club.liberty.asn.au

Well I thought I'd make a thread to show what I've done to Pearl since I got her in late November 2010.

I picked her up for a great price from a used car dealer, but she has signs of her age, unfortunately. Eventually I'd love a new front bumper and all the mounts, and a left hand side skirt with all the dents removed over the car and a full respray to get her looking young again. I don't want to modify it too much, I'm pretty happy with how it is, but there are the usual things I'd liek to do to give her a bit extra.

Currently the small things that bother me (apart from the body) include; fuse box cover scratched, intake resonator box scratched, LH headlight globe retaining clip broken (requires new headlight), front grille fading (want to paint it matte black), wheels all rashed to buggery, Brake calipers have surface rust/corrosion (will paint them black), Pollen filter holder has broken clips, rear seat backrests scratched from a dog, LH rear door card has some dents from a dog, RHR door lock actuator intermittent operation (its on the list for this week some time), drivers door card has elbow dents, boot floor is worn and the hanger is broken, steering wheel is wearing, gear knob is wearing. I think that's all of it Naturally there are other things I'd like to do eventually; darkest legal tint, HIDs and LED light conversions, lower, good brake pads, slotted rotors all round, thicker swaybars, front strut brace, intake, exhaust, and possibly cams. And if the budget ever allows $600 for a piece of plastic, an STi front lip.

I'd also like to get an aftermarket double din navigation system installed with those AVO facias, with a new steering wheel (possibly the DAMB one) and a new gear knob.

Also me and a mate are looking at installing some LED light strips around the engine bay for better working conditions with a light sensitive switch, bonnet switch and a manual override switch. Yes it sounds wanky, but we feel if its done neatly, and almost hidden or at least unnoticeable then it should be ace!

Anyway, now that's all out the way, onto what I've done to bring her upto my standards mechanically, and to maintain her a bit.

I have purchased and fitted (in no particular order): Upgraded low and high beam genuine globes, Eblen Subaru floor mats, throw-over Subaru seat cover (temporary), genuine light grey lambswool seat covers (now), Subaru boot cargo tray, front swaybar links, front driveshaft seals and o-rings, brake and clutch pedal rubbers, a larger battery and clamps with a Nissan tray and retainer (awaiting genuine battery tray, retainer and cover/blanket), and most recently a magnetic sump plug.

Work I have done includes; 4 wheel disc machine, 150,000km logbook service, replace exhaust gaskets (all excluding rear mufflers, on the to-do list), Full engine rebuild which included new piston rings, main bearings, conrod bearings, machining of heads and flywheel, full gasket kit, aftermarket clutch kit and spigot bearing, timing belt kit, pressure test head, reface valves, set clearances, hone bores, linish crank, clean everything and new oil filter and coolant. Some work was done by myself, the rest was done by Tony and Knight Engines (highly recommended), and for the project I purchased an engine crane with a detachable stand. Since then I have changed oil and filter after 1,000kms, minor and filter service after an additional 2,000km (149,600km) with a Subaru Upper Engine Clean and Fuel Additive. I have rotated the tyres and done a power steering fluid flush. Spark plugs were replaced just last week with a removal and clean of the fuel pump/cradle and a fuel filter.

Other work that's been done has been Nolathane front lower control arm bushes were replaced by the used car dealer within their 3 month warranty.

And, lastly, my latest and proudest work was done today with some more genuine parts I'll let the first few pictures speak for me, but this is a custom job of mine


Black bonnet protector with eyelid headlight protectors.


The eyelids line up very closely with the bonnet protector

And some more photos, Day 1, at the yard.


Rough battery conversion (tidy up is in order when I get some genuine parts)


And once I can fund some GOOD soft compound 16s and hopefully get them whitewalled


A day at the beach



There's a few for now

Let me know what you think about anything and if you have any small ideas for me I can take them into consideration

Thanks for reading (it was a little long winded, I know).

