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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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#69 ·
Mike the timing belt was easy peazy! Just follow the guide that Erich posted and you'll be good. If you know someone local who has done it before ask them for help, buy them a six pack and pizza lol. Its hard for me to pay someone to do stuff on my car than my brother and I can do (he was a certified Toyota tech for 4 years do that helps a lot). If you can do it then great, go ahead, if not there is no shame in paying someone to do it for you.

Thanks for the kind words theFoz99! Your car is looking great, Im jealous of your get more Gs Subaru ball! As for the rear WRX seats you just need to switch the old bracket from your Foz rear seats and onto the new and improved WRX seats. The difference is amazing! So soft and comfortable, I love it!
 
#72 ·
The roof basket is a Rola Cargo Basket and the ski snowboards racks are Thule Flatop 4. The basket is $185 shipped from etrailer.com and I got the racks for $40 shipped from a website that my friend knows. I'll ask him if they have anymore.

When I saw the first picture my jaw dropped. It's a big transformation from the previous pics and I love your foz : ) I wish my first car was this and not my problematic 99 legacy. I'm subscribing to this thread : )
Thanks! That means a lot!

Currently I have only the snowboard racks on the car as I don't bike during the fall or winter that much (I installed fork mounts on the basket to carry up to 3 road bikes) and I switched to '99 RS 2.5 wheels with brand new tires. I'll post up a picture soon hopefully. I hope Santa brings me a rear sway bay this year! :biggrin::biggrin:
 
#75 ·
Will do!

I would like to see some updated pics man. I hope Santa brings me hella supertones lol!
I'd like some white Hellas! People keep driving like morons around here, I need something to wake them up! :biggrin:

I just looked over your journal, man what a sweet ride! I'd love to see more of your car!
 
#79 ·
Yeah I actually asked my friend and he said they have the Flat Top 6 (which is actually what I have, I thought I had the 4) for $70 shipped but with no locks. The locks are on Amazon for $17.00. So the total will be close to $90 after everything is said and done, which is a great price if you ask me. Let me know if you want it and I'll ask my friend for the website, PM me!
 
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