Subaru Impreza WRX 04' Blobeye
Discussion
7 hours today I'm knackered
Received the Godspeed brakes and got to fitting around 12pm today. Weather was good if not a little blustery. Brakes look great out the box, nicely finished and all very.. disc shaped. The job took so long as I was new to the Impreza brake setup and took plenty of time to clean up all bolts, slide pins etc and clean all mating surfaces and copper slid all interference parts (apart from pad to disc)
Discs boxes branded as LPB
Got a good assortment of tools together, wanted to be able to start the job and not get held up by having to jack up / remove more wheels half way through the job so got it up off the floor at the beginning of the work
All was going very well until I mistakenly identified my WD40 as disc cleaner and covered the front off side disc in lubricant
thankfully I had disc cleaner to cover my tracks.
I was really surprised by how well everything came apart, I was dreading seized bolts and rusted pistons but everything was in great shape. All pistons look in great condition and pushed back into the calipers with no fuss. I handily had a syringe on hand to remove the excess brake fluid from the master cylinder as I returned the pistons to their housings
handy device
The rear brakes and pads coming off were in fact perfectly serviceable, discs had lots of life left in them and pads were less than 30% worn I'd say but the fronts were past their best.
Few random shot from the job and the result
All in all a very honest days work
Results are hard to comment on as I've only taken it around the block so far today but initially I can confirm that the spongy pedal and necessity to pump the pedal twice to get a good feel has disappeared and over all pedal feel is dramatically better. Time will tell how they perform past run in period. 300 miles now on light braking
Well as I was typing this up my mate arrived at my house to gloat with his new purchase, a bug eye STI PPP with every option from the factory and a huge amount of Subaru history, and he paid less for his than I did
prick
Received the Godspeed brakes and got to fitting around 12pm today. Weather was good if not a little blustery. Brakes look great out the box, nicely finished and all very.. disc shaped. The job took so long as I was new to the Impreza brake setup and took plenty of time to clean up all bolts, slide pins etc and clean all mating surfaces and copper slid all interference parts (apart from pad to disc)
Discs boxes branded as LPB
Got a good assortment of tools together, wanted to be able to start the job and not get held up by having to jack up / remove more wheels half way through the job so got it up off the floor at the beginning of the work
All was going very well until I mistakenly identified my WD40 as disc cleaner and covered the front off side disc in lubricant
thankfully I had disc cleaner to cover my tracks. I was really surprised by how well everything came apart, I was dreading seized bolts and rusted pistons but everything was in great shape. All pistons look in great condition and pushed back into the calipers with no fuss. I handily had a syringe on hand to remove the excess brake fluid from the master cylinder as I returned the pistons to their housings
handy device
The rear brakes and pads coming off were in fact perfectly serviceable, discs had lots of life left in them and pads were less than 30% worn I'd say but the fronts were past their best.
Few random shot from the job and the result
All in all a very honest days work
Results are hard to comment on as I've only taken it around the block so far today but initially I can confirm that the spongy pedal and necessity to pump the pedal twice to get a good feel has disappeared and over all pedal feel is dramatically better. Time will tell how they perform past run in period. 300 miles now on light braking
Well as I was typing this up my mate arrived at my house to gloat with his new purchase, a bug eye STI PPP with every option from the factory and a huge amount of Subaru history, and he paid less for his than I did
prick
Cheers Ben
When I first got the car as I think I referenced the brake pedal took two pumps to get firm. I put this down to air in the system. After a bleed (with the old worn brakes fitted) the problem continued. Strange I thought. The problem righted itself when I fitted the new discs and pads. When I talked with Ian @ Godspeed he addressed the spongy feel that the WRX Pro calipers seem to exhibit and put it down to different piston tolerances to OEM where they go beyond the range they're supposed to operate in. Ian tends to bin them when he comes across them and replace with OEM.
That being said since I've fitted the new discs they've been fine, I'm still running the pads in so no heavy braking but all is good. Ian did note that the spongy pedal may come back in time due to the pads wearing down and the pistons causing the same issue when past a certain point. (This is from memory and I may have forgotten/made some s
t up that Ian didn't say/mean, don't take this as gospal). On the plus side he did say the WRX calipers haven't been around that long so shouldn't find any issues with rusty pistons as yet.
He did say it was a shame that people are ditching the OEM calipers in favour of the Pros, if they were his he mentioned that rather than replacing he would buy a piston/seal reconditioning kit for the Subaru items and rebuild/get them rebuilt. That's what I'd do if I was in your position, not a recommendation just a personal preference!
The WRX Pros have been fine since the new brakes, but I am subconsciously waiting for the spongy pedal to return in time.
Well, ordered an uprated Exedy Pink Box clutch from Bob Aztec about 2 weeks ago. After a week I dropped him an email as it hadn't arrived and he noted that Exedy are having a few issues at the moment and he offered instead a Competition Clutch (actual manufacturer rather than a description which confused me at first) Stage 2 Carbon Kevlar kit for a little extra money, so I took it. This is supposed to give an easy pedal still but can apparently hold up to 607hp good to know.
