blk99obs

Edit: I guess I should have said I want to bedline the exterior of the car, to be more precise.

My paint is going bad, clearcoat peeling, would like something strong that I don't have to worry so much about. As to it not being clean ever again, I respectfully disagree as long as its done right. Theres a foz I used to see around that looked sick with it, but I never caught the owner, also a yota that looked really good with it. Have a look here. http://www.monstaliner.com/monstaliner_photos_video.htm

My car is a 99 OBS, 5mt, fozzy lift and spacers, 4.11 trans/diff swap, delta cams, and had 27x8.5R14 Maxxis Bravos on it previously. Just put on General Grabbers which though the manufacturer says are the same size, are definitely bigger than Maxxis. Had to remove the front mud flaps, and do a little work with a cutoff wheel to get these to not scub. Still scrub a bit in the back on big bumps but haven't found exactly where yet. My old tires only scrubbed a bit on the front mudflaps but was easily fixed with a small cut. Anyway... I don't have clearance for chains or that would be the obvious choice and I'd run them. As far as ABS, I lived in Minnesota for a winter and had the unpleasant experience of running a stop sign in my ABS car because one tire slipped and it cut braking to all of them. I drove my other older car with much lesser tires and no ABS again to the same stop sign, just out of curiousity and it slid a bit but between all of the tires managed to bite enough ground to stop me just fine. For this reason, and a few experiences afterward, I think making an ABS kill switch is a fine idea... but thats just me. I would buy dedicated winter tires but I realistically only see snow a handful of times out of the year. Usually its just for fun, but this time I travelling over the same pass that I usually go up to for play. Anyway, I was just hoping someone knew of something I could put in for a few miles in a pinch.

I've been toying with this idea for a long time, and I'd like to pull the trigger soon. I want to bedline the whole car. I've painted a couple of cars in the past, so I know what I'm getting into as far as general prep work, but has anyone else done this? If so, what did you use? Any pointers would be awesome. Thanks.

Heres the story: I took a trip over a mountain pass, got a little overconfident in my suby, hit a blind corner at 20-30 MPH, came out of it to see a line of cars at dead standstill in the middle of the highway. I only then realized how tired my tires were and how bad the ice had gotten... I slipped and slid right into the back of a Hyundai hatch. I've never had traction issues of any sort in my suby before, and I historically snow rally like crazy on snowed in trails/back roads. I've also hit my fair share of ice and never had much slippage, so imagine my surprise when braking AT ALL went straight to ABS! I then decided to try and put my car into a small ditch on the shoulder rather than rear end someone. So I steer, and NOTHING. Bam! All of this happened in a matter of seconds mind you. I check on the other driver, and apologize profusely, she's ok. I'm ok. Her front end is smashed to bits against the back of a Nissan. I cringe as I turn to look at my suby... Nothing! No broken lights, no bends, cracks, notta zip. The Nissan driver is equally surprised that their car sustained no damage, though the car hit into a steel tube bumper. The highway patrol tells everyone to get out of there before more cars come, so we meet in the next town, exchange insurance info and all that, and carry on driving. As I press on, I realize more and more how much my tires have worn out, sliding all over the road in a couple spots, and showing very little of the grip I'm accustomed to. I pull off and air down some, which tames things down to a tolerable level, but I continue on at snails pace with hazards on, letting vehicles that normally would be vastly inferior in snow pass me, and making a 3 hour drive into nearly 8 hours all told... Never do I want this experience again, so I'm going to be much more cautious, but also much better prepared. My solution: Order Grabber AT2s in 27x8.50R14, as they seem like they should be comparable or better than my Maxxis 751 Bravos, and get some form of removable studs that I can put on for going over the pass in winter, and take out the rest of the time. So far I'm between Gripstuds, cheap studs on amazon, and driving some short screws into the stud holes or tread blocks on the new tires. Anyone done these things for short snow/ice trips? Thanks for any advice you might have. I'm also going to make an ABS kill switch, as I've known ABS to be troublesome in winter conditions. Rally Safe friends!

