wagon_fun

Decided to bite the bullet and finally plunge myself into Jap cars, after 10 years of french and Ford RS motors it was time to get stuck in. Car was up locally for sale and managed to do a deal with the owner on a p/x for one of my XR3i's

Here's how I picked it up a couple months ago

wagon_fun

Picked up an STi intercooler from a local guy and fired that on as the standard one wasn't in the greatest condition. When I picked the car up the guy said all it had was lowering springs, but after checking on the ramps I found out that the cars had a bit more than he knew fittted up.

GAB shocks and springs fitted
Whiteline front and rear arb's
Whiteline front links
Whiteline front arm rear bushes
Cusco rear C-links

Pics of the stuff fitted up already







Gave the car a wee cleanup while this one was in getting a clutch and head gaskets done as well at my brothers unit.

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Gave the car a wee run about and took it up to Perth to get a checkover and get everything sorted out. Changed a pipe that was "bodged" by the old owner with a socket used as a blanking plug (dont even ask!) and noticed the knock sensor is showing up a fault, as well as slight piston slap on the age of the car, rocker gaskets are needing changed and it could do with the belts and pulleys being changed on it.

Fired down the road after sorting out a to do list and stopped at Burntisland docks for a couple pics down there.





Managed to finally get my brother to get a bug eye as he was looking for one - but the muppet sold it for a 20v T Passat, the one and only shot I had of both cars together at our unit.

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Picked up some Pagid front and rear discs, pads, shoes and fitting kits and dropped the car off to RA Motorsport for to get it converted, turned out to be a bit of a ballache but nothing the guys couldn't sort due to almost every bolt needing cut off and replaced due to corrosion.

Brakes sorted and Pagid 5.1 fluid in and it feels like a totally new car braking wise, I can actually stop it now!



Went to take the car out to Crail so gave it a run on the Saturday to see what it could really do - Don't worry about the high vis vest car - its the other halfs she's still into French stuff, and it does shift not too bad for a 1.6 thp turbo



After the run.... fecked a wee bit!



Managed to have a bit of fun on the way home with a mates new legacy and a mk2 RS resulting in this happening when I came back - first time opening the bonnet because of something going boom, wondered why the clutch was slipping like hell, and found the crank seal had sh*t itself and was leaking badly onto the clutch and flywheel. Ah well 2 weeks into ownership it was bound to happen eventually!

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Decided i wasn't keen on the 35 profile 18's so did a deal with my mate on his wheels from the legacy, Now rocking 17" superleggera rims on parada spec 2 rubber until I can get them refurbed and get some fresher rubber fired onto them.

Also fitted a Cusco front brace, and a random rear brace from a car being broken locally to help stiffen the car up.

Got the car in, ended up with a new Exedy clutch, flywheel spigot bearing, box oil change, diff oil changed, and swapped the vortex exhaust for a Ninja 3 setup, seems to run a bit better.

Next task is to tackle the rot in the arches, repair the rear turrets, sills and get the car looking good again before starting to work on bracing the chassis up, and adding some more handling changes to the car before I look at upgrading the power.

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Went on a bit of a spending spree at work today so ordered the following up for the car.

Fibreglass kit to repair the broken front splitter, primer and matt black to re-paint it.
brushable seam sealer
3M Schutz for underneath on the gun and Teroson brush on underbody for the arches
DEI exhaust wrap and ties for the headers and exhaust system.
HKS super flow air filter setup
XYZ Super Sport coilovers
HKS oil filter & Petronas 10W60 oil
NGK iridium plugs
Mann fuel filter.

Also looking at the end of the month getting a new timing belt kit, water pump, uprated thermostat and CDF non A/C pulley kit. At least then it'll be a start on getting the engine ready for track use.