Member Profile - smok0

[smok0]

okay, so for the past two-ish months, and out of no where I might add, I wanted to mod my, at the time, incredibly stock liberty. I somehow stumbled across these forums, saw a few pics and after seeing them I just had this urge to do the same to mine .. well at least try!
This is my first car, bought it December of last year, and at the time I had zero intention of doing anything to it, I was just happy I had a nice looking car. I do have a few regrets, it is a 4spd auto, so from a performance POV, it isn't anything special and from memory these stock libs only shoot out about 121kw. I am still on my Ps so I guess I am somewhat restricted as to what I can drive, but once I am off them, I will definitely be "upgrading" this to something slightly more powerful.
Anyway, here is what I have been able to do to it:

http://i.imgur.com/qvoxqX5.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/qBcsSMD.jpg














** Current Mods**

Ultrex Front CF Grille
Ultrex Front Lip
6000k HIDs + LED parking lights

BC-BR coilovers
sti quads
kiDo tuned
Ultrex Front Strut Bar

rota gravel 18 x 8.5 (hyper black)

alpine ICS-X8
alpine PDX-M6
alpine SPR-60C

tailored floor mats (red outline)
metal floor pedals
sti front badge

[Quick Jab]

Very nice and clean first car.

Some advice:
- Scratch the strut bar and just go with sway bars. I don't have any experience with them myself, but from everything I've heard and read, they don't change a great deal on our cars. Sway bars make a larger difference; in particular a rear one is a must do. Much better bang for buck mod than any strut bar.

- Get a metal foot rest cover to match your pedals. My OCD is flaring up over here.

- As for the new exhaust system, new tips or mufflers won't add a thing from a performance perspective. A cat back will give you some small gains, but don't expect anything major.

- If I'm not mistaken, the shuddering when braking was a common problem for our cars. Can't remember what the cause was, but do some searching and I'm sure you can find it. Or someone will probably mention it in here.

[seanmau5]

The shudder comes down to 2 things.... You've either got worn LCA rear bushes or your brake rotors are warped.. Try machining the rotors first or visually inspect the bushes; if they look worn then they probably are.

In regards to the tune, while you may see a slight power increase (<10%) the drivability of the car is improved tenfold. Definitely worth it. Don't waste your time on too many performance mods though as it is an NA you won't see the best of gains; work on making the car go around corners and stop quickly.... Swaybars, coils, pads, braided lines, GT brakes etc..

Finally, the headlights are painted internally. You need to bake them in the oven to separate the housing and paint internally... Looks good mate!

[DownUnder]

Very nice and clean first car.
- Get a metal foot rest cover to match your pedals. My OCD is flaring up over here.

Just FYI metal footrests are compatible across all 04-09 libs and 01-07 GD WRX's (I bet some model of forester as well but I can't confirm) There's heaps of written off ones out there so it should be easy enough to find.

Finally, the headlights are painted internally. You need to bake them in the oven to separate the housing and paint internally

I'd suggest using a heat gun. It's the recommended process in the service manual and I've had great success with it. Subaru don't glue the headlight together. They actually use this really sticky 'sealing strip' and screws are holding the seal tight. Work heat around the seal and the strip will release

[smok0]

alright thanks guys,

next on my list will probably be the coilovers or a tune .. I'll wait until next year though.. found out very quickly this is an expensive hobby ...

might opt for a rear sway bar in the near future, seem fairly inexpensive and easy to install.

front lip should hopefully arrive later today if not early next week.

[smok0]

lowered it by about 30mm, sitting a nice height so I'm happy.

just gotta straighten that damn lip now <_<

http://i.imgur.com/b3zW5SVl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/IRxtQ75l.jpg

[Jayraddd]

Nice job so far mate, tidy mods

[smok0]

updated the first post with some new pics, got some bc-brs installed, at a very nice height now which I am liking.

gone off the rotas, especially the colour. need new tyres so may as well replace the wheels. spent literally hours on the legacygt forums looking through the atlantic blue pics thread, even after that I am not decided on any wheel 100% ... right now I am liking the look of some gravels (rota again I kn0w) sprayed hyper silver or something along those lines, think they go well with the colour.

not liking the exhaust either (very very stock), wanting a more "deeper" tone, atm I might just replace the mufflers -- any suggestions? no point going all out when I won't see any performance gains.

[Gen5is]

Looks good mate! Maybe a rear trunk spoiler to finish off the look of the rear.

[smok0]

Looks good mate! Maybe a rear trunk spoiler to finish off the look of the rear.

haha yeah thanks for reminding me, found a decent set here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUBARU-05-09-LE ... 7b&vxp=mtr -- not that I'm an expert in the field

no idea how easy / expensive re painting is though ...

[smok0]

updated the first post with some new pics, liking the wheels a lot more than my previous ones, black on blue just doesn't fit imo, to me at least ...

looking at doing the exhaust soon and after that I'm pretty much done..

still have my lowered king springs + rota torque (17 x 7.5 +48) for sale if anyone is interested.

[KiDo_Tuning]

New tune I have for you is full flex fuel!

[smok0]

New tune I have for you is full flex fuel!

sounds good, whenever you're in Melb next I'm keen

got some new sti quads installed, not looking bad I must add: