For those who don't know me I'm Lachy This is my 2001 MY02 Subaru Liberty B4.
Purchased it in mid-February this year after selling my RX liberty to my brother, which had served me well on my Green P’s.
Purchased it with 118XXX k’s on it which for a 12 year old car is pretty good. It had had a respray in the same colour.
When I picked it up being my first turbo car I babied it along pennant hills road and then just cruised along the freeway up to Newcastle because my bro who nicely took me down to collect it in Sydney is still on his Green P’s.
Once I got off the freeway coming into Newcastle where I live for uni I finally gave it a squirt and DAM it put a smile on my face, so much different to the RX power wise 
.
From there I had the aspirations of turning it into a fun to drive car but not so over the top as that stuff is expensive and I’m a Uni student so money doesn’t go unless it needs too.
The day I bought it the only mods it had were an Aftermarket industries boost gauge, defi water temp gauge, apexi turbo timer and a drony as hell diff-back cannon.
This is some pictures of how it sat when I first got it (well a month later when I finally took some photos, excuse the gopro shots).
Car
Engine Bay
Exhaust-dirty cannon 
Interior
Front
from here I had these plans when Introduced myself on the forum
full TBE (catback first due to funds)
Suspension Upgrade coilovers most likely
Intercooler (top mount)
CAI haven’t looked into this much
Tune
Some wheels RPF1's or possibly some painted Gen 4 GT wheels
DBA rotors
upgraded lights especially when home is on a country road
Being a uni student study came first and none of these had occurred by the time the annual HVC came around, it fell in the middle of my exam period but luckily In a 10 day gap so I could attend a few mates from home had told me about it and I had a ball, met a whole bunch of people on the day some of which I have become good mates with namely Cam, Mark (Berriman) and Harry, through these boys I have built a great friendship through Subarus but not only car wise
Pics from the Hunter Valley Cruise (mark and others)
After the hunter valley I had 1 exam to go an completed it then I was ready to head off home to Wauchope for a month long holiday. The exam was the Friday after the hunter valley and I went out and had a big night as you do when you finish exams for the semester, next day woke up hungover as a dog sobered up and popped down to KFC for a hangover cure. On my way back to college about 1km to go I noticed the temp gauge about to spike and having driven Subys and diesels all my driving life knew straight away to pull over and turn it off.
Here I am thinking what’s gone wrong. I let it cool down and then crept back very slowly watching the temp like a hawk to the carpark and shut it off. I then proceeded to call the old man and ask his opinion. He said check the oil, which I did and being in a panic read it as low so went off and bought some oil and topped it up (little did I know I over filled it by about 1.5L). Then next step was to wait let it cool down and check the water. Being the amateur I was at the time, I only checked the overflow bottle it looked fine so I thought it must have just been the oil.
Planning on going home the next day I talked to mark and he suggested going for a drive to make sure it was right. I headed of towards Kotara (shopping centre in Newy from college at uni, got as far as Broadmeadow (about halfway to Kotara) before it creeped up again. I again pulled over and thought that’s it ive killed it 
. I called mark and he said he would come and have a look. He got there and he had a look called his old man who suggested maybe a thermostat which in that case was best not to drive on without knowing for sure. Mark decided to ring cam who at the time I didn’t know bar meeting briefly at HVC, who confirmed after mark said overheating B4 what do you think? “not another B4” the thought of thermo stuck closed or air in the system. From that I decided to call nrma and get a final opinion and then either tow truck or drive depending on the outcome. We waited an hr for them then he checked it over filling about 1L in the proper coolant filling the header tank and also checked my oil properly and after finding it overfull drained about 1.5L (he wasn’t impressed but I guess he gets payed to that dirty work).
After letting it run for a while on the road side, with no overheating he came to the conclusion that it could have juust been low on water as my thermostat was opening and fans running. From that we bid him farewell and took it for a gentle drive on some hills etc to see how it went . It didn’t overheat so I thanked mark for all his help and went home to college to prepare to go home the next day.
I arrived home and cam had sent me a message on facebook to see how I got on like the good bloke he is (many people can confirm this on the club). I explained the night to him and he offered to check it out after work on the Monday to be safe and make sure an engine wasn’t on the brink. So I figured what’s 2 days waiting around, over 5 grand for a new long motor. So on the Monday arvo drizzling with rain Cam came around from work around 5:30 with a bottle of coolant and started by checking the coolant and running the car while slowly watching the temp and topping up the header as it idled, we went through a few cycles of the fans and still no overheating. So he capped the header and he took it for a drive round the neighbourhood to see if loading the engine up would affect it. On the drive no overheating occurred and this was hitting full boost in 2nd gear. Once we got back Cam made the last check of checking the header, what he found upon opening was what seemed like bubbles i.e head gasket 
Cam hates B4's 
so upon this bad news he explained my options 
and said he could do a tk test to confirm the next day but it wasn’t looking good for the symptoms .
I called my parents and explained as they were expecting me home, they didn’t like the prospects but consoled me on the situation. I spent that night looking at all the prices of long blocks etc fearing the worst was to come the next afternoon.
Cam came around again the next afternoon with the TK testing kit and we started the car and got it up to temp, he then explained me how it works and put it on the header, and I waited for the ill-fated colour change………. But it never came. He tried it 3 more times to be sure still nothing. He showed me what colour it should turn by sucking in some exhaust gases from my big dirty cannon and I saw the colour change which had not occurred when he did it on the header tank. From this he put the overheating down to maybe some air trapped in the system which I had been hearing but never knew what was stuck in a vital part of the engine and the lower level of the header tank. So from this my sorrows had changed to looks of relief 
as I had somehow
avoided big $$$$ on a new engine through some luck and knowing to stop and overheating car before it gets in the red-zone.
