SilentJ20

2 hours ago, WRX USA said:

Sedan (and wagon) version available here:

https://www.japanparts.com/parts/detail/?id=3074

Wagon version available here:

https://avojdm.com/side-rain-visor-set-legacy-wagon/

They should have been available domestically.

Ok, so I have those on the list but wasn't sure how much they'd divert water coming down.  That angle makes it seem like they'd do more than I'd previously thought.

Discovered I need some kind of 'gutter' above the doors of my car.  The weather was misty and the water beads really built up.  When I opened the door and stepped one leg in, all the water above broke loose and ran onto my pants and seat. I probably had a quarter cup of water spilled in various places.  Good thing I was going home...  This car is very 'drippy' in general, it seems.  Door surrounds drip onto seats, trunk lid lower trim collects water and drips onto whatever is in the trunk when I open it up.

On 3/28/2024 at 6:22 AM, alex0856 said:

One of my cheap HID ballasts gave out after 9 years of service. I'm impressed they lasted that long.

So, being that I am a "while we're there" kind of person, I pulled the trigger on something I've wanted for a long long time.

Nice!  I'm always looking for ways to improve visibility (without blinding others).  I'll be interested to see how these work out.  Are Bi-xenon the ones with the shutter that opens for high beams?

Got my JDM engine bay covers installed to cover up the power steering and battery bits.  Cleans up the engine bay a bit.  Avo JDM was too rich for shipping, so I did the slow-boat from Japan instead.  Took two months to get here.

And after doing this I noticed the bright blue label on the radiator hose.  Might see how easy that comes off...

21 hours ago, Febreze Mee said:

I knew you were close, but I didn't know you were that close. Puyallup here too. And now that you mention it, I KNOW I've seen you on 512, bc I've only ever seen one Spec B in the area.

Is your either Spec B DGM or BSM?

I don't get on 512 often, but it sure could have been me.  My car is debadged except for the "spec.B" (previous owner).  Other than that and bigger pipes it's pretty much stock on the outside.

Just an update.  It's been just over 8 months since my short block replacement in the spec.B.  Oil and coolant remain in their respective confined areas, and no fluid losses. the learning view continues to be stellar--IAM = 1.0, absolutely no knock detected, and only minor temporary fuel corrections.  The more I drive it the more I get attached to it.

Looking at replacing the trans fluid eventually, and I know brakes are coming due.  Still have yet to see another B in my area (Tacoma/Puyallup WA), but most Subaru guys I know respond with, "spec what??".  haha.

47 minutes ago, KZJonny said:

I wouldn't drive a sedan. I'm not gonna wear one either. 

This...  This makes me sad...  Haha.  I LOVE my spec.B sedan and I don't care what you say!  I made myself some different swag, though.  There was no spec.B shirts, so I had this printed (and it works for wagons, too!):

18 hours ago, BoozeRS05 said:

...When I stopped driving it and started garaging is when my dash got hazy and second stage is cracking...

Nooo, mine might be starting this process.  I've got a white powdery coating.  Odd thing is I daily drive it, but also garage it.  So a little different.  Western WA climate.

13 hours ago, Claw said:

Cleaned the MAF, reset the codes and went for a drive today, thankfully they didn't return but it got me thinking.. I replace the front two coil packs a couple of years ago (misfire, rough idle), but I think the rears are due for replacement this year.. what brand should I get from Rock Auto? NGK and Denso I recognize from the forums here.

I kinda cheaped out on the a coil.  One of my factory ones was operating fine, but part of the mounting lug for the bolt had broken.  I went with Delphi brand.  It was about a third of the price of NGK and Denso when I bought it.  I figure if Delphi is an OEM provider for other brands, they probably know how to make a coil.  About 5 thousand miles in and no issues.

This weekend I put some LED bulbs in the high beam slot and the fogs.  The halogen high beams were pretty abysmal at throwing light down the road.  I don't use them often, but when I do, I want them to THROW the light.  Also put some in for the fogs, as with the halogens I couldn't even tell if they were illuminating anything.  Brightness was just not there.

To try and replicate the filament behavior as much as I could I got these Auxito (high beams, fogs are similar geometry) with a thin led support and minimal protrusions. Even though I will not be using high beams into oncoming traffic, and even fogs will be minimal, I still wanted to put forth as consistent and non-offensive beam pattern as possible.

End result, highs are light cannons, fogs are useful.

13 minutes ago, tehspud said:

Update, changed oil. It was about a quart low, not great but not terrible after 4k miles. In sure some of that was still in the pan considering I couldn’t get any heat on it, and it’s 12 out there. 
 

HOWEVER

This is probably bad and I still shouldn’t drive it. (See attached vid)

IMG_1476.mov 36.13 MB · 0 downloads  

 

Oof.  That's fuel?  That should stay inside the engine.  Although, the cold does weird things to rubber parts.  Likely some seals have aged and contracted enough to no longer do their job?  Good news about those is they're all on the topside at least.

On the plus side, the engine didn't sound bad.  Did the oil light go off when you ran it like that (assuming that vid was after the oil change)?

2 hours ago, tehspud said:

Let the car sit all weekend in single digit (F) temps. Oil light didn't go away on startup this morning, I don't really feel comfortable letting it idle to warm up to see if that goes away. I checked the dipstick, there's oil there.

 

I'm hoping it's just too cold, and my next post isn't about buying a new short block...

Yikes.  I hope so, too, having just done a short block for other reasons.  The oil light is for pressure, right?  So once it warms back up outside you could do the post-new-engine method of building pressure back.  As in, pull the fuel pump fuse, crank a bit, rest, crank a bit, rest... a few times to see it the light goes off.  No ignition = less damage risk.  Have no idea if that's the best way, but it seems it couldn't hurt.  Too bad the damn oil pump is buried in there.  How often do those go bad?

Can you throw a heat lamp or something under it to warm the oil pan?

7 hours ago, 310Z said:

Looks good. More photo angles please. How did you get the hole below your mirror?

Oh, that little CRATER of a ding?  I got that from buying it used!  haha.  Probably should have fixed bodywork before wheels, buuuut...  I didn't.

7 hours ago, BoozeRS05 said:

Looks great. Also what lip is that? I’d love something subtle like it. 

I believe it's this one:  LIP

5 hours ago, seanyb505 said:

It is pretty good looking as far as sedans go. 

Well, thanks?  I guess I'll take it... in my sedan with a 6-speed manual.

FINALLY got the new wheels/tires mounted.  Sparco Assetto in matte bronze.  18x8 et48, front is perfectly flush with top of fender and mudflaps, rear is set in slightly (no spacers).  Tires are Continental DWS06 in 215/45R18, so the same size as original, just on a wider tire.  Slight stretch look, but within Conti's recommendations for the tire size.  I'm happy.

ps - I even got new tpms so the damn light is off!

10 hours ago, 05gtripper said:

 ***I really want a roof rack/bars-- but most models I see clamp into the window seal or door seal..  thus NEARLY eliminating the options for smoke shades/window visors..   making me more tempted to just bolt thru with some fender washer bolts thru roof with silicon. Vs a gay window latch rack that robs my window shade looks; let alone mounting.  

 

If you want to carry anything over 50lbs up there, do NOT drill holes.  A prev owner of my car did the drill method, used riv-nuts, and did a poor job preventing corrosion.  The roof flexed when the rack was pushed front/back.  Here's what I was left with:

Dimpled and rusted.  My short term fix was to clean up and prevent the corrosion as best I could, then siliconed some DIY painted fiberglass caps over the top until I can do a more permanent fix.  BUT, since the roof and rear quarters are all one piece of continuous body, blending paint to match will never be perfect.  It will never be as good as the original roof.  Please don't drill holes...

37 minutes ago, xt2005bonbon said:

Wagon? If yes, probably broken wires inside grommet between trunk and body.

Clarified my post.  Sedan.  Very aware of the wagon hatch problems, because that's 90% of the search results, haha.  

2008 Sedan.  Trying to track down why my rear defrost doesn't seem to be working.  Fuse = good.  Relay = good (swapped with horn to verify).  Measured resistance across grid = 145ohms.  Voltage across grid with defrost turned on = pulses between 6V-ish and zero??  On a 1-2 second pulse.  That doesn't seem normal.  I would have expected a solid 12V.  Can anyone confirm?  PM if desired, I don't want to clutter this thread up.

Replaced the trans pitch stop mount.  Bushings were starting to crack.  Just went with a stock type as a friend just gave me one of his spares.

Also straightened out fins on the intercooler while in there.

On 12/24/2023 at 3:56 PM, 310Z said:

A 215-45-18 is a 25.6 inch diameter tire with an 8.3 inch section width. That tire will gear up the final drive decreasing acceleration and over all performance as the stock tire diameter is 24.7 inch. I would recommend a 225-40-18 as that tire diameter is 25.1 inch with a section width of 9 inch as that is closer to the stock diameter thus keeping the final drive closer to stock. Just my $0.02

The stock tire size for the spec.B is 215/45R18.  This leads to the spec.B actually having slightly higher ground clearance than the regular GT models with 17in wheels.  I found a good deal on some DWS 06 tires in my stock size, too.  I'll post an update after mounting.

3 hours ago, 310Z said:

You did not mention the size and off set of the Sparco?

What is your goal with tires?

The previous Enkeis were 18x8.5 et45, and they stuck out about a half inch past my fenders in front. These Sparcos are 18x8 et48, and they're pretty much flush.

For tires a didn't want a whole bunch of meat on them, I'll probably just stick with the factory tire size of 215/45R18.  Should fit fine with minimal bulge/slight stretch.  Just looking for a deal on decent all-seasons.

Got new wheels.  After test fitting my previous Enkei Triumphs and realizing they were too wide for my car (too much poke for what I wanted), I sold them and got Sparco Assetto Gara in a size that met my goals.

This bronze color is a little less gold/brown than the Enkeis, but I still love the look.

Doing tire shopping now.  

Correct. That RCA is for using other devices. I believe the original intent was to use it along with the aux audio input on the stereo to combine audio & video.

On 12/16/2023 at 12:45 PM, 4BKT VET said:

How is this accomplished?

I used these two threads:

I like it better having the backup camera part of the nav screen because it's higher up and imo, easier to see than where the stereo is.

I don't really consider it "old".  My 2008 is 15 years old, effectively has a brand new engine and still drives wonderfully with 145k miles.  The cost to buy a new car, fix a new car, the move away from physical buttons (though backtracking is in sight), and the connectivity and crap required on newer (5 yrs or less) cars is a real turn-off.  I paid too much for my spec.B during covid, spent 4k on a new shortblock, clutch and other parts, and I still can't justify the price of newer cars.  Turbo, awd, 6-speed manual that fits 4 adults and isn't a bloated chonker... and it doesn't report driving/location metrics back to HQ?  I'm holding onto this thing as long as I can.

Besides, it's one year newer than my previous daily! (RIP)

Figure I'd throw a quick ask in here first:

Is there ANY reason why my spec.B front suspension would be wider than other cars?  I just replaced the hubs with OEM-equivalent.  Would different spindles, or anything make my front track about 1in (0.5in per side) wider overall? As far as I know, everything is stock and stock rims with no spacers.

3 minutes ago, WRX USA said:

What wheels did you remove and did they have hub centric spacers? When I installed my first of my new TE37's, I didn't realize that the spacer from the Enkei that I removed was stuck on the hub and I had issues getting five lugs on. I imagine with extended studs you could overlook this. Only 2 of 4 stuck to the hub and not the wheel.

I removed the factory 18x7 et55 wheels.  Factory-equivalent hubs, no spacers, no rings.  I didn't have the new rings yet so I just carefully put the Enkei Triumphs on with 3 lug nuts, just tight enough hold firm to get a look, plenty of thread to hold them on.  Idk, it's weird.