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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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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