ScoobyDoobie's LGT

Unfortunately, yep, really.

But like I said, this depends highly on your local area - and the areas which you travel through most often, too, of-course. What may constitute a "one eye open, one eye closed" kind of thing, as us Chinese would say, in one municipality may well earn you either an interview or a "fix-it-ticket" in another, so it's good to get a feel for your immediate locals' enforcement values/prejudices, as well as that of your most often frequented areas'.

.com isn't without tales of people with LED plate illumination that's run into trouble - but again, it's all dependent on subjectives.

And just look at what happened recently in Maryland:

Maryland Judge Decrees Pontiac G8 GT Tail Lights Illegal

^ I mean, that's just a plain really! scenario...but what can you do? At-roadside, it's virtually impossible - and in most cases likely highly counterproductive - to debate the stop or the citation, and even if you were successful in doing so, that's still time that you'd never get back. And you can only pray that, in-court, at least the judge wouldn't be so careless, ignorant, or as stubborn as the one that particular enthusiast encountered.

Locally, things have gotten much better in the last 5 years, but during 2001 through 2004, it was really rough - many people, regular, everyday folks who were respectable appearing enough: post-grad students, doctors, professors, etc., were getting pulled-over and either interviewed or cited for failing "red-by-sight" laws on their new and unmodified Lexus and Acura vehicles. One particular classmate of mine received two tickets within the span of as many months, from two adjacent but separate municipalities (granted, in many of these cases, particularly back in late '01 through early '03, a lot of the individuals targeted were darker-skinned individuals who were apparently not of African-American ethnicity). The kicker? Ohio has no "red-by-sight" laws.

The reason why I'm so cautious about things like this is because in my area, a little paranoia does save a lot of headaches. :smile:

Now, I don't want you to be paranoid, bro - that's not the idea, here. :wink:

Instead, it's to just make you aware that such concerns are real and do exist, and that as someone who drives an obviously modified import vehicle - even one that appears as family-oriented as ours - this is something to still think a little about.

A while back I had an idea for Jason @ R-Rev Sports )R-REV Sports) to make a CF shifter surround for us 5EATers. If you can't tell by my exterior mods, I'm not really a fan of chrome. The stock shifter surround is the only bit of chrome in the interior and looked out of place to me. I mailed off my shifter surround for Jason to make the mold, but unfortunately there was not enough interest on here for him to produce them. Recently received my stock surround back along with the test piece in FRP that Jason's fabricator made. Painted and put the test piece in today.

Stock surround and the FRP test piece how I got it:


Few hours after painting:


And in the car:




Also, just bought something else that I'll be installing at the same time I do the FMIC... take a guess at what it'll be. I'll give you a hint.. the bumper must come of to put these (this? on as well.

Spent this weekend installing an itsme RacerX FMIC and some new to me headlights. They are cleared 05's with ABP eyelids (HKC-Speed I believe?) and a Halo kit in them. After finishing the FMIC install, tried to wire up the halos with no luck, will give it a try again in a few days. Couldn't quite figure out how to wire them up to turn on and off with the parking lights.

I'm not sure how I feel about the change in headlights quite yet, but I'm real happy with the RacerX FMIC. Had to chase down one minor boost leak but that was fairly easy to find/fix. Just the base map update from Infamous1 is loaded and it feels pretty good already.

This FMIC also is great because it lets you keep the fog lights, bumper beam, and includes pipes to allow you to fit LGT style or STI style turbos. Also costs less than all other options out there. Minimal cutting required, was easily taken care of with a dremel w/a cutting wheel.



Ever wondered how low the filter sits with the AEM CAI? Now you know


"new" headlights:



new v.s. old:


cutting and running cold side piping done. fitting the core:


FMIC install complete:





Everything put back together:

Been pretty busy, still haven't wired up the halos, cleaned the headlights, nor installed the smaller restrictor pill yet :icon_frown:.

I did throw some underhood bling on last week though. SPT v.2 battery tie down and oil cap.. $60 shipped brand new off ebay. :bling:

Nothing special, couple recent pics:

Tuned200 said:

Car looks good man. Nice work on the fmic.

Click to expand...

Thanks man! Got a few more small bits and pieces I plan on adding in the coming months but for now am pretty much done with most of the mods I wanted to do to it.

Here are the most recent shots of it

Earlier installed a Cobb XLE BPV. Was hoping it would fix my noise issue I've been having (see thread here: http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f87/help-me-fix-figure-out-sound-82964/#post917120). Still have the weird fluttering noise.

Tested it in full recirc mode and 50/50. Recirc mode only slightly louder than stock BPV (with aftermarket intake, AEM in my case), and 50/50 only slightly louder than that with a different, higher pitched tone. Leaving it on 50/50 for now.

Definitely a high quality piece.




removable plate that lets you convert it to 50/50:


Cobb XLE BPV next to OEM BPV:


Installed:



Also botched the install on one of my "LEGACYGT.COM" stickers :lol: :icon_redface: so got creative with some parts of it (not the best pic but you get the idea):

Nice out, cleaned the car and drove around taking a few pics: