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What should have been a dream trip to map a customers car in the Caribbean didn’t quite turn out as planned.
Jons Impreza has had some serious mods since I last tuned it in Saint Lucia last July, it has grown from a fairly stock Sti 3 into a 700+bhp 2.3 full spec dual purpose street/drag car
Jon and his mechanic Daniel carried out all the build work locally, no mean feat when you consider they had never seen an Impreza engine before and there are only 2 Impreza turbos on the 24 mile long Island. Parts and information was sourced from the UK’s top tuners, namely Lateral Performance, RCMS and API engines.
The car has been prepared for an inter-island race series running in the Eastern Caribbean.
Initial tuning started out according to plan, the ‘street’ 550bhp set up on a hybrid Garrett GT30-40R turbo was recording some very strong acceleration data. Team mechanic and mapping driver Daniel was showing signs of white knuckles and wobbly knees, usually a good indicator
With day 1’s work done, the car was taken home to have the turbo swap and oil change carried out overnight, here things started to sway from plan.
The larger Garrett hybrid GT35-42R was a tighter fit and last minute pipework fabrication was required. With the nearest samco hose supplier a few hours flight away it was a case of DIY fabrication late into the night, assisted by a section of alloy aerial mast support tubing !
Initial start up the following morning seemed fine until a large puddle of oil appeared under the car The new oil filter seal had blown out, spewing around 3 ltrs of fresh oil onto the driveway. It was however quickly fixed and we got underway with the ‘serious’ mapping.
As we slowly made our way out to the faster sections of road we had the usual wafts of smoke from the headers due to some oil having splashed onto the wrap (anyone who has had headers wrapped will appreciate this!) this usually reduces after approx 10-15 mins driving, however this time we seemed to be attracting more than the usual attention/stares/people pointing etc. With the wind noise from the open windows combined with the local Caribbean accent I couldn’t quite hear what people were shouting but lip reading seemed to suggest “FIRE “ & “FLAMES” was the favoured description time to worry and grab the fire extinguisher……… sure enough the wrap was blazing away, a quick blast from the extinguisher and it was out. The damage however was evident as a melted fan blade which had chewed into the radiator causing it to leak. On a Sunday morning in the UK you would struggle to find a radiator repair shop open but on a tiny island, wave a few dollars around and its amazing what you can get done Then graft a Nissan fan onto the original Subaru motor and bad luck No1 is behind us !
On with the mapping and the car, running 109 octane race fuel, is really starting to fly as we treat it to 2.2 bar of boost on the big turbo, traction is starting to become an issue as we skip over the disused airfields slightly rough concrete surface. Jon takes the car for a few runs up the strip before we start to set up for the nitrous. By run 6 the oil temperature is rising fast and at idle, the oil pressure has dropped to 1 bar not good. A vibration and slight rumble can be heard from the engine that was not there previously. As a precaution we decide to stop testing and tow the car home to investigate the issue. Bad luck 2.
(The issue was later identified as an incorrectly machined Phase 2>1 main bearing housing which had damaged No5 main bearing and badly scored the crankshaft)
So what was bad luck 3 ? We towed the car back to the workshop using Jons new Landrover Discovery, the latest one with the 3.0 ltr V6 Jaguar 190bhp TD unit. This is one impressive power unit, with the massive torque coupled to the sports auto box we were hardly aware of the impreza behind us.
As we rounded one of the many tight bends Jon accelerated hard up the next hill, Jon then calls out “ where the F*** has he gone now ?” having lost the scoob in his mirrors. I looked out the side window and to my horror seen the Impreza almost alongside us…… but in the ditch to our left….. I shouted at Jon to stop but it was too late as the Impreza met with a solid 18” diameter power cable support pole.
The in-car video in the next post shows it better than I can describe.
Daniels father Chris was driving the Impreza whilst under tow, what had happened was the ignition key had not been turned fully to the ‘1’ position before starting off. On the Impreza the steering lock does not engage until the key is fully withdrawn BUT it also doesn’t actually disable the lock until it is initially turned to the 1 position. This had not been done and the first time the driver needed more than half a turn of steering …… the steering lock engaged throwing the car into the ditch. Daniel and Chris were ok, just badly bruised shoulders from the harness straps, the car however was not so well, with the engine pushed back a few inches, enough to bend the propshaft.
Initial inspection shows that the bumper/intercooler/rad and headers took the brunt of the hit and the main engine block and gearbox seem to have survived.
Jon, whilst initially gutted, coped fairly well with the situation and has taken it as an opportunity to undertake further upgrades and body lightening mods ! Such is the way of living with an extreme Impreza.
Andy
Last edited by ex-webby; 20 December 2006 at 21:51.
Feck! The Video is horrible to watch! Must have been a nightmare been towed along not being able to do anything. He seemed to be going too fast thought to me. Hardly showing much caution.
Similar thing happened to a car I was in some years ago we forgot about the stearing lock and it engaged when we pulled off the motorway, our reactions were the same as on the video except we didn't crash and managed to stop the tow car before anything nasty happened.
Am I the only one who thinks that the video simply shows how really stupid people can be?
Watch the Impreza drivers hands .... they do not, at any point, try to turn the wheel to the right to avoid the ditch - and whoever was driving the towing vehicle needs to be taken off the roads forthwith.
Idiots But glad no-one was injured .... there could have been some children playing on that verge and they would have been hurt!!
Am I the only one who thinks that the video simply shows how really stupid people can be?
Watch the Impreza drivers hands .... they do not, at any point, try to turn the wheel to the right to avoid the ditch - and whoever was driving the towing vehicle needs to be taken off the roads forthwith.
Idiots But glad no-one was injured .... there could have been some children playing on that verge and they would have been hurt!!
Exactly Mate!
Just watched the longer version of the video and clearly shows that they they were a set of idiots indeed.
Getting towed upto 5omph through a village with just a tow rope, Overtaking a bus and many cars whilst towing. Daft T***s.
Engines not running aswell so their would be no hydraulic pressure either for the brakes aswell if a hard stop is needed.
A accident either way probabaly would have happened. we should all send our condolances to the Lamp post, not the subaru or Land rover owners.
Here is the video link for you guys to make your own mind up!
Am I the only one who thinks that the video simply shows how really stupid people can be?
Watch the Impreza drivers hands .... they do not, at any point, try to turn the wheel to the right to avoid the ditch - and whoever was driving the towing vehicle needs to be taken off the roads forthwith.
Idiots But glad no-one was injured .... there could have been some children playing on that verge and they would have been hurt!!
I'm sure Andy will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the reason they don't turn the wheel to the right is because it is not possible to do so as the steering is locked. The chap in the passenger seat does reach over to the wheel and does seem to be trying to turn it to the right, but without much success.
I've watched the long version too, i can't believe that they managed to tow it for so long, and go round so many tight corners, only to come unstuck where there was a row of big posts..... really unlucky, and horrible to watch knowing whats coming.....
Bad news – delivered in 3’s ?
The new oil filter seal had blown out, spewing around 3 ltrs of fresh oil onto the driveway. It was however quickly fixed and we got underway with the ‘serious’ mapping.
time to worry and grab the fire extinguisher……… sure enough the wrap was blazing away, a quick blast from the extinguisher and it was out. The damage however was evident as a melted fan blade which had chewed into the radiator causing it to leak. On a Sunday morning in the UK you would struggle to find a radiator repair shop open but on a tiny island, wave a few dollars around and its amazing what you can get done 
But glad no-one was injured .... there could have been some children playing on that verge and they would have been hurt!!
