As outlined in the original Forester post, this vehicle was purchased to take over for my Sti due to it becoming to much of a race car and less of a daily car. But after a year the ability to leave it be was no longer an option. So now we find the build in the middle of Spring, with many plans of day drives and photos.. When editing these photos you keep looking to where you can improve the vehicle… You don’t need to… but you do it anyways. And this is where I sit, perfectly content with what the car does and looks like, but hunting for something else to modify.

Adventuring/product testing going on. Seems like everything is still attached and works!

After a tire rotation I notived just how long my rear brakes were at. I have always had great luck with Ebc brakes so I decided to put on their Ultimax pads matched with Centric rotors for a daily driver that needs a bit more stopping power. These went on easy enough, if you are looking for your own guide to putting these brakes on proceed with this link, Subaru rear brakes how to.

With my new Method wheels on I had been out enjoying my new lifted look and found time for photos of these excursions. As stated above I would edit these photos and see things I wasn’t quite pleased with… The lack of enter caps is mandatory for many racing series but on a street driven car it looks like something is just missing. Salt dirt and road debris will coat and cover your axle nuts making removal of them down the road less fun and easy.

The cv axle nut looks so lonely uncovered and alone.

The challenge was on, what could fit these wheels and look good. The depth of the wheel to hub hinders the ability to use a hub cap, so you need to find a very specific cap. After removing multiple caps off random Subaru’s I finally found the one that would work. A 12 Subaru outback had the right size at 59mm to fit within the hub. Searching through eBay listings I found a set of 59mm and ordered them, with hopes that the depth wouldn’t be a big problem.

After a quick test fit I found that they sat pretty flush but if you looked really close there was a smallish gap, they appeared to hold pretty tight, so on to the testing. Which meant running them through all the normal everyday tests, highway speeds and a little back roads action, they stuck like glue and made a noticeable different in the look of the wheels.

This is how it looks, small gap around the wheel.

While attempting to keep the car as dailyable as possible i decided that a new muffler setup would be next on the list. Knowing how the STi sounds like both around town and on the highway I wanted to test a stock STi axle back. Once again back to eBay for sourcing a new to me used 04-07 STi cat back was on the way. Later the next week it arrived and I excitedly opened it to find that I had actually received a Wrx version. This was quickly corrected and the STi unit was finally in my hands but not without a few extra dings from shipping.

Kinda hard to see but there is a decent sized ding in the exhaust tip

Being the Forester was my off road machine I didn’t think the dings were a big deal. So off to my friend’s house to figure out exactly how to fit this unit on! Given that Subaru loves to use so many of the same parts on similar cars we thought it might just be a bolt on affair… Boy were we incorrect. The hangers are in much different locations due to the bumper heights and ride heights. I also happen to have Curt trailer hitch on the car that made things even more precarious, but with a cut off wheel and welder we would find a way to get it on the Forester.

Setting both mufflers next to each other shows the hangers are not at all the same. You could try and bend them to better locate and mount the muffler up but we decided to go ahead and cut off of the old hangers and weld them to the STi muffler. The same will need to be performed on the exhaust pipe that leads to the muffler and you are all ready to test mount it up. Everything was in it’s place but the hitch was causing a hitch in the plan, but with a few pliers and bends everything was now as it should and the muffler was installed.

What does a 04-07 STi muffler sound like on a stage 2 Forester you ask? At idle the tone is deeper and more rumbley but not much louder than stock. On the highway it is very tame and it is hard to know that anything has changed, this was what I had hoped for, sportier looks but still not overbearing droning. So you might be asking, what is the point in this mod, where is the difference? The difference is in the midrange when you are deep on the gas, a much deeper tone lets you know things are happening. Once again this was what i was looking for in an exhaust, there when you want to hear it and quiet when it don’t.

Under the car setting up the exhaust brought a new issue to my attention. My LF axle boot had disappeared and was in desperate need of replacement, a quick online order to a local parts store and we would be back in business. Replacing it was a breeze and the Forester was back on the road.

Hanging out and trying to blend in with a friend’s 4Runner.

Completing these mods put it a fairly good place with the car and so more photos were taken and adventures were enjoyed. Yet, many still pushed me for upgrading the TD04… I really enjoyed the quick spool up but knowing just how much power could be had with a VF turbo still stayed in my thoughts… with how things have gone with modifying this vehicle, who knows what may be next! Stay tuned for the next installment of my descent into destroying my daily with mod after mod..

Amazon part links!

Ebc Ultimax pads

Centric rotors

A1 Cardone front axle

Method Race wheels

Mod addiction and the road....Not to recovery. Featuring new brakes, center caps and more!

Amazon part links!

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