rmh4097 Posted August 22, 2009 Author Share Posted August 22, 2009 Well, I cleared up my headlights and tailights and got all the yellowing off. I used some 2000 grit sandpaper to take off a bunch of road grime that was on the surface and to rough up the lens just a little bit. Then I used some headlight solution that was recommended to me by a service technician at my local pepboys. They look purdy... Before: After: Hopefully they stay that nice for at least a couple months. I really don't feel like buffing them every couple of weeks. My next gutter project is going to be fancying up my grill a little bit, and repainting my windshield wipers. I want to put together my own grill that look like the one on zamorajoel's stealth wagon (see pic below). All he did was pick up some mesh rain gutter shield, fir it into his grill, and paint it all black. He said it cost him a little over $5 for everything. Oh and I want to pick up a set of Hella Supertones as a new horn kit... they look awesome... and I still wish I could get my hands on some morette's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Racing Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 That is a very mean wagon. You do that grill mod (You'd have to cut some of it out), tint the headlights and foglights, and you'd have yourself a mean looking wagon, not that it isn't mean looking already... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmh4097 Posted August 22, 2009 Author Share Posted August 22, 2009 Oh, and I removed that "Don't Postpone Joy" Sticker and the dealership sicker. They both left a slight residue on the paint, but my neighbor said he has some decal remover that I can use that will take that right off of there for me. And yes, they both are very mean looking wagons... can't wait to fix up the body on mine and get her painted. I'm going to have her painted a brighter red color that my dad used when he painted his motorcycle. It's Hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmh4097 Posted August 23, 2009 Author Share Posted August 23, 2009 Well, I stopped by Pep-boys today and picked up some 10w-30 oil, an oil filter, air filter, and 3 new wiper blades for all my wipers. Changed the oil, and installed the filters and blades. The engine runs so smooth now. The previous owner used a cheap-o brand oil, but at least they changed it often enough, "not every 3,000 miles, but more than every 7,000" to quote her exactly.... changing the oil even seemed to help smooth out the shifting as well. I guess it helps it match engine speed to the road speed a little smoother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Racing Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 Having all the internals well lubed is critical to promoting engine performance. In a post on another forum you may see my post about synthetic/caster (Dino) oils. Note, I didn't say don't use quality oil, I just said how synthetic oil is a hype. you should always use quality oil, no matter how it's manufactured. And just so you know, if you repaint the car red you should buy a car color. It's a known fact in the auto-body world that red paint fades multitudes faster than any other color on a car body. It will dull (lose it's glossy finish) and fade so fast your head will spin. A cheap-o cover to protect your investment would be a great idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmh4097 Posted August 24, 2009 Author Share Posted August 24, 2009 ^^Hmm, thanks, will do. While talking about painting, I pulled off my windshield wipers today, sanded them all down to take the rust off, and repainted them. They're hanging in the garage drying as I write this. I just primer'd them up and then painted them satin black, so nothing too fancy... I'll put some pics up of them tomorrow when I have them re-installed. Edit (8/24): Here are some of those pics of the redone wipers. They aren't perfect, but I think I did an okay job, for an amateur, and they are a heck of a lot better than they were before. Some of the spots where they look gray is only from the camera flash. I put an even coat of primer on, followed by two even coats of paint. So, trust me, there are no gray spots... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekay Posted August 28, 2009 Share Posted August 28, 2009 Lookin' good. My 9.3 cups EJ22 makes me feel like my **** is 2.8 decimeters! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slickfast Posted August 28, 2009 Share Posted August 28, 2009 Nice job. What paint did you use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubieWagon Posted August 29, 2009 Share Posted August 29, 2009 Hey nice wagon, looks like mine. Mines a 97 Legacy L 2.2L. I'm in the process of changing the timing belt, water pump, cam seals, and radiator hoses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmh4097 Posted August 29, 2009 Author Share Posted August 29, 2009 Lookin' good. Thanks! Nice job. What paint did you use? Rustoleum, lol. Never fails.... Hey nice wagon, looks like mine. Mines a 97 Legacy L 2.2L. I'm in the process of changing the timing belt, water pump, cam seals, and radiator hoses. Thanks! These 2.2's are awesome. They seem to putt on forever. I'm really looking forward to pulling mine out eventually and boring it out to increase the power. I'm gonna turn this puppy into one hell-of-a sleeper. We have too many ricers around here with their bazooka style exhausts and primer color paint jobs that need to be taught a lesson in what really makes a car, a car. Not to mention, the impreza owners around here who thing their cars are the shiznips, they need to be shown that legacies own. Good luck with your replacements. Lemme know how it turns out for ya! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmh4097 Posted September 4, 2009 Author Share Posted September 4, 2009 Since today was such a gorgeous day, and seeing that I had off of school for Labor Day, I decided to do some touch ups on my car's bodywork. I taped off my lights and windshield to touch up some paint on my front bumper. I only put one coat of paint on for today, since I didn't have enough time to put more that on since I have to go to work in a couple hours. Here is a pic of what it looks like now: The white spot is just the flash of my camera... Now, I'm sure you're wondering where my grille is at, well, it's been pulled off, sanded down, and pained, and I'm going to work on a mesh insert to put in. Here are two pics of it all painted, a pic of the mesh insert that I'm going to use, and a pic of what I plan for the finished product to look like (minus the STI badge). I do plan to put a Red Subaru logo on the new grill eventually when all it said and done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beanboy Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Is the clutch okay? Said revs should high when you try to accelerate past 70mph or so. usually a sign of a slipping clutch. Looks good! -B http://www.standardshift.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmh4097 Posted September 4, 2009 Author Share Posted September 4, 2009 Yeah, clutch is fine. I guess it was really my imagination that was getting the better of me. I took my dad's Jetta VR6 out as a sort of comparison to check where he engine's rev's are at. And his engine was near the same level as mine, just over 3000 rpms at 70mph, and it's always possible that my speedo is off and I'm actually traveling faster that what I actually am. It's funny, my dad and I were both out driving, me in my legacy, him in VR6 and I was able to keep up with him no sweat. He can accelerate a good bit faster than I can, but I can keep up with him at high speeds, and I believe that my car takes turns better. He is getting new struts though, so I bet his will go around turn better then when he gets them installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Racing Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Man, I gotta do this to my car. My only fear is that it will look too ricish on a rusted, beat up first gen Legacy with steel rims and no hubcaps. The last thing I want to be recognized as is a riceboy... Sick look though, hope it turns out to look just like that last pic. Is that what the headlights really look like, or were they PhotoShopped as well? If that's what they really look like you did a superb job with that lens restoration. Kudos to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmh4097 Posted September 5, 2009 Author Share Posted September 5, 2009 Man, I gotta do this to my car. My only fear is that it will look too ricish on a rusted, beat up first gen Legacy with steel rims and no hubcaps. The last thing I want to be recognized as is a riceboy... Sick look though, hope it turns out to look just like that last pic. Is that what the headlights really look like, or were they PhotoShopped as well? If that's what they really look like you did a superb job with that lens restoration. Kudos to you. Umm, yeah I need to get some new wheels too... I'm still running on stock. I just don't have $450 to shell out right now on new wheels, so I'm just doing cheap DIY projects instead. I could care less about what other people think of my car. Most of my friends don't even have their licenses yet, so it doesn't matter. Yep, those are my real lenses. I don't know didly squat about photoshop, and neither do I know anyone who uses it. Yeah, they came out really nice, but I still want to get my hands on some JDM Projectors or even better still, some morettes , but that's just wishful thinking. I saw an audi today that had a really nice paint scheme, and I think I'm going to duplicate it on my legacy when I get around to repainting it. It looked kinda like this, just with black rims, and a whole lot better than this Microsoft paint job here. http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll183/rmh4097/SubieSidephot.jpg All it would entail would be to just paint the bottom trim piece there, and since I plan to have an OB bumper on there by that time, it will all come out just right. I can't wait till next summer when I repaint this puppy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Racing Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Looking