tinman1

Hi Spect, thank you for taking the time to consider my issue. New rack, Updated version due to old rack having the proverbial play in the input bearing shaft. ie inadequate small bearing so changed for a new larger bearing input shafted version. No play in ball joints or steering rack ends. found pipes loose at point of change so ensured tightness with new seals on pipes and new seals and banjo bolts on PS pump, Scavenge was recognized and thus ensured eradication by way of new seals and banjo bolt weirdo seals. Blooming expensive. £10 for a bolt !!!

Cheers Chris, sure I will one day

There fine, they are only dimpled not drilled all the way though, went for dimpled and grooved because drilled have a history of cracking at the drilling. they were fine though. Always kept an eye open for clogging, they never have. And in the defense of the crack. I have had them glowing at times, so I think they have fared well for a set of discs that have had 15,000 miles put on them given what they have been through. Only cost me £65 new so can't complain. Put standards back on for now, thinking on moving up to Brembo all round.

Just spoken to previous owner. Car had 400 miles on clock when he purchased and has never had a crash while owned by him, (to his knowledge.) neighbor bumped in to rear left door so had new door skin, so that may explain the paintwork on rear left side. (Door and rear wing) Subaru paintwork is crap anyway so front right wing inside bonnet may just have been missed at factory. Was however a demonstrator and after owning the car for 12 months car was in need of four tyres and a wheel alignment. Nothing really conclusive there though either. May be that he/wife knocked a few pavements and buckled the wheel. (or done while in for service and covered up ??? ) SO the investigation goes on. Think I will speak to Subaru !? Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Anyone have any experience with Subaru UK tech dept ? Are they good or bad ???!!! TTFN Will keep you informed.

Well as promised I am posting the result of my findings with regard to brake judder. And I can categorically say that after 7 painstaking hours of investigation and component replacement, Lower arms for aluminium (inc all bushings) Struts due to age Strut tops due to RH knocking Front discs due to crack found in LH inside Link bars to suit lower arms Brake fluid due to age Clutch fluid due to age And investigating the caliper pistons for free operation, (takes a deep breath and pauses for a moment) The fault is still there and there is no significant reason why it should be Incidentally, the pistons in the calipers are free and free of any visible debris/rust, thought you may be on to something when I pulled out the inner left pad as it was imediatly visible to me that it was slightly thinner at one end. Vernier calipers showed 0.7 mm difference but the pistons are clean and free in operation Have attached pictures of the crack found just in case anyone was interested. So The car has had: Wheels checked for being true 1 x new wheel due to warpped Hubs (x4) clocked for runout 2 new sets of front discs new pads (red stuff) all round New set of tyres (4) Lower front arms New struts New springs new strut tops New ARB link bars New ARB bushes Wheels torqued to see if it would make a difference (as aposed to a very experienced right arm) Wheels and tyres rotated wheels a tyres balanced twice And this is only the items that relate to the front end, and I have owned it 3 years and covered 20,000 miles in that time. Think I need to speak to the previous owner and get some history on the car. Like how bad was it crashed when the rear left wing was painted and the front right wing as well? If anyone can think of anything, please feel free to speak up. As before, all ideas/advice welcome Sad part is it really is not so bad, most average drivers would not notice it in normal operation. I'm just a fussy twat and won't give in. Oh well, will keep looking. TTFN Thanks guys

Now have a set so not needed Kind regards

Thanks for taking the time to reply Bryan and lewisscoob I can confirm that the pistons are/were free in the calipers and that they returned in to the caliper with no problem when fitted the EBC Red stuff pads. But just to double check, I will look this weekend as I am replacing the entire front suspension (not for the braking symptom ) Because my top mounts are perished and have started knocking. so built up a set of new struts with new TMs and am also fitting Aluminium bottom arms to eradicate the lower arm failure issue (top gear Hammond's lower arm failed ! Its a recall outstanding on my car. Will let you know. Ironically my model car comes with the Subaru 4 pots, so I am presuming the are what you fitted Bryan ? Cheers guys

