staccato

Hey everyone. Bit of a vehicle timeline for you.

I owned an STI hatch 2 years ago which I modded with downpipe, remap, cosworth CS400 dampers, whiteline roll bars and a few cosmetic changes. Bought it factory standard for 13.5k from a main dealer and sold for the same price 18 months later. Can't believe the price hatches demand now having looked for another recently.



I sold the hatch to make my bank balance look better for a mortgage renewal. Afterwards I bought an evo 8 with 5.5k miles on the clock for 15.5k. It was hidden away in someone's garage. I drove it for 6 weeks, got scared to drive it through fear of damaging it with stone chips etc so sold it to a bloke who flew over from Germany and drove the car back. I sold it for 16.2k and I deeply regret selling it.



Next up was a BMW M5. This was a bargain at £16k with 41k miles. It had just had 4 new michelin tyres, a new clutch and flywheel and was owned by the son of a BMW repair centre owner who had pretty much resprayed every panel on the car to eliminate all the marks and stone chips etc. I drove this for 6 months but eventually the fuel just got too much. Short journeys no problem but when you want a day trip out and are having to debate whether you can drive the M5 it had to go.



So then came a slight knee-jerk reaction - a BMW 335D. Private sale and when I arrived it was tatty. Badly resprayed wheels, dents and scratches on most panels and horrible walnut interior. I negotiated the owner down from an advertised 14.5k to 13.750k then 2 days later gave the car to a bodyshop I use. For £800 it had a full front and rear end respray including boot and bonnet and had all dents removed from doors. I had the wheels acid dipped, replaced the walnut trim and remapped it. The car was stunning and ticked every box other than the fun box. Great for motorways but lovely b roads and I was just longing for a scooby again so it went up for sale.



I got a call 3 days after advertising it from Mark at revitupuk who wanted to buy the car for stock. I noticed he had a blob eye scooby for sale so asked for a part exchange and got an excellent deal with cash back my way including a nice gesture of fuel money for the way home. The car has 37k miles, full service history, prodrive performance pack with certificate, every MOT certificate since it needed one with no advisories on any of them. It's standard other than the head unit I put in yesterday. I've ordered the original pink and charcoal stickers for the sides and front and some mats from scooby parts. It needs a machine polish as it's quite swirled but theres no stone chips dents or scratches on it anywhere.
Dirty photos at the moment until it gets a clean.

I'd like to get rid of the mud flaps but I can't see how they come off. Any ideas?
Also not sure on the front lip. Thoughts?

zippy!

iTrader: (1)

Very nice car history you have there mate i was same went from a scooby to all sorts of otger sports cars thrn ended up back in a blob sti

imprezagaz

iTrader: (2)

Same here too. From classic Scooby sti to, m3, 535d, astra Vxr, m3, civic type r, Celica gt, m3. Can't beat a Subaru for a fun all rounder. Would of loved a hatch but the tax put me off so settled for a blob sti

Abx

iTrader: (15)

Nice, splitter would look better in black.

staccato

I was thinking exactly the same thing. I may remove it and see if I can spray it

Abx

iTrader: (15)

Paint it in Plastidip yourself, done a few now and works a treat, and as its soft stones bounce rather than chip!

staccato

Cool thanks. Can I spray it straight on or does the blue lip need sanding and priming?

juggers

iTrader: (1)

Your hatch was nice! Great write up!

Abx

iTrader: (15)

You should be able to just spray over the top, and then if you did not like peel off to reveal the blue as it will not damage it.

Just be sure to remove any polish etc before you spray.

If it does not take (but it should) then a light key with some 1200 wet and dry will do the trick.

T25 DOC

Nice selection of cars there chap....Evo looked nice!

Plastidip should defo take as long as clean like Abx has said - very easy to work with and adds a great level of protection - did my merc's grill and badge and has worked a treat. Be sure to layer in lots thin coats - dont try to get all on there in one go and make sure you put plenty on as this will make it easier to remove later.

Abx

iTrader: (15)

I usually use a whole can on a splitter.

south_scoob

De tango, de sticker and fit some fog lights and it will look very nice

Dibbles00

All nice cars! M5 must have been thirsty

Ukshaun

Nice motor, the mud flaps should be held on by 3-4 8mm nuts and bolts on each. If you look from the wheel side you should see these around the edge.

staccato

Few updates this week. Stereo fitted last weekend. Very impressed with Apple car play. It's a great unit and fits perfectly.



I removed the mud flaps. Personal choice. These are still perfectly useable if anyone wants to make an offer.



I replaced the White sti stickers on the front and side with pink ones. I think the pink ones I've bought are too small but I've got a second set on order for comparison.







I also plasti dipped the body coloured splitter. It's a pain to use. One tiny ripple or correction than needs to be made and you can't just rub it back like you would spray paint. You end up with join lines where you've cut out the offending section. You can see a join line in the photo above before I peeled it all off and began again. In honesty id like to take the splitter off and do a proper permanent spray job on it.



New interior mats from scooby parts. All the fabric has also been coated in scotch guard as well.





Next up will be paintwork correction as its badly swirled.

Dibbles00

Great update. Enjoyed reading about what you've done and seeing your photos also. Car looks great!

staccato

Thanks matey. I'm loving the car. It's a total contrast to the bmws but for driving and fun it's so much better. The bmws had the comfort and straight line power but it's easy to forget the sheer grip the scooby has and the handling. It's a proper drivers car.

Dirk Diggler 75

Nice selection of motors ....

Dibbles00

This.

staccato

Another update today.

Worked on the paint today from 8am to 3pm non stop. Washed then clayed, then washes again. After that it was a 2 stage machine polish to eliminate the swirls and finish the paint before sealing, then polymer sealant to lock in the paintwork for a few months.

For those interested it was meguiars quick clay kit for the clay, menzerna pf2200 on an orange lake country pad for the swirl correction (I tried to one-step it using pf 4000 but it wasn't correcting the swirls well enough). Then meguiars 205 finishing polish on a lake country black pad.

The machine is a kestrel da-6 (pretty cheap and cheerful but achieves near full correction with the right pads and compound.

I sealed it with meguiars polymer sealant from the bodyshop range.









Next up is to have a look at the wheels. There's a bit of pitting so they need to come off one by one for a good look over and possible refurb.

Dibbles00

Stunning work. Well done on achieving that gleam

wiley

iTrader: (63)

Very nice

staccato

Gave the scoob a wash today and a coat of wax. Concentrated on the wheels today but they're pitted in places so I may get a refurb done on them.

I also took off the splitter, stripped all the plasti dip off it, prepped it and sprayed it black with proper spray paint.

Fired off a few emails too as I spotted two dimple dents, one on each rear door, so I'll be looking to get those out too

Hart

A good little read mate. I was debating an Evo, but I never really hear anything that great about them anymore. Which is why I have stuck with the scoob.