What did you do to your 5th gen today?? -V4

[Humble Rumble]

Less what I did TO my 5th gen and more what I did WITH my 5th gen. Participated in AutoX at SubieFest Midwest, and did really, really well. It was my first 'performance' driving outing with the essentially entirely new setup: coilovers, headers, new tune. I cheekily entered my 3.6R into the Turbo Stock class instead of the N/A class. The last time I entered AutoX at SubieFest 2018, I did the NA class and I walked 2nd place by over 6 seconds on a 50 second course, and after looking over the full time sheet, my times would've placed me dead middle in Turbo Stock. The course for this year was *really* bumpy, which made for an interesting challenge, but it was overall a really fun, fast track.

As it turns out, registering in Turbo Stock ended up being a fantastic choice. My best time of the day was 36.324, which placed me 8th of 22 cars, which I'm *extremely* pleased with. The car performed fantastically and felt awesome, and the new exhaust not only sounded amazing, but literally echoed across the entire arena, and drew tons of attention and compliments to the car, which, while I build my car for me, is always gratifying to experience. Turbo Stock ended up being the largest class by far, and raced early in the day so I had plenty of time to enjoy the rest of the event worry-free. Aside from that, only 3 cars entered the N/A class, and ironically, one of them ended up running faster than me, so NA wouldn't have been an easy win anyways and I'm glad I had more fun in Turbo Stock. The NA car that ran better than me was an EZ30 swapped GC that ended up running 35.4xx. I chatted with the driver after the event and found out that his car weights roughly EIGHT HUNDRED pounds less than my Legacy, so taking that into account, only running .9xx slower than a car that much lighter is still very good. 

Here's a couple clips of full runs: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf477axOWsF/

A local S209 owner took what is one of my favorite short clips of my car ever. The action zoom in is sick, and the sound is perfect: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cf4lzlrOwDA/

Also, where I ended up parking had a perfect little took shelf that I could put my toolbox on.  Saw that spot when I was pulling in and snagged it immediately. 

Someone also happened by and got this perfect shot of me converted the car from street to track setup. I want to throw an old-timey filter on this and frame it lmao. (ya boi looking a bit thicc, think it's time for some weight reduction to get those times down )

This next pic in isolation almost looks like I'm doing an absolutely sick 4-wheel drift. 

After the event, I happened upon a drone photographer that took some REALLY high up shots of the entire event, so you can see me and all the autox entries sitting off in our little corner, the entire autox arena, and the rest of the show area. Overall, it was a really well ran, well organized autox and show event overall. Had a great time. 

Last and final thing, they had an exhaust competition that I was REALLY keen on entering with my new Inferno setup, and for some reason, they had this dumb rule that autox entrants weren't allowed to enter the exhaust competition. Something about "a dead zone that cars aren't allowed to drive through" even though in the aerial shots you can clearly see a safe, easy road around the perimeter of the event that would've allowed autox'ers to get over to the area where the exhaust comp was. But, either way, I wanted to do a few revs for fun. Here's a fun easter egg: normally, the 3.6R will only rev to 4k rpm in park or when stopped in neutral, but if you roll forward in neutral, it will give you the full 6500 rpm.  Enjoy the flat-six symphony. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf5inM5OA92/

[Humble Rumble]

Threw together a quick edit of my two best runs from SubieFest. 

 

[GTEASER]

This new forum GUI sucks. Managed to get Colorado plates for the ZHP and GX just like I had in California, GTEASER and TPGRPHY. Loving it here. Anyone in the Denver Metro area or Front Range. I am in Castle Rock now.

[Humble Rumble]

Headed down to the Subaru production plant in Lafayette, IN for The Subaru Challenge autocross event this past weekend, which was held in the parking lot of the actual facility. This was my first long trip in the 3.6R since the new engine and new suspension setup, about 2.5 hours one way, and the car handled it without a single problem. I averaged around 24 mpg through the trip there, which is excellent considering I normally average under 16 driving around home. I must say, my alignment and corner balancing done by Ultima Race Works is absolutely -spectacular-. Despite being pretty darn low, with the way they set my car up, I have literally zero rubbing, scrapping, or bottoming out issues whatsoever. Granted I obviously have to angle into some driveways as one would expect at this height, but prior to them setting me up, I had rubbing and scrapping issues on large highway bumps that have completely disappeared since. They really got me set up millimeter perfect, and the car feels fantastic. 

Also did a small touch of sight-seeing on my way down and stopped at the last remaining over-road highway oasis in the Illinois highway system, about an hour from me in South Holland, IL. There used to be a spattering of these all over the place, and for some reason in the last 10 years they've decided to start demolishing them and just making them side-of-the-highway gas stations instead. It's a real shame because I genuinely loved going to these oases, and found them to be a truly therapeutic place to be. I found it fun and relaxing to just sit and watch the traffic from above, and would honestly sometimes drive out to one just to have lunch. They were truly something unique and special about Illinois highways and it saddens me greatly to see them all but extinct at this point. 

Onto the actual event itself. I don't have any pictures or videos from during the event yet (I didn't take any myself, a friend took some he is sending me later), but I drove really well and the car performed spectacularly! I entered into the Extreme Street A class and ended up taking 3rd place in the class, which earned me a medal! Beyond that, 1st and 2nd place in the class were actually driven by two drivers in the same car (who seemed very seasoned at SCCA autocross), so technically I had the 2nd fastest car in the class! I also ended up running good enough for 7th overall across all classes, which I'm really pleased with. 

On top of all that, every person that was at this event who also raced at SubieFest and ran faster times than me there, I ran faster times than at this event. I'm calling that a driver mod improvement.  Checking off personal goals, really happy with where the car has progress to. Really starting to show its abilities. 

Had a really great time visiting the plant, been a bucketlist item to bring my car back to the place of its birth at some point. Overall was a really fun event, really well ran, I got a bunch of compliments on my runs, and even got a compliment from a Subaru employee stating I had the best sounding car of the whole event.  I do wish we got to check out the inside of the facility, but hey, maybe another time.

One last thing about the trip, my gf and I checked out a Disc Replay right near our hotel, which I was super excited to see since all of them in my area closed down a number of years ago, but while we were in the store, a bone stock 2012 Ice Silver 2.5i pulled up and parked right next to me. It looked virtually identical to how my car looked 6 years ago when I bought it, and it was really cool seeing a before and after comparison in the flesh. 

Even funnier still, an Ice Silver 6th gen pulled up while we were shopping, and if you look in the background, there's also a silver 3rd gen that heavily resembles my daily Legacy as well. Must have been Silver Legacy day at the Disc Replay or something. 

[Zee199969]

22 hours ago, GTEASER said:

This new forum GUI sucks. Managed to get Colorado plates for the ZHP and GX just like I had in California, GTEASER and TPGRPHY. Loving it here. Anyone in the Denver Metro area or Front Range. I am in Castle Rock now.

Congrats on making the move to the Denver area. Love it out there, I've got friends in Golden, CO. If I'm ever out there again I'll try to hit you up

[Loya1ty]

Broke what tabs may have been left on my front bumper under the headlight when I smacked a concrete platform around a gas pump lol came in a little hot. Hit 185k and ordered another oil change. May just be in my head.. but starting to feel/sound like its running rough.

