Marino's Lifted Hawkeye - the Winter Beast

[Marino]

I looked through that to see how much it takes. To me that write up sucks. It's not organized. I was hoping I could figure out a plug and play setup.

Yeah, I agree. Hoping to find a better way.. if you come across anything let me know!

Twinsies!  I have been trying for YEARS to get someone to trade hoods with me.  I've always wanted a scoop, but I didn't want to dish out money for one, plus paying for a hood too.  I like seeing the progression of this. 

As for exhaust, I went with the weld on muffler at first, and it doesn't sound like the normal Subaru.  I went with a modified WRX header, and then welded in a muffler.  SUCH a difference.  People think it's a WRX all the time!  I actually have a WRX muffler on right now, but it's too quiet and I want to get a new muffler welded in.  I have it in my trunk.. just need to get some cash and some time to have someone weld it on.  I went with a Dynomax Ultraflow SS.  Sounds fan-freakin' tastic!  My hood/trunk/roof are plastidipped, but I don't know if you can tell from the pic, it's quite faded after 3 years.  I also had a bird dump an egg on my hood and it's deteriorated a section on it.  I'm actually thinking of removing it and going back to just the UGM... or spraying it again..... 

Looks great!! Love the black accents on this color. Yeah I've never seen too many 06/07 WRX hoods for sale, don't know why. Bugeye one's pop up occasionally, but that's about it it seems. I knew in my heart I wanted the wrx hood and scoop and didn't want to wait so I ended up shelling out the money. Paid more than I should have, but I absolutely love how it looks. Especially wingless!!

I hear you on the exhaust. I would love getting unequal length headers on this but probably won't happen for awhile. For now I just want it a little louder than stock, nothing obnoxious like my wrx. My old 2.5rs was catless with an spt exhaust, stock headers and it was pretty loud but had no rumble. I actually liked the sound of it. Still though, doesn't compare to the classic Subaru growl! I bet yours sounds amazing!

Car looks awesome man, love the urban grey color

Thanks man, appreciate it!

 

[Marino]

Today was a very productive (but expensive) day

I dropped the car off at a local mechanic to do everything to this the other day. As much as I'd like to do the work myself I just don't trust myself. My luck something catastrophic would happen and I'd mess something up. But the guy I had do the work used to work with my uncle and he has done a bunch of stuff to my WRX so I trust him fully to work on my car. Anyway as of right now,

• New Timing Belt + water pump kit [✔]
• New Strut [✔]
• New Denso o2 sensor [✔]
• NO MORE check engine lights [✔]
• Registered [✔]
• Insured [✔]

Just found out I have a brake light and low beam light out so I'll replace those and it should be good for a sticker. Unless... Does anyone know if you'll fail an inspection with a cracked tail light? The crack is a few inches. hmm.... don't want to shell out even more $$$ but it may be an excuse to get 04/05 tails. Or 06 tails even. Not a fan of the chrome 07 ones

This is a beautiful sight.... (NO CEL's + flashing cruise!!!)

Until next time...

 

[IBratmanI]

Nice, I bet it's nice to have everything fixed, although I'm sure it wasn't cheap! I don't think it will fail for a crack. If there was a hole, or a piece missing, it might.

 

[scubiecraig]

I do not think you will fail because your taillight is cracked.  I think it has to be non-functional in order to fail.

 

[Marino]

Haven't updated this in a little... let's see.

Well it got a sticker no problem! I smoked out the tail lights using a 35% vinyl overlay. That's the first and most likely the last time I do that. Overall it came out good, but it took hours and the way the tail lights curve make it very very hard to get a nice finish with no bubbles. Oh well, it looks better than stock. I'd still like to source 04/05's. If anyone see's any pop up, let me know!!!

I think I mentioned earlier that when I bought the wrx hood, the corners were folded in for shipping I take it. Bent them back in place but still didn't look good so today my dad and I bondo'd the corners to make it actually flush with the hood. Came out pretty good, we sprayed it semi-gloss black afterwards. (don't have pic of final product!).

The hood was primered to begin with but it had already faded a lot which is why it's grey.

