After my first 2007 Forester XT was written off in May 2015, I started searching extensively for the perfect Forester to build. I went through a progression of 2006 FXT in Regal Blue Pearl, then a 2007 Sports FXT in black, before finally finding the unicorn... May Long Weekend 2016, exactly a year later, this car was listed in Kamloops - only a short (6 hr) detour on the way home from Kelowna! Being a holiday Monday, we had to stay over to Tuesday, only to find out the dealer already had a deposit on it and she was coming to get it the next day. Heartbreak. We asked him to call us STAT if anything changed, and dinner time Wednesday, we actually got a call - she didn't end up taking it! Pushed through the paperwork, had it trailered back to Calgary, and waited for my funds to recover...


   


- 5MT
- leather
- only 143,000 km on the clock

This trim combo is practically unheard of in Canada!


I purchased a 2004 STI donor car and have gradually been accumulating parts for the build. It also needs a full paint job to fix up the sad, sad orange peel from the dealer's quick & dirty Maaco job. WHY? It hasn't been in an accident, zero rust, very minor dents & scuffs.... Another several thousand to spend...

Performance
- Borg Warner EFR 6758
- Turbosmart IWG 75 dual port wastegate actuator
- Custom -4AN Teflon/SS braided oil feed, water cooling lines, -10AN oil drain
- VEX Performance custom-built EFR stock location kit - 3" S304 piping fully back-purged and TIG welded in-house
- Apex'i Universal WS2 muffler - S304 stainless
- Injector Dynamics ID1000 injectors
- Walbro 450 (model #F90000274) fuel pump (465 lph @ 40 psi and 13.5V (14.1 amps) in gasoline)
- Radium fuel rails and custom -6AN Teflon/SS braided lines
- Radium fuel pressure regulator (adjustable)
- IAG Billet TGV Deletes with 3mm phenolic spacers
- Aquamist HFS-3 water-methanol system
- Vex Performance Crystal Methanol 51:49 Water Methanol
- Perrin Equal Length Headers, DEI heat wrapped
- AMR aluminum turbo inlet pipe - custom welded blockoffs/bungs, powdercoated wrinkle black
- 3-port Boost Control Solenoid
- GR STI top mount intercooler
- Process West hood scoop splitter
- Tial blow off valve (blue)
- IAG Performance Street Series AOS
- Killer B oil pickup
- Killer B oil pan with baffle
- Cobb SF airbox
- Apex'i power intake
- Samco hoses (various)
- Cobb Accessport v3 fully tuned by Airboy Tuning - RESULTS
- Cobb E85 Flex Fuel support - Never

Drivetrain
- Full 6MT swap - R180 rear, STI drive shaft, lateral links, axles, crossmembers, steering rack, 5x100 knuckles
- ACT SB10-HDSS Heavy duty street clutch ACT T1S-S07 Mod-Twin 225 HD Rigid Street up to 700 tq
- Exedy lightweight flywheel for 2004 STI
- Whiteline rear subframe locking bolts
- Whiteline steering rack bushings (came with '04 STI!)
- Kartboy "comfort" rear diff crossmember outrigger bushings
- Kartboy front and rear shifter bushings
- TiC shift linkage bushings
- Kartboy XL exhaust hangers
- Kartboy 6MT short shifter + bushings

Suspension
- KW variant 3 coilovers - factory rebuilt
- VEX Performance custom 1.25" billet aluminum saggy butt spacers
- 24mm SuperPro rear swaybar
- Whiteline swaybar stout mounts
- STi endlinks
- Whiteline adjustable lateral links

Brakes
- Front and rear 2004 STI Brembos
- Front and rear DBA 4000 slotted rotors
- Front and rear Endless MX-72 brake pads
- Endless S-four Brake fluid
- Front and rear Goodridge SS brake lines
- Grimmspeed master cylinder brace

Wheels & Tires
- Volk ZE40s - 18x9.5 ET+43, bronze, 5x100 (summer), 65-56 hubcentric rings
- 245/40R18 Nitto NT05s
- 8mm wheel spacers (rear)
- ARP extended wheel studs (front & rear)
- OZ Ultraleggeras - 17x7.5 ET+48, custom orange powdercoated, 5x100 (winter)
- Hakkapelitta 8s studded winter tires
- WedSport SA72Rs - 17x9 ET+42, silver, 5x100
- BlackLion 235/25R17 with oversize studs

