What did you do to your 5th gen today?? -V4

Got all the chrome pieces vinyl wrapped and a couple of other trim pieces to match done over the weekend.

 

Have a matte bezel coming and I'm looking at a custom emblem.

 

All came out pretty well I think.

 

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Got all the chrome pieces vinyl wrapped and a couple of other trim pieces to match done over the weekend.

 

Have a matte bezel coming and I'm looking at a custom emblem.

 

All came out pretty well I think.

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

Love the color of the car and love that front end even more, Thumbs up from me

^I was just thinking of blacking out the chrome window trim. Looks sharp on your car and that particular color!

 

I like the matte strip on the front bumper above the lower opening. Looks like the JDM bumper.

^I was just thinking of blacking out the chrome window trim. Looks sharp on your car and that particular color!

 

I like the matte strip on the front bumper above the lower opening. Looks like the JDM bumper.

 

Its interesting how the black chrome delete looks on different color cars. On mine it has a different feel, just kind of makes everything vanish.

 

and yes do it, so much better!

^Perfect, thanks for the pics!

Tranny drain and fill at 50k km.

 

I had 3 and 3/4 quarts of Idemitsu ATF HP leftover from my old Forester SG. Everything I could find says I need 4 liters so I needed to get a liter of Subaru ATF or equivalent.

 

No Idemitsu ATF HP here (got mine in the USA). Mag1 has ATF it lists as compatible with ATF HP but I couldnt find much info on it online so I passed on it.

 

I end up at the Subaru dealer. They have OE ATF by the pail but are willing to sell me what I need for the bargain price of only $30 per liter.

 

Local indy quotes me the equivalent of $8 to drain and fill my tranny so I have them do it.

 

Feels good to have all fluids fresh and updated!

I realized I have one fluid I havent serviced yet - power steering!

 

Service records show a new PS pump (and presumably new fluid) around only 20k km ago at the dealer. Decided to do it anyway just for the feeling that every fluid in the car is fresh.

 

I read up on it and it looked hella easy but with my local indy shop wanting the equivalent of $6 to do it, I let him have at it lol!

 

Tech pulled a pump line and put a long rubber hose connected to a jug and had me start and kill the engine while putting fresh Redline D6 synthetic ATF into the reservoir as the old fluid was pumped out.

 

We finished a quart but I had him do it with one more quart for good measure.

 

I am glad I had it flushed, old fluid looked nasty despite only 20k km.

The stock fluid is very dark colored anyway, I wouldn't have been concerned with that. But fresh fluid never hurts.

Ah, I didnt know that, thanks!

 

If I researched correctly, Dexron III is specced for this system? Most all Dex III I've encountered is bright red. What got pumped out seemed a lot darker.

 

But with that low mileage from the pump replacement I dont doubt the fluid is still usable. I do like the thought of having a high performance synthetic fluid in there, especially since Subarus sometimes have problems with their PS pumps. I'm thinking every little bit helps.

The older pumps had a reservoir on top of the unit that leaked from the seal going bad, but the newer models obviously don't have that issue. There is a kit available to rebuild them if needed for around $30 last time I bought one. I changed my fluid out for amsoil synthetic fluid since I had it on hand and it was pretty dark as well.

Dex VI synthetic fluid is optimal and a fine replacement for the spec Dex III.

And yes, fresh Dex III and VI are both bright red - very similar to other ATFs.

 

Only takes 24 months or so for the Dex III to turn dark and spent with some spirited driving.

 

As these cars age, its actually a good idea to replace the PS fluid every 12-18 months.

Its cheap, its quick and a good preventive maintenance item to keep the pump in decent working order as long as it will decide to last.

Installed the Rallitek 5EAT Trans Bushing (soft) and the rest of the Prothane Rear Diff Inserts. There's a bit more trans noise and vibration now, especially in lower gears at higher rpms, but I've been told that will calm down after a couple weeks when the insert works in. Other than that, everything feels nice, cars hooks up nicely, feels more invigorating to drive, and the downshift buck I had while coming to a stop is much improved.

 

Also, for anyone planning to do this insert: just follow the instructions and use a dang bench vise. I thought I'd be clever and thrifty and got some clamps from the hardware store to try and shove it in. Spent 20 minutes struggling with it, finally called a friend with a bench vise, went over there, and it was in within a minute and a half.

 

Also got my Carbotech AX6 pads for the front in, gonna throw those in on Friday. Hoping I like them, then I'll pick up set to fully replace my Hawks.

 

 

Also, had a question on the 5EAT bushing. In the process of removing the mount to install the bushing, the below circled bolt partially stripped it's opening, which we discovered when re-installing. We were only able to get about 20 ft-lb of the spec 30 ft-lb on that bolt. Every other bolt and nut on the mount and on the cross member we had no problem getting torque'd to spec. Should I be worried about this one bolt becoming an issue? Should I just loc-tite the threads? Or should I be ok and just address it at some point in the future?

 

Nice work Humble!

 

What do you mean that the bolt partially stripped the opening? Did the bolt elongate the hole int he trans mount or did the bolt/nut lose some threads?

I think it lost some threads in the screw hole, bolt itself looked fine. We went to tighten it and tried to go past 20 lb/ft and it went back to 15 lb/ft. The rest of the mount screws are all fine and the mount is bolted to the cross member which is bolted to the frame.

Bleh ive been trying to be an adult and save for a house but im itching to get a downpipe again =/

I imagine because it's not holding any fluid back that you should be just fine, as long as you have some pressure on it and you do.

 

If you are going to try and fix it...

So, the threads that stripped or partially stripped are in the transmission?

You could always try a thread chaser and see if that brings back the threads enough to hold 30ftlbs of torque. If the easy way didn't work, I would install a heli-coil kit and be done with it. They are great and easy to use, as long as you have decent access to the area and can get a drill in there.

Set out to mow the lawn, then thought....that looks so good maybe I'll wash the car too....all good now

Gave my car a good once over with a finish pad and some ultra fine polish. She turned out great. Random pics but, you get the idea.

 

 

 

I drove my Legacy GT for the 1st time in 6 1/2 weeks! I also got an inspection sticker as it expired in July. I was a little worried about my Invidia Q300 cutback exhaust because MA is a stickler on exhausts. (It can not be louder than original exhaust)

Replaced my front pads with Carbotech AX6 per a couple member's recommendation (previous was on Hawk HPS 5.0) since I have a track day coming up next weekend and the Hawk's would definitely not have stood up to the abuse. I need to get some new shims and slides, mine are starting to get nasty, but I can get a full set of them for the front for about $50 on QuirkParts.

 

 

So far so good with them, bite quite aggressively and perform well from what I can feel. They're really dusty right now, but I'm sure that's just from being new, and also a bit squealy, but again I'm sure aging a bit will help that as well as new shims. Either way, I feel a lot more confident having these on the fronts for my track day.

Also (separate post), since it was nice out for a bit yesterday, I took my Blitzen spoiler out of storage again for a bit. Still need to get it painted and mounted, but this is the first time I've seen it on the car since adding the DAMD extensions. Matches the roof spoiler, doesn't impede visibility, fits damn near perfect, and looks awesome in my opinion. Just needs re-paint and mounting still, you can tell the difference in the silver in these pics. Cool to see a glimpse of how it will look nearly completed.

 

nothing fun, just an oil change and tire rotation and overall inspection. everything's in good nick, but i'm starting to see some weeping from the oil pan. i'll be damned if i'm changing that at this point, using less than a quart of oil per 3750//oil change so not a huge deal.

 

need to do a brake fluid flush, but i hate doing that...inspection's up in November, might just have the shop do that while they're doing the inspection...closing in on 30k miles since i bought her, time sure does fly.

I was cleaning up my garage yesterday so I did a little work on my Legacy and install a few things that were laying around the garage. The good news is that I now have space to put my GT in the garage again. (This would have been helpful when I detailed my car 2 weeks ago and it has just sat outside.)

 

I installed the plastic under body tray from my oil change. I install the driver side aero flaps that go infront of the front and rear wheels. They were missing when I bought my car.

Finally washed her up! Been a very long time! Pic of the sunset tonight.

 

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Repaced brakes and rotors all 4 corners with Power Stop slotted rotors and Z23 Evolution brake pads and an oil change. Then its back off with our son to college.