48 replies to this topic

[SSIKness666]

Hi everyone. My name is Varsam, pronounced Varsharm, but you can call me V-Man; whatever is easier.

Well after 5 years of owning my Gen3 Liberty and a bit over 1 year being on this great forum, it's time that I get a build thread up. It was always my intention of maintaining my Liberty for resale value but after some extensive panel damage I was faced with 2 choices:

 

1. Drive her as is until she dies, damage and all

2. Fix up all the damage, give her a well deserved rebirth

 

Naturally I went with the latter choice because I paid cash for her and so I don't owe any finance and I simply love Gen 3's. Plus I want to use her for photographic opportunities to further my skills. A good canvass like what will be when she's complete, will be awesome.

 

Although these may be biased due to having the car but things I like about her are:

1. Subaru
2. Liberty

3. Gen3 (tail light garnish, profile, etc.)
4. Rev D-E

5. Colour - Blue
6. Boxer engine

7. AWD

 

It's as simple as that.

 

Despite being an NA, the way I think about it is that it's still a sports car with the pillarless doors and has a 2.5l engine as opposed to a GX 2.0l. I'm proud to represent.

Car: 2002 MY02 Subaru Liberty Rev D-E sedan auto

Purchased the car with 79,xxx kms

Currently has 128,xxx kms

 

Ok sure I might cop the typical flack that she's not manual but from all the auto drivers on here including the B4 owners, autos have their pros too. I'm happy with the gearbox and I'd only go 5sp if I did an engine swap.

 

I drove her for nearly 5 years before the suspension mods began and so you can imagine how much I've noticed and appreciated the increase in handling. After doing my exhaust research as I'm sure every NA person goes through, and reading a unanimous consensus on here that if I want to change the exhaust note, just to get a muffler and put the rest into handling, I have done just that.

 

Muffler debate: I haven't got a muffler yet as the cost of one including a diffback setup could get me anti-lift kit and rear camber kit for the same price and in terms of bang for buck, especially on an NA, handling supersedes a bit of noise. Also I don't want to falsely give myself and people on the street the impression that she's a fast car just because of the exhaust note. Also despite being able to achieve that boxer rumble with UEL headers, the way I see it is that the rumble is synonymous with WRX's and so it'd just be tryhard of me to do so imo.

 

All the panel damage was caused by my ex gf's driving. This is not open for discussion.

 

Current Mod List:

Bilstein struts with RS-R lowered springs

Whiteline front strut brace
strut top covers

5000K Xenos gas globes

Heritage parcel shelf and brake light

35% tint

Heavy duty towbar

 

Mods to install:

 

Whiteline 20mm 2point adjustable rear swaybar  
2pot B4 front brakes

front braided lines

slotted rotors (remove surface dust with wire brush drill bit)

paint calipers and apply vinyls

Rally Tech mudflaps

2005 Subaru WRX 17's (titanium finish)

STi Group N engine mounts

RalliTEK 4EAT tranny mount bush

Kartboy rear diff bushes

 

Mods to come:

Whiteline anti-lift kit

Whiteline 22mm front swaybar - undecided =/

yellow vinyl fog light tint

debadge bootlid/tailgate

gold anodized closed ended lock nuts

ezlip

black Plastidip grill surround

black Plastidip front air dam

STi Group N pitch stop mount

GFB lightweight crank and alternator pulleys

 

Panels to repair/replace:

bonnet (I have a JDM alloy bonnet going on, needs painting)

front bumper (replace current bar with a Rev D-E RX bar, needs painting. In my shed.)

rear bumper (fix or repair and paint)

side skirts (just bolt them up once the mudflaps are on. I don't want to jeopardise the new skirts I picked by getting stone chips, as I'm replacing mine due to scuff marks.)
bootlid (weld spoiler holes and respray)

both drivers door shells (just need to swap the motors and windows over)

LHS rear passenger door shell (just need to swap the window over)

both side mirrors (install after door shells go on)

LHS fender (bolt up)

FYI I got most of these parts from a wrecking B4 in the same colour and got a good deal since I bought so much.

 

Future dream mod list:

(under construction) - manual conversion?
 

I am aware that she needs a wash and cut/polish but the weather has been so shitty and overcast lately that I won't have an opportunity to do so as I really want to get this ball rolling RE: panel restoration and figured you all wouldn't mind if I shared it with you.

Anyways, enough words, it's that time your all waiting for... PICTURE TIME!!

