So after 5 weeks of ownership I’ve put its first 2500 miles on and thought I’d write a follow-up on my observations so far.

I had a bunch of modifications in mind when I was driving it home that first day, but I’ve decided to just drive it for now. I did order and install a set of Husky WeatherBeater floor liners (2nd row is 1-pc and covers the hump, which is nice) and cargo liner. They carried a hefty price (for floor mats), but it’s an investment towards protecting my interior. They are molded to fit and do fit nicely, except right behind the driver’s seat where it gets caught up in the tract (I think that’s due to the electric seat being cumbersome).

So here’s what I’ve noticed so far.

Likes:
- First and foremost, fuel efficiency. My commute is around 45 miles each way, which takes 55 minutes in mixed driving. In the mornings I run the fan to circulate air, in the SC afternoons I run the A/C. The first few tanks were ranging from 25.5 – 26.5 MPG, but yesterday I calculated my best fill-up yet: 27.2 MPG! I can’t believe how well this thing is doing. We used to have a ’98 Ranger 3.0 that my wife bought new and I think it averaged around 18 MPG. I can’t wait to take an extended trip and see if I can break into the 30s.
- Visibility. I sit upright and the dash is somewhat downward sloping, so I have a big view out over the front of my hood and can see everything. I have one slight blind spot on the driver’s side, where the c-pillar blocks out the rear cargo window, but it’s not been that big of a deal.
- Spaciousness. I had some buddies down last weekend and they were amazed at how much leg room they had in the rear seats. Even with the front seats all the way back there is still ample leg room in the rear.
- Interior. It’s a nice and light color and seems to lighten my mood when I’m surrounded by it, which helps when dealing with ignorant drivers for 2 hours a day.
- Technology. I love the hands-free Bluetooth operation. I sometimes get sleepy during my commute and like to call my mom/dad/wife/daughter to help keep me alert, but I’ve never wanted one of those ear pieces and don’t like holding a phone while driving. My wife & buddies have had fun with the audible text messaging. I haven’t really used Sync, yet, like with an external drive or iPod, but it’s nice to have built-in Sirius so I no longer need a big box in the windshield obscuring my view. 6-disc changer is nice, but pretty slow to change songs/discs.

Dislikes:
- I think the sensor that turns my headlights on/off automatically may be a little wacky. At least, that’s what I’m assuming is happening. In the mornings when I’m commuting to work and it’s still a bit overcast, my dash lights and the information center will dim in and out. I’m assuming it does that when the headlights turn on and off. Just a slight distraction/annoyance.
- Discomfort. There is plenty of room and I’m happy to no longer feel cramped, but I do have to reposition my left leg quite often because it will start to ache from sitting in an awkward position/angle. Also, the seats are quite firm which, when you’re sitting in them for an hour at a time (or 8 hours when I head to Ohio), starts to get uncomfortable. Hopefully the latter will improve with time as the seats get broken in.
- Interior. The downside to this bright cheery color is that it’s quite easy to scuff/smudge/smear and quite difficult to clean. I also detailed the truck last weekend and after cleaning the interior I tried to put some protectant on the dash but it didn’t seem to take (at least you couldn’t visibly tell that I had used any). My biggest gripe with interior is the arm rest/center console. The center console is quite long, which places the front of it a bit forward so have to twist and cock your arm to get to the latch to open it. Then once you do open it, it doesn’t open all the way to allow easy access, so you once again have to twist and cock your arm to get to the contents within. While you’re in there fishing around for something, your arm will press against the lid, which is already as open as it gets, and you can hear the plastic being stressed. I think overall that’s probably my biggest complaint about the vehicle.
- Silver. It’s not that I have a problem with silver, really, but I have had several morons pull out in front of me when I’m going 60MPH, forcing me to slam on my brakes. My wife thinks it’s because of the silver exterior. She says she has pulled out in front of silver cars before, too, because she couldn’t see them coming. I guess maybe it reflects light to blend in with its surroundings?
- Folding seats. I ran to Lowes the other day to pick some things up for the house. One of the items was a set of 77” aluminum ramps for the shed. It was a tight fit as I had to slide the passenger seat completely forward and cram the ramps in diagonally. Maybe I can and haven’t figured it out yet, but I wish the front seats folded forward so I could lay it down to increase cargo capacity. I also noticed that the rear seats don’t fold flat, which kind of sucks.

So looking at my list there it seems like I have a lot more cons than pros, but don’t let that deceive you. I absolutely love this vehicle and the only real problem I have with it is the armrest (the other things are just little annoyances, but any vehicle will have them). Overall I think this is one of the smartest buys out there as I receive moderate utility, moderate luxury (in its spacious cabin & technology) & outstanding efficiency. I am quite pleased with my purchase so far.