good so far! If you're serious about an engine swap you should hit up Ebay and get a crappy old EJ25 turbo motor, then rebuild it slowly. Tell your Dad or whoever that you want to make it a father/son project (So he'll pay for it... ). When it's all said and done you can swap the built up motor in the car and sell the old one. It's freshly built, so it's gotta be worth something. Hell, I might even buy it! By then my EJ22 will have probably had it. You can justify the build by saying that this car with a brand new motor will last you 10+ years.... (As long as you get some good quality custom made head gaskets) I'm thinking fully machined block (Maybe a .020 overbore, but I'm not sure how the cylinder walls would hold up to boost), ARP studs, Eagle conrods, STi internals, hot camshafts, machined head with oversized valves, big injectors, big fuel pump, a sweet custom tune, ported/polished heads and intake manifold, and anything else you care to throw at it. Of course, plans change when you're young, but this is where hobbies begin! Plus, if you go through with this by the time you're 30 you'll probably have built yourself a 600 HP STi... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmh4097 Posted September 6, 2009 Author Share Posted September 6, 2009 Tell your Dad or whoever that you want to make it a father/son project (So he'll pay for it... ). When it's all said and done you can swap the built up motor in the car and sell the old one. It's freshly built, so it's gotta be worth something. Hell, I might even buy it! By then my EJ22 will have probably had it. You can justify the build by saying that this car with a brand new motor will last you 10+ years.... (As long as you get some good quality custom made head gaskets) I'm thinking fully machined block (Maybe a .020 overbore, but I'm not sure how the cylinder walls would hold up to boost), ARP studs, Eagle conrods, STi internals, hot camshafts, machined head with oversized valves, big injectors, big fuel pump, a sweet custom tune, ported/polished heads and intake manifold, and anything else you care to throw at it. I've already told my dad that this car is all mine and that I want to do all the work myself, and pay for it all with my own money. It would be nice to have the extra money that he could contribute, but he always seems to take over everything we work on together, and I just have to sit there, twiddle my thumbs, and go get him the tool he needs whenever he needs it.... plus, we (and when I say "we" I mean "him") just got done rebuilding the engine on my honda cb350, and we're in the middle of rebuilding the engine on my BMW r100rt, both of which he's pretty much completely paid for. This car is my project, and he knows it. He's not even allowed to help wash it... he has it own toys to take care of . I told him that if he really wants to contribute, he can buy me tools when ever he want to though My dad is pretty cool, but I'd rather let this be my own thing. Of course, plans change when you're young, but this is where hobbies begin! Plus, if you go through with this by the time you're 30 you'll probably have built yourself a 600 HP STi... I hope to have all this done before I'm out of college, lol. My grandfather had a '79 Camaro that has been sitting in a shed for 20 some years, I plan to buy that when I get my subie where I want it to be. Then I'll make the Camero a project that me and my kids can work on someday, when I have kids... Remember though, I'm only 16, I'm only just over half way to 30 there bub, and I've got another 6 or 7 years before I'm looking to get married and start a family, I've plenty of time to tinker around with this thing... On another note... how do you tint windows? I know you can buy a self-tint kit, but I think those look pretty cheesy... Can they take your existing glass and dip it in something, or spray it with something that would give it a professional looking tint? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Racing Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 You can have the windows tinted, or go to AutoZone or even Wal-Mart and buy tint kits for cheap. Can't comment on the quality since I've never tried them. I know what you mean with your dad taking over your projects. Before the TV show BattleBots became extremely popular, I made a custom remote control fighting robot in the basement of my mothers house. At the time, my father didn't have custody of me, so I only saw him 2 days a week and every other weekend. I brought the robot over his house and had him look at it. By the time I was done he had rewired the entire thing with Double Pole Double Throw switches to control each motor and installed a Futaba dual channel radio system. It was better than what I had the robot outfitted with, but I almost cried nonetheless since I felt that the project I built entirely myself was no longer mine. My father was very much so the same as yours. Projects went like this... "I'll do the dirty work, show you how its done, and you get me the tools from the basement. When it's all done you can