Humble Rumble

Klearz makes them to order, so you should still be able to get them. I have them on my lights as well, went with the clear version. (old pic) Fair warning: the tiny tabs that hold them in are substantially more fragile than the OEM reflectors.

Anyone in the vicinity of the Subaru factory should register for this autox event so we can hang out. https://www.motorsportreg.com/events/subaru-challenge-2022-of-indiana-automotive-scca-northwest-785385?fbclid=IwAR2kXAYSZoahz-H0LrGeXlSUUtI7xSf1TLAuYMX2V6IPKj5JyBYR0uPOBXs

Small project from over the weekend: Laile Beatrush Alternator cover fitted to my 3.6R. Bought this item used on YAJ, and the previous owner was a 2.5i Legacy (and fitted the STI plate, which I actually quite like), so the top holes were already perfectly drilled for the 2.5i alternator bracket. I fabbed up a very simple mending plate solution for affixing the 2.5i alternator bracket to the 3.6R. The right side of the bracket mounts essentially the same, the left side just lands slightly to the left and up. It’s similar enough that I was even able to re-attach the cable bracket that normally sits there (shown in the last two pictures) but that forced the cover to sit at a weird angle, so I just forewent it. I might add a washer or two on the left side, but overall very happy with the outcome. Love how this looks with the Kakimoto intake as well. Finally turning the engine bay into a very nice place to be, and somewhere that I’m not shy to show off at local meets and shows.

The headers will be going on very shortly after the dyno days, and then a re-dyno session to see the difference and get the tune sorted out (also doing the same intake swapping with the headers to see which combo performs best of the bunch). Trying to get all this stuff sorted out in the next 5 weeks to make SubieFest Midwest for Autox.

Got a bug up my butt the other day after installing my radiator and decided to finally slap on the Kakimoto Intake Chamber. Planning on dyno testing next week to get a baseline before finally installing my headers and am going to test with both the stock intake and this intake and see if there's any number different or if its just some fun bay bling.

Let me chime in since I have firsthand experience with them. The STI "tS" aluminum 5th gen arms will be a direct perfect fit for his car. His profile tag says "Liberty", meaning he's Aus based, so his car is JDM equivalent, and he won't suffer the fitment issues USDM cars do that use them. They have STI catalog part numbers, check my build thread in my signature, I have them listed there. As for what creep_nu referenced, USDM cars have 20mm wider track width than JDM/world market cars. As such, installing the tS arms on our cars actually un-squares our front fitment as they're 10mm narrower per side (20mm overall), so in order to run square front to back, USDM cars would need to run 10mm spacers on the front.

That's a shame. I liked that feature.

Has the forums done away with the "Thanks" feature? Not seeing it on any posts currently.

Don’t think that’s necessary tbh. The bottle is meant to sit on the metal normally, just with the tab in the hole. The upper screws are in the same spot, so I think it’s a non-issue.

And finally, here’s the completed Golpher H6 40mm dual core radiator install! Everything fit exactly as I hoped it would and it looks *fantastic* in the bay. Fabbed up a little bracket assembly to mount the fan control module on. Wiring was pretty straight forward, my buddy helped me with it since I’ve never soldered before, but essentially we just chopped the plugs off the SPAL fans and soldered the extra set of fan control plugs I had on. We also swapped out the large fan control plug as well, since I had a burn/flare issue that damaged the original plug and fan control unit (which I’m pretty sure is the lynchpin that killed my first engine). Fitment is perfect, the entire assembly rad/shroud/fan is EXACTLY same thickness as the OEM assembly, 5” thick, so absolutely no clearance issues with the block. Did have to trim about 3/4” off the three coolant hoses, and did need to get a different hose clamp for the radiator side of the lower hose, as the radiator nipple is just slightly too large for the OEM clamp. The Mishimoto overflow tank also fit perfectly, with the only caveat being that you have to rest the tank on the shroud bracket but NOT insert the bottom tab into the hole. This is the only way it will fit; using the tab hole makes the bottle contact the engine and not clear. The top two screws hold the bottoms more than firm enough. Very happy with the upgrade, going to log numbers over the next week and see how my temps do. Also took the opportunity to clean the engine bay a bit, badly needed it.

After a very long search, I finally found the last piece of the puzzle, for the 3.6R plug & play aluminum radiator upgrade setup I’ve been working on for the last few months. The only things left to do are re-wire the fan plugs, mount the control module in a better spot, and install the whole thing. The company that makes this radiator is Golpher, and it’s a 40mm dual core (they also offer a 26mm aluminum version, which is still an upgrade over stock), which should offer substantial increase in cooling efficiency, and should also have a marked affect on ATF temps, as both the factory rad and this one have integrated trans coolers as well. The radiator is actually a 4th Gen 3.0R radiator, but fitment is nearly identical to 3.6R. The top and bottom stay mounts are identical, the upper and lower coolant hose ports are identical, and the rad cap location is identical. The only real difference between the two is the trans cooler ports: 3.0R uses 2 straight fittings, while 3.6R uses 1 straight and 1 90-degree elbow. That elbow was the part holding this project up the most, as Golpher used an uncommon thread pitch fitting, and the male end is welded into the radiator so it’s unable to be changed easily. It turned out to be 9/16x24 thread (very near a very common sizing AN-6 fitting, but that’s 9/16x18 so will not work). The adapter I found with the correct female end thread had another, but different, uncommon thread for its male end: 5/8x18. I finally ended up finding a 90-degree elbow fitting with that thread pitch that would work. Once I am done with this installation, I’m going to work with the company to see if they could make a version with 90-degree elbows instead and offer it directly for 3.6R to hopefully eliminate the need for the adapter shenanigans. There’s multiple ways you can go about this setup. There’s a minimum list of parts you need to get it up and running, and there’s a handful of non-essential bonus parts that are nice to have if you want a “premium” installation. —Bare Minimum Parts (Basic)— -Golpher 03-09 EZ30 H6 Aluminum Radiator 40mm Dual Core (or 26mm version) - $503 (26mm is $440) -Mishimoto 08+ STI Aluminum Fan Shroud w/ Slim Fans (MMFS-STI-08P) *might not be necessary with 26mm rad, needed for 40mm) - $277 -BrassCraft 3/8" Female Fine Thread Flare (9/16x24) x 3/8" Male Flare Adapter - $10 -Parker Elbow Fitting 90-Degree Swivel 3/8" x 5/8-18 Thread (37982-6-6) - $13 -Various 10mm & 13mm hardware (M6 & M8) and brackets/mending plates (I opted for stainless everything) Total: $803 ($740 for 26mm, possible as low as $463 if stock fan shroud can fit) —Non-Essential Bonus Parts (Premium)— -SPAL 12" Medium Profile Curved Blade Puller Fan (30101522) x2 *need to drill new holes in fan shroud* - $206 (can be found cheap by googling part number) -Mishimoto 08+ STI Aluminum Coolant Overflow Tank (MMRT-STI-08) - $202 -Samco H6 3.6 L Non-Turbo Coolant Kit (TCS700/C) - $211 -Samco Clamp Kit (CK700/C) - $30 Additional Total: $649 --- Grand Total (40mm Basic): $803 Grand Total (26mm Basic): $740 (possibly $463) Grand Total (40mm Premium): $1452 Credit for the original discovery of Golpher goes to former group member Patrick (ThreeSixMafia). He went about his setup using Golpher’s 3rd Gen BE/BH H6 version rad, to which later I dug up that they also offer a 4th Gen BL/BP version too. He made his work with the Mishimoto fan shroud and fans, but did not do the elbow fitting, instead going with an extra length of hose and a junction fitting between it and the stock line. He also had to fabricate some altered upper mounts, and modified the upper hoses, as they’re in slightly different locations on the 3rd Gen version. The rad cap is also in between the two upper ports instead of off to the overflow tank side. Link to his work is here, we had a lot of DM back and forth between us trying to figure this whole project out: https://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6054712&postcount=33

More updates to post (I really need to start transplanting some of these posts into my build thread lmao). Both side Ganadors fully completed and installed. Fully motorized functionality, still need to wire the turn signals soon. The driver's side is currently USELESS, though the Prova glass makes it manageable. The passenger side spacer absolutely works as advertised and makes that side perfectly functional, I've been running the spacer regularly. I actually had a thought of something to try and make myself (and possibly market and sell in the future) as an alternative to both the LHD spacer and LHD glass that some companies make: a small wedge that attaches in between the glass and the glass base, that angles both sides to a more usable LHD position internally without an ugly spacer. I'd obviously have to do some testing and then find someone to 3d print it, but I think it could work. Either way, was losing how my car was looking, so I went to one of my favorite spots and took some glamour shots, taking full advantage of the crazy sky we had that day.

Tone is absolutely difficult to discern over the internet sometimes. Appreciate the response and follow-up, plenty more to share and soon too. Been checking off a lot of big projects/mods lately that I accumulated in the time my car was down.

VLEDS Micro Extreme H7 bulbs for low beams. Pick your favorite color, 5000K or 6000k, and enjoy endless visibility. Last LED bulbs you’ll ever have to buy.

