Tysparks81 Spec. B Project Log

+1 for JMP, his craftsmanship, support, advice, and quick turn around are par none. Some of these other idiots that rebuild turbos like hill country take weeks. I've got one of his rebuilds with just under 60k miles on it and love it. ~4 years old now.

 

If you don't mind my asking, what did you do with the fogs? Did you ditch the stock housings or did you retrofit HID's to them? from what I've seen retrofitting them is next to impossible because of space.

Yeah man, I had an 09 WRX that was pretty fast, but sold it and my 06 Outback so my wife could get new legacy, due to my second kid was coming. Thank god I sold my car for way to much and was able to buy the Legacy cash, and my 06 LGT cash.

 

Car has been in my garage collecting parts, and new motor, I have all my parts now, and goes in to the shop at the end of April. So I waited 2 years with the car in my garage.

 

Oh am I live in a pretty low cost of living place and daycare was 680 a kid and I have 2 kids, now that they are 4 and 2 price drops way down. But 1500 a month is Lambo payment . I am one that has my pockets in order so it was not a big thing to me.

 

lol Subaru tax pays off sometimes. But yea that makes sense. You are going to be over the hill happy when you finally get the car out of the garage, or back from the shop. It really is crazy what they charge for child care these days, but I am like you and will have everything in order before we start daycare.

 

 

+1 for JMP, his craftsmanship, support, advice, and quick turn around are par none. Some of these other idiots that rebuild turbos like hill country take weeks. I've got one of his rebuilds with just under 60k miles on it and love it. ~4 years old now.

 

If you don't mind my asking, what did you do with the fogs? Did you ditch the stock housings or did you retrofit HID's to them? from what I've seen retrofitting them is next to impossible because of space.

 

JMP is awesome hands down the best person to get a rebuild from..

 

I am using the stock housing but I picked up some JDM HIDs for the fogs that were plug and play. I can go out and take a look later this week for you to tell you which ones I am running.

JMP is awesome hands down the best person to get a rebuild from..

 

I am using the stock housing but I picked up some JDM HIDs for the fogs that were plug and play. I can go out and take a look later this week for you to tell you which ones I am running.

 

Don't worry about it. I was just curious if they were actually retro fitted.

 

Congrats on the new addition! Enjoy these baby days while you can, by the time they are 3 its a whole different animal and they talk back to you! I find myself going through pictures from then and it makes me bitter sweet.

JMP just rebuilt by 16g. It sounds amazing and I can't wait to get retuned since he added a billet wheel.

 

Keep up the good work!

PM'd you

JMP is awesome hands down the best person to get a rebuild from..

 

I am using the stock housing but I picked up some JDM HIDs for the fogs that were plug and play. I can go out and take a look later this week for you to tell you which ones I am running.

 

He really is, don't know of anyone else that I would want working on my turbo.

 

Don't worry about it. I was just curious if they were actually retro fitted.

 

Congrats on the new addition! Enjoy these baby days while you can, by the time they are 3 its a whole different animal and they talk back to you! I find myself going through pictures from then and it makes me bitter sweet.

 

Thank you I'm definitely enjoying it, not so much the projectile shit and spit up lol. But everything else is awesome.

 

JMP just rebuilt by 16g. It sounds amazing and I can't wait to get retuned since he added a billet wheel.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Thank you lots more coming.

Edited March 23, 2020 by tysparks81

With all of this quarantine going on I have had way too much time on my hands. But it has allowed me to spend more time with my wife and baby. As well as a little too much time sourcing parts when they nap. Will try to get some actual work done on the car once things warm up a little bit.

 

Picked up the following things and laughed with a friend after saying I'm done with the visual aspects of the car. He showed me the carbon fiber hood scoop Madrig made for him and well shit..... We laughed some more as I said I guess I'm not quite done yet.

 

So far I have grabbed a Rear window roof spoiler, a complete set of Brembos with pads & rotors but need to get them cleaned up then powder coated, sucks though as it means I won't be able to run the spec b rims for my winter setup anymore unless I want to swap calipers twice every year(Definitely not doing that). But I did lucked out and find 1 replacement VOLK Se37A rim in the exact size/colour of my set so I'll swap tires with the one that was cracked over the winter and get it repaired later to keep it as a full size spare. Plus a few other little goodies that I'm going to wait to show you guys later, sorry no pics right now.