Interior & Exterior
- JDM FSTI cluster
- custom Ortiz cluster surround dual gauge pod
- Innovate ECF-1 (4-in-1 for wideband O2, fuel temp/pressure, ethanol %)
- Aquamist HFS-3 red gauge
- JDM v7 hood scoop
- JDM FSTI CrossSports grille
- JDM FSTI double DIN nav pod
- JDM STI 6MT knob
- Cosworth oil cap
- Wrinkle black powdercoated intake manifold
- Custom plates "RODKNOC" (:grin:)
- Full paint and body restore by Prah Paint Works
- JDM Cross Sports rear bumper with optional lip
- SYMS replica SG9 hatch wing
- JDM Cross Sports Zenki side skirts
- JDM Forester STi rear waist spoiler
- JDM Cross Sports darked out headlights
- LaminX tail light overlays
- Diode Dynamics interior LEDs, HP3 license plate, HP3 parking light "eyebrow" LEDs
- Nexus7 (2013 Wifi 16gb) in-car install, clock pod location, hardwired. Timur's kernel & pem, Tasker profiles (ugh), BT OBDII for TorquePro... In Progress!


My goals are street-reliable (not necessarily daily driven) respectable power that comes on as early as possible, with lots of torque, solid handling and no mushy braking. This car may or may not see winter. We have no local track (yet) but this should cover light track and autocross.

Spent the weekend doing the first big chunk of work! So much more to go, but I'm super pumped to get something started!

Starting with my donor 04 STi, we (ahem, Ryan..) pulled the rear cross member out:


I picked up a set of KWs used, and Ryan had them sent out for a rebuild and new spring perches, bump stops, etc. Got them all re-assembled and initially adjusted height, rebound and compression (Note to self: bump is bottom).
 

Initial Height (A) = 85 mm
Initial Rebound (small top) =
Initial Compression (lg bottom) =

Re-installed (should've sprung for new springs!):


Installing the rear crossmember from the STi into the FXT - Ryan recommended Kartboy "comfort" outrigger bushings, because he's old and doesn't like a bumpy ride
      


Meanwhile, this was my job - sandblast the rear DBA 4000s from the STi to reuse. I already had a set of BNIB 4000s to go on the front. Also cleaned up the swaybar bushing brackets, and attempted to blast the RSB itself, but I'd have been there all day.
   

I got a choice of Endless MX-72 and SSM for brake pads. The big advantage to SSM in reviews is how little they dust (like, rated at zero dust), but the MX-72s weren't far behind (8/10 rating) AND they had better ratings for initial bite and pedal feel - two of THE MOST important things to me, after living with my bugeye's and OEM Foresters' squishy brakes. I might hate squishy brakes even more than a limp clutch feel!
   

Encountered a couple differences between the FXT and STi: the ebrake adjustment cable is shorter on the STi, and the ABS sensor is female coming from the outside of the car (as opposed to male on the FXT). The STi's ebrake handle and bracket are flipped compared to the FXT's, too - the ebrake handle on the FXT is nearer the driver's seat. That meant swapping the little adjustment cable out of the ebrake assembly, rather than tossing in the whole assembly.
   

All put back together!
   



Probably can't really tell from that photo ^^^ but the rear wheels have a serious positive camber going on... Adjustable Whiteline lateral links?!
I think I still need/want saggy butt spacers. Looks better just slightly higher in the rear, rather than dead even  (imo).

Love these. Looks like you got some big plans for it, I'm excited!

Those volks are pretty crazy aggressive fitment for a fozzy, I'll be curious to see how they work out considering I was running into strut clearance issues in the rear with my 17x8 +50's.

Yay finally a journal for this - been waiting for a while!
Looking forward to see this!

Yes! Excited for this build!

- AMR aluminum turbo inlet hose

Don't do it. Huge PITA.

It's the actual body of the strut that I was running into clearance issues with, not the spring or perch. It was uncomfortably close before I added the 3mm spacer and the camber bolts. Now I've got about a finger tips clearance between the sidewall and shock body.

In lieu of actually working on the Foz this weekend, I got to unbox some of my new goodies! It was like Christmas!

The catback I went with - Apex'i WS2 universal 80mm (3"). I wanted a sizeable rolled tip. I hope it's loud enough!

   



Instead of cutting and welding TGV deletes, Ryan ended up convincing me to buy a set, plus phenolic spacers. Which I'm sure do something, and I'll learn what at some point. These sure are shiny, anyways!

   

Grimspeed master cylinder brace. The Perrin one I had in the bugeye was a good improvement, so I'm excited for this!



I bought this Killer B oil pan, baffle, and pickup tube used for a great deal. No sloshing oil for all those aggressive turns I'll make... Cleaned up the silicon sealant today, ready for install.

   

   

And a little eye candy for the engine bay! It's almost WRB, pretty much made for it!

Instead of cutting and welding TGV deletes

Ugh, I probably spent 6-8 hours on mine. It's a lot of work to make it nice.

Another awesome busy weekend! Ryan managed to pull 2 engines and 2 trannies in one day! I had an appointment most of the afternoon Saturday and missed all the fun.

On Sunday, I helped re-install the front crossmember and '04 STI steering rack, control arms, tie rods, etc. We also replaced the FXT's hubs in the front, because the donor STI had some sweet ARP extended wheel studs, which my wheels aren't wide enough for NOW, but down the road may be... And at $50 a corner, who's going to scrap those?!

'04 cross member and steering rack, fresh out of the donor:



My contribution, cleaning up the LCAs a bit:
Aluminum STI control arms were always unobtainium awesomeness when I owned my bugeye (which was subject to the LCA recall notice but never rusted enough to justify STI LCAs!)

   

Here's the donor 6MT (note to self: tranny code TY856WH3MA)

MODEL RANGE

TRANS. CODE

1ST

2ND

3RD

4TH

5TH

6TH

REV

T.R.

F.D.

CENTER DIFF. TYPE

FRONT DIFF. TYPE

NOTES

US Impreza WRX STi MY04

TY856WH3MA

3.636

2.375

1.761

1.346

0.971

0.756

3.545

1.000

3.900

DCCD (35:65)

A.P. Suretrac

automatic DCCD system

Apparently with the tranny already out, for another hour's worth of work, it was easiest to fully pull my FXT engine. We'll be doing injectors, TGVs, spark plugs, timing belt... And neither of us have Subaru Tech hands!

   




Since the intake manifold is coming off, I've got the opportunity to clean it up. My dilemma is HOW I want to - just sandblast it? Sandblast and paint it (and what colour, and how do I avoid flaking)? Get it powdercoated (we don't have a good source)? Grind and polish it to chrome shine?
And now I've been searching up engine bay porn (yeah, not using those keywords exactly) and trying to decide on my colour scheme. Ridiculous? mebbe...

First off very nice FXT you got your hands on, love the WRB.

I attempted to change my plugs with the engine in and not unfastened/lifted at all.  I have rather large paws being 6'6" and it didn't take too terribly long until I couldn't get #4 out. With some patience and the odd foul word I was able to get the plugs for cylinders #'s 1, 2, and 3 removed/replaced.  I eventually gave up on cylinder #4, if I would have had even an 1/8" more room I likely would have been successful.  The reason I was even silly enough to attempt it this way was due to the fact that I had zero issues swapping plugs this way on my 04 WRX Wagon in the past.  Anyway, you're laughing SO much easier with the engine out.

As for your manifold, personally I would get it properly blasted and powdercoated.  It would be so much work to get that thing to shine and depending on the exact metal/alloy it is it may not even polish up real great or last very long.  Even if you coat it after you'll likely have issues with any clear coating applied to protect the shine.  I've seen so many painting failures with Subaru intake manifolds.  For my wife's 02 WRX I did the intake manifold and valve covers. I figured it would be good enough to clean everything up real good and give it a few coats of high temp primer and then high temp base color (metallic) coats as well as the final high top coat.  It looked so damn good for a few months or maybe a year max, but like all others I've seen done it began to flake and look like itshay.  Just my experience and recommendation, somebody may have a better suggestion.

I'm looking forward to yet another great mod thread here!

My small girly hands can FIT, but have no torque for removing! And threading those things in takes more patience than I've got... Oh, AND, I used to run one step colder copper plugs - so every.single.year.

Yeah, I've been drooling over all these gorgeous, freshly painted manifolds, and it's hard to keep in mind that won't last (definitely not in our weather)! Whereas I had my bugeye rims powdercoated, with zero chips for 5+ years of owning them. On the other hand, I've got nothing but time to polish, and if it turns out like poop I can still powdercoat with a textured finish...

Hmmmm...

Totally personal preference here, but I'm not a fan of polished anything.  It's too bling bling shiny.  I like texture and colours~

I'm going for a monotone colour scheme, and so far I've got KW (yellow & purple), Brembo (gold), OZ (bright orange), Volk (bronze), stock red, orange and yellow in the engine bay, and a WRB oil cap! lol!

Wrinkle/textured black was my first thought, actually:


Huge difference without stickers (maybe then I could put the STI's wrinkle red manifold on):