Steve's Bugeye WRX PPP

[SpecB]

Did he give you the correct sequence of swear words to use as you try to remove the clips?

[Steve_PPP]

lol

And another good result, swapped my 3 year old Bosch S4 battery at eurocarparts in Crawley with no questions/quibbles. It was pretty dead - put it on charge for 24 hours and lasted only 3 or 4 days before there wasn't enough CCA to turn the car over. Read some reviews about people having hassles, staff putting testers put on them, claims of using wrong chargers etc but no problems at all.

[NL03Scooby]

I think there are many who have radiators that are slowly decaying or past their best, we don't normally find out until they are removed as you have seen with yours or they fail! nice to see you are freshening up some vital parts before Germany.

Having pulled apart my original Scoob and done plenty of 'nosing around' on my current one its pretty clear the metalwork that runs below the radiators suffers somewhat in the rust/rot department, I think ImportCarParts even sell a repair panel specifically for this area.

[Steve_PPP]

Bit of an update... done a few bits over the last couple of days.

New radiator arrived from Alyn. Shiny


And fitted up with fans after giving them a clean.


Went with the blob one with the rad cap as it was available quickly. I thought it was just a hose tweak (Alyn threw in a t-piece and length of hose to do the job) but now realised the metal overflow pipe that runs along the top of the radiator fouls the cap



Could bend it but it seems a bit fragile and don't want to create a tiny crack/weakness so need a blob equivalent. Anyone got one spare kicking around? Otherwise will pop into JPP before the weekend.

So... on with the oil leak. Always suspected this was caused by a bad seal between modine and engine block, so removed the modine hard pipe first. Old vs new:





And once out the way, modine removed and O ring replaced





Looks clean enough above so hopefully it was just a failed O ring and job done. Now all re-fitted with a new oil filter. Topped up oil (only lost about half a litre removing filter/modine) and its only about 500 miles old so didn't do a full change.

Also noticed that the heatwrap on my uppipe had nearly all gone, was obviously not very good stuff as it had all gone brittle and split - sections (basically anything not under a steel tie) had disappeared! It'd been on the car for 8 or 9 years though. Had some decent wrap spare so with the car in the air, looked at the options of wrapping it in situe. What a pig of a job, but its done. Combination of access from underneath by removing nearest header heatshield, and from behind the subframe (arm inserted through gap above the driveshaft), whilst the old man helped from above (airbox removed). Still preferable to taking turbo out to remove uppipe though, as that's another fairly big job in itself... you can see it freshly wrapped on right hand side (ignore the rusty oem headers!)



Hopefully get her back on the ground and running this weekend!

[scotty]

Good effort in wrapping the up pipe while it was still fitted i need to re do my downpipe at some point .

[Scott.T]

Good job
Fingers crossed for no more oil leaks.

[Lucky]

Nice one Steve. At least it'll be tip top for Germany

[NL03Scooby]

Patience of a saint wrapping with the pipe in place! Hope your oil leak is now fixed, the car I am sure is looking forward to another battering around the ring.

Are your Nankangs all good from last years trip?

[Steve_PPP]

Thanks guys

Originally Posted by scotty

Good effort in wrapping the up pipe while it was still fitted i need to re do my downpipe at some point .

Having done the uppipe and got fairly well acquainted with the underside of the car, I think the downpipe is easily wrappable whilst it is on the car - assuming there's the same clearance as on a newage.

Originally Posted by Lucky

Nice one Steve. At least it'll be tip top for Germany

That's the plan... just got to try and finish it off now and get coolant back in without airlocking it.

Originally Posted by NL03Scooby

Are your Nankangs all good from last years trip?

Should be mate, they've been in the shed since last November though. Once the car is moving again they'll be going back on (no room to swap wheels in the garage).

[SpecB]

I managed to bend the hard pipe on my blob radiator without any issues - try a hot air gun first though. I'm actually thinking it looks a little tatty so may just replace the whole pipe with silicone all the way along the rad.

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by BlueBugEye

I managed to bend the hard pipe on my blob radiator without any issues - try a hot air gun first though. I'm actually thinking it looks a little tatty so may just replace the whole pipe with silicone all the way along the rad.

I did think about running hose all the way, but it looks neater as a rigid pipe and I guess Subaru went that way to prevent issues with flex and slack getting caught in the rad fans.

Getting the blob pipe will be the tidiest, as I think it has the T piece all as one part of the pipe.

[SpecB]

Part number 45175FE010 if it helps.

http://opposedforces.com/parts/impre...llustration_5/

[Ginola]

Finally got round to stopping your oil leak! its only been a year! :P

Glad you've hopefully got it sorted.

I don't envy you wrapping the up-pipe in place!

[Steve_PPP]

Coolant overflow pipe sourced from JPP for £15 Not bad considering Subaru wanted £57.90

Couple more hoses on their way from Alyn as well, so all the parts i need are pretty much here. Time to start putting everything back together!

Originally Posted by Ginola

Finally got round to stopping your oil leak! its only been a year! :P

I know, it was only leaking a little bit... just put a bit more in the top now and then

[Steve_PPP]

Another update, did a couple of hours in the garage this evening.

Replacement hoses and clips arrived from Alyn today for the modine hard pipe, as the old hoses were pretty crusty. They're right next to the headers so must get hot all the time, which probably helped them perish a bit. Anyway, replacement pipe all fitted.



Also got some decent jubilee clips round the top/bottom of the wrapped uppipe which should help to hold it in place, and the header heatshield, airbox assembly refitted.

Finally got the radiator fitted, new metal overflow pipe from JPP works a treat as you can see:


All hoses put back in and tightened up, fans plugged in, overflow bottle cleaned and back in and pretty much there.



So, at the weekend i'll get it off the axle stands and put new coolant in. Done some reading as it sounds easy to airlock them but a lot of people recommend filling from the bottom up via the turbo hose off the back of the header tank. Hopefully it'll be nice and easy

[SamSTI]

Looking good Steve. Awesome stuff

[Steve_PPP]

She runs

Was a little concerned I'd airlocked it at first as after 10 minutes running (at idle) the water was roughly up to temp, rad top hose was hot and pressurised but bottom hose was cold. Wasn't sure as I had heat in the car without any problems. Left it to cool down and guess it was just that the thermostat hadn't opened (fans didn't kick in). Tried burping both top and bottom hoses and no noticeable air came out so wonder if having the heater fans on full in the car was taking enough heat out to stop it getting hot enough.

Checked it when cold and all levels looked good, so took it for a run last night. This time got up to temperature nicely, fans kicked in and everything working. Gave it quite a bit of stick (including a few big stops to clean up the brakes where its sat for a while) and temperature stayed where it should on the gauge so no overheating....all good I think

Oh, and no more oil drips so definitely looks like the modine seal was the cause Now she just needs a swap to the other wheels/tyres and a damn good clean/polish and she should be ready for Germany.

[Rdlangy1]

Glad you've managed to get everything sorted Steve

[NL03Scooby]

Glad all is back to normal and the car back in one piece ok. Will get a thorough testing come Germany! I am seeing Brent tomorrow for a few bits to be done.

[scotty]

Happydays thats one car sorted for the trip lol .

[Steve_PPP]

So... as many of you know, the scoob wasn't faultless in Germany. On the plus side, no problems with the radiator and the oil leak anymore

But on the downside, it looks like head gaskets are failing. Car overheated on 3rd lap of the weekend, pushed some coolant out the overflow bottle and got bubbing in the bottle too (even for 5 mins after engine switched off). Coolant level has been fluctuating too and there's no leaks so its going somewhere... so despite driving absolutely fine on the way home, there's obviously an issue when on track.

So, what to do. Considered breaking and moving onto something else but i'd need to drop £10k+ to find a nice example 2.0 widetrack or better. There's £4k-5k of parts on mine if I did break (yes, I went through it painstakingly...) but i'd probably end up keeping some of those parts like wheels, Lateral sump, ksport brake kit etc so I'd end up with less cash than that.

