[adman]

Adman's 04 SG Forester XT - DBA rotors, STI steering rack, swaybars +more

Adman's 04 SG Forester XT

When I got my licence, I was lucky enough to “borrow” my parents 05 NA Foz, as they both had other cars and had no need for it. 3 years later with my full licence approaching I started looking for a car of my own, but couldn’t look past the ever reliable foz. 3 months before my full licence, I found this; a 2004 Forester XT with 145,000km on the clock.

Flew over to Melbourne, got it back on the ferry, and drove it down just in time for a 11am lecture that morning. Ever since I’ve been hooked and loving it. I study mechanical engineering, and the mod itch goes perfectly with the desire to figure out how everything works. I’m a complete mechanical novice however, but hopefully by the end I’ll have figured most of the engine bay out!

Future mods? I'm a poor uni student, attempting to move out whilst maintaining my myriad of expensive hobbies (cars, computers, bikes) so money is the biggest issue. I'm following the plan of traction, brakes, handling, then power. Traction and brakes are done for now. After a bit of handling it's Vf48, bigger TMIC, and full turbo back exhaust, but that might be 9 months or so before it's financially feasible.

Car 4 days after purchase

Car as it currently sits!

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Mod list:

Engine

• X-force cannon
• K&N Pod Filter intake

Suspension and Handling

• BC V1 Coilovers, Jan 2014
• '04 STI Steering rack
• Whiteline 22mm adjustable RSB, Sep 2014
• Whiteline 22mm adjustable FSB, Sep 2014
• Kartboy Front Endlinks, Sep 2014
• Kartboy Rear Endlinks, Sep 2014
• Whiteline RSB HD Mounts, Sep 2014
• Whiteline endlink supports, Sep 2014
• Perrin rear diff crossmember bolts, Sep 2014

Brakes

• 2004 WRX front 4 pot brakes, Nov 2013
• 2004 WRX rear 2 pot brakes, Nov2013
• DBA 4000 T3 slotted rotors, front and rear, Sep 2014
• HEL Stainless steel brake lines, Sep 2014
• EBC Redstuff pads, front and rear, Sep 2014
• Castrol fluid
• Custom (Ozfoz) rear adapter brackets, Nov2013

Exterior

• Plastidipped headlight assembly, Oct 2013
• Removed plastidip from headlight assembly... didn't rate it, Dec 2013
• Plastidipped FORESTER rear badges, Oct 2013
• Headlight HIDs
• Dust deflector
• Ebay spec mesh grill, Oct 2013
• Hella Supertones, Dec 2013
• STI Scoop
• Removed door protector trims, Oct 2013
• 08 Sports taillights, Jan 2014
• OzFoz.com Stickers, Feb 2014
• STI Forester Front Spats, Sep 2014

Wheels/tires

• Ultrex RS Gunmetal 18 x 8 +42 offset, Oct 2013
• Michelin Pilot Sport 3 235/40 ZR 95W, Oct 2013

Interior

• XTrons Double headunit
• Plastidipped Center Console, Oct 2013
• Factory subwoofer
• Tweeters and OEM Forester speakers
• Alpine Amplifier
• Forester seat covers
• Cargo tray
• Rhino RAv3 immobiliser and alarm
• Clock LEDs swapped out with red ones, Jan 2014
• Climate Control LEDs swapped out with red ones, Jan 2014
• Dash LEDs swapped out with red ones, Jan 2014.
• Monza Bucket Seat, Sep 2014

Other

• Phat 610CCA Battery, Jan 2014

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Thanks for looking!

 

[adman]

Few of the things I'd already done before making this journal.

First up, Ultrex RS Gunmetal 18 x 8 +42 offset with Michelin Pilot Sport 3 235/40 ZR 95W tires.

Ebay spec grill arrived.

Painted it, installed Hella Supertones behind.

At the same time, plastidipped headlight surrounds black to match grill. Wasn't sure on this, will probably peel it off and go back to red.

Also plastidipped rear lettering. Not a fan of chrome parts. Polished metal okay, plasti chrome, crap. It had to go.

Scored these 06 WRX 4/2 pots from Gumtree. Came with rotors, excuse the poopty phone photo. Followed these two threads for repainting/rebuilding/installing.

Rebuilding and painting WRX callipers.
WRX brake install on foresters.
Rear dogbone adaptors are required, I got mine from Cruisn on Ozfoz (Cheers!).Have a looksies.

Sandblasted.

Painted.

Stickered.

And on.

Also plastidipped center console black.

 

[Prettym1k3]

Love that misty shot, Adman! And love me some Cayenne Red Forester action.

 

[CinderBlock]

Needs moar low and some Hella Supertones. And like Mike mentioned, that second shot is sweet.

 

[adman]

Love that misty shot, Adman! And love me some Cayenne Red Forester action.

Needs moar low and some Hella Supertones. And like Mike mentioned, that second shot is sweet.

Cheers fellas! Supertones are already on, and coilovers are on route!

 

[CinderBlock]

Sweet. I see you updated the pics. Got any of the whole front end as it sits now?

 

[adman]

Sweet. I see you updated the pics. Got any of the whole front end as it sits now?

Yes... and no. Most of those photos were taken today, and you'll noticed the headlight surrounds are different colours as I'm peeling off the plastidip. Unfortunately I decided to clear coat it to match the grill, which makes it a PITA to peel!

When the coilovers are on I'll probably head back up the mountain and try and replicate that mist shot of the front end.

 

[Shipman]

Do you happen to have the link for that grille? I cant seem to find it.

 

[adman]

Do you happen to have the link for that grille? I cant seem to find it.

Had a look through my history, I found it but the store no longer has any.

xcessmotors on eBay

I wouldn't recommend that grill though. There was no mounting stuff supplied so I ended up cutting up the stock one big time and mounting it into the back of the one I bought, so I could use the same mounting points. Much better off buying legit from something like japanparts.

This one from ultrex in Western Australia looks very similar, bit more pricey, but they're champions to deal with. Bought my wheels from there, and they were really helpful.

 

[Shipman]

Thanks man, I appreciate the info, If I was going to have to cut mine up anyway I might as well just make a custom one out of it. Thanks again man.

 

[adman]

Had a somewhat productive but boring weekend...

Started on my mission to make all green lights in the car turn red, starting with the clock. Following ThatChinskiGuy's little DIY (thanks bud). Bought some "5050 T5 Wide Angle 74 37 Wedge LED"s from ebay for $6 inc postage... smooth sailing.

Also removed the plastidip from the headlight surrounds. Took freaking ages because I'd clear coated over the dip to match the gloss grill. Not sure whether I want to repaint the grill red (leaving the mesh black)... another day though.

And removed the door protectors. Prefer the look without. Just got some fishing line in behind and sawed it off. It left HEAPS of 3m tape though... which is proving to be a ***** to remove. Any ideas? In progress photo.

Lots of stuff in the mail though! Coilovers, 08 Sports brakelights, quick valve for oil changes, moar leds for the dash, and Ozfoz stickers.

 

[Scooby_X]

Have you a tried medium cut/polish? or good old eucalyptus oil seems to work for sticky residue!

 

[alextmullis]

Looks great dude

 

[adman]

Woohoo! Sport tail lights showed up this morning, I'll probably put them in tonight. Still waiting on coilovers...

Went for ebay spec from the US, turned out to be about $350 posted. a

 

[adman]

Of course being an american product there are going to be issues... or maybe just SG9 - SG5.. who knows.

The sports lights have hardness adapter that should nicely clip into the car... but the old lights are seemingly hard wired right through.

Anyone know if I'll find the adapter if I dig deeper or am I best just to cut and splice the wires from the new taillights?

Old wiring.

New wiring and harness.

 

[ballemann]

Just use the old harness. I just did the same thing.

 

[adman]

The ebay guys quoted $130... either they're dreaming or wasn't sure what I was asking for.. but anyway, dropped by the local Subaru smash repairs and they snipped the car-side harness off a smashed Sg9, $10, score!

Still had to do a fair bit of snipping and soldering to wire the new harness into the car but it worked a treat, looks sweet now.

Before.

After.

Again, the photos make it look more orange than they are, bit annoying. Lights were on when the after photo was taken which would be why.

 

[adman]

Coilovers arrived, put them all on okay, and waited a few days to drop them so the springs could sag (which the back ones did quite a bit actually).

Unfortunately when I went to adjust the height this morning this happened...

Opened up a split in my inner CV boot that seems to have been there a while (there's grease splatters all above the boot :| ). So anyway, turns out Subaru have different CV boot fitting either side of the diff, which means the ones I got today fit the other side... bit of a bummer. Anybody know why this is? Seems silly to me... tripod on the left, cylinder on the right.

In other news, I continued my mission to make all green LEDs red with the climate controls, turned out to be a major deal, with a bit of soldering new leds into the circuit board rather than just swapping out bulbs. Plastidipped the dials whilst they were out as I missed them before.

Now all that's left is the speedo/tacho in the cluster!

OzFoz stickers turned up too!

And swapped out the old battery which kept going flat with a bigger and better 610CCA one. Could just be me but I swear the interior lights and headlights come on a lot stronger than they did before...

Hopefully I'll get the boot fixed tomorrow and grab some shots of it finally lowered. Maaad!

 

[adman]

Boom! Coilovers are on! Still deciding on ride height, might drop the rears by another 15/20 mm and the fronts by 5/10. Not after a slammed look but just neatly filling the guards.

Moved the hellahorns up slightly, since they were originally fitted on the stock grill and centered, which didn't work with the new one.

Followed this DIY article on replacing dash lights. I didn't bother dealing with the green tint, it's a lot more effort and I'd only do it if I had a damaged set to swap in old parts.

One thing I would say; DO NOT replace the bulb behind the charge warning indicator with an LED. I don't know why, but it keeps the charge indicator lit up permanently, and had me poopting bricks that I'd need to replace the alternator belt or something. Sorry for the crap images!



And of course.. the most important mod!



Now to begin saving for sway bars...

 

[CinderBlock]

Looks good!