As of 12/18/2022: 190251 chassis miles
Swapped at 188706 miles
1545 miles on swap
This is my 2000 Impreza RS coupe which has been my daily driver since 2004. I bought it used from a gentleman in Dallas who had it set up for autocross. Faced with the prospect of buying a new car, I couldn’t find it in myself to part with it! Now after years of wear and tear I am committed to making this thing new again, and to eventually make it into the STI it always wanted to be
I got the remaining pieces painted and the exterior mostly reassembled. I still have some buffing to do to get swirl marks out from my last session of buffing. Overall I am pleased with the result. Next on my list is to get a new windshield installed since the current one is all beat up. Once that gets put in I will install the roof moulding. And then window tint, brakes... the list never ends.
I added a shark fin style XM antenna to the roof, painted to match. I used to have a magnetic puck stuck to the trunk door, but I didn't like how it moved around and scratched the paint. Installing the shark fin required drilling a hole in the roof and routing the cables along the ceiling, down the drivers side pillar, into the dash. The shark fin also functions as an AM/FM antenna, so I was able to delete the stock one. Here is a link to the antenna I used:
The shark fin actually gets better reception than my old SiriusXM branded puck. I can pick up satellite signal inside my garage with the door closed. The antenna can be amped, bit I am using it unamplified. I haven't done much testing in rural areas, though.
I spent the past month adding sound deadening to the car. I lined the doors, trunk, floors, ceiling, and the partition between cabin and trunk. I used Noico 80mil sound deadening off Amazon. I found the product easy to work with, and the install was rather fun After I reinstalled the interior I found road noise to be greatly reduced and the quality of my sound system improved. Many of the rattles are now reduced as well.
While I was at it I upgraded my rear speakers. I installed Infinity Reference 6000cs components in the doors back in 2004, but I never replaced the stock rear speakers. Now the stockers are gone and replaced with Infinity Reference 6522IX 6.5" coaxials. I had to modify the rear speaker mounting plates to attach the included adapter ring.
Dang! That's a lot of work. I used the same stuff when I did my Forester, and it took me quite awhile. End result is well worth it though. Looks like you a did a great job, and I like the black stuff. Did you use polyfill throughout the car as well? Looks like some is poking out from the rear quarter.
I used about 3 1/3 boxes of product at 26 lbs per box. There was a some waste so I estimate about 75lbs. The polyfill is stuffed in the cavity above the rear strut mounts. I also shoved some old pillows in the rear quarter cavities to further absorb some of the sound from the rear wheel wells.
Here's a few more pics to show off. I got the windshield replaced. The old one was all dinged up to a point that it couldn't be polished. I got my insurance company to pay for new glass with no deductible. Sweet! The glass guy worked with me to get all the moulding clips installed properly before the glass adhesive set. Once he was done, I finally installed the roof mouldings, upper windshield mouldings, and new cowl panel. Buying all new OEM mouldings was pretty expensive, but the car looks almost brand new.
Looks great with all new mouldings. Did you buy a brand new cowl? I'm debating whether to do that or just paint the old one. The problem is the seal, which I think you can only get buy buying a brand new cowl.
Do the roof gutter mouldings, and windshield mouldings come with the clips? I think they do from what the part diagram shows..
Good questions. As far as I could tell the seal only comes with the cowl. You could probably get some self-stick weather stripping and apply it to the old cowl if you're set on painting it. As far as clips go, some come with some without:
Rear Window Upper -> clips included
Front Window Upper -> clips included
Roof Moulding -> clips NOT included, I reused the clips that mount on the sides of the F/R windows and had to purchase new clips for the roof (broke old ones)
Cowl -> L/R clips included, middle clip and retainer NOT included, small clips that fasten through cowl and engine bay weather stripping NOT included.
I'm always for new OEM parts when possible, but it adds up quick.
Thanks for the info. I was thinking the roof mouldings came with clips, so glad I asked. Does it come with the little caps that cap of the edge of the cowling? And there are two small ones that cap off the rears as well.
This past month I've been working on some maintenance. Nothing groundbreaking or spectacular, just nagging issues that needed fixed. First I overhauled the AC system. The springs on the AC clutch broke a couple of years ago. I compensated by tightening the clutch so it was stop squealing. That fix didn't last very long and the compressor went kaput last fall. I finally got around to replacing the compressor, condensor, drier, and evaporator. While I was at it I snagged a cabin air filter kit from starscr33m on ebay. Now the AC blows cold and smells fresher than it ever has. The Four Seasons compressor I got off Rock auto seems to work well, but it is a tad noisy.
All four axles also had torn boots and the front axles were making the dreaded crackling noise under certain conditions. I opted to replace all four since I'll be moving out of state in a few weeks. I used Napa MaxDrive axles. They had mostly decent reviews on Nasioc so I took a chance.
Quick update... I moved to Maryland a few months ago and the Subie has seen some heavy use. My new commute is 30 miles each direction, so I'm racking up the mileage. I've considered getting a beater car to put the miles on and making the Subie my weekend driver / project car. I had a 97 Saturn SL back in the day which got great gas mileage, so I might try to find one for sale.
I did get around to installing a V8 STI steering wheel this past weekend. I really like the look and it fits well with the RS interior. I installed a charge from an 03 Impreza to get the airbag functional. It was needed because the charge for these wheels is physically smaller. The 03 charge fits the newer wheel and the plug fits the RS clockspring.
Btw, this is my first post since the site migrated to XenForo. Looks good!
IMO, the RS are worth saving, still under appreciated , but wait. I enjoy mine all the more because it is no longer my daily driver . Just my opinion
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