Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Hi all,

This project has been running day to day on SurreyScoobies and 22B.com, I thought I'd wait a bit on here and post a full write up.

In December 2004 I purchased a MY95 STI RA from a fellow scoobynetter on here. The guy had used it for trackdays and had modified it accordingly.

It has:

AST coilovers (as used on T25) with track springs
Subaru 4 pots with DBA 2 piece disks
Whiteline lower 4 point front brace, anti-lift kit, 22mm front ARB, 24mm adjustable rear ARB, solid links

Engine wise:

STI panel filter
TSL full group N decat exhaust
MY97 MAP sensor
ScoobyECU custom mapped for UK fuel, holding about 1.1 bar.

My reason for purchase was to go back to running one car as a daily driver and track car, for the last year or so I had been running a Westfield for track, with a standard MY94 WRX wagon for the local commute. A recent change in family circumstances had more effect on the Westy’s usage than planned, in fact last year it came out of the garage 6 times, 2 of which were trackdays. Not much return on £10k’s worth of car in the garage. So the wagon was sold, my fiancée traded her Golf GTI for an A6 Avant (one of the reasons why she’s so special – ahh) and the RA was purchased. The Westy will be up for sale very shortly when the weather (demand) picks up. Proceeds of the sale will pay off the mods, the rest never to be seen again (wedding fund).

Now the Westy is a devastating tool, a well setup one (spring rate chosen and the car corner weighted by the chief Terry Nightingale mechanic) like mine is an absolute weapon on track, even in my relatively amateur hands With an SBD tuned vauxhall XE engine (2.0 litre N/A – 208 BHP) its power to weight is around 285/ton with driver. All the evidence points to 0-100mph in 10 seconds dead.

Now, ever since owning performance cars, I have always progressed up the PTW division, so the aim of this project is to at least match that PTW with the RA, and get it under 10 secs to 100mph.

Pics of the car as purchased





After months of research, and years of posting on here, I chose a spec that would not only try to push the limits of the Td05 turbo and gearbox, but would take a lot more than that when I wish to upgrade the turbo. For a budget too

So phase 1, how much can I get out of a 90 degree TD05, and how good is the STI RA gearbox?

Phase 2 will be turbo and gearbox upgrade.

Parts obtained:

H&S open neck 3" downpipe - wrapped.
Revolution 3" centre section and back box
Hybrid FMIC
Forge recirc DV
K+N induction kit
Walbro 190 LPH fuel pump
550cc injectors and adaptors
FSE regulator
Knocklink
AFR meter
NGK PFR7 plugs
Megan headers / uppipe and wrap
Apexi PFC

I also had on the list:

Parallel fuel rails mod
Lose carbon canister
Oil catch tank
Cold air box for K+N

At the end I will cost the mods.


The Plan

Being a daily driver, getting all these mods on was going to be a hell of a task, perhaps splitting it over 2 weekends and running off boost to work etc for a while. My suggestion of dedicating 2 weekends back to back in my garage didn’t go down to well in the family home, coupled with the fact that although I have swapped brakes, turbos etc in the past, and having a good knowledge of everything under the bonnet - the thought of cutting fuel lines, chopping metal for the FMIC and getting it running for the Monday commute was a bit daunting. I’d been chatting to TweenieRob for a while and when he suggested he could do it in a day with me helping out, I jumped at the chance. He gave me a reduced rate due to my labour – and being a willing apprentice I would learn even more about the car and gain first hand knowledge – result!!

I then chatted to Andy.F about setting a date for mapping, and as luck would have it he could fit me in the weekend after visiting Robs. All was happy in the household upon my revised schedule of all day Saturday at Robs, then half a day Sunday the following weekend. But of course I’ll have to be in the garage during the evenings dear, preparing and all that

Wrapping the headers:





By far the No.1 job I never wish to do again, the Itchy and Scratchy Show, lol

After a week of drying out the wrap, I sprayed them with VHT paint.

AFR meter and extended knocklink LEDs, in a PE corner mount A pillar pod:



Autometer AFR gauge was ordered from the States, modified (by them) so it reads 0.78V to 0.98V in 0.01V steps (instead of the usual 0 to 1.0V in .05 steps) which means more resolution on boost (even though the OE lambda sensor isn't at its best in this range) but more importantly no light show at night on cruise!
KL LEDs are ultrabrite 5mm, from RS.

I also managed to swap over the Revolution centre section and back box, an easy 20min job between putting the nipper to bed and sunset.

The apprentice

Then went to Robs with my newly purchased toolkit, I did wonder what his initial thoughts were when this white collar worker handed bloke turned up, with his shiny ratchet spanners lol. Hopefully his mind was eased upon me putting on my oily boiler suit with a million bits of fibreglass from the wrap decorating the outside

Rob got on with the headers, fuel mods and mounting the FMIC - whilst I did the spark plugs, fuel pump, new fuel filter, downpipe and FMIC pipework adjustment. And popped to the shops for coolant, tie wraps, PTFE tape etc!

Parallel fuel mod:



Note the extra 'T' piece for the 5th injector. An oversight on my part having bought only 2, but the ever resourceful Rob had a spare. The fuel line required was 3m of 5/16 ID high pressure line – sometimes labelled injection line. The brass ‘T’ pieces were 8mm as ordered from Rally design – I think that is OD.

FPR fitted, set to 2 bar atmos.

I also persuaded Rob to replace a leaking cam cover gasket, which is where the project turned sour

Cam (rocker) cover:



Heads:



Looking at the head, it is phase 1.5 instead of phase 1. You can tell the difference by comparing the design of the coilpack locator thread flange. If it is designed for the phase 1 inner cam cover seal, it completely surrounds the thread as well as the rest of the cover. The seal should look like a small O ring offset and joined to a larger O ring.

On the phase 1.5 heads as seen above there is no complete seal around the thread, looking at the inner cam cover seal - it looks like one large wonky O ring without the smaller O ring inside it.

So, heads not original. Worse to come, you can see the cams have over bucket shims, so not STI In fact it is more than likely Uk/WRX MY97/8 heads. Which of course points to the engine. Rob pointed out it isn’t closed deck by inspection of the casting on the block, so the block isn’t original either!! So at this very point in time I do not know if I have forged pistons or not, yet the car was sold to me as an STI. And of course the reasons why these older STI’s hold their value and are sought after, is not only for the DCCD but for the CDB and 8k rpm valvetrain / pistons. The heart of the early STI.

Anyway, show must go on, Headers were a good fit, the OS rad mount needed attention, as did the wiring around there. Engine had to be jacked up a bit to get the one piece headers on. They also just touch the sump on the NS front.

FMIC fitting needed the help of the angle grinder, to open up a hole in the OS inner wing, also metalwork had to be cut / bent to help the pipework to the end tanks. It’s a tight fit between cambelt covers and rad:



Dump valve fitting:



Using a Forge recirc I needed:
Samco 35mm elbow
Samco 35mm to 25mm straight reducer
Approx 400mm of 25mm pipe, all bought 2nd hand from members on 22B.com

The turbo outlet FMIC pipework had to be butchered to fit and a Samco 48mm elbow needed too. Many thanks to Delboy's Hybrid FMIC thread for the heads up there. Also though, and I think not mentioned elsewhere, I also had to cut the final 30mm off the inlet manifold FMIC pipe, since the phase 1 inlet manifold sits closer to the bulkhead than the later types, I'm sure this pipework is based on MY99.

