Lerroy's 2014 JDM VMG (NZ)

[Robsyuk]

Comming along nicely.

Grease that valve caps. If they are aluminium they react with the mental on the valve and lock on solid.

I also have used the brake stopper on my impreza and think it's an excellent upgrade.

I'm on the hunt for an sti radiator cap, but the one in my sti catalogue shows 1.1bar of pressure and not the converted 0.13MPa. Yet I can't find it anywhere

 

[lerroy]

Grease that valve caps. If they are aluminium they react with the mental on the valve and lock on solid

Yeah good call

I've learnt that lesson all greased up with silicone grease spray

these are the genuine STI ones, was hoping was plastic on the threads but looks to be alloy, it says coated in some metal.

 

[lerroy]

Decided i need a spare tyre, the glue and compressor isn't going to cut it.

Sourced a stock levorg 18" wheel and same tyre size as my current rims (just not as wide)
Fits perfectly in the wheel well. Have ordered a fixing screw online so it will pass warrant.



Thought I would make my own insert for the rear to house the STI security lug nuts and jack etc..the compressor and glue tub is underneath








took the car for a test spin check for any rattles seems good

 

[lerroy]

New suspension Day !!!

Have been trying to stop, the levorg bounce and the bang when the suspension bottoms out, as well as improve ride and body roll.

Really wanted coilovers, NZ rules are a bit annoying and anything adjustable needs to be certified at cost and locks car to those cars current mods forever needing to be re-certed if you want to change.

After some research decided on some Tein Enduro dampers and Whiteline springs. Unfortunately when I went to order from Tein, they had no stock and ETA was unknown.
Had to go back to drawing board. In my search I came across HKS Damper and spring set the Hipermax G. They had good reviews, although more expensive than the Tein, these had springs that matched. They also slightly drop the car 5-7mm, didn't want to go to low as its a daily.

I have a friend in Japan and he was able to order direct from HKS and then ship to NZ.





The HKS comes without the strut tops uses the stock ones.

Put the car on jack stands, took out the stock shocks, and used a spring compressor to remove wasn't fun. Would not recommend the Repco spring compressor, get what you pay for a I guess.

The HKS units are built very well, fit perfectly and feel really solid.

As you can see in the photo below have also found a STI flexible strut brace that's been installed.





more coils on the HKS per spring





Took half a day to install and get car back on the road.

Just gave it a quick test, feels way more stable, less body roll, no bounce and great under braking. very happy with them. ill give them the speed bump test tomorrow see how it goes.

 

[miggi747]

Decided i need a spare tyre, the glue and compressor isn't going to cut it.

Sourced a stock levorg 18" wheel and same tyre size as my current rims (just not as wide)
Fits perfectly in the wheel well. Have ordered a fixing screw online so it will pass warrant.

View attachment 2214

Thought I would make my own insert for the rear to house the STI security lug nuts and jack etc..the compressor and glue tub is underneath


View attachment 2215

View attachment 2216

View attachment 2217

took the car for a test spin check for any rattles seems good

That's genius! What material did you use for the insert? And where did you order the fixing screw?

 

[lerroy]

That's genius! What material did you use for the insert? And where did you order the fixing screw?

6mm mdf and carpet from mitre10

Got the fixing screw and washer from alliexpress here cheaper than Subaru wanted.

 

[lerroy]

Minor updates

Have been away in Dunedin so got a good chance to drive the car, really happy with the suspension, has made me really enjoy driving more.

STI floormats have arrived, picked up second hand on yahoo auctions, honestly doesn't seem like they've been used stoked

 

[lerroy]

have been looking at the brakes and wanting to paint for some time. Didn't want them to be focus though or standout, going for subtle, decided to paint them Satin black. Got some Heat proof brake caliper paint from Repco and masked off, yep I went lazy and just masked rather than removing calipers, but worked out pretty well.



Cleaned the calipers with de greaser / brake cleaner and scrubbed. Masking fairly successful few coats and she's looking allot better.





Please ignore the dirt wheels its snow season




Next on the to do list was the rear speakers and sound deadening the doors. Grabbed some Dyna matt door kit and some cheap focal speakers, I just wanted some rear fill not expecting much.
Gave the doors a good clean in prep



Made some ghetto speaker brackets outs of MDF and painted with Plasti dip to help protect wood.





The doors now have that satisfying thump noise on close just like the fronts and car "seems" bit quieter inside.

The rears really didn't add a huge amount (wasn't expecting much) the Idoing headunit has a great DSP so worked on delays and crossovers to get rid of highs and just add to the bass.


As Supafly_NZ pointed out recently on his thread (here) the map light and other interior lights are blue for the GTS and red for the STI.
Now i cant unsee so ordered some gear from AliExpress got some 12v 3mm LEDs and the cubby light

The "map" light (don't know its real name the one in the eyesight module) projects blue light onto cup holders in centre console. Easy to remove just pop plastic around the lane departure buttons off and there are two screws, rest is all pop clips. Be careful removing and do not touch the eyesight cameras.

There is a small circuit board that holds the led, I just cut the wires and test polarity to the unit, Yellow is + and Purple is -



I then drilled a 3mm hold in the board where the blue led was and jammed new led in its place with a bit of glue not the nicest solution but hey..



seems to work pretty well and give same amount of light as the blue.

 

[lerroy]

Harness has arrived for the MFD 2014-2017 to the newer 2018+ MFD, unfortunately thee new MFD has not, hopefully go in next few weeks.

