fmj

Cheers guys, will probably be over scoobynet or something when I get around to redoing my build thread. Of the seven years here I have been a paying member for two of them. I know it's not much money and to be honest I was going to renew anyway sometime (maybe in time for next years show season) but this has just f****d me off a little. Maybe I will calm down and come back in the future when I miss it too much, it's a nice forum to be part of. It just seems owning a scooby is expensive enough without paying to read and write about them too.

Hi guys, well as this is now the only place I can post I don't have much choice but to post here. So let me get this straight I have to have a membership to browse or post? I have been around since 2006 and contributed several how to's and guides one of which went scoobypedia and several people have thanked me for my help. I was a user who actually contributed but now find myself locked out. I know it's all for the greater good etc etc but I feel a bit crapped on here (well a lot actually). I am not a paying member and will not be doing so. The forums are far quieter then they used to be probably due to the dying of the popularity of the Impreza. I am not going to pay to be able to see something that used to be free. I will now migrate to another forum and leave you guys to it. It's been a great seven years and I hope the club continues long into the future. I am not sure that the forums will benefit from the loss of contribution by those who don't want to pay but oh well. And I was just about to update my build thread too... grrr. All the best.

Looking brilliant mate!

Just gutted a 1998 UK sport and there wasn't one. So probably they probably arn't fitted to classics...

Ouch lol.

Glad to hear it is of use! I did however notice that in the original post I put to jack the engine up 20cm... I of course meant 20mm. 20cm is a tad extreme and all the wires and pipes would break lol.

Heres the thread One error I have noticed is that I wrote to jack the engine 20cm.... I meant 20mm. Lol.

Sorry I can't help with an answer. But have you ever removed a sump from an Impreza? Not sure what you facilities are but I did it on ramps and it was a bitch! The rear four bolts are complete inaccessible as they are blocked by the subframe. The only way I got to them was with a 1/4 knuckle and extension bars. Then getting the bolts started to get them back in is near impossible. I jacked the engine up in the end to give more room and it was still a nightmare. Just a warning. Also the dip stick tube was completely welded into it with rust and then hard to get back in and stopping old oil dripping down into your new sealant before replacing the sump is difficult as no matter how long you wait oil still seeps down the inside of the block. All in all I hated that job with a passion! Very easy on a block out of the car but in the car it was hell.

Don't forget to try to avoid airlocks. Make sure to use deionised water mixed with the coolant and not just tap water. I always use this guide I copied and pasted ages ago from here. "Disconnect top hose (rad end) and slowly fill engine through top port until full. Reconnect top rad hose. Disconect the small hose that goes from the H/T to the rad (highest point of rad) at the rad end. Fill Via H/T whilst keeping finger over the hose, when coolant comes out the rad pop the hose back on. Continue to fill via the header tank untill a couple of cm from the top. Fill expansion tank. Massage top and bottom hoses to get air bubble out. With rad cap left of, set the heater and fan controlls to medium and start car. Allow the car a few mins for hot air to start to come through the fans, keep checking for this as you keep an eye on the level in the header tank and top up a little when required. Massage top and bottom hoses to get air bubble out. As the hot air is now coming through the fans, and the level in the H/T is stable with no air bubles be expelled, its safe to put the rad cap on. Job Done." Usually does me well.

Never heard of it but I will look it up!

So another two days off and despite it being overcast it stayed dry so I got on with some more bits. First removing the tacky tar stuff that the sound deadening leaves behind. My method of removal: Brake cleaner also works buts it's an expensive way of doing it as you would use loads. Probably also die from the fumes! The tar. So you heat the tar and wipe it with a cloth and off it comes. Thicker bits needed a scrape with the chisel. A few cloths and small burns to my finger later and we have the results: Not bad but then again there is still this... as well as some in the boot! A quick hoover around makes it look a bit less daunting as some of it was loose. After many hours. Also removed the last few bits from the chassis. Brake servo/master cylinder, brake lines and fuel lines. Door seals, central locking motors, more brake lines various clips redundant fittings, some trim and the brake bias valve and bits. Completely empty engine bay. The project so far Next job: Once that is done I literally have a bare shell. The only bits left on the car are bits inside the doors. I would like to swap the electric windows for manual ones but cant find them anywhere! Locks and handles etc will remain but I have removed the central locking motors as it wont be needed and is just extra weight. I have sourced a drivers door and boot so they will go on soon (mainly because they are taking up room in the house/loft). Then I will be on the hunt for a facelift bonnet and will be striping the old underseal from the chassis. Doing a spot of welding and POR-15 aplenty.