Engine bay after:



Apart from the major disappointment with the engine, 2 hitches came up - a leaking injector which was time consuming to find, especially since the IC pipework I had lovingly massaged into place had to come back off. Also the bumper cutting was laborious to say the least. We worked well into the night to get it fitted, not ideal conditions for bodywork alterations. The bumper was on, but needed tidying. Considering it was now midnight I suggested to Rob I’d do that at a later date
I can wholeheartedly recommend Rob for all things Subaru, he is also handy with Skylines too

The 50 mile drive home was freezing. Window open and no heater on to avoid ingesting exhaust wrap fumes, got a few strange looks from people at South Mimms BP garage - as smoke bellowed from the now redundant bonnet scoop upon my arrival, and subsequent 1 minute idle cooldown. Quite busy for 1am...

On my return I noticed the AFR wasn’t reading anything and the car was hunting at idle. Next day I measured the lambda voltage, flatline at 0.3 V hot or cold – didn’t survive the journey from the OE headers to the downpipe. New Bosch one ordered from API.


Pre Map

A few things were left to do. Lambda sensor arrived next day and fitted, then I could sort out the hot idle. I re-adjusted the fuel pressure to 1.6 bar atmos and the car idled smoother, AFR’s OK.

I had removed the carbon canister, but needed to do the breathers. Sourced some off-cut silicone pipe from work, and with some 15mm copper elbows blanked off the inlet pipe, VTA’d the PCV valve and the cam covers, basically using the same method as Graham (911) but without a catch can.

Bumper back off to tidy it up, FMIC looking purposeful…



Added a cold air feed:



I didn’t have enough time to fit the cold air box, but chatting to Andy it would be OK for the 4th gear mapping runs considering the cold air feed, he recommended I remove the OS headlight trim on the bumper for good ambient flow to the filter at speed.

Pic of the front of the car:



Bumper now as good as I can manage (which I think is pretty good), also temporary position for number plate - I have a square one being made which I will fit EVO style over the NS foglight cover.

Removed the spark plugs to re gap to 0.5mm on Andy.F’s advice, on inspection they were a nice tan colour, I’d done about 50 miles since the FPR re-adjustment, so looking good – no signs of the injector leak we had a week ago returning.

Mapping session

Then drove 150 miles off boost to meet Andy just north of Birmingham, car did 28 mpg! Andy didn’t bring the weather with him from Scotland, it was a lovely sunny day Andy got on with his stuff, did his checks and set the FPR at 3.1 atmos.

During the first few runs Andy noticed something strange with the car, boost was pulsing trying to hit target. It turned out to be the pre97 Apexi ECU not reading the MY97 MAP sensor correctly. Looked like this mapping session was going to end early, but I had brought my trusty Dawes device with me, as well as all my tools, I’m sure my shiny ratchet spanners impressed Andy as much as it did Rob

So after a quick bit of fettling under the bonnet we were up and away, an hour or so later we had a happy ECU holding a rock steady 1.4 bar. This was according to my Lamco boost gauge, the Apexi fooled by the MAP thought it was 0.95 bar.

At one stage, one of the IC hoses popped off (and it was a big POP) at approx 70mph (I think ) in the outside lane of the M6, which caused the engine to die. Andy, cool as you like just said "A hose has popped, no bother" as I coasted to the hard shoulder thinking "I've just killed my engine, I've just killed my engine, I've just killed... etc" As predicted, it was one of the cut and shut joins, hence no rounded barb on the end. With the jubilee clip now a bit more FT than previous, no more incidents occurred, home in time for tea I certainly enjoyed the drive home, as I did the mapping, Andy is very easy to work with, the way he explained things was easy to understand, even when my mind was focussed on not rear ending the car in front. Now I have to get used to reading the commander, although I won’t be changing ANYTHING – that’s why I drove half the length of the country, lol BTW the mapping session and drive home returned 23 mpg! Amazing.

However, because of the Dawes, I cannot switch between 4 different boost settings, which is something that appeals to me. I need ‘missus mode’. So it seems my next purchase will be the Apexi MAP sensor and BCS (you have to buy then as a pair, even though I don’t need the BCS), then I can alternate between boost targets.

I also need to play with the Forge recirc spring setting, I'm getting a bit of judder when lifting off in gear from mild acceleration, I think the recirced air is pushing back past the MAF.

