Well, its about time I pulled my finger out, and got this in the projects thread... so here goes... as its snowing here and too cold to do owt...
Story goes like this... Back in June 2005 I got the chance to do a swap with
MY00 UK Turbo which I'd owned for nearly 2 years... for a mates old MY98 STi type R... this car had a bomb spent on it in Sept 04... and went like s**t off a shovel...
The swap was done and for the next 2 months I was a very happy lad, at the age of 23 didn't think it was a bad car to be driving round in...
This is what it looked like...
Although I loved the way the car went... I had and still have plans for changing the looks of the car... ie, wheels, lights etc...
Anyway, booked tickets with the SIDC to get it on there stand at TRAX beginning of Sept, blue one was booked to go, but as the sudden change of car, got the tickets changed for the black one... so had alot of cleaning to catch up on to get it show worthy...
It went well on the day... apart from being flued up... had a good day and a nice drive there and back...
2-3 weeks later (D-day) the week of the fuel scare, I was on my way back from work, and heard a nasty rattle from the engine under load... didn't sound good, as I live less than 1 mile away from where I work... got it home and then go on the phone to get a mate down to confirm my suspission... noisey bottom end bearing...££££...
Oh well, didn't have the money to repair it... so it was decided that I would park it up and save up for the repairs...
The road tax was sent back and it was SORN'ed...
As the winter was on the way... I decided to look at getting a cheap run about to get to and from work...
So a trip to a local salvage yard... and I found just what I was looking for...lol, a L-reg 1200cc Corsa with 58K on the clock... wanted the drivers door bending back and a set of locks... plus a good clean...
£300 quid later it was sat up my drive, £200 quid to insure it for a year ( Cheers Gary Moulson ) and £50 quid for a donor car...
Anyway, 3-4 weeks later, keeping a eye on whats new at the salvage yard... come across a P-reg 1400 Corsa sport... although I only wanted a cheap run about... the 1200cc 4 speed Corsa was absolutley guttless...
So for £450 quid, I bought my next car... with a slight dent in the bonnet, 1 smashed headlight, and the bumper wanting putting back on its mounts plus a good clean...
So, I sold the purple one and made a few £££'s... and put my Corsa sport on the road...
Abit of a tidy up, and pimping... this is what it looked like... ahhhh, moving back up in the street cred chart...
Anyway, back to the Scooby... I had decided that I didn't want to repair the car to have it back as it was... I wanted more bhp plus reliability...
I set to work, first purchase while they was cheap... was a trip back up to Teg Sport who built the car, and had one of their uprated headers and turbo up-pipe... hmmm, bling...
Also got one of Hybrid's FMIC off e-bay... one for £190 quid... absolute bargain!!! also found some 18's on e-bay that I liked the look of, ah, a chance to get rid of the gold wheels... so 1 phone call to Midlands wheels, and they was on there way... and sold the gold wheels for £200 with the Kumho tires on...
So, at this point the car was still parked up un touched... done nowt to it regarding the rebuild... had many ideas running through my head, I blame you lot on here and on SIDC...
Rebuild the 2litre, or build a 2.5... hmmmm...
Well, one weekend I was peed off with seeing the FMIC in the boot, so set my mind on fitting it... really good kit, and was on over 1 weekend...
So, now still saving... time to decide what to do... at first I was gonna take the engine out myself, then take it to Teg Sport for them to do the rebuild... but wasn't quite sure what to do or what I could afford???
Well, getting near to christmas... the Scooby was coming up for insurance renewal... although there wasn't much chance of it going anywhere, I wanted peace of mind... so... had my renewal quote through from Tesco's for £2300, OMG... I was on the phone to Gary Moulson straight away... it was sorted within minutes... all mods and planned mods declared... for around the £1600 mark...
This was alittle bit of a set back... especially coming up to christmas... but never mind... IMHO it was a blessing in discuise having the car off the road over winter...
Then a week before christmas, a mate of mine crashed his car, and needed a reliable car to get about in... I wasn't planning to sell my Corsa just yet... it was doing a fab job of getting me from a to b...
But what he offered me, I couldn't refuse... made quite abit on this one... which ment money back in the bank... so it was sold...
Over the christmas period, fitted some crystal sidelights to the scooby... to finish it off...
Being off over the holiday period, I need to sort a car out for when I started back at work... so the hunt was on... came across a old MK1 Golf... wanted a few jobs doing... but was cheap enough... taxed and tested, and meant I'd still have quite abit left in the bank...
So I bought this one... a few quid spent on it got it looking like this...
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/8330/im0000568dd.jpg
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/936/im0000708pp.jpg
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/5733/im0000598jz.jpg
Well, it did its job of getting me about... so still undecided about what to do... got chatting to a few more people on here...
Then come across a bloke on here called Playsatan... got chatting via PM to him about AXIS 2.3 conversion...
Previously even spoke to P1Mark, was thinking about going do his chosen route... but this wasn't meant to be...
So... in the mean time... my sister had sold her R5Turbo, and her boyfriend... Andy... had built her another 5 turbo, but with abit of a twist... although the car looked standard... underneath the bonnet was a Volvo 1700 turbo lump... this thing is mad!!!
Seeing this and his quality of work... also driving it...!!! made me want my Scooby back...
So, got chatting to him... I had a sudden burst of faith in myself and him... willing to take on the world... I decided to start the engine removeale, but also decided that with Andy that we was gonna rebuild it ourselves... so, decided to build a car port on the side of the house to do the work under, this was completed withing 2 days... plus a couple more security lights for the late nights.
So... over the next weekend, the engine was out... alot quicker than expected... to quick really... as I didn't have any doubt that I couldn't remove the engine...
It was just stripping the block for rebuild I was abit worried about...
So the following weekend... inlet manifold, headers, turbo etc were all removed...
Weekend after slowly plodding on, the heads were off, sump, water pump, oil pump etc..., while taking all these bits off, it was noted of the amount of sealer used by Teg Sport on their rebuild... it was unbelievable... when the sump was off, looking closely at things... there was traces of sealant in the oil pick up pipe... oh dear... also, lose nuts and bolts here and there... I was quickly loosing faith in Teg Sports ability... hence now deciding... we'd deffinatly be doing the rebuild and not them...
The weekend after, Andy was down... to split the block... god, was I glad he was down for this bit...
This confirming the engine had spun a bearing... and picked up on alot of them too...
A few marks to the bores etc... things were adding up ££££... IMHO it was a very poor rebuild...
About a month or so ago, also put the Golf up forsale... which sold for what it owed me to a guy on here...
Decided as the time is getting near to being back out in the Scoob, there was no point in buying another car... so here we have it... come rain, sleat, or snow... this is my transport to work, plus its keeping me fit...
So, a few weeks ago now, I made a few e-mails... and that was it... one new EJ22t block ordered from
SubaruWRXparts.com: Quality OEM and aftermarket parts for your Subaru Impreza, Legacy, and Forester. , also a few questions mailed to Ron at AXIS...
It's now on its way to Ron... so now just playing the waiting game... I've got a few bits to still be getting on with... gotta trim the inner wing still where the FMIC pipe work goes through, clean up engine bay, I wanna paint up the front end behind the bumper, paint the brakes and under the arches... like it looking clean...
Gotta order some samco's, injectors ( still ain't sure what to go for ), TD05 20g off Andy F... Plus other bits and bobs... So there we go, sorry its a little bit of a rushed type up... but I will now put bits and bobs up as it happens...
Hoping to have it built up and running for sometime in May... so fingers crossed...
MY98 Sti Type R... DIY style
but probably is a 380 bhp engine in reality.