say we both did it together." It hurt my feelings, but now that he's gone I miss it infinitely. I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles..... When I was a little younger than you are, I had decided I would make my own project. My dad had this 1978 Sears LTV11 lawn tractor with an 11HP Briggs and Stratton engine. I did everything I could to that engine, and got it to run despite the fact that it had a blown starter relay, worn piston rings, worn cylinder walls, an exhaust valve seat that would pop out at will, a broken ignition coil wire (Which I soldered myself a the age of 12), and at least 3 head bolts that were broken off inside the block. I got it to run one day after jump starting it directly off my dads truck, straight from the truck battery to the tractors starter motor. It would only run at idle, and when it fired up I ran inside and got my dad. I said "Dad, I got the tractor to run, can you look at it and tell my why it will only run with the choke on?" He looked at me with confused eyes and said "You got it to run? That tractor hasn't run in years. What do you mean it's running?" Low and behold I got him outside and i9t was putting and sputtering away. He was so proud of me he told everyone he knew that his 12 year old boy brought a lawn tractor back from the grave. Of course after that he tried to adjust the needle setting on the carb and totally ruined whatever was keeping that engine running with a poor fuel mixture, but it still made me feel good. I still have that engine, and made a bet a couple years ago that I could have it running within 12 hours. I lost the bet because the starter (Which I rebuilt within the 12 hour time limit) didn't turn the engine over, but I bet with a new starter that thing would run today...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmh4097 Posted September 13, 2009 Author Share Posted September 13, 2009 Well, I finished up my grill Monday of last week and installed it Tuesday morning, but it rained all week so I didn't have a chance to snap some pics. I just took some now, lemme know what you think. The flash on my camera keeps lighting it up, but in reality the grill is all black and you can't see all of the inner parts. Now I need to get a set of hella supertones to put in right behind it. I like it, and I've gotten a few compliments on it already. when it costs less than $3 to make, you can't really go wrong:lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekay Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 Good job on the grille. Looks great. My 9.3 cups EJ22 makes me feel like my **** is 2.8 decimeters! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmh4097 Posted September 14, 2009 Author Share Posted September 14, 2009 Well, I have some good news and some bad news.... The Good News: my exhaust has suddenly started sounding really cool... ..The Bad News: It's not supposed to sound that way... Here's the deal. Yesterday I was driving home from church. I stopped at a stop sign, and when I went to pull out I heard a sort of clunk noise, and all of a sudden it sounded like I had some Ricer Exhaust... It turns out that my exhaust decided to finally give up the ghost. Here's a few pics of the damage: So I guess I need a new exhaust pipe... I looked on autozone and NAPA and they both want upwards of $200 for a new one. That just seems way too overpriced to me.. I guess I'll be doing some ebay shopping. I'm just gonna get a whole new set because the whole thing looks pretty bad. So that's that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekay Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 Wow. Looks like underground piping! Good luck with finding a new exhaust. You might also want to check out some local muffler shops as they may have some cheaper recommendations for you. My 9.3 cups EJ22 makes me feel like my **** is 2.8 decimeters! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmh4097 Posted September 16, 2009 Author Share Posted September 16, 2009 I found an the intermittent pipe and the muffler for $170 + $30 shipping. Is that a good price for a muffler? I've never bough a muffler, so I don't really know how much I should pay. Any chance anyone knows of a good muffler shop around the Harrisburg area? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekay Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 For sure. I paid roughly $300 for my behind-cat pipe and muffler. Good price. My 9.3 cups EJ22 makes me feel like my **** is 2.8 decimeters! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 I found an the intermittent pipe and the muffler for $170 + $30 shipping. Is that a good price for a muffler? I've never bough a muffler, so I don't really know how much I should pay. Any chance anyone knows of a good muffler shop around the Harrisburg area? There are some very wide variations in price. Typically, but not always, you get what you pay for. Hopefully what you purchased will fit correctly and last you several years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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