[r0bman]

Let us know how it comes out! If it's not too bad I'd want to wrap mine STi blue.

 

[b2finity]

can't wait to see how the plaid turns out

 

[Aaronredbaron]

Experiments in plaid. I cut this piece too small but wanted to see if it was going to work and wanted to play with the glue before I try to make a final attempt. So, I still need to refinish the door panels with some bondo and vinyl paint in matte grey. (should be closer to the dash than black and previous owner made a mess of it with the black, so I can't make it much worse than it is.) It's easy to tuck the perimeter and I think this is going to work!

... And based on this picture of my seat I need to get my son to make sure he is wearing clean pants before he gets in the project! ooof!

 

[Aaronredbaron]

I am embarrassed to admit it, but this project has to be put on the backburner. My Forester nightmare has come full circle and the engine is about to pop. It's consuming a quart of oil per 1/4 tank of gas now, and I was only finally able to get the title release from the bank yesterday... This has been the worst financial mistake I've ever made, and I'm so far upside down I had to accept my reality. I either sell my project for much less that its worth due to a depressed market and incomplete paint and interior, or I accept help. I feel dirty even admitting it, but my hole was just getting too big for me to climb out of, so anyway I am humbly admitting defeat and accepting that I can't do this on my own. My project (Impreza) might have to get sold in the long run to pay for it, but it doesn't make sense to sell it now before I can make it complete.

So... I can get a new FB25 from Subaru with the oil burning issues fixed. The parts guy I spoke with got right down to it, I told him this would have been one of the warranty engines if the program hadn't already expired, and he helped me quote it based on everything they would do under warrantee for this engine replacement. He said since 2014 M/Y they figured out the crosshatching and got a new ring supplier and they don't come back burning oil anymore. This engine has the updates, and he recommended avoiding small shops selling "upgraded FB25 engines" that were rebuilt from the cores of oil burners. So, I'm going to have to use my garage for a bit to put a new engine in this POS Forester, and my only goal at this point is to attempt to recover from this without having to sell my project. If I fix the Forester I may be able to finally sell it and get back on my feet. I also still own my Impreza wagon, so I need to figure out what the hell I'm doing, I have 3 incomplete subies with no AC.. at least they all have 3 pedals 🤪

 

[r0bman]

The plaid looks great!

And don't sell the project car! As much as mine is a PITA, I'll never sell it. Get a motor from the dealership, maybe they can knock the price down a bit, throw it in yourself to save money and sell it.

 

[Combat Chuck]

Sorry to hear about this issues with the Forester, that's super frustrating.

I second not selling the project car: honestly, if anything I'd fix the Forester, then sell it. You've got the GF as a daily and your GM as your project, and you can enjoy the two of them while you save up. The Forester working would bring the most money the quickest without hitting you emotionally like selling the coupe.

 

[Aaronredbaron]

Well my project might be on the back-burner as far as investment goes, but at least it is running! (knock on wood...) I took a friend for a ride last night who helped me a lot along the way with the swap, and to be honest I guess I've been extra gentle to it in 1st out of fear of the "glass" WRX transmission that already was broken in 1st when I got my donor... but I slung it hard and holy crap... It did a 4 wheel power slide without hesitation. I feel a little bit better... My goal is to climb out of the hole without selling the coupe....

 

[Combat Chuck]

That's the way to do it! You'd miss the car too much any other way.

 

[r0bman]

Can always make more money, getting back a project car is WAY more difficult!

 

[Aaronredbaron]

Little things can go a long way making the car feel better. My wife made me a plaid shifter boot to go with the door panels, this is going to work out pretty well I think!

...

taking the hit on the Forester and not selling the project.

 

[Aaronredbaron]

well crap, I finished one of the door panels and its more grey than the dash, way more grey... not sure what I want to do now, at least the plaid is looking good.

 

[r0bman]

Glad to hear you're keeping the project!

Boot looks nice, which short shifter did you go with?

 

[Aaronredbaron]

Glad to hear you're keeping the project!

Boot looks nice, which short shifter did you go with?

I think it's a cobb, it was in the donor car. It seems to work fine, but I always worry about that C clip popping off from the bottom...

I took it a long way up to BigNW yesterday, almost 200 miles each way. It ran fine, but my electronics did not like the heat. As soon as I got into the traffic on I-5 I started getting a battery and brake light flashing, and the temp gauge started bouncing all over the place. I checked it several times and it wasn't getting hot or doing anything else weird, so we carried on. I think the alternator and/or coolant temp sensor is on the fritz. But It obviously wasn't actually blowing a head gasket seeing how it made it home with no loss of power. As soon as I got back to Olympia and got to break free from I-5 on the 101, I was also back in the shade from the mountain and all the weirdness stopped for the rest of the trip. I let my son turn the radio back on when we got close to home, and you can see the headlights dimming with bass, so I'm thinking alternator for sure.... but I don't understand how that would cause the coolant temp sensor wonkiness. I only felt ok carrying on because I knew it couldn't fo from overheating to fine and back and forth so quickly, it had to be some kind of sensor or gauge problem. At least the engine was okay in the heat, I think!?!?! ooof!

Honestly I felt like dirtfish was a terrible place for a car meet. I would go back for rally training, cool spot for that, but not for another dirty hot car meet like that. I am too redhead for that much time in the sun with no shade!

We also went to the post GC meet. My son drove his RC car at the event and got lots of compliments.

 

[r0bman]

Great shots, looks like the meet was a lot of fun!

As for your electrical issues, make sure to check out your grounds! Inadequate grounding can cause all sorts of BS.

