Walker's 05 STi

[Walker]

Hi! I'm really happy to be joining all of you on the road with a car that I absolutely love. Here is where the story begins! En partant je m'excuse si je n'offre pas de traduction en francais. =)

This August I bought my first Subaru and right away I loved this car! It's an obsidian black pearl 2005 Sti with a Seibon carbon fiber hood and trunk. Right now she's not much to look at but it's what's under the hood that made me fall in love.

When I bought her (aside from the cf hood and trunk) she was a completely stock (100% original parts) Sti with only 100k (km) in August 2016 (for the record).

The previous owners (there were two) did little to maintain the car but due to low mileage, it has never had (or needed) any major work done. I bought it knowing that I would be the one to restore this beauty to her former glory.

Here are some pics of the car at the time that I bought it.

First, the overview front/back:




You can see what I'm talking about, she needed loving! I'm worried that I won't be able to restore the carbon fiber hood and scoop. You can see little spots of (tree resin?) that have accumulated on the hood, and notice the bad shape of the carbon fiber:



This car has been abused, notice the missing fog lights, they were STOLEN (ripped out!) Also the front bumper has been damaged, that's why there is a grill, the interior has been cut out. I thought the bumper had been cut out for a FMIC but no, it has never had one installed. So she's got her share of secrets:




More photos of the abuse she has suffered to the body by VANDALISM:



poor thing...


From August 2012 to August 2016, the previous owner put exactly 6387 km on the car. She has been NEGLECTED. She was left outside for SO LONG that the (resin?) spots you can see on the hood, have turned into RUST SPOTS on the roof of the car:



The tires are Dunlop winter tires (misc, i don't know more about them) and the rims look like they have been CHEWED, here is the one in the best condition:



Also there is a crack in the back bumper =( :



Ok, so that's it for the intro, I'll now post what I've done to the car since then!

[Walker]

UPDATE 1

The first thing I did was some heavy maintenance that was much needed to bring the car up to standard. My only major concern was the empty coolant expansion tank... turns out that I had leaky head gaskets. From that, came a whole bunch of things that needed to be changed. Here's what I got done at the dealership in August, using all new OEM parts:

-Master Gasket Kit
-Camshaft Sprockets
-Coils
-Spark Plug
-Oil Pan
-Sub Frame (old one was too rusted to reinstall)
-Timing Belt
-Belt Tenser
-Idler Belts
-Passenger side Front Ball Joint
-Coolant and Oil change
-A bunch of small pieces were changed in and around the motor.
-Compression test (Perfect results)
-Married downpipe with CAT because flange and CAT end were too rusted.

I feel that all of these maintenance fixes were a good choice to get the car running smoothly. But I also decided to change the clutch because the engine was already coming out for the other services. If I had to do this again, I don't think I would have changed the clutch right away, I still had 30% left on it but i did change it. I probably would not go with OEM if I had to do it again but...

OEM Clutch
-Disk
-Cover
-Bearring
-Flywheel

So after all these fixes and updates, the car is running almost perfect. Sounds amazing, response is incredible. Compared to what I had at the time of purchase, it feels like a new car. Turns out not all pistons were firing at the same time due to the old (faulty) coils, I was really happy with these base fixes... well I could only be happier if the price tag was lower on the parts and labour.

After the major mechanic fixes, I did a minimum of body work until the spring by using touch-up paint for the scratches, changing the rusted aluminum grille and adding some fog light covers.

This is where I am with my 05 Sti project, she has regained alot of muscle and at least a minimum of dignity.

[Eratik]

Maybe Waxxon (member here) can help you give a second life to paint and CF! Nice work keep it up!

[Walker]

Maybe Waxxon (member here) can help you give a second life to paint and CF! Nice work keep it up!

Thanks Eratik, for maybe 10 minutes after the CF gets wet, it looks really nice, I am dreaming of what it will be like when the CF is refinished and shines like that all the time.

[WaXXon]

Maybe Waxxon (member here) can help you give a second life to paint and CF! Nice work keep it up!

With all due respect, this car needs a full paint. There's so much a detailer can do in these situation. You can clearly see there's clear coat missing. I can't polish what doesn't exist. Same goes for the paint, seems like it went through a rough time with those huge scratches.

By all means, I want to get business and people to comes at me, but this project needs a bodyshop, not a detailer

[Walker]

Yes Waxxon, I just got a good quote for a paint job but they aren't sure if they can restore the carbon fiber trunk and hood. If I can't restore it, I'll have to paint it but I'd rather keep the CF finish if I can.

[bobbey]

Yes Waxxon, I just got a good quote for a paint job but they aren't sure if they can restore the carbon fiber trunk and hood. If I can't restore it, I'll have to paint it but I'd rather keep the CF finish if I can.

from my understanding of composites, you need to gentely sand it all and reclear it. it wont be easy!!