My boring DD "build"

Admittedly, this is mostly for my own benefit since my build is pretty boring. If you dig it, cool!

 

Tl;dr the LGT is pretty perfect for me and I talk too much.

 

So to commemorate 1 year with my LGT I decided to make a thread to document all the useless things I've done to my car. I'm awful at taking meaningful (or good) pictures, but I think I'm going to try to change that this year.

 

First a little history.... Until about 3 years ago I never needed a DD, since I grew up in NYC. I bought "project cars" that I never finished and only drove a handful of times, but were fun as hell. Once I moved out to Seattle, it became obvious that I didn't have that same luxury, so I needed practical, reliable transportation.

I bought a 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0t, that I loved to bits in spite of it being slow as hell and bright green. Not even a year into ownership, I get rear ended in standstill traffic by a guy yanking on his phone doing 40mph in a Volvo SUV. Me and my wife walked away with zero injuries. The Genesis was not so lucky. The car did its job and saved our lives (RIP RIBIT).

So here I am with no way of getting to work. Luckily, my job closes for the week between Christmas and New Years so I have some time to look for a car. In the meantime, I'm driving around in a rental Jeep Patriot (which is just awful).

 

Still in need of practical transportation, I buy the pinnacle of modern, reliable cars - a 2005 Subaru Legacy GT. Up my way, these things tend to carry a premium, especially ones that have a full documented service record. I paid 11k out the door for my 1 owner ABP sedan with 105k on the clock, with every single service record up to the timing belt (I'm guessing the previous owner didn't want to deal with the 105k service so he traded it in).

Exactly 1 year to the day of wondering "wtf is that sound" and "I wonder when it's going to break" I'm still chugging right along. Compression is strong across all 4 cylinders, I'm using <1qt of oil between changes (3000-3500 ocis), new radiator (old one had a pinhole sized leak that PIA caught early), hogzaust (stage 1.5), Konis, H&R springs, Whiteline RCK, and a stage 1 OTS tune. My wife loves how comfortable it is and always tells me how much I grin when I drive this thing.

In the coming months, I guess I'll be getting "serious" about my build.

To my knowledge, I'm still on the original turbo, so that just has to go. I've got a shorty DP on the way, probably a new perrin inlet, possibly a GS CAI, and probably a new intercooler. I'm not one to pretend that I'm a racecar driver (even though I'd like to be).

 

To me, this car is everything I need in a daily. It's quick (but not fast), practical, good looking, and fun as hell to drive. My goal is a reliable and modest (read: boring) 250-275 awhp that I can drive around on while I finish gathering parts for YNANSB (all that's left is a new shortblock, gaskets, and probably cam seals since I didn't need to do them when I did my timing belt).

 

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The Genesis coupe the day I got it. Totalled the evening before I dropped 2k for stage 2.

 

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What these pictures don't show is that we were hit so hard that the doors wouldn't open properly and the rear of the car was pushed in by about 2 feet. Crumple zones are life savers, luckily there was no one in the rear seat.

 

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The LGT exactly a year ago sitting there being all blue and stuff.

 

I don't have any photos of it as it sits today, but I'm hoping having this thread will spur me into doing something about that. Enjoy!

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Shameless plug. I was this into the Genesis. I never got around to finishing it. Someday I'll do one for the LGT

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Maybe a month ago, before I did all that suspension stuff.

In case anybody needed convincing to choosing a suspension setup, what I have is wife approved. I took some corners and did some braking "at speed" and the wife commented on how much smoother it was than before.

I got my Blackstone analysis this week and got stellar results. I use less than 1qt between changes and they told me that my oil demonstrates less engine wear than normal for a car with my mileage. Between that, the downpipe I got, the inlet I'll be getting this weekend, a turbo in 3 weeks, and whatever I decide to put my tax return towards (probably an intercooler) I'm a very happy camper.

In case anybody needed convincing to choosing a suspension setup, what I have is wife approved. I took some corners and did some braking "at speed" and the wife commented on how much smoother it was than before.

 

Agreed! The Koni H&R combo is absolutely incredible! I really like how it handled and was comfortable on my wagon but then I decided I needed more low.

Once I live somewhere that has smoother roads, I may consider splurging on some coilovers and going lower. For a DD not focused on being super low but being very capable in twisties, the Konis are plenty. Not to mention I needed to have something left over for a new turbo/brakes/wheels.

I'm a terrible photographer, but here's my car as it sits today. Kca313, koni/h&r, front lip, and I'm getting an alignment this week. I'll be collecting the remaining supporting mods for a turbo over the next month or so, and I'm hoping to get dyno tuned sometime in April.

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Oh and I really need some new wheels. And likely a new clutch once I'm tuned. I may upgrade brakes as well

And dear God, window tints

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I seriously can't stop looking at it. This lip is exactly what it needed.

A lip does make the biggest difference. When I break my current one the one you have is the next one I'm getting

Full disclosure, it does fit kind of weird. There is a gap under each of the fog lights (probably about 1cm) but you only really see it if you're standing about a foot away and looking directly at it. I probably could have hit it with the heat gun for a little longer, but overall I'm super happy.

Random thought. I still have my turboxs rfl and all relevant hardware from my Genesis coupe. How likely is it that turboxs will sell me just the Subaru flange and the correct fitting to make my rfl recirculating? I'll have to contact them sometime soon.

 

Edit (because half asleep and likely won't remember this): measure it you idiot! You can make all that yourself at work!

so how much work to do this for the LGT?

 

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160117/3a3b7e43c00458efc26dd280180209b8.jpg

Shameless plug. I was this into the Genesis. I never got around to finishing it. Someday I'll do one for the LGT

The problem is finding a good enough drawing. I've only found 1 for our generation, but it's a non-gt. If someone could supply my with an isometric image or vector drawing of the front of our cars, I could likely whip up something like that relatively easily.

 

Got my Little Girly Turbo today compliments of Jaybird2013 [emoji1] [emoji1]

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Got my Little Girly Turbo today compliments of Jaybird2013 [emoji1] [emoji1]

 

Wesley, couple more days huh buddy???

That's right! Between your turbo, and a bunch of supporting mods from Gex, and a new AP, this car is going to be a blast. Saturday can't come sooner!

Good luck! I hope my old wares serve you as well as they did myself.

so? did you get it back together?

I sure did! Got everything torqued this morning, flashed stage 2, and drove away. The instant torque is super nice.

nice. I need to get those wrenches sometime. It turned out it didn't have a set.

Yep no problem. Just text me when you wanna pick them

if you come to the track this weekend, bring them along. I'll be there every day all day. or you can drop them in Gator's pit if we don't meet up. I'll be there checking out the new exhaust mods.