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Thanks John appreciate it

Well fresh back from Holiday it was back to the grind. I had removed the bonnet and drivers wing, sourced a new bumper, grill and splitter and all had gone to Brian Leeson motors in Kilsyth ( http://www.paperclip.org.uk/Business/leeso...%20Information) to be repaired and painted so that I could fit them on my return from Holiday. It was time to say goodbye to my old bumper grill and that magic tape. True to his word Derek (Leeson) had all the parts ready and even delivered them for me. The results were superb and would make the car look even better than before the mishap at Doune, the quality of the work was flawless - Derek and Brian thanks for all the help it is greatly appreciated It was a simple task reassembling everything and the results were much better than I anticipated. So next it was off to Forrestburn with the new front end ready for its first test. The two days went well and i managed to pick up 3 points on the saturday and 4 points on the Sunday another good set of results at Forrestburn Next up was one I had been looking forward to 5th and 6th July at Boyndie near Banff, this sprint was hosted by Aberdeen and District Motor Club. The trips up north are always good as there are always plenty of cars in class A3 which it makes it more competative and really pushes you on more. The weather stayed mostly dry and made for a good weekend on track as well as a few sociable drinks at night As expected there was the usual large entry list for our class with plenty of Evo's, a couple of Subaru's (me and John) and some other well sorted cars. This was a really successfull weekend as I really enjoyed the circuit, which changes layout from a very tight circuit on the sat to a more open layout on the Sun. I managed to pick up the highest points I had managed so far with 27.78 on the sat and 28.17 out of 32 on the sun - result. The events were again relentless with the Alford sprint hosted by Grampian Automobile club next up on thee 19th and 20th July. Alford is a figure of eight affair with two cross overs during each run. The hardest part about the circuit is remembering when to cross over. I walked the track on the sat morning with Graham, David and John and had it all sorted in my head when to cross. I promptly torched of the line round the circuit and forgot to cross over, the red flag was about the same colour as my face fortunately it was only practice oops I didnt get ridiculed much tho:lol: The saturday turned into a bit of a nightmare for John with his drop gears breaking late in the morning. In true style he jumped into the legacy and set of for home to pick a set up. At the same time Mrs S aided by Kenny S were looking out the relevant parts with Mrs S heading north to meet John half way between Cumbernauld and Aberdeen. At the same time Myself and David Reid had the car jacked up onto axle stands, exhaust removed rear casing off and everything ready for John's return. At about 5pm the legacy pulls up and we then set about replacing the DCCD and the drop gears. 2 hours later the cars off round the track for a quick test before we all head off for something to eat and a well earned The timed runs on the Sunday brought rain and as a result poor times which limited the points. Never the less another 25 points in the bank for the championship. I did have a slight mishap on the last timed run when a rogue hay bail jumped out at me forcing me to spin onto the grass narrowly missing another bail well at least thats how I remember it some are trying to suggest I may have went into the hair pin to fast and made a mess of it how dare they. I cant finish Alford without putting up this amazing picture captured by John S. It shows Bobby davidson in his Nova, he managed to clip the kerb on the cross over and it just launched the car onto two wheels, how it did not roll I will never know. John I hope you dont mind me using the pic to be cont

Maybe's aye maybe's naw Depends on whether you can do the work yourself

Did he do it blindfolded

Cal I pretty much echo Dave's feelings. I have never driven a DCCD equiped car but find the set up on mine pretty neutral you can get it to slide into corners without much effort required to keep it straight. There are of course times on track etc that the DCCD would be very usefull but at this point in time for me its a would be very nice to have item but not at the very top of my wish list for next year. I must admit that John uses his to very good effect so I suppose it depends what you want to use the car for, if its for the road its probably not needed if you are going to do a lot of track work and are prepared to spend some time playing with the settings then it maybe worth having but not at a massive premium as it is easy to retrofit later if you then decide it is something you really want. As to comparing the WRX to STI RA's well mine probably isnt the best to compare as its pretty much a mix of bits from quite a few years and types so couldnt comment and its not exactly as if the trim and seats are important to me

