Greetings from Barcelona on a Classic (my daily driver slow project)
06 July 2013, 02:29 PM
#1
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Greetings from Barcelona on a Classic (my daily driver slow project)
Hi mates,
I finaly thought it was about time to sign up to this great community which I've learned many things about our cars by reading you from a while.
Mine is a MY99 Classic Impreza GT (like UK Turbo model) I bought a year ago from its original owner with full stamped service book and everything standard. Bone stock, the only thing done by its original owner was the addition of some 17'' OZ Superleggera. The car is both my daily driver and my weekend toy for B roads driving (wich I'm lucky to have some nice ones near where I live... remember Catalunya WRC?
).
The car was in very good condition, low mileage (79.000 Km / 49.000 miles), the only bad thing is that the paint has a few dings here and there but the important things are always on the inside you know : ) i'll have time to give her a nice paintjob and let her as she looked when she came out from the factory.
Here's some photos of the car the day I bought it:
After buying it, I gave her the typical maintenance to do when buying a used car (oil and fluids change, filters, spark plugs and the timming belt w/ tensor to ensure reliability) and also did some improvements to the braking system:
- Rear 2 pot w/ 290 mm rotors conversion (properly done by swapping the backplates to Newage WRX ones)
- Refubrishing of all 4 brake calipers (also painted it red, which I guess will lead me to some extra HP
)
- Stainless steel brake hoses (Goodridge)
- Motul RBF600 brake fluid
- Slotted rotors
- EBC RedStuff pads (which I don't like a lot... )
I aso fitted a pair of JDM STi tail lights that looks splendid
Next thing will be upgrading the suspension, as it's still on original struts after almost 60k miles, but I'm still thinking what to do. I want the car to be driveable on the streets but I also want to improve the handling, stability and to alleviate its natural tendency to understeer. Maybe I'll go with a set of STi v5/6 struts with pink STi springs, or maybe a KW v1 set will do a better job.
Oh, I also wanted to aplogize for my awful english! It must be a pain for you to read some of my paragraphes!!
Thanks for reading!
Jaume
I finaly thought it was about time to sign up to this great community which I've learned many things about our cars by reading you from a while.
Mine is a MY99 Classic Impreza GT (like UK Turbo model) I bought a year ago from its original owner with full stamped service book and everything standard. Bone stock, the only thing done by its original owner was the addition of some 17'' OZ Superleggera. The car is both my daily driver and my weekend toy for B roads driving (wich I'm lucky to have some nice ones near where I live... remember Catalunya WRC?
).The car was in very good condition, low mileage (79.000 Km / 49.000 miles), the only bad thing is that the paint has a few dings here and there but the important things are always on the inside you know : ) i'll have time to give her a nice paintjob and let her as she looked when she came out from the factory.
Here's some photos of the car the day I bought it:
After buying it, I gave her the typical maintenance to do when buying a used car (oil and fluids change, filters, spark plugs and the timming belt w/ tensor to ensure reliability) and also did some improvements to the braking system:
- Rear 2 pot w/ 290 mm rotors conversion (properly done by swapping the backplates to Newage WRX ones)
- Refubrishing of all 4 brake calipers (also painted it red, which I guess will lead me to some extra HP
)- Stainless steel brake hoses (Goodridge)
- Motul RBF600 brake fluid
- Slotted rotors
- EBC RedStuff pads (which I don't like a lot... )
I aso fitted a pair of JDM STi tail lights that looks splendid
Next thing will be upgrading the suspension, as it's still on original struts after almost 60k miles, but I'm still thinking what to do. I want the car to be driveable on the streets but I also want to improve the handling, stability and to alleviate its natural tendency to understeer. Maybe I'll go with a set of STi v5/6 struts with pink STi springs, or maybe a KW v1 set will do a better job.
Oh, I also wanted to aplogize for my awful english! It must be a pain for you to read some of my paragraphes!!
Thanks for reading!
Jaume
Last edited by headrush; 06 July 2013 at 03:49 PM.
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07 July 2013, 10:55 AM
#9
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Hola 
Very nice car! I would imagine that the better weather preserves the car well and keeps her free of rust!
Do you have many Impreza turbos in Spain?
In the North West and Canary Islands I have only seen two STi cars (2002-2005) and all of the new cars (2008+) have been slow ones!
Very nice car! I would imagine that the better weather preserves the car well and keeps her free of rust!
