What did you do to your subaru today?

It's not Joey's is it? Timing is sus

 

It's a secret... Haha.

 

Oil change (installed a Fumoto valve) and front skid plate last night. Anyone need the stock plastic one?

 

You can do the tint on my car for some practice

 

Nice. I tinted for a couple of places back in the day...almost 30 yrs ago!

 

I still want at least a year of experience before I do any sort of tint outside of work.

 

Touching up a recent craigslist buy. Rust converter today, paint tomorrow. I'll throw in a "before" for good measure.

 

I've been periodically digging around replacing vacuum lines because most of them are basically turned to glass. Found a vacuum leak to what looks like it's the fuel pressure regulator? There was actually a naked T fitting with a restrictor added to the line for some reason. (maybe an old boost gauge port??) So it wasn't loosing much boost/vacuum but still it was. It made a big difference in the car though. I'm not really sure if that is the pressure regulator though. I'm having trouble finding a decent vacuum diagram for the '97 STi with the EJ20k. If it IS the fuel pressure reg. pretty damn dangerous line to put a T fitting into. So thanks.

 

Are those aftermarket springs? Looking good!

 

Yeah, Swift springs on KYG struts. Got a good deal on 'em. Not thrilled about lowering it but I'd eventually like to try out FA coilovers which are considerably more expensive. So short term this is a good option to try out.

 

Blacked out the badges with plastidip. Also, finished painting the craigslist struts.

 

How did you do the badges? Just tape around them?

 

Plastidip you can go crazy and just score and peel the excess off typically.

 

Yessir, first pic. Here's one after the final coat. I did 4.

It's pretty satisfying. They sell a legit tool for picking out the plastidip in the tight spaces of the badges, but I don't know where I put it. So I used a wood skewer.

https://www.dipyourcar.com/collecti...oval/products/spudger-tool?variant=5631600964

 

Did you use that new plastidip that is a little bit thinner? Apparently it looks like a factory blacked out emblem.

 

I believe I bought the standard stuff. Can didn't look any different than what I've used in the past. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Finally put some stickers on the new car. In pic 2 you can see the matched set on the other window. The stickers fit great in these rear door windows.

 

I think is called hyper dip, or something like that. Anywho, it looks good either way!

 

Installed a JDM grille on my wife's Legacy couple days ago. I looked into them a few years back but getting one from Japan at that time was crazy expensive, found this one (somewhat) locally for a very reasonable price while browsing the facebooks.



Also, if anyone wants an OEM grille with the insert painted Crystal Black Silica let me know. Few small spots where it's chipped/flaking but otherwise looks good, just kind of dirty in the pic.

 

Where's the JDM badge?

 

Are you talking about the "L" badge in place of the star cluster emblem? I could be mistaken but I think they only used those on the earlier models and I'm not a big fan of the vinyl overlays, or at least prefer the look of the current OEM emblems.

 

Coolant flush, thermostat and general inspection today. Going to look at picking up a cobb, full exhaust, header and tgv deletes over the winter.

I forgot what a pain pulling the u brace is on these things.

 

Choice of coolant? Expecting to do a flush myself in the coming weeks before winter winter.

 

Oem super coolant and coolant conditioner with oem thermostat. Flushing with a few gallons of distilled water to get the green crap out

 

Technically not _my_ Subaru, but a friend was in town for the weekend and I helped get some stuff done on their Forester:

- oil change (first time needing a screwdriver for the filter)
- hitch receiver
- plastidip rims (using the new(?) metallic cans)
- roof basket
- dashcam install

 

LoL @ the filter. And the fact that even a brand new(ish) Subaru looks at home on jack stands.

 

Filled my tank with E85 for the first time today. Had the guys at JMA install and tune for flex fuel last week. The butt-dyno definitely feels a power gain.

 

Drove one to work for the first time in like two years again.

 

In 46 years of changing my own oil, this year was the first time I had to resort to a tool other than a proper oil filter wrench to remove a filter. I had to drive the other car to Menards and buy one of those big pliers with the jagged teeth to remove a filter that I had installed (properly) the last time. The cap style filter would keep slipping on the flutes of the OEM filter even though it is the correct size cap wrench (the size is stamped on it and I measured the filter). Even lining it with multiple layers of aluminum tape did not help. POS. There was not enough clearance to swing a screwdriver.

 

I've been rather annoyed every time its that style, rather than the filter and plug near the bottom of the engine. I like sliding under, undoing both and getting on with my life.

 

Screw aluminum tape use jb weld lol

 

Installed the craigslist suspension and got it aligned today. Based on my measuring tape measurements it's 1-1.5" lower. Not pictured: the two strut top mount studs I managed to shear when torquing it all down (all fixed now).

Before:

After:

 

Oops, i guess i didnt read the description well Enough. Ordered some grimmspeed rad hoses to replace the rest of the coolant hoses

 

Last drive of the season!

 

Did a short throw shifter plus bushings. A surprising PITA for what I expected to be pretty straightforward. Wasn't even planning on doing bushings initially, but then I ended up under the car...

A before, after, and bushing carnage for your viewing pleasure.

There's another thread on it, but would like to consider doing the TiC linkage update bushing in the future.

 

Did you end up dropping the transmission subframe like some instructions suggested? I still haven't installed mine for that very reason.

 

I did not. My understanding is the 5MT is slightly different on the 06+, FWIW. But I really didn't do great research, found a bunch of contradicting info. Lmk if you decide to tackle it and want a 2nd set of hands, I found that invaluable for me.

Funny you ask though, because after I buttoned it up I decided to go for installing the Group N trans mount I picked up. All the required bolts cracked loose, but 3/4 nuts just rounded so... problem for a different day.

 

The last of new rad hoses should arrive this week hopefully. I may tackle the shifter bushings and throw on my snow tires all at once

 

I did that when I swapped the wife's linkage parts and bushings. Really wasn't that bad. Had the car on stands and left the tranny on the jack the whole time.

 

Over the past week I rebadged my car, 3.6r only, and plasti dipped it black. I might do the same with the Outback emblem, but put it on the left side. Not sure yet on that. Also, I put on front and back emblem overlays, yellow fog light overlay, and installed my winter tires. Ended up going with 225/65/17 Cooper True North tires on steelies for now. Next week, I'll be installing some mud flaps because rally car.

 

So two things, Fff i forgot clamps for my mishimoto hoses...
Two, this conditioner looks awful but apparently it's suppose to look like this.

Might actually finish working on this thing this month lol

 

I'm pretty sure I've used that stuff a couple times now and I swear I don't remember it looking anything like that.

 

It dissolved in coolant so i'll keep an eye on it. I noticed a valve cover leak so I may send it in to JM next spring for a full refresh and check the coolant then.