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Luis's first Forester :)

('01-'02) 
11K views 78 replies 24 participants last post by  edwing206 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey guys. I've been on the site for a couple of months now and I've learned so much already! I love this place!

About me: I'm 19 (20 on the 16th! :big grin: ) and I'm a college student. I work as a part time custodian at an elementary school and on the weekends at a church close to my house. I used to drive a 1995 Toyota Camry which I did not like at all...very grandpa-ish haha. I got approved for a loan for about $10k so I started to look for a WRX at first, then I realized they were kind of expensive so I started looking for a bug-eyed Impreza. I found a nice clean 2003 Outback Sport at a local dealership and test drove it and almost got it. My mom convinced me that I should find a cheaper car so I could use my money for school and all that other fun stuff (yeah right...fun), then I saw the Forester thread over at NASIOC and I knew I had to have one! So I looked around and all of the good Foresters were too expensive or had too many miles (close to 200k). I spent hours and hours looking for a good Forester online and I finally found one on Craigslist. So here I am now, White 2002 Forester L 5spd with 121k miles on the clock. The guy I bought it from sold it to me pretty cheap because he thought it had more problems than it actually did. When we test drove it the suspension was all wacky and made a lot of noise. It also pulled a lot one way then the other way. It turns out the from top hats were installed wrong so they were not allowed to rotate freely, instead they twisted a LOT and it gave the steering wheel a bit of resistance when driving. They twisted so much that when I replaced them the rubber on the top was all torn up. Another problem the car had was that when it started up it would sometimes struggle to turn on and die. I replaced the starter and it starts up perfect now. The guy was asking $3500 for it, I offered him $3000 and he said I could have it for $2800. I was super excited and of course bought it. All in all I'm in about $4000 in it after fixing it all up and buying some mods I guess you could say.

I wouldn't have bought the car if I was looking at it by myself as the problems seemed like big issues to me. I took my older brother with me (he's 23) who was a Toyota Technician for 4 years and he said the problems were easy to fix and I was getting a good deal. I'd also like to take this time to give a shout out to him, you rock! He's taught me everything I know about cars and when I don't know something he most likely does. He's incredibly good with cars and I'm glad he's there to help me out. :tissue: Oh, I mean....*cough cough*

Anyways...

List of what I've done so far:
Yellow Lamin X on the fogs
Replaced starter
Replaced suspension with GR-2 struts and WRX sedan springs. I have a set of WRX wagon springs waiting to go on to eliminate the saggy butt.
Replaced old crappy looking steering wheel with a WRX Momo one
Painted the front grill and bought an emblem that I painted white to match the car
Replaced the SUBARU letters on the back with a nice big Subaru emblem (I love how it looks with this)
Removed the cross bars (I want to remove all the rails on the top and install flat black vinyl over the entire roof)
RedlineGoods perforated leather shift boot
Leather e-brake boot (thanks Vinnyd for the hook up, you the man!)

That's all the changes that I can remember off the top of my head, if I think of any more I'll add them in.

Future plans:
Replace my old man wheels with something nice (However, I am a broke college student so this will probably have to wait unless I find a REALLY good deal)
Install Morimoto Mini projector headlights and an HID kit ( also install projectors in the fogs and HID kit too)
Change interior lighting to something brighter and white (anybody have any suggestions?)
Change dash lighting color to red
Buy a JDM Forester grill and a new front emblem that's bigger and paint it white again
Buy a rear spoiler (anybody wanna trade theirs for my rain deflector :big grin: )
Install front and rear sway bars (which ones would be good? And do I NEED new end links?)
Kartboy SS

I forgot to add that I'm going to be plastidipping all of the grey panels/bumpers/whatever. They look OK in the pictures, but in person they are kind of faded.


I'm not trying to turn my car into an STI killer or anything, I just want a nice looking daily driver. I probably won't do much engine wise. I want to add suspension upgrades to my current setup so it can handle well though.

I just washed and waxed my car today so pictures to follow!

