badbaz

There's a small lever on the catch when you get it open - it can be flicked to allow opening from the lever at the driver's seat or if flicked the other way the lever at the seat doesn't contact and there fore you can only use the key - have a close look when you get it open and you will see how it works. Someone/thing must have caught your catch lever and moved it to the wrong position.

79 sleeps!

PHUCK! That means about 30 nights of working time at car

Interesting, that says it'll have to stay - another problem solved, cheers Not before it receives a little trimming though

I'm not convinced Don, any alternative to it would be just as heavy unless made from titanium The part is as light as it could be given all the cut outs on it and what it's made of.

The part just inside the wishbone mount point, with the two studs on, where the plate mounts too, is already triangulated so even without the plate the mounting section would take a helluva bending. I'm no engineer of course, unless I can get a 100% confirmed response then I'll leave it all in place and try the car with it off and on for comparison. It's the long term effect, if it does allow flex, which is the unknown.

I wonder if the Spec C has it fitted, it's always a good pointer as to it's worth, although I have found that they don't compromise on anything that's fitted for crash protection, the lower subframe was still fitted to the Spec C I saw.

Time flies......

Not much progress, need to prepare a lot of items for powder coating and this is pretty slow and uninteresting

Rear diff cradle first: as I can't replace this with a lighter alternative I've take some weight off it, I daren't go any further in case I compromise it's strength. Every bit is another bit saved. I've just to clean up the holes and it's ready for coating.

Before

After

The weight reduction is minimal, especially for the time taken but I must continue to remove what I can/dare as it all adds up in the end.

Then the front cross member. This had some existing supports and brackets which the old u shaped subframe picked up on. I have removed these and also had to adjust part of the frame where, under certain circumstances, it fouled the front drive shafts. This is because the car runs extra castor, pushing the wheels, and in turn drive shafts further forward.

Not the best photo but some bits removed in this pic

The front frame has brackets for both RHD and LHD so I removed the LHD guff

I now need to establish if this bolt in section is really needed.

This is bolted to the underside, the problem here is establishing whether it's needed for strength or is more crash protection? I'm still trying to decide/find out!

Next up was to check out the new suspension

It's KW clubsport with remote reservoirs as you can see. Seperate adjustments for bump and rebound and they look rather good I think

They will fit with my existing adjustable front top mounts and the rears will fit to modified standard...

Just had to cut off part of the existing ones which used to retain the shock covers. These are both done and ready for paint.

A few more unnecessary shots of the suspension

More work to do next week, more stuff to decide on and then we can start getting some things back on the car and begin moving forward!

Glad you got sorted kid

have some digger training thru the day, tho why i have to travel over 200 miles for that ive no idea

Good job you don't have to drive the digger there

Just been on Sky News Davie, that hotel chain is in administration

You can say that again tight arse

What you up to in Strathaven then matey? Not far from me

Welcome, what area you in?(listening to Clyde1)

Welcome to SIDC, keep a look out for upcoming meets in the events section and get yourself along.

Is that same as you can do with the leccy ?

It was a private sale initially, depends who's had it since. Maybe he reversed it down?

Welcome to SIDC and hope you do make it along to some events in 2013

Does it happen just after you have been streaming Audio or Video?

No, just at random times

Try changing the lease time on the router I used to get that problem with the virgin superhub

No other or previous equipment has any problem re the router so I can't see that it could be that

Don't want to tempt fate, but I found an option to stop the laptop managing the network card power wise, and switched that off - it's not disconnected since. But I've not used it much

Looking for some IT help.....

Have just got a new laptop. It's running Windows 8 (no likey)

All works well, lappy is fast etc but every wee while I get DNS lookup failed, a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark over the wireless connection icon and internet is lost for about a minute. I don't need to do anything and it comes back itself.

It's not the router, or internet as multiple other devices have no issue.

Have uninstalled and reinstalled wireless drivers.

Any solutions out there - google searches seem to lead into very complicated try this try that with no one seeming to solve these issues easily. Perhaps that's the nature of this problem?

Cheers for input.

Thanks Kevan, I read it back myself recently and it's actually amazing what I forget I've done. It also helps to remind me what I still need to do! I have 11 pages of A4 for a 'to do' list at the moment. The end of March seems very close!

When I started documenting what I am doing to the car I knew it would seem tame to some, but others would not have any experience of these kind of things and it would allow them some insight into the Impreza and it's workings

It's not an easy job, but being in or out makes no difference

As ever time flies far too quickly - December is all but gone and the motivation with it seemingly!

Some parts arrived, but not near fitting some of them......

Hauled my sorry holiday ass out to the workshop a couple of days ago and moved on with some stuff.

Removed the excessive clutch hydraulic pipework, this will all be replaced by one Goodrich style hose and a blanking plug. I'm slightly concerned about the weight of the clutch after this mod but only time will tell:

Before

After

Sticking with removing things, well sort of, a Carl Davey alternator relocation kit was fitted. No specific reason for this other than to tidy things up. The alternator is originally centrally mounted, sharing a rather large bracket with the A/C compressor - it's aluminium and not heavy but it keeps the alternator mounted high up and looks a bit naff once the A/C has been removed. Normally this is moved when the inlet manifold is turned around for front mount and big turbo installs. Might come in handy one day

Before

Kit parts

Fitting

Fitted awaiting belt

As a result of moving the alternator over, the original alternator adjustment which is part of the power steering bracket is no longer required. Out came the grinder, saw and files. I chopped this down to tidy up the bracket and keep things to a minimum.

Apologies where photos are poor, light isn't great and I usually grab the pictures hastily while I remember

By chance, my next discovery was quite shocking and yet lucky....

My timing belt is three years old, probably about 6k miles of use and had I not lent a section of timing cover to a friend, I'd never have seen this disaster in waiting. I had no intention of doing anything timing belt wise this winter. The reason behind it is as yet unchecked but it appears to be delaminating of it's own accord

Having spent a day fiddling about without interruptions I was tempted back for a second day - well a half one at least.

The gearbox has some bits and pieces which are not entirely necessary. Every bit of weight counts now

The gearbox cradle is to be replaced with an SD Motorsport item, so I removed the old one, then some brackets and as the pitch mount is no longer needed I moved the breather hose slightly and also lost a few metal brackets from around the casing.

Ready for attention

Front section tidied up

I also fitted a gear linkage bush kit from AS Performance, this takes all the play out of the linkage making changes more precise

The original bushes push/chap out and the new ones just need a gentle squeeze in as can be seen.

Just a minor tweak needed for the clutch slave cylinder and the box is done.

Last up for now was to remove the remainder of the fuel vapour vent system. This consists of a pipe running through the car with the supply and return fuel pipes, some over tank pipe work and then the previously removed charcoal filter. I also reduced the fuel tank vent pipework and that leaves the tank ready to go back in soon.

Before

After

Various reasons have prevented me from going down alternative tank routes - cost, practicality, CoG amongst them.

The car is desperate to escape.....

Welcome back

What will Geo think Kenny?

Welcome to the club

Welcome back, can't answer your questions though - good luck

You looking to improve yours before the Fling Dave?