Yesterday I found some time to start installing the landing pads for my roof rack. Since the STi sedan didn’t have a roof rack as a factory option (or if it did, it is rarely chosen) I had to drill and tap my own holes and hack up the rain gutter a little bit. There are factory brackets with holes but they are not threaded. So I first tried driving to home Depot only to discover that my Miata has some issue with a bogging/erratic idle so I turned around and came home (different problem for another day). Then I just walked over instead so that I wouldn’t have to reassemble the Subaru. At home Depot I picked up a 10-32 tap/drill kit and four 10-32 stainless fasteners. This rung out to about $36. When I got home, I took off the drivers side rain rail and tapped the existing holes and drilled through holes in the rain rail. It was a pain in the ass to line up the bolts through the landing pad and then through the rail and into the bracket. And these needed to be just long enough bolts so it was a struggle to get it right. But eventually I got both Landing pads on snuggly! Today I will be putting the passenger side ones in which require drilling new holes because the factory ones are way off from straight for who knows why. Maybe factory racks are weirdly offset? Anyways, I’m liking how it looks so far as its not too obnoxious with the landing pad tumors on the roof. The rest of the install after today should be easy, just have to order the towers and bars and locks which just bolt right into the Yakima parts easily. I plan to remove the towers/bars when not in use but leave the landing pads installed all the time.
Off to the garage for part two of the install! Hoping to also find time to fix my AC since the o rings finally arrived yesterday. I only had one o ring which was clearly spewing the uv crap when I tested it but I'm just going to replace all of them while the system is empty of refrigerant. Hopefully the hoses are all accessible without major deconstruction of the engine bay.