Also the stock dashboard temp gauge is woefully inaccurate, that's why it does no have any scale on it. You can pick up a cheap OBD2 reader and monitor the actual engine temperature far more accurately (Dashboard temp sensor is just for driver info, second sensor is only for ECU).

 

[Aaronredbaron]

Great shots, looks like the meet was a lot of fun!

As for your electrical issues, make sure to check out your grounds! Inadequate grounding can cause all sorts of BS.

Also the stock dashboard temp gauge is woefully inaccurate, that's why it does no have any scale on it. You can pick up a cheap OBD2 reader and monitor the actual engine temperature far more accurately (Dashboard temp sensor is just for driver info, second sensor is only for ECU).

Do you know if I can still use the OBD2 stuff with an open source tune? I should ask my tuner... its got carberry on the stock 02 WRX ECU... I think I want to just add a simple, reliable, stand alone coolant temp sensor.

 

[r0bman]

Do you know if I can still use the OBD2 stuff with an open source tune? I should ask my tuner... its got carberry on the stock 02 WRX ECU... I think I want to just add a simple, reliable, stand alone coolant temp sensor.

Yup it'll work fine! Any tune does not modify the base OBD2 interface. I had my stock 32-bit ECU modded to all hell with a bunch of patches and my OBD2 reader worked great for basic datalogging.

You don't necessarily need another one, the coolant temp that the ECU uses for compensation tables is very accurate. In my case I was forced to add an external sensor and gauge because I managed to rip the single wire from my bulkhead connector, but the OEM high-res coolant sensor is now feeding temp data into my standalone, and it matches my external sensor with +-2 degrees.

Leave the OBD2 plugged in, and you can just rig up your phone as an ad-hoc Accessport! A bit laggy but coolant temps shouldn't need milisecond refresh rates.

 

[Aaronredbaron]

Yup it'll work fine! Any tune does not modify the base OBD2 interface. I had my stock 32-bit ECU modded to all hell with a bunch of patches and my OBD2 reader worked great for basic datalogging.

You don't necessarily need another one, the coolant temp that the ECU uses for compensation tables is very accurate. In my case I was forced to add an external sensor and gauge because I managed to rip the single wire from my bulkhead connector, but the OEM high-res coolant sensor is now feeding temp data into my standalone, and it matches my external sensor with +-2 degrees.

Leave the OBD2 plugged in, and you can just rig up your phone as an ad-hoc Accessport! A bit laggy but coolant temps shouldn't need milisecond refresh rates.

Thanks for the info! I would like to install a hidden display eventually, maybe in the upper cubby. I need to do some digging on options for OBD2 connections, do you know if there is an option to talk with a rasberry pi? I would like to use one to run a display for sensors, store media, and tuning options. Or is an android sufficient? Thoughts? Thank you!

 

[r0bman]

Thanks for the info! I would like to install a hidden display eventually, maybe in the upper cubby. I need to do some digging on options for OBD2 connections, do you know if there is an option to talk with a rasberry pi? I would like to use one to run a display for sensors, store media, and tuning options. Or is an android sufficient? Thoughts? Thank you!

There is! I looked into it a while ago when I was on my stock ECU. Look up OBD-pi. To be honest I didn't poke around too much with it, but the documentation is extensive. It seems like a fun project, although I'm not too sure how well it would deal with heat. Seeing as you're in Washington, it might not be too bad actually! You'll have to deal with 30 second boot times though, not sure if that might be a dealbreaker for you. Pi's don't pull much current, but still not something you'd want to hardwire to 12V 24/7.

There's dozens of displays that you could use, it's an endless rabbit hole when It comes to Pi projects! It definitely seems worthwhile to look into, and won't run you much $ if you go down that path.
Some guys have even run Romraider and ECUFlash off of a Pi, there are some guides online! You'll definitely need a larger high res display for that though.

I have zero experience with Android options, sorry!

Found this just now, the OBD-pi guide seems a bit out of date it seems.

 

[Aaronredbaron]

There is! I looked into it a while ago when I was on my stock ECU. Look up OBD-pi. To be honest I didn't poke around too much with it, but the documentation is extensive. It seems like a fun project, although I'm not too sure how well it would deal with heat. Seeing as you're in Washington, it might not be too bad actually! You'll have to deal with 30 second boot times though, not sure if that might be a dealbreaker for you. Pi's don't pull much current, but still not something you'd want to hardwire to 12V 24/7.

There's dozens of displays that you could use, it's an endless rabbit hole when It comes to Pi projects! It definitely seems worthwhile to look into, and won't run you much $ if you go down that path.
Some guys have even run Romraider and ECUFlash off of a Pi, there are some guides online! You'll definitely need a larger high res display for that though.

I have zero experience with Android options, sorry!

Found this just now, the OBD-pi guide seems a bit out of date it seems.

Poifect! I also have a cousin who is a recent software engineering grad, and he just moved out west to work at Boeing! So with his help I do feel this is something I can tackle. I am not afraid to come up with power supply options, I come from the RC hobby, so I'll just come up with a 5v switching regulator to power the pi, no reason to send it 12V! As for dealing with the heat shouldn't be a problem at home, and i have other wild ideas for heat management I need to start working with, so maybe this is a good place to start putting my theories in to practice..... ( I want to build thermoelectric generator cooling modules to generate enough power to replace the alternator. One on the coolant, one on the oil, one on the turbo, A2W intercooler, all chilled with power chilled thermoeletric generators...... If you want to go further down the rabbit hole please check this research paper out with plans for how to build a system like this which can replace the radiator and provide enough power just from that to pull the alt. https://www.researchgate.net/public...iator_for_Internal_Combustion_Engine_Vehicles )

 

[r0bman]

This looks interesting! Uses the same Seebeck effect as radioisotope thermoelectric generators. Let us know with the results!