KNaph's 1999 Outback -4/6/17 - Lightweight flywheel and maintenance

[KNaph]

As the car currently sits:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2014/11/27576468315_d3135d9bde_c-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/J1QBhg)
IMG_0253 (https://flic.kr/p/J1QBhg) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr


Probably about time I start an MR1.

I got my car 9-16-13 from an older lady up in Shoreline Washington.
Got it for around $4300, 104k miles, full maintenance records, 2 previous owners before me, Yakima ski rack, and a dog treat wedged between the drivers seat and the console! :lol:

The paint is kinda rough on the hood and above the windshield, few dents here and there but overall a pretty clean car, and pretty low mileage too.

Onto the pictures...

The first week that I got it:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/11/jQNIUVgl-1.jpghttps://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2014/11/2qiJEuzl-1.jpg

Some of my favorite pictures of it stock.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2014/11/6GSBXfrl-1.jpghttps://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2014/11/Ks3EC1il-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2014/11/pE2Afonl-1.jpg

My first few mods:
Hardrace front endlinks and Audi front endlinks on the rear: These made the car handle significantly better, less of a slushy imprecise steering input.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2014/11/LD3DiAtl-1.jpghttps://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2014/11/1RRwUuul-1.jpg

BC Racing coilovers:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2014/11/15620904369_da4d0f071c_c-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pNndDp)
IMG_1249 (https://flic.kr/p/pNndDp) by Tangy Philms (https://www.flickr.com/people/75479406@N07/), on Flickr

Mod list:

Exterior:
Legacy GT wing
Hella Supertones painted white
Desmond Regamasters
Origin Labo. Canards

Interior:
Super ultra jdm sik air fresheners!
Recaro SRD
Lowered steering column bracket
TiC/Kartboy short shifter kit

Engine:
ACT StreetLight Flywheel

Suspension, brakes, & handling:
BC Racing BR coilovers: 8k front 6k rear
Hardrace front endlinks
Uro parts Audi A4 turbo front endlinks on the rear (required modification of endlinks or buy a new bolt to fit)
StopTech Street Performance pads
DIY subframe lockdown bolts
Tribeca 25mm FSB
CUSCO 21mm RSB
Whiteline Steering Rack Bushings (30mm)
TiC Trans Crossmember Bushings
TiC Klunk Killer kit (Comfort)


Future mods: Long list that'll probably take like 10 years...

Exterior:
Honda Pilot/Odyssey rear wiper arm

Interior:
Nardi deep corn or Leather OMP Corsica

Engine:
EJ22e + EJ205 heads booooooost

Suspension, brakes, & handling:
Brakes - Z32 brakes probably
Remove subframe spacers and steering column spacers - properly lowering car

[KNaph]

This is my car on the BC's last night: I'll get more pictures in throughout this week
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2014/11/15620907700_9030323649_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pNneCQ)
Post Coils (https://flic.kr/p/pNneCQ) by Tangy Philms (https://www.flickr.com/people/75479406@N07/), on Flickr

Here are some of my photoshopped pictures to give you guys an idea of my goal:
With new wheels of course.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2014/11/15433398846_0495346bec_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pvNcMy)
Mt Rainier lowered (https://flic.kr/p/pvNcMy) by Tangy Philms (https://www.flickr.com/people/75479406@N07/), on Flickr

Probably not this low:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2014/11/14739306316_c007103e0d_c-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ossNfY)Regas (https://flic.kr/p/ossNfY) by Tangy Philms (https://www.flickr.com/people/75479406@N07/), on Flickr

[meepers]

Looking good!

[Specv118]

Nice start!

Where did you get the front and rear links from?

[LeggyxPower]

more updates?!?!

[KNaph]

Sorry, not many updates yet. College student and I work part time at Sears so money doesn't flow in very quickly haha.

I'm just trying to decide on my next mod. My friend just got an EJ22e that he'll sell me for pretty cheap. We've been talking about something different like a high compression EJ22 with ITBs, but that's gonna take a lot of custom fab work which he can help me with. Might try the OBX ITBs too but remove the common plenum and run velocity stacks. AFAIK this setup is mostly done with EJ25s and they're a headache to get done. Not shooting for power goals really. But this setup will probably take a long time to iron out.

Other option is just to turbo the EJ22 cause I can get it cheap and get decent power.
If I don't buy that motor then I will do an HID retrofit and probably a tutorial/writeup on it if I don't mess up.

Also, I'm not entirely confident in how well the CV joints hold up past a certain angle, my car isn't very low and I'm planning on going lower but not sure how much I can push the CV before I get issues. And I still have to get a proper alignment, I've been driving around with just a tape measure/eyeball alignment.


Front endlinks are: http://www.buyhardrace.com/product/hard ... gd_83.html (http://www.buyhardrace.com/product/hardrace-front-sway-bar-end-links-steel-impreza-gc-gd_83.html)
Rear endlinks are: http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carco ... ttype,7580 (http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1431929,parttype,7580)
The rear endlinks are the Uro Parts Part # 8E0411317 and # 8E0411318
One end is threaded and requires you to drill out/file out the threads which is what I did. Or you could do it the more proper way and just buy a new bolt that threads in, not sure on the bolt spec though.

[meepers]

itb's with velocity stacks suck suck suck. I did that setup on my B16 the throttle response is off the hook, but it killed the low end and it is not only a bitch to get to idle, it is a serious pain in the ass to tune and super touchy to pedal input. I ran CBR ITB's that we fabbed up to work for about 3 months with an AEM EMS, and finally gave up. It looks killer, it sounds beast, it should rock in theory, but in real world applications, it really is just way too much effort for very little gain.

You are past the problem area for the outback CV's as well. Get a set of wrx wagon axles for the front or standard brighton or L model axles. They are shorter and the boots wont rub themselves into oblivion. Look at my build page and I have the axles I pulled with just STOCK wrx suspension. That was after about 4k miles.

[meepers]

oh yeah. No plenum = no vac source for your brake booster. Just something to keep in mind. you wont be able to pull enough vac off a single runner post throttle body.

[Muse]

Yeah, those ITBs kinda look goofy with the common plenum, but after reading what Meepers says about them, I'd avoid them.

[KNaph]

Yeah there's a lot of things bouncing around in my head about whether or not to go ITBs. I've been discussing with him because he's built and driven quite a few 4AGE Corollas running ITBs but there's quite a bit more aftermarket and OEM products that make it easier to convert to for those things.

And I'll have to get underneath my car to look at the axles again, they didn't seem to be rubbing on the coils when we first installed them but I never got a chance to look at the car under it's own weight.

I've come across so much info that says I should say no and just go turbo, but for some reason I just can't get the idea out of my head haha.
I'll have to do some more research and pick his brain a little bit more, but that'll have to wait til next weekend after my finals.

[peugoby]

Always good to have more Legacy's in the area - your Outback looks good.

[KNaph]

Good news is that my CVs are perfectly fine, I could go lower but not really willing to upset the suspension geometry that badly, also I need to remove the front fender liners and get the fenders rolled. I need to remove the Outback spacers either during spring break or in the summer time. I like the front rake that I have now but I just need it to be lower in the back.

In other good news, my friend ended up giving me a phase I EJ22e for Christmas! Heads need some work, but I think I'll be going for a turbo build, just not entirely sure what exactly I'll be doing. So far I'm thinking EJ22 with EJ205 heads, not sure on con-rods and pistons etc, but the more I think about it the bigger the money pit becomes and the more complicated it gets. Originally I was planning on just building a cheaper turbo motor for some fun but I've been thinking more that since it's gonna be a bit before I come up with the money to build it then I could go for a more comprehensive build with a bit more power. Thoughts anyone?

[Specv118]

Over build for reliability was always how I did things.

[BDAlex95]

Save up how much you think you will spend on the build, then save up the same amount again and that should be your budget. I started a turbo build thinking it would only be around 1k for it, so far I'm 2000 into it and still need another 1500 to finish it the way I want to. Trust me you're better off saving as much as possible and dumping it all at once into the car, it nickel and dimes you to death if you don't have the budget.

[Muse]

Save up how much you think you will spend on the build, then save up the same amount again and that should be your budget. I started a turbo build thinking it would only be around 1k for it, so far I'm 2000 into it and still need another 1500 to finish it the way I want to. Trust me you're better off saving as much as possible and dumping it all at once into the car, it nickel and dimes you to death if you don't have the budget.
This is solid advice for so many things in life.

[KNaph]

Thanks guys, I've been leaning towards the over building side since my EJ25D is still pretty solid and I'm probably only going to be working on the motor when I have a break from school.

But new news for my car!
Potentially gonna get some GD WRX front seats for my car cause my driver side is absolutely horrible. I'm gonna attempt to transplant my seat warmers into them since that's a function that I'd rather not lose.

My sister got me a Buffalo Wild Wing for Christmas! :smt043 The paint matches too!
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/01/VeX8mRRl-1.jpg

And lastly my speedo is acting up. It was super late one night and my cousin made me drop him off, super super foggy, my headlights/fogs are improperly aimed and my front rake doesn't help much, and an unfamiliar road, I drove straight into one of the most aggressive potholes ever while cresting the hill at about 30 mph. I think that pothole jarred the car badly enough to loosen the connector to my gauge cluster.

Looked down after getting off the highway and saw this :smt017
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/01/RNHZlfkl-1.jpg

So now when I hit relatively large bumps my speedo dies and then I have to drive over another bump to get it to come back, not my ideal solution but I also downloaded a GPS speedometer app on my phone just incase it dies and there's no traffic around.

I've found a few fixes for the speedo issue, apparently it's pretty common on 2nd gens, but now my parents are lecturing me about how installing the coilovers was the root of this problem, not gonna argue that one though, more NVH probably only made it worse.

[CaleDeRoo]

Keep updating on the coils please! Looking to get some for my car this spring, and the BC and D2 are likely what I'll be getting. Also any reasoning you chose the endlinks you chose? I broke a front one and will probably just replace all four.

I have bugeye WRX seats in mine (also have rears but I'm unsure whether I actually want to put them in) You won't be disappointed.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/01/DUjyYHZjpg2-1.jpg

[KNaph]

Been about two months now on the BC's and they're still great. There's a lot of fine tuning to be done with the damping, previously I was running the front at 27/30 hard and 18/30 hard on the rear. It was a bit harsh with the damping so high the impact force was fine with me but made my passengers a bit uncomfortable so I turned down the damping to about 22/30 front and 12/30 rear.

I really haven't messed with them much other than adjusting damping every few trips to and from work to see what settings I liked best.

I'm planning on keeping the fronts at the current height, I think it sits perfectly in the front but I still need to find the time to lower the rear and get it properly aligned, I've been procrastinating on that for a while. Also gotta do something about the solid mudflaps since they scrape over speedbumps, not really a fan of rally armors though. Maybe spats but that's not too high on the priorities list.

Kinda want the Whiteline RCA cause the bumpsteer is a bit crazy over bigger bumps.

Anyways, still nothing really to update, just been enjoying the car as is, went on a hike on Sunday.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/01/16267546521_f7fc5554a3_c-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/qMvqQ2)IMG_2919 (https://flic.kr/p/qMvqQ2) by Tangy Philms (https://www.flickr.com/people/75479406@N07/), on Flickr

Wasn't able to mess around in the snow cause there were cops everywhere, and there were too many potholes in the ice/snow and I didn't wanna rip a mudflap off.

[Alphius]

On the '99s especially, the speedometer is a common problem. If you take the cluster out and disassemble it, you will eventually get down to the driver board. Reflow all the solder points on that board and put it back together, that should fix it. I've fixed two '99s and one '98 that way so far.

[meepers]

If you are going to keep her that low, I seriously suggest pulling out the body spacers and swapping in an L model steering column. You will need to change out quite a few bits to get it right including the trans xmember and the rear trailing arm mounts. If you dont pull the body spacers, at the very least get a set of L/LS axles. you are going to destroy your boots pretty fast as they will rub themselves into oblivion due to them being too long for your ride height. Loving the ride height though

[KNaph]

I'm planning on doing the spacer removal over the summer, but there's a few things I wanna do before I get to that point, mainly save my money lol. The great thing about living with my parents is that I get to save all my money for buying stuff, but I'm really trying to buckle down but being tempted by car parts makes that kinda difficult.

But yeah, I think next up is to get some '11 WRX wheels, I think those would look really good, and they're pretty affordable/cheap. Then remove the spacers when it gets warmer, the spacer removal isn't all that expensive but it's pretty time consuming and I work weekends so maybe summer or spring break...

And if I get those wheels then I gotta do some work to fit them, definitely roll the fenders and maybe remove the fender liner since I rub the liner already.


Anyways, sorry for my constantly long posts, I'll get to the bulk of it.

Couple weeks ago I lowered the rear even more to give the same kind of fender gap front and back, I also installed the wing that my sister bought me today!

Wasn't nearly as nerve racking as I thought it'd be kinda just threw some tape on, put the wing up and eyeballed it twice and then drilled the holes, measured afterwards and it's perfectly symmetrical, so I guess I'm more of an eyeball twice cut once guy... :lol:

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/02/16599135065_0ff646a9b8_c-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/rhNUxT)IMG_0570 (https://flic.kr/p/rhNUxT) by Tangy Philms (https://www.flickr.com/people/75479406@N07/), on Flickr

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/02/16597950501_0b20e73477_c-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/rhGQqn)IMG_0568 (https://flic.kr/p/rhGQqn) by Tangy Philms (https://www.flickr.com/people/75479406@N07/), on Flickr

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/02/15979359173_3e2a46aafa_c-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/qm3oLD)IMG_0566 (https://flic.kr/p/qm3oLD) by Tangy Philms (https://www.flickr.com/people/75479406@N07/), on Flickr

The front of the wing could probably sit down lower, but I'm happy with it as is. I cut the two front pegs off and just used some double sided tape since I didn't have the little caps. Sealed the rear holes with some 3M liquid-ish butyl sealant and primed the holes I drilled so there hopefully won't be any rust spreading on the hatch.

Kinda wanna figure out how to angle the rear of the wing up a lot higher too, kinda like the Civic Type R wing, but they have brackets that actually allow adjustment, obviously I don't want it to look like an airbrake like this thing though. Time to break out the CAD software!
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/02/02823-1.jpg

Gotta get some skirts and a front lip, and figure out some kind of lip for the rear bumper...

[98legwag]

Isn't amazing how something as simple as the factory spoiler makes such a nice improvement? I friend of mine and I were thinking about getting a spare wagon spoiler and doing some fiberglass work to it in order to make it longer and have a little angled lip. That idea never got out of the planning phase.

[KNaph]

Yeah I've been thinking about extending the wing and making it look a little more aggressive but that'll probably never happen with this car at least.

But yeah I had always loved the look of my car from the front, but the side and rear profile didn't have a very aggressive look. But the wing helps out a lot with that!

[CaleDeRoo]

Jeez that's such a good idea about the spoiler. Now I want to do that with mine. My friend has a 3D printer so maybe I'll just print some "spacers" for under the spoiler so it sits at an angle.

Mine isn't on yet, as I'm scurred to do it myself. Mine is also black :/ I'm hoping since the d-pillar is black it'll look alright. I can't wait to see how you do a lip for the OB front bumper. Hope you don't mind me essentially copying everything you do to your car...

[meepers]

The 11 rex wheels will look excellent, the darker grey should really set off the color. The silver on my 06 wheels was far too light for the Slate gray. Car is coming along nice.

[foohfooh]

also curious about OB lip. Havent really seen to many.

your man to check out about that is Revenge. His cars always have nice aero stuff.

If you can pick up skirts off a GT and then you can rock JDM splash guards for xtra Boxy Japanese goodness!

[foohfooh]

and regarding the wheels, theres a dude on here with your same car rocking them nicely. I forgot his screen name but his avatar is a picture of carl sagan with his head exploding lol. somebody help me out?

[KNaph]

Jeez that's such a good idea about the spoiler. Now I want to do that with mine. My friend has a 3D printer so maybe I'll just print some "spacers" for under the spoiler so it sits at an angle.

Mine isn't on yet, as I'm scurred to do it myself. Mine is also black :/ I'm hoping since the d-pillar is black it'll look alright. I can't wait to see how you do a lip for the OB front bumper. Hope you don't mind me essentially copying everything you do to your car...

I really want to buy a 3D printer, just can't justify it with all the stupid things I would make though haha.

And the tough thing about a spacer for the wing is that you would have to make it a hinge typed bracket to pivot on the lower mounting bolts. If you just made it a spacer you'd basically just be pushing the wing up further from the body, or you'd have to make a spacer that sticks out from the regular bolt holes, bends upwards maybe 15 degrees and then the wing can be bolted onto the spacer. Not sure if that made sense, it did in my head :lol:

And also, mounting the wing really isn't too difficult, grab some masking tape and lay 3 patches down on the top of the hatch and throw the wing up to where it looks like it's about right, then press down on the masking tape where the bolts are and it'll leave an impression, then measure off the little impressions and see if it's even or not, once it is even then grab a punch whack a little dent and then start drilling pilot holes! The first hole is the hardest, after I did the first one I was already too committed to stop.

As for the lip, I'm still very wishy washy about what to do, I really like the look of rocketlegacy using the GD front lip, I know chromehorn did it but I'll have to see how it fits after some cutting of the lip, cause I know it's gonna look goofy without modification.

I can't take much credit for any inspiration about my car, there's tons of guys on here that are inspiring my build, rocketlegacy, revenge's legacies, dead's legacies, reuben, battlewagon, meepers, there's too many to list. I've read almost every 2nd gen build thread on here and taken some sort of idea from them haha.

And finally for wheels, I really want the white Regamasters, but that's just too much money right now, don't think the WRX wheels would look good in white, but I like the darker colors too. Here's a few photoshops of the car and some wheels.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/02/b9St3q0h-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/02/UXH10Wvh-1.jpg
One of the best ones I've come up with yet in my opinion. JDM tails, cleared corners and brembos.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/02/ovzFgmgh-1.jpg

[CaleDeRoo]

I was talking to my friend and he brought up a good point about 3D printed "spacers" not being strong enough. I do have another idea for an actual adjustable mounting system, but not making it look ghetto will be tough.

Here's a super cheesy MS paint picture of how I kinda sorta want my car.

http://i.imgur.com/zZKqgeT.jpg?1

I've got everything but the lips around the bottom of the car, brembos, and the window visors.

This was my idea for the front and back bumper. Have the lip curve around the corner but cut it back up in when it gets to the center, as the center is in my mind, the most confusing part.

http://i.imgur.com/xUbnN7P.jpg

[meepers]

I was talking to my friend and he brought up a good point about 3D printed "spacers" not being strong enough. I do have another idea for an actual adjustable mounting system, but not making it look ghetto will be tough.

Here's a super cheesy MS paint picture of how I kinda sorta want my car.

http://i.imgur.com/zZKqgeT.jpg?1

I've got everything but the lips around the bottom of the car, brembos, and the window visors.

This was my idea for the front and back bumper. Have the lip curve around the corner but cut it back up in when it gets to the center, as the center is in my mind, the most confusing part.

http://i.imgur.com/xUbnN7P.jpg

Definitely love the kick up on the spoiler, makes it look much more agressive. Out of all the pics I really dig the 11 Rex wheels, just the right amount of performance and class. When I paint my car I am going to color match my wheels to the slate gray lower of my car.

[KNaph]

Yeah I like that the WRX wheels are so subtle but also really aggressive. Also the 17" x 8" is great, I just can't decide between doing a really meaty tire fitment or stretching the tire more. I've always leaned towards meaty tire fitment but I'd probably have to do a lot more fender work to get that to fit. But yeah I love the slate grey two tone, probably the thing that makes me like outbacks so much, I get a lot of friends suggesting that I just repaint the whole thing Deep Sapphire Pearl but I just like the two tone too much.

Also, I don't think I ever posted this thing up! This is the only photo I have of it, but I've progressed a bit further with it than shown.
1/24th scale Legacy! Unfortunately as far as I know there was never a 2nd gen Outback model ever produced...
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/02/qeTzwd0h-1.jpg

[Navi271]

Uh oh! Look what I made years ago.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2010/07/IMG_0890-1.jpg

The wheels are actually a dark gray now, but I think we bought the same model car.
I'm interested to see how the outback look turns out!

[CaleDeRoo]

I have this one. Haven't started it yet. Waiting on some back ordered TE37s...

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/02/10643968_944256242268374_455528660_n-1.jpg

[lord flashheart]

This thing is so sick! I seriously dig it. Every time i see a tastefully modded out back it makes me want to ditch my project and go with O-back.

[meepers]

Do it lord.. Everyone loves the bump roof.

[lord flashheart]

I really really REALLY want a 99 GT wagon. But my current situation is not a good one right now so it will have to wait a while.

[KNaph]

I have that exact same kit CaleDeRoo! I ordered TE37vs for the kit too haha what a coincidence.

And thanks lord, definitely means a lot! But also, would you mind if I picked your mind about your hybrid turbo setup and driveline?

More specifically: I'm still stupidly on the fence about what to do with that EJ22E motor my friend gave to me. I still have this idea of somehow developing an ITB setup and trying to get it to run. A couple friends with a lot of fabrication experience say they know how to get it done if I'm willing to try. But there's also the part of me that thinks I should put the money into building it as a turbo motor and actually make good power for the money I'll be putting into it. The ITB setup would be more for originality than power, turbo motor would just be for shits and giggles.

But I've been thinking of getting some EJ205 heads and putting them onto the EJ22 to lower the compression, but I'm still kinda fuzzy on other details like internals and what not. Going to be running standalone regardless of direction, and I definitely don't plan on doing this anytime soon, I just want to get some more knowledge so I can possibly make a decision further down the line.

Thanks guys!

[lord flashheart]

I think ITBs are great on some applications. But for a street subaru, i think you would get stompped on by just about anything from pickup trucks to minivans. Plus theres something about turbos. I love the violence of turbos. And the power is intoxicating. Its like a light switch. The power is on or off. I love it.

[meepers]

Itb's are great in theory...... That is about it. You would still need to make an intake plenum to get any sort of vac in the system. They look neat, and have instant throttle response, but that really is about it. We did it on my former brother inlaws CRX with B16. It was a lot of fab. looked the business.. was uber dissapointing. For a show car, go for it. but from a performance aspect? It is kind of like pissing into the wind on a cold day.

[KNaph]

Yeah... I love the sound of ITBs but then again I love the sound of a turbo spooling too. I'm not even entirely sure how much a lower budget built hybrid motor would cost me, but I'm sure developing an ITB setup wouldn't be much cheaper.

So with your builds I've seen a few videos of you launching your Legacy, what kind of trans and driveline components did you have in it? The biggest thing that's making me hesitant about a turbo build is the fact that I might grenade the trans or diff like every month. I'm kind of going back and forth between the How to turbo a hybrid motor thread and various other threads and I still have a few doubts about all of this. I guess I could always build up the motor to accept more power but run it more conservatively until I have the supporting mods to stand up to the power.

Edit: Thanks meepers, what you said previously in the thread and what you're repeating now are starting to make me a lot more reluctant to go down the ITB path. My goal for this car isn't the most sporty thing out there, but I think I'd much rather go with a turbo setup now.

Now I just have to plan this out, I really want to have all of this planned out so I don't end up blowing money on other stuff, and so I can pick up stuff if I find any deals and then stockpile parts until I'm ready to take this on.

[meepers]

I only tell ya because I have been down that road. Did a set of CBR liter bike TB's on my brother inlaws CRX with a hybrid motor. He was running stand alone, we were able to tune it, it ran good, but its just not streetable. It is pretty much the reason you dont see them on factory cars. I had the same fear on the transmissions as you. I am running an 04 WRX trans and rear diff and should be right around 300/300@ 18psi. my 02 WRX was putting 265@wheels on 21psi and I beat the crap out of that car, I had no problems with the transmission in the 15k miles I put on the car before I sold it. If you are planning on 250@ the wheels or less, as long as you dont do 4k rpm clutch dumps, you should be fine. If you are looking for 5 speed upgrades, the LGT trans is the stout less expensive option. I found my whole WRX tranny swap for 1k. Trans, shifter, linkage, axles, rear diff, and a few other components. The Uncle Scotty mix is what I run in both of my 5 speed subies and have no problems at all. As you, I did much planning and spent 4 years gathering parts.

What ever you decide, should be fun to watch. You can do a budget td04 setup with RRFPR for about a grand if you do some serious deal searching.

[lord flashheart]

You will be fine. Those videos i made was with 100% stock transmission from a 99 outback. We did a total of like 25 launches and it was fine. I used it for a while and then welded the center diff and made it a RWD transmission. I have yet to break anything. I though i would break axles so i stock piled them and naturally i havent had any break and my car put 318 foot pounds to the ground. So you will be fine.

[lord flashheart]

Oh yea and i was going to say you can build a pretty sturdy turbo set up for pretty inexpensive. My first turbo setup i bought a ej20g with a rod knock for a couple hundred bucks and bolted it on my 22/25 hybrid stuck it in the car with a WRX intercooler and that was it. No engine management change or anything. And it was a blast.

[KNaph]

Okay that's what I thought. That makes me much more relieved to know that. Thanks meepers and lord, I guess it's time for me to start doing the research again, but I probably won't be pushing much more than 250 in the initial stages, so I'll have the peace of mind that I most likely won't have many driveline issues. I kind of want to figure out some supporting mods too like fuel pump and injectors and what not. I really don't want to be stranded in the middle of a build.

Aw man now you're just feeding me with all sorts of bad ideas haha! I'm trying to figure out the best way to balance a pretty reliable build with decent power and a college student budget. Seems like there's a few different options for me, I could probably even just do a low boost set up on my current EJ25D. Too many ideas running through my head haha.

Thanks again guys, you've given me some really great info.

[KNaph]

Be prepared another ridiculously long post

So I've been crunching some numbers and doing some research the past few days, kind of at a little cross roads. And you'll have to excuse my noobish questions, I'm still in the learning stages of all of this.

Two options for the motor build. Roughly 7-9 psi on both setups is the goal.

EJ22E + EJ205 heads
I calculated the CR to about 8.84:1 with standard internals and a 0.045 in headgasket

To run this I think I would need to spend a lot more money, and I'm not entirely sure it's any better than EJ22e + EJ25D heads.

- So far on the list I've compiled I need:
- EJ205 Heads
- WRX harness + harness merge - probably gonna get it done through I-Wire or something similar, but that's gonna take time, and I can't afford too much downtime.
- Engine management - preferably standalone, thinking Link G4+ Atom, I don't know much about the Emanage Ultimate, I know a lot of you guys run it though.
- TD04
- All the exhaust components, headers, up pipe, turboback everything
- Undecided on notching or just buying a turbo crossmember
- Walbro 255 lph fuel pump
- Injectors - not sure if I need them, do I need fuel rails with these too?
- Clutch - haven't gotten to looking into this yet
- Gaskets and misc. stuff - not sure if I should rebuild or just run it as is
- Intercooler and other charge piping stuff.

or

EJ22E + EJ25D heads
I calculated the CR of 9.01:1 with 0.045 in headgaskets or 8.88:1 with 0.051 headgaskets.
- EJ25D heads from my current motor, or just buy cheap junkyard heads and rework them
- Stock harness - no need for a merge
- Engine management - same as before, Link G4+ Atom, maybe Emanage Ultimate
- TD04
- Headers, up pipe, turbo back
- Walbro 255 lph
- Injectors
- Clutch
- Gaskets
- Intercooler

Running EJ25D heads saves me a good chunk of money for another part of the car, and I'm not entirely sure how much more efficient they would be for the build, a lot of you guys are just running standard or slightly reworked EJ25D heads with good results, so should I just abandon the EJ205 heads and save a bit of money and headache with the harness merge.

Both builds have some difficulties that I need to work around.

If I bought EJ205 heads I could assemble the motor on my own time, but it would take much longer to do the harness merge and that would a month or more of down time to have someone merge, not something I want. Unless I bought a second harness for my car and have that merged, more money/time spent sourcing one.

If I use the EJ25D heads I'd have to wait until I'm ready to pull the current motor to assemble the block, and it'd take more time to clean the heads to prepare for assembly. Alternatively I could buy another set of EJ25D heads and have a clean motor that I can take my time to assemble.

I know I shouldn't try to rush something as serious as a motor build/swap, I want to take my time with it but I can't really have my car motorless and unable to run, so I want to be able to have the swap done within either a long weekend, or over the course of a week in the summer.

If you didn't read any of the above just read this please:

So any opinions? Are the EJ205s heads worth the extra money and time? Should I just go with EJ25D heads and be done with it? And lastly, talk to me about Emanage Ultimate, pros and cons of it, it's cheaper than standalone but how much control do you have over things like timing, fueling etc. All of my friends recommend going with a standalone and just getting a really solid tune.

Thanks, Kyle

[r3v_v3ng3]

If you use the wrx harness/merge then you don't need the emanage. The wrx ecu are tunable/flash unlike the 25d ecu's where you can't. If your using the 25d then you will need a piggy back (emanage) or stand alone

[KNaph]

Oh duh. I just read all about that last night... Didn't even click to me.
So that makes the EJ205 heads a bit more affordable, but still makes my brain hurt trying to decide haha. Thanks revenge.
I'll have to admit I was leaning a bit more towards the EJ25D heads because I thought I'd need an aftermarket engine management system, but this kind of evens the playing field a bit more.

Really not sure on how reasonable it is for me to get the EJ205 heads, WRX harness, and ecu, and then source another Outback/Legacy harness and merge those two. It would take a bit longer to save up for all of that, but it might be worth it to minimize the downtime I would have. I could also attempt to save money by merging the harnesses by myself, just spend an hour or two on it for how ever many days it takes to get it done.

EJ25D heads would still save me a bit more money over EJ205 heads. Hopefully I can find some info on the EJ205 heads vs EJ25D heads, if the EJ205 heads have significantly better flow then I might go with those, if there's not much difference, or if the EJ25Ds flow better then I'll stick with the EJ25Ds.

Edit: also just realized that I probably need to stick with Emanage because I need to keep OBD II. So there's another thing I need to keep in mind for the EJ25D build.

[Oc7ane]

I did the 205 heads and harness merge from Iwire. It is totally worth every penny man. The tuneability as well as the parts available for the usdm wrx setup just makes it leaps and bounds above the 22/25d setup imo. If you ever plan on modding past a td04 or any of that go the wrx route.

As for the harness, the easiest way is to find a similar car at a junkyard and pull the harness. The harness swap itself isnt actually that hard, its just a little time consuming making sure you get everything out easy and not breaking anything. I decided not to try to merge it myself and just paid Iwire, who had it done in a day or two, that is once your up and hes caught up with all the orders before yours haha.

I have read standalone is quite a bit better than emanage, but I dont have any personal experience, I know there have been a couple people here that have used it, I think anothernord did it on his 22/25d i believe at one point. So he would be a good one to talk to about that.

[KNaph]

After a bit more research I think I'm going to go with the EJ22e + EJ205 head route. It's the plan I was going to go with originally and I think I'd like to stick with that. But I think I've been getting a little too gung ho about building a turbo motor that I'm rushing and underestimating a lot of the stuff I need to do.

So I think I'm going to take a step back and do more research and planning, collect some parts and do what ever I can in the mean time until I have the money saved to do a proper build. I think I'm gonna take the EJ22e and go through the motor, clean it up and maybe even rebuild the bottom end for extra reliability and for peace of mind of being a daily motor.

I just recently applied for a new job so hopefully that will provide me with a bit more funds to build this motor the way I want, rather than the way I can currently afford.

In the mean time I'll probably be doing some cheaper suspension work to make use of what power I currently have, probably remove the Outback spacers and get the geometry right, get WRX wheels with some wider/stickier tires, and definitely do brakes, most likely resurfaced front rotors and H6 upgrade with Hawk HPS pads.

Thanks for all the help guys, even if I'm not jumping into this build right now, you guys definitely helped me plan for an even more awesome build further down the road.

[meepers]

Yeah. If I had to start over, I would be using phase 2heads... By the time I did the emanage, harness, head work, mods.... I could have gone phase 2 and had better tuning options available.

[CaleDeRoo]

This may be a possible solution to lifting/tilting the rear spoiler. Very similar to what I was thinking

http://saab92x.com/viewtopic.php?id=41197&p=1

[KNaph]

Been really busy with finals the past few weeks, got the last of the tests done today then just gotta proof read my final project then it's spring break time! Going to Pats Acres down in Oregon this saturday for a drift event, gonna be shooting on track there for the first time! I've always wanted to shoot there since I always shoot on track at Evergreen Drift events.

