Steve's Bugeye WRX PPP

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by oldskool

Its such a gorgeous car ! All those ingredients added up to a great recipe

Thanks mate

Originally Posted by SilverSurfer

Quite a cheap effective modification on the rear brakes that brembo conversation !!!!

I'm just off outside to have a chat with my turbo.

They are much better than the old rear brakes, but that wasn't helped by the old calipers being sticky.... whats wrong with the turbo?

[Red Baron]

Think he's commenting on your auto correct, according to your update you've had a conversation with your brakes rather than a conversion. It's the lack of sleep Steve, the joys of kids

Shane

[Bytes]

I've been fortunate enough to have a passenger ride around Brand's Hatch and the brake conversation upgrade definitely worked ... I was too busy holding on tightly to talk though

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by Red Baron

Think he's commenting on your auto correct, according to your update you've had a conversation with your brakes rather than a conversion. It's the lack of sleep Steve, the joys of kids

Shane

Hahahah i didn't even see the error when i read it back in Scott's quote

Post edited

[Steve_PPP]

Well, I popped down to Brents on Tuesday to have a sniff test done on the head gaskets. As some of you will know, it pushed some coolant out of the expansion tank in Germany and wanted to be 100% sure everything was fine with the engine before spending a load of money on the car.

And the good news is that there's no evidence of a head gasket problem. Its been fine since Germany (including the long drive home) and Brent just thinks it might have been overfilled beforehand.

So.... shopping list time

- Gearbox rebuild.
- Clutch
- Lightened flywheel
- New sump (mine is rusting badly)
- Baffle plate

I might go with an ADL or OEM clutch, as I'm only running less than 300bhp. The current Subaru clutch has done 92,000 miles and still works fine so can't be bad I've also heard of judder problems with exedy or competition clutches so it makes sense to save some cash here and just stay with a standard one.

[Granby]

That's good news Steve, I had a slight judder on my exedy clutch but only when it was bedding in, apart from that they are OEM to use

[Scott.T]

ADL or OE are not far off the price of a excedy pink.
I have had a lot less judder on the excedy than the ADL I had before. Maybe the lightened flywheel has helped.

[Lucky]

Good news with the engine mate. At least you can now start getting it sorted

[Ginola]

Good news about the engine dude. Get a proper sump, instead of new sump and plate! Cost will not be a lot different.

[drakesnow]

Agree with Dave, if you wern't replacing the entire sump just go plate but depends on price point.

Great news on your engine : D : )

As far as clutch choice maybe go pink as you could then easily go power up to 320/340 and it would be worth having for farther down the road after all of the above gets sorted.

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by Ginola

Good news about the engine dude. Get a proper sump, instead of new sump and plate! Cost will not be a lot different.

Originally Posted by drakesnow

Agree with Dave, if you wern't replacing the entire sump just go plate but depends on price point.

Cheers guys, I did think about getting a proper baffled sump rather than a standard sump & plate but the difference in price was quite a bit. I can get a genuine Subaru sump for £68 plus the baffle plates are about £180-£200.

http://www.importcarparts.co.uk/part...=subaru%20sump

Suggestions of places to buy are welcome but proper sumps were coming in at £550-£600 when I was looking.

[Ginola]

Originally Posted by Steve_PPP

Cheers guys, I did think about getting a proper baffled sump rather than a standard sump & plate but the difference in price was quite a bit. I can get a genuine Subaru sump for £68 plus the baffle plates are about £180-£200.

http://www.importcarparts.co.uk/part...=subaru%20sump

Suggestions of places to buy are welcome but proper sumps were coming in at £550-£600 when I was looking.

Speak to Ali burrows motorsport in NL or perhaps Alyn knows someone but you don't need to pay RCM/Lateral prices to get one., Group N sumps are modified standard sumps with a baffled insert bolted/welded into the sump, but they are more effective than a cosworth plate which have been proven to be detrimental in certain circumstances.

[C. J.]

Ayln sells a few levels of sumps

[Steve_PPP]

Thanks CJ, I'll ask Alyn as I'm bound to be calling him about some of the other bits I'll need

[SpecB]

How about?
http://bbs.scoobynet.com/subaru-part...p-package.html

[Scott.T]

Originally Posted by BlueBugEye

How about?
http://bbs.scoobynet.com/subaru-part...p-package.html

Lol at the price of that.
Some people really like pissing money away don't they.
How do they justify these prices for a glorified bucket.

I'm sure retailers of these will be able to spin you 100's of reasons why you must have one.
That's why many owners go to an engine builder expecting to pay 3k for a build end up being talked into spending 15k.
And they still have more issues then they ever had with the OE engine.

[C. J.]

Oe twin scroll sump with a plate is all I have ever had with a accusump added two yrs ago .

[Steve_PPP]

Well, collecting a nice pile of parts for the scoob now

Top service from Alyn as always and now have exedy pink clutch, ACT streetlite flywheel, gearbox and engine oil. Plus a lateral baffled sump from Anger. Just got to get it all fitted now..... plus have the box rebuilt and jobs a good'un.

[scotty]

Originally Posted by Steve_PPP

Well, collecting a nice pile of parts for the scoob now

Top service from Alyn as always and now have exedy pink clutch, ACT streetlite flywheel, gearbox and engine oil. Plus a lateral baffled sump from Anger. Just got to get it all fitted now..... plus have the box rebuilt and jobs a good'un.

Good to here it's coming along Steve you fitting the parts your self .

[Steve_PPP]

Not a chance, I'm not that good with the spanners Plus gearbox is coming out so need ramps, its going to SMD for the work.

[Steve_PPP]

Time flies by... nearly a year since I updated this thread already. Priorities have changed, renovating a house and having a little'un means the scoob has spent a lot of time tucked up in the garage doing not a lot.

Still, some changes since last year

SMD fitted a Lateral baffled sump last Autumn, and began the job of getting the gearbox refurbed. Unfortunately, it turned into quite a saga and eventually we ended up identifying that a faulty Exedy clutch was the problem. Some of you know the details, but its a long story that would take far too long to type here (plus i've tried to forgot most of it deliberately!) It took many weeks to resolve with gearbox swaps and flywheel changes etc. SMD were top drawer thoughout though, especially as all problems ended up being cause by a faulty part that i'd supplied myself.

Anyway, since then..... bought a set of freshly refurbed PFF7s from Joel and fitted my current Vredesteins to them... new road/winter wheels.

These turned up for the Ultralites... Nangkang NS-2Rs in 120 soft compound.


The current suspension has also been replaced with a set of Tein SuperStreet coilovers. Its really sharpened up the handling and there's much less roll/pitch compared to the Prodrive springs I was running before.


This is how the car looked at Supercar Siege this year:


I've added carbon-effect wing markers instead of the painted blue originals, as they were going spare on Si's red wagon. The gunmetal wheels are back on now and will stay there until winter starts to come I expect. Other than that, most things are the same.

[Steve_PPP]

Oh, and latest little issue.... a small oil leak

Thanks to Ginola for popping up last weekend and helping with getting under the car and doing an oil/filter swap. There was evidence of oil leaking around the filter and we hoped we'd cure it by removing and cleaning up the bottom of the oil modine and replacing. But alas not.... 50 quid of new Millers in the car and its still dripping slightly. We're not talking much at all, probably a teaspoon of oil in a few days but annoying none the less.

Guessing the cause is now the O ring between the oil modine and the block has perished. The O ring is a cheap fix at £7 but it means dropping the oil and coolant to change it. Doh.

[scotty]

Looking very nice Steve are they flex A or Z sounds like I'm going in the right direction with a set of Tein coilovers .

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by scotty

Looking very nice Steve are they flex A or Z sounds like I'm going in the right direction with a set of Tein coilovers .

Now you've made me think as the Tein range confuses me at the best of times. Just checked and they're Super Streets - post above edited

[scotty]

Still good bit of kit regardless .

[C. J.]

You don't need to drop the oil or water to change . But you will get about 1/2 ltr of oil that will drop out

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by C. J.

You don't need to drop the oil or water to change . But you will get about 1/2 ltr of oil that will drop out

Really? I read there's not enough flex in the modine water hose to pull it away from the block enough to clean surfaces and replace?

I'm planning on dropping the coolant anyway as the cars still on original top/bottom rad hoses and they're looking a bit old, don't want them failing in future (especially on the Ring in front of a biker!)

The oils only done about 20 miles so I'll drop it into a clean container then re-use.

[Rdlangy1]

Gotta say this is one of my fav bugs

Not good about the oil leak, but lets hope its a quick fix...

[Steve_PPP]

Thanks mate sure it won't be a major problem (assuming the oil is not coming from somewhere higher up!)

[C. J.]

Drop the water if you're doing hoses but still no need to drop the oil !
It sits in the sump 😉
You're still get the same amount of oil come out the oil modine regardless

[Steve_PPP]

Cool, cheers CJ

[Hongkongfooi]

Looks good with the prodrives

[Matt23]

Loving the look of the car with the PFF7s on, really suits it

[NL03Scooby]

Looking really good Steve, the new stance on the Tein's mixed with the new wheels really suit it, I hope you feel the time, money and effort have been worth it given the way the car looks and drives now.

[Lucky]

Looking really good mate. The new coily's will make you even quicker around the ring lol

Still love the look of the prodrive wheels too. They are still one of the nicest I think.

[SamSTI]

Looking good Steve! Love them alloys.

[Steve_PPP]

So... little update..... After failing a couple of weekend ago to get the car up in the air high enough to get my axle stands under it with my existing jack (no room in garage to jack from side) i invested in one of these:
http://www.sgs-engineering.com/garag...m-trolley-jack
Nice bit of kit and a good reach.

So spent this afternoon under the car tinkering. Definitely won't be in the scoob at tomorrow's meet as it currently has no coolant (or battery) in it.


Changed both the top and bottom rad hose easily enough, although one of the oem hose clips was being a bit of a pig for a while.

Still have the minor oil leak that I discovered last July (been busy working on house rather than car!) so next job is to fix that. Definitely looks like its seeping out between the block and the oil modine as the block looks clean and dry but the sides of the modine are all oily.


Got a replacement O ring for it, and having no coolant in the car will make the change easier too.

Couple of questions though.... first - coolant recommendations? Not sure what was in there before as I expect SMD put it in there but it was a nice shade of orangy-pink.

Second... the expansion bottle is a right state, full of slime and gunk at the bottom. I could probably clean it out with a pressure washer but it'd be a damn messy job. Was thinking of just replacing from importcarparts for a shiny new one, but the one they list is 02-07 and different part code to whats stamped on my bottle.
http://www.importcarparts.co.uk/part...y=&searchPart=
I know the radiators are different between bug and blob (blob has filler cap on top) but anyone know if the expansion bottle in the link would fit a bug? Surely they can't be different

[Rdlangy1]

I ha e the motul expert coolant in mine - recommended by Alyn - good stuff

And obviously coz it says expert in the title it gives me 5bhp extra Pmsl

I won't be in the scoob tomorrow either - so u won't be alone in the daily drive

[Banstead Stig]

Opposed Forces suggests it could be the same... look at item 7. If you click through to the part numbers and look at the "usage", the dates suggest a wide coverage.

http://opposedforces.com/parts/impre...llustration_4/

Hope that helps!

[Ginola]

Just put the same coloured glycol based coolant in that came out, doesn't need anything special, as above bottle didn't change till 05 when they went plastic (which are easily broken!)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SpecB]

I've got a blob radiator in mine and a bugeye bottle if that helps? I cleaned mine out with a bottle brush and pressure wash last time I dropped the coolant - not as new but good enough for me.

While you're working in that area take a good look at the hard cross over pipe from the modine under the engine as this rots badly. Also the water pump pipes (small L shaped pipes behind the timing covers).


http://www.importcarparts.co.uk/part...y=&searchPart=

£36 not much to pay for peace of mind.

Or £46 for the bling version!

[Banstead Stig]

That's a good point. Had mine replaced last year as it was looking less than convincing!

[Steve_PPP]

Nick, thanks for the heads up about the modine hard pipe. I've had a look at mine today and it is corroded but it appears to be just surface rust. However, I think it's best to change it considering i'll probably never have as much access to it as I do now. Only thing i'm not sure about is how the support bracket is fixed to the block, looks a bit odd.

And do I have to remove the timing belt covers to change the other water hoses in that kit?

[Steve_PPP]

Loving the lighter evenings too, got home from work and managed to get a couple of hours in the garage tonight. Still not fixed oil leak (yet) but took a look at the radiator closer. Back of it looked absolutely fine and front is not visible due to air con rad but once removed i was pretty surprised, all the fins are turning to dust:



I can literally run my finger down the radiator and the fins flake off. Time for a new one of those then! Still, its the original so 14 years of life isn't too bad.



Found rust underneath though Before:



And after a clean up, wire brushing with a rotary attachment on my drill and some rust treatment:



Will get a nice coat of black stonechip tomorrow after work

[SpecB]

You can do the hoses without removing the timing belt covers but you need a long set of angled needle nose pliers

Support bracket should be a single bolt

[Steve_PPP]

Just to remove the clips i guess? Will look into it... have you done it yourself on your scoob whilst engine was in situe or when it was out of the car?

[SpecB]

I'll admit I had mine done at a garage - cost me £20! But only because I couldn't get the car high enough at home. It looked pretty easy once you could get under the car properly and it was just two of the clamps to undo but I guess it depends on the orientation of the clamps on your car.

[Steve_PPP]

OK. Don't really want to take the timing belt covers off. The sides look simple but the access means the centre one probably needs to come off to and that gets me into removing the bottom pulley and belts which I don't want to do (mainly as i don't know how and don't have a puller )

The kit comes with clips so i guess i could dremel the old ones off easily enough if the orientation of them is all wrong!

[SpecB]

I'd try to see if you can remove the clips leaving the pipes in place - slide the clips off the hard pipe underneath before cutting anything as if you can't you can just slide the clips back into place.

[Steve_PPP]

Well... new radiator, coolant and modine hard pipe ordered from Alyn @ AS Performance, great service and advice again as usual