might be easier to try and patch it.
You may possibly be able to find a 2002-2003 style JDM carbon scoop to fit on there. They usually make the opening universal in case you want to go with the exhaust for your hood instead of the intake for those peeps that run FMI's.
...like this one... https://www.ebay.com/i/182801674588?chn=ps The one shown is just a fiberglass one, but the link is to the carbon one.
Check the IACV for the idling issue. Idle Air Control Valve, right on top of the intake. If you can't find the plastic headlight rings, I'm pretty sure i have a couple somewhere.
A couple updates. Idling fine, maybe it just had to get used to the cooler morning, either that or I noticed that my boost guage wasn't working and found a line came off under the hood. Either way it's been idling perfect. Headlights; after some monkeying around we realized that what had happened was some water must have gotten in and shorted the LEDs out. After replacing the fuse and it blowing again right away the guy I took it to noticed a rusty spot on one of the headlights that was probably shorting the system. I just had him put regular bulbs in for now so I could get it back but it's still wired for LEDs. Another note that could maybe be related to the headlights but I have no idea how; I've been fighting that speed sensor issue off and on. It'll work sometimes and sometimes it won't. I pulled the harness that goes to the sensor, shot the wires and everything checked out. So I thought maybe the sensor was actually going bad since it was intermittent for a while then just quit all together. Well, after getting the headlights working again the speedo has been working flawlessly... 0_o Whatever, I'll keep an eye on it. Whenever I get time next I'll have to see if I can find where the fuel tank is leaking and patch that as well as pull the bumper to finish removing the plasti dip.
More parts to put on Got these Forester XT struts from a scrap yard in PA. $125 shipped. Figured that was a pretty dang good deal. Clean them up a bit and I'll be in business. Now to make time to work on it again.
Just some thoughts today. I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that the biggest issue on this car is going to be undercarriage rust. It's not debilitating by any means but it seems like anything I do to fix fender rust or any other cosmetic issues will be just polishing a turd. Maybe not but that's how I've been feeling. So how much money to put into it is the question. I was crawling around underneath last night to see about the fuel tank leaking, I think it's coming from the seam but can't be 100% on that unless I fill it up and watch it pour out, still debating on that. I have some nice fuel tank epoxy I could throw on, I also have another tank. Replacing the tank would be a for sure fix but also a PITA considering how they crammed it up in there. On another note, I picked up some decent tires last night for $100 for when I lift it. I know guys run 215/65/R16's on their lifted Impreza's, I got 225/65/R17's... We'll see what needs done to fit them, I'm hoping they'll just be tight with no rubbing but you never know. Worst case I can probably resell them and get a 60/R17. Going to order some trailing arm and sway bar brackets next and I'll be ready to lift it. I'll be honest, I've kinda been putting it off because it's so much fun to drive, it's stiff but the handling is awesome. Unfortunately most of our roads up here are crummy and straight and flat so I guess in the long run I'll get more use out of it and be able to go more places with it lifted. So with the onset of winter (since that ends up being most of the year around here) I'll finally get my butt in gear and do the job. I will have some nice suspension to sell once I'm done though. Tien lowering springs and I'm pretty sure KYB adjustable damping struts. Probably mentioned that multiple times before but I'll throw up a FS thread once I get them off.
Yes thank you. I'm not too worried about the strut mounts, mostly the trailing arm brackets... I could take a trip to the cities sometime to make a delivery too. Still looking for some STI rear endlinks to hook up to the front sway bar. Might just go for it without for now though and see how bad it is.
How about some opinions and feedback please. The setup already on this car is pretty awesome, with the suspension and the upgraded sway bar and whatnot. Part of me feels bad for taking all of that away. Like I've said before, it's a blast to drive but with my lifestyle and our boring roads I don't believe I am enjoying it as much as I could but that's whatever. The other issue for me is it's my daily, which doesn't mean a whole lot of fun adventure, and honestly the adventure side of things I'd like to be doing with it is more not on pavement type stuff. (Not "mudding" but a general getting to where I want to go without clearance issues) So what then? A nice garage queen that I work on cleaning up real well? As fun as this sounds and as much as I'd like to I have neither the time nor the money to put into that. Also, I'm not one to try to get more HP out of my cars, I enjoy watching it done and seeing the outcomes and the process and all that but it's not for me. So I've been thinking. I still want a lifted Impreza, but I guess my style is a little less refined than I see this car being. I'd go with something less expensive that I tinker with and experiment on without feeling like I'm always stretching my budget or ruining the car. My original purpose with this WRX simply was to keep another Subie on the road, and why not a WRX? I've never driven one, so that's fun. So, with that being said, I'd be open to selling or trading it for a less expensive NA Impreza. Edit: Okay, so sometimes I overthink things and get myself all worked up. I'm just looking for opinions to get back on track one way or the other. Edit x 2: I like it. Can't convince myself to get rid of the bugeye. Let the shenanigans begin. Forgive my tired and cranky ramblings.
