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Old 12-07-2013, 11:41 AM   #51
Nitro350Z
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We start this update with the following:



I now understand why some people call Nissan the Chrysler of Japan.
Changed the thermostat since it was opening too soon, or was getting stuck open, it would take forever to blow heat last winter, and when it did it was still more of a lukewarm than actual heat. For something that should have been a less than 15 min fix, it was a bitch. Everything is rusted, all the hose clamps are over-tightened and rusted tight and of course there's a clamp in the way of one of the bolts on the thermostat housing Figured I'd do a coolant change too while I'm at it since I've got no idea when the last time it was even looked at and it was cheap enough. Drained while doing the thermostat and once it was all buttoned up again, I filled the radiator with the new stuff, pumped the rad hose and filled some more then started it up. All was fine for a while, waiting for more bubbles and topping it up as necessary, all with the cap off. It started puking it's cooling out in an ol-faithful style geyser. Shut it off, sounded like the coolant was boiling off inside the block but the lower rad hose was still cold so the new thermostat hadn't opened (I tested it in a pot before putting it in so it's a known good one) filled it up again and with the cap closed started it and warmed it up a little, It almost filled the overflow bottle this time so I turned it off and let it cool off, same thing with the cold lower rad hose, this time fans turned on and wouldn't shut off, dash gauge indidcates it doesn't think it's overheating.

Took off the hose going from the water pump and it does have coolant, had a thought that maybe the head gasket is toast for a second because of the pressure in the coolant system, maybe the water pump has a ****ty impeller is finally dying, who knows. Dropped it down, filled the rad, and started it again after it cooled off. Lo and behold, it blows hot air, heats up fine, lower rad hose now gets hot after the car warms up, seems to be working fine. **** if I know why it wasn't working before.

Well after that was sorted out, I was frisky and decided to do the rear wheel bearing in the Baja, finally I could drive around without sounding like a helicopter! Was a little bit annoying, I've done the front bearings but they came with the hub in one unit so they were simply unbolt and put back in, the rears didn't. Took the back end apart and got to town, was a little surprised at how it's all put together but it wasn't too crazy.



Once the bearings were out, I had to separate them from the hub, wish I could have ordered a hub/bearing assembly, but oh well. Pulled the old bearings off the hub with this fancy 3 prong puller which was used earlier to get the whole assembly off the drum brake part. Had to be creative with the prong placement to get it to work. Used the wheels to hold it all nice and straight, was easier than doing it on a garage floor.



This worked, for the most part. Only issue was that the inner race was stuck on the hub, and no good way to get it off. After much swearing and a dozen methods that didn't work, resorted to taking it to a friends shop where he torched the inner race cutting it a little and managed to bang them off. Cleaned up the old hub and pressed the new bearings on and assembled it all back together and it all works. Yay!
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Old 12-07-2013, 11:42 AM   #52
Nitro350Z
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It is WINTER! We have a nice first snow fall and as such, it is the duty of everyone on the road to test how their vehicle reacts in slippery conditions.

Also, I found out that launch control works wonders when you have very little grip and don't have to worry about burning clutch or exploding diffs:

And that concludes the updates up to the present, more to come as long as I don't forget!
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Old 12-08-2013, 11:41 AM   #53
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Anyway, onto an update! Had a little bit of a Subaru meet locally, we had some fun playing in the snow, was a little deep but that didn't stop us. It was freezing, temp right now sits @ -27*c with a wind chill of -40*C, tomorrow morning it's supposed to be -30*C with a windchill of -43*C. Click for big

http://imgur.com/y6JtcaP.jpg

http://imgur.com/AW5nEQ3.jpg

more winter shenanigans to follow after some good snowfalls.
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Old 12-08-2013, 10:02 PM   #54
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Dude it's not fair you're having fun in the snow already. Keep posting pics and making everyone wish for snow
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Old 12-09-2013, 12:47 PM   #55
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Haha, the frozen north does have some perks

Here are some more photos from that day, all done by a fellow subaru owner: (click for big)

http://imgur.com/8SeCWZt.jpg

http://imgur.com/EuPXez7.jpg

http://imgur.com/FUeRm8P.jpg
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Old 01-09-2014, 11:31 AM   #56
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So if you're ever in Regina and feel like selling please let me know haha.
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Old 01-09-2014, 12:00 PM   #57
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OK, this is pretty damn awesome. Nice job!

If you're ever in Edmonton on a Wednesday night, stop by the local Subaru meet

That Sea-to-Sky highway in BC is a freakin' blast to drive. I took my STi up it from Vancouver to Kamloops last summer. So many tight bends and hairpin turns and elevation changes!
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Old 01-09-2014, 05:19 PM   #58
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^ Thanks and sounds good for both of you

As always, cross-posted, might read funny, yada yada...