*Update* I found that I can apparently use axle stubs, circlips, and seals from a 6MT to convert my trans to stubbed and use my old female axles. 5MT stubs can't be removed from the trans without opening the case as they use a C-clip which needs to be taken off with snap-ring pliers, rather than a circlip like the 6MT which can pop right out... so I'm not doing that. The 6MT stub uses a circlip and goes into the tranny just the same as a male axle. I'm going to try and source these stubs today, and failing that, go to the parts store and compare axles, see if I can figure out what to use. These are the part numbers for the stub conversion I've come up with, for future ref. Axle stubs: 38415AA110 Seals: 806730042 Circlips: 805329010 Any help with finding correct male axles for an 04 forester trans into a 99 OBS would be appreciated, as that's more likely going to be what happens.

*Update* I found that I can apparently use axle stubs, circlips, and seals from a 6MT to convert my trans to stubbed and use my old female axles. 5MT stubs can't be removed from the trans without opening the case as they use a C-clip which needs to be taken off with snap-ring pliers, rather than a circlip like the 6MT which can pop right out... so I'm not doing that. The 6MT stub uses a circlip and goes into the tranny just the same as a male axle. I'm going to try and source these stubs today, and failing that, go to the parts store and compare axles, see if I can figure out what to use. These are the part numbers for the stub conversion I've come up with, for future ref. Axle stubs: 38415AA110 Seals: 806730042 Circlips: 805329010 Any help with finding correct male axles for an 04 forester trans into a 99 OBS would be appreciated, as that's more likely going to be what happens. *Update* Bought new 05 Impreza male axles. Pulled out one of my current female axles, and measured everything with calipers, as well as matched up the lengths, spline counts, etc. All looks good to go! Its goin down tomorrow. #mycarismyvalentinesdate

I just bought an 04 foz 5mt trans. Got it home, realized the pieces of axle where they cut them and left them on the trans have no roll pin like mine, and instead go inside the trans. In other words the trans has no stub axles. Does anyone know if I can just buy different axles and run it? Anything else I need to watch out for or be aware of? like different clutch splines, or electronics?​ I am already running a legacy outback 5mt (4.11) and rear diff, but that one is older and swapped right in. I am changing the trans because mine is worn out, making bad noises, and I want the taller 5th gear anyway. Thanks!

I can tell you that my 27x8.5 R14 Maxxis tires barely squeeze in there, and scrub just a hair on the front mud flaps at full lock, but its just this weird part that sticks out and I never remember to trim it. At any rate, I'm running 04 forester shock assemblies up front, and 99 in the rear if I recall correctly, and then I put in spacers up front to level the car, since the back end sat quite a bit higher. If I recall, I think the combo you're looking at is significantly larger than what I run, and would probably at the very least take some massaging with a hammer and trimming to work, on top of the usual suspension lift. I was actually going to run that setup myself, but found that in order to get a decent all terrain to fit without trimming/beating, I had to go down to 14" wheels, so theres more room for tire. I'm running this tire, which is a great compromise between being a good street tire and off-road. http://www.maxxis.com/catalog/tire-6-104-bravo-series-ma-751 They also have these, which I may go for next time, as well as some other options. http://www.maxxis.com/catalog/tire-514-104-buckshot-mudder-ii-mt-764 Hope this helps.

