RS Grant

Good news Derek... glad to hear its all running well and putting a grin on your face again. Cheers, Grant

Nice, came with the optional indicators too... usually an unpopular extra for BMWs. To make sure the Traction Control is fully off... Press and Hold the DSC Button until the handbrake light illuminates as well as the DSC light, I think you hold it for 5 seconds. Just a wee tip that will make things more interesting. Cheers, Grant

Nice spec, should be a *little more punchy after its mapped up with those mods.... be interested to see what you think of the 321T+ on the 2L and where you're making (1bar and full) boost with it etc. Cheers, Grant * little = LOT

True, its all a bit up in the air, however in the autosport article Dave Richards says that the WRC team will be re-assigned to other Prodrive duties at the time.. which hopefully means that there wont be any job losses as Richards has always come across as a straight talking guy so doesnt strike me as the kind of person to bullsh!t about this type of thing. Also very true, a bit of pressure will sort the men from the boys and show who really wants it. Cheers, Grant

What engine spec you gone for now?? Those wheels are pretty special mate... wont see many other cars rolling around on them thats for sure!! Cheers, Grant

That car looks familiar... sure an ex-member owned it. Got old style Compomotive MO's on it?? Think his username was SC00BYD00 or something along those lines, he did a track day in March 07 with me in my GT4... was running the Scoob with a smoothed bootlid and no rear spoiler. Remember it going VERY well. Cheers, Grant

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72492 Bad news indeed... feel sorry for the drivers who find themselves at a bit of a loose end now. Hopefully a years solid development in 2009 will make the Subaru stronger competition in WRC 2010. Cheers, Grant

[vulture mode]Whats the details on the car...[/vulture mode] To be honest, it could make a decent wee winter project for you if its a solid enough base. It sounds like its mostly 'bolt ons' that it needs, plus a re-spray... its not a massive amount of work involved (as I guess you wouldn't be doing the re-spray). Cheers, Grant

Try the general section of SIDC buddy... Cheers, Grant

Also worth seeing who're rebuilding or tinkering about with their engine on here... just another option to see an opened up flat 4 and learn a wee bit more about them. Cheers, Grant

I agree: Hawkeye + STi Front Splitter + Tein Springs x Multi Storey Carpark = FAIL Cheers, Grant

You given anybody cause to do this mate... only saying as it defo appears you're being targeted and if it was me then I'd be asking myself if I'd given anyone a reason to do it (obviously have to think back to a couple of months prior to the first incident). A home CCTV set-up is relatively cheap to knock up as far as I know, and would be brilliant getting some hard evidence to take to the cop shop and get these pr!cks charged. Cheers, Grant

Yea, you can get various levels of over-run mate... at least you can on Hawkeyes, as I had some low level stuff mapped in but decided very quickly (within 60secs) while I was getting the car remapped that I wanted more, much more. Cheers, Grant

Defo wouldn't go for budget tyres mate... would ruin the drive of the whole car, specially at this time of year. Got Dunlop Sport Maxx 8000 (think thats the name) on my old dears 330d and its really impressive, actually more grip in wet conditions than the previous Goodyear Eagle F1's and I've been a massive fan of the F1s for years. Cheers, Grant

The way I understand it... which could be wrong... is that when the throttle is closed the car goes into closed loop and doesn't use any meaningful amount of fuel because its not under load. This gives better fuel economy/emissions as standard. What happens with the Pops and Bangs is that when the throttle is closed within 'the zone' where the popping happens (also 2500-4500 on SpecG), instead of going into closed loop, Andy has opened up the table and is telling the ecu to put more fuel in and together with a dab of Forrest Witchcraft, produces the effect shown in the videos above. Cheers, Grant

Not as bad as it could have been mate, damage looks quite light and the red bumper goes with the red graphics.... Main thing is you are around to post about it. Cheers, Grant

Haha good to see you're still on form JW, you have a selective memory about the boost pipe problem I was struggling with... ...from the a*** dyno reading I was getting on the day, I'd estimate that I was running circa 200bhp. LOL Real men race in straight lines anyway, and no more or less than a 1/4 mile at a time..... Cheers, Grant

lol.. I'll dip in and out of ownership from time to time, as I have been the past 5 or 6 years. Cheers, Grant

Pops and bangs are good banter... if I used my car everyday then I'd have gone for diet pops and bangs, but I also went for the full fat effect. Here's a clip of mine at standstill, its actually a fair bit more agressive when actually driving... Cheers, Grant

When you DO bring it out, it would be worth changing the oil and filter and disconnecting the crank sensor... and turning it over a few times (it wont crank into life with this disconnected), once you've done that, re-connect the plug and fire it up. Cheers, Grant

PMSL... a 2.8 6cyl petrol BMW is hardly a 'wee runaround' Jim. Cheers, Grant

"Honest Bob" the 'older' salesman is a good guy and hates having to send people over to Mercedes to speak to the Service Department, he believes it should all be in the Subaru building....... although, that might have changed since I left, I wouldnt know as I'm banned from JRW property. Grieves in Falkirk is a bit more of a trek for us Tayside guys, but the staff there in all departments couldn't be happier to help out, discuss problems and generally have a blether. Cheers, Grant

Nope not yet... was a bit of a problem back home which required their immediate attention so for the moment I'm still getting to sit in the SpecG like a big kid pretending to drive it making "dugga-dugga-dugga" flat-4 noises. Cheers, Grant

You can change... but you WILL be back. Depending on how good a car you pick to drive instead of the Impreza, that could take a month or a year, but you will be drawn back into one again. I've got a DC2 Integra TypeR, I've had it since July time and its brilliant and costs relative peanuts to run, 300 miles to £40 without any hassle at all... but I miss driving the SpecG and it really tempts me everytime I open the garage, but I've got a deposit and its sitting there polished and waiting for the new owners to sort things out their end. That said, I'm already looking for a possible deal with the Integra and an Impreza because when the SpecG rumbles off into the sunset I know for a fact that I'm gonna be missing the flat-4 more than ever. Cheers, Grant

Welcome back buddy, knew it wouldn't take too long. Nice looking car you've got yourself there, really like Black Hawkeyes.... I agree that the standard exhaust is poo, took me a couple of hundred miles to get mine off and changed for something a bit more throaty. When the mood takes you, then basic stage 1 mods work wonders with the way the car drives in the mid-range and you really see the difference that the 2.5 makes over the 2.0 cars. Cheers, Grant