Member Profile - gubbo

[gubbo]

Hey all.

Just thought I'd start a bit of a worklog here so that I can have a bit of a diary of what I'm doing to my car at the moment.

Mods to date (21/09/09)
Ride: | MY06 Subaru Lberty 3.0R-B Wagon | Obsidian Black Pearl |
Power: | HKS Airfilter | Resonectomy | PHAT mufflers | V-Tune |
Handling: | F+R Whiteline Adjustable Swaybars | Cusco Front Strut Brace & Brake Stopper |
Lighting: | LED Parkers & internal lights| 6000K HIDs headlights & foglights |
STi Bits: |STi 6 speed short-shifter and gear knob |
Other: | Tinting |
Future: | F1pilot Carbon Lip | JDM Spec-B Grille |

Just a bit about me, my car and my mission.
My car is an obsidian black pearl MY06 3.0R-b subaru liberty wagon. I got it with about 80k kms on the clock completely stock with a new set of tyres, a new engine which was chaned under warranty at about 40k kms and the chasis and interior in excellent condition.

I was able to sort out the deal for my car on the 1st of August and took ownership on the 6th. During that week I started lining up some mods.

The point of getting the 3 litre is to not be able to mod the car so much (bwahaha) and the whole car and wagon choice was due to the extra space that will be needed for a new addition to the family in the near future!





1st Mod - Tinting
The first mod I did was on the 14th of August and was a new set of Tints for the car. I got Rob Tait from CarTint in Ringwood to do the tints. He is affiliated with the wrx club of Victoria and comes highly recommended by me. The best thing about the tint was getting my sunroof done. This was done in a special reflective tint which reflects 90% of the heat leaving the inside temperature much more consistent so now I can leave the sunroof cover open and enjoy the light without too much heat. My wife loves this.




2nd Mod - HIDs and HKS Airfilter.
This is the first DIY mod that I did on te 16th of August. I ordered my HID sets from Clarence and I was able to source a HKS airfilter from ebay. I got 2 sets of 6000K HIDs. One with H7 bulbs (front driving lights) and one with H3 bulbs (foglights). I put together a DIY on how to install these on my car which can be found here




I love HIDs and these improve my night time experience by being able to see better and clearer than before. I would however say that the 6000K globes are a lot bluer than I like so I will definitely have to get 5000K next time around.

While installing the HID kits, I also managed to install my new airfilter and the do a resonectomy which is tons easier than on previous honda's i've done as you don't have to remove the front bumper! These mods made the intake noise a bit louder which I like as i found that the stock engine was way too quiet!

3rd Mod - Swaybars
I got these done by Reade Clouston at Pedders South Melbourne on the 20th and 21st of August. I found out about these guys through OzFoz.com who they are affiliated with and they had a special of free installation with the purchase (at rrp) of the swaybars. As i figured that I couldn't be bothered doing the install myself (too much effort for the front) that this was a pretty okay deal so just got it done.
Parts ordered were:
Rear 20mm adjustable swaybar BSR39Z
Front 22mm adjustable swaybar BSF35Z
For those with 3.0Rs, DON'T order the BSF30Z as this will NOT fit your car, as we found out! The guys at pedders were great though and fastshipped down a new front swaybar for me so that they could install it the next day.
My impressions on these swaybars are that there is a lot less roll and the steering is much more neutral now. Much more control which makes these a great first suspension mod.



4th Mod - Cusco brake stopper and internal LEDs
Had a bit of free time on the 23rd of August so I thought that i'd install some other parts that had arrived! The cusco brake stopper from JDMyard and my LEDs for the interior lights from HKS180! The brake stopper install was pretty straightforward with the only tricky bit getting hold and putting on the nut in the front right wheelwell. Brake feel has improved somewhat but as I haven't really driven hard (or much!) there wasn't a huge change in the pedal feel. A bit firmer.

The LED install was for the front map lights, the dome light and the boot light. These have brightened up the interior immensely and now it is filled with the blue glow of LEDs. I also did the cutout on the maplights as shown by HKS180 and these have improved the use of the maplights 20fold!

Stay tuned! I'll update this with some pictures and stuff when i take them. However, here's a bit of a sneak peek of what's going to be happening in the near future:
Wash the car!!! Need to take pictures!
Picked up some funky STi bits from Sentinel last Friday and can't wait to get these in.
I also have a carbon lip coming from F1pilot coming soon which I can't wait for! From what I have seen in terms of pictures both from his and pplw's car, it will look awesome.
Front Strut Brace - I want what overl0ad has!!!!!!
Quad exhaust tips - from where I don't know yet....but do want!!!!!

[dwayne]

Nice car. As a matter of fact, it's sounds very much like my old 3RB. Except mine was an MY05 - you positive it's an MY06 ?

Cheers

Dwayne

[gubbo]

Yeah certain it is a my06 as the vin has the 6 in the right spot.

[bugli]

Sounds Great mate!!! Can't wait to see some pics and whats to come

[teK--]

Good work Neil look forward to the further worklog updates .

Funny you mention Reade as he is one of my good mates and I was at his shop a couple of weeks ago getting some work done to my car. He mentioned a nice Wagon came in that he put swaybars on and commented that it rode very nicely aferwards; not harsh just planted and streetable. Now I see your post and realise he was talking about your car

[Digital]

great stuff, can see you've got heaps of mods in the pipeline already! well done!