So this might be the last update for the winter season unfortunately. (****ty Cell Pics ahead since I never have my nice camera on me when I want to take pics)

This weekend I made my way out to the good ol' US of A, so I washed the car and got it all pretty for the trip.



I was planning on taking the Baja but the day before the trip the transmission starts making a wirring noise. At the time I didn't think too much of it as it wasn't a really scary noise, was fairly quiet, and only started after the coldest days we had. I figured the noise was because of the extreme cold or whatever and was planning on checking it out when I came back. As a precaution I borrowed my parents 2013 Civic and parked mine in the driveway, while parking I heard some clunking and it was bucking a touch moving around the driveway, I got really worried that something went awry in the transmission but I figured some packed ice had fallen from the wheel well and was rubbing on the tire and I was driving over what had fallen off. You know, being optimistic and not too paranoid.

Well, either way it would have to wait until I get back. On the trip much shopping was had, Christmas stuff was being cleared out so we ended up buying a ridiculous amount of ornaments and tinsel, and even one of those pre-lit fake trees. Packed the civic beyond belief and I picked up the awesome package I had waiting for the Baja:



The rear end should feel so much nicer after these all go in

Once back, I swapped cars and started driving home, got maybe a 200ft away and the transmission starts bucking, making terrible grinding and clunking noises. Immediately I turn back and limp it to my parents place where it proceeds to drop out of reverse when I was turning around and almost refusing to go into second all while making very expensive sounding noises.

Anyway, it's parked for now, pulling the insurance on it and turning it onto storage insurance while I wait for the weather to warm up so I can figure out exactly what the hell happened. And of course University classes started today, looks like it's public transit for the next few months! So much for washing it and buying it new bushings Here it sits as of now:



I guess it's looking like there's a 6spd swap in the near future, I've had really bad luck with the 5MT, right before the wrx swap the old transmission killed it's center diff and transfer gears and shortly after that was fixed it had to be completely rebuilt, ended up to the tune of around $5k for both services at the time because I was in a bind and needed a driveable car, only got about $1k back after selling it. For those prices I'm doing a 6MT swap and not looking back.

The other night got a friend to help me take it to a heated garage, where this weekend I'll have time to lift it up, listen to what is actually making noise, and drain the fluid, If there's metal shavings (probably) I'm just going to say **** it and swapping the 6MT. Going to be looking for an 09+ transmission as they're newer with less miles (less likely it's been abused or worn out) and with the wrx swap it already uses the abs sensors instead of a vss so I'm good on that front.



Anybody know if I can swap over the push style clutch/flywheel/pp assembly from my current 5MT over to the 6MT? Haven't been able to find a concrete answer, I'm leaning towards no, but if I can reuse my pretty much new current setup that would be a big bonus.
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Old 01-09-2014, 09:55 PM   #59
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I believe they have to be different because when I was shopping around my clutch setup, I did not see that our setup fits all transmissions.
I know when I have to buy axles, I has to be for a Forester xt 2005.
Just thinking, maybe the clutch slave is located differently as well on a 6 speed trans.
Do some research on SL-i forum and look up swaps over there.
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Old 01-09-2014, 10:42 PM   #60
Nitro350Z
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That's the thing, in stock form they're not interchangeable, but I'm wondering because the push style has the slave mounted on the engine, while the pull style has it on the transmission. The only question would be if it's possible to mount the push style fork on a pull style transmission like the 6mt

Or if it's possible to mount the slave in the push style location and use the pull style fork, but I'm not sure if it'll stand up to having forces going through it in the opposite direction of what it was designed for.

Honestly would be very easy to figure out if I had both systems right in front of me, or maybe at least to see two comparison shots of the top down view of them mounted to the engine.
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Old 01-11-2014, 12:43 AM   #61
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And today I managed to lift it up



And I listened to where it was making noise, it's not pretty.


And then I drained the trans oil



Yup, that's metal.



I'm pretty sure Extra-S isn't supposed to look like this after only around 25k km, the picture doesn't really capture the alluring shiny silver metal tone to the oil.



More goodies left in the pan



So, it's definitely a 6 speed swap for me now, parking the Baja for the winter and I'll get to it in the spring. Going to tear down the 5MT and see exactly which part looks like it caused it, I've got some theories but I'll hopefully know once I take it apart.
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Old 03-09-2014, 06:58 PM   #62
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So, updates! Cross-posted from other forums so the timing/wording etc might be a bit wonky but the gist is there:

So, in the interest of getting a reliable daily driver, I had a few options. Was looking at the local auctions for something nice to go through and there were some deals I missed but there's always the chance of hidden damage and unexpected costs so I'm not too bummed about it.

