Fai17

iTrader: (2)

Could you not transfer all your good parts into a Hatch...just a thought Shaun

Shaun

Utaka,
Track driving for pleasure and advancing my driving is something I will carry on doing.... it's just the serious competition stuff I am not interested in (yet lol).

As regards to me getting £10k from the sale of my Spec C, you best rethink that figure!

Fai17,
I have toy'd with that idea, but unless I could get a hatch sti seriously cheap, then I suspect the costs will start to mount up. Paying a shedload of cash for a newer shape and more weight, is probably not the best way to spend me cash! I'm not prepared to pay serious cash for the qdos of just having a high powered hatch. I spoke to Iain Litchfield about this and he said that in his opinion, the Spec C is much more fun to drive.

utaka

soz if i was out on that 10k was just an average figure no idea how much you would ask for your car, if you had a competetive car you would get interested in competition and thats really where subarus start to make sense, on a race track. sounds like you have a lot of self doubt when it comes to driving, which is a shame, as you seem to be making good progress
what would you look into getting as a replacement, i just think if you got some track confidence you wouldnt even question selling up. dont do it i think you will regret it if you do

Shaun

Remember this is a road car...... which is one of the elements why I am not interested in serious competition. Been down the road of stripping the interior etc.... have no intentions of going down that path again.

I also don't need to be on a race circuit to enjoy the car, which has been part of the reason why the car took a sudden change of direction, from it's previous stripped out guise to it's current road trim spec.

I know I want to carry on with track related fun, i.e. track days and sprint entry, like I am doing with ScoobySprint and public track days. The Spec C was modified to suit that kind of environment, without having to worry about certain reliability issues when pushing on.

Yes... I do have self doubt regarding my driving ability in competition, but that will hopefully change over time.

Like I said, if I was to change and have no worries about thinking "Have I done the right thing", it would have to be something like a 997 911 TT or GTR etc. I have driven a number of other cars of similar ilk to what I have and none of them give me the horn. I have never driven a GTR, but have driven a couple of 997 911 TT's and it they are a proper tool.

Being totally honest, part of the draw is the ability to modify..... I really enjoy (most of the time lol) doing the research and finding things out, with the hope of improving the car.

Other considerations have been "Oooo.... I would like a new car!". Like some have already pointed out to me, that is not a reason in it's self to change and the new car feeling soon passes after a short while.

I should count my lucky stars though..... if all I have to worry about, is what to do about keeping or changing my play thing. Put's it in to perspective really.

One of my mates said to me "You're a right tool...... a lot of people would love to have the car you've got!". I've always known I am a tool.... that's the easy bit to come to terms with!

Anyway.... the next event is in 2 weeks, so I should be looking forward to that first!

utaka

well you have got a fab car and i wish you luck whichever road you chose
go test a gtr get it out of you system, i really want them to be as good as some people say they are they certainly look the business, there is a hatch spec c on its way aswell i read. 911's in any guise have never really done it for me. im on the hunt for a new car now my spec c has become nothing more than a shell being completely overhauled for time attack 2010, i just dont know what to buy was just going to get another sti but ive a lot of travel with my new job so im stuck i dont enjoy driving many cars and the ones i do enjoy will kill me on juice dillemma

Shaun

Was a bit of a saddo today, and gave the car a good clean!

I think I must of washed it with Persil!

rickya

iTrader: (18)

Lookin baad

I reckon in years to come the newage Spec C's will hold their values quite well & will be even more highly regarded. They were the last of the hardcore Imprezas, before Subaru went a bit soft with the new hatch. I think Licho's comments probably points towards that too IMO.

Shaun

Actually got my hands dirty today!

Sealed off the rear top mounts, as I was getting some water in the boot from it passing up past the top mounts. Not much at all, but enough for me to want to do something about it.

Also sealed off (temporarily) one of the inspection plates for the OE fuel pump in the boot, which was butchered to high heaven when the swirl pot and external fuel pump was installed. It is possible that this has been one of the causes of carbon entering the inside of the car, as it can smell abit of exhaust/carbon when driving. This is just a quick test, so if it solves it, I will have Tracktive make me some proper covers. The other helping hand is to extend the breather pipe from the catch can/separator, but that will be done anyhow this Friday when I am up at Tracktive for some pre-event work stated previously.

Just been for a drive and did not notice any smell of exhaust/carbon, but need to open it up a bit, so will be in a better position when I give it some beans on the way to Tracktive.

Made my mind up about my road tyres though..... after realising how the car should grip on the road, these T1-R's are pants. My tyres on my Mondeo provide me more grip than these (Bridgestone RE50's). You can hear and feel the sidewalls rolling over, when giving it some beans round sharp bends. To be honest the T1-R's are fine for normal road driving, but when you push, they show their weakness. Not sure what to change to yet, but once these are worn (they still have plenty of life left) I will be changing brands and also moving up to 235's.

