Tale of a 1999 classic Impreza
Discussion
After having a run in with "C" and losing one of my spuds 25 years ago I had a bit of mid life crisis. I always had sport cars, Mk 11 1600 sport, xr3i etc, i thought I would try an Impreza.
So I purchased a L reg WRX impreza and was hooked. It had 240 bhp but soon added a piggy back chip taking it to about 270.
Then I saw this for sale.
wrx sti ra limited.
Now at the time of purchase I didn't know who the owner was but did a bit of research and found out he knew his stuff as a race engineer for historic race cars and is fairly well known on PH even today. Hi JF
He had modified the car to a high standard and was quickly paid for.
After a couple of years the car changed to this.
[url]
|https://forums-
images.pistonheads.com/59348/202410315180806[/url]
So happy days for the next 18 years just doing routine maintenace, couple of clutches, refreshed big end bearings and crank once and lots of oil changes.
So to this year, still looked good
Apart from a little bit of rust showing at the back arches.
Mot was due in April and it failed because the coilovers were shot and as usual emissions were out again, same as every year. then
So it was make your mine up time due to the mileage and knowing Impreza's rot from the inside out.
You can get these to repair the arches but thy are a waste of time, I'll show you later
I took it to a well know place for some advice on what to do with it. Up on the ramps they soon told me.
Now this is when you are all going to tell me that I'm mad, should of scrapped it, waste of money Etc.
But its been with me too long to kill it off so told them to do what ever they've got to do.
But then buget creep got me. I'll let the following tell the story. emember this car has done 190000 miles and is 25 years old.
And why those arch repair pieces are a waste.
[url]
|https://forums-
images.pistonheads.com/59348/202410316110084[/url]
Both sides were striped and replaced and we ended up in the paint booth.
Now what do I do with the engine. It was stripped down and found to be worn out, not surprising really. Both heads had cracks between spark plug and valves, one really bad. Thats why it blew out a plug when giving it loads of boost then>
The only things that were reused was the cam shafts and crank, new at 120000 miles and looked after with 10w60 castrol.
A good semi closed block was used but everything else was brand new
Then of course the gear box needed a refresh.
Thats where it's at for now.
Oh forgot about the syvecs, cal switch, defi gauges
So I purchased a L reg WRX impreza and was hooked. It had 240 bhp but soon added a piggy back chip taking it to about 270.
Then I saw this for sale.
wrx sti ra limited.
Now at the time of purchase I didn't know who the owner was but did a bit of research and found out he knew his stuff as a race engineer for historic race cars and is fairly well known on PH even today. Hi JF
He had modified the car to a high standard and was quickly paid for.
After a couple of years the car changed to this.
[url]
images.pistonheads.com/59348/202410315180806[/url]
So happy days for the next 18 years just doing routine maintenace, couple of clutches, refreshed big end bearings and crank once and lots of oil changes.
So to this year, still looked good
Apart from a little bit of rust showing at the back arches.
Mot was due in April and it failed because the coilovers were shot and as usual emissions were out again, same as every year. then
So it was make your mine up time due to the mileage and knowing Impreza's rot from the inside out.
You can get these to repair the arches but thy are a waste of time, I'll show you later
I took it to a well know place for some advice on what to do with it. Up on the ramps they soon told me.
Now this is when you are all going to tell me that I'm mad, should of scrapped it, waste of money Etc.
But its been with me too long to kill it off so told them to do what ever they've got to do.
But then buget creep got me. I'll let the following tell the story. emember this car has done 190000 miles and is 25 years old.
And why those arch repair pieces are a waste.
[url]
images.pistonheads.com/59348/202410316110084[/url]
Both sides were striped and replaced and we ended up in the paint booth.
Now what do I do with the engine. It was stripped down and found to be worn out, not surprising really. Both heads had cracks between spark plug and valves, one really bad. Thats why it blew out a plug when giving it loads of boost then>
The only things that were reused was the cam shafts and crank, new at 120000 miles and looked after with 10w60 castrol.
A good semi closed block was used but everything else was brand new
Then of course the gear box needed a refresh.
Thats where it's at for now.
Oh forgot about the syvecs, cal switch, defi gauges
A very familiar car to me and happy to see it being kept alive.
I spent several track days, back in the day, circulating in my car (P1) with John and this car. Donington and Bedford being two that particularly stick out.
In fact, lapping with him and seeing the ease with which he could get his car to oversteer compared to me having to lift off and trail brake just to try to get my viscous diff equipped P1 to turn in as well as this car resulted in me organising the fitting of 5 speed dccd box and then later a 6 speed dccd with big rear axle etc to cope as the power was increased in my car. He also wrote a great explanation of how to get the best out of the dccd which was very helpful.
I also have one of his early baffled diffs fitted to my car to this day.
Enjoy
I spent several track days, back in the day, circulating in my car (P1) with John and this car. Donington and Bedford being two that particularly stick out.
In fact, lapping with him and seeing the ease with which he could get his car to oversteer compared to me having to lift off and trail brake just to try to get my viscous diff equipped P1 to turn in as well as this car resulted in me organising the fitting of 5 speed dccd box and then later a 6 speed dccd with big rear axle etc to cope as the power was increased in my car. He also wrote a great explanation of how to get the best out of the dccd which was very helpful.
I also have one of his early baffled diffs fitted to my car to this day.
Enjoy
I purchased a brand new Impreza Turbo back in 2000, last of the classic shape. I looked it up a few years ago and was surprised to find out it got to about 15 years old and then the MOTs just stopped, I can only assume it got scrapped.
They do seem to like to rust, once you see it on the arches the car is basically done.
They do seem to like to rust, once you see it on the arches the car is basically done.
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