Spec B Questions

[DaveWaters]

Yes I believe there is. Looks like his just says SI drive. Looks blurry in the pic but I don’t see a #

 

 

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[Infosecdad]

It's definitely a mix of stuff, only the VIN will tell you what it started as.

[1of48]

It's a Canadian 2009 Spec B, the leather is in good shape, perhaps it's different leather in 09, Canadian models or been replaced? VIN decoders have it as Spec B.

 

Yes HID ballast

Edited November 8, 2019 by 1of48

[1of48]

If my memory is correct the other White 09 Spec B that was for sale at the same time had black seats and red shift knob. Perhaps the white Spec Bs don't come with the blue accent's.

[DaveWaters]

It's a Canadian 2009 Spec B, the leather is in good shape, perhaps it's different leather in 09, Canadian models or been replaced? VIN decoders have it as Spec B.

 

Yes HID ballast

 

 

 

Glad that it’s actually a spec b. Which at this point may not matter since it’s so modified. As for the seats... maybe Canadian market spec bs have different trim. Regardless you bought an interesting car and with a little research you’ll know exactly what’s been done to it. Looking forward to seeing how this pans out.

 

 

 

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[dgoodhue]

The US 2009 Spec.B had black alacantra inserts (2008 as well), perhaps this difference between US & CA models.

[MaasaiWarrior]

the 2007 Canadian Spec B had the blue alcantara, 08-09 has the Black Alcantara.

 

I'd say that interior has been swapped, maybe the previous owner swapped it for a quick cash payment and took the leather off of a car.

[Nonamedude]

I hate leather seats. I thought about swapping mine for heated cloth. So it's quite possible that's what happened. I think he said it's a rebuild. Maybe the air bags blew and so they just got cheapest replacements possible.

[1of48]

Well I finally got my car back from Mazda. Compression came back LF115, LR125, RF120, RR130 PSI, Spec indicates 142-171PSI with 7PSI difference. So my compression seems a bit low and off spec.

 

Leak down passed with 5% leak down on all cylinders.

 

Turbo was inspected and has very little play but an oil leak was noticed near turbo.

[Max Capacity]

For the age of the car, I wouldn't be to worried about those numbers. How dose the car feel when you driving it ? These things have never been perfectly smooth.

 

A few things can effect compression numbers.

 

To late now but, did you have them install new spark plugs ?

 

Next thing you might want to do is zip tie all the vacuum hoses, then do a boost leak test. The simple way is, use a pint size paint can to plug the hose off the air filter box, pull the small hose off the blow off valve, give that hose a short blast of air from a compressor, put your thumb over the hose, listen for leaks.

 

Oh, oil leak, could be the valve cover, common issue. Worst case its the oil return hose from the turbo. $20 drain hose, big labor cost.

Edited November 13, 2019 by Max Capacity

[1of48]

Well I was worried about those compression numbers. Yeah I should have put new plugs in, didn't think of it. They didn't tell me what turbo I had either.

[Nonamedude]

I'm glad someone else chimed in on the compression. My understanding was the range may have been a problem but the numbers themselves were fine. I think 120s is pretty common on these engines as they are older.

 

It's looking more and more like you have a gem not a dud. I'd look into that oil leak and see where it's coming from. Really all turbo subarus need a tune so what turbo you have is a little less important in the end, but I'd guess you either have a stock one or a vf52. I'm not sure if there is a visual difference except for the stamping on the front.

 

When I started tearing into my engine, what I had thought was a "small leak" was actually quite massive. It was just from the oil return hose being old I'm pretty sure, but it made quite the mess and surely didn't help my oil consumption. These cars use enough oil without any leaks and that would have been a really easy one to do myself. With small enough hands and some decent dexterity you might be able to do it without removing anything.

 

That said if they checked the shaft play, then the down pipe has already been broken free which means the hardest part is done. Doing anything in that area now on your own is super simple.

[1of48]

I looked up the Carfax report. It had one owner till it was writen off in '14, since then it's gone through 4 more owners and nobody for much more then a year. Unfortunately it didn't revele much else.