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Comments
I gotta sew on that leather steering wheel cover next. That's another time consuming job.
-juice
It seems like only yesterday but it's been a year and my Amsoil filter is due for a cleaning. How did you clean yours? How long did it take to dry out from the water/detergent wash before you could oil it and reinstall in the car? Overnight?
Thanks,
Ed
Just don't over oil it.
-Dennis
Thanks,
Ed
Yeah, I've been travelling a lot over the last month and have barely been able to keep up reading the posts, let alone respond to them.
Here's what I do:
Cleaning the filter:
- Fill a bucket with warm water, add dish detergent
- Dunk filter in bucket and thoroughly work the solution through. The filter is quite durable so I squeeze quite a bit.
- Rinse thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels or newspaper
- Allow to air dry completely. Usually leaving it out in the direct sun for 3-4 hours seems to be enough.
Re-oiling:
- Pre-warm the bottle of the filter oil in a warm water bath. This step will make the oil less viscous and easier to apply.
- Put your now bone-dry filter into a plastic shopping bag
- Drizzle oil (conservatively) on one side of the filter, close up the bag and squeeze filter to work the oil through
- Flip filter and repeat
- Blot any excess off the surface, install and you're ready to go
I've learned to oil very conservatively. The filter comes overoiled from the factory and left a small pool of oil at the bottom of my air chamber.
Have fun,
Ken
-Dennis
Ed
Good tips, Ken.
-Colin
-juice
-Dennis
-juice
-mike
-Dennis
Ken
If still unsatisfied, try KYB AGX struts. On their lowest settings they will be like stock and can be adjusted firmer from there. The stiffest settings (4-way front, 8-way rear) are too stiff for the stock springs, so there is more than sufficient adjustment. You could also get stiffer springs, but since you have an OB everything is going to be really, really lowered since it's built for Legacys and Imprezas.
-Colin
-mike
I drove the car home and only got a bit of freeway driving (heavy traffic unfortunately). I notice that the powerband is much stronger throughout and not nearly the turbo lag as before. It seems as if 5th gear is almost as strong as 4th and 4th almost as stong as 3rd. I still need to get the manual boost control and turbo gauge installed. I will have more impressions tomorrow after I drive around some. Just wanted to update interested parties.
Stephen
Consider a Plus Zero, maybe a 235/55 tire, or even 225/55. The diameter should be close enough, you'll actually gain a little gearing. And if you are due for new tires, you have to spend the money anyway, so it's the cheapest alternative.
Stephen: well worth the money given all the difficulties you descrived earlier. Why wasn't everything installed at the same time? Did they just run out of time that day?
Very curious to hear more about it.
-juice
Well, I'm off to the gym and then some driving time. Temp should be in the low 80's today...whoo weee...life's good and so it is!! :-)
Stephen
-mike
-juice
Very nice. Keep us updated on the before and after comparisons.
BTW, doesn't the Stage 0 also come with colder plugs?
Ken
The GT handles very well and needs very little in mods. I will try the Cusco Anti-roll bar, but the sway and body roll is minimal in the GT wagon and does not need a thing. It just sounds fun to try!
Heather
-mike
Ken: Yes, the Vishnu Stage 0 comes w/colder NGK plugs, ligher pulley (quite a bit lighter, I felt it compared to the stock one in my hand!), new belts, MBC, uppipe, & unichip. I also had them include new gaskets instead of reusing the stock ones.
Stephen
OK, time for some more goodies for the wife's car. I need your help/opinions:
1) window tint. I had luck with SolarGard dyed film and my installer, should I get the same again or spring for 3M metallic?
2) CD player or changer. She wants to keep the cassette deck because she has tapes for our kiddo, but also wants CDs. It's $250 or so for the OE single CD add-on, which I find pricey. Should I swap the whole unit, get the OE add-on, or add a CD changer?
-juice
-mike
You think I should put the CD changer under the passenger seat, or what?
-juice
Jim
P.S. $250 really doesn't seem that bad to me for the stand alone OEM CD player when you factor in absolute plug and play and fit/finish.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?A39425D01
As for tinting, we will be doing that shortly on both cars; most likely with 3M mettalic; it's got a very good reputation
-juice
-juice
Jim
-mike
I'd actually be happy to win either one, as long as I don't lose both.
Tell you what, though, if I do get both and for whatever reason can't (or don't) use either one, I'll offer them to you at my cost.
-juice
I'd say spring for the metallic tint this time. You already have dyed film so make the experience complete. I feel that there are enough noticable differences between the two (especially with night driving) that would make getting the metallic worthwhile.
As for the CD player, my question is how important is the need to play tapes? If you MUST play tapes, but want to listen to an occasional CD, the cheapest but least convenient way is to simply buy a portable CD player (with car adapter) and one of those audio jack-to-cassette adapters.
I personally would go for a CD changer. We put in a single in-dash CD player on my wife's Jetta and the need to keep changing CD's drives me nuts. I like being able to skip to the next CD at the flick of a button.
Other things to consider:
- If you have a CD-burner and a sound card, you can easily convert your tapes to CD. There's quite a bit of SW out there that lets you do this (ie. Adaptec CD Creator).
- For getting the most music from a CD, consider getting a CD/MP3 player. With a standard audio CD, you'll typically get 15 songs, max. With MP3 files, you can cram up to 150 songs (depending on your sampling rate) on one CD. It can potentially displace the need for a CD-changer if you don't mind ripping CDs. I recently purchased a portable Sony CD/MP3 player to take with me on my business trips. It's great since I only need to take 1-2 discs to keep me entertained, plus the battery consumption is great.
Ken
I posted this on the Forester forum and Juice said maybe someone would be able to clue me in here so here goes.
I have a 2002 Forester with the cassette (and no cd) radio. I did not get the tweeters. My question is ... if I update to a component system for the front speakers and add the tweeters will I find that there are already crossovers in my car and all I would have to add are the tweeters (and either live with the factory speakers or add new front speakers), or am I going to have to buy new 61/2" front speakers, tweeters AND crossovers (either separately or as a bundled unit)
I seem to remember someone awhile ago ) saying that the wiring was already in place to just add tweeters but did not say anything about needing crossovers.
Any help would be appreciated.
Gene
As for tapes, I do prefer CDs, but most books on tape are still, well, on tape (especially library ones), so I have to have tape deck as well.
I believe Subaru pre-wires our cars with "cheap" crossovers. The tweeters need to only be plugged in.
One thing to keep in mind is that the factory tweeter is fairly small and you'll probably run into size issues with aftermarket ones.
Component speakers are nice, but IMO, the Forester isn't the best place to enjoy ultra-high-end audio. Wagons usually make proper speaker placement a little challenging due to more open space and a lack of a rear deck.
Ken
If you buy a component system then it should either come with its own crossover network that you will want to use, or you should build one for it if you're "piecing together" your own component system from parts (like www.madisound.com).
I would assume there is some sort of crossover on the stock wiring for the optional tweeters but I wouldn't trust it for any replacement.
-Colin
Thanks,
Dennis
She definitely wants both, so I bid on a couple of items up on eBay, we'll see. One's an add-on single CD, another a full stereo with the in-dash 6CD. If I get both, Sandy will be mighty happy, as will I.
Ideally I'd put the 6CD changer in her car, the add-on CD in mine.
-juice
tempting to say go with the metalic, but wouldn't it look clashy (clashing) against wintergreen?
As for CD, keep an eye on the i-Club. You could find a WRX OEM in-dash 6 CD/Tuner/Tape for ~$180.
-Dave
And if I survive, I'll put the '98 OB single CD/Tuner/Tape onto the '99 OBS.
TIA
-Dave
Dents gone courtesy of DentWizard:
Stephen :-)
Dave: please take photos! I can screw up too, so I'm sure we can help each other.
-juice