Hi FOlks Need a set of Bottom Ball Joint Adaptors. so I can fit aluminium bottom arms to my 2001 Bugeye wagon Do you have any ????????? See Picture PM me if you do, but need them sent First Class immediatly !!!(without the BS of I sent them yesterday, coz the car is on the boat next week !!!) Kind regards Me

Having/Getting ideas scoUK

We do not know you, but wish you both all the best anyhows. Live long and Burble !!! Or is that Burble long and live ? Martin Clair and Lebster

Hi Folks Looking for a little help if you can I have a 2001 Newage Scooby Estate WRX (first of the bugeyes) and I have been struggling with a symptom that I have almost submitted to now, that the car has had ever since owning it. The symptom is brake judder, but before you all go leaping in and saying that the discs are warped; please allow me to explain. Purchased the car in 2009 and after getting use to it, I started noticing a mild brake judder. Now it was not, nor is not to this day; severe. In fact it is very mild and only at a relevant speed range and at a certain brake pedal pressure The car had had an arduous amount of work carried out on it at the dealers expense prior to purchase and while under warranty. (again please understand, we did not purchase a lemon, we have in fact purchased a car that firstly was so enjoyed by the owner. He has in fact purchased a newer model. and secondly he did look after the car, as it only ever went to the dealership for maintenance, but did obviously skimp in his final couple of years of ownership.) ie. door speaker not working, did not have replaced Door seal air noise, did not have replaced etc etc etc Think he just reached a point where instead of puting significant money in to a 9 year old car; figured he would just purchase a later model WRX, (fair play :-) ) Nothing major or significant, and all was replaced by dealer before or during warranty, due to me recognizing it at point of test drive. Just to put you in the picture, (as some of you know) I am a 20 plus year Automotive engineer, now retired from the tools. (design is now my thing so watch this space, :-) in the future) Symptom occurs when braking with significant pedal pressure and the speed while braking reaches 43 mph, but disappears at 40 mph. It can at times have a very mild effect on the steering wheel, (not problematic, just annoying) An un-tuned in driver may not in fact recognize this. Prior to purchase vehicle had new discs and pads all round, fluid etc. And had in fact only covered approx 500 miles max since fitting at point of test drive. Initial thoughts were, get the wheels balanced. SO did this. Improvement was 90% better. Even though discovered during wheel balancing, the vehicle had a buckled front wheel. Had it fitted to rear temporarily. and have replaced buckled wheel with replacement item from breaker and did check it for being true prior to fitment. As time has gone on symptom has remained and so: Thus far I have replaced the front discs. No change Replaced all brake pads with EBC Red Stuff Items, and for all that has improved symptom significantly, has not remedied. Have measured run out of hubs, All OK, have four wheel alignment done OK. Have read that there is a number of recalls for the vehicle regarding braking system and more, and thus have contacted a UK dealer, (No channel Islands dealer anymore) who has been awesome, considering they are not getting paid for their efforts. ( Proven Subaru in case you are wondering)But am informed all recalls for my vehicle have been performed (according to the system ???). Only outstanding recall is the bottom arm recall (ref top gear, failing bottom arms) AM replacing with Aluminium items this weekend so issue eradicated !!! So; My Question is, Given the extensive knowledge and experience of many a member of this club, which can often out-way that of a decent dealership; Has anyone got any ideas, knowledge, experience of such a problem? And if so, did you find a cure to the problem and what was it if you did ??? My apologies for such a lengthy post and I am sorry to take up your time if this is not your thing, but I am about ready to accept this symptom as an inherent feature of my particular car (short of contacting Subaru ?) don't know if they will help given that she is 77000 miles and 12 years in now ???!!! Sorry, forgot: Car now has later updated steering rack (due to chattering noise and feel through steering wheel when on uneven surfaces such as concrete multistory carpark floors (now has revised rack with larger input shaft bearing. (also found input and output PS pipes loose during replacement and so have ensured tightness on new rack. Also ensured tightness of pump pipes to prevent air scavenge. Link bars have been replaced Also had four new tyres 14000 miles ago (that is since noticing Problem, ie since owning the vehicle, and they are still in ery good condition Khumo Ecsta LE Sport, standard rims) Soon to have FOX FX004 8x18s Any suggestions welcome, in fact I invite them My Kindest regards to you all, and hope you all are in good health