It's disappointing to hear that from someone like you, but at the end of the day, I build my car for me and no one else. Testa and I have some similar tastes, but we're very different in approach. I'm building my car for track use in the long term, so it's not just exterior cosmetics. That said, I despise the "sleeper" mentality. If I'm making my car faster, I want it to look the part. It's never going to be a time attack machine, but something closer to "highway brawler" is what I'm eventually going for. I didn't get to live my boy racer dreams when I was the typical age to do so, so now that I'm in my 30's and actually have money to, why would I waste my time and effort doing anything other than what *I* like with my car. Another difference is that I vehemently document *everything* I do, and share the information. As much as I despise "sleeper" mentality, I despise "miser" mentality even more when it comes to sharing information about a car/build/mod/how-to. Both Testa and Stephen have/had Ganadors, neither documented the installation process or modifications needed to get them to work. I did. Posterity is something that's very important to me. I like 00's Japanese tuner style. Wangan/Shutokou/Kanjou/Mid Night/Initial D/Touge/etc have been a huge defining part of my life for more 2/3's of it. Adding Ganadors to my car does not make me "the new testa". It's a quintessential piece of a car modified in that era's style. It gets my car closer to my ultimate vision for it. If you don't like it, that's a shame, but at the end of the day, tough.

In other project news: I managed to get one of my Ganadors fully re-assembled and installed on the car with the Prova Convex Wide View Blue Glass. This was far and away one of the most difficult, frustrating, and stressful things I have ever done on my car, exclusively because of the springs, and the different shape motor bracket that turn signal mirrors use over standard mirrors. Re-assembling painted Ganadors is a solid #0 on my top 10 list of things I never want to do again in my life (and I still have to assemble the driver side). Even with all my pre-cautions and taping and such, there are still some spots that took some damage during the re-assembly. Thankfully, its nothing super noticeable and nothing you would ever notice unless you knew what you were looking for and were standing less than 1 foot away from the mirror. I do think, at least, that after doing one, the second will be a lot easier to do. As for the LHD spacers, I'm not completely sold on the fitment of them, but they do definitely do what they advertise to do. With them installed, the passenger side mirror is easily adjustable to a position that is perfectly usable for a LHD driver, so functionally, they're great. I don't think they fit well enough for me to want to run them 100% of the time. Once I get the other mirror installed and am able to go driving with them, I'm going to gauge how hard it is to see without them, and possibly only run them for track days or something like that (since installing them takes literally 5 seconds). Video of mirror adjustment:

One last small thing on the suspension: since I had to take it off for the coilover installation anyways, I went ahead and replaced my existing Cusco strut brace with a fresh one, and opted for the "hybrid bar" style one instead of the oval bar style that I had before. My existing Cusco strut brace got rusty and disgusting in less than a year being on the car, so I'm going to give this one a good coat of anti-rust spray to keep it fresher longer. Also got the hybrid bar one on a stupid good deal from an auction listing. Rest of the engine bay needs a good cleaning.

Got some updates to post, and a lot of pictures, all for different things, so multiple posts incoming. Firstly, after 8 months of sitting on my shelf, I finally installed my Fortune Auto 500 Coilovers weekend before last. Swift Spring upgrade, 10k/9k spring rates, +2k overvalved "Dewey-valved", setup by Dewey formerly of Six Star Motorsports. A small aside from the car, I'm very proud of the progression of my abilities in regards to working on my own car. I've learned so much since owning this car and it's knowledge I'll keep for the rest of my life. Installed them virtually entirely by myself, only help my friend gave me was using letting me use his quickjack lift and threading the top nuts while I held the coilover from the bottom (which I in fact did myself too on the passenger rear since he had to run to the store). Installation went smoother than 90% of the other projects we've done on my car, with one small caveat. Pre-load was set to 0.25" all around, and 6 clicks from full soft on all corners. However, when we were adjusting the height, we brought the front down roughly an 1" from where it sat on the H&R springs, a height I'm super happy with, and still had plenty of adjustment left. However, when we went to set the height in the rears, we completely bottomed out the height adjustment, and the rear was left sitting almost 1" higher than on the H&R springs. We double checked the installation, I reached out to a couple other friends, and we all came to the conclusion that they sent me the wrong length threaded bodies for the rear (possibly Outback length). The rear did settle to a more reasonable height after driving for a bit, but still far too high for a coilover that's adjusted to max low. So I reached out to Fortune directly to discuss the issue, and after providing them with pictures and details about my car, the coilover specs, and what I was experiencing, the guy I was speaking to said that essentially because my spring rates are so much heavier than the standard setup for this car (9k vs 6k), that the much stronger spring is not allowing the coilover to compress as much as it normally would, resulting in the higher ride height. Fortunately (hah), Fortune was super cool about it and offered to send me new, shorter threaded bodies for the rears at no extra cost. My existing rears are a 200mm threaded body with 90mm stroke, and they gave me two replacement options: a 180mm body with 90mm stroke, or the "super low" spec, which is a 185mm body with 79mm stroke. I opted for the 180mm body with 90mm stroke, as I figured it was better to keep the same stroke as I love the ride and handling characteristics. Also the other option would only gain me 6mm more low at max while sacrificing 11mm of stroke, which doesn't sound worth it for what I want from the coilovers. So, advice to anyone planning to go with Fortune 500s and a stiffer than default spring rate: order shorter rear threaded bodies. Currently waiting for the new bodies to arrive. Here's how the car sits currently after a week driving on it. I'm over the moon happy with how the car looks at this height, and it'll be even better when the rear is fixed. A final note on this setup: these coilovers drive, ride, handle, and overall perform SPECTACULARLY. I did end up backing the damper adjustment off a bit from 6 clicks to 4 clicks from full soft, as I found 6 to be a bit too bouncy on these spring rates for normal driving (though I'm thinking of bumping just the fronts up to 5 clicks now). The setup with these springs/valving is admittedly pretty stiff, still easily within the range of what I would consider manageable and comfortable, though I am used to stiffer suspension driving from the Konis, as I usually ran those 3/4 turn from full hard or harder at all times. And even at the height I'm at, I've had no issues with scraping or bottoming, and only have a very slight rub on the driver front over only the hugest Chicago highway bumps.