Well, the bolts mostly were pain free, other than some sway bar end link bolts that were pretty stubborn. It wasn't as straight forward as I was hoping it would be but that's to be expected. So the setup currently is fozzy struts, 04 XT fronts and 07 rears. Front sway bar is not currently connected (I could right now but at full suspension travel the end links would probably break), I did however reconnect the rears (not advisable for the same reason but I did anyway). For the fronts I'll have to find either some longer end links or adjustable ones, for the rear you can apparently just swap out the sway bar mount bracket with a 97-99 legacy outback. Those are the preferred models at least, I haven't actually checked if the 96's will work or not but I know anything newer doesn't bolt up the same, and apparently it has to be the legacy outback, not outback and not legacy... Haven't actually verified that yet. So the idea is that the sway bar bracket is essentially the same just longer ie: drops the whole sway bar down closer to the now lower suspension. What I didn't take into consideration is that my sway bar has been upgraded, as well as the bracket that mounts to the body. So that didn't work. I'll have to look into getting spacers for those to drop the bracket lower. Example: Here's what's on mine. Like I said, since the front sway bar is tucked up over the sub frame there is really no way to lower it via spacers so the preferred method is longer end links. The only other really "required" bit now is going to be trailing arm brackets off of the legacy outback or a forester to help re-center the wheel, since with the longer suspension it basically pulls the wheel forward. The LOB trailing arm bracket, again, has a lower mount point, dropping the trailing arm to match the taller suspension. The forester bracket has a mount point that is further back, again moving the wheel back closer to center. As it sits right now until I can figure out tire sizes for my rims I didn't need those yet. Trailing arm bracket for reference. It actually rides a lot nicer than I thought it would. It definitely doesn't hug the road like it used to but it isn't as "squishy" as I feared it would be. It pulls a little to the right, so I'll have to figure out alignment until I get some new tires and with the front sway bar disconnected it's a little bit squirly, which makes me a little nervous since it's apparently winter already. But overall I think it looks pretty rad. I've got some questions about rim sizes that I'll have to post sometime but for now here it is.
You bet. How are the grabbers in the winter? Considering getting a set of those. Here's where I'm having a bit of trouble. I know typically people run 215/65/16 grabber at2's on these setups without any trouble. I have a set of 16's so I could do that. However, I wouldn't mind keeping these rims on her. They are 17's and the current tire is a 235/45/17. I am not quite sure on the exact width of these rims and don't know how narrow I could go. If I kept these rims I would like to try to get at maximum a 225/55/17 on them (possibly a 225/60/17 but that might be pushing it), I believe that would clear the spring perch alright but I'm not 100% on that. I don't think they make grabbers in that size so I would have to find a different tire. I have seen a setup where the guy used 225/70/15 grabbers so I'm pretty sure that width will fit. Any way of finding out my rim width and what I could fit on it without removing the tire to measure? I didn't see anything resembling a size on the back, though it is stamped with "Rota" so I guess that's cool. You'll have to forgive any ignorance I might display, I'm very new to this car modification thing. Actually the first major work that I had done on a car was a '99 leggy outback with a blown head gasket that I fixed this past summer.
Ditch the rims and go 15’s or 16’s. 17’s are just too big for this type of setup. Sell the 17’s, buy sumpthin else, profit.
I like it. This was the original idea. So I'd like to find a pair of steelies, I think those look good. Or just paint the 16's I have, they're the 5 double spoke off of the early 2000's outback I think.
Nabbed these bad boys today. Going to have to shine them up and figure them out... High and low beams are separate and they didn't come with the wire splitter or whatever, so I'll have to figure that out. Anyone know much about these. The Halo around the bulbs is for the parking brake but they're just lose wires. Also, think I could possibly use the headlight wires off of a '05 OB? I think those are low/high separate.
That was my guess as well. From what I can tell they're just a generic Halo projector headlight. Not my favorite look but for $40 I just couldn't pass them up... I can't find a wire harness for them but I think what I'll try is seeing if the plastic cup and wires out of an outback or something will fit.
Ociari knockoffs? Searching for ociari/prodrive/uk300/wrc/morette replica headlights might get you more info.
They're exactly this, whatever those are... This is literally all I can find that looks exactly like these. Edit: Holy Smokes! Are you kidding me. They aren't that awesome. It'd be nice if I could find a better picture of what the back looks like. Not too sure what exactly it looks like that keeps the bulbs held tight and sealed up. Oh, just realized the link I attached doesn't show up the picture...
