Bicco`s MY03 JDM STi

**Bicco** · 08-03-2008, 11:20

Wasn`t really gonna post this in here as it would be my second none Vaux Project.

But the site I currently have the project thread on keeps haveing technical issues so here we go!

30-12-07

Well guys as most of you know i picked up my new toy last weekend, just in time for Cristmas, haven`t really had chance to get any descent pictures yet, mainly due to the fact it has done nothing but rain ever since! So for now i shall post the pics off the add with the few i have taken in the garage.

Its a 2003 Jap import Impreza STi. Done around 25000 miles. Comes with all the usual STi tricks, including the Driver Controlled Center Diff, now with an Auto setting, intercooler water spray, adjustable shift light, 6 speed box, climate control etc...
Now peeps keep asking why i`ve gone for a Jap one instead of UK, tbh the spec of the jap car is sooooo much better than the UK. The engine comes with a twin scroll turbo, equal length headers, bigger fuel injectors and more lary cams amongst other things, resulting in 310bhp ish instead of the STi typeUK which as around 265.
Spec wise the Jap ones gets red dial set, folding mirrors, rear wash wipe and loads of other interior and exterior add ons.

The car is basically standard apart from:
17" Black Chrome SSR Alloys with Yokohama Tyres
Fuyjitsubo Giken RM01 cat back exhaust
Tein Adjustable coilovers.

I`ve done around 300 miles now, and i`m loving it! Doesn`t feel like driving a turbo with the twin scroll, there is no lag what so ever, just smooth power. The auto diff and EBD make driving in ****y conditions a doddle, the car pritty much sorts everything out for you. But if you get bored you can turn it all off wind the diff to open and have some fun!

Anyways pics:

At home in the garage:

**Bicco** · 08-03-2008, 11:21

30-12-07

Even though it`s not been home long, i`ve already spent a few hours on it!

First thing was to fix the rear spoiler brake light as Stumpy said its wasn`t working when he followed me back from picking it up. So after investigation (stick with me this is confusing) i found the porblem. The boot lid as been changed for an aluminium one, which is a Spec C item, so an upgrade for my car, but then the guy has used the Standard STi spoiler, not the spec C one, and thus the wiring for the high level runs the wrong side of the spoiler and has never been connected up! So after spoiler removal and some wiring its working again.

Although i must say i quite liked the look of the car with no spoiler......

Next i had to relocate the fog light, if you notice in the first pics it had a dodgy fog light stuck under the bumper, this had to go, so i rewirted the off side reverse light and planned on replacing the bulb with an LED red one, until idiscovered they don`t use standard 382 bulbs in Japan so i have ordered an LED bulb of E-bay and coloured the original one red for now!

The original stereo in the car was awesome, it was fully intergrqated sat nav, TV tuner, DVD player and MP3, with one small problem, everything was in Japanese!!! After an intesive search i found it was never released in English and i would never be able to use it, so it was removed and replaced with the Single Din DVD player we have in Claires Astra.

The number plates on the car where nice but way small, inviting trouble around here so they have been replaced with some standard ones, i`ve managed to make the front one a smidge smaller by using a GB plate and cutting off the GB.

I`ve also managed to clean up under the bonnet witch looks like it had never been cleaned! Looks loads better now.

And finally i removed the Subaru Technica Internation graphics from the doors and replaced them with some Colin McRea Tribute graphics.

**Bicco** · 08-03-2008, 11:22

4-1/08

Righty, another brief update, nothing really to photograph, but i quick right up is called for.
First off I had to remove the old locking wheel nuts for which i had no key! So out with the trusty 19mm and hammer... New set now fitted.
The main thing thats been done is a near enough full service. Oil and filter changed, some nice Valvoline 5-40 Full ether synthetic. Fuel filter changed and spark plugs changed. The plugs that were in it where iridium 8`s!! Now that is drastic overkill, generally not needed till you`re heading over 500bhp! So i`ve gone for platinum 7`s, still one grade colder than standard, which should happily allow a little extra boost, but it has made the car even smoother when cold now

I`ve also done a complete brake fluid change, refilled with some 5.1.

