JohnDeere714

Sketched this up on my own, the solid one year of high school shop class is finally starting to pay off. Still learning the ropes of Fusion360. As you can see I added holes for magnets. add holes to the back for zipties or let the cables fly?

Hey guys been a while since my last contribution to the community so I decided I might as well work on something that a lot of people probably have or haven't wished for. The Facebook group already got a peek. 

So if you're like me, you've probably gotten sick of dealing with that crap oem radio. Some of you 05/06 guys probably upgraded to the 07-09 radio for that sweet sweet aux port and some of you probably got sick of raiding junkyards for new $25 radios because the display keeps clonking out then decided to upgrade. Let's face it a lot of you went for the already expensive avo JDM climate controls and opted for a nice fancy Kenwood or Pioneer set up. Sure that's great and all but dang the factory spot kind of sucks for a fancy touch screen. So all this brings me here. By now we all came across those plug and play android radios that replace that upper dash cubby. There's a lot of benefits to it, like an easier to see location, apple carplay, gps, 4g and wifi. But the major downsize to a nice plug and play setup is that you have to leave the oem radio in place so you still have your climate controls, that's a lot of wasted real-estate that could've been used for something else and it's not ideally clean looking. 

Here's what I've been mocking up:

So I've gotten inspiration from this design. It already uses half of the open space and can be utilized for a boost gauge and for you slightly more modified guys, an A/F gauge. 

There are some downfalls I've come across (no pics atm).

1. Fitment is TIGHT. A 52mm gauge needs to be forced in without trimming. Some won't even fit at all. 

2. The walls on the top and bottom are thin which leads to weird finishes. 

3. It's up to you to figure out how to fit it. No biggie as I got that covered. But when fitted there's still gaps that can be filled.  

So here we are now. I've been teaching myself how to model with Fusion 360 and I've mocked this up:

As you can see it is very similar but it should fix the small issues I've had with the original design I found. (currently printing as I type) 

The face plate will be secured to the mount with magnets so you guys can easily access your gauges to make any modifications or add more stuff. Of course I'm still prototyping this design so changes can and will happen as I test fit things. 

To fill the bottom half of the double din slot in your avo climate controls I am planning on making a switch panel. This panel will consist of:

1. USB ports for your new android radio. 

2. DCCD control slots for you 6 speed swapped guys 

3. Any other things you guys wish to use 

To really help get this project moving I am needing a few things

1.  Dimensions of the DCCD controls that I-wire provides. That would be the LED light strip and knobs. I do not know if you guys prefer the GD switches or not.

2. IDEAS to add or improve this.

3. A wiring solution that doesn't require tapping/splicing into the new radio harness. 

As always guys, I'll Try and update everyone when I get the project really moving. 

You can get the torx bit from harbor freight. I believe the exedy oem smfw clutch kit I got came with new bolts. Now is also the time to get a new clutch fork and pivot too. 

43 minutes ago, SoobyDoobyDoo said:

If you’re happy with it, then who cares? There’s probably some on YouTube. I’ve got $180 in my 2018 STi mufflers, Sti mid-pipe is around $300, plus fab work. It’s not stainless but doesn’t sound bad. Shogun did it to his, it’s on YouTube search “Legacy GT STi catback” if you’re interested. Or when your mufflers blow out there’s enough axle back options out there. 

Exactly I’m happy with it now. I’m done dumping money in it now. Rather pay off student loans and get a down payment ready for a newish car. 

My dumbass went with DNA. Before anyone gives me shit I got it for $150 and it was close by. Damn OEM midpipe was on the verge of falling off.  It did drone a lot and had a bit of a tinny rasp to it at first but once it finally broken in it wasn't that bad. Sure it hangs a little lower than stock but it's the sound I like and when the shit mufflers finally blow out like everyone says they will i got my old nameless mufflers to put back on.

Any one got sound clips of nameless 5 inch mufflers with a resonator delete?

Is there a good way to strip paint off the plastic housing? I goofed up and added way too much paint when blacking out the insides. Sanding is taking way too long than i would like. I was thinking brake fluid might do the trick. I don't want to melt the plastic.

You could always get sloppy and just run the cable out the fender and into the cabin via the doorway.

This had me baffled the other day. On the Facebook legacy groups someone mentioned they had a turbo replaced and had a hard time getting boost. Easy solution, check the boost pill from experience of new turbos don't usually come with them. User said pill was missing. After more talking someone else said there should be 2 pills one on the turbo side of the tee and the other on the wastegate side. Why would that be? I had to buy a set of turbo lines to replace the ones the new turbo came with since the shop never put the pill back in. This set of lines also had 2 different sized pills. Why would this be? The car makes about 13-15 pounds on one pill. 

The cheapest and easiest solution is to get yourself a nice 07-09 Radio and have someone or yourself make an aux harness so you can use that sweet sweet aux button since the radio reception in these cars is utter dogshit. 

Only $25 from the pick n pull. 

1 hour ago, seanyb505 said:

Maybe I'm dumb, does this "style" differ  any from a general track build?

What tires are you running? Something like a Michelin PS4 or similar uhp summer tire will toss you out of your seat even on stock suspension. 

As most people build their cars out, the order is usually:

- Replace worn bushings with poly or oem rubber depending on what nvh compromise you're comfortable with 

- Rear sway bar

- Entry level struts/springs or coilovers

- Roll center kit (ballpoints and tie rod ends to keep geometry correct at lowered ride height

- STi steering rack

- Quality strut/spring or coilovers

- corner balance 

 

I think the temptation is to skip tires and a flushed brake system. Then probably to get as many bolt on suspension parts but not get it corner balanced and tuned for your driving style. 

There's also a general consensus that a lot of the chassis bracing for our cars is bling. 

Overall these cars are mostly composed and not prone to erratic behavior handling wise. Get something sticky on the wheels and see what you like or want different. You probably won't be keeping up with the miata club as it's a 3600lb nose heavy understeering sedan. No real way to get around that part. 

Dont forget the braces

On 10/24/2022 at 12:25 PM, KZJonny said:

+1 on this. Tho I did write and ask a while ago, and at the time he didn’t make one. Tired of looking at the aux port and wishing I could use it!

If you can pm me an email address i can get you all the info i saved up when i made a prototype harness a long while back. I  have a bunch of info saved. The hardest part would be is finding the actual 6 or 8 pin (I can't remember) plug that goes into the aux port. At minimum an i85 male is needed to get basic functionality but youd want the female too for SWC.

If you made these from scratch you could possibly even offer them at a cheaper rate since AE64 ordered a made harness from subaru and then repinned the part that went into the radio. 

10 minutes ago, KZJonny said:

I now have three different types of anti-sieze and use them all regularly. This may be more of a rust belt thing, but it also feels a little like a Subaru owner thing as well... 

Life would be a lot easier if subaru had a hole on top of the pinch or at least a better design

3 hours ago, ohno06gt said:

Had a clunking in the front end that's been getting progressively worse.  Jacked it up and realized it's my ball joint.  Started lubing up the pinch bolt and ball joint on passenger side.  Ordered the astro pneumatic ball joint tool.

Don't even want to drive the car right now.   I've seen what happens when one lets loose on the road.

Anyone have tips for ball joint replacement?  Praying I don't have to drill the pinch bolt out.

Just found out a loose pinch bolt was the source of my clunking. 

What you want to do is absolutely soak that pinchbolt in penetrating oil and add some moderate heat with a torch. I would recommend using a 3/8 impact on a low setting to help knock the rust loose, dont go balls to the wall.  You can try just getting away with a ratchet.

