Hogan

So I just bought my 1999 Forester S, manual transmission on Saturday December 22nd 2012, for $3000, my first car. I'm stoked I got a Subaru! I have always loved subies and after my buddy picked up a fozzy about a year ago I thought, why not? So far I love her and awd has been awesome in the snow! This journal is mainly for me to track my progress but follow if you like!

Bought the car with 211, 730 km on it in Toronto, Ontario. Drove it back home to Ottawa (about 500km) and so far in a week have totaled up 650km. Basically I don't see much happening to the car in the near future because of brutal winter in Ottawa and only having a single car garage to work on it in, and not a lot of daylight to work on after school and work are done.

Day 1 - Picture of her getting gassed up minutes after I bought it

Day X - April 9, 2013


THE BAD
- She's a bit rusty (planning on fixing and plasti dipping)
- There's a hole in the drivers side headlight, covered with tape (fixed! January 13, 2013)
- Drivers side fog light is pretty loose and was dangling out (Finished! New fogs/all brackets April 9, 2013.. Stupid sheared bolts :P)
- Overhead clock doesn't work :P (Swapped for scangauge II April 1, 2013
- Missing a center cap in the front passenger side wheel (Replaced!)
- Rear wiper fluid pump isn't working (fixed! May 7, 2013)
- Cruise control isn't working
- Keyless entry stopped working (January 15, 2013) (fixed! Reprogrammed April 1, 2013)

FUTURE TASKS
- Acquire a rear cargo mat (Done! January 9, 2013)
- Change out the stock head and speakers (Done! Speakers changed January 12, 2013, head February 19, 2013)
- Colour match my front grille (Done! February 2, 2013)
- Full wrx cat-back (Done! March 4, 2013)
- UEL headers (Done! March 5, 2013)
- Interior Led's under dash (green to match dome/map/trunk lights (Done! March 7, 2013)
- Paint the rear letters because they are bubbling (Done! Painted white April 1, 2013)
- Overhead clock swap with scan guage (Done! April 1, 2013)
- Replace fog lights, because of rusted brackets (Done! FINISHED April 9, 2013)
- Paint wheels white (Done! April 8, 2013)
- Plasti dip two tone (Done! April 6, 2013)
- 06/07 17" wrx rims (Done! Paired with Continental Extreme Contact DW 225/50 17 May 3, 2013)
- DIY mesh grill (Done! May 10, 2013)
- Plasti Dip the whole car
- Change accessory belt and power steering pulley (its slipping)
- Tailight tint
- Some window tint might be heading my way (Hate having people be able to see whats in my trunk)
- Hella 700ff's grill mounted
- Upgrade rear sway bar, mounts, end links maybe front strut brace
- New clutch kit, my throwout bear squeaks like a mofo! (Seeing how long I can live with it)
- Get a thule

My buddy holding down the dash for my drive back to Ottawa


Hogan

Hogan

Thread Starter

Wheel well rust

Door handle

Fog light, when it started falling out


She also leaked some coolant when I started here up yesterday morning, nothing bad just a couple drips. Was only about -8C but was -18C overnight. Also woke up to this:



Today I managed to go to the dealership and bought some coolant and filled my reservoir, also stiched up the fog light, and after a not so friendly collision with a snowplow bank I got a lot of snow up in the plastic guard under the engine. Turns out 2 screws were missing and the snow cause it to hang down to the side, so we took it off, cleaned it out and put some new screws in! Also this afternoon on my way back from the dealership the overhead clock came on!! But on my drive home tonight I noticed it didn't come on when the car started.

Up in the air for the first time, putting new screws in!

Patch job on the fog light

02foresterL

Nice start, there's a thread about the clock not working. It's a wire that needs to be sodered, but if you don't have experience doing that you can replace it. Are the brackets on the back of the fog light broken? There should be two with two screws, those should be easy to source so you can get rid of the zip tie.

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Hogan

Thread Starter

Yes I've heard about the wire and the clock and will get around to soldering it but its not a necessity right now since the radio clock works fine, and the bracket is basically missing, only pieces are remaining. Thanks!

Hogan

Thread Starter

tried to shoot my car quickly tonight, my camera is not the best in the dark and it didn't help that I didn't have my tripod

Hogan

Thread Starter

Re-soldered my clock together today and it still doesn't work, was wondering if there is a replacement thermometer or something someone has managed to put up there. Also slapped on a big sticker of a friends company on my rear window and ordered some goodies that I'm really excited about!