Think the easiest/best solution is to try and get a low miles STI8 long engine from a reputable breaker and drop it in and then map. Transplant the sump and new hoses of my current engine beforehand. I'm reliably informed I can just run with the AVCS heads unplugged....

Saw this one breaking
http://www.scoobynet.com/full-cars-b...a2-eibach.html

ej207 uk sti semi closed deck engine with avcs heads long engine excellent working order no knocks or rattles pulls very well and doesn't use water or oil and no smoke at all..sold as a long engine so bottom end and heads complete all inlet/exhaust/turbo/aux ect removed £1350complete

So £1350 but would need to add
- vf35
- pinks
- intake manifold
- ported oem headers in decent condition ideally (mine are rusty old feckers)
- 3 port solenoid?

Don't know the mileage on that car though, can't see it in the ad. Or I could take a visit to see Saj, of course.

[555_Si]

mine ran fine on 2 port, I have a spare set of pinks here, headers I also have spare with the pinks in, so no messing with injector seals.

[scotty]

I know someone has a nice JDM 2.0 engine out of a JDM widetrack for sale .

[Ginola]

I'd put a prodrive 3 port in, for the sake of 50quid if your doing all the rest, I'd also throw an uprated 11mm oil pump and cambelt kit into the mix (I wouldn't replace the water pump for a pattern one though)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Scott.T]

I would forget the AVCS heads and all the extra cost for very ltitle gain it would bring. Especially if only going VF35.

Short engine only plus VF35 and pinks will keep you happy. Just ask Terry who was running it his a bug, who had it mapped locally
SMD also drove it and commented favourably IIRC.

[SpecB]

It's a difficult one - if you only go with the short engine (cheaper) and re-use your heads to avoid the AVCS 'issue' it will almost certainly end up more expensive as the block and your heads ideally need skimming/checking, add in new Head Gaskets (uprated would be the obvious choice) and the 'build' cost it will be more expensive than simply dropping an STI lump in complete.

I know you can run AVCS heads without the AVCS plumbed in but I'm not sure exactly how much you lose (I only had mine not active in the running in map) as the cam timing changes you will probably feel it most at the mid to top end as your cams will run in the low rev position constantly.

I'm sure you can drop an STI ECU into the WRX and repin the connectors using the tumbler wiring (good excuse to bin them while it's in bits) to gain the AVCS control. Shouldn't be that much more expensive.

The obvious thing would be to fit the STI lump with the tumblers deleted and run with out AVCS for a while then if you desire you can simply swap the ECU and re-pin without any disturbance of the engine etc. and get the car running to it's full potential.

Other thing to suggest - you don't need the STI inlet you can just reuse yours.

Could you find a breaker that will sell you the 'long' engine with inlet, injectors loom and turbo - may get a better deal that way, and even get the matching ecu off them (I think you need the key as well)

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by Scott.T

I would forget the AVCS heads and all the extra cost for very ltitle gain it would bring. Especially if only going VF35.

Originally Posted by BlueBugEye

It's a difficult one - if you only go with the short engine (cheaper) and re-use your heads to avoid the AVCS 'issue' it will almost certainly end up more expensive as the block and your heads ideally need skimming/checking, add in new Head Gaskets (uprated would be the obvious choice) and the 'build' cost it will be more expensive than simply dropping an STI lump in complete.

That's what I was thinking. I was expecting it to be cheaper to buy the long engine rather than an STI8 short engine, gaskets, skimming of my heads etc...

Don't know if thats the case or not though.

[Rdlangy1]

Firstly - glad you are keeping the motor

I have little to no experience with engines e.t.c. but I can tell you that without AVCS my car felt totally different than with it.. After new neutral position switch was fitted, the pull after 5-6k was much more noticeable.

I hope you find a good solution - Im sure Rich had an STi lump sitting in his workshop when mine was being mapped? maybe ask if he knows of one for sale?