Sorry for the EXTREMELY long post but I'm excited that my car is starting to come together.
 
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#8 ·
Thanks for the kind words!

That's Mochi, my 5 month old Aussie.

I got the emblem from a local member of NASIOC. It was only $20, a steal! Unfortunately it's not large enough to cover the holes from the de-badging. They are pretty small though, so I don't mind them too much. I think I'm going to get some of those Impreza wing delete cover vinyls.

Your bumpers turned out great Timo! You're the one who inspired me to do mine. I want to do plastidip though because I feel it will hold up better than paint, not to mention won't chip. I just hit up ebay, thanks for the tip!
 
#16 ·
Thanks! I'm very excited! :icon_biggrin:
My puppy's name is Mochi, my dad named him after the Japanese ice cream haha! I love the name, it's unique.
I saw your thread, looks like you have quite the project on your hands! Should be fun! P.S I love your S2K.

I got my bumpers and side panels painted yesterday. I'm very pleased with the results! I'll get some pictures up tomorrow. I used plastidip, we'll see how it holds up.
 
#18 ·
Here are a couple pictures of the painted bumpers!





In the first picture you can see the Subaru badge that I painted white.
Now I just need some new wheels, too much money though. :shake:

A guy on NASIOC is selling a set of 2005 WRX wheels with tires for a really good price. I'm trying to work out a deal with him. Let's see how that goes.
 
#19 ·
I used Plastidip on my s2000 side emblems and so far, so good. Its been a few months and quite a few washings with no signs of coming off. I love that stuff :)
Not sure how it would hold up long term on the bumpers and plastic trim though. They do make a special paint for that stuff, I saw it at Lowes... I might end up doing mine black some day (after we get it running! haha)
It does look pretty good in your pics though, and I love the yellow fog lights :)
 
#20 ·
Yeah plastidip is awesome! You can use it for basically anything haha. I actually have a can of the "OEM Bumper Spray" stuff, but I thought why not give this a try.
And thanks! Lamin-X makes some awesome yellow film that's easy to install on the fogs.
 
#23 ·
Wow I haven't updated this for a looong time! I've been really busy, I got into University of Washington and I've been studying when I'm not working and working when I'm not studying. It's a lot of work but I love it!

I've done a few things to my Foz. I got a roof basket to haul stuff around, can't wait to go camping this summer! And I got some WRX wheels. I'd like some aggressive wheels but I'm saving my money for college and whatnot so that will come later. I also installed some HID projectors, I think I'm the first SF with them. Probably not but whatever!
Hope you like!



 
#26 ·
@ fozzywozzy At first I didn't like the white, I wanted a black one but it has grown on me and it's my favorite SF color now. Of course I am biased though. :biggrin:

@ onemanzu That's awesome! I feel cool now :icon_cool:

A friend and I are looking into some fender flares, when I save enough money I might fit some on there and go with some wide wheels.
 
#28 ·
Thanks! Glad you like them.

I was so excited to install the projectors that I didn't think of taking any pictures at all so doing my own write up would be pretty useless. I did however find a great write up on Google. Bi-Xenon Morimoto Mini H1 install - Honda Civic Forum

I'll add a few tips though.

1. The oven temp I baked them at was 250 degrees for about 20 minutes. Place them on a ceramic plate so they don't get grill marks on them haha.
2. Paint the stock reflectors so there won't be any annoying glare scattered. I used black bumper paint (semi flat black) and I love it.
3. Get 5000k or 5500k bulbs. I used 6000k and they are just a tiny tiny bit too blue.
4. Get good ballasts, NOT tin can ballasts from DDM tuning. I used the DDM tuning ballasts and they are shyte. I'm going to upgrade to the TRS Morimoto ballasts to use the full potential of the projectors. The DDMs are useable but I'd much rather use something that is high quality.
5. Use the re-sealing glue from TRS, just to make sure the headlights are sealed 100% and waterproof.

Hope that gives you a pretty good idea of how to do it. If you have any other questions post here or Pm me. I'll be glad to help!
 
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