It doesn't stop here!

May I say thanks to all the people I have PM’d over the last few months, also those of you whose projects have inspired me to go this route there are too many to list, but special thanks to Harvey, TweenieRob and Andy.F.

Also many thanks to Steve (ScoobyDuck on 22B) for reading the ScoobyECU’s rev limit, the info pretty much proves the previous owner was aware of the non-STI engine, The person who did the ScoobyECU map is also co-operating too, with both these persons info, legal advice is being sought regarding a partial refund against a fellow Scoobynetter. If he is reading this, I WILL be in touch.

I will get a full costing listed soon, I will also try and get the car RR’d ASAP, the 550’s were on 90% duty cycle, FPR set at 3.1 atmos at idle so hopefully the power is up there…

Justin

flat4

ah, i recognise the pics from 22b i have the same car as you so if you need any parts identifying as 95 sti ra let me know

turned out nice

GrollySTI

Great read - disappointing about some of the internals - doing anything about it?

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Thanks, glad you managed to get to the end of my post

Engine wise, its been proven that a uk spec engine with cast pistons can handle the power I am at now, but of course my purchase was based on phase2 - 400BHP which is safer and easier to achieve with an STI engine. Until the matter is resolved with the previous owner the car is staying as is. Apart from the Apexi MAP sensor, no more money will be spent on non essential mods, until

a) I am used to the car
b) The wedding is paid for..

911

Wow!

Great read.

I wish my boost would hold @ 1.4 all the way to the red line...

Graham.

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Thanks.

It holds 1.4 in 4th, but Andy told me the logs say the turbo starts to taper off after 6k5ish, to 1.2 near redline (which is set to 7k5 - I never touched it!) In 5th I see 1.45 bar on the boost gauge.

In 4th, (or was it 5th?) 1 bar at 3k1, which I think isn't bad considering the RA gearing, although I only see 1.3 - 1.35bar in 2nd and 3rd gear.

Are you hill climbing this weekend? I'm visiting the inlaws-to-be in Cheshire and may well spectate if you are

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Costs.

Below is what I have spent on mods, including gauges. Nothing has been left out, and theoretically if you have a bog standard TD05 classic UK, this will get you a conservative 330 BHP from the OE 208 BHP.


K+N induction kit (Private Sale) £65.00
Forge recirc DV (Private Sale) £70.00
Hybrid FMIC (Harvey Smith) £565.00
550cc inj + Walbro 190 fuel pump (Flat4online) £355.00
Revolution 3" centre + backbox (Revolution) £305.00
10m Exhaust wrap / ties (Proven Products) £25.75
Downpipe 3" (Hayward & Scott) £223.00
Knocklink + A pillar pod (Private Sale) £150.00
Megan headers (USA Ebay) £173.00
AFR meter (Gadgetstore.com) £57.00
Samco hoses (Private Sale) £25.00
Samco hoses (Rally Design) £30.00
FSE fuel regulator (AS performance) £95.00
30m Exhaust wrap / lockwire (Think auto) £71.78
Aluminium plate (Frost) £17.00
Fuel pipe + fittings / heat paint (Rally Design) £51.46
Breather pipework / fittings (FOC) £0.00
Power FC + commander, mapping + travel (Andy.F) £930.00

Total £3209

As you can see most of the expensive stuff was bought brand new, so savings can be had regarding exhausts / gauges etc. But exhaust wise I wanted the quietest 3" and 2nd hand Revolution systems are very rare. Plus I only had 3 months to gather the bits!

Also this spec can cope with much more power and now is only turbo / gearbox / clutch limited. If you were to go for 330 BHP as a maximum then savings can be had with the IC for example - but with trackwork and phase 2 in mind, I'd thought it best to go FMIC.

I haven't included labour (except mapping) but if you were to give all this to a mechanic, I'd expect to be charged 2/3 days at a guess??

Essential costs:

Silkone Pro S 10w50 oil (20 litres) (Oilman) £125.00
Alarm and stereo fitted (Private Job) £320.00
Spark plugs NGK PFR7B (AS performance) £35.00
Fuel filter (AS performance) £25.00
Bosch Lambda sensor (API) £106.00
Rocker cover gasket set x2 (AS performance) £57.00
Oil filter (AS performance) £6.00

Overall Total £3883





Don't tell the missus

911

3K is the standerd cost for all!
Hill climbing at Prescott this weekend (Cheltenham), but we have dire family heath probs so just might have to pull out....

Graham.

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

£26/bhp! or £31/bhp inc essentials. There must be a graph somewhere that shows how much the performance costs as the target power increases. Pity about the non STi engine The gains should have been bigger with the higher rev limit and cams etc.

Well done on the project

F

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Cheers

Essentials is alarm, stereo and a 60k service!! bit harsh on the £31/BHP

Also, if I were not going to the next phase, and just wanted to get as much out of a TD05 classic, I'd not have gone for the Revolution exhaust and got a 2nd hand 2.5" one, I'd not do the parallel fuel mod and FSE regulator, not go FMIC and instead get a 2nd hand STIV TMIC, finally not go with the APEXI PFC and instead have a custom ScoobyECU map at ScoobyClinic. This would still give you the 330ish BHP, saving approx £1200.

So at £2k thats £16.4/BHP

However my plan is to get my 16g converted to 20g, the cost of that and a remap is approx £650, clutch £300.

208 to 400 BHP for £4200 = £21.9/BHP

Thats more like it (and TweenieRobs RA gearbox took more power )

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

I see we are already massaging the figures

Lets see what the RR figure is before we pat ourselves on the back And as they say in financial circles “past performance is no guarantee of future performance” so that gearbox of yours may not hold at 330 let alone 400, oh and have you checked that its an RA box…?

F

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

PMSL, knowing my luck its got a Justy box

I'm trying to get down to Powerstation next month, so at least the figures will be hopefully realistic. However I'm going to get it on PE's rollers as well, since all my previous Impreza's have had runs there so it would be good for a comparison. Nothing to do with pub figures, oh no...

Anyway, pot and kettle springs to mind, Mr "Target £/BHP"

911

We are chasing numbers again....

'We' should remember that all the investment also allows a super strong 2.5 conversion, but really will need a good box....

Stop counting, but as an eye opener:

Sti v3, 23K miles, original 11.2K 4 years ago.
Full suspension job 1.5K
Special tyres 0.5
roll cage/seat/clutch/box 2.0
Head gaskets/boost controller 1.6
Latest engine mods 3.0
Bits I've forgotten 0.5
Total 20.3K (note! Did 95% of work myself)

Result: 407/340 and good class results in hill climbing (the only objective)

Worth now? Maybe £9K tops

Graham

Missed a bit: Fun doing it =

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Now thinking of extra expenditure, instead of spending £180 on the MAP sensor and BCS, might as well get all the excellent features of the AVC-R for an extra £80.

Playing with the DV spring, seemed the Forge wasn't recircing the air quick enough with the blue spring. The judder I'm experiencing is the excess boost pushing back past the blades and past the MAF. Chatting to Gerry (Houghton I think) who has a similar Hybrid and Forge recirc setup, he is using the weakest green spring. I tried that with 1 shim and the judder has gone Many thanks Gerry

Booked the car into Powerstation for late May (paycheque) to get the AST coilovers serviced, road springs put on, full geometry etc. Can't wait

Track springs will be saved for when I go hillclimbing - hopefully next season, but they are too stiff for road use.

911

I think you will want to keep the road springs on for hill climbing.
The tracks I race on are quite undulating, and you will need to keep all 4 wheels to the track. (IMHO!)

Glad you are in the South, competition hotting up in the Midlands!

Graham.

chrome

Aww mate..
Bet you were GUTTED to find the block was not as advertised
Proejct was a good read mate.
Hope you get the engine/cash resolved without too much hassle..

As for the the seller ..
well I dont need to say do I..

Nice one Rob on diagnosing it

C 8HEP

Nice report! keep us posted

Houghton

iTrader: (1)

Excellent thread Jay, sorry to hear about the engine not being genuine, what a bummer

Glad our 'chat' about the springs helped. I'm on green only and it still judders, not as bad but bad enough What to try next, cut a coil off perhaps and stretch the length a bit?

Cheers
Gerry

vulnax999

iTrader: (7)

Strange comments re: Forge rcirc dump valve.

I've got the Forge alloy recirc dump on my 360 bhp wagon ( early classic ) on ( Changed to ) TD05, which runs 24 psi .. and when I phoned forge to see if their dump valve would hold 24 psi or could I buy their tuning kit they told me the tuning kit was only for the VTA dump valves!!!!!


I added a washer or two behind the spring until I got the desired result ... effectively increasing the spring rate so it would hold the max boost and still dump when the vac sucked against the diapgragm/spring.

If you go to a too weak spring then the dump valve will not stay shut at the high ( over 20 psi I guess ) boost you wanna run! A stiffer spring is needed.

Now, as for turbo chatter, that is due to no dump valve / a too stiff or very high pressure dump valve seting ... and could lead to turbo problems .. so a happy compromise needs to be found.

PS - I am on a big STiV TMIC not a front mount IC so ther emay be a difference there ...

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

As long as there is tension in the spring a correctly working Forge won't leak when on full boost, since the pressure difference in the DV is zero when the throttle body is WOT. Because of the much larger volume of boost in the pipework and FMIC relative to a TMIC, there is a lot more air with nowhere to go upon closing the throttle. A typical blue springed Forge won't open quick enough on part throttle (with my setup, and Gerry's near identical setup) so boost pushes back past the turbo and back past the MAF, creating judder. The weaker the spring, the quicker the DV releases this pressure

Thats how I see it anyway, with my experimentation, weaker is better for my setup. Holds 1.45 bar still in 5th

Andy.F

Spot on Jay, glad you got it sorted
Sounds like you need to go even softer Gerry ? The 20G will allow blowback through the maf easier than the 16g (read at lower differential pressure) so that could be the difference. Have you got a decent sized (big-ish bore, short length) signal line to the DV to ensure it opens as quickly as possible ?

Andy

Houghton

iTrader: (1)

I'm having difficulty getting my head round where to go next. Maybe a call to Forge would end my problem of judder? I have the weakest spring fitted and there's no leakage as it seems to happen regardless of boost +ive pressure.

So, upon a full lift of throttle the butterfly closes fully and the +ive pressure is released into the intake between MAF & turbo. This volume of air has three paths (I have re-directed the engine breathers to atmos.), through the slowing turbo, (unlikely but depending on what pressure is still in the IC pipework), the idle control valve (assuming this opens whenever the butterfly shuts) and/or back along the inlet pipe, reversing the flow through the MAF sensor which presumably, then shuts off the fuelling. On total lift, this wouldn't be a problem and the reaction of immediate retardation would be expected.

On part closure of the throttle, depending on how much, the dumped air has only the reverse path through the MAF and up to/through(?) the turbo. At partial throttle the MAF would need to see a forward flow of air to continue fuelling but the sudden release of the volume from the d/v overcomes the engine demand and reverses or severely reduces the MAF reading, presumably cutting fuelling i.e. fuel cut. Thinking further, could this be the reason for det. at lift, that some experience?

