Gripless

Yes, automatic car can have a cooler built into the bottom of the radiator. it’s an oil to water cooler. if it’s broken or leaking you can use a external air cooler instead.

Use to really like the lower wing option on the old sports wagon. keep getting tempted by this for the newer GR hatch.

Currently have the mud flaps off the car and not sure if I should put them back. Mine stick out 20mm so they definitely help with keeping the car clean and water spray behind the car. Whats the overall option on them these days?

Too much happened today so only managed to get second coat of priming done at 1am. edit.. all painted and just waiting on some new panel clips and the replacement sti badges.

Finally cut out big hole in fenders behind the front wheel vents for more air flow. Just used a nibbler for the bulk and Dremel to finish and round the edges. One side is primed and painted in matched colour the other side is waiting on more parking space to dremel and paint. https://www.jaycar.co.nz/nibbling-tool/p/TH1768 other people have done this ages ago. The 5 hole idea works and is far quicker but the lowest hole won’t flow as the plastic cover gets in the way. Better to enlarge the bigger factory oval than make the lowest hole… https://www.iwsti.com/threads/fender-rear-engine-vent-optimizing-performance.191959/page-8?post_id=3207454#post-3207454 edit… the most important thing when making holes or cutout other than don’t cut the chassis and wiring is… leave the 5-10mm around any bend or crease in the metal so it has some strength left.

Added eyelids to headlights. Noticed when doing indicator bulbs the top of the lens was getting a bit worn. Looks like a mix of sun and dust blasted stripping off the top layer of polycarbonate. Will add a door foam tape weather seal above headlights to seal to bonnet to stop the air travelling along top of lens in future.

Car all back in one piece. The roof rail clips all worked fine, but they really do need the 2 little tabs to prevent any movement. The tabs were missing from all but 1 clip when I took them off. I found a couple in among the plant matter under the rails, but seems they get brittle and fall off.

Headliner back in, just need to tape A pillar wires back to the holders Lost one bolt somewhere along the way. They were all screwed back in but some fell out when driving. Turns out they are all cage nut from datacenter phone sized, so easy to replace. Painting went well, no spills or runs. Even colour matched well. Did the stone chips and roof gouge all with reasonable success. Will give it 24 hours to cure then still the roof rails back on.

They are nice cars, until you needs parts.

Well they have the BRZ Purple edition in 6 speed only. Maybe they are trying to pass the crown from Impreza to BRZ. https://media.subaru.com/pressrelease/2220/1/subaru-announces-2025-brz-series.purple-special-edition

Found more rust, again tiny. The rails have been rubbing and made little 2mm circle of missing paint. Got bored/brave and cleared up all the rusted stone chips around the car. So scratched rust and treated, primed all ready for painting. Tested roof sound deadening and it’s just quieter to notice, but not a big improvement. Though other than rain noise I think will be back when factory headliner goes back in since it is far more reflective than the foam. The heat insulation on the other hand is obvious. With a window cracked it doesn’t increase in temp anymore. The outside is too hot to hold your hand on but inside is warm but not hot. The downside is when parked in underground where it’s cold, the car is still same hot temp when you get back. Even when roof was cold the car stays insulated. I did figure out the roof rib bracing gets to about the same temperature as the roof skin. Roof ribs now has thermal tape of fibreglass and alloy like exhaust wrap but super thin. At 100kph the roof skin cools down from 70-80 degrees to more like 40 degrees. So didn’t need AC running on motorway. All this is still without the headliner which should add more insulation.

Don’t worry they are only making 500 worldwide. Plus it’s detuned compared to last generation as well.

When empty it must resonate a lot. Some old 80s luxury car a flatmate had the tank had a 3-4cm thick foam between rubber pad on top of the tank to reduce noise. So guess there is something to it. But awd cars the tank is pretty solid since it has to clear the driveshaft.

Well I’ve not driven the car yet but just in the car park the reflected sounds have dropped noticeably while installing it. tapping of the treated vs untreated was obvious, not dead like the tar/rubber mat but no ring. Very surprised now much different given it’s so thin and light. If the heat is reduced as well then will be wishing I did it years ago 😒

Very little trim comes out and it’s all bolted near top so can’t move due to airbags etc so not likely to rattle. lights are also screwed in to roof so no new rattles for those either. paranoid bit is bending the headliner when getting it out.

Prices for clips range from USD$ 0.40 - 6.50 with most places having low or no stock. Have sent enquires for set of 14. Of possible will order set and have old ones spare if some snaps theirs.

Rust removal, luckily only superficial, but now I have to paint things. While putting the sound deadening in the roof I found a rusty area. It’s right near the back quarter window unjust before the hatch inner support. It’s started in the roof sheet and moved down to the seam of the car. Main blistered point was on roof 12x15mm, but after scraping it a whole lot and adding rust converter, it’s actually not gone anywhere and the seam rust was only the very outer edge over 6cm. The metal is pitted but not very deep. Originally I was thinking it was a leak under the rails but now just that it was spatter from a spot weld that didn’t get clean and sealed. That amount of blistering in a 90’s car would have been nearly through the metal. So not only does higher strength steel help crash safety it slows rust a whole lot. Having now scraped the outside area under the roof rails a near the back where the seam sticks through. There is rust (surface only) under the very end. While is close to the inside rust it’s too minor and too far back to be the cause. Mainly where the ends are coated in sealant as the go over the end and down the hatch. A 5-7mm area under the sealant was the worst I found and that was on the other side. Now to leave it overnight to make sure all the converter is done. Tomorrow is paint day. I’m bad at painting, and I got grey primer as was only for the inside initially. But the outside bits are under the rails and 20mm down the back seam that is hidden by the hatch and wing.

This is for the two strips the run along the seam between the roof skin and the main body of the car. While these have 4 clips you do NOT have to unclip the 4 individual little ones. They are designed to stay with the rails. They have an angled channel underneath that is smooth on one side (see image below) the other notched (barely visible in image below). These slide over round T pins welded to the car. As they slide they pull tighter and the notches stop them shaking loose. To remove you use a small flat screwdriver or trim tool to slide it off the pin. Tape the screwdriver to prevent paint damage. On the right side undo is forward. On the left undo is backward. They require very little force to slide. method A common Insert from the inside edge aka the one closet to the middle of the roof. The whole middle is open, the 2 tabs sticking up in the image are likely anti-rattle and not on the early part numbers. Those tabs “could” be used to slide but you’d risk scratching the paint. method B Same as above but from outside edge. Which has wider rubber and likely the factory recommended way. The large triangle tab stick out as far as the moulding rail so easy to find. plus it’s nice and high up so won’t risk the paint as much On the hatch the are 7 per side. 3 behind rear roof rack mount 3 between the roof rack mounts 1 in front or the roof rack mounts I found them just sliding the thin trim tool until I hit one end. The opening to slide the is 2-3cm from either end. The final clip in a plastic stud about 15-20mm from windscreen. So far the best way is remove is lift the whole mounding upwards with the stud as a pivot. Mine both made a small click when the moulding was lifted. Then I slide the removal tool towards the stud and lowered the moulding which popped it off. 91048FG000, 91048FG001, 91048FG002, 91048FG010, 91048FG020 Now 91048XA00A extended to cover 2023-2024 Reinstall is just hold the rail up to the car and slide the clips on the rail so they are on the correct side of the pins welded to the car. drop the rail into place and slide them back into place. Then tap down the front onto the stud.

I had a bit of a look, but you’d need to check the pump physically matches as I don’t know much about Subaru parts and just following part numbers. I’m guessing this is old style abs with ecu and sensors attached to the pump? Anyway this may help… 27531AC000 has revision 010,020,030 then 03a then 040 and at 27531AC04A it jumps over to superseded 27539AC04A for 1999-2001 2.2L 2.5l legacy and forester there’s a 050,060 and ends with 27539AC06A last model on amayama https://www.amayama.com/en/part/subaru/27531ac040 from there it seems to go to the forester code with 27539FC010 seeming to be the most common number for 1999-2002 with some places selling it as 1997-2003. that has revisions 020,030,040 Only model on amayama https://www.amayama.com/en/part/subaru/27539fc010

Headliner out, no need to remove seat belt. On the b pillar set the seat belt height to half way. undo the top bolt under the little panel. Slide up 15mm or so the you pull the bottom outwards over the white round trim push clips and slide it down until seatbelt won’t let it go further. Each A pillars are has wiring for lights, unplug from by dash, and cut tape on the plastic holder as the wires stay with the headliner when it comes out. Will be installing this tomorrow, after testing it this week. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007251604620.html Ok firstly it’s not 2cm thick, it’s 1cm after a few days sitting unrolled. There is no way it’ll ever get to 2cm. So between 2mm and 10mm overall. The backing was clear plastic not pictured paper. After backing removed it does stretch well so will conform to curves nicely. The glue on the back seems strong enough. If you stick it on the rubber foam rips apart before the glue let’s go. Could be a task to remove or clean up in the future. Though it is closed cell and doesn’t absorb water. It has a slight fireworks or match head smell to it. When set on fire with lighter it self extinguishes so that’s good. Needs 2 rolls to do the roof. Since it will be above airbags roof between front and rear heavy beams it 1550mm and 1200mm wide. Also have speaker fill that is 30mm thick to cover the whole back of the headliner to replace the single 30mm thick woollen block of100x400mm. This will be be 960mm wide as to not go down the side and cover the curtain airbag path. It’s also well away from the pyrotechnics which are in the c pillars so should be fine. I will test burn some to see what it does and if it’s bad then may run some 50mm wide alloy tape along the sides. Will test fit with fill and if it’s does bulge anywhere then it’s headliner out again and glue the fill in place. All this is due to the car being black and roof get over 80c measured outside. So as soon answer the AC is off the heat starts to come through the headliner. Could also vinyl wrap the roof the same black so the vinyl insulates the metal. Glued some metal u screw to the fender vents where the mud flaps have been screwed into. There is a random assortment or screws from previous owner. One front is short self tappers. The other is so long it screwed through the inner metal of the guard.

Almost removed headliner so can install bumpy foam and layer of speaker stuffing to block heat and reduce cabin drone. Plus broke a clip on back of one of the roof handles. Just need to remove one front seat belt to get the thing out tomorrow. Fitted adjustable flasher relay and set to a reasonable speed. removing the old unit for the clip was the hardest part. Even after unclipping the relay stack from the main fuse box. Have a fixed rate one arriving next week as well. Removed the fender vent panels and got some rust primer to seal edges the larger cutouts needed to get more airflow. https://www.iwsti.com/threads/fender-rear-engine-vent-optimizing-performance.191959/

I had thought about that but didn’t like the idea much. The risk of a clutch system leak drain brake fluid doesn’t sound good. I’ve had clutch slave cylinder fail as well as a pinhole in a clutch line before. Plus using motul 660 as clutch fluid seems excessive.

Don’t forget if you don’t have a 3D printer that universities etc do. If you know a student ask them, the rates are cheap than commercial and their printers range from cheap to ultra high end. They likely have laser cutter as well, so can do thin metal for brackets or wood trim as well. I got a few small sample projects just before Xmas from one.

What year and spec? FYI most places will still list car as legacy not levorg though. here’s the 2020-current model https://www.subaru.co.nz/sites/default/files/2023-09/Subaru_Warranty_Service_Book_2020_SNZWRTY17.pdf try https://www.subaru.com/owners/vehicle-resources.html the owners manual for some models are 500 pages and have the service guides. Or select your year and spec and click the button. https://www.subaru.ca/webpage.aspx?webpageid=18541

Ran aux cable for stereo to centre console in preparation for airplay wifi unit. It’s an old single din unit and aux is via an adaptor via CD changer input. Finally fixed the door lock in the inner handle. When the door was replaced from the attempt to screwdriver the lock they used the lock and cable from the new door. Which has a smaller ball on the lock the the main handle. cheap fix since only used heat shrink to cover the small ball with 3 layers and now it clips into place and works fine.