 

I did run into 1 issue yesterday when my power steering belt decided to seperate from my motor while I was driving due to this virus that is going around . Brake & battery light came on and turning became a little heavier. I was able to limp the car to my moms place as I wasn't too far from her when it let go. I decided to check for any CEL codes and I see p011 and p031 pop up. I'm thinking the worst possible things like YNASB, I even pulled one of the timing belt covers off to check. But a good friend had a spare ps belt and even dropped it off for me before talking me off of the ledge of worst case scenarios that was currently playing out in my head. Installed the new belt and everything seemed fixed and running smoothly without any CEL.

Edited March 23, 2020 by tysparks81

With all of this quarantine going on I have had way too much time on my hands. But it has allowed me to spend more time with my wife and baby. As well as a little too much time sourcing parts when they nap. Will try to get some actual work done on the car once things warm up a little bit.

 

Picked up the following things and laughed with a friend after saying I'm done with the visual aspects of the car. He showed me the carbon fiber hood scoop Madrig made for him and well shit..... We laughed some more as I said I guess I'm not quite done yet.

 

So far I have grabbed a Rear window roof spoiler, a complete set of Brembos with pads & rotors but need to get them cleaned up then powder coated, sucks though as it means I won't be able to run the spec b rims for my winter setup anymore unless I want to swap calipers twice every year(Definitely not doing that). But I did lucked out and find 1 replacement VOLK Se37A rim in the exact size/colour of my set so I'll swap tires with the one that was cracked over the winter and get it repaired later to keep it as a full size spare. Plus a few other little goodies that I'm going to wait to show you guys later, sorry no pics right now.

 

I did run into 1 issue yesterday when my power steering belt decided to seperate from my motor while I was driving due to this virus that is going around . Brake & battery light came on and turning became a little heavier. I was able to limp the car to my moms place as I wasn't too far from her when it let go. I decided to check for any CEL codes and I see p011 and p031 pop up. I'm thinking the worst possible things like YNASB, I even pulled one of the timing belt covers off to check. But a good friend had a spare ps belt and even dropped it off for me before talking me off of the ledge of worst case scenarios that was currently playing out in my head. Installed the new belt and everything seemed fixed and running smoothly without any CEL.

 

Where did you get the rear window spoiler at, I been wanting one?

I found it on Japan auctions. Looks like this.

How is everyone holding up.

 

I haven't really driven the car other than to pick up the essentials. Baby girl was only vacinated a week ago so we really tried to limit our exposure which meant no visitors, and no Sunday family dinners also something I miss the most since this whole social distancing started.

 

If you recall in my last update my ps belt seperated from my motor, well I have a feeling it's due to my alternator being on its way out as the pully seems to be sticking a bit. Ordered a replacement and it should be here any day now. The replacement rim showed up, and it's in way better condition then the other 4 rims I currently have.

 

 

So with the car being parked for days on end I decided to finally wiring up my AEM wideband, and install this nice carbon fiber steering column cover, pics don't do it justice. Looking for a matching ebrake handle to finish up the look of things.

 

 

While I was at it decided to wire up the cup holder LED's. I like it and wired them into my cigarette lighter plug but I will probably run it to the illumination on the seat heater or the si button once I figure out which wires those are.

 

 

I did run into a snag with my rear brembos, basically there may not be enough surface material where the break line attaches to the rear brembo. I've been told this is an easy fix for skilled welder, but that it my cost anywhere from 150-200, I have found a replacement caliper for less than that so I will probably go that route.

 

 

But that lead me down the rabbit hole for what our options are when it comes to installing brembos on our cars.

Two options currently that I'm aware of:

- purchase adapter bracket + ebrake shoe

Or

- purchase adapter bracket + special rear rotor

 

But I believe there is a third option which would be JDM TBSTI rear backing plate & LGT stock rotors or GDB impreza rear rotors(I am trying to get my hands on this, if I do I'm going to 3D image it to get it cnc'd out of metal so others can choose to go this route if they wanted)

If you have one and would be willing to part with them please let me know.

 

Next update will probably be the black upper interior roof conversion as I had the final piece I needed delivered this week.

Maybe Swaybars, and rear endlinks.

Possibly colour match the rear duckbill and roof spoiler.

Hey Guys,

 

I ended up buying the TBSTI rear backing plate, just waiting for them to be delivered. I have a full tbsti stainless steel brakelines, new Brembo pads, and will probably order some stock brembo rotors. So now I need to follow up with the power coating place to see if they are done.