Item looks very nice. Now, this is where the slight surprise comes. Opening the box I pulled the clutch kit out and thought - there's something else in here
so I pull out - a 4140 Forged Steel Ultra Lightweight Steel flywheel 
that I haven't ordered or payed for.
Didn't pay for it, can't keep it
unless I've wildy misunderstood the purchase process I shouldn't have this thing.
It hits me right in the feels to send it back but I'll contact Bob and see what he wants to do.
Anyway some pictures which is why I'm sure we're all here
Whiteline front and rear ARB drop links and bushes
clutch goodness
spigot bearing and alignment tool
Why is life so cruel
/first world problems
Looking forward to getting the clutch fitted in the next few weeks. Just suspension to tackle then and it'll be exactly as I want it.
When I first got the car as I think I referenced the brake pedal took two pumps to get firm. I put this down to air in the system. After a bleed (with the old worn brakes fitted) the problem continued. Strange I thought. The problem righted itself when I fitted the new discs and pads. When I talked with Ian @ Godspeed he addressed the spongy feel that the WRX Pro calipers seem to exhibit and put it down to different piston tolerances to OEM where they go beyond the range they're supposed to operate in. Ian tends to bin them when he comes across them and replace with OEM.
That being said since I've fitted the new discs they've been fine, I'm still running the pads in so no heavy braking but all is good. Ian did note that the spongy pedal may come back in time due to the pads wearing down and the pistons causing the same issue when past a certain point. (This is from memory and I may have forgotten/made some s
t up that Ian didn't say/mean, don't take this as gospal). On the plus side he did say the WRX calipers haven't been around that long so shouldn't find any issues with rusty pistons as yet. He did say it was a shame that people are ditching the OEM calipers in favour of the Pros, if they were his he mentioned that rather than replacing he would buy a piston/seal reconditioning kit for the Subaru items and rebuild/get them rebuilt. That's what I'd do if I was in your position, not a recommendation just a personal preference!
The WRX Pros have been fine since the new brakes, but I am subconsciously waiting for the spongy pedal to return in time.
Well, ordered an uprated Exedy Pink Box clutch from Bob Aztec about 2 weeks ago. After a week I dropped him an email as it hadn't arrived and he noted that Exedy are having a few issues at the moment and he offered instead a Competition Clutch (actual manufacturer rather than a description which confused me at first) Stage 2 Carbon Kevlar kit for a little extra money, so I took it. This is supposed to give an easy pedal still but can apparently hold up to 607hp
good to know.Item looks very nice. Now, this is where the slight surprise comes. Opening the box I pulled the clutch kit out and thought - there's something else in here
so I pull out - a 4140 Forged Steel Ultra Lightweight Steel flywheel that I haven't ordered or payed for.Didn't pay for it, can't keep it
unless I've wildy misunderstood the purchase process I shouldn't have this thing.It hits me right in the feels to send it back but I'll contact Bob and see what he wants to do.
Anyway some pictures which is why I'm sure we're all here
Whiteline front and rear ARB drop links and bushes
clutch goodness
spigot bearing and alignment tool
Why is life so cruel
/first world problems
Looking forward to getting the clutch fitted in the next few weeks. Just suspension to tackle then and it'll be exactly as I want it.
squareflops said:
Cheers Ben
When I first got the car as I think I referenced the brake pedal took two pumps to get firm. I put this down to air in the system. After a bleed (with the old worn brakes fitted) the problem continued. Strange I thought. The problem righted itself when I fitted the new discs and pads. When I talked with Ian @ Godspeed he addressed the spongy feel that the WRX Pro calipers seem to exhibit and put it down to different piston tolerances to OEM where they go beyond the range they're supposed to operate in. Ian tends to bin them when he comes across them and replace with OEM.
That being said since I've fitted the new discs they've been fine, I'm still running the pads in so no heavy braking but all is good. Ian did note that the spongy pedal may come back in time due to the pads wearing down and the pistons causing the same issue when past a certain point. (This is from memory and I may have forgotten/made some st up that Ian didn't say/mean, don't take this as gospal). On the plus side he did say the WRX calipers haven't been around that long so shouldn't find any issues with rusty pistons as yet.
He did say it was a shame that people are ditching the OEM calipers in favour of the Pros, if they were his he mentioned that rather than replacing he would buy a piston/seal reconditioning kit for the Subaru items and rebuild/get them rebuilt. That's what I'd do if I was in your position, not a recommendation just a personal preference!
The WRX Pros have been fine since the new brakes, but I am subconsciously waiting for the spongy pedal to return in time.
Cool, thanks for that. I'll give them a go and see what happens - either way if the originals have only lasted 60k I don't feel particularly guilty about looking elsewhere, but I'll be prepared to swap back to OEM if needs be. I'll hang onto the OEMs and see if I can rebuilt them, might be a nice little learning project for me When I first got the car as I think I referenced the brake pedal took two pumps to get firm. I put this down to air in the system. After a bleed (with the old worn brakes fitted) the problem continued. Strange I thought. The problem righted itself when I fitted the new discs and pads. When I talked with Ian @ Godspeed he addressed the spongy feel that the WRX Pro calipers seem to exhibit and put it down to different piston tolerances to OEM where they go beyond the range they're supposed to operate in. Ian tends to bin them when he comes across them and replace with OEM.
