Subaru Crew - Modifications II

qbrozen

thanks. That helped. Its pretty much what I figured.

But, still a couple of things left unanswered. I couldn't find anything about a blow-off valve. That's not the same as a wastegate, is it? Can changing the blow-off valve increase performance, and, if so, how?

thanks

rplum

I just ordered the Single Stage Vacuum booster for my RS this afternoon. It's "Supposed" to eliminate the weak pedal feel of the stock RS brakes, we'll see. I'm thinking of doing the upgrades in steps though to see exactly what I get from each fix,

1. Bleed (flush) the brakes and replace the Fluid with ATE Super Blue
2. Replace the dual stage booster with the single stage, rebleed brakes, of course.
3. Possibly go with stainless brakelines.

I've already got EBC Greenstuff Pads on the front of my car (with 70k miles) so I'm not 'exactly" stock.

Report to follow.

Ryan
-still waiting for my WRX Wagon.

kens

Rob,

Yes, I'm refering to the "STi Shifter". I read somewhere on i-club that the two shifters are from the same source. I think even Larry Ganz confirmed that.

Check out Cobb Tuning's page at: http://www.cobbtuning.com/forester/drivetrain-shift.html

They're exactly the same. The Cobb site has some info on the bushings too.

Ken

lucien2

...since I can't wander aimlessly on i-club right now; it is down. *shrug*

Cash is at a premium nowadays, but I still have the itch to tinker with the car a bit. A set of 16" rims would be a potentially worthy investment in the $300-$400 range, but then going to 215/65/15 still gives me slightly better profile (stock is 205/70/15) with a VASTLY better tire selection. 215/60/15 would fit, but with a difference in aspect that begins to get a bit slapdash on the speedo.

Then there's exhaust. boy, am I itching to try that. But there I am looking at $450-$600 for a stainless steel set up with mandrel bends etc., the kind that won't fall off the car in 3 years .

Longing for the day when quickening and Quicken finally get along.......

ateixeira

Ken: the shorter one may be better for you since you do not have the arm rest. You may feel it falls to hand more easily. How do you like the stock shifter lever height?

Ryan: I bet you're going to end up with some pretty sweet boat anchors! They do say it's the dual stage booster that causes the mushy pedal feel.

Definitely tires first, Loosh. Those impact everything - acceleration, braking, and cornering.

-juice

locke2c

The 215/60-15 is only 4.3% shorter... that's not bad. Would probably be a great idea if you're going to be lowering the car with suspension intended for a GT / GT wagon.

Other than terrible tire selection (but there is some) then why not 225/60-15?

-Colin

kens

juice,

Yeah, I find the stock shifter height to be a bit too tall for my tastes. I guess it would be a good height with the arm rest.

Do you know the Forester uses the same stock shift lever as the Impreza?

Ken

ateixeira

Colin: isn't that tire kind of wide for a 6.5" rim? I'm sure it'll fit, but doesn't that affect how it flexes?

Ken: yes, the lever itself is the same.

However, we at least think the rest of the shift linkage differs some. I crawled under there with Jim Moran, who had done his brother Mike's Kartboy, and not only did the SPT linkage look like it would not fit, but also he felt it looked different than he remembered on his brother's car.

Perhaps the Forester's is slightly longer, due to the stretched wheelbase. I'm not sure.

-juice

rplum

I hope it helps.

got my WRX (wagon) on Friday. The brakes feel much stronger than on my RS. The suspension is also a good deal softer (on the WRX). Time to evaluate the STi strut option I guess.

The RS brakes got their fluid replaced thursday night(valvoline syn) and still feel soft. The brakes on my WReX don't feel that much softer than the 4-pots on our 2000MY GT Turbo.

The Sedona Red Sportwagon is a sleeper though. I drove it around all weekend with hardly a second look. Parked at the Dairy Queen in front of about 25 people, nuthin. Can't say the same for my RS.

Ryan

locke2c

Should be handy when traveling the highway at brisk paces.

What kind of suspension are you running on your RS? Version 5 struts and springs, right? (Imprezer's old set?)

-Colin

ramon

hey how's your times dropped since you got your R compounds over your summer street tires in the autoX? about 3-4 seconds?

ateixeira

Ryan: do you recall how your stock suspension would compare to the stock WRX? Any significant differences?

-juice

locke2c

I've only autocrossed it once on R compounds but it was astoundingly different. That's probably due to all the suspension changes too. ;-)

I have a two day divisional autocross coming up this weekend, let you know how that goes.

-Colin

ramon

i like to know how much r compound tires contribute to autoX improvements compared to high performance summer tires like your yokos S1 or bridgestone re730.

paisan

That is one reason I'm staying out of GS and in STS. STS requires a min of 140 treadwear rating, whereas in GS you can run slicks. It's kinda funny that the "stock" class runs race tires and the non-stock class can't run the slicks.

-mike

ramon

does not matter in the autoX events that I attend. I can run R compound and stay stock all day. Just want to know how much of a difference b/t say a kumho v700 R tire compares to say bridgestone re730s or kumho 712 type of summer performance rubbers.

locke2c

I ran on a shot pair of Kumho v700s (front) and a shot pair of BFG gForce R1s (rear) and still had so much grip I didn't know what to do with myself.

Don't worry, at some point this season I will autocross on my street tires in a regional event and see what they can do after running my good v700s.

I posted it before but it's worthy of repeating-- two passengers at the autocross couldn't believe I had stock brakes down to the OE pads.

-Colin

ateixeira

Yeah, guess it's the contact patch that really counts - even during braking.

-juice

ramon

Well my limited experience with a BFG K/D was nothing but short of amazing. Very grippy and communicative! I don't think I even got it to squeel or lose grip. Same thing with the olde BFG R1s. But that was on a miata soo...
anyways keep me posted on the differences. I know the r compounds would be better. How much and is it worth it for an occasional autoXer...that would be my question.

rplum

Colin, yes I have the STiV5 struts and springs on my Impreza.

Ateixeira - The WRX is far superior to the old RS, it feels so much more solid, and doesn't push and roll over on itself nearly as much as the old stock RS seemed to do. I was most impressed by the new 2002 2.5RS. The benefits of the new chassis really improved it upn the old model.

Ryan

locke2c

I suspected it would be. I don't mind the decontented RS, although IMO it should be even cheaper considering the lighter equipment sheet.

It is ... what 100lb? heavier than the previous RS but I think it's a good value.

-Colin

paisan

I just found out you SHOULD NOT DO IT, unless the place doing the modification is quite skilled and totally re-inforces your roof. Since you need to cut through one of the main supports. That is the reason there are no moonroof's available...

Just a word to the wise.

-mike

locke2c

moonroofs are the devil! if you want open air, buy a roadster. ;-)

-Colin

armac13

is being installed in Rufus the Forester as we speak/write/read. It's the one thing that I have missed in this car. I should have it back late Wednesday or Thursday morning. I'll provide pics and report.

Ross

paisan

Thought someone said they were getting one in a WRX, I could be mistaken though.

-mike

bluesubie

I saw it too. It may have been in one of the WRX forums though.

Dennis

ateixeira

Don't believe the hype. Mine's been rattle free for about 2 years now. No leaks either.

And the Forester also has that beam from B-pillar to B-pillar. Maybe the new one is different?

I also had an ASC moonroof on my old Sprint, and friends had them on a Raider and Spectrum. None ever leaked or had any problem whatsoever.

-juice

locke2c

What hype? The sunroof in my Impreza RS is a creaky dog entering driveways and going down rough roads.

It seems criminal to me to consider installing an aftermarket sunroof in a car specifically engineered to have an extremely rigid chassis like the new Impreza.

-Colin

paisan

I think some or all of the rigidity increases on the new impreza may be sacraficed with a moonroof installed, let alone an aftermarket one.

-mike

francophile

It would depend on whether or not the bracing between the "B" pillars is cut. I really like moonroofs, have never had one that leaked or creaked. If I were more serious about a WRX I would look into getting an aftermarket moonroof that retracted externally, above the sheetmetal, so as to leave the "B" pillar brace intact.

Regards,
-wdb

paisan

The way that the roof is laid out supposedly, on the WRX would only allow an 8"-10" cut (even if the roof went on the outside) due to the way that the structure is with the beams in the roof.

-mike

ramon

there a reinforcement bar on the roof of the new Impreza that might hamper installing a moonroof? Anyways, keep the car as it is. Aftermarket moon/sun roofs are iffy. If i want it, I'd make sure a car comes with it from the factory. At least the factory would know what and where to cut and where to compensate.... after all they designed the car.

rplum

At the time I was pretty darned upset that I had to have a big ole hole cut in the roof of my Impreza RS Sportscar.

The WReX has enough power that I can use the A/C and still have fun driving it. I hate driving my RS with the A/C on. I feel the drag immediately, same with having a passenger. It's (the A/C) coming out this summer.

I still think the old Impreza is pretty solid goods overall though. Going from my WReX to my RS, the RS still is plenty of fun.

RP

ateixeira

Colin: maybe that's it - sunroofs are bad, moonroofs are good. ;-)

Seriously, I don't think fun driving and a moonroof are incompatible. If it needed to be designed-in from the get-go, then it should have been, plain and simple. This is a fun car that appeals to the type of people that want an opening above their heads.