Finally i have a had a stone chip repaired on the windscreen, freeby off the insurance and took the autogalss guy about 10 mins

**Bicco** · 08-03-2008, 11:24

6-1/08

Went in Saturday morning to be undersealed, cars in Japan aren`t sealed out of the factory, mainly because they dont salt the roads over there. So it went to Talke Motors for a good sealing! Spent 2 hours on the ramp, thouroughly cleaned and dried, important bits masked off, wheels removed, and then a liberal coating of Underseal with waxoyl.

Had a few hours spare Saturday so set about the interior changes, like the last one, i don`t intend to use the back seats and will be fitting the harness i purchased. So i started by removing the back seats, these are ridiculously heavy! Had i ever been stuck for balast for a small tanker i could have just used the rear uprights!
I also removed the boot trim, spare, jack and rear seat belts, not anywhere near as much stripped as last time but already i`m up to 61Kg removed!! More shall be removed but not sure what yet, i have been confronted with various "metal bars", of which i`m not sure whats important, so a bit more research first! Rear leccy window motors may go to, need to loose at least another 60kg to come some where near the weight of a spec C.

The back seat - with its braces...

A lick of paint will be needed here me-thinks.

The boot minuse its trim:

Also the list of parts that are waiting to go on is mounting up:

Boost gauge and Pod.
Intake temp displays.
Dash Bulbs.
Mini Mud Flaps.

**Bicco** · 08-03-2008, 11:26

7-1-08 (after many peeps asking why i didn`t buy a spec C)

Price! I got mine for a good price (Well sort of - see following post....) Realistically it should be a grand or so dearer and a spec C you can add another £2K onto that, just couldn`t afford it and have enough money spare to do the few bits to personalise it.
That plus the spec C in its true form comes with Absolutely no creature comforts, many have em added as options but that kinda defeats the point.

the differences between mine and a Spec C are:

Bigger Engine Oil Cooler
Anti surge fuel pump (irrelevent cus mines being replaced anyways)
Stronger water pump
12 Litre Water Tank (In Boot) for intercooler spray
Different radiator
Gearbox Cooler
Different spec turbo (Good for 400+bhp as opposed to 380ish)
Lightweight glass
Reduced body weight
Reduced sound deadening
Stiffer roll bars
Roof vent
Deletion of Air Conditioning
Deletion of central locking
Deletion of electric windows and mirrors!

The end result was 320bhp and 100ish KG less. Now with half my interior removed i have lost 70kg, so not that much difference and i still have Air con! To put all this into perspective with the old Type R, i will need 350bhp just to match it, even after the weight reduction. So i`ll aim for 380 then.....

**Bicco** · 08-03-2008, 11:27

7-1-08

Righty had a bit of an up and down day today really, first off i found out the bars accross the back seat are nothing more than support and the anti-submarine framework for the seats, so out that came, another 9kg, making approx 70kg removed in total, not bad!

Next, my first woes with the car. Since i had it there has been a knock from the back end somewhere, it sounds like something rattleing around in the boot, but after removing everything it was still there, and upon further investigation, i have discovered the rear shockers are knocking, unfortunatley an extremely common fault, nothing dangerous but will adversley affect handeling and its bloody anoying! Am currently in discussion with the garage as to how much he`s going to contribute to the repair as its still under warrenty.
The upshot is it will need 2 new rear shockers, seen as these are coilovers made by Tein the garage dude wants to replace em with standard Subaru, but he will soon find this is not a much cheaper option! I`m sure we`ll come to some arrangment.
The car may be going to Scooby Clinic for the work, and seen as they will be in the right area it will be recieving the suspension upgrades i had planned slightly ahead of schedual Not made final descision on what yet but should be along the lines of:

AST Coilovers
Whiteline ARB`s
Whitleline link bars.
Fast road Geometry set up.
Maybe anti lift kit.

**Bicco** · 08-03-2008, 11:33

20-01-08

Righty, this could be a long winded one, much happened since last update!

First off, the tracking system has been fitted, I have gone for a Cobra Trak Q system, better than the standard Tracker Monitor in the last one, the Cobra system is SMS and GPS based and can be tracked from any computer online.