You can get the harness here - he has 3 types, no camera, front and mirror camera and one that will handle generic cameras as well.

USDM MFD is - 83056VA020 (only supports Front camera)
The JDM / AU model is - 85263VA090 (this allows for front camera and mirror Side view camera)

Fingers crossed i ordered a USDM model and was slightly worried that it would be in Fahrenheit and Miles, but Richard who makes the harness has told me that it will pulls data from the ECU (or something) and displays the correct units. He has a USDM screen in his JDM forester.



My TPMS sensors have arrived, i got them from Idoing site and plan to install when my new wheels Arrive

Will Plasti-dip them black to hide them bit better. The good news is threads are alloy not brass, so wont need to keep putting grease on my alloy valve caps every few months.

Unfortunately new wheels have been delayed in Japan, but hopefully arrive some time in October, much better offset light weight wheels.





What's next...for rest of year....

• MFD swap 2018+
• STI Exhaust tips
• Proper black levorg text badge (plasti dip doesnt seem to be holding up that well)
• Whiteline strut brace for rear and endlinks
• New wheels / caps etc..
• toying with black Subaru round badges in grill...but don't want to ruin oem look I don't know
• Front view camera so don't hit any kerbs

 

[mvpluidex]

I think what is more impressive with all that great work is your amazing garage set up

must indeed be nice to have all that space to work

 

[lerroy]

must indeed be nice to have all that space to work

hopefully one day have my own double garage so much easier, that's my dads garage/ workshop, currently just a carport at my place

 

[lerroy]

New MFD screen finally arrived from USA, as i said previously very worried that the USDM MFD - 83056VA020 was going to show non metric units but thankfully when the screen fired up shows Centigrade and Kilometres.



The screen is so much nicer, its like going from a 480p screen to a 1080p, wish there was some more choices for nicer clock screens though, i used to use just the simple clock which was minimal and milage but now its the triple gauge or boost gauge as my go to



On a side note the rear seatbelt sign on the old screen seemed to take about 30-60 seconds to go out when no one was in back, now on the new screen its a few seconds which is nice to know my daughter is belted up.

If anyone is interested there is a secret menu for the MFD steps below

Here are some screens that are available - Link

Engine off
Lights to off

1.

• Dash lights dimmer not on maximum
• Turn key to On (Not ACC) don't start engine
• Within 3 seconds turn lights to the on position, picture on stalk should be a dot
• Then press the MFD enter switch 3 times

2.

• Turn lights off and press the MFD enter switch 3 times

3.

• Turn Lights to on (dot)
• Press MFD enter switch 3 times.

Note: Do steps 1 - 3 within 10 seconds

Start the engine to get out of demo mode

 

[Supafly_NZ]

Awesome work mate and stoked to hear the screen reads the right units!

 

[lerroy]

After much research and deliberation I found some replacement wheels in more aggressive offset

Very similar to the Enkeis but a with bit of concave & lighter

SSR GTX04 18x9.5 +40

My STI Enkei rims weighed about 10.8KG per wheel these are wider but weight is only 8.3KG so 25% lighter

Cant wait to get them on, currently vetting tyre garages in the area, want someone that gonna take care when installing
Will swap the current 3 month old Bridgestone RE003 245x40x18, will be a slight bit of stretch but see how we go.

Got SSR caps as well to finish off the look

 

[Supafly_NZ]

Awesome, that width and offset will fit really nicely!

 

[BARBERIS]

The result will be simply fantastic

 

[lerroy]

New wheels installed super happy with them.
I got the 245 tyres swapped from the STI rims there is a bit of stretch now, the wheel edge is very unprotected now gutters are quite scary.

I tossing up what to do with old wheels as the car is used to go up the mountain thinking of keeping and putting the 245's back on them and use for winter and possibly go to 255/35 for a less stretched look on SSR...not too sure.

























Picked up a proper solid black levorg badge from yahoo auctions as well, my plasti dip one is starting to peel

 

[jarocki]

Some unreal photos there with the scenery in the background.

 

[lerroy]

few more updates this week

Painted the rotor hats as they are now really obvious with the new wheels, bit of a pain to mask and paint but after first one and a good template wasnt to bad, used to high heat paint same as brake calipers came out much tidier










Got some carbon covers for the mirrors straight from alliexpress, didn't have high hopes but actually kind of dig them, see how they hold up.



Sourced some flat carbon Subaru badges as well, these were a pain to remove, used hairdryer top heat up the glue but wasn't cutting it had to go to heat gun. lots of prying and burning fingers later they are off and replaced. Cars looking less oem+ now but I kinda like the stealth look.

 

[lerroy]

Swaybar and end-links arrived this week

booked into my dads garage to do install

Whiteline 22mm Adjustable swaybar (BSR49XZ ) with Whiteline adjustable endlinks (KLC182)

​

Pretty simple install, just a bit of wrangling the sway bar around the exhaust, we took the wheels off to get in and then put weight with jacks on the wheels to adjust the endlinks so there was neutral tension.






Looking at these photos makes me wanna do a full under car clean. The mountain runs really cake on the dirt.


So far so good, rear end feels tighter and front feels like it turns in better, I have on the medium setting currently.
Not as noticeably stiff my old Honda i did same to 10 years ago but improivment. I think the HKS dampers have stopped allot of body rolls already.
Taking the car on a track next week so will see how it feels, might end up adjusting to stiffer setting.