Announcement

**applegeek897** · 09-02-2017, 12:08 PM

December 2015: I have decided it is time to start changing the look of the car. I like the look so far but I have been seeing so many soccer mum Outbacks that I thought time to distinguish myself.

This started with changes the colour of the brake callipers. It started with a rather paranoid masking job.

While the car was in the air it was a good time for a service. Oil was replaced with Castrol Edge 5W-30 engine oil and a Ryco Z79A oil filter.

Something that was also high on my list was to paint and restore the factory 18 inch wheels.

The wheels were repaired with bog in the areas where there was gutter rash then primed using Color Spec Primer Surfacer, painted using Color Spec base coat in Sparkling Graphite Metallic A22 and cleared with Color Spec Deep Crystal Clear.

After watching a recent episode of MCMTV2, I thought it would be a good time to check the cabin filter. Luckily I did, because it was in dire need of replacement. A replacement Ryco 322171 cabin filter was installed.

What felt like an eternity, the Raptor headers had finally arrived. I ordered the header in August of 2015, about two weeks after purchasing the car. At the end of December 2015 they finally here. These were the first step the completing my exhaust system and for the car to have its re-tune on E85.

**applegeek897** · 09-02-2017, 12:13 PM

January 2016: The car got its first proper wash and detail in awhile, something I needed to do way more often. My brothers SS-V Ute was also done.

I got a little bored one night and thought I would have a go painting the badge since I had some left over paint from my wheels. Its in pretty bad shape anyway so I was not worried if I was not super happy with it. I found my rear garnish was cracked for some reason so its a good excuse to replace it with a JDM one which will come with another badge anyway.

Considering the effort put in, I do not mind the end result.

Came out ok I suppose for the time put in.

**applegeek897** · 13-02-2017, 07:32 AM

January 2016: Chris from Best Mufflers in Carlton did an incredible job on my exhaust system. Great price and absolutely incredible service. He gave great advice on what needed to be done and fixed up a few of the little things while the car was there.

The car was loaded up ready for its work. Chris picture shows just how bad the condition of the front is.

The original front half of the system. Tired, old and ready for replacement!

Off they come!

The new catalytic converters, Magnaflow 59905M x2 with the sensor fittings welded in.

The Raptor headers fitted with the rest of the system, 2 1/4 inch stainless.

The cat-back suffered from the old XForce hang, which from what I have seen it is pretty common.

The pipe work was painted matt black and the hanging pipes fixed.

**applegeek897** · 13-02-2017, 07:41 AM

February 2016: Finally got shots of the car with the painted wheels.

It was just after this my new DeatschWerks DW65c fuel pump. The car was booked in for the new pump, filter and sock to be installed at the mechanic. The car was tuned with the old stuff in the car so the E85 could flush the fuel system, due to this for the last few tanks I have had to drive under 3K, not an task.

**applegeek897** · 13-02-2017, 07:45 AM

February 2016: The last two days have been interesting to say the least. Finally got my fuel pump installed yesterday by a mechanic because I thought this is something I would rather not do myself even though I have done more complex things before as the last thing I would like is for the car to lean out while driving hard because I did not install it properly. My brother picked the car up last night and said that on the way home, under even light throttle the car was chugging and not accelerating, This got me very worried. Anyway I waited until I got home from work before starting to panic. My brother always bullshits me so I would see for myself. The car started fine and drove ok out the driveway but eventually, yep, it started chugging. Basically the car was loosing fuel pressure.

I drove the car back the next morning to the mechanic and he said he had no idea why it would have been doing it. Spoke to Matt (KiDo) and he said it definitely was not installed properly. So the car was booked in for sometime the week after to be looked at, I need the car every day and with the Cuore still not having rego that was not an option. So I thought I could not make it worse to hell lets have a go.

Back seat removed and cover off.

Separated the pump and filter from the main assembly. This is a shit job, not so much hard but very finicky, everything is small and plastic also god the smell of fuel is strong, E85 up close has a very much strong vodka smell.

Here is one of the culprits, basically no seal so no fuel pressure.

In the case of this pump for the Gen IV it needs the plastic spacer from original pump and two O rings as seen below. The mechanic only used a single O ring with no spacer, another reason there was no fuel pressure.

After that everything went back together and all is good now. I really should have done it myself in the beginning but the car needed to go in anyway for a new tyre and pink slip. He was just going to take off the labour for the job so no complaints. In all fairness he does not do any sort of modifications so I am not angry just glad it is sorted now. It has been so hard driving the car under 3,000 rpm. Two full tanks of E85 needed to be ran through on the old setup to clean the lines out, for those two tanks the car can be driven hard. After that it must be kept under 3,000 rpm as the filter is likely clogged with the shit from the petrol once the lines are cleaned. Then when the new pump is installed you also chuck in a new filter and sock. Doing this before the E85 would mean that you would have to do it again anyway.

**applegeek897** · 14-02-2017, 04:36 PM

April 2016: The car has been running amazing. Pulls hard everywhere and so happy with the sound overall. I do plan on swapping the tips over to either quad tips or if I can find them some STI GENOME mufflers as I heard they sound pretty though!

