Pleides

Once the Camry got AWD, I think the Legacy had served its purpose. The new one is a perfectly fine car, but that infotainment system is awful, and buyers are gonna prefer the more popular Accord and Camry, regardless. That head unit isn't helping it, though.

I was gonna

On 4/29/2024 at 8:52 AM, boxkita said:

the jdm forester sti 6mt was, theoretically, good for 200mph if you could rev to 8000rpm.

320hp driving as you stated, I'd clean it up, replace the bushings and any wear parts with least resistance parts. 

@Pleides I would opt for the spec b gearing but make 6th gear as over drive as I could, mpg is mpg. Even on the 86, I skip shift to 6th gear and cruise as soon as I can. Unless Im being irresponsible, then 3rd gear only.

Get hardened gears? Micro-finish any parts that add drag?  Stretch goal - powder finish the outside sti pink

I'm definitely keeping the gearset if it's in good shape. If it isn't, definitely getting new Spec B gears to keep the ratios. As for cool factor mods, the pink might make it harder to ward off the Subaru stereotypes about their owners' sexual preferences...

10 minutes ago, KZJonny said:

I don’t *know* this, but I assume the Spec B 6MT ratios were designed for the JDM 2.0L, and we just got the same ones, despite having a bigger engine with more torque to take advantage of.

If JDM Spec Bs don’t have the same ratios, my bad.

USDM Spec B gear ratios are super, super long. You won't hit 3K RPM on the highway until 80 MPH. Highway speed limits everywhere in the Portland metro max out at 55 until you get to Wilsonville, where it's 65.

Just now, KZJonny said:

Taller 6th gear?

It's gonna have the gear ratios gifted to the Spec B that are already in the transmission, assuming the gears don't need replacement. The whole reason I opted for that transmission was for the gearing!

I'm gonna be having my Spec B transmission rebuilt here shortly (yeah, @boxkitathe one I bought off you like 6 months ago... anyhoo).

The car is at 320 WHP on a VF52. I have no plans to make the car faster. I never launch the car. I don't plan to track the car. The car is a daily driver. At most, it gets a spirited drive every so often. The plan, originally, was to just rebuild it with all OEM stuff, but the transmission rebuilder can do whatever gears, synchros, etc. that I'd like. 

Any upgrades worth doing on a car that will have a stock clutch, perhaps just for the "feel" of the transmission? Not looking to spend big money to make an already durable transmission more durable, but if any internals would make the transmission better for a daily driver, I'm open to it.

6 hours ago, Bobsyouruncl said:

Ok sounds good, thanks. I think I'm gonna give it a whirl 

It's pretty low risk. Can't really mess anything up with it, although maybe be careful with the overspray on it. I got some that took a good while to get out of my paint with a clay bar and polishing. No idea why it was so hard to remove compared to the stuff that got layered up together on top of the emblems.

19 hours ago, Bobsyouruncl said:

How many coats?

I don't recall. I did a layer of the plastic dip clear in the end. I also vaguely remember attempting the job twice. It's been 5 years since, though.

13 hours ago, Bobsyouruncl said:

Did you plastidip on car or remove and actually dip?

I left the badges on the car, sprayed the plasti dip over the course of an hour or two, then peeled the excess off. If sprayed correctly, it's pretty easy to do. You'll need a toothpick to get between letters like hole in the capital A.

If you were to remove the badges and dunk them in plasti dip, you'd lose the adhesive properties of the back of the badges.

19 hours ago, pleiadesfella said:

it seems you went with what I originally wanted to do except you had the cash to do it . sounds like a great setup, though 3k is an insane price for me right now as I only have $1.5k cad set aside for my brake repairs lol.

would there be a big difference in getting a reman caliper vs. a claimed "new" caliper from rockauto? I was thinking of going new simply because I've read some stories about remans prematurely seizing, which is something I don't want to deal with again.

I don't think I can justify the premium for the hawk pads right now as I won't be immediately autocrossing the car, but I'll consider them down the line. would also prefer some quieter brakes for now, especially after hearing what my stuck caliper sounded like when I was driving down to the tire shop  

thanks for all your input guys, I'm also going to discuss with my mechanic to see what they think about the rotors needing a replacement and I'll order new parts from there.

Yes, I did have the cash and I believe my calipers may actually be reman'd ones off Rockauto. No issues here after 3 years. We've only very recently (like last winter) started salting the roads in the winter here in Portland, so that could be part of it.

FWIW, I spent the dough on Brembos and have zero regrets. I went with Hawk HPS 5.0 pads as well as slotted rotors. I believe the rotors were DBA. The way the car looks is dramatically more aggressive and the brake pedal feel is 100% perfect. I was out like 3K for parts, though.

Reman calipers from RockAuto are probably the better way to go about this on a budget. You can get blank rotors from just about any brand and some nice Hawk HPS 5.0 pads on the stock ones and get a similar experience to me. I don't track the car, so I pretty much only did it for the bling factor. They do make some noise.

On 3/27/2024 at 4:38 PM, Bobsyouruncl said:

Where did you get the black badging? 

