MarkJHarris

Didn't know you had the prodrive bumper. Sorry. I really should RTFQ sometimes.... on your side dash above the fuse box you should have a switch for rear fog lights and a blank switch next to it. It's the blank that should have a wiring plug sat in the rear of it. that's your front fog switch position. The ProdriveStyle bumper certainly had lights in it at the Tokyo Show.....though not sure at all whether a kit or what parts would fit. However, the loom should have the bits as it would have come as a standard car with the Bumper retrofitted in the UK I would guess? Best of luck.

Not 100% sure on a Bug, but my 03 Blobeye STi was easy as pie and the mechanincs of the cars only really differ in the front bodywork.... I contacted Imprezabreaker through ebay and bought a pair of good condition standard WRX foglights, the surrounds that clip where the covers go on my car, and they chucked in the mounting bracket that clips into the bumper hole and also a relay and switch. First thing to do is prise the blank from where your fog light switch should be. You should find the plug for the switch sat in the back of the blank. If it's there, you're laughing. The relay is a standard one, so look in the fuse box by your leg. you should find a space on the forth one down and if so pop it in and with a switch, that's the inside done. the plugs at the bumper will be taped up so they don't swing about. It took 10 minutes to fit both on mine, and the really great thing is you can simply put the blank cover back over it on mine to cover them up when not needed! Hope your's is similar. Mark.

Too clever modern cars! I was following a new BMW 3 series convertible today and when he braked, the usual three went on and as he braked harder the inner red lights on the clusters at the top, either fogs or tail lights? went on as well....they only flashed for a second so no idea what they'd do for a long hard press. Shame there's not a standard though, you might run into the back of him with distraction! (Not with the Brembos on mine I would think) Mark.

Doesn't work on my PC. Vista Ultimate 64 by the way.

Just bored a bit. I tend to log on to wind down after work and considering just how many scoobies I see every day, there must be loads of members about. How many tend to turn up to meets on the Island? Having only had mine for a few weeks, I've not managed to attend one yet. Ian at P.A.C.E. has it right now to look over and set it up for me, so it's a few days with the Vectra for me. Still, the weather's safe for it now. Mark.

Anybody about? I know the weather is vile, and we're all having fun using the AWD on our cars to it's best advantage, but is this section usually so quiet?

My car came with nearly new Federals on it, and the understeer was frightening. It would let go just turning into side roads in the wet at hardly more than walking pace. they were undersize too, so I've just fitted GSD3 Eagle F1s on and the feeling in the wet and slushy roads is transformed. The car is quieter, the steering firmer as the grip levels are so much higher and the understeer simply gone. The tyres are pretty obviously critical on a Scooby, and wth 50/50 split means you really do have to match them front to rear as well as either side. No two brands will have the same feel and dimentions either. Really, Subaru recommend all four tyrer should be the same, both in make/size and remaining tread for a very good reason. Stick to a good make as well, it's dearer, but a lot less than your excess and lost no claims for next year!

The diffs will be cold, yes. However most of the gearbox will have loosened up as unless you leave the clutch pedal pressed the gearbox will be turning with the crank in neutral. Once your car has been sat overnight it will have cooled right down and all fluids will be cold and at a viscousity that has been tested by the development engineers long before your car reached the Market. Basically once cooled down if the antifreeze is at the right ratio, the washer is not too full and has winter screenwash in and your I/C tank is not nearly full, the car can just sit there as long as. The battery will have a lower voltage in the cold but any car with an alarm setup will go flat over time. As said, just make sure you don't get it pinched if you leave it running!

Used my Scooby for the first time in the ice and snow today. bloody hell what a car! Fantastic. I'm a convert. I reckon the only way to make it better would be to drive the spare tyre as well! IOM all iced up and I gently sailed past it all. Wicked. Turning the REV light to 3000rpm keeps me off boost, but the one time I let rip, on fresh snow and slush, it took off like normal . Won't do that again, as I have a finite supply of underpants......Mind you, no hint of slip either, so Scoob wasn't bothered. Hope you all got home safely today!

Ah.... Well, for my bit. I reckon the grit has a speed of about 20 odd MPH exiting the gritter in order to fling out to the edge. Most modern grit trucks have a complicated set of sensors to detect the width of the road and position so to adjust the spray head to accurately place the grit without too much waste. If you crawl past, you'll get hit by a lot of salt that is relatively slow moving and less likely to scratch or damage the car. Once it hits the road, it will break up any larger clumps into fragments and bounce up causing a lot of noise but no damage. If you steam past, then you are spending less time in the zone, but the relative speed of the salt is a lot more, and the likelihood of damage probably higher. Me? if I get caught behind and have the time spare, I'll dive off at the nearest services for a coffee and pee, which should both get me a good space behind, and allow the grit to do it's job and improve grip. I'd much prefer if they didn't grit but insisted drivers fit winter tyres instead. We'd all be a lot better drivers too if that were the case....well the onces still out there would be!

