Pleides

Door panels are identical. A bunch of P&S Carpet Bomb plus a carpet extractor like a Bissell Spotclean should do the trick on the apple juice if on your carpet or cloth seats. 

As for swapping in power seats, I can't imagine it would be easy. There likely isn't a wiring harness function for it on your non-limited car. 

Replica turbos aren't necessarily crap. If it was purchased from an auto parts store it may be OK. If it's some eBay $150 special then we might raise some eyebrows.

The only thing I can think of that I'd want out of an Outback is the black leather interior to get rid of the beige interior in my car. Depends on what you can swap over from your non-Limited car.

2 hours ago, Max Capacity said:

Yes, it's gone.

We will be picking up a 2023 Nissan Rogue SV on Monday. It's an 18-month lease for her to drive. I'll be taking the 18' Outback 3.6R to VT for skiing this winter. We bought the 3.6R new Oct 2017, it's about to roll 29,500 miles.

We miss the wagon too. But after the tranny broke again, I was done putting money into it. I really didn't want to drive it or the Spec B to VT every week.

Gosh, sorry to hear the transmission went kaput. Ya lose a shifter fork again? This is all news to me.

At least you still have the Spec B, right?

On 10/28/2022 at 10:16 AM, Max Capacity said:

I believe it's just the dust shield, not the backing plate its self.  You don't really need that piece of the puzzle.

Just noticed your signature. Is the wagon sold? I'll miss seeing it on here in all it's rusty glory

43 minutes ago, silverton said:

10 seconds per blade is pretty frickin time consuming

I mean I've already gotten my money's worth having had these blades since 2019 and not having to get multiple sets. Rubber just doesn't last as long as silicone so why more cars don't use silicone wipers I'm not quiet sure.

They're expensive, but I have PIAA wipers and they're about 3 years old and still work like new. They're silicone, so they're not as quiet as rubber ones, but I can handle a bit of extra noise for not having to replace wipers a bunch here in Oregon. I don't think I've ever had a pair of wipers more than 6-8 months here prior to using these.

07 Legacy GT part also works and is catless. Supposedly doesn't require a tune.

A stage 1 OTS tune will at least improve the delivery of timing and get the car moving a bit quicker. It won't feel like a monster, but you'll enjoy it. By modern standards, a stock 4th gen LGT is pretty mediocre as a performance car. The chassis is outclasses by a modern Civic and the turbo's power delivery being laggy and old-fashioned makes it feel slower than most modern turbo 4-cylinder cars like a Golf R or Focus ST. 

A VF40 still can rip with a proper downpipe and tune. 

I ran a Rotomaster turbo on my Legacy for 3 years before putting a VF52 in with a billet wheel. No issues with the turbo to speak of. 

A lot of these turbos are rebuilt and resold through auto parts outlets by companies who make OEM turbos for diesel trucks (such as Rotomaster). I wouldn't worry too much unless you hear it making weird noises or it's not boosting properly.

I would say, for the seller's sake, that I did PM them about what KW's cost to rebuild and ultimately determined that they basically need to be free to be worth rebuilding. I would include that if I were the OP.

Sorry to hear about your experiences, Crazycook. Hopefully everything works out alright.

19 hours ago, kevin swick said:

my car has the exact same problem i did the throtle relearn and it didn't work

You probably have a vacuum leak. Take it to a performance shop that can high pressure test it.

What's the "new combo?" Don't you have a JMP VF52? Are you comparing a stock one to his frankenmonster VF52?

1 hour ago, KZJonny said:

Considering welding in some short extensions to see if it helps. Cheaper to start there then replace the whole (new) system.

This is pretty much what ya gotta do. Surgeline used maybe 3 or 4 inches(?) of pipe from my tips to the muffler and it made a good bit of difference. I did get used to it very quickly, but you do notice it, especially when you start the car.

On 10/25/2022 at 6:36 AM, jams20 said:

Thanks for this! Gives me a check list.

1) check mounts

2) try different exhaust ( current setup is inside lip by a couple inches)

3) cargo Bay insulate

4) doors to make the radio sound better when I turn it up to drown out what doesn’t work

i will keep this updated with results. All others feel free to share as well.

If you stick with a 5-speed and don't 6-speed swap (the 6-speed without a hard trans mount feels about as nice to drive as the 5-speed with the Group N mount) then I still recommend doing the mount just because of how much better than transmission feels with the mount, but if you absolutely detest cabin noise then you gotta skip it. For me, the tradeoff was worth it but if I had to do it again I'd skip the urethane crossmember and all the other subframe/diff bushings to quiet it down and hopefully have the best of both worlds. 

What exhaust do you have? And do you have a sedan or wagon?

I didn't realize the yellow-wrapped wagon I saw at Wagonfest wasn't the old blue one just wrapped. Bummer to hear about what happened. These things are becoming rarer by the day! The JDM nuggets are quite nice, I must say.

The biggest (and worst) change in overall noise was the transmission mount for me. I have a Group N mount and the mount shares real estate with the exhaust, so if you have an aftermarket downpipe it will get quite loud. I also thoroughly regret the urethane subframe and diff bushings as the diff whine is louder and the subframe bushings all squeak like crazy when warm 2 years later. To lube all of them requires dropping the subframe, so fuck that.

For sound-deadening, on a wagon it will be all concentrated in the trunk. The enclosure created back there by the exposed hatch creates tons of reverb. Getting an exhaust that has tips minutely past the bumper will help a lot as will sound-deadening where the spare tire and fuel door areas are. Putting it in the doors mostly will make more satisfying door thunk noises when closing them and will improve the sound quality of the speakers a good bit too. Under the carpet is actually a pretty good ROI but I would ask a professional shop what they recommend for this. I believe many use DynaMat for certain spots and Dynaliner for other. I'd avoid using the cheap Dynamat knock-off stuff off Amazon as they use butyl which smells awful in the summer. It's what's used to plug tires and is super messy and not fun. You'll get the most ROI doing carpet and trunk if you have finite time and money for deadening the car.

Oh, and the stock midpipe is highly recommended if you want to turn the noise level down on the exhaust without making a meaningful difference to power. Mufflers make a big difference as well. For a wagon, if you can find it, the Greddy (discontinued) fits it nicely and is relatively quiet. I have a Borla exhaust and, although it's fairly quiet outside, due to being for a sedan, it has a lot of unpleasant noise created inside due to the exhaust tips terminating well into the cutouts of the bumper. I recently had Surgeline weld longer pipe onto the mufflers and it seriously quieted the interior noise down a ton. I would recommend it, however, if you wanted a more mellow exhaust and could deal with the thing being a bit short. I find the Invidia and other alternatives to just be too loud, especially when combined with an aftermarket downpipe.

56 minutes ago, SoobyDoobyDoo said:

Cars looking good! What’s the front grill emblem? 

In the top pic what’s that white wagon in the background? Is that a 1st gen legacy? That’s awesome! Also digging the 3rd gen oozing the 90s vibe with those wheels…thanks for the pics! Looks like there were some cool cars there. 

Front grille emblem is Avicii's logo. He passed away by suicide in 2018. Was a big EDM star and I loved his music growing up!

I think that background car is a Loyale? There were so, so, so many cars that I just can't remember too many individual ones, but lots of older Subarus there!

Also had Surgeline extend my exhaust tips so the sedan fitment exhaust fits my wagon much better. Reduced a ton of in-cabin boom and drone, too.

I didn't get too many PNW Wagonfest pictures but here's one from my friend with the Outback.

Oh, and one from the Avants page

Sorry if this is the wrong thread to bump, but given all the talk about extending the exhaust tips on these cars, I definitely recommend it after having my Borla exhaust lengthened a few inches today. The tips are no longer recessed and the car is substantially quieter. I can lower the volume on the radio from 18 to 17 (not tremendous) and also talk at a normal volume during deceleration now. The boominess of the sound bouncing around the hatch is so much better now. Only certain frequencies really even make me aware that the catback is aftermarket now. Wide-open throttle sounds very different inside the car now. It sounds like a higher pitch, I guess? I noticed the difference in sound the second I left my shop. 