I think I got myself into trouble on this one... I just bought an 04 Forester 5MT to replace my tired legacy outback trans, and get the taller 5th gear (both are 4.11 FD). I didn't notice until I got it home, that it doesn't have stub axles coming out of the tranny, with roll pins that hold the axles in, like my current transmission. So am I screwed? or is there an easy work around such as getting some different axles? They went through the axles on the donor foz with a torch when they pulled the trans so that's not on the table. Anything else I should be aware of with the 04 such as different electronics? or spline counts for the clutch? Please help me figure this out. Thanks! More info on car: 99 OBS 2.2L Lego trans swap with 4.11 rear diff Forester suspension lift 27" all terrains Group N trans mount Delta Cams Leone front skid plate ...etc

So I'm looking into getting a replacement radiator, and would really like to stay away from plastic tanks, because my current one leaks from the seam where the bottom plastic tank meets the metal rad... and well... I think that design is absolute crap, so I want to go to a different design which may only be 95% crap. In looking for radiators, I see the choices I can afford in aluminum are all the same rad from different sellers. I'd go ahead and buy one, but it appears they all have the tanks on the sides of the rad, and therefore, I wonder where the rad cap goes. I was looking at pics of GC8 turbo rigs, and while they seem to have a rad cap in the normal place, they also appear to have a second one over the turbo? Anyway, I was wondering if anyone knows whats up with this, and if I'd have to get an inline filler/cap for the top hose... or if theres a better solution... or if someone has one of these and got it working some ingenious way. GC8 pic from google http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa23/Mlapekas/DSC_1545.jpg Ebay radiator http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUBARU-IMPREZA-WRX-RS-GC8-MT-TWO-ROW-CORE-ALUMINUM-CHROME-RADIATOR-10-BLACK-FANS-/330642089869?fits=Year%3A1999|Model%3AImpreza|Submodel%3AOutback&hash=item4cfbcde78d&vxp=mtr

My bad, has a legacy 5 speed in it I've found them on ebay, like this one, just wanted to see if anyone is running something like that. http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUBARU-IMPREZA-WRX-GC-GC8-MT-MANUAL-TWO-ROW-CORE-ALUMINUM-RADIATOR-12-BLACK-FANS/150698980304?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131017132637%26meid%3Dc7c63559d2b14751bcec90486e089100%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D150698980304 I suppose you could run an aluminum rad, and add a separate stand-alone tranny cooler for your auto?

I agree that the warranty doesn't necessarily mean they are any good, but it does mean I can exchange them rather than buying another set for the forseeable future. I know NGK to make good plugs, and I never had trouble with their wires on my civic, even used ones that came with a JDM motor I bought, and were who knows how old, never gave me problems. At any rate, seems like its fixed but I'll see the next couple times I drive it. Now I just need to chase down a coolant leak. I saw some coolant on the bottom of the rad on the passenger side, and a small drip where the bottom hose connects to the plastic elbow on the bottom of the block, so I'm thinkin I'll probably be in for a new rad and hoses. Anyone running one of those aluminum rads off of ebay? Figure I'd like to lose the plastic tanks if I'm gonna replace it.

Update: I went to a local mechanic I trust very well, and asked a guy at the junkyard who's been working with cars probably twice the time I've been alive. They both said spark plug wires. So I grabbed my multimeter and tested my wires in the parking lot, got about 7k ohms on all but cyl 3, which I couldn't get any sort of read on. So I went and got some new NGK wires. According to their computer at NAPA, Bosch is the OE replacement, but they only come with a one year warranty, where as NGK is lifetime. The price difference is a dollar, so the obvious choice for me was NGK. So far, so good! I launched the beast at low rpm (being as nice to the tranny as possible, not so much the clutch haha) and it took off pretty good, no popping or anything like before! Did it again on my gravel road, and it broke loose the front tires for a chirp, then took off spitting gravel on both ends, which isn't easy to do with 27" all terrains... So I think that problem is solved. I'll see in the coming days if I end up replicating it during my normal driving. Anyway, the lesson learned here, is to not buy cheap rump roast wires, because those ones I got from Kragen only lasted a couple years and maybe 20k miles.

Hmm yea that may be whats at fault here, although my problem is at low rpm, and it runs good up top. I asked a local mechanic today, and he said it sounds like plug wires. So I'm gonna pull those off and check them out with my multimeter, see what I get. If ignition checks out then I'll be looking to the fuel system next.