Ah, the sound of freedom.... Four RR Conways on full chat! I must admit, the decaf downpipe the dealer took off my STi was amusing, nice blend at the top end, smooth turn and well finished, but it finishes in a tightly pinched in 2.5" flange to mate to the O.E. mid section which would ruin the gas flow. It's a shame you don't have a rear box with swappable large and a system diameter outlet pipe to compare on the dyno. Again, in theory, and I say that because the last time I was at a dyno it was Dynojet's in Garstang fror my RC, and the time before that at Harvey's in Peterborough to see my mate's Cossie perform; Theoretically, the gas pulses coming into an expansion box are smoothed off and the steadier flow out of the box 'should' need a slightly smaller diaeter pipe each time. In practice, it doesn't happen that way and plays havoc with the poor sod who has to buy the tubing and set up the jigs and bender! I still reckon the divergent end pipe is the prime cause of the noise issue. Prodrive seem to know this it seems.....

Iain, your back box is more or less just like a motorcycle racecan. If so remember benouili's theorem, demonstrated by mr venturi many years ago.... The gas passing through your back box possesses both pressure and momentum.. Gas speed. As it enters the can, the pressure wave opens out but the mass flow of gas carries on. All thecan does is take the edge off the blast. However, once it passes out into your tailpipe the gas speed drops and pressure rises! Not efficient! A jet would use a convergent nozzle, the conical end of the turbine helping as much as the outer pipe. The nozzle would only have a divergent opening mechanism if an afterburner was fitted. The sound from your tailpipe is a function of gas speed and frequency of bangs ( note) and pressure- which put simply means VOLUME!! Your can 'should' flow the same with a matched 2.5" tailpipe and be a lot quieter as well. Function or fashion? Hope this has helped someone... I received jet engine theory lessons for my commercial pilot's studies. Ut it was in 1990 so might be a touch rusty....

Almost certainly it would. The noise in part comes from the gas speed. If you look in your afterburner tailpipe, is it 4" constantly or a taper or step diameter change as it exits the casing. Also, when you look in, does the back bhx have a straight through perforated pipe or does the gas enter a large chamber and glow about inside then out again?

Er, sorry everyone. I do tend to go off on one once in a while. Basically, the larger the system, the more gas and therefore power you can make, also it make bugger all difference to low speed power. The tailpipe size determines sound and anything larger than the main system is irrelevant to power. Larger is deeper but does indicate smaller genital though.....

Ok. I might not be an engine tuner( or laptop flash god) but with helmet and armour on, I can holdmy own on this topic! An engine sends out its exhaust as bloody fast blasts of hot gas. If it came out of individual open constant diameter pipe it would sound like gunfire. (idle would sound like a Gatling on full chat!). However, somewhere back in the past some wise soul figured out that behind the high presuure blast was a low pressure wave. By connecting two pipes together, you can use one low pressure wave to help draw out the gasses from the next cylinder's pulse. The extractor manifold was borne! Now, later, and more relevant here so bear with me, they discovered that ANY sudden change of pipe diameter also caused a reflected low pressure wave. So you could get the extraction effect by fitting a step in the pipe- or an expansion box. Scoobies use a combination of extractor primaries, tuned length secondary pipes( either unequal length for marketting reasons( you can make ANY 4 cylinder car sound like a scoobie if you made pipes to suit) or equal length for power, hence JDM spec STi manifolds. The aim is to balance the pulses to make the engine suck it's own exhaust out as efficiently as possible. Err, end of part 1. Now, with a turbo, the pulses are softened a bit without a silencer, and the aim is to get the gas out of the turbo as efficiently as possible and without restriction from either pressure waves are anything that will cause a backing up of gas pressure through choking. Eh? It is Known phenomenen that gas flowing out of a pipe can only flow so much volume of gas before it 'chokes' and back pressure occurs. This why the tailpipe on an afterburning jet engine has a variable size nozzle. We achieve this through a larger exhaust pipe diameter than on a non turbo car. Getting there. From the turbo back simply need to balance avoiding choking the flow, softening the gas pulses and looking nice plus getting the frequency of exit gas flow right. Think of a silencer as a sound capacitor or accumulator. The blast of gas goes in and comes out as a slower moving softened woof. If the silencer is big enough and the exit pipe large enough there will be no back pressure so no power reduction. The final exit gas speed will depend on the size of tail pipe. If you have a 3" pipe going into the rear silencer then any exit pipe does not need to be any larger at all. So there.

Thanks Dave. I read on another site that you can disconnect the battery and pump the brake pedal to draw down residual coltage in the ECU and clear it's RAM that way. You know it's done it when it takes longer to start and cranks over for a few seconds after re-connecting. Not tried it yet. Set of Eagle F1 going on hopefully Friday. That should get rid of the awful plastic Federals that are giving it a noisy and slippy time right now. Nice to meet you BTW. Sticker prices are a bit silly really, so I'll get reps made up. Won't need them until spring when I cover the fog lights up. Thanks again. Mark.

Have you thought about eBay? I got some stuff from Imprezabreakers in Norwich, good service and value- fog lights surrounds and switch and relay for about £120 all in. At those prices, screw dealers!

