minuccims

Followed a 5th gen DGM over the Newport bridge. Stopped at a light in Newport had a white 4th gen GT wagon in front and the DGM to the right. Turns out to be stu1811. A good day.

Myles, Curious, how many miles until the coil overs break in? The Bilstiens took a few 100 miles to break in. During that time they felt like they needed more dampening.

Spotted several 5th gens enroute to Logan on I93N, around 6-620am. One was a blue 2.5i with dual exhaust. No GTs, no H6s.

dust boots

2012 exterior paint is Ice Silver Metalic

About 10am- White slammed 4th LGT, STI and WRX on 495 south maybe heading to cars and copters. Our car full was heading to King Richard's faire.

Both. Work. Some say fine on ramps under compression, others hanging. I had trouble under compression. If you have the whiteline 22mm RSB, you shall have to rotate the rear spring perch.

Spotted a GGM 5th gen LGT this morning in Newport.

Spotted a silver 4th gen LGT on RT138 over the bridges into Newport.

The box looks real ...

good stuff!

The RCE Blacks and Bilsteins were designed for each other as a pair. Take a look at the spring rates posted in this thread or a different one and there will be part of the answer. There is very little travel to the bump stops. If the springs shorten the travel too much, then the car may be at the suspension limit a lot and be a very jarring ride. If the springs are working with OEM shocks then it only gets better with the Bilsteins.

That was me.

Rear adapted bracket 04 still rotors, or dual drilled Dual drilled rear rotors 5th gen SS lines Pads ATE or motul fluid

Re-posting this info from another thread on some recommended bushings. Most of the bushings are common with others Subaru platforms.These are Whiteline part numbers, but AVO and a few other companies make some of these items. The KCA326 is NOT recommended unless you can get dedicated time at an alignment shop, with friends that can get pissed at you and forgive you over a few beers. KCA313: Whiteline roll center correction kit for Subaru Legacy 2010+ KCA406: Whiteline front lower control arm rear bushing set (caster correction) for Subaru Legacy 2010+ W0506: Whiteline front lower control arm front bushing set for GR WRX, LGT, FXT KDT905: Whiteline rear differential outrigger/front support bushing, press-in, for 2008-2010 WRX/STi KDT927: Whiteline rear differential rear mount bushing insert kit for Subaru Legacy 1998+ KDT901: Whiteline positive shift kit for Subaru Impreza 2008+/Legacy 2004+ Group N 5-speed Trans Mount Impreza Rs WRX Forester

Eager to follow the build.

Finally spotted as well! I had also waved when you passed. The traffic was full of left lane zombies. AVO exhaust. Great to drive with another LGT for a few miles.

Black 5th gen 3.6R on I95S somewhere around the NY tolls, perhaps 8 am. SGM 5th gen in NJ on I280E near exit 14 or so around 9am. Travelled with a black 4th gen GT on the merit parkway (N) until stopping for gas, perhaps around 3pm.

so much for a sleeper that no one notices

Fantastic build thread. Thanks for putting this together. It was great to watch you car get tuned by Bren.

no

Update - not a full confirmation but the JDM 2002 Brembos are the same as the 04-07 STI rears. Bracket is needed plus the dual drilled rotors. http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f65/va-2001-jdm-sti-brembo-rear-calipers-550-a-100154/ You can now get rears dual drilled http://www.fastwrx.com/20rewrxtosti.html

I've got too many projects so letting this one go. Government furlough starts next month; 20% reduction in pay for the next six months.

Hey all, thinking of letting the JDM lip to to local pick up (CT/RI/MA). PM me. If anyone going to Bren's on Saturday is interested, PM me and I'll bring it along.