Well with the exploites of Doune out of the way it was off to Forrestburn next on the 27th April. Another hill climb hosted by Monklands Sporting Car Club, it is located not far from Shotts. I had never been to Forrestburn before so was completely in the dark about the track. Well after walking the track any illusions I had of a nice easy day were completely shattered. In many ways it is as technical as Doune with a very narrow track with lots of adverse camber, yumps, dry stone dykes and grassed areas with icebergs imbedded ready to rip your car to sheds. mmm interesting. With John not there Graham Bremner took me under his wing and gave me some pointers I did start to think oh here we go again when Graham explained that a yump after the start line just where the road takes a slight right turn can throw the car right into the wall if you are not careful . Turned out to be a successfull day where I picked up 4 points in the Hillclimb Championship - result The scoring for the Hills is much simpler than the sprints and is based on the fastest up the hill in each class scoring 5 points 2nd fastest 4 points etc etc. The car held up well with the superb MSA approved white tape working a treat holding the bumper together. It has almost chameleon like qualities as the pics show. Next up on the 3rd/4th Maywas the next Sprint hosted by Lothian Car club held at East Fortune. This is an old airfield and the track is big, fast and wide and should be ideally suited to the car. It was a two day event which I must admit was really enjoyable. The difference between the sprints and the hills is massive. In this instance the circuit is all about power. There was only John and I in A3 road saloons which was really disappointing given that the track is ideal for cars in this class. Unfortunately i dont have any pictures of East Fortune but the two days went well for me and I picked up good points for the sprint championship. John unfortunately had no luck with his gear selector breaking on the Sun, he did however still manage to beat me even with his car only having 3rd gear mmm still got a long way to go I think The events at this part of the year were coming thick and fast and you really have no time to do much to the car in between apart from basic checks before each event. We have now reached 10th/11th May and the Finrty Hill climb just north of Aberdeen hosted by Grampian Automoblie Club. This is a short Hill climb but again quite technical with a wicked yump just before you cross the finish line which has caused numerous cars to be propelled into the trees if you get it wrong Bit of a theme developing on these hill climbs. Again over the two days it was more about both track and driving experience for me and any points picked up were a bonus. Unfortunately for Graham and Jennifer their Exige developed a problem on the Sat, he double enters the car with his partner Jennifer, Graham had been offered a drive in another Elise for the Sun so not wanting Jeniffer to have a wasted day I asked her if she wanted to drive my car on the Sun. It would be an interesting exercise to get some feedback on the car and also to see Jennifer's times as she is pretty quick in the Exige and used to driving a much more powerful 4 wheel drive Sierra Cosworth. Armed with some sound advice from Graham We set off on the Sun runs. Things were going well with Jennifer getting used to a 4 wheel drive car again and her times just slightly less than mine. Then came the second timed run and Jennifer pops up with a very quick run some 1.5 secs quicker than my 1st timed run, oh well no pressure for the 2nd timed run then. With a bit of competition going on and not wanting someone else to be quicker in my car I managed to pull a much quicker time beating Jennifer by just under a second which was a result as Jeniffer is very quick on this hill. I managed to pick up a point each day which wasn't to bad considering the entry list and the other more powerful and more experinced drivers. Just getting the confidence to power over the finish line was worth the visit. Slightly more familiar settings now on the 24th and 25th May as it is back to kames. John has set some amazing times at Kames which makes it a very hard place to pick up points but armed with a visit already under my belt I hoped to improve on my last visit. The car was still running well with only some issues off the start line asociated with hitting the rev limiter which was making starts a bit harder to get right. On my first visit I had only managed to pick up 16 points which was a bit disapointing, but perhaps I was looking for more than expected from my very first sprint and the first time I had driven the car on track. The Sat went fairly well with my times well down on my previous visit. The Sunday turned out to be a bit of a defining moment for me and unfortunately it came about purely due to John's misfortune. My time on Sunday morning were very similar to my Sat times and I was starting to wonder if I could actually do this, my times were 2-3 seconds down on similar cars and I didnt feel I could go much faster in the corners, the straights I know i could but the corners were an issue. Unfortunately for John his engine expired in quite spectacular style, being the type of person he is instead of worrying about his own problems he decided it would be interesting to try his wheels on my car to see what difference it made. Well the difference was night and day I recorded A 91 sec run which was way quicker than any time I had done previously by nearly 5 secs. The car felt superb it stuck in the corners with just a little predictable slide but was better than before. I was really looking forward to pushing much harder on the second timed run. Unfortunately I now felt invinceable and after a good first lap I promptly overestimated the capabilities of the car and driver and spun the car coming out of the padock hairpin - oops. No damage done other than a poor time. Never the less it was a good day and a very important learning experience. Although the wheel and tyre combination I was using were very effective the change produced impressive results. The only down side to the day was the breakage to John's engine after what was looking like a very promising outing for the new car. John In action before engine problems forced his retirement from the event. Due to a family holiday I missed both The Golspie sprint (big mistake) and Doune in June. To be Cont

