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I hope you don’t mind me posting in these forums, I appreciate it’s not an STI or WRX but I got my UK2000 2.0l Turbo in July 2021 earlier this year. It’s my first Impreza and was encouraged to get one by my friend and neighbour after attending Yorkshire Motorsport Fest earlier in the year. At 37 I got the car I wanted when I was 17 and I love it!
I have wanted to put this post together for a while, mainly for myself just to document anything and everything I do with the car but also to ask for advice and opinions! I’ve done a lot already and still have quite a bit planned.
I was a bit disappointed. Whilst it drove me back all 4 hours, it did have a misfire at high speeds / revs. More on that later.
I’ll do some separate posts for all the things that I’ve done so far to keep them separate and give me a chance to find pictures. Hopefully I’ll catch up over the next few days and get to the latest project… like I say, I’m putting some much into it I’d like to document it all. Hope that’s ok and some pics attached.
The seller was a car collector. I picked it up from a dry car storage barn down south between Ferrari’s, Bentley’s and Defenders! I got a guided tour when I came to collect it. He purchased it to restore it - did the body (see below) but after standing untouched and countless more expensive classics to restore, he decided to sell it on.
It was dry stored in a barn down South for the last 3-4 years but sadly that didn’t mean there was no rust prior to me buying it. Whilst it may have put some people off, I was quite pleased to know that any rust had been dealt with and the arches all done and rebuilt. Yes - it would be awesome to come across a rust free original car but let’s be honest, they rarely come up!
At least I know this had been corrected and I can only hope to a good standard! He provided countless pictures of the work.
The cars got the STi intercooler and VF35 turbo fitted. It had been raced which I’m guessing isn’t ideal as there was plenty of paper work to show 0-60 in 5.2s and a dyno reading from 2012 to show 312bhp. It’s clearly not standard however whilst driving home I was a bit gutted to hear a clear misfire and lack of power and boost at high speed / high revs.
I was always intending on a full service and was hoping that a new set of plugs would sort it. Went a bit over the top with AS Performance - ordered new plugs, oil, filters, water pump and cam belt.
I was lucky that a friend offered to do the cam belt for me as I’d have definitely struggled doing that on my own! In fact, I’m over playing it … I couldn’t have done it on my own!
one of the bloody hardest jobs was getting the cam belt covers off! The bolts were just spinning in the plastic housing and were a nightmare! Also left a bit of a nightmare getting them back on again as well!!
Anyway … got it all done and pleased with the results!
The ECU had a piggy back system going to it. It was a Dastek Unichip. I took it into CAMs performance for some tests and it was diagnosed that it was over fuelling badly and this was the cause of the misfire.
I could only find a place in Scotland that would remap this Dastek piggy back system. Apologise if I offend anyone but it also seemed to me that it was quite old tech and rather than pay a fortune and travel to reprogram it, I’d go for a new one.
The existing ECU was sent off to France and returned within a couple of weeks. It went off to CAMs for remapping and had MAF delete and dual maps, one for a nice clean running and one with pops and bangs (sorry, but it had to be done 🤣 )
Most importantly, my misfire was cured and wow - it was like a brand new car!!!!!!
PICTURES below are for interest as this is what was REMOVED…
With the car running so nice, I booked into JapFest and booked some track time 😊
The car drove nicely going down to Silverstone but man, you lot were flying around the track!
I was really getting into it and then on lap 3 I was shooting down the straight into 4th gear and pop - it just popped out at gear and smashed 4th gear! Managed to drive it home 1-3 and 5th gear only for 3 hours! Tried to start the car the following day and the gear box was totally locked up.
Having no pit or scissor jack, didn’t even contemplate tackling this one myself. Especially after being offered a reconditioned gearbox fitted by CAMs Performance at an exceptional price, they took on the job and fixed the car up in a few days!
Looking at the positive - it now has a good gearbox installed 😄
Pic from Japfest before the gearbox went.
Last edited by craynerd; 27 October 2021 at 12:35 AM.
Good choice going with ECU labs you get a lot for your money there.
yes cheers man and thanks for the earlier reply! Just wanted to log everything I’ve been doing to it. I’m getting a growing list.
ECU labs has been really good for the money and the map has been done very well. I think it could possibly have a higher boost (think it was higher boost before the map) but perhaps it’s not a bad thing taking a bit out based on the fact it’s getting an older car and I’ve already destroyed a gear box!! Then again, the other side of me wants it to run with most power it can if I can get it! Don’t get me wrong, not much in it but it was boosting premap to 1.2 and now to about 1.0/1.1
However because there is no misfire now - you can’t compare the ride!!! It may have previously boost and accelerated slightly quicker but it’s way faster overall without the misfire. I’m also splitting hairs on the boost pressure probably !
Last edited by craynerd; 27 October 2021 at 12:44 AM.
26 October 2021, 10:56 PM
UK2000 Classic Impreza - project log
