WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

well probably never get to write one of these again so here goes

my bugeye wrx was running a nice 320/ 320 (scoobyclinic) with its BR ecutek, ps manifold, rcm induction,aps TMIC, tsl sports cat, hks hiper, vf35 with RCM modification (p18)

still on STD internals and 5 speed gear box

3 weeks ago putting the power down nicely out of a roundabout and bang
car sounds like a Massey Ferguson on steroids. Sounds like the headers have blown but with all the heatwrap I could not see it, drove the car home looking a bit sorry for my self


now do I get the car towed to a scooby garage ( not main dealers ) or do I dare fit my self mmmmmm im sure its the manifold.

might as well go for it. Went to RCMS for a bit of shopping and got my self a shinny new manifold

and with a 50 foot spool of dei heat wrap soon looked like this

doh! notice the first mistake dam sh$t and at £50 a roll I wasn't going to buy another roll to finish off the collector, will get some more next time I’m out



well as i was having to go to all the trouble of fitting a new manifold, I could do with a little bit of a power upgrade from the vf35 / p18 and as i was fitting my self i save money on fitting... go on then I need to treat my self


this should see me good for a while GT35 IHI p18 ported shroud
ow and might as well throw in a few of these as the credit card is hot


PE 650 injectors

now as the only work i have done to the car so far is fit a top mount and samcos I start to think i ve bit a bit more than I can chew, give me a server and I can fix it .... cars, well we will see


. doh!

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

then I see a groupbuy on H&S exhausts

time the 2.5 inch sports cat downpipe went ... hello 3 inch decat

I was told by serveral people that the HKS hiper would not bolt to a 3 inch downpipe, quick email to Bob Rawles


thanks Bob right as usual . The hks bolts strieght to a classic downpipe ( my car is a bugeye )

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

well time to start... really starting to think what have I let my self in for

well heat shield, intercooler, downpipe off

uppipe 2 bolts stuck soaked over night in wd40. Still stuck, out comes the hammer and chisel... uppipe off

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

jacked up the engine on the turbo side 2 inch and out pops the old manifold



i know i know, should have took it off before I bought the new one, this could be fixed easy

any hows looks like it wasn't the only arm to fall off, bit of a naff design the rcm stuff is 100 x better quality so i was still happy

the powerstation headers are a one peice uppipe and manifold so I also needed this

looking at the size im starting to worry about lag more and more


as i looked at the old downpipe i noticed my second mistake


another lamda boss quickly welded in soon solved this

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

well new manifold soon went back one - much harder than it looks, but far better once i figured out that I had to join the uppipe before I went anywhere near the car... feeling stupid now looking back

what didn't help was a coolant hose of the rad popped off.. under the car getting covered in coolant ..... ggrrrr ,

now been the total ammeter i am ... all the bolts were torqued up to the subaru pdf settings still worried I’m going to bust something

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

well now I’m thinking well I’m nearly there, how wrong could i be, tried to fit the turbo.

Bell housing is in the way... out comes the angle grinder, should have stuck to servers and computers these cars ain't for me

after several hours nerves and covering every bit of the engine bay for fear of sworf getting places



I’m sure a pro would make a far better job but hey, the turbo fits

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

with the turbo I got the fitting kit from RCMS

was a bit pi55ed off it didn't include a oil return as the one off my vf35 didn't fit to well

but a quick rummage through the garage I found my old td04, oil return fit fine just had to enlargen the holes a bit

also I had to get back on to RCM as the fitting kit was for a STI not a WRX and I needed a slightly different banjo connection to the block

as usual parts came next day



see the larger size of oil return on the left of the turbo from the vf35

thanks to all the help from p1mark with this you are a star mate

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

now my hands completely cut to shreds back killing arms aching thinking that’s it no more head scratching

I ve been doing this for 3 hole days now… no lunch wakening up at 9 on my week off not finishing till 5, can’t believe how quick these days are going but hey, im starting to think Im gonna get this done.


time to fit this



as the turbo has a larger compressor inlet I didn’t have much choice

well I cheated, hammer and screwdriver on the old inlet pipe and she was out in minutes, pushed the new one through from the turbo side, a bit of a tight squeeze but with a good coating of hair spray went through will out to much risk of snapping a pipe off.. Probably took 30 mins in all

I was quiet proud as this was the first time I had strayed from the Subaru pdf .. big smile and cup of tea I do think

untill I saw what a pig the inlet pipe was to attach to the turbo

believe it or not it took me 4 hours to fit the inlet pipe to the turbo only way I could do it was remove the studs from the uppipe first

and Olly at RCM said I would have no problems... obviously he didn't know that people who work in offices shouldn't go within 20 feet of an engine




never again.... god i hope this uppipe gasket don't leak

is it just me or are these turbo's just to big for the standard location... have to get it rotated next time

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

well I put her back together and tried to re fit my APS top mount

bollox to that, its just to big, my back is too sorem where do I get a front mount

for the time been just quickly put on the std wrx intercooler.. now thats much better looks so small when you are used to the aps

I quickly gave the car a quick oil change, disconnected the crank sensor and primed the system

not sure but thought it was probably more important with fitting a new turbo

car started with the usual stink from the new manifold but no leaks all sounded good, was well happy with my self only took 5 whole days .. but every nut is to the subaru book and this include about 10 trips to homebase and 5 trips to Halfords

now didn't have the energy to fit the injectors this weekend so looks like it will have to wait till next Saturday

and I have decided a new APS FMIC will go on the car before bob maps the car in March


... I could get in to this modding you know

any one with some good tips on fitting injectors give me a shout...

911

Most excellent read, and I can just see you there for 5 days..put a big grin on my face this morning!

I and I think many others have been exactly where you have been, it is so frustrating and a wrench on body and soul.

Graham.

16vmarc

Excellant work, and good read. Quite admirable!

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

cheers guys, I will try keep it up over the next few months till the rolling road
see how it goes ( or blows if the case may be )

Graham, Im making notes on your front mount update... another week booked off to fit

911

Yes, well.....

TBH: Make sure you REALLY need one!
A FMIC really buggers up the engine bay.
And the bumper
And your hands,arms,knees etc

And I thought I was a '5 Spanner' rated guy..

I fear you are now well on your way to the Modders Hell...like the rest of us.

Graham

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

im curious to see how one of those turbo's performs on a 2ltr engine. it should be fun to see what can be done with it on a standard engine

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

yup your not the only one



thats a vf35 next to it


I blame countless nights reading Fuzz's project page

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

im looking forward to seeing boost figures and what time it comes in at that garret doesnt look that much bigger than the VF35 apart from the inlet !!!

then i got a pencil out and sized then up and it was quite a bit even at that size

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

they are both p18 exhaust housing but you are right it doesn't look that much bigger, but when you get the td04 out it looks huge

am i right in thinking you had a 20g on a classic, how did you find that with the STD internals and box?

I think Bob will only map for 1.3 bar untill I start opening up the block, but im sure he know's how to get the most out of my setup

Tim W

iTrader: (1)

Bless, a baby turbo

From left to right in this pic we have my old TD04, my lovely MD304 VF22 based hybrid (similar to a VF35 in external dimensions) and it's replacement

killa

iTrader: (7)

Thats excellent mate, once your done, book another few weeks off and u can do mine...

Silver Scooby Sport

iTrader: (15)

Well done Rich... a very good read and your a lot braver than I am

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

trust me, if I can do it anyone can just give your self plenty of time
FMIC on order


I have just ordered a slightly bigger diameter pipe from solinoid to actuator as the std one was just to tight and won't go on well

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

size dosnt matter , its what you do with it that counts


something tells me that isn't going in the standard position

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

the 20g was good fun it has a little bit of lag but once you get used to it mine was mapped to 1.4bar and used to peak at about 1.5bar on the defi's and i never had any problems with my engine, the box is a totally different matter. but i replaced mine with a 6 speed as i needed a quick fix. if i knew about the better PPg gearsets from zen i think i would of went for those as the car felt slower with the 6 speed box as opposed to my RA 5 speed gearbox

Tim W

iTrader: (1)

Errr, no...

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

yeah I see what you mean about the ppg

but if i can make mine last long enough I wouldn't mind waiting for one of the new STI my06 box's they seem to be getting good reviews.. and as weight goes, if I just removed the audio stuff I would probably gain the equivalent of 20 \30 bhp

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

refuse to read...... that thread could cost me far to much money

Danny Boy

iTrader: (2)

**** me Tim that middle turbo looks familiar
We really must say hello at one of theese meets some day.

Dan.

911

Stevebt:

Did your car feel slower with the 6 speeder or actually was slower?

Graham.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

it lost its kick in the teeth it had, i only got it back when the car was mapped to a FMIC, but then what would it have been like if i still had my 5 speed in. IMO the 5 speed is a quicker choice than the 6 speed and if i had to do it again i would not pick a 6 speed, the revs were virtually identical as well thru all the gears on the JDM 6 speed as with my RA 5 speed so it couldnt of been a ratio thing

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

5 days, well done Rich. Your hopelessely lost forever into modders hell

Nothing is straight forward and there's always something else to buy.

It'll be interesting to see how much lag you get with that turbo and how it compares on driveability to the VF35. How's the credit card?

F