Fitted the boost gauge, same place as last time, door pillar. No spare connector on the manifold this time so had to tee into the dump valve feed, as recomended by Subaru.

Once this was fitted it lead me to a discovery, quite embarasing on my part, not sure if i should admit to this online... The car was boosting to around 11psi, considerably less than it should be. After some researching i found out how the boost control system on a Subaru worked. It`s actually less advanced than the way a Cav/Cally Turbo works. Usually a vacum line runs from the compressor housing to the control solenoid (Amal Valve) and then back to the actuator. The amal valve controls the boost by bleeding off air so the right pressure is reached, a third hose lets the air out of the system and back into the inlet.
On the subaru the control solenoid is conected on a t-piece between the compressor and the actuator, kind of like an ECU controlled bleed valve, very primative! The only thing with this is the ecu contolled vavle canot bleed enough air away quick enough when boost is building so they use an small restrictor in the vacum hose the slow the whole thing down, again very primative. If you want a more detailed bersion of this see here:

http://static.scribd.com/docs/ekfidb...IAL_VIEW=width

Anyways, i`m getting to my point now honest! The hose containing the restrictor runs over the turbo, and is common for going brittle and spliting, it then gets replaced with a new piece of hose, not realising there is anything in there! And viola, the reason i have only 11psi! I spoke to peeps in the know who told me without the restrictor the car would be running around 250/260bhp, i`d managed to loose 60 or so bhp without knowing. 250 feels fast compared to my Kangoo van!!!

£1.32 later with the new restrictor fitted, i have 20psi overboost, 17psi held

Much faster now!

Fitted my intake / under bonnet temp displays too, Intake runs only slightly above avergae when moving, so obviously the intercooler does its job. Please note the pic is after it had been standing for 5 minutes after a hard run!

Harness are now in, feel nice and secure all strapped in. Quick lick of paint for the back seat area too. Not using the harness pads, they actually make it less comfy. Full interior valet completed too.

Bit dark in the photos, but i`ve also fitted my home made mini mud flaps, didn`t want a full set because i think they sit too low, but liked the look of some of the mini flaps knocking around that peeps had made themselves. You can also see the ornage indicator bulbs at the back are now chrome effect, a pain in the arse to find this style of bulb in the chrome/orange, still waiting on another set for the front. And a red one for the fog light.

Finally a slight change of plan involving the suspension too, looks like i will be going for the Tein set up after all, after some discussion with TSL in Nottingham i have decided to go for Tein Super Street Coilovers, with Perin Roll bars and links, full UK Geom setup and maybe an electronic controller for the dampers.

**Bicco** · 08-03-2008, 11:34

15-2-08

Been messing again this week, not much you can so to dress up a scooby engine bay without serious changes, but i`ve been having a play with colour coding a couple of bits. May also relocate battery and washer bottle to boot at a latter stage.

**Bicco** · 08-03-2008, 11:34

1-3-08

Update time:

Suspension is now all sorted, Car went into TSL motosport for a few days where the work was done. Full set of Tein Super street coilovers fitted along with Perrin anti roll bars, anti roll link bars, and anti lift kit. Then all set up with a fast road alignment. Car handeling is awesome now, turn in is instant, no understeer, just a very light hint of oversteer on the edge, easily controllable. Before hand the car used to skip over bumps in the road, especially under hard acceleration, but now it just sticks, much grip.

Will get some better pics when the brakes are done in a few weeks.

Perris link and end of ARB:

Coilover hiding away behind the wheel:

Also the guys at TSL told me that the spoiler on the car was incorrect, which i knew, but also that it was damaging the boot and causing a lot of rattles! Soooo, i have the choci of finding a new spoiler or leaving it "naked":

leesturbo · 08-03-2008, 11:38

old subaru gone then?

