Subaru Impreza WRX 04' Blobeye

[squareflops]

Now the Celica has gone I've had a few days to acclimatize to the Subaru. The Toyota was part ex'd and some additional money was paid and I collected on Monday night. When I first saw ZSX I thought "generic Impreza - meh" there was an 02' STI parted next to it which put it in the shadows a little. But it grew on me and after a few days of deliberation the deal was done. After owning a G 89' Celica I'm absolutely blown away by the jump in quality of - everything, the Celica was fun but there were sometimes issues (not to say I won't have any with this of course) like, what was that noise, why have the windscreen wipers stopped in the middle of the screen etc etc, a symptom of (some) old/older cars I guess but the point is, the WRX just - works. I love how the dash lights are bright, it's quiet, comfortable, everything JUST WORKS I actually have an outside tempt gauge, a temperature gauge that informs me how hot it is outside!, can you believe that! Sorry, I've never owned a car this new

Seriously though, I'm genuinely impressed, out of the box this is such a competent vehicle, I keep coming back to that word when describing it because it fits so well. It's done everything I've asked it to do far better than I could ever hope. It cruises effortlessly, it covers ground like nothing I've been in before, it's epicly stable and reassuring, it stops well, I can listen to the radio at low levels without being deafened by tyre noise or exhaust drone, NVH is very low. Over the week I've owned it it's become far more than just another 02c WR impreza (I have rolled eyes at these in the past as just a rally wannabe car) to one of the best affordable cars on the road. I'm smitten. '

Spec is largely standard as far as I know. It did have the odd 'JDM yo'' stickers which I've removed. Modifications as far as I can tell are:

Cat back Milltek exhaust. quiet at cruising but wakes up on boost and gives a great flat four burble.
Up rated front and rear drilled and grooved discs, unknown pads but feel OEM.
Aftermarket/copy front calipers, apparently genuine OEM items say Subaru on them, these say WRX Pro, I believe they're cheaper replacements, someone was feeling frugal when it came to replacing the calipers at some point it seems. The brakes do need a bleed, whoever swapped them over didn't score 100% on the job.
STI front strut brace.
A pillar boost gauge, lights up but not reading boost at the moment.
An ali gear knob to replace the ugly Momo item it came with.
A silly vortex? roof spoiler thingy. Seems strange that the Subaru guys would copy something that Mitsubishi put on the Evo first (think I'm right in saying that?) I would have taken it off but it's bonded with the worlds strongest glue and I don't want to damage the paintwork, will scratch my head on that one for a bit longer.

That's it. The ECU could have been remapped/flashed in the past, I'll have no idea until I can get it to a garage for the first bit of a major work which is the scheduled cam belt change at 90k, currently on 87k. The garage I'm looking to use will be able to determine if the map is standard or has been altered. It goes very well but feel around the 227hp it's purported to have in standard form

Before I purchased it I was thinking i'd make the odd improvement, change the wheels, change the dampers for KYB Ultra SRs etc but to be honest, the wheels have grown on me, nothing wrong with them, the standard suspension is first and compliant with good ground clearance and travel, why fix it if it isn't broken? I do want to replace the head unit before we go to France in a few months time for something bluetooth/iphone 5 enabled to I can stream stuff whilst on the continent but that's about it.

Tyres are contentious issue, someone has put 4 brand new Wanlis on it they seems fine for now, I don't make a point of pushing it 99% of the time but I don' really want them on there. The dilemma is that they are brand new. I'll do a few thousand miles on them I think, as we're coming into summer wet/cold weather performance should be less of an issue (hmm) but they'll be replaced with Yokohama Parada Spec 2s when I've had enough.

One thing I would like are the spot lights covers. I spoke to one chap who had a set for sale, £125, and that seems the going rate painted I really can't understand/justify why two side plate sized bits of abs plastic would command such a premium.

I may have got a little gooey eyed during this write up but I'm genuinely so impressed. I can see why they have a great following. The Subaru Impreza Owners Club on Facebook is a great resource and the people I've spoken to on there so far have been welcoming, polite, knowledgeable and very helpful.

First night



After a wash (lost my chamois dammit)





















Sorry about the qulity of the pictures, iphone is pretty bad with direct sunlight it seems

Edited by squareflops on Sunday 8th March 22:07

[squareflops]

looks great Andy, yours looks a little lower than mine is.

