My widebodied Impreza [Project WRZ - 22B look]

[riiidaa]

I bought this car in Dec 2004, my first Subaru.

As those of you that know me know, I drive / need an automatic.

This is fine if I want Yank Muscle, but as you are also, I am a SUBARU lover.

I have to say I never thought back when I was a lad that I would ever be able to own a Scooby. All the things you hear about them and their costs as an out sider etc, and the whole 'stay away from grey imports' thing.

So not really expecting to buy one I mooched around on auto trader / ebay motors for a bit, looking for a suitable Impreza and the costs.

There were prerequisites when I set out in search for my car, and at 24yrs old they they did not include turbo :

Had to be auto
Had to be blue
Had to be a saloon

Low and behold I found a UK spec Reddish Blue 2.0 AWD Auto GL in Bedfordshire for £3200 so after making insurance enquiries, my dad came with me to check it out.

If you've ever seen a standard GL with no spoiler, no bonnet scoop, and only hubcaps, you'd not be impressed



But I knew what to do to transform it - first, it would get new wheels, then a spoiler, a new bonnet, bumper and some side skirts.

What I changed to start with.

Wheels (Jan 2005 I think)
Spoiler
Bonnet
Front bumper > driving lamps.
Skirts
A decal or 3

Result:


Then, after a while I felt it was time to do a little more...

P555 *** registration
Removed rubbing stips from doors
Cheapish rally decal kit to see if I could live with it, or rather if the family / neighbours could.
Rally flaps
Prodrive p-wrc1 oz alloys

Result


Taken at a Surrey Scoobies meet. (Feb 2006 IIRC)


Then in 2007 I did long thought about interior upgrades with a little help from Chris and Oxted Trimming.

STi 8 seats

Door card Alcantara retrim








I also got the yellow SWRT decals replaced with high grade drop shadow versions by DS Graphics prior to the door cards being done.







In 2008

I got a 22b fiberglass bodykit unused but 2nd or 3rd hand, for a much reduced price, off a member from the Surrey Scoobies forum for £335, he decided against fitting it - needed to release some money. However he got it for a barry-bargain price off ebay.

Not keen about using the front wing extentions on this kit I got, they bond on to the standard wings and will look 22B esque, but not the same as the 22B front fiberglass full front wings HT autos now do. So I opted later to buy the latest design replica front wings and front bumper direct from HT Autos

With the deadline of McRae Gathering looming I decided to get the wide arch kit fitted *gulp*

Build gallery and write-up among the foot notes... HERE

Result:

[riiidaa]

Elongated hub studs and the ex-rally stage Prodrive OZ 15" mags have since been fitted:

[riiidaa]

New disks and pads in March 2012, ready to start using the car as a daily driver...



Unfortunately the car was in an accident in April 2012

There were several of the Surrey lot that that came to my aid in sorting the car out ready for repair work by a garage. Cheers again.

The car had been laid up. 95%ish fixed.

In May 2014 I took delivery of my new replica bumper, this one by ABW and kindly delivered by 'Anger'. Thanks again.




29-06-2014, 13:06
Things left to do

Fit front indicators and side markers.
Swap airbag connector from old airbag to new. (gulp) [think i'll source another airbag with correct connector]
Source and fit new side light, proving awkward to align slightly cracked one. [got new ones, still alignment issues]
Rear door door-popper system
Book in an MOT
Pass MOT and tax it
Drive it for a week shakedown
If no issues, order ABW 22B front bumper [bugger, got it already]
Fit, paint that, the bonnet and repaint or replace rear spoiler
Enjoy it again




19-12-2015, 19:19
Well this car has been languishing for ages, but as some of you know my newage WRX saloon is now out of action awaiting a gearbox solenoid on a slow boat from Japan. So my Dad and I dug it out and I had someone spend a day on it recently, it ain't pretty and is still filthy in need of a delicate clean. However it got an MOT and tax mid week, and I went to take it on a shakedown yesterday but predictably the battery had given up again, so now it has a new battery from Costco £56 and I spent £11.99 in Halfords for an Odour neutralising grenade http://www.halfords.com/motoring/eng...-cleaner-150ml

Got it deployed as soon as I got home. Now it doesn't smell mouldy anymore - it does smell of the STP product, a bit overpowering for the next week apparently, a sort of chemical citrus-ish smell. I did leave the windows open for a few hours after a 10 minute assault with the grenade. They call it Aircon cleaner but this car does not have air con, The steps are the same you just put it on cold, high fan speed and recirc...

[riiidaa]

18-11-2016, 18:52
Well, looks like I might have to call time on restoring the bodywork and livery back to former glory on this classic, due to some electrical gremlins I just can't seem to get fixed...

This car needed and still needs it's airbag module / sensor(s) reset having been repaired after an accident.

This was attempted following some instructions found online, however the wrong terminals were identified under the dash resulting in the master fuse blowing. That was replaced, but now more often than not the transmission 'Snow Hold' mode is on as indicated on the dash and driving characteristics experienced, irrespective of the switch position down near the handbrake, even with switch unplugged from loom.

So now there are two problems;

A* SRS warning light, airbag in wheel has been replaced. What would it cost to clear the SRS warning and have a functioning SRS system.

B* Snow hold mode almost always engaged.

It went to a local garage for electrical fault diagnostics, THEY seemed to think replacing the ECU would be the easy way out - and pointed me at a used unit of same part number from a breaker on ebay.

I bought that, they test fit it, and the car fired up with snow hold light extinguished but after 10 secs the engine shuts off. They say this is the immobiliser within the ECU kicking in (Really?) and that my keys need recoding to that ECU. They couldn't do that so the original ECU is back in the car for now. HERE BE DRAGONS, turns out you should be supplied the keys and the immobiliser transponder when obtaining the ECU from a breaker...

Some questions I posed to Maidstone Subaru the second garage [and a main dealer] I took the car too.

Does the ECU fitted to this car, have;

in-built immobiliser
in-built Transmission Control Unit

Would the OEM immobiliser really let the car fire up and then kick in?

They've not given me any let alone satisfactory answers to the above, they had a look at the snow hold issue and said via their service receptionist that they'd need to try replacing the gearbox tcu as a part of a process of elimination but that may not solve it, and that they can't get that part for my car anyway. I asked her if she could confirm the part number for said part, she said she'd look into it...

When I drove my dad there to collect the car, the paperwork he came back with was the invoice for the labour and a printed out exploded diagram of an ABS system, WTF ????

http://www.imprezarally.com
subaru, impreza, 22b, impreza gl, riiidaa,

[Steve_PPP]

That's one big transformation from the standard spoilerless GL...

[Rdlangy1]

Amazing transformation!

That is a real credit to you and now very much looks the part.

Very nice indeed

[Hongkongfooi]

good effort there

[Ginola]

Cracking effort and it looks great, hope electric problems sorted