Got the Ganadors and grille back from paint! They are looking SO good. Can't wait to get these assembled and back on the car. He also cleaned the terrible clear overspray off the signals too. Looks so much better.

Got some update pics from the paint guy. Ganadors coming along nicely, and looking forward to having my grille not be cracked and cratered like the moon (and actually the correct color). Also took some time and sat down with my heatgun and separated the original Ganador glass from the backing plates. Just got a new roll of VHB in last night so I'm going to sit down tonight and get the Prova glass mounted to them while I wait for the housings to be done with paint. I'm *really* not looking forward to the re-assembly process, given how much of a pain the disassembly was. I'm going to let the housings cure for like a week before I attempted it, because I'm going to essentially cover them entirely painters tape, because the risk of scratching them with how you have to put them back together is very real. I'm going to have to devise a little mechanism to pull the springs back through the housings too, I'm currently thinking like a looped metal wire fed through the housings and looped onto the spring, and twisted around a screw driver might give me leverage (I hope). We'll see once I get them back.

Coming back to my radiator project, did some measurements a while back on the Golpher radiator that I'll be putting in my 3.6R, and it appears that the factory fans will definitely not fit with the thicker radiator, so I've been searching out a Mishimoto thin fan shroud, as Patrick verified in his post that it will fit (his radiator is the same thickness as mine). However, I absolutely did not want to pay the MSRP of $276, as I'm planning to ditch the Mishimoto fans and just use the shroud, and replace them with some SPAL fans. So I've been absolutely **scouring** the internet for a good deal one on, a coupon code, an open box special, something to save some money on what is essentially just a piece a metal for my purposes. Well yesterday, I finally found a deal that was too sweet to pass up, so I bought this: Mishimoto 15 WRX radiator, Mishimoto Thin Fan Shroud, and Mishimoto Coolant Overflow tank, all lightly used and in great condition (needs a slight clean up and polish). The whole set for $350, $378 after shipping. The fan shroud I need, that coolant over flow tank was something I was going to buy in the future (appears it will fit 3.6R as well), and the radiator is in good enough condition to sell off. The coolant tank is MSRP $200, so I got all three for $100 LESS than what it would've cost me to buy just the shroud and tank new ($478), and this is a $380 radiator new, so I can likely sell that off for a couple hundred and recoup even more costs (and fund the SPAL fans). Glad I held out and waited for a deal, I think I scored big time. (Seller's pictures, shipping this week)

Body color. I used Testa's car as an example to photoshop several years ago since we're the same color. His were black, and I like body color-matched much, much better. Compare:

Dropped off my Ganador mirror housings for paint. Also dropped off my grille for a repaint since it got some slight damage during my engine swap and is rock-chipped to hell anyways. It's also never been the right silver (was C6Z instead of G1U) so double win. Same dude that painted my front lip and spoiler is doing them. Also dropped off my lip with him due to some peeling that started shortly after install. He's touching that up for free, but since the lip is held on by self-tappers, it was actually easier and less of a headache to just drop off the whole bumper than remove the lip. Actually not a bad deal as my next two projects up are radiator replacement and seeing if I can work out an oil cooler, so now I've got extra room to work in there.

Wait wait, you have a 2.5i. The radiator setup is different, that part is for a 3.6R. On the 2.5i, the fan motors are arranged differently, but still worth checking for plug corrosion.

Not sure on the removal question, but the first thing I'd recommend doing is checking all of the plugs on the fan control module (right under the intake snorkel, attached to the corner of the fanshroud). Both of my fans quite working last year, and I tried. EVERYTHING. possible to get them running, and all it ended up being was some corrosion on one of the contacts of the main fan control plug. I scrapped the corrosion off, and they instantly started working again. this thing