My Bugeye wagon wrx 'shed'
Discussion
Right, an update for those who are interested.
Cars been very good except this small hesitation. My DIY mechanics could only go so far, so was given to a specialist.
First off he said the car was in excellent shape, driving with less knocks than cars half it's milage.
It pulls rather too well to be bone stock, so a suspected mild map is lurking somewhere perhaps (no evidence to prove, could be just very healthy!). A very cheap fuel regulator has been grafted on, which will be binned, and checks on the neutral switch and timing are being undertaken (last belt done at. Hi-Q so slightly concerned on belt quality, tensioner and timing!)
It's returning mid to high 200's to £70 and using no oil or water. Bottom rad hose, rad and the expensive posh 02 sensor have all been replaced recently which is a good sign.
Rear pads are stuck/seized so will be addressed and then once in A1 condition I'll be looking at a stage 1 map (up and downpipe decat, cotton filter, fuel pump for peace of mind and remap)
Love the car, and looking forward to putting more miles on it. Best £2k I've spent.
Cars been very good except this small hesitation. My DIY mechanics could only go so far, so was given to a specialist.
First off he said the car was in excellent shape, driving with less knocks than cars half it's milage.
It pulls rather too well to be bone stock, so a suspected mild map is lurking somewhere perhaps (no evidence to prove, could be just very healthy!). A very cheap fuel regulator has been grafted on, which will be binned, and checks on the neutral switch and timing are being undertaken (last belt done at. Hi-Q so slightly concerned on belt quality, tensioner and timing!)
It's returning mid to high 200's to £70 and using no oil or water. Bottom rad hose, rad and the expensive posh 02 sensor have all been replaced recently which is a good sign.
Rear pads are stuck/seized so will be addressed and then once in A1 condition I'll be looking at a stage 1 map (up and downpipe decat, cotton filter, fuel pump for peace of mind and remap)
Love the car, and looking forward to putting more miles on it. Best £2k I've spent.
That sort of MPG sounds about right - I got 90 miles out of £20 today, on a gentle (ish) to St Austell and back, from Plymouth (Classic Wagon).
Could the hesitation be the boost solenoid playing up? I think mine needs changing, it surges from time to time. Or it could be the MAF, or, or ,or.........
Yours does look good, I have to say.
Could the hesitation be the boost solenoid playing up? I think mine needs changing, it surges from time to time. Or it could be the MAF, or, or ,or.........
Yours does look good, I have to say.
Rollcage said:
That sort of MPG sounds about right - I got 90 miles out of £20 today, on a gentle (ish) to St Austell and back, from Plymouth (Classic Wagon).
Could the hesitation be the boost solenoid playing up? I think mine needs changing, it surges from time to time. Or it could be the MAF, or, or ,or.........
Yours does look good, I have to say.
Could the hesitation be the boost solenoid playing up? I think mine needs changing, it surges from time to time. Or it could be the MAF, or, or ,or.........
Yours does look good, I have to say.
yeah it does seem that way. It being taken out with a diagnostic machine plugged in with its 'live' data being recorded. Although quite basic, the data should give a few pointers. I've systematically gone through the car, so shouldn't be much left to change (he hopes!). Was glad it was given a clean bill of health, I think I'm going to keep it till its dead now anyway, as it owes me so little.
Matt777 said:
A good buy! I like it.
Apologies if I missed it - but did you get a price for a custom remap and panel filter?
Not got that far yet i'm afraid. Just getting her to run 100% before i 'play'.Apologies if I missed it - but did you get a price for a custom remap and panel filter?
Just had a note from the specialist mentioning tensioners at over £170
. Fingers crossed all is well, as the belt alone is another £110.That sounds very expensive if it's just price for the parts. You might be better sourcing all the parts you need yourself so all you are then charged for by the specialist is labour only. Oil and filter, new cambelt, new accessory belts, cambelt tensioner and idler pulley, water pump, oil pump.
If you're doing a cambelt and it's a high mileage car then you ought to think about a couple of things. While all the gubbins are off to fit the cambelt this might be an opportunity to safeguard the longevity of your engine by at least fitting a new water pump. It will go eventually and it won't be cheap to replace because all the front cover and everything has to be removed to get to it. It's not a difficult job to do just a bit time consuming. At the same time you really ought to consider a new oil pump that has had the oil pressure valve/plunger modification.
Unfortunately the pressure valve/plunger in these oil pumps have been known to stick and you get sudden loss of oil pressure which then fubars your bottom end. My old WRX engine went the way of the faulty oil pump and buggered the bottom end bigtime. Once these are done you have got to be looking at an easy 100K miles extra worry free motoring.
If your car was newer and had only done 50K miles and having it's cambelt changed i would say don't bother as either pump very rarely gives any trouble at that mileage but once the miles are getting higher and you are at the upper end miles and nearing the car's 2nd cambelt change, then it's worth doing both pumps for sure.
