Fairly tame project by everyone elses standard!!
 

I have now owned my 2005 blobeye wrx for nearly a year and what a year its been!!! My scoob has been my first car that I've truely played with! Before this I knew even less about cars than I do now!!

Anyway, I bought my impreza completely standard apart from a high rise rear spoiler with only 43,000 on the clock and it was far faster than anything I'd ever driven before (previously on a 150bhp FR leon). Modifying it was never on the agenda, as it never it is for anyone, I just intended to personalise it a bit.....How wrong I was !!

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I started by adding the standard bits and bobs with a backbox from Pro-R, V-lip spoiler, de tango'd lights etc.......This soon progressed to a full exhaust system, air induction kit number 1, sti intercooler, some more trims etc.

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The time came for the cars first mapping session with Duncan at Race Dynamixs. The car pulled up a nice 280bhp but unfortunately after 100 miles, the engine went boom!!! At this point my lack of forum following and lack of knowledge was my let down!!

The car went to the dealership at Peterborough where it was found that I had 2 very large holes in cylinder 3 piston, the spark blown to pieces, the cylinder wall melted, valves burnt out and some nice scratches in the valve seats!!

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Seen as I'd used my RAC ride to get there, I left it there to be repaired. I had a whole new short block shipped in, took the cast pistons out, put cosworth ones in and had the engine rebuilt. It had to have all new oil coolers and lines due to the spark detonating everywhere! I was given my old block still assembled and when I opened the casing the big end shells just fell out!!!

When the car was off the road I invested in numerous bits of kit......thought might as well add to the already huge bill! I had all new SFS hoses made and sent to the dealership for its rebuild, new clutch and fly wheel while it was all out, I had a new pipercross cold air feed installed, new springs, new drop links, new rear anti roll bar 24mm, new bushes at the front, lower front grill, strut braces front and rear, new discs and pads up front from EBC, HT autos rear diffuser and exhaust trim and some shiny bits from bad ass performance. Also had an sti bonnet scoop painted and fitted. The car has been to scooby clinic and had the geometry set up, one of their up pipes fitted and mapped by Pat for 270bhp which gives real smooth delivery!!

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As ever, the bug won't stop biting so a 3 inch straight through exhaust is now on from cobra, pink injectors ready to go, light weight pulleys ordered, ordering a 3 port boost solenoid today and going to test scooby clinics new SC32 out when I head there in 5 weeks time!!! I'm sure I've missed some stuff but love the car and its all coming together :D .......

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Well thought I ought to give this an update. The car went to scooby clinic in November but unfortunately at the time due to all the bad weather in the states the only had an SC36 in stock.....so naturally I had to get the bigger turbo!

With the pinks fitted, 3 port solenoid on and the turbo running Pat mapped the car. I asked for him to hold it to 350hp due to the gearbox etc and he handed me a printout with 349.6 :) very pleased!!!

Unfortunately in December I suffered a head gasket failure so thought it was time to improve some areas while the car was off the road. I took the engine out myself (first time) and sent it to the clinic for it to be repaired. Since then I've fitted an alloy radiator, poly bushed the entire cars suspension and ordered a front mount intercooler. I've also bought an sti front bumper and inlet manifold.

The engine since has come back, been plumbed in (apart from the inlet manifold and the front mount) and is due back from the body shop today with its fresh front end respray :)

So in summary, front mount and manifold to fit and then the car will be seriously coming on its way! Photos will be added as soon as I've got it back, cleaned it, etc!

Updates to come, Adam

sounds good mate get sum picys up :D

The wallet has taken a beating !

Oh yes!!! Not had the best luck but will be awesome by the end of it all.......I hope lol

Thought now that I've managed to work out how to add pictures I ought to add an update.


The sti front end has now been completely sourced as has an uprated radiator and a front mounted intercooler.

I haven't taken any pictures of the car fully assembled yet but here is the cars current spec:

Sti intake manifold with tumbler delete
SC36 turbo
550cc injectors
Front mount intercooler
Cosworth baffled sump
Cosworth forged pistons
Uprated radiator
Zero sport thermostat
SFS coolant hoses
SFS intake hose
Pipercross cold air fed induction kit
Lightened CDF pulleys
3 port boost solenoid
3 inch straight through decat
Uprated pitch mount

Gearbox isolator mounts
Hardrace gearbox mount
SuperPro gear selector bush

Caster adjusted front bushes
Powerflex poly bushes throughout EVERYWHERE
SuperPro steering rack bushes
SuperPro rear droplinks
Whiteline front drop links
24mm rear ARB whiteline
Poly bushed front ARB
Front and rear strut braces
Eibach springs

Rear diffuser
Clear lense indicators
Detango'd all lights
Mudflats
V-lip spoiler
Zunsport WR1 style grill
Sti front bumper
Sti bonnet and scoop
Sti rear spoiler
Rear tinted windows
LEDs throughout
Gas struts for bonnet
Badass performance trim

Sony head unit
In phase front speakers

Still got some bits that I want to do like big brake kit with new wheels being next on the list.

Any comments welcome but before you ask, I bought a wrx as this is my first performance car and never thought it would go anywhere a doubt this far.....far too far into it before I realised it was time to get an sti so will stick with what I have now :)

Well the car is all finished and back on the road and looks like below. Thanks to MattyB for helping with the black headlight mod and the bonnet catches!

I have also attached my dyno graphs for the above setup which leads me onto my question.......what would people recommend next? My big push is towards spool as it's rather laggy at th moment. I intend over winter to adapt the pipe work on the fmic to make it shorter and with less aggressive bends in it. Headers I'm assuming is next? But at my power would you go for GT spec headers or do you get the factory ones ported? Who would people recommend and how much does it usually cost please?

On a separate issue, I'm looking to make the car more track focused and gradually move to braided fuel lines, in boot tank, etc. what thickness aluminium would you use to form a fire proof bulkhead in the back?

Thanks! Adam

Had some pretty poor luck there! Glad to see you stick at it though :)

Well it's decided, factory oem ported headers heat wrapped along with a Harvey trick up pipe is the next move for the car along with rotated inlet. I'm intrigued to know how others got on rotating the inlet on a japspeed front mount and how much additional hosing/pipe work had to made if anyone has done this?

Also at the end of the month I'm going to order the scoobyworld gauge set up for oil pressure/temp and boost with the centre gauge console. Anyone had any use with this set up?

Thanks, Adam

Well I should be able to get my car into my garage in the next moth so bought in preparation is:

Exedy pink box
Oil temp pressure and boost stepper gauges
10w50 nano tech millers oil
heat rated 7 plugs
Wetter water additive for my coolant
Brake master cylinder stopper
Harvey smith ported headers and up pipe
Rotated inlet manifold brackets and pipework
Revolution 3 inch exhaust to replace my cobra system (fingers crossed buying and selling goes as planned)

This months money is going on tax and insurance and then its time to order some new wheels and K sports. Does anyone know if the K sport 330mm kit will go under an v7/8 sti wheel?

Adam

Well with a set of wheels coming up on the forum today, change of plan.....just bought a set of Rota G Fighters! Might need to change the colour, not too sure at the moment but here is the for sale photo. Thanks Paul, they look great.....can't wait to come get them!

Unfortunately these wheels were not suitable as one was badly buckled so I have purchased Jura's old wheels. The arches need rolling and the camber setting up but you can see the general effect, look brilliant IMHO....thanks again Jura!

Nice too meet you Adam and sorry for waiting...

Looks great on yours and as I said,you will need drop the little bit car and add more camber at front and rear,as per text -2.00 all around and you should have nice track setup which will be awesome like on track or on the road

Again thanks for coming down for wheels and really nice to meet you :thumb:

Jura

Well pulled the car in the garage tonight and finally can get on with it. Only had 2 hours at her this evening but pleased with progress.

Oil drained, coolant drained with all associated hoses removed and rad, fuel lines disconnected, wiring disconnected, power steering lines removed and car up in the air on axel stands. All that's left is the engine mounts and unbolt it from the gearbox! Pleased bearing in mind only had 2 hours at it!

Had a bit more of a run at the car today! Engine out and stripped down to a long block. Wiring is all disconnected ready for the inlet manifold rotation!

If anyone has done it before can let me know of what extras they needed id appreciate it. I have the brackets for the alternator, the front pipe work, all the gaskets etc. I can see i need to extend the fuel lines and one of the coolant hoses but did anyone have any other complications? Wiring etc?

