Navi271's 05 GT Ltd. Sedan - Updated 6/18/16

[Navi271]

Thanks! the roof spoiler's not too bad of a price if you don't realize it's just a curved plastic rectangle... lol. The front lip is just one of those ebay ones for $89 free shipping. There's an obvious bend in middle where the plastic is warped, but you should be able to use a heat gun to mold it straight. I don't have a heat gun though, and I kinda like it how it is!

You should consider one of Rrev's trunk lip spoilers. Those look really nice with the roof spoiler.

[Navi271]

New things for the interior! Plus a few other things.
I've been very busy with this car...

I'll start with the good stuff. I got some Christmas presents. JDMAVO Double Din Adapter with JDM Hazard Switch (not pictured), STi Performance Defi Gauge Pack, and a Pioneer FH-X520UI Head Unit. It's nothing crazy fancy, but just exactly what I needed.



I got the i88 harness all wired up.



Took out everything in the center of the dash.



Deleted out all the wires from the previous owner's AUX install.



The oil pressure and oil temp gauges have sensors that are sandwiched between the oil cooler and filter.



The hose that goes to the boost sensor taps into the BPV (blue T connector).



Wires for the oil sensors are routed up over the exhaust manifold and around to the firewall. (Follow the white zip ties)



All 3 sensor wires go through a grommet in the firewall right behind the intercooler.



A piece of the inner dash needs to be cut out to fit the JDM Hazard Switch since it's relocated on the opposite side now.



The difference between JDM (left) and USDM (right) hazard switches. The curve is different and the holes for the screws are in different places. Some have modified the USDM to work, but I said screw that.



Everything fit and worked on the first try! Love it when that happens. Here's the final product.



Looks cool at night too. The new gauges sweep like the rest of the dash gauges, and they have the same colors to match.



I fixed many other things recently!
First thing was getting a better fitting BPV hose to fit the turbo inlet. Samco to stock comparison.



And installed.



I also found another, but I think the last, air leak that kept giving me a lean condition. I found this small black hose, located just behind the alternator, completely undone. I reconnected it to some sort of valve. No CEL since then.



I finally got around to replacing the butt heater on my drivers seat! Now it's nice and toasty. The old one was dead.



The driver's door now finally locks with the keyless and interior switch! This was more of a pain to fix than taking apart the whole seat for the butt heater. I just replaced door locking actuator (white box like thing with 2 plugs on it).



When I replaced my brakes last summer I noticed the brake slide pins were no longer sliding anymore on both front wheels. They were so corroded I needed new slide pins, rubber, and brackets. The left bolt/slide pin on the old passenger side bracket is completely seized. The driver side was barely moving. Here's an old to new comparison.



Happy brakes!



Lastly, when it started snowing I quickly realized the Cooper tires that came with the car are utter crap. They turned into hockey pucks and would slide everywhere in snow. It was actually scary. I also found there are cracks in the middle of the tread. So off they went and on went the wagon's "summer" wheels. They handle the snow much better.



I still have many plans for this car, so expect more to come!

[soba noodle]

Awesome mods!

[98legwag]

Looking good. Also like the "maintenance" and "engine safety" mods.

[Navi271]

New wheels, but more importantly, new tires!

17x7 Enkei EDR9 Wheels
Hankook Ventus V4 ES Tires 215/45/ZR17

Sadly they're a little smaller in width than the ASA wheels were, but I got a good deal on this slightly used set.
I redipped the roof so it's a lot smoother now and also reminded myself of all the hail dents on the roof the plastidip hides. There's a new dipyourcar.com mini sticker on the upper back window. I was looking into getting new muffler tips but figured out the stock ones are somewhat molded into the tailpipe. So instead I polished up the stock tips.

Before





After

[Navi271]

Hi everyone! I have a lot to share so I'm going to split this up into a few posts.

First I started adding back some of the chrome (peel the dip). Now the grill has it's wings again...





...and the shifter surround has it's ring of chrome too. I may dip it again soon, idk. I also dipped the cigarette lighter door and the trim piece black to match everything else. The paint I was using before was just awful.



I love getting stuff from Japan in the mail. Oh what could this be?! Well I'll tell you because I don't have a picture of opening it...

JDM tail lights!

I bought them off of Yahoo Japan Auctions. You can sign up with japanparts.com so they'll place a bid on your behalf, and if you win it will ship to them. Then they can determine the international shipping costs, and after I pay they ship it to me! The shipping was more expensive than the tail lights, but in total I spent only about $150!



These lights have the brake lights linked to the top bulb, reverse and turn signals are in the middle, and at the bottom the left side has a fog light and the right has NOTHING. I wanted to change that.
So I drilled out a hole larger than this to fit a new socket.



Removed the JDM harness.



And added another dual filament bulb / socket to it! (RIP to my stock harnesses, and I did this to both sides)



Now to install them, here's one installed for comparison.



Turn signals.



Here's the setup: Top and bottom bulbs are parking and brake lights, and the middle is unchanged with reverse and turn signals. It's very bright when both of those lights come on for the brakes! Here's a picture with parking, reverse, and turning lights illuminated.



Complete!



I don't have an outside of the garage picture to show yet, but I really like that the chrome center part is a bit more subtle, less contrast.
I also bought these from a guy off of legacygt.com who happened to be in central Iowa.

OEM GT lower front control arms
AVO caster adjustment bushings (adds +0.5 caster)
AVO front lower control arm bushings
Standard ball joints

All slightly used, and actually might be getting installed today!



That's all for now, which covers everything up til August. I'll post more soon.

[Merc6]

So want JDM tails but not that bad. I'm most likely gonna just vinyl my center console as dip and paint didn't tickle my fancy.

Good luck on the control arms I have that project to do but waiting till it gets warm again next year.


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[Navi271]

Yeah the JDM tails aren't much different from USDM, so I couldn't justify the ebay price right now.
I'm definitely not as big a fan of plastidip as I used to be, but as long as it's a flat black color, it'll match pretty close the the JDM double din.

I'm cheating on the control arms, having someone else do it for me! If I broke any bolts I wouldn't have a way to fix it.

[Navi271]

After getting the JDM tails, I decided I really needed to figure out why my idle was slightly rough. No CELs, but it wasn't perfect. I ordered a Tactrix cable and figured out how to use RomRaider, a free opensource tuning and logging program for our Subaru's! After a ton of research on what to look for, and how to log my car, I finally got some solid results which are graphed out here, if you can read the tiny text!



There are a couple longer revs and a few blips of the throttle (follow the dark blue Mass Airflow line). OCV duty lines should be more on top of each other (upper light blue and dark green lines), these are the oil control valves that are located on top of each head next to the valve cover. I was also getting some pretty consistent roughness (knocking) on cylinder 4 (light green line poking up at the bottom). I swapped out the ignition coils and it didn't follow, so I was assuming it was the injector.

I bought some stuff and started taking things apart.



First thing was the "Bulletproof" TMIC mod. I had slight separation on the turbo side end tank, with a little over 140k miles on it.



Installed!



Next the power steering was leaking, worse when it was cold which is probably why I lost power steering when it got down to about -10F last winter. New gasket installed and it hasn't leaked since.



I replaced the oil control valves. Here's a comparison. There was no obvious fault on either of them. I was able to move the valve easily.



While on the passenger side I replaced the injector with a refurbished one from amazon, really cheap. It was quite easy after moving things out of the way. The OCV is also pictured here, not plugged in yet tho. The harness was in the way of the injector.



I don't have a resulting graph handy, but after all of that the car was running obviously better at idle. The OCV duty lines were nearly on top of each other, which from what I read is where they should be, and no more roughness! I'd say it was a success!

I also bought some JDM Aero Spats already painted with minimal scrapes. So now I have flaps and spats.





That's all for now! I'll post the concluding chapter of this thrilling story over the weekend I think.
I'm picking this car up tomorrow from the shop!

[Merc6]

Don't feel bad, I'm not doing mine either. My car is soo rusted underneath from being in the snow belt all these years.


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[Alphius]

Man, I love being in the PNW. I bought a car from PA once, that was a huge mistake. I only buy lifetime PNW cars now. None of my cars (even the 30+ year old ones) have even a speck of rust. My control arms on my 05 GT came right out with no trouble at 133k miles, with no rust. I did have to buy a press to put the new bushings in, but I've been wanting an excuse to buy a press for a while now.

