Iwan

I've been running a bit of a project thread over on http://www.p1woc.co.uk , but I thought there might be a few folks interested in what i've done so I've done a 'summary' thread here.

My first scooby was a MY99 UK turbo, which I changed for a P1, which I changed for the current one - an STI5 Type R. The Type R is an amazing drivers car anyway, but without a warranty to worry about I decided that the car would be fair game for modding and that a few improvements would be in order.

I wanted to make a more capable road/track car - but am not interested in bling or styling/lowering etc. Also I need to retain at least standard ride height as there are really crappy roads and speed humps everwhere round near where I live, so low splitters are out.

Here's the car, the day after I collected it. A 1999 STI5 Type R, standard except for a SS strait through centre section and backbox of jap origin.

Iwan

I asked some bloke called Bob who lives near me to have a look over it, apparently he knows a thing or two about Scoobys.

It turned out the MAF and the Lambda senser were both buggered so they were first on the shopping list.

Old MAF sensor, £78, with the box the new sensor came in. Part number is 22794AA010 if you need to order one.


New lambda sensor, £103.46+VAT! Part number is 22690AA321 if you need to order one


Next I fitted a GGR/K&N induction kit (as a remap was planned anyway). Yes I know I should have fitted the knocklink first, this arrived first so was fitted out of order.


Close up of induction kit, note my temporary solution for mounting the air temperature sensor.


Intercooler, with lots of bent fins that need straitening.


Bailey VTA dump valve, this won't be staying long.

Iwan

Next I took it up to the nice people at Powerstation to get some handling mods and a bit of servicing done. Very impressed with the smart new premises.

I had a bit of an impulse buying frenzy when I got there. I decided that since it was going to be getting a Tek3 in the near future then it really ought to have a de-cat downpipe.

Prices were as follows:

Magnex Subaru downpipe £170.20
Whiteline 22mm adjustable rear ARB £100
Whiteline 22mm front ARB £80
Whiteline anti-lift kit £125
Whiteline alloy rear droplinks £60
Subaru oil filter £4.50
Silkolene fully-synthetic gear oil (for diffs/gearbox) £45.59
4-wheel alignment and bumpsteer mod £120
Motul 300v 15w50 engine oil £45
Labour (5 hours) £220
Ended up costing about £1100 all-in.

The longest job was getting the old downpipe off, an air chisel and an angle grinder were needed!!

The good news is it now handles amazingly well, and stays extremely flat round corners. The steering is pin sharp, and the turn-in to corners is superb.

Here's the new Powerstation premises (spot the T25's).


Mine on the ramp.


Downpipe with new lambda sensor fitted.


Downpipe going on.






Anti-lift kit (one each side).


Rear anti-roll bar and droplinks. I didn't take a pic of the front anti-roll bar but it looks the same as the back one.

Iwan

Back home, next on the to-do list was fit some Osram Silver Star headlamp bulbs, a sparkly new Subaru OE recirc BOV, a set of NGK PFR7B plugs, and a set of Rays/STI TE37 lightweight wheels.

These are the part numbers of the dump valve and ancillary parts to fit it. Cost just over £100 in total, the thick return hose is about £40!

14471AA052 - Dump valve
21896AA050 - Gasket (between d/v and intercooler)
99071AA781 - vacuum hose (the thin one)
22310AB751 - return hose (the thick one)

I used the recommended spark gap of 0.7mm. The old plugs were in reasonable condition but the gaps were bigger than ideal, three were 0.8mm and one was over 1mm.

Here's a pic of the engine bay, if you remove the OE airbox (or induction kit in my case) and also the washer fluid reservoir it gives you enough space to work at each side. Took me about 30 minutes to change the plugs, sorry but I didn't take any 'in progress' shots.


The new Subaru OE BOV that i fitted last night, the engine now runs much better with the VTA BOV removed.


The car as it stands now, with the new Rays/STI TE37 lightweight wheels fitted.


Next on the list was to get a new alarm fitted, I opted for a Clifford Concept 650 alarm with built in Blackjax and lots of cunningly hidden sensors. No pics of that being done for obvious reasons!

The exhaust that was on the car when I bought it was some unknown jap stainless centre section and backbox which was pretty loud with a 5" tip, it was a bit overly loud for me after the de-cat. So I ordered a Hayward & Scott standard noise stainless backbox, with 4" straight cut tailpipe. £285 ish delivered next day, very good service from H&S

I fitted it myself by driving the RHS of the car up a kerb which gently slopes up from nothing to about 18" high, which gave me plenty of space underneath to work. Unfortunately it was right outside my works main reception so I got quite a few funny looks from people leaving the office.

Combined with the Magnex stainless de-cat downpipe and stainless straight through centre section, it's got a nice rorty (TM) sound on WOT but isn't annoyingly loud when cruising or reversing onto the drive.

The new backbox.


Also fitted an induction kit scoop from DR Motorsport, £70 delivered.

Iwan

When I first bought the car, i took the precaution of planning well ahead and booking a Tek3 mapping session with BR Developments. They are very popular (for good reason) and are usually booked up quite a while in advance. I finally got my appointment, and when the day came I took it down the road to Bob Rawle's house for a saturday afternoon mapping session.

First, Bob loads the ECU with a base map which he selects according to the type of car and which mods have been done. Then with knock sensors, AFR meter, laptop and boost gauge all hooked up we'd do a run down the dual carriageway, followed by a map tweaking/uploading session in a lay-bye. This was repeated 4 or 5 times as Bob fine tuned the map, i could feel the engine running better/smoother each time the map was tweaked - it was that obvious.

Held boost is now up from 0.9bar to 1.3bar, the turbo spools up much earlier now and the power delivery is nice and linear. It doesn't feel massively more powerful, but is SO much smoother in normal driving that it feels like a new engine!

It was highly amusing when a MY04 STI Type UK (Blobeye) decided to have a go when we were on the way back from our last mapping run, I bet he wishes he hadn't now, sorry mate!

Next to be fitted was the Knocklink, I didn't take any pics as I was very pushed for time when I fitted it. It's temporarily mounted on the dashboard using a WRC spec zip-tie , i need to sort out something neater asap. With the Knocklink on the most sensitive setting and running on Optimax, it barely llights the first orange LED right up at the redline. Thanks to a nice safe mapping job by Bob.

It was only when I was fitting the Knocklink that I noticed that my battery wasn't clamped in, as the clamp was missing!

I'd only been driving around for about 2 months with the battery sliding about round corners, can't believe I never noticed it missing in all the time I spent under the bonnet!

I was very tempted to order a nice shiny Spec-R one after seeing Pickle's P1 engine bay, but decided I'd spent far too much in the last couple of months already so I opted for a standard Subaru one from Grade-A. It cost £5 +delivery and VAT, and was delivered the next morning.

I managed to get a slot on the Dorset Scoobys organised rolling road day held at WRC Technologies (Silverstone), thought it would be a great opportunity to see what the engine was actually putting out after all the mods had been done.






The only other things in the pipeline for this year are some STI pedals, re-fit the knocklink, a new stereo (that'll link up with my iPod), and maybe a SECS monitor to go in the spare DIN slot.

Looking ahead to next year, I'll probably add some adjustable coilover shocks and a brake disk/pad upgrade. The gearbox may need a rebuild next year too, as it crunches more and more changing gears at high revs. I'm thinking of maybe getting it rebuilt with strait cut rallying gears if there are any places that'll do that.

Thanks and a big to the following people/companies who've been so helpful.

Bob and Branko at BR Developments http://www.brdevelopments.com
Everyone at Powerstation http://www.powerstation.org.uk
Alyn at AS Performance http://www.asperformance.com
Graham Goode Racing http://www.grahamgoode.com
WRC Technologies http://www.wrc-tech.co.uk/
Grade-A Subaru breakers http://www.gradea-subaru.co.uk/
DR Motorsport http://www.drmotorsport.co.uk/

911

Nice job done.
Bet it is a different car to when you started!

Graham.

Playsatan

iTrader: (2)

Nice one mate. Almost identical to mine, right down to the wheels and absolutely same output on the rollers.

Had similar gearbox problem to yourself also. Is it snicking at high revs in every gear or only fifth, might be able to give you a clue as to what it is.

911

That listing above is very usefull!
Wouldn't it be a good idea if such a listing was available on a page somewhere on the Snet a bit like the SIDC site?
Alphabetical order, no ads, just a Company/trading name and the web site address.

Moderators, any thoughts?

Graham.

Iwan

Yeah I suspect I know what the gearbox problem is, on MY99's there's a nut inside that works itself loose. Just trying to drive around the problem and be sympathetic to the gearbox for the moment, as I've spent enough for this year already!

The handling is amazing now, far better than my last 2 scoobys (even the P1). I've come close to losing the back a couple of times now; I think that's because it's so confidence inspiring, I'm pushing it closer to the limit out of corners. The slides I've had so far have been quite small and therefore easily controllable (touches wood).

I thought it would be ok to list the bit's I've had changes, along with part numbers and prices for the most common things as people are always asking about them. I have no commercial connection to any of those companies, just have been very satisified with the products/services they've sold me so would definately recommend them.

Tim W

iTrader: (1)

Have you tried contacting Rally Colin of Thames Valley Motorsport about the gearbox? He's possibly your best bet, he's relatively local (Hermitage near Newbury/Thatcham), is very good with Impreza gearboxes and best of all cheap

Playsatan

iTrader: (2)

Thats part of it, got the nut in question replaced on mine with a locking one but still had problems, turned out to be bent fork selectors. Apparently they're pretty weak. If you get the box split get that and the syncro's checked at the same time to save a second trip to the garage.

Oh, and if you're wanting to drive around it for a while try double clutching, it'll help if it is the syncros.

Iwan

Cheers Tim, I'll get in touch with him. Do you know if he does de-cat friendly MOTs also?

Iwan

That does help actually, and pausing for a few moments in neutral before shifting up helps too. Cheers for the tips.

Playsatan

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like you've got what I had, quite a common issue on the sti5 box from what I can see.

When I had mine done it had the retaining nut, new selector forks, new 5th syncro and new 5 syncro hub assembley. The hub is the pricey bit. You can source these parts from any Subaru garage as they stock them for P1's. I tried to get away with the locking nut and the new syncro but it only lasted a few hundred miles before blowing the selector fork into a million pieces on a track day leaving me with no 5th or reverse (they're on the same shaft). But you might have a bit more luck than I did.

If you want any more info drop me a pm.

PS