Sounds logical! Shame everything else I want to do is better suited to the summer! If I had though about it I would have done it when it was still cold.

Cheers, it's so light now you can pretty much lift it off the stands by hand! As for the sound deadening yeah it's a nightmare. But I have found that getting rid of the sticky residue left behind is far worse then chipping off the deadening itself. Brake cleaner works but a heat gun and a rag works better... luckily there is nothing left to set alight!

So here's the next round of pics: The front end: Drive Shaft and Wishbone off as well as the hub. Leaving the steering rack and front subframe. A mornings work and getting the ball joints out of the hubs was a bitch! Front subframe. Now you see it. Now you don't. Not too badly rusted up front either. More bits and bobs from the front. Gearbox mount. Followed by. Getting the gearbox out safely on your own is really not an easy task without a hoist or lift! Gearbox gone. The shell so far.

Here is the best thread I have found about doing it properly. http://www.rs25.com/forums/f138/t171256-my-rear-quarter-rust-repair.html

Unfortunately it goes there on most classics. I will bet that there will be a lot more rust hidden up inside the arch which I think causes this corner to rust from behind. You can get it rubbed off both sides and resprayed but when I had a body shop do this it came back less then a year later. The only way to get rid for good is to cut out the rusty bit and replace or fill.

Thank you I have always preferred to do things myself rather then pay somebody and it tends to be a mix of trial and error with some research on the net. I am quite mechanically minded but have zero training. I have made more progress and will put pics up when I get a spare ten minutes. Today I have started to self teach myself mig welding... mixed results there so far!

Cheers! Well here the next part: The outside (thanks to a little bit of sunshine at last!) What I had to contend with at the rear: Rear cross member and subframe removed along with hubs, lateral link arms and drive shafts. Rear Diff out. The space left behind. Prop shaft removed from gearbox. Next target, the fuel tank. Done. A fuel tank shaped hole. Strangely the part that put up the most fight was the filler neck! The screws that hold it in and the top were stuck solid all they did was round off. Drilled them out in the end. Now all that's left on the rear of the car are some hard fuel and brake lines, the boot hinges and the boot seal!

The reason I didn't bother in the winter... My home for quite a few days while I strip the interior: Slowly the interior striped is striped out. Oh and removing sound deadening... is my new favourite hobby! I found a hammer and chisel works best but you do have to be careful not to catch any seems as the metal is so thin! Always handy to have a girlfriend with a practical car for trips to the dump! Some bits taken out! Check out the surface rust on the dash beam! In total the sound deadening weighed in at 12kg plus a further 3kg for the foam/rubber on the firewall. So 15kg was worth the effort! The front an rear seats also weigh a ton! You wouldn't believe how heavy until you lift them all out but they really do weigh so much! I wish I had weighed them before I dumped them. Much better. Just a little bit of sound deadening left to chip off, last few bits and bobs to remove and a tidy up. I did manage to sell a few bits including the struts, a front brake calliper and the door cards.

