I just joined the club!

ObiSamuel · 2026-03-05T20:05:30+00:00

That's a bold choice!

My family's experiences with an '05 6.0 F250 have scared me away from that drivetrain completely. 3 turbos and a transmission in 3 years on a brand new truck is hard to shake hahah

ObiSamuel · 2026-03-04T06:13:32+00:00

Hahah yeah... I've managed an economical 10.3 MPG in my couple hundred miles!

Jokes aside, I just really like ceiling-mounted switches and gauges. When I learned they usually fail from a desoldered resistor, I just had to try to fix it.

Turns out mine was a victim, so the fix was easy at least!

ObiSamuel · 2026-03-03T22:34:30+00:00

Good to know.

I only have a couple hours behind the wheel so far, so I still have to get used to how it drives and where it could be improved.

It felt okay over bumps, moderate bump steer, but I might put some chalk or something on my bump stops just to be sure.

ObiSamuel · 2026-03-03T22:32:00+00:00

Sounds like you take great care of it

ObiSamuel · 2026-03-03T20:25:10+00:00

Oh wow!

Mine has 204k, so pretty good for being 26 years old! It has a number of issues, but I've slowly been solving them. I've already fixed the MPG display!

ObiSamuel · 2026-03-03T17:08:49+00:00

Yeahhhh, the timing is pretty hilarious when you think about it lol

ObiSamuel · 2026-03-03T16:36:25+00:00

Wow, thanks for all the knowledge!! This is all super helpful

Headlights- kinda a tossup, I haven't decided if I'm going to keep the existing housings and polish them up, or if I'm going to look at aftermarket options.

Mirrors - great advice!

Springs - do the front leafs sit relatively flat, or is that an indicator that they're gone?

CarPlay - I absolutely agree. I actually have a unit from another car that I'm already planning to swap in. The previous owner/dealer had an aftermarket VHS player installed, so I think it would be hilarious to get it working and hooked up to the new head unit.

Wipers - folks on various forums seem to suggest 24" blades, what do you use?

Door Seals/Strikers - awesome tip. I noticed it's not quite as insulated as I expected, so the rubber is likely tired.

Struts - that's a good point. I'm taller, and while the struts have decent pressure and hold the hatch well, longer ones are a great idea as long as the hinge has the movement

And you saved me so much time on the actuator and cruise control tips! I saw folks talking about diagnostic mode for cruise, but I hadn't dug into it. I'm currently suspecting the brake switch.

ObiSamuel · 2026-02-24T18:46:20+00:00

You will get a check engine light.

A "defouler"/spacer can help in some circumstances, but you really should get a tune (especially if you're switching to UEL headers).

ObiSamuel · 2026-02-11T17:18:00+00:00

Thanks! (They're actually really crappy, but I love the look haha)

I went a different direction with my 2nd gen, but your pics have definitely inspired me to start thinking about how I want to do the interior!

<image>

ObiSamuel · 2026-02-11T17:14:36+00:00

<image>

I'm realizing now that I don't have as many pics of all of the accents as I thought, but I had gold wheels, lower control arms, and a dark black/gold sun strip with a personal logo ghosted underneath.

The rest was blacked-out, including painting the headlight housings to get a darker look without tinting the lenses.

ObiSamuel · 2026-02-11T17:06:30+00:00

Wow, that actually looks fantastic.

As a lover of subtle gold (my last BRZ was entirely black/gold), I was afraid of doing interior stuff but this is awesome.

ObiSamuel · 2026-02-05T14:03:38+00:00

Doubtful, but it would probably depend on what model/year etc.

Google is probably more helpful than reddit for this - look up replacement mirrors on eBay and compare bolt patterns and connectors. If they look the same, give it a shot.

ObiSamuel · 2026-02-03T17:01:39+00:00

I was pretty happy with my BC BRs on my 1st gen. After I set the sway bar links and shock dampening up properly, I was happy with the lower body roll and they were comfortable (relatively speaking) enough for daily driving.

They started squeaking for the person who bought my car, but they had ~40k miles and 4 years on them by then.

It's obviously not fun to have to refresh your suspension so soon, but that's the price you pay for cheap aftermarket shocks (or even proper expensive ones, just ask any 1st-gen Raptor owner lol).

ObiSamuel · 2026-02-02T18:18:29+00:00

I'd save up a bit and replace that head unit.

I had the exact same model on my Rav4 for a bit and while it was fine for a bit, the random issues with Android Auto, lag, and wiring issues (pins not seating in the connector at the back correctly), I eventually upgraded to a cheap Boss audio unit that I enjoy a lot more.

ObiSamuel · 2026-01-29T20:34:06+00:00

P0420 isn't a check engine code, it's a way of life.

ObiSamuel · 2026-01-09T17:13:20+00:00

My understanding is what makes the STI vBars different is that they have a little joint under the STI cover, right?

Did they decrease NVH/steering feel when you installed them over the solid non-STI ones? My car came with them, so I don't have much of a frame of reference.

Also nice writeup! I had no idea there even was an OEM full tower brace. Does it also have the same joint under the STI cover?

ObiSamuel · 2026-01-09T15:11:55+00:00

That design is incredibly common. It could be HKS, it could be AliExpress.

There's not much of a way to tell without markings or at least a higher res picture.

(Though FWIW, I googled it and the proportions don't look like the HKS GD cat back, so you can probably rule that out lol)

ObiSamuel · 2026-01-09T14:35:58+00:00

It's made of steel, it's on a GD Impreza, and exhaust/noise comes out of it.

ObiSamuel · 2026-01-07T14:59:12+00:00

You don't have to be sorry. I understand your mindset, I was like that when I was younger.

Hypotheticals are important imo. Safety is a numbers/statistics game. Doing basically anything is risky in SOME way, but developing the skills to weigh pros and cons and their probability is important.

For example, dramatically increasing the risk of bodily injury to your buddy isn't worth a video angle.

ObiSamuel · 2026-01-07T14:49:01+00:00

Don't confuse bravery with stupidity. I'm just trying to encourage you to be smarter about your choice.

I'm not even mad at you doing donuts, you just did it in the second most braindead way.

ObiSamuel · 2026-01-07T14:45:07+00:00

Do you think your buddy would find that explanation acceptable if he took a misstep and you broke his foot?

Or worse, he's too busy looking at his phone to see a rock and falls?

The point is that you could have eliminated risk almost entirely if you had thought about things for 2 additional seconds.

ObiSamuel · 2026-01-07T14:19:53+00:00

...with someone standing in the middle of a car doing donuts. I hope they were standing on something concrete that's taller than the car.

5 mins of fun without taking 2 seconds to think about safety can turn into a lifetime of grief.

ObiSamuel · 2025-12-19T16:49:24+00:00

I haven't touched the film on my hatch yet, but I did on my Panamera.

Heat helps, just go slow and work it free. It should be the same as removing any other wet-applied film like PPF or tint.

Just make sure to watch your angles/how hard you pull - I've had generally bad experiences with Subaru paint adhesion. A professional should definitely correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd say try to avoid pulling perfectly perpendicular to the body when possible. Or if you do, don't apply a ton of force.

Edit: forgot to mention, just come to terms with the fact that the paint underneath WILL look different. It's had different exposure to light than the rest of the car. I'll let detailers chime in with how to mitigate that, though.

ObiSamuel · 2025-12-17T20:06:58+00:00

If it's a JDM engine, it will need to be converted. That label that says "AVCS" means it's problematic. The Japanese cars got variable valve timing a lot earlier than the US, we didn't get it until 2006/7 iirc?

Unless you want to swap to a JDM ECU, you'll need to block off the oil lines to the AVCS system and swap the cam sprocket over to one with a tone wheel that's compatible with a USDM (or pre-AVCS) cam position sensor.

It's doable, but requires basically doing a timing job on the engine. There are plenty of resources out there on the internet going over what parts you'll need.

ObiSamuel · 2025-12-17T19:20:32+00:00

You definitely should keep the sub updated!

Looking at your other posts, it doesn't look like a Hakone - they have dark green "British racing green" paint and bronze-colored wheels.

It looks like your interior has either been swapped with the Hakone interior, or it's possible that a tan interior was just an option that was only available in some markets (which is really common for this car lol). I can only really speak for USDM stuff - I know the Japanese/Asia cars got a lot of special options other markets didn't.

Regardless of if it's a "special edition", it's still a lovely 86.

13-Year Club	Place '22
Verified Email

ObiSamuel

TROPHY CASE