Unloading the Parts Shelf

The project started simple—we just wanted to hang out in the garage, drink a few beers (still no fridge in the garage, though) and do a little wrenching. We could work on the Mustang or the WRX, on new garage lighting or the old lawnmower, anything about doing something in the garage. First stop was the Parts Shelf. At that point, simple went out the window.


There are a lot of parts on the Parts Shelf. It's not one shelf, really, but one rack of shelves, the sort you buy at a home improvement store when you absolutely, positively need some remedial shelving. Flimsy enough for light duty and finished well enough to remain devoid of rust for about a year, we'd inherited these shelves from the neighbor when said neighbor realized it for the unrealized scrap that it was (and probably had been already). Recycled doesn't have to mean lousy, but for this unit it did with a capital "L." We didn't mind the fine patina of rust, though, and with a little (a lot of) reinforcement via scrap wood and leftover drywall screws, plus a few more shelves made of some surplus sub-flooring, we had ourselves a reasonable piece of shelf.

The To-Do Shelf
Most of the parts are car parts and most of those are hi-po bits, new and used. You can find a section of cladding from our Honda XR650 on top of the manual and a new taillight assembly. Big new PIAA driving/flood lamps are under a towel (no sense dinging the lenses before they're on the car) with its mad spaghetti wiring harness, next to the Spec C V7 STi redhead manifold that's still waiting for us to finish hogging out the TGV ports. There's a bit of space now where a used APS intake sat for a few months (installed it last week), but a set of Kartboy brackets for the PIAAs have fallen over and taken up some of the space.


There's more on the Parts Shelf. New JBA headers for the Mustang (the old ones have pretty much heat-cycled into dust), new corner lenses for the Mustang too, a Defi gauge pod for the WRX (JDM), a MSD micro shift light and digital controller, stainless steel brake lines for the WRX, an inline magnetic filter for the Mustang (every bit of help you can give a Mustang's steering pump is worth it), an extra Hella horn, a new amp and a modified OEM subwoofer for the WRX, street-use brake pads for the Mustang (the heavy-metal race pads get spooky when they're left at street temperatures), STi motor mounts for the WRX and a host of other neat little whatevers. Kartboy reinforced rear shifter bushing. Upgrade fuel pump for the WRX (interestingly, the same the Mustang uses), the WRX's HKS up-pipe, and an old HKS EVC IV Silver boost controller that we plan to adapt to the WRX, too (hmm, unless we turbo the Mustang). There are some lawnmower parts (three lawnmowers, none of them run—Frankenmower, here we come), an old cordless phone that's going into the garage, some wooden dollhouse pieces, and the trim necessary to finish the laundry room is stacked besides the shelf.

Actualizing on Pending Parts
And there was a set of WRX spark plugs. We've waited 70,000 miles to put them in for two reasons: They were expensive (all the early USDM WRXs require an obscure NGK-manufactured platinum that retails around $20 a pop), and with a flat-four engine the plugs are low and difficult to reach, necessitating battery and window spray container removal, as well as the intake. And that just makes it less difficult, not much easier. We should have done the plugs at the 60K tune-up, but procrastination happens. The OEM plugs are high-Q bits, so we weren't too worried about premature expiration. After you pull the battery, battery tray, washer reservoir and intake snorkel, there's still a tricky angle to get to the coil packs and then the plugs, and you have to remove the metal bracket which holds the coil packs in place. Deft hands, a little bit of oil in the plug socket, so the inner boot doesn't stick to porcelain, and enough patience, and you can do this in about an hour without too much swearing. Then again, if you're in the garage with some beer-swilling buddies, swearing might be called for, especially after they start in on your techniques. With the new plugs in and the underhood reassembled, we went back to staring at the Parts Shelf of Unfulfilled To-Dos.