That being said since I've fitted the new discs they've been fine, I'm still running the pads in so no heavy braking but all is good. Ian did note that the spongy pedal may come back in time due to the pads wearing down and the pistons causing the same issue when past a certain point. (This is from memory and I may have forgotten/made some s
t up that Ian didn't say/mean, don't take this as gospal). On the plus side he did say the WRX calipers haven't been around that long so shouldn't find any issues with rusty pistons as yet. He did say it was a shame that people are ditching the OEM calipers in favour of the Pros, if they were his he mentioned that rather than replacing he would buy a piston/seal reconditioning kit for the Subaru items and rebuild/get them rebuilt. That's what I'd do if I was in your position, not a recommendation just a personal preference!
The WRX Pros have been fine since the new brakes, but I am subconsciously waiting for the spongy pedal to return in time.
Looks like I'm keeping and fitting the 6kg flywheel, I came to a deal with the vendor so it worked out even if I am paying out a little more than I had anticipated.
Well what a st of a day. Had hopes of the ARB drop link and bushes job going straightforwardly but that did not occur. Very rusted nuts & bolts, little space to work and a few unexpected issues along the way meant I'm still not done (about 7 hours work in all - how the hell did that take 7 hours!) My plan was to remove both ARBs, remove the rust and spray them with hammerite hammer finish black. With the front I didn't realize you can't drop the ARB without removing the under bracing etc and I wasn't going to start doing that today. I replaced the bushes easily enough, I had to saw through both front drop links at they'd seized pretty solid. When fitting the new drop links I had to ask a random neighbor to put weight on the front of the car to bring the mounts in line. Annoyingly I forgot to grease the bolts so I'll have to split them again and grease correctly.
The rears were a little less problematic but oddly having measured the ARB at 20mm I noticed before I dropped the mounts off that the bushes on the car had 19 written on them; 19mm? not sure. That was enough to stop me pulling off the mounts only to find they're potentially the wrong size. I fitted new drop links on the rear, again a bit annoying as there's play in the old bushes so the mix of new and old isn't ideal.
Results are good for now though. The knocking especially from the front has gone and although it may just an imagined improvement the car feels slightly stiffer and controlled when cornering - who knows.
Few pics from the job
grrr
double grrr
awful picture of the front near side fitted
Not as satisfactory a job as the brakes but 90% there and after a few more days I should be where I wan't to be.
Well what a s
t of a day. Had hopes of the ARB drop link and bushes job going straightforwardly but that did not occur. Very rusted nuts & bolts, little space to work and a few unexpected issues along the way meant I'm still not done (about 7 hours work in all - how the hell did that take 7 hours!) My plan was to remove both ARBs, remove the rust and spray them with hammerite hammer finish black. With the front I didn't realize you can't drop the ARB without removing the under bracing etc and I wasn't going to start doing that today. I replaced the bushes easily enough, I had to saw through both front drop links at they'd seized pretty solid. When fitting the new drop links I had to ask a random neighbor to put weight on the front of the car to bring the mounts in line. Annoyingly I forgot to grease the bolts so I'll have to split them again and grease correctly. The rears were a little less problematic but oddly having measured the ARB at 20mm I noticed before I dropped the mounts off that the bushes on the car had 19 written on them; 19mm? not sure. That was enough to stop me pulling off the mounts only to find they're potentially the wrong size. I fitted new drop links on the rear, again a bit annoying as there's play in the old bushes so the mix of new and old isn't ideal.
Results are good for now though. The knocking especially from the front has gone and although it may just an imagined improvement the car feels slightly stiffer and controlled when cornering - who knows.
Few pics from the job
grrr
double grrr
awful picture of the front near side fitted
Not as satisfactory a job as the brakes but 90% there and after a few more days I should be where I wan't to be.
Well was bored today and have noticed over the last few weeks my ramps were looking a little sorry for themselves. So got to work.
From
to
I'm storing them inside the garage now so they will be less susceptible to rust and should last a few years more.
On the garage front I'm keen on getting a few more workshop tools. I've been looking at compressors and accessories and have penciled in these
These should make the suspension swap job easier if I decide to do it myself. Talking of work, Dean and the guys @ 3 Arches are hopefully fitting my clutch and 6kg flywheel on Thursday so looking forward to that.
From
to
I'm storing them inside the garage now so they will be less susceptible to rust and should last a few years more.
On the garage front I'm keen on getting a few more workshop tools. I've been looking at compressors and accessories and have penciled in these
These should make the suspension swap job easier if I decide to do it myself. Talking of work, Dean and the guys @ 3 Arches are hopefully fitting my clutch and 6kg flywheel on Thursday so looking forward to that.