Started thinking of financing something newer than 2010 so I looked at a few used dealers but didn't find anything too great for the prices. Mazda 3's seemed to be the go-to as I was checking out 2 2010 ones but after financing they were north of $16k. That's within spitting distance of some cheaper new cars, and you get a warranty with anything new, so me and my fiance started looking at new. We settled on the Veloster as the compromise between sporty, practical, quirky, and affordable. Plus it'll be a fun car without being too tempting to play around with and mod, I already have one project and I wasn't looking for another. After getting jerked around at one dealer where we were looking at a grey automatic base, we went to a competing dealer and ended up with a blue 6mt fully loaded turbo financed @ 0% for a less that $4k more than the grey auto would have come out to after financing at the other dealer.





So far we're loving it, lets hope it treats us right.

In other news, here's a quick video showing off how awesome the Altima's clutch is, It's been like this for about a year or two now, kinda acts like a torque converter if you ever accidentally dump the clutch at a light. I really want to take it apart once it gets retired from duty, the clutch/pp and flywheel are probably a work of art by now.


Kinda shaky but I tried youtube's stabilization and it just made it look like complete ass so enjoy the shakes!

I do want STI brembo's, the only issue is that I've got the 5x100 hubs on there now, and I just threw on a set of brand new wheel bearings on all 4 corners, would be a bit of a waste to replace them again that quickly.

If I get my way with buying a salvage STI that's 08+ then I should have plenty of parts to work with, not going to delude myself in saying I'll make up the difference selling parts, it's been a huge hassle dealing with lots of flaky buyers and I still have a pile of parts that aren't sold. Best bang for buck seems to be going the salvage route, unless I get a really good deal on most of the pieces I need, I just don't want to be nickle and dimmed buying all the little extra's that I'll need.



As you can see, the oem brakes on the Baja are no slouch, my current setup is vented brembo disks w/ Hawk HPS pads all round. Although with the extra weight of the turbo motor... More braking power never hurts, and the brembo's just look cool too.

Then again, fitting STI hubs all round (assuming they are a direct swap, or easy enough to swap anyway) should save me the trouble of having custom axles fabbed up. A guy locally had them made up by some company in Indiana I believe and he's saying his ran him around $400 a pair, so $800 for the set. Only thing is I would have to go wheel shopping again.

With how the rear suspension is setup, I don't know if it's possible to swap on STI hubs in the back anyway, I think I heard they're physically larger than other subaru hubs but that's not confirmed and I might have just confused something or dreamt it up.



The Baja's rear suspension design, disregard the X-ed out parts, I used this photo to show what I wanted from that salvage Baja I was mentioning before.


So, my reliable daily driver isn't really reliable. Cold temps have caused a no start condition with the Veloster, it was at the dealer yesterday and the day before and they couldn't reproduce it, but looking from the video I took of it not starting they're thinking it's the ignition relay. Today it refused to start again, called the dealer and now I'm just waiting for a tow truck to take it to the dealer so they can do a proper diagnosis on it.

Video of it having trouble starting:
This was already after a few attempts, this time I decided to actually record it

The altima started this morning without a hitch, and it wasn't plugged in (the plug actually fell off because of the cold a few weeks ago ), the Veloster is sitting pretty in the driveway. We bought a new car to avoid this type of problem.

On the advice from another forum, the rear brakes are fine left alone while I play with putting something bigger up front, been looking at a stop-tech big brake kit that looks pretty sweet. If I do end up with an STI wreck then I can always sell off the brakes as a kit (they seem to go fast on NASIOC so I don't think I'll have too much trouble moving them) to fund a StopTech BBK or go the Nissan Z32 Calipers + LGT rotors route.

The DBA rotors (specially made to fit STI Brembos with the WRX size rear parking drum) with the STI brembo's in the back would look really neat, but all that extra expense for something that doesn't have any real benefit, and might actually be slightly worst, doesn't seem worth it. The stock brakes are surprising capable with proper pads, but it would be nice to be able to really push it without worrying about brake fade and any of the different brake upgrades I'm considering look cool too.

So far the list of **** that needs to get done in order of descending priority are:

Fix 5 Speed to get it driving
Source and swap an STI 6 speed, either full running gear from someone or buy a wreck and take it apart myself
Put on a set of Racecomp coilovers to replace the whiteline lowering springs and tokico hts struts, I want it to sit about 1/4"-1/2" higher to give me more clearance (ruined a set of tires because of a lack of clearance on the BC trip)
Figure out which route to take with the brake upgrade and do that

The huge pile of bushings is going to be put in once I get that rear subframe and assorted rear suspension pieces in the spring.

