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max6spd's Return - The Egg

('09-'13) 
65K views 368 replies 43 participants last post by  max6spd 
#1 · (Edited)
So, I'm back after a little over a year. I started out with an 04 JBP FXT (4EAT) purchased from a Yale graduate student from Texas. Originally for my wife to prepare for the arrival of our daughter. I was hooked after getting on the forums. So, I bought my own 07 OBP FSXT (5MT) and made what I think is the best car I've ever owned. Handled great, drove great, and with 316awhp, it was a blast to drive.

I replaced the 07 with a 2010 Legacy GT (6MT) due to my growing family, but it never felt right. I felt disconnected and it handled like a boat even after springs and RSB. So, I'm back in a 2009 SWP Forester X. Why an X, you ask? Well, being that gas prices are currently $4.49/gal for premium here in NY and expected to rise in the summer. I'm trying to save a couple of dollars, but I got terrible gas mileage with my turbo cars. I guess I had too much fun stomping on the gas pedal. Secondly, I had a loan on the LGT. So, I found the car I wanted, walked in the dealer, traded in my LGT, and came home with the Forester with no more loan and minimal out of pocket expenses.

I bought an X because I've never been one to leave a car stock so If I'm going to swap parts, I might as well start at the bottom of the well. Plus, it was cheaper and allowed me to work my magic with the LGT at the dealer.

So why call the car "The Egg"? Well, its white like an eggshell. And I'm Asian so I guess that makes me yellow like the yolk. You get the picture…:biggrin:

So here's my journal . . .

I picked up some OEM accessories from eBay , but there's no sense in going over the details. I did get:

OEM Bluetooth adapter
OEM iPod adapter
OEM cargo mat
Latest navigation map for East Coast (I had v1.0 and the latest is v5.0)
OEM rearview mirror with compass
OEM cargo cover
OEM SWP rear spoiler
OEM rear underguard (plastidipped)

Before I even bought the car (or even found the one I wanted), I had started researching for parts. I found a local seller selling an OEM navigation unit from an 08 STi. Yes, I could have gone after market, but I'm not an audiophile (I'm actually a little hard of hearing) and while I plan to upgrade speakers down the road, I wanted to maintain the factory look. With the help of a transplant harness from SVXdc, I was able to swap out the factory head unit and swap in the navi in under an hour. I opted for the transplant harness to include the wires for the factory aux in jack, rearview camera, and subwoofer line out.

Upon coming home with the car, I promptly went and got the windows tinted 20% 3M branded tint. Looks great. In NYC, the tint laws state that I must allow more than 70% light. So, in the choice between 35% or 20%, either way I'm going to get a ticket, so I got the darker tint. Plus , I have the lighter interior so the tint doesn't look as dark, unlike a dark interior.

List of mods so far:

Interior & Electronics
  • 2009 STi front seats
  • Reupholstered rear seats utilizing OEM black seat covers
  • 2009 Forester black leather steering wheel, audio controls, w/ painted airbag
  • 2009 Forester black upper and lower dash, glovebox, and center console
  • 2008 STi black carpet
  • 2007 Legacy GT center console with adjustable arm rest and rear cupholders
  • JPM Coachworks black leather shift and ebrake boot w/ red stiching
  • Redline Goods black leather w/ red stitching armrest cover
  • Momo shift knob
  • Black painted ebrake handle
  • WRX/STi fuel door lever
  • 2008 STi OEM navigation unit w/ SVXdc transplant harness
  • Sound Ordinance underseat subwoofer
  • STi pedals w/ Scoobymods dead pedal
  • Weathertech front and rear liners for WRX
  • Kartboy short shifter
  • Subimods Hella bracket
  • 2009 black door panels
  • 2009 black cargo panels + carpeted floor panels
  • Polk speakers DB651 (front)
  • Polk speakers DXI650 (rear)

Wheels, Tires, and Suspension
  • Swift springs on OEM struts and Subtle Solutions 1/4" spacers
  • BBS RE875 (18x8 ET50) painted gold with 245/45-18 tires (summer setup)
  • 2011 STi rear sway bar and Kartboy endlinks
  • JDM v7 STi wheels (winter setup)

Exterior
  • OEM HID headlights from an 2012 Touring model
  • 20% 3m window tint
  • 3m 1080 ScothPrint Gloss Black vinyl on roof
  • OEM foglight kit w/ yellow rVinyl tint on the lenses and 3m DiNoc carbon fiber on the chrome rings
  • Rok Blokz mud flaps
  • License plate bracket from plead7
  • Hella Suptertone horns
  • SWP door handles from a 2011 STi
  • SWP painted mirror caps
  • Nissan Altima 7" long, 3" diameter tips
  • OEM rear underguard plastidipped black
  • Perrin Shorty Antenna
  • Kartboy front shifter bushings

Power
  • Paranoid Fabrications muffler hangers
  • AVO panel air filter


Right now parts that I have awaiting install are
  • Alpine PDX 4.100 amp
  • Kartboy shifter bushings
 
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1
#3 ·
Took advantage of some downtime and a break from the rain to do a couple of mods this past weekend. I had an RSB from a 2011 STi and a set of Kartboy endlinks that I had installed on my 2010 LGT that was recently sold. I also purchased a set of mufflers from a 2012 STi not too long ago. I figured with the mufflers removed, the RSB install would be cake. It was. I really need to take the car out to test out the RSB.

However, I can give my impressions on the STi mufflers. Not bad. It made my original exhaust sound raspy and wheezy to something that had a bit of grunt. Definitely noticeable, but subtle and not obnoxious. A bit of drone when decelerating, but again it is tolerable. I can't say there is a performance increase which I'm sure is negligible, if any.

It also transformed the look of the car from a cheap base model to something a little more upscale.

For a cheap mod, it has good benefits. Two thumbs up.




Paranoid Fabrications exhaust hangers:
 
#9 ·
Standard length. I didn't opt for the extended length hangers because the few pictures I saw, they hung too low. So far, no melting plastic. I may trim them in the future, but we'll wait and see.

The pedals are replacement pads. I had them on my 2010 LGT and took them off before trading it in.
 
#15 ·
Sure, what do you need to know about the swap? First, you'll need to find a unit. They're going from around $400-$600 on NASIOC. Secondly, you'll need a transplant harness from SVXdc. Here's his writeup --> ae64.com - Subaru Navi Transplant harness installation

Not a fan of the gray interior. Would have preferred a darker color. Thinking of getting some seat covers while on the search for 08+ STi seats.
 
#21 ·
Since I didn't get any bites on my WTT for chrome handles with my black ones, I opted to take care of it on my own. I purchased some chrome covers off of eBay and had them color matched. The covers don't fit exactly perfect, but it's acceptable. Kind of appears to have a black outline all around the handles.




At the same time, I had the mirror caps color matched as well.



I never realized how hard it is to match white. It doesn't help that Satin White Pearl is considered a tri-color which makes it even harder to color match. My body shop guy had to do it twice, but still wasn't perfect. His paint is brighter than what is on the car. Maybe the SWP on the car has faded a bit. From afar, its not noticeable.

The very first pic in my journal is the "before" pic and the one below is the "after" pic.


 
#22 ·
Had some time today so I figured I would install my Hella Supertones that I've had from my last car (2010 LGT). Reading through the how-to's on how to remove the bumper made it a cinch. I did not opt for the specially made bracket so I needed to look for a good mounting spot. I used the two bolts that were holding in the hood latch. Hooked it all up and tried it out. Sweet. Went to mount the bumper back on and bam, something was blocking it. It appears there is a grille duct plate behind the front grill. I had to take that out to make it fit. I'm sure its used to direct air into the airbox. We'll see how it goes.

Hellas mounted



Can hardly be seen behind the grille. I'm sure when I get the Sports grill it will be more noticeable.

