BagRidersJohn Posted August 13, 2021 Author Share Posted August 13, 2021 Heyoooooo!!! Happy Friday!!! I was gone all last week on family vacation, and the week prior was preparing our business and my WRX for the big local car show Wolfsgart so I did not make any headway on my Legacy. BUT I took yesterday off for a mental health day and spent it entirely in the garage I've still got a decent amount of buffing to do but most of the car is compounded. Glass is being glued in on Monday. Yesterday I got all the door handles buffed and reinstalled, then reinstalled the glass and confirmed all that is working... yay! I moved the car to the other side of my shop to have more space for the glass guy to work. I also ordered a new Borla catback which will be here some day soon so I put the car on ramps/stands so i can slap that on more easily. The old catback I had was OK but did not clear the rear swaybar and rather than cut and weld it, I just bought a new one. Lol. Anyways, a couple pics. First time I've seen it in sunlight (it was nearly 7PM, so more like dusk) since the respray. I'm loving it Very happy with the flatness of the paint My 2007 specB (full undercarriage & drivetrain refinish, every nut and bolt replaced, full engine rebuild/restore, glass-out respray, air ride, wide body, and more! All done by me, at home!) Instagram: @bagriders_john for more Subarus (and also my wife and cat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagRidersJohn Posted August 20, 2021 Author Share Posted August 20, 2021 Hello LGT fam! Wednesday was my 33rd birthday and I gave myself an exciting present: the pleasure of seeing my vision for my Legacy come to fruition i.e., the car sitting on the ground looking aesthetically complete from the outside. I've got a few things to knock out before the car can hit the road, like brake fluid and putting the interior back together, but the end is in sight. There's a bit more buffing I'd like to do too, but it's looking pretty darn good at this point. Here's how it's looking now: I can't wait to button up the last few things and take the car out somewhere for some "real" photos. We've got some really talented photographers here at Bag Riders that I'll shoot with. Hoping I'll be able to drive this car to Wicked Big Meet in a few weeks! Thanks for following along! My 2007 specB (full undercarriage & drivetrain refinish, every nut and bolt replaced, full engine rebuild/restore, glass-out respray, air ride, wide body, and more! All done by me, at home!) Instagram: @bagriders_john for more Subarus (and also my wife and cat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infosecdad Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 She looks absolutely amazing, that red... :chefkiss: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagRidersJohn Posted August 20, 2021 Author Share Posted August 20, 2021 She looks absolutely amazing, that red... :chefkiss: Thank ya kindly My 2007 specB (full undercarriage & drivetrain refinish, every nut and bolt replaced, full engine rebuild/restore, glass-out respray, air ride, wide body, and more! All done by me, at home!) Instagram: @bagriders_john for more Subarus (and also my wife and cat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagRidersJohn Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 Happy Monday! I got a solid day in the workshop on Sunday and made some great headway on the final steps of getting my specB back on the road. I started by installing the rain tray after a thorough cleaning and some scrubbing / soak time with a trim restorer which helped bring back some luster. With that in place, it was time for brake fluid, as I replaced all the calipers and all the rear brake lines the system was entirely dry. A power bleeder made pretty quick work of this. While I had the engine compartment open, I couldn't help but give it a decent clean. An embarrassing amount of dust had collected in the engine compartment and was just an eyesore, especially compared to the rest of the car. I didn't take a "before" picture but just imagine a really nasty engine bay. Ill give this area a really good clean when I pull the engine sometime probably soon-ish for an overhaul. I think I mentioned previously but I bought a new catback since my last one interfered with the rear swaybar. I went with a Borla model that fit very nicely. I've yet to fire it up since the car has been on jack stands, but I'm hoping for a somewhat moderate tone paired with my GrimmSpeed catted downpipe. Since I have a JDM rear bumper, the exhaust tips are a bit proud of the rear valance. I intend on modifying these to make them more flush with the exhaust cutouts sometime in the future once I'm comfortable with a TIG machine. Glory shot of the underside Hoping the exhaust clamps don't interfere with the swaybar... might flip them just to be safe! With things pretty well buttoned up beneath the car, I moved onto the interior. The butyl on the door vapor barriers was pretty shot so I purchased some new buytl tape to ensure a proper seal. I also started cleaning and reassembling the interior. I've got a double din head unit arriving in a day or two which I think is the last thing I need to finish the car. Last night I managed to get most of the center console back together. I have some