Pleides

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.

9 hours ago, alex0856 said:

A better question would be what DIDN'T I do to my 4th gen today (or over the last year-ish).

My wagon has been parked since 2020 and hasn't been driven regularly since 2017. I recently made the decision to move to Portland, which was going to require me to downsize. So, one car had to go.

I decided to start getting it road worthy again and see how I felt once it wasn't sad and covered in dust in the garage (and a home for a rats nest as I later found out).

Well, that day came, and after one drive it became pretty clear which vehicle would have to go. I left for the alignment shop and ended up coming back home around 4 hours/250 miles later.

I'll update later on what all I've done and what is left to do. I've easily spent 100s of hours (and thousands of dollars) in the past few months getting this pig back on the road. The Impreza is off to its new home on Saturday and I'm moving in 5 weeks and there is still so much to do. January 2nd marks 9 years of ownership and I'd like to have it mostly daily-able by then.

More to come!

 

Welcome to Portland! Lived here my whole life and very little out there compares. Hopefully I'll see your wagon around.

3 hours ago, BoozeRS05 said:

I’m a big fan of the new VB WRX, and they would be on my very short list for an immediate replacement vehicle if something tragic happened to my wagon.

Man, to each their own but I think it might be the ugliest car I've ever seen since the Aztek was released. I know the running gag is that the newest style of WRX is ugly, but I've never felt so strongly about a car's looks than the new WRX.

Granted, I haven't driven one. I've heard the OEM tuning on them is greatly improved over the FA20dit.

Man, that's a rough loss of the cars. Congrats to your daughter though! 

As they say, alcoholics don't run in the family - they drive! At least, I'm guessing that's what happened at 3 in the morning. 

On 12/22/2023 at 5:43 AM, blackobxt said:

If I lived in Australia I’d scoop up a Holden Adventra in an absolute hurry and would immediately start working on a turbo setup.

My friends who I'm staying with felt like I had shot them point blank when I told them we'd kill for a Commodore in the states since the Chevy SS got axed.

On 12/22/2023 at 8:04 AM, KZJonny said:

Not that I would necassarily ditch the LGT, but with some of the other options available to the rest of the world it's a very different story.

Nissan Stagea for a large wagon.
Toyota Caldina for something cheap and cheerful that is okay with having a supercharger or small turbo slapped on.
Keep it Subie and get the 2.0L Levorg w or w/o engine swap to something bigger.... etc... etc...

 

Hope you're enjoying Aus. Melbourne was one of the best places I visited while I was there a few years ago. Not much I really liked about Aus after spending a few months there, but the car culture is something to behold.

 

I landed in Adelaide for a few days' stay and then my friend and I drove to Melbourne. He's an Adelaide native. Quite liked both cities. Melbourne reminds me a lot of San Francisco. Adelaide is a bit of an eclectic mix of Portland and San Diego and its own city. Melbourne's car scene was unreal. I'd never seen a Ferrari F40 before and saw 3 in 24 hours there amongst an LFA, Carrera GT, XJ220, and so on. 

Replying from Melbourne,

There are wagons everywhere here in Australia. I would probably not continue to own an LGT wagon if I had the options they have here. 

With that said, until Caddy CTS-V 6-speed wagons make sense financially (they are super expensive, so probably never), it'll likely stay with me. 

On 12/19/2023 at 4:17 AM, BoozeRS05 said:

It’s basically impossible to find something that has everything my wagon does or that I don’t actually want. If my budget were $50k then it becomes a conversation, but as long as my wagon is structurally sound, I can upgrade it to my wildest dreams and still be waaay under budget. Why trade down when it’ll cost me twice as much to do so.

I’ll probably buy a Porsche to replace my wagon one day.

I'd really, really like a Boxster. Depending on if I want an auto or manual then I would consider a Jaguar F-Type. They're not practical, though, so it would have to be a second car.

I'm off for a trip out of the country here shortly and realized I'd be without my car for two weeks and became a bit sad. I've had the car for 5 years now and it's taken me many places and I have many memories with the car. It would be incredibly difficult for me to sell it. It doesn't hurt that interest rates are super high right now and my car still runs and drives fine, so the desire for a car with a loan attached to it is minimal. I've got a 6-speed sitting in the garage waiting for a rebuild so it can go into the car. I'm always thinking about the next thing I want to do with it or to it. 

These cars are quite old now. I joke that my car has a quarter million miles and is old enough to vote. Why do you hang on to yours? I just love mine too much to let it go. Perhaps if I have kids in the future and need a safer car or something I'll think about replacing it.

18 hours ago, 05gtripper said:

The boost control solenoid is a Densco- aka OEM.     How can I check my clutch minus fluid & massive unbolting+lifting? 

Put the car in 5th at 40 MPH and floor it. If the car gets rev happy and doesn't go anywhere then there's your sign.

Someone who's DIY'd the job will have to chime in on where the inspection cover for the clutch is, but I'm pretty sure you can inspect the guts of the clutch assembly without dropping the transmission. 

On 12/9/2023 at 12:49 PM, silverton said:

If you were not smart you would have just rode it out LOL

Some work was probably done on the front end of the vehicle and person doing the work was not good.

Perhaps the alignment guy was looking to introduce OP to those new bluetooth camber bolts?

Hey man, just going through the regular life of a track car, I guess! It doesn't surprise me that unsprung components of all shapes and sizes wear out from track use. Cornering forces with sticky tires are no joke! Glad to hear you made it out alive and that the car will be good to go for the next track session 

Does the car have mods and has it been tuned to account for those? Unless you have a spare shortblock lying around, I'd recommend you have someone watch you like a hawk when attempting to tune the car. Do a proper vacuum leak test before messing with the ECU as well. You likely have at least one vacuum leak if the hoses haven't been touched under the engine bay after 18 years. When checking under there, look for a Cobb or Grimmspeed boost control solenoid, if you don't mind reporting back if you see one.

Going 40 MPH in fourth gear and sending it is lugging the engine - you should be in second or third. It is possible that your clutch is letting go if the car is revving higher but not going. If you're on the original clutch then it's absolutely time to change that thing. Never seen a member here get more than 120K or so out of the factory clutch and dual mass flywheel these cars come with. I'm on my third clutch at 250K. 

If you don't mind ordering more parts, get a 3/8" Delrin spacer for the rear and the effective travel of the spring is dropped, thus raising the spring rate. Many of us wagon owners do this because, with the exception of Swift springs, most are made for the sedan and cause the rear to sag. 

Did you buy stock springs from Subaru? I can't imagine that, if your local inspections fail for lowered cars, that OEM springs will cause issues.

I'm curious what exact date you purchased your Konis? My suspicion is that Konis as of pandemic era have declined in quality. Both my fronts had some sort of severe failure by 30K miles. I'm driving the car with them right now having warrantied the right front, but the left front doesn't rebound much anymore. 

There's the potential that you didn't cut the strut housing correctly. I had a shop install mine, so I would have assumed that they did that job correctly, but who knows. If the housing is cut too short then that will cause issues. I actually suspect this is why my front right failed so quickly. For the front left, I think she's just defective. The thing isn't blown. The right front was leaking. 

See if you can take the strut off and watch the actual strut move up and down in its housing. if it's not moving completely straight (perhaps it shimmies a bit or has side-to-side movement like mine both have had), then that'll cause noises and premature failure. For me, the front left squeaked for about 10K miles before it just stopped rebounding. 

I so desperately don't want to deal with the maintenance of an air compressor in my suspension system without a warranty from an OEM like BMW or VW.

I mean, hey, it's not 3" all the way through, but I love my Borla. On my wagon I did have to have Surgeline weld longer exhaust tips on it. They cut the tips off, welded some pipe on, then welded the Borla tips back on. Sounds the same, but way less boomyness in the cabin from the exhaust being fit for a sedan and not a station wagon. 

I really strongly recommend the Borla. It genuinely isn't loud. If you have the windows up, it doesn't even give you a ton of Subaru rumble which is a frequency range that is just quite loud. You have to seriously rev the car out to get my car to a point where it will do hearing damage to someone right behind it. You don't get maybe 5000 RPM in my car in this video before the mic dials the gain back a bit so it doesn't clip the audio.

Oh, and power? I made 322 WHP on this dyno when my 1050X injectors were installed to supplement the VF52 at 19 PSI. I'm sure it's not a huge restriction unless you have some STI location turbo and a FMIC and plan to make well beyond what I'd consider a daily drivable level of power. 

Do you have the pillowball mounts for the Teins still? Might be interested.

3 minutes ago, Tehnation said:

How wide? 

8 inch wide wheels.

6 minutes ago, Tehnation said:

18's seem the way to go, that way you can minimize the drop. Like most have said in prior posts dropping the car to low is counterproductive. Bigger wheels can give you the looks and performance IMO. What size tire? I want to get some wide wheels, like 9" or 8.5". I was thinking 245/35/18 tire on 18x9 wheel, which should fit without modifications.  

My car is on 235/40R18s in the second picture (summers) and 225/45R18s in the first (winters). For 9" wide wheels I would run a 245 at minimum to avoid stretch. The wheel wells are not huge on this car and you will need around 2 degrees of negative camber to fit those wheels and tires with the kind of drop my car has. I rub at full turn trying to remove myself from tight parallel parking spots. 

On 11/16/2023 at 1:29 PM, Tehnation said:

I think the issue with the Koni's are the springs, I am convinced that the premature failures are due to lowering springs. Lets think about who has had a failure and what springs they were running. I wanted the big drop and used some springs that may or may not been in spec . I don't ever see people complaining about failure with stock springs or ride height. To me it seems things get fugazi when other than stock springs or ride height are involved. And its usually only the front struts that get f'ed cause now u have all these other extra variables when you deal with sleeves etc. 

I think most people are using the King or H&R spring sets with this car, which is what they've valved for, as I understand. The rears are still going strong on my car, so I suspect that might not be the issue, but I may be wrong.

10 hours ago, Tehnation said:

Would getting a bigger wheel like an 18" fill the gap better without dropping the car or less drop?

On a stock car, IMO an 18" wheel with appropriately-sized tires makes the car look like a monster truck. Just dropping the car half an inch will help with that on 18s. I think my car with the H&R springs looks awesome with 18s on it. 

On 11/14/2023 at 10:48 AM, boxkita said:

@Pleides When I sold my wagon, the BC were in need of a rebuild. Idk if new owner did it. 30k miles was maximum recommended from BC at the time especially given how I used them. 

Coilovers are a racecar part as such you should not expect passenger car life out of them. 30k miles between rebuilds should be a maximum number not a starting point.

Why does passing a shock dyno matter? unless you have a built/tuned suspension you are running on a consistent route, er, racetrack, being a couple pounds off won't matter. If you ever put anything other than a race spec (endurance 200tw) tire on your car,  the shock dyno report is more of a wall decoration.

If you racecar coilovers, the rce set with Myles weighing in is worth the money. You are paying for an expert to look at your usage and configuration and given you a recommendation. Once its on the car, you'll need to find an expert with a corner balance rack to further setup the car to get the maximum benefit from your purchase. You'll probably have to do the corner balance a couple times (testing on a consistent road course pays dividends along with data logging).

If you are building the car for you, start looking for a tire that provides the driving experience you want. I was/still am a fan of the Michelin SuperSports and their descendants. Its a consistent tire and handles well even until end of life. If you change tire brand/model every time, you don't really get a chance to build depth of tire knowledge. On the wagon, I got 10-15k miles per set. The gr86 is holding to this as well. Granted I don't track the gr86 so mileage has been a little longer.

Whoever you buy a set of c/o from, get a couple rebuild kits. The lgt is approaching 20yo, parts are getting hard to find. Oem parts have been on the shelf for 20 years in some cases so they are already toast before install. Aftermarket parts are 30k parts at best, less if you are flogging the car. Racewagon had 11k miles on the odometer when I bought it, many parts were beyond end of life when I upgraded to full whiteline.

Any parts you buy today, will be of lower quality. It was never a popular platform in the US so sti level parts stocking didn't happen. If you really want to be sure of quality, buy in quantity. Test each part and return the ones out of spec. Spec Miata shops buy in quantity of 100. Test all of them and make matched sets. It's expensive, time consuming and they are searching for the last millimeter of performance. Perhaps yer standards are a little high?

If you have engineering knowledge, you can find shops willing to make anything you want.  Ir you can contact a place like tssfab.us and ask them to make something for you. Whiteline still makes their full catalog. Megan still makes alot of stuff. ymmv

I guess my concern with the shock dyno example is that a set of four struts should be within a few % of each other in performance, not one or two failing a shock dyno out of the box. I would like to know I'm buying something where the tolerances aren't that wide and the parts are quality. As you said, there aren't a ton of options out there for these cars unlike the other Subaru counterparts, so you're stuck with what you can get. I do have Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires on the car right now and those do a great job.

On 11/14/2023 at 10:10 AM, DoctorDaveLGT said:

Eh, it is what it is. I wasn't excited for the impromptu cost but I am looking forward to getting away from the Swift springs and to raise the car a bit for a little extra protection of the S402 lip. The odd thing was that there were no signs of a fluid leak on the strut at all so I'm curious to see what Koni says when I send it off.

I still have no complaints about the Koni's though. If the Subie was still a daily I'd just replace any under the warranty and be on my way, maybe change the springs, but still think they're a great choice all things considered. Have Koni's on the TSX wagon with RSR springs and love that setup. Although I find it a little annoying that those shocks give you 2 perch mounting points for a little flexibility in desired ride height compared to the Subaru.

 

Sorry to hear your set was bad, too. I'm wondering if later Koni kits used lower-quality parts. When they work, they work amazingly. They were more comfortable than my blown KYB struts by a mile and I never had compliants from passengers. The body roll was a little bit much given the softer springrate of the H&R springs, but not abhorrent given the era of car we're talking about here. 

I'm still undecided on the strut options. Ultimately, I now live so close to work that I don't worry too much about the mechanical bits of the car getting me A to B, but I like to put nice stuff on the car so it lasts. I feel a little bummed about the Konis not lasting all that long. If anybody here has more insight to using H&R springs with Bilstein B8s, do let me know. They're the only other decent-quality non-coilover shock available for our cars that I know of if you plan on lowering the car.

4 hours ago, Febreze Mee said:

@Pleides I'm assuming you're not jumping into any competitive motorsports (with more than just bragging rights) with this car in the next lifetime of a coilover. For the kind of driving/experience you're in search of, I find it difficult to believe BC's would not suffice. It doesn't even have to be the BR Series. It could be the DS Series if that has the features your looking for in a coilover. Also, consider spring rates. How much does your car weigh? What roads do you find yourself on the most? What spring rate will be suited best across the range of damping that the coilover will be providing? Is the cost difference between a KW and shock/spring combo worth the ability to adjust ride height?

Let's trade cars when you come up next weekend. If we are really concerned that every cent is spent efficiently. I think I could save you $500+. I'm willing to bet that seat time in my car, vs whatever experience on all the suspension setups you've ever driven extensively in our chassis, will not reveal a $500+ difference in quality. I won't give any more details on it until after you've experienced it from the driver's seat, in order for you to enter with as little bias as possible. Worst case, you get seat time in a different car, and I walk away knowing that I do not understand the magnitude of just how much better a coilover can be. Best case, you've added another option to your list of choices. Just remember, @boxkita had BC's lol. 

Hey Andrew,

I've spent quite a bit of time in BCs. My biggest issue is that, like many Taiwanese coilovers, the quality shock to shock varies quite a lot. I know the internet has a tendency to bring out the complainers about a product, but the number of people with BC BR or similar rebrands (ISC, Godspeed, etc) have a set with at least one shock failing a shock dyno is too high to me. I like my Koni and H&R combo apart from the longevity, and roads where I'm at are quite smooth. I don't beat the heck out of my car and they were installed professionally. 

I also worry that, given how many parts are leaving parts factories since COVID with subpar build quality, I would like to avoid stuff that used cheap parts anywhere 3 or 4 years ago, as you know the quality has likely gone down, the price has gone up, or both for many auto parts. I've been in a few BC BR cars and they're comfy enough, handle OK enough, but you can tell that the valving in these things don't rival a $1000 strut and spring pairing, namely when rebounding over small bumps in the road. It's also not really a great sign that they spent any money or time engineering a shock for our chassis when they use a stiffer springrate for the front than the rear for our cars. 

I'm somewhat considering a Tein Flex Z set, only because I know Tein can engineer an OK shock and manufacture at scale enough to bring the price down to a reasonable level while maintaining OK quality from Japan, but I'm still leaning towards KWs or RCE T1s. Nobody seems to complain about those two, and I'm sure they'll last longer. 

7 minutes ago, shootz said:

Hmm, I haven't had one issue in the 40k miles they have on them so far.

You should check that your shocks in the front rebound and compress straight up and down (no side-to-side movement inside the shock tower). Both of my fronts failed within 30K or so.

If you haven't done this install yet, I'm in Beaverton and have the Koni and H&R springs set on my car. I love the combo, but I would never buy Konis for this car ever again. Too many failures of the front struts for my liking. 

3 hours ago, Tehnation said:

Damn I just realized neither come with top hats, and  if your like me and don't want to use ur old top hats on your new coilovers, then you gotta add another 400-500 for a set of top hats. Makes that 260 price difference more appealing. 

The 260 between the KW and RCE? Neither come with top hats, I believe.

48 minutes ago, Tehnation said:

The KYB strut mounts seem reasonably priced, you can get a full set for under 200 dollars. Anyone know who the oem manufacturer is for our struts? I thought it was KYB for some reason. 

https://www.amazon.com/KYB-SM5664-Strut-Mount/dp/B00HMGCJSQ

https://www.amazon.com/KYB-SM5214-Strut-Mount-Rear/dp/B000HDD87W

KYB is the OEM, and the KYB Excel-G is the OEM replacement strut. I got my top hats from a Subaru dealer (wanted the squishy ones to prevent more road noise than I already have) and I'm sure they cost about the same and are probably even the same part.