MikeDrives1

(Updated 4-9-2013 )

So, to introduce myself, my name is Michael and i work in the chemical industry. Ive always loved subarus and waited patiently for the day i could bring this puppy home. After 6 months of searching, i came across what seemed to be the perfect match for me. A 2001 Forester L in 5spd with 80k miles on it.

The exterior of the car was somewhat beat up and needed quite a bit of TLC. But after spending 8+ hours compounding, polishing and waxing, the end result was a beautiful Blue Ridge Pearl SF5 forester


As of May 22nd, 2012, she sits with a built STi engine and transmission swap, fully tuned on an FP hta68 turbo and all supporting mods, plus some more odds and ends making the nearly 400trq to the wheels at 23psi, tuned by david brown from Performance auto solutions in Long Island, NY.



Update : April 9th, 2013:

The car lasted me a whole year with many fun times in it, until a defect in the motor's assembly by the shop caused a catastrophic failure of the entire block's oiling system. What a truly large setback indeed this was. Attempted to sell the car, among many other personal life issues occuring at the time. Came to my senses after a few months of having it listed and decided to keep the car and rebuild it under a friends shop. Difference being, unlike the last shop that dooped me over, he has a warranty on his work. The engine setup will be almost the same.... STI block with upgraded pistons. This is enough to handle the power i was pushing. Rebuild will be a 2 month process, but with living situations having changed, the car is not able to be the financial priority. Patience is a virtue though.
Here she is on day 2, all detailed and cleaned up



a week later, i went out and shot with a friend.



And Now, ive gone out and done a real shoot of her after removing some useless stickers inside and out and painting my OE grill, this is the result:














Mods list so far

Engine/driveline:
-Engine block and heads machined down (high C/R)
-STi group N Pitch mount
- Grimmspeed Lightweight crank pulley
-Genuine Borla Unequal Legnth Header
- Area 1320 CNC'd Throttlebody spacer
-Weapon R short ram intake attached to empty stock box
-Magnaflow Highflow secondary cat
-2.5" midpipe with no resonator
-2005 STi Axleback
-Kartboy shortshifter
-Kartboy solid shifter bushings
-Kartboy solid rear shifter mount


Wheels/Suspension
-2002 WRX rims (16x7) coated BBS gold
-Cusco front strut bar
-BC-BR full coilovers
-Whiteline rear strut bar
-Whiteline front swaybar
-whiteline front swaybar endlinks
-Whiteline adjustable 24mm rear swaybar
-Whiteline solid rear endlinks
-Whiteline subframe Lockbolts
-Kartboy front crossmember solid bushing kit
-Kartboy rear diff crossmember solid bushing kit
-Whiteline solid steeringrack bushings
-Cusco Rear subframe brace


Brakes:
-WRX front caliper brackets
-WRX front calipers
-WRX sized Powerslot front rotors
-Hawk HPS pads
-Technica Stainless Steel Brakelines all around
-1999 Forester-S Rear disc setup (not installed yet)
- Racing brake big-rear-brake (H6) conversion kit (not installed yet)


Exterior:
-JDM Type RA-II genuine front valence
-JDM Type RA-II genuine Front grill
-Knockoff JDM (metal) hood with scoop hole (painted BRP)
-Knockoff JDM STi hoodscoop (painted BRP)
-Painted bumpers and plastic sideskits/trim ( Flat black)
-Laminex tailight tint
- Hella supertone horns
-25% tint in rear 5 windows
-Rallyarmor basic mudflaps
-4300k hi/lo H4 HID bulbs
-4300k HID foglight bulbs
-Yellow laminex on fogs
-SuperbrightLED's for every blinker/paring/reverse and tail light
-No name brand auxilary lights on bumper *removed for summer*
-OEM painted rear hatch spoiler

Interior / ICE:
- 2002 WRX seats
-Latheworks 3" shifter extension
-Kartboy aluminum shiftknob
-SUPERBRIGHTLED's red multi-LED bulbs for the guage cluster (looks like STI cluster)
-JVC headunit
-Alpine 6" speakers (all 4)
-Alpine tweeters (factory replacements)
-6x9 bass speakers installed in rear trunk pockets
-OEM underseat Subwoofer
-Razo wideangle rearview mirror

-No-name center console triple guage pod
1.) Prosport water temp
2.) Prosport Oil pressure
3.) AEM UEGO wideband




Before drop:



after drop ( before proper spacers)



after the other drop lol






As of now, 10-2-11

__________________
- 2001FSTi: Currently rebuilding....
- 1996 Civic LX. The daily gas sipper.

Subiciv

Sweet foz, looks like you have your current and future mods down pat. Looks good!

