New Northern N.S.W. Member

[Phoenixx]

Hi!!
I am Jimmy from Northern N.S.W.
So i bought myself a MY04 liberty 2.5i and came across this site. I had driven my brother in laws 98 forester and thought it was rubbish but after driving an MY03 outback thought i might look a bit more into Subaru. I have to say i love the interior of the liberties. I like the way it drives and adore the way it looks!!!

So far my lib has nothing done to it!! I got it with 130k on the clock and the guy that owned it before me had looked after it really well. It is a blank canvas for me to get to work on.

So I have started off slowly with it so far. Only mods that it has is i painted the numberplate bolts black. Insignificant thing but it was really annoying me having rusty looking bolts holding the plates. Seen a few things on here about lifting the front plate up a bit, thats on the to do list. Bottom support bar on the intake will be painted, badges color changed, chrome fins painted with plasti dip. Also on the cards is a cat back exhaust and rims plasti dip painted. I have a lot more that i have in mind but i need to spend some time getting use to the car and looking at it to see what i want to do.

Previous rides have been an XF Falcon, 190E 2.5 Cosworth Benz and a Toyota Carona with a 4AGE engine.

I will put up some pics in the next few days when i get a chance

[Newbie GT]

Hi!!
I am Jimmy from Northern N.S.W.
So i bought myself a MY04 liberty 2.5i and came across this site. I had driven my brother in laws 98 forester and thought it was rubbish but after driving an MY03 outback thought i might look a bit more into Subaru. I have to say i love the interior of the liberties. I like the way it drives and adore the way it looks!!!

So far my lib has nothing done to it!! I got it with 130k on the clock and the guy that owned it before me had looked after it really well. It is a blank canvas for me to get to work on.

So I have started off slowly with it so far. Only mods that it has is i painted the numberplate bolts black. Insignificant thing but it was really annoying me having rusty looking bolts holding the plates. Seen a few things on here about lifting the front plate up a bit, thats on the to do list. Bottom support bar on the intake will be painted, badges color changed, chrome fins painted with plasti dip. Also on the cards is a cat back exhaust and rims plasti dip painted. I have a lot more that i have in mind but i need to spend some time getting use to the car and looking at it to see what i want to do.


Previous rides have been an XF Falcon, 190E 2.5 Cosworth Benz and a Toyota Carona with a 4AGE engine.

I will put up some pics in the next few days when i get a chance

Welcome ! 4AGE what an unreal engine and rev by as all get out!!!

I had the 4AGZE with larger Nevo pulley and it was a very fast unit

[peadya100]

Welcome James!
Great car to start you off with Subaru's. I started with a 2005 2.5i and am now hooked.
Good luck with your mods!

[Corsair]

Excellent choice. Look forward to seeing the mods as time progresses.
BTW, don't suppose you have pictures of the 190E Cosworth?

[Phoenixx]

Yeah the 4AGE pulled hard. Unfortunately a dodgy break rebuild that a local mechanic did for me caused no brakes into an intersection meaning one written off car.

I have some pictures of the benz somewhere. I will have to have a look through my hard drives to find them. I will have a look when i get a chance and will post them up.

So as i said i painted the number plate bolts black. Most people wouldn't notice it but it was annoying me.


This is what the front end looks like before i took to it.



The idea was to paint the vertical bar on the bottom intake of the front bar. Personally i think that the white bar fills too much space on the intake which should be open. I was going to use plasti dip but apparently i can't get black for a few weeks because there is not a great deal of it in Oz. Came across a product called ArmorAll Custom Shield which is made by the same company as plasti dip and is actually cheaper. Thought i would give it a go to see what it would look like with the opening painted black.



So this is the front end stripped down and masked up. I was planning on painting the center support part and the lip that runs across the back of the bottom lip.



During the painting process.

So i finished painting it all and started to unmask. I was thinking that unmasking would be the same as unmasking for normal painting. You pull the tape and paper off and there would be a line that you had painted up to. When i started to pull the tape off it started to pull the ArmourAll off which ruined the lines that i had taped off straight away. In the end i had to pull all the ArmourAll off because it looked rubbish.