Anyways, I just ordered some StopTech Street Performance pads for the car and gonna get my rotors resurfaced since they're still pretty new. I've had a few too many incidents where the stock pads just didn't have enough bite during panic stops. That's pretty much my "big spend" and project for the spring break, just trying to keep some money in reserve. So that's gonna be fun, the brakes and super fatty sidewalls are pretty much my only complaints about the car at the moment.

Also gonna finally pick up the EJ22e from my friend and just do some cleaning/degreasing on it, not planning on pulling it apart just yet. From what I know about it the bottom end should be all good, there was something wrong with one of the heads, but as long as it didn't drop a valve or something I'm assuming it's alright...? I'll figure it out in the summer time.

And I finally got a key fob! I absolutely hated having to unlock the drivers door with the key and then unlocking everything else to let people in, or unlocking the rear trunk and then having to unlock the whole car just to lock everything back up (I think my hatch is funky, can only unlock the hatch from the tumbler, can't lock it).

Oh I'm not entirely sure if that technique will work Cale, but I'll look into it this coming week, I need to readjust the wing since it sits a few millimeters off the actual body and I want it to sit as flush as possible like OEM.

[CaleDeRoo]

Awesome I'm looking forward to what you think.

[meepers]

You might want to really look at your clearances when doing that, the space between the spoiler and the roof is super duper tight when you open the gate.

[KNaph]

Yeah that was one of the main things I was paranoid about when installing. Theoretically, if the spacer I use is cut at an angle then I shouldn't have any issues with the front portion rising up any more. It should actually pull the front section away from the gap to give it more room.

[KNaph]

So I got the new brake pads on earlier today. Took my rotors to O'Reillys to get turned. They turn out good and it was $15 a rotor. I'm assuming the rotors were replaced at different intervals because the rears had a pretty crazy ridge but still well above the 8.5mm minimum thickness. But the fronts were almost brand new. Super easy install minus the insides on the rear. No idea why those were so difficult to get in.

Went to an industrial park and went to town on the brake bed-in. My rotors have a nice blueish grey to them now. I'll give them another bed-in when the roads are dry though.

After only a couple hours of driving, the Stoptech Street Performance pads feel a lot like the OEM pads in the sense that you can really modulate them. The initial bite is awesome because the OEM ones lacked any sort of bite until a lot more pressure was applied.

They're quiet and stop way better so I'm happy with that!

[marlin2202]

also curious about OB lip. Havent really seen to many.

your man to check out about that is Revenge. His cars always have nice aero stuff.

If you can pick up skirts off a GT and then you can rock JDM splash guards for xtra Boxy Japanese goodness!

I've actually made my own OB Lip that fits our front bumpers. Doesn't take long to make and looks pretty good!222

[CaleDeRoo]

I posted your car in my thread^

[foohfooh]

That lip looks good! Im curious how its mounted underneath. Any pics of the install? And materialz? Srry to thread jack, maybe pm your members ride thread or just post it here?

[marlin2202]

That lip looks good! Im curious how its mounted underneath. Any pics of the install? And materialz? Srry to thread jack, maybe pm your members ride thread or just post it here?

It's mounted with the clips that are like the ones under the grill and headlights holding the bumper in. I drilled holes in the bottom of the bumper so that the clips had a place to go in. Then I got some garage door seals from Home Depot for 8 bucks! Talk about a cheap splitter! Then to re-enforce it I added in behind the rubber a piece of metal that I made that the same size and everything as the rubber then plasty dipped it black and put a piece of 3M double sided tape in the middle, (Between the rubber and metal) this way it didn't flip up in the wind. I can take more pic's and add them to my account. Also I'm new to the SLI thread so it may take me a bit to figure my way around haha.

[KNaph]

Very interesting! It would be nice to see some more detail pictures when you can get those. I was actually most concerned about the stiffness of the garage seal, and most of the guys I know just use fender washers to hold the seal to the bumper, I might just do that instead of going to get the plastic clips.

Also, welcome to SLI! There's a great group of people here. You should start your own Members Ride thread (MR1), I'm interested to see what all you've done to your Outback.

[KNaph]

So I've been a little too busy this spring break to actually do anything that I planned haha. I still have Friday and Sunday to mess with the wing so that should be enough time. Need to wash and wax this thing too, it's ridiculously dirty.

Also, I put a bid in on a set of wheels on Yahoo Auctions Japan. It's the last day of the auction and I was the only bidder, hopefully no one jumps in while I'm asleep. I'll let you guys know what they are if I win, and then it'll probably be at least a month before they get here if I win.

[CaleDeRoo]

pleaseberegamasters pleaseberegamasters lol

[KNaph]

So... I won! Cost me a damn pretty penny though. Should've backed out, but I wanted the wheels too much lol. Halfway regret it, but I know when they get here I'm gonna love it.
And yeah, they're Desmond Regamasters. 17x7 +45 not the most aggressive wheel setup but I'm tired of waiting, and it's gonna save me rubbing and fender work. Gotta figure out a tire to run on it, probably gonna end up getting some Federal 595s or something. Not looking for something super sticky since it's a daily, but anything is better than my balloon tires that flex SO badly in the corners.

Looking to run a 205/45r17 or a 205/50r17
Kind of undecided, but I think I like the bigger sidewall of a 50 profile, and at the same time I kind of want to run a fatter tire since I'm not too big on the stretched look. I guess it's time to do some tire research now though!

Image from the auction page:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/03/136430-1.jpg

These are gonna be a pain in the ass to keep clean. The StopTech pads dust like crazy.

Oh and regarding the wing, I tried my hardest to pull that sucker off today and I had no luck. I think I applied too much butyl rubber, and I heat gunned every part I could and still couldn't pull it off, so it looks like I'm kinda stuck with that one. Guess I did too well installing it?

[rkrenicki]

Is there any particular reason why you are looking to run Legacy sized tires on your Outback? Your speedometer will be off by almost 10% by running the smaller Legacy size.

If you want the real 17" Legacy size, that would be 215/45R17.
If you want to run the correct size for your car, you want 225/55R17

[CaleDeRoo]

He's lowered quite a bit. Also depending on the tire 225 on a 7in wheels will be too much IMO.

[KNaph]

I was trying to run as close to stock as possible but I like the look of a 45 or 50 sidewall, and I don't want it to look ballony and tall.

I'm considering running a 215/50/r17 so it's a little closer to stock diameter. But I gotta figure out what brand tire I'll run and then see how they fit since some run wider than others.

[KNaph]

Small update:

Turned 20 today.

Sister bought me Hella horns for my birthday, debating on whether or not I should paint them or leave them red. Either way they're going in this weekend.

Wheels finally arrived at the warehouse and just paid for shipping earlier today, hopefully they ship them out by today since it's Thursday morning over there right now.
When they ship out it should be about 2-3 weeks to get here, then I'll be taking them to my friends work for some temporary free tires. They're coming off of Lexus's at a dealership and they usually have pretty good tread left on them.

This should save me some money until I can either A) afford nicer tires like a Bridgestone RE-11 or B) spend money into other stuff like the motor or aesthetic stuff, or C) finally do myself a favor and replace my drivers seat.

I'll update again when I have the wheels.

[Wagonista]

1. Your suspension rake pleases me.
2. What kind of stereo is that? It looks like it has bluetooth phone answering, and yet I have never seen a stereo that looks more at home in a mkii Legacy interior. It looks so... period correct OEM.

[KNaph]

Thanks!

I love the look of your wagon, made me really want to get WRX wheels, still do, but Regamasters are my dream wheels and I found a good deal on them.
And I love the forward rake also, probably one of my favorite things that I notice about my car every time I see it.

And that's actually CaleDeRoo 's interior, so he might be able to answer that question. My car has completely stock interior and head unit.

From doing a little digging, and looking at Cale's MR1 it looks like it's a Kienzle MCR headunit, but I couldn't say which specific model. But I agree, that's a good looking HU.

[CaleDeRoo]

Kienzle 1016BT is the headunit.

There are a couple other brands that use the head unit but with lower wattage and all green lighting which would match the interior lighting, but I've read no so great things about the cheaper brands.

Seriously cant wait till you get the Regas. Sounds like you should be receiving them about when I should get my coils.

And happy birthday dude

[KNaph]

Had some extra time today so I threw the Hellas on.

Painted them white. Pain in the ass trying to put them on and keep them clean at the same time.
359
360

I'm not sure how other people mounted their Hellas cause mounting mine was pretty stupid lol.
I didn't have enough time to run to the store to get some steel or aluminum to make a custom mounting bracket so I used the mounting holes for the hood latch and boy was that a pain.

Using the hoodlatch mount spots, I wasn't able to spread the Hellas as wide as I would've liked to since then it would get in the way of the grill retaining clips. I broke the bottom ones a while back so I would like to have the rest of the 4 clips to hold it on.
Spent some time dremeling the top and back half of the grill to get some clearance, got so frustrated with it not fitting that I just took a massive chunk out of it and it worked!

I left the two OEM horns in and then I wired in the Hellas to the factory wiring. These things have the harshest and most satisfyingly annoying sound ever. I should compare mine with my sister's Supertones, I wonder if it's actually louder or not.

Daytime pictures tomorrow.

Oh also, I just noticed my driver's side fog light got cracked too! angry9:

[CaleDeRoo]

I've got a non cracked right side :P

My left was FUBAR though

[marlin2202]

Very interesting! It would be nice to see some more detail pictures when you can get those. I was actually most concerned about the stiffness of the garage seal, and most of the guys I know just use fender washers to hold the seal to the bumper, I might just do that instead of going to get the plastic clips.

Also, welcome to SLI! There's a great group of people here. You should start your own Members Ride thread (MR1), I'm interested to see what all you've done to your Outback.

Well ive got a lot of pictures of the build on my profile. But if you have any questions about anything I'd be more than happy to help you out!

[marlin2202]

Very interesting! It would be nice to see some more detail pictures when you can get those. I was actually most concerned about the stiffness of the garage seal, and most of the guys I know just use fender washers to hold the seal to the bumper, I might just do that instead of going to get the plastic clips.

Also, welcome to SLI! There's a great group of people here. You should start your own Members Ride thread (MR1), I'm interested to see what all you've done to your Outback.

Well ive got a lot of pictures of the build on my profile. But if you have any questions about anything I'd be more than happy to help you out!

[KNaph]

THE WHEELS ARE HERE!!

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/04/17064437029_82fc4ac685_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/rZVGBx)IMG_6366 (https://flic.kr/p/rZVGBx) by Tangy Philms (https://www.flickr.com/people/75479406@N07/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/04/17062876758_2f1e33df4f_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/rZMGNj)IMG_6374 (https://flic.kr/p/rZMGNj) by Tangy Philms (https://www.flickr.com/people/75479406@N07/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/04/16630442503_bcb3d2e183_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/rkznai)IMG_6373 (https://flic.kr/p/rkznai) by Tangy Philms (https://www.flickr.com/people/75479406@N07/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/04/17250095701_7ba3c64d03_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/shkft8)IMG_6371 (https://flic.kr/p/shkft8) by Tangy Philms (https://www.flickr.com/people/75479406@N07/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/04/17248901572_d8a2e12aa8_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/she8uG)IMG_6367 (https://flic.kr/p/she8uG) by Tangy Philms (https://www.flickr.com/people/75479406@N07/), on Flickr

One wheel is kinda rough on the rim, another one has one small spot along the rim. For the most part they're in good condition though. Definitely NOT the wheels shown in the pictures but they're pretty damn clean regardless so I'm not even mad.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/04/17064440679_f36b3c5a73_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/rZVHGt)IMG_6369 (https://flic.kr/p/rZVHGt) by Tangy Philms (https://www.flickr.com/people/75479406@N07/), on Flickr

They just need to be washed, then gotta wait for my friend to grab some tires for me at the dealership.
Muteki lug nuts came a while ago, probably should've gotten the SR48s but I went with the short closed spline drive style.
Also bought some hub centric rings, don't wanna run them lug centric and risk a sheered lug.

Probably gonna be a couple days before I can get tires on, so I'll be dump pictures on here when that time comes.

[CaleDeRoo]

YEEEEEEEEE

My coils have been shipped out too. Race Ya

Nevermind read the rest of your post. No way they're gonna get here and I'm gonna get them on before you get tires.

[KNaph]

Yeah, just gonna run some OEM Lexus tires to save money. I really don't even know what brand tire they run but they should do well for the time being.
I also ended up having to shell out more money for 2-4 day shipping since the package was too large for the cheaper option. They actually shipped in 3 days since they were shipped out on the 20th. Not exactly over night parts from Japan but pretty close! I'm excited for you to get your coils though! What's the estimated shipping date?

[CaleDeRoo]

Not sure. I was told the tracking info was in my invoice from IIR, but I didn't find any there. They sent me the scanned invoice on the 20th. (Ordered them on the 10th)

[KNaph]

Yeah they did that with mine also, except I emailed them 3 days after my purchase for the tracking info. They sent the invoice which didn't have any tracking info on it either. I don't remember exactly how I got my tracking information but you might have to just send them another email for clarification. I think it took about 2 weeks from the day I ordered mine though so hopefully yours arrive in around the same time frame.

[foohfooh]

They look cool.... and fancy. Cant wait to see em on the car. The first leggy to have these? I never seen em b4 on a subaru. What are they normally on? Inform me and forgive my ignorance

[KNaph]

They look cool.... and fancy. Cant wait to see em on the car. The first leggy to have these? I never seen em b4 on a subaru. What are they normally on? Inform me and forgive my ignorance

I think they're one of my all time favorite wheels lol.

The company Desmond is a Russian company, I think they're out of business now.
Supposedly made from Russian tank metal too, dunno how much I believe that, but if it's true then that makes them even more badass!

There are a few different versions of these, pretty much all the same with a few minor differences, the biggest difference being the brands they're released as.
So as far as I know the three main "brands" are as follows: I believe the first 3 are essentially all the same wheel but painted differently.
Desmond Regamaster EVO:
Spoon SW388:
Monster Sport:
Marquis Promada: <---- What I have
Center cap is projected outwards


As far as I know I am the first to put Regamasters on a Legacy, although I do know of a GC8 on rs25 forum with Regamasters, but he has 5x114.3s with adapters.

Regamasters and their variants are typically ran on Hondas. I believe most of their sizes are in 4x100, 4x114.3, and 5x114.3
Not very many size options in 5x100.

[CaleDeRoo]

Any updates? I'm kinda thinking about going mad 90's as far as wheels go for next year.

[KNaph]

Unfortunately not, my friend said there hasn't been many people coming in for tire changes these past few weeks when they are usually really common. Just my luck! haha

He's doing me a favor so I don't want to rush him, and he just bought an FR-S so I'll let him mount up the Regamasters and see how they fit. Probably badly though since it's stock.

I did a little test fit on the front left and it's looking pretty good, I think I want to get some bolt on spacers though. 15mm or 20mm should make it look and fit perfectly.
didn't get many pictures since I had to go to work.

466

Washed the wheels but I don't have a good brush to get into the little cut outs and corners on the wheels.

Other news is I finally received my cousins old Civic from his family since he moved to Japan for work. So now I have a '99 4dr Civic that I'll hopefully be able to daily when I turbo my car. Might just sell it off too, not sure, just depends on if my dad lets me insure it.

[CaleDeRoo]

Have you done any fender work? I'm looking to get someone to roll mine since I want to run spacers as well. Just be sure to look at the back of the wheels to see if they'll clear the nuts on anything smaller than 20mm

[KNaph]

No fender work yet, but at my ride height the only real issue is gonna be the fronts, the rears should be pretty straight forward. Might not even have to roll the rears.

But the regamasters have a recess in the back of them, and if I get 15mm spacers with low profile lugs on them then they should fit just fine.

A company near by sells ebay lips so I might go take a look and see if I can mock a few up before I buy one.

[WPEC]

Clean set of white rims!!!! That's Awesome!

[KNaph]

After a long delay... THE WHEELS ARE ON!!!

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/05/17182917744_587cc6f338_c-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/sboWNu)IMG_8049 (https://flic.kr/p/sboWNu) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/05/17780206596_973baf30c9_c-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/t6bcY9)IMG_8024 (https://flic.kr/p/t6bcY9) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/05/17803736172_8a0c9a91d9_c-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/t8fNuu)IMG_8051 (https://flic.kr/p/t8fNuu) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/05/17806472085_0a9c5e5a7d_c-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/t8uPMp)IMG_8032 (https://flic.kr/p/t8uPMp) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

Tires are 225/45r17 and the wheels are 17x7 +45

I need to lower the back another inch or so. I've got 15mm spacers coming in about a week but I don't think I'll need them. If I do run them I'll probably need to do some fender work.
Currently running without any fenderwork and still have fenderliners intact. No rubbing at all, my old wheels/tires would rub the fenderliner on a tight turn with speed.

There's a few more photos in this album: https://www.flickr.com/gp/tangyphilms/Co93y0

[WPEC]

So far so good , love outback with little lower than stock!

[foohfooh]

love outback with little lower than stock!

well put my friend, well put indeed. Subaru yoda.

Car looks really phenomenal. Man, sometimes things take forever but its alll worth it in the end.

[CaleDeRoo]

Now I want white wheels.

[KNaph]

Yeah, they're super simple wheels, and the white just pops really nicely against the blue and bronze-ish two tone.
Downside is that because they're white they get dirty SUPER quickly. All I did was drive to school and back, and since the StopTech pads dust pretty badly the wheels got pretty dirty for a 15 minute trip each way and minimal braking. So if your pads don't dust that badly then white is fine.

Also, slight update:

Today I lowered the rear an inch and I'm assuming my rear subframe is shifted more towards the passenger side, so i was rubbing slightly on the rear right, but completely fine on the rear left. Raised it up about 3/8ths and now I'm not rubbing anymore. I really need to pull out those Outback spacers though, my ride height in the rear is too low so now my rear endlinks are "wrapped" around the lateral links and squeaks a bit because of the metal on metal. That's a job for the summer though.

I'm not sure how the spacers are gonna fit on this car, the wheels and tires will sit pretty flush with the fenders, may have to camber them in a little and definitely get my friend to roll my fenders. I want to run them but I'm thinking it'd be wiser to just leave them off, raising it doesn't sound like fun because I hate adjusting my coils with a passion.

Definitely could do with a roll.

[CaleDeRoo]

I hit a curb this winter so I had a rub on the right rear. Installed a camber bolt in the right rear and now both sides are -1.7* and no rub whatsoever.

I was thinking about maybe picking up some white Sparco Terras for winter wheels.

[KNaph]

I still need to get an alignment lol. It's been months since I put the coils on but the alignment wasn't out enough to justify me getting it done.
I should get one done since I know a guy who works at Firestone and can align it the way I want. But I'm thinking I should wait until after I pull the Outback spacers and get some rear subframe lockdown bolts and rear eccentric bolts, then probably run -2.2* front and -1.8* rear or something like that.

Sparco Terras are awesome, what size were you thinking about getting? And if you post a side profile picture I might be able to photoshop a set on for you to see. I'll be pretty busy with homework this week though.
Winters really aren't that bad over here in Washington so I can probably get away with the Regas year round, and probably just throw my stock wheels back on for the little bit of snow we do get.

[CaleDeRoo]

Unfortunately there's no camber adjustment in the rear for our cars from the factory, but luckily -1.8* rear is what you should be at anyways. I was going to get 17x7.5 Terras. The only problem is snows are going to be $600 for the Terras. I already have snows on a set of stockers, but they aren't cool :P

this is as close as I have to a side shot

http://i.imgur.com/UvzUySj.jpg?3

[KNaph]

Yeah, I'll probably be getting eccentric camber bolts for when I finally get an alignment, thought about adjustable lateral links but I doubt I'll ever need them.

Haha, the price of looking good. I think the 16" Terras with a bigger bubblier sidewall looks really cool, but I don't know if that would affect the price much.
And I'll see what I can do with it in a bit.

Also, Note to self before I forget: I wanna try an '06 Charge Speed style front lip. And since the center of the OB bumper protrudes down and outwards I might try cutting the center section out and having the "wings" attached to the bumper.

Similar to this:
519

[CaleDeRoo]

Any chance I get get more info on your endlinks front and rear? I've been running with a broke front endlink for months and finally want to address them.

[KNaph]

The front endlinks are from Hardrace which is basically rebranded Megan stuff.
Bought those here:
http://www.buyhardrace.com/product/hardrace-front-sway-bar-end-links-steel-impreza-gc-gd_83.html

They're not polyurethane but they feel SO much better than the stock plastic stuff, the paint looks nice too.

The rears are Uro parts endlinks are the front endlinks from an 2005 2.0L Audi A4 turbo.
I bought them through Rockauto.com and the part numbers are #8E0411317 and #8E0411318

These require a little bit of modification, or you could just get a bolt that fits and works.
Basically one of the holes on the endlink is threaded and you can't get the stock bolt back in there unless you drill/file out the threads or just buy the correct bolt that goes with it. I just drilled it out and they work fine.

Hardrace also makes a matching rear endlink, but I went with the Uroparts ones cause they're half the price of the Hardrace ones.
Hardrace rear endlinks:
http://www.buyhardrace.com/product/hardrace-rear-sway-bar-end-links-steel-impreza-gc-gd_75.html

After installing the endlinks I had an issue with squeaking as when I would take a turn the front swaybar would squeak because it shifted left and right inside the swaybar bushings, that hasn't happened in months. They helped a ton with body roll and tightening the car up before I had the coils, but I can't say if it'll help much after the coils, but it can't hurt either.

[CaleDeRoo]

Awesome thanks. Time to start buying up things to install this summer.

[KNaph]

Yeah I'll probably be buying some stuff soon too. Just gonna buy an ebay special Chargespeed style lip and gonna try to find parts to get rid of the Outback spacers. Hoping peugoby gets his smoked JDM tails so he can sell me his clears.
Other than that all the $$$ is going straight to savings for my turbo build next year, by then I should have more than enough.

Can't wait to blow up diffs and transmissions next year! :smt077

Just kidding, I hope that doesn't happen. Also hoping that my clutch lasts that long.
I let my sister drive my car around occasionally and lets just say the clutch didn't feel so great after one of those times... Clutch chatter like crazy and it just doesn't grab like it used to.

[peugoby]

The wheels & stance are on-point. Great work!

[KNaph]

The wheels & stance are on-point. Great work!

Thanks! I can't wait for the PNW SL-I meet, whenever it is, I hope I'll be able to go. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone's cars.

Oh, and I wanna see those SSRs on your car!

[KNaph]

Spacers arrived today, but I worked all day so I'll test fit them tomorrow before work.

520


Also, one of my good friends had a torn up Recaro SRD that came with his Civic. He's had them for years but never wanted to use them since they're so torn up. So he turned one of them into an office chair and we've talked about me taking one of them. Well today I went to go show him the Regamasters and I ended up taking the seat back with me!

521
522

I'm gonna look into how much it'll cost to restore it to a usable condition, if anything I can just throw some ghetto patches on to cover the holes and run it in my car. If I don't end up running it in my car then I'm gonna make it into an office chair, so it's a win-win either way really. The foams are still perfect, so it's a SUPER comfortable seat, it just looks ugly.

There's a business in my area that does Recaro restorations, not really sure if they're still around but it's worth a shot. Their prices were $600 for new jackets on 2 seats, so that's probably $300 for one seat which kinda sucks. I think I'll just ask my mom patch the holes cause I can't sew for shit. After that I'll have to steam clean the jackets and then find a few plastic trim pieces, like the knob that adjusts the seat back, and then get my friend to fab up some custom seat brackets.

I think it would be pretty cool to have an aesthetically ratty looking seat, but have it actually be in really good condition. That and my stock seat is SUPER busted and saggy and it hurts my back while I drive, so something has to happen with that soon.

[CaleDeRoo]

Nice. I'm still toying with the idea of spacers. New seats was definitely some of the best money I spent on my car. Although now I have my stock front seats, wrx sedan rears, wrx wagon rears, and wrx door panels just laying around. :/

[KNaph]

Finally had time to throw the spacers on. They fit, barely. I'll drive to and from school tomorrow, if I have rubbing issues then they're coming off, if not then they may stay on.

I definitely need an alignment now, cause the passenger side wheels/tires have a little bit of poke while the drivers side has a little bit of tuck.

Driver's side rear:
523

Passenger side rear:
524

Side profile:
525

How it sat without spacers:
526

The car looks so much wider when looking from the front or rear but the poke on the passenger side just looks goofy. If I can get them to tuck in then I'll be pretty happy with the look.

[CaleDeRoo]

Those are 15mm?

[KNaph]

Yeah 15mm bolt on spacers. The Regas have a 10mm deep recess and the stock lugs stick out like 9.25mm according to my dial caliper, so I'm barely getting by lol.

[CaleDeRoo]

My BBS have no recess in them so Idk if I'll ever actually get spacers.

[KNaph]

Spacers are coming off. Couldn't even get out of my neighborhood without rubbing on every corner. I didn't bring a 17mm or else I would pull them off for the drive back home. I'll probably just turn the damping to max so it doesn't compress as much on the way home.

[CaleDeRoo]

Camber bolts are $20 and super easy to install

[CaleDeRoo]

Camber bolts are $20 and super easy to install

[r3v_v3ng3]

Yup needs a roll. Also the rears have camber adjustment but not much. Either camber bolts like CaleDeRoo suggested or you can slot the upper strut to hub mount or get an adjustable rear camber plates.

[KNaph]

I'll probably order some camber bolts and put them in after this week is over, currently killing myself studying for finals. I'll probably also take the heat gun and rubber mallet to the fenders/quarters again too. Might lower the front a little more too so I can get more front rake, depends on how it sits with the spacers though. And I need to get the A/C figured out since it's getting hot as shit here in WA.

When I turn the A/C on I get this loud hissing noise coming from the glove box area. It's kind of like the normal hissing that turning on the A/C makes, but it's pretty loud and it makes me feel like there's a leak or there's some sort of backup in the system causing pressure to build up. I did a recharge earlier last year and that helped for a little bit but my A/C got even worse after that. Currently it feels like the air is maybe a few degrees cooler than the non A/C air blowing. Might try to grab some water and spray it on the A/C lines to see if there's any bubbles coming from it.

I'm figuring out how to reupholster the Recaro currently, just gonna help my mom measure out the panels and have her sew me up a new cover that I can slip over it. I might lose the Recaro logo going that route but it's not that big of a deal to me. I know it's real so that's all I really care about, and I'll probably buy some Recaro SRD confettis or some Bride Gias IIs in a few years if I really have to.

Other than that I don't really have much planned for the car for the rest of the year, gotta save money for the motor, trying to source some of those Origin Labo style canards, but I can't find any on ebay. Sure as hell not gonna pay $300 for a set of real ones to cut up and only hope that they fit. Maybe side skirts and figure out how to retain my mudflaps, not a fan of Rally Armors so that's not an option.

[CaleDeRoo]

I'm going to try to pick up a set of 3rd gen skirts, and cut the extra length off the front. Hoping the the mudflaps will still fit well enough to go back on and hide the fact that I cut the skirts.

[Alphius]

If you're interested in troubleshooting your A/C I have all the necessary tools. Vacuum pump, gauge set, etc. I work on and recharge A/C systems for all my friends. ;)

[peugoby]

Looks really good boss. I'll have some JDM tail lights & side markers available come early July if you'd like dibs

[KNaph]

I'm going to try to pick up a set of 3rd gen skirts, and cut the extra length off the front. Hoping the the mudflaps will still fit well enough to go back on and hide the fact that I cut the skirts.

Are the 3rd gen skirts longer? or do you mean you're just gonna hack off the front end cap so that it butts up against the backside of the mudflap?


If you're interested in troubleshooting your A/C I have all the necessary tools. Vacuum pump, gauge set, etc. I work on and recharge A/C systems for all my friends. ;)

I would actually be very interested in that! I dunno how much time I'll have free inbetween summer quarter and work, but I'll PM you! That would be really awesome.


Looks really good boss. I'll have some JDM tail lights & side markers available come early July if you'd like dibs

Thanks man! And yes I'd definitely be interested in the tails and side markers! Dunno if I'd run the side markers, but I'd rather not miss out on the opportunity incase I do want to run them!

You guys are awesome.


Also ordered camber bolts so those will probably get here some time next week.

[CaleDeRoo]

3rd gen skirts are about 3-4 inches longer. (Rough estimate from me holding one up to my car)

[CaleDeRoo]

I messed with your ride height and now I want Regas even more. Why do I do this to myself.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/06/rDSPK2L-1.jpg

[KNaph]

Put the camber bolts in, lowered the front a half inch and then 3/4 in the rear. Got a little of my forward rake back too!

Also picked up the side skirts from Robin and I might test fit them, don't really wanna throw them on without a front lip though.

Fixed my A/C too, I dunno how, but I tried what was left of my recharge bottle and it worked pretty well. Maybe it finally sealed the leaks? My system had no pressure it in so I really don't know.

[Alphius]

It might work for a while but you've certainly got a leak. Let me know when you want to fix it for real. Lol. ;)

[KNaph]

It might work for a while but you've certainly got a leak. Let me know when you want to fix it for real. Lol. ;)

Yeah, I'll be keeping an eye on it, I'll definitely let you know when it eventually breaks haha.

Another closer up picture, and the opposite side.
The wheels are SUPER dirty, but I haven't really had a chance to wash the car.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/06/18725549778_3005d6cd30_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/uwHkyw)
IMG_20150617_224136 (https://flic.kr/p/uwHkyw) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

In other news, I've got a line on some Origin Labo. front and side canards on croooober so I'll take some measurements tomorrow and place an order depending on the size.

The car should be one step closer to being aesthetically finished relatively soon. Hopefully the front canards turn out how I want, then I'll only need to figure out a rear lip. I'm hoping to use an FD RX-7 rear diffuser with vortex generators.

I think the user Koiracer has the RX-7 rear diffuser but no vortex generators. I'm looking to get a replica style, and my best bet is probably from Shine Auto.

[KNaph]

Put the order in for the canards. I need some time to mock up the side skirts and do some photoshopping.

I want to paint match them so that the side canards stand out against the side skirt but I dunno if I'll like that look. Dunno what other color I'd make them though.

Also gotta see what I'm gonna do with the mud flaps, definitely can't let them stay hanging, the fronts drag on everything and the rears drag occasionally too.
Probably gonna go through with just cutting the bottom section off of those and then take the heat gun to the rears and bend the "Outback" section upwards. Dunno if I'll be able to keep the front flaps.

[CaleDeRoo]

What side skirts do you have?

To get the BH skirts on I had to cut the stock flaps off the front so I'm probably going to end up making my own skirts this summer. I'm surprised you're scraping on stuff. I only ever scrape my front lip.

[KNaph]

Just the regular 2nd gen skirts, I bought the set that Robin was selling.

Hopefully the bolts that hold them on aren't rusted, otherwise I might just have to get rid off the flaps all together.
Were yours rusted? CaleDeRoo

And yeah I dunno why it's scraping so much, I thought it might be the fender liner but I pushed them up and out if the way far enough and there aren't any new rub marks on them. I cracked the passenger side flap so I might just have to crank the damping up higher.

[CaleDeRoo]

The bottom screw holes were rusted but I live in the rust belt. Also they are a bitch to get off. The top and outside bottom screw don't actually screw out. They're held in by a clip behind the fender so you can ratchet all day and it'll just spin in place.

[KNaph]

Fun, looks like I'm gonna be lazy and procrastinate on that then. Canards are on the way, probably a week or two out for one set, I think the fronts. The side ones are coming from some Origin dealer so there's gonna be "a couple day delay"

[KNaph]

Finally picked up the motor from my friend after 6 months of procrastinating lol.
He's getting his drift car back from the shop so he needs all the garage space to tear it apart and prep it for paint and wire the new motor.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/06/19168686701_f278c87d71_b-1.jpg
(https://flic.kr/p/vcSwJi)IMG_20150625_204142 (https://flic.kr/p/vcSwJi) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

According to the guy who pulled it, it's got a bad valve guide, not sure which head but I won't be using those anyways. I'll just be slowly collecting parts if I can find a good deal, the only rush is due to my clutch chatter, but I can tolerate that for a while. After I get all the parts I'll take it to the machine shop to get it all checked out and

Next up is probably a Z32 caliper upgrade and bigger rotors, I've want to do a track day but I'm a bit wary since I'm pretty sure my brakes aren't gonna like that very much. And it's probably a good idea to get brakes I'll have confidence with when I eventually finish the turbo build.

[KNaph]

Canards are here!

