Cross country road trip '04 STi

[carcus]

I apologize if this isn't the proper area to post this, if not please move where it belongs. Thought I would start a post about a road trip my family (Me, wife & 9 year old) will be doing late this month (May) in our stock WRB '04 STi. I will try to keep this thread updated with the temporary mods I will be doing to the STi for the trip, and also to keep the thread updated on where we are at and how the car is running, pics, etc.

We will be departing from the NW Indiana/Michiana area approx May 26th, and heading to CA (Hemet,CA). Our route will be a "sightseeing" route, up along the Iowa/Nebraska/Colorado region and then a drop down towards Phoenix to visit my brother and his family. From Phoenix we will then head to Hemet CA. After a stay there for a week we will continue north to Sequoia natl park. After a few days there we will then start working our way back to Indiana, via the "southern" route, and go thru the southern states (TX, AR, TN, etc) and then steer a bit back north to get us up and back into Indiana. I know it sounds like wacky route, but due to the family we are visiting and their available dates, this was about the only route we can do within reason. We originally planned on a straight shot across to Eureka, CA and then drop down the pacific coast 101, but the time frame to visit with family just didn't let it happen for us this year. There is always next year though.

I do radio electronics for a living, so I am utilizing whats called a "APRS", basically it's a gps based radio system that will show live time our location and speed info, etc on the internet. I'll try to attach a link to the reflector website that will show this for anyone who wants to check in and see where we are at when it gets closer to time. The beauty of the APRS is no internet is needed on my end, as long as an APRS station somewhere near me hears my radio (they are all across the US), that receiving station/radio will update my coordinates to the internet world. It's a crazy system, somewhat hard to explain. I gotta play with it and see how it works. I'm a big kid after all that's why I drive an STi

The total round trip mileage is roughly 6k miles, I plan on at least one oil change during the trip (I'll probably do it in CA once we arrive). I am also outfitting the STi with temporary luxuries, which is 4 cigarette lighter outlets (cell chargers, radar det, etc) and one 750 watt power inverter with the 120v lines run up into the car itself (to power laptop & portable fridge/cooler) and I plan to power the inverter via remote control on my dash using a relay system to toggle the inverter on/off with indicator LED. The inverter will be mounted in the trunk and out of the way. I will be running 6ga wire to the trunk for the inverter power source. Naturally, as a radio guy, I'll also have at least 2 mobile style radios in the car (CB & ham radio). I plan to completely cover the carpet with the clear plastic protection (sorta like clear packing tape but 4' wide) they use on home carpet in case my kid spills stuff (or me lol) and the seats I plan to cover as well along with a large towel etc. Also adding in a temporary double cup holder thing on the rear floor hump.

The STi has 91k miles, and 100% bone stock. This will be the longest trip we have ever taken with our STi. Recently put new tires and brakes on it. I think as far as the STi goes, she is ready, but if anyone has a suggestion for maintenance please post and let me know. I'm totally open for suggestions on things I should address before taking the trip. I'm looking forward to some really good photo opportunities, and as I get internet access I will try to update this thread with them. Anyways, if anyone has taken a long trip like this in their STi I'd love to hear about it, and especially any ideas or tips that may help us on our journey.

p.s.-I will start setting the STi up this weekend, and as I make progress I will update this thread and post pics if anyone expresses interest to see them and my "geeky but handy-work".

 

[War_Panda04]

thats so awesome man enjoy the trip and drive safe!! cant wait to see all the pics you take

 

[carcus]

Thanks! Our goal is to take our time, enjoy the sights and scenery along the way.

Last night I got started on routing power wiring through the car. I ran two 10ga "hot" leads for the radio and cig lighter outlets, and an 8ga wire for the inverter (plus a couple ground leads). Had to remove the rubber plug in firewall by the clutch and install a new grommet for the wiring to pass thru. Was a pain routing the wire with the intercooler in the way, but after jacking up and crawling under the car I was able to route the wiring up to the battery, staying clear of the steering shaft, engine etc. Put all the wiring in plastic loom, except for the portion running under the door sill trim plates etc. The wires are all one continous piece, no junctions or splicing. Mounted the inverter inside the trunk and under the back window area by the dome light. I plan to put the relay for the inverter in the engine bay, the switch for it will go somewhere near the driver. Still have plenty left to do, but this was a start. Sorry for the crappy pics, but hopefully it gives an idea of what was done lol.

 

[HolyCrapItsFast]

Awesome! If you keep up on routine maintenance you should have no problem surviving the trip. Before the rip I recommend a good oil change with some amsoil or motul and check all your hoses and belts and your coolant level.

Beyond that go with confidence!

 

[Alin]

First of all, you're going to have hell of a time on such a long trip. Make it last and enjoy every place you go!

Second, let's talk maintenance. This section might get a bit long, so bear with me.

-When was the last time you changed the air filter?
-When was the last time you changed the cabin air filter?
-When was the last time you changed the A/C and drive belts?
-When was the last time you changed the spark plugs?
-When was the last time you changed the transmission oil?
-When was the last time you changed the rear differential oil?
-When was the last time you changed the brake fluid?
-When was the last time you changed the clutch fluid?
-When was the last time you changed the power steering fluid?
-What size and type of tires did you install recently?
-What PSI did you set the tires to?
-Have you checked for any leaks whatsoever?
-Have you checked for torn couplers and boots?
-Have you checked for cracked vacuum lines?
-Is your coolant topped off?

I've taken many trips, but never a 6,000 mile trip. I check over the car in every aspect before my trips and always have a toolbox, fix-a-flat, patches/plugs, small AC volt air compressor, and a few other things just in case.

Also, get us a couple of quick pictures of the car his weekend! :tup:

 

[carcus]

Thanks for the reply Alin! You brought up some good things to address, and more things to add to my list This car is my daily driver so I've always tried to keep it well maintained, but obviously there are a few things that should probably be done. I tried to answer your questions below in red.

First of all, you're going to have hell of a time on such a long trip. Make it last and enjoy every place you go-Thanks! We plan to just cruise and see the sights. We are leaving ourselves plenty of time to tour around a bit along our route and see some neat attractions/parks or whatever catches our interest really.
Second, let's talk maintenance. This section might get a bit long, so bear with me.

-When was the last time you changed the air filter?--Approx 7k miles ago and will be replaced right before we leave (with an oil change too)
-When was the last time you changed the cabin air filter-2-3 months ago, about 3k miles.
-When was the last time you changed the A/C and drive belts?--About 30k miles ago
-When was the last time you changed the spark plugs?--Not long ago, 20k at most
-When was the last time you changed the transmission oil?--Too long ago, need to do still
-When was the last time you changed the rear differential oil?--Too long ago, need to do it still
-When was the last time you changed the brake fluid?--I can't remember now! It probably should be done though
-When was the last time you changed the clutch fluid?--Good one, I don't remember ever changing it
-When was the last time you changed the power steering fluid?--Again, it's been a long time
-What size and type of tires did you install recently?--The stock size all season P225-45-17
-What PSI did you set the tires to?--40 lbs all around
-Have you checked for any leaks whatsoever?--Yes actually just recently had a valve stem fixed, otherwise no leaks detected yet
-Have you checked for torn couplers and boots?-No, good advice, I will check-Have you checked for cracked vacuum lines?--Yep, this past winter I found a cracked line on the BCS, so I replaced just about every vacuum line I could find under the hood-Is your coolant topped off?--Yes, actually just replaced the radiator maybe 5k ago with a new oem one, I know alum is better, but I'm a stock nazi!

I've taken many trips, but never a 6,000 mile trip. I check over the car in every aspect before my trips and always have a toolbox, fix-a-flat, patches/plugs, small AC volt air compressor, and a few other things just in case-Yes, I have a tool kit/box with tire repair and spare belts, hoses and clamps etc.

Also, get us a couple of quick pictures of the car his weekend! :tup:

 

[carcus]

 

[Alin]

Thanks for the reply Alin! You brought up some good things to address, and more things to add to my list This car is my daily driver so I've always tried to keep it well maintained, but obviously there are a few things that should probably be done. I tried to answer your questions below in red.

I'll just mention the aspects that you haven't changed yet. I swap out the following once a year or every 25k miles:

-Air filter (I have a Cobb SRI that I clean every Summer)
-A/C and drive belts every 25k miles (two years max)
-Spark plugs every 25k miles
-Transmission and differential oil every 25k miles (two years max)
-Brake, clutch, and power steering fluid every 25k miles (two years max)
-Inspect couplers and boots every month or so and change as needed

I may be more anal than others on maintenance, but this mindset has kept my car, for the most part, in tip top shape over the past 7 years. I'd rather spend $40 here, $50 there with new parts and fluids for the peace of mind. :tup:

What brand tires did you get?

What brand oil filter, oil and what weight do you use?