OP, you're making me chuckle reading your thread. Have just upgraded my 2.5 FXT's brakes to Godspeed discs, original/rebuilt WRX 4pots, kevlar pads and Hosetec lines all round. Picked up an FSTi rear ARB last w/e and am now firming up the shopping list for replacement bushes and droplinks. The problem with these Subaru's is that the upgrade path can be endless...but it's all part of the fun. You'll be buying Hayward & Scott exhausts next...
v I hear you I answered a similar response on another forum and I think (hope I'm not delusional) that most of the things I'm doing come under 'maintenance' rather than 'modifying'
That's what I'm convinced of anyway. I keep getting told to (as you say) swap out the exhaust/up pipe, get a remap etc but as far as I see more boost = shorter life on the bottom end plus the extra stress that will be placed on the other parts of the car like brakes etc that the extra power will demand. You're right; I could have easily gone with a blue box clutch, standard drop links etc but I'm just not quite ready for that level of gentile yet. I'm calling them sensible discreet upgrades at most.
A clutch that can handle 607hp might say other wise however. Ahem.
How you find the Godpseed setup? I like it just fine.
My finger is hovering over the purchase button for this compressor etc. Damn holiday I have to pay for getting in the way who wants to relax in France for a week anyway..
I answered a similar response on another forum and I think (hope I'm not delusional) that most of the things I'm doing come under 'maintenance' rather than 'modifying' That's what I'm convinced of anyway. I keep getting told to (as you say) swap out the exhaust/up pipe, get a remap etc but as far as I see more boost = shorter life on the bottom end plus the extra stress that will be placed on the other parts of the car like brakes etc that the extra power will demand. You're right; I could have easily gone with a blue box clutch, standard drop links etc but I'm just not quite ready for that level of gentile yet. I'm calling them sensible discreet upgrades at most.
A clutch that can handle 607hp might say other wise however. Ahem.
How you find the Godpseed setup? I like it just fine.
My finger is hovering over the purchase button for this compressor etc. Damn holiday I have to pay for getting in the way
who wants to relax in France for a week anyway.. With regards to the stereo, you can fit upto 6.5" speakers in the doors (which is what I would suggest). However, speaker choice if very important. The doors are very narrow and therefore you need shallow depth speakers or it's a fair bit of work. You may well need to trim some of the door metal too. I managed to buy the deepest depth speakers available.....that was a fun time getting it all to fit
Personally, I'd suggest getting mid/tweeter comps for the front with a seperate amp and then a sub & amp for the boot. I wouldn't bother with fitting co-axials in the doors, it just ruins the soundstage.
An Impreza is not a very suitable SQ car (there is very little sound proofing for a start). However, I drive a lot of miles a week in it, so I had to have some decent sounds. Cost me a fair bti of time and money but got some good results in the end.
How are you getting on with the steering wheel? First thing I replaced, just far too big.
Personally, I'd suggest getting mid/tweeter comps for the front with a seperate amp and then a sub & amp for the boot. I wouldn't bother with fitting co-axials in the doors, it just ruins the soundstage.
An Impreza is not a very suitable SQ car (there is very little sound proofing for a start). However, I drive a lot of miles a week in it, so I had to have some decent sounds. Cost me a fair bti of time and money but got some good results in the end.
How are you getting on with the steering wheel? First thing I replaced, just far too big.
Interesting comments on the stereo TP, I've heard there's not too much depth in the doors and can see us needing to make some custom rings to space the speakers out and mount them correctly. 6.5" would be ideal.
I'll be sound deadening the doors and boot area. I've been looking at Dynamat and alternatives and it seems Silent Coat 2mm or 4mm will be the best option. Still looking at speaker options but I'm leaning towards rear door speakers, I can't disagree with you about the sound stage issues but will see how we get on with/without them; I may remove them if they're causing issues.
The question of the steering wheel is something I've been deliberating over for a while myself, extending to the seat also. I want the interior to be as comfortable as possible of course and the wheel as you say and the drivers seat are two things I'd ideally like to replace. I'm in a dilemma because I don't want to lose the airbag in the standard wheel and don't want to have a mismatched interior with different front seats.
My fix for the wheel would be to have it recovered in a suede covering with extra padding to make it fatter. It doesn't solve it being too big which it is in my opinion too but it's a compromise.
The seats - are always covered by my Snap-On seat covers anyway and I have the option of some blobeye Spec C front seats which I love. I may get those in time. The WRX seats are comfortable but the extended lower lumber isn't ideal (for me anyway) - in short; dunno really
The car come back from Dean @ Three Arches yesterday. It went in for the clutch and flywheel fitting as we already know. During the work a few more issues came up related to the job which meant Dean had to spin a few more spanners and replace a few more items. As the down pipe was removed a few studs snapped in the turbo housing which is to be expected on a car of this age and unfortunately the secondary cat all but fell in half as it was being removed due to excessive rust. A few gaskets needed replacing the rear crank seal was also changed for prosperity.
Dean also fitted the rear ARB bushes and - ahem.. re-fitted the front ARB correctly as I'd installed the drop links with the ARB in the wrong position
Oops..