Thanks! Adam

Well bit more progress on the car. Got the cambelt covers off and given them a primer coat ready for gloss black :)

While they were off I've fitted a CDF timing belt guide which is a perfect fit to say the least!

Got the new harvey smith ported exhaust headers and up pipe on as well which as you'd expect was an easy fit.

Finally, spent a good couple of hours cleaning up the block and just had enough time to give it one cost of clear engine lacquer to stop it oxidising again.

Bolts all went today to be zinc plated by jay-Sti so when they come back I can start to re-assemble the engine. Very pleased with progress and the results!

Well pleased with the finish after 4 coats of clear .....onto the rocker covers next

Looks good mate

Made some more progress with the car today. Got the turbo blanket fitted (bloody fiddly springs!!), fitted the adapter for the oil pressure gauge, fitted the new spark plugs and oil filter, had one of the rocker covers off, cleaned it up and it is now primed. Had some rust spots on the sump and on one of the hard coolant pipes so cleaned them up and painted them in POR15. Also got another coat on the cambelt covers so slowly getting there!

Also started stripping the back of the car while waiting for the paint to dry.

Heard from Jay-Sti regarding my bolts which will be with me on Tuesday. Big thanks to Jay and the photos he's sent through look epic!!

Made some more progress on the car. Started fitting the bolts that jay-Sti did for me that look great. Started refitting the power steering pump and the alternator flip kit ready for the reverse inlet manifold.

Also started stripping the back of the car out and removing the sound deadening....what a lovely job! Glad I had my mate nick to start that one :)

Waiting for the inlet manifold to come back from zircotec so I can get cracking on putting it back together.

Very nice mate coming along nicely

Bit slow on the updates as I've been waiting for my inlet manifold and down pipe to come back from zircotec which are finally back TODAY !!

Also purchased an innovations AFR gauge to keep an eye on things.

Following advice on here i got rid of an oil cooler I bought from a member on here and I went for the mishimoto kit. Pain to fit when you have a front mount as the bracket for carrying it gets in the way but all fitted, on and looks really stealth which I like! The quality of the parts though are brilliant.

More updates when the inlet manifold is refitted etc :)

Not that this is really sad as I've been home 2 minutes and I'm posting pictures already but I've waited 4 weeks and they look AWESOME!!! Hope you agree!!

Now that inlet manifold is back, I've started refitting it to the car. I am doing the reverse inlet manifold mod which is forever a pain in the back side but getting there. Got the injectors in and the fuel lines sorted after a lot of pain but finally getting somewhere :)

Well....things are never simple. Once I lined the inlet manifold up on the car it was clear the fuel lines are in the way. As a result, I've ordered all the parts needed to do the parallel fuel mod.

Started mounting the inlet manifold and wiring loom up to the engine and I've made progress as the picture. I think I'll have to take the manifold off again unfortunately as there is a lump on the under side that looks like it is impeding the inlet pipe.

Any feedback is welcome lol

Made some real progress today. Inlet manifold back off to file down another lump in my way, cleaned it up, refitted it and all torqued up. Connected up all the wiring harness and hoses around the engine pretty much so really pleased with progress.

Power steering pump has had to come off for a time-sett to go in as one of the bolts pulled the thread out. Big thanks to Carl who is popping back tomorrow to put the new coil in as I didn't have the tap holder.

Also got the the camber bolts on front and back thanks to MattyB and Carl. Wheels are a lot more tucked now and only need a very light role.

Car is coming together now, really pleased with the look of it all :)

Good day today, engine off the stand, new flywheel bolts installed after it was cleaned up, engine onto the crane and into the bay :) very pleased

Engine is now in on its new group N mounts! Got the ceramic coated downpipe on, radiator in , extended the wiring where needed and fitted all the lambda sensors .

Oil catch can came back from the powder coaters and really pleased with the look. Car is really starting to take shape now, not too far to go now :)

Oh and picked up my new roll cage at the weekend. Hoping to get it to the powder coaters in the next week, going black with it

Started to get cracking with the car getting the rest of the engine plumbed in, oil cooler lines routed, etc. Also got the exhaust on and the oil catch can plumbed in which is looking smart. All coming together now :)

A few photos, update of it all to come