[Boise2.5i]

I backed out of a driveway at a house I'm pet-sitting at this morning and while I was at an angle to account for the larger curb, I still managed to rip the left side of the front bumper cover off. It was already held in place with a zip tie at the furthest clip point near the tire, now its popped out from most of the headlight clip spots just like the right side. One day my lazy ass will unclip the bottom of the bumper to get it lined back up, but for now a replacement zip tie has been installed

[Loya1ty]

2 hours ago, Boise2.5i said:

I backed out of a driveway at a house I'm pet-sitting at this morning and while I was at an angle to account for the larger curb, I still managed to rip the left side of the front bumper cover off. It was already held in place with a zip tie at the furthest clip point near the tire, now its popped out from most of the headlight clip spots just like the right side. One day my lazy ass will unclip the bottom of the bumper to get it lined back up, but for now a replacement zip tie has been installed

Zip tie mafia! lol Constantly just lifting under the fog light cavity lip while pushing in with the knee every time I get in the car these days haha

[Falcor]

On 7/27/2022 at 7:08 PM, GTEASER said:

This new forum GUI sucks. Managed to get Colorado plates for the ZHP and GX just like I had in California, GTEASER and TPGRPHY. Loving it here. Anyone in the Denver Metro area or Front Range. I am in Castle Rock now.

Didn't know you were moving to the Denver area, hope the move went well. You will defiantly be having fun with the GX out there. You are now only like 45 min from Heuberger . 

 

If you ever get a chance, check out Edelweiss in Colorado Springs. We hit them up any time we are in the area.

[FLlegacy]

Almost 5 years in my battery finally kicked the bucket, I went with a Everstart Maxx group 24 this time around hopefully I get the same life out of this one. Kind of weird thing is the duralast battery wasn't low on water or anything, just died, I could see some corrosion on the plates so likely just aged out. It hung on for a long time. We are at 3 years on the Ascent and the oem battery is still kicking in it, but likely I will replace it soon as well.

[Alexmed2002]

1 hour ago, FLlegacy said:

Almost 5 years in my battery finally kicked the bucket, I went with a Everstart Maxx group 24 this time around hopefully I get the same life out of this one. Kind of weird thing is the duralast battery wasn't low on water or anything, just died, I could see some corrosion on the plates so likely just aged out. It hung on for a long time. We are at 3 years on the Ascent and the oem battery is still kicking in it, but likely I will replace it soon as well.

My Legacy battery lasted 5 years when I still owned it. Sounds like 5-6 years is around the average.

[FLlegacy]

57 minutes ago, Alexmed2002 said:

My Legacy battery lasted 5 years when I still owned it. Sounds like 5-6 years is around the average.

I was only getting 2-3 years for a while, on both of our vehicles. I would say battery quality took a nose dive for a few years it was multiple brands.

[Zee199969]

either the a/c clutch or compressor took a dump today. I guess not too bad for 13yrs of texas heat

[Loya1ty]

Drove it 10 min, then 10 min straight home when the Christmas tree popped on the dash. Flashing brake and oil temp. The oil light popped the other day so I ordered Motul to do a change this weekend. But it appears things escalated faster than normal. Coolant Reservoir appears to have oil in it.  

[Zee199969]

6 hours ago, Loya1ty said:

Drove it 10 min, then 10 min straight home when the Christmas tree popped on the dash. Flashing brake and oil temp. The oil light popped the other day so I ordered Motul to do a change this weekend. But it appears things escalated faster than normal. Coolant Reservoir appears to have oil in it.  

damn... that sucks

[Scooby Fan]

That sounds bad.....fingers crossed that you caught it before any other collateral damage occurred and the fix will be quick and easy (Read as reasonably cheap)

Good luck with it. 

[DrD123]

while changing the oil and under the car saw oil dripping off the engine right about at the head gasket... noticed it looked odd, then when I got out from under the car I noticed the PS reservoir was  a little low and thankfully found that it was just my power steering pump peeing fluid on the top of the engine...  replaced the suction side o-ring, cleaned up the mess, and we're good to go.  (went from "oh crap, not a blown head gasket" to "$3 o-ring and we're good to go")

[Loya1ty]

On 8/5/2022 at 5:56 PM, Scooby Fan said:

That sounds bad.....fingers crossed that you caught it before any other collateral damage occurred and the fix will be quick and easy (Read as reasonably cheap)

Good luck with it. 

