New guy in DC Metro

[legacy2003]

Hey DCAWD!

My name is Mike. Although I moved down to Arlington, VA in August 2010 from Connecticut/Boston, I only recently brought my car down here. I drive a 2000 Subaru Impreza RS with a JDM Ver. 7 STI RA swap (still rocking CT plates because I'm concerned about VA inspection; I can pass emissions though). I'm looking forward to meeting many of you over time.

Keep an eye out for this guy (I recently replaced the carbon fiber P1 front lip with a ver. 6 STI front lip painted body color):



By the way, I am looking for a reputable shop to get small maintenance stuff done, particularly oil changes and the like. My apartment won't let me work on my car in their parking lot. Any suggestions? I have heard Andrewtech is good for Subaru.

Anyway, see you around!

-Mike

[complacent]

looks beautiful mike! did ecs do the swap work for ya?

i had a one the same color that i wanted to swap, but ended up going the forester route instead.

andrewtech is the excellent, excellent shop. they put the sti steering rack in my forester and did a great job. they're good for everything from engine swaps to trans builds.

another awesome shop in the area is bilbo automotive in alexandria. one of our members (zaxrex) had a pretty nasty short in the main harness that killed the fuel pump, fuel pump ecu, fuel pump relay, battery, alternator and a few other things all at once. they figured it all out in less than a week! seriously skilled techs there. they can certainly handle routine maintenance.

[zaxrex]

Hey Mike, welcome to Arlington. Any chance you can make tomorrow's meet and say Hi!

I can plus up that recommendation.
Carlos and his wife and dad (and brother-in-law) are all nice folks and cool.

I have taken my 02' WRX to them three times. All with happiness in the end. Walkable distance to the Van Dorn metro too.

First time was to fix an exhaust leak and replace a cat. They said they would install customer supplied parts, so I gave them the cat.
Turned out that the shop that I had install me headers cross threaded the studs onto the aluminum head. He tapped and conditioned new threads.
Same shop that said it was impossible to bend a pinch weld frame component, which Carlos ended up bending.
After all that, they still charged me the original quoted price - awesome.

Second time was to install bushings, again customer supplied.

Last time was the effing fuel pump/relay controller/electrical bus problem. Went over wiring diagrams, brought in another customer's car of the same year to do load testing, found the short in the MAIN BUS ELECTRICAL SUPPLY BUNDLE, cut it out and laid a parallel circuit to it.

They have some cool rides in the shop at times, even his 240/s14 swap that is track only.

[legacy2003]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys, and the suggestions on local shops! I have heard a lot of good things about Andrewtech, although I always pictured them as a transmission shop. I will most likely go to them or Mach V, which I have also heard are pretty reputable around here. But it might be worth looking into Bilbo, considering they seem to be the closest. I am just looking for a place to get routine maintenance like oil changes, etc. done. For anything major, the car will go back up north to ECS.

By the way, its funny you mention ECS. Paul, the owner, is actually my best friend from growing up in CT. My car was actually the second car he ever wired for an engine swap, after his own original black GC8, back in 2005 before he started ECS. We did the swap together in my parents' garage. Subsequently he started ECS and the rest is history. But yeah, I eventually started running out of time and patience to work on my own car, so I bring it to them for just about everything.

I'd love to go to the meet tomorrow night, but unfortunately I'm hopping on a bus to NYC for the weekend. You guys have them every week though it seems, right? Its been a very long time since I've gone to a meet.

[Sabre]

Hey Mike,
Welcome to the area and DCAWD! VERY nice car you have there! I might be starting on similar project very soon

I would highly recommend Bilbo, Don Beyer Subaru, or Andrewtech (The reason this one is last is because of their distance, however, if you are having something big done (tranny/engine work), I would highly recommend them). I cannot recommend MachV at all. Unfortunately, I have heard WAAAAY too many complaints about them over the years: High prices and spotty work (in everything from installing up pipes, to tuning and engine swaps). You will never hear this on NASIOC however since they are an advertiser and anyone who starts a thread over there about it has their thread mysteriously disappear. That being said, the owner Dan is a great guy in person. I have met him at the track numerous times and have always had a pleasant experience.

Hope to see you out at a meet sometime soon!

[Mr Kleen]

welcome 'aboard. sweet scooby

[zaxrex]

Big work that is worth the distance, go to Andrewtech.
Allignement and dyno, go to P_Tuning.
Anything else, go to Bilbo.
For free food and drinks at events and once-in-a-blue-moon dyno specials, go to MachV.

[HappyIdiot]

Welcome! Your RS looks amazing.

I completely agree with Sabre. Never ever go to Mach V, never.

[legacy2003]

Thanks again for the kind words everyone! The car looks slightly different now than in that picture, which was taken about one year ago. The front end now has the standard JDM Ver. 6 STI front lip instead of the carbon fiber Prodrive P1 lip, and I'm rocking the standard JDM Ver. 6 front grille too. The grille that is on there in the picture never really fit quite right and I am a big fan of the OEM JDM look. This is what it looks like now (not the best picture):



Now its just time for some new wheels. I have had the ones on there since about 2005, so I could use a change.

Obligatory engine bay shot (this is really recent actually):



I think I'm going to try Bilbo when I need my next oil change. Thanks for the suggestions. By the way, I didn't realize that Mach V had such a bad reputation. It makes sense though that you wouldn't hear about that on NASIOC.

I will likely come to the next meet to meet up with all of you guys. Are they every two weeks or so? I was looking at some of the other threads here and that looks to be the pattern.

By the way, I noticed some of you are from Virginia. What is their emissions testing policy here? Do you have to have a stock exhaust on your car to go through? In CT they just plug in the OBDII and just look to make sure there is a cat, even if its a high-flow. I have an aftermarket 3" turboback with a high flow cat with a pretty quiet and low-key muffler.

