DR Motosport

Cathy, Have a look at COOLPARTSUK on ebay, you might be able to work out what radiator you have bought and what one you need from their adverts. But from what I can remember, radiators with a cap are from blob-eyes onwards 2003>. Bug-eyes dont have caps, A wee breakdown for fitting for you, Put front of car up on ramps, remove engine undertray if its still fitted. Remove bottom radiator hose (its at the passenger side)from radiator and engine - gives you more space. The hose is held on with spring clips, just use good pliers, but beware the bottom 2 clips are likely to be rusty, so maybe get a couple of spares. This will drain all coolant. Remove top radiator hose, again at both ends. Remove 2 metal brackets that hold radiator in position at top of radiator. Remove 2 smaller hoses that go to header tank. Unplug wiring plugs for radiator fans (if 1 fan its 1 plug, 2 fans 2 plugs one either side) These are down sides of radiator near the bottom, can be a bugger to get off as its press a wee clip in then unplug. Lift out radiator. Put old one side by side with new, and remove fans from one to the other. Refitting is a direct reversal and fill system as above post. You'll need to buy 5litres of antifreeze and mix it 50:50 Keep topping up when cold as it will self bleed slightly Hope you follow all that, it's not too difficult, honest. Davie

After 15 years of track days with Subaru's and EVO's, I think I've tried every combination possible for brakes. My new-age JDM STi is running Performance Friction discs and pads on the Brembos. Pretty good but not fantastic that a lot of people make out, and I'd be really miffed if I'd paid for them. I ran AP's on my last track car, but this one came with new-age Brembo's fitted all round, I've tried Mintex, Pagid, EBC's red and yellows on different cars with the Brembo's So if your looking for something thats a good compromise for the road and won't fade at Knockhill, try Mintex 1155's up front and either 1144's or 1155's at the rear. They work well from cold, have a nice feel and I haven't killed a set yet. They are a bit dusty on the alloys is the only downside. I also always use AP Racing brake fluid, nothing else. For suspension, the only thing that works well on track are coilovers, simple as that. Look at any track day photos, coilover cars will be nearly flat through corners, those with lowering springs will be almost rubbing corners of their bumpers. You could throw everything out of the whiteline catalogue at it, and it will help, but still not as good as coilovers on track. But as you want your car for both track and road, its always going to be a compromise.

Already booked on track, think there were only 3 subarus for the last event so we need to do better

Those lights are actually PIAA driving lights and not the standard subaru fog lights, a £350 dealer extra. Shame they're bust as they were unbelievably bright on main beam

A few years back a local lad came to see me one night. His power steering had failed and alternator light was on, I said he'd probably snapped the belt. Opened up bonnet and not only no belt but no crank pulley either, luckily he still had the undertray fitted and the belt and pulley were on that. It needed a replacement pulley and new key but the crank end was fine. He tells me he still checks it every week to this day

Looking good, Strange they didn't remove bumper and headlights for painting, the rubbers around the headlights make it difficult to hide the painted edges.

From the photo it does look a bit like royal silver, but definitely 406. I do like the bonnet pins and cups, something different and as I said only £15, both made by grayston. The cups don't come with any templates so you have to make some up, but simple enough to do

Quick update time.... To make sure the aluminium bonnet didn’t pop open at high speed, I bought a set of bonnet pins and cups for them at the Autosport Show for £15, I already have a set of the flush Aerocatch type, but will keep those for now in the box, as they may end up on the STi. The pins are the usual standard alloy bonnet pins of old, but the cups are a bit rarer and I originally saw them on a certain McRae R4. After removing the sound deadening, the floor was like a patchwork quilt of colours, so time to get the original seats out and paint the floor. I didn’t want to remove every single thing thats inside the car, so removed what was easy and masked up the rest. These small spray guns are perfect for getting into awkward places and can be bought on ebay for £10. I just used some cheap 406 silver and didn’t lacquer. The footwells were given plenty of coats to make them more hard wearing. I’ll had some small cut down rubber mats for the pedals and heels.

Best bits, oh so many. Picking up my first Impreza brand new back in 1997, 16 years ago. Everyone seemed to know what they were from the rallying, but hardly anyone had seen one close up as they were so rare then. A spirited run back from Crail with Dougie in his catalunya, and 2 Sierra Cosworths, oops, Picking up the new age jdm sti, after waiting 12 weeks on it arriving from Japan. All the SIDC track days, which brings me to one of the worst. A beautiful Saturday morning back in 2007, SIDC track day at knockhill having a blast in my white ra track car and my mate Dave out in his new spec c type ra. Having some dinner later on when the phone goes, Dave again, his mate was a fireman and was attending a helicopter crash in Lanark. I just knew.......... Had been friends with Colin for 16 years, when I did a bit of road rallying and he was doing the British championship in the legacy and we'd meet at the coltness car club. Oh so many stories and memories though.

For top and bottom radiator hoses, I've used the cheaper ebay ones on a few cars and never had any problems. Both track cars have had them fitted. They're usually 3 ply compared to single ply for the original ones, so always an improvement. Relatively simple to do, remove undertray to get at bottom hose, pliers to undo clips (I use strong longnose plier to help access), have a container ready to catch all the coolant. Remove the plastic trim above the alternator air con belts, pliers again to remove top hose. Replace with new, and fill up coolant. Use genuine Subaru at a 50:50 mix. Will take you about an hour, you'll have new hoses and replaced your coolant at the same time.

Hi Cathy, Yes just call knockhill booking office, and arrange a date that suits. I actually bought my voucher at The Gyle when Knockhill had a display stand with Christmas offers, think it was £110. But well worth it, I'm now looking forward to the SIDC track day in June Donna

His better half here "Donna", Had an hour on track with Jamie and well worth every penny. Nerves vanished really quick and he kept me at ease at all times. Would recommend to anyone as he takes you lap by lap gradually building up braking points and raising speed also on each lap. He also gives you a quick guide with a few laps with him driving on what would be classed as a bad/good lap which again only highlights what not to do. From 1st lap to last I could notice my confidence and ability increase and really didnt want to come off at the end. He broke down ever corner, every gear change and every breaking point to my and the cars ability. Go for it!!! Donna

I'd say replace them anythime now. I've just done a set on a 2006 Hawkeye WRX with 60k, top hose was ok but the bottom was starting to break up inside.

My other half Donna has one of these booked for this Friday, so will update on how it goes. She did about a dozen laps last year at a Track Scotland day, but felt she was too busy watching out for other cars and staying out the way, that she wasn't learning anything. So booked the tuition, so she can get used to the car a bit more and learn the track better.

Heading down to Croft to watch the Time Attack on the Saturday, see if I can make knockhill on the Sunday.

There's a group buy over on S/N for proper foam lances at £40, plus options for buying lance and snowfoams. Have the flimsy bottle too, but doesn't put it on very thick and it just runs off quickly, so thinking I'll go for one on the group buy. Have a 20litre container of snowfoam already, spotted the AutoSmart delivery van at a petrol station one day, and asked the guy if I could buy one, £20. Not sure if it was legit though, wasn't given a receipt

No worries Phil, happy to help

Just dropped you a message

Double post oops how did that happen

I've got a set you can have. They're in the back of my van so easy pick up in Livingston. They are Inovite Tarmacs with 215/45x17 tyres. Any good?

I've got a set you can have. They're in the back of my van so easy pick up in Livingston. They are Inovite Tarmacs with 215/45x17 tyres. Any good?

Purely for cosmetic purposes and the fact the originals were a bit worn, Colin at AA AutoBreakers let me help myself to a set of pedals from a new-age STi. The left foot rest is a 2 bolt straight swap over, the clutch and brake pedals also just clip/slide on easily enough with a squirt of WD-40 for lube. However the accelerator pedal isn’t a straight swap, as the whole bracket is different so it’s a bit more awkward. You have to swap them over at the pivot pin right on the back of the pedal. So knock the pin out with a pin punch, swap the pedal, and replace the pin, but it’s a very tight fit in a limited space, so a few sweary words were used. But they do look much better I think.

If its your own car and if you haven't had them off before, I'd pop off the rear discs, have a look at the shoes, adjust properly and clean up the adjusters.

The handbrake shoes inside the rear discs are self adjusting and have nothing to do with the calipers (unlike an audi or vw). If this is at the end of adjustment it will need new shoes and that's pretty rare to wear them out. If the cable needs adjusting that is done under the handbrake with a 10mm spanner If that's at the end of adjustment, pack it with a few washers.

The good news Lewis is I seem to get on quicker with the car than I can type, so it will be usable. So........ The STi 6 spoiler was next for the chop. Anyone remember Stephen on here, big lad from East Kilbride I think it was, he had a black blob-eye WRX. Anyway, my mate Gavin bought his car a few years back, and it had a copy S202 carbon rear spoiler on it. Finally last year I talked him into replacing it with an STi spoiler, there’s a surprise, and I ended up with the old carbon one. However these sit really too low to be of any use, so I bought a square of 8mm thick aluminium from ebay for £16, and had a friend mill it to make 2 leg supports up so it sat about 12” above the bootlid, I didn’t want it to look too mad up at roof height and this was the same height as the white cars carbon spoiler. Carbon competition type spoilers go for quite a few hundred pounds, so at £16 this was a bargain, and another 5kg saved. The electric folding mirrors were next to go, replaced with lighter DTM style ones from ebay for £22 and a saving of 2.5kg, and should give at least 10mph more top end due to aerodynamics, or maybe that should be 0.1mph.