 

Ride height before suspension install

 

Ride height after suspension install

 

Heritage parcel shelf and brake light

 

strut brace and covers (yes the engine bay isn't the tidiest. I'm yet to do a detail)

 

wheels to go on

 

mudflaps

 

rear before mudflaps and tires go on

 

my baby taking me Downhill (long time ago before the damage and suspension)


Panel damage

(to show before and after of holes welded up)

bent and various stress marks

 

More pics to come.

Thanks for reading =)

[Barbbachello]

Wowza that some serious panel damge Ride height on gen 3 is ridiculous stock haha. 10x better lowered

[aekOne]

YIKES! good to hear you kept her and have decided to fix it up 

[SSIKness666]

pic updates:





 

[SSIKness666]

Wowza that some serious panel damge Ride height on gen 3 is ridiculous stock haha. 10x better lowered

 

I reckon! Front is ridiculous stock. Funny, I drove the car with just the fronts in for 2283 kms before finally buying the tools and finding time to cut off the rear strut bolt with a 4". It was like, I'd go over a speed bump and the front was damn stiff and would thud on the ground yet the rear was soft. I especially noticed the difference having the rears in, as going around corners at speed, the front hugged to the road yet the tail was soft and skipped a tad, losing traction. 

I kept telling my friends that by the time I've finished with the suspension, she'll stick to the road like a mosquito on glue. We'll wait and see

Once swaybar and brakes are on, I'll take her for a drive in the hills.

 

YIKES! good to hear you kept her and have decided to fix it up 

 

Yes I completely agree. I def made the right decision. I was considering swapping her in at one stage before I made my mind up but that would have been a real slap in my face.

[Zac]

Wow, and I thought mine was horrid when I got it, with pretty much the whole passenger side dented and scratched. Lol!

 

Good luck bro, blue Gen3 is awesome

[nickknack]

Swaybar and ALK make a nice difference mate, especially on roundabouts

[Morgan]

Nice write up! Good on you for sticking to it

[Liberty]

Well done on going ahead with bringing her back to life. I hope that she comes out to your taste after all the much needed TLC.

[SSIKness666]

Update:

 

rear swaybar in. Note to those looking to change swaybars: although it doesn't require it in the manual, I'd recommend removing your muffler+diffback for easy access so you don't risk scratching your new swaybar.

 

thought I'd show a side by side visual comparison as I haven't seen any and it would give any persons interested a better representation of the difference.

 

Couldn't pass up the opportunity to put my 17's and eBay gold lock nuts on. It will be a while before they go on, as I want to fix all the panel damage first and celebrate with the wheels being the finishing touch on the cake.

[Beckers]

Car looks good mate.

When you get some rubber on those 17's, it should handle better.

Who supplied your RSR springs ???

 

Keep the mods comin

[AB501UT!0N]

Awesome sway bar info and those wheels are going to look good on the car

[SSIKness666]

Car looks good mate.

When you get some rubber on those 17's, it should handle better.

Who supplied your RSR springs ???

 

Keep the mods comin

 

Ben at Ichiban. They came on the Billies.

 

Awesome sway bar info and those wheels are going to look good on the car

 

Thanks Chris. I set it on the softer tension setting and intend on driving for a few months before I change to the stiffer tension, otherwise if I put it on the stiffer setting straight up, in essence I bought myself a non-adjustable swaybar, as who would want to go backwards from stiff to soft after the experience.

 

Yeah I can't wait to get the wheels on either! Best OE rims imo.

 

What do you all think about my decision to go gold lock nuts instead of blue? I'm going to do the calipers gold also. Blue car, titanium rims, gold calipers, gold lock nuts; should work well imo

[Beckers]

Go full stiff and stop wasting time 

 

This

[Cracktastic]

Needs MOAR Updates! good work so far bro

[SSIKness666]

Tbh what's holding me back apart from time, is the task I have of swapping my windows and motors into the replacement doors. Once that's done I'll put the fender, sills, mudflaps, side mirrors on np, then save up for painting costs, de-badge the bootlid and paint the bumpers and bonnet quite soon. Paint calipers and wheels and it's photo galore time.

Because my car is my livelihood and I don't have a spare daily, anything I start in 1 day, must be complete that same day.

Cheers for your support though :-)

Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2

[SSIKness666]

minor update: STi Group N pitch stop/pitching stopper mount installed.

 

Engine and tranny mounts to come.. Not sure on a time frame though.

[Cam.]

Some of the best mods you can do!

[AB501UT!0N]

minor update: STi Group N pitch stop/pitching stopper mount installed.

 

Engine and tranny mounts to come.. Not sure on a time frame though.

 

Very nice mate and where did you get them from and how much if you dont mind me asking?