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Rambo Goes Down Under

22K views 85 replies 21 participants last post by  josnroh 
#1 · (Edited)
Rambo Buys an Outback...

Most of you know I had a bugeye. I loved that car, but it was sadly lost in an accident earlier this summer. Several weeks later, I bought a 2007 Outback 3.0R wagon. The small dimensions of the bugeye sedan were holding me back from bringing building materials home for my house (lumber, etc). The wagon is far more spacious, and better accommodates my house projects. It's the LL Bean Edition, so it has two-tone leather interior, power heated seats, navigation, etc. The 3.0L H6 has a stout 250hp, and makes the Outback deceptively quick. Going from a Stage II bugeye to the Outback was relatively similar, power-wise.



Engine
*Paranoid Fabrications Grounding Kit
*Cosworth Panel Filter

Interior
*Alacantara shift boot over the automatic shifter (makes me feel less lame :rotfl: )
*Alacantara Ebrake boot
*LED interior lights
*GROM Audio factory Bluetooth integration (music streaming and phone calls through factory stereo and steering wheel controls)
*Hidden trailer wiring harness in rear hatch stowage area
*First Aid and Emergency Response kits

Exterior
*Class II Trailer hitch
*TRS Retro-Quik HID retrofit
*Reverse camera in rear hatch, integrated with factory Nav unit
*LEDs in reverse lights
*Michelin Pilot Sport A/S3 tires (love these!)



Currently, I only have a couple mod plans, but we'll see how long that lasts. ;)
Future Mods:
*Tint
*Audio Processor and sub installation
*Catback of some sort
*Possible 5eat Throttle Body Upgrade
*Dream plan: Forced Induction via supercharger. (Once upon a time, Cobb was actually going to make an H6 supercharger kit, lol). While that hasn't panned out, there are H6 S/C applications from Australia... :rolleyes:



 
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#4 ·
Eh, it's enough. If anything, I'd like it lowered to LGT height. My initial plan was to find an LGT wagon, but clean, low-mileage examples of those are pretty much impossible to find in my area, and I was under a deadline to find a replacement.
 
#6 ·
First mod: The factory iPod interface kit!

Starting in 2007, the Legacy stereo (sourced from Clarion) was available with XM Radio. Instead of that, you could substitute iPod connectivity using the same controls (but removing the XM functionality). The kit contained a small interface box, all required hardware, some patch cabling, and instructions.

Removing a Legacy/Outback stereo isn't as easy as the Impreza/Forester. You have to remove the faux wood trimming, the shifter trim, and a ton of little clips. It sucks:


Further complicating things, the automatic climate controls and stereo are melded onto the same circuit boards:


This makes an aftermarket stereo setup pretty much impossible without tremendous expense. Even with the pricy JDM panel swap, the trim colors don't match, and the DIN unit looks very out of place compared to the rest of the dash. I don't want to hear any whining from WRX owners about stereo swaps, lol. You have it easy.

Anyway, the ipod kit is pretty easy to install: just remove the stereo, bolt in the interface box, plug in the cabling, run the ipod cable into the armrest cubby, and that's it. Unfortunately, the controls aren't intuitive at all. Playlists aren't organized the same way as the ipod, navigation is pretty tricky, and the whole business is just way more difficult that it needs to be. Thankfully, I usually only have one playlist for the car, so once I'm in that, it's easy enough to just let that play. On the plus side, the steering wheel buttons can control the ipod too, which is pretty impressive for a 2007 factory deck.

All Legacy's in 2007 had six speakers and the same Clarion deck, regardless of trim level. While better than the factory Impreza sound system by a long shot, it's not great. Since an aftermarket deck isn't practical, I'll be looking at post-HU audio processors like ****'s JBL MS-8. I'm also looking for a subwoofer system, but might end up with a custom trunk installation similar to what Audio Integrations offers for Imprezas. The Outback has two large cubbies on each side of the trunk perfect for a sub install, but it will require custom fabrication.
 