Mocked them up earlier today and supported them with boxes, but I did some quick and ugly photoshopping to see what they will look like.
The side canards came in white and the fronts have a few imperfections in the finish so I'm gonna sand them down and paint them glossy black.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/07/19183081288_80505f7d4f_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ve9iJQ)IMG_20150702_183420 (https://flic.kr/p/ve9iJQ) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/07/18750021323_3e7deedd9f_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/uySL6H)IMG_20150702_183310 (https://flic.kr/p/uySL6H) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/07/19344572086_2977569938_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/vtpZjW)IMG_20150702_183206 (https://flic.kr/p/vtpZjW) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

The side canards are pretty close to what the final result should be fitment wise, however the fronts sag down a bit because I didn't have enough stuff to stack underneath, so the angle that they're positioned and the height will be a bit different.

It was too damn hot for me to bother getting the nice camera so I settled for cell phone pictures.

I think I'm gonna get some black plastidip and go over the skirts and the rest of my trim. That should make the canards blend in a bit but still stand out because of the gloss/matte difference.

[CaleDeRoo]

Needs the wheel spacers on now! Also hippo sleek rear spoiler.

[KNaph]

I kinda like the white of the side canard... Not gonna leave it though cause it'll look goofy and get dirty super quick.

The spacers still don't want to fit even after adding camber and I'm a little too short on cash right now to justify a rack alignment.
But I'm not really a fan of the Hippo Sleek wing, I like the SYMS version more, it keeps the OEM shape but it's a little bigger.

[CaleDeRoo]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JDM-SUBARU-LEGACY-BG-OUTBACK-DOOR-TRIMS-WITH-WINDOW-SWITCH-OEM-93-94-95-96-97-98-/231603717852?hash=item35eca846dc&vxp=mtr


You know you want to

[KNaph]

Man I love the GT-B interior. Unfortunately not in the cards right now though.

I still need to get my aunt to buy fabric with me for the Recaro, she used to do auto upholstery so I need her advice. Been debating fabric colors and I might just go with something to match the stock interior, maybe black or similar to the stock pattern.

I think I might have time this Friday to get the side skirts and canards prepped and painted. Canards are going gloss black, and I just need to re-clean the skirts and body trim for plastidip. I need more Fridays/weekends off...

[KNaph]

Small update:

Kinda jumped the gun on painting haha, should've drilled the holes and stuff before painting but oh well.

Side canards were prepped and painted a couple days ago, I have one of the fronts sanded but I'm waiting for another free day to paint those up. Gonna wait a bit for the clear coat to cure and then wet sand also, they're not as glossy as I was hoping. The skirts had some pretty deep gouges in them that I didn't care enough to fix before I plastidipped them, doesn't really bother me though.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/07/19649358661_2ee54c0c31_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/vWm6KT)IMG_20150712_154421 (https://flic.kr/p/vWm6KT) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

Might have to end up waiting a week or two til after my A term class ends though, then I'll have a lot more time to mess with the car.

Really banking on this job at school I applied for, higher pay and I'll be tutoring kids how to use photoshop, my car, bank account, and I need that job desperately.


Oh also, I've been trying to figure out how to make some LED panels to retrofit my tail lights with. I bought an Arduino kit a while back and have been messing with it. I've had a few very basic programs to flash the signals and illuminate a few LEDs for brakes, but I haven't done anything like this yet.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VsfXltqj6k

I think I'll just be sticking to a basic on/off style, but it wouldn't hurt to be able to program a few different light modes in either.

[KNaph]

Pretty much zero progress so far, sanded 3/4ths of the second front canard, still gotta finish that up but I'm unbelievably lazy right now. Had a party for my sisters graduation this past weekend and someone knocked my side skirts off the shelf, hopefully they aren't damaged in any way, I haven't really had any time to look at them because of school.

Quit my job at Sears because my boss was harassing me, so I'm not gonna be spending anymore money on the car until I get another job. Kinda sucks but whatever.

Here's some pictures to motivate myself, hopefully I'll get this thing done by Big Northwest, if not, hopefully by WCSS haha

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/07/19931190105_315cbab6c2_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/wnfyqH)2015-07-20 09.11.56 1 (https://flic.kr/p/wnfyqH) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/07/19905403826_d4b939a5ff_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/wjYp4G)IMG_0610 (https://flic.kr/p/wjYp4G) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

The orange peel is real:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/07/19905514296_f934119f7a_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/wjYXUm)2015-07-22 08.20.26 1 (https://flic.kr/p/wjYXUm) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

[Dead91silvia]

She's coming together nicely! Offer still stands if you wanna trade for my AVS's... ;)

[KNaph]

She's coming together nicely! Offer still stands if you wanna trade for my AVS's... ;)

Thanks Robin! But I don't think I could ever trade these wheels off, Regamasters are my all time favorite wheel haha.

Anyways, Summer quarter ended last week so I've been trying to get my car ready for WCSS this upcoming weekend.

I've been trying to paint and mount up the canards and side skirts, those are pretty much the only things I'll be able to get done before the show.
No progress pictures of that since I didn't even think about taking any while I was working.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/08/20242130133_bed902e710_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/wQJd4F)2015-08-24_10-45-27 (https://flic.kr/p/wQJd4F) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

In other news, I've finally gotten around to getting fabric to fix my Recaro. The fabric I chose is pretty close to the original fabric, the one I chose is grey and a bit smoother. Once I get the canards on the car I'll starting tearing the Recaro apart and making stencils from the original panels, then I'll take the main front piece in to an embroidery shop to have the Recaro log embroidered onto my new fabric, probably gonna be in a shiny black. Light colors would get dirty really quick.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/08/20854267972_aeabc0ceac_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xLPzjm)2015-08-24_11-29-01 (https://flic.kr/p/xLPzjm) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/08/20837606446_be48aaccfc_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xKmbqE)2015-08-24_11-28-51 (https://flic.kr/p/xKmbqE) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

Also, I have a bit of a headshield rattle because of a stupid mistake pulling out of the parking lot at a golf course, so I should fix that, but it's not too high on the priorities list.

[KNaph]

Another update, side skirts and side canards are on, front ones still need to get put on but I didn't have anyone to help me to put them on so I'm going up to my friends house tomorrow to get them done.

No that's not a huge scratch down the passenger side lol. Just a reflection.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/08/20297353723_3bab51769c_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/wVBf7x)IMG_20150826_235159 (https://flic.kr/p/wVBf7x) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/08/20295791904_0cf607f2e2_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/wVteQC)IMG_20150826_235104 (https://flic.kr/p/wVteQC) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

My super ugly rear bumper... it'll look better when I get a Shine Auto rear diffuser...
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/08/20295791074_61a9148d57_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/wVteAj)IMG_20150826_235036 (https://flic.kr/p/wVteAj) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/08/20730327430_9e33a7db30_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xzSm7s)IMG_20150826_235230 (https://flic.kr/p/xzSm7s) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

Oh and I got a super JDM Jack in the Box antenna ball.

[KNaph]

Small update again.

The plans for the front canards changed again. Side canards have moved since the last post too, plans are still in the works so I'll post up again if I actually go through with it.

Anyways, I did a DIY subframe lockbolt mod, this helped SO much with the rear end, the car feels so planted, feels like it's on rails compared to driving without the lockbolts.

I bought some 70mm grade 10.9 M12 x 1.25 bolts and I went to Lowes and bought 3/4" Outer Diameter x 1/2" Inner Diameter Flange Bearings. These were the only two and they were torn out of package so I can't get the part numbers on them, the cashier just rang me up for the price of some other flange bearing. Many of the other writeups online say to use 50-60mm bolts but since my car still has the Outback spacers in it I ran with 70mm bolts.
Cleaned the threads with a tap and then torqued them down to 30 ft/lb and called it a day.

Haven't noticed any extra NVH but it changes the handling so much, I highly recommend it, dunno if it'll help much if you have aftermarket bushings though.

So hyped on that cheap mod. Cost me about $16 and an hour under the car.


My sister and I are still going through pictures from WCSS, we didn't take too many, but we're sorting through and editing the ones we like so I'll post those up when we're done.

Here's a couple of my car at WCSS though, keep in mind I'm not a car show guy, didn't come expecting to enter the show, and didn't bother to wash the car since it was raining. Oh and I scrubbed my wheels down real quick before we left with rags and simple green.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/09/21138495782_255416558a_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ycWjkQ)IMG_2641 (https://flic.kr/p/ycWjkQ) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/09/20527599853_c04526ae81_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xgXjgp)IMG_2694 (https://flic.kr/p/xgXjgp) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/09/20526025234_c902eb09f1_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xgPfbN)IMG_3086 (https://flic.kr/p/xgPfbN) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/09/21122470706_44de8a4e5e_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ybwbDq)IMG_3087 (https://flic.kr/p/ybwbDq) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/09/20526022164_4ba0f1cc12_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xgPegS)IMG_3090 (https://flic.kr/p/xgPegS) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/09/21138486152_a99e9bb4f4_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ycWgtN)IMG_3091 (https://flic.kr/p/ycWgtN) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/09/21148702355_e2ee9e1a21_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ydQCpe)IMG_3097 (https://flic.kr/p/ydQCpe) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

[Dead91silvia]

Good looking shots! Did you guys happen to get any good ones of the cruise in?

[KNaph]

Thanks! My sister did all of the shooting on the way there, seems like there's a couple but there's not a huge variety of all the cars. I don't think I have any of Brad's cars, so most of the pictures are of Andrew, Toby, and you, not sure if I have any rollers of your BD though.
Dead91silvia

[Dead91silvia]

Send them my way if you do have any. I didnt get to shoot at all.. hard to drive RHD and not die using a camera. haha

[KNaph]

It's been a while since I've posted.

WCSS photos are done but I haven't gotten around to watermarking and posting uploading them.

I got a new headunit and speakers for my car. I'm incrementally upgrading the sound system, so I bought some Polk db651's and threw them up front until I have enough to get some db6501's, then those will be going up front and the db651's will move to the back. Might get a 10" sub some time down the road.

I also drove over a shit ton of nails somewhere, and since I got used tires put on the Regas, the tread is too far gone for shops to repair. So for now I'm running on the stock wheels/tires again because both driver side tires have nails in them.

I threw the 15mm spacers on a couple days before I got the nails in the tires and raised the rear and rerolled my fenders and it still rubs like hell but it looks SO good.

My Recaro is all torn apart, just waiting for a weekend so my mom and I can draw up some patterns and start cutting/sewing together the new jacket. After I get seat rails and the db6501's then I'll be saving up for the motor!

This is a shot I took while I was hunting the Bloodmoon eclipse thing.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/09/21614485130_7c0cf1e32b_b-2.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/yVZToJ)IMG_7956-Edit (https://flic.kr/p/yVZToJ) by Tangy Philms (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

[KNaph]

Merry Christmas everyone!

Just a quick 3 month update lol.

I've been too busy with school and work to think about working on the car.

Still running on my stock wheels right now, finally put away enough money for tires and an alignment, so the next update you'll probably see from me is me raving about how awesome new tires are.

My Recaro seat is about halfway done being reupholstered, it's kind of on the back-burner right now.

Other than that, the car has been doing domestic duties, and handling my 16 mile round trip daily commute lol.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/12/23266375413_f7a5c99a67_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/BrYfPF)2015-12-21_11-45-30 (https://flic.kr/p/BrYfPF) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

[KNaph]

Finally making progress. Christmas cleaned my wallet out but I'm slowly recovering, tires will be ordered soon, I swear.

But in the mean time I've been working on the Recaro again.

Nearly done, didn't have any staples for my staple gun, but I'll pick some up tomorrow after the Seahawks game.
After I get the staples the seat will be done and all I'll have to do is wait for the bracket to arrive.

You'll probably notice that the Recaro logo is missing, I didn't want to go through the hassle of getting it embroidered onto the new fabric and have it look like junk, so I'm using the original fabric and making a pillow for it so I'll still have the Recaro logo on the seat. I'll also be able to pull the pillow off so that it doesn't draw too much attention.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/01/24325157602_d531782c21_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/D4wMT1)IMG_20160117_020849 (https://flic.kr/p/D4wMT1) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/01/24433424615_1e8f066f35_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/De6FTD)IMG_20160117_020756 (https://flic.kr/p/De6FTD) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/01/24137814620_5715e723a1_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/CLYBkA)IMG_20160117_021555 (https://flic.kr/p/CLYBkA) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/01/24137814060_66e08a31fa_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/CLYBaW)IMG_20160117_021414 (https://flic.kr/p/CLYBaW) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

[peugoby]

Looking good, Kyle! I'm sure that seat is going to be the business. Hope you and the fam are doing well so far in 2016.

[KNaph]

Thanks Tobias! I didn't have the highest hopes for the Recaro when I first started but seeing where it is now is really exciting!
Hope you're doing well also! Seems like you've got a lot of exciting stuff in the works!

Since I've got a long wait ahead of me to get my seat brackets made, I figured I'd like to keep some creature comforts with the Recaro, so I ordered some seat warmer pads off of Amazon. I also hit a snag with reupholstering the foam inserts, I've spent at least $30 on various different types of staples, but none of them have any bite into the foam pad.

In other news, my car is becoming a chairty case...
My friends mom gave me my friends old subwoofer and amp, far from the nicest equipment, but I'll have some decent lows to mix in with my front speakers. Ontop of that, the same friend who gave me the Recaro is going to give me his old amp wiring kit. So that's a free sub and amp install.

I hate to be the charity case but a buck saved is spent somewhere else on the car!

[KNaph]

HOW THE HELL DO YOU STAPLE FABRIC TO FOAM?!? :violent1:

I've been swamped with school projects so the Recaro sat on hold for a little again, tonight I'm going to try spray adhesive to stick the fabric down, and then hopefully the glue gives a little more grab for the staples too. If that fails then I'm gonna get some elastic and do it the ghetto way.

I installed my friends sub, I wasn't expecting much, but the thing rattled my mirror so that it fell out of position. Dialed it back cause I'm not really into the whole "shake the next car over" bass thing, but it sounds good for what they are. Wired in my front Polks to the amp also.

As much as I would like to be working on the exterior of the car, I'd rather fix up the interior a little bit to make driving more comfortable and fun first.

Finally got around to ordering the Wedge Engineering seat brackets for my Recaro this morning, it'll probably be a couple weeks til those get here.

I threw the Regas on because I missed the look. Still have a nail in the front so I have to air it up every night, totally worth it.
Here are some pictures to keep myself motivated...

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/02/24156061723_67ec459697_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/CNA8yP)2016-01-31 01.10.24 1 (https://flic.kr/p/CNA8yP) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/02/24689421031_23027d7734_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DBHJGX)2016-02-02 11.36.12 1 (https://flic.kr/p/DBHJGX) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/02/24415255749_5d9263a3de_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DcuyVk)2016-01-25 04.15.55 1 (https://flic.kr/p/DcuyVk) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

[KNaph]

3M adhesive spray and staples is how you staple fabric to foam.

The seat is complete, I tested the seat warmers yesterday and confirmed that they work, and that they're hot as hell. Now I'm waiting on my Wedge brackets to come in. But once I install the seat I'll officially have carbon fiber in the car since my seat warmers elements are apparently made out of carbon fiber.

Here's some terrible before and after pictures:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/02/24857155306_b844f8cc0f_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DSxqgd)2016-02-07 02.04.39 1 (https://flic.kr/p/DSxqgd) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/02/24515816939_1479be41ba_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DmnYfX)2016-02-07 02.01.42 1 (https://flic.kr/p/DmnYfX) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/02/24255273584_5e5fc622fc_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/CXmBN9)2016-02-07 02.01.39 1 (https://flic.kr/p/CXmBN9) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/02/24587965480_a0e9cfa330_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DsKKvj)2016-02-07 02.23.29 1 (https://flic.kr/p/DsKKvj) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/02/24857147126_632fa59d74_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DSxnQb)2016-02-07 02.23.31 1 (https://flic.kr/p/DSxnQb) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/02/24515810749_ab0776dc88_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DmnWqe)2016-02-07 01.56.21 2 (https://flic.kr/p/DmnWqe) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

[peugoby]

That turned out really nicely. Race car status now! Congrats

[Go Mifune]

You should be proud of how well this came out. Great job!

[KNaph]

That turned out really nicely. Race car status now! Congrats


You should be proud of how well this came out. Great job!

Thanks guys! I'm super excited about how they turned out, I didn't have the highest hopes when I first started but it turned out really great, it probably would've looked horrible without my mom's help though. It's gonna be great when I get these in since the factory seat sags really bad and gives me back problems, plus the diy seat warmer install so that I don't lose the factory functionality.

