Reuben

Phase-II of the make Blighter staunch project underway! Picked these skirts off a GT wagon last week. I love whoe subie sedans and wagons of a generation having the same wheel base thing!!!

 

First I gotta remove my poverty spec mudflaps desigened to fit skirtless cars...

 

IMG_5130 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

Wash the dirt off and hit it with some degreaser

 

IMG_5131 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

Then hit it with the Meguiars Ultimate Compound, ******* excellent stuff. Sadly they have rubbed into the paint over the last 28 years. What can one do. Will dab over the exposed metal with a paint pen when I can.

 

IMG_5133 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

Next up, start the drilling! Thankfully there's a paint line where the underbody seal stops right around the same place the holes should be, so I could use that for the vertical placement of the holes. Longitudinal placement was easy, just mock the skirt up on the sill and mark it out. Managed to get it pretty accurate.

 

IMG_5126 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

IMG_5127 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

Like a bawss!!

 

IMG_5128 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

IMG_5129 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

IMG_5134 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

 

So, all that's left to do is wash them (I will re-paint them in the summer), drill the holes for the nut certs on the underside of the sill, and bolt em up!!

Sure are. Find your local auto electrical supplier, and see what they have, or hit the junk yards. You might want a decent 80w+ soldering iron if you want to solder on connectors from a junk yard. Crimping new connectors is probably the better option.

Details of the car (chassis, year, engine)(We can't assume it is the car in your profile you're talking about). What o2 sensors have you been using, all second hand? From the right model?

 

 

Find the aplicable factory service manual for your car and find the flow chart for that P code, you'll find in there instructions on how to check the wiring, if you suspect the cars wiring to be at fault.

 

But before any of that, I would start by just buying a brand new, genuine (only genuine, do not touch aftermarket for o2's), and fit that. Don't forget o2's are extremely delecate sensors, simply dropping it from half a foot onto concrete is enough to kill one. If you spray wd40 all over it, that can also kill it (there's little holes in the body of the sensor that it uses to breathe, if you get oil in there, can be curtains for the sensor.)

Autumn nearly over, and my new lip mounted.

 

 

IMG_5125 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

IMG_5111 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

 

IMG_5095 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

 

IMG_5097 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

My friend gave me his 95 legacy after i totalled my trailblazer(rip)... Hes put a lot of work into it running, but not safely... So...

Yesterday I changed the front rotors, calipers, and pads. And bled the lines.

Todays project will be the steering rack as there is way to much play for me to sleep soundly at night... Its wonder how he hasnt died... Hopefully i wont

 

 

Yeah, big pet peeve of mine as a mechanic, seeing steering and braking neglected. They totally transform how the car feels on the road too, it's one of those fixes that are quite rewarding, as you FEEL the result! But some just can't feel the problem in the first place I guess. All my cars are fricken SORTED in the steering and brake department, they all feel quite direct and responsive, it's a good feels.

Very nice! You're a good way there! She looks pretty straight too...

Bumping the ol sedan thread.

 

Today I gave the Blighter a wash, chamois, then hit it with mothers instant detailer. I need to do a full cut again, it's been 7 years since my last full 3-step on this thing! My my how time passes. But she still shine sup with the simple stuff.

 

IMG_5070 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

IMG_5071 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

IMG_5072 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

Yup, my fave wheels to date on my BC are the BBS mesh wheels I have, bloody love em. They are a different deisgn language, but are oh so period correct, and just suit the style.

The factory head units that were paired with the CD player are 1.5din. The total hole is 2.5din. So if you just run a modern single din head unit, you'll be left with a 1.5din hole. Subaru made a pocket for this, with a lid. Still available new, genuine, but I don't know the part number. I bought mine new, from an aftermarket supplier, but when I got it, I found it had the FHI logo on it! Was still new in it's wraper, and I forgot to jot down what the part number was.

 

https://edsautos.co.nz/

 

 

Here's the PDF for subaru, they have SUBP2 for the 1.5 din with flap, or SUBP1 for normal single din, or SUBP3 for single din with flap.

https://www.edsautos.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Subaru.pdf

This car is awesome! Love it, and love that it gets driven properly, yet is kept so tidy. Perfection!

May I ask why you have chosen to invest in an older car model?

This car will definitely need to undergo upgrades or modification.

 

 

Because first gens are awesome, what are you doing in this subforum with thinking like that!

 

 

Wheels with square cut spokes look sick on first gens, they match the brick like design language. There's Technocasts, and speedlines for that. I also think a good BBS mesh suits these things ultra nice.

 

 

Speedlines on the rally cars in the 90's!

 

 

Or the classic 6-spoke speedline

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r41/padraic555/legacy.jpg

 

 

And that design is also available in a split-spoke style

 

 

 

Classic JDM Technocasts, available in 17" also of course (i once had a pair of 17's)

 

 

 

 

JDM BBS Mesh wheels as seen factory on BG's in 16" (optianal), or for the facelift the same design was avail as a 17" too.

 

 

IMG_9644 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

IMG_9635 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

The ultra rare 17" option (they do pop up on croooober from time to time, but would be a good 1-2K once delivered to the states)

IMG_2909 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

For other ideas, here's my winter wheels, JDM 2.0R 4th gen wheels (may have been USDM as well?)

 

IMG_9212 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

Or you could go late model and just rock it, these wheels are also USDM.

 

IMG_4622 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

Holy shit! What a pearler! Thankfully if the belt goes, all you'll need is a tow home, the beauty of non interference engines.

He's a nice guy! Was fun having a few drinks with him, and gettin the running commentary from the people watching

How she sits now. These BBS's are what's suppose to be on the car, but my '91 BC has stolen them, since that now has 4-pots, so I had to swap on the BBS mesh wheels. I'm not gutted but this, as the BBS Meshes are the ultra rare optional 17" version for the BG GTB. shucks.

 

 

IMG_2396 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

Untitled by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

IMG_4186 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

IMG_4183 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

IMG_4190 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

And a couple weeks ago I played tour guide for Biran, aka Mr Regular.

 

 

IMG_4663 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

And my BC along side

IMG_4660 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

 

And the Regular Car Reviews P.O.V Drive.

In this crazy modern age of social media, forums seem to be falling by the wayside. But I don't want to see this happen, so I'm making a concerted effort to post more on the forums I love, and once loved. Facebook just isn't as good, but damn is it popular

 

 

 

I just checked and I have got a silly amount of posts here, this used to be one of the haunts I visited most frequently back in the day, and I just popped back to see how things were, and was pleasantly surprisded that it's still active.

 

 

For some reason, I never maintained my build thread on here, I think I mostly just shit posted, but it's never too late. I did find an old thread I started in 09, but I had barely kept it up to date... The same thread on SL-I, is like 20 pages long, lol.

 

 

So, to cut a long story short, here's my Beast. I hunted high and low for this thing back in '07, back then there were HUNDREDS on the local listings, it wasn't too hard to find what you wanted. Took me 3 months, but I found something that fufilled my list. I wanted a Black BG5C GTB from 1998, must be manual, must not have sunroofs, must not have the beam on the tailgate, or the protector on the rear bumper. And if it was a limited, that was a bonus, but not required. Well I found just that, and it was a limited. **** we had it good, cause you'd be hard pressed to be that picky today!!! If I ever had to replace this car I'd be looking for a long arse time. This beast was ex-repossed, so was going cheap. The market value in 07 for one of these (only 9 years old) was still pretty cheap, at about 12-13k. I picked it up for a trifle $8250.

 

It was quite literally my dream car, and within 3 months I blew it up.

 

 

A friend convinced me to single turbo it, and TBH in the 3 months of owning a TT, I could see how that was a good idea (though actually had to drive a single turbo to understand just how different they were). So I did, I documented the process, and I wrote a how to on the matter, which still gets around today, something I am proud of. Since then though I have learned the ways of the twin, and come to terms with them, I still endeavour to help TT owners out when I can.

 

 

The beast progressed nicely in the years following, it got a raft of handing upgrades, the engine bay tidied up nicely, and I managed to keep the car in good condition. Some time in 2015/16 I think, I blew up the forged engine I built at the start of 08 when I did the single conversion (ran it dry of oil), it was a good time to amend the dodgy work I had done back in the day. I found my split fuel rail lines had been rubbing on things, so I re-did all that, much tidier, and added a few goodies like silicone intake and what not, and the car thanked me for it. The new and improved engine, built with a STi V7 crate short block from subaru picked up full boost 200rpm earlier than the old intake setup, and I could hear the turbo nice and loud. The V7 block is also far nicer to drive than the old forgies, no more CLICK CLOCK CLACK on cold startups!

 

 

Today she mostly sits in storage, but comes out in summer for the good times. The Grit they lay on the road down here in Queenstown during winter mess up your paint work proper, the front end of this car is well peppered now!

 

 

Anyway, enough jibber jabber, have some pics.

 

 

The week I bought it:

NewGTB1 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

 

Not long after, I ditched the technocasts for stock wheel (regret!). You might recognise this pic, I put it on the BG page on wikipedia

IMG_4876 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

 

gtbnight1 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

 

3 months in, and pop goes the big ends.

 

deadgtb by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

Me in the middle, pushing the new motor

 

onthemove by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

 

After the build, she got a brand new HKS Silent Hi-power

hksbox by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

After the move from Auckland down to qtown in 2010

DSC00016 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

Ver.8 KYB's going in around this time

DSC00233 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

2012 ish, getting S201 Pillowball joint STi lateral and trailing arms. **** this is a good mod

IMG_5188 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

One of my fave Beast pics, from around this time

IMG_5215 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

 

 

IMG_5860_zps563292ca by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

Sup guys... It's been a while...

 

 

IMG_4656 by Reuben Horsley, on Flickr

I <3 snow.

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/IMG_7658.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/IMG_7683.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/IMG_7751.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/IMG_7778.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/IMG_7772.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/IMG_7834.jpg

 

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/IMG_7851.jpg

Mine passed the 100,000 mile mark a few weeks ago. Or 160,000KM in kiwi currency

 

Time for a big service me things, that's 150,000K on the chassis and gearbox, with 50,000K on my new engine. Time for some new gearbox oil, new spark plugs, heck, I need new brakes while I'm at it... I've got my eyes set on some red 4-pots :3

22 convert it!

150K (km) on mine now, 30K (km) on the new engine i built... wow.. 2 years ago now.

 

You americans and your high milages. I just can't grasp the huge distances in the states. High milage here in NZ is about 150,000k's, or about 100,000miles. Over that you best be getting a bloody cheap car.

 

A 98 GTB with 100,000miles on the clock here will go for about $4000us, for a damn good condition one.

 

Anyway, just over 150,000K's on mine, poor thing's getting over driven.

How about....

 

 

A steering rack!

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa208/Pilot_Reuben/IMG_5049.jpg

Oh no, something quite a bit more epic than that.

 

Currently the car is OBD-1 anyway, JDM's didn't go to OBD-2 till 98, when the BE/BH's came out, and the V5/6 impreza's. And i would have to worry bout that anyway, it's not the longblock that defines the loom, it's the intake manifold, and it's sensors.

 

Regardless, i'll be buying a Ver 8 STi engine and loom, with AVCS on the intake and exahust cams. Converting the car to Ver 8, then dropping the 2.2 Short-block in there, and running on an aftermarket ECU.

 

Don't forget just how different the Japanese Domestic Market is mate

I'm a former owner, but moved on to smaller better things

 

I do adore the 2.2's though, i hope to make an epic 2.2 turbo DOHC build in future.

 

 

 

 

 

Some day.... some day.....

Really? wow.

 

Just wiki'd it, apparently it was death by pain killer