98 Legacy GT-B Limited, or the cheap ass JDM twin turbo wagon.

[becausephilchow]

Absolutely love your work and everything!

[reiernumans]

This is seriously cool man

[190Evan]

mmmmmmmmmm all this quality building has got me sub'd

[nsogiba]

You have done an outstanding job. Removing all the stickers makes the car look much more modern and classy.

[Jimmy_HR32]

Really enjoyed reading and viewing this. Good work, keep it up.

[Shepherd]

Thanks for all the feedback, really appreciate it!

...I've been trying a few other things, but so far no success in fixing the electrical issues... but I already drove it for over 350Km and it's working great so far (well except, for the electrical glitches of course...).
Otherwise, it passed the TÜV inspection without failures, even if the emissions test was a bit complicated thanks to the electrical problems, heh) and it's regged on season plates from April to October...


Couldn't resist doing my obligatory "new car photoshoot" at the usual location while I'm still driving it on temporary plates till sunday...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gshep/sets/72157664087400543

[Nagah]

How did you pass the inspection with that straight middle pipe? Golden talker?

[Shepherd]

It's not straight piped, still has a cat and the backbox and turbo does kill a lot of noise too.
So it really isn't loud, hence why I have no problem passing the inspection.

[Nagah]

Thats cool!

[Shepherd]

Good news everyone (who didn't look at the threa in the engine/electrics Forum )
I got all the failure codes sorted out.
The ICV and TPS failure codes showed up due to the TPS not being set right, though I put it back on at where I marked it.
According to Haynes the output Signal should be 0,5-1,0V when the throttle is closed and it was at 0,48V. Set it to 0,6V and the TPS and ICV failure codes were gone.

Then I ordered a cheap china MAF to replace the OEM one. MAF failure code's gone now too and the engine does run great now.
I'll be ordering a new Subaru MAF at some point though, as I do not trust the china ones.




With the failure codes gone and the engine running like a boxer is supposed to run, I finally could spend some time on the more fun things!
I do love the boxer sound a lot, but on long trips it's still better when you can listen to some music for a change, so I decided I would fill the holes where the stereo and speakers were supposed to be.
Went for a new Hertz DSK 165.3 2-way front system, it simply was the cheapest but good system I could find.
For the radio I went with a used Sony MDX-CA580, as I always wanted a Minidisc radio, plus it does fit very well into the age of the Legacy.
With a CD-changer simulator plug for 12Euro, I'm able to use the audio-in as an aux-in for my cellphone, which is all I need really.



On Saturday I then decided it was time to finish the 3M 3-step polish I started over a week ago...
Took me 10h to get the roof, both sides and the back done, but it was well worth it. The paint now is all silky smooth again and does have a really deep shine.
Unfortunately I didn't take any detail shots of that as I was just too busy polishing, but I think you can see it on the following pictures.
Sunday then I deleted the rear wiper and removed the 4WD ABS sticker to give the rear a much cleaner look.
On the front I painted the frame of the grill matt black, as well as the inner part of the bumper. Also fixed two spots on the white paint of the lip.







Slowly but steady this is becoming the car I had in mind when I discovered that broken lump of jap metal in a garage.
Coilovers, wheels and some other bits already are in the making. Can't wait to see this thing on the ground with some proper wheels.

[Shepherd]

...a little update on the Limited.
After ~2500Km it was time forthe first oil change.
No bits and pieces and no nothing in the 'old' oil!
However... the oil pressure gauge recently started showing too much oil pressure (way above 5bar), might be the gauge sensor fucking up, or the pressure valve in the pump.
Will change the sensor soon, if that doesn't help, I guess it's new oil pump time.



I swapped my Sony MiniDisc headunit for a better one... the 6400R had some broken buttons and I only did get one radio station.
Fortunately I got part of my money back from the seller and managed to get a cheap MD8900R which is in a perfect condition and has even more functions.
I also installed two switches in the storage pocket... one will be to manually control the exhaust flap and the other one was intended to control the motor antenna. My Sony headunit has a seperate remote out for a powered antenna though, so I don't need the switch atm.



...and finally, the biggest update... I got myself a nice set of rims!
Enkei Kojin in 18x9,5J ET45.
They fit perfectly up front, but on the rear I had to use 10mm spacers atm to get some clearance to the damper.
...with the right coilovers, adjustable top mounts front and back and 225/35 tyres, I should make them fit nice and flush with just minor mods to the wheel arches.
I wanted those wheels in matt black, but I would have to order them in the US as I couldn't find a reseller here in Europe... luckily though this set showed up on ebay classified ads for a really good price.
Don't want to keep them silver though, so they'll get resprayed before I put them on.

[alexandermjoyce]

I'm excited. I love those headlights.

[Shepherd]

Only done some minor mods lately as I'm still waiting for some cash to pile up so that I can get to work on the suspension and wheels.
First off I made the exhaust flap switchable, so I can go from silent to (almost) stright piped with the push of a button.
The 'flap control' is pretty simple, it has a connector with 5 cables on it: 2 for 12V +/-, 2 for the motor +/- and one Signal Input from the ECU, which is the yellow/blue coloured one.
Connect the signal cable to ground and the flap will open.
On the ECU the cable is located at plug C, pin 7.



Wired the Switch up on my DIN-pocket and added a 2pin AMP-Superseal connector for easy radio removal.
Wired it so that I can switch between open flap and ecu controlled mode.


While I was at it, I also used some flock foil to keep things in the pocket from rattling, same as I did on my black GT-B.
...and since I couldn't wire the switches up as I intended to first and since I had that second spare switch, I used the second switch to control the illumination on both switches.


I also gave delimiting the ECU another try, using the MPH-Speedo-Converter I got with my black Legacy. In hopes that the speedo hands over the same signal to the ecu as which it receives, I just wired the MPH converter in between the speedo and ecu.
And it works pretty well, pushed it to 240kph on the Autobahn, but didn't want to push it any further as my oil temp quickly reached 130-140°C.




The days after I was at the Nordschleife with some friends to hang out and chill during the Nordschleife Driving Days.
However, I couldn't resist to drive the ring in a proper car again after pausing for almost three years since I decided to part out my MKIII GTI.


It was pretty damn amazing, even if my brakes were gone after the first thrid of the track and even if my oil was cooking at 130-140°C. The legacy did hold up really well.
...another thing you can see on the NS shots is that I added some black foil to my fog lights to tone them down a little without removing them.









...at the end of the video you can see some smoke coming from under the bonnet... well guess it was the first time since the rebuild that the secondary turbo saw some heat, so the paint and heat wrap were cooking.


Sure will have to add an oil cooler and do a 4/2pot upgrade with EBC discs and pads before I can do some serious laps though.

[bdkawey]

love this thing, should look pretty good on the ground with kojins. i have the same wheels in those specs on my 2007 gt spec b.

[Shepherd]

@bdkawey
I do hope that everything will come together as I got it pictured in my mind ;D

@Topic
Haven't done much lately, most been busy getting our new Zippo lift working and made a trip to Birmingham and London with a friend to hang out with some other friends.

Though I managed to finish fixing the broken wind deflector...the previous owner had it 'fixed' with some quick glue and gaffa tape, so while doing 180 on the autobahn the broken part ripped off and luckily landed in my lap as I had the window open.


Removed the deflector completely, removed the old tape and polished the paint underneath it up again.


Glued the broken pieces together with some extra strong 2k glue and put the whole deflector back on with extra strong 3M double sided foam tape.


Sanded the glue down, starting with 180 grit sandpaper till it was smooth, then stepped the grit up to 2500 in a couple of steps... in the end I gave it a quick 3-step polish to get the plastic all smooth and shiny again.
Since the glue was brighter than the plastic, I painted the glued areas black.
It sure didn't turn out perfect (especially the paint on the upper crack, gotta redo this at some point), but unless you look close, you won't notice the fixed areaas.
It also holds up to 250Km/h with no problem, so I guess it's good enough till I can get my hands on a not broken deflector.


Another thing I did was swapping the JDM Km/h scale for an EDM one, so I finally can see how fast I'm going on the Autobahn...




On our way back home from London my friend grabbed his camera and snapped some pretty nice pics, figured they're worth posting.
First long trip with the Legacy went without any problems! Overall I'm getting close to 10000Km on the new engine now.