matte black 3M vinyl to wrap my shifter trim with to make it a closer match to the JDM HVAC controls and double din trim that will be going in. Here's where I left off I didn't install the vapor barrier on the RH front door because I need to adjust the window. I've also got new window weatherstripping for the doors (the black part that sits on the top of the door) arriving today, which I'm excited about. I'm thinking a couple late nights this week and it will be ready for its first test drive. Yeeeeehaww! Thanks for reading! My 2007 specB (full undercarriage & drivetrain refinish, every nut and bolt replaced, full engine rebuild/restore, glass-out respray, air ride, wide body, and more! All done by me, at home!) Instagram: @bagriders_john for more Subarus (and also my wife and cat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaylew Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 might i recommend more sound deadening in the doors. I added a dense foam layer to the interior side of the vapor barrier. I highly recommend. Otherwise looking great! Wagon is LIFE! - 265,000 miles and climbing Unofficial Build (Restoration) Thread Steering Rack Rebuild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagRidersJohn Posted August 30, 2021 Author Share Posted August 30, 2021 might i recommend more sound deadening in the doors. I added a dense foam layer to the interior side of the vapor barrier. I highly recommend. Otherwise looking great! Oh I definitely will! I ran out of sound deadening after doing a layer of buytl and MLV foam on the exterior door skins before I put the windows back in, and throughout the cabin under the carpet and trunk area. I'm in a hurry to get some miles on the car prior to driving it a few hours to Wicked Big Meet in two weeks, so after that I'll revisit some things like this. I did my entire WRX in buytl and MLV and it made a huge difference! --- I spent some time on Friday evening working and got the car pretty well back together! My dremel tool died on me while fitting my JDM center console before removing material to clear the hazard button, but I managed to get everything else fitting nicely. I wrapped the shift trim in 3M Matte Black vinyl which matches the JDM panels very nicely! Big shouts to k00laid83 for the i88 adapter harness. You can buy yours here: https://tightfitfab.com/2005-2009-subaru-legacy-gt-outback-jdm-double-din-dual-zone-climate-control-i88-adapter/ I quickly wired up the 4 channel amp that resides under the passenger seat. I will clean this up a bit later and mount the components to a platform so they're not free floating beneath the seat, but for now this is OK. I at least took the time to terminate the wires nicely with heat shrink terminals and wire ferrules and such. Everything worked first try, yay! I had to put the tweeters somewhere, so I decided on the A-Pillars that I upholstered in ultrasuede some time ago. I easily modified the pillars to accept the tweeter mounting pod and glued it in with some contact cement. Finally I was able to test the entirely new, entirely re-wired sound system and I was stoked that everything worked and sounded great! I will surely tweak the amp and equalizer settings a bit, but with just setting gain and crossover frequency, I'm very happy with the sound. I have a separate mono amp in the trunk powering a 10" Pioneer sub in an enclosed box that I've had sitting in storage since pulling it out of one my cars years ago. I forgot what its like having a bit of kick coming from the trunk, it's nice I then plugged in the air ride system and told the computer to calibrate. In this car, I'm using the Air Lift Performance 3H system from Bag Riders. After installation, the computer needs to "learn" about the suspension travel which it accomplishes via an automated process of inflating/deflating the air springs and measuring the height sensor travel range (when the optional height sensors are installed, as I have). This process ensures that air lines are connected to the appropriate corner, the computer can turn the compressor on/off, and the height sensors (if equipped) have adequate travel range and are "clocked" correctly. Seeing as I've installed many air ride systems over the years I was confident that I did everything correctly, but was still happy to have a successful calibration on the first attempt! Here is where I set the vehicle's driving height: And finally, after 18 long months of sitting in the garage and at most, shuffling from one bay to the next, it was time for a "shake down" test drive! I live about 1/4" mile in on a long, dead-end dirt road, so for this brief drive I just went down to the end of the road and back (i.e., the main town road, where it turns from dirt to asphalt) I was really happy to be able to catch the tail-end of the golden hour. I love the way the color looks in this light, it really brings out the gold. I still have some polishing to do which will only give it more depth and gloss!! Here it is sitting on asphalt for the first time in over 18 months!! I've got a few small things to button up and need to get an alignment, but all signs are positive for making it to Wicked Big Meet in two weeks! If you're going to be there, I'll be working at our (Bag Riders) booth so please stop by and say hello! I'd love to meet some fellow Legacy GT owners! My 2007 specB (full undercarriage & drivetrain refinish, every nut and bolt replaced, full engine rebuild/restore, glass-out respray, air ride, wide body, and more! All done by me, at home!) Instagram: @bagriders_john for more Subarus (and also my wife and cat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kojak Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 Fantastic progress report(s). Lil jealous of the vinyl-wrapped shifter plate(among several other features), my installer said it was too difficult for him. Any chance you have a part no. on that weatherstrip for the top of doors? I’m sure I could dig up but then I’d have to like, you know, dig for it. Thanks for keeping the rest of us on our toes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagRidersJohn Posted August 31, 2021 Author Share Posted August 31, 2021 Fantastic progress report(s). Lil jealous of the vinyl-wrapped shifter plate(among several other features), my installer said it was too difficult for him��. Any chance you have a part no. on that weatherstrip for the top of doors? I’m sure I could dig up but then I’d have to like, you know, dig for it. Thanks for keeping the rest of us on our toes. Thanks! RE: shifter plate, that is surprising! The vinyl wrapping was pretty easy IMO and I do very, very little vinyl wrapping... literally only things like this out of "necessity". It really is not difficult IMO, just takes some patience, a heat gun and a sharp blade! It took me all of about 15 minutes to do the shifter trim and the little flip-down cubby with the 12v outlet. Vinyl is inexpensive and forgiving since you can just peel it off if it doesn't go well, so I encourage you to give it a shot! The part numbers for the window weatherstripping: 61280AG021 (RH, Front) 62280AG001 (RH, Rear) 61280AG031 (LH, Front) 62280AG011 (LH, Rear) Also, a couple of the plastic "well nuts" that act as the anchor for the screw that retains the weatherstripping were missing on my doors so I picked up a couple of those as well. Part number: 62305FA000 Sometime in the last few years, parts.subaru.com improved majorly and I use it successfully for pretty well all part number look ups. Otherwise, opposed-forces has always been a great resource too! My 2007 specB (full undercarriage & drivetrain refinish, every nut and bolt replaced, full engine rebuild/restore, glass-out respray, air ride, wide body, and more! All done by me, at home!) Instagram: @bagriders_john for more Subarus (and also my wife and cat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kojak Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 Much obliged. Subaru time is hard to come by w a one year old. The a-pillars are also envy-worthy. Looks like next stop is crushing all comp at the Wicked Big Meet. Truly 1 of 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagRidersJohn Posted September 1, 2021 Author Share Posted September 1, 2021 Much obliged. Subaru time is hard to come by w a one year old. The a-pillars are also envy-worthy. Looks like next stop is crushing all comp at the Wicked Big Meet. Truly 1 of 1. Thank you! And I bet! No kids for me yet, I have a fleet of nieces and nephews all under 8 so my wife and I have been on the "rent a baby" program for a while now I'll probably have the car in our booth at WBM which disqualifies it from any awards/voting but that is totally fine by me. I build cars because I enjoy the process Appreciate the kind words re: upholstery -- I did the same treatment to my 2005 Outback that I rebuilt as a winter beater. That one got a full engine reseal, front suspension overhaul, steering rack overhaul, and a full black leather interior swap and I upholstered all the upper trim with black ultrasuede like I did in my specB. That one has slightly higher mileage than the specB but not by much! The gap will grow this winter, though. I did a build thread for that one, link here. On the subject of the specB, I finished polishing last night. This step added noticeable gloss and depth in person, not sure it translates very well via phone pictures... does anything? lol Anyways, here it is, very likely the cleanest it will ever be lol. Hope to have an alignment this week and start putting some miles on it before driving down to WBM. My 2007 specB (full undercarriage & drivetrain refinish, every nut and bolt replaced, full engine rebuild/restore, glass-out respray, air ride, wide body, and more! All done by me, at home!) Instagram: @bagriders_john for more Subarus (and also my wife and cat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagRidersJohn Posted September 7, 2021 Author Share Posted September 7, 2021 I hope everyone had a good Holiday weekend! On Friday I had my specB towed to my friend's shop in town for an alignment on their alignment rack. In years past I'd have "sent it" on the eyeball alignment but decided my peace of mind was worth the price of the tow And good thing, it was all out of whack! It lined up nicely and drives nice and straight. I took the highway home and the car felt great! This morning I drove my specB to work for the first time in well over a year and a half. I got some nice comments from my colleagues here at Bag Riders and Phin, our Social Media Manager (who is also a really talented photographer) came out and snapped some photos in the morning light. Here's a couple of my favorites: I'll be at our (Bag Riders) booth at Wicked Big Meet this weekend. I hope to see some of you there! My 2007 specB (full undercarriage & drivetrain refinish, every nut and bolt replaced, full engine rebuild/restore, glass-out respray, air ride, wide body, and more! All done by me, at home!) Instagram: @bagriders_john for more Subarus (and also my wife and cat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyWas Posted September 7, 2021 Share Posted September 7, 2021 Never thought I'd like those flares as much as I do - but seeing them on your car looks 100% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infosecdad Posted September 7, 2021 Share Posted September 7, 2021 Just phenomenal job, that color and quality is amazing. I would love to attend a WBM some day, but it's in CT and in the first month of the semester. I can't take off that much time from teaching to make the drive there and back without getting in trouble Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagRidersJohn Posted September 8, 2021 Author Share Posted September 8, 2021 Never thought I'd like those flares as much as I do - but seeing them on your car looks 100% Thank you! I feel the same way lol. I have said a number of times to local friends that over fenders / flares aren't something I'd typically opt for (my WRX has a metal wide body, for reference!) but this was a fun project for me and I'm really happy with the outcome. The last wide body kit I worked with was back in 2013 for our (Bag Riders) SEMA build which was a BMW E92 that had one of the very first Liberty Walk body kits (link to Speedhunters article). That was a fun project, we were able to fit something ridiculous like a 13.5" wide wheel in the back and we had plenty of room to work with. The kit on my Legacy is not nearly as crazy as that one, but still allowed me to fit 10.5" wheels all around (a lot for this car!) without "extremely excessive" negative camber. I'm right about -5.0 all around which yes, is a LOT, but not nearly as much as many stanced cars. Given that this car is around stock horsepower, the negative camber has little noticeable consequence for me. My WRX on the other hand (which puts down 430hp), lots of negative camber and stretched tires are more impactful. Just phenomenal job, that color and quality is amazing. I would love to attend a WBM some day, but it's in CT and in the first month of the semester. I can't take off that much time from teaching to make the drive there and back without getting in trouble Thank you for the kind words! I hear ya re: show schedule. I'd be hard-pressed to attend if it wasn't to represent our business. We've been vending at WBM for I think 10 years now. The organizer Rob is a great guy and originally local to us here in VT. It has been really cool watching WBM and his other events grow into what they are today! --- Thought I'd include another couple photos from yesterday along with an updated interior shot! My 2007 specB (full undercarriage & drivetrain refinish, every nut and bolt replaced, full engine rebuild/restore, glass-out respray, air ride, wide body, and more! All done by me, at home!) Instagram: @bagriders_john for more Subarus (and also my wife and cat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NORULZleggy Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 Car looks great, but I do not like the flares on the car. To each his own but just makes it look odd/ But great work on the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagRidersJohn Posted September 13, 2021 Author Share Posted September 13, 2021 Car looks great, but I do not like the flares on the car. To each his own but just makes it look odd/ But great work on the car. Thanks a lot! Truthfully, I'm not a big fan of fender flares or body kits in general, but if you scroll back in this thread a ways you'll see that some years ago I cut out the rusty quarter panels and slapped on some "universal" (240-style) flares. I wasn't a big fan of that look, but I liked it better than doing two quarter panel replacements So, when I saw this chassis-specific body kit advertised to me, I liked it more than the universal flares I had on there before, it at least felt more "intentional", so decided to go ahead with them. I am happy with the outcome My 06 WRX wagon has an all-metal wide body conversion using panels from the GD (sedan) of the same generation. There are many parallels to this sort of thing across other makes (e.g., M panels on non-M cars for BMWs, RS panels for Audis, AMG panels in Mercedes, etc.). I much prefer this all-metal, "OEM Plus" approach to widening a car Here's a couple shots from Wicked Big Meet yesterday. I had a great time meeting people, thanks to everyone who came by the Bag Riders booth and said hello! Myself and another one of our staff arrived on Saturday to get our RaceDeck snap-together flooring finished, as it takes about an hour and we had only 2 hours to set up on Sunday morning, the day of the show. Our team was up at 4:30 AM on Sunday to get some breakfast and head to the venue. We got there around 5:45 and caught a really nice sunrise as we began constructing our booth. You can see our bagged Model 3 in the background Here's one