So this was my Saturday,


This just sucks, we've had the car for exactly a week, it had trouble starting 6 times already (first couple times I thought maybe my fiance didn't push the clutch in all the way or something), it spent 3 of the past 7 days at the dealership (dropped it off Wednesday evening, picked it up on Friday, and had it towed there again this morning) This was supposed to be the reliable daily driver, the whole point of taking the initial depreciation hit on a brand new car was to take advantage of the low financing and have a trouble free car. I hope it doesn't give us any more trouble after this is fixed.
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Old 03-09-2014, 07:02 PM   #63
Nitro350Z
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There has been progress... on the Veloster, not the Baja.

First things first, quick summary of the events that have occured.

We purchased a brand new Veloster and took deliver on Friday afternoon Feb. 21.
Dropped it off at the dealer on Wednesday morning Feb. 26, for the no-start issue, was given a base Elentra as a courtesy car (200km on ODO for the Elentra)
Picked up Veloster on Friday afternoon Feb. 28, gave in the Elantra with ~400km on the ODO. Total driven in Elentra: ~200km
Towed (via roadside assistance) Veloster to dealer on Saturday morning Mar. 1, after another no-start. Picked up another Elantra, this time with ~190km on ODO.
Almost picked up Veloster yesterday Mar. 6, but it faulted right before pickup so left for another day at the dealer.
Picked up Veloster today, Mar. 7. Final ODO in this Elantra: 1043km
They replaced the starter and starter relay under warranty.

Total driven with Veloster: ~500km
Total days with Veloster: 5

Total driven with Elantras: ~1050km
Total days with Elantras: 10

I have owned an Elantra for twice as long as the Veloster we've bought.



During this process we discussed with the dealer some form of compensation for the trouble and inconvenience that was caused by our brand new car not starting (missing work, not being to plan our day, etc) and we've come to an agreement that they're installing the Hyundai Performance Axle-back Exhaust[super]tm[/super] (Really overpriced fancy muffler, dealer would normally charge $650+tax+installation) free of charge and to my understanding we're also getting a $100 gift card to a restaurant of our choice.

There really isn't much in terms of accessories that we'd want, A factory remote start was out since that's apparently auto only, and the auto-dimming mirror is a US-only option so the dealer couldn't get one in. Other accessories include such fun things as mudflaps that are pretty much there in name alone (tiny, dinky little things) assorted overpriced floor mats, a weird roof diffuser ala the Mitsu Evo style (looks kinda odd in the dealer pic and can't find anyone online who has one so no good pictures to compare), a front strut bar, and one of those awful looking plastic bug deflectors (in my opinion they have no place on anything short of a truck)

Crossing my fingers that we'll have a trouble free experience from here on out. knock on wood.
If there are any more issues like the above, we'll push for them to replace this one with another Veloster or for an outright return. With Canada's lack of proper Lemon laws I'd rather have a longer history of trouble before I commit to dealing with the hassle of getting the dealer to take this car back. So far the ownership experience has been ...rough.

Only picture from Hyundai's website:


"Add a deeper exhaust tone to your Hyundai with this high flow axle-back exhaust system. Designed as a bolt on application which requires no cutting, this exhaust system will look and sound great for years to come."

And the only picture of the exhaust I could find online because it doesn't look like a lot of people opted to buy this really overpriced muffler:
Apparently the guy who's picture this is says the exhaust note reminds him of the STI rumble. I guess I'll see when it comes in, should be in on Monday.



And here, have another picture of the non-starting lemon from when we picked it up, contrast set all the way to 11



It's been a while since I did an update with Baja content so here goes. Missing driving the Baja and had some free time today so I thought it would be a good time to warm up the Baja (you know, get it all up to operating temp to make sure it still runs and everything is ok, fine. I came up with an excuse to start it and remind myself what I'm missing) Looking through the vids I have, I realized I didn't actually have any decent clips of what the current exhaust setup sounds like, so here's a video showing off the noise.


Just a quick free rev, small blip, big blip, and some LC action, nothing too fancy.
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Old 03-10-2014, 02:21 PM   #64
Nitro350Z
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I missed this part when I was updating this thread:

Might as well list them off for future reference, I'll have to look it up anyway to make sure I'm not putting the bushings in the wrong place and it might be useful for other Subaru Baja & Legacy owners on here.

