Steve's Bugeye WRX PPP

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by Red Baron

Take your time Steve, not as if there's any rush to get it finished so you can continue to do do things properly. Mine came out of the garage earlier so I could work on the Passat and then went back in again, considering SORNing it seems pointless paying the road tax at the moment.

Thanks Shane. I didn't SORN mine either, thinking it would only be off the road for a couple of months. And then the thought didn't cross my mind again. It'll have been 5 months in a week or so.... I'll go and do it now, will probably still save me the best part of £100 at roughly 30 quid a month.

Originally Posted by SpecB

Just a point on the front support - Having seen the state of mine on the Legacy Hallie made a good point that you should paint the bolt on radiator support brackets as well as the welded in piece as they rust and transfer it to the cross member - don't leave them as bare metal as that where the rot starts.

Thanks for the heads up. I was considering it but got into the swing of putting things back together too much! But its probably good advice so i'll do it, I've got plenty of paint/lacquer left over!

[scooby doo]

Looks really good and rust free.

[Frenchie]

Lots of good work going on there Steve. Interesting about car insurance. Here in France it's the car which is insured not the driver. Also if you own the car it has to be insured if it's on the road or not. Your insurance will automatically renew unless you can produce official confirmation that you have changed insurance companies, the car has been sold or scrapped. Lot less uninsured drivers here.

[Red Baron]

Originally Posted by Steve_PPP

Thanks Shane. I didn't SORN mine either, thinking it would only be off the road for a couple of months. And then the thought didn't cross my mind again. It'll have been 5 months in a week or so.... I'll go and do it now, will probably still save me the best part of £100 at roughly 30 quid a month.

Just SORNd mine before I get stung for February, maybe it will motivate me to start taking it apart if I know there's no chance of me driving it.

[Scott.T]

I reversed mine onto the drive at the weekend. So comforting to know I had tax and insurance cover in place.
It even got rained on.

[Steve_PPP]

Getting there slowly! Really limited on the amount of time I can spend in the garage but little bits of progress are being made.

Decided to take the morette headlights apart before refitting them, give them a good clean up and checkover. All good though and refitted.





I'd had a rusty patch on the front slam panel near the bonnet latch (you can see it in the photo above). Ground it back to fresh metal and treated it, then cleaned, filler, primer, paint etc and its looking much better now.

Anyway, main news... engine went in a few weeks ago!





Since then, its been a case of connecting things back up, trying to remember where things go, buying more shiny bits etc. I'm keeping the A/C despite the weight, but the old condenser was grim so it went in the bin.





Other stuff...
- Replaced coolant hoses to the heater matrix, they looked pretty tired.
- New Group N pitch stop mount.
- Reconnected up power steering system
- Replaced fuel filter and cut/replaced new fuel lines from the metal hard lines to engine. They were probably fine but one of the old sections looked a bit perished so safest to do the lot.
- Installed nearly new washer bottle.
- New aux belts installed, AC belt is hanging free until compressor is reinstalled.
- Radiator installed.



And that's where I am today. Still a long list of small jobs to tackle, but i'm in no rush. And this turned up today Shiny new rebuilt TD04L-19T hybrid. Should make 320-330bhp (I hope) with nice low down spool. Need to transfer the pipes over from my current TD04 but looking forward to getting that in.



Hopefully in a couple of weeks it'll be ready to start. I know that sounds ages, but i'm only getting a couple of hours a week out in the garage. Getting impatient

[Frenchie]

Excellent work Steve. Car looks quite a snug fit in your garage so make sure you don't put on any weight. ��

[Steve_PPP]

Yes Terry. Its pretty tight on width but i've got plenty of space in front of the car to work in at least.

[scotty]

Looking good .

[Steve_PPP]

So.... the scoob is pretty much done bar a few small things but I did have a worrying moment or two along the way...

Installed turbo, downpipe and then finished connecting everything else up - battery in, airbox assembly with new Apexi panel filter, all fluids in, getting ready for that first start.





Checked and double checked everything, so unplugged the crank sensor and fuse 11 (ignition) and cranked it over to build oil pressure. I'd read online that a good way to check oil is getting around everywhere was to unplug the oil feed line from the top of the turbo and put it into a bag (so not to make a mess!) as this is pretty much the last place to get oil when all is working.

Engine turned over as expected without starting, all sounded good. Gave it a few 15-20 second cranks and no oil at the turbo. Back to Google
Turns out that when the engine has been sat sometimes the oil pump can't prime easily if the oil filter has been pre-filled - that acts as a block in the system and the oil pump can't push the air through the oil filter (its a fluid pump, not an air pump...). The trick is to remove the oil filter, crank until there's oil coming out the filter hole, then whack the pre-filled filter back on and try again. Worked like a peach, got oil to the turbo and oil pressure light on dash went out too. Happy days.

Final checkover.... then fuse back in, crank sensor reconnected and off we go. Engine started up first time. And i switched it straight back off as my heart sank. Metal on metal grinding clattering noises coming from the bay.

Now i'm not a mechanic, but I couldn't believe the engine itself was the problem. It wasn't the usual knocking you get from Subaru engines.... It turned over on the starter motor fine with no noises and I'd done everything right to ensure good oil pressure. And whilst I was on my own, I couldn't easily diagnose where the sound was coming from. It sounded so bad I started the engine and then switched it off immediately, so I was at the drivers door with the key in the ignition the whole time, with bonnet up getting in the way of the sound too. Managed to rope in the old man for half hour and got him to listen whilst I did it again... noise was coming from back of engine/bell housing.

Further investigation under the car found the problem... when lowering the engine in, the clutch cover thing (this part - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Flywheel-...-/283552041663 ) had snagged on the gearbox bell housing and one side had rucked up inside the clutch/flywheel space. Was pretty hard to see as the part is sandwiched between the engine, gearbox and subframe. Access was a pig, but I managed to undo the bell housing bolts, remove starter, undo engine mounts and then jack engine carefully by sump (I used a plank of wood with a nice thick piece of foam on it!) so get enough clearance to remove the bolts and whip it out.



You can see the scoring on it, it had been touching on the clutch housing. Anyway, all reassembled and went for another start. And she ran fine. Phew

Out the garage for a wash!





Done a few miles since and all seems good, although all off-boost until it gets mapped. I've got to replace the O2 sensor as that's thrown a CEL that the heater element in it has failed but no major issue.

It's been a long, sometimes frustrating, but ultimately satisfying journey...!!

[Steve_PPP]

Few last things on the list which i still need to do:
- Replace 02 sensor.
- Clean out ICV.
- Get the front U frame blasted/powder coated and reinstalled.
- Get AC re-gassed.
- Install strutbrace
- Get the map sorted.
- Use it!

[ABWRX]

Nice work. Looking good. Let me know if you want company for a drive as I’m in Burgess Hill and I’ll whip my Scooby out and join you.


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[Frenchie]

Well done Steve , nice to see all your the hard work finally coming together. Had carried out a few small works on my previous WRX, but nothing on this scale.

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by ABWRX

Nice work. Looking good. Let me know if you want company for a drive as I’m in Burgess Hill and I’ll whip my Scooby out and join you.

Yup, your bug is pretty much the red twin of mine! Both have morettes, and some front splitter/rear bumper extension/diffuser. I saw you around when it was silver but not lately, whereabouts in BH are you?

Originally Posted by Frenchie

Well done Steve , nice to see all your the hard work finally coming together. Had carried out a few small works on my previous WRX, but nothing on this scale.

Thanks Terry. I've enjoyed most of it. Learnt a lot along the way

[ABWRX]

Originally Posted by Steve_PPP

Yup, your bug is pretty much the red twin of mine! Both have morettes, and some front splitter/rear bumper extension/diffuser. I saw you around when it was silver but not lately, whereabouts in BH are you?



Thanks Terry. I've enjoyed most of it. Learnt a lot along the way

I’m not far from the little Tesco in Gatehouse lane. Have you seen it in the flesh since the respray or just the pics?


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[Lucky]

Fantastic stuff and nice to see it out on the drive. Great work

[Pottsy1973]

Scoob looks great Steve, looks very well looked after 😉


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