 
#25 ·
I personally hatted the cheapo powder gray S/W said:
Yea, mine is black and even with the a/c its hot. I never wanna park in the shade but i also never wanna park under tress and get all pollened up cuz black shows everything

OP, welcome back. Love the exhaust amd colored mirror caps
 
#26 ·
I wasn't a fan of the gray interior. It was just too . . . gray. Rather bland. I had always thought a black interior would be better suited in a white car. Anyway, a fellow member here, awddriven, was selling parts from his STi swap and he was local. So, I snagged the upper and lower dashes. I also picked up a black steering wheel from another member. Today was the day and boy was it a hot a humid day.

Taking off the lower dash was easy. Remove the center console, remove the shifter trim, remove the glove box, and the lower dash on the driver's side. That took 15 minutes. Removing the silver swoop that has the HVAC controls took a bit longer. I have an X model and trying to figure out how the yellow and blue wire connects without breaking anything took awhile. Took about an hour Googling and going through the forum. After that was removed, I took off about 15 screws that held the lower dash on the passenger side. No problem there. The problem was with the upper dash. I got all the screws, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to to get the upper dash off. Part of the problem was the passenger airbag. I saw how it was attached, but couldn't figure out how to get it out. It's held by claws on both sides. I think that it was only meant to go on and now come out. Even the FSM doesn't have directions on how to remove it. It only says to "remove claws then remove airbag". The other problem was all the ducts for the A/C. I was afraid if I get through all those ducts, I wouldn't be able to get it all back together again.

So, at a certain point after Googling and PM'ing another member, the_webers_inc, who supplied me with pages from the FSM, I made an executive decision to put the upper dash back but replace the lighter gray with the black pieces. It actually doesn't look too bad. I'm going to paint the door panels, but leave the top corner the brownish grayish color to match the upper dash. The rest will be black. I think it will be ok and unique.

The steering wheel was an easy rip and replace. I purchased an airbag cover from eBay. I figured it would be cheaper than getting a new airbag. Again, I got stuck because I don't recognize the screws holding the cover in place. It's not hex, its not torx, and not Phillips or slotted. I emailed another member who did the swap with the airbag cover and hopefully he gets back to me on how to do it. Otherwise, I may tape off the Subaru logo and paint the cover.

I also installed a shift and ebrake boot from JPM Coachworks. Shifter was easy, ebrake was a pain. The pictures don't have the ebrake because I was waiting for the glue to dry. I need to paint the ebrake handle, too, but it's much too humid. I'm thinking a heat gun should be able to loosen the glue on the handle and I should be able to twist it off to paint, right?

Anyway, on the pics.



 
#27 ·
I will need to pick up some more pieces. I need the shifter trim. The one I have from awddriven is from an AT and mine is gray in the inside. I think I can get away with painting the knee panel underneath the glovebox, the kick panels, the door sills and the lower trim of the B pillar. The other trim is on the seats. I won't worry about the back for awhile. I did order Coverking seat covers in black.

My biggest issue is the carpet. I can paint/dye it, but that appears to be a major chore and my car may be down for a few days which I can't afford. New they cost over $400.
 
#29 ·
So I got a black carpet from an 08 STi. Measurements are identical to the Forester carpet except where the gas door pull is. The cutout appears to be much larger and I need to figure out how to cover it. Will take a pic this weekend to show.

But, basically, the interior strip was pretty straightforward. Remove all the trim along the floor, remove the front seats, remove the center console and shifter console and the trim below the shifter console, remove the large seatbelt cover on the B pillar. That's pretty much it. Took me about 2 hours. I took the opportunity to start running some wires for the amp and Sound Ordinance underseat sub. No, I didn't dynamat the floor or anything. Yes, it would have made sense to, but a) I didn't have the funds to buy that stuff, and b) I didn't think I had the time to do it all.

I did get to vacuum all the crap from the previous owner, as well as find some loose change.

 
#36 ·
So I got a black carpet from an 08 STi. Measurements are identical to the Forester carpet except where the gas door pull is. The cutout appears to be much larger and I need to figure out how to cover it. Will take a pic this weekend to show.
This is the cutout I mentioned. Not sure what is there on an STi, that is not there in a Forester? Anybody know?

 
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