I attended the Mighty Car Mods Nationals and raced the car. I was running high 15's before E85 and managed to get a 15.1 which I was a bit disappointed about considering what other people have gotten with the same setup, my MPH was strong at 98MPH, but my launches need a little improvement to help bring that should bring my 60ft right down and see me hitting mid to low 14s.

We recently had a Shire Subaru meet which was fun, not from the Shire but anyway. There was probably around 50 cars but just got photos of my crowd.

I picked up a turbo bonnet that I got cheap just to see how I feel about it. I have got a mate that's going to fix it up and paint it and then I will see how I feel about it. I know lots of people hate the turbo bonnet on the H6 or any N/A car for that matter, and yeah I kinda get it. Either way if I sell it I'll make a good profit so if it does go it will be replaced with a outback bonnet. I just really love the scoop.

One thing that has been paining me for a while is the wing on the car was seriously sun damaged and crack a bit.

I have had chat to Ben from Ichiban and they have a Gen 4 half cut coming in, unfortunately not a Spec B otherwise I would sweep the bumper and side skirts quick smart, but at least I will be able to grab another wing, rear garnish and headlights, maybe a couple other things but we'll see what happens.

I already had some primer and clear coat sitting around at home from another job so grabbed some colour and so the painting began.

Sanded

Primed

Colour

Cleared, turned out ok needed a bit of a buff but after looked half decent.

It was a quick job on a Saturday, knowing it was going to be replaced anyway I was not too fused but I am happy with how it came out.

Also found a nice new spot local to me for shots

I managed to score a mint set of rear FL tail lights off a mate for a bargain. Im really happy with them and they really update the look of the car.

Out with the old, and in with the new

Current plans for the car is just to really clean it up. Im happy with the power for now. I really just to replace the front.

Im going to focus on getting the interior as immaculate as possible. I really taken a licking to the idea of OEM+. So that's going to kinda be what I'd like to do going forward.

Lastly today finished a bit crap after this happened. I have no idea how it managed to hold air.

**applegeek897** · 14-02-2017, 04:48 PM

May 2016: Had a bit of time today to sort a couple things out today,

First was to replace the numberplate lights with some nice white L.E.D. ones.

Before / 50/50 / After

Unfortunately after getting to the second one I noticed this handiwork of the previous owners reverse cam install.

Anyway, I am in need of a new rear garnish and wing anyway so looks like I will just replace the whole tailgate.

Also the actual plastic holding the cam was super brittle and disintegrated itself. I will have to work another way to mount it.

Also just copped a dead tail light so also time to swap the last bulbs out with some LED ones. Everything is now LED expect for the projectors.

All done a little brighter then before and instant light.

**applegeek897** · 14-02-2017, 05:04 PM

May 2016: I have needed to replace the headlights since the day I bought the car, as one was cracked when the car was hit by the previous owner and has been getting water in. Overall they are in pretty bad condition anyway. I wasnt really looking for them just waiting for a good deal to pop up and they did.

Due to the hit the car took before I bought it, it caused one of the mounts to break off and gave a place for water in enter, hence all the water that always got into the headlights.

It seems every time I work on the car I find more of the previous owners handy work. The headlights had been rigged so that when the high beams were activated the fog lights would also turn on rather then on the fog switch.

I have completely deleted this system and returned it back to factory. I have not connected the fog lights back up yet as I dont really need them now and will be getting new ones when my new bumper comes.

Feels like half this car is held on with Zip-ties.

Again due to the hit, the headlight bracket was completely screwed. It actually sheared the metal. I managed to bend it back as much as I could but it was too far gone.

I got a replacement one courtesy of Nigel.

Sad Subaru.

New drivers side in place. Gotta love that perfect fit.

Lit up.

The HIDs that were in the car, have been removed and Ive got back to normal bulbs for now until I find something better. One was blown from the other light getting water in anyway which screwed the ballest. Once I do this Im going to look at doing high and low beams and fogs all at once.

Before and after.

And done. The bumper fits so much better now.

Overnight parts from America.

Before and After

The old one was pretty badly worn and was long overdue for replacement, its so nice using the new one. Ive always had the plan to go for a red / black theme for the inside so happy with the knob. Its from a MY15 STI. It will go nicely with Redline Goods stuff that is also one its way.

**applegeek897** · 25-02-2017, 07:22 PM

June 2016: Dropped past Peter CorgiWerx to grab come gearbox goodies.

- Shifter Bushes
- Lever Bushes
- Short Shift adapter

Redline Goods should also be arriving also. HardwareBoB and I did a group buy and said that his handbrake boot is for LHD which is annoying and hoping mine is RHD, if it is wrong its an error on their side so at at least itll get sorted.

**applegeek897** · 25-02-2017, 07:32 PM

June 2016: So the Redline Goods arrived and it was not all good news. Everything looked great but the handbrake boot was LHD.