W63393 - Control arm - lower front inner & outer bushing
W63394 - Control arm - lower rear outer bushing
W63395 - Control arm - lower rear inner bushing
W63396 - Control arm - upper inner bushing
KCA399 - Control arm - upper outer bushing (camber correction)
KCA319A - Control arm - lower inner rear bushing (anti-lift/caster correction)

Those are the Whiteline bushings that I currently have waiting to be installed.
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Old 03-10-2014, 02:47 PM   #65
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Damn, your troubles with the Veloster are really lame. Hope that gets sorted out quickly. At least you get to drive new Elantras and not the horrible old one I had as a rental once, haha.
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Old 03-10-2014, 05:07 PM   #66
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I compare Hyundai with Mitsubishi because I used to cross reference engine parts. Hyundai is just weak in many ways.
I noticed nose dives on my Baja when it was purchased and it felt very uncomfortable braking hard so I did the research and installed the 4/2 pot setup. It has been the best upgrade done to the car literally. Do not spend a dime on other mods until you get those brakes done because you will feel confident hitting the brakes fast or slow.
If you do the Brembo setup, then you will be really good.
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Old 04-06-2014, 02:10 PM   #67
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I've heard really good things about Hyundai's reliability and quality for their new models (2010+) it just looks like I got the short end of the stick with this one.

Quote:
Originally Posted by evilspoons View Post
Damn, your troubles with the Veloster are really lame. Hope that gets sorted out quickly. At least you get to drive new Elantras and not the horrible old one I had as a rental once, haha.
Yeah, the new ones aren't too bad surprisingly. The interior really grows on you after a few days.

Updates incoming, info is cross posted from a little while back so it might read a little funny, but again the info is there.

So, more troubles with the Veloster and more goodies bought for the Baja, I swear poly bushings are my crack. I'll update the list of bushings and parts once I pick them up from the US.

Veloster somehow managed to tear a hole in the tire bead on a flat smooth road, when it happened I thought maybe it picked up a nail or something, nope, so such luck. Dealer wants over $250+tax for the one ****ty Kumho Solus tire, gave me the run around with saying that I have to contact the tire manufacture directly for any warranty replacements. Calling about a dozen different numbers trying to reach the right department/company and when I finally got through to Kumho directly, all I got was a phone maze where none of the options pick up and there's no way to leave a voice-mail. Talked with the guys at the dealer again and was informed the warranty procedure had actually changed and that they'll take care of the claim. In the mean time I'm stuck on a temporary spare. That whole mess occurred on Monday, as of yesterday, Saturday, they haven't done anything in terms of filing a claim w/ Hyundai. As I posted in the hot hatch thread, we're having a whole bunch of little problems with the Veloster and now we're trying to contact Hyundai Canada directly in hopes of getting a replacement. In the mean time I have to keep alert and take note of any issues we have with the Veloster so that I have a strong case if this issue ends up going to arbitration (no actual cut and dry Lemon laws in Canada as I poster earlier)

The whole point of taking that initial depreciation hit was to have a care-free ownership experience and not having to worry about repairs or reliability. Instead we get to deal with this bull**** every week.

So yeah, it's been a really ****ty ownership experience so far. I like the idea of the Veloster (turbo, 3door, quirky, bunch of tech toys, etc) it just looks like we got a dud.

Currently debating getting a vanity license plate, fiance wants to get TURB-OH, I'm leaning towards KDM POS, just need to figure out how to get it past their screening process.

In lighter/less frustrating news, I finally got a comparison video of the new exhaust vs the old exhaust.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjaRmfB_Lrg

At first the new exhaust sounded really airy, almost like a quieter external wastegate dump from 4k rpms to redline, but after a couple hundred km's it seems to have broken in and sounds a little richer and deeper. I've still got to grab an in-car video of it. For a factory exhaust it sounds ok, quiet around town and on the highway while making some noise when you goose the throttle, makes the veloster not sound like a corrola so that's a plus. Honestly I'm not too big of a fan of it, but it could be worst, and my fiance likes it. If I had actually bought it from the dealer I'd probably be really disappointed, for close to the same price you could easily get a cat-back.

I do like how the Veloster cackles all the way down the rev range, probably one of the best features of the new batch of hot hatches. Video doesn't really capture it well (I need to find a cheap external mic, anything would probably better than the internal mic on the camera) but I can assure you, it sounds fun in person.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey, guys... these cookies don't smell right...



Oh, wow. How did that get in there?



Quick test fit for a possible HID retrofit. Picking up a set of Honda S2000 projector housings and figured I'd try my hand at playing with the headlights. I'm aware, I'm a light whore, for me more light is always better! (as long as you're not an ******* who blinds everyone else on the road) Picture is with an Acura TSX projector I had kicking around, don't have the S2k projectors in my hands yet.