Props for the massive effort and that's a ballsy location for a photo shoot!

Can't believe the seller had the nads to whack an "A1 condition" sign across the front of it though!

Yeah, but it's given me something to work for!

Amazingly, I've always loved these cars but never thought they'd be within my price range, so I went out looking for an AU or BA falcon ute, saw this and ignored it, then walked past and noticed it at $12,990, saw the sunroof, manual gear stick and instantly talked the bloke down to my absolute max. I was stoked!

Since then I've poured every cent I have into it, and I will continue to do so until my to-do list is empty.

Nice car, and lovely build up of it.

Dropz the bloke that does Eblens paint fix ups 'Dave' from Auto impact would respray that grille of yours for next to nothing.

Very nice, not sure about the bonnet/headlights protectors though.

Thats a bargain price though

Yeah, I've thought of getting him to give me a quote for some of my dents, I figured the grille isn't hard to do so I might get a spray gun and do it at home with my air compressor. I'd like to get a quote on my door cards from our trimfix guys too I have been quoted $210 for darkest legal tint, which I'm hoping I get for my 21st in a few months.

Dropz wrote:Yeah, I've thought of getting him to give me a quote for some of my dents, I figured the grille isn't hard to do so I might get a spray gun and do it at home with my air compressor. I'd like to get a quote on my door cards from our trimfix guys too I have been quoted $210 for darkest legal tint, which I'm hoping I get for my 21st in a few months.

Where are you getting the tint?

I'm wanting to get rid of my reflective tint that came with the car and go 20% rear and 15% front.

And why are you wanting 16"s

The steelies I acquired are 16s, clear my brakes with miles of room, but have no tyres. I would've gone bigger, but these were free.

Not sure of the company, I'll find out the next time they are in, but its the guys we use on all our new and used cars for tinting. They've done a few employees cars already and I've seen no problems with their work yet.

Dropz wrote:The steelies I acquired are 16s, clear my brakes with miles of room, but have no tyres. I would've gone bigger, but these were free.

Not sure of the company, I'll find out the next time they are in, but its the guys we use on all our new and used cars for tinting. They've done a few employees cars already and I've seen no problems with their work yet.

Why are you going to put steelies on?

They're going to be my winter wheels.

They don't look too bad IMO. Black on white, win.

I think once the cars lowered (Next year I hope) it'll look even better, and whitewalls, who doesn't like whitewalls! It'll be a modern car with a retro touch.

Don't know what your budget is for door trims but I paid just over one hundred dollars for one in excellent condition at a wrecker... they might be worth a look?

Thats not too bad, I was expecting that as a re[air quote for one trim lol, but if I can get another one in good nic its definately worth a look! Spares are good to have

I got it from sunspares here on the sunshine coast. They deliver interstate but I imagine that might add another $10-$20 on top of the price? They had a few liberties from our vintage that they were wrecking so if no local ones have any give them a buzz.

I reckon I'll be able to get a similar price from a wrecker here, we have one we go to if we ever source second hand parts for customers. Thanks though

Dropz wrote:Yeah, but it's given me something to work for!

Amazingly, I've always loved these cars but never thought they'd be within my price range, so I went out looking for an AU or BA falcon ute, saw this and ignored it, then walked past and noticed it at $12,990, saw the sunroof, manual gear stick and instantly talked the bloke down to my absolute max. I was stoked!

Since then I've poured every cent I have into it, and I will continue to do so until my to-do list is empty.

$12990 is a reasonable price for the condition in my opinion.. Most white Libs I came across in my search were 21+
I picked up mine (black, A1 condition) for 17990 from a prestige dealer - reason it was so cheap being that it was a car traded in for something pricey.. I felt kinda good walking out of a car dealer that sold 100k M3s with a contract in hand lol

Good luck with all the work mate, I'm like you & spending every cent on it - owning a car is worse then having a girlfriend!!!