Partial lifting off, causes a reduction of power/exhaust gas to keep the turbo spinning (?) Does this sudden cut (judder) cause your foot to involuntarily, through inertia, press down enough on the pedal to open the butterfly enough to draw more air past the MAF to inject another slug of fuel. Then, as the car lurches forward, involuntarily or reactively, lift again? Bit like a learner with kangaroo fuel

What would be the effect of restricting the dump valve outlet to reduce the sudden flow of air against the MAF? Also, as this dumped air has been accounted for, having passed through the MAF already, is there a possibility of lean running when this air goes round a second time (lift off det.)? Would it be better to fit a VTA d/v and put up with the over-fuelling? How does the MAP sensor & Throttle Position sensor figure in this? Is this the ramblings of a fool?

Houghton

iTrader: (1)

Should have looked before posting
For fear of hijacking the thread, Sorry Jay I'm on the softest spring, the actuating pipe is about 6mm bore but it's maybe a couple of feet long. I'll look for a shorter run and try it

Gerry

Andy.F

Jays cars 'judder' was exactly like yours after mapping Gerry, it would appear the earlier release of air fixed it.

Andy

Houghton

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Andy, I'll give it a try and report back

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Quick update

Collected the numberplate about a week ago, last weekend managed to get around to fitting it. Also washed it and spent 3 hours waxing it too, removing the surf style WRX whilst I was at it...








Having a slight niggle with idle. The PFC sometimes thinks the water temp is anywhere between -20 and 20 deg C every now and then, resulting in cold rich idle on a warm engine. Runs like a dog. Then all of a sudden gets the correct reading and its ballistic again.

Either its an airlock (doubtful considering the temp reading) or the sensor is on its way out, or its the wiring, or dare I say it the ECU

Any ideas?

Andy.F

Check the actual voltage from the sensor on the commander (in ETC) , if the voltage changes when the temp reading changes, then it's the sensor or wiring.

Andy

vulnax999

iTrader: (7)

That's too much washing, waxing and cleaning of a number plate, for me

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Went to Powerstation on Friday, forgot the camera

They had a Ford GT in - one of only 2 road legal ones due to a recall or something - amazing looking car in the flesh.

Anyway what was supposed to be a 3 hour job turned into an all dayer, due to the AST's on my car were from a bad batch fitment wise, strut holes aligned in the the wrong place, hence they couldn't get negative camber on the rears. I should point out that PS supplied the AST's to another company who previously fitted the shocks.

Anyway all done and fixed free, but the nature of the work was labour intensive to do it precisely. Fair play to the guys at PS, they wouldn't sign it off untill it was spot on. Cheers Andy

While I was there I nosed around Litchfields Forester STI, and loads of T25's being prepared for customers.

The drive home was supposed to be a joy via A/B roads, but the car started playing up - the water temp sensor was still giving daft readings to the ECU, at one stage it thought the rad temp was -46 C which resulted in it running so rich it spluttered with any load on. At one stage I was overtaken by an artic going up a hill So I limped home via the M4. Every now and then I had to pull over and move the wiring around the sensor, which helped, so assumed a loose connection.

Handling wise, intial impressions from a slow cruise down the M4 is that the road springs obviously give a much better ride than the track springs, and the '4' damper setting at the rear is a tad underdamped for the 24mm ARB on max stiffness setting.

The car is transformed though, mainly due to correct geometry, but a bit too oversteery on the limit (its a good drift setting ) with the ARB as it is. Going to try min stiffness on the ARB to get a bit of neutrality.


Saturday I had the water temp connector off, it was all oiled up etc, gave it a good clean and refitted, took the car for a 20 min spin, prob solved

Or so I thought. Wasn't 100% sure it was fixed, so perswaded the other half to let me take her car for the 500 mile round trip to the Scooby Shootout. 3pm and got the dreaded phone call, car broken down in M&S car park, flooded overfuelled engine. With little'n and shopping. I still hav'nt been forgiven for 'making her use that bloody car'. Ooops then.

Anyway, popped down to Mike Rivett at lunchtime yesterday, he's given me a sensor to try, fitted last night - seems to have solved it.

Really enjoying the car ATM, RR day soon

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

Excellent result.

I'll be at PS next Sat to see what it'll produce. I'll have a nose around the T25's while I'm there too.

F