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Nice progress Stuart, good to see everything coming together, the wagon must be driving very nice now, I love all the tweaks I made to mine and it's just a pleasure to drive, I still look fwd to getting back into it on a Monday after parking it up each weekend.
I also found after lowering the wagon and fitting the front lip spoiler I needed mini ramps even to get the trolley jack under the front.
Nice progress Stuart, good to see everything coming together, the wagon must be driving very nice now, I love all the tweaks I made to mine and it's just a pleasure to drive, I still look fwd to getting back into it on a Monday after parking it up each weekend.
I also found after lowering the wagon and fitting the front lip spoiler I needed mini ramps even to get the trolley jack under the front.
Keep up the posts!
Thank you!
I'm tempted to try replacing the steering rack bushes next, before starting on the interior.
How tricky is it to replace them? I've re-read your post, which is a better guide than the whiteline one, but I'm still nervous about playing with something as fundemental and safety crticical as steering.
hardest part will be getting the bolts out on the chassis plate and rack which is why I bought a proper hammer wrench which made it a doddle. Getting the bushes in/out was a fiddle but nothing that would put me off doing it again. All bolt fixings are fixed so no chance of knocking alignment out.
By the way Stuart, have you made any changes to your ARBs?
The rear is a 20mm version from a non wide track sti. The arb's have also got superpro bushes front and rear. The difference from oem isn't massive, but for the cost it's well worth doing.
I've heard those clarke impact wrenches are good. If a breaker bar and a hearty breakfast don't shift the bolts I'll have to invest in one.
Long time member but not been on for quite a few years
And have just read this while thread you done a cracking job, makes me miss my old wrx
Now to look at Scoobys on ebay
Long time member but not been on for quite a few years
And have just read this while thread you done a cracking job, makes me miss my old wrx
Now to look at Scoobys on ebay
Thanks for the comments!
No updates this week as I've ditched the wagon and been driving a rare, highly modified, 3.0 turbo, jdm import round Norfolk.
The link at the bottom explains where the clunk can come from (mainly an issue with the rears I think). I saw this and did a bit more reading - a quick, temporary fix is to spray the shock with lithium grease. Just done it myself, as a part measure, and it seems to have fixed/reduced the clunk. I'm going to do the full grease nipple job at some point,.
I don't know how you're getting on with the clunking, but this might help!
There were a lot of knocks and rattles when i first bought this wagon. So one of the first jobs I did was change the rear arb, plus bushes and drop links. This helped a little, but the truth was that suspension was shot. The shocks were covered in old grease but still knocking, probably due to the scoring on the shafts. I tried re-lubing them but they were too far gone. I also suspected the top mounts were rattling too.
So the whole lot was replaced by meister r coilovers. This got rid of almost all the knocking and rattling, but not all. I checked a big list of stuff but eventually Tim Farmer spotted that one of the front arb bushes was worn. Changing both of them has futher reduced the knocks and rattles.
There still are a few creaks and knocks but nothing like as many. My wife can't hear any at all...
I suspect that an 11 year old car with coilovers always will rattle a bit but I'll see what else I can find.
Ideally, in a world without budgets I'd replace the front wishbones and bushes which, despite being replaced under recall in 2012, look really tatty.
Yeah, fair enough. Mine weren't actually looking too bad on my 57 plate GB270 Wagon, and on the run in to work this morning the clunking as gone - result.
Still other knocks and rattles though.
Regards the ARB bush, what does a "worn" one actually look like? All my drop link bushes appear to be worn, but they won't budge one bit!
Regards the ARB bush, what does a "worn" one actually look like? All my drop link bushes appear to be worn, but they won't budge one bit!
Once it was off the car you could see that the hole in the bush was egg shaped, hence the noise. However, to demonstrate Tim F used a large breaker bar to lever the arb around. Even though it was worn enough to rattle, the bush gripped the arb tight enough so I couldn’t move it by hand.
The rear bushes aren't too bad to change, but the fronts are a pain. The only way to get to them is to lower the front u frame.
Once it was off the car you could see that the hole in the bush was egg shaped, hence the noise. However, to demonstrate Tim F used a large breaker bar to lever the arb around. Even though it was worn enough to rattle, the bush gripped the arb tight enough so I couldn’t move it by hand.
The rear bushes aren't too bad to change, but the fronts are a pain. The only way to get to them is to lower the front u frame.
Fab, thanking you! I'll have a play around this weekend ahead.
Just the smallest of mods; a new badge from the for sale section.
After 10 years of confronting all the elements head on the old one was looking a bit tatty, plus I fancied going getting rid of the blue and just going for a black/gold/red scheme for the exterior.
