New WRX SL PPP Wagon: what’s next?
Discussion
Hope you are all having fun at Japfest! My goal is to join you next year, so I just got my hands on a 2005 (blobeye) WRX SL PPP wagon. It seems this is a pretty rare spec. And the car is in good shape, so I think I have something special worth caring for. Now I need to decide if to invest in it and how, therefore looking for advice here. Here are the stats for the wagon:
- 90k miles on the clock from four owners
- 11 dealership and independent specialists stamps on the logbook, which for a car that has done 5k per year, is not bad
- Clutch and cam belt changed at 65k and 75k respectively.
- No rust on body, underside looks good too. Needs new paint though, it's a boring silver
- New MOT before I got it last week with no faults or even advisories (bad cv boot, so nothing really)
- Engine pulls very well, turbo kicks in as it should. Don't know these cars so don't know if all the sounds are normal, but I can't hear anything obviously wrong
I paid 6k for it. And would be willing to spend another 6-7k if that gets me something a bit special, fun to drive and reliable. Don't think I'll tune it, happy with the 260 or so that come with the prodrive pack. So, I'm thinking: engine rebuild, new suspension bushings and a respray.
But before I start throwing money down a pit, I want to hear from you guys. Have you been through a similar experience? What did you learn? What would you advice? Should I drive it longer and diagnose it fully before committing to it with a rebuild?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
- 90k miles on the clock from four owners
- 11 dealership and independent specialists stamps on the logbook, which for a car that has done 5k per year, is not bad
- Clutch and cam belt changed at 65k and 75k respectively.
- No rust on body, underside looks good too. Needs new paint though, it's a boring silver
- New MOT before I got it last week with no faults or even advisories (bad cv boot, so nothing really)
- Engine pulls very well, turbo kicks in as it should. Don't know these cars so don't know if all the sounds are normal, but I can't hear anything obviously wrong
I paid 6k for it. And would be willing to spend another 6-7k if that gets me something a bit special, fun to drive and reliable. Don't think I'll tune it, happy with the 260 or so that come with the prodrive pack. So, I'm thinking: engine rebuild, new suspension bushings and a respray.
But before I start throwing money down a pit, I want to hear from you guys. Have you been through a similar experience? What did you learn? What would you advice? Should I drive it longer and diagnose it fully before committing to it with a rebuild?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
mike74 said:
Engine rebuild seems pointless if you're not interested in increasing the power.
In fact the whole plan seems a little pointless to me?.. For the £12k-£14k you're proposing to spend on it you could have got a very reasonable sti blobeye.
Very valid points. My thinking was that when you spend that much on an STI you are also paying premium for that spec. AND probably has been driven hard and all kinds of gremlins might be lurking under the bonnet. So I rather spend that money myself and then have a car that I know well.In fact the whole plan seems a little pointless to me?.. For the £12k-£14k you're proposing to spend on it you could have got a very reasonable sti blobeye.
But, point taken, maybe the engine rebuild is overkill if I’m happy to keep the base spec and performance.
Enjoy the car for the meantime, but if you want more power then rather than a rebuild which will sting you 5k upwards depending on the level, maybe opt for a remap over the PPP. I think a WRX which is reasonably taken care of can run a reliable 300 horses from what I’ve read , and without too much by way of reliability issues arising, but I’m no expert on remapping etc, so best to seek advice if you intend to.
To be honest though, as long as it’s mechanically sound you could opt for some suspension upgrades, maybe a whitline ARB set up, uprated bushes (Poly’s do make the ride harder however). First thing I’d do is the brakes, get a set of half decent disks and check the calipers aren’t binding or knackered, if they are get them refurbished, and stick a decent set of pads in, as IMO the brakes on the WRX are not that great. I had mine refurbished with stainless pistons, fitted standard pagid discs and run black diamond predator pads and am really pleased with the set up.
Some opt for the STI Brembo set up, but they don’t fit behind standard WRX alloys I think, plus it’s not a cheap outing, the price for secondhand Brembo’s is high, and factor in a refurb / new discs & pads on top of that.
The other thing you might want to do is grab a spare set of crappy secondhand alloys for £100 or so and throw a set of winters on them. I didn’t need mine this year but always handy if you’ve got the room to store a set.
