Author Topic: A.J.'s STI (Read 35551 times)

A.J. · « **Reply #50 on:** May 17, 2011, 09:04:31 am »

Another thing I forgot to add to the list. Made a hood scoop grille out of gutter guard from Home Depot. Cost $6 for a roll and I'll be able to do the lower bumper grille as well when I take off the bumper next.

I wanted something that was close in appearance to the stock grille. The grillecraft doesn't match enough for me. This is much closer. Attached with hot glue from the backside, no problems yet.

A.J. · « **Reply #51 on:** May 17, 2011, 09:15:21 am »

Pics, Pics, Pics!

Here's some from the install and finished product. The brackets are holding the deck a little bit low, so I'm still looking for a set of metal OEM ones. The plastic Metra ones on there have too much flexibility in them.

I removed the OEM mic that wasn't being used and put the Pioneer one in it's place. You just need to unscrew the two screws and de-pin the connector and then you have a bunch of room to put whatever you want in there (could convert it to house some kind of ambient lighting if you wanted)

Custom start-up screen I made. I made a whole bunch for all types of STI's if anyone wants to see the others let me know and I can post them.

Mokori · « **Reply #52 on:** May 17, 2011, 11:04:56 am »

I would like to see the other start-up sceens you made, post them up if you don't mind sharing.

A.J. · « **Reply #53 on:** May 17, 2011, 11:20:01 am »

No problem! Here they are, If you need/want the original BMP file let me know and I can email it. I also created an "overlay" that can be used to add the pioneer logo and legal text to any image.

It looks like when I uploaded it converted them to JPG which causes a bit of a loss of colour quality. The BMP's look much better.

A.J. · « **Reply #54 on:** May 26, 2011, 11:41:10 pm »

Big couple days here

Rolled over 10,000km, Installed the rest of my new stereo gear and hopefully finish my backup camera tomorrow (If I can find the right drill bit).

What an involved install. I think I removed and replaced almost every part of the interior at some point during this install. The amplifier is under the driver's seat, RCA source lines come down the center console and out to the amplifier, power comes from the battery inside the fender into the big grommet that also has the hood release cable in it, ground is to a bolt nearby, and speaker wires... holy crap.... everywhere. I ran some 12 Ga. speaker wire to the hatch for the subwoofer, and rewired the front doors with 14Ga (got 100ft really cheap so why not). I want to put some high power components in the doors eventually, so I figured I'd get all of the prep work out of the way now. I currently have both left and right speaker wires going across to under the passenger seat where I left a loop of wire so that I can install crossovers there later. Then I doubled the speaker wire going from under the passenger seat to each door. So now I have a length of wire going from under the passenger seat to inside the door with nothing attached at either end so when I get around to adding components and x-overs it will be a really easy install. I ran all of the wiring for my back up camera and I just need to mount the camera itself and plug it in. I tested it and it looks pretty awesome. I'm still waiting on my audio integrations sub box, and in the meantime I'm just borrowing a "normal" sub box.

Here's a couple in progress pics.

Test fitting the Amp

Making the mounting plate for the amp. This hides under the carpet and gives me a solid base to screw into.

IMPORTANT!!! Fits with weathertechs

All wired up

Hatch apart running camera wires

Finished up in the doors. Lots of extra wire left just in case.

10,000km!!

A.J. · « **Reply #55 on:** May 27, 2011, 05:40:00 pm »

Got the back up camera hooked up and installed today. Looks awesome, like it could have come from the factory that way.

I bought a CCD camera off of eBay that was designed as a licence plate light replacement for a Renault Koleos. I picked it because it looked the easiest to mod into something barely noticeable. Once I got it and was able to look at it in person it was definitely exactly as I had predicted, I unscrewed the camera from the clear base and had a tiny nub that held the camera at a 45 ish angle.

I decided to put the camera as close to center as I could, so it's right beside the opener button on the driver's side. After taking the trim piece off and drilling my hole, I noticed that Subaru molded and indent into that piece beside the driver's side licence plate light. I can only assume this is a marking for the OEM accessory available in Japan. If only I had seen it sooner I probably would have used it. My biggest problem with mounting the camera was finding the right sized drill bit, I needed an 18mm hole, No one has metric drill bits. Luckily I was able to find a metric step drill bit at Gregg distributors which went up to 18mm. Made a nice clean hole too. If anyone else gets this same camera and needs an 18mm hole, let me know and I can come by and lend it to you so you don't have to drop $70 on one like I did.....

I drilled a hole adjacent to the grommet for the other wires that go to the opener button. This way I put the connectors (RCA and power) through the big hole and then used a tiny grommet on just the wire and slid it over into the new hole. Hopefully its watertight, otherwise I'll have to get in there with some silicone to seal it up.

All the wires tidied up nicely.

Couple of installed shots.

Here's my distance testing shots. The package on the floor is just at the edge of the screen.

Barely noticeable

And here's one of my sub's temporary home.

Man I need a camera.... this iPhone is sucking bad.

KennyB · « **Reply #56 on:** May 27, 2011, 06:02:55 pm »

That's a really clean camera install!!! Nice work!!

Zac · « **Reply #57 on:** May 27, 2011, 08:21:56 pm »

those wire tucks look better then OEM, good work!

A.J. · « **Reply #58 on:** May 27, 2011, 09:00:20 pm »

Thanks guys.

I'm really anal/OCD when it comes to installs. There aren't any pics of the "after" in the center console. It looks 100x better than OEM.

jhtopilko · « **Reply #59 on:** May 27, 2011, 09:13:22 pm »

Great info! Awesome job! I'm far from 6K kms.

A.J. · « **Reply #60 on:** June 09, 2011, 12:03:21 am »

Did some more mods today.

Picked up a grounding kit from Sleeper. Was for a GD STI, but it worked just fine for my GR. While installing the throttle body cables I ended up deciding to remove the intercooler to make it easier (as suggested in the instructions). So while it was off I put my stencil to good use and painted an STI on it. I used high heat engine enamel, so it should stand up to pretty near anything.

Here's some pics of the process:

I had to get a new bolt for this spot because mine didn't come with one there.

hands..off · « **Reply #61 on:** June 09, 2011, 07:37:08 am »

Looking good!
Your installs are REALLY clean.. Finally a pretty refreshing change.

Side note.. Feel free to offer to install my stereo/ amps/ subs/ etc anytime

jk

AdamMc · « **Reply #62 on:** June 09, 2011, 01:25:16 pm »

That backup camera is SLICK. Awesome job!

Rapier46 · « **Reply #63 on:** June 09, 2011, 10:54:24 pm »

Nice paint job on the intercooler.

KennyB · « **Reply #64 on:** June 09, 2011, 11:48:28 pm »

Nice! I will remember you have that stencil, thinking about a larger blacker intercooler in my parts pile before i have it put on a dyno this year sometime. And its going to need a little additional painting.

bejamin · « **Reply #65 on:** June 10, 2011, 12:04:03 am »

Those start up screens look awesome man!

A.J. · « **Reply #66 on:** June 10, 2011, 11:28:49 am »

hands..off: Thanks, I'm not in Calgary very much, but if I ever am I'll let you know and I can lend a hand if needed.

AdamMc: Thanks!

Raiper46: Thanks

KennyB: It was a one time use vinyl 'decal' stencil. I ordered it from a guy on IWSTI, I think it only cost $20.

03 Rex: Thanks

LilDrunkenSmurf · « **Reply #67 on:** June 10, 2011, 11:35:00 am »

Excuse the ignorance, but how can a stencil be "one time use"?

A.J. · « **Reply #68 on:** June 10, 2011, 11:44:39 am »

It was a vinyl decal that I stuck onto the intercooler and then peeled off once the painting was done. It ripped and distorted as I was peeling it off so its not useable anymore.

LilDrunkenSmurf · « **Reply #69 on:** June 10, 2011, 12:17:49 pm »

Ah ok, makes sense.

jonathan · « **Reply #70 on:** June 13, 2011, 09:19:08 am »

AJ, when you installed the new Redline shifter boot did you install it over the stock boot or just on it's own? I just got one and it seems a little thin to me so I wondered if having the stock boot as backing would make it look better as well as keep some of the transmission noise down.

A.J. · « **Reply #71 on:** June 13, 2011, 09:27:14 am »

It's just on there by itself. I'm not sure if it would fit with the stock boot on there as well. Mine was a pretty tight fit with just the Redline boot on there. I don't think having two boots will significantly reduce transmission noise either. Not sure what you can do to reduce the noise except not replacing the factory bushings or mounts, they are squishy by design to help eliminate NVH.

A.J. · « **Reply #72 on:** June 26, 2011, 08:22:18 am »

Here's some newer pics (still with my POS phone

)

^I turned gravity upside down for this pic

^

I thought the STI looked cool through the hood scoop. Now only if I had a better camera....

New toy to play with

Hughes won't be getting any of my money anymore.

I ordered Gauges today

But I'm not telling you which ones!

You'll all have to wait and see when they're installed. The only thing I'll tell you is that they're going in a SMY dual cluster pod

A.J. · « **Reply #73 on:** July 06, 2011, 06:26:29 pm »

YAY FOR PARTS!

I came home to not one but TWO parcel slips in my mailbox today

so off to the post office I went.

Teaser of the gauges

Installs might have to wait a couple days, hopefully not weeks :S

A.J. · « **Reply #74 on:** July 14, 2011, 07:41:44 am »

Yesterday was GREAT!

HUGE THANK YOU to jhtopilko (Jared). We traded rims yesterday so I was finally able to get a set of gunmetal 2011 STI rims. They look awesome!

I also spend some time fighting with my new sub enclosure, but in the end it's awesome!

On the underside of the rim there's a lip in some spots where they joined the fiberglass to the MDF front panel. If you're using screws it's no problem, but I like to use T-nuts because I can remove the sub easier if I have to. Well that flange got in the way of some of the T-nuts so I had to get "fancy". I bought a Rigid JobMax http://www.homedepot.ca/product/jobmax-multi-tool-starter-kit-12-volt/917642 and I was able to notch out the flange where I needed to install the t-nuts and it worked beautifully.

The only complaint is that the trigger sometimes doesn't work. I have a Rigid drill with the same problem so I think it might be a faulty switch that they use in multiple tools. Annoying, but I guess I can get it warranteed if I have many more problems with it.

Best part of this whole install, I GOT MY TRUNK BACK!!!!

Next, Gauges.