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Knocked up something on CAD again yesterday and printed it on my 3D printer. Still a work in progress as it needs sanding & spraying to finish, but the basic structure is done and I'm very pleased.
One of the previous owner mounted a Samsung tablet into the dashboard. It's something I'm probably never going to use and something I will ultimately change, but wanted a blanking cover made to sit over it so it wasn't on show to everyone all the time. 2 minutes in CAD, done & 3 hours printing later I have this.
Tablet in dash.
New 3D printed blanking plate.
Fitted.
Just needs sanding & painting now.
Sorted!
This will all change anyhow as I've now ordered a widetrack STI alloy gear selector trim piece and late model Impreza silver ashtray trim panel. I intend to give the interior a full update with the later looking silver dials & panels from a later Forester, But for now this will help hide the daft tablet when I'm not using it.
Now filled & painted! Looks factory fitted.
Last edited by BrownPantsRacing; Apr 18, 2016 at 11:17 AM.
The Forester is now at the Subaru main dealer local to me having:
New fuel pressure regulator
New fuel lines
New fuel filter
major cambelt service including engine oil, gearbox oil, diff oil, cabin filter etc
New spark plugs etc.
When it gets back I'll fit the new Walbro fuel pump then it can finally go get mapped! woo hoo!
Well Subaru still have my car. One of the fuel pipes is currently on back order from Japan and they have no idea when that's going to turn up. So it's currently still parked up in their workshop. Very annoying. They have managed to rack up a £1300 bill so far for the work they've just done so can't wait to see what the final bill will be.
Good job I've got the Impreza to use while the Forester is being done!
So my new SWRD (Scoobyworx) 3 port boost solenoid turned up today and I have to say it looks great. I have the prodrive version (same Pierberg unit) fitted to my Impreza and it is great. Darrell supplied me the bespoke plug & play loom and a couple of additional connectors just in case my wiring differs from the Impreza STI. This was a complete bargain too, was literally half the price I was expecting to pay. Can't recommend Scoobyworx highly enough!
Oh, and I'm waiting for a reply from Pedders UK on a couple of spec details and then I'll be ordering Pedders Extreme XA coilover kit for the Forester. Already have a buyer for the Pedders Ezifit kit currently fitted.
Was looking at the Meister ZetaCRD+ kit, but they don't do one specific to the forester and the Impreza kit although it would have fitted would be 2" lower at it's highest adjustment, just a little too low. So Pedders coilovers it is!
Would you say scoobyworx and rcm items are same quality? As I'm upgrading the walbro on mine wen I service it and I used the RCM one last time I don't seem to have faith in walbro although it's been put in a year ago your input will be appreciated thx in advance BPS
Hi Zany, to be honest I've never bought any RCM items as I don't wish to pay the RCM tax that comes with it. They like most suppliers have partners who make and badge the products with their name. For instance, the RCM and cosworth head gaskets are made by the same 3rd party company. I honestly couldn't say who makes the SWRD fuel pump, as I've not looked into it or used one myself.
It didn't really occur to me to try the SWRD fuel pump as I was kind of in autopilot with my fuel pump and just ordered a genuine walbro unit from another reputable seller without thinking about it. Had I have realised Darrell also sells these I would probably have given the SWRD unit a go this time!
I have purchased nearly all my suspension upgrades from Darrell for the Impreza and Forester and spent quite a lot with him over the years. He's been great and always at the end of an email or phone to help whenever needed. Couldn't rate him or his company higher and he's my first point of contact for parts now. Top guy.
Last edited by BrownPantsRacing; Apr 28, 2016 at 02:14 PM.
Hi Zany, to be honest I've never bought any RCM items as I don't wish to pay the RCM tax that comes with it. They like most suppliers have partners who make and badge the products with their name. For instance, the RCM and cosworth head gaskets are made by the same 3rd party company. I honestly couldn't say who makes the SWRD fuel pump, as I've not looked into it or used one myself.
It didn't really occur to me to try the SWRD fuel pump as I was kind of in autopilot with my fuel pump and just ordered a genuine walbro unit from another reputable seller without thinking about it. Had I have realised Darrell also sells these I would probably have given the SWRD unit a go this time!
I have purchased nearly all my suspension upgrades from Darrell for the Impreza and Forester and spent quite a lot with him over the years. He's been great and always at the end of an email or phone to help whenever needed. Couldn't rate him or his company higher and he's my first point of contact for parts now. Top guy.
Nice1👍 I'll be in contact with him soon for a fuel pump defo
Sue said they've got 4 in total on their books now. Yours, mine, one lady owned FSTI that's in pieces in their bodyshop awaiting parts from Japan, (sounds familiar) and one more not local at all that uses Adams for servicing. Sue did say they were rare!
They've had mine so long I'm beginning to think they've sold it to someone else!
If they keep it much longer I'll be banging on your door to take me out for a drive in yours!
A 3 port will allow much better control over boost levels when mapped to use it and tests have shown it helps to hold higher more consistent boost levels making better overall power. Well worth fitting for under £100.
Not sure I'm going for Pedders now as they have confirmed spring rates of 8kg & 6kg compared to the Meister units 6kg & 5kg respectively. Even the Pedders rep said it would be quite harsh for a road car. They can't do softer springs, so it looks like I'm back to fitting GD Impreza coilovers to the Forester. Possibly Meister. Will see!
Well after waiting 4 weeks I finally have my Forester back from the Subaru garage. Last few bits on back order came in and it's all back together and running great with new fuel system, cambelt, aux belt, engine oil, gearbox oil, diff oil, plugs and more.
Rather expensive though.
Got to fit the Walbro and 3 port now and get it mapped by Duncan.
Also discussing a set of Meister Zeta CRD coilovers with the manufacturer at the moment as my car will be the first Forester to have a set of these fitted. Will hopefully get these ordered this week.
Is nice to be back in the Forester finally though. I've missed it and it's driving som much better following the major service. Already started doing my next round of upgrades. lol.
Ordered my new suspension setup today. New set of Meister Zeta CRD+ coilovers from Edwin @ Meister. Supposed to be very compliant for every day use, so we'll see! Just got to find the time to get everything else fitted and setup now then I'll do a review on them.
This will follow fuel pump, 3 port & mapping session as I want it to go faster now!
is yours pre 2005 when the tax went up then BrownPants?
I see you've popped up on UKforester.com now Salsa-king. lol.
Yep, mine is a 2004 so it's cheaper tax as it's pre 06 reg. Anything 55 reg or older is cheaper thankfully. Which is good for me as the Impreza is £500 a year, the forester is £295 a year now and the wifes car is the same. eek. Good job my 63 beetle is tax free.
I thought JDM imports had a totally different tax band and even post 06 reg cars were cheaper?
You might be right actually Rich, I just checked the receipt for my tax from the end of Feb this year and it was £230 for a year not £295 as indicated on the DVLA site. Import cars must have a slightly different tax band.
I remember when I fitted the PCA Lowering springs on my wagon, I sold the OEM springs to a guy with a Forester he said that they work well and give a lower ride height, could have saved yourself a fortune going down that road BPR
I remember when I fitted the PCA Lowering springs on my wagon, I sold the OEM springs to a guy with a Forester he said that they work well and give a lower ride height, could have saved yourself a fortune going down that road BPR
Have spent a LOT of time looking into this Rich trust me. This was not a snap decision. You shouldn't just put Impreza springs on the original Forester struts as they are not designed to go together. They have a slightly different spring carriage length (causing incorrect spring preloading) but more importantly the actual ride height and damping area/location are very different. You will end up using the forester struts at the very bottom of their shock travel and bottoming them out, ultimately destroying the struts in no time at all.
You can however put Impreza GD 100x5 WRX struts onto these cars as a whole setup as the rears use the same top mount design as the hawk WRX (earlier struts are different and later STI struts won't fit the front mounting hub bolt holes). However, even doing this requires something called saggy butt spacers from the US to get the ride height level again. Combine that with finding a decent set of low mileage WRX struts that I actually wanted to bolt up to my nice car and you're going to struggle.
After months of thought the easiest way was to buy some coilovers for a GD Impreza and fit them to the Forester which will mean I can dial in the correct ride height and get the car 100% sorted. I've been talking to Edwin from Meister and Roger from Pedders (who made my current setup) for some.
My SG Forester will be the first to use the MeisterR suspension so this is very much a trial fitment and I will be doing a long write up on these when done.
Last edited by BrownPantsRacing; May 12, 2016 at 02:12 PM.
I should add that I have already sold the current suspension setup on my Forester to someone else who is willing to wait for me to get everything swapped over and tested. So in reality this was not that expensive apart from my time and effort. Fingers crossed they fit & work!
You might be right actually Rich, I just checked the receipt for my tax from the end of Feb this year and it was £230 for a year not £295 as indicated on the DVLA site. Import cars must have a slightly different tax band.
Interesting. Mine was £285 last year (runs out at the end of the month) and is £295 next year.
Interesting. Mine was £285 last year (runs out at the end of the month) and is £295 next year.
It might be because Torque GT (who imported it) and the DVLA c0cked up when they registered it and it's down as a 2.0L on the logbook. I tried to get them to change it when I bought it but like everything with the DVLA it's nearly impossible to correct THEIR mistakes and takes ages.
Also, isn't your car a later model post 55 reg? Mine is 04 so falls into the earlier tax brackets.
