Member Profile: James' H6 Liberty Wagon - SKD55S

[Aus30R]

Nice kit. Notice any change in the NVH with the Beatrush PS?

 

Surprisingly not really, my car has never been really refined so it doesn't bother me anyway. Might be one of the best things I've done to the car yet.

 

November 2017: I had a small amount of time today to do a couple small things I've been meaning to do for some time.

 

Got these nice LED brake lights from LEO like over 4 months ago.

 

 

 

The old ones were never that great and one has been half-dead for some time.

 

 

Out came the taillight

 

 

Clear quality difference.

 

 

In they went.

 

 

Tails back on and looking better.

 

 

 

Next up was to replace the damaged drivers-side a-pillar. Replacement parts are slowly come in from different directions. Hopefully in the next month or so the interior will be back to minty goodness.

 

 

 

Such fresh clips.

 

 

 

The old one was not looking good.

 

 

 

After pulling it off I noticed both the clips were broken and it had some sound deadening on it. The new one didn't come with any and it isn't transferable so I'll look into fixing that up at a later stage.

 

 

 

In place and looking way better. If anything too good. Subaru will be paying for a full interior clean anyway so it will be perfect at some point.

 

 

[Aus30R]

December 2017: So MCM Nationals Sydney was on last week and I was so excited to try all the bits and pieces I had done over the last year on the track. The car actually did better then I could've ever expected. The grip was amazing but the brakes blew my mind, once they got some heat into them they pulled up so well. I had some good runs for with a few quick cars for sure. The whole experience has certainly peeked my interest.

 

 

 

While the car did do well in the event there was one issue, unsurprisingly. The transmission was not so happy. The 4th gear syncro has always been bad in the car, mainly only hard decel without perfect rev matching. It's never been super bad but after a few hard laps shifts were becoming almost impossible to get in and crunching almost ever 4th and 5th change, double clutching made it ok. After the 2nd session when I went to go and move the car the diff was pissed, large clunks when using any steering while moving. At that point I couldn't really be bothered, parked the car and let it sit for a few hours to cool down while I looked around.

 

When I got back to the car to go home it all seemed fine, no more clunks and it drove perfectly normal. So, at-least then I assume it was a heat issue. Anyway, today I through the car up on stands to have a look.

 

 

More oil down here then usual, this defiantly transmission oil.

 

 

Not good.

 

 

 

 

 

So after all this I'm not sure, the car has always leaked a bit but not like this. Who knows where it can be coming out. Something that I've been wanting to do for ages it to book the car in with a proper Subaru performance specialist to get a full inspection inside and out. So I have done with ADS (All Drive Subaroo). I've heard good things about them and what will also likely happen is they will rebuild the box when I'm ready, LOTS of saving to do though. With the price of a new clutch, flywheel and centre diff rebuilt from Corgi, that plus the box rebuilt with at the minimum carbon synrcos but maybe more if there is more damage I'll be looking at just under $5,000, so yeah.

 

In other news while the Dixcels are much better with brake dust then the QFM's, after some track work they turned the wheels black. Oh well a good excuse to do a wheel off clean.

 

 

 

So dirty.

 

 

 

Super Syrups #BloodBath works wonders for getting the dust off.

 

 

 

I couldn't find my clay so not perfect but wayyyy better.

 

 

 

After it was clean we needed some photos.

 

 

[Aus30R]

January 2018: The car has been mostly resting the last few weeks, with the odd drive here and there. Its funny. The car drives absolutely perfect, the diff doesn't bind and 4th doesn't crunch so long as I'm not being a dickhead.

 

Anyway I had some time yesterday so I thought it would be a good time to try and properly drain the transmission. Car up.

 

 

Oil out.

 

 

Then moved on to attempting to remove the rooted sump bolt. after a few good goes it just wasn't moving. Tried mostly with vice grips as my bolt removal kit was on order but not here in time. Safe to say its on there proper for now.

 

 

 

Also had a little look at the leak situation, doesn't seem to be as bad as before which is good I suppose.

