Member profile - Teflon

[teflon]

I thought it was about time I created one of these since I have spent far too much money on this car in the last 8 weeks. This is a bit of a follow on from my thread in the photos section.

I've added some comments about the mods I DIY'ed. I have very little DIY skills but managed to install a few minor things without rendering the car undriveable. If I can do it, 99.5% of the car enthusiast community can.

Car: 2004 MY05 Liberty GT, Pearl White.
History: 1988 Honda Integra (DOHC sweetness), 1994 Honda Prelude VTiR, 1993 Honda Accord (yawn), GC8 version 6 WRX STi.


Bought the car in Sept 08 having come from a completely unmodified and mint condition GC8 version 6 WRX STi... I think the fact I missed that car so much meant it took me a bit longer to really enjoy owning this vehicle.

Got it for a bargain price at the time, mainly because it had a scratched front bumper, some minor passenger rear door trim damage and wheels which had been gutter rashed to buggery.

The car came with the Dame Edna eyelid surrounds, and the Subaru sports grille.

Prior to this year, the minor mods I did were; WRX 06 rims and an Eclipse double din head unit install.

Discovered the bilsteins bargain early April and since then have spent far too much! Thanks to the usual suspects on this forum.

Current mods:

Accesories

- Side and rear cargo nets (thanks Arith). DIY - easy install.
- Subaru boot liner

Audio

- Eclipse AVN4400 double din head unit
- Aux cable to arm rest console - DIY... it is surprisingly easy to access the head unit, remove the arm rest console and run the necessary cables to the console. Used a drill then a dremel to creat the hole in the bottom of the console and threaded the aux cable through.
- Digital radio sits in arm rest console.
- Dynamat all four doors - DIY. Plenty of good walkthroughs on the forum... a time consuming process!

Drivetrain/Intake
- Single mass flywheel clutch.
- STi short shifter - definitely a worthwhile mod for the price. Not a DIY job - watched it get put in and it I think if you had access to a pit/hoist/couple of car ramps then most people could give this a crack with success if you had the right tools. Got quoted 2-3 hours labour by Subaru at $130 bucks an hour! It only took about 45 mins with one guy in the car on the hoist and one underneath it to do... so take it to the local mechanic and save some cash if you don't install it yourself.
- HKS panel filter
- Hyperflow TMIC

Exhaust
- HKS Legamax axle back. Second hand here on the forums - designed for the wagon but suits the sedan nicely.
- Phat DP for the 2.0L - fantastic mod. Very very highly recommended. I think it has to be high up on anyone's list who wants gains or simply a more driveable car with increased low down punch.

Exterior
- Subaru sports grille (came with the vehicle)
- Removed headlight surrounds
- Front bumper respray
- Spec B wheels
- STi rear lip boot spoiler - found one in pearl white at a wreckers here in SEQ and picked it up for a bargain price (about $350 installed). In excellent condition.

Interior
- DAMD flat bottom black leather steering wheel with red stitch. (DIY install) Absolutely love this. My wife was worried I'd either have a broken nose or undriveable car with this attempted mod but follow this excellent step by step guide and you can't go wrong:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthr ... ?t=1881734

- STi red stitch gear knob to match the steering wheel and redline goods.

- Spec B JDM pedals. DIY. This was a bit of a bitch to install actually. Not because of the difficulty necessarily, but it is fiddly. You do have to remove the whole accelerator pedal assembly to install the accelerator pedal. Sounded a bit frightening at first, but there are only two bolts and because our cars have the electronic throttle control, the only other thing to disconnect is the wiring harness. Found helpful tips here:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8504&hilit=pedals
http://www.scoobymods.com/wrx-pedals-rs ... &t=128

Where tek says push down and up on the brake and clutch pedal to slip on the covers, we should add that you need to lube the back of the cover with some WD40 first. That will save you A LOT of time.

- Redline goods perforated black leather with JDM red stitch gear shift surround, handbrake cover and armrest cover. Got them on a 30% off sale with an additional 10% FB voucher. Bargain. Install instructions on their website were excellent, and I also followed this guide which had some extra detail: http://www.sonic.net/zinfreak/redline_g ... _boots.htm

- Genuine Subaru Liberty carpet floor mats
- Passenger rear door trim replacement (lucky find from the local wrecker)

ICE

- Eclipse AVN4400
- Alpine MRP-F450 amp - self install with Mihai's excellent walkthrough.
- Polk audio DB1240 sub - probably a bit big for the boot but got it for cheap so will persist with it for now.

Lighting
- 5000K HIDs (my first DIY mod! Took me a while but got there in the end). Excellent DIY guide here on the forums, but depending on who you buy from you will get excellent support too. Highly recommend a dremel for the cutting the hole in the light cover. I used a drill and boy was it ugly, but the rubber stopper hides away my hack job nicely.
- LED parkers, dome light, map light - DIY plug and play.
- LED boot lights and front doors - DIY plug and play.

Suspension and handling
- Bilsteins (wheelpower) with Phat edition Tein S-Techs
- Phat/J Speed LCA bushes
- Cusco rear sway bar and heavy duty mounts - fantastic bang for buck mod.
- Cusco front sway bar. Noticeable improvement over stock (but the rear one is a much more noticeable improvement).
- DBA 4000 slotted front rotors hawk ceramic pads all round.
- Cusco brake stopper

Planned mods

- STi front lip.
- Front splits - ?Morel Maximo

Then I think I'd be done.

Updated 22/12/2011

[bugli]

Hey Phan,

Looking good mate, very clean!

Then I think I'd be done..

Let us know how that goes haha

Cheers,

Michael.

[teflon]

Haha ... Thanks Michael. I have deliberately not done power mods yet because that is a slippery slope I fear I could get addicted to! The DP might be a bad idea! The bilsteins made the biggest difference and that was when I finally started to not miss the GC8 WRX I had. Do you still have the alpine HU? I actually miss that HU! Both have their pros and cons but the alpine I think is probably better overall if you have the $$ to pay for the add ons etc...

[bugli]

Sure do, I love it - Im taking it with me when I (eventually) upgrade to a spec b. Haven't changed the Subaru background either! Im looking at bolting on the bluetooth pack soon.

I'd say it is a slippery slope, Im looking forward to seeing where you end up.

Have you dynamatted the car yet? I've got the front doors and boot done and it makes such a difference.

[teflon]

Thought about dynamat... but, my other expensive interest is home theatre and in the past I usually spent money on that if I wanted good SQ. However, with two young daughters in the house, I rarely get to crank up the home theatre system anymore, so you might have put another mod idea into my head...

[hks180]

Phan Phan Phan .... looking good my friend ...

DAMD steering ///// i like i like ... haha

Leo

[teflon]

DAMD steering ///// i like i like ... haha

Thanks Leo... very much looking forward to this! That should put the mod bug into remission for a while I hope.

[teflon]

Installed my DAMD steering wheel tonight with the assistance of a very detailed step by step guide from the NASIOC forums. Managed not to break my nose with an unexpected airbag malfunction. Took it for a quick spin and no buyer's remorse at all!

I have the MY05 model and bought the "early years" model wheel from AVOJDM... I thought I needed the switch covers as well, but surprisingly this model wheel comes with the switch covers already installed - just a little bit of info for anyone planning to buy this mod for a wheel without cruise/audio buttons... If your wheel doesn't come with switch covers based on my advice, I will happily post you mine for cost of postage only.

Must say, EMS Japan is blardy efficient - ordered late last week and it arrived today! Happily surprised and spent an hour or so carefully installing it. Pricey, but highly recommended.

[hks180]

waahhh ,,,,,,,,, pretty .........

Leo

[teflon]

I feel the same way Leo! Got a long drive past the Gold Coast tomorrow so looking forward to that. The wide angle shot makes the wheel look bigger than it is... it is smaller than the stock one.

[bugli]

waahhh ,,,,,,,,, pretty .........

Leo

+1 mhmmmm

[garbo41610]

NOM NOM NOM!!! DAMD wheel!!! Looks the goods!!!

[teflon]

Thanks for the feedback guys... enjoyed every moment of the drive to Kingscliff today, even with the traffic jam due to an accident at Tugun. Will take some better perspective pics in the daylight soon.

Forgot to mention that Mo_GT's input re the DAMD wheel helped sway me towards buying it so thanks Mo. Expensive (?ricey) mod, but it's something I use everyday and you have to live a little every now and then... thought about the black stitch like Mo, but a good mate of mine who badly wants to buy the car off me in the future swayed me towards the red. Might have to hop on redline and get some red stitch shift boots and handbrake covers now!

[bugli]

Might have to hop on redline and get some red stitch shift boots and handbrake covers now!

I'd say it is a slippery slope

[hamish_023]

Very nice! That sti lip will look great and finish it off once it's on.