This is a little over due as I meant to start a build thread when I got the car, but that never happened so without further delay.. Project Shwagon (aka the SH swagger wagon)!
Spec Sheet
The Numbers
290WHP & 273Tq
Engine/ Drivetrain
• VF52 turbo (Port and polished, powder coated red cold side, ceramic coated black hot side)
• PTP turbo blanket
• GrimmSpeed TMIC (wrapped in DEI reflect-a-gold with custom made shroud)
• GrimmSpeed intake (wrapped in DEI reflect-a-gold)
• GrimmSpeed pulley cover
• GrimmSpeed turbo heat shield
• GrimmSpeed 3-port EBCS
• Forge BPV
• Perrin AOS
• Cobb Accessport running 93 Oct pro-tune by Neetronics aka Pandatuned
• Ported, polished, wrapped, and heat sealed OEM collectors, cross pipe, and up pipe
• Invidia catted down pipe (wrapped and heat sealed)
• Invidia Q300 CBE
• NGK 1 step colder plugs
• CSF radiator
• Earls 19 bar row oil cooler with 8AN stainless lines and fittings
• Mishimoto thermostatic oil sandwich plate
• Stock 4EAT transmission with JDM Subaru paddle shift kit
• Flex-a-lite 6 tube row 5x12 transmission cooler
• Custom intercooler/oil cooler spray kit
Suspension/Wheel
• 2008 STi struts and springs
• Whiteline Roll-center Kit
• Cobb 25mm front sway bar
• Whiteline solid front endlinks
• Whiteline 22mm rear sway bar
• Whiteline lateral rear sway bar supports
• Kartboy solid rear end links
• Whiteline adjustable rear lower control arm
• SPC adjustable rear tow arms
• XXR 527 18x8.75+35
• Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 245/40
Exterior
• Subaru front underspoiler
• Subaru sports grill
• Custom under-tray/ splitter with adjustable support rods
• OEM front tow hook and Sparko rear tow strap
• Custom 3D printed F-badge
• Baked and blacked headlights
• Plasti-dipped doorhandles
• Subaru rear step plate
• Ceramic from window tint
• Subaru mud guards
• Rally Armour UR flaps
• Subaru side panel proctors
• Diode Dynamics DR2 6k HID bulbs
• Custom front splitter and under tray
Interior and Electronics
• Momo shift knob
• Vinyl trim overlays on various interior bits
• SMY dual gauge cluster
• Prosport electronic boost gauge
• Prosport oil pressure gauge
• Prosport oil temperature gauge
• STI door sills
• STI floor mats
• STI driver seat
Media Centre
• Nexus 7 tablet (in custom made aluminium dash mount bezel)
• Kenwood KMM-108U digital media receiver (mounted in the glovebox)
• 4.2 amp dual usb charger
• 4 port powered USB hub
• USB IR repeater (wired to KMM 108-U for remote control)
• Wireless bluetooth USB receiver
• DVB-T antena (converts analog radio signal to digital USB output)
• Factory speakers (with factory tweeter kit)
Brakes
• GrimmSpeed brake master cylinder brace
• Legacy GT front calipers (VHT black) and stock rear calipers (VHT black)
• DBA T2 rotors
• HAWK HPS 5.0 pads
• Black sleeved stainless brake lines
• Russell speed bleeders
• ATE Super Blue fluid
INTRO
The project started when I decided to sell my 04 WRX wagon for something new, something different, something a bit more refined and a bit more grown up (the grown up part has yet to materialize). My goal was to find an SH forester X and swap in STi gear from a totalled STi. But after some research I realized that crashed STi’s are not only hard to get in Canada but costly as well. I decided to spend more responsibly and ended up buying a 2009 Dark Grey Metallic SH Forester XT Limited.
Fresh from the dealership and other than OEM optional parts it's totally stock
My old 04 WRX and my new to me SH FXT
THE START
The goal for the Forester was pretty simple; make a car that is part grown up and part hoon. It had to be comfortable on long road trips yet still fun for those times I visit a track (or possibly an empty on ramp.. or two). I struggled with the aesthetic part of the project as part of me wanted a sleeper and the other likes a more pronounced style. You’ll see were I ended up.
All of the following work was done by myself on the street where I live (with the exception of window tinting, tire mounting, installation of the WL roll centre kit, and the alignment).
The first mods
The first mod was removing the air intake silencer. I know this is a silly mod, but I like to hear turbo and intake sounds. Unfortunately it didn’t make as much of a difference noise wise as it did on the WRX. The next step was getting rid of those terrible fender mouldings and removing the front and rear light grey bumper garnishes. I didn’t like the interior wood kit either, so I slowly started to remove it. The adhesive made it a huge pain the the *** to get off! After I rid the poor fozy of its tacky garnishes I started to put together a plan for the suspension. Coils would be nice, but I cannot currently afford a top shelf system that would deliver the ride comfort and handling I desire. I settled for some takeoffs from a low milage 2008 STi. I also picked up a 25mm COBB front swaybar, 22mm WhiteLine rear adjustable swaybar (with cross support braces), and WhiteLine HD adjustable end links.
Suspension pt.1
The visual difference between the stock and aftermarket bars is fairly significant
I installed the F+R swaybars and end links, and what a difference they made! The handling went from that of a boat to that of a well sorted (small-ish)SUV. Now to get better spring rates and lower centre of gravity! (I hadn’t yet sold the WRX as you can see in the picture below)
#nochrome
Something I am not a fan of on my vehicles is chrome! The first thing i took care of was the head lights. I did the oven bake and black technique.
Exhaust
While visiting my family in Seattle I found a great deal on an Invidia Q300 from Rene (known for his 500HP SH FXT that was featured on TheSmokingTire). Boxed it up and brought it back home with me on the plane.
(the following image was taken when i was installing struts, thus the control arm hanging down)
Suspension pt.2
Once I had the front strut wings modified I installed them. It was a fairly easy swap to do except for tightening the rear top bolts as the hole in the trunk is small making the bolt hard to reach. I ended up buying a deep well ratcheting spanner to get this done.
Winter mode
Shortly there after it started to get cold so off came the OEM Geolanders and on went a set of OEM sized Hankook iPikes. Once the tires were mounted I dipped the stock wheels flat black.
Cartainment
As allot of you know, the Subaru navigation system is not the best so instead of replacing my head unit with an OEM nav unit I decided to try my hand at something a little unconventional.. an Android tablet entertainment and car-puter system. After watching a few youtube videos and reading a bunch of forums I started to design the system and buy the components I needed. Something of noteworthiness here is the Torque app and the ODBII dongle that sends all the information from the Forester's ECU to the Nexus 7!
After getting everything in order I removed the factory unit and started to fab the Nexus 7 into the OEM bezel. It’s help on with a few aluminum bars and secured in place with a few pieces of back strapping that is bolted to the body of the car.
I choose the Kenwood deck as it is a digital only unit which isn't as deep as a standard unit with a cd player.. thus allowing my to mount it in the glovebox and maintain the glovebox's function (I have since re-located the USB3.0 hub behind the dash).
I also removed the power plug from the front dash location and fab'd my own USB plug to go in it's place (you can kind of see it in the picture below where I wrapped interior trim). While the dash was apart i installed an SMY gauge pod with prosprot boost and oil temp gauges. The SMY cluster fits really well and the gauges were a simple install as well.
The great thing about running an Android setup like this is the user (me) can change the look and add or remove functionality as I see fit, such as adding a race computer as seen in this night shot (glove box was open for the pic).
I even have games (mostly racing and rally games) along with a bluetooth controller for those moments when I'm stuck in the car I need to kill some time. <insert fast and furious joke here>
Intake, exhaust and tune
I picked up a COBB accessport v2 and COBB intake for yet another great deal and flashed the FXT stage 1 map
Always wanting more power I had been waiting for an Invidia V3 catted down pipe to pop up on a local forum and finally found one. Installed it right away along with a grim speed heat shield and flash stage 2 93 octane map. I ended up over boosting a few times on my test runs so I switched to a low waistgate map which only half fixed the problem. I'm waiting for a VF52 upgrade before I drop any coin into a pro tune.
Spec Sheet
The Numbers
290WHP & 273Tq
Engine/ Drivetrain
• VF52 turbo (Port and polished, powder coated red cold side, ceramic coated black hot side)
• PTP turbo blanket
• GrimmSpeed TMIC (wrapped in DEI reflect-a-gold with custom made shroud)
• GrimmSpeed intake (wrapped in DEI reflect-a-gold)
• GrimmSpeed pulley cover
• GrimmSpeed turbo heat shield
• GrimmSpeed 3-port EBCS
• Forge BPV
• Perrin AOS
• Cobb Accessport running 93 Oct pro-tune by Neetronics aka Pandatuned
• Ported, polished, wrapped, and heat sealed OEM collectors, cross pipe, and up pipe
• Invidia catted down pipe (wrapped and heat sealed)
• Invidia Q300 CBE
• NGK 1 step colder plugs
• CSF radiator
• Earls 19 bar row oil cooler with 8AN stainless lines and fittings
• Mishimoto thermostatic oil sandwich plate
• Stock 4EAT transmission with JDM Subaru paddle shift kit
• Flex-a-lite 6 tube row 5x12 transmission cooler
• Custom intercooler/oil cooler spray kit
Suspension/Wheel
• 2008 STi struts and springs
• Whiteline Roll-center Kit
• Cobb 25mm front sway bar
• Whiteline solid front endlinks
• Whiteline 22mm rear sway bar
• Whiteline lateral rear sway bar supports
• Kartboy solid rear end links
• Whiteline adjustable rear lower control arm
• SPC adjustable rear tow arms
• XXR 527 18x8.75+35
• Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 245/40
Exterior
• Subaru front underspoiler
• Subaru sports grill
• Custom under-tray/ splitter with adjustable support rods
• OEM front tow hook and Sparko rear tow strap
• Custom 3D printed F-badge
• Baked and blacked headlights
• Plasti-dipped doorhandles
• Subaru rear step plate
• Ceramic from window tint
• Subaru mud guards
• Rally Armour UR flaps
• Subaru side panel proctors
• Diode Dynamics DR2 6k HID bulbs
• Custom front splitter and under tray
Interior and Electronics
• Momo shift knob
• Vinyl trim overlays on various interior bits
• SMY dual gauge cluster
• Prosport electronic boost gauge
• Prosport oil pressure gauge
• Prosport oil temperature gauge
• STI door sills
• STI floor mats
• STI driver seat
Media Centre
• Nexus 7 tablet (in custom made aluminium dash mount bezel)
• Kenwood KMM-108U digital media receiver (mounted in the glovebox)
• 4.2 amp dual usb charger
• 4 port powered USB hub
• USB IR repeater (wired to KMM 108-U for remote control)
• Wireless bluetooth USB receiver
• DVB-T antena (converts analog radio signal to digital USB output)
• Factory speakers (with factory tweeter kit)
Brakes
• GrimmSpeed brake master cylinder brace
• Legacy GT front calipers (VHT black) and stock rear calipers (VHT black)
• DBA T2 rotors
• HAWK HPS 5.0 pads
• Black sleeved stainless brake lines
• Russell speed bleeders
• ATE Super Blue fluid
INTRO
The project started when I decided to sell my 04 WRX wagon for something new, something different, something a bit more refined and a bit more grown up (the grown up part has yet to materialize). My goal was to find an SH forester X and swap in STi gear from a totalled STi. But after some research I realized that crashed STi’s are not only hard to get in Canada but costly as well. I decided to spend more responsibly and ended up buying a 2009 Dark Grey Metallic SH Forester XT Limited.
Fresh from the dealership and other than OEM optional parts it's totally stock
My old 04 WRX and my new to me SH FXT
THE START
The goal for the Forester was pretty simple; make a car that is part grown up and part hoon. It had to be comfortable on long road trips yet still fun for those times I visit a track (or possibly an empty on ramp.. or two). I struggled with the aesthetic part of the project as part of me wanted a sleeper and the other likes a more pronounced style. You’ll see were I ended up.
All of the following work was done by myself on the street where I live (with the exception of window tinting, tire mounting, installation of the WL roll centre kit, and the alignment).
The first mods
The first mod was removing the air intake silencer. I know this is a silly mod, but I like to hear turbo and intake sounds. Unfortunately it didn’t make as much of a difference noise wise as it did on the WRX. The next step was getting rid of those terrible fender mouldings and removing the front and rear light grey bumper garnishes. I didn’t like the interior wood kit either, so I slowly started to remove it. The adhesive made it a huge pain the the *** to get off! After I rid the poor fozy of its tacky garnishes I started to put together a plan for the suspension. Coils would be nice, but I cannot currently afford a top shelf system that would deliver the ride comfort and handling I desire. I settled for some takeoffs from a low milage 2008 STi. I also picked up a 25mm COBB front swaybar, 22mm WhiteLine rear adjustable swaybar (with cross support braces), and WhiteLine HD adjustable end links.
Suspension pt.1
The visual difference between the stock and aftermarket bars is fairly significant
I installed the F+R swaybars and end links, and what a difference they made! The handling went from that of a boat to that of a well sorted (small-ish)SUV. Now to get better spring rates and lower centre of gravity! (I hadn’t yet sold the WRX as you can see in the picture below)
#nochrome
Something I am not a fan of on my vehicles is chrome! The first thing i took care of was the head lights. I did the oven bake and black technique.
Exhaust
While visiting my family in Seattle I found a great deal on an Invidia Q300 from Rene (known for his 500HP SH FXT that was featured on TheSmokingTire). Boxed it up and brought it back home with me on the plane.
(the following image was taken when i was installing struts, thus the control arm hanging down)
Suspension pt.2
Once I had the front strut wings modified I installed them. It was a fairly easy swap to do except for tightening the rear top bolts as the hole in the trunk is small making the bolt hard to reach. I ended up buying a deep well ratcheting spanner to get this done.
Winter mode
Shortly there after it started to get cold so off came the OEM Geolanders and on went a set of OEM sized Hankook iPikes. Once the tires were mounted I dipped the stock wheels flat black.
Cartainment
As allot of you know, the Subaru navigation system is not the best so instead of replacing my head unit with an OEM nav unit I decided to try my hand at something a little unconventional.. an Android tablet entertainment and car-puter system. After watching a few youtube videos and reading a bunch of forums I started to design the system and buy the components I needed. Something of noteworthiness here is the Torque app and the ODBII dongle that sends all the information from the Forester's ECU to the Nexus 7!
After getting everything in order I removed the factory unit and started to fab the Nexus 7 into the OEM bezel. It’s help on with a few aluminum bars and secured in place with a few pieces of back strapping that is bolted to the body of the car.
I choose the Kenwood deck as it is a digital only unit which isn't as deep as a standard unit with a cd player.. thus allowing my to mount it in the glovebox and maintain the glovebox's function (I have since re-located the USB3.0 hub behind the dash).
I also removed the power plug from the front dash location and fab'd my own USB plug to go in it's place (you can kind of see it in the picture below where I wrapped interior trim). While the dash was apart i installed an SMY gauge pod with prosprot boost and oil temp gauges. The SMY cluster fits really well and the gauges were a simple install as well.
The great thing about running an Android setup like this is the user (me) can change the look and add or remove functionality as I see fit, such as adding a race computer as seen in this night shot (glove box was open for the pic).
I even have games (mostly racing and rally games) along with a bluetooth controller for those moments when I'm stuck in the car I need to kill some time. <insert fast and furious joke here>
Intake, exhaust and tune
I picked up a COBB accessport v2 and COBB intake for yet another great deal and flashed the FXT stage 1 map
Always wanting more power I had been waiting for an Invidia V3 catted down pipe to pop up on a local forum and finally found one. Installed it right away along with a grim speed heat shield and flash stage 2 93 octane map. I ended up over boosting a few times on my test runs so I switched to a low waistgate map which only half fixed the problem. I'm waiting for a VF52 upgrade before I drop any coin into a pro tune.