Smiler AS

Guy on scoobynet is selling one the now "beef on the bone" or something like that, £450 if i recall. Genuine item, has lots of photos, info and numbers on it. Almost went for it until I got a good trade in price for a new one with my TD04.

I think I could live with figures like that!

Did wonder if any "eagle eyes" out there would spot it, yep, from a Spec C that was converted to a front mount via. Carl @ Power Supply.

The red scoop splitter thingy is a std. STI item (was either jap performance parts or fleabay), came in black, just a good clean up and some red metal primer and paint (taped over the foam bits) , I luckily found one with seal, just unclips off while you paint away, same fixings as WRX too.

It is higher than std., car has been mapped already with the std. TD04 blowing as much puff as it can!

Getting done this Thursday afternoon, and all going well, there will be VF34 in there too on Thu morning. Dont get me wrong, im not moaning or grumping somethings wrong, just feels slightly different.

Nothing major or to worry about, to be honest it actually made the car feel smoother when accelerating, thinking back, when the pipework was off I gave the throttle body a good clean up as it was a bit dirty.

Hi, I have just finished upgrading the tiny intercooler on my 2.5 WRX in preparation of some work going to be carried out later this week. Dont shoot me down for asking this! Do you get a bit more lag with bigger TMIC's?? It is genuine STI item, initially I thought a hose was off, but no, a quick test drive and I was still hitting my usual 1.5 / 1.6 bar, so boost pressure ok. And a thank you to Bobby C for keeping me right about the brackets and I have copied your idea too with the red scoop splitter thingy. The teeney weeney std. WRX item... All done..

Yep, they HELs were great fit, plus new nuts and washers too (not sure if the Goodrich ones come with them) plus choice of colours of the protective sleeve. Huge (even more then I was expecting) in brake feel. They come with rubber fixings to secure line to struts, just line them up next original hose after you have removed them to double check position of rubber bracket as they can slide about.

Is that due soon, I thought switchable maps on the hawkeyes were a no-no at all.

Ferrodo, non-silicone fuid, As it says in ad, avoids spongy brake feel. Ferrodo Brake Fluid

Must admit, all "sponginess" (great technical term that everyone uses! lol! ) has gone completely, I only need to tap the pedal to feel the brakes coming on. I / We did have to bleed the brakes twice over though, first time we thought we done was still a little air in system somewhere after starting engine and short test drive with pedal travelling quite far down before anything happened. Also what fluid did you use, I pot in Dot 5.1 and made sure it was silicone free one, as ive heard the silicone element expands with heat, causing a bit of "ponginess".

Think there will be few of us that go with the DS2500's, good wearing, not a lot of dust (they are worth the extra pennies). I did have Pagid pads before the DS2500's and tbh, they performed even better, but only lasted approx. 7-9 months. Disc wise, there a few choices, ive got the Tarox 40 Groove G88's and they are wearing spot on and taking a fair bit of abuse, especially since I just realised how bad the rear brakes were. Got my stuff from Scoobyworld and still arrived next day, up here in Elgin, very impressed.

How much were you for your discs and pads? You doing brake hoses while your in there?

Early this year I upgraded the front discs and pads on my WRX, while a noticable difference (in a good way) the brake feel was still a bit "off" and "spongy" and a droning sound occured when braking hard for more than a few seconds. After a while I noticed my rear discs werent quite as shiny as my fronts so came to the conclusion that the front brakes were working well, maybe a bit too well and the std. rear brakes werent keeping up. Also have done quite a bit to the suspension (coilovers, arbs, drop links) but whenever switching on corners, ie. transferring weight, the back end used feel if it was lagging behind. So a few small items fitted and adjusted this morning, 1. HEL braided brake lines from Scoobyworld, (although I was a bit wary if these would make much difference as my car is less than 3 years old) 2. Brakes bleeded and Dot 5.1 (non-silicone based) brake fluid put in. 3. Rear brake pads replaced with EBC red pads, have got DS2500's on front but couldnt justify costs for putting them on the rear, plus I tink I would have to upgrade rear discs if I put "too good" a pad on the rear. 4. While all up on the lift, adjusted rear ARB to middle hole. Car now feels fantastic, droning gone form brakes, brake feel is fantastic, sponginess gone, braking on a corner seems less nerve racking too, and with the rear ARB adjusted, the handling feels like (dare I say it) finally like my old classic! (Im sure there will be commments on that one). The only thing I forgot was to get new sliding pins for the calipers, but ended up cleaning them as good as new with some air tools that were handy at the time. Im really impressed with the brake lines and reccomend these to anyone thinking about upgrading their brakes, try the hoses first before spending huge bucks on big discs and pads, this setup suits my needs spot on. Appreciate big pads and discs still needed for many people too though.

Cheers, have asked for numbers. Is it easy to port a turbo myself or am i better sending it away to get done?

Guys, does this VF34 turbo look genuine enough....?? Havent got a clue what to look for??

Are they Andy F's prices? Yeh, I think I would prefer a good mileage 2nd hand one than any new ebay ones, then you know they arent made of chocolate!

Im looking for one too, meant to be outstanding on the 2.5 engines, either that or a VF34, but rare as hell 2nd hand.

Very nice, see they are 18's, what profile tyres have you fitted? Have looked at that style too. Im not sure about the suspension fitment, something is bugging me that if its OEM then no, but then the likes of aftermarket suspension will fit from 01 to 07 so might be ok.

As mentioned previously, std. air box setup? Items for sale

One step from the hybrid TD04 and before TD05 / VF35, I was recommended by Andy F VF34 with std. box, plus keeps quick spool up time too. Ideally STI TMIC too. I think Welsho has also went through a box (or 2??) with his WRX / VF34 setup, but we will claim that on track use.

Sounds like a car I seen recently!! I have trial fitted 18's on my wagon with the Teins, having to stick with 7.5's but thats due to wagon not having the flared front arches, your saloon will be fine though, even with 8's. Think most of the Inovite 18" range are 7.5" wide which is fine by me, just got to choose which ones!

Ah ok, did you put any resistors in or are all the plugs just unplugged altogether. Cheers,

Out of curiosity, I was looking at possibly replacing seats in my Hawkeye WRX. How did you get around the plugs / sensors for the side airbags and the weight bladder thingy under the passenger seat "occupant detection system" which works out how hard to deploy the passenger airbag? As soon as I unplug mine, the "airbag" light comes up on dash (which woulf quickly annoy me).