With close to seven years of Classic Impreza Turbo ownership under my belt I have decided to take the next step and buy another one! I was always torn between keeping the car comfy and stripping it out for track days. But common sense prevailed and I just settled on the usual mods and kept it relatively comfy. I also wanted to completely strip and restore the car binning anything rusty or worn. I did the suspension a year and a half ago (the thread is still on here somewhere) and after that I decided that I wouldn't be doing anything like that on a daily driver again as the car was off the road for weeks. Now I have found the solution hiding in a barn somewhere in the English countryside. At this point you may be thinking you're mad... and yes I probably am. But It was only £300. It's a 1998 2.0 Sport and was missing the following: ECU Engine Some of the loom Steering wheel Boot Bonnet Driver door Front and rear bumpers Wheels Exhaust Quite a bit really! Apparently this was brought by somebody at Prodrive and given to his wife as a gift. At the time it was fitted with various Prodrive parts. About seven years ago it was taken off the road and the engine taken out for use in another car. Since then it has been striped of the various missing parts. The car was then left in a barn for seven years. I picked it up last winter and trailered it back home where it sat under a car cover during the winter. Now the work to transform it into a turbo powered track car begins. ****Before anybody starts to tell me how there is no point doing a turbo conversion due to the time/cost/insurance etc please don't worry. This car is being used as a shell only. All the non turbo parts are being sold or binned and the car rebuilt from the ground up.**** Please note I have limited funds/time/resources/equipment/training/skill etc. This may take me some time!

Probably a lot to do with the driver. I remember one rally day there was a 306 gti-6 going around and wiping the floor with evo's and scoobys. I have seen it with 205 gti's too. The 306 was driven by a rally driving school driver if I remember rightly. It's probably also due to people with their own cars not wanting to damage them or push too hard. It did look bloody quick and was going pretty much all day!

Cheers for the words guys. I cleaned the s*** off yet again and the next day just drove it despite the coolant and exhaust issue. Yes it was a bit down on power but I still had a great time and it still GLF. Japfest was awesome despite the crappy weather and the girlfriend even enjoyed it too. Now I'm pricing up a new up pipe and going to order some crossover pipe o-rings so I can sort the car out asap. Hopefully my shiny re-manufactured semi closed deck will arrive soon to spur me on. I just need to buy the crank, pistons, rods, head gaskets, gasket set, new clutch, cooler modine, sump, baffle plate, oil pickup, turbo, injectors, new fuel pump, new fuel reg, some braided lines, a new ecu, cambelt and kit, water pump, oil pump and then I will have my shiny new engine build finished with the old engine going into the track car. I will start a build thread when I get a minute for both cars but they may go on for the next year or two the way money is at the moment! Cheers, FMJ.

So I have owned my Classic Turbo (dream car as a teenager) for almost seven years now. I have cherished it and loved it in every way. Kept it clean and maintained it regardless of cost. I have had body parts resprayed and spent £1000's on "upgrade" parts. All in all I have probably put £30,000 into the car which initially cost me a reasonable £6,250. It has given me back over 60,000 enjoyable miles. I now have a second classic which is completely stripped down and in the process of being rebuilt as a track toy and a refurbed semi closed deck block on its way from Roger Clark to go for more power in the current road car. Today I investigate a small coolant leak and find loads of it lurking on top of the block. It looks like it could be the crossover pipe leaking. The exhaust seems raspy and the pops and bangs seem closer to the front of the car then usual so I pop the undertray off and find that the upgraded stainless solid up pipe (made by a well respected manufacturer) has cracked at turbo flange. The same type of pipe did this to me a year and a half ago and was grudgingly replaced by the manufacturer. This one lasted even less time! It may seem small but on top of this I cleaned and waxed the car for the Japfest to find that a bird has s*** all over it. I clean that off and within an hour another small dot on the bonnet. I wipe that off and leave the car for an hour and find bird shit spread from bonnet to boot... it's now staying there until I go to work later because I just cant be bothered! The rear offside wing is rusting again after a bodyshop supposedly fixed and resprayed it. The laquer on the nearside wing is pealing again something that was resprayed after it did it the first time and the problem is back two years later. All in all I am royally pissed off with the whole thing. I don't get to drive the car properly often and the trip to the Japfest tomorrow would have be awesome had I not got a crack in the up-pipe loosing me 4psi of boost. I am so close to just binning it all and looking at buying a BRZ which I can't really afford but has no f****** rust. I don't expect anybody to read my ramblings but I just had to vent it somewhere I can't be alone in these moments of frustration!

Must.... Get.... Wide.... Arches....

I think they are fairly new on the scene and have only recently seen their engine mounts etc in JP magazine. I am tempted by a set of engine mounts... its that or the Group N ones.