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Matt's 98

('98-'00) 
42K views 261 replies 33 participants last post by  Matt. 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello. This is a journal of all my progress working on my 98 Forester. I've had my car for about two years now and I still enjoy it as much as I did they day I got it. My plan is just to continue making my car more and more unique and fitting to myself.



Engine and performance:
Kartboy short throw shifter and Cobb knob
Injen cold air intake
KartBoy and Tic shift bushings
Grimmspeed crank pulley
Borla replica headers
WRX muffler-->Installed
Grimmspeed MCB
Kartboy pitch stop

Exterior and suspension:
New rear hatch letters
Rally Armor flaps
Tint
Thule 594 Sidearm bike rack
Plasti dipped wheels
WRX wagon struts and springs-->Installed
Face lift (PLastidip grill)
Prodrive blue springs --> Installed

Interior:
New head unit
Front door speakers
New shift boot

Thanks for looking, -Matt
 
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#222 ·
DO IT.


but to answer your question, the shop that did my headgaskets was a liscened performance shop for a few things, including machine work. The block and heads were getting milled down ever so slightly for OE reasons when applying new headgaskets. For a small fee extra they took off a tiny extra to give it a bit more compression.
 
#231 ·
I got some questions!

After having installed my suspension I obviously have the rear *** sag but now the rear is uneven from side to side. The left rear sits about a half inch lower than the right rear. :icon_mad: I not sure exactly what the problem is but i'm thinking it's either the springs themselves or the top hats. The top hats are my original sf top hats and during installation took a bit of convincing to seat properly. I'm thinking there might be some differences between the 02-03 wrx rear top hats and the rear sf top hats.

I'm trying to decide how to go about getting everything even with the suspension. I'm debating getting usdm sti springs front and rear and runing rear spacers. I already have the rear top hats for the newer models but I don't know if I will destroy the wrx struts with the higher spring rates or how the ride will be. Any input on my suspension would be awesome!

I've also decided to hack my stock grill up and make a mesh one but I can't find the mesh! I've been to three different hardware stores with no luck.
Where the heck do you get that stuff??

OH, and I start on my head gaskets tomorrow!
 
#232 ·
Head gaskets are done!! They sucked! lol

With the help of a friend we had it all torn down to the heads themselves. I went to remove the cams and ended up rounding off one of the cam cap bolts. :icon_frown: We thought we were screwed, if you can't get the cams out you can't get heads off. We were going to put it all back together and just throw some coolant conditioner in it and hope it would make it until I got out of school. I called the dealership and sure enough they had a bolt in stock. Ground the old one off and carried on.
Got the heads off, the gaskets didn't look to bad except for some spots, I think the black coating on them had started to come off and that's what was floating in my overflow.
We start to go back together and my fel pro valve cover gasket set had two right side gaskets in it. :icon_mad: Had to reuse the old gasket with some sealer. I'll be replacing that side soon.
Got it all back together and it tuned right over.

Took 3 days total, and it was a lot of headache, but it's done. :icon_biggrin:
 
#243 ·
Face Lift!

The front of my car has been looking very bland to me lately, I've had grill mod ideas floating around in my head and being board this weekend I decided to just go for something.

The before.



Removal.





Decided I was going to get rid of the middle slat things. Used a hacksaw blade for precision, worked well.





After some trimming and sanding I masked it off.



Plastidip done.



Final results.





I really like the overall finished look, the photos don't do it much justice with it being cloudy outside. I think it looks neat how it goes from black grill to green back to black under the headlights. Maybe a little more aggressive looking. :icon_biggrin:
Now I'm thinking I need some mesh behind the grill to finish the look.
 
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