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LostInPhilly89

Hey. It seems like you're off to a great start. I have a '98 Forester and had some tips for you concerning the rust on the rear wheel wells. My Foz is doing the exact same thing. While working on another project I completely gutted the hatch area down to the metal. There was rust everywhere, especially on the strut towers. It might be worth looking into. Also, feel up in the wheel well (between the rusty area and the tire). Chances are you'll find the metal loose. Mine was so bad that a chunk just fell off in my hand! Water from the tires gets in from behind the rear quarter panels and just sits against that lip. Best of luck!

John / LIP89

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Afterbang

I spy my car in your avatar Hogan ;)

MikeDrives1

Nice pickup there!

Enjoying it in the snow?

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- 1996 Civic LX. The daily gas sipper.

Hogan

Thread Starter

Thanks, I'm gonna be working on the rust with Afterbang in the spring when its bearable to work on outside. Thanks for the tips!

Thanks! And yes!! So much fun to play around with in parking lots and when we get about a foot of snow on the roads she just plows through it past all the stuck civics Although this past week hasnt been good, little warmer temps and a bit of drizzle but the roads will be covered again soon enough!

Will also post an update once I get all my supplies in! :)

Hogan

Thread Starter

So I ordered new speakers! Sony xplod's, 6 3/4", I just did the front ones we'll see if I do the backs. Huge improvement over the stock ones (and my right speaker was blown too.) Also bought a couple green led's for my interior. Biggest thing was that I visited a guy parting out a 98 forester. Bought the headlights and rear cargo mat off him for $40, and he threw in the corner lights and fog light brackets I spotted for free! So now I'll be experimenting with a reflector delete on my second set of corners!

New Problem
My keyless entry system has stopped working, tried 2 remotes, both with brand new batteries and to top it off, while the key is in the "start" position, so while I'm driving, the door open light will flash on and all my doors will lock/unlock. I can't help but think these issues are related. Anyways theres a jumble of cables hanging down to the left of the clutch pedal (off the dash board) Is this where the keyless entry module stored? Still I have the least of a clue of whats wrong with it.

Hogan

Hogan

Thread Starter

So i tried to swap in the fog light brackets today, and it just so happens I didn't do a thorough enough investigation. I bought the wrong brackets, although the ones I bought are in much better shape than the original ones so I will swap them on. Turns out what I need is the piece that screws on to the back of the fog. I'm not sure if it comes with the fog light but I guess the search is on to find another person parting their foz. I did swap in my new headlight but the damage is missing fog light and I snapped the 2 bottom grill clips off -_- Also unplugged the keyless entry module, I guess I'll have to suffer with the key lock for now. :(



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Hogan

Thread Starter

update!
About 2 weeks ago I bought some ikea cutting boards to do the DIY mudflaps, also began colour matching my grill! Sanding, priming, painting then clear coating took about a week because of the difficulties of spray painting in -30 :P Then I let it sit for about a week to avoid the freezing rain. Went out yesterday and got the hardware for the mudflaps and did them in my garage. Turns out I can get the car jacked up and take a wheel off with it inside. (Still cold in there though, haha) So today I went out and shot my car after work, nice overcast day with a bit of snow!

car looked funny with no grill or fog lights
Sanded
Primed
Ready for install
Rear installed

The rear ones are gonna stay red until I get sick of them, might play with the shape of them a bit, but probably not until the spring. I'm super stoked at how the grill came out. And I also ordered my new radio! Got a JVC KWR900BT, I wanted a double din that could shine green to match my interior and with a big volume knob. So I went with this over some entry level touch screen ones, the screens on those aren't very sensitive so I stuck with buttons!

Good side shot full body shot showing the flaps and the grill


This plow really shows how small our cars are haha

So she doesn't look bone stock anymore, and of coarse I drifted up the parking lot after :) Next mod will probably be something to do with the tailights, but we'll see if that happens before winters over

Afterbang

nice! flaps turned out good!

Hogan

Thread Starter

Thanks buddy. Currently have jackie at annapolis subaru trying to find me some fog light brackets. My other option is to hit the pull and pay buy its too cold to pull stuff outside for my liking. Might be running fogless until the spring.


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