Baja WRX - Car? Truck? Turbo!

[anarchy1024]

Congratulations!! Always exciting when it goes (almost) to plan.

[Nitro350Z]

The first key turn is always the most exciting on a new engine.

So... It turns out that the noisiness in the previous video is not from just an exhaust leak and the general Subaru charm.



It looks like the Auto and Manual starters are actually different, and that if you use a manual starter on an automatic transmission, the starter will not disengage once the motor is started. I found this out when I took the forester for its inaugural new-motor drive and I made it a few km's from home before I got some great mechanical failure noises and I turned the key off with fear of having grenaded my franken-motor. I tried restarting it and just got a high pitch spinning noise from the starter. Chances of grenaded motor going down.



Towed it home, put it back in the garage, and spun the motor by hand to put my mind at ease. Rotation is nice and smooth and you can feel resistance for each compression stroke. Good signs. The next morning I threw in the old semi-reliable AT starter and gave it a whirl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGOg9ut_Bm0

The video doesn't do it justice. Short of a small exhaust leak just past the header, it's the quietest subaru motor I have ever heard. No piston slap on startup. No injector tick. Just plain smooth. It's eerie.
Going to buy a new starter on Monday and throw it in. Thought of going used, but a starter isn't *that* expensive and I want this forester to be bulletproof.

[Nitro350Z]

Tiny update. (Crappy cell pics since taking my real camera out is :effort:)

The only service history I have for the Forester is the carproof report, and the word of the PO. VIN isn't blanked out because who gives a crap. $425 Forester got around before I got my hands on it. It shifts pretty damn nicely, and the fluid looks good so here's hoping the trans really is healthy. I've got a certificate for service at AutoGallery (local used car dealer) so I'll be having them do a brake flush since that's the only thing that might need some attention. The brakes are fine, but a little spongy and I suspect the fluid hasn't been changed in a long while.



The Forester got its set of winter tires mounted and it's been driving around fine absolutely reliably (I'll snap a pic with the new wheels, looks pretty decent on the factory 5 spoke alloys and meaty winters). Can't wait for winter to see how it handles. Since Costco took care of those tires a little while ago, and this weekend is supposed to be the last 'nice' weekend we're having before winter, I swapped on the winter tires onto the Veloster.



Took a torque wrench and got them tightened to spec, and I have to say I LOVE those airpumps that have an automatic cutoff. Set the required pressure, turn it on and walk away to do other crap. No need to watch it so it doesn't overfill. SO NICE.

And since the Baja is sitting this winter out, I donated its gold winters this season to the parents new green forester.



Snazzy.

[Nitro350Z]

Woops, haven't updated anything in quite a while. The below is from the day after the previous update:

The Forester got its set of winter tires mounted and it's been driving around fine absolutely reliably

HAHA, jinxed it. Wife came back last night and said the battery and brake light started flickering. Went for a test drive and it went from flickering to fairly solid after a quick drive. Ripped out the old alt and threw in the one from the EJ251 from the Baja. Only issue is 2 wire for the forester vs 3 wire plug from the Baja. The new alternators only use two wires in the NA market, but they have a 3 wire plug. Already stole a plug with pigtail from the old Baja harness and I'll wire it up later tonight.

Got the equipment ready to splice in the new plug.



I'm going the soldering route since 1. I'm good at it. 2. A mechanically sound joint that's soldered will not have issues. 3. Don't have any UL listed crimping components laying around at the moment (which reminds me I need to stock up). Fancy blue pulley on the alt so you know it's HIGH PERFORMANCE



Back together, Soldered, marine heatshrink, and wrapped in electrical tape and split loom.



And back up and running. Good as new.

[Nitro350Z]

Since I'm going to tackle the rust this year before it becomes an actual problem I've decided to paint the whole car rather than trying to match the small sections (need to make another hood so that it doesn't weigh a ton as well) but I can't decide on a colour.

Something like a dark candy apple red pearl is a top contender, lets me leave the engine bay and most of the door jambs alone since they're already red.



A bold green or blue would be nifty as well. Ugh, so many choices... too many choices. Removing the motor and all the accessory crap is going to be a pain if I go away from red colours. I think it would really bug me to leave the bay and other details red, even if its not visible unless you pop the hood, but I've seen loads of Honda guys do it and I guess it's not *that* bad.

Suggestions? Thinking of sticking with the two-tone, I'm so used to it that the mono-tone ones through me off.

In the vein of taking a break from studying, I whipped up a few variations on my Baja to help visualize the colors. (click for HUGE)





My feeling is that darker colours suit the car better.

I've also found a possible OEM colour that would look great:

Sedona Red Pearl



Lexus Ultrasonic Blue Mica 2.0


Saw this colour in person at a car show, and it blew me away. Looks stunning in person. [s]Skilled artists[/s] Monkey with access to Photoshop rendition below:





And at a cost of $Texas$ most likely, Dodge Viper Stryker red



It just looks so alive, and from the process, I bet it has incredible depth in person. Kinda scared to get a quote for this though as the process seems really involved.





Gold with a *lot* of dark metallic flake is also a contender.

[Killer B]

Saw this colour in person at a car show, and it blew me away. Looks stunning in person. [s]Skilled artists[/s] Monkey with access to Photoshop rendition below:

This is just amazing. If Subaru had a blue/silver colorway like this for the Baja I think I'd have that over yellow.

[bajaguy]

Yes! I also think the baja would look good in a green/brown or red/sand potentially. Definitely like the blue/silver best though.

[dorelse]

I like blue / silver & also the aqua / silver...

[starr-]

I have always liked the idea of a green/brown shade on a baja (possibly even with a flat base color like on the new crosstreks) Monotone red would be really nice too. Just try and make it different enough from the stock baja red for some more personality

[Nitro350Z]

Oh don't worry, I'll be hemming and hawing over colour for the next month or two while I start stripping the car for paint.

Top contenders are below:

For the body cladding:

Subaru Dark Grey Metallic 61K


Chevy Cyber Grey Metallic WA637R


For the body itself:

Dodge Stryker Red Pearl RK/LRK


Lexus Ultrasonic Blue Mica 2.0 8X1


Dodge Stryker Purple PHL/NHL


My wife is pointing me towards a more dramatic change, in her words, "If you're spending all this money anyway, why do you want to be boring and get a similar colour to what you have. Go all out."

And now, for an update:

The frozen wasteland has thawed out and it's time to think of the warm summer, so that means winter rubber has to come off. Took my winters back off of my parents foz and gave them a wash. Just have to soak them in 303 before storage



Since I'm switching their car over...

FORESTER UPDATE

Winter MODE:



As I previously stated (or at least I think I did) I finally got a set of wheels for summer that was made in this decade! Behold what $140 Canadian Pesos can get you from the 'jij.



You keen eye readers may have noticed the playing cards surrounding the perimeter of the steel wheels. Well, silver is kinda boring, and these had some specs of rust here and there, and well... I had some paint laying around from my previous projects (plus some that has *expired* so no good for use on things I care too much about).



Since I had limited resources laying around, I went with a silver base coat and a splattering of gold on top for some sparkle and topped it off with expired 2K clear coat. Still looked and smelled fresh so what the heck, we'll give it a try. couple hours passed, did some stuff around town, grabbed a fatboy for lunch with the missus, and we're back at the races.



GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD



And there ya have it. Looks good enough in my eyes and damn bit better than rusty wheels so I'm happy.

[Nitro350Z]

Went dealership cruising to check out OEM colours and found some really nice greys in case the corvette grey disappoints in person, saw a grey corvette driving around but I can't confirm if it was cyber grey, looked good in any case.

This (matte iirc) grey is gorgeous, but I've heard matte jobs are a huge pain to maintain so I don't think I want to go down that particular rabbit hole.


Then there's this Lexus grey, definitely caught my eye.



New update with the Forester:

My Forester was stolen one morning. My wife had driven it the night before and parked it out in front of the house. In the morning I come out ready to drive to work and I do a double take and think to myself where the hell is the car? I go back home and ask my wife where she parked the damn thing and she says it's right in the driveway. Walk out again, look around on the street, and it hits me. Damn, it's stolen.

Later that day it was found by police and towed to the impound. After a couple days they completed their investigation and the car was handed over to MPI (local public insurance) and I got a call from insurance that the car is totaled. Went to go pick up our things from the car.

Punched in lock as expected


Deconstructed ignition with a distinct essence of going back to basics


And a wheel that is distinctly not mine.


My best guess is they stole the forester because it's big enough to transport the other stuff they wanted to steal, which included those wheels. Car had a bunch of receipts in it from service on a ford bronco, so I'm assuming that's what the wheels are from. Anyway, still have to settle with insurance on how much the forester was worth, I've got a bunch of receipts and pictures from all the work I've done on it since I've bought it ( < 6 months ago), and now I get to go car shopping.

Good night sweet prince, your gold wheels were not meant for this world.













Oh, and I got wood.

[bajaguy]

What else is wrong with it? Doesn't sound totalled to me...can you do a buy-back deal? If it's just the ignition and locks that sounds like an afternoon fix to me.

[industryrocker]

There were some cool cars so I'll throw some of the pictures here, I had forgotten to charge my camera so I only snapped one or two pictures before it died, so the pictures below were taken by a friend.









And the award I received, surprisingly hard to take a picture of with a cellphone. Have to really charge my camera...


There will be an actual update soon, hopefully this week, but I'll just leave this here:



New suspension is on, no more comical body roll or lift during acceleration Just needs an alignment now.

There's still a laundry list of things to finish with the car. Electrically I have to get the power seats, heated seats and mirrors, power mirrors, power locks, sunroof, dome and puddle lights, and I think that's it. It also needs a stronger pressure plate, I have a new one that's rated for 425ft-lbs but I need a different flywheel for it to fit, thankfully it's already on the way. Also have to play with the grill, the hood release interferes with it slightly so I'll have to modify it so it fits better, plus there's a lot of rough edges on it that need to be fixed so that fits perfect. I am really fond of the WRX emblem on the side so I'm keeping that. Originally had the Subaru logo there but I think the WRX looks nicer.



That's all for now, I'll update again when more things happen.

Wich suspension set up did you have? I am looking to have that kind of drop


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[Mt.Ogden]

I want one.

[lynchchris872]

Yeah


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