I can recommend you buy the belts from Camskill. They stock DAYCO manufactured belts and pulleys, and i can tell you they are extremely high quality and very reasonably priced. I bought some recently when i did the Cambelt on my partners 2.7Ltr S-Type Diesel Jag. I was very impressed with the quality and certainly the price not to mention Camskill's very quick delivery.
Hope this helps.
If you're doing a cambelt and it's a high mileage car then you ought to think about a couple of things. While all the gubbins are off to fit the cambelt this might be an opportunity to safeguard the longevity of your engine by at least fitting a new water pump. It will go eventually and it won't be cheap to replace because all the front cover and everything has to be removed to get to it. It's not a difficult job to do just a bit time consuming. At the same time you really ought to consider a new oil pump that has had the oil pressure valve/plunger modification.
Unfortunately the pressure valve/plunger in these oil pumps have been known to stick and you get sudden loss of oil pressure which then fubars your bottom end. My old WRX engine went the way of the faulty oil pump and buggered the bottom end bigtime. Once these are done you have got to be looking at an easy 100K miles extra worry free motoring.
If your car was newer and had only done 50K miles and having it's cambelt changed i would say don't bother as either pump very rarely gives any trouble at that mileage but once the miles are getting higher and you are at the upper end miles and nearing the car's 2nd cambelt change, then it's worth doing both pumps for sure.
I can recommend you buy the belts from Camskill. They stock DAYCO manufactured belts and pulleys, and i can tell you they are extremely high quality and very reasonably priced. I bought some recently when i did the Cambelt on my partners 2.7Ltr S-Type Diesel Jag. I was very impressed with the quality and certainly the price not to mention Camskill's very quick delivery.
Hope this helps.
Edited by ScoobieWRX on Wednesday 19th December 14:57
Once it's all done though you are set with nothing but regular services to do which are just filters and fluids, which for the most part you can do yourself thereby saving you a bloody fortune in specialist servicing costs. So long as you keep up those interim 5000mile/6month oil changes in between the normal servicing schedule your new baby should give you awesome trouble free service and live forever!!
I tell you what.....I've just had a quick look at the Graham Goode Racing website and their prices for cambelts and pulleys are pretty damn good too. Judging by your specialists prices they are trying to pull your pants down!! I'd be interested to know what they are charging per hour and how many hours they are going to take over doing these jobs.
Edited by ScoobieWRX on Wednesday 19th December 15:05
I tell you what.....I've just had a quick look at the Graham Goode Racing website and their prices for cambelts and pulleys are pretty damn good too. Judging by your specialists prices they are trying to pull your pants down!! I'd be interested to know what they are charging per hour and how many hours they are going to take over doing these jobs.
Edited by ScoobieWRX on Wednesday 19th December 15:19
Further updates:
Lightweight pulley (minus bolt)
Timing there of nowhere abouts.
So all in all, proof if proof where needed of the quality of Kwik-Q style garages.
New belt, tensioners and new fuel reggy cam in at around 300 all in. Not bad at all really, but still could have done without it
Lightweight pulley (minus bolt)
Timing there of nowhere abouts.
So all in all, proof if proof where needed of the quality of Kwik-Q style garages.
New belt, tensioners and new fuel reggy cam in at around 300 all in. Not bad at all really, but still could have done without it
Edited by _Batty_ on Wednesday 19th December 18:08
What's a DIY belt change like on these? Seem to remember one of the cams can be prone to turning if not locked off properly - I take it specialist locking tools will be desirable, to prevent the cam turning?
Mine will need doing as I have only verbal assurances that it has recently been done. I'll go the whole hog and do everything, as Scooby mentioned. (Having had the engine on my previous Scooby go pop already!)
Mine will need doing as I have only verbal assurances that it has recently been done. I'll go the whole hog and do everything, as Scooby mentioned. (Having had the engine on my previous Scooby go pop already!)
Cambelt is very straight forward on these and yes the cams do need locking off if you don't have the timing marks marked up before dismantling everything. If the cam turns/slips it won't do the valves any harm, and you have the timing marks to line it up again anyway.
You could use a couple of single hand operated wood or welding clamps to clamp the cam wheel so you don't necessarily need the locking tool but it's always nice to have and makes the job that bit simpler knowing you have the right tools.
Simple job though, it's just all the crap that has to come off before you get to it. My partners Jag was no different. First time i'd done the Jag but once you've pulled all the layers of time consuming crap away to expose the offending parts it's all very simple.
You could use a couple of single hand operated wood or welding clamps to clamp the cam wheel so you don't necessarily need the locking tool but it's always nice to have and makes the job that bit simpler knowing you have the right tools.
Simple job though, it's just all the crap that has to come off before you get to it. My partners Jag was no different. First time i'd done the Jag but once you've pulled all the layers of time consuming crap away to expose the offending parts it's all very simple.
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