Hopefully it all turns out well. Progress will be slow as always, shiny things distract me too easily.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Turns out when people say the S2000 projectors are huge, they weren't kidding. It's getting tough to fit them in without running into clearance issues. I want to stick with the S2k projectors as I've got a set of them and they're supposedly one of the best low-beam projectors out there. All the mockups are done with the old lights and a trashed S2k projector (reflector bowl coating is flaking off). I ordered a fresh set of Depo lights to cut up off of amazon so I can go hog wild with these and not have to worry too much if I **** something up. If it does turn out to be impossible to fit the S2k projectors, I'll have to either get another TSX projector from somewhere or go aftermarket and smaller.



The projector is already getting really close to the high beam, I don't want to completely remove the high beam so I'm going to have to figure out how to make it work.



I've still got some more room before it hits the lens so I can always try bringing it a little closer to the front to get the rear to clear.



And this is going to have to be figured out. As it sits the rear cover won't close with the projector that close to the edge, can't really move it much lower because of the high beam, Can't angle it because then I'll be projecting into the sky, only options seem to be to either trim the rear cover so that it clears, or moving the projector a few more cm forward so that it doesn't interfere with how the cover locks into place.



The reflector has huge gabs because I played around with different mounting positions and trying to figure out how to mount the TSX ones in case the S2k ones do turn out too big, I kept trying to mount it too far back and the rear of the projector would not have fit at all. With it that far forward I'm worried finding a shroud that'll look good will be difficult. It'll get figured out somehow. And yeah, for testing purposes, hot glue works wonders. Lets get crafty
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Old 04-07-2014, 08:51 AM   #68
lockmedic
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You can drop back to 00-04 regular Legacy lamps (or non-turbo Baja) as they only have a single bulb and a much larger reflector. I kinda prefer them to the Outback/GT/Baja turbo double bulb version.
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Old 04-07-2014, 10:04 AM   #69
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Yeah, I've seen those, but personally I don't like the look of them, I really like the dual beam headlight, my opinion the black separating surround looks really good.

Plus going with the single beam headlight, I'd have to figure something out with the high beams as the s2000 projectors are dedicated low beams, not bi-xeon. With the s2000 projectors being known as the best protector on the market, I'd rather stick with it than going to another bi-xeon projector, which would also incur more cost for me.

Either way, I found a position to mount them so the rear clears, the projector lens is close to the headlight lens but it'll clear. I'll put up pictures in the next day or two, ish. Tested the high beam and it doesn't interfere with the projector so high beam pattern isn't messed up. So far looking good, I'll take apart the other headlight and cut a nicer mounting hole and once the new lights come in I'll do a final retrofit into them.
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Old 04-08-2014, 05:15 PM   #70
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I am getting better with each try.

Took the other headlight out and gave it another go. The pictures are a little boring as they all look very similar, but eh, suck it up.
Much cleaner cut


Fits much better


A little cocked to the side so I'll have to make sure the projector is actually sitting level when I'm doing the final version of the lights.


Front cover fits, and looking good.


Rear has more than enough room to clear the cover.


That's it for now.
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Old 05-01-2014, 05:34 PM   #71
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First up, end of April, and there's snow.


Second of all, I finally picked up that rear subframe. The best vehicle to pick it up would have been the Baja, but oh well, make due with what you have. Have to track down a leak in the altima now, looks like it developed a transmission oil leak (suspecting the axle seal) after the trip so I'll be lifting it up soon to figure out what went wrong.


Picked up a bunch of goodies in the US: Osram 35w 4300k SVS Nighbreaker bulbs, pretty much the same as the CBI while giving off a better colour in my opinion (The CBI looks cool, but these will make it easier to see at night especially for long trips) Morimoto 3Five ballasts, bunch of shrouds to play with, really hard to figure out what will look good inside the housing so I bought a bunch of the "B-stock" ones. New headlamps to do a final retrofit into.


CBI vs SVS shown here: (not my pic)


Side by side comparison of the retrofit vs OE style.



Did some cutting, sanding, and swearing trying to fit the nice projectors into the housings and played with the shrouds. I need to extend them on one side because the S2k projectors are monsters and I've got a surprisingly tiny amount of room to work with. Can't decide what colour I should paint them after a built an extension on the side, would have been nice to leave them as is, but that's not possible. Maybe a gunmetal-ish colour, black or white might look tacky in these headlights.



Bonus shot of the Altima, and my terribly messy storage shed garage.

And in other exciting news, I have a new(ish) 2013 STI transmission with almost no miles, and a bunch of associated parts sitting in Toronto that I need to pickup, so here I go with another roadtrip (Good deal, no shipping, **** it, road trip!)

Edit:

Oh, and I picked up this bad boy:


Now I just have to figure out where to place the controls...

