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Molly The Broken Subaru (Purists Beware)
INTRODUCTION
I've owned many a car but I have just recently purchased my first Subaru. Needless to say after owning a few VWs, a Lexus, and other rare toys this was completely different. I am utterly in love with this wagon and as such have decided to commit to an epic build. I am starting this post today (9/10/13) and I only state the obvious so there are reference points for future additions.
I have a lot of plans floating around my head for what I wanna do. I did some quick photo chopping and this is what I am GUESSTIMATING the end result MAY look like. Follow the rest of the build thread as it's sure to develop pretty fast here.
Here is the rendering of what I HOPE the final product will look. Conversion and all.
CURRENT BUILD LIST
Exterior & Cosmetics
- Rear Windshield Visor
- Carbon Creations Hood
- Carbon Creations STI Hood Scoop
- Black Housing Headlights
- Black Mesh Grille
- ProSport Front Lip
- V-Limited Front Diffuser (Blob-Eye Retrofit)
- Voltex Carbon Fiber Rear Diffuser
Suspension & Bracing
- Cusco Rear Sway Bar
- Cusco Front Sway Bar
- Perrin End-Links
- Raceland Ultimo Coilovers
- DTA Constant Velocity Axles
- Custom Front Camber Plates
Wheels & Tires
- Random Motegi Wheels (18x8.5 +30)
- Hankook Ventus V12 Tires (235/40/18)
Interior & Sound
- Flossy Black Grip Shift Knob
- STI Leather Shift Boot
Engine & Performance
- Snorkle Modification
- Axle Back Delete
- Muffler Delete
THE BUILD STORY
(9/10/13)
Brought her home 2 days ago. This is how she currently sits direct from the Craigslist add. The guy I bought it from was kind enough to throw in some 17" RPF1s, new tires, and a few other little goodies like a crappy old carbon fiber hood and STI scoop. Car is in really good shape. Over the course of the next week I hope to be throwing on some coil overs to drop it and make it handle better, as well as installing a rear hatch spoiler I picked up. Next step will be swapping out those RPF1's for something more... Original. Not dropping any names yet, but it's gonna be unique for sure.
(9/11/13)
After a long day of work my friend Oscar came over to help me install my new hatch spoiler. Got it bolted in with some nuts, bolts, and washers and added some 3M double sided tape to every surface inch for extra support and strength. As I sit at on my porch, Pabst in hand telling admiring my now much less soccer mom-ish looking wagon a short and sweaty Hispanic gentleman hobbles his way up my drive way in a UPS uniform carrying a box. What could it be? Oh just my new coil overs! I'm super excited to get them on and will have full install/before & after photos probably by the week. In the meantime I'll just continue buying up parts. My next plan of attack is to scoop up some small go-fast parts and sell the RPF1s to pick up something a little nicer.
(9/19/13)
Finally got the coil overs installed. I ended up rolling the fenders as well (might as well kill 2 birds with one stone). The Ultimos went it rather easy and after a bit of driving I **** to say they are great daily driving coil overs. They aren't bouncy at all, but they are just stiff enough, the spring rate is pretty fantastic. I am loving them thus far. However, after achieving desired slammage I realized that the front driver side CV boot was COMPLETELY torn apart.
So I rolled over to my friends over at Blackwood Motorsports in Downey, CA. They hooked it up and the car was back on the road again. I am totally in love with the love so far. Next step is to set up the new wheel setup once these RPF1s are gone. Then I just wanna clean it up and start piecing together the cosmetics from there. Here are some photo sex's.
Here is the final turnout thus far in the build after the week activities.
(9/11/13)
So the suspension has finally settled and I decided to bring it a little lower. Much to my dismay however I realized what bad a shape the front drivers side fender is in. Previous owner had bondo on this bad-mouth for layers on layers. So going another inch or so lower in the front is going to have to wait till I can replace that fender, in the mean time I'm pretty happy with how the rears sit on such weak wheels, however I plan on getting all that rolled and pulled after the fender is replaced so I can go another quarter inch lower in the rear and full inch in the front with the hopes of stepping up from 17x8s to 19x9.5s in the very very near future.
In addition, my boys over at DipUrWhip have started mixing my paint together and it definitely looks like I'll be rocking more of a candy mint than a light turquoise like originally envisioned. I think it's gonna make it stand out and it will TOTALLY give it that Euro-style wagon look I am going for.
(10/8/13)
Not a whole lot to report as of late, been saving for some REALLY big purchases (wheels, cage, etc)... However, here is a few little things I've been throwing together here and there...
I decided to go ahead and pick up some solid hub centric rings so that when I order my new MTechnica Turbos from MemoryFab in the next couple of weeks they dont end up falling off and rolling into my ghetto neighbors driveway where they will be used for foot rests and TV antenna dishes.