Very true Ohtari, really does give a lot of confidence, doubt we'll have any snow now but can imagine it does well in it.

I'm hoping it hasn't had the PPP map work as yet to be honest as I'll look forward to getting that done if it hasn't already. Along with the performance increase I hear it increases mpg too, win win.

Well, was just potching with it a little, cleaned the enjoy bay up, plastics treatment to get them back to black etc. Check the oil and other levels I thought. Low oil.

Thankfully haven't used it this week since picking it up apart from the drive home and one spirited drive. I would have assumed the pre sale inspection would include an oil level check.

The recommended oil from Opie is 5w40 synthetic. I had 1 litre of Magnatec 5w30 which i promptly put in; working on the assumption that similar oil is better than no oil. It won't be used until the oil and filter arrive from Opie in a few days.

Edit: Ordered Fuchs TITAN SUPERSYN 5W-40 High Performance, Fully Synthetic, Engine Oil -Oil and Filter Service Pack: 5L + UFI oil filter 23.259.00 ith. Code SUBIMP came to £35.18

Edited by squareflops on Sunday 8th March 19:09

Edited by squareflops on Monday 30th November 20:32

[squareflops]

That's interesting and slightly offsets my concern Ohtari I'm slightly concerned still, no one wants to see a dry dipstick but just under 2 litres has brought me up to the minimum mark for now and the next time it's started will be to warm the oil up just before it's dropped out for the new stuff.

Looks very clean MJ, that's some attention to detail your previous owner had, I'm happy with my current bolts, call me lazy

Realised I forgot a few modifications. The turbosmart dump valve, the rear wing of course and the mudflaps.

Will be booking it in for the cam belt change and general inspection in the next few weeks, will be going with either Three Arches garage or Indigo GT depending on price, both local to me in Cardiff/South Wales. Looking at around £4/450 at the moment. Eek

[squareflops]

Little update. Car has sat in the garage for the last few weeks awaiting cam belt change at the end of the month. Have decided (after much ringing around and haggling) to go with Three Arches Garage in Llanishen/Roath Cardiff which is handily very local to me. The boy doing the work there is very knowledgeable it seems and was more than happy to discuss requirements at length with me and come back with additional info when needed. Price will include new Dayco(sp?) belt, tensioner & new set of plugs fitted plus an inspection of the car/health check.

There's a few niggles I'd like sorting in addition which are:

seeing if we can get the a pillar boost gauge working
Seeing if we can get the keyless entry on the fob working, renewed the battery and tried a few programming tricks but it seems totally dead on the fob

Really want to take it out for a drive but my paranoia is in overdrive re the cam belt snapping so it's staying in the garage for now. No doubt it could probably go another 20k with it but for the sake of 2 weeks I'll just forget i own it for now

I've ordered a Japspeed magnetic sump plug and oil and filter are here from Opie, Haven't decided if I'll change these myself or ask Three Arches to do it as I'd like it recorded on the invoice as extra confirmation of servicing being carried out.

[squareflops]

Pulled from Scoobynet a few hours ago

update

Dropped the car off @ Three Arches Garage this morning for Dean to carry out the work. It was booked in for the main work of the cam belt and tensioner being changed, along with oil, filter & drain plug change/replacement. While Dean had the car he also gave it an inspection and I have a few advisory notes that I'll come to shortly.

Whilst Dean had the car he noted there was a whine when the car was running, I'd assumed this was an alternator bearing as this is where it seemed to be coming from. Dean advised it was the air con tensioner and he asked if I'd like it replaced along with the air con belt that was badly cracked. I gave the go ahead and; where before there was quite a loud whine when running the car is now much much quieter and I have the added peace of mind that the bearing won't fail and cause further damage to ancillary belts etc. The oil, filter and magnetic drain plug that I supplied were changed and a new set of PFR6B plugs installed.

Whilst Dean had it in he gave the car a thorough look over and talked me through his findings when I collected it. The list of advisories are:

my comments in ()

No belly pan (plastic sump cover, I'll need one of these)
Sump heavily corroded (as a result of above - this will need replacing at some point)
front drop links worn & knocking (audible knocking over bumps)
Front brake pads approx 50% worn (I'll change em soon)
Rear drop links worn & perished (will change these too)
n/s rocker cover gasket leaking (will ask Dean to sort this out)
mud flaps incorrectly fitted (I noticed 1 bolt on each mudflap is loose and not contacting the body)
A/c belt cracking (now replaced)
A/c idler pulley noisy (now replaced)

To be honest I'm not too phased at all by the above list, some items have already been replaced and the remainder are items I can do over the forthcoming weeks/months.

In addition Dean has adjusted the handbrake so it has a great action and little travel. He advised that the aftermarket a-pillar boost gauge is kaput and to replace with a mechanical gauge for reliability. He also advised the alarm ECU is dead and I'll need another one. If anyone has one send it my way

Over all I'm really pleased with how well the car did and I'm massively impressed by Deans & Three Arches Garage approach to working. Dean called me on 3 separate occasions throughout the day advising me of any slight changes to anything already discussed (cam belt brand) to clarify additional findings like the air con belt etc and to confirm that I was happy to go ahead with the additional work before starting anything that may cost me more money.

In the morning when I arrived there was a very nice blob eye STI on the ramps having the alignment done to Prodrive specs and Dean was familiar with the PCA Dynamics springs I've ordered with Peter. That's great because I'm now confident that Dean will be doing my alignment when the springs have gone on.

£500 spend today but I wouldn't have wanted to spend a penny less, I've got more confidence in the car now and I know It's been in the best of care.

I'll recommend Dean and Three Arches Garage to anyone in the South Wales area and beyond, he and all @ Three Arches are very professional whilst maintaining a warm family run business culture.

Right I'm off to go waste some petrol

[squareflops]

In addition to the above. When I received the log book back it of course had the previous owners name on it. A quick search on FB revealed the chap and I sent him a message inquiring about the car. He was very pleasant and volunteered info around his servicing of the car, he fitted the HIDs and the boost gauge, he noted he looked after the car and only sold it due to his up coming wedding day. Unfortunately he had no history with it.

I found this picture on his FB profile, what it used to look like



I wish ZSX still had that rear spoiler but it's only a small detail.

/stalker

More random pictures





That silly shark fin thing on the roof is actually growing on me. I'll probably leave it on.

I remembered a few days ago I had a set of 6.5jX17 O.Z. Chronos. Unfortunately the offset is such that they foul the calipers so back into the garage attic they go; unless someone on here wants to give me a small amount of money for them. A shame as I really think they would have looked great after a refurb



A good friend of mine was a professional audio installer in a previous life and as I like a qulity sound in the car we've been discussing options. In readiness I've ordered a Kenwood bluetooth head unit

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/bluetooth/head-uni...

We're yet to settle on speakers as we need to see what will fit behind the doors. I'm thinking 6" components up front, 6" co axials in the rear doors and a 12" Kicker Comp sub in the boot I know I know, it won't be in there much as I have it bloody hell why not. The speakers will be some kind of Kenwood to match the head unit as the Amps will be eventually. For now The front speakers and sub (yo) will be powered with a Vibe Black Box III and the rear speakers run from the head unit. All complimented with plenty of Silent Coat 2mm sound deadening material.

Oh and the car has had 12 previous owners, fking 12!

Edited by squareflops on Thursday 26th March 21:50

[squareflops]

Well decided to go a more familiar route with the wheels. Saw these advertised on FB locally and decided to pick them up. I'm happy enough with the standard wheels but those Wanli's were bothering me due to dire wet weather handling.

The new wheels are Inovit something-or-others 7X17 ET42. They're in near perfect condition and very light by the feel of them; I'll weight them against the OEM wheels and Wanli's and hope to see a weight saving. Tyres are Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2s with 6mm of tread on all, more or less brand new. picked them up for less than the cost of the tyres. Also got open ended wheels nuts and adapter tool for all nuts (locking)

As a bonus I don't believe the WR blue and gold wheels theme as been done before so I'm very much looking forward to seeing how they work together.

Chances are I'll wait for the Prodrive Blue springs to arrive in May before I fit these, I'd rather see them when the car has a little less arch gap and the weather should be better by then. I'll keep the OEMs for winter/Rally nights use where I don't mind gravel rashing them a little and abusing the tyres a little more

[squareflops]

Not much of an update but now need to spend a bit more money following some faffing to get the WRX up to standard

Since I've had the car the brakes have been slightly spongy. Given the fact that it has the WRX Pro aftermarket front calipers on it I assumed someone hadn't done a great job of bleeding the system after fitting so yesterday I got around to bleeding the system with the help of a reluctant female.



The bleed itself went without incident and bled in what I assume is the correct manner, furthest away to closest to the MC. All lines were full of fluid rather than air except the front near side. That belches out large amounts of air before any fluid came through. Great I thought. That's the problem, easy fix.

Long answer is it didn't work. Somehow there must still be air in the system or there's something else slightly amiss as the pedal still needs an initial prod then a subsequent one in quick succession to realize full braking force. Not a problem exactly but an annoyance none the less. All pistons look in good condition from a very cursory inspection so I'll have another go at bleeding the system when I ... replace all discs and pads

I hadn't quite noticed that the brake discs are more or less shot to ****, I felt the edge of the discs when I was buying the car and there was no lip at all, brill I thought loads of life left in these but on closer inspection yesterday I see that there's hardly any/if any groove left on the face of the discs, they're almost smooth which points toward them being severely worn. Pads are ok but meh they'll get replaced too.

I'll be buying OEM spec discs and pads from Scoobyworld when they open again on the 14th (who closes for a whole week?) along with front and rear Whiteline arb drop links and arb bushes.

Next - thing



blown NSR damper. So; when I replace the Prodrive blue springs I won't be putting them on blown dampers, I'll be buying KYB Ultra SRs from Camskill and mating them all up. I want to retain as much OEM or OEM equivalence as possible in these areas and the KYBs are a good standard/uprated option along with the WRX matched shocks from PCA Dynamics.

money

Took advantage of the good weather and completed some cleaning therapy

Summer wheel clean







Took a surprising amount of hours to do all 4 properly.

Today I continued detailing the engine bay, removed intake hoses and gave them a good scrub along with the air box, cleaned the various reservoirs and reservoir caps etc etc. No pics of that.

And that brings us up to now

[squareflops]

Hi ohtari, I don't mind working on them, there's one or two points you mention about the strut swap that makes me stutter a little, cheers for the info on the bolts etc, I hope I don't need that info!

Well taken the Godspeed advice and ordered 4X discs & F&R kevlar pads, good to hear you've had a positive experience with them. £250 delivered which I'm happy with. I mentioned hoping the calipers aren't seized whilst on the phone with (I assume) Ian and he mentioned that as they're the WRX Pro calipers they should be OK as they haven't actually been around that long. No guarantees of course but he said he hasn't seen any major corrosion issues with them yet.

Popped to Halfords (again) after replacing my windscreen wipers for new Bosch units yesterday and picked up another set of axle stands to get all 4 wheels off the ground for the up coming brake replacement and suspension work and even a little garage stool (eBay) to save the knees as I'm working on it. Along with the breaker bar on the way, my new (shiny!) torque wrench, some penetrating (giggidy) fluid and de greaser spray I should have most things to do the job. I'm hoping I don't get stuck half way through the suspension job as that will be a bit of a PITA, that is some way off still though as the springs won't be in from Germany until May. When I do the brakes I'll make sure all the suspension components I'll need to replace have a good spray of - lets call it WD40 (I bought the Muc-Off equiv)

I hope ZSX appreciates all this time and money I'm throwing at it

and that sounds EXACTLY like something I'd do ohtari, I can almost guarantee it

[squareflops]

Ahh jeez

OK dude I'll look into the ancillary bits and bobs needed for the job. I may palm the suspension job off to Dean at Three Arches if things look like needing some major garage tools etc to complete the job; I know my limits

[squareflops]

sounds nice austin, i'm consistently impressed by it tbh, I know what you mean it really is a surprisingly good machine, they can be had for small money if you so fancied

Sad to say my only 'yo' encounter was with a youth in an Focus ST and he absolutely destroyed me ah well I'm not proud..

And not been pulled yet; that jinxed it didn't it

[squareflops]

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

[squareflops]

Drive today to complete the bed in miles. Bit of a habit with my cars taking a picture here







The launch not long after these pictures were taken tells me I'll need a clutch soon

[squareflops]

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.

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]

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.

[squareflops]

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.

[squareflops]

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..

[squareflops]

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.

[squareflops]

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

[squareflops]

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