Last edited by Nitro350Z; 05-01-2014 at 06:45 PM.
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Old 05-04-2014, 11:01 AM   #72
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AutoX AutoX AutoX


Photos courtesy of SoloSnapshots

First off, of course, snow in May.


Second, The Veloster is much shorter, thinner, and lighter than the Baja and yet I keep trying to drive it like a wide awd behemoth. This results in having enough room between cones to host a dinner party.


Last off, going from heavy and awd to relatively light and fwd is taking a bit of adjusting. Add in that I have been off the track for two years and there's lots of adjustments to do before I become smooth through the cones again.


All in all it was a great time, huge grin on my face at the end of the day. Managed to go through 6 runs (4 timed, two fun runs) and only hit 2 cones on my last run, otherwise all clean runs. Once I figure out the dimensions of the car I should be hitting more cones.

In other news, we should be ready to leave for Toronto at the crack of noon.
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Old 05-05-2014, 11:38 PM   #73
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It looks like you did a good job with your retrofit. How about we get a glance with the front end. The projector looks huge. BTW, you had fun in the snow and now with cones? Way too much fun up there
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Old 06-13-2014, 08:19 PM   #74
Nitro350Z
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Baja_Gernaut View Post
It looks like you did a good job with your retrofit. How about we get a glance with the front end. The projector looks huge. BTW, you had fun in the snow and now with cones? Way too much fun up there
I'm really dragging my feet on the projectors, as with most little projects on the Baja, so haven't completed the set yet. I'll grab a wide shot and output shots once they're done. And yeah, the great white north has it's moments.

And onto another roadtrip adventure in the name of the Baja.

We begin with a glamour shot of the Hyundai, the trusty reliable parts hauler in this adventure.



As you all know, shooting a lot of torque through the 5 speed is a ticking time bomb, and the oversized-for-the-wrx tires weren't helping either. Things went klunk and the shiny metal bits that make the transmission work started to come out, solution was to go even nuttier with the project and pickup an STI trans. Found a 2013 trans swap package in Toronto for a good price, but seller doesn't do shipping, I was left with two options, either find a way to get it shipped, or spend twice as much and just go pick it up myself under the guise of another roadtrip/vacation. You should know which one I opted to do.

Quote:
Location: Toronto, ON - CANADA (Local pickup only, no shipping)

2013 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Transmission swap available with 10,xxxKM on all the parts. Everything in proper working condition. Serious inquiries only.

USDM EJ257 Transmission SWAP Including:
- 6 Speed Manual Tranny
- Mounts
- Starter
- Shifter Linkage
- Front Drive Shafts
- Rear Drive Shafts
- Main Shaft
- Rear Differential

Overall great guy to deal with, ended up spending over two hours shooting the **** at the shop, and even managed to get a shiftknob thrown in.

The drive out was interesting, took two and half days to drive there, and two and a half to drive back, we took our time and enjoyed to road.



After driving through BC, the sights weren't as visually stunning as the Canadian Rockies, but still cool to see and interesting to look at.

Rocks and trees, and trees and rocks, and rocks and trees, and wateeeerrrr!


The drive through the twisty sections was pretty fun on the way out, lots of elevation changes and winding roads going through the Canadian shield. The Veloster can definitely hold its own, was a blast to drive.

In Wawa, ON we went to a diner for an early lunch and witnessed an older man walk in, order a beer, down it in one go, and walk out to drive away in his truck. Wow is all I can say.

And time for a crazy trucker story:

Single lane highway each way in Ontario, around 10-11pm, car in front going a bit under the speed limit (5-10km/hr fluctuation, no cruise maybe?). Oncoming cars, and I have a trucker behind me who decided to throw ****ty blue HID's into his headlights which are positioned at a height that's perfect for shining through my back window, especially since he's sitting a foot or two off my bumper. The inside of our car is lit up to a ridiculous extent, I can see the inside of the car infront being lit up as well. Of course with oncoming traffic there isn't room to pass for about 30 min. 30 mins of being blinded as ****, I'm a little irritated to say the least, and I doubt the car infront is happy with the situation either. Finally there's a passing zone and the truck goes past, I pass the car infront so I can put cruise on and throw on my highbeams to return the favor to the trucker. At this point the starts swerving around the road and is going up on the shoulder, I figure he's trying to kick up rocks but there's a few issues with his plan.

1. I'm far enough back that nothing is reaching me
2. I'm actually in my lane so nothing is being projected towards me

At this point I should note that he's hauling a load of brand new cars, and although I hope they have some sort of protection against debris being thrown from the tires, with him swerving around I think whatever is in place might be inadequate and he might have scratched up some new cars (confirm/deny?)

