Did you use a compressed air duster can and held it upside down to get the frost transfusion? Don't ever do that again. Heating and cooling with those chemicals may and can harm/discolor your paint in that spot over time. Becareful, I warned you once.
I was bored, so I tested out the gold set on my car. I am torn...haha.
I also put on my 5mm spacer to see what the clearance would be like. It's a little better, but still seems too close for comfort. When under compression will the top of the wheel go in towards the strut or stay the same, just go up and down?
I might have to pick up the rear camber plates for the ISC N1s. Give it some negative camber on the plates then use camber bolts for some positive camber just so I can give it a little more of a gap between the wheel and strut. *sigh
Here's a shotty picture of the gap. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the lip of the wheel is very close to hitting the top of the collar. I could possibly grind down the collar a little bit, but I'd rather not.
The gold set has 235/45 so that's why the tires look tall. I'll be able to lower the car once the 40 series tires are on.
Since we spend most of our time inside the car, I decided to pick up a few items to help dress up the interior.
Switched over to a WRX intermittent wiper stalk.
JDM hazard switch(thanks Gary!):
Bought a Kartboy short shifter with front/rear bushings from a Nasioc vendor since they were having it as a special "one day" sale.
My leather shift boot is pretty worn out, so I opted to buy a RIPT black alcantara with red stitching shift boot (Kartboy specific), and black alcantara with red stitching ebrake boot. Quality stuff, and comes with some directions! I was told there's not much difference between suede and alcantara, besides the price, but I also read that alcantara is easier to clean, so we'll have to see in the future.
I should have an STi ebrake handle coming in the mail this week or next week, so all these parts will not go on until then. Taking apart the center console is a pain in these RS'!
I was able to borrow my friend's fender roller, but didn't really use it. I was too lazy to readjust my coilovers height to use the roller, so I just used a heat gun, mallet, and a hammer. Came out just as good, if not better than the roll I did on my old WRX.
The rears cooperated quite well with ample heat. However, the fronts kept peeling, no matter how much heat and gentle I tapped the metal. Oh well, nothing a little spray paint cant fix.
Before:
After:
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Gonna wait until I get a proper alignment before I lower it some more. I'm barely running any camber up front at the moment.
Finally received my STi e-brake handle so now I can install my short shifter, bushings and boots.
Installing the short shifter was harder then expected. Rubber mallet wasn't cutting it so I heated up the white plastic piece for a few seconds and the shifter popped right in like it was suppose to. Coupled with the front shifter bushings, my shifts feel better then ever! I wanted to tackle the rear shifter bushing to tighten everything up, but it required more time then I anticipated, so I'll have to save it for another day. Kartboy pieces are awesome, definitely would recommend them to anyone.
Installing RIPT's shift boot and ebrake boot was simple and straight forward. I didn't see it in the instructions, but I decided to salvage the plastic ring and reuse it with the alcantara boot - to give it an OEM feel.
Here's a bad interior shot. Pretty much done with the interior. The last thing on my list for my interior is to find some 60/40 LX coupe seats, and have the reupholstered to match my Recaros.
Oh and something that's not that exicting, but I'm ecstatic about: I bought some key fobs so now my factory alarm, and keyless entry is working!!! NO MORE MANUALLY LOCKING MY CAR, SCORE!
Thanks! I love the look, but it'll probably be short lived. I can't decide if I should keep them as a second set of wheels, or just sell them. I doubt I'll ever sell the wheels I have on the way, so I don't need two summer sets; and they're too nice to use as winters, haha.
I love ordering parts from overseas. Decent shipping cost, and it takes 2 business days - faster then UPS/FedEx Ground coast to coast lol.
I've always been a fan of the Ureshi (sp?) rear window spoiler. I wanted one when I had my WRX, but never got around to buying one. While randomly searching ebay, I found a replica made by Kakumei. It's a very subtle wing, but definitely noticeable, once you do.
$160 shipped for the carbon fiber version and $130 for the black fiberglass. It's not that cheap, but the quality is worth the price.
Packaging and customer service is excellent, THANKS KAKUMEI!
My two wings together:
They even give you a plastic STi badge. I haven't figured out where to put it on the wing, so I'll probably store it or put it in the interior somewhere.
Install is pretty straight forward. Cut the supplied double sided tape accordingly and mount it. Fitment is superb! The ebay listing says for sedans so I was nervous since I had a coupe, but it turns out it's the same for both. Install is under 10mins, unless you're anal like me and kept cleaning the window to make sure the double sided tape stuck properly, lol.
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