Pay no attention Dougieboy. You only left the cap off. It is highly unlikely that you lost enough oil (if any given the length of the filler tracked) to have any concerns. Unfortunately some people do not have the wisdom to understand that by writing all their S***, they cause concerns for people that maybe do not have enough mechanical knowledge to know what is contained within the skin of a motor vehicle. After all, it takes years to become a tradesman. But only seconds to be something other than useful. Concentrate on the issues you have fault codes for M8, one thing at a time. Laters

You seem to have missed out the Gaffer tape, the KY jelly, the wetsuit and the shaved hamster. Oh, Sorry cats out the bag with regards to what you get up to in your spare time, when you are not trawling websites looking for attention from men you have never met before.

Nice Motor dude. Looks clean !

Your welcome Its nice to be nice ! Let us know how you get on. Maybe even document it if you do the work yourself so it can be of aid to others Let us know where you get the blanks from, I am very interested. TTFN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UtENi9qAHg This should give you an idea of what is involved

Hi Dougieboy Sorry for slow reply. I am not to familiar with your model of REX, but basically it is emission control garbage, the system pumps air in to the exhaust in an effort to lie to the ECU (by making it think it is running lean)so it pumps more fuel in, so the Cats warms up faster. It is all to do with legislation conformity. It would appear that there is several fixes to the problem, apparently there is a pump and there are valves in the air injection system that stick, either in the open or closed position. This throws up the CEL (CEL = Check Engine Light just in case you were unaware of meaning.) Firstly make sure all the plugs to these units are plugged in so that they are receiving their electrical signal. In other words be sure there is no loose connection first. This would also give you the same problem. What the ECU is saying is, there may be an issue with the system; NOT that there IS a problem with the system. If all seems OK then the below may be the solution to the issue. I am not saying for sure that this is your issue, only that this is the typical known issue for the fault codes you have given. Option 1 Removal and an attempt to free off and clean the pump and these valves so they can once again operate correctly, may solve your issue at least on a temporary basis if it is successful. Option 2 Spend loads of money on new components, which should solve the issue, and look forward to it happening again because it is a common fault allegedly. Option 3 Allegedly someone makes a blanking kit, which allows you to remove the air injection system from the car. Then you get someone; say a mapper, (and this is where the laptop with significant software comes in to play) to access the ECU and have the air injection codes disabled so the light will NOT come back on again. I am unaware of anyone up your way who can enlighten you further with regard to this issue except for a chap called Alistair at trackhound.co.uk He is moving away apparently, but he has a good name in the mapping world and may well be happy to advise you, its worth the price of a call. Here is a few pics to help you locate etc. Blanking Plates Hope this helps If you get stuck just shout, I will see if I can help further.

Definitely an option that would give cause to spend time pondering joshuajames. The GB270 comes with a price tag that really dictates exclusivity. Indeed that is what one would be purchasing. To make a choice in favour of another vehicle with such high spec as you say, certainly would deliver a reward that one could not only enjoy to the same level, provided the little extra badge was not of significant importance. It could; allow significant funds for enhancements in other areas of one's life, creature comforts, mobile home for weekends ? or just added financial comfort. Unlimited possibility really. Why is choosing a vehicle such a difficult choice to make? Did Subaru set out to give the motorist every possible choice one could have, or did they just want to cause mental pandemonium through deliverance of myriad variation of a global automotive icon. One thing is for sure, valarius's decision is not becoming any easier as this topic evolves. We can only speculate on what choices are there to be had. And this is indeed what valarius asked for! Ultimately the choice is valarius's to make. Only he knows whether the shoe will fit comfortably or not? Personally. I like to be different, GB270 for me, the money does not matter if you own it long enough and care for it properly, it will be an exclusive car in many a year to come, and like the 22B, may even appreciate in value some day. My hatch has become a worth that is more to me now, than the day we purchased it. It has become a member of the family. I do hope however that valarius puts us all out of our misery once he has made up his mind, and post a picture or two of his decision for all to see. If anyone is running a book, I'll have a pound on the GB270 please!

