dpkilty

Smokey: 2004 Forester XT 5MT

As he sits currently....


Dealer photo...



Year: 2004
Make: Subaru
Model: Forester XT
Transmission: 5MT
Color: Cayenne Red Pearl
Owner: Dan Kilty (dpkilty)
Purchased: 11/21/11
Miles when purchased: 155,000

Mod List
Engine:
04 STi Catless Up Pipe
Resistor Mod
Banjo Bolts and avcs screen deletes
07 STi TBE
Snorkus Delete
Mishimoto Radiator

Transmission:
Goodridge Stainless Steel Clutch Line

Suspension:
06 STI rear sway bar & mounts

Brakes:
H6 Rear Upgrade
Goodridge Stainless Steel Braided Lines
Speedbleeders

Exterior:
OEM Cross Bar delete (if this can be considered a mod )
Debadged
VHT Nightshades on the Tail lights
Window Tint
JDM Hood scoop

Interior:
OEM Boost Gauge

Table Of Contents
Back Story
Thank You's
Goings On / Parts Shelf / Future Plans

__________________
04 XT MT "Smokey"
04 XS AT "The Bandit"

dpkilty

Thread Starter

Table Of Contents
As this builds I will link to the threads / posts here.

Engine:
Replacing the stock TD04 .... The bad TD04 ... Still Got Problems?
Replacing the stock Up Pipe
Resistor Mod
Bajo Bolts and avcs screens
Operation "Extraction DIY" ... Part 2
Rear Differential Fluid Replacement
Time to clean the MAF sensor
IT LIVES!!!

Transmission:
Stainless Steel Clutch Line Install
Clutch Install

Suspension:
A little pre-planning...
Bent Lateral Link...
DIY: Power steering fluid flush

Brakes:
Brake Jerb!
Speedbleeder Install
H6 Rear Brake Install
Rear Rotor Extractor Holes
Stainless Steel Braided Brake Line Install
Issues...

Exterior:

Interior:

Media:
XT pictures by dpkilty - Photobucket
Turbo Swap pictures by dpkilty - Photobucket
Random pictures by dpkilty - Photobucket
dpkilty Install day pictures by xmyspaceislamex - Photobucket
2004 Subaru Forester XT first startup - YouTube
Pictars @ Adams Mill

__________________
04 XT MT "Smokey"
04 XS AT "The Bandit"

dpkilty

Thread Starter

Back story

Some of you may have an idea of what I went through to get this my 2nd Suby into the garage. If you don't know, here are a couple threads documenting the process.
Any members near Townsend DE? Asking for help.
Replacing Turbo... What else?

So long story short, I was driving my wife's 1999 Saturn SL2 daily to save on gas. Driving about 100 miles a day can be expensive. She was driving the black 04 XS. So one early morning a deer decides he would rather be on the other side of the road, crossing in front of me. Needless to say deer + Saturn = problems. We didn't have comprehensive on the Saturn so its all out of pocket (lesson learned). We decided to just get another car instead of fixing the Saturn up. So the search began for a new Suby. After a couple weeks I found the red XT. Needed a little work but the price was right, cheap. After a lot of emailing, texting, phone calls, forum discussion, more emailing, and phone calls the deal was done. It took a couple weeks but I am the proud owner of a new to me XT.

Going through the process of buying a car from over 600 miles away is a very painstaking process. It does take a lot of work on both the buyer and seller's ends. I wouldn't recommend buying a car you know nothing about this way, but I consider myself an enthusiast and have been researching the XT models for about a year, looking to buy one when the time came. So I was ahead of the game in that aspect. I was able to get everything worked out with the bank and told the dealership to go on with the sale and I would set up the shipping. I used Kensington Auto Transport Kensington Auto Transport. Their rates were some of the best and their customer service was very good.

