Jarrod Mardell

About a month ago I picked this up, after many fast cars I'd never had a Subaru. So I thought why not.





It wasn't pretty, but there's a really good car under there.

Within a day of owning it someone broke into our house and nicked the keys.

So a trip to Subaru and an emergency locksmith was required.

With that drama sorted I drove it 350 miles home from Newcastle and it was perfect. Didn't miss a beat.

Drove it daily for a further two weeks, spot on.

Last Sunday I pulled up on the drive and it thew all it's coolant out

Some numpty had put the top radiator hose on backwards...







With that drama fixed thanks to Facebook and the help of a kind local Subaru owner it was back on the road!

I've had it for a month now, and finally had a bit of free time to show it some love.

Took it for a good long drive today, very early (5AM...) and ended up at work to make full use of the valet bay and my favourite thing. Cleaning!

Washed.



Drying.



Interior wet-vac'd.

[img][https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13174027_1743610089187498_2545428014628916574_n.jp g?oh=c56327ee4efaf052ebc58d33ba0bf11d&oe=57D77675[/img]



Sealed with G3 interior sealant.



Headlights polished.





Polished/glazed/sealed etc etc etc...







Job done!















So yeah; that's my totally 100% standard Bugeye WRX STI with Prodrive Performance Pack.

fat-thomas

iTrader: (4)

Great to see an original car.
Looks lovely

beanys

iTrader: (3)

Looks great

Can you do mine next please

Jarrod Mardell

Thank you both.

Everyone asks me if I can do theirs next.

ZANY

Lovely bug genuine example and in black
Excellent job on the detailing

rab89

iTrader: (1)

I like that, nice on the silver wheel.

Matt23

Car looks spot on fella, nice job you've done there

Jarrod Mardell

Thank you very much guys.

Next on my list of things to do...

I used my smoke tester to check for boost leaks on Sunday evening and found pretty much every hose clamp in the engine bay was barely finger tight. So I'll start going through the engine bay checking each pipe for splits and replacing hose clamps with JCS Hi-Grip clamps.

Investigate a rotational scraping coming from the near side front when turning right. Suspected hub/driveshaft issue.

Then start replacing bushes.

Then drive it lots

agw_01

Gorgeous car, I was looking for a bug STi to replace my bug WRX.

No such luck Looks awesome in black!

Jarrod Mardell

Well a small and meaningless update is due, as I've done a bit more work to it.

I have changed the steering wheel from the red stitch momo Bugeye wheel to a blob STI wheel; obviously I've kept the original wheel in a shrink wrap bag to make sure I've got the original.



This morning I fitted a 255LPH pump, and I've very happy with the difference it has made. It has confirmed my suspicions that the previous pump was on it's way out. Car feels much more ''solid'' mid range and is certainly smoother to drive.

So I absolutely necked it to make sure I had sealed the tank properly



I hope to have it remapped within the coming weeks for a bit more oomph.

I was very bored today, I'm moving to Newcastle and have packed all my house up. I've literally just got my kitchen, sofa, laptop and phone. So I took it into work for a clean.

Spunky gunned.



And then sealed with Zymol.





Fingers crossed I will have the bonnet resprayed by the end of the month, then it will be lovely.

I have purchased some -30mm Eibach springs for it and 15mm spacers, but still debating if I fit them or not.

I also need a bit of advice on this; I'm assuming a dodgy wastegate is causing this annoying whistling noise that usually happens when a little bit of boost is involved. WOT it disappears under load, but static revving or when you first floor it I get this annoying chirp.

I've had a check for boost leaks and can't find any.

agw_01

That sounds lovely!

You also hear a little chirp at 0:18, which if the sound is from the same source, wouldn't be the wastegate (the chirp occurs on overrun, the wastegate will be shut then).

I had a squeak which turned out to be the exhaust rubbing on a section of the car's body. Only occured when the exhaust was hot and expanded.

Doesn't sound like a boost leak either. Got any videos of it squeaking while the car is moving?

Jarrod Mardell

Thanks! I love the way it sounds, it's nice and subtle.

I do have a video of it making the noise, this is the worst it's ever done it.


It's such a weird sound! It does go away after it build boost, you can hear it in this video as well -

agw_01

IMO, definitely doesn't sound like the wastegate. The sound is too long and the pitch changes. If the wastegate was moving that slowly to take that long to open, you wouldn't hear such a loud squeal. The sound also appears to carry on after the car has hit full boost, the wastegate would be fully open by this point.

A boost gauge would help to determine if it was the wastegate or not.

Strange one though.

Jarrod Mardell

Found the whistling noise.







Just got to wait for a new one now.

Getting it out was a bit annoying, but nowhere near as bad as people say online.

Anything else I should replace whilst I'm here that anybody can advise me on?