badbaz

Nearly .... Thanks Matty, you're welcome Lewis, any painting is to prolong life, I couldn't give two phucks if its shiny or not

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Thanks all, I hope I reach my target Moving on with the rebuild, some boring bits went back in, fuel tank (still needed to tweak the vent system to suit) after making some weight saving mods to the shell and then I could get the rear subframe and diff support cradle sorted and back in. I want to be able to launch the car hard now, so some mods have been made to these areas to try to cater for that. Ideally a completely new rear cradle geared towards this goal would have been the best choice but the cost is simply too great for a non competition car. I've had to make do, and cross my fingers that I don't start eating driveshafts.... First up the diff nose support, or t bar as I call it, is mounted to the shell each side just behind what would have been the rear passengers footwells. These are rubber mounts and not very stiff, so these were replaced with Whiteline parts to stiffen that end up. To do this you first need to remove the old ones which is a real pain as there is no way to support the bar and press them out. I used a hacksaw to very carefully cut through the outer metal section of the old bush, which then allowed it to collapse slightly and be pushed out. That was before powder coating obviously, so the first thing to do before fitting the new bushes is to get yourself an able bodied assistant to protect your shiny part: then tell him to get the right bloody bit Then after clarifying which way up the bushes go (offset) carefully press them in - which turned out to be easy enough with an 80 ton press This leaves the part ready to go back on: And fitted The rear subframe, which mounts the rear of the diff and the lateral suspension arms just bolts to the chassis legs with four bolts. There are no bushes in the MY05 rear subframe where it bolts on, it's just solid metal to metal Just the diff needed to connect them together, and this is where the second mod comes: This is a diff brace as supplied by SD Motorsport, it bolts onto the the rear of the diff and subframe assembly, effectively locking the diff to the subframe. The aim of all this is to stop movement of the diff and minimise the change in angles of the rear driveshafts which in turn stresses the CV joints. The main problem at the rear, especially on lowered cars is that the diff sits so low the shafts have to angle upwards to the hubs - under a hard launch the car squats and the angle gets worse - lets hope this helps.... Fitting it wasn't plain sailing, after speaking to Steven the supplier who was very helpful even out of hours, there seems to be a small difference with some spec C and MY05 STIs which meant the cradle didn't fit exactly as intended. A few spacers soon sorted that and all was good - diff mounted and ready for driveshafts. Old t bar bush next to diff Original diff rear support which is retained but brace bolts through Diff in position Mounting up with brace All bolted up and yes, I did cut those bolts down I then was able to refit the lateral arms, hubs and driveshafts - everything loose for now until all rear suspension is in place and ready for set up I also received a delivery of some wheels I bought - I like the look of them on the car, although I still prefer my Prodrive wheels. They fit the rally theme well, especially with their markings These are still my favourite though

If it didn't get a new one, which would be very stupid, it could have been damaged during gearbox removal, or removal from old pressure plate - easy done Was last one slipping badly? Did you allow it to badly overheat for example?

It's not that I've not been busy, every spare moment possible has been spent on the car trying to achieve my goals or at the very least get it back in a usable state For those who don't have any experience of this type of thing, stripping bits out of the car and remove engine etc is all very straightforward, relatively speaking, but when it comes to rebuild, especially 3 months later, it all just takes longer! In addition to trying to remember where everything goes, repeatedly saying out loud 'who the f**k stripped this down', I'm still looking at everything to assess it's worth and above all else how heavy it is So, while I now was desperately needing to get building, I was waiting for my subframes etc to be ready and some other parts which were overdue arrival. This was kind of holding me up but there were still jobs to do to make sure that I wasn't held up going forwards.... As a consequence of sitting lower in the car, and the fact the sun is always shining , I suffer the dash reflection more than the standard seating position. It's always been my intention to get my dash flocked, to keep with the rally look and to get rid of that reflection. I chose to only do the top of the dash, budget is always tight , and doing the lower parts would serve no real purpose tbh. Dash top was stripped of all removable parts, some of which you can see below if you've never seen behind a newage Impreza dash It was then well wrapped and sent off to a well known flocker, along with the clock housing and windscreen lower edge trim. I then continued to tidy up items around the shell whilst I waited on parts. Painted where the pitch mount used to live: Fitted a rear tow hook: Fitted the new flywheel and clutch to the engine: Flywheel with newly supplied spiggot bearing fitted (centre) Disc on alignment tool which also comes with the clutch kit Pressure plate fitted, alignment tool removed Release bearing fitted And gearbox/downpipe back on ready for installation back into car Then, as the sharper eyed amongst you will have seen, my subframes were ready and collected This allowed me to refit the steering rack, front ARB and brace back onto the from subframe ready for the engine I also could get my coilovers prepped for fitting: Rears with modified top mounts Fronts had to have top mounts reassembled as part of them had been away for powder coating, the Whiteline paint quality is exceptionally poor - hoping this gives them a good chance of living much longer These were all then bolted back onto the shell ready for other suspension components to meet up later - rear: I now had plenty to do once again, engine and box and all suspension to be refitted......

Could be a number of issues, mainly installation wise. Few things to clarify - did you get a new release bearing? (not shown in pics) What was reason for removing old clutch? He may have 'hung' the gearbox on the disc and bent it, easy done and this would give shudder/pedal vibration. Was old clutch contaminated by oil at all? Any mechanical noise could come from incorrect installation, realease bearing/fork issue. Bottom line is it will need to come back out I'd imagine

Just contact them for stand forms, probably email them to you, post up the info for provisional numbers and likely costs if any - then set a date for cut off for booking. You'll manage

Handbrake shoes can be adjusted through a hole, the self adjusting system doesn't work very well, certainly not in the long term - then final adjustment can be made inside the car at the lever. Only needs stripped if adjusters are seized.

Andy, head to Crieff and join in the fun mate

Many thanks to Mr H, all sorted out now

BTW, I'm not offering to BE your date, as it could be read that way

Barry, if you want to take it on I'll see you get the necessary support from the club? I'm not sure if I'd be able to go though mate - need a date?

Ten less you mean Matty, Gordon's a big lad

Welcome here too lol, ignore the other thread question

Welcome along, car looks great - what area are you in?

Aww FFS, here we go, too many accepting the offer so I'm not doin it now?

Nice one Cathy, white icing - nothing coffee - cheers

M80, M73, M74, M8, Hillington - 100mph all the way - 10 mins

Jeezo Al, a whole tenner, best scrap it then

Thanks for info - wouldn't use Godspeed I'm afraid, will wait until the start of the week before sending in the heavies. Stand by

Anyone familiar with this company? http://www.brake-caliper-painting.com/ (can't post link on phone) Or anyone local to them? Brake Caliper Specialists Chatsworth Avenue Long Eaton Nottingham NG10 2FL

Good story Davie

Busy that day sadly.....

Unlucky again there Matty, all the Haggii (that's more than one Haggis) are rounded up on the last weekend of April and taken into a special slopey unit where they are encouraged to breed for a week, before returning to the wild in May to have baby Haggii Has Dave covered off the eats, this IS Dave Shanks you mean right? Dave is sound where grub is concerned - although only Michelin anything you might see is tyres