Rob

It all started back in late 2003.
The lease on my Wife;s(then girlfriend) Honda Civic was coming up and she was looking around for a new car. The dealership I work for had taken a 2001 Forester S in on trade and me being the Subaru fiend that I am decided to take it home for the night. She drove around in it for a little while and completely loved it except for the fact that it had a slushbox(I had taught her how to drive my WRX not long before that and she wanted a manual).
After she had made the decision what kind of car she wanted we searched and searched for a manual trans Forester S(had to have the Gigantor moonroof) and happened upon one at another local dealer. It was a Diamond Black Pearl 2002 S Premium, 58k miles, 5 spd, heated seats, moonroof, the works. We ended up getting the dealer I work for to buy it from the other place to save us some money and hassle. I don't have any pics of it in stock form but I am sure most of us know what they look like.

The car stayed stock for a long time as it was my Wife's and I had my WRX to play with. I sold the WRX last year and was just driving around in a beater while looking for another car for my Wife(she likes to drive newer cars and hers was not up to 120k miles). Since I didn't have a toy to play with anymore, I started to think about modding the '02(it was going to be mine after her new car arrived.

The Beginning
Her car had started throwing a CEL for the cat malfunctioning, it wasn't too surprising as it was still the original one, as well as an exhaust leak on the front midpipe flange due to a deteriorated donut gasket. My "modder" mentality kicked in and decided that since I had to buy a new cat I would just pick up a High Flow aftermarket one and since I was going to have a HFC, I should just pick up a set headers and a catback as well. I ordered a set of Ebay replica headers, a Stromung HFC, a Magnaflow resonator, and an '07 STI catback to be installed. Everything fit well after the catback was modded to have the extra length and resonator installed into it and I was happy, for now.

Now it's ON!
Since I had already started with the modding, I decided to just go forth with any ideas that came into my head. The Wife wouldn't mind, right?
There was a Group Buy on Group A lightweight pulley sets on RS25.com so I picked up one of those and started the search for a Cobb CAI. Found the intake after a week or so and bought that figuring that would be good enough for power mods.

I also wanted to move on to the suspension. Here was the plan:
WRX struts(I picked up a new set of Tokico HPs)
WRX wagon springs(Got some RCEs)
STI Group N strut tops
Front and Rear sway bars(Whiteline solid 22mm in the front and 22mm adjustable in the rear)
Rear sway bar mounts(Whiteline again)
Heavy Duty endlinks on both ends(Whiteline front and Kartboy Rears)
Front and Rear strut bars(Whiteline, yet again)
Offset caster Bushings(Whiteline)
Removal of front spacer blocks(thanks for the help Travis)

I also had the following parts laying around so I put them in as well:
WRX steering rack
Whiteline RCAs
Whiteline Outrigger bushings
Super Pro steering rack bushings.

The suspension install was loong but went well but I had to move in to the trans...........

Rob

Curse you, Sloppy shifter!
The stock shifter is way too tall and loose for my likings so I ordered up the following parts:
Kartboy FXT Short shift lever
Kartboy front and rear shifter bushings
Kartboy Knuckle Ball Shift knob
TiC linkage bushings
TiC tranny crossmember bushings
I also Urethane filled my stock trans mount and Pitch stop

These parts made the shifting so much better it was unbelievable. I also figured I would do a fluid change while I was crawling around under the car so I ordered:
Uncle Scotty's Cocktail
Motul Gear 300 for the rear diff

Another great upgrade, the trans is so smooth you would never know it has the mileage it does.

Rob

Slight changes and future Suspension upgrades
A friend of mine picked up yellow knight's old 2.5RS and almost immediately swapped it. The car had a full Brullen exhaust set up on it including equal length headers so I took the set up I had previously installed on the S and swapped it for the Brullen set up. The equal length headers definitely change the Subaru sound and are a good amount louder due to the long gone honey comb inside the HFC section but they also make a good power difference over the "noise maker" UEL header like the Borlas/Ebay Replicas.

One thing I didn't get to install when I did the rest of the suspension mods was a set of Whiteline Rear Subframe Lock bolts. The factory holes were just too full of road debris and rusted that I couldn't get the chaser to start and didn't have a tap so I put them off. I have sinced gotten the correct tap but haven't gotten back around to putting them in. Will most likely do them and Urethane fill my rear diff bushings when I do the following:

I also got egged into picking up a set of Whiteline adjustable Lateral Links that were on Nasioc for a really good price. This will make the camber bolts I bought unneccessary and provide far more adjustment. I have yet to install these as I have had no time and I am waiting for the Whiteline Toe Lock Kit to come off of back order.


Also forgot to mention that my seemingly never ending search for a turbo hood for this car came to an end when Romi hooked up with a seller of them. Just installed it this weekend, fit pretty good for the price(beggers can't be chooser anyways) and definitely helps the look. I may paint the Carbon Fiber at some point as I have never really been a fan of the look but for now, it blends in with the black paint enough for me to deal with it.
Here is a couple of quick pics of how she sits right now. You can also see the 18x7.5" wheels I picked up dirt cheap on Nasioc. They rub in the rear due to the +43 offset but sit nice and flush so I will just have to dial in some negative camber when I install the lat links and maybe do some slight rolling, we shall see.
At the CT Forester Meet last month(pre hood)

As she looked yesterday

awdpower

Looks really nice. I need to some suspension work to my 02. A LOT of body roll

Rob

Well this suspension set up certainly takes care of the body roll problem.

tallazzPilipino

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06MY FSXTL < For Sale

Rob

Some day. Some day.

I do have a few more exterior mods in the works that may help me look a little bit different than Travis. Just waiting for them to be painted then I will take pics of them installed.

UGCspawn

I'm soooo jalous of that hood!

ScoobyDoobie

Awesome, nice SF!

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05' LGT-99' SF (sold)

Rob

Coming from guys who both have nice SFs, thank you very much!

Also, UGC, sent you a PM.

Rob

Got the Toe Lock kit on Saturday probably won't be able to install it and the arms for a couple of weeks though.
I also should be getting another mod tomorrow that I will post installed pics of Wednesday at the latest. Can't wait for this one!

Rob

Finally!

After sitting on this grille for like eight or nine months, I finally got it painted and installed it last night. I know the pic is dark and crappy but I will take more after I wash it(hopefully the will be daytime pics )

Rob

Started doing some more work to the rear suspension last night but had to stopo on account of time.
Damn those long bolts through the rear hubs are TIGHT! Hoping to finish it up today and post some pics.

earthbrown8

looks great. sorry if I sound stupid. that hood is functional? adds air flow to the engine, right? I'm thinking it does, but if not it still looks really good. does it push air right to the intake of the engine somehow? hopefully the only stupid question is one not asked for this thread. thanks

eb

SenorSubie

Love what you have done to the forester. Good taste. Can you help me out as to how/where you removed the front spacer blocks? I can't find anything on them.

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