I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes from fixing tons of small stuff at once like you did. Looks like you did a great job and headed off some potential problems early. Good job!

[Navi271]

Haha, yep the rusty/snow belt is pretty awful. I know all the guys that installed the control arms, got my car back today, and they were talking about how Mikey the main mechanic was just kept swearing, and beating the hell out of both knuckles trying to get it to separate from the ball joint! They had to get out the big hammer lol. This is why I didn't want to tackle that.

I'm very jelly about you guys in the PNW, I'm actually thinking about moving there soon...

The AVO control arm bushings are pretty noticeable over bumps. They have a much more obvious crash over some bumps, making the car vibrate loudy sometimes. Other times it seems stock. I think they are kinda comparable to polyurethane steering rack bushings with the steering wheel feel. The whole car seems better planted to the road, comparable to a slight swaybar size increase. I can see how some people would not like the noise and vibration.

[Alphius]

I replaced my bushings with OEM, and was astounded at how much better the car drove. Both of the rear bushings were completely ripped. $15 total (not counting cost of the press. :P)

I heartily recommend a move to the PNW! It's great here, can't beat all the natural beauty and variety.

[Navi271]

I replaced my bushings with OEM, and was astounded at how much better the car drove. Both of the rear bushings were completely ripped. $15 total (not counting cost of the press. :P)

I heartily recommend a move to the PNW! It's great here, can't beat all the natural beauty and variety.

I believe it! Those bushings get torn up so bad.

I may be moving to California, not quite PNW lol, but I have a contact there so I'd have a job lined up if everything works out.

[Alphius]

Most parts of California are just as good when it comes to avoiding rust.

[Navi271]

Haha! Yes, I'd be in a rust free area. I meant like the lack of natural beauty and variety, or I guess it would just be a different kind of beauty and variety.

[Navi271]

Turbo issues!! Yay! I guess this starts all the way back when I posted about the leaky drain hose that attaches to the bottom of the turbo. Obviously there was a slight coolant leak there, possibly oil, and another coolant leak by the waterpump. I decided to finally tackle it!

Hmm something's missing.





The turbo had definitely seen better days. By the first time I took it out of the car it was leaking oil, from somewhere... It really looked like it was the drain hose, but after removing it I could see it was the drain tube gasket leaking. I installed new uppipe and downpipe gaskets, new crush washers for the coolant and oil connections, new drain tube gasket, drain hose, and figured out why the lower radiator hose by the water pump could never quite seal.



What the heck happened to the turbo to downpipe gasket?



Here's why the hose never sealed. I scraped all that dried coolant crap off, got new Subaru hoses, new thermostat and gasket, and it sealed up perfectly.




Problems fixed right? NOPE! All of the coolant leaks were sealed, but the turbo leaked oil still, didn't change a bit. What followed was about a month and a half of removing the turbo over the weekend, trying another fix, putting it back together, then driving it and seeing if I stopped seeing oil puddles on the floor. I removed it about 5-6 times, and I got really good at it! The car would apart and be back together and running in 2 hours.

It was very confusing. A turbo leaking oil, perfectly working. I never saw oil coming out of the tailpipes. No odd noises. I was confident that there was no other oil leak. I did a lot of research on it scouring the forums of other people's problems. One was a warped drain tube, which mine seemed to be slightly as it was very wobbly on a flat surface.



A new drain tube and gasket however didn't fix the problem. Okay, time to use the copper RTV!
And as you can see by the oil coating, it had no effect. I think by this point it was actually leaking more, bigger puddle on the floor.



I was so fed up with it. I was sure now the drain gasket actually wasn't leaking. I decided I was going to take the turbo out one more time, idk, try to figure out where it's leaking from, otherwise I was going to take the car somewhere to get it looked at. While the turbo was out, I had an idea. I SHOULD CHECK THE BANJO BOLT. JUST FOR FUN...



