Topic: 2004 STi "Project Daily" Build Log [Retired]

[Chase_Schrader]

Project Daily-2004 STi

Current Summer Setup


Current Winter Setup


ENGINE

• Cobb AccessPort V3
• SPT High Flow Intake
• AEM ELECTRONICS Methanol Injector (Not in Use)

EXHAUST

• Invidia Catless 3in Divorced Downpipe in DEI Exhaust Wrap
• Invidia N1 Race Catback

DRIVETRAIN

• EXEDY Stage 1 Clutch kit

SUSPENSION

• BC Racing BR Coilovers with Rear Camber Plates
• TEGIWA Coilover Covers

WHEELS

• OEM 2004 STI Rims Painted Grey
• Michelin X-ice
• Rota Grids Hyper Black 17*9
• Toyo Proxes R1R 255/40/17
• Tire Stickers Toyo Proxies
• Mishimoto Aluminium Locking Lug Nut Black

BRAKES

• Slotted Front Rotors
• Slotted Front Rotors

EXTERIOR

• OEM Headlights Paint Black Housings
• Rally Armor Urethane Mud Flaps Black/Blue
• Aftermarket Rack Brackets
• Yakima Cross Bars
• Yakima Landing Pads 11
• Yakima Fairing
• Yakima Front Loader
• Blackworks Limited Black Tow Hook

INTERIOR

• Blacked Out A, B and C Pillars
• Custom Wrapped Headliner
• Wink Rally Mirror

Table of contents

• Introduction
  
• Summer of 2016
  
• Painting the Stock BBS Rims
  
• Coilover Covers and Winter
  
• Camshaft Sensor Quits
  
• Ghost lake
  
• Battery Goes Pop
  
• Finding oil in all the wrong places
  
• Fixing the Oil Leak..
  
• My Roof Rack Solution
  
• Blacking Out the Interior
  
• Adding Some “space” to my STi
  
• Rally Wink Mirror Install
  
• Getting the Windows Tinted
  

[Chase_Schrader]

I don’t know what it is about the blobeye Subarus in WRB, but when I seen one years ago I wanted one…..no I needed one.

I started looking for a 2004-2005 STi in World Rally Blue in February of 2015. With the goal of finding one under 100,000kms and with the least amount of mods possible. Turns out that that isn't very easy.

Finally after a few failed attempts I had a hit in Edmonton in December of 2015. The first trip to Edmonton was to check out the car. It had just recently been repainted, the rear cv joints had been replaced and the only mods were an accessport, n1 cat back, aftermarket radiator, command start and a water methanol injector that never was used. Plus it only had 96,000kms on it.

It was time to do some homework, I check on the vin and found it was silver before it was blue… but after some debating I deciding that it was in overall good condition and bit the bullet.

The car was purchased later that December of 2015. That is where the real story begins.

Day One


First of Many….

[Chase_Schrader]

Since I took forever to start my build log, I have a lot of catching up todo.

It didn’t take long for something to go wrong, with in the first two months I started to smell something burning, almost like clutch. Well it was the clutch, so time to get that done and since
I didn't have the time nor the experience I opted to get it done at a shop. I then had Vex Performance put in EXEDY Stage 1 Clutch kit and a re machined flywheel.



I quickly traded in the V2 Accessport for the V3, and got some rally armor mudflaps. Thats is when the modding bug bit, I was hooked and started planning for the spring which later due to stuff taking for ever turned into summer.

Meanwhile I started collecting parts…

[Chase_Schrader]

After waiting way too long for parts it was time, me and a couple friends decided to separate the install into a couple days. The final parts list was BC Coilovers, Rota Grids, Toyo Proxes and  a catless 3in downpipe.

The first night we just tore it down, which proved difficult with over ten years of rust grime. At the end of the night we ended up with all of this.

“Stage one……” Stated the ad, didn’t expect this


It was time install everything, and  anything that was going back had to be cleaned. We started with the N1 that looked like it was put through a couple rally stages without mudflaps. To clean it up the best we can, we ended up polishing it and reburning it with a propane torch.


The heat wrap looks so good on the downpipe.


The tire stickers were relatively easy but took a long time to stick on.


We didn't get many picture of the process but overall it took way longer than expected, but we never broke anything in the process. So I would consider it a win!


We also installed the tow hook


Summer Mods Playlist

[Chase_Schrader]

This winter I wanted something a little different, so I decide to change up the wheel color and fix some of the chips.

I first sanded down the paint to get a proper adhesion and smoothen out the chips on the wheels. I decided then to paint the inner rim with a rubberized coating to prevent anymore chiping on the inside.


Next I masking off the previously painted inner rim and and started priming it. Between coats of primer I used 400 grit sandpaper to smoothen some of the chips even more.


It was finally time to paint the rims, I chose dupli-color wheel paint in graphite, which is pretty close to the color of my summer tires. We ended up doing two coats.


Painting Project Daily’s Winters

[Chase_Schrader]

The Calgary roads can get pretty brutal in the winter, I decide that I wanted to protect my coils. I bought neoprene sleeves to hopefully keep them protected. They were pretty easy to install and relatively cheap. It was december by then so I decide to toss on the winter tires well I was at it.


Painting Project Daily’s Winters

[Chase_Schrader]

My camshaft sensor decide it was time to give in and quit on me resulting in a starting backfire… It is one thing or another.


The timing never fails and left me at finals, preventing me from fixing it till late December. So I decided it was the best time bring it in to Vex Performance for both the cam sensor and evap code checked. Furthermore to look at the spark plugs that might or might not of been changed in the last 100,000 kms.

It turns out that the cam sensor had failed as I thought but the evap wasn't as easy. They used smoke to try to find a leak with the system, to find it leaking under the rear crossmember. Then they tested again making sure all the vents are closed to find no leak…. As it stands now, the code still exist.

As for the spark plugs, they had the wrong gap and were replaced.

Before]https://youtu.be/SipD3s9pmbg]Before
What was fixed]https://youtu.be/8Otn-GG7f4o]What was fixed

[Chase_Schrader]

Car made through the torment of ghost lake without any problems!


Ghost Lake 60 Second Edit]https://youtu.be/XgSikP8cZNg]Ghost Lake 60 Second Edit
Ghost Lake Vlog]https://youtu.be/3ZVzdGezc6g]Ghost Lake Vlog

[Chase_Schrader]

It started as a small job which turned into a two day job do to the p/o…
Do to our great roads It was a pretty good idea to remove the existing rust and then put a coating on the prevent anymore rust for the next few years. I started grinding out the rust with a wire wheel on drill when bodo started flaking off, I continued to work my way up the rocker panel removing the bondo and I ended up with this.



*Note the huge dent in the rocker.. The p/o never said anything about this.

In attempted to fix the poor fitment of my side skirt, I started to sand the whole rocker panel and removing the rust.



To add on to the huge dent end of the rockers are completely mangled, with limited resource and time I attempted to reshape them as best as I could.





To finish all the exposed bondo was sprayed with a copy layers of primer, then the bare metal and rocker panels were sprayed with a rubberized rocker protected.



Due to the damage of the rockers the side skirts still do not sit properly still, but hopefully I don't have to worry about rust for a while.Looking at all this and the new rear cv axles I’m pretty sure the the p/o put the rear end on crub.

Rust Removal Playlist

[Chase_Schrader]

Project Daily died on the side of the road today, with the security alarm going of and not response from the accessport. It couldn't of died in a better spot though, I was minutes away from Vex performance.


As it turns out the battery shorted out due to old age and blew one of the main 30 amp fuses, immobilizing the car.

What Happen to Project Daily

[Chase_Schrader]

I pulled out of the garage to find a nice new stain of oil, mine car always had a issue of consuming oil (it seems like most Subarus do) but it has never leaked a drop of oil. After some further investigation, it seems to be leaking from the turbo/ic area and is pooling on the block. I traced it back to a tear in the elbow joint from the screw clamps. So I ordered a elbow joint, and a coupler because who knows how long it will last… Also some t-clamps were ordered so I don't tear into the new silicone.

[GrantC]

Haha, it's nice of you to let your baby brother pose by the car.   

Kidding, kidding, welcome to the forums & darn good start on a project thread!

[jakesubie]

Dam lots of details. Great job on the write up cant wait to see where it go's!

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Was this thing for sale a few weeks ago?

[Player One]

I like that you have a table of contents. Great build log so far.

[Chase_Schrader]

Haha, it's nice of you to let your baby brother pose by the car.   

Kidding, kidding, welcome to the forums & darn good start on a project thread!

Haha thanks man 

Dam lots of details. Great job on the write up cant wait to see where it go's!

I like that you have a table of contents. Great build log so far.

Thanks I'm trying to keep it detailed as possible!

Was this thing for sale a few weeks ago?

It was not, I have had it since December of 2015 

[Chase_Schrader]

I finally got around to putting on the new hoses for the intercooler. I ordered a 2in elbow and 2.75in coupling to replace the stock ones ...... Matching t-clamps were also ordered.



Reading the service manual it looked like a pretty simple job, take out the intercooler replace them and put it back. It didn't even take 10 minutes before something went wrong, when pulling off one off the air bypass hoses that connected to the steel hoses on the i/c the other side came off to....wrapped in black tape.



After fighting with the recirc valve we decided to take it off the i/c, to find rtv sealing it. Since I worked in a couple hours I didn't have time to go get an another gasket. So we went to get some vacuum line as a temporary fix and rtv.



Assembly went relatively well after cutting the silicone hoses to the correct length. To my knowledge the hoses that was the cracked is apart of the evap system and when I reset the ecu the evap check engine light should correct itself. Let me know if I'm clueless

*Note-I believe it is still leaking, next place to check will be the oil outlet on the turbo unless someone has a suggestion.

Intercooler Hoses REPLACEMENT

[RockThePylon]

The hoses connected to the metal tube at the front of the intercooler are breather hoses coming from the valve covers. Unrelated to Evap.

