Tom- Impreza wagon project

[Stuart]

So everything can be ready for Cadwell on the 20th July then Stuart

Apart from the exhaust being too loud, the lack of fresh cambelt and decent brakes, and no time off I would say it's all peachy H

[Harry]

Apart from the exhaust being too loud, the lack of fresh cambelt and decent brakes, and no time off I would say it's all peachy H

I have a Demon Tweeks bung you can put in the rear box, borrow a pair of stockings (wear them if you like) and since when did you start braking on track and my hand writing has been likened to a GPs and with so with a decent printer anything is possible

[Stuart]

Harry,
Bless you

As nice as it would be to get around Cadwell for a few laps I just can't make this trip. There will be others though and I am sure that I will make a date there soon enough. I am equally sure that you will have a great time though mate

[ESL]

I have set of front Brembos Stu with good discs and STi5 suspension with uprated springs if they are of interest.

[ESL]

And actually pretty much every other imaginable part for an Impreza, including 400hp 20G turbos and the like.

[ScoobieWRX]

There are a lot of worthwhile mods to increase power you can do yourself from porting your exhaust headers and turbo/wastegate to fitting a decent topmount intercooler with some DIY mods to make it fit. Cold Air induction kit is a good idea when you're flushed unless you can find a 2nd hand unit in good nick. Failing that a decent flat panel air filter (K&N or Green Panel) in the standard airbox will do nicely.

IMHO wouldn't bother fitting larger brake discs with the standard calipers because all you're doing is adding weight. I don't think you can fit bigger pads to the standard calipers so standard rotors with good quality pads as has been mentioned already, and braided brake hoses all round should give you better pedal feel and increased retardation.

As for exhaust....I would get rid of the NURspec system regardless of noise, which i presume is a 3" system and therefore robbing you of torque, and go back to a 2.5" OEM spec tube diameter exhaust whether it's a decatted OEM system or aftermarket stainless steel jobbie. That should get you back under trackday noise limits, give you a beautiful burble and max torque which is just what you want for track work.

A 2.5" system would still be good for 340-350bhp and if as it is suspected, your car is a WRX and not an STi, your engine internals won't be forged anyway as has already been said, and unlikely it's a closed deck block (unless it's been retrofitted), and with 92K miles on the clock and without a rebuild it's maybe not such a good idea to push it too far in terms of mapping when you eventually get there. If you've done engine mods (exhaust/induction etc...) you should get it mapped if anything to get it running right.

If it has a TD04 you could still see c.270-280bhp and c.300-310lbft with mapping. If it has a TD05 16G and supporting injectors and intercooler fitted, with an STi engine installed, 320-330+bhp should be no probs all day long.

I can't remember if your car has camber bolts on the front suspension like the newage cars. If so wack them over to maximum neg camber adding a little bit of front toe out to negate excessive inside treadwear when you're not tracking it and that should help make it turn in nice and sharp whilst reducing understeer. It may even envoke some asre end out and decent 4WD drifts.

I've retired my car now and started stripping it slowly but surely for a more defined role in life so i feel myself being a bit envious of your excellent purchase you lucky so and so, and it's on the road too which must feel bloody brilliant.

Anyhow that's my 10pence worth.....Lovely car and welcome to the dark side. Nice one Stuart.

P.S. I have a version 2 ECU with fitted ESL board i collected back from a customer in scotland recently. He returned his car back to standard just before selling it. It comes with Z4 mapping (260bhp) as standard. Just swap over ECU's and you're good to go. That could be had for a very reasonable outlay and if you buy me an orange and passionfruit J2O i might possibly roadmap it for you too unless you have a preferred mapper nearby you would rather use. Anyway, the offer is there.

[Stuart]

IMHO wouldn't bother fitting larger brake discs with the standard calipers because all you're doing is adding weight. I don't think you can fit bigger pads to the standard calipers so standard rotors with good quality pads as has been mentioned already, and braided brake hoses all round should give you better pedal feel and increased retardation

Good advice Francis and most likely the way that I'll go in the short term

As for exhaust....I would get rid of the NURspec system regardless of noise, which I presume is a 3" system and therefore robbing you of torque, and go back to a 2.5" OEM spec tube diameter exhaust whether it's a decatted OEM system or aftermarket stainless steel jobbie. That should get you back under trackday noise limits, give you a beautiful burble and max torque which is just what you want for track work.

Yeah, once the funds are in place I'll sell this system and replace it with something more suitable.

A 2.5" system would still be good for 340-350bhp and if as it is suspected, your car is a WRX and not an STi, your engine internals won't be forged anyway as has already been said, and unlikely it's a closed deck block (unless it's been retrofitted), and with 92K miles on the clock and without a rebuild it's maybe not such a good idea to push it too far in terms of mapping when you eventually get there. If you've done engine mods (exhaust/induction etc...) you should get it mapped if anything to get it running right.

The whole 'WRX or STi' thing makes me smile. The general consensus seems to be that the Wagon STi didn't get many of the bits that the saloon version did. No idea about turbos, the block or anything else. I was told it was all standard.........

If it has a TD04 you could still see c.270-280bhp and c.300-310lbft with mapping. If it has a TD05 16G and supporting injectors and intercooler fitted, with an STi engine installed, 320-330+bhp should be no probs all day long.

I have a dyno sheet from Power Engineering that shows 276hp and 249lb ft torque.

I can't remember if your car has camber bolts on the front suspension like the newage cars. If so wack them over to maximum neg camber adding a little bit of front toe out to negate excessive inside treadwear when you're not tracking it and that should help make it turn in nice and sharp whilst reducing understeer. It may even envoke some asre end out and decent 4WD drifts.

No camber bolts so I have just had the camber set to fast road settings. No understeer so far and Andy Walsh always attributes understeer to the driver, not the car

i feel myself being a bit envious of your excellent purchase you lucky so and so, and it's on the road too which must feel bloody brilliant.
Anyhow that's my 10pence worth.....Lovely car and welcome to the dark side. Nice one Stuart.

Thank you very much for the compliments, and thanks for your opinions and thoughts. The car has been good fun so far and I have a feeling there will be a few giggles ahead!

P.S. I have a version 2 ECU with fitted ESL board i collected back from a customer in scotland recently. He returned his car back to standard just before selling it. It comes with Z4 mapping (260bhp) as standard. Just swap over ECU's and you're good to go. That could be had for a very reasonable outlay and if you buy me an orange and passionfruit J2O i might possibly roadmap it for you too unless you have a preferred mapper nearby you would rather use. Anyway, the offer is there.

Thanks once again but I will be avoiding the can of worms that is modifying, certainly for now, and get used to the car as is. Only then will I consider getting on to that slippery slope of 'tuning'. I can't help thinking that the ethos of standard-ish power, better breathing, more cooling and improved handling is the way to go. It will help me stay on budget and help the car handle more use than it's seen in years!

_______________
Alignment was carried out today at SCA by young Chris; son of John B. What a bloody good job he did too Wheels were balanced up at the same time and the drive afterwards was much better, the steering crisper and 'feel' somehow less numb.........all good stuff. Nice price too

[Rob S]

Stu, if my limited experience with these is anything to go by, go for reliability every time. Any car is only fun when it works, so anything you can do to build reliability in has got to be the way to go.
That's my 2p worth.

[Stuart]

Spot on
The XR4x4 was pretty standard (engine wise) but great fun and rewarding
The original Impreza was the same
The DC2 was the same (getting a pattern yet? )
The Skylines were pretty good but I kept tweaking until something broke and then lots broke
The M3 was pretty standard but with better cooling etc etc

Yada, yada, yada............

Essentially it will have near on 220+bhp per tonne. If that can be kept reliable, how on Earth can I go wrong? (don't bring MPG into it!!)

[ScoobieWRX]

I'd have said 5-7 trackday mpg compared to something like your modified Skyline was probably not bad at all. It's likely to make a very reliable trackslag. They can and do take so much abuse, and just keep going and going. Your engine and gearbox are well capable of taking that 276bhp all day long, and the diffs are bulletproof.