My car makes 322 WHP at 19 PSI on a VF52 on a Mustang dyno. It absolutely hauls ass and anything more becomes prohibitively expensive for someone not dedicating a substantial chunk of their income keeping these older cars running. Start slow. You've got an untuned car with a downpipe and I'm assuming it makes maybe 250 WHP untuned. Tune it and put a valve body on it and you've got a car that is much faster than you probably give it credit for. A VF52 is a nice upgrade, but getting into aftermarket fueling, valvetrain upgrades, and engine-out repairs is the norm beyond what those turbos make on these cars.

I'd recommend the Cobb downpipe if your car is automatic (the downpipe is the main power-adder). You'll also want a valve body upgrade if you want to crank the power up on an automatic and that can be spendy.

Start with a downpipe that is legal in your area and a tuning solution. If you get tired of the power you have with a downpipe from Cobb, Invidia, or Grimmspeed then that's when ya start having fun (with an open wallet, of course).

4 hours ago, BoozeRS05 said:

BtSsm app!

If you have an old android device you can easily monitor your gauges. One time app purchase and you’ll need a means to connect to the car’s obd port. Highly recommended and very smart idea to keep an eye on the ecu 

Hmm, I just found out Btssm can work over Bluetooth. Have you tried having music playing from it simultaneously with a wireless connection to OBD2? I'm curious to see if I could just use my Galaxy S22 in tandem with Spotify and Btssm and not need another device for this. With Cobb tuning becoming much more restrictive with Green Speed this seems pretty handy if I go back to open source.

On 10/6/2022 at 8:29 PM, TMBLKDG said:

Well, the new engine is in and I've put a little over 200 miles on the car since getting it back from the shop.  Doing my best to follow their break-in protocol which seems awfully lengthy to me.  I've never built a turbo motor, but the NA V8s I've built in the past I would run them for about 20 minutes on the first startup then change the oil and cut open the filter, then I'd drive them around normally for about 50 miles and change the oil and check the filter again and as long as I wasn't finding any metallic debris in the filter, it was on.  Honestly, if the hone job is done properly the rings should seal up immediately and there really isn't anything else to "break in" inside an engine. The bearings should never, ever have metal-metal contact and even valvetrain parts (depending on the design) and other miscellaneous items such as oil pump gears, timing chains (if equipped), distributor gears (again, old V8s), etc. shouldn't need to wear together for prolonged periods before pushing the engine.

Ah well, I'm just venting.  They want me to bring it back at 500 miles for the first oil change, then again at 1000 miles, then again at 1500 miles and at that point they'll put it on the dyno and retune for the new turbo.  That whole time I have to try to keep it out of boost... LOL.  I think I can do it, I think I can, I think I can....

In the meantime, it's time to start addressing some of the general wear & tear in the interior.  I want to install a short-throw shifter and I'll put a new shift boot and the Latheworks shift ball on at that time.  Also researching what it would take to repaint the console.

Definitely a funky break-in procedure. Surgeline wanted me to run conventional oil for 1000 miles then switch to synthetic and call it good. FWIW, I used synthetic cuz it was what I had lying around and my engine did take substantially longer to break in. It burned oil until I ran conventional for an oil change. I can't remember how many miles it had but it was somewhere between 3000 and 10,000 miles when I just figured I'd try conventional once. Fixed my oil burn issues. Went from burning a quart every oil change to nothing. The more ya know. I'd think a forged part might require more finnicky break-in since they expand more with heat than cast pistons. I went with a stock shortblock and some mild valvetrain upgrades for my car.

I've heard from many shops that short-throw shifters aren't recommended for the 5-speed. I wanna say it isn't great for the synchros. The factory throw is fine for me so I haven't explored more.