#7 ·
nice upgrade! sorry it took a totaled wrex to get to, but looks great none the less. boo on the intagrated ac/hazard/stereo. kinda kills even a pricey head unit upgrade but the ipod fix is cool. glad you found a way to work around the block of meh. i wonder if the hvac circut is seperated on the inside of the stereo housing. you know, something that can be removed for later custom of a uber head unit, while keeping the cool. kind of like the guy that fabed a set of guages into his hvac control switch erea and mover the controls.....down, i think. cant remember how he did it, it was on nasioc i think on a bug eye.


wait...looking closer it playes mp3? thats alotta music on one cheap cd, let alone 6 if its a changer. cool enough! ahh what the heck. just money right lol
 
#12 ·
wait...looking closer it playes mp3? thats alotta music on one cheap cd, let alone 6 if its a changer. cool enough! ahh what the heck. just money right lol
Yes, It has AM/FM, a 6-CD changer, an AUX input, and now full iPod control; all from the factory deck. The CD changer isn't worth much to me, but hey, it's there. While it plays burned CDs just fine, the song information won't display (it just says Track 1, 2, etc). The iPod control of course shows the song/album/artist/playlist/etc names.


As far as relocating the HVAC controls on a bugeye, sure, that would be fairly easy as all the dials and buttons are either potentiometers with electrical leads out, or cable actuators. The vent dial for example just pulls a bicycle brake type cable to swing the various ductwork dampers into each setting. As long as you have enough slack in the cables and wiring, it doesn't really matter where the control box is.

I don't think i can separate out mine since the HVAC control ports are right in line with the audio output ports, meaning they share circuit boards. That level of hacking isn't worth my time when I could get a sound processor and be done with it.

The next item on the list is window tint. My friend is the in-house detailer for the local Ferrari dealer, and referred me to where they send all their exotics for tint work.
 
#13 ·
So surfing around the interwebs I discovered pretty much exactly the mod path I'd like shoot for with the Outback: Subaru Legacy Forums - View Single Post - Official Lowered Outback Thread

His is a tad lower than I'd like. I'm looking for LGT ride height, possibly with Spec B spring/struts. After the new springs/struts, I'll evaluate swaybars, but I might get Kartboy endlinks all around regardless, just for grins.

The exhuast will probably be from Nameless, with a custom Magnaflow setup as a back up option.
 
#16 ·
Updates!
*Got the 60k mile service done. $1,100 later :)eek3:), and I had all new fluids errywhere, new plugs (which are even more a of PITA to do than the 4cyl cars), a new driver's front axle, my derailed moonroof fixed, and a bunch of other general mainteance tasks done. I'm sure I could have saved money doing it all myself, but I had a lot of other things to do, and the dealer gave me a free XV Crosstrek for the weekend, so I just let them handle it.

*Peeled off the red plastidip from the bugeye's winter steelies and installed them on the Outback. The 16" wheels make a huge wheel gap, but it's not as noticeable with the matte black steelies. Set a new personal record with a 20 minute wheel swap using just a floor jack.



*Replaced the cracked leather e-brake boot with an alacantara one. The color isn't as close of a match as I'd hoped for, so I'm going to get a fabric dye and darken it several shades. The alacantara is much more flexible though, and should never crack.



*Ordered some Osram Rallye H7 headlight bulbs: Osram Rallye 64217 65w Ultra High Output H7 Special-Service Bulb
From my research, these are supposed to be the best H7 bulb on the market, and will replace my adequate, but not outstanding factory low beams. Hopefully these will tide me over until I do a full TRS retrofit. I was tempted to pick up a pair of HIR bulbs for the high beams, but I decided to hold off for now.

*I'll be removing the 1-1/4" hitch receiver that came with the car when I bought it. The small hitch isn't really useful for anything but a bike rack, and I have roof-mounted bike racks, so I don't have any need for it. I'll be replacing it with a proper 2" receiver and trailer wiring (it doesn't have any wiring right now). I don't intend on towing more than 1500lbs at most, which is well within the 3500lb tow capacity.

I continue to be very pleased with the Outback. With the snow tires on, it has grip for days, regardless of terrain, and the 5-level heated seats have been useful on the 20 degree commutes to work. The ride is very smooth, so much so that my wife's Honda now feels downright primitive by comparison.

In stock mode, the transmission can be a bit dim-witted, but click it over to sport mode, and that disappears. If the 5eat ever gives out, I'll probably try to find the six-speed manual from a Spec B, or a JDM-sourced unit (which was offered on the Australian 3.0R Outbacks, but not over here), but everything I've read indicates the 5eat is quite stout and very reliable, as is the 3.0R engine itself.
 
#18 ·
The winters are 205/55-R16 and the summer are 225/55-R17, so yeah, it's about a 1" diameter difference. That said, Subaru primarily increased the Outback ride height over the Legacy by adding spacers to the perches, and only adding slightly longer struts, so there's quite a gap even with the stock configuration (see the first pic in this thread).

No, I'm not looking to ruin the transmission in any way, but if it happens, it happens, and I'll evaluate my options at that point.
 
#22 ·
Yeah, the majority of the people with the 3.0R aren't going to mess with it. 7k doesn't seem worth it. The guy with the fozzy was running 6 psi of boost and only got around 250 whp. It sure would be cool, though :)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
 
#23 ·
Lighting upgrades!

I did the old "H9 bulbs in H11 sockets" conversion for my wife's car. I swear her stock H11s were dangerously dim, and I'm not an ALL THE HIDZ!!! kind of guy. The new bulbs were a cheap mod and are much better.

I also installed Osram Rallye H7s in the Outback. These were a drop-in replacement for the stock H7 bulbs, but are a popular bulb in the Candlepower forums.

Here are the stock low-beams:



Here are the Osram Rallyes (taken from the same spot and camera exposure:


As you can see, much brighter front and center, but the beam cut-off is the same, as the filament location and focal point is the same as before. It also illuminates a wider spread than before, which is nice. All in all, that's $36 well-spent!

I also replaced the burned-out license plate bulbs with LEDs. I normally dislike putting LEDs in this spot because so often people put the brightest bulbs they can find in there and have a super-bright roving advertisement of their license number. These aren't bad, though, and are only about as bright as the stock bulbs, although of course the color is different. Cheaper than new incandescent bulbs at only $2 shipped, and I'll never need to touch them again.

 
#24 ·
Well, with the exception of the OEM uppipe and swaybar, all the leftover bugeye parts I had stashed around the garage are gone. :sadwave:

The good news is I now have over $600 of mod money burning a hole in my pocket. :woocow:

After talking to reps at Rally Innovations, Primitive Racing, and Gorilla Offroad, I'm unfortunately not able to source a discreet light bar that suits my goals. The RI isn't sturdy enough (just two bolts!), the Gorilla costs too much to ship (cross-country shipping for steel frame sucks), and the Primitive, while local to me, is a bit more invasive than I'm looking for (requires boring into the bumper).

I'm going to have to put my Rigid Industries LED bar plans on the back burner for the present, although I did order HIR bulbs for my high beams, so there's that at least.

Next up is audio, and fortunately I'm making some headway on this one. The factory audio is a Panasonic in-dash 6-CD changer with 6-speaker audio, an AUX-input, and iPod-input via proprietary cable (no USB port). It's a similar setup to the 2007 Impreza with one key distinction: the head-unit is integrated with the dual climate controls, making it virtually non-replaceable (unless you spend $$$$ to do THIS).

Thanks to that little "Up yours, audio installers!" on Subaru's part, I'm having to design my sound upgrades around the factory head unit, which has been challenging, but not impossible. The first goal is to add a subwoofer. The hideous 8" underseat subwoofer box offered for most Subarus since the dawn of time is the only factory audio "upgrade" available for my year of Legacy, and since I know firsthand how awful that thing was in my WRX, I'm looking beyond that to a custom sub-box built into the right rear cargo area, similar to the incredibly expensive and now discontinued JL Stealthbox: STEALTHBOX

I'll be sourcing a 12" sub from Pioneer or JL Audio (final choice to be determined based on the volume of the sub box once completed). I'll be getting a mono amp to match the sub, and the audio source will be provided by a LOC tapped off the factory rear channels (factory HU has no subwoofer line-out :().

Depending on how my budget works out, I may replace the simple LOC with a more sophisticated 4 channel audio processor (the factory tweeters are simply slaved to the front doors with capacitors, creating a basic analog high-pass filter, they are not actually on their own audio channels. This is true for Imprezas as well).

TL;DR: I'm droppin' da bass, yo.
 
#25 ·
Honestly, consider going smaller with the sub, Isaac...a properly enclosed 8" or 10" sub with reasonable power is more than enough for what you're looking for, I'm sure.

My 250W-powered JL 10W3 is perfect for giving a kick in the seat while maintaining a level of subtlety that doesn't annoy drivers around me (even with the minimal sound deadening material in the STI, you can barely hear it outside the car). My buddy had a custom 8" enclosure (same person who designed mine) and it was perfect for the '08 WRX sedan that he had; I don't remember what he was driving it with, but it wasn't a lot of power.
 
#26 ·
Good points. I'm debating between a 10 or 12. I have enough space for 12, but I'm not sure how the acoustics of the wagon work out compared to the 10" I had in the sedan. I was looking at the 10" JL (you recommended it before), but I might go for a 12" Pioneer that better suits the calculated sub box volume (and also has better cone and surround materials).
 
#27 ·
id go 10", unless you are 16 and like to bump to the 12s as you hit vtec..oh wait that was me fml.

i have the stock under the seat sub in my bug and its enough but ill upgrade to one 10" because i feel that would be enough, perhaps even an 8"....one day, the stock audio is bearable.

good luck with whatever your future plans are.

don't you have any friends who can fab up a light bar? paint or powder coat and install some hella 500's and call it a day?
 
#29 ·
#28 ·
I have always run 10" subwoofers in all of my car audio sets ups. I think they sound much better if powered correctly. They can hit much faster. My last set up I had a single Alpine type R 10" sub powered with a mono amp (probably running around 500 rms) and it would get much louder than I needed, but still sounded perfect at low volumes. Just wanted to share my experience. Good luck!
 
#30 ·
Modded and dropped some 2011 HIR bulbs into my high beams. It wasn't as drastic a difference as the low beams, but it should help on more open roads.

Here are some shots at the end of my wooded driveway:

65W Osram Rallye low beams:


Stock high beams:


HIR H11 high beams:


So yeah, not much difference, at least in the close wooded area around my yard. I'll have to try them out on some of the more open mountain passes this weekend.
 
#31 · (Edited)
Finally received all my audio parts! They'll serve as garage decor until finals are over next week.

Here's everything I ended up with, after much budget shuffling and research:

Processor: AudioControl LC7i for cleaning up the muddy factory audio and adding a dedicated sub channel.

Amplifier: Rockford Fosgate R600X5 5-channel amp with 50Wx4 and 200W sub channel.

Front components: JBL GTO638 3-way components

Subwoofer: Pioneer TS-W260D4 I chose this sub so I could run the dual voice coils in parallel, gaining a bit of efficiency. The box volume recommendations fall in line with the general dimensions of my custom sub box, see next item.

Sub Box: This will be my own custom design, but styled after the JL Stealthbox. I plan to integrate it as neatly as possible into the rear hatch area, minimizing intrusion into the cargo area. I have a couple enhancements I might design in as well, such as a cargo light and a storage cubby for my first aid kit.