Peter, Mark. Jac Thanks guys it was good to see you all up and thanks for the pics Jac you may see them a bit later on . Glad you managed to get Mark's car sorted. Also good to meet David R had to be careful though in case his lad Nick decided he wanted to practice his Judo Thanks for bringing the splitter up David really appreciate it, but as we said probably best not to put one on at Doune my splitters dont seem to last there Sorry I disapeared just before you went, I started to get a bit of a temper tantrum on when the rain come on before my 2nd run so decided to go for a walk Also good to see Stephen up as usual with his lens in hand. John had a really good 2nd run and went within 0.16 of the record he holds there. Will try and get the season finished in the thread as soon as possible so wont comment just yet.

Do a scoobynet search, there is a fitting guide somewhere. But basically you have to cut slots in your bumpers to fit the clips. I used genuine Subaru ones which come painted with the decals etc. I got mine from the states but they are probably cheaper evan from the UK unles you painted the HT Autos ones yourself. Part numbers are STI Fog Lamp Covers 57731FE300TG (TG code for Silver) Price £34.17 plus vat STI Fog Lamp Covers 57731FE310TG Price £34.17 plus vat Aero Trims LH 57742FE010TG Price £57.72 plus vat Aero Trims RH 57742FE000TG Price £57.72 plus vat Bolts X6 901000186 Price 0.25 M6 captive nuts X6 901000186 Price 0.25 These prices are from about 18 months ago. Hope this helps

Jac think the format is one practice and then 2 timed runs kicking off at 9am. That is unless the minis try using the armco to remodel their cars again ..

No top of east brae favourite place to come off when you brake late. Only the splitter so superficial might make me faster tomorrow as the car will be lighter. Just need to grow a set of Stevenson gonads There is always a bright side it gives me something else to fix and add to my thread maybe try seeking out the kind Mr reid tomorrow and see if he would like one of his splitters tested for endurance so far my splitters have lasted 2 events and the latest one a record busting 7 events

Nope small scratch is in this case a small scratch,its my description not John's

No John going very well he picked up a small scratch on a panel which will polish out. I decided that it was boring on the tarmac after all everyone else was off rallying today

Anyone found a P1 style front splitter in 230 white around the Doune area

I used Mikalor clamps and you can get them from any Pirtek branch, I used the one in Paisley John Probably best if I hang onto it for now

