carfreak85

ACTUALLY, the size and position are completely different and not at all "exactly the same." Halogen - The filament in a halogen bulb is coiled into a "cylindrical" shape, "--". The area of the filament that is brightest is right in the middle of the cylinder, with the surrounding area completely dark, causing a very sharp cutoff in contrast. HID - These bulbs make light by way of electric arc between two electrodes. The heat of this "electrical short" produces a crescent-shaped light source, "(". The area surrounding this shape glow in various levels of brightness: Closer to the arc is brighter and dims as you move away from it. The brightest area of this shape is right next to the two electrodes. LED - Light is created by a diode, which produces a single-point light source. Think of it as light shining out of this period --> "." As you can probably tell, if you design any sort of reflector for one style of light source, just jamming in a completely different type of bulb is going to throw all that design work right out the window. (This goes back to my previous post, re: the human brain being easily tricked into thinking "MOAR LIGHT IS B3TT4R!!!"). HIDs only come in a DS1 or DS2 style base, which is not compatible with the socket of a halogen lamp FOR A SPECIFIC REASON. LED manufacturers try to get around the laws of physics by placing several diodes on a single bulb to try to replicate the shape and light dispersion of a halogen filament. I totally agree that how "poor" an HID or LED p'n'p conversion is perceived is completely dependent on the specific lamp used and the specific bulb type that is installed inside. But that doesn't mean "MOAR LIGHT IS B3TT4R!!!" If you want to learn more about this topic, surf over to www.danielsternlighting.com TL;DR There is no way to place an HID arc or an LED in the correct place to replicate a halogen bulb.

GD, as an automotive design engineer I am telling you that you are blinding the snot out of people by putting those idiotic plug'n'play LED bulbs into a lamp that was designed for halogen bulbs ONLY. You own a shop and are a really smart guy, but this isn't about some "march of progress," this has everything to do with how easily the human brain can be tricked into thinking that "brighter is better." The fact of the matter is that, yes, LEDs are brighter than halogen, but when you slap p'n'p garbage (and it all is garbage, and illegal too) into a halogen housing, you're spraying that brighter light EVERYWHERE, instead of where the engineers designed the lamp to aim light. The human brain now thinks, "Wow, look at all this light! This has improved my night vision!" WRONG. You've now actually HURT you night vision by lighting up the foreground directly in front of your car, more light to the sides of the road, etc. This extra, in-aimed light is reflected back to your eye, causing your pupils to close and thus, reducing your night vision. But hey, they're BRIGHT and WHITE and darnit the march of cheap Chinese progress must be a good thing! Right?...

If you can't afford/haven't budgeted for a $350 repair on a 15 year old car, you really should be riding a bike. I mean no offense by that comment, but old cars break, machines wear out, that's just the nature of the world.

Dedicated pencil beam driving lamps... Acceptable. HID/LED plug'n'play... Unacceptable.

I pledge to contribute funds to the USMB Legal Defense Fund. That is, if this guy's "lawyer" ever shows up...

Posts at 2:14 pm, 2:26 pm, 2:30 pm..... Yeah, I'm 100% positive this is the same guy.

GD, for all the great advice you give out on the USMB, I'm f*****g shocked that you would recommend someone install LED bulbs into a halogen headlamp housing. OP - Do the exact opposite of what GD suggested: Buy a nice set of high quality halogen bulbs, HIR bulbs (NOT HID), or do a true retrofit. DO NOT install HID/LED bulbs into a halogen lamp housing.

Pics of the screw-type on-car tool?

Yup, that's bent...

Tylertrend, did you have to call them over the phone, or were they happy to work with you via email? What are the specific part numbers you ordered? Thanks!

Following, I'll need a gasket at some point. Maybe its time to start a group buy for coupe-specific front/rear/side window seals.

I would also say buy it, at least it will be in the community. I've owned my turbo wagon since 2003 and it has been one of the most reliable cars I've owned. The bodies and interiors are all 99.99% the same as non-turbos, the differences start to show up when you get to the engine (and the trans, but its not really that different from any other 3AT). Obviously any part of the intake and exhaust system will unique to the EA81T. The exhaust can be fabricated by anyone, but the intake hose from the filter housing to the turbo is NLA and they are getting old and brittle, so check that hose. The cylinder heads are different as well, since they have castings for the fuel injectors, and they will all crack between the valves eventually (This is not the death sentence it is in an EA82T, my engine has cracks on at least two cylinders and doesn't use coolant or overheat. The blocks can interchange with the later EA81s, but it must have a threaded boss on the case for the knock sensor. The fuel system is different, from the tank to the cylinder heads, as is the ignition system and emissions control parts. Most of these parts can be replicated, repaired or recreated using ingenuity. The parts that are really going to hang you out to dry are the ignition control module, ECU, cylinder heads and a few other electrical engine control related bits. These parts do not exist (give or take) in the aftermarket and will stop you dead if they fail. As for the manual transmission conversion, don't let GD scare you, it's actually a really simple conversion. I didn't hammer my trans tunnel, but I did grind down an unused boss on the transmission case that was tapping the trans tunnel. New transmission mounts help keep the trans from flopping around too, but both EA-series chassis have garbage transmission mounts. The conversion would allow an opportunity to improve that. Most of the conversion is just unbolting the AT parts and replacing them with the appropriately modified MT part. The wiring is simple as pie and you can keep cruise control if you do it right, again, really simple. THis could be done in a long weekend if you had all the parts on hand and no bolts are rusted/broken during R&R. I only drove the car for about 40 miles with the AT (no 3rd gear when I bought it) before I swapped mine. I went with the EA82 transmission, flywheel and clutch, but that made the swap a little more complicated. I needed sleeve-shims for the flywheel bolts and customized shifters and transmission crossmember to adapt the later trans. I wouldn't keep the AT in the long run. Drive it until the 3AT dies, then swap it, these cars deserve a manual. As far as the turbo setup being completely useless, I'm going to call bullshit. Stock vs. stock, the EA81T makes 13% more hp and 36% more torque than a big-valve USDM EA81, and that torque peaks at a lower rpm as well. The area under the curve on the EA81T puts the n/a version to shame. All it takes is one WOT pull through third gear (with a manual trans) and you'll know who's king of the EA81s. Tuning can be done to the engine because it's such an old design, it's fairly simple to trick the system into making more power. True, there are no software upgrades available outside of stand-alone engine management, but you can turn up the wick safely, just make sure you've got enough fuel to avoid a lean condition and that your cooling system, temperature gauge and cooling fans are all working. Turbocharged engines love exhaust work and swapping the mechanical fan for an electric one will free a few more ponies without getting into the range of making "unreliable power." I've done just exhaust work on my car so far, but have had plans for more power for years. Then I got a WRX and left the wagon alone, but I may dip back into hopping up the EA81T it soon. Let us know if you have any other questions.

Welcome to the board, we hope you'll stick around for a while! Beautiful Subies, btw!

Tell Mom you want her to be safer!!! I'll trade you for my "safety" bumper straight across for your Mom's "unsafe" bumper.

Hello, Mr. Botto?

Is that an '85/86 shorty bumper?

I seriously wouldn't bother with any kind of intake snorkus. The OEM air box pulls from the passenger's side inner fender, so as long as you have the fender liner installed, it will be pulling cool-ish, dry air. The A/C fan isn't always running, even when the A/C is on. I would be cautious about running that fan at 100% duty cycle for three days straight, especially given its age. It will probably work, but it could fail. Just thought of this: FIRE EXTINGUISHERS IN ALL VEHICLES.

Keep the original air box and DO NOT install the cone filter. You will lose horsepower by having the engine draw in hot, underhood air. I don't think the WRX IC is too big, but properly fitting and plumbing it will be outside your budget, potentially. A DIY manual boost controller set to about 10 psi could be fun, along with a RRAFPR.

He could ask more, but he isn't getting what he's asking now, so what does that say? I agree, a build like that shouldn't stop at the engine. All show, no, well, anything...

Botto, I'll pay you extra to ship it to me, if it isn't all rusted up or busted to hell.

I'm interested in the cyclops lamp, what are you looking to get for it shipped to 98033?

I'm very interested in the rubber end caps of the rear bumper. What would you want for those shipped to 98033?

GD, I don't know your customers, how their cars are set up, or if they're actually any good at driving or not. It really doesn't matter how many sets of rubber they have, or what kind of cars they compete against, or anything else really. First off, I'm talking about the 5x100 wheel bearings only. 5x114.3-equipped STIs got different, stronger wheel bearings. Our WRX is a daily-driven car that, early in it's life, was used as an Auto-X toy by my father and I. Two drivers per event, 6-10 laps per driver, 6-10 events per year for 5+ years. The original wheel bearings started to fail around 120k miles. One failed radially, one failed axially. Stock suspension, wheels and brakes (SCCA D-stock rules), but with the stickiest summer tires we could afford. When I looked into replacement bearing options I did a ton of research. I suggest you do a google/NASIOC search for a guy called Gary Sheehan. He was the driver who debuted the WRX in the USTCC back in 2002/2003. His front wheel bearings were dying due to excessive brake heat conducting into the hubs, the bearings and was cooking the grease until the bearing physically failed. The fix was multi-faceted, but essentially what the team did was: 2-piece brake rotors (Stoptech BBK, said this was the #1 thing to preserve bearing life) An older bearing part number that is now NLA, which had 8,000 lbs. more load capacity vs. the OEM bearing Repack the new bearings with a nylon-cage-compatible, high-temp grease (DuPont Krytox, NEO HP800, etc.) Over-torque the axle nut to 145 lb-ft. (As recommended to Sheehan's team by the lead tech at SOA) Gary believes the bearing package is the weak point. Heck, the conversation even drew in an engineer from NTN who gave us input for the alternate bearing part number and also advised on the proper grease to use that won't degrade the nylon bearing cage. TL;DR - The 5x100 bearings DO have premature failures if in "extreme use" cases.

No, but GL-10 coupes (and probably sedans too) had a fold-down rear center arm rest.

Since we're on the topic of repacking wheel bearings, what is your preferred method of cleaning the original grease out of the bearings? I've done this once so far to get a higher-temp grease in the bearings for my WRX, but it was pretty labor intensive.