 

 

 

Speaking of the gearbox, I dropped past ADS today to get a proper inspection of the inside and out of the car. Something I've been wanting to do for years. Safe to stay the list of things that need attending to is vast. Which is ok. Finally having a proper list to work through will make things easier on the car. I'll like just horde some parts for awhile and do it all over a long weekend.

 

Now this is all completely different to the box stuff. Interestingly the owner, who drove my car, was surprised how nicely it did drive. While its hard to speculate what needs to be done it was good having a chat to him about a bunch of different options. Months of saving ahead.

[Aus30R]

January 2018: Finally, the final puzzle of the airbag debacle with Suttons Subaru. It's over.

 

A new, non snapped shifter around was sourced through CorgiWerx.

 

 

 

The shifter boot was slightly damaged, although not nearly as much as the handbrake boot. Rather then having a go at refitting the current Redline Goods boots, which I've never been happy with I thought, considering it was on Subaru's dime to get a new set custom made to ensure the fit would be perfect this time.

 

The shifter boot now has the perfect amount of slack, far less then before. I decided to go with the same Nappa leather with red stitching as before.

 

 

 

Rather then going for the velcro or button route I got them to invert it with a ziptie inside for a tighter look. It will make for a bit more effort on the removal but its likely ever only going to come out one more time so it'll be perfect.

 

 

 

Handbrake looks so much better too.

 

 

 

Again a nice tight fit.

 

 

 

The interior needs a proper deep clean now to get everything looking proper but even now things are looking much better then ever before.

[slo_pok]

After reading this I feel lucky in only getting a few dash chips.

Looks great now!

[Aus30R]

March 2018: Nothing interesting with the car going on lately. I'm keen to get everything back rolling again though. What I've decided is for the foreseeable future mods will only be done if it is a by-product of fixing something, like moving to a DCCD when the box gets swapped ect. There is lots of issues on the car that I want to finally address and fix, and as they say, if you're going to go to the trouble of fixing it, make it better. Which is mostly what I've done anyway.

 

Anyway, something that has been on the list for ages is to restore my headlights, particularly on the passenger side. I had some leftover credits from Supercheap Auto so I popped down there and grabbed the Mothers NuLens Headlight Restoration kit. The price is decent, and I really like the idea of having a drill attachment.

 

 

 

As you can see they were pretty bad.

 

 

 

Drivers-side was less of a problem though.

 

 

 

Why they recommend to just use masking tape and do it on the car I would rather just take them off, specially as I plan on removing the eyelids. Bar off first.

 

 

 

Then the lights could come out.

 

 

 

Once on the bench I could inspect them properly. Yuck.

 

 

 

The eyelids could come off.

 

 

 

Alot of gunk got in there in the last year, quite the effort to get it all off.

 

 

 

All else that is needed to get started is some water (not glass cleaner) in a spray bottle and a drill. Check and Check.

 

 

 

I threw on the backing plate and lubricated the headlight with water.

 

 

[Aus30R]

I started with a small test spot before moving onto the entire unit with 800 grit. So much froth.

 

 

 

Then 1500 grit.

 

 

 

Lastly 3000 grit dry.

 

 

 

Then once that was done I could finish it with the foam ball and plastic polish.

 

 

 

Very happy with how it came out. After that I moved drivers-side. These eyelids for what ever reason were a pain to remove.

 

 

 

It just left so much of it left on the plastic.

 

 

 

I popped past Bunnings to see if I could get some Goo Off, which I did. After doing a small spot it looked to be a bad idea and stripped a section of the headlight. It wasn't a problem later as I was able to blend and fix the area, not to mention being covered by the eyelid anyway.

 

 

 

What I ended up doing was using one of the old 800 grit pads to get rid of it, which worked a charm. Gunked the crap out of the pad but no problem as it won't be used later anyway.

 

 

 

Then I could move onto sanding. Again starting with 800 grit.

 

 

 

1500 grit, 3000 grit and buff.

 

 

[Aus30R]

Once they were both finally done they could go back into the car.

 

 

 

Looking good now, small amount of pitting at the top but that's always been there and will be covered later.

 

 

 

Drivers-side could then go in.

 

 

 

Front end could then go back together.

