Aus30R Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 February 2017: Car has been running well as per usual. Rego / pink-slip has just happened which certainly hurt the wallet / mod money but its just something that has to be done. The only issue the car has had lately is its been leaking quite a bit of coolant but at completely random times. Everything looked good, hoses were fine and the radiator is only a couple of years old. Turns out in the end to just be a bad radiator cap, which is lucky, could've been something much worse. A $9.00 replacement item fixed the problem quick smart. Its a non genuine item but it will do for now. The other day I saw a post of Garage 88s Facebook page regarding a recently released Cusco rear diff brace. Ive seen a few liberty owners running a similar version of this from Beatrush. This is the Cusco version. I had a quick look under the car and to no surprise considering the milage of the car, the rear diff bushings that connect to the rear sub frame were completely shot. Considering the condition of the above I’d imagine the ones that are on the actual diff support are also completely gone as it’s hard to see from that particular angle. Whiteline sell replacement polyurethane units for both the support and rear section. Due to the fact that the Cusco brace is fairly inexpensive, similar price to if I were to purchase aftermarket bushings and pay a replacement labour, I may as well just get the Cusco unit for a swap. Plus it’s a good excuse to get started on the Cusco band wagon which I’m sure will get out of hand one day. This is what it will end up looking like. As far as the actual rear bushings are concerned I will likely just get some whiteline units and replace at home. It’s no easy job, but considering the cost of labour I’ll happily attempt it at home. A bunch of other goodies have also been ordered today. - 3D floor mats front and rear in carpet - Gas bonnet struts - Genuine Subaru oil filter - Genuine washer and overflow caps - Genuine radiator cap - Atrax Engineering laser cut battery tie-down bracket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 February 2017: This was something that I suppose I wasn't expecting to do today. Bridgestone have once again run their buy 3 and get the 4th free promotion on select tyres, one being the Potenza series. The last two times this happened I didn't manage to get any tyres in my size, they were always out of stock, so this time I wasn't going to let it go. Called straight away and headed over to Bridgestone Select. While I was there I thought I may way well just get an alignment as its been pulling right a touch lately, its wasn't going to be anything perfect, but its cheap and it'll need to be done again anyway in a couple months when coilovers go on, at that point I will go to Heasmans Suspension and get it done properly. The absolute rubbish cheap shit Goodride's had served fairly well over the last year plus and it looks like they have hardly worn. The biggest difference Ive noticed so far is they are significantly more comfortable and quiet. The grip isn't there just yet but they have to be broken in so no problem there. I love the sidewalls, just a nicer shape and kinda gives an illusion of a smaller profile. I would have loved to have gotten some Advan Neova AD08Rs but considering the price difference I just couldn't justify it at the moment. Hey, maybe next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 March 2017: My gas bonnet struts arrived today and I wasted no time getting them on. Out with the old… In with the new… It’s such a neat little improvement. Plus for the price and ease of installation it’s really a no brainer. I also dropped past Garage 88 today to pick up the Cusco diff brace. While I was there I thought I may as well also get a strut brace, spent so much this week whats a touch more -_- Anyway I ended up going with a Cusco unit with the built in Brake Master Cylinder Stopper. I was told the it wasn’t compatible with an H6, which seemed strange to me as it was with ever other model of gen 4. A few people on the club.lib Facebook page seemed to be running it with no issues so I bit the bullet. Another employee at Garage 88 mentioned that he had installed a few on an H6 but the intake got in the way and needed to be cut up and filled up to make room, I was interested to see if this was the case but it turned out it fitted perfectly and by cleared by miles. All tightened up and working wonders. More shots because why not. Diff brace will go on over the weekend. Also spoke to 3D mats and unfortunately they are completely out of stock of the carpet style mats. I’m not keen on the rubber so I’ll either wait until stock comes in or go for another option, maybe just finding a mint set of legacy mats is the go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 March 2017: Another goodie from Atrax Engineering arrived, this time a battery tie-down. Nothing special but another nice addition to the engine bay. I decided to go with a grey anodised finish. It's a really nicely designed unit with cutout for the bolts. Out with the old... In with the new... It does feel much stronger. Is it making a