Upon receival of the car I gave it a good once over. It is definitely dinged up and has been used very well. Its a bit rougher than I had hoped but no worse than I expected. I am by no means complaining about the shape its in, as it was a great deal. It wasn't at the house for more than 15 minutes and I had the hood up and started removing parts to get the turbo swapped out.

My old member journal can be found here: dpkilty '04 XS Journal
I will still update it as I do small projects and replace parts. This has become the wife's car and she is looking forward to "making it her own" so there will still be a few mods to be done here.

tl:dr
Hit deer with wife's car, found XT in Delaware with bad turbo for cheap. Purchased & shipped to me. Its a bit rough but all in all was a good deal for the price paid.

The Long Road to Recovery

Its the little things that count, and when your working on a car little things add up. Here is a list of things done.

• Forester XT Used $4300
• Shipping from Delaware $550
• Used TD04 $40
• Used Up Pipe $40
• Resistors for Resistor Mod $3
• Misc Gaskets, hoses, nuts, bolts, washers etc $120
• Rear Trim Piece $25
• Thermostat w/Gasket $13
• Adjusted hood latch $0
• Air & Oil Filters $15
• 1 Gallon of Extra S $40
• Spark Plugs $35

Current running total ..... Unknown after the motor rebuild...

__________________
04 XT MT "Smokey"
04 XS AT "The Bandit"

dpkilty

Thread Starter

Thank You's

I wanted to have a "Thank You" section to show that this is not just a one person thing and that a lot of people have already helped me out a lot. This wouldn't have been possible without everyone's help and input. These are in no particular order (other than the first one)

First off to my loving wife Jessica, who put's up with me and all my craziness.
All the members on SF.org for making it such a great site. (I could list a ton of screen names here but won't because I don't want to type them all out or forget anybody)
All the members on IIC for making it such a great site. (I could list a ton of screen names here but won't because I don't want to type them all out or forget anybody)
Brian (tuned200), Pam (Pam Cakes), Remington (duderotomy), and yeah even Brittany (Mrs. Duderotomy) for their friendship, advice, and generally being good peeps.
Ben (Gizzmo) for being an awesome parts guy, his oontz, and the beard.
Tom Wood Subaru as a whole for their support of the community.
(Nomadmedic) for taking his time and looking into the Forester for me.
Andy (brum) for the turbo, and being a good guy.
Nate (1986944t) for the Up Pipe, all the hard work helping turn wrenches, and being a good guy.
All the OG's from the 1st Deals Gap Meet. Friendships were made, good times were had.
(Smitch) for all his advice, help, and inspiration.
(flat4LGT) for the advice and info shared.
All the autox guys on IIC for sharing your expertise, opinions, and helping out.
All the autox guys on SF.org for sharing your expertise, opinions, and helping out.
(projectwrx, s2k, projectveedub, skrotor, gaybot, mymomputsout, projectlgt) whatever your screen name is this week, thanks for the wealth of information you share.
My brother for his help wrenching and welding.
(Iceman13) for the rear trim piece.
James (Hardrvin) for the advice, help, and general awesomeness.
Ben (ride4life32) for the turbo bracket, also a good guy.
Stuart (smurfblue) for the parts, help, info, and being a good guy.
Jason (sky-blue) for the parts, help, info, and being a good guy.
Vito, Ryan (noone1569) for help with the XT
Brandon (2001legacyGT) for the help with the XT
Jeremy (xxjslothxx) For the supercool artsy pics.
Meaty for the TB and info
Craig (Mechie3) For the help, info, and more help. You's a good dude too.
Mattinlafayette (Matt) For the TBE. Another good guy to be around here....
Kai (splatsti) for the boost gauge. Awesome guy as well.


I know I have left many people out and I apologize for that. If your not on the list then don't feel bad, it's not like I didn't appreciate you any less.

__________________
04 XT MT "Smokey"
04 XS AT "The Bandit"

dpkilty

Thread Starter

Goings On / Parts Shelf / Future Plans....
I'll try to keep this post updated as I usually work on 2 or 3 projects at a time. This way I can try to keep people updated as to whats going on.