Shaun

Does it stay or does it go??

Well.... after a mind stress for the past two weeks, I have finally made a decision.

Without officially advertising the car, I had three offers over the past month and then finally late yesterday I had a call for a very very tempting offer. Based on some of the offers I had received, it had never been around the fact of whether I was going to get enough for the car..... the question was always whether or not I would regret doing it. In my eye's I would need to invest a load more cash to get me in to something that was as good out of the box, and for a play thing that was used for track stuff, common sense started to kick in. The money, time and effort had already been invested, so it made more sense to get some use out of what I have done.

What with the final round of ScoobySprint this weekend, a day I have just booked at Snetterton in October, along with four days I have just sorted out at the Ring before the end of the year.... the intelligent cells in my brain (I do have some) told me it would be idiotic to do any of this in anything else but the Spec C.

I still have further avenue's I could go down with Spec C, but for the time being I am happy with what I have. Tracktive are testing their rotated set-up as I type this, so that is always an option if I get bored, but in all reality, it is time to stop spending on bit's and time to start enjoying. I have also spoken to AET about other options and they have suggested I go down the T04Z route, with one of their own hybrid's.

Whilst I am up at Tracktive this week, I will no doubt discuss further options for consideration, should the need arrive, but in the meantime I just look forward to driving the car and having some fun.

Roll on Sunday!

utaka

yes yes yes
glad to hear its staying, you would regret it imo. that is your car your time, your effort, your money, add in the stress the joy the ups ,the downs of the entire project and you realise your selling a lot more than just a car. persevere with it and make it into the car you want it to be and you have something that no out of the box motor will ever stand up too.
might be driving the last round if i can sort a car from the clinic

Shaun

Utaka,
Sounds good in principal doesnt it..... but I will probably change my mind tomorrow morning!

Come and say hello on Sunday if you go up for the final..... I will probably be pulling my hair out (what I have left), but what's new?!?!

utaka

will do

Shaun

September 2009 - Final Prep for ScoobySprint, The Final!!!
Well it's been a year since this project thread had been started, and I can't believe how quickly it has gone since the car was put back on the road!

As already stated I had a few items to sort so off I went today to Tracktive Solutions, so the final prep work for this weekend's ScoobySprint Final could place.


Breather Pipe Alterations
First off was for some minor changes to the breather pipework.

As I had already mentioned, I was experiencing quite a potent carbon/exhuasty type smell in the cabin when booting it. I had already completed a temporary fix on sealing the fuel pump inspection plates in the boot, so the only other item was to re-route the breather vent. This was originally piped short of the bulkhead.

The breather vent has never pushed any oil out, but I have noticed that when the car is on boost (when looking at the engine bay on the dyno), you do see quite a bit of crankcase vapour coming out of this breather pipe. Whilst the vapour is quite normal, the stuff stinks!!! Since the pipework was aimed towards the bulkhead, it was accepted that this vapour could be finding it's way through a grommet and entering the cabin. The easiest way to solve this possibility, was to either route the vent to the inlet pipe as OE or to extend the vent pipe, down underneath the car.

Richard knows that my car has never had a oil breathing problem to date, so he was all for re-routing back to the inlet. He also said that Subaru engines seem to prefer some vacuum on the breather system as he says it helps the system. In the end I opted for the vent to be extended under the car.

Extremely straight forward job that Richard got on with.


With the new vent pipe secured, the only thing left was to trim the zip ties.



Handbrake Adjust
Just to try and give me a helping hand around any tight bends at the final round, I wanted the handbrake adjusting to allow the mechanism to work more affectively. The adjusters are on the rear hubs, behind a small inspection bung. Easily adjusted with a small pick.

Richard set to work to adjust these and he sharply called "Shaun!!!!".

This is what I saw......


Can you see what is wrong with this picture?!?!?!?

I'm sure there is supposed to be a droplink between the arb and arm!!!!

Strangely enough when I drove the car the last couple of times I did think that the backend felt a bit spongy, but thought it was just me! In affect, the ARB was doing nothing and might as well been off the car altogether!!

After we had a bit of a laugh and we both had realised, that at the last Round it came over the tannoy that (I think it was after Simon's 3rd timed run) "An important bolt has been found..... check your important bolts". Funny as it seems now, I actually laughed to myself when that was said..... as Simon had just done one of his runs I did think of checking the car over, but thought "Nah... it can't be off mine". Richard then remembers when he rolled up to the start line, that one of the guys had a droplink in his hands!!!

Richard then said "Well... you don't need it, as Simon did OK without it!".

Obviously it needed to be fixed, so I decided to get Richard to put on some proper adjustable, alloy rose jointed droplinks. To be fair though, this has been the first failure of the OE equipment in 38k miles, so not too bad.

OK... so with the handbrake adjusted and the new alloy rose jointed drop links on, that was all the mechanical related jobs complete!


HYDRA ECU tweaks
High Boost
Nothing major, but I wanted Richard to tweak the high boost setting a tad. I had noticed that peak boost (on occasion) had gone so high, that it was resetting the Defi gauge! A bit of overboost that just needed adjusting. We went out on the road and Richard turned the high boost down to circa 1.85bar held within the HYDRA dashboard, which results in about 2bar dead on the Defi's (as they all seem to over read). That's better! At the same time Richard checked for DET and AFR's through a complete rev sweep on boost and full load to make sure everything was sound, which it was.

Flat Throttle Shifting
Something I wanted months ago, but we never got round to setting it up. To be honest the ONLY reason I wanted it was on the off chance that I run up the 1/4m on Sunday. I need all the help I can get!!!

Richard set the rpm for the flat throttle and the ignition/fuel cut, and told me to give it ago! Off I went up the road and flat shifted in 3rd to 4th...... Jesus, that felt awesome. With flat shifting you do not get the inertia of the car coming off throttle and going back on throttle.... it feels so much smoother!! It's a nice feature to have, but as Richard says, you do need to practice using it as you need to ensure you change gear as fast as you can, as the inertia of the engine will naturally crawl the revs beyond the set rpm after time. Feels great though!!! Perhaps something I won't try and use on the 1/4m just yet.

So..... that was it. The car was all done and ready, with a clean bill of health!

Roll on Sunday!

Pavlo

holy rust bucket batman!

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

His car is nearly 7 years old pmsfl at the T04z turbo option

Shaun

Steve,
Options are Options..... not until it is bolted to my car does it become a reality.

However, when I discussed this with Richard today, he was not keen on the T04Z as he has seen a few failures now. The one on Robin Duxburys EVO only lasted two TA rounds apparantly and it was mullered. Not sure who the suppliers of these failed turbos were though, that Richard was referring to.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I spoke to paul about me adding this turb and he said it was only worth it if I changed a fair few things on the car. I'm not that desperate for it so I'm sticking with my gt35

Shaun

*IF* I was to go to the next level I would want a lot more than 600bhp.... to make it worth my while I would want to be hitting 800bhp (if that could be possible). That requires a new engine for starters and I am not sure I can stomach the stress. But... in for a penny, in for a million!

Sounds like a sensible choice for you Steve! Just spending time in mine today.... it just feels great for what it is. I just think it might feel a bit greater with another 250+bhp.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I think you have been drinking too much andyf's car and the gobstopper don't have that much power I think for a reliable road car I have virtually hit my limit I'm just going to tweak it over 600bhp with a .82housing

Shaun

I'm totally sober.... you seemed to of missed the "*IF*" and the "(if that could be possible)" bits. What I am trying to highlight is that I think I would have to go totally ***** out to justify the stress, that undoutedly would be experienced.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I'm pushing mine too far for a road car and I decided against the t04z due to what you have mentioned above! If you push for say mid 600's I think your idea of a good road car will dissapear and you will have a good ornament in someones garage. The speed may be fun ?? I don't know as will 100bhp be that more scary?? But £ for lb I think your on a loser. Map for an additive and have some fun there

Shaun

Totally agree with what you say about a road car, and it is a big IF as I am not sure I would be too happy about losing that great road driveability I have now. But YOU KNOW what it is like when you hit that boredom factor (not that I have hit that yet though). Got plenty planned for the car as regards to some track fun, between now and the end of November. So should keep me quiet for a while.

I know of a nice Drenth sequential box for circa £8k. That would be quite a nice toy.

Fai17

iTrader: (2)

Great to hear that you are keping your car Shaun.

Regarding the T04Z.....just wait till my twin scroll one is up and running before you make your mind up.
But there are other option out the like GT4088/4094/4202 and so on.

Shaun

Fai17,
Will certainly be interested in how yours goes and what you think about it. How long do you think now, till it will hit the dyno and tarmac?

Fai17

iTrader: (2)

Should get it back by the end of the month

The garage has been busy with their paying customers getting the first shout

But...not long now

Shaun

Yep... been there and done that! Pain innit!

Best of luck mate...... I bet you can't wait!!!

Once the car is running, then you can prepare yourself for the real stress!

Fai17

iTrader: (2)

See you on sunday Shaun.

And good luck with the event and i'll be keeping an eye on you

Shaun

Yes... pop over to the Tracktive Pit Area and say hello! I will either be crying or fighting.

Stevie Wonder could keep his eyes on me tomorrow.... it might get a bit boring watching some slow fart though.

gussy

iTrader: (2)

Fai 17 can you make yourself known to me on Sunday I need to have a crack with you about your build... (Gus car 37)

Fai17

iTrader: (2)

Yeah no problem...i'll be the only one with 3 young kids beside me....1 will be in a push chair.

BTW...i'm chinese if you didn't notice