Ben's Obs2 Journal (Something a little different)

[Soon2BturbodRS]

Obs2
Photobucket Album

Edited: 02/22/08
-Pics

Other additions as of late
-Whiteline Heavy-duty Front End Links + 22mm Front Sway Bar
-Hella Supertone
-OpenPort Datalogging
-Cusco Type-OS Front Strut Brace
-Removed the STi Decals from the Fog Lamp Covers
-Check Engine Light

Current State:
38,500-miles
"Special Edition Package"
Leather steering wheel
Leather shift knob
Leather parking brake handle
Center console armrest
Auto dimming rear view mirror/compass
260w Premium CD changer, AM/FM
6 upgraded speakers
Rear spoiler

Steel Gray Metallic / Crystal Gray Metallic

Mods:
Engine
Bone Stock
EJ25 2457cc normally-aspirated SOHC 16-valve
173bhp
166lb-ft
Castrol synthetic every 3-4k

Drivetrain
Bone Stock
5-speed manual

Suspension
Cusco Type-OS Front Strut Brace
Perrin Adjustable 20-24mm Rear Sway Bar
Perrin Solid Rear End Links
Prodrive Springs (for 2004-05 WRX Sedan)
KYB GR2 Front Struts (for 1993-01 Impreza)
DIY Front Camber (~-0.6 to -0.8deg each side)
Whiteline Heavy-duty Front End Links
Whiteline 22mm Front Sway Bar

Brakes
Axxis Ultimate Brake Pads

Wheels
"OEM" OEM 7-spoke (16x6.5") +53mm Silver
Bridgestone Potenza RE92A (205/55hr16) escapegoat tires

"Summer" Rota Tarmac II Wheels (17x7.5") +48mm Steel Gray
Hankook Ventus RS-2 Z212 (215/45zr17) 200 treadwear rating
Rays Lightweight Lug Nuts (Black)

*"All-season" JDM Legacy Wheels (17x7.0") +55mm Silver
Pirelli PZero Nero M+S (225/45yr17) 400 treadwear rating
OEM Lug Nuts** Currently in use

Exterior
Black, Blank License Plate Frames
Hella Super Tone(s)
OEM STi CGM Fog Lamp Covers (Debadged of STi Decals)

Lighting
Apexcone/DDM 5000K 35-watt HIDs
HIR-1 Hi-beams
Narva Rangepower Fog Lamp Bulbs

Decals (Power adders )
Rally piggies (Gold on mirrors, White on hatch)
NWIC (front doors below mirrors)
NASIOC (don't hate on rearmost driver-side window)

Interior
Bone Stock

Audio & Electronics
Pioneer DEH-P4800MP Deck
Pioneer iPod Adapter












1. To Be Installed
1 Hella Supertone
ATE Super Blue Racing Brake Fluid
Goodridge Stainless-steel Braided Brake Lines
OEM WRX Cat-back (MY03)

2. Up Next
Gauges for help w/ tuning (EGT, Wideband Afr)
Quick-release Rear Strut Brace
Steering Rack Bushings
04+ WRX Gauge Cluster (I want a big central tach!)
CGM Front Grille (no more chrome!)

3. Hopefully in the Near Future
Learn to reflash!
Carputer (maybe...)
Koni "Yellow" Single-adjustable Strut Inserts
RCE Non-lowering Front Camber Plates
STi V-Limited Front Lip Spoiler
OEM STi Rear Diffuser w/ Cusco Rear Subframe Brace
JDM Wagon Rear Spats
Injen CAI + Ram Air don't ask
Braille Lightweight Battery

Ultimate Goals
All-motor
Daily driver, All season
22mpg+
Track-able
Competitive in autocross
Sub-15sec quarter mile
>200bhp

And yes I have upgrade paths galore (don't get me started)

[Soon2BturbodRS]

Well, I got my start in the Subaru world with a 1999 Impreza Outback Sport wagon complete with 93,000+ miles, a damaged front left fender, and a bunch of hidden emotional baggage.

Here's my Photobucket Album for the first car.

Mods were few and relatively far between. In it's prime it had RS springs, Cusco rear strut brace & lower tie bar, Perrin rear sway bar, WRX front brakes & a rear disc conversion.

The car always looked better than it drove.

^^^Case in point^^^ Nothing special but it photographed better than my new car for a long time

The engine went around 142,000-miles. The driver-side head had tons of problems and the engine needed replacement. That leads us to today...

[Major Johnson]

Gotta love them OBS's!