While I wait to see how that gets sorted out I was excited to get the other two items on. I decided to go with Black Nappa leather with Red JDM stitching.

The old stuff has certainly seen better days.

Much to my surprise, is the difference in size is huge!

After a bit of a struggle, glue and A LOT of cloth pegs it can together.

The armrest was a quick affair, no removing of the old material, just a cover that slips over. I will be replacing the actual armrest at some point as its actually dented in a bit but it will do for now.

Armrest before / after

Shifter before / after

I like the idea of how it looks but the sizing is all wrong. The Velcro part that secures to the top of the shifter is not even close to tight enough. That coupled with the leather being to long it means that when I change gears it will slowly creep up and then get in the way of the reverse selector. Both Matt and I have contacted Redline goods regarding the issue and awaiting a reply. I have never heard a bad thing about them so hopefully it all gets sorted out.

**applegeek897** · 25-02-2017, 07:40 PM

July 2016: For properly the last two months my power steering pump has been so loud and angry plus it has been getting worse by the day. Lately it's been the usual case of either being too expensive or not having time.

Luckily Peter from CorgiWerx was there to save the day with a rebuilt Power Steering Pump.

Started bright and early. Finally it was a nice day to be working on the car, something that's been rare in NSW lately.

While we were at it we thought we might as well replace the pulley bearings and the belt as some preventative maintenance.

Before / After

Something interesting that we found that one of the idler pulleys was actually not a genuine item and ever so slightly bigger, Peter is guessing possibly from a Commodore. Nevertheless it can be reused.

Bearings in and with the size difference between the two.

After some elbow grease and many four letter words the bolts and pesky clips came off.

Man oh man so much fluid had leaked. One of the main issue was the worn o-ring on the feed hose.

It all got a good clean before everything went back together.

Time for the master to do his magic. Pump disassembled, so filthy.

Ah yes much cleaner, mostly back together.

Again as more of some preventative maintenance we changed to belt while we were there even though the one there was in decent condition. Its so cheap there's no reason not too.

The difference it truely night and day, which is really to be expected. Considering how little a rebuild costs from Peter compared to a new unit its a no brainer!

**applegeek897** · 25-02-2017, 07:52 PM

July 2016: I really didn't wake up this morning thinking yes today I'm going to buy some new seats. I've had my eye on these tbSTI front seats for awhile now. I was kinda tempted when they first came up for $550 but wasn't worried if they were sold. They ended up going done to $350 and I got really interested. Then yesterday the seller said $200 if picked up that day, so I basically had no choice. Despite the 2.5 hour each way drive I had to have them...

I would have barley made it on one tank, E85 life...

Anyway back to the seats. Due to the high k's on the car specially the drivers seat, there was much wear and ass juice, they weren't in direr need of replacement but I've also kept my options open.

The new seats. They need a bit of a clean and condition but should clean up nicely.

Out with the old.

After some seriously tough bolts the passenger seat was out, man that is a heavy bastard. The tbSTI passenger seat is much lighter not being electric. There is less bottom bolstering but I don't think it'll bother me if I really hate it I can also go back to the old seats. Plus I've always got my eye open for some Evo 9 Recaros.

The drivers seat has seen much better days.

After getting the drivers seat in I realised that the switch for the electric motor is actually different, 4 vs 2 wire plug. This is due to the memory function on FL seats. The solution looks like cutting the connector off the old seat is going to be the best option and adapting to the new seat, Ill likely loose the memory function but its noting I've had before so I'm not fused.

The seats are in and Im so happy with how they feel. Mainly because they came from a significantly lower KM car so overall they are in better condition. Loving the red stitch.

Wiring up the seats was easier then I thought. I was worried because the FL seat has memory control and I wasnt sure if that was going to be a big job to get working, I wasnt bothered if it wasn't going to be able because at the end of the day I wasn't loosing anything.

I decided the best way to try and adapt them was rather then cutting wires Ill pull the wires out of the connectors and see if they could be adapted first.

New FL connector, 4 wire.

Wires out.

I pushed the thick red and black wire into the original connector and to my surprise it all worked. What ever the smaller two wires were it didnt need them, both the electric motor and memory works flawlessly.

**applegeek897** · 25-02-2017, 07:54 PM

August 2016: Nigel has had these for sale for some time now so I've been eyeing them for awhile. Tax time arrived so it was time for some car goodies.

They are Enkei RS05 18x7.5+50

]

It's a nice change to have centre caps.

They came with 235/45 tyres which have plenty of tread but are VERY interesting in the wet. My 225/40's will go back on the tyres at some point next week.

There's nothing like a clean car, first time in well over a month.

Before,

After, I forgot the exhaust tips were chrome.

**dougherty907** · 26-02-2017, 07:52 PM

This could be one of the cleanest looking liberty's I've seen
Great job man! Also how do you go with the exhaust seeing as you're a p plater, does it attract much attention?

Announcement

James' Subaru Liberty 3.0R-B Wagon "SKD55S"

James' Subaru Liberty 3.0R-B Wagon "SKD55S"

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