And I'll move onto race car status when I get the new tires! After that I'll be trying to source EJ205 parts for a hybrid build.

Also, for future reference for myself and anyone who wants to wire aftermarket seat warmers into the factory switch here's a thread from LGT.

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/diy-heated-seat-install-oem-non-heated-seats-add-drivers-171362.html

Edit:

Brackets are coming in soon. Expect updates this weekend.

[KNaph]

It's in!

The seat feels amazing, tons more support for spirited driving, so I'm not white knuckling the wheel to keep myself in position. Seat warmers warm up SUPER quick and can get nice and warm. I had to fight the bracket a little bit in order to mount it to the car, it works and build quality seems really nice, although the fitment could have been nicer, it works and it's secure now. Also, the factory switch doesn't like my seat warmers, so I had to abandon the idea of using the factory switch, right now I have a temporary location for ugly aftermarket switch, gonna try to figure out some sort of stealth mount, or figure out the wiring with my other spare seat warmers.

Despite the cons, I'm super excited because I can drive more aggressively without holding myself back due to sliding around.

Seating position is about as low as you can get in a BG without hammering down the cross section that runs under the seat. I'm not actually a fan of low seats, so this will take some getting used to, but the lower seat allows me to have more control over the pedals, and it just feels a lot more sporty.

Picture time:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/02/24968435206_0c697f0c40_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/E3nKUb)IMG_6257 (https://flic.kr/p/E3nKUb) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/02/24901464091_f60545ec77_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DWsvHM)IMG_6251 (https://flic.kr/p/DWsvHM) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/02/24968458076_1872ab57ce_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/E3nSGu)IMG_6245 (https://flic.kr/p/E3nSGu) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/02/24627149329_7fb9c732ea_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DwdzuV)IMG_6240 (https://flic.kr/p/DwdzuV) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

There's a lot more pictures, so here's the flickr album:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskqTs8tf

Now time for bed since I have an appointment to get an alignment in the morning!


Also, does anyone know what's physically limiting the steering column tilt from going any lower than it does? The Recaro sits so low that it's almost annoying where the wheel sits in relation to my upper body now. I was thinking it's some sort of metal bracket that prevents the column from tilting any lower and maybe I could add in a spacer or something to get a few more degrees of drop angle for the steering wheel. I'll take a look tomorrow.

Edit:

Here's a link for future reference for me.
https://www.jspecauto.com/engine_details/1792/subaru-impreza-wrx-sti-gc8-rhd-steering-column

If anyone else has a seat that sits lower than factory, and you want to be able to adjust the tilt lower, I haven't checked but I think this solution will work.

The photos from that link show a bracket in the middle of the steering column. I believe that bracket bolts into the dashboard support beam. There's two ways that I'm thinking could work for this, unbolt the bracket from the dash beam and then add some type of spacer and possibly a longer bolt depending on how long the factory one is. The second option is trying to slot the bracket a little longer so that it has more degrees to articulate. The first way prevents you from moving the bracket back up to the factory maximum height, the second option allows you to retain factory max height but you sacrifice bracket strength depending on how much you slot the bracket.

Needless to say, if going with the first option it would probably be better to use high quality high strength bolts and potentially a good solid spacer, just in case of an accident so the steering column doesn't break for some odd reason.

Also, supposing that spacing the bracket down actually does work, there might be some plastic trimming involved, but that's to be expected.

[KNaph]

I've done more stuff to my car all month than I did in the past 6+ months.

That's probably going to slow down though since I've pretty much ran out of parts to install, after I buy the tires I'll probably start saving and planning out the motor build.

But earlier today I finally got the motivation to put the front canards on, I've been debating on the best way to install them over the past couple months and I finally decided to just mount them and hope for the best.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/02/24536271774_1b6ef26c45_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DobNLw)IMG_8327 (https://flic.kr/p/DobNLw) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/02/24540199593_ca97062603_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DowWnx)IMG_8344 (https://flic.kr/p/DowWnx) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/02/24799282189_a207584796_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DMqNAR)IMG_8301 (https://flic.kr/p/DMqNAR) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

I don't have any daytime photos of them yet, but I'll get a few in the next couple days.
I also took off all of the rubber door/fender protector stuff since it was interfering with my front canards, the car looks so much better, but now I have to claybar the remaining residue off.

[Oc7ane]

so clean! haha front end looks aggressive, I like.

[KNaph]

Thanks! I always loved how aggressive the 2nd gens looked, now I just gotta get the power to back the looks up haha.

I think my plan for the motor was similar to yours, except I'll be running an EJ22e instead of an EJ22T, and still dancing around the idea of going stroked or not.
Not really planning on any monster HP numbers on my build but I want to build it right the first time, finding all the specs and figuring out compatibility is proving to be a headache since I've never done anything motor-wise before.

Did you ever get to run a stock trans with a big HP/torque number like you have now? I know Flash said before that his stock trans/diff were pretty strong and he did launches with them, but I'm still kinda worried about those being a weak link in my drive line.


On a side note, I took a look under the dash today and the steering column is attached to the dash bar via a bracket, the bracket is held on by 2 bolts. I'll pull a bolt next Friday and try to find something about a half inch longer, and then some sort of half inch spacer too, trying not to stack washers for this, but we'll see.

[Oc7ane]

Thanks! I always loved how aggressive the 2nd gens looked, now I just gotta get the power to back the looks up haha.

I think my plan for the motor was similar to yours, except I'll be running an EJ22e instead of an EJ22T, and still dancing around the idea of going stroked or not.
Not really planning on any monster HP numbers on my build but I want to build it right the first time, finding all the specs and figuring out compatibility is proving to be a headache since I've never done anything motor-wise before.

Did you ever get to run a stock trans with a big HP/torque number like you have now? I know Flash said before that his stock trans/diff were pretty strong and he did launches with them, but I'm still kinda worried about those being a weak link in my drive line.


On a side note, I took a look under the dash today and the steering column is attached to the dash bar via a bracket, the bracket is held on by 2 bolts. I'll pull a bolt next Friday and try to find something about a half inch longer, and then some sort of half inch spacer too, trying not to stack washers for this, but we'll see.

yea, with how clean yours is, id love to see that thing with a turbo haha. My roomate is currently building a wrx swap with a 22e shortblock, with sti rods and weisco pistons. I know alot of people are doing the 22e builds now a days. Can be a plenty strong block for a low boost build no problem. I never ran a stock 5 speed, so not sure, but I do know that the trans is always the weak part with our cars until you get a 6 speed haha. Ive seen and heard people use regular 5 speeds pushing 220-250 whp, but its usually the torque and people driving habits that cause problems.

if you got any questions down the road for anything motor wise, let me know. Baddog and I have built probably 6-7 motors together and like 3-4 turbo motors, And I cant tell you how many hours of sleep I lost figuring out my build especially after the machine shop called and tried to tell me my setup wasnt going to work, had me all paranoid haha.

[talonsorensen]

man I'm dreaming! I'd love to meet up and check out your ride sometime! sense I don't live all that far!

[peugoby]

Looks great, Kyle. We should plan to do a 2nd gen exclusive meet sometime this summer in the Seattle area. I think that would be really cool to get all of us out on a cruise/BBQ

[KNaph]

yea, with how clean yours is, id love to see that thing with a turbo haha. My roomate is currently building a wrx swap with a 22e shortblock, with sti rods and weisco pistons. I know alot of people are doing the 22e builds now a days. Can be a plenty strong block for a low boost build no problem. I never ran a stock 5 speed, so not sure, but I do know that the trans is always the weak part with our cars until you get a 6 speed haha. Ive seen and heard people use regular 5 speeds pushing 220-250 whp, but its usually the torque and people driving habits that cause problems.

if you got any questions down the road for anything motor wise, let me know. Baddog and I have built probably 6-7 motors together and like 3-4 turbo motors, And I cant tell you how many hours of sleep I lost figuring out my build especially after the machine shop called and tried to tell me my setup wasnt going to work, had me all paranoid haha.

Yeah, I've been looking at different ways to work around the weak driveline, but I haven't really found out what the best way to upgrade is.

But from what I've found out, the EJ22e block has basically the same dimensions as an EJ22T, so I could apply most of the research and knowledge about the 22T to help me build the 22e. But with the less beefy limitations of the 22e. From my research, the rods and crank are the same but the pistons are different? I was thinking I might retain the stock crank and run JE Pistons and Manley con rods at factory spec. This is all assuming that I don't have any crazy machining to my block though.

I was looking at Wiseco pistons too, but it seems like they only make oversized pistons and I was worried about having to bore out the cylinder. It's a pretty small overbore but I just have no experience and no knowledge of what's dangerous or potentially weakening a motor even further. I'll be watching yours and Baddog's build threads more closely now!

I know Alphius is running a motor very similar to what I want, but I'm not sure if the block is built, but he's making good power.



man I'm dreaming! I'd love to meet up and check out your ride sometime! sense I don't live all that far!

Haha it's nothing too special, but maybe we can figure something out with a couple other 2nd gen guys too, Port Ochard is a bit of a drive from where I'm at but it'd be cool to meet more 2nd gen guys in Washington.


Looks great, Kyle. We should plan to do a 2nd gen exclusive meet sometime this summer in the Seattle area. I think that would be really cool to get all of us out on a cruise/BBQ

Thanks Toby! Yeah it would be cool to get a meet together, I'm actually really surprised at how many 2nd gen guys there are around Washington.

[talonsorensen]

I drive a lot, like 4 times a week to Snoqualmie to snowboard I don't mind driving!
That would be sweet to set something up with some other people on here!

[Tylerhartman]

Looks mean :twisted: Stance and the seat is just straight on point, Congrats! This was everything I dreamed my 96 OB in Blue would be.
Sub'd for more ;)

[KNaph]

I drive a lot, like 4 times a week to Snoqualmie to snowboard I don't mind driving!
That would be sweet to set something up with some other people on here!

That's an insane amount of driving haha. I hardly ever drive anymore, and I definitely wish I could go snowboarding more often. I've only ever gone to Crystal though.


Looks mean :twisted: Stance and the seat is just straight on point, Congrats! This was everything I dreamed my 96 OB in Blue would be.
Sub'd for more ;)

Thanks Tyler, it's definitely been an interesting process to get the car to this point. I'm hoping I can start stockpiling parts for the motor in the next few months, maybe get the motor built and swapped during my summer break, but we'll see what really happens.

[KNaph]

Ordered tires today!

Michelin Pilot Super Sports. Originally planned on getting Bridgestone RE-11s but went with the Michelins for a few reasons:
I've never had any kind of performance tire before, they're hard to find in 225/45r17, they wear a lot quicker, not incredible in the rain, and more expensive. Could've gone with Bridgestone RE-71r, or Advan AD08 R, or Dunlop ZIIs but for all the same reasons, I went with the PSS.

The PSS are supposed to be a really great performance tire, and they come factory on a lot of cars like Porsches and BMWs so I figured they'd be decent since I only do spirited driving.

I think I'm going to put a little bit more work into the suspension before I get to the motor, I would like to put in better sway bars since I still have a bit of body roll and understeer that I would like to eliminate. Probably going to look into the Whiteline swaybars, as far as I know, Whiteline is the only company that offers a RSB that will fit wagons without having to smash in the spare tire well. Going to have to do some research into those.

I also want to see what I can do with the brakes. I have Stoptech pads which helped a lot, factory rotors and DOT 3 brake fluid, nothing extraordinary done to my brakes, but I was rebedding my pads in the other day and noticed a lot of brake fade after only a few stops. I want to try SS lines and a master cylinder brace to get better pedal feel, but I might try to flush the system and use DOT 4 this time. I think this will give me a few more stops before fade but I still don't think I'll ever be able to track my car with the factory brakes. I'll probably make it half a lap before I lose my brakes and die.

I'm thinking I should invest in another set of winter wheels so that I can finally upgrade to either the Z32/R32 4 pot/2 pot or just get some WRX 4 pot/2 pot. I think they're basically the same but the Z32 ones are marginally cheaper. It would also be smart to upgrade the brakes before I go and put power into this thing.

[KNaph]

So I got around to that steering wheel mod that I was talking about.

I would've done a DIY but there's pretty much zero room under there so I couldn't fit my camera under the dash, it's literally 2 bolts, 2 lock washers, 2 flat washers and some spacers so it's really easy too.

Basically what I did was just take the kick panel off and get underneath the steering column.
There are two 12mm zinc bolts that attach the steering column bracket to the dash support beam. I took one and and took another car to a local fastener supply shop, the guy didn't tell me the thread pitch of the bolt, but I know it's 5/16ths diameter. I got two grade 10 bolts that are 1/2" longer than the factory bolt which gave me about a 1" drop in wheel height.

So once you've got your bolts, I went to Ace hardware and just bought two steel 5/16th dia. 1/2" thick spacers, two 5/16ths lock washers, and 2 5/16ths flat washers.

Now for installation, it's a relative pain in the ass. I began by removing the drivers side bolt completely, and then I backed the passenger side bolt out about half way. In order to get access to the passenger bolt you may have to move the wiring harness, it's pretty simple, just pinch the plastic retaining clip and push it out through the hole, reinstall it later.

Now that you've backed the passenger side bolt out halfway the bracket is going to want to rotate a bit, I would suggest having a second person helping to pull the weight of the steering wheel and column upwards to straighten the bracket out again. While they are pulling, insert one of the 1/2" spacers between the steering column bracket and the dash bar, then feed the bolt in and tighten it just enough to bite into the captive nut. Repeat for the passenger side, and then you can just go ahead and tighten them down. I didn't torque it to any specific amount but the factory ones were pretty tight, so I went as tight as reasonably possible.

It's pretty hard to give an example of how much lower the wheel sits. These pictures just show how much lower the wheel is in relation to the gauge cluster bezel.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/03/9MxecE1l-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/03/6uREwKLl-1.jpg

Steering wheel position is perfect for me sitting in the Recaro, I don't have to reach up at an uncomfortable height anymore, and it's a lot better for spirited driving too, keeps the wheel within reach at all times. A smaller diameter wheel and an a hub would help too since I have longer legs.

Total cost for this was like slightly over $2. Cheap mod and it really helps out with driving comfort so it's a a big win in my book.

[Muse]

You did this to compensate for the drop in driving position that the seats give you, yeah?

[KNaph]

You did this to compensate for the drop in driving position that the seats give you, yeah?

Yup, I didn't really measure, but I think the Recaro + brackets lowered the overall seating position by maybe 3-5 inches, but it was enough of a drop to take me out of my comfort zone when I'm driving.

[Muse]

Woah. That's a significant drop.

[KNaph]

Finally had time away from school projects to get my tires mounted.

Michelin Pilot Super Sports!
Haven't had the chance to push the limits very much, I've only had them on for like 3 hours, and I've only put like 3 miles on them. Still have to scrub them and get them worn in, but they're already so much better than the commuter Dunlops that I had before.

So far all I've done is just try to lock my brakes up as hard as possible and I don't think I even came close to being able to lock up.

The new tires are a lot lighter than the old tires too, I never got to weigh them to compare, but it's a pretty decent weight savings.
These tires also fit a lot wider and obviously have a lot more tread, so I'm going to have to go back in and roll the fenders a little more aggressively to clear the width.

I'll follow up a little bit later when I get more miles and experience on them.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/03/25743143325_47f4698a91_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/FdQkCH)2016-03-12 07.22.38 1 (https://flic.kr/p/FdQkCH) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/03/25743143625_fcdbca2917_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/FdQkHT)2016-03-12 07.22.36 1 (https://flic.kr/p/FdQkHT) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/03/25116524383_3b505a6ecb_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/EgsKDR)2016-03-12 07.22.41 1 (https://flic.kr/p/EgsKDR) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/03/25442792340_9c5b0daea4_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ELhXKs)2016-03-12_08-07-59 (https://flic.kr/p/ELhXKs) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

[98legwag]

You can look up the weight of the tires on Tire Rack.

[CaleDeRoo]

Every day my friend sends me the same pic at the top of the page... He REALLY wants me to buy regas. LOL

[KNaph]

You can look up the weight of the tires on Tire Rack.

Apparently I misjudged, or the Tirerack numbers are average weight of all tires, but who knows.
The Regamasters weigh 15 lbs, PSS weigh 22 lbs, and the Dunlops I had weighed 23 lbs, so only a 1 pound loss.
1 pound doesn't seem like it'd be something very noticeable when you pick it up, but the tire guy said he also noticed a decent weight loss too, but I'm not really worried about the weight anways.


Every day my friend sends me the same pic at the top of the page... He REALLY wants me to buy regas. LOL

Haha, there's a set on YAJ! right now, but they're pretty expensive, and they were repainted so they don't have the original Regamaster sticker.


Quick run through about the Michelins:

Anways, I'm on spring break right now and I've had the chance to drive around a lot more. Current impressions of the tire are that they're just really good, I haven't gotten them to the limit, and honestly don't plan to. To get them to the limit I'd have to take either an incredibly stupid driving line or I'd have to be driving stupidly fast and I don't plan on doing either.

With that said, I intentionally put myself in some bad line situations to see how well I could correct, my Dunlops were old and worn, but they would squeal really quick and start understeering. The PSS just grip and go where I point them.

Trying to lock up the tires, I only ever got them to lock up after driving over an uneven transition in the road.


I rolled the fenders pretty aggressively to fit the tires, but now there's not really a lip for the liner to hold onto so I had to make some DIY fender liner clips.
I basically just took some random 1/16" sheet metal that I had and bent it to make some S clips that pushed the fender liner up about 1cm, seems like it was just enough to clear the tire.


Being indecisive:

I've been kind of stuck in a rut with trying to figure out what to do with my car.

Want sway bars
Pros:
- Need them
- Handle better
- Relatively cheap
Cons:
- Have to buy another front swaybar when I do the motor swap (trying to not have to rebuy parts)

Upgrade brakes
Pros:
- Far superior braking
- Won't die when I finally build the motor
- Relatively affordable
Cons:
- Gotta buy new winter wheels + tires
- New-ish tires on stock wheels go to waste

Build motor
Pros:
- BOOOOOOOST what other reason do you need
Cons:
- If I upgrade the sway first, it's kind of wasteful even if I can resell it
- I hardly trust the stock rotors and calipers as is, I doubt I'll feel comfortable with nearly twice the power


I've been bouncing back and forth between the brakes and motor, but so far I think I'll just build the motor and not drive like an idiot until I can upgrade the brakes. I think I'm capable of doing that... haha

I ordered some SS brake lines, Grimmspeed MCB, and ATE TYP200, so maybe all that will give me some more confidence in the brakes.

[KNaph]

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/03/25883165122_a16d936a34_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/FrcZeC)IMG_9163 (https://flic.kr/p/FrcZeC) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

There's literally no way to take pictures of the canards.

Anyways, I put the GrimmSpeed MCB and stainless steel brake lines on, the pedal is crazy firm now, very minimal travel too.

I put the GrimmSpeed brace on first to see how that would help, and I liked it a lot, it made the bottom half of the pedal throw very firm. Then I put the SS lines on and that definitely firmed up the rest of the pedal throw. Initial press seems to be a little firmer, might be imaginary, the mid point starts to feel a bit more firm, and the bottom is like a rock.

The pedal throw is a lot shorter than it was before, it's actually so much shorter that I can't really modulate the brakes as much as I could with the stock lines. I'm sure I'll get better at modulating, but so far I feel a little more feedback when braking, I have a lot more confidence in them so I can brake a little later than I usually do too.

While doing the line swap I found out I have a cracked rotor, probably just gonna grab some cheap blanks from NAPA or Oreilly's tomorrow. I really hate having to spend money on stupid little maintenance things.

[Tylerhartman]

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/03/25883165122_a16d936a34_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/FrcZeC)IMG_9163 (https://flic.kr/p/FrcZeC) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

There's literally no way to take pictures of the canards.

Anyways, I put the GrimmSpeed MCB and stainless steel brake lines on, the pedal is crazy firm now, very minimal travel too.

I put the GrimmSpeed brace on first to see how that would help, and I liked it a lot, it made the bottom half of the pedal throw very firm. Then I put the SS lines on and that definitely firmed up the rest of the pedal throw. Initial press seems to be a little firmer, might be imaginary, the mid point starts to feel a bit more firm, and the bottom is like a rock.

The pedal throw is a lot shorter than it was before, it's actually so much shorter that I can't really modulate the brakes as much as I could with the stock lines. I'm sure I'll get better at modulating, but so far I feel a little more feedback when braking, I have a lot more confidence in them so I can brake a little later than I usually do too.

While doing the line swap I found out I have a cracked rotor, probably just gonna grab some cheap blanks from NAPA or Oreilly's tomorrow. I really hate having to spend money on stupid little maintenance things.

Lookin amazing, and even just sitting in the driveway the brake pedal felt much stronger after I did the Grimmspeed MCB too. :)

[KNaph]

Lookin amazing, and even just sitting in the driveway the brake pedal felt much stronger after I did the Grimmspeed MCB too. :)

Thanks! Yeah, I put about 90 miles on my car yesterday to hang out with a friend, I usually only drive like 80 miles a week at most, but I was able to test out the MCB in a bunch of different scenarios. I was actually pretty happy with just the brace but I had already placed the order for the ATE TYP200 and the lines so I didn't want to go through the hassle of returning them.

[Tylerhartman]

Thanks! Yeah, I put about 90 miles on my car yesterday to hang out with a friend, I usually only drive like 80 miles a week at most, but I was able to test out the MCB in a bunch of different scenarios. I was actually pretty happy with just the brace but I had already placed the order for the ATE TYP200 and the lines so I didn't want to go through the hassle of returning them.

It's not like a more confident braking is a bad thing :) Besides good fluid has a higher Boiling temp anyways, and like mine your lines are 17 years old so freshen things up is never a bad thing. ;)

[KNaph]

Threw some cheap Oreilly's Brake Best rotors on earlier today, pretty glad I did because the back side of one of my front rotors was developing cracks in 4 spots, and the other side was developing 5. They were really shallow cracks but I figured I might as well replace them anyways.

I went to bed the brakes in and found it was actually pretty difficult to get them to fade. Slightly more rotor mass with the new rotors and the ATE TYP200 seemed to help with fade a lot. After I got a decent transfer layer the brakes felt incredible. I've never felt the brakes so aggressive on my car. It was almost slap your face on the steering wheel aggressive. Looks like the Stoptechs, and Michelins are really doing their job.

I can also apparently lock up the brakes now... I got a little bit brave on my usual spirited driving road and locked up my inside front tires a few times. It's almost sad how bad the ABS system is on these cars, I can correct my lock ups way faster than the ABS system can.

I'm using a blue-ish LED flashlight in this picture, so you can't really see the true blue of the rotor.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/03/25483027154_aa0b9b92a8_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/EPRba9)2016-03-28_02-02-36 (https://flic.kr/p/EPRba9) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

Time for boost!

[KNaph]

Literally nothing going on with my car. Still debating swaybars for my car...

Came to a little bit of a fork in the road motor wise.

My friend's coworker is selling an '06 STI swap for about $600. Motor (needs rebuild), harness, ECU, and I believe the tumbler and keys. I still need to find out more details on whether or not he has all the necessary parts but there's a few path way I can go down right now.

Buy that motor, hope that he has everything for the swap, the headache is the immobilizer, fuel pump control, AVCS control etc. $$$

Buy that motor, and if not everything is there for the swap, spend another $1300+ on a Link G4+ Atom ECU to run AVCS and bypass the immobilizer. $$$$$

Stick with the current plan of EJ22e + EJ205 WRX heads.

I've also heard the EJ25D heads flow pretty well but I don't know how they compare to EJ205 ones, I could save some money this way, but I don't think the combustion chambers will match up very well.
Alphius Oc7ane meepers anyone else who has a built motor that I can't think of haha.

Opinions? I'm currently kind of stuck between the two EJ22e options, the EJ257 would be sweet, but it pushes the budget to another level.
I'm not planning to make more than 300 WHP. Being realistic I'd be fine with probably 250-275 WHP, but regardless of the motor choice I'll be wanting to rebuild it with forged internals for when the day comes that I either want to dial it up or just for peace of mind.

[Oc7ane]

I just did brakes on my leggy the other week, and also went with some ss lines, but didn't do a brace, which I have wanted to do for a while. I can only imagine the upgrade you felt haha.

As far as the motor build, if you can get the motor with intake mani and what not, along with ecu and harness and stuff I think that is quite the steal, and don't think you should pass it up. as far as the fuel pump control and the AVCS, if you do a harness merge with iWire, he will wire in the AVCS control into the merge and add the wiring needed to run a fuel pump controller. If he doesn't have one, i'm sure nasioc has some people selling em for relatively cheap. I haven't dealt with much about the immobilizers and what not, but i've heard there's other ways to bypass if needed to not sure if that's correct tho.

if the eventual goal is around 300 whp, I think either route (22e/wrx heads or sti swap) works just fine. You would be able to reach it quite a bit easier with the sti swap and probably safer if you do decide to push it a little more down the road, but the other route works just fine assuming you have bolt ons (intake, exhaust, tgv deletes, ebcs ect...) and a solid turbo. My roomate, baddog and I just finished swapping his first gen legacy with a 22e, forged pistons, sti rods and a blouch 16g i think, along with all the bolt ons and should make 300 quite easy once he is tuned.

25D heads are basically turbo heads without the oil returns and supply and have heard and seen data to support the fact they are some of the best flowing heads subaru has. That being said, the 205 heads from what i hear are just fine up until close to 400 whp, then need to be built / cammed to get past that mark, but with a decent turbo they rev out and pull all the way to redline with no problem.

[KNaph]

I just did brakes on my leggy the other week, and also went with some ss lines, but didn't do a brace, which I have wanted to do for a while. I can only imagine the upgrade you felt haha.

As far as the motor build, if you can get the motor with intake mani and what not, along with ecu and harness and stuff I think that is quite the steal, and don't think you should pass it up. as far as the fuel pump control and the AVCS, if you do a harness merge with iWire, he will wire in the AVCS control into the merge and add the wiring needed to run a fuel pump controller. If he doesn't have one, i'm sure nasioc has some people selling em for relatively cheap. I haven't dealt with much about the immobilizers and what not, but i've heard there's other ways to bypass if needed to not sure if that's correct tho.

if the eventual goal is around 300 whp, I think either route (22e/wrx heads or sti swap) works just fine. You would be able to reach it quite a bit easier with the sti swap and probably safer if you do decide to push it a little more down the road, but the other route works just fine assuming you have bolt ons (intake, exhaust, tgv deletes, ebcs ect...) and a solid turbo. My roomate, baddog and I just finished swapping his first gen legacy with a 22e, forged pistons, sti rods and a blouch 16g i think, along with all the bolt ons and should make 300 quite easy once he is tuned.

25D heads are basically turbo heads without the oil returns and supply and have heard and seen data to support the fact they are some of the best flowing heads subaru has. That being said, the 205 heads from what i hear are just fine up until close to 400 whp, then need to be built / cammed to get past that mark, but with a decent turbo they rev out and pull all the way to redline with no problem.

Yeah, it seemed like a really solid deal but I was doing some researching into it and I got a bit scared off from the possible hidden expenses. Not to say the 22e build wouldn't have its hidden expenses, but it seems like the 257 has a bit more headache involved with it. I'm talking to the guys at Pacific Import Auto to get a rough estimate for the cost right now, but we'll see.

[CaleDeRoo]

I've looked into sway bars too but I don't like the idea of paying $$$$ for whiteline stuff.

[prodriver1]

I have a whiteline front tower bar, and front and rear RalliTek swaybars the rear is adjustable, with solid rear endlinks if your interested.

[meepers]

Unless you are doing phase 2 heads and wiring, an ej 255/7 block isn't really much headache. Find a short block with cracked ringlands, buy your pistons, acl bearings, arp studs. Build with confidence. My build was way way way more complicated then it needed to be, because I wanted the under intake turbo inlet, and I built from pieces/parts over a 2 year collection. My original plan was tdo4, fpr, and diy up and down pipes. But I found the emanage and short block for a hell of a deal, and went for it. My car made 300whp with my incomplete, don't know how to tune, tune running pig rich. Feel free to ask anything you like. Wish I had the time to transfer everything to the new car, but I have toooooo much stuff, and I have been enjoying the auto in rush hour. Lol

[dynonacht]

I have a whiteline front tower bar, and front and rear RalliTek swaybars the rear is adjustable, with solid rear endlinks if your interested.

if OP doesn't jump on them I'm interested, also in Minnesota too for ease of sale.

[prodriver1]

I just found out they don't make them anymore and mine are in PERFECT condition, I'm getting a GT wagon someday and if I won't be able to find bars then I'd rather keep the ones I have for that future project, when I got them I had to wait forever because they had to order the last run of them, freshy fresh bars. the bars and rallitek solid endlinks were around $450 and I wouldn't be inclined to let them go for anything under that sorry.

[Alphius]

Literally nothing going on with my car. Still debating swaybars for my car...

Came to a little bit of a fork in the road motor wise.

My friend's coworker is selling an '06 STI swap for about $600. Motor (needs rebuild), harness, ECU, and I believe the tumbler and keys. I still need to find out more details on whether or not he has all the necessary parts but there's a few path way I can go down right now.

Buy that motor, hope that he has everything for the swap, the headache is the immobilizer, fuel pump control, AVCS control etc. $$$

Buy that motor, and if not everything is there for the swap, spend another $1300+ on a Link G4+ Atom ECU to run AVCS and bypass the immobilizer. $$$$$

Stick with the current plan of EJ22e + EJ205 WRX heads.

I've also heard the EJ25D heads flow pretty well but I don't know how they compare to EJ205 ones, I could save some money this way, but I don't think the combustion chambers will match up very well.
Alphius Oc7ane meepers anyone else who has a built motor that I can't think of haha.

Opinions? I'm currently kind of stuck between the two EJ22e options, the EJ257 would be sweet, but it pushes the budget to another level.
I'm not planning to make more than 300 WHP. Being realistic I'd be fine with probably 250-275 WHP, but regardless of the motor choice I'll be wanting to rebuild it with forged internals for when the day comes that I either want to dial it up or just for peace of mind.

Phase2 ECU merge is the proper way to go, whether it's the STI DBW setup or the 02-05 WRX cable throttle. Simply for OEM reliability and tuneability.
The 06 STI harness can be made to work with an '04 STI ECU (pre-immobilizer) but you need a matching 04 STI DBW pedal and the harness needs a few mods to plug into the ECU in addition to the merge work. It'll also work with the complete 06 setup if you have matching key, lock cylinder, immobilizer and ECU all from the same car. This'll get you DBW, AVCS, the better heads, etc. at a significantly higher cost than the 02-05 WRX cable throttle/16-bit ECU route.

02-05 WRX heads are fine, and with a set of plugged STI AVCS cams they flow almost as well as EJ255/257 heads. Even the stock WRX cams will pull to 7k+ with a decent turbo, but they do fall off a bit on the top end. EJ25D heads are decent as well, but cannot be used with a Phase2 ECU and need EJ20G/K solid lifter cams to have a "proper" turbo profile. The N/A profile will not spool the turbo as quickly and won't make as much power due to more overlap. Cam overlap is the enemy on a boosted setup. If you want AVCS heads with the 16-bit 02-05 WRX setup, it's doable with JDM parts (heads and ECU) but a huge headache. Not worth it IMO for the marginal gain.

I've helped two Legacy guys in the area do 02-05 WRX ECU/harness/engine swaps so far in addition to my own, and currently in the planning stages for an '01 RSTI build with an 02-03 WRX ECU on a non-AVCS EJ207 with twin-scroll and 6MT. All are very happy with the tuneability and smoothness of the OEM WRX ECU. It's far and away a significantly better route than the stock ECU w/RRFPR, piggyback, Phase1 22t/20G ECU swap or any of that junk. The one caveat is that a Phase1 setup can be decent with a proper full-featured standalone, but that's even more spendy. RE: the newer 32-bit ECUs, I've driven many 05+ LGTs and 04+ STIs and I've never been satisfied with the response of the DBW system, not to mention the increased complexity of the ECU.

Best benefit of all with the 02-05 WRX setup: you can run CarBerry on an 02-03 WRX 16-bit ECU and get all the benefits of a standalone ECU at a fraction of the cost. Antilag, spark cut launch control, flat foot shifting, speed density, boost by gear, full PID boost control, flex fuel (E85), map switching, etc...

I bet you can guess which way I lean. ;)

[KNaph]

The dude said he'd let me think on the motor since he's not in a rush to sell, I'm gonna try to find time to talk to the guys at PIA in person, I've only contacted them through Facebook and obviously that's not a great way to talk about something this detailed.