Also Richard at East Kent Subaru Spares often has complete STi lumps for sale as my mechanic has 2-3 sitting in his workshop that he has bought off him.

Ryan

[Steve_PPP]

I certainly need to understand more about the AVCS, don't want it holding back if thats the case. Maybe an ECU swap needed then. Will have to ask around and do some reading.

Oh, and Nick - re: inlet, I wasn't sure if i could reuse mine, but for £80 from mattybr I thought i'd include it. Needs to be red really

Anyway, off to Goodwood now

[Scott.T]

There are likely to be major loom difference's. I doubt very much you can run an STi ecu on a WRX loom. The ECU have very different internal functions and this varies dramatically from year to year.

At the BHP levels we are talking about here I'd be interested to know how much AVCS would add compared to a car with the original heads. I doubt the butommeter can feel it ands it's something you will only see on a dyno plot.

[Scott.T]

Sorry but it just annoys me, a little, when people have an original question/brief when responses drill more cost into their solution with lots of requirement creep and additional cost for very little gain.
Maybe that's because requirements capture, costing and risk management are a big part of my day job.

I think you have 2 simple options :
1. Just get the headgasket fixed. It would be done in a few days and you know exactly what you have.
2. STi short engine, pinks and VFxx. A cheap way to 330BHP. But runs the risk that the short engine has faults or latent damage. The same could be said for the turbo.

Anything more than that you will be running into the area of depreciating gains and increasing risk.

[SpecB]

Originally Posted by Scott.T

Sorry but it just annoys me, a little, when people have an original question/brief when responses drill more cost into their solution with lots of requirement creep and additional cost for very little gain.

I don't think I'd agree with that, all the suggestions have been largely in line with the OP, the only additional mentions are a 3 port solenoid, yes I know you can mess about with the pills but that's really not the best way to go about it as far as I'm aware. The only real additional suggestion has been the addition of an ECU that can run AVCS based on the fact that it appears possible to rejoin the WRX loom to take an STI ECU and therefore retain the AVCS. My suggestion was in fact to have this as a future upgrade path.

The use that Steves engine has means a simple HG replacement is likely to only be a short(ish) term solution and a replacement or rebuilt bottom end makes better long term sense to me. Replacing the short block again is a potentially expensive route as you need to factor in skimming, and gaskets (head and rocker) and again while the heads are off you may as well check/relap valves etc.

Or maybe we should all stop offering advice and opinions?

I've really done my research on engine issues on the WRX's having been through similar twice before!

[Scott.T]

In all the newage that I have mapped I have never felt the need to fit a 3-port. But hey it looks' good to some up the pub when you spout off your specification.

Infact I was handed a Prodrive 3-port once to fit and the cheap brittle plastic snapped whilst fitting, so we just cracked on with the 2-port.
The restrictor swap is only really needed on bug WRX as you cannot get any more then 1bar out of them, on a TD04, without changing the restrictor.

I have never had to swap out any others. But it is a way/means to control boost spike that's a lot cheaper then than another remap or the cost of a 3-port. But only if the problem presents itself, which I have never witnessed.

Just another few £££ wasted IMHO.

Steve's car has done very well over the years. If he has plenty of ££££ and will be content with plenty of head scratching, research and several bites at the cherry then I am sure he will fill his boots and crack on.

I have seen too many people throw £££££ at a repair using it as an excuse for an upgrade. Or even pulling a perfect engine and replacing it for an upgrade. Only to see 20BHP increase and lots of strife along the way.
I've seen people sucked into this and spend £18K only to achieve 30BHP over what the original stock setup could produce and again the road to achieve this extra 30BHP was not a smooth one.

I'm just throwing out there that when you stray from the simple you may wish you hadn't.
If done right the headgasket fix should see it right. It's just a shame that on the flat-four it's not so simple as whipping the head off on your drive.

Personally I would recommend Vince at RDS, that's where I would take mine if in the same situation. He will do it right, not cut corners and source most parts from Olly at RCM, who he knows well from his Rally background.
It may not be a quickjob as he's a touch laid back and never turns away work, from the more mundane to the exotic.
But it's where my money would go.