difference? Probably not, but at at least it looks better. Same the battery is so ugly. I'll be getting some battery and ABS covers at some point anyway so oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 March 2017: My care package arrived from BCW today Got a bunch of nice new genuine items Genuine Oil filter Genuine H6 radiator cap Genuine Washer-bottle Also grabbed an overflow bottle cap but I didn't realise it was a different unit for the H6 Goodbye bye non genuine rad cap Goodbye old washer-bottle cap Why bother with these little things? Because I already needed to do an order with Benny and they were so cheap so why not clean the bay up a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 March 2017: Picked up some DAMD goodness from Garage 88 toady. The excitement was real. So happy with the look and feel of the unit, a brand new wheel is such a nice thing. Seems so well put together with nice touches. Only thing left to do now is install it. This wheel is a post face unit so I'll have to do some electrical conversion to make everything work, doesn't look like it will be to hard though. I have a post facelift wheel, airbag, controls and clock spring on the way which will make the conversion possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 March 2017: Today was the day to throw the DAMD wheel in. The old wheel had seen better days years ago. It was well over due for replacement. Even to the point where it was actually starting to peel on the right side. Even the media controls were completely haggard. Started with some pesky torks T30 screws to remove the airbag. With the airbag and horn connector off the airbag came off with ease. The 17mm bolt came off with some help from a big pry bar. Looks so strange with no wheel. I also picked up a normal momo wheel from a post FL GT that I could rob the controls, airbag and wiring from to use on the new wheel. The cruise control needed to be removed from the old wheel so I could steal the connector from it. The same deal for the media controls / horn Everything was then spliced together to make it all work. I did purchase a post FL clock spring as it might have been a better option but this worked perfectly. All sorted, time to get it in the car. Airbag on and done, man what a difference. Certainly something I need to get used to though. This total cost of this was about $800 but that included also getting a another wheel to do the post face conversion. A hard number to stomach but a no brainer once it's actually on the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 April 2017: Another 5,000km (ish) another service. Penrite HPR10 10W-50 has been the choice for the last couple services and it's been great. Oil drained and filter off, goodbye Ryco! Hello Subaru genuine goodness. Ben was nice enough to supply a new sump washer gasket with the filter. I also finally after like 4 months correctly put on the passenger eyelid, the shape was so far off but with some help from a heat-gun, everything was sorted. Finally matching with the other side, pity the bonnet is so bent... I've also order some Tein Flex Z Coilovers would should be here tomorrow, fingers crossed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 April 2017: They're here! I'm ready for the pleasure. Man they are almost more art then part, oh and VERY green. They were also nice enough to supply a bunch of nice stickers. Also included was a nice damper adjuster and really nice set of c spanners. Install should happen tomorrow, I'm just so keen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 April 2017: Install time, started with just doing a basic setup, get a rough height, although I'm flying completely blind and just did what I thought would be good. Car in the air ready for the install. I thought the front would be more involved so I started there first to get it over and done with, wheels off. Time to pull the struts off. Holy shit balls those bolts were on tight, but with lots of arm juice it came off eventually. Strut bolts and brace next to come off. And out it comes, goodbye old bastard. Coils in, rinse and repeat for the other side. The guessed high seemed to work pretty well for a first go, I might go a slight touch lower but that can be done when it goes in for an alignment at Heasmans. For the rears just about everything had to come out to get to the rear strut tops, and even then they aren't great. Onto the rear now. Wheels off and struts out, these took not even a quarter of the time to remove. Coils in, it was fairly hard with one person, trying to get everything to sit right but it went in eventually. The rear settled a bit more after a drive. I set the dampers 8 stops down from the hardest setting, which was the recommendation from Tein. It actually seems more comfortable then the old suspension, although I take that more to the fact that this has 347,000km less then the old stuff. Everything will get another spanner check in the morning as well as a wash and a small photo shoot. I'm so happy I finally did it, well overdue. I didn't go for the usual MCA or Shockworks, but after the recommendation from Garage 88, so happy I went this direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 