Cam hates B4's but can fix just about anything Subaru
Cam suggested that it should be right to go home as he couldn’t find any reason why I couldn’t, the only thing he suggested as well as the NRMA was a new radiator cap, so I bought this and went on my way up Grafton NSW way where I was going camping on the coast with family and extended family. It went fine the whole way never moved off half on the temp gauge. I don’t think I've ever watched a gauge like I did that whole drive.
Cam suggested that on return we organised a day and give my car a good service, oil, oil filter, clean MAF, coolant flush, upper engine and also a resoneretomy which is quite common to free up the intake on Subarus.
I had a pressure test done by my mechanic while I was home for my hols as dad insisted to know for sure the head gaskets were not leaking, got it done $44 no leaks so I was feeling much better.
Upon returning back to Newcastle to start uni for second semester I had a day with Cam, Harry, Mark and myself at Cam’s work and all serviced our cars mine was done as mentioned above. Well bugger me it felt a lot better after this 
and since then I’ve been checking my fluids fortnightly if not weekly, as im never falling down that trap again.
I learnt a lot form this saga and I hope that I can pass the small things on one day, as well as some of the favours and information I have gained along the way. Big thanks go especially to Cam and mark without them id be $100’s if not $1000 out of pocket and for that I thank them a lot. If you read this thread and are a rookie like me don’t treat your first turbo like I did, you might not be as lucky as I was. I can proudly say I’m much more committed now after I was nearly taught a lesson about the maintenance at care of this car.
Now that that saga was out of the way and I knew my little savings weren't going to a long motor, I proceeded to go onto a few mods.
I was sick of the drony as hell cannon which many on here would agree. It was a headache creator on the highway at 3000rpm doing 110 so that came off for a large but quiet oval Blitz Nur-Spec Touring muffler which I picked up for a good price on the forums. This brought the the noise level down to near stock level which was a a bit quitter than I was planning but I was happy to see the end of the cannon and the noise!!!. That went on when we serviced the car mounted up perfectly with the stock system (because JDM part 
).
The next part acquired was the a GFB respons for the hectic dose noise, I fitted this up the evening I got it with cam. Went on easily, bar rotating the top so it didn’t foul on the manifold (many have this problem when fitting on B4’s) and requiring a quick trip to kmart to get allen keys as we were missing the exact one we needed murphys law . great mod gives it a bit of sound an dcan be adjusted from : I’m so hectic 
to fully stock bro . some people don’t like them and I know atmos illgal, but I’ll keep it till it annoys me then ill pop the bonnet and go back to stock with the twist of a wrist that’s the beauty of it .
Following that I got a payout for physio ive been having for a broken leg in September 2012 I did at uni playing for college so I was covered for nearly all expenses under uni insurance. I decided it was time to free up the mid section of my exhaust, after consulting an exhaust shop Cam put me onto I had a 3” mid section made up with a oval 3” 200cpi magnaflow hi-flow cat, and the pipe of the muffler body turned form 2.75” to 3”. Ready in under a day at A1 exhaust wallsend for a good price. Produces a nice note but not to look at me which is what I was after. 
Pics of current system
Take Off Video
https://www.youtube....h?v=1V6cgRXI8P0
Drive-by Video
https://www.youtube....h?v=ktchxQrNrJk
I recently purhcased some 18”X8.5” +48 Rota SVN’s with near new re002 rubber for a good price (thanks too matt for those). These will be going on in the next few months with some BC V1 coilovers, guard work and some form of wheel nuts which I’m undecided on as of yet.
I also upgraded my high and low bulbs and parkers early on in the piece to Phillips crystal vision and they are a much nicer light on the road. Also helps when I go home as I live on a country road with our hoppy friends.
That’s all the mods that have occurred up until now. Car now sits on almost 126,000k’s had a few decent trips this year already nice car to cruise in IMO.
Today I learnt some valuable skills in detailing, primarily clay-bar and waxing techniques as well as some other pointers from cam and mark. Came up a dream and I’m quite proud of what I have achieved. The respray meant the paint is in alright condition but the claybar and wax brought out a car I have never seen. For $80 of gear from autobarn or supercheap it’s a great investment over just washing your car which I was accustomed to until today.
Claybar in action
pics as it sits this afternoon photos thanks to Cam and Mark
CAM
MARK
That’s it really but I still have plans as time goes on (probably a long time because I’m a uni student)
stage 1
-fit wheels with guard work, coils and nuts
-clear side indicators
-black calipers front and rear
-silicon SFB
-bigger topmount intercooler (AVO or Hyperflow)
stage 2
-save for a tune and dump-pipes (both at the same time, dumps and no tune is asking for trouble, hence the cat-back I have at the moment)
-gauge cup for boost gauge
-pull out loom for defi water temp gauge
stage 3
-DBA 4000 and braided lines
-brake master cylinder stopper
-and anything more that comes along as the mod bug bites harder
So I guess now I have reeled off my cars life story you’ll want to end so ill end with a little more
Thanks to the Subaru community for luring me in, I’m loving cars more and more every day, thanks to the Newcastle Suby boys im sure there's more I haven’t officially met but those I have I’m glad I did. I've got people around to throw my ideas at and to help me out and most of all talk cars and crap with.
But most of all thank you to Subyclub for providing a daily source of info and laughs while as well giving me somewhere other than facebook to look at.
thanks Lachy
IN THE WORDS OF THE MIGHTY BOSSKONG THAT’S MY STORY WHATS YOURS
, i loved reading your build thread and how you wrote it like a story, so i thought why not right mine the same 
