Member Profile - phillxor

[phillxor]

I've been waiting for a rainy day (literally) before I posted up a bit of a build thread for my Liberty.
MY04 2.5i Wagon, white, 5MT.
Owned it for about 6 months now, and have been scouring the forum and messing around with mods since then, haven't posted anything up till now, so now it looks like i have been real busy. In fact, a lot of the mods have been done in curious orders as the enthusiasm/ideas developed.

Past rides included a Lite-ace Van, Toyota 4Runner (Diesel) and a Toyota 80 Series Landcruiser (Diesel), so the Lib is my first actual car that drives nice.
Consequently I lost my license (speed related) only a few weeks after purchasing the liberty, after a 10yr or so clean record!
So i have spent 3 months working on the car, as i couldn't drive it!

Mods So Far:
- Spec B Bilsteins with Swift Springs
- 18" Spec B Wheels
- Philips Xtreme Vision Globes
- Kenwood DNX4330DABNAV Double Din head unit + Fascia Kit. DAB+ Radio, Bluetooth handsfree, GPS Nav, Ipod etc. Does it all!
- MOMO Steering Wheel from Spec B with stereo controls.
- Spec B/GT brakes, cleaned + painted black, Hawk Ceramic pads, Goodridge braided lines.

Future Mods (no particular order):
- Tyres - Thinking Yokohama S-Drive or Potenza's of some sort.
- Alloy pedals from Spec B
- Slotted rotors
- Strut Brace (purchased but not installed - 3x studs at top of bilstein strut seem too short, need to get to the bottom of this but its in the "too hard basket" for now)
- Whiteline ALK (LCA bushes are flogged)
- Swaybars F+R and rear HD mounts.
- Leather Seats from Spec B
- Saggy butt spacers (not entirely convinced the springs have settled completely yet, may want to even out the rear height a bit)
- Wheels - Really like the factory look of the Spec B 18's but may want a change down the track.
- Possible HID conversion + angel eyes.
- Reverse camera.
- Speaker upgrades.
- Replace or re-cover gear knob.
- Redo Tint, existing is bubbling.
- Single mass clutch conversion/replacement.
- Club.liberty stickers!

Here it is as i bought it, completely stock:


First Mod - Remove "my family" stickers. Literally stopped on the way home from picking it up to buy a razor to scrape them off.
Second Mod - Remove plastic numberplate surround.

Took it for a cruise out west to Coonabarabran, couldn't believe how well it went on the open road.


Most Recent pics (brakes not installed in these pics):

[phillxor]

Took a few shots just after i bought it, playing with a smoke machine at my house one night.

[phillxor]

Mods -Bilsteins
Found some Tyrepower sedan Bilsteins on ebay.

Very good condition.

Bought some wagon springs from a forum member, fitted them, and drove them for a little bit.
Left - Sedan Spring. Right - Wagon Spring.


After (hadnt quite settled yet):

Settled a bit more:

[phillxor]

Mods - Wheels
Pretty straightforward. Before swift springs installed.

[Quick Jab]

Looking good, mate. Saw the my family stickers in your first photo and already started telling you off for them in my head before I scrolled down and saw you removed them literally as soon as you could. Good job!

[phillxor]

Hah, Cheers. They had to go!
I don't really "do" stickers on cars. I'll make an exception for the Club.Liberty stickers though.

[phillxor]

Mods - Swift Springs
I found that the ride was a bit squishy on the Bilsteins, and sat a bit higher than i had expected. Some Swift wagon Springs came up on the forum, watched them for a while, then couldn't resist when the price dropped a bit.





Much less roll, a bit bumpier over speed humps, sits a little lower. Overall, pretty darn pleased. Haven't really had a chance to drive it (license still suspended) but riding in it with mates driving feels good. License back tomorrow, so it's on after that!

[phillxor]

Mods - Head Unit
Got real bored of listening to the 10 or so CD's I had in the car, decided to splash out for a Double DIN Head unit. Criteria - had to have DAB+ (digital radio), BT and Navigation all in one. Sourced a Fascia/Climate Control from a forum member.


Settled on the Kenwood DNX4330DABNAV. One of the few that ticked all the boxes.
Easy install, especially with an Aerpro Subaru-ISO adaptor.
Dash out, Kit+HU in.


Hands Free Mic

DAB Antenna

Finished Product.

Ipod/USB lead emerges from centre console.
I decided pretty quickly that i wanted steering wheel controls.

[DownUnder]

Nice stuff man! You're running a fairly similar build to mine.

Definitely agree with you on the steering wheel controls. Can't wait to re-skin my wheel so I can get them in. It's heaps annoying without them!

[Corsair]

Nice work on the double din install. Looks great!