May 2017: Didn't get the angles perfect and the light was very different the next day but heres a rough idea of the difference. Fronts, before and after. Rears, before and after. And full side, before and after. Certainly some more fine turning to do, but man I'm happy with the result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 May 2017: So the suspension has had a good chance to settle and damn, the front was scrapping bad, totally my fault on the setup, the is my first time after all. The drivers side even got to the point where it was damaging the actual got, something needed to be done asap. This wasn’t going to stop the car being ever practical though… I raised the front to at least help things to start with. Unfortunately both Sydney Guard Rolling and Heasman were booked out for either a few days or more then a week. I was able to get SGR to mine on Monday evening which help sort the front out quick smart. I opted to only do the front as there was HEAPS of room in the rear, wasn’t worth the extra 75 bucks a corner to do it. Big props though he did an epic job on the car, true professional. With the majority of the scrapping being sort it would still do so under hard compression. So the car was put away until it could go to Heasman and be properly setup and aligned. Man they worked absolute wonders, the front was raised just enough where you almost couldn’t tell yet it won’t at all scrape. Of course the alignment was completely out, these are the before and afters. Man what a difference it is too drive. I haven’t had a proper chance to give the car a proper fang due to the weather, but still. Sooooooo happy. The guy who did the work did mention a few concerns with the car, mainly the timing case leaking oil, which I am aware of and from what I understand is a very common issue. Despite being very slow and no reason of concern, it has been dripping onto the lower coolant hose, which has now started to swell. I will keep a good eye on this but it’s something I’ll look at replacing very soon, I’d love to do a performance rad while I’m there but it’s a bit of an effort having to modify it, oh well, time will tell. He also just said diff bushes and laughed, they also need doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 June 2017: Since the suspension tweeks the car has been driving incredible, certainly the best it ever has. The car also got a long overdue wash today. I've ordered a lower rad hose to replace the bulging one before it blows. I'd rather avoid the head gasket going on this if I can. Also have some new rear diff bushes on the way. The current ones are completely non existent. I decided to go with OEM replacement ones and then get some whiteline inserts to add some stiffness. I've heard they are pretty shit to remove, I suppose I'll see. Next up on the list of things to do on the car will centre diff refurb with a transmission and diff oil change, it's really long overdue. After that, thanks to my tax return I'll be doing a Brembo front conversion (if they fit). Going to get a set of brand new calipers from Rising Sun Subaru, or BCW if he can supply them. Dixel Type-M pads, Hel lines front and rear, and then either DBA T2's or Dixel SD's. I'm unsure which ones for now. I'll also be getting the black removed in favour of a nice red to match the current look. Once all that is done I'll be doing a complete revamp on the audio system in the car with a very healthy dose of sound deadening, which it really needs badly. This will be in preparation for my trip to Phillip Island for MotoGP in October. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 Terrific build thread. Gorgeous transformation over the years. Nice work and the car is showing the love it's getting. Spec Bs here should have been 3.0 H6 with Spec B 6MT. Would have been the perfect combination. Thanks guys, thread is now up to date so you can get a better idea of where the car is at. Certainly has come some way but I have MUCH bigger plans for the car. I can also confirm that H6 and 6MT is the perfect combo, before I purchased the car I put a deposit down on a GT and actually avoided the H6, but that car blew an engine before I picked it up and this popped up uber cheap, best thing that ever happened to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98legwag Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Thats a lot of updates. I am loving the work put in. I will need to do something with the struts on my 3.0R soon. I am debating which route I want to go, coilovers or replacement Bilsteins. The roads around here are not that great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kojak Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Inspiring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leoh88 Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Very nice work with the details Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gex Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 That DAMD wheel is spectacular. I think I know what my wagon is getting next. Cool build! Great photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 12, 2017 Author Share Posted July 12, 2017 Thats a lot of updates. I am loving the work put in. I will need to do something with the struts on my 3.0R soon. I am debating which route I want to go, coilovers or replacement Bilsteins. The roads around here are not that great. Look man, I think you should try and get some good coilovers, and you don't need to spend huge money, I feel like my Teins right better then the billies, but mine had over 340,000km on them, so keep that in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 12, 2017 Author Share Posted July 12, 2017 That DAMD wheel is spectacular. I think I know what my wagon is getting next. Cool build! Great photos. Thanks man, I think that a steering wheel is the biggest overlooked mod, it's insane the difference it made to my driving and pleasure. Seriously get one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madrig Posted July 12, 2017 Share Posted July 12, 2017 Thanks man, I think that a steering wheel is the biggest overlooked mod, it's insane the difference it made to my driving and pleasure. Seriously get one! this steering is so nice ! i want one ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98legwag Posted July 12, 2017 Share Posted July 12, 2017 Look man, I think you should try and get some good coilovers, and you don't need to spend huge money, I feel like my Teins right better then the billies, but mine had over 340,000km on them, so keep that in mind. I just briefly looked at the Teins and for the cost they seem like a decent option. They cost about the same a replacement set of Bilsteins. I spoke with a couple of my friends who know much more about cars than I do and they agree that for the cost the Flex Zs look good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 12, 2017 Author Share Posted July 12, 2017 I just briefly looked at the Teins and for the cost they seem like a decent option. They cost about the same a replacement set of Bilsteins. I spoke with a couple of my friends who know much more about cars than I do and they agree that for the cost the Flex Zs look good. I think they are probs the best value for money, bit more then BC's but way better quality and WAY better ride. Another great value option is MCA but I don't think you guys can get that in the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 30, 2017 Author Share Posted July 30, 2017 July 2017: So my initial plan for my brakes has changed. Basically just doing Brembo's for the front with new calipars, painted new pads and rotors I'd be looking at over 2K, now considering I could do new pads, lines and rotors front and rear for half the price it really makes more sense, specially when there are other things that money can be spent on. So at this case I'm just waiting for my tax-return to enter my bank account and the second it does that will all be ordered. I've been trying some new car-wash and wheel cleaner lately, it wasn't easy switching from what I've been using for years but I'm absolutely love the Super Syrup products so far, the names will forever make me laugh. It ended up doing a good job. Again once the tax-return comes in a plan on doing a extremely major in-car-entertainment overhaul, but while that will happen in due time anything over 5 volume is completely unlistenable. I'm under the understanding that the factory Macintosh system while somewhat decent is pretty weak and very common to blowing. I was lucky enough to find a mostly good set of factory speakers uber cheap from a mate, so at least in the meantime I can have somewhat half decent speakers. Door card off. The amount of factory sound deadening is actually fairly impressive. Man oh man these were BAD, basically torn completely all the way round. While I was there and considering I also had them I replaced the 4 inch speakers, the passenger side was fine but the drivers side needed doing. Rinse and repeat for the other side. Holy balls the difference is huge, amazing how good working speakers are (mind blown). A decent set of OEM floor mats recently popped up for sale and I was very keen to burn the old Supercheap Auto ones, mats that actually clip in is a nice thing. Luckily it was a complete set front and rear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus30R Posted July 30, 2017 Author Share Posted July 30, 2017 July 2017: Something I've been thinking about doing for some time is to remove all the stickers on the car. I liked them at one point on the car but they don't really do it for me anymore and removing them will really help clean the car up I think anyway. Started with drivers side, before / after. Passenger before / after. Front before and after. Rear before and after. I had to keep the chopped sticker. I need to remove a small amount of residue but otherwise it's looking much cleaner. Lastly after a quick trip to Pick n Payless I managed to find a couple gen 4's, while most of the good stuff was already gone I managed to find a decent set of front guard liners which I really needed. I also grabbed a bunch of these plastic devil screw clip things that should help to replace the missing ones in the car now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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