With the ammount of camber, wheel width, and offset I plan on running I was worried about barrel-to-strut clearence since the RPF1s I have on their now are MUCH weaker and already cut it pretty close. So I gave in, became a weenie, and picked up some super basic 7mm Eibach wheel spacers... Just so I have some piece of mind. Now to replace that fender.... Because that **** has more damage than Japan post Godzilla vs. Mothra.
Finally, I decided to really bring the inner beast out of my mom car. When buying this car I was actually planning on buying an Audi B5 S4 Avant but chose this because of the unmistakably menacing rumble that is the Subaru boxer platform.
I started by just straight up removing the exhaust from the axle back just past the last cat and 02 sensor. Making this thing a screaming behemoth while still maintaing emissions standards... To an extent. I also went ahead and did the "snorkel delete" I read about on NAISOC (aka the butt hole of the internet [almost as bad as VWVortex]). It definitely ended up being a much easier mod than just buying an SPT Short Ram... Which I ended up doing anyways. Surprisingly enough this actually gave me a fair amount of increased throttle response. It also brought out the sound of the spool a lot more, but not so much the surge.... It kinda sounds like I have a blower to be honest.
*SOUND CLIP CAN BE FOUND HERE*
(10/18/13)
Pretty big week this past week. Lots of new things I am VERY excited about. To start off I finally pulled the trigger and picked up not only a new grille to replace that HIDEOUS atrocity that was on their before, but also picked up a new lip kit. I chose the simple ProDrive front lip but added my own flair by taking a V-Limited front diffuser from a 04-06 STI and retrofitting it onto the bottom of the lip to give it a little bit more of an agro look.
I also went ahead and picked up a carbon fiber Voltex rear diffuser courtesy of my friends over at Jon Motoring. After many excruciating headaches trying to figre out how/where to mount the thing I decided to just fab up my own brackets from scratch and it actually ended up holding super firm... Better so than my friends on his sedan... It also sits MUCH flusher than most of the others I have seen. I'm not down for that saggy gap look.
Now you may be wondering how I payed for all these wonderful new toys... Well I had a guy offer me $850 cash for my RPF1s and I ended up taking the money. I dug these disgusting Motegis out of my friends garage to roll on for the time being, and instantly began to peel apart the ugly yellow plasti dip. Although, rejoice for there is hope!
I have ordered my new wheels from MemoryFab and they have arrived, they are currently sitting on my other car but after I repair that drivers fender they are going straight on. Meet the new MTechnica Directionals in mind boggling size of 18x10.5 +3.
I've owned many a car but I have just recently purchased my first Subaru. Needless to say after owning a few VWs, a Lexus, and other rare toys this was completely different. I am utterly in love with this wagon and as such have decided to commit to an epic build. I am starting this post today (9/10/13) and I only state the obvious so there are reference points for future additions.
I have a lot of plans floating around my head for what I wanna do. I did some quick photo chopping and this is what I am GUESSTIMATING the end result MAY look like. Follow the rest of the build thread as it's sure to develop pretty fast here.
Here is the rendering of what I HOPE the final product will look. Conversion and all.
CURRENT BUILD LIST
Exterior & Cosmetics
- Rear Windshield Visor
- Carbon Creations Hood
- Carbon Creations STI Hood Scoop
- Black Housing Headlights
- Black Mesh Grille
- ProSport Front Lip
- V-Limited Front Diffuser (Blob-Eye Retrofit)
- Voltex Carbon Fiber Rear Diffuser
Suspension & Bracing
- Cusco Rear Sway Bar
- Cusco Front Sway Bar
- Perrin End-Links
- Raceland Ultimo Coilovers
- DTA Constant Velocity Axles
- Custom Front Camber Plates
Wheels & Tires
- Random Motegi Wheels (18x8.5 +30)
- Hankook Ventus V12 Tires (235/40/18)
Interior & Sound
- Flossy Black Grip Shift Knob
- STI Leather Shift Boot
Engine & Performance
- Snorkle Modification
- Axle Back Delete
- Muffler Delete
THE BUILD STORY
(9/10/13)
Brought her home 2 days ago. This is how she currently sits direct from the Craigslist add. The guy I bought it from was kind enough to throw in some 17" RPF1s, new tires, and a few other little goodies like a crappy old carbon fiber hood and STI scoop. Car is in really good shape. Over the course of the next week I hope to be throwing on some coil overs to drop it and make it handle better, as well as installing a rear hatch spoiler I picked up. Next step will be swapping out those RPF1's for something more... Original. Not dropping any names yet, but it's gonna be unique for sure.
(9/11/13)
After a long day of work my friend Oscar came over to help me install my new hatch spoiler. Got it bolted in with some nuts, bolts, and washers and added some 3M double sided tape to every surface inch for extra support and strength. As I sit at on my porch, Pabst in hand telling admiring my now much less soccer mom-ish looking wagon a short and sweaty Hispanic gentleman hobbles his way up my drive way in a UPS uniform carrying a box. What could it be? Oh just my new coil overs! I'm super excited to get them on and will have full install/before & after photos probably by the week. In the meantime I'll just continue buying up parts. My next plan of attack is to scoop up some small go-fast parts and sell the RPF1s to pick up something a little nicer.
