Member Profile - Johnb

[Johnb]

Member – Johnb
Vehicle - MY07 Subaru Liberty GT Spec B Tuned By STI
Colour – Silver
Wheels – Shadow Chrome STI Enkei
Tyres – Pirelli PZero Rosso
Rego – YEY70T

Background
Bought the car new in June 2007.

I couldn’t stand the Honda Accord Euro I was driving anymore and I was originally going to give in to my mid life crisis and buy a Porsche Cayman S. My daughter then intervened in the decision making process when she told me she was pregnant. Knew that it would lead to requests to pick up a grand child from childcare (why not I did it to my parents). So the search criteria changed to a 4 door sedan that had adequate performance, good handling, a comfortable interior, above average sound system and reliability.

After numerous test drives of Japanese and Europeans I was getting a little frustrated. Then I read about the Liberty STI and it was lust at first drive. Since then I have showered her with gifts.

today 084.JPG (41.86 KiB) Viewed 7051 times

P1000535.JPG (75.8 KiB) Viewed 6687 times

P1000543.JPG (40.13 KiB) Viewed 6687 times

Exterior:
2008 Honeycombe mesh grille
STI grille badge
STI Sill plates
25% tint to front windows
STi security wheel nuts

Interior:
Subaru carpet mats
STI 20th anniversary gear knob
LED light set
Sound insulation by Super Audio Installations Phillip, ACT
Subaru iPOD auxilary jack

Boot:
LED strip light
Subaru centre & side cargo nets

Engine bay and fuel system:
Zerosport Cool Radiator
STI radiator caps
Prova air guide
K&N panel filter
Reso removed
Zerospeed inlet pipe (blue)
AVO intake pipe (black)
AVO Throttle body hose (black)
AVO TMIC
TurboSmart BOV
Turbo beanie
AVO TGV Deletes
STI 565cc fuel injectors
AVO hi flow fuel pump
VF52 Turbo (previously TD05 18G turbo)
Greedy controller
ECUTEK Type 2+ tune
STI labelled Oil cap
STI oil filter
JDM engine cover set

Exhaust:
Phat Dump Pipe
Custom 3” Centre pipe with 15” resonator by Fyshwick Exhaust
STI Quad tip mufflers (standard)

Brakes:
STI Gold calipers (standard)
STI Braided brake lines (standard)
Cusco Brake Cylinder stopper
Hawk ceramic pads
DBA 4000 Slotted rotors (front and rear)
Motul 600 Brake Fluid

Suspension:
Front:
STI Strut brace (standard)
STI lower chassis brace (standard)
Whiteline sway bar
Cusco Type 2 bar suspension brace
Koni Sports adjustable strut inserts
H&R progressive sports springs (front and rear)
Super pro front lower arm bushes (Castor adjustable)
Anti lift kit
Whiteline roll centre adjustment kit
Group A endlinks
Rear:
STI lower control arms (standard equipment)
Whiteline sway bar rear
H&R Progressive Sports springs (front and rear)
Koni Sports adjustable shocks rear
AVO Swaybar reinforcement brackets
Cusco Type 2 rear bar suspension brace
Cusco strut brace
Group A endlinks


Result (using Dyno at Ultime Tunes, Phillip)
In standard form the car was 134.5kw atw and 299Nm running a maximum of 12.5 psi boost.When the car was retuned after fitting of the turbo power increased to 207kw atw @5000rpm and dtorque is 414Nm at 3000rpm running a maximum of 16 psi boost.

The Konis and H&R springs are a nice match and all the bars stiffen the car up nicely so that its points well with good bump control and little bodyroll.

The car drives nice, handy acceleration in all gears. I can now cruise in 6th on the open road and overtake without changing gear.

[Arith]

Great work John! Keep it up! What's in store for the future?

Oh, more pics please!

[bugli]

Woooooowwww!!!

Nice John, You have to come to our next meet so all us canberrans can have a perve!

Oh, more pics please!

+1

[Kevlar GT]

Welcome along John, good to see another Canberra owner on the forum. As Bugli said, keep an eye out for one of our next meet ups and come along. Very informal affairs. We usually just go for a bite to eat and chat cars etc.