To be honest though, as long as it’s mechanically sound you could opt for some suspension upgrades, maybe a whitline ARB set up, uprated bushes (Poly’s do make the ride harder however). First thing I’d do is the brakes, get a set of half decent disks and check the calipers aren’t binding or knackered, if they are get them refurbished, and stick a decent set of pads in, as IMO the brakes on the WRX are not that great. I had mine refurbished with stainless pistons, fitted standard pagid discs and run black diamond predator pads and am really pleased with the set up.
Some opt for the STI Brembo set up, but they don’t fit behind standard WRX alloys I think, plus it’s not a cheap outing, the price for secondhand Brembo’s is high, and factor in a refurb / new discs & pads on top of that.
The other thing you might want to do is grab a spare set of crappy secondhand alloys for £100 or so and throw a set of winters on them. I didn’t need mine this year but always handy if you’ve got the room to store a set.
This is great advice, many thanks! I'm pretty sure the bushings are pretty crusty, and the rear swaybar is a bit rusty. The whiteline kits seems reasonably priced, so that looks like a god option. Good point on the breaks, will look into options.
texaxile said:
The other thing you might want to do is grab a spare set of crappy secondhand alloys for £100 or so and throw a set of winters on them. I didn’t need mine this year but always handy if you’ve got the room to store a set.
Are you running standard 17s on your WRX, or upgraded to 18s?Hi,
Sounds a nice car particularly in SL spec and one to hang on to. Any pics?
Agree with the above, uprated brake pads definitely worthwhile as are uprated front and rear ARBs, and Prodrive springs (not available anymore from Prodrive but available from PCA Dynamics with other alternatives out there as well). The ARBs and springs really do sharpen up to the handling and if doing the springs then worthwhile replacing the dampers with some new KYBs - if it has inverted struts then they tend to knock at the back but can be replaced with standard struts providing the bump stops are changed to match. There is the coilover route but would possibly cost more and advantage of the Prodrive springs and KYBs is that the ride is firm but still pretty good.
At 90k miles unless previously renewed the suspension bushes will be getting tired and will ideally need replacing and the same goes for the rear diff and outrigger bushes. I know its stating the obvious but after I changed mine the difference was even bigger than I expected.
Also one thing worth doing is a forensic check on the condition of the underseal in the rear wheel arches and the upper turret areas as purely by chance after the bushings were replaced and although the structure was intact I noticed some strange rippling/bubbling in the underseal at the top of the turrets only to find that rust had started to develop - thankfully a strip back and re protecting it and it was OK although still needed a couple of small patches welding into the wheel arch where the rust had got in as a result of the grit abrading the underseal. All done with Dinitrol now but could have been much worse if I hadn't noticed it.
And finally another thing worth checking is the condition of the front lower control arms as if it has the steel ones then they were subject of a recall for checking owing to a potential corrosion problem but the recall was a long time ago (2012 I think) so some of them may be a bit rusty now. I changed mine for alloy ones to be sure, although if you do that you may need to do a bit of research to find the right ones as I think the wagon ones are a different spec to the saloon ones as the wagon has a narrower track. The ones I fitted have increased caster which helped the handling as well although some of the improvement will most likely have been the poly bushes they came with as well.
The other thing to mention is that these cars are very sensitive to suspension alignment and even if it's within factory tolerances (which are a bit wide) a big difference can be made by getting it set up to the optimum spec.
Hope this helps.
Sounds a nice car particularly in SL spec and one to hang on to. Any pics?
Agree with the above, uprated brake pads definitely worthwhile as are uprated front and rear ARBs, and Prodrive springs (not available anymore from Prodrive but available from PCA Dynamics with other alternatives out there as well). The ARBs and springs really do sharpen up to the handling and if doing the springs then worthwhile replacing the dampers with some new KYBs - if it has inverted struts then they tend to knock at the back but can be replaced with standard struts providing the bump stops are changed to match. There is the coilover route but would possibly cost more and advantage of the Prodrive springs and KYBs is that the ride is firm but still pretty good.
At 90k miles unless previously renewed the suspension bushes will be getting tired and will ideally need replacing and the same goes for the rear diff and outrigger bushes. I know its stating the obvious but after I changed mine the difference was even bigger than I expected.
Also one thing worth doing is a forensic check on the condition of the underseal in the rear wheel arches and the upper turret areas as purely by chance after the bushings were replaced and although the structure was intact I noticed some strange rippling/bubbling in the underseal at the top of the turrets only to find that rust had started to develop - thankfully a strip back and re protecting it and it was OK although still needed a couple of small patches welding into the wheel arch where the rust had got in as a result of the grit abrading the underseal. All done with Dinitrol now but could have been much worse if I hadn't noticed it.
And finally another thing worth checking is the condition of the front lower control arms as if it has the steel ones then they were subject of a recall for checking owing to a potential corrosion problem but the recall was a long time ago (2012 I think) so some of them may be a bit rusty now. I changed mine for alloy ones to be sure, although if you do that you may need to do a bit of research to find the right ones as I think the wagon ones are a different spec to the saloon ones as the wagon has a narrower track. The ones I fitted have increased caster which helped the handling as well although some of the improvement will most likely have been the poly bushes they came with as well.
The other thing to mention is that these cars are very sensitive to suspension alignment and even if it's within factory tolerances (which are a bit wide) a big difference can be made by getting it set up to the optimum spec.
Hope this helps.
Edited by scoobydog on Thursday 14th April 15:37
Apologies for the delay. Thanks so much for the advice, very useful! So, clearly there is a pattern emerging, and I need to prioritise suspension and breaks over any major engine work, if I can avoid it for now. Going to have it thoroughly examined next week by the guys at Perfect Touch to see what’s what. If solid enough, my intention is to keep it stock and try to restore it as much as possible (and worth it). Including a full body overhaul so that rust doesn’t end up undermining anything else that I might be able to do.
Here some pics. To be fair, it looks much better from afar, than up close
Here some pics. To be fair, it looks much better from afar, than up close
Edited by WickedWizzzard on Sunday 17th April 12:45
R12many said:
The best colour in my opinion but I am biased!
Seems like one of the fun aspects of owning this is going to be finding parts. Been looking for the ARBs, because the rear one is quite flaky, and it’s proving very tricky. Most likely because this is rarer model and narrower track than the saloon. Are you guys stocking up on parts for the future? Or is it easy enough finding parts when needed?WickedWizzzard said:
R12many said:
The best colour in my opinion but I am biased!
Seems like one of the fun aspects of owning this is going to be finding parts. Been looking for the ARBs, because the rear one is quite flaky, and it’s proving very tricky. Most likely because this is rarer model and narrower track than the saloon. Are you guys stocking up on parts for the future? Or is it easy enough finding parts when needed?I think that the rear ARB is the same on every model of Impreza from Bug to Hawkeye, Saloon to Wagon, except STi.
Looks a nice car!
Subarus are fantastic and really don’t require the sums of money you are talking in your first post to be enjoyed.
Make sure it has good tyres, pads and a remap and suspension refresh would be all I would consider.
That way you can enjoy the car to the full and not lose any money on it.
Subarus are fantastic and really don’t require the sums of money you are talking in your first post to be enjoyed.
Make sure it has good tyres, pads and a remap and suspension refresh would be all I would consider.
That way you can enjoy the car to the full and not lose any money on it.
I am sure you will all love this plot twist.
As I’m driving to the garage earlier today to give the car a full checkup (only third time driving it since collecting two weeks ago) it starts overheating. I think I managed to stop before it went on red. Towed the last few miles to the garage. Diagnosis: head gasket!
Otherwise they confirmed that the car is in great shape, no rust, very decent suspension and brakes, no fault codes, etc. But of course all that is inconsequential now. x 2
Trying to get hold of dealer. Sold with three months major parts warranty.
As I’m driving to the garage earlier today to give the car a full checkup (only third time driving it since collecting two weeks ago) it starts overheating. I think I managed to stop before it went on red. Towed the last few miles to the garage. Diagnosis: head gasket!
Otherwise they confirmed that the car is in great shape, no rust, very decent suspension and brakes, no fault codes, etc. But of course all that is inconsequential now.
x 2Trying to get hold of dealer. Sold with three months major parts warranty.
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