RB5 #153 Tidy up and Modding UPDATE 21/08/2013
 

The Past.

I Bought RB5 153 WR Sport PPP back in July 2011, I got it cheap however it was in a pretty sorry state although it did have a nice past life looking through it's history and on old threads on various websites.

So first things first I replaced the cambelt, tensioners, pulleys and waterpump (I do this with almost all new cars I buy to be on the safe side) lucky I did as the belt was on it's last legs and the timing was ever so slightly out. Also gave it a full service so I know from now on what condition it's in.

Within a week of having the car it developed a knocking and rubbing noise from the N/S/F wheel area, I later found out that the caliper was only being held on by one bolt!!! http://www.rb5ownersclub.co.uk/publi...efault/mad.gif Was not impressed as this could of caused a pretty nasty accident and that someone would be stupid enough to strip the thread completely and think it was safe enough. Got it hexicoiled and treated the calipers to some EBC Orangestuff pads as the old ones were shot.

The cold winter of that year finished the battery so I fitted a Bosch S4, much better cranking amps fires first time everytime now.

Next up was to sort out the really annoying clutch judder and slippage, I got a very good second hand Lightened flywheel and a 230mm exedy clutch, replaced the spigot bearing too as it was absolutely mashed.

Had a fair bit of hesitation still on boost found that some of the pipes had split and some even on the wrong out/inlets! It was still hesitating on boost but a new MAF sensor rectified the problem.

4 new tyres and a Hayward & Scott 100 cell Sports Cat got it through the MOT and the car is starting to run how I'd like it too.

Both the key fobs had a range of about 2 feet when I got the car http://www.rb5ownersclub.co.uk/publi...ault/laugh.png so new batteries and recoded them they work good now too.

Next up was the PIAAs they were rotten smashed and good only for scrap, got an excellent pair for £70 which i thought was a bargain, the white PIAA relay was missing and had alot of problems sourcing one so in the end opted for a new PIAA relay and loom which is now fitted and running perfectly (apart from i need to align them properly). They are very good on the country roads around here at night make a massive difference and would reccomend people to fix theirs if they are broken.

The Future.

So that's what's been done so far, most of it just getting it back to the way it should be so now that's been done I'm on to the next stage http://www.rb5ownersclub.co.uk/publi...ault/devil.gif

The car already has a walbro 255, fuel lab regulator, Sports Cat and a 3 port boost solenoid, I thought I'd add to it http://www.rb5ownersclub.co.uk/publi...fault/wink.png So up steps the TD05 16g turbo, STi v8 TMIC, K&N panel filter and uprated plugs, nothing has been put on yet but once it is it'll be booked in for a re-map, hoping for around the 330Bhp mark and a boat load of torque.

After that the doors and the bonnet have been resprayed in the past and it's not a very good match, I've had a quote from a friend of a friend who comes highly rated for a blow over the whole car for £1000, it needs no work as far as dents / scratches are concerned and he said it will come out perfect (one for the future).

I purchased a set of standard RB5 alloys as the car came with P1 WRC 18" alloys, again for a bargain price of just £160 with 4 virtually new P Zero tyres on all four. Of course there was a reason why they were so cheap, two of them have really heavy curbing but they still hold tyre pressure and the other two are flaking, I'm going to see someone local about getting them refurbed, he said £40 each on the phone but got a feeling it'll be more when he sees the two bad ones.

Still not decided on the brake setup yet, I currently have Subaru 4 pots on the front and 2 pots on the back, people have said that these will cope with the power increase but I think they are a bit sh!t as it is now, thinking some gold Brembo calipers with decent pad / disc combo so I can keep the standard RB5 alloys on.

The last thing I'll do then is just a general tidy up under the bonnet, the interior is near mint, underneath including the arches are solid too.

Not putting many pics on as the car is not how I'd like it at the moment, mis matched paint, wrong wheels and under the bonnet needs a fair amount of tidying up.

I'll update this thread as I go along http://www.rb5ownersclub.co.uk/publi...t/thumbsup.gif

Sneaky pic of car and the PIAAs working

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...ps95bf09c4.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...ps68ecdedb.jpg

Great stuff!

Reminds me of when I bought my RB5.

With regards to brakes, fitting Brembo rear calipers on mine was quite a noticeable difference and worth doing. The front calipers will probably seize eventually so it is worth looking at other options
At least your brakes are secured to the car now - shocking!
Good luck with the restoration

The front brembos seize?

The front caliper was a bit of a pain to find out, the bottom bolt was missing. When I was braking the caliper would lift and hit the inside of the alloy (the bang) then rub around causing that noise, but when I stopped and released the brakes to get out and have a look it would of gone back down and look normal :lol1:

Went to take the caliper off to investigate then realised it only had one bolt which was quite loose too.

Nice work on your car mate:thumb:i have always loved that model impreza and look forward to future installments to your project.SJ.