First, many thanks to Coppertone for steering me towards the amp and sub for this project. So I set out to install a subwoofer unit that takes up NO additional space in the car. The install is to augment the OEM head unit and speakers. The install was a birthday present for my daughter who drives the 2007 Outback. Have ended up with is a common solution for at least the OB and Legacy platforms, that spans multiple generations. Whoo! Backgound: There are two options that I focused in on; under seat sub and wheel well sub. Had initially been leaning towards under seat subs from Kicker, sound ordinance and kenwood. http://www.crutchfield.com/p_20611HS8/Kicker-11HS8.html?tp=114 http://www.crutchfield.com/p_777B8PT/Sound-Ordnance-B-8PT.html?tp=114 http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KSCSW10/Kenwood-KSC-SW10.html?tp=114 The limitation here, of course with this setup is enclosure volume. The under seat amplified sub system is essentially pushing a small sub with no lower frequency gain contribution from an enclosure. Pouring through the many threads, there was a possible height issue for the kicker (number one pick). Although a lesser problem on the 5th gen, the undeseat subs installed in the 2007 OB would be kicked by a passenger in the rear seat. Typically for an adult in the rear seat, the front seat must be moved forward to gain leg room. I stumbled upon this cool amplified sub at Crutchfield. http://www.crutchfield.com/p_023GTPW692/Blaupunkt-6902A.html?tp=114 Had to use Google to translate a bunch of German posts, but the reviews were really good. Thing is built like a Panzer. Since there is ft3 volume to this enclosure, the specs on this sub reach down to 20hz. The problem here is that the height of this is under 7". This means that the spare tire needs to be removed. Thus for this effort, the Blaupunkt is a non starter. There are many DYI posts that create a fiberglass enclosure using the trunk to create the mold. Again, can't use the spare tire with these concepts. The simple aha moment for this project came when thinking about the fiberglass enclosures and wondering why it was needed since essentially just a cover is needed; the wheel well is the enclosure, duh. Did a rough measurements. The volume is alittle bigger than 25" x 25" x 3.5" or a volume of at least 1.3 cubic feet - not too shabby. Adding the rough volume withing the spare rim (less where it mounts on the hub) is roughly another 0.67 ft3 so crap, the total volume with the spare tire is 1.9 ft3. In reality, it's got to be a little over 2.0 ft3. The difference is volume is simple; keep the spare tire foam insert in the tire (that has the jack and tire iron ...) for a volume of 1.3 cubic feet, or remove it for 2.0 ft3. This drove the selection to a shallow mount woofer and compact amp. Calling Coppertone, calling Coppertone ..... Yes, I contacted Coppertone to see what electronics he had in his arsenal of new or slightly used cache of audio electronics. Well, as it turns out, we settled in on two components to get the job done: Massive Audio Nano BiT BX2 Class D dual channel Amp. OMG this thing is small (6.3" x 5.0" x 1.6") For this application, bringing the amp for a singe sub puts out 480 watts RMS. This BLOWS away the under seat offerings @ 150 Watts RMS or three times the power out. http://massiveaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/BX2-300x300.png%5Bimg%5Dhttp%3A//massiveaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/BX2_rca_Square1-300x300.png The BX2 has all of the standard offerings - RCA inputs, hi-level (speaker) inputs, remote power on, auto turn-on from hi-level inputs, fused an thermal protection, adjustable low pass filter, bass boost, And it's a class D amp with circuit cards meeting Mil-Specs. Coppertone paired the BX2 amp with a Kenwood Excelon KFC-XW1200F. http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113XW1200/Kenwood-Excelon-KFC-XW1200F.html?tp=111 http://www.crutchfield.com.edgesuite.net/pix.crutchfield.com/ImageHandler/fixedscale/400/300/products/2007/113/x113XW1200-f.jpeghttp://www2.crutchfield.com.edgesuite.net/pix.crutchfield.com/ImageHandler/fixedscale/400/300/products/2007/113/x113XW1200-o.jpeg This sub an efficient shallow mount woofer. Up to 350 Watts RMS (1400W peak), sensitivity 91dB, 30-700 Hz response, minimum enclosure volume of 0.8 cubic feet. The sub would be mounted underneath a 30" x 27" plywood rectangle. The 07 Outback was the restriction for the size (Attachment 1) Also cut out a bottom piece ( that can rest on the tire.) The pieces two are connected by 1/4" carriage bolts. (Attachment 2) The bottom piece rests on the tire. Currently, I have removed the bottom piece until the open diameter is increased from 12" to the 18" diameter of the spare tire rim. The next two attachments are fitted in the 07 OB and in the 2010 LGT. It may not be visible in the pic but the 2010 wheel well is slightly wider and there is a small gap (less than 1/2" gap on the sides. Note1: Used 1/2" plywood to leave about a 3/8" gap between the top of the plywood to the OEM carpeted wheel well access cover. The gap leaves enough room to support a noise dampening layer under the carpet. Finally, purchased some speaker grille material to stretch over the top of the wood and staple underneath. Install: Took the electronic to a local shop to run the power wire and hook up the electronics. The fifth attachment shows the sub, amp and line leveler. There are inline fuses at the battery for power and for the +12v remote turn on signal. The reasoning to mount it all together is portability. The shop used a Molex connector (attachment 6) laying around to disconnect audio and power lines from a single harness. Install a harness in the LGT and this sub moves from one car to another in minutes. Sound Review: All I can say is this sub rocks. It has transformed the OEM system above expectations. There is some really good extension down low. I don't have a meter to check it out, but maybe there is an Android app that can show the shape of the freq spectrum What is left .... vibration and noise isolation. Great link: http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/ Vibration isolation. Upon research, vibration isolation seems to be quite an emotional topic. There are many companies out there. The only critical thing to remember is to NOT get a product with asphalt filler. Butyl rubber dampening layer. What is important here is to get as much rubber as possible wit little to no filler. It is the rubber particles that convert vibration to heat. Another important attribute is the containing layer. This layer is typically made of aluminum 4mm or greater. Vibration itself is dampened in corners. 25-33% of a flat area. Many go wild and with 100% coverage, but that's just not needed. Picked up some Murdermat MDK as a balance of specs and cost. (Attachment 7) 79mm butyl rubber (99.9%) dampening layer, 8mm T6061 high grade aluminum constraint layer, and an added bonus thin clear vinyl layer to reduce cut fingers. Of course it remains too cold outside (no garage) to install. I bought enough for both cars, but the focus will be on the LGT for vibration isolation of the TBE. Noise isolation. OK, so vibration isolation alone is not the full solution. A barrier layer is essential to block the noise from outside (and keep the desired nose inside with out frequency summing or cancellation from outside noise sources. Mass loaded vinyl (1lb/ft2) with a closed foam separation layer does the trick. Crap, the stuff for the auto industry seems expensive. I took a different tactic and looked into what is used in buildings and home theaters. I whittled it down between two companies and found a carpet underlayment with the foam separation adhered to the MLV. This stuff can be ordered by the foot with a 4.5' width. I picked up 8' of it (Attachment 8). May be able to cut this out today. Again, the LGT is simpler than the 07 OB to install. Will focus on the trunk first, then may look into vibration isolation on the doors. Did not want to go too crazy. I have a sound meter and will take some before/after averages of level changes. Quick update Filled the truck with five cases of water and groceries. The based was attenuated, not muffled. Turned up the bass setting from -3 to 0 on the head unit. That was enough to get the bass back. So far, still good.