CONT Well the next event on the calender was The Doune hillclimb, date was the 19th April, seem to remember that day for some strange reason! I had been to Doune loads of times to watch John and had walked the track a few times but to be honest until you are faced with driving up it the actual width of the track does not fully register. I was well briefed on my first walk up the hill as a competitor by both John St and Graham Bremner another experienced campaigner. It was now beginning to dawn on me why this particular hill is both loved and feared! Well off i went with two practice runs safely under my belt the first very tentative and the 2nd just tentative. A break for lunch brought a chance to walk the hill a second time before the first of the timed runs. I was feeling a lot more confident at this point and was looking forward to the main event. After some last minute advice I launched off the line into second and set up for the first corner, round it no bother took third gear and bang torque steered straight into the wall - ouch was my initial thoughts. The worst thing was I managed to get the car straight and move it to the next marshals post and get it turned facing back down the hill. I then had to wait around 45 mins while they rebuilt the wall and fencing at the corner all the time knowing that the car was damaged and that this was holding the whole event up. I am still unsure of why it happened but know it was my error. I either lifted while on the power with lock on or put the power down too early with the wheels not straight either way it was a bad decision I managed to get the car down and then began to asses the damage. Most of the damage was pretty much confined to the bonnet, drivers wing, bumper/splitter, lights etc but the intercooler had suffered a direct hit from a piece of wood that clad the wall just after the corner so it was definitely a show stopper. I decided to strip the car there and then with a view to trying to get it ready for the Sun. After some much needed encouragement from John I set about it partly filled with anger at such a stupid error and partly with a determination not to let it beat me. So with the car stripped it was easy to see what was needed to get it back running. The bonnet was pushed a bit. the drivers wing was bent slightly around the side light area, the headlight, sidelight and indicators on the drivers side were all damaged beyond repair. The intercooler core was, well you have seen the pics and the bottom drivers side intercooler pipe was shall we say a different shape and had a bit of a restriction With the car all stripped and John finished his timed runs we loaded it onto Johns trailer and headed of to John's to carry out some cosmetic surgery. With some new parts from the Stevenson spares package and some very useful MSA approved white tape to rebuild the front bumper we had the car road legal and running within 2 hours - result We ended up with the following result the next day. Picture showing the wooden clad wall on the drivers side I managed to modify I would love to say I jumped in the car torched up the hill and beat the class record but you would know I was lying so I managed 4 runs up the hill and a respectable final time which got me 2 points in the championship. So its fair to say I will remember my first outing at Doune. I have deliberately not done anything with the rear bumper to keep as a reminder not to get to smart as the car will bite back. I now look at Doune with a lot more respect, at 14 feet wide and wall and armco either side of the first half of the hill it is a hill that quite rightly deserves respect. I owe a massive thanks to John for his help and support on that day as it was definitely a back to earth with a bump sort of day. But as with all experiences all you can do is try to learn from it. to be cont

Will do mate got quite a few good shots that you took for later on. I keep going back and adding bits that I forgot. There is so much I have forgotten especially some of the smaller things done to the car. Will try and do some more tomorrow, thanks for the kind replies And to think I only started doing this because I had slowed down so much at footy that the red card totals were becoming silly I was a bit like david Weir just faster Dave the coilovers have worked really well this year but they are about to expire

Contact Mark at Lateral performance

CONT Well at this point it would be around Feb this year and the pressure is starting to mount. So I arranged a mapping session with Andy and headed off to Port Seaton. Things didnt go well with the car running very rough but I made the assumption that the changes that had been made along with the guesstimate fueling would be the cause. Once at Andy's it became apparent that there was something not right he could not set up the idle and the fueling was all wrong at idle. Andy immediately suspected an air leak, he spent considerable time and effort trying to sort the problem out for me but it became obvious that it was pointless. I was conscious of not wanting to waste Andy's time any more than I already had so I set off back home a bit deflated and very down. The next morning I decided to try and solve the problem, armed with Andy's advice and some advice and encouragement from John the previous night, I set about trying to find the leak. I used a can of smoke detector testing spray around all the areas I had disturbed and it became obvious that there was an issue around the no.3 cylinder leg of the inlet manifold so it was off with the manifold and the culprit was diagnosed. There was a crack in the leg of the manifold. This must have happened when I refitted it, I am still unsure why this happened as the gaskets were not creased or damaged so it may just have been a weakness in the casting as the bolts were not overtightened on fitment. So it was my subaru guru to the rescue once again with another inlet manifold. A quick coat of paint and in it went and I then adjusted the injector duty cycles to the levels recommended by Andy (the car would not previously run at these settings). I was certain that I had sorted the problem so when I turned the key to find it still did not idle, but did at least run with these settings, I was a bit surprised. Andy had been a bit unsure of the ICV when I was through so I changed this and hey presto the car ran pretty sweet with no idle issues. Thank ****. I now had real time issues as the season was near to starting and I had not had the car on track at all. A call to Andy brought good news as he kindly managed to sqeeze me in at short notice, thanks again for that it is appreciated. Well off I went across to Port Seaton again but this time I was fairly confident that the car was ok, it ran fine and idled ok. As is the norm Andy done his thing and transformed the car. Due to time constraints we did not have time to carry out a road dyno run so I am unsure of the power but given that the engine and Turbo are standard I would suspect that the power is near 300BHP with possibly similar torque figures maybe slightly less. Next came the call to John at Progrip in Bonnybridge to have the geometry set up. John managed to slot me in when I explained my problems. John set the car up to the settings John St had recommended using some pretty nifty equipment. After a bit of banter and a cup of tea I parted with a more than reasonable sum of money for what I would suggest is a lot of work for very reasonable cost from a guy who knows this area of cars inside out. On the way home I had the chance to throw the car around a little and was amazed at what it would let me do without unsettling the car, thanks John top work. At this point all I had to do was fit a catch can, remove the battery and fit and relocate the new gel battery I got via a scoobynet group buy. I also needed tart up the outside and fit a Splitter, some mini bonnet scoops and some much cheapness wing mirrors. I also had to get my personal scrutineer down from Cumbernauld to check my handy work out. The battery relocation was fairly straight forward as I had already had a custom made battery tray made that would allow fitment on the rear of the LH chasis leg With everthing pretty much in place I had completely ran out of time and the first event was only a week away. That left no time to test the car or look at any suspension tweeks etc so it was pretty much a case of being thrown in at the deep end. I had already orgainised my entry and had my competition licence suit helmet and boots all ready to go. So with everything organised it was off to Kames for my very first sprint of what looked like a daunting list of events. SSC Round 1 13 April, 2008 Kames Scottish Sporting C.C. SHC Round 1 19 April, 2008 Doune Lothian C.C. SHC Round 2* 20 April, 2008 Doune Lothian C.C. SHC Round 3 27 April, 2008 Forrestburn Monklands Sporting C.C. SSC Round 2 03 May, 2008 East Fortune Lothian C.C SSC Round 3 04 May, 2008 East Fortune Lothian C.C SHC Round 4* 10 May, 2008 Fintray Grampian A.C. SHC Round 5 11 May, 2008 Fintray Grampian A.C. SSC Round 4* 24 May, 2008 Kames East Ayrshire C.C. SSC Round 5 25 May, 2008 Kames Machars Car Club SSC Round 6* 7 June, 2008 Golspie Littleferry Caithness C.C. SSC Round 7 8 June, 2008 Golspie Kylestrome Caithness C.C. SHC Round 6 21/22 June, 2008 Doune Lothian C.C. SHC Round 7 28 June, 2008 Forrestburn Monklands Sporting C.C. SHC Round 8* 29 June, 2008 Forrestburn Monklands Sporting C.C. SSC Round 8* 5 July, 2008 Boyndie Circuit 1 Aberdeen & District M.C. SSC Round 9 6 July, 2008 Boyndie Circuit 2 Aberdeen & District M.C. SSC Round 10* 19/20 July, 2008 Alford Grampian A.C. SSC Round 11 2 August, 2008 Kames East Ayrshire C.C. SSC Round 12 3 August, 2008 Kames East Ayrshire C.C. SHC Round 9* 9 August , 2008 Fintray Grampian A.C. SHC Round 10 10 August, 2008 Fintray Grampian A.C. SHC Round 11* 24 August, 2008 Forrestburn Monklands Sporting C.C. SSC Round 13 13 September, 2008 Golspie Littleferry Caithness C.C. SSC Round 14* 14 September, 2008 Golspie Kylestrome Caithness C.C. SSC Round 15 20 September, 2008 Alford Aberdeen & District M.C. SSC Round 16 21 September, 2008 Alford Aberdeen & District M.C. SSC Round 12 27/28 September, 2008 Doune Lothian C.C As i expected for my first ever event it rained , while this was good for one other 4 wheel drive car and driver who has lots of experience it didnt exactly fill me with joy. Fortunately it didnt rain all weekend. So here we go first start and I must admit it was a weird feeling real excitement but also a little apprehension. John was also on track showing me how it should be done. So with the first event done and no issues with the car at all it I was pretty pleased. I certainly wasnt the fastest on the day but that was never going to be the case and having proven the car over a 2 day event I was happy with my work over the winter. The car handled well and went pretty well to, the limiting factor was definately the ability of the driver but as time went on I hoped to show steady improvement. So next up the easiest event of the calender, Doune, shouldnt have to many issues there after all its only a small hillclimb and only about 50 secs. How hard can it be to be Cont

Thanks stephen will hopefully get that bit written up before the weekend. Tongue in cheek Greig I know there will be a reason your not entering but remember you wont get any practice time at Doune the way you have been able to do at Forrestburn so this would have been an ideal oppertunity for you to run up the hill with absolutely no pressure.

Thanks guys. Greig I had noticed you bottled it As far as i know all the classes will be exactly the same next year but 2010 will see a lot of changes which will be pretty much as per the blue book.

cont Next it was time to tackle the fuel tank in the boot, run the fuel lines to the tank and instal the filter, pump and new pump wiring. I used a new fused feed for the pump as it would draw more current than the original in tank pump Walbro and used the original fuel pump switching signal to switch a relay which then supplied the power to the relay. The tank is baffled at two levels to ensure there will be no fuel surge at low fuel levels. The tank was designed by John St so that we could use a tank with sufficient quantity to allow road use but able to run with minimal fuel on track without any surge issues. It has proven to be very very effective. John hasnt had a chance or real need to use his yet but at least we now know it works really well. I had to add bracing for the tank as the whole design is based on a tall thin tank so I used some light alluminium angle to provide a very strong but light support structure. At the time I had to make sure the positioning of the supports provided sufficient rigidity to the tank but also left me space to carry jerry cans in the boot as I would be driving to and from events. The bracing was time consuming but well worth it. I added a small LED to the fuel pump power feed which allows to see at a glance if the pump is getting a power supply this would save time in diagnosing a fuel pump problem. I have also fused the pump after the relay. Having fitted the tank in the boot it is necessary to firewalll the inside of the car from the boot. I done this by shaping and cutting a large piece of aircraft grade alluminium and riveting this in place. I again used some light weight alluminium angle to brace the rear of the panel to stop it flapping around and acting like one of Raulph Harris's bendy comedy musical instruments . At the same time all the cut outs on the rear window shelf were also fire walled in the same way. All panels were then sealed with fire resistant sealant to ensure no fluids could transfer into the cabin if things went wrong. Next I removed as much of the interior trim as possible including the carpet underseal and door trims seats etc. Things were really starting to take shape at this point but I still had to wire in the AVCR and mount MY APEXI Power FC and Commander. I also had a shift light which I wanted to mount on the cage leg around eye level and set of gauges to plumb, wire and mount (Oil PX, Oil Temp and water temp). I decided not to use the temp gauge to measure water temp but place the sensor as close as possible to the air filter to give an indication of inlet air temp. I am not happy with the inside of the car, it is functional but looks tatty. At this stage there was no reason to smarten it up too much as I would be packing the car with wheels, spares, tools etc when driving to and from events. The next stage was to get the car running. On advice from Andy F, I used a safe setting for injector duty cycle with the plan of getting the car running and off over to Andy for him to work his magic on it. to be cont