[Ginola]

From what I've heard from several well known Subaru mechanics with 20 + years in the trade (including RCM who won't just replace head gaskets anymore due to this problem)
Replacing head gaskets on a leggy well used engine when they fail or are on there way out, leads to bottom end failure within a week or two normally, there are countless threads about this on multiple owners forums, from SES to NASIOC,

I would not be happy with the use that Steve intends for his car to simply do a head gasket replacement in light of this.

Indeed you could at 330bhp just use a standard Sti sized restrictor pill and 2 port, better to save the money until you decide to fit a nice big Turbo and spend lots of money

[Steve_PPP]

Well well, no need for a ding dong ladies

Originally Posted by Scott.T

I think you have 2 simple options :
1. Just get the headgasket fixed. It would be done in a few days and you know exactly what you have.

This was my original plan. Especially as CJ offered to help take the engine out/in. But heads would need skimming, time and effort and i'm back with the same 97,000 mile engine thats slappy (almost bordering on knocky) when cold. I count myself lucky that its not done the bottom end already, considering its just a WRX engine and the track work its done over the last 6 or 7 years.

If the engine is coming out, i'd like to do the job right. I'm not worried about dropping £1500 on an STI long engine plus a bit more for turbo etc (already had offers from people for inlet mani and pinks) - but i don't want to get into spending thousands obviously. If I start changing ECU then obviously it adds cost and complication.

At the same time, i'd like a bit more power (as do we all). The car doesn't thrill me anymore at 280bhp. It might not at 330bhp, but it'll help. At this stage I just don't know enough about what i need though... so this conversation is all about finding answers

If i could justify the cash, then the bug would be broken and i'd have a nice jdm or uk widetrack. But i've never really spent a lot of cash on the bug, its been a great car and i've got more pressing needs for spending cash on stuff other than the scoob these days.... (house, mainly!)

[scotty]

Hope it all works out what ever you decide Steve .

[SpecB]

Give a couple of engine builders a ring and find out what they'd charge!

Couple of ideas to consider.

This will be the more expensive option but:
Have a chat to Paul Finch - see what he would charge for a forged rebuild on your engine reusing your crank if serviceable or even going for a 2.1.

Cheaper option could be to:
Give Andy Williams a ring or email (Williams motorsport) for a rebuild on your engine. My last rebuild was around £1.6k which was new bearings, gudgeon pins, Head Gaskets (Cosworth) and RCM Baffle plate. He's currently got this engine on eBay which I appreciate is higher than your original budget (based on the options you were considering) however I'm sure he will take your engine in Part Exchange and bolt your heads to the block. My original build was done on a part ex basis and he sent back the engine with all my ancillaries re-fitted.

Either way a strong build on your engine could well end up being a cost effective solution as while it may cost slightly more in the first instance you wouldn't end up with the ECU itch that non-functional AVCS would leave you!

When you do consider taking the engine out I've got an engine stand here if you want to borrow one?

If the engine is being rebuilt or replaced, I'd certainly echo Dave's comments that an uprated Oil pump would make sense - I also echo his comments that many builders won't do a simple HG replacement for fear of imminent failure afterwards, however I know that my builder (Andy Williams) does not fully subscribe to that school of thought in fact when my engine has the same symptoms as Steve's (Ok mine was a forged 2.5) he spilt the book halves (no cost) to check the bearings to prove that there was no reason to replace them by default if it was a minor HG issue (Gasses to oil with no water contamination of oil) - his findings from my engine was that the bearings were in perfect condition with only minimal signs of wear in one with milage.

[Steve_PPP]

Well.... this hasn't been updated in over a year!

Existing engine is still going, its done another Ring trip but no major head gasket/coolant issues so I guess the problem isn't getting any worse.

Did have some issues in Germany though, although not strictly engine related this time! Actuator on the turbo seized up which left me with the wastegate stuck open and no boost. Few repairs in Jackie's car park and the car ran boost again (got 2 more laps out of it!) and got home safely.

Actuator since replaced, still had a fluctuating boost issue but that had occasionally occurred before the ring trip too. Between 3-4k rpm it would just feel like the boost was dropping off before re-spooling and going again. Tried another boost solenoid but problem still there. Also had a problem with a flashing engine light on long 4th/5th gear pulls, which research suggested might be the neutral position switch on the gearbox.

Anyway, onto yesterday Huge thanks to Rob for spending the day at mine yesterday helping out, the scoob got new plugs, new oil (twice ) and filter, new neutral position switch fitted, handbrake slack adjusted etc.

Oil was a mare, some of you have heard about Millers oil and jelly like lumps etc, well I had a bottle of it. See here...
http://www.southeastscoobies.co.uk/v...ad.php?t=21462

Wasn't happy with lumps going in the engine as it could block oil ways/filter etc, so we dropped it back out and put a newer bottle of Millers 10W-60 NT+ stuff in there (I already had it, hence didn't go with a different brand). What a waste of £50 of oil, but what can you do. Miller's say there isn't a problem apparently.... thankfully the newer NT+ stuff didn't have the same problem.

Still had boost fluctations so did a MAF swap (from Rob's scoob) and it was a lot better. So going to invest in a new genuine MAF, as mine's done 100k now. Will see how things go but I expect after that it will a case of getting a certain friendly mapper to hook up a laptop and see what's going on.

I'll get there soon!!

[scooby doo]

Sounds like your getting to the bottom of it, That oil tho??? good choice to swap it over,

[Rdlangy1]

That's why I went across to Motul 300v glad mr rob worked his magic and glad ur hopefully getting to the bottom of the problem...

[Scott.T]

Can't see how MAF can impact boost unless it's throwing a permanent failure and going into limp.
Did you also look into your hot start cam position sensor issue.
Did you back off the actuator and re-log boost control ?

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by Scott.T

Can't see how MAF can impact boost unless it's throwing a permanent failure and going into limp.

OK, but that's a bit strange then. It's not going into limp and the car drives fine with the current MAF both off boost and over 4.5k rpm. In the 3-4k rpm on WOT the boost spools, then stalls, then spools, then stalls. Trying to build speed quickly on the motorway in 4th/5th is pretty difficult.

All we found on Sunday was that Rob's MAF made a noticeable difference, hence the assumption that it's time for a new MAF. Could the ECU detect the different MAF and make an adjustmust whilst it re-learns??

Originally Posted by Scott.T

Did you also look into your hot start cam position sensor issue.

Yep, swapped for a replacement camshaft position sensor. Hot starting seems much better now. Don't think it was related though, as we realised the code that was thrown at the brekkie meet (or as we thought) was a historic code logged that occurs whenever the bugs hit 6.5k rpm and it throws the light. I've had that code a hundred times, and with both camshaft sensors.

Originally Posted by Scott.T

Did you back off the actuator and re-log boost control ?

Yes. On a test drive afterwards it seemed a little better, but on another drive it seemed just as bad. The symptoms aren't always consistent, but not sure what is causing the variation. The boost logging I've got is only via an OBD port reader and bluebooth link to a phone app, so not sure of its accuracy.

Other observations - the plugs looked tired, plug gap was larger than new due to wear, I thought the best course of action would be to replace MAF so we know that is good and then get you to look at it and see what's going on You could look at it now, but if MAF is dodgy it might be wasted time?

[SpecB]

Have you tried cleaning out all the pipes to and from the boost solenoid?

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by SpecB

Have you tried cleaning out all the pipes to and from the boost solenoid?

No, are they susceptible to getting filled with crud then? Could be an easy fix if that's the case....