 

 

 

Overall I'm happy. Not perfect but a huge improvement from before. Neither the before or after does the justice in person. Just waiting on some more 3M tape to remount the eyelids and something special coming from Japan, but that's another thing.

 

 

[leoh88]

They look like new. Great job on the resto

[Aus30R]

March 2018: A few months ago I managed to smash my rear garnish. I was reversing and just tapped a ute tray that was in the perfect window between my rear view and backup camera. It was the slightest touch with no damage to his tray but it managed to completely shatter my garnish.

 

 

 

So that meant I know needed to look for a new one, I waited and waited for one in the same colour and finally found one with a wreckers in Brisbane called Subie World, I called the day the car was listed, ordered and payed for the garnish to hope it would get here as soon as possible. After a wait of almost three weeks it finally arrived in Sydney and thanks to Hunter Express, it came in complete pieces.

 

 

 

Yeah not great.

 

 

 

Long story short I'm still fighting to get the money back from the wreckers and the shipping company, both have been completely useless and I wouldn't recommended them. Who I can extremely recommend is Jesse Streeter. Wow what a pleasant experience, I found a garnish on Yahoo Auctions complete with LED light and optional half-bar. I managed to get here all the way from Japan in 7 days.

 

 

 

Now this is how you pack something.

 

 

 

Even the plastic was perfect.

 

 

 

It's a pity its white but oh well that just means I can start with fresh paint.

 

 

 

The JDM reverse lights are a nice little touch.

 

 

 

This was certainly the best one at the time on Yahoo Auctions, mainly because non of the mounting screws were snapped.

 

 

 

The next thing was to seperate everything so there would be less work for the painter. Firstly I popped of to burnings for some fishing line and a caramel wheel.

 

 

[Aus30R]

After ages with some heat it started to come loose. I'm being as careful as possible cause the last thing I want is to have another broken one on my hands.

 

 

 

Eventually it came off though.

 

 

 

After it got a quick wipe-down I grabbed the caramel wheel and got started.

 

 

 

Nice and clean. Little bit of paint came off but that's no problem.

 

 

 

It was then time to attack the half-bar, this had way more of the double-sided tape left on it.

 

 

 

I had a small go with the caramel wheel but began to cut through the plastic so I didn't want to risk it.

 

 

 

Badge could then come off, still debating wether or not to replace with a brand new one but that can be done when ever,

 

 

 

The lights then needed to come out.

 

 

 

Out.

 

 

 

Numberplate lights needed to come out.

 

 

[Aus30R]

Lastly the chrome strip could come off. This also took longer then expected.

 

 

 

Ready for paint.

 

 

 

But before then. Its time to remove the old garnish from the car. The reverse camera has been broken for a couple weeks now so its another good reason to get under there.

 

 

 

Rubber grommet was first to come off.

 

 

 

Unsurprisingly there was a bunch of the plastic push pins missing. Another thing to add to the later list.

 

 

 

Then these sneaky screws.

 

 

 

The rest of the surrounding panels then popped off.

 

 

 

Once that was done the back panel was finally able to come free.

 

 

 

I popped the reverse lights out and as I thought this is where the reverse taps into for power.

 

 

 

The last mounting bolts were then removed.

 

 

[Aus30R]

Off it came and into the bin.

 

 

 

Then lights out.

 

 

 

There was so much filth under everything.

 

 

 

Ah, much better.

 

 

 

Now that everything is out of the way I wanted to see if I could fix the reverse camera. About 2 weeks ago I went over a large bump that I didn't see and suddenly it half stopped working. Basically looked like it was having a signal issue, it kinda still worked, sometimes all the colours would be strange and other times it would just flash black and white. I thought I would check the back of the headunit first just incase.

 

 

 

That didn't do the trick which I thought would be the case anyway. After pulling some of the pervious owners electrical tape back I found one of the culprits.

 

 

 

After fixing that I still had the same issues so the camera had to go. I had a spare camera that is meant to go into the Cuore.

 

 

 

In it went and all working!

 

 

 

I need to extend the power and video cable as I want to run the camera in the correct sport on the left of the tailgate and would also like to avoid the horrible whole cut into the tailgate.

