club.liberty.asn.au

So here’s a dilemma, I own a beautiful 03 Liberty B4. Under 100,000km absolutely stock standard and runs like a Swiss watch.
Do I continue to enjoy it as it is or do I balls it up a bit with tasteful modifications?
Some coil overs and sway bars, an exhaust, chip it, bigger wheels and decent tyres?

Thoughts?

Welcome.

It would be against the spirit of turbo Subaru ownership not to mod.

Doesn't the Liberty B4 have a twin turbo setup with a bit of a flat spot in the rev range when one turbo hands over to the other? That can be tuned-out as I recall, so that would be essential.

Apart from that, what amounts to "fun & tasteful" mods is up to the car owner - including weighing up the value of leaving enough of it "classic".

As things start to show age, upgrade to better than original.. Coilovers are a good example of value for money compared to buying stock replacements when shock start to leak. They also negate the need for bigger sway bars, end links etc etc and all the other whiteline stuff that costs a fortune. You don't need any of those things if you install adjustable coilovers. Exhaust is also good value that can be done without a tune.. Air intake resonator delete also give better sound and minimal power increase. Wheels and tyres are also acceptable mod that improves handling and braking. Slotted rotors and descent pads also improve braking. Just don't do the stuff that detracts from the car like making it soo low you can't get into your driveway anymore. Keep you old parts so if you ever sell it you can tell buyers you have all the original equip.

There are a variety of opinions out there about different mods. Here are mine for what it's worth:-

- with a car that age, priority No 1 is probably to replace various rubber hoses and bushes that are now brittle etc.

- likewise with getting all other basic maintenance items up-to-scratch.

- the more power capacity you build in and use a lot* the faster the engine/car/etc will wear. For a "classic B4" you might want to pick a modest set of power goals rather than trying to turn it right up to 11 then deal with breakages etc.
(*as opposed to only occasionally giving it full throttle)

- better braking and handling will make a car fun a lot more of the time during the driving experience than "more power" will.

- Swaybars & related hardware is cheap, easy to install and a good "bang for buck" handling improvement.

- coilovers can be expensive and arguably don't have the long-term durability (for daily road use) of the stock spring & shock packages. Also (unfairly) a defect-magnet for the authorities.

- the cat-back section of an exhaust will change the sound and won't require a tune. The turbo-to-cat section will improve turbo spool and may require a tune.

- Re "air intake resonator delete" - it depends on what you do. Just deleting will add sound and also hot engine bay air (and less power and more knock). Resonator block-off will still improve sound and keep the intake air cooler. "Pod filter in engine bay" (sometimes sold as a "cold air intake") seems to require very good boxing-in to stop it ingesting hot engine bay air - I'm not a fan.

- I tried slotted rotors and went back to non-slotted to cut down on brake dust, pad wear and keep the stock/sleeper look. If the stock brakes are marginal bigger rotors are a good thing if there is an easy upgrade to a bigger set of OEM pads/calipers from another car.

Good luck and enjoy the journey.

GT brakes and great dampers eg Koni’s or Shockworks.

Start with wheels and tires. What kind of tires are you looking for? 4wheelonline has a good selection of wheel and tire packages.

statetro wrote:Start with wheels and tires. What kind of tires are you looking for? 4wheelonline has a good selection of wheel and tire packages.

Have you used this American vendor, Statero?
What did you buy?

Absolutely agree with above.

I'm doing the same with my old school rs turbo liberty.

First things will be all the wear and tear items rubbers bushes oils fillers and such then if any money left maybe hi Flo the turbo and upgrade the gearbox possibly. Looking at an STI box.

I would start with medications that can improve the handling and performance of my car.