nepbug's 01 Outback - 1/22/17 Eff Me! Gut check time!

[superu]

good beta dude!

I'll probly throw one in the 'ol Amazon cart pretty soon.

[nepbug]

Haven't done anything on the car for a few weeks, but the weather is looking good this weekend so I've got plans in the making. VLSD is going in the rear. That could be a real potential headache as I will need to remove axles and suspension bolts and this car has seen salt belt winters a few times in it's life. I think I will start soaking bolts in penetrating oil tonight.

If that goes smoother than I expect (yeah right, that never happens) I also have a glove box surround to swap in and some rear shocks too along with the missing mudflap, so it could be a productive day or frustrating day. I'll see come Saturday.

I'm trying to lay out a plan to get control of my garage again by the end of the month, which means the engine and transmission need to go back into the Impreza.

[superu]

Did you end up getting the H-6 LL Bean springs/shocks for the OB??

[nepbug]

Did you end up getting the H-6 LL Bean springs/shocks for the OB??

Just the fronts. The only difference between the H6 suspension and the H4 suspension are the front springs, everything else is the same.

So, I won't slap those springs on just yet, it would lift my front end and my back would still be down, I need to get some spacers are different springs for the back end first.

You know, after looking things over I think I won't install the 05 struts and springs this weekend. I think that will actually lower the car 1/2" or so, I'll just deal with the bouncy ride for a little longer. I'm pretty sure I'll go with baja turbo rear springs and end up doing more lift than I was planning, because, well this picture:


Stock size tires don't look ridiculous with the Baja lift, I thought it would. So, onwards to H6 front and Baja rear springs!

[superu]

aha! Baja to the rescue!!!

[nepbug]

Yellow Fog Lights

Today I finished yellowing the fog lights. It's a combination of Duplicolor Metalcast gold on the inside of the lens and yellow Lamin-x on the outside for a little rock protection.

I baked the lenses in the oven for 12 minutes at 225°F, pulled them apart, sprayed 6 light coats of Duplicolor Metalcast Gold on the inside. Then I put the housing and lens back in the oven for about 10 minutes again to soften the sealant and reassembled them. That resulted them looking like this:


I then added some 1-mil Lamin-X Yellow for a little rock protection and to darken it to about what I wanted. I lucked out that it came out just about the color I wanted.


Here's a comparison of with and without the extra Lamin-X layer. Driver side is just painted, passenger side has the added Lamin-X.


Here's the final configuration. Beautiful yellow light pours out of them.

[nepbug]

I just went through and updated all my links in the first post, darn forum upgrade broke all the links.

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[nepbug]

The wife drove the car early this morning and mentioned that it was making a sound when she would downshift or let off the gas. So I took it for a test drive and sure enough, loud grinding sounds from the drive shaft tunnel when off the gas and in gear.

So, since I recently had the diff out I crawled under to make sure I didn't do something stupid like forgot to tighten the drive shaft to diff bolts, but that was all fine. Here's what I did find though:


Ice all around the drive shaft and just generally stuffed under the heat shield.

So, once it melts out it should be fine, and when we have another round of nice weather I'll have to look into bending the heat shield to allow less water/slush up there.

In another note, I caught another whiff of raw fuel too, so I went back and tightened the fuel hose clamps again, several had already loosened. So, that'll be another warm weather task, loctite those clamps.

[superu]

Or take the heat shield off. XD

I had a similar problem, albeit with mud.....as it goes. ;-P

[superu]

BTW, anything awesome to report with the muffler, besides no more phantom turbo whistle?

[nepbug]

BTW, anything awesome to report with the muffler, besides no more phantom turbo whistle?

Nope, other than I need to take it off again. I didn't get the flange flat enough and there is a minor leak.

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[meepers]

Welcome to the yellow fog club.. lol I love the look of the yellow on the front, and the added contrast at night makes it so much easier to read road signs, oh and the added bonus of less people turning left directly in front of you! Interesting ice formation over the driveshaft and heat shield. thats crazy!

[nepbug]

Welcome to the yellow fog club.. lol I love the look of the yellow on the front, and the added contrast at night makes it so much easier to read road signs, oh and the added bonus of less people turning left directly in front of you! Interesting ice formation over the driveshaft and heat shield. thats crazy!

Thanks, this is the second set of fogs I've yellowed. I did my Impreza bugeye fogs a little darker and then used 3M clear bra for protection.

So over dinner last night the wife said that she was running the car through the biggest slush puddles she could find to make fresh tracks and have a little fun. So that explains why there was so much ice packed up in there. It all melted out and was fine.

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[dna]

Awesome journal, I'm getting tons of ideas for my legacy wagon. I come from the impreza side of things so all of the legacy mods are new to me.

[nepbug]

Awesome journal, I'm getting tons of ideas for my legacy wagon. I come from the impreza side of things so all of the legacy mods are new to me.

Thanks. Yeah, the Impreza side is a little different, but I'm finding a lot of that knowledge does still apply. Aftermarket support is quite diminished in comparison, so you have to be a bit more creative. I think this summer I might try to weld up some of my own chassis braces as a welding exercise. We'll see how it goes.

This car is sort of a test bed for doing mods to the other cars, for instance, I'm going to try to powder coat some calipers myself; this car will get it done first before I do it on the Impreza.

[dna]

Good idea, I love my imprezas but I wanted to do something different this time around.
I would like to start powder coating I thought about picking up a cheap oven off of Craigslist for the garage. Haha I dunno how well that would work though.

[nepbug]

Good idea, I love my imprezas but I wanted to do something different this time around.
I would like to start powder coating I thought about picking up a cheap oven off of Craigslist for the garage. Haha I dunno how well that would work though.

That's what I've done so far

I picked up the HF Powder Coat Gun on sale and some powder. Then I scored a $5 toaster oven on craigslist to start with. I watched a few youtube videos and off I went.

I recently went and got a $20 toaster oven off craigslist that is about twice as big as the first one, this one I think I can do a caliper in.

A full size oven would be nice, but you have to make sure you have the outlet and the room for it. If I had more room I would get one.

A few things I've coated, still learning.

[dna]

Those look great man, I never thought of a toaster oven I think I actually have an old one.
How hot does the stove need to get?

[nepbug]

Those look great man, I never thought of a toaster oven I think I actually have an old one.
How hot does the stove need to get?

400°F or so. I usually set mine between 425-450, figuring I'm not retaining a lot of the heat with a toaster oven.

Once you use it for PC, you can no longer use it for food.

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[nepbug]

Alright, a nearly-pointless mod. I powder coated my radiator support brackets school bus yellow.

[superu]

400°F or so. I usually set mine between 425-450, figuring I'm not retaining a lot of the heat with a toaster oven.

Once you use it for PC, you can no longer use it for food.

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Ooh hell, no more frozen burritos in the garage while you're wrenching??! That's unfortunate

[superu]

Alright, a nearly-pointless mod. I powder coated my radiator support brackets school bus yellow.

Although, the hood prop stay just blends in now!

[nepbug]

02-04 Center Console Swap (Dual Cup Holder)

I swapped in an 02-04 center console with the dual cup holders. When doing this swap you need the cup holder trim piece and the entire piece that has the console box, they are both different from the 00-01 version.

Differences between the 00-01 and 02-04 Consoles

• 02-04 has dual cup holders, while 00-01 has single
• 02-04 heated seat switches are more forward than the 00-01
• 02-04 console lid is about an inch higher than the 00-01 lid
• 02-04 console is the dark brown for the entire console, the 00-01 is tan/brown two-tone.
• 03-04 AWD symbol plate is different than the 00-02 plate and they are not swappable.

So right now I have a badge plate on it that says "AWD H6 3.0", so I'll need to grab an "AWD" one the next time I come across it...or swap in an H6.



I also have now acquired a 4.11 VLSD and rear diff protector skid plate. It looks like I will have good enough weather next weekend to swap those in. I hope the forecast holds true.

[rkrenicki]

So right now I have a badge plate on it that says "AWD H6 3.0", so I'll need to grab an "AWD" one the next time I come across it...or swap in an H6.

I think the latter option is way easier.

I also have some good side-by-side pictures of the console differences here: https://sl-i.net/FORUM/showthread.php?17631

The AWD logos are also swappable between both styles, if you already had the "AWD" one on your single cupholder.

[nepbug]

I think the latter option is way easier.

I also have some good side-by-side pictures of the console differences here: https://sl-i.net/FORUM/showthread.php?17631

The AWD logos are also swappable between both styles, if you already had the "AWD" one on your single cupholder.

I did try to swap the logo from my 01 and didn't work, different mounting styles and sizes.

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[rkrenicki]

Come to think of it, I swapped the H6 logo from my 04 beige console to the 03 black console.. The large and small logo inserts were interchangeable within the same console type. I guess I assumed that the 01 console logo was the same as well.

[superu]

02-04 Center Console Swap (Dual Cup Holder)

I swapped in an 02-04 center console with the dual cup holders. When doing this swap you need the cup holder trim piece and the entire piece that has the console box, they are both different from the 00-01 version.


So right now I have a badge plate on it that says "AWD H6 3.0", so I'll need to grab an "AWD" one the next time I come across it...or swap in an H6.

engine swap to match the console swap! totally the way to go!!!

just like the 2.5 badge I have yet to install, although I suppose if i put it on then it'll have to happen to prevent faulty advertising!
Superu 2.5, yeat another dual meaning for the superu XD

[nepbug]

Weather is looking good for this weekend, I should get the VLSD and rear skid swapped in. Looking forward to 50 degree temps this weekend, we've been snowy for a little while now.

[nepbug]

Rear VLSD and Skid Plate Install

I swapped in a 4.11 viscous limited-slip diff out of an 03 Outback LL Bean. With it, I also swapped in a rear diff skid plate.

I previously had an open diff in there. Even though cars101.com says that all outbacks from 01 forward had the VLSD, that's not true. The base model doesn't. This is the second time I've run across things being wrong at cars101.com (first time was some incorrect final drive ratios for some Foresters), so it's just a good reminder that you shouldn't take that as the absolute final truth.

Here's the pic of it all up there, reminds me that I need to go wash all that dried mag chloride off, thankfully it's not salt.


So, this is probably the 4th rear diff swap I've done in a Subaru, this one was the first one that I had to get creative to get the fill and drain plugs out, they were definitely over-tightened by someone in the past. This was also the first time I had extreme difficult in getting in one of the axles. The first axle went in like it normally would, the second axle didn't want to go. I had to get creative with a ratcheting strap to get it to go on, that worked well and didn't harm the axle boot in the process.

[nepbug]

H6 100A Alternator Upgrade

I swapped in a 100A alternator from an H6 Outback.

This one has 3 wires from the connector instead of 2, but that doesn't matter. The extra wire is for the H6 ECU.

Another difference is the pulley is a 6 rib instead of 5. Just don't use the innermost rib (see picture).