I swear that custard is lost in the foresters. Lol

[QUOTE='Dan [GTI];

So will be visiting Dan and the boys at Maximum Motorsport next week to book the car in for some TLC and tuning:
- Service (oil, plugs, Filter)
- VF34 P20 / Up Pipe install (with PERRIN Thermal blankets)
- 3 Port EBC to replace HKS standalone EBC.
- MMS ECUTEK Retune

Money pending I would also like:
- Quicker steering rack (FE440 preferably)
- 3" oval muffler to keep things civil

Then time to start saving for GRAMLIGHTS, 6 speed, EJ25 rebuild, Flex-Fuelling... :rolleyes: I can always dream of having them all.[/QUOTE]

Dan, when you're at MMS talk to Rob about the quick rack he bought from my Spec C....he was going to put it on the Safari car but has changed his mind...it may be able to go into yours. Also my Spec C engine with twin scroll (also at MMS) would go well in your car too!

Ruthless self advertisement ;) will hit them up about the steering rack.

So after my wedding and honeymoon I am finally starting to get somewhere :)
[IMG]http://i1343.photobucket.com/albums/o788/DanMPS3/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0205_1_zpsrbjqmgvu.jpg[/IMG]

So got the car back on Wednesday but decided to reserve my judgement for a few days, but straight out of the driveway the car was amazing. Dan was happy and surprised with the power / torque delivery and max numbers and he did warn me the car is deceptively faster then the dyno numbers indicate. For those keeps the car lost 11KW from its previous setup, and that is on Maximum's heartbreaker dyno ;)
[IMG]http://i1343.photobucket.com/albums/o788/DanMPS3/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0210_1_zps6cr1nozm.jpg[/IMG]

The car makes full boost much much sooner (3200rpm in 3rd, 3000 in 4th) but more importantly in any gear it's making boost and usable torque from 2000rpm. I don't have to beat on it in low gears to make it move, it gets up to speed in any gear with ease. It's like learning to drive a new car but power figures aside the car drive 200% nicer on and off boost then it did before. I must admit the car doesn't [I]feel[/I] as fast without that surge of power but the speedo doesn't lie and it's nice to be able to punch out of corners in second.

The only issue is on hard left turns and under certain WOT conditions the downpipe knocks the steering column which hopefully I can try to sort out on Sunday. If I fail at that it doesn't really matter because Dan was good enough to book me back in on Wednesday to massage the downpipe for a little more clearance.

Apart from the turbo change I also had the external gate and HKS boost controller removed. I am a little torn about the wastegate but I can finally put my foot down in a more stealthy manner ([I]if that is possible [/I]). The boost controller was taking up space on my dash and it looked cool but was just not necessary for my requirements and removing it from the dash make the interior feel much more refined.
[img]http://i1343.photobucket.com/albums/o788/DanMPS3/image_zpsz6u7qsyo.jpeg[/IMG]

Something I had changed before handing the keys to Maximum Motorsport was the rear muffler. The cannon droned while cruising under 3000RPM and with the equal length headers it sounded too raspy in the lower RPM. So headed to [B]Andys Exhaust Werx [/B] and $400 later I had a new axle back section and oval muffler. No drone, slightly quieter, deeper note and that Honda raspy sound is gone.
[IMG]http://i1343.photobucket.com/albums/o788/DanMPS3/image_zpsjuniuhzi.jpeg[/img]

[B]TL;DR - area under the curve is soooo underrated, quieter more refined exhaust systems are underrated and a few niggling issues between me and track time[/B]

So some late night, impulse shopping but my back and wife will thank me for it. The seat as SG9 Forester STI items, matching front and back. Once I stop procrastinating and put them in I will post fap material.
[IMG]http://i1343.photobucket.com/albums/o788/DanMPS3/image_zpsgyoao2as.jpeg[/IMG]

So anyone wanting a set of BRIDE seats (one dark dark blue, one black) and rails keep an eye out for a sales thread.

Have fun making the STi rear seats fit....

Yeah I already knew they were going to put up a fight. I put the fronts in super quickly, no hassle, all lined up nicely. Then turned my attention to the back and see that more then half line up but there will need to be some bracketry fabrication required.

It will take some time, but I am in no rush and am up for the challenge :)

[QUOTE='Dan [GTI];838439']Yeah I already knew they were going to put up a fight. I put the fronts in super quickly, no hassle, all lined up nicely. Then turned my attention to the back and see that more then half line up but there will need to be some bracketry fabrication required.

It will take some time, but I am in no rush and am up for the challenge :)[/QUOTE]

Yeah. I know it can be difficult. Im sure you can build something out of a bit of folded sheet pretty easy if you need.

I even know off a few people on Ozfoz who have actually commissioned half cuts from importers, and specifically asked for the metal floor under the seat to be included with the chop. OEM fitment requires extreme measures....

I was thinking of doing it to my wagon a few years ago. Then i thought - fuk that. I dont even sit in the back anyways. And now i have no back seat at all because race wagon.