Do you have many Impreza turbos in Spain?
In the North West and Canary Islands I have only seen two STi cars (2002-2005) and all of the new cars (2008+) have been slow ones!
07 July 2013, 04:17 PM
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Hi!!
Yes, I think so, that the good weather around here really helps to preserve the cars in good conditions. The car was clean and completely rust free on its bottom when I bought it. My dad, who has been a mechanician for over 40 years, was quite impressed for both the condition of the car and its built quality.
Unlike in the UK, it's not quite common to see these cars running down the street. They're not as popular as people seems to be more more into VAGs TDI, heated seats, parking sensors and that kind of stuff
You still could see some Classic turbos and other Scoobies occassionaly, specially if you attend to a trackday, but there aren't really many of them around. I think the main reason is because japanese brands didn't put much effort in marketing/advertising until mid 90's or so.
Here in Spain we got the 1st gen Impreza turbo (GC8) named as Impreza GT as the top range model. Unfortunately, just like in the rest of the european markets, we didn't see any STi version. It wasn't until the Newage models (2002) we could get an STi from dealers. You can still go and buy the newer models, though... I know and old man who owns a 2011 STi sedan. Btw, you have very good taste, I like the Northwest and Canary Islands a lot. Very different places to each other, but both have very nice and twisty roads to drive!
You guys were too lucky to get the P1 and some JDM import models!!
I personally would have like a Type R or a P1 (I love the Classic 2 door shape) but here's not an easy task to get older import cars running with spanish license plates.
Yes, I think so, that the good weather around here really helps to preserve the cars in good conditions. The car was clean and completely rust free on its bottom when I bought it. My dad, who has been a mechanician for over 40 years, was quite impressed for both the condition of the car and its built quality.
Unlike in the UK, it's not quite common to see these cars running down the street. They're not as popular as people seems to be more more into VAGs TDI, heated seats, parking sensors and that kind of stuff
You still could see some Classic turbos and other Scoobies occassionaly, specially if you attend to a trackday, but there aren't really many of them around. I think the main reason is because japanese brands didn't put much effort in marketing/advertising until mid 90's or so.Here in Spain we got the 1st gen Impreza turbo (GC8) named as Impreza GT as the top range model. Unfortunately, just like in the rest of the european markets, we didn't see any STi version. It wasn't until the Newage models (2002) we could get an STi from dealers. You can still go and buy the newer models, though... I know and old man who owns a 2011 STi sedan. Btw, you have very good taste, I like the Northwest and Canary Islands a lot. Very different places to each other, but both have very nice and twisty roads to drive!
You guys were too lucky to get the P1 and some JDM import models!!
I personally would have like a Type R or a P1 (I love the Classic 2 door shape) but here's not an easy task to get older import cars running with spanish license plates.
Last edited by headrush; 07 July 2013 at 04:20 PM.
07 July 2013, 05:06 PM
#11
Nice car, your English is much better than quite a few on here.
Regards the handling, the best way to dial out the understeer is to fit a front camber kit, also known as an anti-lift kit, combined with a 24mm rear anti-roll bar and solid aluminium rear drop links, then have the geometry set correctly with laser alignment.
As for suspension I run standard jap spec STI suspension on my Type r, some think it a tad stiff for the UK, but I think they got it about right from the factory and it's much better than cheap coilovers.
Regards the handling, the best way to dial out the understeer is to fit a front camber kit, also known as an anti-lift kit, combined with a 24mm rear anti-roll bar and solid aluminium rear drop links, then have the geometry set correctly with laser alignment.
As for suspension I run standard jap spec STI suspension on my Type r, some think it a tad stiff for the UK, but I think they got it about right from the factory and it's much better than cheap coilovers.
08 July 2013, 09:21 AM
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Thanks mate! I also think that a good strut+spring combo is far better for street/b-road driving than all those cheap coilovers that has become so popular nowadays.
Furthermore, I like the idea of going OEM, so the v5/6 combo is a great option to keep in consideration, but I've also been told about the KW's quality so I'll be doing a little more research the following days to see what fit my tastes/budget better.
Regards!! : )
Furthermore, I like the idea of going OEM, so the v5/6 combo is a great option to keep in consideration, but I've also been told about the KW's quality so I'll be doing a little more research the following days to see what fit my tastes/budget better.
Regards!! : )
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