Kev

[cruisn]

Thats a very impressive mod list. Id imagine itd handle veeery nicely currently.

More pics.

[sundayDriver]

John,

car is looking good. sounds like you've finished your car (for now). would be great to meet up and check it out.

looks like another dinner needs to be organised.

sundaydriver.

[WhiteGTB]

Nice list of mods you have there mate, a real enthusiast

Keep us posted when the new hair dryer is installed and tuned.

Should pop down to Wakefield Park next time the boys meet up for a track day, Canberra ain't too far away.

[SillySora]

Nice work question about the AVO TGV Deletes does it make a funny, I guess a squeaky noise when it is warm.

[04GTLIB]

John.
A truly sensational ride mate.
Could I ask about your front and rear alignment settings? Camber, caster and toe.
I have H&R's with Koni's only fitted to the front so far.
I'm finding the ride rather firm, but with the wheel and tyre combo I have it's something I will live with.
Please keep us posted of any more future mods, oh, and more pics would be nice too.

Cheers,
Rusty,

[Johnb]

Hi Guys,

replies to some questions.

TGV deletes: don't notice any noise from the deletes.

Wheel Alignment:
Front toe: +0.1mm
Front Camber: -1.2 degrees
Front Castor: +6.5 degrees
Rear toe: +0.5 mm
rear camber: -1.1 degrees

If you have the Koni Sport adjustables I find the best road setting with the H&R springs is 1.5 turns front, 0.5 turns for rear. At wakefield I use 3.5 turns on the front left, 3.0 turns on the front right and 2.0 turns on the rear.

In response to comments about handling: body roll is much better controlled, turn in is much better (cusco bars helped here) with much less understeer, biggest improvement is ability to put power down out of roundabouts.

[SUB4RU]

Nice power for the mods you have. Did your tuner say anything about the mufflers being too restrictive? I want to keep the STI look but at the same time want more power...

[teK--]

I am curious as to why you used progressive springs, and furthermore why you replaced the Bilsteins with the Koni Yellows. I've owned both and must say that the Bilsteins are better. The adjustment dial on the Yellows are notoriously inaccurate/ineffective so you often end up with 4 wheels all at different bump and rebound rates.

[Johnb]

More answers to questions

I need to make the point here that my car is a road car that I occassionly flog at wakefield. So I want something that has good mid range torque, is comfortable and reasonably quiet.

Yes the STI mufflers are more restrictive than other muffler choices. I had a set of Phat SS mufflers on but I took them off because I kept setting my neighbours car alarm off in the early hours of the morning when ever I was getting home late or leaving early. I noticed a decrease in throttle response (when I put the STIs back on) but mid range torque is still very good, acceleration from 60 kph to 120 in 4th and 5th is very good and much better than standard - right up there with Porsche and SAAB 9-5 turbo. The other mods and 3 inch system from turbo to mufflers more than compensate for leaving the STIs on.

Suspension:

Several things here. The standard bisteins and STI spring set up has poor bump control and the car is unsettled if you hit a bump mid corner when pushing it a bit. I also found the ride harsh and uncomfortable. The standard bilsteins are nowhere near as good as the after market Bilsteins. At the time I did the suspension, after market Bilsteins were not available for the SpecB which has a different front strut to the standard Liberty. Konis were the next best choice. I didn't pick coilovers because the ACT has randomn car inspections and I want the car to look standard.

I picked the H&Rs for ride and handling balance. The H&Rs give a much better ride than standard springs and the progressive nature soaks up small bumps.

If I was building a track or tarmac event car, my suspension choices would be different. Actually my choice of car would be different.

[fatfrog02]

Nice car. Impressive suspension mods list.

How much did the H&R lower you car??

More pics please.

[teK--]

That sounds fair enough I am also quite sure the aftermarket Bilsteins didn't come out until about 2007 for our cars as that was the earliest I could find info on forums about the application when I was researching for my car.

I've driven progressive springs and personally I did not like them as they were unpredictable, but also probably because my ass is quite hard so I don't mind linear springs which can be firm on the initial compression stroke Each to their own it sounds like the H&R are doing well for you.