The results are brilliant. The Milltek is now a lot quieter in the cabin as you'd imagine due to the 2nd cat pipe not blowing anymore. There was an odd noise coming from the bulkhead area under boost which albeit not a standard exhaust blow noise was annoying nonetheless has gone and the system now sounds as it should. It's great to know that everything is buttoned up tight and as it should be on the exhaust side, it would have been a pain if the thing had fallen in half on the way to France (which is what happened in the MX5 last year). Dean gave me the option of sourcing my own cat replacement pipe but I've promised myself I'm not going down the more power/remap path just yet, it was replaced with a new genuine Subaru 2nd cat pipe which I'm more than happy with.
The clutch and flywheel combo is great too. The pedal is only slightly heavier than stock and engagement is now as it should with a low biting point and plenty of feel. Having had paddle clutches in the past in my BMW and GT-Four I was interested to see how the power was taken with carbon kevlar unit. The feel is as OEM, it can still be slipped during low speed maneuvering, there's no on-off feel associated with a paddle. I haven't put too much torque through it yet as It'll need running in but I'm really pleased with it so far.
The 6kg flywheel is also proving itself. Revving in neutral from idle is noticeably quicker and equally settling back down to tick over. Acceleration in 1st, 2nd and 3rd particularly is better, it feels like I've had a slight performance increase; a great improvement. Dean noted that it was just as well I went for the flywheel in hindsight as; as he showed me the standard flywheel was cracked around it face. Previously someone has run the clutch down to the rivets and scored the flywheel so badly it caused it to split. As I said "she's certainly had a past this one huh". Indeed..
Overall I'm thoroughly impressed with the improvements Dean/3 Arches have made and the car now drives far better than it did before, quieter and more refined. Dean again kept me up to date with any developments as the job went along and clarified any additional costs before going ahead with the work. I really do count myself lucky to have such a specialist just around the corner.
I'll be sound deadening the doors and boot area. I've been looking at Dynamat and alternatives and it seems Silent Coat 2mm or 4mm will be the best option. Still looking at speaker options but I'm leaning towards rear door speakers, I can't disagree with you about the sound stage issues but will see how we get on with/without them; I may remove them if they're causing issues.
The question of the steering wheel is something I've been deliberating over for a while myself, extending to the seat also. I want the interior to be as comfortable as possible of course and the wheel as you say and the drivers seat are two things I'd ideally like to replace. I'm in a dilemma because I don't want to lose the airbag in the standard wheel and don't want to have a mismatched interior with different front seats.
My fix for the wheel would be to have it recovered in a suede covering with extra padding to make it fatter. It doesn't solve it being too big which it is in my opinion too but it's a compromise.
The seats - are always covered by my Snap-On seat covers anyway and I have the option of some blobeye Spec C front seats which I love. I may get those in time. The WRX seats are comfortable but the extended lower lumber isn't ideal (for me anyway) - in short; dunno really
The car come back from Dean @ Three Arches yesterday. It went in for the clutch and flywheel fitting as we already know. During the work a few more issues came up related to the job which meant Dean had to spin a few more spanners and replace a few more items. As the down pipe was removed a few studs snapped in the turbo housing which is to be expected on a car of this age and unfortunately the secondary cat all but fell in half as it was being removed due to excessive rust. A few gaskets needed replacing the rear crank seal was also changed for prosperity.
Dean also fitted the rear ARB bushes and - ahem.. re-fitted the front ARB correctly as I'd installed the drop links with the ARB in the wrong position
Oops..
The results are brilliant. The Milltek is now a lot quieter in the cabin as you'd imagine due to the 2nd cat pipe not blowing anymore. There was an odd noise coming from the bulkhead area under boost which albeit not a standard exhaust blow noise was annoying nonetheless has gone and the system now sounds as it should. It's great to know that everything is buttoned up tight and as it should be on the exhaust side, it would have been a pain if the thing had fallen in half on the way to France (which is what happened in the MX5 last year). Dean gave me the option of sourcing my own cat replacement pipe but I've promised myself I'm not going down the more power/remap path just yet, it was replaced with a new genuine Subaru 2nd cat pipe which I'm more than happy with.
The clutch and flywheel combo is great too. The pedal is only slightly heavier than stock and engagement is now as it should with a low biting point and plenty of feel. Having had paddle clutches in the past in my BMW and GT-Four I was interested to see how the power was taken with carbon kevlar unit. The feel is as OEM, it can still be slipped during low speed maneuvering, there's no on-off feel associated with a paddle. I haven't put too much torque through it yet as It'll need running in but I'm really pleased with it so far.
The 6kg flywheel is also proving itself. Revving in neutral from idle is noticeably quicker and equally settling back down to tick over. Acceleration in 1st, 2nd and 3rd particularly is better, it feels like I've had a slight performance increase; a great improvement. Dean noted that it was just as well I went for the flywheel in hindsight as; as he showed me the standard flywheel was cracked around it face. Previously someone has run the clutch down to the rivets and scored the flywheel so badly it caused it to split. As I said "she's certainly had a past this one huh". Indeed..
Overall I'm thoroughly impressed with the improvements Dean/3 Arches have made and the car now drives far better than it did before, quieter and more refined. Dean again kept me up to date with any developments as the job went along and clarified any additional costs before going ahead with the work. I really do count myself lucky to have such a specialist just around the corner.
