craigdmcd

Hope they're not going to try that in a day!!!!

There are 2 lengths of belts as far as I'm aware. The shorter one is for the older style tensioner that came on engines up to around 98 and then the longer one for engines with the later tensioner and extra pulley. If your car still has the original engine and tensioner, then the shorter one is what you are looking for.

What all is included in the price? It's very easy to say rebuild without an exact spec. A list of parts would make it easier to give an indication of whether it is a good price or not. A guide is that a good rebuild will take around 20-25 hours labour. What year is the car? What is intended future for car - big bhp or selling up soon?

Grant, you may well have have got a bundle of goodies signed by some of the greats (there will be a 22B sitting idling for you at the gates of heaven when your time comes fo the work you have done selflessly), but I don't think any of the stuff going for auction will ever be as good as the memory you have of getting the signatures - that will stay with you forever. Well done Sir, we all admire you for your hard work and dedication.

The boy was quite clever, I'm assuming that this pic was on Stage 2, coz he passed on Stage 3 wearing motocross goggles - nice quick thinking!

And the last of them

And a few more

Well, as I said , I got up early (6.10), dressed and fed, then off to my dad's garage in Paisley to finish bolting the last few bits on to an WRX engine that had I done some headgaskets on. Left Paisley at 8.45 after fuelling up and went up Loch Lomond to Crianlarich and across to Kenmore for stage 3 at Drummond Hill. Got there at 11.15 after a pleasant run with light traffic. About a mile walk in to the stage, and found quite a nice spot where I could just see the cars coming out of a tighter 90degree right turn, up a hill over a slight crest in to a long 3rd gear left that opened and tightened in to a hairpin right (that was just out of sight) I could probably see 3-400 yards all in. I stayed to watch all the cars through. Most impressive on this stretch were Alistair, Bjorn, Jimmy, Malcolm, Travis and Ken. In the 4wd, Matthew and Wullie Bonniewell were impressive. Finished the day with a nice run from Aberfeldy to Crieff and on home from there. Here's a few of the pics. Sorry the standard of the pics is not that high, but I don't really get the Cannon EOS300d out often enough to get practice in. Some decent ones that you know who the drivers are at least.

Richie, I don't think I have been swayed by the option of the VF34. I think for a 2.0 car, Andy's TD04 is the way to go for everyday driving. I'm quite happy to go down this route, and have all the other mods in place (STi TMIC, Sportcat downpipe, decat up-pipe, ported/aftermarket headers, Walbro pump, STi injectors, panel filter) so that in the event that the wife uses the car less, and me a lot more, I can just dump a bigger turbo on and not have to worry about supporting mods for it. Like I have mentioned, I have an article by AndyF, and he has datalogging showing the pickup in seconds through the different speed increments. MPH TD04 Hybrid TD05-16G 30-50 ------ 2.6 ------ 3.5 40-60 ------ 2.0 ------ 2.4 50-70 ------ 2.1 ------ 2.1 60-80 ------ 2.2 ------ 2.2 70-90 ------ 2.7 ------ 2.4 30-90 ------ 7.4 ------ 8.0 I think that this shows that for a real life enviroment, the TD04 is probably the better option in a 2.0WRX

Can I ask how early the VF34 spools up? At the moment I am still convinced that the modified TD04 is more suitable (the car is primarily the wife's car - hence a very usable power band is required) after reading how impressive this unit is at low engine revs. In fact, in the last article that was published by Andy in Scoobymag, the TD04 outpowered and outdragged a TD05 to 4000rpm. I am just wondering if the VF34 with it's rollerball bearings make good early boost?

Seeing fabulous footage like this makes me more upset that I couldn't manage to go on the weekend. Imy, your speech comes across fabulously even on a video tape, and Callum, I would expect no less from you (actually thought you were a little reserved - possibly not trying to offend too many Englanders?). Well done to all involved

I don't know about the spec of turbo, but I would buy from the last seller, simply because of the amount of sales. Make sure it goes through e-bay, and pay by paypal, and you should be fully covered. The only problem is if it goes bang, then getting a warranty repair would be virtually non-existant. Is this turbo a better turbo than a AndyF modified TD04, and is it a direct replacement?

I've not had a belt done by Duncan, so can't break down the costs exactly, but I would imagine it to be around £100 labour. The garage I work at charges 5 hours for a clutch change in a classic, and always takes the box out, never the engine forward, but that is because the the equipment we have suits the job to do it that style.

Hypertech take that much because they replace all the pullies and the tensioner, not because they are overpriced. Duncan just prefers to do a good job with no chance of comeback.

Get the pics up asap and we'll give definate answers instead of calculated guesses (your descriptions aren't perfect).

I could be above average here, but I would guess the minimum to pay for a tyre fitting, quality wheel balance, new valve and waste tyre disposal would be at least £10+VAT per tyre. I think Black Circles pay their dealers £12+VAT per tyre for this service. Edit, I've just checked my suppliers, and I can't find a listing at the moment for Asymetric Goodyear F1's, but I can do a set of the older F1 GSD3 Extra Loads pattern for £365 including VAT fully fitted.

Yep, definately a good find, and it just showed how PR friendly Colin was. I struggle to think of many other Motorsport drivers that are that as endearing to watch. Nice to find a more good clips of the man himself. BTW, did you notice both cars weren't the greatest to drive on that track and Colin just adjusted the driving style to make it look good for the cameras.

That is an aftermarket spoiler, but to be honest, who really knows the difference without closer inspection. The studs on the original STi one are not removable as far as I'm aware.

Colzo, to be fair, I dealt with Harvey on the purchase of the car, and apart from a slight communication problem to do with the date of delivery, he was excellent. As for the Parts department, I always use Paul (I think I am right in saying he is the parts manager), and cannot praise him highly enough. He even has a jap import disc still in japanese, but knows how to navigate the system well enough to not need the language and just get the part numbers he needs from the screen. This comes in very helpful to myself since I have 2 JDM Legacies. It is with the service department that I have the problem - another simple fault - I am willing to drive my car in for a service from Hamilton, a distance of 21 miles. The courtesy car I have to pay to insure (understandable) will only be given to me on the understanding that I am allowed no more than 25miles per day without incurring a mileage charge!! A round trip to my house is 42 miles before I even go to my work (another 17 miles away). I would be cheaper to hire a car from Arnold. I'm away to sit in a dark corner and let my blood pressure drop.

The body service is "only" £75.79 inc VAT, but I would have been better spending that money on Lottery tickets - that way I might have got something back for it. I did actually get the the thickness of the paint checked at the Mercedes Benz bodyshop (I used to work in the Passenger Car workshop), and it was on average 70microns thick - which is classed as bare minimum by industry standards apparently. Even Ford's paint is up to 120microns thick these days. If I had wanted thin paint I would have bought a Spec C.

I don't personally like Bridgestone's, but that's just an opinion. As has been said, the new Goodyear F1 Asymetric tyre is good, and I can get them fitted for £98 plus VAT per tyre, but unfortunately that's no use to you being down in Duns. Blackcircles do them at that price, but a good consideration is the Yokohama Parada Spec2 tyre, which Blackcircles is doing for £102 fitted including VAT. I have these on my Legacy RS in a 215/40R17, and so far have been excellent.

I didn't look to see whether I could remove any of the studs on mine, I just went with the template. Did you get the template- you could lend it to pmacFTO if he wants to do the whole drilling scenario. Just had a look on Scoobyworld's website, and a genuine STi spoiler is £695 now. I bought mine for about £850 including discount IIRC.

Not trying to knock your spoiler, but it sounds like you have an aftermarket one if it is only held on with 4 bolts. pmac, it sounds as if you have an original STi spoiler that has approx 11 extra holes or 11 in total IIRC. When you buy the spoiler from Subaru, it comes with a template of where to drill the holes. At the time, I worked with a very skilled panel-beater, and he taped the template to the bootlid, drilled the holes, and at the trial fit point, we only had to elongate 1 hole by .5 mm. I unfortuantely don't think I have the template any more, although I will have a look and see if it is in the corner of my mum's garage. FWIW, I still think that these are the best looking spoilers from Subaru with perhaps a possible exception of some of the Spec C variants.

I've had both the paint inspections as per schedule (actually the 3 year one was a couple of months early). The car went in to Halley's for the 3rd service (My wife got the car in May 04 when 3 years servicing and warranty was included in the price) in March 07, and I complained about a few niggles (like a duff washer jet that I had complained about since the first service 2 years prior, a noise from the air-con and a slight rattle from the front suspension that was only really loud for the first few major bumps down the hill from my house), but also that some bits of the roof were starting to rust. I finally got my washer jet replaced, but was asked to let the other noises "develop" as they weren't severe enough to do under warranty- even though the car was left with them whilst I was away so they could get the suspension knock from cold! I was also told that the paint was not covered under warranty as it was due to stonechips. I work in the motortrade, and am not stupid enough to ask for the stonechips on my bonnet to be covered under warranty, but above a windscreen !! So to save meeting the monkees, I asked for a meeting with the first organ grinder in the chain of complaint - A Mr Kenneth Davidson who is the Regional Service Manager for Subaru UK. A meeting was arranged, and as polite and helpful as he was , the answer was the same - the damage on the roof was due to stonechips. I asked to see what chips he was referring to and he pointed to a few above the screen - and was a little shocked when the ones I was referring to were after the sunroof (the WRX is a SL model) halfway down the roof!!!!!! He inspected them and told me that as stange as it was, the damage was also by stonechip by abrasions cutting through the paint and his hands were tied, and could not authorise a repair. My actual gripe is probably more against how poor quality the paint and it's thickness must be if a slight abrasion on the trailing edge of a roof can start to rust. The roof is also starting to rust under the seal on the front and back screen as is yours, but after the last hassle, I don't know if I can be bothered fighting with them again. This was my first ever brand new UK registered Subaru, and because of this it wiill be my last. JDM or European import if I ever get another now, so I can put the money I've saved to the few bits of warranty that they didn't want to fix. Oh, and the suspension noise and the air-con clutch noise is still there.

I'll post my disbelief at how bad the Subaru anti-corrosion paint warranty later on, but yes my wife's car has a similar problem and Subaru don't want to do anything about it!