Horses for courses !?

Hmm, Let me see now what would I go for, a new age WRX with more power due to a PPP, which is a very lovely car indeed, slightly softer suspension than say, STis and the likes of. Which for me is perfect cos I'm in the getting older bracket age group. Parts readily available due to the car being, well lets be honest, the more common variety. (nothing wrong with that I have one. ) Or Do I go for the option (and I presume it is also the Wagon variety) that is very rare, slightly up on power to a WRX, in fact only 100 built, only available in the UK, any colour you want as long as it is metallic grey. Extra little body styling, embroidered seats lovely rims. In Fact lovely lovely lovely, with a helping of lovelyness as a side order. Hell, even the badges are gorgeous. (But £50 each so I did not buy some.) Lets just picture it in our minds for a moment. Hell, even if it was the Saloon variety of which only 300 were built, I have to admit that as long as it was not to hard on the road for me, (Channel Island roads are of particularly bad condition, pot holes and patches, so I don't supose you will have that issue !!!) Then for me, without doubt, there is no question to be answered. I hope you enjoy your GB270, and yes I am very jealous, (Git) Just don't forget to wave when we see you on the road. Sorry to use so much room on this conversation, but you did ask !!!

OK So the other way you can do it is you can look in Scoobypedia in the ECU area. http://www.scoobypedia.co.uk/index.php/Knowledge/ECU Do a fair amount of reading (knowledge is good A little knowledge is dangerous remember ! )Get yourself the open source software, download it in to your laptop (if you have one ?) purchase a Tatrix cable http://www.tactrix.com/ And there you have it, fault code reader and live data feed. If you are suitably knowledgeable of the automotive arts, and computer literate, you can get other software such as ECU Flash and ECU Edit. And they can be nice little toys to play with. But if you do that you have to fill out modified vehicle reports for your insurance company. Personally, I use a laptop with all the necessary software, and that's my fault code reader and diagnostic tool. But then I also have more than 20 years as an Automotive engineer (retired from the trade now.), and experience of modding and chipping. So I would have to say, laptop great tool, but unless you know what you are doing, don't go down the road of using it for anything other than reading codes. (replacement engines are not cheap !) Hope this helps Oh, I have attached a file of fault codes, which you can also find in the ECU area in Scoobypedia at the top of the home page of the SIDC website. Good Luck

Best advice I can give is get a new oil cap and have a fault code read done. Obviously use some savvy. if it sounds like something is wrong, don't drive it ! May just be something strange like low crank case pressure upsetting it an turning on the CEL ??? More will become clear when a fault code read has been done. If you are in the position to do so, and to aid you in the future, you could buy yourself a fault code reader. They are not to expensive and are easy enough to use. I will write another reply in a minute, I am on my Mrs laptop, so I will go to my PC all will become clear !

I was staying in London during the British F1 weekend 2011 and commuting by hire car to Silverstone. Funny enough I did not see any Scoobs either Not being from there did not know about congestion charges. Hire car company hit my card with a congestion charge and another charge. They reckon I was seen on camera driving up a No Entry. Absolute Bol***s. was using sat nav and I know what No Entries look like. Wrote to the relevant authority,,,,,,,,did I get a response,,,,,Nope, thieving Ba****ds. Next time I'm bringing my wagon, it's got non uk plates and they are not in the system,,,,see if they can smoke that one.