Misc: I got a 4-gauge power wiring kit for the amplifier, RCA patch cables for the processor to amp, and 16-gauge speaker wire. I got male and female Subaru stereo harnesses from Subaru radio and radio wiring harness information and will be soldering a custom plug-and play harness, just as I did for my WRX. The harness will intercept the factory audio outputs, process and amplify them, then feed them back into the factory wiring. I'll have quite the wire bundle to feed through, but at least I won't have to run new wire through the doors. I also got Legacy-specific component adaptors for installing the front components.

Here's the rough layout for the processor and amplifier. Both fit neatly in the factory storage box above the spare tire. Subaru conveniently built natural cooling ducts through this space as well. How thoughtful. I even have space left over for my tow cable, jump cables, tie downs, and other emergency supplies. :D

 
#32 · (Edited)
Stage 1 complete:

Installed the JBL components today. Removed the crappy stock woofers and replaced them. Found some nice Subaru speaker adaptors on Ebay that made it pretty easy.



The stock speakers have built-in connectors. Not wanting to cut the stock door harness, I used my dremel tool to cut out the connectors, and then soldered in my own speaker wire from the JBLs into that. I ended up with a "plug and play" harness for the new components.



After re-installing the door panels, there was a slight clearance issue. The door clips would just barely clip in, then pop out again. I tried trimming down some of the door card material around the speaker, but the problem remained. I ended up using a few self-tapping stainless steel screws to cinch the door panel against the steel frame. It works great: no rattles, and the screws are out of sight unless you're at eye level with the speaker. I did note that the coaxial tweeters aren't causing the clearance issue, I believe one edge of the steel speaker frame is just barely wider than the stock speaker.



As for the sound, well, there still isn't much bass yet (wasn't expecting any), but the sound is much more crisp and clean. I played the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack for testing due to its wide melodic range, and it sounds great in the mids and highs, which is exactly what I was going for.

Next up will be the amp wiring, which I'm not really looking forward to. Running 4GA wire through the entire car is going to take some work, but that's an exciting project for another day.
 
#33 ·
On a bit of an impulse buy, I got this GROM audio Bluetooth kit: Subaru 06-09 Bluetooth Hands Free Car Adapter Kit

This replaces the Subaru iPod kit I bought earlier in this thread, which never really worked all that well with my iPhone (wouldn't charge, sporadic connection issues, etc). The GROM kit also adds BT audio streaming, calling, and Siri control to the mix, which is great.

Install was identical to the Subaru iPod kit, and totally plug-and-play with the included Subaru wiring harness. This just replaces the Subaru expansion box I had earlier. It came with it's own iPod cable (which supports charging!)

I installed the mic on the steering column, just behind the parking light switch. The 32pin iPod was routed along the same path as the old one up into the armrest cubby. An Apple 32pin to Lightning adaptor enables full compatibility with my iPhone 5S.

Now I can connect my phone via BT and start playing. Once I've manually hit "play" for a playlist on my phone, the steering wheel and dash buttons can skip tracks, the LCD display shows song/artist titles and information, etc. Alternatively, I can plug it in, and I get full navigation in and out of different playlists, etc. The wired and bluetooth connections sound and function pretty much the same, but the wired connection adds a little bit of extra control.

I tried out Bluetooth calling, and that worked great as well. My brother had no problems hearing me (other than it was obvious to him I was using a speakerphone), and the call came through clearly on my stereo. Pressing the up arrow on the steering wheel will accept an incoming call, and pressing down will end it. Obviously, you'll still need to manually dial on the phone, or use Siri to initiate an outgoing call.

All-in-all, it's a pretty solid piece of kit, adding modern functionality to a head unit that was largely obsolete before it was even released.

Now I need to buckle down on my sub and amp install. I've been putting off the massive wiring harness I need to run, but I'll enlist my brother this summer to split up some of the soldering work.
 
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