Well decided it was about time I posted some info on the car I have been using this year in the Scottish Hll climb and sprint Championship. The car is a MY93 WRX RA and apart from a set of Coilovers, a newage WRX TMIC, induction kit and a 3" decat system, it was pretty much standard when I purchased it. The car was in pretty good condition with only very light surface corrosion on the underside so that had to be treated and painted first, the rear suspension however was showing signs of rust so it was all removed cleaned and either treated and painted or replaced. The car underfloor area was sanded down down, washed and treated with POR 15 metal ready which is almost like a zinc coating. It was painted with Por 15 paint which is a very hard wearing paint designed for just this sort of application. It went on amazingly well and gave a high gloss finish which looks good, not the intention but a bonus, and is easy to keep clean. One unwanted by product of the POR 15 is the 2 weeks it takes to get all the drops and splashes off your skin. Even suited up and with gloves on I still managed to get covered in it, looked like a dalmation for about a week The rear hubs were changed for a pair of late blob eye WRX hubs, all the bushes were replaced with powerflex bushes and the lateral arms powder coated . The roll bars were changed to adjustable Perrin items with the stout mounts at the rear and rear Perrin drop links. The results were better than expected. At the front a Perrin adjustable roll bar was fitted along with a set of whiteline steering rack bushes , cheers Geo The next item on the list was the brakes so I replaced the front and rear set ups with a set of 4 pot fronts and a brand new set of 2 pots which I got from Alyn at AS Performance who was a great help with advice and supply of parts as things progressed. This was completed with DS2500's all round. The gear box was next on the agenda, the original RA box had been damaged prior to me purchasing the car so it was removed and on inspection it was pretty much destroyed with the 3rd/4th gear set looking a bit sorry for itself, it looked like the locking nut had come loose allowing the gears to move resulting in a catastrophic failure of the box. To be honest it wasnt a problem as the RA ratio's are not really suited to the use the car was destined for so the box was replaced with an 04 WRX box with a rear plated diff added to complete the gear train. The gear box fit was a doodle but I had issues with rear diff carrier. I had purchased a set of powerflex bushes to stiffen up the carrier but these did not fit. As you can see the bushes are to small. It turned out that the RA and possibly some of the other early imports had a different rear subframe set up for the diff carrier. I phoned Powerflex and spoke to a very helpful chap. Paul Solbe, he informed me that the bush kit I had was the only one they made and they had no idea there was a different kind of carrier. He suggested I send down my carrier and they would see what they could do. A week later and Paul phoned, they had made me a set of bushes and planned to put them into production - result all round. I have a set of stiffened bushes and powerflex have managed to increase the range they have available. So a big thanks to Paul at Powerflex for help above and beyond the call of duty Next it was time to start on the engine bay. First thing on the agenda was removal of the blobeye WRX TMIC and fitting of a hybrid FMIC along with parallel fuel mod and larger injectors. For the fitting of the FMIC I found the following scobynet project thread a great help. I also fitted a set of tubular headers all wrapped with DEI heat wrap. I also applied DEI self adhesive reflective heat resistant tape to the intercooler pipes running near the Turbo in an attempt to keep the temps down. I also fitted a Turbo blanket again to try and keep the under bonnet temps as low as possible. http://bbs.scoobynet.com/projects-40/58267...er-project.html The parallel fuel mod was fairly straight forward but a bit of advice from my subaru oracle made it a lot easier. I used alloy -6 connections throughout the engine fuel feed side although there are some -8 fuel lines and fittings from the tank side. I also had a set of modified fuel rails with -6 fittings to complete the instal correctly. Although properly fitted push fit connections may have been all right I wanted the job done right so decided the more expensive fittings was the only way to go. It was a fairly lengthy process making up the fuel lines and working out where I wanted to run the hoses and where I wanted the FPR. I found the cost of the connectors in rip off UK was horrific so I imported these from the states making a healthy saving and purchased the braided hose from Pirtek. Big thanks to the guys at Pirtek in Paosley who were excellent in ordering the hoses and Mikalor clamps etc and a small discount was also nice as well and the after first lot of changes to be cont

No need to change your up-pipe only the WRX's have a cat in the up-pipe and the one fitted to your car is perfectly adequate so keep it and save yourself £100. Sports cat downpipe, centre cat delete pipe. Remove front silencer replace with straight through pipe and change standard back box for one of your choice. Walbro fuel pump and panel filter and some NGK -7 plugs. Andy Forest remap ( a must) and away you go - sorted. Well to start with

Closer ratio's result in more gear changes which is not always ideal!

I imported some spacers from the states which made the job easy, I think you can get them in the UK now might be worth a post on scoobynet ice section to find out.