Yeah, banjo bolt screen... While I'm not 100% sure this was the culprit, there are enough issues with these that it's a very big possibility. I don't drive my car hard. I bet after driving around with this filthy filter (I couldn't even see through it in the light) the turbo got pretty hot and starved of oil sometimes, enough to start wearing out seals and the internals. The cut in the screen was already there, so some oil was getting though, enough to keep the turbo going for a while with my every other day driving. Either way I threw that filter out.

That was the discovery that made me buy a new refurbished turbo, and a couple other things. I put everything back together, so bugs and dust wouldn't find their way into the engine, and parked the car in the garage for about a week, until the parts arrived. While waiting I started removing plastidip. I won't be dipping this car anymore, it was already starting to peel off. Basically anywhere you have to tape off plastidip, like around my front bumper, where there's no natural edge for the dip to grab onto, make it a perfect place for it to start peeling. Plastidip can also be a pain to clean.





Parts!



Due to the questionable maintenance history of this car, high mileage block, I'm a slow driver, I went for another VF40 turbo. I also got the GrimmSpeed blue AOS, and a GrimmSpeed Ceramic Coated Uppipe. I got the turbo out and started working on removing the stock catted uppipe (also could be another timebomb with the cat breaking apart).

New uppipe.



Finally got the old one out. What a huge pain. The heatshield was awful. Lots of cutting involved because of stuck bolts.



Comparison.



Installed! (check out that sweet rounded off O2 sensor. That's going to suck later whenever it needs to be removed)



The GrimmSpeed gaskets provided are pretty good too.



Turbo comparison, both VF40's.



Installed! (no more heatshields, I may get a heat blanket someday)



AOS installed too! It was pretty straight forward after reading the instructions a few times.



Next is something I don't have pictures of, but there's a sensor for the uppipe cat that now does not exist anymore after the GrimmSpeed catless install. I was going to get CEL's because of this. I learned that I could tune them out using RomRaider. What I did was connect 2 separate sets of green diagnostic plugs, connected my computer to the ECU using ECU Flash, and retrieved the stock map. Now I could use ECU Editor to turn off codes from showing up and giving me a CEL. I also found this amazing thread:

http://www.romraider.com/forum/viewt...p?f=29&t=10939

This shows how to tune out 2 major flaws in the stock Subaru tune that makes the car become lean while in boost. It zeros out the Closed to Open Loop Delay and the Timing Compensation per Cylinder. Here's an example for those not clicking on the link. This is the Closed to Open Loop Delay comparison.



I have not messed with AVCS changes, but I'd like to sometime soon. After I made the changes I loaded in the modified stock map on ECU Flash and flashed the car's ECU. There was only one small hiccup where I had to restart the flash, but it was done in a few minutes with instant results!

I had no codes on startup! Going into boost was so much smoother, no more slight stutter like there used to be. The catless uppipe, I'd recommend to everyone if you're not catless already, decreased turbo spool up time by about 200-300 rpm. So when I gave the car a little bit of gas, the turbo starts to come in at about 2200 rpms, which makes the car much more fun to drive around town for me. It doesn't take much to get a little boost! Even better yet there were no more oil leaks!!!

My plan now is to fix up the exterior with a new front bumper, maybe a new colormatched front lip or grill, HID headlights, I'm not completely sure. I'm kinda over having a multiple colored car, no matter how good the black and silver looked. Here's how it looks now, semi decent pictures...







Now we're all caught up! I'll try to post on here more often and not get behind like I did before.
Thanks for reading.

[Alphius]

Wow, nice work. Lots of new parts. I've heard some bad things about those GrimmSpeed Air-Oil Separators and condensation, so beware of that.

[Navi271]

Wow, nice work. Lots of new parts. I've heard some bad things about those GrimmSpeed Air-Oil Separators and condensation, so beware of that.

Thanks! I haven't heard of that issue. I'll look into it, and I'll definitely check the AOS once it starts getting cold.

[Yamazaki]

Wow, that is a lot of great work you did! You are probably a pro now at getting that turbo out. :icon_smile:
The AOS you installed looks so small though! I'm curious to hear how well it works also.

[98legwag]

Well done. It looks much better one color. I love the diffuser and spats too.

