What did you do to your subaru today?

Yep! its raised a bit so the cover sits flat. I can slide my hand under the bar and the cover

 

Added some color!

 

Installed the whiteline rear subframe lockdown bushings on my brz. Man did it tighten up what I thought was already a firm rearend

 

Interesting, everybody says those help quite a bit. I may need to look into them for the sti.

 

For $40 and about a hr and a half of your time it was prob the best mod for the money I have done. Followed by the grimmspeed strut bar only because it is about $100 more expensive but does equal amount of good.

 

Good buddy of mine lays vinyl for a living, had some extra matte black left over so he offered to apply it to my sti. Just have the hood and mirrors done right now, but we plan on doing more in the next few weeks.

 

AGXs & Mach V springs installed. I set the AGXs at "2" and haven't driven it a whole lot...just a couple laps around the neighborhood to ensure no clunks/rattles. It's riding a little higher than before (Prodrives) but I'm sure it will settle in a little bit. On to the pics:

Old springs...this is normal, right?!




After everything is installed:




Sorry for the blurry pics. Pizza had just been delivered and I was starving and wanted to get inside.

 

Added some DEI Reflect-A-Gold to help get rid of some heat. Installing it tomorrow hopefully

 

Is there much ride quality compromised with this install? It's subjective, but just curious.

 

Not a noticeable amount no.

 

Finally got those damn konis installed in the wagon, as well as a fresh set of front rotors and stoptech brake pads all the way around.
Wow. She turns now. pretty damn well actually.

It doesn't ride terribly either. bumps are a tad more jarring, everything else is just as smooth as it was before and the increased transitional handling is awesome.

 

Frozen Rotors and Hawk HPS pads on the FXT on Saturday. Still breaking them in, but what a pleasant difference!

 

Have you tried those yellows on full soft yet? How would you say they compare to stock? I'm looking at getting rid of my Excel-g's and moving to something else for the DD, softer that is.

 

Honestly, the shocks that were in the legacy were in bad shape if not blown from the point i acquired the car. almost 130k on the chassis when i bought it, and it appears the struts were original, and definitely blown when i took them off. I don't have a great comparison.

The Konis are set at a half turn off full soft right now, which is about as soft as i want to put them. putting them on the absolute bottom has been known to cause jamming of the adjusters.

It's noticeably more jarring than what the car had previously, but it's not excessive. I imagine they will ride harsher than the Excel-Gs that are designed as a stock replacement.

 

Good to know, thanks Shane! Also an FYI - I've found that the Excel-G's are noticeably more firm than stock struts. I purchased them intending to be nice and soft like stock, but that is not the case.

 

I always wonder about this comparison.. i'll take your word for it, but i always feel it's notoriously hard to compare stock shocks to their stock replacements.. usually because you're comparing a shock that's at the end of it's life, to a brand new one.

It may have rode much closer to how the excel-g is originally, but through years of progressive degradation, it's less noticed.

Either way, if you wanna take the legacy for a spin, and get an idea of how it rides some time, you're welcome to.

 

Yup, I think you're right, it is difficult to compare, especially when I went from 116k stock 2.5i struts and springs to Excel-G's and Epic springs with 0 miles. It's obvious that the new setup is going to be much stiffer, but I also ran dspecs with RCE yellows on the last saabaru, and my memory tells me that when I softened up the compression settings, that the ride was very smooth and stock-like. Still very tough to compare unless they are side to side.

I wouldn't mind riding in your legacy sometime to get an idea of the ride. What springs are you on?

 

Confirmed my suspicions...





Most likely buying a short block from 08aspenSTI.

 

fresh oil change on the bugeye. rotella t6.

 

Put the "winters" (technically all-seasons) on today.

 

Plasti dipped my car this weekend.

 

Got it aligned at Andover Wheel & Frame...it's finally ready for the road again!

 

wash, wax , and claybar

 

Finally, my perrin inlet has arrived and just got it installed. hope I'll get the time to drive my car after one week of having it parked!

 

did you used the car kit or rattle cans? looks nice. been wanting to dip my car for awhile now.

 

and a tune hopefully?

 

It's already stage 2 tuned. Do I need to tune it again if with just the inlet but stock intake?

 

That I don't know, sorry I thought you meant you were putting on the Perrin CAI (I read inlet as intake).

 

As far as I know, it's a part which replaces the stock turbo inlet that could eventually warn out. It doesn't give any gain or change in performance. But I guess I just needed it since my stock one melted.

 

I'm pretty sure not, but don't take my word for it . Let me know if you notice quicker spool up!

 

So that was why it wasn't starting? The inlet hose?

 

hmm today i started replacing the rotors but my front brakes are the most confusing things ever the po apparently mismatched rotors to calipers to brackets and it finally answered some question as to why one rotor seemed smaller than the other

 

installed my turbo blanket, got my front rally armor mud flaps back on and installed my new skid plate

 

is that gap between the skid plate and your front lip? if so how big is it?

 

No its a bad angle, it flush with the factory bumper, if not higher. You cant see the get primitive at all. the front of the plate is beveled up too so it is impossible to get anything in there

 

Drove to work in rain and
Mud!

 

bought boost controller , and gaskets from grimmspeed. looking to get it all put in soon and tuned.

 

Cleaned the caked on brake dust off of the calipers and got the winters on just in time as it's snowing in Champlin right now

Maybe I'm just getting older, but I'm starting to really like the look of the stock wheels. Also, this is about 1 week after installing the AGXs and Mach V springs in case anyone is curious about how that setup looks.





As a side note, has anyone noticed that pics have been crappier with iOS7?

 

Got a nuke stage 2 tune on Friday.

 

i hope to get mine soon before the snow makes its way in

 

This weekend, took mine on a mini-honeymoon cruise with the wife down to Decorah and back, stopping at the Rochester Subaru dealer to look at cars.

 

Dudes got magic.

 

Not today, but yesterday did an oil change, stage one tune by Nuke, deleted TGV codes, cleaned the interior, and then drove to Grand Forks today.

 

Two mysteries solved today!

1. Hatch not unlocking on daughters saabaru with remote. Replaced the spring with noticeably stronger one and we have a working hatch.
2. 03 wrx po0171 code for weeks. Replaced plugs (due anyway), cleaned maf, triple checked all vac lines. Replaced IC hoses with samcos, new OEM fuel filter. Put bov gasket in where there was none. New air filter, made sure box was closed snugly. Finally after still getting cel, Swapped mafs with a known working one...going on day 4 with no cel! Amen!

 

Rattle can