Second round. i just taped up the center beam to see what it would look like. After painting i actually used a blade along the edges of where i had taped to get a clean line when i unmasked. So it looks like this when done.



Personally i think it looks half arsed. The ArmourAll could be a good product but i am thinking that it would be a lot better for painting whole things (As in the grille fins) instead of painting up to a taped off area. Also would be amazing for a protection coat when doing motorsport events. For doing what i did with it i wouldn't suggest it but at least it showed me what it would potentially look like. Now that i have seen it i will be going through and actually painting the centre support and the lip along the bottom. I was looking at it a bit earlier and i am thinking that some black mesh in the opening would be a good idea too. Open to thoughts and opinions on that one!!!

While i had the front off I pulled the badge off.



The grille is actually a bit discolored and looks to need a bit of TLC. I will be getting some plastic primer in the morning and spraying the grille matte black so it is a uniform colour. I have pulled the badge apart and am going to paint that. Still struggling to get the chrome stars paint off a bit. I have been trying bleach as was suggested but that doesn't seem to do a thing yet. I have been looking around and i have a few ideas to try tomorrow. Again, open to any suggestions.



I have also sprayed the chrome fins from the grille with the ArmourAll and i am holding more hope that the results from this will be a bit better. I will have to wait till morning to see how they turn out. With the rest of the grille sprayed and the fins put back on should be a test of how well it turns out. Hopefully i have the badge finished tomorrow too so i can put it all back together and get some pictures up.

Will keep ya posted

[Phoenixx]

So I got the grille painted and put back on.





Got the badge painted and sat back in place.


Not happy with the badge. Read a whole lot of things online about getting the chrome off the back of the badge, was really careful with it but the plastic has become clouded. I have sanded it was all nature of grades and used headlight cleaner/polisher on it and can't get it looking any better so now i am chasing a new badge.

Anyone have any idea where i could get one from?? I have had a look on gumtree/ebay etc and it looks like i will probably have to buy a new grille to get the proper badge. On the plus side that means i have a spare grille to potentially do a mesh grill with.

While i was at it i pulled the resonator out of the airbox. I will be getting a washable panel filter some time soon. Going off the forums here there doesn't seem to be a lot different between the hks/apexi/k&n filters. Other things i have read are leaning me towards the AEM dry panel filter that is washable but doesn't have the risk of oil on sensors.

While i was pulling the resonator off i noticed that there was a weird baffle on the side of the connection pipe between the airbox and the intake.


its the black bit hanging off the top of the pipe. Is it there for a reason?? I can't really see a point to it other then to reduce induction noise. Is there a straight through pipe commonly available to replace it or is it a knock up your own kind of job??

[PUDZ RSC3.0RB]

Hey there Jimmy, welcome to Club Lib.

Nice first ride in a Liberty. Good to have another member here on the North Coast, not too many of us up this way we are a bit isolated.

Ive got an Apexi filter in my H6 and cant fault it. Some of the guys who have used HKS say they don't seal properly.

GL with ur modding. By the way I may have a blue front badge floating about ill have a look thru all my stock bits, for memory the chrome surround has been
sanded and painted matte black. I DIYed my mesh grille, check my thread if u want.

Grant

[Phoenixx]

So i haven't had internet for 5 days. was getting over that pretty quickly. Haven't been able to look up any of my next mods but internet is restored and all is well.

In the mean time i had some down time. I removed the milk bottle the other week which i have posted about but wasn't too sure about the opening that was left. To me the whole would create a pressure zone around it that would hinder the flow in so i figured i would put a bell mouth on the opening to direct the flow. Read a few things about using pvc to make one but i was too lazy to drive to bunning. Had a 75mm gal adapted for a down pipe that i cut a notch out of to fit and shaped the flange pieces into a bell mouth.





Second picture is the bell mouth half way through being shaped. Just silicone sealed it to attach and make it seal properly.

While i was at it i park my car in a semi sunny spot at times at work/the beach etc. This is the old gear knob.



The metal parts were getting hot and coming into summer not the best thing to have.



New Sti gear knob installed. Shouldn't get hot due to it being polymer (Read: Plastic) plus i personally think it looks better and feels better in the hand.

Was looking at stereo upgrades. I have sound gear sitting here from my previous ride so i thought i would just chuck it in the lib. Turns out they want an exorbitant amount for the replacement stereo/A/C unit panel so i am not going to bother with the head unit. At the moment i am thinking that replace the 4 speakers with what i have, sound deaden the 4 doors, active slim 8 under the drivers seat for some base. Not sure how the speakers swap will go as i don't know what kind of power the stock head unit is throwing out to run them but i might need another amp to power the speakers in for a better result. Haven't checked the forums yet (above mentioned lack of internet) but i will do some research and come up with a plan.

[Phoenixx]

Hi Grant.

Thanks for the info re: the filters. Where did you get your Apexi from?? I came across a grill and badge from another forum member a few days ago which i am waiting on to get here but i will keep in mind that you have a badge there. Thanks mate. I added you as a friend on here and will have a look through your posts about the custom mesh grill. I saw one done a few days ago using the honeycomb mesh which looked amazing so i am thinking that will be the way to go. I will update here with what i come up with.

I will keep in mind that you are down Coffs way. I have been meaning to head down that way for a while for a cruise. Enjoy the Rally too!!

[Phoenixx]

So i had a day off and a bit of free time. Came across this thread viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5114&hilit=intake+pipe which answered one of my previous questions re: intake pipe baffle delete. Gotta thank matty_et for the write up. I had it in my head to do this with the silicon hoses but what i thought might work was a mile off. Did the new pipe and a ECU reset because it was idling really lumpy after the pipe. Could be something to do with it sitting in neutral but for the sake of 1/2 hr i thought i may as well.





I was going to flip the front mounts for the numberplate to rise it up a bit but i didn't have a drill here today. Will do it tomorrow.

Also looked into sound system upgrades. Looks like i will be buying a 4 channel amp to run the speakers. I have some from my old car that i will be using for the time being but they will be getting upgraded at some time. Then sound deadening the doors, probably not going over board and doing the outer skins just a bit on the inner skins. Don't really wanna add too much weight to the doors/car. Then a active sub. Looking at the Vibe optisound auto 8 under the drivers seat. I am not after impress people on the footpath bass just something to make the in car audio sound a lot better.

[Phoenixx]

So a whole heap more reading of the last couple days and it has made me rethink what my objectives will be for my mods. Originally i was thinking that intake and exhaust with a tune to make it flow a bit better and get a bit better power out of 2.5i . Follow that all up with a bit of sound gear and some body mods to make it all look a lil bit better and then go to town with handling mods.

Since found out that if you have Hitachi throttle body then you will have the Hitachi ECU (please someone correct me if that is not the case *fingers crossed*) and that they are don't do well with cheap and easy tunes. I believe the words piggy back and dyno tune were used which i couldn't imagine would be cheap...or easy.

Without the tune the exhaust is not going to do much at all. Without the tune i can't see the point in going for a headers back or cat back system, not worth the money IMO so will probably just go for a set of straight through mufflers to improve the sound a bit.

I have done most of the intake upgrades that i was planning. Eliminate the baffles, full straight through pipe from airbox, only need to get a panel filter and go from there. I was looking for an Apexi but they are only reusable for 25000km so against better judgement I will probably go with a K&N. Easier to get and just saves me spending time running round trying to get something else.

So onwards and upwards. The new plan is finish the intake changes, sound system, finish the body mods to improve the looks, Talk hks180 about some lights, get some rims and dump it. Later on i will consider the straight through exhaust and handling mods as they come up but for the time being i want to make my lib into a good looking cruiser!!

Started with a few steps to get things moving.
Bought some new sound gear to improve the tunes.


4-channel to run speakers off


HIgh-low converter to get RCA outs for amp.


Sound deadening for the doors.

This gear will be going with a set of Fusion PF-CM650 components for the front and Sony XS-GTF1638 in the rear.
Still going to be looking at the sub that i mentioned earlier in this thread at a later date. If there is anything that you think i have missed or would be a good idea let me know!! The gear that i am going to be using is a combination of what i already own and what came at the right price. Speakers will probably be upgraded at some point but it all serves the purpose for now.

As far as rims go I have been looking around and have found a few that I like. Anyone know much about Ultrex?? They have some nice rims that are cheap as hell!!

Last thing was a cabin air filter change.


Figured it was probably a good idea

[PUDZ RSC3.0RB]

Hi Grant.

Thanks for the info re: the filters. Where did you get your Apexi from?? I came across a grill and badge from another forum member a few days ago which i am waiting on to get here but i will keep in mind that you have a badge there. Thanks mate. I added you as a friend on here and will have a look through your posts about the custom mesh grill. I saw one done a few days ago using the honeycomb mesh which looked amazing so i am thinking that will be the way to go. I will update here with what i come up with.

I will keep in mind that you are down Coffs way. I have been meaning to head down that way for a while for a cruise. Enjoy the Rally too!!

Hey James
Ive been offline for a bit, sorry for the slow reply. The rally was a great week, went to a few really good road closures mind u a few good recci's had to be done
in the lead up. Organisers made it pretty tough for local access this time.
I got the apexi filter from Garage 88, notice u have gone K&N still a good one and available locally.
I think its cruizn that has a great custom grille walkthrough, I followed this and it turned out great.

By the way about to post some news about a major power upgrade on my thread.

[Phoenixx]

So updates.

The stereo gear is all in. Turns out working on newer cars (newer then an 84 falcon) is a hell of a lot harder to do then the old cars. You just need to look at the firewall and a hole opens up. Finally found a hole to run the amp wiring. After making custom speaker mounts the door cards wouldn't go back on properly so i actually cut the speakers out of the factory set up and screwed the new speakers into them. Was annoyed and frustrated by this stage so i have actually put the front speaker mounts in the opposite doors. Again the door cards don't go on properly but there is only one cleat per door so it will do for now. When i get a bit more patience back in a week or two i will go through and fix it all again. While i am at it i will properly hide the wiring and get rid of the annoying 12v buzz that i currently have with all the wires hidden under floor matts.

On the topic of floor matts i noticed for the first time that i am missing a rear matt. Figured it is time to refresh as the front matts are showing some wear and tear. I am on the lookout for all new matts front and rear. If anyone has found a good set of matts or knows of a place that does them i am all ears.

Got the K&N. Got to the point where i just wanted it done I went with what i could get locally. It sounds a bit better but i was really after it more for the reusability of the filter.

Due to my dodgy eye sight I also picked up some new low beam headlight globes for better vision for normal driving. Colour is about the same as what was in the car (I am thinking they were not OEM globes) but the projection and reflection from road signs etc are better. Also noticed that someone has ballsed it up with the passenger side and broken the wire clip part from the back of the globe so it was held in with a good amount of silicone. New globe is in reapplying said amount of silicone. It will do for now. Lights actually came with the white look parkers so they have gone in too and look a hell of a lot better. Down side now is that the spotties look very yellow in comparison so they will be getting changed soon. Also noticed that the head light covers are very clouded so i am off to buy a headlight cleaning kit tomorrow. I am thinking i will need to remover the cover and do the insides as well. I remember something about an oven and heating them till the front comes off. I will do my research and go from there.

I am still waiting on the front grille that i bought off a forum member from here. It has been weeks. Money has been deposited. Haven't heard anything in a while from the member so if there is any advise as to what i should do from here please let me know.

cheers

[PUDZ RSC3.0RB]

Have you contacted the member via PM

[Phoenixx]

I haven't contacted via PM because i got a phone number that I was contacting the user through. Having said that the user hasn't been online since the 22nd of last month. and i haven't hear anything by phone since the 6th of september which was the day after i paid for the grill. Really not sure where to go from here.