If only. My Sti that I picked up last week came on almost new Federal 205/45/17 things. Plastic tyres if there was such a thing. I hate taking off tyres that look new, but these things will never grip and are undersize for the rims too. They are that bad, I'll slash them so nobody tries to reuse them as well. Bloody lethal. I've "run on" at several junctions and roundabouts at mild to slow speeds already, weird feeling, and not one I've had for years since the last car I had on "budget" tyres. They got slashed and binned as well. The worst thing is that on a full on squirt, they grip OK, I wouldn't mind if i could light them all up for a donut or two. At least they'd have a use then! Ho hum.

I have a spare blank bung. My car came with a cheapo DV fitted and fortunately the O.E. one was in the boot along with the downpipe. I've put the standard one back on and it runs fine thanks. The Aftermarket one looks cheap, was working perfectly, mind, with no idle or boost problems, but I much prefer one that puts the air back in front of the compressor than one that does not. Not that I run a lot of boost, just standard. If anyone wants to relieve me of my DV, even just for the bung, PM me. Good thread mind. Handbags at Dawn lads?

Daft Question. Now I've had the car a couple of days, is it normal for Scooby Drivers to wave at each other? I only ask because I do wave at oncoming Scoobies, mainly as a habit I picked up as a biker, but most of the miserable sods don't or won't acknowledge it at all. I wonder, is there any classic/Newage bias at all? A white Classic STi I have seen a few times, seems to blank me, but the few Newage drivers i've seen all wave back. Maybe he's just a miserable sod. The fog lights went in yesterday. Took all of 10 minutes. Excellent. I can swap the covers over when needed so you'd never know they were in place in summer. Well done Subaru. Final question. Is there an easy way to make sure the ECU resets when it's had some chep fuel in? I put Vpower in today and want to make sure it can make use of it. It does sound better than the Total 97 oct stuff already. Thanks for bearing with me. Mark.

Thanks. Well, good news is the gaskets and back box turned up and Ocean Ford delivered it to me yesterday. Nice and quiet, just what I wanted. I must admit, the car does feel a lot more docile with the standard exhaust, and has me wondering about putting the front de-cat back on, but I'll leave it for now and get used to the car as is for a bit. Weird how it pushes on in slow corners, like junctions, but cold tyres and muddy junctions must be to blame. I fitted the front fogs I got from a breakers for £75 all in today. Took all of 15 minutes in total. So, Blue STi with front fogs, 146 F**, Gov.Hill. I'll try to wave as often as I can.

Damn right I do! I'm like a dog with two peckers at the moment. Can't wait to get my hands on it. Scoobies here, scoobies there, scoobies everywhere...except on my drive. Boo Hoo. Can someone tell me about turbo to downpipe gaskets... I know the O.E. one is different to that used when you put a de-cat pipe on, but how so? And how easy is it to get another De-cat gasket without knowing the make of de-cat downpipe?

Thanks for the welcome. I still haven't taken delivery of it yet...quite frustrating. The deal included putting a standard exhaust back on, as I want it quiet as I go to work VERY early in the morning. The original front Cat and dump valve came with the car, but not the back box. Currently it's sat in Ocean Ford's back yard waiting for the turbo to downpipe gasket and a new back box which is back order from Subaru Japan. The old gasket's no good so they can't even put the decat pipe and chavvy Cherry bomb back box on again. I've already got a set of fog lights and surrounds from a breakers in Norwich, and they had a good back box too, but Ocean want to use new parts....nice of them. Wave when you see me, it's a WR Blue Sti Blobeye, 03, O.E. gold split five spokes, with front fogs, a chrome standard STi logo back box and reg is 146-F** Fat old Bald git up front and tinted rear and back glass. (It's a pain to get off apparently!) Mark.

We have extension seatbelts on our aircraft- mostly for infants to be secured to mum or dad, but we regularly give them out to the larger folk... I usually make a trim adjustment for them as well. Best of luck bringing the subject up, but remember they only have themselves to blame no matter what the excuse, and if it were me, I'd point them at the bus stop rather than damage my car. The extra walk will do them good as well! Mark.

Hi, having been a keen sportsbike rider for 11 years, I'm just about to finallyget myhandson an STi scoob this week- no idea really about subarus but plenty about bikes..... It's easy to be seduced by sports bikes- the looks, sound and image, but for someone looking to start out and build any kind of NCB, an R6 is a bit daft. They are very sharp steering, not particulary stable and rev like a banshee. The riding position will kill your wrists and your mrs may like one, but she'll have other ideas once she's had a go on the back! There's plenty of dv2 bikes out there that are quick enough yet practical, not boring, and would give you a far better path into riding. Personally you were on the right trail initially, thundercat, cbr600f or even a tidy CBF or Fazer would be ideal. An RR will cut you in two at the crotch as would other full on racebikes. Me? I have a VFR800 with ABS, heated grips and tall screen- all day practical and smooth yet I can still rag it round the TT course and stay with most of the power rangers. The other bike's an RC45. Only comes out for special days. Whatever you choose, ride safely- and warm the tyres before you lean on them!