Greetings from the Mornington Peninsula

[billydee]

Howdy gang,

I'm Billy from Victoria - I've had my MY07 GT Spec B sedan for a couple of years now but didn't really start paying attention til I found a 3" mandrel-bent stainless cat-back on eBay for $500 in Wollongong. So, I hopped in the car and drove north for 20 hours or so to pick it up and install it on the spot, from a pretty serious enthusiast who had about 20 Liberties in and around his home and neighbourhood. The sound was perfect and thus began the journey - it's a fantastic vehicle, one of my favourites and frankly I don't understand how anyone could drive one of these and then get back into a WRX, I test drove a few including STIs when looking for this car and the WRX just seems like cheap plastic next to the Liberty.

The best part: It's as WRXy as you want it to be, but with a standard of luxury even Lexus would tilt their hat to.

The worst part: It absolutely HATES potholes (and those square plastic speed humps you see in shopping centre carparks), and there's quite a few poorly-maintained roads in my part of the world. If I hit a pothole at speed it feels like something's broken apart, and although I've gotten better at spotting them, they still sneak up on me every now and again. That and the clear coat is scratched to hell, particularly on the front bumper. It's in desperate need of a cut and polish.

I've used these forums on and off for research and figured it was time to say hi. This place is a great resource and I hope I can positively contribute!


Name: Billy or Dicko
Ride: 2006 MY07 Liberty GT Spec.B, 6MT
Location: Mount Eliza, VIC

Mods so far:
- Upgraded rear subwoofer
- Reversing camera connected to factory GPS unit
- LED lights all-round (except front indicators)
- 3000K fog lights
- 3" MB SS Cat-back exhaust
- K&N panel filter in stock airbox
- Kobe blow-off valve
- Slotted & Dimpled front rotors
- Hi-tech GPS screen shade made from bits of an old computer box

Mods planned:
- 3" dump pipe to complete the TBE (probably catless)
- AVO TMIC
- Kobe/AVO reinforced MAF, Inlet and Throttle Body pipes
- RevZone tune - not wanting anything wild, mainly looking forward to better SI-Drive functionality
- Braided brake lines
- Kobe strut brace
- Whiteline bushings
- Short shifter

Previous Rides:
- '89 Honda Prelude Si 4WS, modded like an 18 year old would (i.e. to shit) and painted purple and orange and chrome
- '88 VL Commodore Berlina, done up and sold in '06 for a tasty profit (would be tastier if I were selling it right now)
- '91 Manual VN Commodore in very nice condition, first car I really felt the power in
- '93 Lexus LS400, I pulled out the auto and made it the only 5sp manual LS in the country. My first successful engineering project
- '04 BA2 XR6 Turbo, was well-worked when I bought it, sadly only survived 5 months before someone rear-ended me and wrote it off

[spike2135]

Hi and welcome!

Peninsular is nice. I lived out the way for a bit.

Nice colour liberty too
if your already not enjoying potholes i'm not sure you'll like poly bushes with the added HNV...


lol @ honda. i think many of us have been there. i had a 1990 civic that looked stock from the outside but had concerto/prelude interior and an EFI 1.6 engine swap and tasty mods added.

shame about the xr6 though. same thing happened to me on a motorcycle

[Yowie]

Welcome. Very nice Gen 4.

Was the VN 6 or 8 cylinder? I had a manual VR wagon (6cyl) with exhaust & tune - great torque but the iron Buick doesn't rev of course.

[nvmylh]

Nice looking car!

Do you have any info on the sub upgrade? I'm about to do a jaycar sub install in my spec b wagon..

[billydee]

lol @ honda. i think many of us have been there. i had a 1990 civic that looked stock from the outside but had concerto/prelude interior and an EFI 1.6 engine swap and tasty mods added.

Haha... it's like the final stage of adolescence. That's awesome.

BTW I did have PU bushings on that prelude, made a fairly significant improvement mainly on corners... hadn't really considered its effect on casual- driving though, you've noticed it on straights too?? Forgive me, HNV isn't an acronym I'm familiar with despite seeing it from time to time in relation to suspension.

I had a manual VR wagon (6cyl) with exhaust & tune - great torque but the iron Buick doesn't rev of course.

You're spot on about that, it runs out of puff quickly, but you can have a lot of fun even on short hops about town! I've actually been looking for a VS/VT wagon for about a year now (on the cheap) to have as a camper, and also to secure a piece of Australiana before they all get written off.

Do you have any info on the sub upgrade? I'm about to do a jaycar sub install in my spec b wagon..