**Dave Broomfield** · 08-03-2008, 11:44

looks nice what happen to the other one you had with the blown engine

**Bicco** · 08-03-2008, 11:55

Old Subaru is gone

Got underneath at the start of December, found more rust than I would have liked. Got offered £5.5K as it stood, so after a long discussion with the Mrs, we decided that it might be better to spend the money we had saved for the engine rebuild, on a New car instead of just a new engine for a rusty car. As much as i didn`t like going to a more common model of imprezza it made sense.

Still not to worry, Its winning me round and will see 400+bhp and 12 second quaters before the years out, so not too far behind the old one.

ANDYRACER · 08-03-2008, 15:37

I like it alot and im not a scooby fan.

When you taking me out in it then?

Jack · 08-03-2008, 15:58

I must admit, I'm not a fan of Subarus, but I do like this.

If only the rear fogs worked.

Steve! · 08-03-2008, 16:11

it's a lot better "spoiler" less

**Bicco** · 08-03-2008, 16:54

Jack - Sorted the fog light, guessing when it was having the suspension done someone noticed and had alook what the part number was on the bulb, they`re a pain in the arse to source! Then re-fitted it back to front, quick swap around and all was well.

Jack · 08-03-2008, 16:58

Awesome.

Can I have a ride when we're at Mazz's?

Adam · 08-03-2008, 17:10

bicco u come a damm long way from when u came to buy that black cally turbo fook me

hats off to you and ur dosh!

Steve! · 08-03-2008, 17:34

True, last time I knew he had a cheap ass rotton GTE and an Omega....

Now look at his pimp wagons

Jack · 08-03-2008, 17:35

The Omega was 36-times a pimp as this!

**Bicco** · 08-03-2008, 18:04

Adam - I do belive that was where my never ending quest to go faster began.

Steve - Don`t dis the GTE, that was an awesome car, so much fun to drive!

I had an impreza then too, it was just broken, the GTE/Omega was my stand in.

Jack - The omega was definatly more pimp, soooo comfy, would most likely still have it had I not inherited a works van! The drive was just to full, Scooby, Claires Astra Coupe, Omega ane Partner van!

P.S. we will need to fetch Pizza so you could jump in for a ride

Steve! · 08-03-2008, 20:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bicco

6-1/08

Went in Saturday morning to be undersealed, cars in Japan aren`t sealed out of the factory, mainly because they dont salt the roads over there. So it went to Talke Motors for a good sealing! Spent 2 hours on the ramp, thouroughly cleaned and dried, important bits masked off, wheels removed, and then a liberal coating of Underseal with waxoyl.

Where and how much?

AK_LET · 09-03-2008, 00:21

Why do UK spec's suck ass compaired to the JDM version. It seems the UK are just a midlife crisis car.

LOOKS SWEET. Love scoobys

**Bicco** · 18-03-2008, 11:57

AK - Yeah the UK cars are genrally no wear near the Jap spec. A UK WRX is really average perfomance wise these days, hence why you get so many "I nailed a scooby, they`re wank!" comments.

Anyways Saturdays developments:
After noticing the overboost was going slightly higher than standard figures, and thus not wanting to hold the boot in all the way to the redline, I decided to get it checked. Firstly pulled a plug after a hard-ish run to check colour, slightly white, so not good.
So after an unexpected run in with my friendly rolling road opperator, it was on the rollers with a wide band shoved up its arse. Initially made 336bhp but was scarily lean! suspect the aftermarket exhaust and panel filter are allowing it to build boost faster and the stupid standard Subaru boost controller can`t re-act fast enough to keep the boost down causing the standard fuel pump to max itself out!
Sooo, due to not having another boost controller or the correct software to mess with the map the only solution we could come up with was to fit the next size up restrictor, fortunatly I bought both sizes from subaru originally and the other was still in the glove box!
The result from this is no overboost at all and slightly lower than standard held boost. 277bhp and 263lbft. It will have to do untill i can sort a better boost controller and re-map. Still not too slow and thanxs to the old twin scroll i have 10psi by 2500ish rpm!

***Andy_L*** · 18-03-2008, 13:49

With it being an import is it run it on V-Power and then chuck some additives in or not?

Can't decide if I like it with no spoiler, think it would look great in another colour but I've always associated white with motorsport. What about a smaller spoiler like the UK WRX's had?