Rewinding a bit, when I had the car up on the lift earlier this summer, I noticed two things - (1) the vehicle underside was coated in a layer of filth that only time and the track can create; and (2) I had a couple oil leaks, both from the valve covers. I noticed some seepage around the rear diff drain plug, but after cleaning that up, it hasn't reappeared so I'm guessing that was some old gear oil residue that was never cleaned and attracted dust/dirt.
Pretty crusty, a bit of surface rust, and the valve cover gaskets (and spark tube gaskets) needed an overhaul.
Another thing that always bothered me was when I had the cage welded in the first time around, the welder didn't remove the plastic aero pieces below the doors and ended up melting through the right rear. In hindsight, other than the aero pieces being impossible to find anywhere (can't get them from Subaru anymore), what it did reveal was surface rust developing where the welding heat melted through the undercoating.
Thankfully, the car was never winter driven, and rarely rain-driven, so the rust was just surface. But seeing this led me to remove the aero trays on both sides showing that all four welding posts had the same issue.
I picked up a wire wheel for my drill and went to town. Much better...
Then I hit it with some Rust Check and undercarriage spray -
Then fixed up the aero tray as best I could -
Not the sexiest "mods" to the car by any means, but preventative maintenance and keeping the old girl in as good of shape as possible.
And to go the rest of the way down the path, I dropped the car off at Sublime Surfacing and Ted went to down dry ice blasting the wheels wells, undercarriage, suspension, engine etc, and then "honey coated" it in a rust prevention coating. The honey coating I could have skipped, but for the extra few dollars to do it, I figured it didn't hurt.
Before -
After -
So satisfying!
Next post will have some sexier updates - Brembo 6-pots, chassis stiffening, and some 3-ways.