[Scott.T]

There is a restrictor in the small boost pipe that connects to the turbo outlet nipple.
This is only 1.0mm on the PPP WRX (1.2mm on the WRX) so it can clog especially if over filled with oil.
The smaller the hole gets the more boost spike or overboost you will see.
Overboost will cause oscillation especially on motorway when trying to regulate part throttle boost in 5th

[Scott.T]

MAF only controls the fuelling above approx 3000rpm or when generating positive boost. Different model years have slighlty different cross over points from lambda closed loop control to MAF open loop fuelling.
It has no impact on boost control.
Hence why a dieing MAF causing lean running can kill an engine. It will still boost but will be too lean causing detonation.

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by Scott.T

There is a restrictor in the small boost pipe that connects to the turbo outlet nipple.
This is only 1.0mm on the PPP WRX (1.2mm on the WRX) so it can clog especially if over filled with oil.
The smaller the hole gets the more boost spike or overboost you will see.
Overboost will cause oscillation especially on motorway when trying to regulate part throttle boost in 5th

OK, sounds like its time to take the hoses off and check them all first then. Never knew the pill was changed as part of the PPP???

[asperformance]

the Millers oil issue was down to a specific batch and only ever related to the old style NT variant

no known issues before or since

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by asperformance

the Millers oil issue was down to a specific batch and only ever related to the old style NT variant

no known issues before or since

Thanks Alyn. Does that mean Millers are offering a refund (or even replace with NT+) if they acknowledge a problem with it? I've got a nasty oil-coloured lump of jelly here that they can have for proof

[Steve_PPP]

Well.... so here we are another two months down the line. And it looks like the scoob is sorted

Huge thanks to Rob for giving up two weekends and assisting with much spannering, tea drinking and humour (of the shaft, nut and hole variety, mainly ). Plus, donating various spare bits & bobs and supplying plenty of new jubilees. But yeah, thanks mate, I'd never have got it sorted on my own

So... it looks like the turbo was the problem all along. Bought a second hand TD04 off a member on here in Hastings and Scott dropped it over as he was passing. As soon as we got my old TD04 off, we knew it wasn't right. There was a load of shaft movement, and you could see a paler area on the intake housing where the compressor wheel has been scrubbing. Add to that, it felt notchy when spinning it and a whole load heavier to turn by hand than the replacement and we thought we'd found the problem.



Twin turbo conversion?

Uppipe was removed as it needed re-wrapping and to refresh old gaskets. In the process of removing the turbo, we also found that the OEM inlet hose was split in the rubber section. It looked like the jubilee had munched it up but it was only good for scrap. So we began destroying that to remove it, as taking the intake manifold off wasn't really on our wish list! Even with all the ports cut off, what an absolute pig of a job. There really is sod all space to manoeuvre it out of there...

The list of bits coming off the car grows....





New turbo inlet, found one that was still thick ply with reinforcing wire (and not cheap ebay tat) whilst still having removable aluminium ports (to aid installation) and not costing £250+ like a Samco or Perrin. There is no way in hell that we'd have got it installed with moving the manifold without removing the aluminium bits...


And then put it all back together again. Mostly in the right order!
Took it for a test drive and it was clear that the fluctuating boost was gone, it pulled smooth all the way through. Thank fook for that. But in a last ditch attempt to annoy us, the car gave us two new gremlins... air had got in the power steering and wouldn't bleed out making the pump sound like a bag of bolts, and I randomly got a double-speed left indicator flash suggesting a bulb was out. No indicator on front morette, so whipped that out. Bulb fine... but:



Of all the random crap... so out with the soldering and a new spade connector. Job done.

Time for a power steering fluid flush. Wow, I'd no idea how bad that stuff could get. Used a vacuum pump to drain the reservoir, replace with fresh, run the pump, empty reservoir again and so on. This is what came out first time (on the left).



It stunk like a cross between burnt oil and old burnt circuit boards. And was way thicker than the fresh stuff... so time for the bin. Took about half an hour and six swaps to get it looking fresh in the system and that's resolved the problem.

Happy days. Even took it out for a nice drive in the sun last weekend:





So hopefully that's the scoob back to full health. A trackday at Bedford Autodrome is booked for 3 weeks time so that'll answer the question one way or another!