OK, Subaru, make a drop-top WRX and nobody will care. I'd even buy one.

-juice

hondafriek

Well it has been an extremely busy two days, I had the GT tinted, then I took off all 4 rotors left them in and them cross drilled, picked them up, left them at the platers to have them cad plated,picked them back up and reinstalled them, I did an oil change have finally got past 1500 kilometres, I would dearly love to have my hands on the throat of the Godzilla who installed the drain plug and filter on my car I had to use a 12 inch power bar to get enough leverage to undo the drain plug and I had a hell of a time getting the filter to budge it was obviously tightened with a wrench.

Dealer problem #2 I had bought a spoiler with the origional intention of putting it on my self, however when I got it out of the box the installations were not very explicit to say the least, so I made an appointment for the dealer to install it, after half an hour the advisor comes and says we cannot install this spoiler sir it is not a subaru part, the spoiler is in a subaru of canada box and it was bought at the dealer where I bought the car, so the advisor suggests I take it to the bodyshop as they are more experienced in installing spoilers, well they looked at and said no way this is a hack job to install this spoiler it is not subaru it is not even the right part #well just to prove them wrong I went into the parts guy and asked for the part # of a rear spoiler low and behold the part # on my box was the same #.I left before I completely lost it and punched somebody out, so I stewed all last night and this morning I took an insane pill and attacked the top of my tailgate with a drill after removing all the trim panels around the inside of the tailgate it was obvious how the spoiler was intended to be installed, two of the mounting bolts came through access holes that are already in the tailgate, one hole on each side has to be drilled through the double skins and a reinforcing, the worst part was drilling the first hole (after that it was home James and don,t spare the horses).

So to Recap so far I have swapped out the stereo and speakers, had an alarm with auto start installed,installed a hood deflector,spoiler,cleaned and painted the calipers,had the rotors cross drilled and plated, put on 16x7 primax model 684 rims with goodyear RSA 205x55x16 tires, rear mudflapsfor legacy, front mudflaps from outback modified to suit GT, subaru do not offer fronts for the GT because of the body kit on the rockers, all mudflaps I primed with flex primer and painted body colour.Oh and also installed the tweeters and subwoofer

Thats not a bad list for 4 weeks of ownership, this was a long post sorry about that.
Cheers Pat.

armac13

when are you going to get off your duff and start making the GT yours? Express your individuality, man. :-)

Ross

subearu

I know I wouldn't have it in me to drill into our Outback, let alone any vehicle we have. My hat goes off to you. Do you have some before/after pics?

-Brian

miksmi

Long? Who cares, Pat, it's informative! This is something I've always thought about doing. Questions:

So Legacy's (L, I presume?) rear mudflaps don't interfere with the GT aero ground effects?
How much material did you remove from the Outback front mudflaps?
What is flex primer?

Painting the mudflaps to match the body is a nice touch. If you get a camera, please mail the photos to me or juice or put them up on PhotoPoint.

..Mike

hondafriek

Mike, the standard Legacy mudflaps fit the rear no problem they are a straight bolt on,the only problem is because they are an accessory on the legacy you have to buy the kit which is all 4 mudflaps and the fronts will be useless. the outback because it comes from the factory with mudflaps you can buy in pairs, as well as some trimming around the rocker panel it is necessary to carefully heat them with a heat gun and mold them to the body, what I did was scrounge around a body shop for damaged ones that were taken off accidented cars and practiced on them before actually cutting up new ones, turns out not to be too hard just take your time. The flex primer is what you spray on flexible body parts such as bumpers and mudflaps before painting otherwise the paint would just flake off.
looks like camera will have to wait I have spent all my spare cash on the mistress but there is an outfit here who will process regular 35 film and upload it to the net so I will try that.
Cheers Pat.

hondafriek

I was so headstrong to get stuck in I never even thought of before pictures, but I could cheat and go photograph a standard Gt titanium colour at the dealer then take photos of mine as it is now.
I have fitted a few spoilers, this is not my first, though it is a first on a car that cost me so much to buy, the hangup was the intructions were pitiful they did not for intance mention that you had to remove all the inside trim pieces from around the tailgate I had to figure that out for myself, I had thought on first look that I would have to drill all six holes through double skins but it turned out that was not the case, anyway the first hole is always the worst, once you drill one there is no going back.

