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I've recently picked up a new/old project, this being my 3rd classic and 4th Subaru overall. Mortage, wedding, kids got in the way over the last few years but I have a Subaru again which is always a good feeling! Does anyone else just love the sound of a frameless door closing?
t's a 2nd car obviously from the bits below, but the idea is to get my daughter into cars at a young age and enjoy spannering on cars and not spend all my spare time watching others do it on youtube and making stacks of money!
I picked up a slightly tired gc8 in 52d blue with the need of some tlc to get it back on the road, which i'm currently working my way through. Initially i've had a bit of a look around at what needs addressing on top of the outstanding MOT actions. I loved both the previous version 1 WRX and version 5 uk classic I owned previously, so always wanted to go gc8 over newage from a personal preference perspective.
Weekends and evenings have been spent giving it a service, doing the rocker cover gaskets and a new rad and hoses with new oil and coolant. I'm part way through rebuilding some 2 pots for the rear and will get the brakes sorted too.
In terms of mods/aftermarket parts, it has what appears to be an RB5 spoiler, could be a copy? 17 inch P1 wheels that desperately need a refurb and new rubber, aftermarket cat back that I haven't bothered to identify yet. An unbranded dump valve that will likely find its way to the bin, tatty newage or aftermarket TMIC and various other bits of under bonnet "bling".
One question I have is around these low budget coilovers, with the camber plates at the top being slightly angles towards the front of the car rather than being perpendicular to the front-back of the car? They've been wound down very low and its crashy and feels awful when I moved it into the garage. I'm contemplating getting them raised up and straightened out for now, whilst I tackle various other jobs around getting it water tight in terms of rear lights/window seal on passenger side. But can anyone tell me if the camber plates should be pointing left to right across the car and actually pointing directly at the wheels? Considering options of replacements, i've seen discussions around Pedders and for the same money some Tein flex Z to retain adjustability.
There is some lacquer peel on the roof and bonnet scoob and plenty of knocks and dings that will need working on and the obligatory outer arch rusty bits. The strut towers and sills look ok. Progress in the month of ownership, but tight space and weather taking a turn limits what I can do for now. I'll throw some progress pics up and any advice and constructive criticism will be met with open arms.
This is what I was referring to above about the camber plates, i've not got much experience with coilovers all I know is these Maxspeedingrods are entry level hardware and I have no info on who installed them and if they were "setup" in any way other than slammed to the floor on standard other suspension components such as ARB, droplinks etc.
As mentioned above, i've been beavering away servicing and fixing outstanding issues...
I discovered the radiator had a leak after topping up the coolant so off came the undertray, out with the old and in with the new plus silicone hoses. I do plan to put different clips on these hoses when the water pump gets replaced, but for now its water tight.
Oil and genuine filter done after replacing both rocker cover gaskests, I found the spark plug gasket under the car when doing the passenger side which made me think I ought to check its not fallen out, it hadn't, it was the old one that fell out on removal so I buttoned it all up, not noticing i'd pinched the new gasked... Dammit... So I ordered another new genuine rocker cover gasket to notice I hadn't seated the half moon gasket properly so probably best I cocked it up! On removal though the plastic one cracked so I was stuck with everything in bits... A quick phone call to Olly at RCM and he had a set of Billet ones ready and waiting, albeit a 1.5 hour drive to Hinckley! But what a beautiful facility they have there and great customer service and knowledge. It'll be many more hours and pennies before this thing is worthy of gracing their workshop! I also snagged a battery tie that was missing and noticed the STI collapsible storage crates which made me think would be a nice addition for the boot as it'll no doubt be full of oils/fluids and tools to keep this thing running once I get that far.
All genuine apart from the radiator from ICP. I couldn't source a fan shroud so the slightly scabby one has gone back on for now
I did get new rubber mounts for the bottom of the new radiator from ICP but the tops were still in decent condition
Love it when you spend £50 on coolant and it ends up on the garage floor minutes later...
New radiator in and only one snapped bolt. Plenty of "bling" or colour matched parts that will get addressed.
Burp... That TMIC has seen better days and not sure on make of BOV but all in due time.
Drivers side was very mucky but easier to get to than passenger side (RHD)
Clean up and new gaskets. I applied Three bond in the recommended locations as per RCM instruction
Could have spent a fortune in this place but lets see if she's worth it first!
My 4yo daughter likes the dog picture (ScoobyDoo) but I can't see how much washer fluid is in there so bit odd really.
Doesn't take much to please some people
Next up is to get the brakes in good working order, with replacement WRX PRO 4 pots already on the front with good pad/disc life, i've turned my focus to the old single pot rears and very rusty back plates. I sourced a slightly tatty set of 2 pots and have stripped the old paint and rebuilt them with new SS pistons, seals etc and new bleed nipples. Given them a blast of VHT red caliper paint, much to the annoyance of the immortal beloved when I stank the kitchen out curing them for an hour in the oven...
I've done the centre of the discs black too and will get these all bolted on and bleed the brakes when I get a dry spell and can raise these coilovers up front and back to see what they're all about.
I do have some SUBARU decals for the 2 pots and i'll probably paint the fronts red too just to smarten it up and add that extra 25bhp for red calipers... (ode to Mighty Car Mods)
Olly did show me these whilst I was visiting RCM and as beautiful as they are and that I have prodrive wheels and spoiler, I couldn't warrant spending this on front brakes with a large list of other issues to address before I get to serious ugprades! They were nearly as much as i'd paid for the car!
So brakes and suspension are my focus now, then some seals from ICP around the rear lights and look at the passenger window seal to get it water tight before an MOT trip. Following this it will be booked in for a cambelt, water pump and bit of an inspection from FB Tuning in Princes Risborough. I will also ask to have the ABC Superchip removed and any other offending items so we know what we're dealing with and can get some miles under our belt to see what's next.
The list is long and i've not mentioned half of the stuff that needs doing especially around bodywork but this is a project and are they ever 100% finished?
Finally finished the rebuild of 2 pots to replace the seized crusty single pot rears. Went to Godspeed for adapter brackets and got some spot weld drill bits for the dust plates.
Chucked some kevlar pads in and reused the discs for now as I plan to put braided lines on but i've had previous getting off the old lines...
On completion of this swap/upgrade, the alarm decided to go a bit haywire and the car stopped responding to the only fob I have for the car and I don't have a pin for the keypad...
The car was now stranded on my drive way with the drivers window down and nobody around to help me shove it back in the garage and lick my wounds! I made good use of the bricks I'd used to chock the wheels and a big shove and got it back up the drive and into dry storage until I could diagnose the problem.
It had previously made an odd noise on locking the car, which I posted about separately on here for help. Someone very kindly informed me that the central locking motor was aftermarket and the system therefore was likely aftermarket.
I had a quick google and stumbled across a thread on another forum about common faults with the M30 Sigma alarm systems so dropped the person who helped them an email. I received a phone call that evening from a very helpful Yorkshireman (not sure if I can name names but will do if its ok?) Who asked me to give details of what was happening with the car, which was pretty much nothing and it all pointed to the aftermarket alarm/immobiliser locking the car down and what to do next. I will be replacing the system with their support and hopefully back to where I started with x2 new alarm fobs and rear brakes.
At the moment it feels like 1 step forward 1 back but pretty soon i'll have this squared away the alarm and immobiliser and i've ordered a new central locking motor for the drivers door so hopefully I wont jump every time I lock the car and the motor buzzes at me.
Aftermarket central locking motor Alarm/Immobiliser control unit location
I plan to get this suspension all lined up and equal heights at some point but the best way for that is get it on a ramp, take the coilovers off and make sure everything is correct and equal front and rear including preload and if it still drives like a bag of crap i'm going to bite the bullet and buy some Tein Flex Z coils from Driftworks which look well priced! Had toyed with pedders E-Z fit shocks and springs which would be closer to factory units but 30mm lower but the adjustability will be lost.
Progress may have to take a backseat for the seasonal festivities but i'd really like to have her on the road for the spring and potentially drive her to Shed Fest 2024 at Mallory Park in May. She definitely won't be ready to be on display so just drive her up to spectate, but they don't call it shed fest for nothing!
There isn't a straight and clean panel on her but lets get the mechanical and running gear right first, then I can start to give her the tlc on the outside. Rust repair, dent removal, paint and lacquer, wheel refurb just a few bits and pieces.
Last edited by Irontusk86; 20 December 2023 at 01:52 PM.
06 December 2023, 08:29 PM
New Project 99 UK Turbo 2000 Saloon