[gubbo]

Good work Neil look forward to the further worklog updates .

Funny you mention Reade as he is one of my good mates and I was at his shop a couple of weeks ago getting some work done to my car. He mentioned a nice Wagon came in that he put swaybars on and commented that it rode very nicely aferwards; not harsh just planted and streetable. Now I see your post and realise he was talking about your car

He's a nice guy and so are his staff, Kim and Ben. Had good chats to them about their current cars/projects when they were giving me a lift to and from work in their little kitted out XR4 which seems like a pretty fun go-kartish car.

His thoughts on the liberty with the swaybars are right in that it's much better to drive with them on and gives much better response in the corners.

[teK--]

That XR4 is a great project but Reade is planning something even better (no spoilers sorry). Also they are setting up a nice courtesy vehicle for customers to use which should be ready soon (Volvo T5 turbo sedan).

I can definitely recommend that anyone needing suspension work done in Melbourne, go see Reade at Pedders South Melbourne. I'm NOT saying this because "mention my name and he'll give you a good deal etc etc etc" but I used to work with him and I know he has good work ethic which for me is more important than paying bargain basement prices. It's his own workshop and he runs a tight crew so there are never apprentices who drop spanners working on your car.

If he cannot source you the parts you need he will surely install and set it up for you competently if you supply them yourself.

[Sentinel]

Job Neil!

Nice mod list! Keep the mods coming mate!

Cheers

[gubbo]

Well, finally cleaned the car a bit, so took a few quick snaps of the car so i've added a few pictures to the first post to show a bit about what i've done previously.
Had some spare time today, so a bit more of an update on the car.

5th mod: Cusco front strut and bosch wipers.
I was lucky enough to catch up with overl0ad yesterday night and was able to pick up the cusco front strut bar from him. His car is very nice and his new carbon struts look awesome.



Here's me putting it on the car:
1st take it apart. Much easier to get everything to fit this way.


Next, take off the bolts on top of your struts.

Repeat for the other side too.

Install the sides and hand tighten...hmm...seems to be missing something....


Install the centre strut and bolt everything back together


Looks much better!

Haven't taken it for a drive yet with the new strut in, but i'll follow up tomorrow with my impressions on these.


I was also able to stop into Super Cheap Auto and pick up some new bosch aerotwin wiper blades. These are a complete replacement for the wiper arm and are the same as the wipers found on current VWs and audis.

I managed to pick up a set of 600s and 450s. For those wanting to get some, there are a few 600s left at the ringwood and blackburn store. I only found one 450 in knox. The other stores had no 450s.

Here's my windscreen with the old wipers.


Here it is again with the new wipers installed.



I did a quick test with these and they do a much better job than my old wipers.
If someone can also find a set of 400s I would be greatly appreciative if you could pick up a set for me for my rear wiper!


Also like to leave you with a bit of a sneak peek of the STi goodies i picked up from Sentinel last week:


Can't wait to get these in!

[teK--]

Woahh dude slow down with the mods! (actually no that's what my gf keeps telling me I've only had my Subie for 4 months)

Lookin the goods. That is actually the shift knob I wanted but it was substantially more than the Momo Subaru one. The STi one has a better shape imho the Momo one is a bit too bulky.

You may also find that the sti shifter linkage doesn't actually shorten the throw by that much (if that's what you're looking for). Also it does not drop the height of the gearknob. Just letting u know in case u want a short short throw (30% shorter or more) and a lower gearknob, you should get the AVO adjustable one which is much cheaper anyway.

[Ric]

If someone can also find a set of 400s I would be greatly appreciative if you could pick up a set for me for my rear wiper!
...

It's a different mounting system on the rear, I don't think it will fit. The aeros are really designed for front mounting only, with the built in wing.

[Sentinel]

If someone can also find a set of 400s I would be greatly appreciative if you could pick up a set for me for my rear wiper!
...

It's a different mounting system on the rear, I don't think it will fit. The aeros are really designed for front mounting only, with the built in wing.

That's my understanding too Ric.

[gubbo]

Well, it's been a bit since i've updated this but after waiting for parts for a few weeks, a few things have finally developed! I received my PHAT mufflers that were couriered over from the WA from dan. I finally got a bit of time off to get these put on and since these were made for a sedan, and my car is a wagon, i needed to go to an exhaust shop to get a few things welded. I went down to Daalder exhausts in Box Hill and had Alan put them on.

Taking off stock exhaust


Alan Cutting and welding....he's bloody fast at it!


Just after fitting....looks about right.


At home. mmmmm....looks good.


After they were first fitted and the key was turned, the difference was instantly noticable with a lower grumble from the rear than the stock exhaust. Yummy.

First driving impressions were no droning nor any rattles in the car which was great news.
Exhaust sound is nice and deep and can be heard at low rpms (under 3500).
When you rev higher (i.e. WOT) though, the awesome H6 engine noise takes over
but is accompaniked by a slightly louder/deeper exhaust. Hard to explain but very nice overall.

Also looks good too

Next up, v-tune on monday with install of STi short-shifter and gearknob. Can't wait!

[tenrat]

Oh is vin back to tuning the h6;s? what price if u dont mind?