__________________
07 GRP Foz
09 SWP Foz

Rob

Nice start.
Save your money on the header though and just get a replica from Ebay for ~$120, they'll probably even last longer than a real Borla in the NJ winters.

taza

Welcome from Australia. The exterior scrubbed up well after some polishing :)

__________________
01 Foz 2.5- D/R, 5" lift, Bullbar, Rearbar, LSD

tallazzPilipino

i really need to see what an actual borla one looks like.

well, after enlarging the holes a bit on mine, either side slipped in just fine.

__________________
romidontplaythat! ouiiiii...
- two USDM SF6s

Rob

It looks exactly the same but the metal they make them out of is very thin and rusts right through.

MikeDrives1

Thread Starter

My only issue with the EBAY brand ones is the fact that... is it Unequal legnth or equal? The Borla i may get is listed as UEL, and the ebay ones dont really have a listing. Although ... i have an idea of what UEL vs ELH would look like... my guess is that the OBX brand, with the Passenger side exit that has a loop before it meets up to the Drivers side tubes would be considered Equal legnth, yes? , whereas the others look similiar to the borla in which the passenger side goes straight to the cat's flange, whereas the drivers must travel farther to reach.



Edit:

For suspesnsion, from Boxer4Racing, i just ordered:

-Cusco front strut bar
-Cusco Rear strut bar
-Cusco rear subframe brace
-Whiteline subframe Lock bolts.

cant wait to get those badboys installed!


Next paycheck will go towards an adjustable rear swaybar upgrade, and ill hold off on the Front sway bar until i do the header, because it looks as if it must come off to get it around and off.

__________________
- 2001FSTi: Currently rebuilding....
- 1996 Civic LX. The daily gas sipper.

dtfdanyo

what coils are going to get?

MikeDrives1

Thread Starter

Right now my heart's set on BC racing. They make a fully adjustable set with adjustable dampening as well, and offer it in a fairly soft spring rate for street / occassional track use. This is great, because i want to keep the car as a daily driver, have the abilitiy to raise or lower it, and not have my butt hurt after a car ride of more than 20 minutes. And also, have the ability to set all 4 coils to a stiffer setting for those weekend track days, or back road spirited drives.

I dont plan to get any nor install them until march/april until the winter is over. Perhaps ill get them during the winter and put them aside, but i dont want to put them on in the middle of a snowy winter

, but first things first, im getting a whole new exhaust (header, cat, catback) after these suspension upgrades, get some more power out of the engine.

As far as the driveline is concerned, Uncle scottys cocktail has my transmission shifting smoother than butter (quiet as a mouse too) with a fairly recent OEM clutch replacement from the previous owner.

__________________
- 2001FSTi: Currently rebuilding....
- 1996 Civic LX. The daily gas sipper.

00subforester

looks like you're well on your way with mods. I will be following your updates as I have a 2000 L and I plan on making quite a few mods myself. Car cleaned up real well by the way.....

MikeDrives1

Thread Starter

Thank you sir, yes, i have a plan in mind, and now that im working a job in my field, they are being set into motion very quickly

Thank you sir!

Thank you indeed!

Thank you!, i plan to take many pictures as i go along.

__________________
- 2001FSTi: Currently rebuilding....
- 1996 Civic LX. The daily gas sipper.

Rob

The OBX headers on Ebay are EL but that's not the one I was referring to.
These:
1997-2007 SUBARU LEGACY GT 2.5L T304 SS EXHAUST HEADER: eBay Motors (item 190462648266 end time Nov-06-10 18:00:28 PDT)
are replicas of the Borla header and are UEL.

MikeDrives1

Thread Starter

My suspension parts shipped, im really excited!

My next question is....

The company Primative sells a front subframe (4 point) chassis brace for the 2001 subaru 2.5Rs .... Now my question is... will this fit my 2001 forester? I ask this because the 2.5rs of the same year shares the same parts, such as some suspension components, front strut tower bar fitmet, motor and exhaust things, ect, to the best of my knowledge.

__________________
- 2001FSTi: Currently rebuilding....
- 1996 Civic LX. The daily gas sipper.

MikeDrives1

Thread Starter

Painted my wheels with my Gold BBS paint from Grimmspeed. Took my time and they came out superb!

__________________
- 2001FSTi: Currently rebuilding....
- 1996 Civic LX. The daily gas sipper.

00subforester

The wheels turned out awesome!!! Mine are going black here soon. I hope they turn out that nice.