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I hope my belongings bring you holiday cheer.

Two days before Christmas my car was broken into and all my car audio gear was removed, except for the head unit. Based on the details of the break-in, these guys knew exactly what they were coming after. They didn't even touch my wife's Tahoe. They hit my car and left, which makes me wonder how long they've been casing the place (I won't bore you with the details but this was no random break-in).

The monetary loss sucks, but what really peeves me off is that I have been working over the last several weeks on sound dampening and tuning for sound quality. Of course being Christmas Eve eve also upset me.

I've also been compiling a list of things I wanted to do after the holidays - including upgrading a few components of my audio system - but now this has me discouraged...

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Ok, I've abandoned the spray bombing and instead decided to try and spruce things up to make driving the OBS interesting again. Here's what I've got in store for The Boomerang:

Stage 1

The first steps in this process will involve cosmetic and aesthetic improvements. A fascia lift is in order by swapping in the bumper beam and cover from a 2.5RS for a more aggressive look. This will also require a set of fog lights to fill in the spaces. I also want to get the factory rear spoiler. Another option is the JDM grill insert I saw on online. I’ll need a TIG welder to fill in the holes on the roof from the rack ribbing and try to beat out the dents in the body. Once everything is prepared I’ll paint solid Acadia Green (the color of the top half now), doing away with the two-tone. That way all I have to worry about is sanding and painting visible areas. It’s ok for now but it’ll need paint soon because all the forward facing surfaces are chipped and etched from highway travel, the clear coat is starting to peel on the hood, and I’ve noticed rust surfacing around the roof ribbing from the original rack. It’ll be a little more costly (not too much: a gallon of paint, a gallon or two of clear, and a HVLP gun) but easier. I’ve also got the materials for a tint job in the garage. Something else I’d like to look into is improving visibility and aesthetics with new headlights (projectors?).

Materials:
Impreza 2.5RS bumper beam
Impreza 2.5RS bumper cover
Fog lights for bumper cover
Rear spoiler
JDM grill insert
Paint – Acadia Green
Paint – Clear
HVLP paint gun
Shut off valve for compressor
Water remover/trap for compressor
Window film & application materials
Headlights

Stage 2

This step is just some upgrades to the wheel wells. I had my eyes on the KYB AGX adjustable struts but since there isn’t any auto-x/rally-x in this area then I don’t see a need for the additional costs so I’ll probably settle for the KYB GR-2s wrapped in the Eibach Pro Series lowering springs to drop the stance a little. Up front I’d like to upgrade my brakes to the larger rotors and 4-pot calipers from the 98-01 2.5RS for a little more stopping power. To help out with the handling I may add in a strut brace and some swing arms.

Materials:
KYB GR-2s (all 4 corners) $300
Eibach Pro springs $300
Impreza 2.5RS front rotors
Impreza 2.5RS front calipers
Impreza 2.5RS front pads
Impreza 2.5RS slide clip
Strut brace
Swing arms

Stage 3

Here I want to beef up the audio components to a competitive level and try my hand at the IASCA circuit some. The first step in this process will be to remove all the interior and try to cover all the surfaces with sound dampening. I’m not going to the extremes of worrying about wheel wells or the firewall like some of those guys but I figure the large sections (floor pan, roof, cargo area, doors) will have a big impact in cabin noise. I haven’t concerned myself with component details yet but in the front stage I would like to fiberglass some kick panels for a set of 6.5” mid-bass components with the tweeters most likely glassed into the A-pillars. I’ll also need a custom box built for the rear cargo area to house a pair of 12s, an amp rack, and maybe some neon lighting for highlights. I’m envisioning a fiberglass box for appearance but I’ll worry about that when the need arises. I don’t need to be a big SPL monster but if I can get up around 140-145dB on music while maintaining sound quality then it should be able to hang in most competitions. At this point there should also be enough detail work on the car to compete in some concourse shows. It probably won’t be a big show winner but it’ll at least be something to do and keep me active with shows.

Materials:
Dynamat
Fiberglass, resin, etc
.75” MDF
.25” wafer board
1/0 wiring, distribution blocks, fuses, etc
(2) 12” subs
(2) 6.5” mid-bass components w/ tweeters & crossovers
(1) 2-channel rear stage amp
(1) 4-channel front stage amp

Stage 4

This final step will focus on interior enhancements. Ideally I’d like to swap the front seats out with something more comfortable (perhaps WRX seats?) which will need recovered, and would also require the rear seat be recovered to match. I don’t have the industrial equipment needed to stitch upholstery but I could probably handle recovering the door inserts to match, alleviating that unpleasant splash pattern. I’m thinking it might not be a bad idea to tack some reinforcement material to the roof to account for flexing from the audio equipment. This could maybe be covered with a patterned insert and recovered for style. If there are neon highlights in the rear cargo area then perhaps a matching set could be used in behind/under the dash. I’d try to match all my dash/accessory lighting to match each other and to match the neon lighting if possible, or vice versa.

Materials:
Impreza WRX front seats
Fabric to recover front seats
Fabric to recover rear seats
Fabric to recover door inserts
Neon lighting
Dash lighting
Fabric to recover headliner w/ foam for insert pattern

What do you think?

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The Turd Bird is gone. I sold it today to a Ford guy that's probably going to race it (he showed up in a nice modified Cobra).

I hated to get rid of it but we needed money to finish our kitchen remodel. I've got a few other project cars, anyway, so this way I can devote more attention to the others.

It was kinda sad to see it drive away...

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My wife had been driving The Boomerang for a few weeks and I was driving her Tahoe so she'd save some money on fuel but I missed the car and was asking for it back. Well, I got my wish when she returned from a softball tournament with a shudder.

I didn't have the time to tear it apart and figure it out so I dropped it off at the shop the Thursday morning to let them take care of it. Since I'm coming up on 125k miles, I decided to have the timing belt replaced and the oil leak repaired, which I thought was the front main seal. Turns out it was the oil pump gasket and the shudder was from something breaking off at the driver side CV axle. It was also determined that my water pump and an idler was going bad so in an effort to get everything over with, I had it all taken care of.

Just got the car back from the shop:

Parts:
Timing belt - $60
Idler (x2) - $120
Oil pump seal - $6
Water pump - $100
Antifreeze - $13 (sheesh)
Idler cogged - $80
Crank seal front - $10
Axle shaft assembly - $100
Belt accy - $19
Belt accy - $20

Labor:
Vibration check at 30-40MPH - $7.50
Timing belt remove & replace - $263
Axle shaft assembly remove & replace - $75

Total with taxes - $904

Ouch. That really hurt but once I thought it over, it's really not that bad considering it's the first money I've really had to put towards it for maintenance in the last 4 years. That averages out around $225/year for maintenance. How does that sound? About average?

At least it's one less thing I have to worry about and hopefully I can get another 125k miles out of it trouble-free.

I've been toying with the idea, again, of building a carputer to bring all of my toys and desires together in one utility. A 7" touch screen would bring everything (mp3s, GPS/navigation, Sirius radio, email, etc) to my fingertips.

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The Turd has been sitting dormant in the garage for more than a year now due to an excess in heat/humidity and priorities. I had been working on the hood recently and finished it up a few days ago and tossed some primer on it to decide what to do with it. Because of the amount of filler and dust surrounding the car, I didn't feel like kicking it all up so I rolled the car out into the driveway, hooked up the battery, and turned the key.

It started... on the first try. Not only that, but I'm sure it needs a tune-up and it still idled nearly flawless for 10-15 minutes while I let everything cycle.

I have to say, I was mighty proud of her.

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I took on the hood this last week and it turned out to be quite a chore. I tried sanding it down but it was providing little result (I went through 4 pads @ 60 grit), so I picked up some chemical stripper. 5 applications over 2 days did about as much good as the sander did, so I dug around the garage and found the floor scraper I picked up when laying ceramic tile in the bathroom. This actually did a decent job of getting the paint off the outter edges but once I got towards the center of the hood, it seemed to be all filler and was knicking and chipping the blades in the scraper. This called for the big guns...

A chisel and a hammer. 'Tis true. My good set of wood chisels were the only thing that would put a dent in the filler and on first pass I spent 10 minutes digging a trench halfway across. This stuff was 1/2" thick at least and 1" at the deepest point of the dent. No frickin' wonder it was starting to crack.

It took 3 days of digging (my arms would grow tired of swinging that pick hammer) and sanding but I finally got it all cleaned out. I think it would be better in the long run to just replace the hood, so for now I slapped a couple coats of etching primer on it for protection.

I forgot to get pictures of the trench to show just how deep it actually was but I snapped a few post-procedure and I'll get them up here in a few days.

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I've always been fascinated with the art of pinstriping and flaming. It's something I've always wanted to try but just shrugged it off under the assumption that I didn't have the hand or eye for it.

But why not at least try? I mean, if I practice at it on some scrap metal/glass and my skills don't improve, what am I out? A few dollars on paint and brushes? But what if I actually can get good at it? It's not like I want to make a living out of it but it would be a cool hobby to take to shows and it would be sweet to see my work on someone else's ride.

Since I'm not getting any younger, I'm running out of time to take chances. I'm ordering some materials today. I've been toying around with paper and pencil with some sketches and the most important aspect of it seems to be symmetry.

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