Anyways, I'm actively looking for swaybars right now, there's a listing on YAJ! right now for Cusco F: 22mm R: 21mm swaybars for a BG5. Before I make the purchase I wanted ask if the BG5 has a different subframe than BG9? I'm kind of skeptical that it will fit just because it's turbo vs n/a. Reuben or Dead91silvia can you guys confirm/deny if the twin turbo subframe is the same or different than the n/a ones?

[Reuben]

In JDM land, BG9's run turbo subframe for their equal length headers, and uppipe-downpipe style exhaust, which I understand you guys didn't get (see blighters thread for pictures). Turbo BG5's (don't forget TS-R's are BG5's also) have a subframe like any turbo subie, with the dip downs to allow for the up-pipes (though I have noticed Most single turbs only have the dip down on the turbo side)

I believe USDM BG9's just have the standard N/A subframe. so you would probably have issues.you could always convert to a GD subframe, and make a custom exhaust. I converted blighter to the turbo subframe so I could use turbo gear, and a K-Brace, fantastically practical mod for all kinds of goodies.

That said, I thought it was turbo subframes could not use N/A sway bars, but N/A's could use either? Or was I wrong?

[Dead91silvia]

You can get an SS turbo subframe, or a Baja turbo subframe should also just bolt right is. Later WRX, XT's and GT's will be different and make for a wider track and you will need more parts to make them fit. Unless you get a complete doner car for it, make sure to get a Baja or SS cross-member.

Any JDM GC or BG/BD, BH/BE will work as well. They are all the same.

As far as the sway bar goes, I'm pretty sure you can only use turbo with turbo and N/A with N/A, but I could be wrong.

[Oc7ane]

im currently running a tribeca front swaybar with a ss crossmember and fit just fine. I dont know much about the tribeca subframe but id assume its just a standard NA subframe

[Reuben]

From what I understand, GD subframes are fit. the wider track came from the control arms alone, not subframe. BUT, I have not seen this with my own eyes, so can't be 100% sure.

They're stiffer also, there's extra bracing all over them, makes for a solid upgrade... At least in JDM land, dunno about US GD's. Even JDM Rev.D BH subframes have the extra welds and braces.

[KNaph]

I've read both that the subframe is actually wider and that it's just the control arms, it's been a while though so I don't really recall.

I might just go with a Tribeca front bar since they're relatively cheap, and I'll eventually have to get a turbo subframe/swaybar down the road. Might just spend more into a nicer rear bar right now then. Are any of you guys running GD rear sway bars? Is the bump on the spare tire well even necessary or should I just bash it in with a hammer like I've seen other guys do? It's either smash it in and get a Whiteline bar or get a Cusco bar on YAJ!

[Reuben]

I don't think it's necessary, impreza's get along just fine without it. Part of me wants to say it's the factory mount location for a tow bar (my first car, a BG Liberty had a tow bar mounted on that piece alone). Just angle grind it off. With beast I was fortunate enough to find a cusco front+rear 22mm set for a BG turbo, so it went round the hump.

[98legwag]

The GD rear sway does hit the hump. I have two friends that went that route. They both cut a small piece out.

[KNaph]

Just ordered an ACT Streetlite flywheel and an Exedy OEM clutch to finally stop the horrible chatter that I have now. I feel like the flywheel is a made to order thing or something though because everywhere I've looked including the ACT website says they're out of stock, so I'll have that by next month and then I'll have it in soon after that.

Also ordered the Turn In Concepts holy shift kit, I've wanted a short shifter for a while but I hate that the knob height is lower. I'll see how low the knob is and if it's too annoying then I'll buy a spacer.


Oh I got a banner too. It's just a group of friends, the name came up as a joke but we ran with it too. It says goodlums lol.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/06/27576468315_d3135d9bde_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/J1QBhg)
IMG_0253 (https://flic.kr/p/J1QBhg) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

[CaleDeRoo]

The banner is awesome

[KNaph]

Thanks, I know banners are a pretty polarizing thing in the car community. I get a lot of people turning their heads now, but if you like it, awesome, if you hate it, oh well haha.

[KNaph]

Small update, installed the Turn In Concepts Holy Shift kit on Saturday. I'm not gonna say I was blown away since my factory shifter wasn't even that bad. The shifter throw is about an inch shorter, and knob height is nothing to complain about. The best thing about the kit is all the poly bushings. With the kit installed, you have a ton of feedback through the shifter so you can feel the synchros meshing and you get a more crisp clunk when you go into gear.

The install was a pain in the ass because I have long arms and there wasn't much space under the car. The hardest part was knocking the roll pin free from the old linkage to install the new one. Just get a roll pin punch and a B.F.H. and knock that sucker free. Other than that it wasn't bad.

As I'm sure we all do, I get a massive case of the clunks when I shift quickly from 1st to 2nd, so I'm gonna buy the TiC Klunk Killer bushing kit. And then I'll finish off the rest of the suspension mods by doing steering rack bushings and finally get sway bars.

My LCA bushings are starting to leak, so I might do the Whiteline anti-lift kit, but that's pricey, and if I do that I might as well get the RCA kit too since I'll need an alignment.

Seems like my car is going to get even more fun this Summer, even without building the motor.

[CaleDeRoo]

Nice. I'd love to tackle all that stuff on my car.

[Go Mifune]

Doing the shift kit, did you have to drop heat shields, the driveshaft or anything else in the way? I took a peak while under there and it looks like a major pain.

[KNaph]

Doing the shift kit, did you have to drop heat shields, the driveshaft or anything else in the way? I took a peak while under there and it looks like a major pain.

Yeah, I dropped the heat shield, but I didn't pull the O2 sensor so it was still partially in the way, you can shift it around though depending on what side you're working on. I didn't remove anything else though.

It helps to use U joints on your sockets to get into those spots, there's just enough room to get a wrench in to snug things up. The rear shifter bushing is the only thing that's really tight. If you get the Turn in Concepts updated linkage then that's a bit of a pain in the ass too. Like I mentioned before, the roll pin is a pain but a couple good whacks will drive it out, you can also rotate the shift linkage arm to bolt up to the updated linkage, so that's not too difficult to tighten either.

If you don't get the TiC linkage then it's really not too bad, it's definitely tight, but there was at least enough room for me to get the tool in there and a few fingers. Snap ring pliers are useful, not necessary if you're crafty with some flat heads.

[peugoby]

Are you going to be attending WCSS this year?

[KNaph]

Are you going to be attending WCSS this year?

Oh wow, has it already been a year? I hadn't even thought about it. Enumclaw isn't too far so I'll probably go.

[subieadam]

I love that front splitter

[KNaph]

I love that front splitter

Same, it makes the front end look way more aggressive. Before I had them on it kind of just looked like it had no chin, so it looked a lot higher off the ground.

Still no updates, waiting til late August or early September to swap my clutch and flywheel in. I bought a Tribeca FSB, TiC Klunk Killer kit and steering rack bushings. I haven't been able to put in the order for the Cusco RSB yet because I'm ordering direct from Japan and they've been on holiday the past couple days.

I went with the Tribeca bar cause it's pretty cheap, that way I won't have wasted $200+ on a Whiteline FSB that I'll end up having to try to sell later on when I turbo the car. I'm hoping the car won't have horrible understeer issues with that big of a bar in front though.

Other than that, I plan on doing some ghetto DIY mods in the next month, I'm gonna try to fill my trans mount and the pitch stop mount with some urethane to stiffen it up.

Edit: Just kidding, I just placed the order on the Cusco RSB. I'll be picking up the Tribeca bar today and my bushings will be coming shortly afterwards. My car is going to rip in these next few weeks..

[KNaph]

So I threw the bushings and the front sway bar.

I went for a quick drive to get a feel of them, the bushings were pretty good, the steering rack bushings helped a tiny bit with the steering wheel slop. The TiC trans crossmember bushings haven't seemed to make an effect, but I suspect it'll get a lot better when I reinforce the trans mount with some urethane.

I wasn't able to put the Klunk killer kit in but I'll get to it eventually, I'm hoping that'll help a ton.

The Tribeca bar was a bit of a pain in the ass to get on. Pulling the headers and the center jack plate was all the easy stuff, but for some reason having to compress the bushing inside the bracket was super difficult to do. With a stock rear bar, the car drives fucking great. Feels like it's on rails and the roll is pretty much gone. The one concern that I had when installing is that my factory bar had paint scraped off from where the sway bar and the tie rods were hitting. Having driven around only a little bit, I have a loud ass clunk on hard turns or bumps. I'm gonna go back under and spanner check everything but after having a quick look, the paint on the swaybar is worn off so it may be the swaybar shifting because of the bushings, or it could be the contact with the tie rods.

[prodriver1]

be careful of the rear strut mounts, they break at the weld with the body, I had mine reinforced at the welding shop, should still be some stuff in my build thread about it. might be your clunking.

[KNaph]

be careful of the rear strut mounts, they break at the weld with the body, I had mine reinforced at the welding shop, should still be some stuff in my build thread about it. might be your clunking.

Hmm, thanks for the heads up, I heard they were weak but I was just going to go with it. I'll pay a visit to my friends shop and have him reinforce it then. Maybe I'll get to use his lift to install the bar too haha.

And yeah, I still haven't been able to check up on the bolts, but hopefully the mount isn't actually broken.

[KNaph]

No pictures, cause I tend to forget what a camera is when I have new parts waiting to be installed.

But I finished up the TiC Klunk Killer install, it was a total bitch and a half to knock the stock bushings out. Cutting a slot in the steel sleeve and then knocking it out with a punch normally works, but for some reason even with several slots cut into them, they didn't want to move.

The kit is seriously great. It's supposed to increase NVH, but in terms of noise, it took away a lot of the gear noise I was experiencing, I had a weird chatter that I couldn't seem to track down but it seems to have gone away with the new bushings, also probably related was the diff howling SUPER loud before, and yes there's oil in there. I think it might have been the rear of the diff casing chattering on the subframe, the bushings help with that because they protrude a little further out than the factory ones so it shouldn't be physically possible for it to chatter.

"Harshness" increased, but in the sense that the car is more firm but not anything undesirable, the rear end feels more firm and connected, it's kind of weird because other than being bolted to the subframe, I don't believe the diff should really have that much of an effect on something that seems like it's suspension related?

The clunk from quick shifting is gone, it better be if they call it the "Klunk Killer."

Getting started in 1st gear is a lot easier, I assume it's a combo of the trans and diff bushings preventing the drivetrain stuff from pitching and wasting power. The transition between on throttle and off throttle in 1st and 2nd is less pronounced, the car doesn't jerk super hard when you lift off, it kind of just glides slowly down now.

In general, the car just feels a bit more peppy, the power seems slightly more responsive due to the reduced drivetrain loss from those super soft bushings. Of course most of this could be a placebo effect since I haven't driven it in a couple days.

[KNaph]

Oh hey, a picture

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/08/29274517521_6ecd555523_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/LATy9H)2016-08-30_09-10-18 (https://flic.kr/p/LATy9H) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2016/08/28731955013_89b58eb391_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/KLWMdH)2016-08-30_09-05-12 (https://flic.kr/p/KLWMdH) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

I got my CUSCO rear sway bar in the mail and installed yesterday. The fitment of the bar is perfect and so is the finishing quality on it.



After driving the car quite a bit, the difference isn't nearly as night and day as the front sway bar was. Because of the fronts way bar, the car is a bit neutral year slightly more understeer prone when first turning into the corner, after installing the bar the car is a bit more less understeer-y on turn in but perfectly neutral mid corner and then it feels like the rear wants to rotate a lot more on corner exit. It's not substantial to where the car feels like it's going to spin, it just feels like it's more planted.

[CaleDeRoo]

JP auction? How much?

[prodriver1]

dude that rear swaybar is bent as fuck! no wonder it didn't make that big a difference. that happens to stock rear bars too, i have a few bent at differing angles.

[duncanm]

Should look more like this:

1805

[KNaph]

JP auction? How much?

Middle manned through Jesse Streeter, about $230 converted and shipped.


dude that rear swaybar is bent as fuck! no wonder it didn't make that big a difference. that happens to stock rear bars too, i have a few bent at differing angles.


Should look more like this:

1805

Yeah, I thought it was pretty weird too, but it's just the way that CUSCO designs the bar. While a straighter bar would be more ideal, this bar is still a lot stiffer than the factory bar ever was.

It's not that it's not making a big difference, it's just that these cars tend to have so much body roll up front that the Tribeca bar made a much bigger difference by removing a majority of that front body roll. The rear of the car never seemed all that bad, so it's not like there was that much room for improvement anyways. That, and the front bar may be a little too big, I was planning on going 22mm, but I didn't want to risk spending $200+ on a front bar that may only fit on a car with a turbo subframe.

Some of the weakness could be in the brackets/mounts too, they're probably flexing at least a little bit which obviously wouldn't help the sway bar.
I think overall the swaybar is doing its job, they're not gonna effect initial turn in and corner entry that much since they're not huge bars, and you can feel the difference mid corner and on corner exit.

[CaleDeRoo]

Cool. I've still got a few things I need to get like sway bars. I used Jesse for my wheels and would recommend him over and over. As much as I want new shiny parts I'll probably just make sure it's ready for winter when the time comes and buy more stuff next year. Rust repair, new snow tires, and new headlights are probably what's left for this year.

[MannyMohawk#5]

Your car looks great!

[KNaph]

Been a while since I've posted here!

I've just been enjoying the car and trying to finish up school on a strong note, and I haven't really had anything worth posting until recently anyways.

Brief update on what I've done recently is a new clutch and lightweight flywheel about 3 weeks ago now, fiberglass repair and paint on front "canards", and working on making molds for some new "canards" for my side skirts. Similar style to the ones I have in the rear but flipped the other way. Just simple style pieces to teach myself more about fiberglass and mold making.

Haven't found any good locations or time to get some proper shots of it yet this year. But you can see just how tired and busted my paint is. It's a 20 footer car for sure, and most photos hide the flaws.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2017/04/33829822226_ea32017537_c-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/TxqFx1)IMG_20170403_180543 (https://flic.kr/p/TxqFx1) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

Immediately after I finished the clutch job, took it for a spin to get used to the flywheel.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2017/04/33870859795_75e72deb69_c-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/TB41zi)2017-04-06_01-36-32 (https://flic.kr/p/TB41zi) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

How the turd looked throughout winter, drives really well in the snow, but the cross members like to dig in if it gets deep or there's a lot of ruts in the snow. (Looking at you Crystal Mountain parking lot...)
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2017/04/33829825356_0ed692c7b1_c-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/TxqGsY)IMG_3615 (https://flic.kr/p/TxqGsY) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

Really hate calling them canards since they don't really serve that purpose, but I blew the front ones up while pulling into school one day, just stuffed them straight into a berm while pulling in. Figured it'd happen one day so I wasn't too upset, took them off after class and threw them in the trunk.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2017/04/33870484005_719617ba25-1.jpghttps://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2017/04/33026568034_45e98c41d2-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2017/04/33870486635_c79165b3cf-1.jpg

Ended up cutting all the jagged broken crap out and starting fresh with two parallel lines, fiberglassed and then bondoed over to smooth it out, certainly not a professional job but it'll hold until I stuff it into a berm or a curb again.


The old clutch looked like it had a lot of life left in it, but it was pretty glazed and chattered like hell so that was for sure getting replaced. Kept chattering so I slipped it a bit more to avoid it and the vicious cycle continued until it started slipping a lot more to the point where I was just done with it.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2017/04/33396025541_0aa7df5ba3_c-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ST6mTP)LRM_EXPORT_20170319_005240 (https://flic.kr/p/ST6mTP) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr

This is actually probably the only good picture I have of the new clutch in. Didn't take any of mounting the flywheel up or anything, but there's nothing really special about it. The allen bolts that ACT supplied with the flywheel were a nice touch. The factory were a pain to remove.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2017/04/33870478055_483d03779c_c-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/TB246z)LRM_EXPORT_20170325_153915 (https://flic.kr/p/TB246z) by Kyle Phan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangyphilms/), on Flickr


After driving around with the new clutch and LWFW the car is so much more responsive and fun to drive. Step on the gas and it actually goes when you tell it to. I'm honestly pretty satisfied with the power and response the car makes in the power band, looks like the turbo build is getting pushed back even more now, seems unlikely that I'll ever take it on at this point lol.

Hope you guys like the random assortment of pictures, might be around here a little more often now that the car is fun to drive again.