I will be throwing my gold Sparco's on this later this week. Stay tuned!

 

[Marino]

Gold 

(edited for better picture!)

Before I put the Rex away I'll be stealing the mud flaps off it and putting them on this. Also on the lookout for a roof rack

 

[Marino]

Well I swapped the old faded mudflaps off the Wrx and threw them on this. Also I found a roof rack! Getting all ready for winter. 

 

[IBratmanI]

Looks great!

 

[cwiggin]

The gold wheels look awesome with that color! Car looks good man

 

[Marino]

So one night I was browsing nasioc classifieds for the fun of it, didn't really want or need anything, but then I came across this nice oem STi roof vane for a decent price. Impulse bought it. I've always loved how they look and wanted one on my wrx. I like how it fits the hawkeye though being wingless. Now I just have to get over the thought of drilling holes into the body of the car. Will tackle it next summer, along with the headlight painting.

Here it is taped up!

Should be mint. Another thing, I was set on 04/05 tail lights awhile back but you know what... These ones have really grown on me, I think I'll try and source 06's that don't have chrome and then re-tint them.

I can't get over how much I love Urban Grey Metallic

 

[Marino]

So, to catch this up over the last few months...

Here are a few random pics!

Ok, so I said I would never get a spoiler for this, however I came across one that is out of the ordinary and that I liked. Similar to the STi wing but reminded me of the older gc rally style wings. My nightly routine browsing craigslist for "wrx parts" and in Massachusetts someone had this trunk. Met him in New Hampshire and picked it up. Gave it a rattle can black paint job to match my hood and threw it on.

Not bad. Now, I still love wingless, and in my opinion this was such a good look:

But, I do like the wing and will keep it on for a while.

NEXT, I picked up a set of OEM STi side skirts. Add it to the list of things to install this summer.

THEN, I picked up a complete UEL exhaust setup. Tsudo headers, high flow cat, and n1 catback. This will be on very shortly... I went back and forth on what to do with an exhaust for this car, decided to go all out and get the rumble. Can't wait.

Most recently, I picked up a set of Forester struts. l can't wait to be lifted!

Stay tuned!

 

[IBratmanI]

Thanks for updating this. Can't wait to see it lifted!

 

[Marino]

Alright! Finally got to upload these photos online and post them here!

First off, the car is LIFTED!!!! i am LOVING IT! BEST DECISION EVER

I am in love with how it looks, and it rides so good on top of that. Feels like I can go anywhere. I removed my front lip because it looked a little odd with the car sitting so much higher. Can't wait to do oil changes now without having to jack the car up!

In addition, the full Tsudo UEL exhaust was installed. And wow, is it much louder than I expected. MUCH louder than my WRX with a 3" turboback. Best part of all is that there is no CEL. It sounds absolutely glorious, I can't stop driving it around. Actually, kinda funny, I couldn't sleep the whole night after it was on because I was so excited to drive it to work in the am

Oh, and it looks sexy

I'm stoked

Just gotta get my STi side skirts on now!

 

[cwiggin]

Looks badass man, loving this build

 

[SUBARUDE]

Now for some bigger tires

 

[IBratmanI]

Like I said on facebook, so glad you went lifted!! Looks awesome!!

 

[Jamey]

Very nice

 

[injulen]

Hell yeah! Lift ALL the Subarus!!! That really does look great. Can't wait to lift mine.

 

[Marino]

Looks badass man, loving this build

Thank you!

Now for some bigger tires

Absolutely, I'd love to get a nice set of Grabbers on this. We'll see, hopefully sometime soon

Like I said on facebook, so glad you went lifted!! Looks awesome!!

So glad I listened and went through with it

Thanks Jason! and thanks for the inspiration! lol

Very nice

Thanks man!

Hell yeah! Lift ALL the Subarus!!! That really does look great. Can't wait to lift mine.

Haha thanks!! It's definitely the best route to go with a Subaru

It's going to be hard to go back to my low WRX haha

 

[Jamey]

Hell yeah! Lift ALL the Subarus!!! That really does look great. Can't wait to lift mine.

Hell no .. lol