And where the heck is there a do-it-yourself car wash?

[Sabre]

I will likely come to the next meet to meet up with all of you guys. Are they every two weeks or so? I was looking at some of the other threads here and that looks to be the pattern.

By the way, I noticed some of you are from Virginia. What is their emissions testing policy here? Do you have to have a stock exhaust on your car to go through? In CT they just plug in the OBDII and just look to make sure there is a cat, even if its a high-flow. I have an aftermarket 3" turboback with a high flow cat with a pretty quiet and low-key muffler.

And where the heck is there a do-it-yourself car wash?

Yep, every two weeks and we rotate the day that so people can make it. The next one will be two weeks from now on a Monday at Hard Times in Springfield.

The emissions testing here is basically hooking up to the OBDII port and checking for codes. That being said, they do a visual inspection to see if you have cats... although a lot of places seem to skip this test... Stock exhaust is not necessary.

Do it yourself car wash... hmmm... not many of those around

[missvenezuela85]

Welcome! Sweet ride!

[Mr Kleen]

I hope that new coupe looks something like this if/when it finally launches.

Best. Looking. Scooby. Ever.

[legacy2003]

Awesome, it sounds like emissions is just like CT. Perfect. I do have an aftermarket cat on the car; I just didn't know if they would consider that a 'cat' for state emissions purposes like they do in CT.

Now to figure out inspection and what that entails. I'm a full-time student right now though, so I'm keeping out of state plates on the car. But in a few months I am going to have to go through all this.

Do police really bother you for exhausts here?

[Sabre]

Do police really bother you for exhausts here?

That is one of the most subjective things ever... it seems to be totally random. I'm catless and have a Borla Hush and you can definitely hear my car... and I have never been asked about mine. Others have been questioned about their stock exhaust.

[complacent]

Do police really bother you for exhausts here?

That is one of the most subjective things ever... it seems to be totally random. I'm catless and have a Borla Hush and you can definitely hear my car... and I have never been asked about mine. Others have been questioned about their stock exhaust.

i've been pulled over and searched with drug dogs because i had an exhaust. yes, it's very subjective.

(btw, i had the cruise set at the speed limit at the time. )

[legacy2003]

Hahaha I know its pretty much the most subjective question ever . But I have been in towns that they will pull you over for a burnt out license plate light because there are too many cops in that town with nothing else to do. And then I've been to places that never bother you ever.

Hopefully Arlington is on the latter end of that

[thermatico]

Do police really bother you for exhausts here?

That is one of the most subjective things ever... it seems to be totally random. I'm catless and have a Borla Hush and you can definitely hear my car... and I have never been asked about mine. Others have been questioned about their stock exhaust.

How do you get through inspection every year without cats?

[Sabre]

[PGT]

Do police really bother you for exhausts here?

That is one of the most subjective things ever... it seems to be totally random. I'm catless and have a Borla Hush and you can definitely hear my car... and I have never been asked about mine. Others have been questioned about their stock exhaust.

i've been pulled over and searched with drug dogs because i had an exhaust. yes, it's very subjective.

(btw, i had the cruise set at the speed limit at the time. )

guess that cop flunked the ''probable cause'' section of his final exam at the academy.

[thermobox]

When I had no cats, I had no problem. When I put on a high flow then they gave me a hard time because they couldn't tell it was a cat with the heat wrap on, . The visual inspection for cats is fairly new and most won't press you on it.

[hotsam]

Where are you from in CT? I lived in Mystic for a little while (97/98).

Also a native New Englander (Maine).

[legacy2003]

Cool, its good to know I won't really have to worry about the high flow cat. Like I said, I'm trying to prolong the process as long as I can (although it sounds like I have to get one of those silly Arlington County stickers, even though I have CT plates, sigh). As of right now I'm back in school, so I'm assuming there is some loophole that allows me to keep my plates until I'm done.

I'm originally from Somers, CT, up near Enfield. I went to school in Boston the past 3 years though.

Looking forward to going to the next meet you guys have, so long as its not a Monday or Tuesday night (class )

[supasixfo]

i'm late to the game. welcome. but for the love of god and all that is holy, keep the CT plates.

pros: no reg sticker.
no annual safety inspection B.S.
no out of state points.
no B.S. arlington county tax.

good to see another CT native. catch ya at the meets.

[legacy2003]

i'm late to the game. welcome. but for the love of god and all that is holy, keep the CT plates.

pros: no reg sticker.
no annual safety inspection B.S.
no out of state points.
no B.S. arlington county tax.

good to see another CT native. catch ya at the meets.

I know, CT has a lot of advantages over VA. I'm starting to realize VA is stupidly expensive, although we still have a property tax in CT on cars. Unfortunately after I'm done with school I think the plates have to be swapped over, no? In any event, when I was borrowing my parent's car last fall the lovely city of Arlington sent my parents a letter 3 months later stating that I had to get a county sticker (even though I have out of state plates) and pay their tax (unless I pay taxes in the home state and am a full-time student, which I do and am), or face tow of my parents' car and be assessed for back taxes. This town sucks. I haven't gotten the sticker yet on my RS, but I'm anticipating the same letter within the next few weeks.

By the way, where are you from in CT originally? See you around!

[Libra Monkee]

I haven't been in here to say hi yet because for the passed couple of weeks I've been on the run for breaking some laws. Namely the law of sines, the law of cosines, and the Pythagorean theorem. Okay the last one's not a law but it can still kiss my ass.

Anyhow welcome to the boards.

P.S. Yes, Libra Monkee's doing Algebra humor. S**t just got real son!