[McBill]

Well It's finally here guys and gals, my build thread! Bare with me here, due to the nature of money this will be a VERY SLOW build. But follow along with me as I document the life and build of my new daily driver. So lets get started!

A little bit of background: My previous cars have been a 1984 z28 Camaro with a built 5.7L, a 2005 Maroon Dodge Dakota 3.7L, and a 2006 Silver Dodge Dakota 4 3.7L door with all the bells and whistles (except I facked up and didn't get the 4.7L like I should have in the first place). I also Currently own a 2007 Suzuki SV650S which becomes my daily diver for 6 months out of the year (Picture Here). This is my first Subaru and I'm loving every bit of it. There will be a bit of a learning curve for me but I've been doing an absurd amount of research to find the exact setup I'm going to be shooting for. Anyhow, I bought my 2011 WRB WRX Sedan back in September (2013) and I don't regret any bit of my first massive purchase. Now lets get to the important stuff.

Below is my parts list, current, pending, and future plans. Again, keep in mind this build is going to be slow. I'm hoping to be able to get my car to where I want it in about 2 years but we will see how that goes. You never know what could happen I guess!

Current Setup

Exterior/Engine Bay Dress-up

• De-badged trunk
• 18% tint all around
• 5% front windshield visor
• Perrin short antenna
• RallyArmor Mudflaps Black w/Red lettering
• GrimmSpeed Red Alternator Cover
• Perrin Radiator shroud (Red)
• SPT Carbon Fiber Trunk Trim
• JDMFantastic Vinyls Red Tail Light Blinker Overlays
• JDMFantastic Vinyls Subaru Emblem Overlays
• JDMFantastic Vinyls Smoked Reverse Light Overlays
• JDMFantastic Vinyls Third Light Red Out Overlay
• GrimmSpeed Turbo Heat Shield
• Limited Edition Black WRX quarter panel badges
• Flat Black JDM Chrome Window Trim Delete
• Hella Supertone Horns in Red
• GrimmSpeed License Plate Relocate Kit
• Custom License Plate Delete
• JDMFantastic Vinyls Yellow Fog Light Overlays
• WeatherTech Side Window Deflectors
• Genuine Subaru Parts Fog Light Kit w/Housing
• ForceWerkz Front Lip

Interior

• SMY ClusterMaker Dual Gauge Pod
• DeFi Analog Boost Gauge (Red)
• Innovate LC-2 Wideband A/F Sensor and DB Gauge (Red)
• Blue foot well illumination Kit
• Subaru all weather floor mats
• Pioneer AVH-X5600BHS

Engine/Powertrain

• Opensource Tuned By Dom @ Turn in Concepts
• Cobb RAM intake w/ Airbox
• Invidia High Flow Catted Downpipe w/extra Bung
• Invidia Q300 Quad Titanium Tipped Cat Back Exhaust

Suspension/Brakes

• StopTech Street Performance Brake Pads, (front and rear)
• StopTech Rotors (front and rear)
• StopTech Stainless Braided lines (front and rear)
• RCE Black Springs
• Koni Yellow Adjustable Struts

Wheels
Summer:

• Enkei Raijin's 18x9.5 +45
• Michelin Pilot Super Sports 265/35 R18

Winter:

• Stock wheels
• No tires yet (likely General Altimax Arctic)

Fluid and Fluid Related Items

• Retired: Redline 0w30 Engine Oil
• Retired: Purolator PureOne oil filter (PL14460)
• Rotella T6
• Subaru Oil Filter
• Motul 600 Brake Fluid

On Order/Pending Install

Build Plans

Engine/Powertrain
Next "staged" setup
-TMIC - ProcessWest, GrimmSpeed, or Mishimoto
-Aftermarket Full Recirculating Bypass Valve
-DeatschWerks Fuel Pump - Likely DW56c
-Fuel Injectors - Likely ID1000's

Interior

-Trunk LED strip
-Overland Shifter Boot
-Overland Ebrake Boot
-Alcantera Wrapping

Suspension/Wheels
-Whiteline Sway Bars (24 front - 22 rear)
-Kartboy Endlinks
-Enkei Raijin 18x9.5 +45 Matte Black

Driveline[/B]
-Kartboy Short Shifter
-Kartboy Shifter Bushing Kit
-WC Lathe Werks Custom Shift Knob
-Pitch Stop Mount
-Transmission Mount
-Subframe Lockdown Bushings
-Differential Lockdown Bushings
-Cusco Power Steering Rack Brace
-Whiteline Steering Rack Bushings

This is the night I got it up in Toledo:

And this is how it currently sits:

Here is my tune graph:

 

[kite991]

Car looks awesome, could you post a pic of the interior footwell lights though? I had them in my old car, but I was on the fence about putting them in the WRX.

 

[McBill]

Car looks awesome, could you post a pic of the interior footwell lights though? I had them in my old car, but I was on the fence about putting them in the WRX.

Sure thing, I'll snap you some pics tonight for you. They aren't terribly bright and adjust with the dash lights.

 

[McBill]

Car looks awesome, could you post a pic of the interior footwell lights though? I had them in my old car, but I was on the fence about putting them in the WRX.

Sorry for the bad quality, taken from my cell phone but this is what they look like at night. first pic is passenger second is driver.

 

[McBill]

Hey all, Just got back from the holiday vacation this week and had some parts waiting for me. Now added to the parts install party come spring is a red Perrin Radiator shroud and a GrimmSpeed turbo heat shield. Also, I kick started my Stage 2 parts accumulation with a GrimmSpeed EBCS :woocow:.

 

[McBill]

Had some fun in the snow today with my buddy and his evo. Here are some of the pictures we got. Ill post a GoPro video compilation when I get it uploaded to youtube.

 

[McBill]

Well installed a full set of mudflaps yesterday. The front was pretty easy because I just used the original mounting hardware from the previous set that were on there, took all of 15 minutes including adjustment time. The rears were a different ballgame. For starters, I knew I was going to run into this problem so I ordered a package of those paneling clips a few months back. What I didn't realize was how hard it was actually going to be.

For a bit of background, I found these bold studs and bolts in all places that there are supposed to be those little black panel clips on each of the rear fender well/wheel well (pictures below). I don't know why or even how, but someone thought it would be a good idea to replace those panel clips with some nuts and bolts... Thankfully they were not very tight. I could take most of them off with my hands with some outward pressure so the bolt would stay in place and not rotate. But the inside clip holes were not so easy. Those were somewhat tight and with no way to actually get to the inside of the panel piece I didn't know where to go from there. Well, after a bit of playing with things to see what might work and a healthy handful of curse words, I came up with an idea. So I removed all nuts I could with my hand and pushed the bolts into the fender support box. I then had my roommate pull on the fender just enough to get my hand inside the crack with a miniature open ended wrench to secure the bolt from moving. I was then able to, very uncomfortably and very slowly, loosen the nuts.

After that fiasco, everything went on nice and smooth. The mounting hardware for the rear mudflaps were easy and simple to install. I also re-installed the fender support box the PROPER way with the new plastic clips, unlike the brainless $hit$ that thought it was okay to put nuts and bolts their instead. How they did it, I have not a clue but it is fixed and doesn't look like crap anymore. :rclap:

TL;DR - Some dumba$$ thought it was a good idea to replace the plastic fender clips with virtually inaccessible nuts and bolts. After much cursing the bolts are off, mudflaps are on, and proper fender clips have been installed.

 

[Chief_WRX]

Digging the RA mud flaps, I installed mine a few weeks ago. Not to big of a PITA but the rear sucks especially if you don't take the wheels off like I did.

 

[McBill]

Digging the RA mud flaps, I installed mine a few weeks ago. Not to big of a PITA but the rear sucks especially if you don't take the wheels off like I did.

It wouldn't have been too bad if the DA before me didn't replace all those clips with nuts and bolts... -.-

 

[McBill]

Can't wait for spring to come! I have a parts pile that keeps growing and some nice plans to go stage 2! :woot:

 

[trancehead]

Rotated ratcheting screw driver takes care of this problem

 

[McBill]

Rotated ratcheting screw driver takes care of this problem

Thanks for the tip. I probably would have thought about that if I had one of those haha. Either way I fixed it and made sure it was done properly.

 

[McBill]

Ok everyone, finally got a chance to pull all the footage together from our parking lot snow drifting a month ago! Here it is!

 

[McBill]

3-21-14

Well, I ended up getting some extra time today and with the beautiful weather I couldn't pass up a chance to put some of the things that have been sitting around, on my WRX. So today I was able to install my vinyl emblem overlays, my rear blinker overlays, my SPT truck trim, my GrimmSpeed alternator cover, my Perrin radiator shroud, and I was able to debadge the trunk. The rear really looks different to me and I love it :wiggles: . I was also able to clean up a bit of the salt residue from winter in the engine bay. I will be washing the whole engine bay here in a couple months.

Unfortunately I was not able to get to the heat shield, the chrome trim deletes and the black fender well badges. Those will come on another nice day.


So here are some pictures from today's endeavors! Enjoy!


Started as a pile:

This is the engine bay before mild cleaning and parts install:

This is the engine bay after parts and a bit of cleaning (I accidentally left a screwdriver in there, whoops) :

This is the rear end before:

And After :woocow::

 

[trancehead]

Looks real good dude! Love the blue and red. BTW where did you get the emblem overlays? I'm looking for black and white for my swp. Also the fender badges, I needs!

 

[michaelwfox]

Looks great!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[McBill]

Looks real good dude! Love the blue and red. BTW where did you get the emblem overlays? I'm looking for black and white for my swp. Also the fender badges, I needs!

Thanks, I love it too. I got the badge overlays from JDM Fantastic Vinys. I love these because they have a load of different colors you can mix and match for the emblems and they are cheap! I also got my tail light overlays from them. As for the fender badges (that I have not installed yet) I got those straight off of Subaru Genuine Parts .

 

[ThatBroBill]

fender badges #1 they should have put black ones on from factory. Use a heatgun or blowdryer when u do these because the 3m sticky tape on the factory badge wont peel off right if its cold and ur life will suck huge balls

 

[McBill]

fender badges #1 they should have put black ones on from factory. Use a heatgun or blowdryer when u do these because the 3m sticky tape on the factory badge wont peel off right if its cold and ur life will suck huge balls

Thanks for the tip, Bill

 

[McBill]

4/1/14

Today I got some spare time and some more nice weather which gave me the ability to install my limited edition black fender emblems. I actually made a tutorial as to how to install this. The link is below. Took all of about 45 minutes but I sort of overheated the plastic fender and disfigured it slightly :unhappy: . Thankfully it is not that noticeable unless you get really close to it. here is a before and after.

08-14 Fender Garnish Trim Install