of the only shots I took of my car! I was busy at the booth greeting people and talking about air suspension Later that day, as we were waiting for a dinner table, we took the opportunity to charge our Model 3 and took some photos in the nice sunset lighting. I don't think I fit in with the Tesla... We hit up a neat little diner for breakfast this morning and I snapped this photo of myself, my coworker Rob and our Tesla. About 4 hours later I was back at HQ! I'm so happy and proud that after putting in so much work and having the entire car taken apart, I made a solid 8+ hour round trip, about 500 and some odd miles, with absolutely no problems at all. I'm thrilled with the improvements to the sound system, the speakers sound great and having CarPlay really brings the experience of driving the car for a long distance up to the modern age of things. Not to mention, having air conditioning is a nice luxury that I forego whenever I take my WRX to Wicked Big Meet, lol Thanks for reading! My 2007 specB (full undercarriage & drivetrain refinish, every nut and bolt replaced, full engine rebuild/restore, glass-out respray, air ride, wide body, and more! All done by me, at home!) Instagram: @bagriders_john for more Subarus (and also my wife and cat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emaurer Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 Car looks great- nice work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagRidersJohn Posted September 14, 2021 Author Share Posted September 14, 2021 Car looks great- nice work! Thank you very much! My 2007 specB (full undercarriage & drivetrain refinish, every nut and bolt replaced, full engine rebuild/restore, glass-out respray, air ride, wide body, and more! All done by me, at home!) Instagram: @bagriders_john for more Subarus (and also my wife and cat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxkita Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 Nice setup at Wbm. I'm sure I read back through, but... where'd you get the flare kit? or is it home made? Build my car Boxkita Track days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagRidersJohn Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 (edited) Nice setup at Wbm. I'm sure I read back through, but... where'd you get the flare kit? or is it home made? Thanks! The JDM front and rear end came from Randy @ HKC Speed, I believe they're a vendor here on the forums. The fiberglass body kit is from a company called Monster Service. I believe they're out of Russia. https://monsterservice.pro/ I'm very happy with the fit of the kit, especially considering the price point. It took some minor tweaking to fit better, but its fiberglass so that should be expected along with blocking to get a nice flat finish. I've worked with high end body FRP kits that cost literally 20x as much as this one that required similar amounts of tweaking to get to fit better... so, considering the price difference, I'm thrilled with the quality of this one. We built this E92 335 for SEMA back in 2013 or 2014, I can't quite remember Edited September 15, 2021 by BagRidersJohn My 2007 specB (full undercarriage & drivetrain refinish, every nut and bolt replaced, full engine rebuild/restore, glass-out respray, air ride, wide body, and more! All done by me, at home!) Instagram: @bagriders_john for more Subarus (and also my wife and cat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagRidersJohn Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 More shots from Wicked Big Meet courtesy of Phin, our Social Media Manager! Love these fitment close ups Dialing this in perfectly takes a lot of time and patience! https://i.imgur.com/KZuPudOh.jpeg' alt='KZuPudOh.jpeg'> My 2007 specB (full undercarriage & drivetrain refinish, every nut and bolt replaced, full engine rebuild/restore, glass-out respray, air ride, wide body, and more! All done by me, at home!) Instagram: @bagriders_john for more Subarus (and also my wife and cat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagRidersJohn Posted September 20, 2021 Author Share Posted September 20, 2021 Hope everyone had a good weekend! While out and about on Saturday my wife encouraged me to air out by these trains, saying it would be cool pictures. She is usually right about such things My 2007 specB (full undercarriage & drivetrain refinish, every nut and bolt replaced, full engine rebuild/restore, glass-out respray, air ride, wide body, and more! All done by me, at home!) Instagram: @bagriders_john for more Subarus (and also my wife and cat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitexc Posted September 21, 2021 Share Posted September 21, 2021 Closer to the puddle next time for that 100% reflection. Great work, great pics. Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagRidersJohn Posted October 11, 2021 Author Share Posted October 11, 2021 Foliage is here in VT! Hope to get some DSLR shots before its gone! My 2007 specB (full undercarriage & drivetrain refinish, every nut and bolt replaced, full engine rebuild/restore, glass-out respray, air ride, wide body, and more! All done by me, at home!) Instagram: @bagriders_john for more Subarus (and also my wife and cat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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