Green Bug Eye WRX Wagon
 

Hi all

New member here, finally scratched an itch, and bought my first Subaru. It's a 52 plate green bug eye wagon, so somewhere near the bottom of the desirability pile. :lol1:
The previous owner has owned it for 13 years, and it appears to be a really solid car, with very few dings, and none of the dreaded arch rust.
The engine starts on the button, and it doesn't rattle or squeak.
Most importantly, it's completely standard, which is important for what I need it for.

Plans are to see what the MOT throws up on Monday. If that goes to plan, I'll swap the original stereo for an Android Auto unit, and then start driving it.

Here are some pictures from the advert:
The main part of the project will then start in a couple of weeks.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...28369820aa.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...b07f40119b.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...d1d4de128a.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...a9d07ebe9f.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...0a2d4cae92.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...cb9d4d41d4.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...d9aef705cb.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...a7f5ec422f.jpg

I like my green Bug Wagon - a bit more discreet that the usual winged blue cars!

Me too. I do like the blue with gold wheels, but it is a bit in your face.

Thanks. Mileage is 121k. The first owner did 55k in the first few years, but the guy I bought it from only did 65k in the last 13 years.
Unfortunately he didn't record the service history from 60k, but that's not the end of the world.
I'd rather not say. I think it was low, but he advertised it with no MOT, the passenger window not working and a scuff on the bumper.
The plan is to run it and fix it up over the next 6 months or so, then trade up to a blob eye, the reason for which will become clear in the next few weeks. :thumb:

Same mileage and history as mine when I bought it. It's on 178k now.

Do you have a build thread? Is yours modified at all?

MOT failed, but only on an inner CV gaiter being split. While it didn't pass, I'm delighted with that for a 16 year old unknown car. :luxhello:
They did however quote £150 to replace it, as they need to top up the gearbox oil and do the wheel alignment. A bit of research required.

MOT passed, now taxed and insured.
Adrian Flux were hopeless, Keith Michaels were only slightly more than half price. Greenlight didn't bother to reply to my form.

I like a good wagon. Keep the pictures coming!

Just for you. Well, not really. :D
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...9a2130dbb5.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...b6ba4ac626.jpg

Thanks to Bazil_SexWee, I now have somewhere to put the filler cap when filling up.

My daughters both love it, and can't wait to go to school in it. They're 8 and 10.

Plans now are to drive it, service it, and get it touched up a bit. The bumper has a bad paint repair where it was scraped, and there are lots of little scratches around the door handles and filler cap.
Nothing a good scratch and dent guy can't fix in a morning.

I now have a sticky NSF caliper.
Looks like a caliper rebuild is looming.

I decided I don't have the time to rebuild the caliper, so I got a Pagid refurbed caliper from ECP with one of their discount codes. Once I've returned mine, it's about £110 for a refurbed caliper.
Swapped it over today, which went really well. The bolts came out easily enough, the slider pins weren't seized, and I'd even been sent the correct one.
Until I found my trusty EasiBleed doesn't have the right connection for the Subaru reservoir.
Fortunately there was one garage left open, and it was about 200m down the road.

All sorted and back on the road.

In the 25 odd miles of driving, I've noticed a few things.
The brakes are much more consistent than my over-servoed A6. I like them.
The clutch is quite heavy, much heavier than the wife's Touran. Very similair to the track car with a paddle clutch.
Modern cars are ridiculously quick. The Subaru pulls harder the more it revs. The A6 is all about the torque, but it is a 3.0 V6 turbo diesel.

I'm really enjoying driving it, and looking forward to spending some time in it.
All that's left is to sort out the passenger window and then look at the paint. The front bumper was scraped previously (known about), and looks like it was touched up by Stevie Wonder. There are only a couple minor dinks in the paintwork, all of which should polish out.
The paintwork generally has a lot of swirl marks, and the headlights have glazed over, so I'll look at getting it properly polished at some point.

Went for a run to Prescott Hillclimb yesterday, as it was a round of the British Hillclimb Championship.
Took this and had a blast, really enjoyed the drive over.

It needs a service, so I'll book it in to Thwaites ASAP. There's also an occasional knock from the left when going over bumps in the road. Sounds like a top mount, or possibly an ARB bush.
Hopefully they can track that down as well.

I bought a Sony XAV-AX100 for this with an eBay discount. Fitting didn't go to well.
First I didn't realise I needed an adaptor loom.
I also wanted to remove the existing hands free kit in there, as it looked like it was from the 90s, and didn't actually work with my phone. This proved to be more involved than expected, but I got there in the end.
I tried to use the old microphone, but that didn't work with the radio either, so I had to pull off the A pillar trim and run the new one through as well.

The biggest pain though was the radio surround. The AX-100 sits slightly further out than the OEM radio, so I had to get the Dremel out and trim the back of the OEM surround.
Fortunately, cutting the back of the surround flush meant it fitted perfectly. I'll keep the original radio for when I sell it.

These new radios are awesome. I know have sat nav, Spotify, hands free and more on the radio. It's awesome.

I also treated the old girl to a wash.
She's repaid me by starting to grumble on the right rear. Sounds like a wheel bearing.

Ah the 10% discount PERKS. Get some pictures up.

As you may have noticed, pictures aren't my strong point. :p

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...fdf432fcb1.jpg
It looks a bit plain when turned off.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...bbdac3424d.jpg
Looks good when booted up though. Only takes a few seconds
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...6ec88137d6.jpg
The previous owner touched up a scratch himself. It really needs doing again.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...759366ec65.jpg
OS spot light has taken a hit from some stones. I have a replacement ready to fit.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...550ab619d2.jpg
Got home to find the rear number plate had fallen off. It looks like someones been at the bumper for some reason.
I'll dig out some double sided tape and refit it.

You'll have fun replacing the spot lamps. They are held with a U bracket with captive nuts. These rust. You can use new bolts, washers and nuts to secure the lights.

I remember having fun with rust when replacing a spot light on my wagon.
Enjoying the thread though! Keep up the good work.

Booked in at Thwaites for a full service, as it looks like I'll be keeping this a bit longer than originally planned. :)

I hadn't been using this because of the wheel bearing, but brought it in to work today to have a quick look. It sounded awful on the way in though.
Jacked it up ready to remove the wheel, then spotted this:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...8002f96c12.jpg
That would be the problem then. Refitted that and cleared out the mud in the back of the arch as well.

Then refitted the license plate.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...44d4c9fde3.jpg

Now need to replace the OS brake light.

To do list is as follows:

• Paint - get the bumper scuff and other dings patched/polished
• Fix passenger window
• Full service at Thwaites (now next week)
• Knock - there is a suspension knock going over bumps in the road, but not over speed bumps. Sounds like top mount or ARB bushes. Will ask Thwaites to look at that while it's there.
• There's an oil leak somewhere on the engine. It was mentioned in the MOT, and I can smell it sometimes when pushing on. Again a Thwaites job while they do the service.

Driving this car is so rewarding.

I've done a few things recently, which included removing the ECU and prodding wiring. After doing this, the car just stopped on the way home one evening. All the lights worked, the car turned over, but wouldn't start.
I got towed home, and left the car overnight. The next afternoon, it started fine.
I drove it to work, and it was fine, but then wouldn't start again to go home. This was a problem as it was booked in to TDR for a service.

I removed loads of trim, traced wires, but couldn't find anything. Sometimes it was fine, others not. The worst kind of problem.

I noticed that the fuel pump wouldn't prime when the car wouldn't start, so thought it must be immobiliser related. I couldn't find the module to bridge the relays, and had to get it to TDR.
I kept them informed about the problems, and they were very accommodating.
I ended up putting it on the trailer and taking it to TDR to service and look at the immobiliser
What a great bunch they are. They looked at it, poked stuff, and eventually spotted that the MIL light would go off when the fuel pump wouldn't work. This meant it was a supply issue to the ECU.
They also looked for the oil leak, but couldn't find anything significant, so left it.
The wheel bearing did need replacing though, so that's also been done.

After poking a bit further for an hour or so today, I found the problem was a pin on the ECU connector had been bent, so would sometimes move and lose contact. It was the ignition feed, which explained the MIL light going off as well.

All fixed, but currently looking like this:
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...10b73fe67a.jpg

I've also had the bumper resprayed:
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...64b0e44f6e.jpg
A load of scratches have also been polished out.

I still need to fix the passenger side window, so I'll bite the bullet and order a window switch module from a breaker or eBay.
I also want to fit the spot light. You can see the corrosion in the picture above.

You followed me this morning buddy, looked good except no front plate ;)

I was in the blue M135i.

Paul

Nice car, I was admiring it. :thumb:

Number plate is still on the passenger seat due to the wood glue (I think) on the back of it...

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...9d8f6f040e.jpg

I had to go back and look why. :lol1:

Hello mate, lovely car there and some great progress already!

I've bought one (Classic Wagon with EJ207 bottom end and GT28R Turbo) a few weeks back, taking her to TDR tonight as well to get on the rollers and have a general look over it and some minor service work

I'm in Nuneaton but work in Ryton so not too far from yourself always happy to lend a hand doing stuff mechanically.

Keep up the good work!
Lew

Thanks

you will not go wrong with the team @ thwaites

Plodding along merrily with this.

I love the brakes. Heel and toe is so easy, even at low revs, not like the over servoed modern cars.

Unfortunately the air con compressor idler seems to be on its way out. I'll check it's definitely that later today.