Timothy.B's - 2011 3.6R Limited - Build Thread

[Golferdude1087]

You make it hard to choose a 2018 WRX lease over a used 13-14 3.6R. I would love to mod one like you have. I still have a couple months to decide.

 

Get a 2014 Legacy. Raptor headers will toast a wrx and its more luxurious to boot. The two biggest things going for the wrx is aftermarket support and resell value. What matters more to you is what you should make a decision by

[Falcor]

I have a list of mods (thanks to you and the other 3.6R standouts here) for if I end up with a Legacy. I love the bodystyle (more mature than a WRX).

 

Decisions decisions.....

 

Question, how hard is it to get a set of the headers?

[Humble Rumble]

I have a list of mods (thanks to you and the other 3.6R standouts here) for if I end up with a Legacy. I love the bodystyle (more mature than a WRX).

 

Decisions decisions.....

 

Question, how hard is it to get a set of the headers?

 

Not hard, just sometimes time consuming. All depends on Raptor's stock at the time.

[D.Doza]

Link to steering wheel ?

[Timothy.B]

Link to steering wheel ?

 

Here ya go: http://www.dhgate.com/product/the-subaru-series-dedicated-set-of-forest/391828566.html#s1-34-1;disc|3672865132

 

It's a time consuming wrap, btw. It's very nice though. I would actually rate this better than most OEM sporty style wheels I've felt (GTI, STI) It's got a small bit of give to it. Gets rid of that Fisher Price steering wheel feel the stock has.

 

Here's the shifter one too: http://www.dhgate.com/product/gear-shift-knob-cover-for-subaru-legacy-outback/198541692.html#s1-41-1;disc|3672865132

[D.Doza]

Nice thanks ! How hard was it to wrap the interior with carbon fiber?

[Timothy.B]

Not too bad, just time consuming. Set aside an entire day off to do it. There's how-to's somewhere around here on taking apart the section by the steering wheel. The glovebox and door cards are easy. The spot by the radio, you just gotta snap the cover off around the radio and take a screw out.

 

Wrapping the corners is a bit tricky. I've got one that's coming back on the driver side. I basically cut it just slightly larger than the shape and gave room to pull it, then heat it up a lot and stretch it out and over and tucked it around other neath. Takes some practice. Just make sure you cover all the way around to the other side. Then I heated up the back part and pressed down all the tucked over parts.

[raider600]

How are your brakes holding up? How do they perform? Good initial bite?

[Falcor]

Not hard, just sometimes time consuming. All depends on Raptor's stock at the time.

 

 

 

I emailed Raptor SC over the weekend, and the headers are in stock. They are cheaper than I thought they would be.

 

 

 

Headers - $299

 

Spacer Flanges - $29

 

Shipping - $97

Edited August 3, 2017 by Falcor

[Timothy.B]

How are your brakes holding up? How do they perform? Good initial bite?

 

Good! I don't use them very often. I drive a lot of highway miles. But once they're warmed up they work great. Other than that, they perform a bit better than OEM brake pads. They're not sensitive. It's a pretty linear braking. If you mash the pedal, you'll sling forward, if you ease into the brake, you'll gradually slow down. A little dusty but nothing I can't deal with. No noise. I get a bit of a squawk when coming to a complete stop at 1mph sometimes but don't think anything of it. That's very rare.

 

Falcor, you getting headers? I've got house buying plans atm. Once we're moved in sometime next year, I'm gonna start easing back into mods.

[Falcor]

I have to get the car first . Planing on getting a 18' WRX next month, but every time I see a 3.6R I get the itch.

[Timothy.B]

So, at the moment. I'm driving around on the Stock ROM. I've had it loaded for a good two weeks now. I can't express how sad this makes me. Over the last year, I've gotten small tweaks here and there for the tune and now they're all gone. I'm stuck with a rubber band throttle, no low to mid punch and top end power, laggy shifting (I haven't driven in manual this entire time, it's definitely slower with paddles).

 

Cars going in Thursday to investigate a whirring sound I'm getting. It's only audible above 40mph. It changes pitch and gets louder again at 60mph. It's faint off throttle but most obvious under engine load. At a certain throttle percentage it makes like a metal on metal sound. I have a feeling it could be a center differential bearing or one of the differentials. It's hard to say. The sounds probably resonating off everything under the car.

 

Also cars consuming oil. I've noticed this a year ago but thought maybe I was just crazy. I switched to thicker oil, even to Motul 300V 5w40, thinking maybe just my driving style was why I was burning oil. I've been granny driving for a few weeks and it's still diminishing. Has to be something like a quart gone in around 1200 miles or so. I'll probably have them do a test after this first issue is addressed. Maybe time to catch up on any recalls as well. I was really liking this car up until this point.

[FLlegacy]

If you like the car you shouldn't be so bummed, the harder you push a machine the faster it wears out, just because you don't have a turbo doesn't mean it won't apply to you to. We love driving our vehicles and most of us accept the mods we undertake will eventually lead to a blown engine, transmission, clutch, diff...but that is the price to play the game.

 

Hopefully you get the issues sorted out and they turn out to not be anything big.

[Timothy.B]

Thanks. I'm mostly bummed because the reason I chose a 3.6 was for reliability. I never saw any oil consumption cases pop up until recently. Now, two people that I know of getting their blocks replaced.

