benedwards64

Funnily enough, mine was doing this recently, Had a new belt fitted at service around six months ago, and over the last couple of weeks it has been squealing on cold start-up. I removed the plastic cover over the alternator pulley, and then it's just a case of loosening the alternator retaining nut and winding in the tensioner bolt a few turns to give the belt some more tension. Was a two minute job with a 10mm and 13mm (I think, might have been 12....) socket

Croft is an excellent track. You have to be brave to drive it fast!

Could be cam-belt failure?

Looks good!

Well, had its first opportunity to prove itself at the weekend. 500kg trailer + 600kg Westfield - no problem Who says tow-cars have to be boring?

Nice work. I thought briefly about trying to get a second hand unit but probably wouldn't have got round to it! Plus this way I know it has been fitted properly, not by me

Just to update this, in case anyone is interested - I've now had a removable Witter towbar fitted:

Can't help with the whereabouts, but it does at least look like it's still on the road: https://www.vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/Default.aspx

Caterham looks good!

A few words on the Westie if you're curious http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=47&t=1432916&nmt=Fiat+Twin-Cam+Powered+Westfield+&mid=384363

Yep! Not one I've built, it's a 1990 car and has been a sprint/hillclimb racer in a past life. It's a bit of a rolling project really, something to tinker with when I have the time but also something I don't have to rely on

I just got a good deal through Sky

Cheers John. Something to bear in mind for future, but I'm trying to avoid mods for now. This is my daily and work car so I need it on the road, plus most of my spare car time/resource will be spent sorting the suspension, dash, and electronic ignition system on my Westfield. Besides, after two years in a diesel beemer the 'standard' Prodrive exhaust sounds bloody lovely

Well, 2 hours stuck on the M25 followed bu a blat through the Oxfordshire backroads.... it's definitely good to be back

Picked up this morning, and already put to work! It's good to be back though. Such an awesome car

Cool. I'm picking it up from Subaru tomorrow, I'll ask what they recommend.

Hi guys, One of the first things I will need to do to my WRX will be to fit a tow-bar. Internet searches reveal various types at differing prices, ideally I'm after something that won't involve any cutting of the bumper. Removable would be nice but not essential. This will be to tow a Westfield and trailer, combined weight about 900kg - probably only a handful of times a year. Any recommendations?

Cheers John. Saturday can't come soon enough!

Went to have a look at this yesterday, turns out the second-hand dealer is actually a Subaru main-dealer! The chap there left me for a good half an hour to look over the car in my own time, then took me on a decent 40-minute test drive incorporating lots of different roads etc. Pretty sure it was the easiest sale of his life - the car is an absolutely immaculate 06-plate Hawkeye WRX wagon with Prodrive pack. Full dealer service history, plus a 12-month dealer warranty etc. Dropped down a deposit yesterday and I'm picking it up on a couple of weeks - can't wait! In the service history was an SIDC membership pack - don't know if the previous owner is on here? Would be good to catch up just to reassure me that the car is as good as it seems! After almost two hours with it yesterday I couldn't find a single fault....

Thanks guys. I'm looking for an unmodified example and will be keeping it stock, so hopefully the cylinder head gaskets won't be an issue. I'll start having a look around in the next couple of weeks

Hi all, Not been on here for a couple of years, I used to own a bugeye WRX wagon which eventually got sold in favour of a motorway cruiser (diesel! ) when I changed jobs. I'm now doing less motorway mileage (although still the occasional long journey) and the Impreza itch and a bit of man maths means I'm considering a GB270 Wagon as a new purchase. I want a wagon for the additional load space and I may consider hooking a trailer up to tow my Westfield to the occasional track day etc. I'd also like to have a Scooby which I can keep standard rather than be tempted to fiddle with too much and it seems to me that the tweaks and additional power over my previous WRX would be a good balance for power, reliability etc without being massively expensive to run considering I'll be doing 15-18k miles a year. I'd also hope that a well cared-for standard example would remain a pretty desirable car when I come to move it on. Budget-wise it looks like I can get a good example for £8-9k. I realise I could get a pretty big-power car for that sort of money but I'm more interested in an everyday balance of drivability and dependability rather than chasing numbers. I have the Westfield for when I want to go mad So, any owners of the GB270 that can cast some light over living with it everyday? Is it comfortable for long journeys? Anything I need to look out for specifically over the 'standard' WRX? Cheers Ben

Spotted two within 10 minutes of each other this evening! One red blob-eye as I was heading into town (sorry, I was too busy admiring your car to notice you waving in time!) and a silver bug-eye wagon heading down the hill into town. I was also in a sulver bug WRX wagon

Thanks guys. I figured there would be some high-milers out there This has confirmed what I thought, at least - with decent servicing and not thrashing the b cks off it, it should keep going. Most of the driving I do is a 30-mile round trip to work, which all is just cruising with a couple of bursts of dual carriageway to overtake the slow movers

Evening all My bugeye WRX wagon tripped over to 120,000 miles today, and this got me thinking. I've had higher-milage cars before (my MR2 and Supra Turbo both had close to 140k when I sold them!) but I haven't seen many turbo Imprezas with such high mileage. In fact, a quick scout through the classifieds the other day revealed not one new-age WRX with more than 110k, apart from one which had 149k but had a replacement engine. So has anyone managed a decent high milage on a WRX? Is the knocking big-end bearing problem really that prominent on high-milage Imprezas? My car is completely standard apart from a decat pipe and Prodrive exhaust. It seems to have been looked after by all of its previous owners, but it has been driven hard - do I need to start worrying about the longevity of my engine or can I be confident it'll last another 10-20k before I move it on? Any opinions or experiences would be welcome!

Thought this would make you laugh! I have no idea of the origins of the pic, I just found it on one of my favourite time-wasting sites and had to share