[Soon2BturbodRS]

2006 OBS Album

In late July I bought this:


2006 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport Wagon
Special Edition Package
Steel Gray / Crystal Gray Metallic

It wasn't purdy but it was exactly what I wanted. Everything I would have done to my first OBS (Obs1) was already stock on this car. Except for turbo... That'll come in due time (like 12 years )


^The first mod. Rally piggy at 103mi or so


Actually, this ^ was my first mod. I carried it over from Obs1

The car was great on drives but the handling left a lot to be desired. The ride was compliant but tall, full of roll, and with a keen knack for understeer. 90deg turns and u-turns would produce jaw dropping understeer and some tire sidewalls folding over on themselves. Still, it was fun.


One of my favorite early pics of the car (Too bad it wasn't lower and with some nice 17s)

After a Pioneer deck & iPod adapter, I finally did my first mod


Prodrive P7 Wheels bought on the super cheap from World 1 Performance in Seattle. These were some of the last of the P7s they had after they were discontinued. I got them installed at Gran Prix Imports in Wilsonville, OR, with some Pirelli PZero Nero M+S Tires (225/45YR-17). The color was almost waaaay too matchy matchy with the steel gray. But, I didn't care because brand new Prodrives for less than the price of Rotas was more than I could ask for.

With the Pirelli's, the handling was improved but roll was still a huge issue. Grip was increased and the car handled deceptively well, even at a point of extreme roll. The car held its own on a Subaru drive west of Eugene, OR.

It didn't take me long to realize that the car didn't look that great BUT it always looked good from one angle..

three-quarter, low-angle ass shots





Next was NWIC decals

And yes, this is my stomping ground.
And yes, it is called Mountain Rd (leaves nothing left to the imagination It's not much of a mountain tho but it is a 5min drive away from home)

[Soon2BturbodRS]

Next up was bulbs. The OEM halogen projectors are great but they leave me wanting more. I contacted Daniel Stern Lighting and got a very good recommendation on what to run:

Osram Super Rallye +65W Low-beams
HIR Hi-beams
Narva Rangepower Fog Beams

An over-exaggerated pic to show just how awesome they are


Installed them in a fog. Perfect timing and also threw on some gold piggies.
Whatever I can do to detach from the grocery getters. Subarus are so popular in the PacNW that everyone and their mom drives a WRX wagon.

Got a Perrin rear sway bar & solid rear end links for my birff-day from my mom & brother. Installation went smooth and the car drove smoother. Lift off oversteer was now achievable if necessary or wanted. The tires were a very good compliment to the wet weather and big rear bar.

Sooner than I knew it, it was wintertime and Christmas time. The car rocks in Oregon wintertime rain. It's so easy to bomb around and by this time I had gotten to know it pretty well and had an upgrade path miles long ready for action. Still, a list isn't much help with no money.

A bunch of miles later...


January '07 brought snow which melted into ice which got covered in more snow. The Obs shined above other cars but still wasn't super amazing overall. Braking had to be done very carefully but accelerating and sliding the tail out was easy as pie. The car proved very controllable in low-speed snow drifts. Still, the Pirellis weren't amazing in ice but they still excelled. They got me from Corvallis to Portland on the worst snow day of the year (following an '06 STi all the way there).




The Prodrives proved as strong as their reputation but they were boring me. The color was great and the design was great but they were too 2D for my taste.

[Soon2BturbodRS]

(Just trying to catch up to present time)

hehe

[Soon2BturbodRS]

March in Portland. No new developments in awhile.

Drove the car on Hwy26 to Bend. Lovely drive.

Car proved to be an awesome road trip companion. Way more room than my girlfriend and I could use and enough grip to be fun on any road we encountered. Still, it was smooth enough to keep the girlfriend from grabbing the 'oh shit' lever constantly. There are some pix that really pointed out how freakin much I needed to drop the car like it was hot.

Smith Rock State Park


Construction near home

Then, in May, I put my Prodrives up for sale on ebay and, to my surprise, my Buy It Now was met in 2 days . So, I guess I had to sell them. This was my 2nd last shoot with the P7s.. It was a blue moon

The one and only interior shot I've taken in an artsy fashion

Needs more lighting!


By mid June I had finally shipped off the P7s (took a huge f'n hit on that shit) and ran my pops' OEM LGT 17s. They looked great. I wish I took more pix because the ones I did take did not do any justice to the wheels. They have more complexities than you'd notice. It sorta sucks that every base Legacy had them because they would've been special wheels.

They made the car look pretty sleek... Longer and leaner than it is. They grew on me quickly and was sad to see them go.

But... I was happy too!

Replaced the P7s with Rota Tarmac IIs which I got from SubyDude thru ebay. Tires are Hankook Ventus RS2 Z212s ordered thru DiscountTireDirect.com. I had them shipped to a local America's Tire and installed soon there-after.



The low-profile 215/45s really showed (again) how much a drop was needed and also, how I needed some super sexy brakes. All in due time, I guess.

[Soon2BturbodRS]

The new wheels photographed soo much better than the P7s on the Obs.




The added grip from the Hankooks has never been surpassed. They always stick like glue and no turn can make them seem inadequate. I love them to death! Also, I installed Rays Lightweight Lug Nuts with the wheels to keep unsprung weight down (and add some race sexiness).

I just couldn't stop looking around for photo-ops
Here are some pix in PDX

Front Ave



The side profile showed the OEM wagon ass sag. It's factory tuned to be like this and probably for a handling reason. The ricer in me just couldn't take the SUV front wheel gap.


Trip to Seattle with the girlfriend and 3 friends. Fit 5 comfortably with gear and shit for a 3-day weekend. Rear legroom was probably a tight fit but no complaining. Car averaged 26mpg with hundreds of extra weight and 80-85mph crusing thru southern Washington. This was mid to late August.

September I snatched a pair of Crystal Gray Metallic OEM STi Fog Covers off ebay for $12 shipped . I figured what the hell. They clean up the front but I'm still not sure if I should de-badge them or not...

This was the last really good wash and multi-stage wax the car will probably get for the rest of the year.

It really shines up nicely!

And really changes shades depending on mood

[Soon2BturbodRS]

This leads us to October. Some little detail mods like:

Blank license plate frames off ebay. The front is a nice aluminum, black, blank frame. The back is plastic. I had to find a more shaped rear to show the Oregon registration tags.

Here's the name-less front license plate frame. Yes, these front low-angle shots really show off how much ground clearance this damn car has. Yes, I bought an OBS. Yes I knew I wanted to lower it... Am I strange?! Lol.... No comment...

No more advertising for useless Subaru dealerships...

Got an alignment around 29,500mi and started the 30k tune-up. It's a biggie. Installed some Axxis Ultimate Pads (front and rear, bought off ebay for $100 for the pair) and was hoping to flush the fluid with ATE Super Blue... The bottles of super blue are still awaiting install along with Goodridge lines (both the fluid and lines from SubaruWRXParts.com). Argh why do I have to have other crap going on?

The Axxis pads are great. Pretty good cold start performance and even better when more heat comes into play. They do squeel a little bit from the passenger front and they dust like crazy. My steel grey Rotas became flat charcoal Rotas real quick. The dust comes off pretty easy but the Tarmac 2s are a pretty complex wheel and are a pain to clean!

November now and 11/4 is a day to be recorded in my history...

I finally dropped the OBS! I've had Prodrive springs laying around the garage awaiting struts but I couldn't wait any longer.

Prodrive (2004-05 WRX Sedan) Springs
KYB GR2 Front Struts
OEM Rear Struts

This is a relatively temporary solution to body roll and wheel gap.


Took the car for a drive on the Columbia River Scenic Highway. The car's squat is nice and purposeful. Very sporty.

The drive is better than stock although the ride is a little under-damped. There is a bit too much bumpity-bump on the little small bumps. Still, the car dives less under braking and squats sooo much less under acceleration. Before, the little 2.5L could produce generous weight transfer to the rear even under light accel. This was not because of the huge power of the bone stock EJ25 but the suspension tuning.

That night, fog came in super form.

I absolutely love the drop. It is perfect! Can't wait to save up and get some nice Koni adjustables!


The ride's still good and comfy. A little harsh but no one really noticed. My girlfriend mentioned that she forgot we were lower until we went to sushi and had to take the lowrider angle


Parked at work. Picked up some winter wheels and awaited time to swap to the Pirellis again...

Then it came. Nighttime flurries but nothing special. It "snowed" for 5-10min and that was enough to remind me to throw the all-seasons back on. Here's the last pic w/ the Rotas/Hankooks for quite awhile

Notice how freakin dirty they are. Thanks Axxis . Great pads but dust galore

[Soon2BturbodRS]

The Rotas gave way to these:

:trumpet:


JDM Legacy 17s
I absolutely love them. On my way from school to work I took a little detour and some pix. They photograph sooo well! I really sorta wish I painted them but I figured safety in foul weather was probably a little smarter
I couldn't figure out my favorite pix so here's the majority of the lot