I'm back and ready to go wingless

[GrassyKnoll]

Just got back from out west... got some great pics and im uploading them now.


That, however, is not the reason for my post. I've been thinking alot about bringing my car down to CT for school and decided I want to go wingless. I think it will draw less attention to the car, give it a cleaner look, and make me feel more comfortable about leaving it out in the parking lot with all the other hoodlums down there....

So I guess I'm a complete idiot when it comes to body stuff (and I also am not great at doing the artsy / creative stuff). I am going to buy a new trunk lid for my car to go wingless. I am going to keep the old one in case i want to swap it back on next summer or for some other reason. Basically, im looking for just the lid (I think that's all I need?) that will fit my 04 STI.

What options do I have? What parts will fit this car? And finally, where would one go to look for this? (preferable pre-painted aspen white so I don't have to mess with that).

Thanks for the help!

[Nate8409]

Trade trunks is your only option.

[GrassyKnoll]

Trade trunks is your only option.

why is that my only option? I could buy a new one...

[RobE]

Trade trunks is your only option.
Its not the only option, but its certainly the cheapest.

[TrickyDik]

You could always trade again if you wanted your wing back. Tedious, yes, cheap, yep, extravagant, not so much.

[GrassyKnoll]

We'll I did a little looking and it seems its around 300 or so for a wingless trunk? Is this accurate or not?

I've pretty much decided that I want to find a new one, even if it is more expensive. I want to retain the old one.

[Nate8409]

Yeah but unless you get really lucky and find a used then it's cool. Otherwise you are going to need to get it painted.... notttttt cheap at all.

It would likely be cheaper just to buy a carbon fiber trunk.

[GrassyKnoll]

well lets start with what lids will fit on my car? I assume all 04 imprezas will. any other years?

[RobE]

04, 05 and 06 will all fit.

[GrassyKnoll]

i heard 02-03 will fit also. can someone confirm or deny?

[2mprzya]

^they should. i dont see why there would be a problem with it

[2mprzya]

the one thing you'd have to watch out for is the spring load. the sti wing ways a lot more so, if you keep the regular spring in, when you go wingless the trunk is going to fly open. if you replace it, when/if you put the sti wing back on, you're going to have to pry it open.

[GrassyKnoll]

the one thing you'd have to watch out for is the spring load. the sti wing ways a lot more so, if you keep the regular spring in, when you go wingless the trunk is going to fly open. if you replace it, when/if you put the sti wing back on, you're going to have to pry it open.

Mhmmm. So I should get a new mechanism. any other parts I should get or just the lid and the mechanism?

I'm trying to get this done in the next two weeks so that means ordering the lid at least ASAP.

[2mprzya]

what i would do is try and find a wrecked wrx and take the trunk and the spring with it. at very least, if you had to, order the new trunk, and just take the spring from a wrecked wrx, as it will be easier to find a wrx with a trunk and a wrx wing, then a wrx thats wingless.

[GrassyKnoll]

what i would do is try and find a wrecked wrx and take the trunk and the spring with it. at very least, if you had to, order the new trunk, and just take the spring from a wrecked wrx, as it will be easier to find a wrx with a trunk and a wrx wing, then a wrx thats wingless.

What if I found a wrecked RS or some kind of impreza that I could grab the trunk from. Is it expensive to have a body shop strip down the old paint + re-paint?

[GrassyKnoll]

The lid and torsion bars for a new trunk are around $300 which sounds alright to me. My next question is does anyone know of good body shops around? I had some work done at a place in Exeter over the winter and they did a good job.

Basically, I'm going to get this new lid unpainted. I need to try to find a shop that will do a good job at matching Aspen White. As I understand it, if I leave my car there they can test a paint on the trunk and add a little bit of something to try to match it as good as possible. Problem is that I don't want them to blend it to the body since I'm keeping the old trunk.

Body shop suggestions that may do this would be great.

[2mprzya]

look upwords of $200 to get it painted probably at any good place, if not more.

[GrassyKnoll]

damn that's steep. $200 for just a trunk lid?

[2mprzya]

i got a good deal on paint for my prodrive lip for $100. i'd assume its going to be easily $200. i could be wrong tho. check around and see what you can get, and make sure to have them print you out the quote.

[Murphy2012]

I can get it painted less that that.

[2mprzya]

murph... who do you know who can paint? my prodrive lip need to be fixed and painted.

[GrassyKnoll]

Trunk + torsion bars are in. Picking them up tomorrow and hopefully getting it painted next week!

[GrassyKnoll]

Picked up the new trunk couple days ago. Everything is lookin good.

I can't seem to get in touch with Terry so does anyone else have suggestions on where to take this to get painted? I need it done this week before I leave for school on Saturday so the sooner I can make arrangements the better.

Thanks!

[GrassyKnoll]

Trunk is on! ~bounce~

[RobE]

Pics?

[Nate8409]

Picture!

[GrassyKnoll]

haha sorry. I swapped the wing on for December / January over Thanksgiving and just went back wingless yesterday. I've gotten the time to change trunks to about 22 min including locking mechanisms and torsion bars :)

I'll snap a few pics and get them up stat.

[RCKSTR]

I love the way STIs look wingless:devil: you shave off 30 pounds when you take the STI spoiler off:lol:

[GrassyKnoll]

omg you're tellin me. the torsion bars alone are an extra 8 lbs let alone the spoiler on the trunk!

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb175/XeroBoundaries/STI%20wingless/1.jpg

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb175/XeroBoundaries/STI%20wingless/2.jpg

[Nate8409]

mmmmmmmmmm sexy.