 

I only started painting some interior piece black that I wasn't going to be re-upholstering. I still need to clear those parts then I can start on the upper interior swap.

 

I did install the new alternator, and some other carbon fiber bits, as well as got the tire mounted.

 

Then went through an all day process of replacing the lower ball joints & tie rods with the Whiteline bump stop kit. Then an alignment, followed by an oil change.

 

Did a pretty good cleanup of the exterior and interior a few weeks ago but it really highlighted how many areas need to be addressed, even though the car looks great depending on the picture/angle you look at. My Buddies 08 spec b was recently painted and this was the first time out.

 

Installed the rear roof spoiler, and test fitted the rear garnish. I really like the look of them both, but the garnish need to be touched up and I feel like it would look awesome with the duckbill(Which I did buy but it was for a 2015-2020 wrx. I did test fit but it would require a lot of modification to get it to fit on our trunks, so I sold it locally to a 2015 STI owner. Will probably buy the one from monsterservice)

 

Ordered all of Cusco underbraces I could find on Yahoo auctions and just waiting for them to be shipped in. I did pick up an 08 steering wheel with controls and I will be installing that at some point in the next couple of months, but I think I will do the double din kit first since I have one on hand that has been sitting in my parts pile for months.

 

Also installed the STI strut tower brace today and will update this with pics when I get a chance.

Edited July 17, 2020 by tysparks81

So much has happened in the last couple of months, not even sure where to start.

Took a trip to France back at the end of Sept. That was a whole experience with all this covid stuff but a topic for another day.

A good friend of mine ended up swapping my front wheel bearings, one end link & an axle for me while I was away, I would like to do my rear wheel bearings but I will leave those for later since I can't hear them over my exhaust. I ended up giving him a pretty rare part that I will wait for him to show you guys.

 

I did order a complete Tuned by sti black interior(that was sourced for someone else, but he backed out when it got here), a spare set of jdm folding mirrors because they came with the mirror finisher. I also got a pair of EDM left hand drive bi-zenon projectors that I will be installed in a set of JDM washer headlights. Still haven't finished doing the black interior swap although I do have a spare headliner, Oem like black roof liner fabric, and glue I have been too busy with work, baby and other things, but it is on the list of things to do.

 

I had multiple errors on the car before I left and even had some when I got back the multiple Cel's(P0301, P0303, P0011, P0457 to name a few) that I was trying to resolve, some were fixed with new plugs or coils. Some would pop up and go away randomly. Currently for the last month or so I have only one showing up which is big fuel leak detected, but no miss-fires, car is boosting fine, and wouldn't notice anything other than a faint coolant smell every so often or when sitting at a light for more than 5mins.

 

So with the misfires sorted out, next thing to address was the slight coolant smell. Followed by some what I thought was a leak from my aluminum rad. Ended up being a loose overflow hose. Tightened it up but was still seeing more coolant coming from the overflow. Replaced the Rad cap, and things got worse. Car overheated for a brief moment an was shutoff(was sitting in a drive thru) and when I got home(5mins away) it sprayed coolant out of the overflow bottle. Thermostat is working, no oil/residue in the coolant caps, no residue on the oil cap. Car was driving fine and only smells when I get into heavy boost, anything below 10psi and there is no smell. So pretty sure I have a Bad HG on the side that I was having the miss-fires on. So there will probably be an engine build thread sometime in the near future but its not a priority atm.

 

I ordered these to use as winter rims but I'm not even sure if I am going to winter drive the car after this winter.

 

 

In other news my wife & I have decided to move out of the city and we have started looking at houses so either the motor gets a slight refresh OR.... the car gets parked till I can source all of the parts to do this the way I would like to the first time. Either way we will probably be in a new to us house in the next 6-8 months so very exciting times.

Related to the rad cap, are you sure you had the right one in the right place?

There are two and they can be swapped accidentally and they have different pressures.

The cap without wings is on the radiator, the cap with wings is on the turbo tank.

 

It's probably not it, but is a lot cheaper than a head gasket to check.

Related to the rad cap, are you sure you had the right one in the right place?

There are two and they can be swapped accidentally and they have different pressures.

The cap without wings is on the radiator, the cap with wings is on the turbo tank.

 

It's probably not it, but is a lot cheaper than a head gasket to check.

 

:lol: I know I have worked long nights and made plenty of silly mistakes before mixing up the turbo tank cap and the Rad cap is not one of them. There are no wings on the New OEM Subaru Rad cap

 

Realistically I am pushing much more power than stock though so I knew this would happen just didn't know it would happen so soon.

As always, outstanding work and again, as always, it will be something to cherish for years to come. Perhaps, your little one will have the chance to drive it once old enough. I've had my car since October 2004 and I'll probably let my grandkids drive it once old enough...LOL.

As always, outstanding work and again, as always, it will be something to cherish for years to come. Perhaps, your little one will have the chance to drive it once old enough. I've had my car since October 2004 and I'll probably let my grandkids drive it once old enough...LOL.

 

Thank you my friend. Andrew is the only other person I've let drive my car since I got it, but I'm sure in 15yrs when my daughter is ready I'll be letting her drive it too. I've started her early too.

Thank you my friend. Andrew is the only other person I've let drive my car since I got it, but I'm sure in 15yrs when my daughter is ready I'll be letting her drive it too. I've started her early too.

 

Teaching her early is a great idea. I recall teaching my son when he was young. Lots of small life lesson's that have a great payback many years later.

Thank you my friend. Andrew is the only other person I've let drive my car since I got it, but I'm sure in 15yrs when my daughter is ready I'll be letting her drive it too. I've started her early too.

 

Admirable, and adorable. Need to work on hand position, though.

Thank you my friend. Andrew is the only other person I've let drive my car since I got it, but I'm sure in 15yrs when my daughter is ready I'll be letting her drive it too. I've started her early too.

 

You weren't even in the country when I drove it too!

Thank you my friend. Andrew is the only other person I've let drive my car since I got it, but I'm sure in 15yrs when my daughter is ready I'll be letting her drive it too. I've started her early too.

 

Did you extend the pedals up through the seat base?

Admirable, and adorable. Need to work on hand position, though.

 

I know it was, and baby steps until she can at least see over the dash. Then we'll work on hand positioning

 

You weren't even in the country when I drove it too!

 

Shows how much trust and faith I got in you.

 

Did you extend the pedals up through the seat base?

 

That's the next step lol

Time really does fly when your having fun!

 

Well I know I said engine refresh rebuild wasn't a priority but.....things started to fall into place and I'm of the opinion if you are going to do it, then do it right the first time. So if you are interested in the specific details of what is being built head over to this thread.

 

But I'll get back to that in a little bit.

Baby girl turned 1 a few weeks ago, which was awesome but unfortunately someone backed into my car and drove off. Messed up my driver side fender, bumper & light. I tracked the person down and they did take care of the cost of my repairs.

It has since been fixed and I decided to install some washer headlights, I didn't run the hoses to them although I do have them & a washer bottle with three pumps that I will probably install sometime this summer.

 

While the car was in for paint, I had the body shop paint the rear duckbill that I have been sitting on for years now, and that will probably also get installed in the spring/summer.

 

I tried to use a stopleak for the HG issue I was having but it hasn't resolved the issue so I feel like the motor is on borrowed time at this point and decided to over build it so I can make the power I make now reliably with piece of mind, but also gives me room to grow in a year or two when I decide I want more power. I know I would need a bigger turbo, larger injectors, and some type of dual in tank pump setup. But I am going to see what the limits of JMP custom VF52 is capable of first and then I will skip down the rabbit hole in search of more power.

 

I decided to pick up a used EJ255 and got Outfront Motorsports to do its v3 closed decking service on it. This thing is a work of art.

 

In the next month or so it will be dropped in and started with a base tune from Dave @ cryo.

 

In the mean time I also started doing the black upper interior trim. I finished trimming the roof liner & re-upholstered the A pillars, spray painted the b & c pillar, and I'm just waiting for a warm enough day to clear coat them. Before I strip and clean the interior in prep for this install.

 

Will also be swapping out the front subframe for a clean one since my front swaybar bracket bolts snapped off in them and I don't feel like spending hours under the car drilling them out when I can just bolt them up on a new subframe.

As always, fantastic job. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Nice build man! Just curious, when you did the EDM center console swap, what did you do about the glove box?

Nice build man! Just curious, when you did the EDM center console swap, what did you do about the glove box?

 

Thanks man, I used an 08 USDM glovebox for the swap.