stevief

Had the origanal WRX wheels done recently by the Wheel Specialist at Dyce, £330ish for tyres off, blasted, scuffs removed, powder coated, center caps painted to match, tyres back on and balanced. Excellent job and cheaper than getting just the faces done by smart repair. Steve

No power figures as it was mapped on the road but it was planned to be around the 265 / 270 mark which Alistair reckons it is now but to be honest I wasn't chasing numbers just drivability. I'm well impressed with how it is going now, it's a daily driver so the right foot has to be a little lighter but getting used to it. Getting a bit of torque steer when pulling away quickly but a play with tyre pressures should hopefully sort that out and if not a change of tyre brand when needed. Fuel ecconomy is as expected as it's around the same as it was before the wor nder normal circumstances but give it stick and the feul gauge drops quick . The PPP route was chosen to give an increase but allow for improvement once I get bored with how it goes now. The only nightmare was getting the third cat out as there had been a bodge job on the flange between the downpipe and the cat and the gearbox mount had to be removed from the box to get bolt out. The intercooler hoses were not as easy as I expected but that was due to the dump valve to inlet pipe hose clip being in the worst position possible and my lack of foresight to get bigger hose clips. I'm now of the opinion that the real PPP pack is not as much of a rip off as it originally seems, apart from the generic map, as in total I spent around a £1000 so adding labour onto that would probably have taken it to the £1500 of the PPP. Using open source for the mapping took a lot of thought and was chosen for for reasons I'm not discussing for fear of starting another drawn out discussion but the difference in price does make it very attractive. It's getting a health check on Saturday which again speaks volumes for the man's operating practice so we'll see how it is then. The only dowside of the trip down was that I managed to drive from Aberdeen to Lanark then to Edinburgh and back up to Aberdeen and only spotted one other scoob, totally different from up here where I normall see at least a dozen a day . All the best, Steve

Having been brought up with "Old Skool" tuning with carbs, cams, aftermarket ignition systems and the likes; this mapping lark is a bit of a black art. Anyhow I've had the car two years, an 04 WRX wagon, and following changes to the exhaust, a set of wheels, bigger antiroll bar, a new set of front calipers and a set of Hel hoses it was time for some tweeks. Aiming for a PPP equivalent the required parts were fitted and then it was off to Edinburgh to get the map sorted out. After much thought I spoke to Alistair AKA Trackhound Tuning and arranged the time. That was a couple of weekends back but I didn't do the usual drive back post as I wanted to give it time to get used t it, and I have been well impressed with the results. I've had some bad experiences over the last few years with various garages and have lost my faith in the services they provide but that faith has been restored slightly by the way that Alistair has done his buisness. The discussions on what I wanted were factual and in no way misleading with no huge claims of what could be achieved, questions during the process were answered without leaving you wondering about his abilities and best of all he took the time to follow up a few days later to see that all was well after the run back up to Aberdeen all of which is rare in itself. Would I use Alistair again? Certainly. Is mapping still a black art? More a shade of gray now but I'm still not trying it. Steve

I now feel realy ancient, as a tiny kid I used to be in there on Saturdays with my old man right through to transferring cars part time in my early 20s. Off to customise my zimmer

Expected you think that. They are probably one of the longest running buisnesses in the area as I'm sure he started up when the County Garage in Hyndford Road closed down so that must be 25+ years ago. Hope it goes well. Steve

No help here I'm afraid, been away too long but your query has just highlighted the sad demise of nearly all the garages in Lanark and there used to be some quality work turned out. Always fancied getting a respray from Billy Connolly out at Carnwath, quality painter and novelty factor as well. Best of luck with your hunt. Steve

Just heard bck from Cusco kid. The old ones are going back in and a new set ordered. Thanks, Steve

The bushes in the plastic links are bigger and the sleeve o/d is 5mm larger in the old ones. Also the sleeve protrudes through either side of the bush so that any contact is on the metal sleeve rather than the rubber bush. The other sleeves on the new backs dont come all the way through but are just a mm short so will extrude slightly but the one in question is far too short. The fronts are just slightly shorter than the width of the bush as well so that must be normal. I'll throw the old ones back in for tonight and do the front end tomorrow just to be on the safe side. I've also sent Cusco Kid a PM and I'll get a photo organised once I get finished. Steve

It is the sleeve through center of the bush. My guess is that the bush spreads slighly and the sleeve limits the amount of distortion. Don't have pics as yet, Steve

Just received a full set of Whiteline KLC 26 (new age WRX wagon) drop links, ripped out the old rears and started to fit the new ones but one of the sleeves is too short by at least six mm. If I fit it in the bottom mount will I get away with it or is it better to put the old ones back in and get a new link/ sleeve sent up? Ta, Steve

Thanks for the replys. Think it could be 20mm to keep the handling sweet. Ta, Steve

Running a 2004 WRX wagon with about 40k on the clock so the suspention does not warrant changing just yet but the body rolll needs to be addressed. Through searching it is obvious that uprating the rear ARB will make a difference butt he wagon is not discussed very often so what is the recommmended size for normal road use? I'm guessing Whiteline 20mm would make fair difference over the stock 17mm one so would the 22mm one be worth considering at all? Any views / recommendations welcome. Steve