@STI535 Fantastic build and the car looks amazing! I love the wide body on the bug, looks so aggressive. Looking forward to seeing more updates as they happen.

Car is up and running but waited for the brutal summer temps to drop away. Finally down to about 30 degrees now in October. Have done about 300 miles to date. Starting to give it some boost and rpm now. As it is not a massive turbo build with only a stock location Owen HTA 76 it comes on strong very early in the rev range. It feels very good. I think this will be a very fast 560bhp real world car with lots of low and mid range torque. If I do change turbo for more power i think will go for a HTA 79 or 82 or possibly modify this to be EWG. Some videos up on my YouTube channel Iam2scoobies

I must say the the Alcon brakes are mega. They are so powerful and have to be careful in pedal modulation as they stop much harder than the AP Racing and any other car that I currently drive.

The Bilsten B16 are a revelation. Ride and handling are the best the car has ever had. I think these coupled with the slightly wider track with the spacers and the extra caster added make it turn in so well. This is despite heavier brakes on the front and the heavier wheels. I will get a lighter set of wheels in the right size and offset for track work and driving season. Looking at ride height adjustment as rear needs to come up slightly and front lowered.

Some minor issues have arisen which have been or are being fixed -

Rear gearbox seal started to leak. It was still original one though so to be expected.
Slight oil misting from turbo which will be looked at on Saturday. May require a clamp to be nipped up,
Slight tweak to map is ongoing. I log any drives and send them to mapper who reviews and send me amended map if any changes made.
Exhaust need some modification as it seems to be very tight as snapped one of the rear muffler hangers.
Wrapped the exhaust manifold in a Funk Motorsport exhaust blanket. Much easier than the usual wrap as was able to do with manifold on car and just cut the blanket into strips. Manifold already ceramic coated so this is just to add a helping hand. There will be more heat management for individual components. May add some side bonnet race louvers as well and close off the reversed intercooler scoop as that is a high pressure area which is not helping with heat extraction.

Big issue is the paint on the fibreglass front arches. Has bubbled and coming off. No issue with the painter who will fix any issues, but am wondering whether I should get a set of carbon front arches. Anyone know who may make these in UK or Europe?


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I thought you meant mine! Which are not cheap.

Thanks, yes that are nice but are a bit heavy. They were my favourite wheel growing up in Australia and I bought these in 1999 for my GC8.

I do have a set of Rota for the GC8 track/hillclimb car. They are popular here as people have broken expensive wheels on our ****e roads. So the Rotas being quite cheap are almost a consumable as replacing one is quite cheap. When I do buy another set for the STi in 9.5 inch, it will most likely be Enkei though as that is what I used to have on the STi in 18 x 7.5. They are good weight and have a decent range in 5x100.