 

 

 

I also gave the LED tail / foglight a test to see if anything will need to be modified. Its plug and play except that the fog comes on for reverse, honestly, it'll do for now.

 

 

[Aus30R]

The painter did a great job and even got some shots for me while he was painting.

 

 

 

Colour.

 

 

 

Clear.

 

 

 

After getting it back from the painters first thing was to get the chrome strip back on.

 

 

 

3M tape went on as there was some there before.

 

 

 

An on.

 

 

 

Next up was to throw the numberplate light bracket back on, but first a small cleanup.

 

 

 

An on.

 

 

 

All the mounting hardware could go back on. I left all of these at the painters but had two broken garnishes to rob from.

 

 

 

The reverse lights use velcro type stuff to secure the lights to the garnish. The originals are well used and have expired.

 

 

[Aus30R]

The old stuff was used as a template for some new 3M goodness.

 

 

 

With that done both lights could then go in.

 

 

 

Looking good.

 

 

 

The garnish could then actually go on, everything got plugged in before final assembly.

 

 

 

Numberplate light covers then went on.

 

 

 

Starting to look like a car again.

 

 

 

The camera could then me mounted, this time with some 3M tape rather then screwing in.

 

 

 

That meant to wiring could then be cleaned up and tied back.

 

 

 

Plastics could then go back on.

 

 

 

Followed by the inside.

 

 

[Aus30R]

Rubber grommet could then go back on.

 

 

 

Now that everything is ready its time to prep the half-bar. I popped past Bunnings to get some double sided tape.

 

 

 

On it all went.

 

 

 

Half-bar could then go onto the garnish.

 

 

 

Finally the badge could then go on.

 

 

 

It was then time to get some pics after a long overdue wash.

 

 

 

So happy with how everything came out.

 

 

[leoh88]

I love how you've basically restomodded your Liberty. Your posts feel like if I was reading a magazine. Keep up the good work!

[Aus30R]

So Postimage shat it. I'll fix that slowly in the future but we're moving over to flickr for hosting. I've been posting there for ever anyway. Should've made the switch earlier.

 

May 2018: So, since day one of me owning this car, almost 3 years now, 4th gear has always been a bit iffy. If I'd been driving the car for awhile and did a high rpm change from 3rd to 4th it would be very hard to get in. Similarly, going from 5th to 4th without the perfect heal-toe would give me a very small crunch. I've always managed it though so its never been a big problem.

 

Since the MCM track-day, that's where things started to go down hill. It was the first time the car was driven properly hard for a real amount of time. After a few hotish laps it was crunching hard both up and down despite perfect rev matching. Not to mention when I finished the session the centre diff was binding like I have never felt before. The car had about 4 hours of cool down and it seemed like nothing was wrong. After popping it up the next day I saw the bottom was covered in oil. I then took the car to ADS to be looked at and while its fine for normal driving if I want to drive it the way I want to drive it something needs to be done. In fairness its done bloody well for 355,000km of driving.

 

There were so many options I had to choose from, originally it was to have ADS rebuilt the box with new synchros and 4th gear at the absolute minimum, but then at that cost I could go for a DCCD setup, so I looked into that. Then after realising that would cost me around $8-9K I decided it would just be better off to part out and start again with another car. I was feeling terrible about this cause I just love the car so much. So I stopped looking, and as usual a bargain presented itself.

 

So, I managed to acquire a full driveline from a 2007 Subaru Liberty 2.5GT Spec-B, with less then half the km's. The best part about it, I've driven the car hard a bunch of times so I know its all solid. Only reason it came out of his car was he also got a deal he couldn't pass on a really low km box, win win for both of us.

 

Picked everything up from Ichiban, I do love wagons.

 

 

 

It came with other bits like starter, shifter assembly ect.

 

 

 

R180 should be a nice upgrade too. It's FILTHY, a good chance for it and the box to get a proper clean, maybe even some paint.

 

 

To conclude, it'll be a good 4-5 months of saving and parts hoarding cause considering the effort to put this in there is going to be a LOT upgraded in the process.

 

Also I found a nice new place for photos, after a wash of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SBT]

And your new box has the lubrication pump as well...bonus.

[Aus30R]

September 2018: So something popped up that seemed like a no brainer.

 

 

 

Yeah I bought another one, basically a carbon copy in stock form of the current car. It may look familiar, it was purchased from fellow member Dave (vaccine) who previously had turbo setup on the car. Most of the goodies were removed before the sale but there were a few bits and pieces left over.

 

 

 

So what's the plan then? Well a partout is the most likely scenario. It's a good way to get more 'seat time' working on the car without having to actually have my car out of action. There are a bunch of bits that will be taken and used on my wagon with most being sold, likely for a healthy profit.

 

What we did work into the deal was a bunch of rear suspension components. The only assnoying thing, is they're covered in PlastiDip. Now I totally understand why Dave did this, but I like the idea of adding some hidden bling under the car.

 

 

So in the box of magic I got. AVO HD rear swaybar mount

 

 

AVO Rear Underbody Brace kit

 

 

Hardrace rear camber arms 8891 (Hardened Rubber)

 

 

Hardrace rear front lateral rams 6834 (Hardened Rubber)

 

 

Hardrace rear rear lateral arms 6834-H (Pillow Ball) with Whiteline lockout kit KCA307

 

 

Goof Off and a few microfibre towels and the PlastiDip eventually came off.

 

 

 

Much better.

 

 

 

Before the sun went down I popped the two next to each other. It's fascinating seeing what is basically a before and after at least from the outside of what it's become in three years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Aus30R]

September 2018: I found a nice little surprise under the hood from the organ donor. Something that was on my list of things to grab. A fancy Optima D35 Yellow Top battery.

 

 

I also noticed an Atrax battery tie-down, but I've already got one.

 

 

Terminals came off with some effort.

 

 

The things you find...

 

 

The shitty old Century battery could finally come out. Glad to be rid of this.

 

 

 

It was a little dirty.

 

 

 

Just about good as new after a quick wipe down.

 

 

 

Quick side-by-side. Much more compact and a little lighter.

 

 

 

Before it went back in the car I gave the tray a good scrubbin.

 

 

 

Due to the fact the battery is a little smaller I needed to tap longer thread the have it securely mounted. Finally able to put this to use.

 

 

 

Perfect.

 

 

 

Finally found a clip that could fix this. It's the small things. Plus a top up of washer fluid.

 

 

[98legwag]

Man, every time I look at your thread it makes me want to do more to my 3.0R.

[Aus30R]

September 2018: So I wasn't really planning on doing this but considering it looks like the 'organ donor' is going to a friend of mine I wanted to grab a couple more bits off it before it goes. One of which was the swaybar.

 

The bar is a Whiteline BSR39Z 20mm 2 point adjustable unit.

 

 

 

One of the boots on a endlink isn't fantastic but they are the Whiteline KLC144 adjustable units. They came off a treat though.

 

 

 

Then the brackets could come off. Interestingly new wholes were drilled to make the bar sit higher over STI catback.

 

 

 

Not bad after a clean.

 

 

 

 

 

So now to get the old one out. I no joke spent more then 2 hours looking for the freaking lock nut.

 

 

 

Anyway, wheels off.

 

 

 

Time for the bar to come off now, 14mm for the endlink.

 

 

 

12mm for the brackets.

 

 

[Aus30R]

While I managed to take the Whiteline one out without taking the exhaust off, it took two people and a lot of effort.

 

 

 

Out it came with ease.

 

 

 

Time to put the new bar in. After many failed attempts it finally went in. Lots of manoeuvring.

 

 

 

19mm to attack the subframe bolt for the AVO Swaybar Brace.

 

 

 

Mount on.

 

 

 

Endlinks up next.

 

 

 

Lastly, the exhaust could go back together and done.

 

 

 

Didn't get a chance to drop and the car and go for a drive but from what I hear people say this is a pretty worth while mod. While I will be switching out to Cusco gear front and rear in the next couple months when the car gets its overhaul this will do for now, can't complain with free.

[madrig]

love all you picture , i enjoy you thread ! great work .