Once his brilliant "swerve around the road to kick up rocks" plan failed he stops in the middle of the road, and opens his door. It's late, he's road raging, I'm not going to risk a confrontation with a more than likely tired and pissed trucker who's got anger issues and might have a weapon in the cab. I accelerate around him and as I'm going, he throws something at us, and we hear *ting *ting *ting *ting. He didn't have time to reach down so I don't think it was gravel, maybe change or crazy trucker teeth, who knows. We go off thinking that's that and continue on our way. A few minutes later I look in my rearview and there's the trucker, barreling down this single lane highway at speeds I'd estimate at 150-160km/hr. Well, ****, he's actually crazy crazy. We outrun him, get a minute or two lead on him, passing a few cars in the meantime and pull onto a side street, flip around and kill the lights and wait. One car passes, going what appears to be the speed limit, next we see the trucker zoom by at blistering speed. We wait a few mins and pull back onto the highway. Next township we reach we turn off and find a nice motel.

Next morning we assess the damage.



Two small scratches on the rear quarter, buffed out really easy. Kind of wish we could have grabbed a plate number, but when he was behind us the lights were blinding us, and when we were behind him we were either too far back or preoccupied with getting the hell away.

Well, made it to Toronto! I hate driving in this city. Too many people, and holy **** some of the roads make Winnipeg roads fell glass smooth.
Picked up the transmission, stuffed in the back of the hatch, strapped it down and bungie corded the crap out of it so that it would stay put, and set off to go to Niagara falls.



And we made it to Niagara Falls



Very touristy place, but oh well, We're tourists, time to embrace it. We stayed for two nights at a nice hotel on the 8th floor with a view of the falls and it ended up being the most affordable place we stayed the entire trip. Tiny town motels and the motel from hell (more on this later) cost us more than this place, what the hell.

We went to go see the bird kingdom and it was a great experience, definitely worth the entry.

We saw an angry Australian

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Old 06-13-2014, 08:20 PM   #75
Nitro350Z
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And got to play with these Australians as well



My fiance was apparently not satisfied with the friendly ones that flew onto us, and the ones that were around our feet, and decided she wanted to grab the ******* ones sitting on the anti-social branch and they ended up being very bite-y. Lessen learned.

And saw this radical bird too



After we had our fill at the bird kingdom we made our way to the butterfly conservatory. It's quite the experience walking into a place with that many butterflies, it's like walking through a fairy tail. Only downside is you go through it fairly quick(30min-1hr compared to a few hours for the bird kingdom) and it's really hot and humid in there.





After our stay in Niagara, we made our way back and the road was pretty uneventful. We saw a moose. A baby moose. Just standing on the side of the road, looked as though it was contemplating life, not chewing, not moving, nothing but staring into the distance. The only exciting thing that happened was the motel from hell. It's late at night, it started misting, we stop at some motel/gas station and talk to the clerk. The place is called Cosiana/Filane's Motel off of HWY 17 in Schreiber, ON. He orginally wants $130+tax for a room, ridiculous, being tired and unsure of where the next motel is going to be and with the ****ty conditions outside, I manage to get him down to $75 tax included, still pricey but better than continuing driving. As we enter the room, it's like stepping into the 70's. 2-3" crimson red shag carpet, a tube tv with no remote, two tiny beds (smaller than a twin, my feet were hanging off the end) and one small 40w bulb to give light for the entire room. Go to the washroom and we find pubes on the bath towels and mold growing around the tub. Ok, so no showering, just sleep and leave. We decided to suck it up and just get a few hours of sleep and leave as quickly as possible in the morning. Well, that sort of happened.

I got woken up at 4:00 am by the sound of mice/rats scurrying through the walls and chewing on things in the room, crazy how loud they can be. I wake up my fiance and we get the hell out of dodge. Nobody is staffing the motel so we have nobody to talk to. Of course there's a really thick fog outside so it takes us almost an hour to get to the next town about 20km away, thankfully after that it cleared up a little and we made it back to Winnipeg.

And we're back



May 14, 2014 - SNOW.

A few weeks later I finally got around to detailing the Veloster to get rid of the all the microscratches the dealer introduced upon their pre-deliver "detail" and to fix the crazy trucker damage.



Came out rather nicely I have to say.

Thanks to a poster on another forum I managed to track these down and get them. Made to order apparently, and in a stunning purple. Add that to the pile of bushings waiting for install.



In a frenzy to get rid of all my money, I bought two sets of tires for the Veloster



The winter set alone comes out to around $960 locally, so much cheaper through tire rack even after the conversion. I might have forgotten to mention, but I picked up a set of base model wheels for around $200 plus shipping as a set of winter wheels.



Ordered all these goodies too:



It's going to be exciting throwing on a proper suspension.
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