Black badging? If you're talking about the rear of the car, I plastidipped the rear badges years ago back when I had black wheels. I removed the plastidip when I bought the wheels off of Nick Avgeres' wagon.

7 hours ago, boxkita said:

it's probably time to find a serious car hobby. Have you tried autox or, gasp, lapping?

btw, love the look of your wagon. The flex c/o should be alot of fun. get an alignment and corner balance when you are done. It really makes a difference.

I drove a "slammed" wagon for alot of years. Suspension travel was practically nil unless heavily G loaded. Never let age interfere with your right to smile doing something fun. My gr86 is the most impractical road-legal car I've ever owned or driven. I still smile like an idiot driving it.

It's my only car, so I'm just not comfortable tracking the car, to be frank. I'm not at a point where another car makes a lot of sense right now and, with plans to move to a more urban area in the coming months, two cars is likely off the table. Maybe if my only car were a Miata or GR86 (wink) that has cheap consumables or whatever, then sure. I am liking the Teins, for sure. They're stiffer than the Konis were, which is a bit of a bummer, but the handling is a bit better and steering feedback feels more alive.

I've considered a GR86 if I replace this car as it looks like a fun little car that also isn't giant like every other modern car. I really liked your car! Just looking at the finances and the desire to live somewhere more urban while it still makes sense and keeping the wagon going as a fun daily makes the most sense for the time being. I'd like a Boxster soonish - I will say.

2 hours ago, mra32 said:

I didn't see any PM in my inbox, but I will clarify my request if it helps.  No worries if you aren't interested but I want to make sure you understand my offer.  If you were to separate these, the shipping would be much much less than $100 for just the springs and spacers (probably about 1/3 of that) and I would be willing to pay more than $100 total to get it all here here. I pay something like $135,  You throw out everything else and get all of your space back and you end up with the same money in your pocket.  Let me know if this or some version of this works.

I understand you not wanting to ship, and perhaps this is a good middle ground for both of us.  Again, no worries if not.

I wasn't totally opposed to it, but this was a quote straight from the FedEx office next to my work for the whole kit. Couldn't find a time to go to the nearest UPS (not particularly close) and thought "Well, that's probably gonna have a similar price there, too."

Did not realize you were not the guy who DM'd me, my apologies. He was in SoCal. I didn't separate them but might see if I can separate them at my shop at work since shipping will definitely be lots cheaper that way. Hate to throw the struts out but that might just be what ends up happening so I can ship off the springs.

 

Bumping again as I wanted to reiterate that I'm not interested in shipping these. Already spoke to @mra32via DM, but these cost >$100 to ship, so they're a local pickup only kinda deal.

It hasn't been that long, but I'll bump these again. The springs on their own are worth $100!

Seems like everybody is abandoning their LGTs 

Mine just got trailing arm bushings (again) after the OEM set lasted like 45K miles. Surgeline installed Whiteline bushings and also adjusted the right height of my Tein Flex Z's that my friends and I installed last week. The car handles so well, it's ridiculous. Don't have any pictures of the current ride height but did get to enjoy the thing looking absolutely dumped for a brief window in time. Rear ride height is now a bit more in line with the front ride height.

How many of y'all will still be kicking around at Wagonfest this year?

Do you have the rear diff (r180) still from the Spec B? I also need the shifter rod and stay. Just rocking a Spec B bellhousing (needs rebuilt inside) and need everything else for the swap.

Hey all,

I just did a suspension swap to coilovers on my Legacy GT wagon and need these evacuated from my garage. I share it with my roommates and have too many parts in there...

These are going for very cheap. The rears are 100% fine and have zero issues. The front struts really should not be reused. The KYB housings were cut too short and, as such, both fronts have failed under warranty. The right front is still "fine" to drive on but will live a severely shortened life after I had it replaced under warranty. The left front needs replaced as it's squeaky, doesn't move up and down within the housing properly, and should blow shortly. You can absolutely put the set on your car as-is, but I promise it will not handle well!

Springs are all in good shape with no rust. Top hats are great. The 3/'8" delrin spacers are also in good order. I've used these parts for only about 30K miles. When they were all new, the car handled very well and was very comfy. 

Asking for $100 for the whole set with all components, local pickup only. 

Dammmmnnn, Gunnar's wagon is the cream of the crop... What a sad time it'll be when that goes.

Shall we play The Price is Right on guessing how much he'll want for it? I'm guessing 18K.

It's been a small eternity since I updated anything here. The only mod that I can think of that has gone on the car since October of 22 was the Fluidampr crank pulley. Big fan of that one. Bad news though - the Koni struts up front have both failed during the time on the car. Right front went a year and a bit ago while Surgeline told me the left front had some odd movement within the shock, causing it to not bounce linearly up and down. I just ordered some Tein Flex Z coilovers a couple of hours ago and I think I'm going to lower the car a smidge more, maybe a half inch? That's going to look quite drastic, but I'm a young single guy and my commute is about 3 miles one way to work on smooth roads, so I'll live with the stupidity of a very low car. I'm 24 and my hairline doesn't appear to be coming back, so I'll enjoy the fun of having a slammed car while I can. 

My trailing arm bushings also need replacement. The coilovers I'm comfy doing myself but the trailing arm bushings look like such a pain in the ass to do that I'll let the shop handle that one. I had them done at 203K and now have 251K on the car and they're already completely gone. The car handles so incredibly poorly right now  Gonna opt for Whiteline bushings back there this time, hopefully for some better longevity. Not looking forward to all the added NVH, but such is life. I can't remember the last time I drove the car more than an hour. Maybe to Wagonfest 2023? Speaking of which, I neglected to get any photos myself, but have a couple from friends. 

Not much else going on with the wagon. I hit my quarter life crisis like a freight train starting midway through last year which meant reassessing a lot of things in my life after my grandad passed at 99 years old. I've felt less inclined to spend money on the car because I feel that the car serves me well as-is, and not everything has to be perfect on a car that is now old enough to vote. I've always been slow to buy with things that others might buy on impulse, but I think the money that I've spent on it is good enough for now and I have been putting money aside only for things it really needs. With 50K on the clutch and 251K on the transmission, both items are beginning to have their... oddities, so the 6-speed Spec B transmission that sits in my garage needing a rebuild is probably next, and I think that may just be the last thing I do to the car that isn't a basic maintenance item. I've always wanted to put a JDM bumper on it and all that cool stuff, but I also would like to experience other cars (looking at a silly Honda SMX as my next purchase), travel, and, now that I'm graduated after 6 long years of working full-time and studying full-time, just wanna be 20-something without worrying about the car as much.

If anybody here has tried the Flex Zs, do let me know. I suppose I've already been charged for them, but couldn't find much out there for this set on this car.

On 1/24/2024 at 7:54 AM, shadowsports said:

First post in years.  My '08 purchased new in 2007 is almost 18 yrs old now.  180K.  Returned to stock about 6 yrs ago.  I'd sell her if I could get excited about something new.  Right now, I can't really.  I would have bought a second STI, but Subaru made that decision for me.  The Solterra is a joke with its first gen charging technology and pathetic range for $44k.  Sadly, everything Subaru offers now is underpowered for my taste.  So, I'm holding out for something, but what is still the question.  Still a great brand, but I need some additional stock power levels.     

I work for a Porsche/Audi dealer. A lot of old Subaru owners moved on to Audi. The 2.0T A4 with the S-line package is pretty quick, especially with the dual clutch. Not that they're cheap, but hey, lots of Subaru people are engineers with money. 

What's up Justin!

Hoping to see this car live a longer life than the OBXT. Poor old car just kinda gave up the ghost.

22 hours ago, Infosecdad said:

I thought it did, but they have to meet the following criteria (that they sent me):
- Vehicles should be the same year, make, model and trim.
- Mileage must be within 100k miles of the loss vehicle.
- Vehicles should be located within a reasonable distance from the loss location.
- Comparable vehicles must be listed or sold within 90 days of the loss.
- Ads must have verifiable information, such as a link or contact information as well as VIN#.
- Comparable vehicles must be reflective of the used market. In other words vehicles that are listed much higher than the base value of the loss vehicle without any notable or significant differences will not be considered.

 

Per the insurance agent, they consider a 2006 2.5i Sedan closer in value than a 2005 or 2007 GT Wagon (which I completely disagree with).

So I need to find 2006 Legacys, GT and wagon are preferable because of the higher value.

It's going to be very difficult finding a dealer selling any 06 car retail and not wholesale. That's a rough one.

3 hours ago, Enlight said:

Would love to compare UOA's, I'm posting mine up in my build thread as well. I'm currently still on Motul 10w40 Break-in Oil but will be switching to 8100 X-cess 5w-40 at the next change. I'm on an IAG Stage 2 Tuff block.

FWIW, I've done two UOA with Blackstone with 3700 miles and a smidge under 5K on each, one was pure Rotella 5W-40 and the other a mix of Rotella (leftover) and the free 5W-40 VW OEM oil I get from work. Both showed nothing really off and they said I could go longer.

With modern synthetic oil, I think the brand of oil doesn't matter much these days. I get free oil, so I ain't beating that, but you'd probably be fine with whatever the cheapest 5W-40 is for these cars in their age.

Driving home a couple days ago and maybe 5 minutes after my fuel light comes on the car chugs noticably and pulls a crazy amount of timing at around 1500-2000 RPM, likely just from whatever physics did to the remaining fuel in the tank. Scared me silly for a second. I can see wanting a different car to commute in, especially in their age.

1 hour ago, alex0856 said:

Thanks. I'll be in SW/Cedar Mill area. I'm pretty sure I've seen your wagon around. I'm born and raised in Battle Ground and have lived in Vancouver since 2012. But I've been working in Portland for 10 years now and the commute no longer makes sense. I'm fortunate to have a company paid work truck but the traffic is slowly eating away at my sanity.

Oh gotcha, yeah I grew up around Multnomah Village and lived in the area after moving out just off of Dosch. Good to know! I'm in Beaverton now, so a bit further west of you, but not far! 

That commute is definitely a nightmare in today's world, so I don't blame ya there.