353 replies to this topic

[Liberty]

Nice work mate. Do I still have to use the sticky dash excuse to get them to replace the entire dash or are they doing it by default?

 

Good to see it all work out for you despite the bullshit you went through... I don't mind the Levorg.

[El_Freddo]

Wow... Did they get someone in off the street to do the work??

Really glad to hear/see that they replaced the bits for you. Even my brumby's dash doesn't look as bad as that (IMO) and it's pretty terrible (it looks more like wear and tear rather than inflicted damage)!

Cheers

Bennie

[NQRSoobee]

Similar thing for my "olds" Toymotor Yaris.  The local dealer replaced the airbags and the passenger side A pillar trim was hanging loose as in close to falling off.  I believe the dealer's already had it back once & still hasn't fixed it.  Next time I'm at my parents house if it's not fixed then the dealer will be getting an earful from me.

[applegeek897]

November 2017: Before getting the interior back together I wanted to see if I could track down the strange noise coming from the front end. I started with the front coilovers as that has been a trouble issue since buying them. Drivers side first as that has been the one not holding base adjustment. It seems to have held well over the Melbourne trip which is good.

 

 

What was a concern is the spring height had dropped significantly.

 

 

This was likely the noise, micro adjustments of it moving down. Regardless I loosened the collar and corrected.

 

 

 

While I was there it was also time for my usual 5,000km service. Penrite HPR10 10W-50 and genuine filter is my usual choice.

 

 

 

Oil was dropped and filter replaced.

 

 

 

Again while I was under there it is finally time to replace this coolant hose. I've been putting this off for ages purely down to laziness. Which is bad because it was basically a ticking time bomb. The budging has been getting worse.

 

 

 

Off it came as with these clamps.

 

 

 

The main lower rad hose also came out so I could drain all the old coolant out.

 

 

 

While very stubborn the old hose eventually came out.

 

 

 

New one side-side. Well overdue.

 

 

 

A couple new clamps later and old it went.

 

 

 

New coolant then went in. This is actually the first time I've done this on the car.

 

 

 

After a quick drive all the new nosies seemed to have disappears. Good news.

 

Next up was to start getting the interior back together. We'll start with the shifter surround. I was told it was going to be a brand new unit and cost the dealership $650.00. I was actually presented with this when I up-wrapped it at home. It ended up being a 'pov-spec' silver instead of black, well-used, full of scratches and five-speed unit. Good job guys. Looks like that is going to take some more to to sort out.

 

 

 

What I did get months ago was a MINT cubby from Pick-n-Payless. I've been meaning to get one for ages but I haven't been able to get one that has the bright button, which I need for my model. Comparison compared to my old one.

 

 

 

The buttons and screen in particular are night and day better.

 

 

 

Cubby could then go in. I got super mad for a short time because I couldn't get it to light up and thought that it was broken, but after driving for five minutes it just turned on and started working.

 

 

 

The brand new headunit then got mounted up.

 

 

 

Then it could go in.

 

 

 

Then HVAC and shifter surround and we're done.

 

 

 

After a proper drive, despite all the bullshit, when it works I remember why I love this car, will put up with it's usual crap and likely never sell it.

[Liberty]

It's just getting better and better man.

 

I seriously cannot believe Subaru forked that up again... VERY poor form.

[Barbbachello]

That shift surround is a joke. Idk how they could even remotely try and claim that as new when its covered in DUST let alone scratched. Take em to the cleaners i say

[applegeek897]

November 2017: This has been on my list for ages, and after scheduling an inspection with Garage 88 for the coilovers, which seem to have been fixed now, time will tell, it was time to finally pick one up. A Pitch-Stop Mount. I was originally going to go with a Betrush version but after learning there was a recently released Cusco version I had to go with it, common it's blue.

 

Pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

Time to jump into the engine bay.

 

 

 

Intake off.

 

 

 

Looked and felt rooted, also joy, more zipties in the engine bay...

 

 

 

Shot.

 

 

 

Side by side and in. Holy balls, after taking it for a drive the difference was noticeable immediately.

 

 

[El_Freddo]

Nice pitch stopper rod - shame no one will see it under the air filter box.

 

But you'll know its there

 

Cheers

 

Bennie

[applegeek897]

Nice pitch stopper rod - shame no one will see it under the air filter box.

 

But you'll know its there

 

Cheers

 

Bennie

 

I know right, oh well, more excuses for other Cusco goodies to be added.

 

November 2017: This has been on my list for ages, and after scheduling an inspection with Garage 88 for the coilovers, which seem to have been fixed now, time will tell, it was time to finally pick one up. A Pitch-Stop Mount. I was originally going to go with a Betrush version but after learning there was a recently released Cusco version I had to go with it, common it's blue.

 

Pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

Time to jump into the engine bay.

 

 

 

Intake off.

 

 

 

Looked and felt rooted, also joy, more zipties in the engine bay...

 

 

 

Shot.

 

 

 

Side by side and in. Holy balls, after taking it for a drive the difference was noticeable immediately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

[Liberty]

Nice additions man. Your wagon just gets cleaner and cleaner.

[applegeek897]

Nice additions man. Your wagon just gets cleaner and cleaner.

 

Thanks Gaz!

 

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.

 

 

[Liberty]

Immaculate man. Really nice work you've done with her, honestly.

[Niko]

Car looks good.

PS: It's 'picqued my interest' not 'peaked my interest'.

[applegeek897]

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.

[applegeek897]

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.

[Liberty]

Very nice. You got there in the end with the dealership.

 

Don't be stung though. Not all dealerships are the same and there are still some good stories coming out from dash and airbag replacements. I have yet to book mine in...

[Jimbo]

Very nice. You got there in the end with the dealership.

 

Don't be stung though. Not all dealerships are the same and there are still some good stories coming out from dash and airbag replacements. I have yet to book mine in...

Same here. Did you get the letter via registered post basically saying if your face explodes you can't sue them?

[Liberty]

Haha, yeah I did. Very official-looking too.

[Niko]

Noice, how much do Corgiwerks do? I know they do bushings etc, might need to look into them for some gear.

Same here. Did you get the letter via registered post basically saying if your face explodes you can't sue them?

Hahaha fark. Well they did warn you.

[applegeek897]

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.

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

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.