Alex's 2004.5 STi! -- 12/15: S204 Performance Damper Ordered! :p

Um, a good bit. You'll need a breaker bar considering the OEM torque is 132 or so....and you know what that means. Before you do so, make sure the car is in gear and someone has their foot on the break. Otherwise, the car will roll. I wanted to make a DIY, but alas no camera.

 

Almost done, just a few things I want to touch up stylistically

This photo may appear confusing at first, but this is the method for properly aligning projectors. Now, the somewhat "dashed" line is the height from the ground to the center of the projector itself. This is where the light would be if you were right against the wall. In order to align these, you have to have the car approximately 25ft from a wall on relatively even ground. Beneath the first dashed piece of painters tape you will see a second. This is approximately 2.5" beneath the one above it demonstrating the DOT legal cutoff point. What does this mean? In short, at 25 ft, the cutoff of the projectors needs to fall between 2.1 and 2.5" inches to be legal (not blind people). It goes without saying that lights are aligned based off the left light, not the right. The 2 pieces of vertical tape represent the center of the kick, or where you see the lower portion of the cutoff slant upward to the higher portion. The two pieces of tape are at a specific distance, in this case they represent the distance from projector to projector on the car itself. You'll notice I have set my right lamp slightly to the right. I am doing this as a safety feature. The output of the lights is so substantial that I wanted to throw a small amount further to right to help me spot an animal, person, whatever potentially running out into the street at night.

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Now I think I told some of you I did the color mod (also known as the washer mod). What this effectively does it tilt the lens of the projector upward a slight slight amount (approximately 2 #8 washers). This creates an intense range of blues at the cutoff. This is purely aesthetic and has zero effect on the output of the light itself.

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For those of you that didnt make it out to the Pool Hall g2g, you didnt see the lamps on the car. Here's a closeup snap earlier tonight while I was aligning everything.

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I'm positive this comparison is what most of you have been waiting for. This is a straight comparison of the OEM STi HIDs versus my TSX retrofit The difference is night and day, both of these photos were taken with the same camera and simply cropped / resized. It goes without saying how poor the light output is on a WRX.

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Here are some misc. photos. This part of the parking deck isnt even close to being level, hence how the beam points downward prematurely.

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Interested in your very own retrofit? Contact 10th St JDM!

 

Now! There are a couple people who have said they were interested in getting one done, but they havent confirmed it yet. You could be first

 

No, I can / will do it from scratch, just like the 04/05s. Its easier on the JDM / EDM lights though

 

I need to wash the car, but for now here is a mild teaser. I'll be throwing in a set of ccfls at some point soon. I realize this fails to show the detail on the shrouds themselves, etc.

 

You still truckin' ?

 

Still trying to get used to the new camera, Sony interface to Canon is a bit of a jump

 

I finally got some photos of the other side. What you'll notice is that the other side is completely blacked out. I was curious to see how it would look so I did so on the rhs, and left the lhs "stock-ish". Now, Im curious to know what you guys think If I get the chance, Ill wash the car tomorrow and see if I can find some nice photo op spots.













So...thoughts on the black ?

 

Send 10th Street a pm then

 

This is not my photo, as I have no replacement camera yet...but this gives you an idea of what I picked up earlier from wjm. I am sure some WRX owners will inquire about this swap, however, as much as it is nearly a direct drop in for me, you guys do not have the same wiring harness in there and thus it is more of a pita for you



In case anyone else is interested in the swap, Ill be certain to make a DIY

Here's an overall glance / assumption / whats needed to install or swap list based on my research:

• Remove the entire 04 console, climate control and emergency brake
• Install 05 emergency brake
• Relocate DCCD sensors
• Install new metal bracket to dash
• Install new console

• Emergency brake cable may be a hair short.
• DCCD switch for 05 is different, may need to reuse my old one
• May have to lengthen DCCD wires
• I will need new radio brackets
• May need to trim rear console bracket mounting tab
• If I wanted to have the proper location for the mirror switch, I will need 05 door panels. However, Ill prob just tuck it somewhere or cutout a nice spot on the new console for it to fit.

Why am I doing this? I am tired of the dated gc8-ish console, Ive always been a bit jealous of the new interior and finally got a chance to try putting it into mine. I will be painting the pieces either my current satin-black or an ultra-flat to match the s203. I may try and paint the controls to mimic the s203 / limited ones, however, most likely I will just keep my eye out for the set. The metal rings are $12 or so from SOG, the black buttons themselves are about $60 a pop. Additionally, this gives 10th St JDM a chance to have a practice hvac controller to mess with and perform the red-light mod :bigthumb:

Updates later this week.

 

when are you gonna be doing the swap...I might stop by and lend a hand

 

Haha, wanna come by tomorrow? The goal is to get it all in the car first, then I will pull it all back out, paint, change the LEDs, etc. I am 90% currently on how to perform the red-light upgrade. I took it all apart, and it seems relatively straightforward. There is currently 1 white LED. I could paint that red, but I'm almost positive it wont be bright enough. I think the solution will be to solder in 2 new red leds, and paint the white one. It should produce more than enough light After that, Ill need to borrow a stock radio from someone to convert that just for kicks.

I can do just about everything else from buttons to key ring to 04 dash. I may do my clock for the hell of it, been meaning to for a while now.

 

hey alex, I will send you those pics from the other night some day this week (when I remember and my camera is around...)

 

when I saw you posted in here after my post...I just knew there was something wrong.


ped...you dirty dirty sonofabitch

ps - they are pics of his headlights


that didnt sound any better did it? :keke:

 

So I picked up something new this afternoon and its currently sitting in the backseat...wanna guess what it is?

 

More like a Kris shaped blow up doll!

 

Straight through...

 

Installed it yesterday, sounds great.

Absolutely zero drone on the highway for a full 3" is impressive.

 

Its the Cobb single tip exhuast (although it has been said that stromug actually makes the cobb)

Oh, and it sounds great, and looks pretty nice too

 

Nice and dirty thanks to the recent rains...









http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEaDiT1PKGA

Ill have a much higher quality one up soon :tup: