fmj

Had a long long long dispute with Apex over some crap gauges and would not use them again.

I am also interested in their mounts... Would be great to hear a few good reviews before I spend the cash.

I know pathetic. It might annoy her but lots of things annoy me... Unless they are completely out of order I just let people live their lives even if they are annoying. You don't see me telling my neighbours that their kids cant run around screaming and shouting for hours which annoys me.

Agreed but a lot of proper mods cost a lot of money or require a lot of skill/labour. So people go for bolt on stuff that sounds good but in some cases makes no difference or actually makes the car perform worse! I.e. bad induction kits, cheap blow off valves, crap exhausts, lowered so much it buggers the handling, stupid wheels which don't fit the car and kill the bearings etc... I remember an article in JP where they tested fuel pumps and the famous Walbro uprated pump everyone fits was actually worse then the OE one! I actually have a Walbro and was a bit gutted when I read that so next time I will be getting a decent Bosch one. Same with panel filters. Some upgraded ones are worse then OE.

Cant help with the mapper but has the car been mapped before? If its still on the standard map and you are running with those mods you could be doing some serious damage.

Doesn't it also decrease turbo and exhaust life considerably? As for remapping its a massive topic that I am no expert on. Generally with Turbo car you can get quite a lot more power from a remap. A remap is where a mapper will link the cars ecu to a laptop which has the right software to allow the mapper to monitor and change the engines performance. The performance can be altered by changing timing, duty cycles, fuel mixture etc. They can also increase rev limits and add things like anti lag. Some ECU's are not mappable and some can have limits on what that can do. When a manufacturer writes a map they have to make sure that it has large safety margins. I.e. not all engines will be equal and not all will be as well looked after as others. To allow for a large safety margin they pull back performance. This can also be to do with emissions and economy or just because the manufacturer only wanted a certain amount of power. Because each engine is different a mapper can get a bit more from each engine by finding its limits and moving the map closer to them. By changing other parts (injectors, turbo, fuel pumps, decat etc) the engine can gain even more performance which can be exploited by the mapper. Some mods will actually cause problems unless you map them. Ecutek and open source are as I understand it two ways of mapping an ECU. Ecutek requires each ecu to have a software license purchased so it cost more for this license. For an idea on results I fitted a decat, fuel pump, fpr and had a remap. I got an increase of 50bhp, 50ftlb and increased economy! So a good remap is a good move all around. They do sometimes cost a bit and it is worth getting all your supporting mods ready to go on before the map or you will have to keep getting it changed.

Oil choice will play a part too. Mine has always been 90-100 cold and about 35psi when up to full temp on tick over. Obviously this goes up when revving the engine/driving. That's with the OE pump and 10w40. Not sure how much the uprated pumps boost the pressure by but 70-80 psi on tick over when up to temp seems very high? Of course not all gauges are equal and some are pretty inaccurate.

The list is endless. You could spent £50'000 if you want. What sort of thing do you want? Performance, handling, braking, looks?

I'm not sure how much of a pain it is as I have never swapped ECU's before. It could be that its overly complicated or it could be that its not and that he doesn't know what he's doing. Maybe try a scooby specialist. Just send them an email explaining the situation and see what they say. I thought that the cam and crank sensors were the same on all classics... but cannot confirm that.

Hey, Um neither the engine nor turbo and possibly the injectors are the same so I wouldn't do a swap unless you are planning on getting it remaped straight away. If the Apexi is mapped to a different engine/turbo/injector combo then it may ruin your engine.

Very VERY common on classics not sure on newer cars. Usual culprits are boot seal rubber and rear light seals (usually a sealent bead). Can be a nightmare working out where its coming from and the rear lights on the classics are a pig to get out as they are stuck in so well... Also worth checking spoiler bolt holes if you have them. Sometimes these are hidden behind rubber bungs. Also condensation! My boot condenses on the top like a bitch.

People get very anal over oil and you obviously do need to use the right stuff but I have used 10w40 magnatec in my classic turbo from 58'000-114'000 miles over almost seven years. No problems, good performance. Seems fine. As for coolant I think you just need to match the specs/codes. As long as its safe for alloy engines it should be ok as far as I know but i'm no expert. Keep tap water away from it and only used deionised.

Thought so. See I wanted to go this route but wouldn't want to loose my license/job etc just to map the car.

I gather with live mapping you have to break the speed limits unless of course you have your own private road/track?

It bubbles and scorches? Sounds odd. My wheels get the usual brake dust and tar spots but most of this comes off with a rub of a cloth and some warm water with car shampoo in it. Every now and again I use a wheel cleaner and then afterwards recoat with a wheel protector. This process seems fine but you do sometimes get a bit a brake dust embedded in the finish where they may be a bit of pitting. I find that it usually occurs if I leave the wheels dirty too long. I wouldn't have thought the wheel should bubble or scorch unless the wheel is getting VERY hot from a braking problem or the finish is damaged somehow and is peeling.

I gather the suspension is original? If so then it's 13 years old. So I would expect it to sag a bit. But my car had this problem too with a full load of people and I now don't have more then four people in it total. Less so if they are "big". I hate weighing the car down.

I think it's a mix of the way things are now and Subaru loosing touch with what the car was about in the first place... It was a cheap four door saloon that went like stink. Now it's over priced, not that good looking (sorry to those who like it) and the performance is matched by loads of similar cars. There are also no WRC wins to keep the name going... It's sad but I think the Impreza should have stopped being called the Impreza after the Hawk Eye. Everyone has fond memories of the blue car with gold wheels and a bonnet scoop and it's a shame that it had to have a bit of a slow painful death.

Watched Colin and then Richard on TV as a teenager and fell in love with the WRC Impreza's. Brought a Tamiya 1/10 97 WRC Impreza radio controlled car and spent a fortune on moding it when I was around 16/17. Always knew I would have a really one at some point but knew I couldn't afford it when I passed my test at 18. I got the quickest car I could afford which was a 1.8 16v 306 and moded it tastefully , spending an absolute fortune on it... Then some knob wrote it off driving into the back of me ruining my pride and joy. So pissed off with loosing so much money moding a car I thought I would buy a car I didn't need to mod and at 21 I got my DMB UK Turbo 2000 with only one previous owner, 100% standard, beautiful 58,000mile car. Six and a half years later she's still outside £1000's spent on keeping her in as best condition as I have the time or money to achieve and next to her is a sport shell in pieces under a car cover which one day will be a turbo'd rally replica. (I have a loft full of parts ). Sometimes I take my Scooby for granted and forget what I drive everyday. Then I get in a work car (Focus, Astra, Vito, CRV etc) and I remember just how good the Impreza is. And despite it now being a "chavy" classic I still get the odd appreciative look from a pedestrian or two.

Yeah just make one. Its just a piece of thin metal with two bends in it and some holes drilled in it. I am sure you could get a suitable bit of metal from bnq or ebay. Give it a coat of something to stop it rusting. Or use aluminium and it wont rust anyway.

Lol, get a classic. Then the outside temp gauge (otherwise known as the windscreen) has two readings. Frozen or not frozen.

Which one have you got Don? I really only want one to cover the engine as the rest I can do.

Hi guys, I trying to find a service manual for the EJ205 engine? I have found a P1 version but thats an STI engine and I am after a guide for just the standard EJ205 engine fitted to MY99-00 UK turbos. Does anybody know of link? I have tried Google but most sites are American SOHC versions.

Seriously, I did mine on a classic back when I didn't really know what I was doing. It was easy. I just cut down an allen key and then put a socket on the end of it and out came the plug. Your not going to strip a thread undoing something! The only time you strip threads is when you either do something up far too tight or when you cross thread it. Neither of those things will happen if you do it up hand tight and then tighten it a sensible amount. As for striping the head of the plug. If you use a decentish quality allen key you wont Its a nice chunky fitting and fill take a lot of abuse. I would far rather that then have all that stuff under the car. Not only is it not the best place to read the temp but its all pretty vulnerable under there and you are more likely to get a leak not to mention those wires.

Lol. Good luck mate. The only girls that are impressed by my car are about 16-18 (probably younger too which is scary). I'm now 27. Most mature girls think its a chavy boy racer car and I would have more luck with a sensible Audi or VW. My girlfrind is 21 and she would rather I had something more grown up, less noisy and not so low to the ground as she hates getting in and out of it. So by the time you are old enough to have one don't plan on using it to get girls You will however impress other men... lol.

Not surprised by those quotes to be honest especially for the younger ages. However I'm 27 with 8 years driving and 7 years ncb. My UK turbo is now down to sub £700 fully comp with mods. So some of those quotes for higher ages are sus. Maybe its the area? Also I was initially surprised to see how much more expensive the classic was. Then I realised you have quoted for the WRX. Do you realise that the Classic WRX was import only and more powerful then the UK turbo? That is why they wouldn't insure it at 17 and why it was so much more. A UK turbo 2000 AWD will be cheaper. Not much but a bit less.