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Hi all, I thought I’d start a thread for my Blobeye STI I bought a couple of months ago.
I’ve been intending to do a thread for a little while but have been very busy over the last few weeks so not had much spare time.
Since I was 17 I’ve been a Ford man through and through and over the years I’ve owned plenty of them ranging from Escort and Fiesta RS Turbo’s, Focus ST’s and RS’s and a couple of Sierra Sapphire Cosworths, both of which were very heavily modified.
I ended up selling my last Cosworth, a 2wd in Crystal blue that I built from the ground up from a completely new shell in September 2018 due to going through a very difficult time in my life so due to not thinking straight and having a moment of sheer stupidity, I sold the car to mate losing absolutely thousands. We all make mistakes though I guess!
Fast forward about 2 years, things are a little better and I was bored senseless not having a toy to play with so decided to get another car.
I thought about loads of different cars but just couldn’t make up my mind. A few of my mates tried to convince me to get another Cossie but I’ve been there and done that so wanted a change, too much money for what they are too! I also considered the following:
Audi B7 RS4, looked at a couple and they didn’t impress me at all, felt very lethargic and the unreliability of them is a worry too.
Audi B8/8.5 S4 - respond well to tuning but again, the reliability doesn’t seem great on them and when I drove one, I didn’t like the DSG and I just didn’t get the feeling of ‘yeah I enjoyed that’ after.
Mitsubishi Evo 8/9 MR FQ - nice but something about them that I can’t put my finger on that puts me off, just wasn’t ‘feeling’ one of that makes sense?
R32/33 Skyline GTR - man! Those have shot up in price! Can’t stretch to a nice one of those at the minute!
Focus RS - had a mk1 before and loved it but trying to find a nice one that isn’t like a patchwork quilt underneath is nigh on impossible and very difficult to get parts for now. The mk2 RS I’m not keen on and I really don’t like the mk3.
Mk7 Golf R - they’re everywhere and also don’t have the fun factor for me.
Audi RS3 - DSG only and I hate autos. Also look very bland out of the box.
Considered a few other cars but they were the main ones.
So the only only thing that really appealed to me was an Impreza STI. My mate completes in Rallycross with one and has had loads of Impreza road cars and he really rates them so I thought I’d give one a go!
I wanted a JDM car in either white or blue. I put a thread up on here asking some questions about them as I don’t really know much about them and another member on here (adam.pah) mentioned he was selling his that was a good spec. Although it wasn’t a JDM and I wasn’t after one in black ideally, I thought it was worth a look. I arranged a time with Adam to view the car and a deal was done 👍
Adam had the car booked in for mapping at the time I viewed the car so it was agreed that Adam would get the car mapped and running spot on and I could collect it once it was all done. There were a few issues with the mapping and the garage doing the work but it all got sorted in the end, massive thanks to Adam for getting it sorted as I know it caused him a big pain in the a**e!!
The car made around 450 bhp so it goes pretty well! Coming from old tail happy Sierras, it certainly puts the power down far better than they could even my 4x4! The handling is in a different league too, you don’t feel like you’re going to die when accelerating mid corner!
A few pics:
A couple of days after I got it:
Done a few little jobs:
Fresh oil and filter.
New pair of wheelarch liners to replace the old ones which were well and truly knackered!
They’re pattern ones so took a bit of fettling to get fitting well!
New headlights to replace the cloudy and blacked out originals.
Looks a bit better!
I like my cars looking as standard as poss bodywork wise so I took off the side skirt extensions and rear diffuser thingy.
Also put a new set of standard badges on and removed the rear light tints too
Done a few other little bits too but I’m sure I’ve bored you all enough already!
Other plans cosmetically include removing the window tints as I can’t see anything out of the back when it’s dark and I’ll be getting the wheels refurbed in gold. There are a few little dents and couple of rust bubbles appearing so the car will be getting fully painted again within the next couple of years.
mechanically the brakes need some attention as the discs are warped and it doesn’t stop great so will be fitting some AP 6 pots over the winter and it fuel surges badly around fast right handers when 1/2 tank or under so I’ll be building an external swirl pot and pump in the boot to eliminate that. A few other bits to do but they’re the main ones.
The spec is as follows (screen shots from Adam’s Ad):
Hope To try and get to some meets as it’s been a while since I did anything like that!
Welcome Gaz 👍 it’s great to have a new enthusiast on board. Fantastic write up to. Lovely motor and I’d certainly be confident buying a car off adampah as he’s an enthusiast to who looks after his cars.
