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I wasted no time when it came to getting this car into shape. First on the list was a total cleaning. The leather and the dash needed to be treated as well as the paint needing to be cleaned. My instructions to the dealership were that nobody was to wash the car before they gave it to me. I want to be able to say someday that I am the only one to ever wash this car. ;) Kinda stupid, but its just the kind of guy I am I guess.
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Once I got the shine down it was time to move on. Next order of business was to cover up those unsightly stock calipers. A real brake kit from Brembo may be in the future plans, but for now I will settle for nicely painted black calipers. They look so much better than stock I think.
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I didn’t paint them with anything special. I just used high temperature engine enamel. The easiest way to paint your calipers is to take the wheel off and paint the caliper with a brush. Spray the paint into some kind of cup or container and use a foam brush to paint with. It is much better than getting overspray all over your car and also easier than removing the calipers completely. Just be careful not to get any paint where it shouldn’t. Avoid getting it on the rotor too. It will come off eventually, but you’ll have to live with this strange grinding sound when you brake for a couple weeks while the paint scrapes off onto your pads. All in all I’d say it took a couple hours total for this project.
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After I got the calipers done I was dying for something else to do. First I thought I’d get the windows tinted, but an opportunity came to purchase an HID kit and I couldn’t pass it up. I sold the wheels from my Integra and made enough money on that deal to get the HIDs as well as take Jennifer for a shopping spree. I figure she deserves it after letting me get such a cool car. :)
The HIDs were really easy to hook up. I just drilled a hole in the back of the cap that covers where the bulb goes in. That hole is so the wires can come out and go to the ballasts. Then I connected the igniter to the factory harness and it was all done. All I had to do next was hide all the wires and fire them up. They look really smooooooth.
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I couldn’t be happier with the way these lights look. I’m just glad that the LGT has projector style low beams or else I wouldn’t have been able to do this. The projector headlights have a sharp cutoff that keeps you from blinding other cars. Without that cutoff you would be throwing light in any which direction.
I got the 4600K set. It is as close to white as HIDs get. 4300K is the same color as sunlight. Its got the trademarked HID blue tint to it, but it is definitiely better than the stock halogens in my opinion. I love watching them light up too. Here is a short video of them lighting up. My camera only takes video 15 seconds at a time, so that is all you get. The full light up process probably takes 20 or 25 seconds total. They go from blue to bright white and then dim down a little bit. Its very cool.
My next plan for lighting is to upgrade the H3 bulbs in the fog lights. The stockers just don’t seem to do much for me. They aren’t that bright.
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Once I got the lighting problem solved I figured I’d get it tinted. Nothing looks better than a nicely tinted car I think. I didn’t really have any preference on where to go or anything like that. I knew a good tint job would be in the $150-$200 range, so it was only a matter of finding something close that was open on a Saturday. I found a shop and got it done. This is 50% up front and 20% in back. I should have been able to go 43% up front, but the stupid shop wasn’t aware that you could go that dark. 7% doesn’t really matter too much, but its ignorance like that which will keep me from referring anybody to them.
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It wasn’t long after getting the car that I realized that rock chips were going to be a problem. I don’t know if this paint is just softer or easier to chip than I am used to, but it seems to do it an awful lot. A clear bra isn’t a real solution for me. I don’t really like the way those look. I know they are supposed to be invisible and all, but I would know it was there and it would bug me to no end to know that I’m not waxing the paint under it. So without that being an option, I decided to go with a bug shield instead. I got a smokin deal at the dealership on one and I installed it right away. It blends in nicely with the paint I think. In fact, I’ll bet you didn’t even notice it on that picture above when I was showing off the tint.
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The bug shield mounts very easily once you get past the instructions. There isn’t a bit of it actually touching paint either. There are brackets that it screws into that go under the hood and fasten in existing holes. The kit even supplies a little clear bra type material to protect between the brackets and the paint. After a month driving with this on I have noticed a significant decline in rock chips on the hood. It doesn’t do anything to protect the bumper, but that is something I’ll just have to live with. I think its a good looking item on this particular color and I like it a lot. I would recommend one to anybody who is looking for a stylish way to protect the hood from chips without spending $500 to do so.
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Now that it was looking good on the outside I decided to play with some things that may or may not really matter to most people. Under the hood are several bright yellow caps and covers. I’ve never liked how loud those seem to be, so I decided to paint them. I will also be replacing the other two caps with orange stickers on them with something a little cleaner. Maybe STi caps or something like that. Anyway, here is what the engine looked like before and after I went to work on it.
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I think it looks much better this way. I used a color changing paint from DupliColor that looks different depending on your angle. At some angles it is almost the same color as the car. Its a nice effect that really looks better than that yellow did. I want to paint the battery tie down as well soon, but right now I’m good.
Next on the list of things to tweak was the headlights. I know I just spent bucks on getting the HIDs in, but I got an opportunity to tint the headlights and I really wanted to know what it looked like. It definitely looks awesome, but the light output is just compromised far too much. So I trimmed around the corner signal and left that smoked. The rest of the light is clear like it should be. I used the extra tint to cover the turn signals in the side mirrors. I’ll probably have to peel that off before too long simply because I didn’t have enough material to do it the way I would have wanted to, but for now it looks really good.
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I don’t have any good pictures of the smoked corner signals yet, but I’ll get those posted as soon as I do.
Well, that is it so far. Right now I am working on getting my WRX pedals installed. I sold the STi ones that came with the car because I like the WRX ones better. I’ll post those pictures as soon as I get them installed. The gas pedal is being a paint right now...
Much thanks goes out to everybody who has helped me figure out the basics of the Subaru world. I’ve been a Honda guy for so long that I almost forgot how much I love Subarus. A big thanks to LegacyGT.com and everybody on there who has been so helpful. I’ll keep this updated with pictures and projects as I come up with them. For now I can’t think of much else that I want to do. Maybe customize the calipers a little more or something like that. I still need to replace a couple caps under the hood, but for now I feel good. I’m just waiting for a good day to find a nice picturesque spot and get some good shots of my scooby. :)
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