Subarutex Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 (edited) Its been quite awhile since I've posted about the RX here... or anywhere for that matter. For quite sometime it was in my sore spot. I went through a lengthy battle to get it to pass emissions, and I just got fed up with it. However, for whatever reason, the last couple of months I've been thinking more about the car, and spent some time working with it. Here are some pictures and descriptions of my progress. Nearly a year ago, I picked up a set of Ksport Coilovers of the LGT forums. They are for a 05+ Legacy GT. I found 2 of the struts to be blown, but in that time, I've happened upon a good deal for some replacement ones. Dan (danbob99) and I spent two evenings installing the coilovers on RX. Unfortunately, this was pre-new camera, so I don't have any pictures of the installation process. If there is sufficient interest I can grab some pics of the changes... Most notably, I redrilled the front camber plates for the slightly smaller EA mounting holes. Its also necessary to swap over the rear shock upper mount off the old EA shocks. Pretty easy stuff, and pretty in your face of what needs to be done. Also, to note, front coilovers work best with EJ knuckles, but can be fitted to XT6 ones... In other words, you need to be 5 lug converted! This is what it looked like after the swap: In this pic, the front in my opinion is sitting perfect... however the back needs to be lower! I had already bottomed out the height adjustment... so I decided to do what the cool kids do, and unload the spring. As you can see, I physically have no more adjustment room left. Bottom mount is all the way up, spring perch all the way down. I was wary of the spring making noise if it happened to pop in/out of the upper perch, so I did this: While I don't think thats the perfect solution, for the time being, it got the car to the ride height I wanted it at. More to come.... Edited March 30, 2010 by Subarutex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarutex Posted March 30, 2010 Author Share Posted March 30, 2010 Then next project was on the interior. Since i've owned the car, there has been NOTHING around the shifter. In that time, i have replaced the shift linkage (old stuff broke!), installed a weighted Prodrive shift knob, and a Kartboy short shifter. Obviously, the car is running 100% EJ linkages/shifter. Before my project: After a trip to my local Pull-A-Part and NASIOC, I had these: EA console from an automatic, EJ console w/ leather shift boot from an 06 WRX. Let the cutting begin! Almost time for epoxy... wait for it! Plastic Weld epoxy at its finest Sanded! (note the ridge) Filler epoxy goop Sanded again... Filler primed and sanded Last primer coat Painted! Back in car... not as close of a color match as I hoped for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qman Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 Looks very nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarutex Posted March 30, 2010 Author Share Posted March 30, 2010 I bought this super pricey wrap vinyl for another project, but decided to test a piece out... No more color matching issue! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarutex Posted March 30, 2010 Author Share Posted March 30, 2010 The other project... Was the hood. My glorious plan was to wrap the hood to use it as a demo piece to show off my vinyl wraps. Don't let me forget that I was trying to do this by a deadline of Sunday. My starting line... DR. RX's body work was cracking after its age, and I wanted to smooth it out before I wrapped it. Monday Night. I sanded the cracks down, and stuff started to hit the fan. Tuesday Night. I'm not sure why I took it that far, I shouldn't have, but it happened... Pieces off, old bondo removed. At this point, i'm confident and excited. Later Tuesday Night. Sheet metal is hard to weld, especially for novices like me! Wed. Night. Took the hood down to my buddy's shop. He happened to have the welder out working on a friends car, and fit me in. Thursday Night. Grinding. Late Thursday Night. First coat of the mystical stuff called BONDO. Friday Morning. Up early before work to sand, and apply more BONDO. Friday Night. Right after work, get about an hour of work in. More Bondo. Some Primer so I can see what I'm doing. Friday Night finished with dinner, then installing graphics on high end NSX till 2am. Saturday is a blur. Bondo, sand, Bondo, sand... Sunday morning fast approaching. Finally decide I need to move one to paint. Attached hood, decided to go wash car. I pray to the gods that the vinyl hides my noobness. $150 worth of 3M Dinoc Dry Carbon Wrap Vinyl, slightly nervous. Tired from the previous week. Hopped up on caffeine. Wrapping away Trimming Done with scoop in the garage Sunday, day of the car meet that was my deadline. Ultimately, had good response to the vinyl. I was able to laugh off most of the bad body work comments. Arguably its about as good as it was before. Toss up between cracking bondo, and badly applied bondo. I'm going to pay for body work from now on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rxleone Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 (edited) Dude, honestly, that is one of the nicest RX's I have ever seen. I'm not a massive fan of fake carbon-fiber, but whoa! Came up amazing, and thats a job you should be proud of. About the coilovers - looking freaking sweet. Love the mags too, and the color, and the whole damn car. Seriously, that's a keeper. Saving those photos onto the computer so I can drool over them every now and again. Good work!! Also, what engine are you running? Please tell me that's got a turbo EJ under that hood - PLEASE!!! Edited March 30, 2010 by rxleone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarutex Posted March 30, 2010 Author Share Posted March 30, 2010 EJ20G, EJ 4.11 Tranny, EJ 4.11 LSD, Haltech Standalone EM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rxleone Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 EJ20G, EJ 4.11 Tranny, EJ 4.11 LSD, Haltech Standalone EM. Beautiful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 at first i was like "oh, no carbon fiber" But it looks good, excellent workaround the body work on the hood. the blue scoop looks good against it. great job. mad skills with the shifter console:headbang: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbone Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 Looking real good Tex, I know theres hope for my RX now :-p Is the CF vinyl more $ than the matt stuff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarutex Posted March 30, 2010 Author Share Posted March 30, 2010 Yeah... Carbon stuff was like $200 for a 4' x 8' piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 So this must mean you've decided to keep the car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonicfrog Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 Awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarutex Posted March 30, 2010 Author Share Posted March 30, 2010 So this must mean you've decided to keep the car? I'd sell it if I got what I wanted for it. Its a fun car, and I love to drive it. But part of me wants to build something else. The problem is, I do like it enough that my price is firm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brysawn Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 Looks good, but IMO it needs to be lower in the rear (is that where you were having the coil issues?). Other than that, the fitment looks pretty good. Any plans for other wheels? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T'subaru Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 EJ20G, EJ 4.11 Tranny, EJ 4.11 LSD, Haltech Standalone EM. Sweet car! Hey, I have an ej20G ( '93 ) at home eventually bound for my '89 RX. Been shopping AU and Japan for ecu and harness. How did the Haltech and wiring work out for you? and costs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoorManzImpreza Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 'Tex, How do u like the Ksports? Kaz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarutex Posted March 31, 2010 Author Share Posted March 31, 2010 Looks good, but IMO it needs to be lower in the rear (is that where you were having the coil issues?). Other than that, the fitment looks pretty good. Any plans for other wheels? The first picture of it was right after the swap. I have since dropped the rear coils down. Its at least sitting even. I'll try and grab an updated pic of the stance today. Sweet car! Hey' date=' I have an ej20G ( '93 ) at home eventually bound for my '89 RX. Been shopping AU and Japan for ecu and harness. How did the Haltech and wiring work out for you? and costs?[/quote'] I bought the car with the Haltech installed. DR. RX originally put it in. That being said, I bought the car non-running because nobody spent the time to get into it with the Haltech. With some fiddling I got it drivable, then I had a local tuner do a road tune on it. I feel the technology that is in my Haltech E6K is good, but outdated. If you look at something like a ViPec that Suberdave is running, its bounds and leaps above mine. For a standalone, I'd budget atleast $1k for initial purchase unless you find deals. Then, plan on spending $500+ for some tuning. If I was to do this, I would find a way to run the motor with the USDM WRX harness, and use the stock WRX ECU with open source tuning on it. 'Tex,How do u like the Ksports? Kaz The Ksports are decent. I'm not the kind of person to spend real money on real deal coilovers (like KW's or Ohlins). I found these coilovers for $180 shipped. Spent another $150 to replace the 2 blown shocks. $330 coilovers are hard to argue with. When installed, I set them to full stiff. Not sure why I did, but it seemed a good idea at the time. Driving the car made me physically hurt. I have since turned the dampening on the fronts down to half. Its a lot more comfortable. I still need to adjust the rears, but unfortunately you have to remove them out of the car to adjust them. If you are looking for budget coilovers, i'd look at these brands: Ksport, Megan Racing. If you want to step it up a bit, looks for Stances. I've heard great things. Whatever you do, get some with adjustable dampening! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brysawn Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 If you are looking for budget coilovers, i'd look at these brands: Ksport, Megan Racing. If you want to step it up a bit, looks for Stances. I've heard great things. Whatever you do, get some with adjustable dampening! Ksport and Megan suspension aren't really "budget" coils, they are around 1k. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 Ksport and Megan suspension aren't really "budget" coils, they are around 1k. Compaired to Tein, KW, DMS, JiC, or Ohlins they are. Cheaper would be something like KYB AGXs and Ground Control sleeves with Eibach race springs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarutex Posted March 31, 2010 Author Share Posted March 31, 2010 Compaired to Tein, KW, DMS, JiC, or Ohlins they are. Cheaper would be something like KYB AGXs and Ground Control sleeves with Eibach race springs. Even KYB AGX's and ground control springs add up quick. The trick is to find them used, and in decent shape. I found perfect megan's for my brat for about $500 used. Where as more quality name brand coilovers will still be over $1k used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 Ksport and Megan suspension aren't really "budget" coils, they are around 1k. which is definitely the cheapest full coilover you can buy. nice coilovers go for 2-3k. sweet ones are 5+..... Awesome work tex. can't see any flaws in the body work from the picture..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brysawn Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 which is definitely the cheapest full coilover you can buy. nice coilovers go for 2-3k. sweet ones are 5+..... Awesome work tex. can't see any flaws in the body work from the picture..... Actually, for other cars (I'm not sure about subaru) there is vmaxx, JOM, and raceland. They are all under 500 shipped brand new. I have KW V2's on another car and absolutely love them. But with coils, you defiantly get what what you pay for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarutex Posted April 1, 2010 Author Share Posted April 1, 2010 Pics from tonight after work... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suberdave Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 good looking pics. i wish i could get some good pics of my car... i dont care what anyone says about the hood... i like it. wouldn't mind having one of my own... hint... hint... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.