Now for the balljoint. If its factory, the threads are 9 times out of 10 going to be fucked no matter what. Threads on both of mine rounded out taking the castle nut.  Do not take the castle nut off!!!! Jam a chisle into the knuckle to loosen up the pinch on the ball joint and get a nice big hammer and a metal pipe or some sort of long metal thing and go to town on that control arm.  Stick a block of wood under the brake rotor to keepthe hub from moving. With enough pounsing on the control arm the ball joinh should pop out. When installing the new ball joint remember that anti seize is your best friend. 

@k00laid83 You're products appear to be top tier quality on the market right now!

Do you have any plans on expanding your store to include other legacy products? I'm still looking for someone who makes aux transplant harnesses so i can finally wire in the new center console thats been sitting in my basement for over a year now.

if you got small enough hands or are really goot at contorting yourself there is a little grommet behind the driver side fender. Not the main harness but just behind it. Thats what I tapped into for a boost reference line. Theres grommet kits you can use that allow wires to pass through if you dont want to cut a hole in it. 

In the process of completely blacking out headlights and adding switch back turn signals.

While also diagnosing a bad knock that likes to occur when turning the wheel a few degrees. Perrin endlinks are as tight as can be so Im assuming the strut shat the bed after changing out the cv. 

12 hours ago, Scottydunno said:

The holes you drill won't be visible at all, nor would it effect/affect the car in any manner. AFAIK, this is an update from our 4th gen LGT/08-14 WRX transmission. I've also heard next to nill about VA guys making decent power and losing a transmission. 

Good deal. It's just my ocd talking and the fear of messing up 

13 minutes ago, KZJonny said:

I can't really take any credit for the info, just passing it along. Scottydunno and Infosecdad did the heavy lifting actually installing them into 4th Gens. I just *want* to, so I read up on it.

Lots of information here.

It does seem like more of the worlds trolls can now be found on facebook than forums, which is a good thing. It takes a little time to search through archives and find cool information locked away on placed like this.  Easy to just immediately spew hate at the last post that popped up on your feed. (No bias here at all, I didn't abandon FB years ago, really, Hah!)

 

 

Damn i was hoping that you didn't hace to drill additional holes into my chassis 

11 minutes ago, KZJonny said:

Not so much aside from price and availability. I didn’t know that they were being adapted for mechanical shifters, which is encouraging, as I’d like to retain that.

You do not need to find a new rear diff, support and matching axles, which is a bonus as well. ($$$)

As you note, there are lots of un-exploded 5 and 6 speed transmissions running around out there. Supposedly the transmission was redesigned with the EE20 diesel in mind, so it should hold a fair lot of torque.

I suspect that if you’re not constantly doing clutch dumps, it should hold up a good long while. And if you want some extra assurance, the cost of the va 6speed + some Moore blast plates is still a lot less than an sti 6 speed these days.

They weigh less as well, which I suppose is a bonus if you’re counting kilograms….

Yeah I got blasted on facebook groups for suggesting that the va wrx swap is would be a cost effective. I guess since its split case and it doesn't come off an sti it's instantly junk. 

I can't remember the company but it was a tiktok of the R&D of this kit. So i hope it goes through. It was mainly for the 2022 VB wrx tho but i couldn't imagine it would be hard to put on other cable driven transmissions 

17 hours ago, KZJonny said:

Awesome. Out of curiosity, will you be using a 6spd from a Spec B/Sti or doing the wrx/5th gen GT 6 speed swap?

Who wouldn’t love the big 6 speed? I’d like to do the swap too, but at like 1/3 the cost to do the wrx style 6 speed, I think that’s the direction ima take.

Is there actually any benefit to using a va wrx 6 speed other than cost? They use the same style clutch and there are kits being made to convert it to mechanical linkages. Other places say that it's just as fragile as the 5 speed but I haven't heard of any of the built fa20 guys complaining about blowing transmissions yet. 

13 minutes ago, SoobyDoobyDoo said:

I like the style, but dunno if I like the way it fits/mounts. I’ve seen other wings for LGTs that seem to mount more flush with the trunk and look more natural (don’t know if they’re STi wings?). you’ll more than likely have to drill holes. These cars don’t come with factory mounting holes for the trunk, since they didn’t come with a wing. A co-worker has a WRX with a STi wing and he had to drill holes in his trunk lid. It’s possible but I’d take my time and use tape to mark. 

Personally I wouldn’t mind having a sedan with a wing like that cause I can’t afford a STi, and like the look of STis/Evos, though the functionality would hardly be used in all reality. You’ll find a lot of people here like these cars better cause they’re way less attention-grabbing than a WRX or STi, too, while being more affordable. No less expensive, though, as you’ll learn. I think of Maxcapacitys adage of these cars aren’t for the faint of heart or wallet every time I get in mine. But I’d still do it again. I’m kinda dumb that way, but YOLO. There’s more focus on having a fun, quick, non-descript daily. I drive a turbo wagon and i love it cause it’s a blast to drive but looking at it you wouldn’t think it’s a turbo unless you knew what it was. Sorry, /threadjack. 

A buddy of mine put an evo 8 wing on his and I got to say it looked really good. He swore up and down that it used the factory deck lid holes so I would have to recheck his statement. I’ve see the va sti wing as well but that ironically is too massive for a car that’s now smaller than a wrx. 
 

if memory serves me right this used to be his car that showed up on marketplace again. 

1 hour ago, thefultonhow said:

...you think. 

You're checking your oil every time you get gas, right? I learned the hard way to do that. The number of things on these cars that can either leak oil (which, with the undertray, you don't even see) or cause the car to burn oil is kind of ridiculous. And by the time the oil pressure light comes on, you need a new turbo,  a new shortblock, or both. 

I don't miss those days at all. 

oh trust me I do, I shoot to check it every other day or at least before I start it after it sits a while. The oil consumption is not that bad any more since I've done valve covers and replaced the inlet with an oem one. I did skip out on cam seals unfortunately. 

14 minutes ago, Max Capacity said:

About engine health, most of us learned these cars don't do well on the factory tune/map. Cobb AP can fix that. My wagon was on Cobb since Dec 8 2004, when AP was released. When I put a ej257 shortblock in at 154,000 miles, because I planned to keep the car and we had done some overboosting early on, When the trusted machine shop did my heads, in April 2012, he told me, "mine were the first set of these heads he'd seen that didn't need any valves". His shop does all the Subaru heads for the local dealers.  My heads have over 304,800 miles on them.

My cars see mostly highway miles, not much stop and go or short trips. These cars don't live well doing short trips.

You may be able to find a trunk lid that came with the wing to swap out for your's. That was a thing in the for sale forum a few years back.

I’ll keep that advice on hand. I have other things on my plate before I worry about actually tuning this car. But she does see some good highway driving when she’s used. 

17 minutes ago, thefultonhow said:

I thought body kits went out of style two decades ago?

I dunno, maybe it's just wishful thinking.

Inb4 OP needs a new shortblock but spent all his money on a body kit.

Shortblock is plenty healthy. Thats what happens when you keep your engine stock and keep up with maintenance.

Didn't expect the hostility when all I asked was a simple question.

Just to clarify I was looking at just the bumper and maybe the spoiler.

7 minutes ago, Max Capacity said:

It seems like it's been a long time since, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed, on here.

I realize people like to make things their own. That's why I was being nice. If you want the big wing, feel free to do what you want. I just want you to make sure you have a good running car first.

We did a full body kit on a Civic back in the early 2000's. That car became a full drag race 9 second car, we spent way too much money on it, but it was fun for a few years.

Definitely running good, for now at least. Got it back to stock after one of the previous owners slapped a Cobb intake on it and didn’t tune or care for it what so ever.  both bumpers are junk after it looks like the rear was replaced and whoever painted it needs to retire asap. Front bumper needs replaced since previous owner also self tapped an eBay lip to it and drove through PA with it and a chunk is nicked out of it due to a mishap with a pressure washer.
Just looking at my options of something different. I was also debating on doing an outback swap on it.