I'll dig that info up later today, I actually only changed mine because the driver completely tore away from the paper cone when I was blasting tunes one evening or another. Unfortunately you still have extremely limited EQ control via the McIntosh head unit so nowadays I have the bass turned right down - the upgraded sub is significantly louder somehow, leads to a boomy plastic rattle that makes you think it's not secured properly. Pretty great little audio kit though, especially considering I had a JL 13w7 1000w in the Falcon and a bunch of now-useless 5x7" JL speakers! No more big amps or boxes either thanks to the parcel shelf sub.

Are you planning to upgrade the subwoofer alone, or adding an external amplifier too?

[nvmylh]

At this stage it will just be the jaycar sub and the stock amp gain mod. See how that goes for now, might try to put some decent front speakers in the doors and then maybe an amp. If I do the amp it would have to fit where the stock does (I recently saw a pioneer amp installed there, can't remember the model though).

[spike2135]

BTW I did have PU bushings on that prelude, made a fairly significant improvement mainly on corners... hadn't really considered its effect on casual- driving though, you've noticed it on straights too?? Forgive me, HNV isn't an acronym I'm familiar with despite seeing it from time to time in relation to suspension.

oh, that''s probably because i got the order wrong it's NVH (Noise, vibration, and harshness) I wanted to get them for the same reason, handling, as i drive the twisties in the yarra valley regularly. After reading other peoples reviews regarding the benefits VS the drawbacks of pollys, i opted for OEM bushes coz wife and kids. To get better handling i went with a complete Whiteline sway bar kit (front, rear (both with bushes), braces, end links). The difference was night and day. Not just with body roll but the car just turns where i point it.
But i do have a GEN 5 wagon so a little different to the GEN 4 sedan in terms of rolley-polley-ness.

I'm sure there are threads about bushes and sway bars for GEN 4, will just take some searching reading time if you got it.

[bigBADbenny]

The potholes issue is a sure sign your dampers are stuffed.

To make the most of the car for safety and enjoyment, I strongly recommend a digressively tuned damper, or at least the best dampers you can afford.

Our 2 Libs are as such: Shockworks on the GT, Koni Sport Yellows on the 2.5i.

The damping force increases with compression making for a very planted feeling ride, the cars exhibit amazing recovery after huge bumps.

For street driving, there’s no plausible reason to upgrade swaybars, but I recommend AVO HD rsb mounts regardless.

Both dampers are perfect for touring and do very well even on gravel roads.

Bushes, imho you’re fine to replace all the relieved oem bushes with poly items.

From my notes:
Suspension Bushing upgrades

If they haven’t been done already, all stock relieved bushes can be replaced with solid aftermarket items.

That’s front control arms rear position (aka LCA), rear trailing arms forward position, front (silicone filled) & rear diff bushes, pitch stop and gearbox mounts.

The latter two I’ve upgraded to Group N and its not too noisy in conjunction with stock engine mounts, which I have a spare set of for when the time comes.

I have AVO caster offset LCA bushes (works best with pokey rims, stock might rub inner guards, KCA399 adjustable rear upper outer bushes to correct rear camber from slight lowering, and absolutely essential: AVO HD rear swaybar mounts, yes even for stock swaybars.

And a solid GD STi steering uni joint

That’s the GT ^, the 2.5i just has red LCA bushes and is about to get Whiteline Com C front strut tops for a tad more caster...

[spike2135]

For street driving, there’s no plausible reason to upgrade swaybars

maybe if you drive on straight roads... or slowly, that might be true.

But if you drive twisty roads with some spirit they do make a world of difference. but like i said, this probably applies more to the GEN 5 than the GEN 4.

[Yowie]

Agreed. I haven't gotten into coil-overs, but front & rear swaybars have made a real difference to the handling of my Forester (among other suspension modifications).

[bigBADbenny]

Redacted because the discussion is worthy of its own thread.

[spike2135]

Maybe for these top heavy cars but bear in mind swaybars are for fine tuning handling characteristics on the limit on track, not adding spring rate or reducing roll.

You’re effectively hobbling your crappy dampers and the whole car.

For a more naturally handling car that’s capable on any road, you want a digressively damped shock, eg Koni’s or Shockworks.

You properly wouldn’t get it till you drove one thusly equipped.

Just like Brembo's, swaybars are not just for track driving.

no need to pick on Yowie with a backhanded insult just because he hasn't put coilovers on.

[bigBADbenny]

Redacted again. Its impolite to rant off topic or even on topic in member profile threads.
Rant posted here because it’s valuable info regardless.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=36773&p=450766#p450766
Koni struts are digressively damped, btw.

[Tonic]

The thread was all going well …. Then some mentioned sway bars…..

[bigBADbenny]

And brembos as a track upgrade…