Welcome Gaz 👍 it’s great to have a new enthusiast on board. Fantastic write up to. Lovely motor and I’d certainly be confident buying a car off adampah as he’s an enthusiast to who looks after his cars.
Cheers mate 👍
Nice to have a toy again! 😜
It’ll look very different to when Adam had it after the wheels are done but you have to make them make them your own eh?! 😎
Glad you're enjoying it mate and it looks good, some nice touches you've made! Seeing the pictures does make me feel a bit nostalgic, I do miss the brutal speed of the thing! I'm doing Japfest at Silverstone in Sept if you fancy it?
Out of curiosity gaz the saff cossies and essy cossies I’ve been in which was years ago felt blistering quick, a lot faster than Subarus but it was years ago when I was last in one...my mate had a silver saff cossie which was 330bhp and ran a 12.6 quarter mile at santa pod. I know the cossies only have 5 gears so maybe that’s why they felt like a stabbed rat.
Glad you're enjoying it mate and it looks good, some nice touches you've made! Seeing the pictures does make me feel a bit nostalgic, I do miss the brutal speed of the thing! I'm doing Japfest at Silverstone in Sept if you fancy it?
Glad you're enjoying it mate and it looks good, some nice touches you've made! Seeing the pictures does make me feel a bit nostalgic, I do miss the brutal speed of the thing! I'm doing Japfest at Silverstone in Sept if you fancy it?
It’s getting there mate, few more little bits to do though 😜
It’s surprised a few people, getting itchy fingers for more power already though! 😬😂
What day is that on mate? I might have a mooch if I’m not working or got little one 👍
Out of curiosity gaz the saff cossies and essy cossies I’ve been in which was years ago felt blistering quick, a lot faster than Subarus but it was years ago when I was last in one...my mate had a silver saff cossie which was 330bhp and ran a 12.6 quarter mile at santa pod. I know the cossies only have 5 gears so maybe that’s why they felt like a stabbed rat.
Tbh mate I just think they feel faster than they actually are, certainly the 4x4’s as they have a ridiculously short 1st gear so it just kicks you up the a**e. I don’t think they’re that heavy either, especially once all the sills and and floor pans have fallen out of them! 😂
they do like a good dollop of boost to get the power out of them too so that’ll give it a good shove! 😜
Well it’s been a few months now and I’ve still got it!
starting to find my feet with it now and getting used to it, still a few things to do but I thought I’d put up some recent pics.
I was going to take the wheels off today and take them in for refurbishing but a couple of days ago Adam (adam.pah) on here managed to find a set of genuine Prodrive Speedline PFF7 18” wheels on Faceache and contacted the guy for me (cheers Adam) as I’d been looking for a genuine set for a while as mine are the Midland Wheels PFF7 replicas. A quick phone call to him and I arranged to nip down after work.
They were freshly refurbed in gold which is exactly what I wanted, unfortunately there’s a few marks on one of them as it was accidentally dropped on the front face on concrete so has marked a couple of the spokes and a little bit on the rim, not massive but a shame nonetheless. A deal was done and after knocking a little bit off for the damage, they were mine! 😜
Had a day off today so I thought I’d get them on!! 😁
Gave it a good wash too.
Really happy with how it looks now, I think the new wheels set it off perfectly. So much lighter than the replicas too
Just centre caps to sort now. The originals seem like rocking horse s**t and mega expensive when they do become available so I measured the bore of the wheel and the recess where the cap sits and I’ve ordered some universal ones and some Prodrive gel badges so hopefully they’ll be ok! 😬
She looks a stunner mate,a credit to Adam too. One question while im here, i noticed you have lagging on your down pipes, after a pressure wash or its rained or its been damp do you get a steam show rising up and out of your engine bay ? I do on mine, i have similar lagging to you.
Last edited by The Joshua Tree; 04 November 2021 at 05:17 PM.
She looks a stunner mate,a credit to Adam too. One question while im here, i noticed you have lagging on your down pipes, after a pressure wash or its rained or its been damp do you get a steam show rising up and out of your engine bay ? I do on mine, i have similar lagging to you.
I never noticed it in my ownership. I didn't drive it regularly in the wet though and I know Gaz uses it far more than I used to so maybe he's noticed something.
She looks a stunner mate,a credit to Adam too. One question while im here, i noticed you have lagging on your down pipes, after a pressure wash or its rained or its been damp do you get a steam show rising up and out of your engine bay ? I do on mine, i have similar lagging to you.
Cheers mate
Regarding the heat wrap, I don’t get any steam or anything that I’ve noticed but I do get a bit of a smell sometimes so it might be from that when it gets wet
23 July 2021, 01:43 PM
My Blobeye STI