 

[carcus]

Wow Alin, yes I thought I was fairly OCD but you my friend certainly have the syndrome worse than I do! Which is a good thing in my opinion. Ok, I have added the spark plugs, a/c & drive belts and the fluids (brake/clutch/diff's, power steering) to my list of things to change out before the trip.

The tires are Discount tire brand (basically cheap tires, I think they are branded "Kinforest") due to a momentary lapse of reason when buying the tires (and a tight budget). Good thing is they are practically new and I did purchase the full warranty etc with them. They have performed excellent for me so far, they even did a little winter/snow duty at the tail end of winter and I was pretty surprised at how well they stayed on the road.

Oil, ha! I'm the odd man out here and I actually use Kendall titanium synthetic 5w/30, been using for a couple years now and I like it so far. Oil filter is always genuine subaru, same with air filter.

You have gotten my gears spinning pretty good now and I appreciate your input!

 

[War_Panda04]

ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE! :tard: we have a great helpful bunch here

 

[Alin]

Wow Alin, yes I thought I was fairly OCD but you my friend certainly have the syndrome worse than I do! Which is a good thing in my opinion. Ok, I have added the spark plugs, a/c & drive belts and the fluids (brake/clutch/diff's, power steering) to my list of things to change out before the trip.

The tires are Discount tire brand (basically cheap tires, I think they are branded "Kinforest") due to a momentary lapse of reason when buying the tires (and a tight budget). Good thing is they are practically new and I did purchase the full warranty etc with them. They have performed excellent for me so far, they even did a little winter/snow duty at the tail end of winter and I was pretty surprised at how well they stayed on the road.

Oil, ha! I'm the odd man out here and I actually use Kendall titanium synthetic 5w/30, been using for a couple years now and I like it so far. Oil filter is always genuine subaru, same with air filter.

You have gotten my gears spinning pretty good now and I appreciate your input!

I don't agree on the tires aspect, but it is what it is now. Please don't drive hard with them because no name brand tires can get extremely iffy. If you scower NASIOC, you'll find plenty of great deals. My go to tires now are Dunlop Sportmaxx for the summer. I have 3 sets that I got from $80-150 8-9/32nd tread each. Granted, I had to do some driving to pick them up. I have a set of BFGoodrich Sport Comp 2 A/S that are brand new which are unmounted. These are all season tires that I could sell to you for what I got into them. (Which is way less than retail) Either before you leave or after you come back. It's entirely up to you, but I highly suggest you ditch the no brand tires. Tires are what are in between you and the road. I currently have too many extra sets of tires because of a situation I ran into about a year ago. I never want to deal with bullshit ever again in my life, so I went on a tire buying spree. :rofl:

Oil is your call, but unless you're tracking or driving hard on a daily basis, Rotella T6 is your best friend, in my opinion. It's one of the cheapest options with good proven results and if you replace oil every 2.5-3k miles, you're golden. I've tried out 7-8 different brands of oils during my journey with the STI, doing UOA's on a few. Results always came back pretty much the same since I don't track. I've learned to keep oil as a taboo topic because it stirs up too much shit, especially with the younger guys who haven't matured yet.

I'll try to help out as much as I can. I should be pulling my car out of storage in the next month, so when you get back from your trip, I'm willing to take a cruise over to your area and meet up! :tup:

 

[carcus]

Awesome, that would be very cool Alin, would love to meet up with you. Yes I totally agree with you that the tires are not great, and not my preferred choice either by any means. Basically the oem bbs wheels were stolen off my STi and I had to get wheels/tires in a hurry and wound up with these. I was hoping to find another set of 04 sti bbs wheels soon (ya good luck right?!) and get new tires at that time. I would be interested in the tires you have, I won't be able to do anything with them until after our trip though. So far these tires have held up pretty good at 10k miles on them, but I do understand the importance of good tires. I'm going to take my chances on these tires and run them for the trip. I'm no speed demon at all, and my family will be in the car so no crazy driving, etc I promise!

Oh boy, the great oil debate! I don't track or anything like that, my STi is purely daily driver only. I do plan to try the T6, I'll admit I am skeptical though because I've already tried a few other oil brands with poor results. Here's a quick story, and it doesn't make sense to me because my '05 FXT and '04 STi basically share the same engine and both have roughly the same mileage. My wife's '05 Forester XT has been Mobil1 since the day we bought it new until about 5-6 months ago, she always did good with Mobil1, no burning it or super dirty etc, etc. So when I got the STi a couple years ago, I flushed out the oil the PO was using in it (Motul) and tried the Mobil1 in the STi (it was ran great in the FXT so I figured why not? plus Motul is super spendy!) Well the oil level was down almost half a quart after 1500 miles. (I freaked out at that time and did a compression test which turned out a-ok) We tried a few other oils in the STi and had fairly similar results with it burning it up (castrol edge, pennzoil synthetic, and a couple conventional oils). So then on a whim I changed to the Kendall synthetic in the STi and so far no issues with the oil level dropping using the Kendall. So I then changed the FXT over to Kendall also, it makes it easier to have one oil for both cars. I'm very picky about 3k oil changes, and we don't run our cars hard at all. I am open to trying the T6 though, I see a lot of guys running it so I may join the bandwagon and give it a try.

 

[carcus]

Yes, that is why I joined! It was pretty obvious there is a lot of good help here, and no drama. I just hope I can contribute in some way, at some point also.

ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE! :tard: we have a great helpful bunch here

 

[Alin]

Damn, dude. Sorry to hear about the unicorns getting stolen. You can find 04 BBS rims on NASIOC every now and then, but they definitely won't be cheap.

If that Kendall oil is working out great for you, then stick with it. I mean, in the end it only matters that you have a positive experience. Out of curiosity, have you done a UOA with the Kendall yet?

Regarding the tires, like I said, it's up to you. Here's my garage. :lol:

And here are the tires I was referring to:

:tup:

 

[Grinder34]

In addition to what the others said:

You might investigate buying/borrowing a full size spare for the trip, if you can afford the space. (Long story, short version: I was stranded in the middle of nowhere Texas for two days because of a flat.)

Get some good audio books lined up.

Also one of those widow shades for the rear seat. As a kid, I used to have to creatively drape t-shirts to keep the sun out of my eyes.

 

[carcus]

In addition to what the others said:

You might investigate buying/borrowing a full size spare for the trip, if you can afford the space. (Long story, short version: I was stranded in the middle of nowhere Texas for two days because of a flat.)

Get some good audio books lined up.

Also one of those widow shades for the rear seat. As a kid, I used to have to creatively drape t-shirts to keep the sun out of my eyes.

Great ideas Grinder34, thanks! I just converted my vintage (circa 2004) Alpine cd player with a bluetooth receiver, and my wife is starting to put tons of music and audio books on her smartphone to stream wirelessly to the cd player. Good one on the sun shade for the kiddo too. I didn't think about the spare size, I did physically check it though and it seems "ok", no dry rot or anything that I could see. Is the factory spare not the same overall diameter as the stock tires? (I'm on stock size tires 225/45/17) Thanks for the reply and tips!

 

[Alin]

The stock spare is a turd donut. I had to ride on mine for a day last year when my incident happened. The diameter is not the same as the stockers and you will ruin your differential over time. That's why it's a (very short) temporary replacement.

 

[carcus]

The stock spare is a turd donut. I had to ride on mine for a day last year when my incident happened. The diameter is not the same as the stockers and you will ruin your differential over time. That's why it's a (very short) temporary replacement.

Ok good to know, it "looked" like a full size, but I didn't measure either. I knew wrong size/diam tires was not good for the diff's, so I am kinda surprised Subaru didn't at least put a full size spare in their $30k flagship car, but then I guess it's a performance car and not a "normal" car. I am very limited on room, so unfortunately I'll have to run with it and hope I don't have any tire problems. Thanks for the reply! My job has been super busy this past week, so I haven't been able work much on the STi except a couple small things, hoping to get back at it this weekend again.

 

[carcus]

Ok, did the switch to Rotella T6 5-40 yesterday. Also bought enough extra to do an oil change at some point during our trip. Converted the vintage Alpine CDA-9835 cd player with Bluetooth thru the AUX input. The GPS system/radio is completely installed and running, been testing it this week and it is accurate and works good. 120v inverter is in and working. All this equipment is hidden inside the trunk and out of the way to make as much room as possible for luggage and stuff. We plan to leave this coming Saturday the 27th early AM. Getting excited to take off!

 

[carcus]

Sorry for late updates! Been driving across U.S. Currently outside of Colorado, heading towards Utah (Zion Natl Park) and going thru Rockies today. Saw a newer black STi somewhere near Omaha, cruised with him for a while. Speed limit was 75mph on I-80 thru Nebraska, set cruise at 80 mph, did a quick stab to 100mph, but taking it easy since we have El cheapo tires lol. Car is running great, she ran non stop for 13 or 14 hours and 1000 miles yesterday, burned about half a quart of oil. Will upload some pics at our next stop later today.

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