Current Goings On:
1. Sub enclosure


Parts Shelf:
These are the parts I have amassed/horded and will be installing when time/weather/budget permits.
1. 06 STi Rear Sway Bar w/mounts (waiting for end links)
2. 06 WRX Sedan Springs
3. OEM STi Fender Braces
4. 05 STi Springs
5. 05 STi Top Hats (rear)


Future Plans:
Just some ideas I have floating around in the old noggin.
1. Window Tint
2. Clean up / Buff out the paint
3. Way down the road it may see a VF39 and supporting mods... Icanhazstage2?

__________________
04 XT MT "Smokey"
04 XS AT "The Bandit"

Tuned200

I can not wait to see this in person! Such a deal for a nice looking Foz!

__________________
2007 Forester XT - The Gray Goose
2006 Forester XT - Blu-Blur
2010 Forester X - SOLD-The Green Goblin

Wessneroo

This looks like a great start to what will be an epic journal thread. Bring on the mods!

__________________
-Matt
'06 FXT Limited 4EAT CGM - "Roo II"

Tuned200

Hopefully the boost bug does not bite Dan too hard!

__________________
2007 Forester XT - The Gray Goose
2006 Forester XT - Blu-Blur
2010 Forester X - SOLD-The Green Goblin

Wessneroo

Doubtful!

__________________
-Matt
'06 FXT Limited 4EAT CGM - "Roo II"

dpkilty

Thread Starter

Its a bit rough around the edges, but I hope I can get a little bit of that taken care of this spring. But yeah it was a deal for sure.

Thanks, already need to post up some pics...

Already lurking FS threads for a VF... Its sad because I haven't even driven this thing in boost yet!

The short ride at the Subaru Challenge in the Goose was all it took for me to be hooked on boost.

UPDATE 12/5/11
Thanks, still doing the swap. Took my time inspecting things, figuring stuff out, and being super careful not to break anything else.

Just a note to anyone even remotely thinking about picking up a car from out of the northeast... Expect to replace a lot of bolts. about half of the ones on the heat shields don't even resemble bolts anymore
I pretty much new things like that were to be expected, but it even surprised me at how bad it was.

__________________
04 XT MT "Smokey"
04 XS AT "The Bandit"

Tuned200

I did not even think about the car's location and corrosion...Yikes.

__________________
2007 Forester XT - The Gray Goose
2006 Forester XT - Blu-Blur
2010 Forester X - SOLD-The Green Goblin

dpkilty

Thread Starter

Yeah there are a couple hard lines under the car that will be getting replaced soon. I am going to try some of the rust converter stuff for a few spots on the oil pan. I would rather not have to replace that just yet.
Its funny, the bolts I thought would be the worst (turbo bolts) were the easiest. All the other exhaust bolts were terrible.
The rubber hoses were all pretty hard as well, seems like anything that should have been easy was 10x harder than it should have been, and the difficult stuff wasn't so bad.

__________________
04 XT MT "Smokey"
04 XS AT "The Bandit"

Gutie04

Congrats on getting the car Dan. Hope it all works out great, and if you get that boost bug, I currently have my TD04 at 18#'s with all the supporting mods and she is a whole lot of fun for a daily driver. Should be able to hold you over for a little while .

You make a page days after getting the car and I have been on here for over a year with out one. I need to get on it.

Tuned200

Wait until you start the suspension.

__________________
2007 Forester XT - The Gray Goose
2006 Forester XT - Blu-Blur
2010 Forester X - SOLD-The Green Goblin

dpkilty

Thread Starter

Funny thing is, it doesn't look too bad. At least all those bolts have flats on them

BTW When that time comes, I am going to your place to do it. It would take me a good 3 or 4 hours at least, pretty sure it takes you 30 to 40 minutes.

__________________
04 XT MT "Smokey"
04 XS AT "The Bandit"