Well got the Inovits fitted, was going to wait until the suspension was renewed but my will broke. They've grown on me over the last few days although I can't really comment on the change in grip levels from the Wanlis to the Eagle F1s as the grip generated by 4x4 seems to have kept things stuck firmly to the floor whatever the tyre used. No doubt the Goodyears are better but I haven't really felt the difference @ sedate speeds
I noticed a slight wobble through the wheel so the car went to Dean @ 3 Arches for balancing. Whilst there I requested he take a look at the Turbosmart mechanical boost gauge I'd fitted 2 days previous as the needle was bouncing around @ 0 throttle; odd. Identified as a broken gauge so back to the seller and a new one on order, lets see it the replacement works.
Dean did an excellent job at balancing the wheels and they're now perfectly balanced with no annoying wheel wobble @ 70-75. I'm likely to also replace the Turbosmart dump valve with an OEM recirc valve that Dean is supplying, should make it a little less 'yo', I already feel like a bit of a yob, especially with the gold wheels on
Cheers again to 3 Arches Garage, always impressed by their work and approach to working which is as important from a customer point of view.
Braap
I noticed a slight wobble through the wheel so the car went to Dean @ 3 Arches for balancing. Whilst there I requested he take a look at the Turbosmart mechanical boost gauge I'd fitted 2 days previous as the needle was bouncing around @ 0 throttle; odd. Identified as a broken gauge so back to the seller and a new one on order, lets see it the replacement works.
Dean did an excellent job at balancing the wheels and they're now perfectly balanced with no annoying wheel wobble @ 70-75. I'm likely to also replace the Turbosmart dump valve with an OEM recirc valve that Dean is supplying, should make it a little less 'yo', I already feel like a bit of a yob, especially with the gold wheels on
Cheers again to 3 Arches Garage, always impressed by their work and approach to working which is as important from a customer point of view.
Braap
Been potching today. The engine was rocking longitudinally when coming off throttle etc so had a quick word with Dean @ 3 Arches and he suggested replacing the pitch stop mount. Looked around and to be fair the up rated mounts seem to be well overpriced. For whats a bit of ali and two poly mounts £100 is a bit silly I thought. I ended up going for the oem STI 'group N' item and pleased that its made acceleration/deceleration much firmer and the car now feels more responsive. The old mount had quite a bit of play in it so really pleased with the result and £45 from Scoobyparts isn't too bad.
One of the boys sorted me out with some proper floor paint this morning; the garage floor had started to wear so timing was good.
Prepped the floor and masked up, pretty straight forward job
cutting in with a brush
then on to the roller
after its first coat
gave it another one after this, might give it a final 3rd coat tomorrow as I have about 50 gallons of the stuff
After that was done turned my attention to the car. It was a little dusty so got to work. I normally go from a hose rinse straight to wash with shampoo/sponge phase but due to the dust I added a step of pulling any left over dust that the water hadn't taken off with a damp/wet microfiber cloth. Results were interesting
think I'll use this extra step from now on as I don't want to grind all the grime into the paint during the wash.
Got carried away again, wheels off
interior tomorrow
One of the boys sorted me out with some proper floor paint this morning; the garage floor had started to wear so timing was good.
Prepped the floor and masked up, pretty straight forward job
cutting in with a brush
then on to the roller
after its first coat
gave it another one after this, might give it a final 3rd coat tomorrow as I have about 50 gallons of the stuff
After that was done turned my attention to the car. It was a little dusty so got to work. I normally go from a hose rinse straight to wash with shampoo/sponge phase but due to the dust I added a step of pulling any left over dust that the water hadn't taken off with a damp/wet microfiber cloth. Results were interesting
think I'll use this extra step from now on as I don't want to grind all the grime into the paint during the wash.
Got carried away again, wheels off
interior tomorrow
Well what a few hours..
Back to 3 Arches for a few jobs today; fitting the suspension and sorting a few issued with the HKB boss. Suspension has been a bit of a debacle over the last few weeks. Camskill apparently no longer stock the Excel G dampers that mirror OEM units. I then went to ... some other company autofactorsuk I think? who stocked the same units. ordered them, waited about 2 weeks for them to arrive, called and was told the order had been lost in the system. Another few days waiting for them to look into it and then told they have 3 of the 4 dampers in stock and a weeks wait on the 4th. No good to me so cancelled that order and went totally oem spec from Import Car Parts (ICP) whom I've had good dealings with in the past. The units turned up the next day and saved me about £100 over the Gs. I wanted oem kit as a) I'm trying not to 'improve' the WRX too much and more importantly b) the Prodrive springs from PCA Dynamics are tuned to match oem dampers.
The dampers from ICP are branded Optimal. They appear to be big news in Germany, they're black and .. damperish.
The kit that's been fitted
so in the boot and off to 3 Arches
Picked the car up earlier and wooow what a difference. I can't emphasize enough what a stark difference there is in the handling. Before the car would pitch and wallow around corners, I never thought I wouldn't make a bend at speed but it did complain a little in the process. Now however I cannot believe how flat it is through the corners, there's no perceivable roll or leaning during spirited driving, its superb, I actually let out a laugh and started clapping after a series of bends going over Caerphilly mountain I was that impressed. Love it, perfect. Thanks to Peter @ PCA Dynamics he really does know what he's doing. The ride is still comfortable and compliant at normal speeds, it feels standard but press on and it transforms. Amazing.
The drop isn't too severe which is great as I didn't want to lose driveability around town etc, there's a subtle drop that particularly reduces the front arch gap and makes the drop uniform front and back.
before
after
If you're looking for stance these may not be the ones for you but for a usable daily with a transformed ride I can't recommend it enough. 3 Arches gave me a choice of road, fast road or track alignment setup, I opted for fast road as track would probably just eat the inside of the tyres and, well its a road car, fast road is about perfect
Cheers again to the boys at 3 Arches, superb work, cannot fault them, highly recommended.
Well, my group buy Scoobyworld mudflaps turned up. Thought it would be rude not to fit them given the new suspension, could have waited until tomorrow but weather is supposed to be dire this weekend so I got to work. Took longer than expected.
Started off with optimism, only 3 bolts per flap, what could be easier
not the hardest job I've ever done but most of the nuts had seized inside the arches so had to be a little rougher than I wanted but nothing bent or broke and got the new ones on with no real issues apart from fighting with the 8 or so seized bolts.
Start of the job
The old flaps actually turned out to be Scoobyworld items, exactly the same as the new ones but they were badly faded and the fronts particularly weren't fitted well; the inside portion being left unsecured and causing rubbing issues on lock
old left vs new right. yes it had started raining by that point
Fitted the fronts correctly albeit with 1 self tapper rather than the recommended 2, couldn't see the need to drill another hole
random strut shots
Well that brings us up to now.
Oh new wheel fitted
Fantastic addition as far as I'm concerned, the standard Momo is rather large makes the steering feel slow and ponderous, this sharpens it right up makes it feel all ... rallyish. In my eyes it's basically Grp A spec now
and of course
time for a beer..
Back to 3 Arches for a few jobs today; fitting the suspension and sorting a few issued with the HKB boss. Suspension has been a bit of a debacle over the last few weeks. Camskill apparently no longer stock the Excel G dampers that mirror OEM units. I then went to ... some other company autofactorsuk I think? who stocked the same units. ordered them, waited about 2 weeks for them to arrive, called and was told the order had been lost in the system. Another few days waiting for them to look into it and then told they have 3 of the 4 dampers in stock and a weeks wait on the 4th. No good to me so cancelled that order and went totally oem spec from Import Car Parts (ICP) whom I've had good dealings with in the past. The units turned up the next day and saved me about £100 over the Gs. I wanted oem kit as a) I'm trying not to 'improve' the WRX too much and more importantly b) the Prodrive springs from PCA Dynamics are tuned to match oem dampers.
The dampers from ICP are branded Optimal. They appear to be big news in Germany, they're black and .. damperish.
The kit that's been fitted
so in the boot and off to 3 Arches
Picked the car up earlier and wooow what a difference. I can't emphasize enough what a stark difference there is in the handling. Before the car would pitch and wallow around corners, I never thought I wouldn't make a bend at speed but it did complain a little in the process. Now however I cannot believe how flat it is through the corners, there's no perceivable roll or leaning during spirited driving, its superb, I actually let out a laugh and started clapping after a series of bends going over Caerphilly mountain I was that impressed. Love it, perfect. Thanks to Peter @ PCA Dynamics he really does know what he's doing. The ride is still comfortable and compliant at normal speeds, it feels standard but press on and it transforms. Amazing.
The drop isn't too severe which is great as I didn't want to lose driveability around town etc, there's a subtle drop that particularly reduces the front arch gap and makes the drop uniform front and back.
before
after
If you're looking for stance these may not be the ones for you but for a usable daily with a transformed ride I can't recommend it enough. 3 Arches gave me a choice of road, fast road or track alignment setup, I opted for fast road as track would probably just eat the inside of the tyres and, well its a road car, fast road is about perfect
Cheers again to the boys at 3 Arches, superb work, cannot fault them, highly recommended.
Well, my group buy Scoobyworld mudflaps turned up. Thought it would be rude not to fit them given the new suspension, could have waited until tomorrow but weather is supposed to be dire this weekend so I got to work. Took longer than expected.
Started off with optimism, only 3 bolts per flap, what could be easier
not the hardest job I've ever done but most of the nuts had seized inside the arches so had to be a little rougher than I wanted but nothing bent or broke and got the new ones on with no real issues apart from fighting with the 8 or so seized bolts. Start of the job
The old flaps actually turned out to be Scoobyworld items, exactly the same as the new ones but they were badly faded and the fronts particularly weren't fitted well; the inside portion being left unsecured and causing rubbing issues on lock
old left vs new right. yes it had started raining by that point
Fitted the fronts correctly albeit with 1 self tapper rather than the recommended 2, couldn't see the need to drill another hole
random strut shots
Well that brings us up to now.
Oh new wheel fitted
Fantastic addition as far as I'm concerned, the standard Momo is rather large makes the steering feel slow and ponderous, this sharpens it right up makes it feel all ... rallyish. In my eyes it's basically Grp A spec now
and of course
time for a beer..