 

I guess what I mean is, I was expecting to find a leaking strut and my response would have been, "Oh...well. I mean, it's Subaru, that's gonna happen." But consuming oil and what appears to be a bearing failing, wasn't any of them. My buddy did have a theory that maybe Ohio weather took it's toll on my driveshaft and a U-Joint seized up, causing the carrier bearing to wear prematurely. Also another member had his driveshaft replaced at one point. I'll find out more by Friday I'm sure.

 

I've been very diligent with maintaining my car since I got it (maybe even over maintaining) so for anything to happen to it, I'm feeling like "Why are you doing this to me? After everything we been through?" It has been over 30 some thousand miles since I purchased it so something was bound to need done that wasn't regular maintenance.

 

I'll feel better when I have it fixed and back in my hands and the tune back in place. A lot of people talk of Ed's greatness but what he did for me was gave my car a soul and right now it's soulless. It's just like driving another Kia Optima or Honda Accord with some appearance.

 

To follow up to all this, we're planning on moving next year and now my girlfriend is talking of me paying off my car after we get into a house. I'm gonna have to convince her otherwise. I don't think I can go 2 years without messing with anything

[Humble Rumble]

Have them check for a grease leak on the driveshaft when it's inspected. Mine apparently had a very slight one but it was enough for them to replace the driveshaft under warranty at only 45k mileage. It's entirely possible you could have the same sort of thing since our climates are similar.

 

As for the oil usage, hopefully it's something that can be easily remedied without needing a short block replacement.

[Falcor]

Bummer on the issues that popped up. Hopfully it will be back up and going soon.

[Timothy.B]

Thanks guys. It's going in Thursday. I'll update then. I'm not having them take care of the oil consumption immediately. I literally just changed the oil. Also it would involve timing it right to bring it back in at 1100 miles to have them check the level again. Could take a couple times of testing to get them to replace it too. We'll see soon enough.

[nads]

For oil consumption, have you checked or replaced the PCV valve?

 

Did it increase with the tune?

 

Like I told the guy who bought my MS6, if you want stock reliability, keep it stock. Modifying comes with a trade off.

[Timothy.B]

I'm pretty sure it's been consuming oil since I got it. I just didn't think much of it at first. I didn't have the mindset that a EZ36 would consume. Two others that are stock are getting their shortblock replaced so it seems to still be an issue with the EZ36 as well. Just no where near as common.

[FLlegacy]

It was an issue with the 5th gen 3.6 for sure along with some 2.5i. The LGT oil consumption is mostly turbo related.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

[Timothy.B]

So cars back from dealers. After two different techs drove it. Their conclusion is resonance from the tires. Which is what I initially thought but given I was hearing a bit of a buzzy sound, my thought was something mechanical was rubbing. Basic just OEM Subaru sounds, as usual. So good news! The tunes back in place and I'm a much happy person again. I'll carefully monitor the oil consumption over the next few months.

[dgoodhue]

Cars going in Thursday to investigate a whirring sound I'm getting. It's only audible above 40mph. It changes pitch and gets louder again at 60mph. It's faint off throttle but most obvious under engine load. At a certain throttle percentage it makes like a metal on metal sound. I have a feeling it could be a center differential bearing or one of the differentials. It's hard to say. The sounds probably resonating off everything under the car.

 

So cars back from dealers. After two different techs drove it. Their conclusion is resonance from the tires. Which is what I initially thought but given I was hearing a bit of a buzzy sound, my thought was something mechanical was rubbing. Basic just OEM Subaru sounds, as usual. So good news!

 

It looks like you may have the stock struts/springs on your car and haven't gotten around to installing the Koni/Eibach's. Do you have any cupping on the inside of the tires? I suspect that softer summer tires are more prone to cupping than the stock tires, which is why cupping shows up Legacy GT more often with lower miles than 2.5i and 3.6R with the stock all seasons. My 2.5i had started cupping my summer tires at 62k miles.

[Timothy.B]

Yeah, they're still stock springs/struts. I feel like the suspension is wearing more and more recently. The cars gotten very...trampoline like. Bought it with 35k, now 70k. I don't have summers but they're high performance A/S's.

 

Besides doing the suspension now, anything I could do to help alleviate it? I think I've got about...8k miles on these tires so far.

 

For the suspension, all I need is the rear LCA's, the rear Koni's and Luis from the LGT FB group suggested the Group N top mounts. Oh and some stock or KYB struts to hack up. I've got Eibach springs and the front Koni's already.

[GTEASER]

You don't need the Group N tophat, stock tophats will do if you want to change them and save a few bucks, which you probably should for your mileage and climate/weather/road salts. With Eibachs, you also don't need the LCA's, that's something you could always add in the future fairly easily. Just get the new suspension on there ASAP and enjoy your car more.

[Timothy.B]

You don't need the Group N tophat, stock tophats will do if you want to change them and save a few bucks, which you probably should for your mileage and climate/weather/road salts. With Eibachs, you also don't need the LCA's, that's something you could always add in the future fairly easily.

 

I thought maybe the camber would be just off enough to cause issues over time. That'll save $200 right there. Given that I live in Ohio, I should just tear the whole subframe out and replace it

 

Not but seriously. I'll just get OEM top hats.

 

Just get the new suspension on there ASAP and enjoy your car more.

 

If you could find an article to convince my girlfriend I need to do this asap, I can make this happen within a week, haha. Thanks as always, GTeaser.