Among Us Project (Lookin a little SUS)

You may already know me as a previous name, Yoshi Subie, but I have since upgraded from a 2.5i to a 3.6R.

 

It's only fitting for me to start fresh with a new build thread for this 3.6R.

 

Incoming posts with explanation as to how things went down.

12/11/2019

I found this 3.6R in decent shape for about 4k under book. Had to snag it.

My idea is that since she was black and sedan, I could easily transfer everything over from interior to all my exterior panels from the 2.5i.

 

Middle of swap.

 

And within the course of a week, that task was done.

 

I transferred:

-my already once converted full black interior(red stripe, carbon accents, VA STI steering wheel and kenstyle paddles)

-all four doors(had my harness pre wired through for the JDM power folding mirrors and black chrome window surrounds already)

-axlebacks

-headlights

-taillights

-both bumpers(riveted JDM D type two piece lip, riveted GE WRX rear spats)

-trunk lid(two piece spoiler)

-hood(bugeye WRX scoop)

-rear windshield spoiler

-wheels

-brembos

-primitive racing skid plate

 

The paint after I finished buffing...

 

The goal was to make the 2.5i as stock as possible. So it got the 3.6R brakes, stock 2.5i suspension, limited leather, wood grain, the absolute LOT to get back to stock.

 

 

Here is the comparison of paint condition between 2.5i panels vs the 3.6R when I got them transferred. As you can see, the 3.6R did not have a happy life at all, swirls were EVERYWHERE.

 

I gave the old girl a full buff and she cleaned up nice enough to sell.

 

Fast forward a couple months. I moved to the sticks... aaaaaaaand the want for lifted life has been ensued.

 

...more to come.

Edited January 27, 2021 by ThreeSixMafia

Good to see you here!

 

I found a pic of your 2.5i and noticed the VA scoop and posted it here, and Humble Rumble mentioned it was yours. Like!

Good to see you here!

 

I found a pic of your 2.5i and noticed the VA scoop and posted it here, and Humble Rumble mentioned it was yours. Like!

 

Funny! It's actually not a VA scoop, it's a GR/GV scoop.

The VA is a far more aggressive shape than mine.

 

It will be cleanly done soon. I did the pop rivets for the full battle look as it matched my front and rear bumpers. The plan was to recut the two sections of hoods, weld them in place with a backing for support and build a proper channel for the inner sides where the scoop directs air into the car. It's not going to be functional for a TMIC setup by any means, but I do want a proper STI sized scoop on it.

 

As of right now, the Bugeye WRX scoop will do, but the revival of that hood will come soon enough.

Living out in the sticks, I found myself always exploring abandoned logging roads and camping.

I find that factory Legacy suspension is decently high enough to do some mild exploration, but it does bottom out, especially fully loaded with camping gear and toys.

 

Embracing the inner Asian Redneck life.

 

I did a few night runs and decided to throw quad LED pods on a basket to help me spot wildlife. Out here, there's plenty of them.

 

I came across a deal for a curved LED light bar that was slightly wider than my basket. I couldn't pass it up so I swapped the quads for it instead.

 

Cleaned up quite a bit.

 

I decided to go full rambo and make this an SUS build.

 

Grabbed an Outback bumper, heavily modified an Aries brush guard for a Tundra and threw it all on.

 

Time to be a bit festive!

Swapped to my winter set.

Found this full set of BM LGT wheels with studded Nokian Hakkapeliitta's with TPMS for a STUPID deal. They are mint, aside from one wheel having about an inch of minor rash.

 

Removed the rockers and rear bumper for future project...

 

Outback rockers secured!

 

I had a spare set of JDM Syms Earthing Kit for my BE5, made it work on the BM9 instead.

My butt dyno finds that the throttle response is greatly improved with the extra grounding.

 

I bought this set of FRS seats a while back..

 

After doing a lot of thinking of how to get these to work, I finally found a solution.

 

Basically I took the rails off the FRS seats, but the mounting style between drivers and passenger sides were far different from each other, the only way for the drivers side to work is if I kept the sliders themselves in tact.

So I chopped the mounts off the bottom half of the FRS driver side sliders, chopped the Legacy mounts off a spare set of rails and welded them to the bottom of the FRS sliders.

 

I then welded the Legacy sliders directly to the bottom of the passenger side seat.

 

Yes they both function as sliders the correct way.

 

The tricky bit was the wiring...

 

Both cars have occupant detection(ODS) for the passenger side for the airbag deployment, but the systems between them could not be crossed.

 

The solution? Remove the ODS from each seat cushion, meaning disassembling the both passenger side seats, and reinstall the Legacy ODS module and sensor pad into the FRS seat.

 

Seat heaters... I had to take apart the seat covers off both sets of seats to remove and transfer the heating element grids to the FRS seat as well.

 

Airbag system and deployment...

It's no question why the plugs and such are different for these... different charge ratings, blah blah blah.

I didn't do the resistor mod, I did one step extra.

I de-pinned a spare set of Legacy airbag connectors along with the FRS connector, and re-pinned the seat for Legacy connectors instead.

 

The last step was to transfer the entire seat harness system from the Legacy seats to the FRS seats. Doing this made everything I said above plug and play into the Legacy harness on the car side.

 

Long story short, the car thinks I still have Legacy seats, the heating grids work beautifully, the airbag system isn't angry at me as the resistance for both airbag charges were identical, the ODS system reads when there is/isn't a passenger, and the seats slide forward and back like normal.

 

All in all, it was worth. The extra bolstering is next level comfortable and I LOVE having manual seats as I can adjust FAR quicker than power ones.

 

Edited December 17, 2020 by ThreeSixMafia

Funny! It's actually not a VA scoop, it's a GR/GV scoop.

The VA is a far more aggressive shape than mine.

 

It will be cleanly done soon. I did the pop rivets for the full battle look as it matched my front and rear bumpers. The plan was to recut the two sections of hoods, weld them in place with a backing for support and build a proper channel for the inner sides where the scoop directs air into the car. It's not going to be functional for a TMIC setup by any means, but I do want a proper STI sized scoop on it.

 

As of right now, the Bugeye WRX scoop will do, but the revival of that hood will come soon enough.

 

Cool, looking forward to the comeback!

 

I've been toying around with the idea of getting an older WRX or Evo and modding it in the same vein, but more like a rally gravel stage set up. Neat to see similar on a Legacy.

Ah nice! I've seen this car on instagram a few times and it looks amazing!! Very nice work! I'm excited to see the continual evolution of this car.

How would you describe the change from the 2.5i to the 3.6r?

Ah nice! I've seen this car on instagram a few times and it looks amazing!! Very nice work! I'm excited to see the continual evolution of this car.

Thanks! It'll be a drastic change, I can guarantee that!

 

 

How would you describe the change from the 2.5i to the 3.6r?

It was life changing. My friend that was with me for the test drive said I looked like I experienced boost for the first time again.

How would you describe the change from the 2.5i to the 3.6r?

 

If you've only ever driven a 2.5i, do yourself a favor and go find a 3.6R and test drive it. It's a night and day experience.

Here we go. I got spotted this morning so it's time to go public.

She ain't done, but there's some mad progression going on.

 

This has been a hell of a concept in my head and seeing it happen in front of my eyes is a thing of ******* beauty.

 

Here we have a Smittylbilt Atlas spare tire carrier swingout arm for a Jeep.

It has full adjustment for height where the wheel/tire sits and two cages on the inner side that hold jerry cans.

 

My idea was since I'm switching styles from the polar opposite end, that I should at least have some sort of functionality for space, storage, and clearance.

 

The plan? Get a spare tire swingout arm on a custom bumper.

 

Initially I was going to get a basic DIY kit, but I spotted this Smittybilt for STUPID deals, so I took the opportunity to make it work.

 

 

It looked f*cking sick with a Deathrace and Mad Max vibe. Fitting for the stance I'm going for.

 

After three days of multiple failed calculations, we finally did it.

 

Huge shouts to my buddy for helping me out with the project.

 

Plenty more to add to this bumper for support and functionality, and it will be wrinkle black when I'm done with it.

 

The best part is that everything I've done is 100% reversible.

 

I'm so f*cking stoked to get this done!

Full on overland!

 

That would be great with a lift

i am so amped on this project! it's so far out of the norm that we see on here that it's just...lovely. great work and keep it up, can't wait to see where this thing goes. full on battle spec and i love it.

I had the jeep bolt pattern studs pressed out and re-drilled the mount for 5x100. Mocked up a generic MB wheel for a test fit and she works! Stable as hell too!

 

Now it's time to find a set of 5 JDM V7 STI wheels and mudders.

Maybe plastidip the white plastic body brackets so they dont stick out so?

Maybe plastidip the white plastic body brackets so they dont stick out so?

 

I was planning on either dying them black so they don't fade or chip, or make an Outback and Legacy bumper hybrid to cover up partially.

I was planning on either dying them black so they don't fade or chip, or make an Outback and Legacy bumper hybrid to cover up partially.

 

The dye sounds like a great idea, no worries it will chip

would look near as battle ready, but i'd bet you can cut out some chunks of the bumper and get it to cover the sides and bottom. might have to do some creative zip tie engineering to get it to not flop around under the tire carrier, but it wouldn't be too awful bad

We have liftoff!

 

3" rear, 2" front

 

Will be changing suspension multiple times to get it right but for right now, this layout absolutely works!

 

Downsized to 17x7 Crosstrek wheels and used the same 20mm spacers to clear the Brembos as I did for the LGT wheels.

 

 

After the suspension has settled:

 

Stretching out her legs off road for the first time.

Edited January 27, 2021 by ThreeSixMafia

dat articulation doe lol

Digging the mad max vibe!

Looks beautiful in the wild. Really love the wheels.

Sooooo. Where to begin...

 

Turbine Speed Sensor failure on the valve body. I decided to replace the faulty one with the $100 one you've seen on the other threads that the BL/BP and Tribeca guys use on their 5EAT.

 

That worked! ...for all of 500 miles and it sh*t itself out again...

 

SO I replaced it with a BRAND NEW valve body, relearned with the SSMIII at my work and updated the TCM for the 2-3 shift shock and now she drives like an absolute DREAM.

 

.... that is until I found out my LR wheel bearing grenaded itself. I went with a cheap aftermarket replacement for now, the plan is to convert to 114 later on anyway, might as well not go all out on the temporary replacements.

 

On top of that, I decided to replace my plugs. After 35k of ownership(180k on the chassis now, I am convinced these were factory plugs, or an off the shelf NGK Iridium that was replaced pre 100k.

 

The rear bumper beam has been since completed. This is my rendition of the BRZ/FRS/GT86 drift beam. Utilizing a trailer hitch pin, I can release my stowed jack point to drop low enough to be able to jack the car with both a high lift and most standard floor jacks.

 

As for the cover, I have hacked an Outback lower to form with the Legacy upper. Here's a mockup so you get an idea of what I'm after.

 

 

There you go. That's the sh*tshows I've been up to.

I think Aussie style lights on the bumper beam would be a nice functional addition. So your tail and brake lights can be seen at any angle even with your spare mounted. Dunno if it'll be an issue with DOT regs though.

Nice. An Outback bumper actually looks pretty cool. How are you going to figure out the exhaust tips with the Outback bumper? Are you just going to put a turn down tip on them or actually cut out holes in the bumper?

 

How hard was the valve body swap? I am at 210k on my 3.6R and I am starting to suspect my Turbine Speed Sensor going. When coming to a stop I often feel a jerk, like the transmission just fell out of the car. It feels like something isn't disengaging.