[Navi271]

Thanks guys!
Yeah the AOS is pretty small. It's like a taller oil fill cap. I'll keep you guys updated about it.

If anyone in the Iowa area needs to swap out a turbo, I think I could help! haha.

[Navi271]

Here's a picture of what's coming up. I'm getting the front lip, rear window spoiler, and front grill painted next week.

Funny story, I had to buy a new rear window spoiler because the double sided tape was too good. I put I giant crack in the previous one when removing it. :sad10:



...and no, that's not a JDM bumper lol. I can't justify the price at the moment. Maybe someday I'll have one...

[Navi271]

Here's what's new:

- Bayson R Front Lip Painted to Match
- R-Rev Front Grill Painted to Match
- R-Rev Rear Window Spoiler Painted to Match
- New Front Bumper
- GrimmSpeed License Plate Relocation Kit
- Hella Supertone Horn Combo with Subimods Bracket and V2 Wiring Harness (Black)

Here's a bunch of pictures of the new stuff in and out of the sun.



There is a slight difference between the new paint and the old paint when the sun is shining directly on it, as you can see my camera was able to pick it up quite well.





One reason wanted to paint the front lip is so it would look like it was meant to go with the JDM aero splash guards.





The front bumper is an aftermarket Subaru replacement. It was cheaper, but at a cost. The paint quality wasn't great with the clear coat in some areas, it pokes out a bit where it meets the fenders, one of the bolts for the front grill never lined up, and the tow hook cover had major fitment issues. Thankfully the GrimmSpeed license plate relocation kit mostly covers that up! Next time I'll go OEM.





I'm really happy how it all turned out, and I think I'm probably "done" with the exterior for now.
Next I'll probably do something suspension related. I'm not sure if I want to lower this car because I don't think this car needs it. If I do, I'd go the same route as FWA's 3.0R, KYB Excel-G struts and H&R Sport lowering springs. Instead I may do a RSB, AVO brackets, and new endlinks.

[peugoby]

The car looks great and I really like the new front end setup & it all being silver now! It has never looked better - great work

[98legwag]

The car looks great. I would not have noticed the fitment issue on the bumper if you didn't say anything.

[Navi271]

Thanks!

And I was thinking I'd tell you guys about the front bumper issues, just so you'd know not to get an aftermarket bumper unless you cannot afford a new OEM one.

[Navi271]

Well, somehow I was talked into Group N Motor Mounts. The place I take my car to, Off The Line Performance, determined that I needed a new passenger side mount and, being a performance shop, they recommended Group N mounts. They were also cheaper than OEM.

The car seems to feel a bit stiffer up front, more planted on the road. It was almost like the same feeling of getting a bigger front sway bar, but it's only 1-2 mm larger. However, my engine has always been finicky to me. Between having the lean condition when I got this car, to having almost 145k miles on the engine, it's always been a little shaky around idle. Now the vibrations are obvious, borderline annoying. It has made me plan to do some logging in the near future, just to make sure it's actually not misfiring!

[Reuben]

Man, just caught up on this thread, what a mission you've had! Also, looks way nicer without the plastidip boot.

Sadly with your rough running etc, it might be mechanical, rather than electrical. Maybe a burnt valve on the cyl with the bad injector or something. Just putting it out there for you to ponder.

[Navi271]

Man, just caught up on this thread, what a mission you've had! Also, looks way nicer without the plastidip boot.

Sadly with your rough running etc, it might be mechanical, rather than electrical. Maybe a burnt valve on the cyl with the bad injector or something. Just putting it out there for you to ponder.

Thanks Reuben!
Hmm, yeah I've been ignoring that it could be a mechanical problem. So I did some logging today, just driving around the yard because the vibrations I'm feeling are around idle rpms. It was a cold start, about 25 degrees F today, and it never picked up roughness on any cylinder the whole time driving it. I read that some think the mounts need to break in a little bit, and could be harsher when they're cold. I'll continue driving it and see if things change, or maybe this is normal Group N motor mount NVH.

I also had to remove the rear window spoiler today. One of the sides started to un-stick, and the cold made it even less sticky. It was really easy to remove even with all the 3M double sided tape I used. I'll have to wait til it's warmer to reinstall it.