So 5 minutes with a hairdryer and a kitchen knife wrapped in electrical tape and the old one was off.
Old vs new
I needed some brake cleaner to clean up the residual glue and dirt left behind then some careful lining up and it was on.
Last edited by Cambs_Stuart; 01 October 2016 at 11:35 AM.
It's £15 per hour and I think money well spent. Getting under a lift makes everything much easier and faster. Lift off ramps also provide all the tools you could want and they've got mechanics to assist if you need advice or a third hand.
So, once the car was up in the air getting the undertray off was simple. The brace was a bit trickier, the backing nuts required a 12mm flexihead spanner to hold them in place:
But it came off in the end:
Then it was a simple matter of removing the brackets over the top of the old bushes.
The next two parts were by far the hardest. First was getting the nut from the bush removal tool over the top of the old bushes. No pictures of this as I was getting frustrated. The steering rack needed very careful manipulation to get the nut in. However, once the nut was on amd engaged they slid out no problem.
Second part was the hardest. Once I'd cleaned the rack and lubed the bushes and holes, trying to get the bushes over the top of the steering rack and into position was really frustrating, and at this point it's good to have another pair of hands about to move to steering rack while you get the bushes in position.
But they went in eventually:
Fiddly b*stards.
The other bush was throughly lubed and went in no problem. But I didn’t get any pictures as I was running out of time.
These bushes are far harder than the 11 year old, slightly perished, oem versions that came out. The difference it makes is quite subtle, the steering feeling much better weighted and tighter. As a result the car, to me, feels "newer". A worthwhile job.
Last edited by Cambs_Stuart; 06 October 2016 at 05:48 PM.
Anther Job ticked off! Sounds like you had it tougher than I remember doing this job, my set of flexi ratchet spanners are worth their weight in gold!
"The difference it makes is quite subtle, the steering feeling much better weighted and tighter. As a result the car, to me, feels "newer". A worthwhile job. "
...exactly my sentiments, not a massive difference but well worth doing
I'm a big fan of flexi spanners. They're one of those tools that as soon as you use them you think "how did I do without these?". Yesterday I used an electric impact wrench for the first time after many, many years of mangled knuckles and even more mangled bolts from using breaker bars and that was a similar revelation.
Last edited by Cambs_Stuart; 06 October 2016 at 04:41 PM.
Hey Stuart, what exactly is the "low speed clonk" ? Could you describe it a bit further? And from what I've heard the ARB Bushes fixed it? Because sometimes when I'm turning in a roundabout or a bit tighter curves I've got a "clonk" coming from the front wheel area... If the bushes aren't too expensive and not too complicated to install (only flew over what you've read because I've got no time right now) it could well be worth taking a look onto them...
But nice thread nonetheless car is looking really nice
My clonk was most noticeable at low speed (up to 25mph) when hitting a pothole. There was no noise when cornering (unless I hit a pothole mid corner), and it was worse if just the passenger's side hit the pothole.
The arb bushes are a real PITA to replace, you basically need to lower the front frame to get them out. In my case it was hard to tell they were worn, as the wear was on the inside edge.
However, once they were off the car (thanks Tim Farmer) you could see the hole in the passenger's side bush was egg shaped.
I already checked seems like they're worn out, I joggled quite hard and heard that clonk. My question was about changing them. I mean of course a lifting ramp will always be better but I should also be able to do it in the driveway right?
I already checked seems like they're worn out, I joggled quite hard and heard that clonk. My question was about changing them. I mean of course a lifting ramp will always be better but I should also be able to do it in the driveway right?
Yes you should, with some axle stands and a jack. This is a decent guide:
I've turned my attention to the interior. The gear gaiter was looking worn, and even when new wasn't exactly made from premium materials.
So I ordered a replacement from jf customs (ebay) plus a matching handbrake gaiter. I'd recommend them, these are good quality units made from thick leather.
Getting the old gear gaiter out was simple and it just took a bit of force to separate the old material from the plastic holder.
I had to use some glue to hold the gaiter in place, so while that dried I took out the center consol and handbrake gaiter, taking the opportunity to clear out the 11 years of crumbs, sand and dust from those hard to reach gaps:
The handbrake gaiter was harder to fit to the plastic trim, re-fitting it also took a firm hand, mainly as the new gaiters were much thicker than the oem.
However, it all went back with very little fuss. I used a tie wrap on the gear gaiter to try and hold in in place a bit better.
It looks much better. Time will tell how annoyed I get with having different coloured stitching on the handbrake handle and gaiter...
Last edited by Cambs_Stuart; 12 October 2016 at 07:45 PM.
04 September 2016, 10:20 PM
car is looking really nice