They look like they are “trying “ to look like JDM. And if you think $600 was nuts... https://www.vividracing.com/-p-270....8YaHk69D5AL8GU1AnPgpunFNPcibDkYUaApDkEALw_wcB
Yeah, okay. I like those though. I was just thinking that the ones I got just seem like a cheap knock off. I'm a sucker for little tinkering projects...
Projects are fun but when it's your daily it can get a little hairy... Driving home from work the other day my clutch pedal smashes to the floor and won't come back up. Well that sucks, I just replaced the master and slave cylinders last month, what happened? So I limped it home and took a peak. First off, that's a terrible weld whoever did that. Second, the right hand stud is broke off and the master cyl pulled it through the firewall. A junk yard trip and $20 later and I've got myself a pedal assembly out of an 06. (And some nice floor mats) After pulling the old assembly it was worse than I thought. So, as you can see both studs were broke off, one of which looks like someone threw some hot metal at it and called it good... It's a wonder it lasted as long as it did considering that every time I pushed the pedal the master cylinder was pulling and flexing the firewall and eventually resulted in bad things happening. So, I cut a couple little "brackets" out of some scrap steel (one for the inside and two on the outside) to sammich it all together. A temporary fix (hopefully if I have time to tackle it later) but it'll do. After wrestling the "new" pedal assembly in and getting it all hooked up, I had my wife depress the clutch pedal while I watched in the engine bay. Little to no flex, whew. Okay, so I realized this issue must have been going on since I bought the car because now with the new pedal assembly in, a new master/slave and newerish clutch it feels like a brand new used car. Pedal response is awesome and now I have to get re-used to driving it. Through some research I learned that aftermarket brackets are specifically made for the clutch master cylinder to keep it from flexing the firewall. I believe the issue being remedied is the tack welds on the inside of the firewall come loose with repeated use? Either way the same would work for my application as well. They are spendy though at $135 from Rallitek
Is that for the brake cyl though? I was unaware heh... I keep being reminded that this whole car modification/maintenance thing is still fairly new to me.
Oh, nice. Might have to get me one of them sometime. However, with the firewall around the clutch master being compromised I think I'd almost rather go for the clutch cylinder brace first...
I got a phone call last Monday from my mom that my uncle had passed away. Heart attack at the age of 50. My older brother and I got pretty close with him while I was in college. He loved playing video games and building computers. We spent a lot of time hanging out with him, gaming, working on cars, and he helped me build a gaming PC. My brother got a hold of me on Tuesday wondering if I was going to make it to the funeral, well of course I was but no one had told me when it was. Found out it was on Friday, so I had a day, maybe two to figure out how to get out to Pennsylvania. I found some tickets (pretty pricey) but decided I was going to drive instead. A few reasons: 1- gives me more flexibility, both for when I wanted to leave and come back, and while I'm out there. 2- my brother had some general grabber tires that I've been trying to get from him to put on my car but couldn't figure out how to reasonably get them out here and. 3- I kind of just wanted a road trip to decompress a little. We had a few things to take care of this past weekend so my wife stayed here to hold down the fort and I took the WRX. I was a little anxious about it because I wasn't really sure how well it would do. My number one concern was the tires, not much tread left and one had a small nail in the sidewall, causing a very slow leak. I decided to risk it anyway. So with my tool bag full of goodies just in case, I took off. The car did very well, getting me all the way out there and back, as well as some fooling around on the curvy Pennsylvania back roads. The funeral was good, as a Christian it's very bitter sweet when someone who you know loves Christ passes away. It was good to see my cousins, aunts and uncles and to just be there and give support. I had only two days out there, a quick turn and burn, so I decided to try and capitalize on my time a little. My older brother and I were always at odds growing up but became really good friends towards the end of high school so I wanted to spend some time with him too. I brought some parts and spent Saturday at my brother's place. We ran some errands, tooled around a bit and finally got those tires on my car. Finally got our Subies together at my parents cabin. His H6 bugeye project he's building for a friend Adjustable trailing arms thanks to @Das Ninjabot And some new tread Left Thursday morning and got back Sunday night. Probably the quickest trip out there that I've had...
Sounds like a great trip! And sorry to hear about your uncle. But that is great to hear that he loved Jesus! Praying that your families grief is healthy and full of His Hope
Been working on cleaning up the engine bay a bit. Replaced the short ram with OEM intake (I don't believe it was ever properly tuned for the shorty). I've got a turbo heat shield that needs to go on as well as all the original brackets, the stock boost control solenoid and associated vacuum lines plus the cover that all go back behind the air box on the strut tower. I'll probably put all those on tomorrow.
I figured with it being lifted, since I haven't gotten the end links yet to hook up the front sway bar, it won't do too much. So I was trying to sell that and the rear as a set. Haven't sold them yet so I've actually been meaning to put the front back on, just haven't. (Almost sold it to a fella in the cities so it's still boxed up to ship...)