Ross, yes I guess I will have to get off my [non-permissible content removed] and make a statement with this machine,Ha! Ha! this is a recurring theme with me, right from my very first car I had make it mine and different from all the others of the same make and vintage, my poor wife has put up with a lot over the years even though she is not as interested as I in things mechanical and she will usually be very understanding when I screw up which is wont to happen from time to time like one instance I had hankered after a set of BBS Rims for months when I finally got them they did absolutely nothing for the car I owned then I ended selling them at quite a loss, she gave me no grief and there have been other instances over the years, well thats enough of memory lane for now.
Cheers Pat.

locke2c

pat, sounds like a good list of modifications. glad to hear that oil filter didn't turn into a job for the tin snips and chisel. ;-)

-Colin

miksmi

Thanks, Pat; good info. Why didn't you use Outback flaps on the rear? Fit?

..Mike

hondafriek

Mike two reasons for not using outback on rear 1st the rear mudflaps have the outback name on them, they were also not a good fit, even if they had not got the name they would have been difficult to make a good fit.

For all others who like myself bemoan the lack of an ignition key light i am trying to figure out a way of rigging one up. I got minature bulb and socket from the ashtray of an old honda I took the collar off that goes around the ignition switch in the subaru, I drilled a hole at an angle into the collar and epoxied the socket into it, now I am trying to get a friend in electronics to build me a little time delay relay which I will wire through the pin switch on the door which operates the dome light, when I get it up and running I will post the results here.
Cheers Pat.

ateixeira

Pat: I'm just glad we've gotten you to use paragraphs! ;-)

Sounds like quite a list. How do the brake discs look now?

-juice

francophile

Wow! That's quite a list. It appears as though you really do your homework on what works and what doesn't! I'd love to see pictures, enough so that I'll gladly host them on my Photopoint space if you like.

I'm mulling over putting 17" wheels on my GT sedan; did you consider 17's, and if so why did you decide not to use them? Tirerack (www.tirerack.com) lists 17" wheels from 6.5" through 7.5" in width that supposedly fit the Legacy. I most like the look of one of the 7.5" wide models but I'm hesitant to put a wheel on my car that is a full inch wider than stock.

Also, Tirerack recommends 205-50/17 tires, and yet the NZ Legacy RSK has 215-45/17 tires. The overall diameter of the 215's is closer to the stock 205-55/16" tire, but, geez, a 45-series tire looks like a rubber band wrapped around the rim - not much protection for the wheel. If I do it I will probably go with 205-50's and put up with a slight error in the speedo.

Cheers,
-wdb

kens

Pat,

Great write up. How do the new brakes perform?

I can relate to the oil plug experience. Some moron mechanic way over tightened the plug on mine and it took several minutues of intense swearing to break it loose.

Ken

hondafriek

Here are the photos of the GT,the first six are the before photos I cheated and shot some at the dealers I was in to much of a hurry to take before photos of mine but this is the same thing.
#7 is a silver WRX wagon somebody has already stolen the WRX badges from it,#8 side view shows the spoiler. #12 is the JVC xc770 cassette and CD combo.#16 hood deflector.#17 and18 shows how I teed off an adapter in order to have the idiot oil light as well as the gauge. you can also see I had the alternator belt guard chromed first step in dressing up the engine.

#19 is a close up of the front mudflap for the benifit of Mike Smith. The rest of the photos mostly show the brakes.

To access the photos go to WWW.futureshop.ca/photo the album ID.514549 and the password is 3822.
Cheers Pat.

hondafriek

WDB. I did not even consider 17 inch rims my origional intention was to use the RE92s on the new rims and get snow tires for the GT rims but I got these goodyears at a price I could not refuse.

IMO you will never come close to the limits of the tires and rims on the car now the lower profile you go the more you degrade the ride 17 and 18 inch rims are more about looks than function, I got 16x7 with a 40mm offset and that is the widest you could go without the risk of rubbing and if you did go to seven and a half you may find you have to roll the rear fender lip Colin care to comment?

The 45 series tire is the proper size with a 17 inch rim but with a sidewall that low you may as well be on solid tires I had 50 series tires on my 89 Accord and there was a lot of difference in the ride quality.

Another drawback to the 17 inch is of course cost you are getting into speciality tire and rim sizes with a corresponding jump in cost.

Ken you only notice a lot of difference in braking if you on the brakes a lot like in the mountains other than that it is unabashedly an appearance thing.

Juice they look fabulous.
Cheers Pat.

subearu

Nice pics. All your effort has paid off. That color looks very sharp too!

I see that you don't have the compass/auto-dim mirror. Next upgrade?

Besides the price, how are the Eagles? Our OB is the first car I've owned that has something other than Goodyears on it. (I'll probably switch to Michelins when the Wilderness' wear out)

-Brian

miksmi

My oh my, very nice. The body-color mud flaps look great; too bad Subaru doesn't make those on OE option.

I zoomed the photos and noticed a pinstripe and the letters "GT". Is that your handiwork too?

..Mike