For what it's worth, I always unbolt the BPV from the intercooler. Getting the hose off is damn near impossible.

[Chase_Schrader]

The hoses connected to the metal tube at the front of the intercooler are breather hoses coming from the valve covers. Unrelated to Evap.

For what it's worth, I always unbolt the BPV from the intercooler. Getting the hose off is damn near impossible.

Awesome thanks, I couldn't find anything in the service manual about them... Probably because I was looking under evap.

[Chase_Schrader]

I didn't want to go the normal route with a the roof rack using q-clips as I will have my DH bike and my powder skis on. Which if it fails will be quite pricy… Also the frameless windows hitting clips seems a bit of a risk.
 
Looking at the oem solutions I was not convinced, so I looked onwards to aftermarket solutions. I eventually found the answer, a replacement bracket with a yakima rack.
 

 
The whole process started with removing the trim and headliner. After some prying and a couple screw the upper half was stripped down.
 

 

 
Next I started to remove the rain gutter cover, which proved much more difficult than the service manual says. I eventually started prying at it, which broke all the clips…. But it is fine the rack will hold it in.
 

 
The Oem mounting is just stamped metal. To remove it, the bolts from the inside of the car are undone and they pop off.
 
To install the aftermarket brackets, silicone was applied around the base of the bracket then it place in the same location as the Oem one. Silicone was applied surrounding the bolt that came with the brackets. Repeat on the other side of the bracket and you have finished one, only three more to go!
 

 
The next step was to install the landing pads, there is a couple you can use but for the best set up use the #11s. A hole must be drilled through the rain gutter to allow the M6x1.0 bolt through to go from the bracket into the landing pad. Installations is pretty simple from this point forwards, just follow manufactures instructions. Do not tighten down the landing pads at this time.
 
Take the control towers and mount them to the landing pads and put the cross bar through. This allows you to finalize the position of the pads. Now take every but the landing pads off and tighten the pads down making sure they sit right.
 

 
Now it is time to mount the rest of the rack, put the control towers back on and latch them on. If you are not cutting the cross bars you can install them too.
 
This part is optional but I would recommend as it make the rack look much cleaner. Put the cross bars back up and put in the end caps. Now position one side to your liking, measure the amount the bar pokes and mark it on the other side, repeat on the other cross bar. To cut the cross bar I scored the rubber coating using a pipe cutter, then completed the cut with a hacksaw.
 

 
Finally it is time to install the cross-bars for one last time. Once everything is in place you can tighten everything down, install the endcaps and lock it.
 

 
To go with the rack I got the 40in Fairing and the Front Loader bike rack. To install these I just followed the instructions provided with no issues.
 
Overall I am really happy with the setup, it holds both my bikes very securely and there is minimal wind noise. I will have better pictures when I have time to do a shoot!
 

 
2004 STi ROOF RACK INSTALL

[Chase_Schrader]

The next step in my interior plan was to black out the pillars, as they were already out to do the rack. I choosed to use Duplicolor trim paint, as recommended by other WSCers. I planned to paint outside but the Calgary weather had other ideas for me. So I set up a place to paint indoors.
 

 
Before spraying the trim I gave them a wipe down with lacquer thinner to remove any cleaner or grease. I am not the best at painting stuff with a rattle can, but I was really impressed on how well the paint applied. I had some runs but once they dried they disappeared.
 

 

 
The hardest part was getting the edges of the small trim pieces.
 

 
The last thing I wanted to spray was the hardest, the part of the seat belt that holds it onto the car. I did come up with a plan though, I made two mini paint booths using bags then put the belts through. Then I taped up the belts and sprayed the brackets, flipping it over three times to get complete coverage.
 

 

 
It dramatically improves the look of the interior in my opinion and would recommend it if anyone is looking at doing it!
 
 
How To Blackout Your Interior

[jellynuts]

Nice.  I've been wanting to black out my interior since forever.  But man, the lazy is strong in this one. 

[Chase_Schrader]

Since was taking out the headliner of my car to do the roof rack and the pillars I decided that it was a good time to try to accomplish re-warping the headliner. Not because it was failing in any way, I just wanted to change it up and experiment.
There is two ways to do it, either take off the old material or take it off. I decided for better adhesion I would take it off. It was easier than expected, after about twenty minutes of prying it was removed.



For the fabric I selected printed faux suede with a space nebula pattern.



To make sure that it wasn't going to fall down i picked up some 3M high strength spray adhesive.



We sprayed about a 7 inch path across the headliner, then let it sit for 1 minute. Two of us lifted the fabric over the patch and then set it down on top, making sure that there was no wrinkles and ran over making sure that it all make contact.



The hardest part was definitely the front foot with all the curves.



Next we had to get the edges on, I cut the fabric leaving a inch to wrap around the curves. Using the same process we competed the sides, to hold them to dry we clamped with paper clips.



All finished, bonus picture with the blackout pillars!!





The BEST INTERIOR Modifcation

[Ambystom01]

If you like it, I suppose that's all that matters.

[Chase_Schrader]

If you like it, I suppose that's all that matters.

People either going to love it or hate it, its one of those things