(9/19/13)
Finally got the coil overs installed. I ended up rolling the fenders as well (might as well kill 2 birds with one stone). The Ultimos went it rather easy and after a bit of driving I **** to say they are great daily driving coil overs. They aren't bouncy at all, but they are just stiff enough, the spring rate is pretty fantastic. I am loving them thus far. However, after achieving desired slammage I realized that the front driver side CV boot was COMPLETELY torn apart.
So I rolled over to my friends over at Blackwood Motorsports in Downey, CA. They hooked it up and the car was back on the road again. I am totally in love with the love so far. Next step is to set up the new wheel setup once these RPF1s are gone. Then I just wanna clean it up and start piecing together the cosmetics from there. Here are some photo sex's.
Here is the final turnout thus far in the build after the week activities.
(9/11/13)
So the suspension has finally settled and I decided to bring it a little lower. Much to my dismay however I realized what bad a shape the front drivers side fender is in. Previous owner had bondo on this bad-mouth for layers on layers. So going another inch or so lower in the front is going to have to wait till I can replace that fender, in the mean time I'm pretty happy with how the rears sit on such weak wheels, however I plan on getting all that rolled and pulled after the fender is replaced so I can go another quarter inch lower in the rear and full inch in the front with the hopes of stepping up from 17x8s to 19x9.5s in the very very near future.
In addition, my boys over at DipUrWhip have started mixing my paint together and it definitely looks like I'll be rocking more of a candy mint than a light turquoise like originally envisioned. I think it's gonna make it stand out and it will TOTALLY give it that Euro-style wagon look I am going for.
(10/8/13)
Not a whole lot to report as of late, been saving for some REALLY big purchases (wheels, cage, etc)... However, here is a few little things I've been throwing together here and there...
I decided to go ahead and pick up some solid hub centric rings so that when I order my new MTechnica Turbos from MemoryFab in the next couple of weeks they dont end up falling off and rolling into my ghetto neighbors driveway where they will be used for foot rests and TV antenna dishes.
With the ammount of camber, wheel width, and offset I plan on running I was worried about barrel-to-strut clearence since the RPF1s I have on their now are MUCH weaker and already cut it pretty close. So I gave in, became a weenie, and picked up some super basic 7mm Eibach wheel spacers... Just so I have some piece of mind. Now to replace that fender.... Because that **** has more damage than Japan post Godzilla vs. Mothra.
Finally, I decided to really bring the inner beast out of my mom car. When buying this car I was actually planning on buying an Audi B5 S4 Avant but chose this because of the unmistakably menacing rumble that is the Subaru boxer platform.
I started by just straight up removing the exhaust from the axle back just past the last cat and 02 sensor. Making this thing a screaming behemoth while still maintaing emissions standards... To an extent. I also went ahead and did the "snorkel delete" I read about on NAISOC (aka the butt hole of the internet [almost as bad as VWVortex]). It definitely ended up being a much easier mod than just buying an SPT Short Ram... Which I ended up doing anyways. Surprisingly enough this actually gave me a fair amount of increased throttle response. It also brought out the sound of the spool a lot more, but not so much the surge.... It kinda sounds like I have a blower to be honest.
*SOUND CLIP CAN BE FOUND HERE*
(10/18/13)
Pretty big week this past week. Lots of new things I am VERY excited about. To start off I finally pulled the trigger and picked up not only a new grille to replace that HIDEOUS atrocity that was on their before, but also picked up a new lip kit. I chose the simple ProDrive front lip but added my own flair by taking a V-Limited front diffuser from a 04-06 STI and retrofitting it onto the bottom of the lip to give it a little bit more of an agro look.
I also went ahead and picked up a carbon fiber Voltex rear diffuser courtesy of my friends over at Jon Motoring. After many excruciating headaches trying to figre out how/where to mount the thing I decided to just fab up my own brackets from scratch and it actually ended up holding super firm... Better so than my friends on his sedan... It also sits MUCH flusher than most of the others I have seen. I'm not down for that saggy gap look.
Now you may be wondering how I payed for all these wonderful new toys... Well I had a guy offer me $850 cash for my RPF1s and I ended up taking the money. I dug these disgusting Motegis out of my friends garage to roll on for the time being, and instantly began to peel apart the ugly yellow plasti dip. Although, rejoice for there is hope!
I have ordered my new wheels from MemoryFab and they have arrived, they are currently sitting on my other car but after I repair that drivers fender they are going straight on. Meet the new MTechnica Directionals in mind boggling size of 18x10.5 +3.
I'm all for mint green.
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