Just bought these off a scoobynet member, they came off a Blobeye STi with 34k miles on the clock, they come with standard pads with plenty of life on them but no discs so I'll be on the hunt for some.

Thought it'd be a good idea with the planned mod's, just going to keep the Subaru 2 pots on the rear for now.

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...psf48967d9.jpg

Lovely looking car, will be worth the effort.

Brembos came through today, seem in really good nick, ordered some new pads and discs today from alyn hopefully they'll be here by monday then I can stick them all on tuesday.

Already sold the Subaru 4 pots off the front too so all good so far :)



I am in two minds though wether to keep the P1 WRC 18" wheels or put the standard RB5 alloys back on, I know I'll need 10mm spacers with the RB5 wheels put thats no problem, hubcentric ones aren't dear

This project has stalled recently with a fubared radiator, snapped wheel bolts etc but has started to get on the mend again until pow the cat snaps in half the other day as I was driving!!!

Strange as I didn't think Stainless Steel rusted through!!! Maybe this isn't a H&S sports cat afterall :freak3::rolleyes:

Update to follow.

Well got the snapped cat off!!! eventually as some of the nuts where very stubborn on the turbo manifold.

Here's the "stainless steel" exhaust which I bought off a member on here! So much for good feedback :rolleyes:

Does it look like a SS H&S Sports Cat to you? Because it sure as sh*t doesn't to me after the heat wrap was took off. Never even knew SS could rust :rolleyes:

http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps27f0e1dc.jpg

http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/a...psb18253a5.jpg

Snapped clean off.

http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/a...psc7668977.jpg

http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/a...psab00c032.jpg

Any £200 down on the exhaust plus another few hundred sorting out the exhaust and snapped wheel bolt I finally got around to doing the Brembo conversion on the front :)

New discs and pads from Alyn at AS performance on plus the calipers, at last the car feels like it's going to stop when I press the brake pedal.

Went for plain discs as I don't like the wurring noise you get from the grooved ones

http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps618afc8d.jpg

Hit another problem when I walked out to my car to find a nice puddle of coolant underneath. Found out pretty quickly that the radiator was fooked!!!

Must of been the original as it was in a sorry state, the fans at the bottom where not held on at all as the bottom bar had totally crumbled due to the rust and the whole core was sagging at the bottom in the middle.

http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/a...psb69071f2.jpg

Had another radiator sent to me by a breaker / dismantler / garage on scoobynet, a very reputable one as I thought.

Until that was I got sent out this........ Bottom bar again just crumbled and only got one fan when I specifically asked for a twin fan :rolleyes:

On phoning them I got the response "what do you expect for a 14 year old part?"

Well something I could bolt to the car maybe? something that actually works? And how exactly did I know the part was 14 years old? could of been bought and fitted 5 years ago :cuckoo:

Anyway not going to name and shame as they gave me a full refund.

Bought another one of ebay and fitted it, working fine and in very good condition.

Here was their radiator :eek:

http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/a...psf1d1ef38.jpg

http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps58320caf.jpg

Decided to swap my P1 WRC 18" wheels for some standard RB5 17" Speedlines as I want to keep it quite standard looking.

Got a decent set with four as good as new Uniroyal Rainsport 2 tyres on for a good deal so happy with them :D

Obviously the front RB5 alloys wont fit over the Brembo front calipers so after a bit of research I ordered what seemed to be the best spacers on the market.

Eibach Pro-Spacer Hubcentric 10mm spacers, they came today so hopefully will get them on and the wheels pretty soon (tomorrow weather depending).

Just need to change the studs over to the longer ones supplied from Eibach.

http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/a...psa1862740.jpg

http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps7f73cd26.jpg

Got the spacers on today, was a bit of a pain on one side as two of the the ABS ring retaining bolts had been rounded off in the past, had to drill them out.

But apart from that was a doddle changing the wheel studs for the longer ones.

When I had the calipers off I applied some red rubber lube to the backs of the pads to stop the annoying brembo brake squeal, so far so good :D

Glad its being looked after again.....I was gutted when i heard it got stripped.

First Picture I toke
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...s/1335e471.jpg

One of the last Pictures I have :(
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...s/DSC00986.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...njohns/7-1.jpg

yeah a lot has been changed since then, different engine, clutch, gearbox, wheels, brakes, suspension, exhaust :lol1: different car almost!

Previous owner took all the Gucci stuff off and put it back to pretty much standard, the old engine went pop and was replaced too.

I've put some nice touches back on including brakes, exhaust, turbo, intercooler etc and replaced the wheels with the proper rb5 ones.

Been a bit quiet recently as I've been busy in work but a re-spray and remap are to follow soon. :cool:

It had been neglected in recent years, so a lot of work has been getting it back to a decent standard, now the fun can start :thumb: