And in rolls the SaaBeeru ... by Bradcr

6 minute(s) of a 145 minute read

Ok, pulled the scoop, pulled the plasti-dip, bought some dupli-color OBP cans and went to town. Here it is after 800 and 1000 grit wet sanding, got it even smoother after this pic: 

Next, I hit it with clearcoat, 1500, 2000, 3000 and then rubbing compound. I could have pushed it with each wet sanding to be perfect, but I held back a little in how aggressive I was. Very pleased with the results, a million times better than before with my 2 spots worn down to the plastic, and I left just enough texture to give a really good match with the surrounding paint. Should be a perfect match after the next polish, then 3M spraybra, and then black waxing.  

10-12-2013

Holy crap, didn't realize it had been 3 months with no update. Unfortunately, funds have been tight, so I've just been getting small parts as they've been available on deal the last couple of months and taking care of small maintenance issues. The car has been driven a bit, here's me at BigNW:

And actually showing next to a black Unicorn at WCSS:

After seeing the shows and the super-niche categories they're making for subies, it's time to start hitting them up for a Saabaru category. I'll post up a petition thread on Saab92X sometime soon. 

Killed a bit of time on a brake fluid leak:

And this was the consequence to my rim:

And obviously led to this:

I took the time to do one small change, and switched to shorter spacers on the rear spoiler:

vs. this previously:

It's minor, and basically makes the top of the spoiler parallel to the ground like the angle on a WRX. This gives it a far more factory appearance despite only changing 3-4 degrees.

As I've dug more into this project, I've become far more into the clean, luxury or factory-looking option appearance of the mods I've done. Considering the cost of the 18G-XT and how close I am to finishing all I can do on that end, I'll probably take care of all those small mods prior to the turbo upgrade. 

And that leads me to the one very obvious item on the car- the Prodrive Flaps. It's been nice having a hard to find piece, and I'm quite proud I found a way to make them work on a wagon, but it's time for them to go, they aren't working with the the true eurowagon look I'm trying to perfect. 

Unfortunately, that means working with off the shelf flaps, and with this car seeing snow a ton, it's the option. In the end I went with Roadsport Type 1 guards up front, utilizing my existing Prodrive hardware without the metal brace:

I'll see how the big washer dulls up over the next few weeks, might have to hit it with underbody spray. For the rear, I used Roadsport Type 4s utilizing every bit of Prodrive hardware, I just had to bend the existing center bracket downward:

I had to do a little bending to get the look just right, but they worked perfectly, made me feel better about having $40 flaps held on by $200 hardware:

Hopefully fill out this back end with an STI Diffuser:

Since I'm tight on cash, next step is to get into my new alarm and Winter is coming according to Ned Stark, so here's my progress so far on the remote start:

After hearing about my friends' 40 hour ordeal doing theirs, I'm labeling every single wire in advance with what wire they connect to and that wire's location. Also picked up a relay for neutral/clutch detection I'll wire in custom. 

Next step will be getting on the 3M clear bra. After that, I'll be working on my backup hood scoop to make a legit scoop blockoff. 

I was originally planning on a venting solution, but I have not figured out a way to make it look clean and I'm quite worried about the amount of water that would hit the alternator area here in rainy Seattle. 

Last but not least I'm accumulating parts for an all-in-one project one weekend, here's what I have and what I'll start picking up after I finish the scoop:

TGV Deletes (need gaskets)

8mm phenolic spacers

AMR Turbo Inlet (need coupler to turbo)

Dark Blue WRX Injectors

Valve Cover Gaskets (need)

Spark Plugs (need)

I'm already anticipating that sucking so I can mentally prep for it.