Wouldie

Hello to everyone. At the ripe old age of 53 l've gone and bought a 2001 Bugeye Impreza. I'm not very mechanically minded but l do intend to get my hands dirty in the future. However in the meantime l'm looking at respraying the car and then a few upgrades like a remap,brakes and suspension. I've been on a few websites and wondered if anyone had had any work done at Eclipse Performance in Sunderland. I'm open to any advice/pointers on what to do and where to go.

AndyBaker

Welcome to the site, another 50+

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Funny you should mention it but I'm 53 too and have a bugeye

Welcome

Why does it need a respray? the bugeye finish wasn't that bad up your end there's also www.asperformance.com and Andy Forrest for re-maps.

Any pics?

Shaun

Wouldie

Once l learn how to post them there will be. I went to Scooby clinic as soon as l'd bought it more to see how much l'd end up spending. The car is totally standard but with very little recorded service history, only 2 stamps in the book at 30 & 60k(Tried tracing it without success). The body work is pretty good on it, lots of stone chips upfront with 1/2 blemishes on the bonnet and wings. Bit of rust developing under the wheel arches and the rear wheel arch. Also on the boot a blemish on paint work, tatty alloys very rattly in cabin and the accelerator pedal seems sticky not smooth when depressing and it just seems to be running a bit rough(lagging). As l'd been quoted £600 + vat for the bonnet job and paint blended into wings along with the boot repair and slight dents removed l thought it l might as well go the whole hog and paint the lot.

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Or post a link to the original sale if that had pics

I'd get the mechanicals properly sorted before the paint job........

Shaun

Wouldie

Probably good advice Shaun. Don't think there's anything seriously wrong with it mechanically, just a collection of one small thing leading to another, he says hopefully.

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

As it's 2001 then likely a WRX..... be wary of spending more than it's worth which is easy for our moneypits LOL

Shaun

Wouldie

Yes its a 2001 WRX. Don't want to go overboard with upgrades, just get it running smoother,bit more power, suspension and brake upgrades with a remap and refurb the alloys. Been looking at Scooby clinic(Chesterfield) and Eclipse Performance(Sunderland) and reading many forums on different sites and a few of the same names keep cropping up on the remap front(Andy Forrest/Bob Rawle).

What have you had done to yours and were do you go, or are you more hands on than me ?.

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Not had a lot of time on my hands to do stuff myself so have used a good number of specialists around the country, have also used my very helpful local Dealer for quite a bit of stuff at times. Just around the corner from me and the tech posts on here as Rob84.

Bought the car new 2002 without a test drive (just wanted one) and have messed around with it a fair bit, several turbos / exhausts / gearboxes / intercoolers / wheels / brakes / suspension / methanol injection bits of bodywork changes, new interior / mapped several times including Bob and Andy............a lot of fun along the way.

It's my daily drive at a shade under 400BHP

WRX's do well with mapping as they left the factory crippled so as not to tread on the STi's toes. Opensource mapping very satisfactory on the Denso ECU so someone like Duncan at Racedynamix would be a good start.

I'm trying to remember who Harvey used for a lot of his work, I think it was Darren at ?DT Motorsport. If he's near then again that might be a good start....

I'll have a google.

Cheers


Shaun

MichaelB

Welcome and good luck with the new purchase.

Whatever you do though, DO NOT use Eclipse. I know several people who have and will never return. Their reputation in the North East is terrible.
Just my opinion though....

Wouldie

Thanks for the info Shaun. Spent so much time reading other peoples comments on what is good what isn't, who is who ain't, me heads in a spin. Was going to go to Scooby clinic but after finding eclipse performance thought l could be getting better value for money. However having read comments on them, not so sure. It seems like its a minefield out there trying to find someone who's reputable and reliable.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

I can recommend DLM motors at Darlington, Darren used to do all Harvey Smith's work for him.

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Thanks alcazar......... beat me to it (see post 9) LOL

Shaun

JohnD

iTrader: (5)

A mere stripling! I've got the beating of you by a fair margin!
Last nights Top Gear was a timely reminder regarding the corrosion inside the pressed steel wishbones(STi has forged alloy ones) Unless it's been sprayed with Waxoyle or similar inside, there's almost certainly some nasty brown stuff in there!
The only thing more certain than a bit of rust is that you will be totally confused by all the differing opinions and recommendations you'll get on here, albeit well meant!

JohnD

Steve Whitehorn

iTrader: (13)

Third thumbs up here for
Darren at DLM

sivo

iTrader: (30)

+1
darren fitted my harvey smith headers and had my turbo ported prior to remap on my last blob

top bloke

welcome mate