rkrenicki's 2004 US "RS30" - The End.. 2019-12-20

[rkrenicki]

I managed to get all 4 spacers out, both rear support brackets, and one of the trailing arm brackets swapped yesterday.

The drivers side trailing arm bolt is seized, and I cannot remove the bracket due to this problem. The car is together, but with mis-matched brackets right now. I hope to get my co-workers angle grinder today to cut the old bolt out. Luckily, I kept the bolts from the BH that I tore apart.

[rkrenicki]

I have a number of things I have been working on, so I am updating the thread here.

First, my tires have developed a fairly significant imbalance over the last few months from uneven wear and cupping on the inside edge. It looks like either the ball joints or tie-rod ends are on their way out, so I picked up replacement Moog parts for both sides. I am hoping for some good weather this weekend to get them changed out. I also hope to remove the front subframe spacers, but that is wholly dependent on my Legacy-length steering column getting here in time.

Once all of that is complete, I will have to replace the tires. I managed to get just shy of 35k miles out of them, so I am not overly upset about changing them out. If I am going to have to get new tires, I might as well get Legacy sized tires. The problem with that is in the 215/45R17 size, the Sumitomo HTR A/S P01 does not have a high enough load rating for my needs. I spent some time researching other tires, and I think I am going to get the Hankook Ventus S1 Noble 2, which has a much higher wear rating, and a sufficiently high load rating. I will be getting an alignment at the same time, since I would have messed with a lot of the front suspension geometry by then.

But, those are all "future plans".. In other news, the only real change I have made to the car since my last post has been changing out the steering wheel... In my last order from my proxy, I found a nearly pristine Momo steering wheel and some d-type car wiring. The wheel is exactly the same as the one I had in the car, except it was not heavily worn like my old one.

[rkrenicki]

I managed to get the tie-rod ends changed out today.. it looks like the drivers side had decided to gush all over the place in the last week or so. I should be getting my ball joints tomorrow, so they will be done this weekend most likely.

[rkrenicki]

Let's play a guessing game.. Who can guess which is the old, and which is the new?

[98legwag]

The one on the right is clearly the old one.

[dodik]

im with 98legwag, the one on the left is complete with a crown nut the one on the right is not.

[rkrenicki]

I ended up buying this for dirt cheap on eBay. I am downright shocked that it ended for only $66 + $57 shipping. I expected to be outbid, but here we are.

I seem to be missing something today..


Drilling holes..


And.. BAM! Blitzen Spoiler.


I need to take it back off and seal up the old wiring hole. The Blitzen brake light wire travels down the center, where the original wing traveled down the drivers side edge. I am not sure what I am going to use to plug that old hole, but for now I am just hoping that it will not rain before I do it.

[thesavo]

I need to take it back off and seal up the old wiring hole. The Blitzen brake light wire travels down the center, where the original wing traveled down the drivers side edge. I am not sure what I am going to use to plug that old hole, but for now I am just hoping that it will not rain before I do it.

Use an unpierced rubber grommet. Lowes should have a variety in their fastener drawers.

[twoheadedboy]

I have had that same experience on ebay many times, but with vinyl records instead of Subaru parts.

[Muse]

Still got any Niteshades to tint that third (fourth?) brake light like you did on the OE spoiler?

[rkrenicki]

I do, but I think I am going to leave this one alone. The tint made that light pretty hard to see, so in the interest of safety, I am going to keep it red.

[Dead91silvia]

I like it!

[MRLancaster]

Mind taking a few pictures from farther away?

[rkrenicki]

Mind taking a few pictures from farther away?

Once the suspension work is complete, and the tires are replaced.. I will take a new series of shots of the car. The last batch still has the Outback doors on them, so they are in need of updating anyways.

[rkrenicki]

I was able to finally complete the subframe spacer delete for the rear. The outback drivers side trailing arm bracket was being stubborn, but a few minutes with my co-workers angle grinder fixed its attitude quickly enough.

While I had the suspension apart, I decided to go ahead and swap out the rear shocks. I have not yet done the fronts.. those will likely be done tomorrow. Here is a picture comparing the two shocks. As you can see, the STI Black springs from the S401 have one less loop, but the coils are much much thicker than the Outback spring. The Bilstein shock seems to be about 10mm shorter than the KYB as well.


Everything back together, as you can see.. no more Outback spacer, and a not so shiny new Bilstein installed.


Back on the ground. I did not take measurements at the start, but it appears to be about an inch shorter than it was before. I may need to change out the bump stops with Legacy ones to prevent running on the stops too much..

[98legwag]

Looks good. Are those still the Outback size tires or did you install Legacy size tires yet?

[rkrenicki]

I will do the legacy tires after I am done screwing with the suspension. That way I only need to do one alignment, which the tire place will do for me.

[Muse]

Went out to see rkrenicki today, and inspect the progress. I could get one finger between the tire and the body. It's really stiff, too. Can't wait to see the new tires and proper stance with the fronts done.

[rkrenicki]

More progress today. I was able to swap in the S401 control arms, S401 front struts and springs, trim the rear bump stop, change the drivers side ball joint, and change the oil.

Many thanks to Rogueben83 for letting me borrow this tool.. It helped immensely. It did not help putting it back in.. but it made a 3 hour job into a 1 hour job.



Here is a shot of the drivers side all back together. The Bilstein is dirty, but works great, and the aluminium control arm fit in perfectly. This picture does have the wrong swaybar endlink.. I thought I could reuse my Moog ones, but the bottom bushing ended up getting pulled out of the dogbone. I ended up putting in the ones that came with the control arms, which seemed to be in pretty good shape.


Here is the passenger side control arm before I put it in. As you can see, it has the endlink and transverse link bushing still attached which made things pretty easy. They did also have balljoints attached to them as well, but since I just put in brand new Moog ones, I decided to take those off.


As for the rear, this is what I ended up doing. I cut off about an inch from the end of the bump stop. This made my ride 10x better. It is still very tight, but it no longer bounces all over when I hit a tiny bump. I will be picking up some Legacy bump stops next week, but this makes the car drivable for now.


Here is the front ride height as it is right now. I cambered out the wheels as much as it would go to prevent rubbing on the perch until I get new tires. I also have no rubbing in the wheel wells at full lock. I am more than happy with the results.

[Muse]

How about an overall shot?

[rkrenicki]

Front height: 67.5cm (I did fix the fender liner after I took this picture..)


Rear height: 65.5cm


Overall shot:

[soba noodle]

What's the difference between S401 LCA and stock alloy LCA?

Looking good, those tyres though...

[rkrenicki]

There is no difference from the normal RSK one, these just came from an S401. The swaybar links may be special, but I am not sure on that one.. I need to look up the part numbers.

The tires will be replaced this week. I just scheduled the alignment and tire install for Thursday.

[Muse]

I've come to the conclusion that you take your pictures at a funny angle. Your car consistently looks stranger in the pictures than it does in real life.

[thesavo]

Front height: 67.5cm (I did fix the fender liner after I took this picture..)


Rear height: 65.5cm

You are so into JDM, you have a metric only tape measure.... And I am jealous.
I want one of those?

[rkrenicki]

I've come to the conclusion that you take your pictures at a funny angle. Your car consistently looks stranger in the pictures than it does in real life.

Stranger how? I take most of these shots from my eye height.

[rkrenicki]

Front height: 67.5cm (I did fix the fender liner after I took this picture..)
Rear height: 65.5cm

You are so into JDM, you have a metric only tape measure.... And I am jealous.
I want one of those?

It is a normal meter stick, I have had it for as long as I can remember. It has centimeters on one side, and inches on the back side. I never really use the imperial side.

Amazon has a similar one here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000J0ARWW

[Grimmrican]

.....dammit rob..... Damn u lol

Guess I'm going lower now lol

[r3v_v3ng3]

[rkrenicki]

When I was cutting the bump stops, I noticed that there was a piece of metal keeping the subframe from sitting flush with the car. I looked it up, and sure enough, it is an Outback specific part. I cannot for the life of me figure out what it is there for. It sits between the subframe and the swaybar mount, and has a tab that would be beside the outback spacer. The tab does not connect to anything. The drivers side does not have one, so it is not simply a big washer to space out the swaybar.. I have no idea what it is, but it is gone now!

Here is what I found, as you can see.. there is a gap between the top washer and the subframe of about 3mm:


After loosening things and a bit of prying, this is what I ended up with.. a nice flush washer: