And in rolls the SaaBeeru ... by Bradcr

7 minute(s) of a 145 minute read

Put back on both valve cover gaskets. I used Permatex Right Stuff all the way around. Controlled and pressed my bead down a bit better on the drivers side, had about 1/8" of pressed out gasket on passenger side that I at least cleaned off the top. If you look closely, you can see it about that thickness around the breather- that stuff comes out FAST! If you dig into your car the same way, make sure you have a backup for that stubby oil return hose to the right of the turbo. That thing split shockingly easy, and I had to get the $15 Subaru replacement after being unable to find a generic the right size that was made to hold oil. 

11-21-2013

Finally on to my bolt back together day. First, laid in the GrimmSpeed phenolic spacers and gaskets:

Next I hit my first snag. After reading about multiple issues with the AMR turbo couplers being too short I ordered an AR turbo inlet which wound up being a bit too tight a fit for my setup:

In the end I had to trim about 1/3 of an inch off each end of the coupler:

After that it was just going through the checklist, putting back in coolant and then figuring out where the hell it dribbled out since I missed connecting one hidden hose on the first try. I replaced every vacuum and vent hose and rerouted a few lines and hoses that were weird fits after I installed my front mount:

Here's a close up of the new inlet. With the added length I had to press the filter as far as it would go onto the housing. It's hard to tell, but I had to put a pad on the side of the engine bay where my filter now touches it. 

Started up again, still no leaks, and tried to burn off some of the crap sitting on my heat shields:

Figured I'd take advantage of the bumper being off, and I recommend everyone with a front mount clean their car like this once in a while: 

Decided to go ahead and debadge and noticed this spot under my Aero lettering has become that much worse:

Worked it with some rubbing compound, then covered the area with a thin layer of brushed OBP. Came out extremely smooth, and blended it in that much better with my black box polish then wax; too bad it can't fix the paint by my rear window. 

I know I've been asked in other threads, so here's what my plate mount is. It's hard to see, but I have rubber bumpers behind the lower screws for protection:

With the bumper off and waxing and polishing, I figured I'd give a shot at the 3M spray bra. Unfortunately, it started out such a huge damn mess that I was already rehearsing it in my head the complaint letter I'd be writing first of all, here's my can:

And no matter how careful I was, it flung huge hunks of crap on my bumper every few seconds:

Now, here's the weird part. I checked on it 5 hours later, still a funky blue, I even accidentally tapped what I thought was a dry part and left a huge fingerprint. 8 hours after that and it smoothed out completely... Very weird. Few runs, but those were largely isolated to seams and cracks. Overall, not just protection; it's a HUGE improvement. 

Here's my cleaned front bumper:

After Black Box Polishing:

After Black Box Waxing (3M even includes wax, makes the bra easier to remove):

And finally after the clearbra:

I moved onto a new can and hit the hood, perfect spray, no chunks, looks like my original can had a clog, even after trying to clean the nozzle a half dozen times:

I'm loving the crap out of it at this point, so I decided to use it as a rear bumper guard:

Here's the finished close up so you can see the seam, but the area looks like it was literally freshly painted. Unlike the front bumper where you can still see some pockmarks, the rear bumper scratches are completely gone:

And one of the nicest features I only noticed tonight: I went ahead and sprayed the front lip with my bumper. The gloss of the guard now makes the lip a near perfect match to the paint. You can see it in my earlier pic:

With that good of a look, I'll probably try it out on my splashguards to see if I can get them to blend better with the paint.