Vimmy

Hi there, depending how far I can stretch Wilts past north of Swindon, there is an outstanding chap called Mark who works at Old Mill Motors who is a very knowledgable Subaru trained tech. The garage he works in has just setup discounts with SIDC and what Mark doesnt know isnt worth knowing about. It is a wee trek up from Swindon, but you wont be disappointed with the work. Cheers, Col

Excellent, we have a full house are there any provisional starting times yet? Cheers, Col

Rolling Road 1. T5NYW 2011 340R 2. Don 340R 3. Kev1 340R 4. stevie1982 5. Mugs 6. Infected by Sti 7. Richie001 8. Pindie 9. Greg 2005sti 10. Adam 2006 JDM 11. super-ted 12. Muffinman GL sport 13. Vimmy 97 Type R 14. 15 Watching 1. Rob MY05 2. Red SCOOB my03 3. Ed T20 4. JEFF n Sue sport 5. Muffin man bringing cakes 6. Etheridge-Bird 7. 8. 9. 10.

Always ready for a demo mate, never any need to ask, I'll get it warm and give you the keys, it will go better with out my fat arse in it I have to say it is a superb car, it does everything you want and a car for all occasions - a bimbly car and a fun car too for when the moment takes you Cheers, Col

I think it has to go up to 11 out of 10, the car surprises me everyday, not to mention rattling the windows and waking up the neighbours. Its a different kettle of fish compared to my old wagon, short gearing, short gearshift and a big ass turbo to boot. I keep forgetting it has a turbo in there as i pootle around up to 3000 revs, between gears, and with the current gearing its quick as it is, push it past 3000 and it wakes you up very quickly Wished I had bought one of these years ago, i must get it remapped as it has the full afterburner system including exhaust manifold and also a 3port boost solenoid all with the stock ecu. I have a Simtek to plug in, so time to look at fixing the bent fins on the tmic. The muppet before me drive it around with nearly all the fins bent over so having a lesser effect on charge temp reduction. It makes you wonder how much people look after their cars...

Yikes HKS, that's going to be a loud beastie you'll have to watch the new back-box tailpipe diameter as its v close to the bumper That 3" whole system is going to be awesome, can you tell me what the sportscat is, if you know that is, as I'll need one for mine for the mot? Cheers, Col

I have a set on my car for the last 2 years now, with adjustable bound/rebound, and never had any problems with them. I do quite a few miles per year an they seem to cope with all road types without fault. Cheers, Col

Nice looking motor the afterbuner will put a smile on your face. I have the afterburner system on my 'new' car and its well worth the cost

Yes mate, bought from Warren but via the CS books so there are a few routes to take. After having a good informative chat with Kaylz it comes to light that the seller had known that the engine block had blown and was rebuilt using unknown bits. It was alson known that a new sti block was used. Looking at the block now i can see that the head gaskets are rather shiny and there are lots of grey sealant bits holding other parts together. To me this says some form of rebuild has gone on, this I understand, but what I cannot accept as that when asked directly if the engine was the original block the answer came back yes, or at least to their knowledge that nothing had been done to it.... Things are progressing at the moment and being an optimistic guy hoping that a fix can be found ie replace the forged internals properly but discussions are under way. I'm off to another garage around the Shipston on stour area for a second opinion. No blame is being placed anywhere as I have trust in the team I have been with for a while now and loyalty works both ways....I'm hoping that people will do the right and honourable thing otherwise I may have to look at other places for my servicing needs. Hopefully this will be resolved.... Cheers, Col

Well just when you think buying cars can't get any more interesting, I have had confirmed that the engine block in the car may not have a full sti pedigree, time to go back to the seller and ask how so.....

Very nice looking Classic, they make the best models I reckon

Hi Guys and Galz, apologies for the delay busy day in work and then a busy night in training getting beaten up I didn't think I'd ever buy another Impreza again as the wagon was just running without issue, I don't dare think how longer the engine would have gone past 257,000 miles but I reckon it would have gone to 300,000. However its due, sadly, to be stripped and sold for bits to recoup the funds. The history is a bit scant to say the least, but it was too nice a car to give up, I'll take the huge risk that internally its ok, although I have heard one or two discerning things and want to be proven wrong. To drive though, the car seems a tad on the quick side, even just pulling away gently, not sure if its due to be a lighter car or short ratio gears but it puts the smile back on my face. Some of the old car will live on in this one, the wheels and whole exhaust sytsem has been swapped over, including new exhaust manifold. The modified sump with cosworth baffle was moved too, I wasn't spending shed loads on that part to have it rot away. All my gauges and sensors were taken off the old car along with a mass of earthing cables I put in. Time to restart the modding on what seems to be a virgin car I say virginal but i found it has an upgraded ignition system that the previous-previous owner had put it along with 8mm ht leads too. I know this works as I accidentally knocked off one of the ht leads and it decided my hand was a better earth return than the car was - laugh, i nearly sh1t myself Anyhoo, below are a coupe of piccies taken the day after I got it home, I would put more up now but its minging at the moment and that wouldn't do to show her off in a dirty state The good thing is with it being so stock is that all the prior testing on the blog i'd started can carry on as I want to test the effectiveness of things like turbo blankets and radiator top slam panels and side radiator panels and a whole bunch more. The down side is a had just finished fully painting a new JUN splitter and folding headlights which are on this car by default. I'd even made a controller box for the wing mirrors too, all other planned mods are pretty much now on hold, oh well.. Cheers, Col

Sadly to say that the trusty old wagon has gone to meet its maker. With the rust issues on all jacking points costing more than the car is worth to sell and rusty arches costing more and brake issues the hard decision was made to call it a day However I am the owner a shiny, almost new, MY1997 V3 Sti Type R, so it's not all bad Time to rip all my bits off the old car and reuse/sell the rest in pieces. Cheers, Col

Damn, that's not good news indeed. My condolences to the family, I hope it wasn't any one on here

I hope the driver (and any passenger) is/are all ok, it's never good to hear of a totalled car, not to mention another Classic off the road