Hi everyone, thanks in advance for any/all advice given, apologies for the long winded post.

I have been doing lots of research and subsequently have more questions than I started with but here goes:

I have just purchased a MY1998 Subaru Impreza Terzo. The car only has 37k on the clock. It had an engine rebuild at around 10k by the insurance whilst with the first owner and then blew the radiator and head gasket with second owner and was garaged until he could afford to fix it.

The third owner has made various upgrades and the current spec is as follows:

Standard top mount intercooler
Standard air box with aftermarket cone filter
Uprated engine gasket kit
Uprated coil & leads (stage 2 rally with iridium uprated plugs)
Drilled & grooved front discs
Adelphi pads on the rear
P1 intercooler pipes
Upgraded fuel pump
STI oil filter
Heads skimmed & polished
New stem valve seal
Full decat blitz nur spec R exhaust system
TD04L turbo (off an STI)
Blue silicone vac pipes
Oil & water radiator

I am taking the car to a performance specialist for a full inspection and diagnostics as a precaution but it seems to run fine.

My question is this: I am aware that the stock ECU on the MY1998 is not mappable and am not really interested in swapping it for an aftermarket, however, I would like to upgrade/uprate as far as is practical without causing damage to the car.

From my research, I am considering a new induction kit for both performance and aesthetics, installing a newage STI top mounted intercooler and appropriate bonnet scoop/seal, bell mouth decat downpipe and heat wrap the entire exhaust system & possibly upgrade the Turbocharger.

The previous owner reckons the car is currently running at 280-300bhp which I find unlikely.

Any advice / comments / suggestions on the above or further suggestions please......?

 

Firstly, nice find!

Second, 280/300bhp on a TD04 is optimistic.

Third, 280/300bhp is impossible without a remap so really it could be mid 200's the way it is. I say this because I have a 97 UK turbo with similar spec and it was 260bhp with a stupid manual boost controller being used.

Really, you need ESL to make the car mappable. I have it, great system with all the features you could ever need.

 

Just noticed you said you may upgrade the turbo, you will definitely need to remap for that one to adjust various parameters in the ECU. Fuel, ignition and boost duty maps as an example.

 

Get the compression ratio checked before doing ANYTHING else, or even driving it much.

Skimming turbo car heads leads to a change in cr, which can lead to detonation, and destroy the engine.

If the heads MUST be skimmed, they need to use a thicker gasket to take the cr back to what it was.

Ask me how I know this?

 

Good point! And, how do you know this? lol

 

I had number 275 terzo,nice car
Basically just a special edition UK turbo with 220bhp but very rare to find such a low mileage one,great find!
As piehole says and imo ESL is the way to go for remapping early classics,for the money it's a great option and remapping will be needed with most upgrade mods like decat and turbo ect.

 

Wow, thanks for the replies, guys.

What is involved in checking the cr?

Is this something that will be picked up during the diagnostic check?

 

I don't think it can be checked/calculated without stripping the engine. I could be wrong though. If you're getting it checked over and/or mapped at some stage I imagine the mapper will ensure you've not got any detonation happening anyway. If the previous owner went to the bother of having all the work carried out then most likely the correct gaskets will have been used. Is there any documentation of the rebuild? If so, call whoever did it.

Oh, and the TD04 turbo is bog standard on this year and model of car.

 

Right guys, think I may have been a bit premature asking about mods......

Got the car back today from the garage after inspection/diagnostics with a list as follows:

Alarm siren loose
Pedal rubbers missing
Roof moulding missing
Corroded bumper carriers & missing clips
Wrong radiator fitted
Engine & gearbox oil leakes
Exhaust heat shield missing
Aircon belt & tensioner missing (I knew this was missing and plan to remove the pipe work, motor and condenser too)
Flexible brake hoses held secure with jubilee clip
Dented oil sump
Weak suspension struts

A number of the faults are minor cosmetic problems which I will deal with myself. He did note that there were no stored fault codes in the memory and that there was an air flow meter code in "the other memory" due to the induction kit which he cleared.

Of the problems identified, I am most concerned with the oil leakes and assume these would need to be addressed ASAP? As he did not mention the head gasket specifically and assuming it is not a problem, how big of an issue could leaky seals/gaskets be? £200 - £500..... £1000?

As mentioned in my earlier post, I am planning to change the induction kit as it is old and looking a bit shabby. I also plan to heat wrap the exhaust and get a heat cover for the turbo so this should deal with the missing heatshield issue. I have been looking at changing to a new Japspeed radiator with 10" fans and blue silicone hoses so that should deal with the radiator issue.

I am also concerned that the car is currently running unmapped due to the standard 8S ECU but has various mods i.e. Induction kit, full decat with bellmouth downpipe, updated fuel pump etc.

 

For starters Rob your wasting your time with an induction kit, will add no power at all.

As for leaks, i have a oil leak on my Impreza, worked out its the crankseal, that will get replaced when it goes for a cambelt change soon.

 

The ECu will onl be mappable if there is an ESl board inside. OPen the lid and see if this is present:

http://www.enduringsolutions.com/sho...556/category=0

 

Thanks jaygsi, the car already has an induction kit on it but the cone filter head is all rusty so just needs a replacement, not a full kit.

My main concern is whether I'm going to have to throw loads of money at the engine.

Thanks Andy, when you say open the lid, do you mean take the steel plate up in the foot well and look at the ecu or actually open the ecu and look inside?

 

Both, passenger kickplate off and 6 screws to remove the ECU lid.

 

Looks stock to me, Andy....

With a list of mods and vehicle details are these systems plug & play or do I need to have one fitted and mapped specifically to the car?

 

ESL is plug&play out of the box but only comes with stock map loaded. If you feel upto self mapping then you can buy the lead and software when buying the ESL.
If you're not self mapping then.
http://www.enduringsolutions.com/distributors/
I believe Duncan from Race Dynamix is the most competitive price wise at £550 fitted and custom mapped,Might be slightly more if you want both maps doing as the ESL has full twin map capability .He has a good reputation and I don't think he will mind me saying comes recommended by Andy.

 

With the induction kit it sucks in warm air from the engine bay. I'd put standard filter box on, and use a performance filter.

Have you any pictures of the car?