I'm just gonna assume head gaskets lol Want to sell the car anyway, so thinking I'll have my fun pulling the engine and cleaning things up myself and parting ways with it soon after.

[dgoodhue]

All those lights illuminating just means that you have a check engine light.  It may or may not be relative to the low oil level.

[ToolTime]

My last oil change was pushed to 7k but I felt a bit nervous about that and changed it again at 3k just to be safe. I had used Castrol Edge 5w-30 FS and castrol edge high milage FS (the car ate some oil before I changed the PCV valve) with a wix xp filter, the car ran ok but still felt a bit noisy. The fumoto valve made things nice and easy. I just put Penzoil Ultra Plat 5w-30 and the car is noticeably quieter now. Used a K&N Performance Gold this time. After further research I think I'll go back to the Wix, because the bypass valve inside holds closest to the original spec and the medium seems superior. But I think I'll keep this oil, car feels much happier.

Next, throttle body cleaning and a new AGM battery, and checking for vacuum leaks. It stumbles a bit when returning to idle from any RPM.  I've been warned about Subaru branded batteries and this one is only 2 year old but is corroding badly and leaking from the top, it's only a matter of time till she explodes. Thinking a Bosch S6 S6521B Group 34 AGM because they come with a 4 year warranty, have 775 CCA, and is $200 of Rock Auto.  It even comes with roadside assistance as part of the warranty. Seems like a good enough deal to off balance not having the convenience of a Autozone or Advance in an emergency. Honestly I think I'll get another just to keep and store, charging it and running maintenance cycles when necessary. NE winters can suck. I wanted an Odyssey battery but couldn't justify the extra and was curios how long this Bosch would last.

[FLlegacy]

Finally had a bit of time, thanks to some germ-sharing in our family, to get the timing belt changed and install the new radiator. It runs much cooler now, usually runs 196-201 with ac on, 208-212 with it off, now it's 183-187 ac on and 203-210 ac off. And the fans only come on low when the ac is off. Big improvement so far, I do have a rather annoying squeak coming from the idler pulley or tensioner pulley now, so gotta order those.

[tdelker]

Finished putting it back together after a burnt #4 exhaust valve. Started up - P0345, but just a loose connector (can't believe I did that!). All lights off now and no obvious leaks.

To do:

1) Get injectors sent out for cleaning and testing to ensure they weren't the cause. 

2) Smoke test (gotta buy a machine) to ensure not large leaks

3) Pressure test intake to ensure it's not related to that

[ToolTime]

On 7/8/2022 at 2:39 PM, Humble Rumble said:

Did another thing recently: new street wheels for the car. Enkei RS05RR 18x9.5 +43 in Sparkle Silver. Really missed having silver wheels, and love how these look on my color. Making my Konigs my track wheels until my track tires are used up, then probably selling them, making the Enkei's my track wheels, and getting back into a 19 setup for street.

 

I love the setup, the tire profile looks perfect. What tires are you using?

[Humble Rumble]

10 hours ago, ToolTime said:

I love the setup, the tire profile looks perfect. What tires are you using?

255/40/18 Conti DWS06. 

[Falcor]

On 8/21/2022 at 4:12 PM, FLlegacy said:

Finally had a bit of time, thanks to some germ-sharing in our family, to get the timing belt changed and install the new radiator. It runs much cooler now, usually runs 196-201 with ac on, 208-212 with it off, now it's 183-187 ac on and 203-210 ac off. And the fans only come on low when the ac is off. Big improvement so far, I do have a rather annoying squeak coming from the idler pulley or tensioner pulley now, so gotta order those.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think I'll be doing my own timing belt in a month or two. I know the lockdown kit is for the driver's side. What keeps the other side from turning? I've never done a timing belt, so sorry for the noob question. Still need to gather everything up.