Well just got back from France, was a great trip and the Impreza didn't miss a beat (more than could be said for my Garmin Nuvi sat nav)
Put around 820 miles on all told, may have been a little less had it not been for the already mentioned sat nav issue but hey-ho no one died. Stayed in the Mayenne region which is pretty rural, our second time out there; staying in a small cottage on a lake with the nearest town being 2 mins away by car. Most places enjoy 2 / 2 1/2 hour lunches most days so the pace is pretty slow, there's some great ex pat pubs around where most patrons seem to be from the Greater London area and seem to be enjoying a slower pace of life in rural France. OH and I don't speak or read a word of French which was interesting at points, trying to buy 98 at a self service station almost had me self immolating, had I been able to get any petrol out the pump which I couldn't. That was after getting lost in lanes for most of the afternoon in 30c heat, a rare annoyance during a largely very relaxing week. The gite we stayed in had lots of fish to feed bread to in the lake, 2 goats to try and chew our fingers off, 2 bernese mountain dogs and 3 ducks. I did end up carrying bails of hay around a field to feed the goats, certainly not an all-inclusive type break but perfect if you want a bit of involvement rather than being waited on.
3/4 of a tank to get to the destination 247, which I was happy with. (i'll apologize again for the terrible washed out photos from my iphone, the inside of the lens still has a load of dust on it)
Saw this on the way, very cool
picture of car on ferry
arrival
realxing the first day with Evo and the nicest cidre I've ever tasted, only 2% but 2euros a bottle; incroyable. Brought about 30 bottles back, should see us for a week or so.
car in a bush
we took a trip one day to Le Mans, about an hour away. Thanks to those who recommended the trip on a thread I put up when we had a little wifi
The museum was brilliant, a lot of pre war stuff but some very interesting cars and the history to go with them. For some reason I decided to leave the Cannon EOS 1200D in the car, not a great decision on hindsight
This went over the Himalayas apparently, must have been parky
There's hundreds of cars there, well worth a trip if you're in the area. On the way back we got a chance to drive Arnage and around to the end of Mulsanne (driving the circuit in reverse) it's a public road of course most of the time but was still cool to hit a few kerbs. Stopped at the bottom of the straight for a picture
Got home via Caen-Portsmouth without a hitch. The car was filthy by this point, I could hardly see out of the windscreen for bugs and the front of the car was almost black from the same. Elsewhere was the usual grime from a weeks driving with no tlc. Not got a before and after but washed the car today (took a bit of time) and pulled out the Canon, might have to learn how to use this thing properly!
blue again
Should have another service before too long.
That was my week
Put around 820 miles on all told, may have been a little less had it not been for the already mentioned sat nav issue but hey-ho no one died. Stayed in the Mayenne region which is pretty rural, our second time out there; staying in a small cottage on a lake with the nearest town being 2 mins away by car. Most places enjoy 2 / 2 1/2 hour lunches most days so the pace is pretty slow, there's some great ex pat pubs around where most patrons seem to be from the Greater London area and seem to be enjoying a slower pace of life in rural France. OH and I don't speak or read a word of French which was interesting at points, trying to buy 98 at a self service station almost had me self immolating, had I been able to get any petrol out the pump which I couldn't. That was after getting lost in lanes for most of the afternoon in 30c heat, a rare annoyance during a largely very relaxing week. The gite we stayed in had lots of fish to feed bread to in the lake, 2 goats to try and chew our fingers off, 2 bernese mountain dogs and 3 ducks. I did end up carrying bails of hay around a field to feed the goats, certainly not an all-inclusive type break but perfect if you want a bit of involvement rather than being waited on.
3/4 of a tank to get to the destination 247, which I was happy with. (i'll apologize again for the terrible washed out photos from my iphone, the inside of the lens still has a load of dust on it)
Saw this on the way, very cool
picture of car on ferry
arrival
realxing the first day with Evo and the nicest cidre I've ever tasted, only 2% but 2euros a bottle; incroyable. Brought about 30 bottles back, should see us for a week or so.
car in a bush
we took a trip one day to Le Mans, about an hour away. Thanks to those who recommended the trip on a thread I put up when we had a little wifi
The museum was brilliant, a lot of pre war stuff but some very interesting cars and the history to go with them. For some reason I decided to leave the Cannon EOS 1200D in the car, not a great decision on hindsight
This went over the Himalayas apparently, must have been parky
There's hundreds of cars there, well worth a trip if you're in the area. On the way back we got a chance to drive Arnage and around to the end of Mulsanne (driving the circuit in reverse) it's a public road of course most of the time but was still cool to hit a few kerbs. Stopped at the bottom of the straight for a picture
Got home via Caen-Portsmouth without a hitch. The car was filthy by this point, I could hardly see out of the windscreen for bugs and the front of the car was almost black from the same. Elsewhere was the usual grime from a weeks driving with no tlc. Not got a before and after but washed the car today (took a bit of time) and pulled out the Canon, might have to learn how to use this thing properly!
blue again
Should have another service before too long.
That was my week
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