Daily beater - '01 Impreza WRX

[bigsigh]

@bigsigh do you still use the gc8? how did you find the ESL board?

It hasnt been out in a while, it has an oil leak which i CBA fixing and i stripped a few bits off the engine for @bludgod to do some trouble shooting on another car he was mapping , so didnt get much of chance to play with the ESL really, but found it fine , i have heard of a few people struggling to get the logging working properly , but i never had any real issues, that being said the work i have done with it was minimal so far.

I take it the blue one is getting the donations?

For now yes, the engine will be going in this weekend as i have no daily and have commandeered the wife's car, so need to get something sorted ASAP. Long term still not 100% , @bludgod is coaxing me to shell it into a 1600 shell, so that might be fun lol, either that or strip it and scrap the shell and sell the saleable bits

 

[Laundrymike]

Seems a shame, after all the work you put into it!

 

[GT_MAXER]

It hasnt been out in a while, it has an oil leak which i CBA fixing and i stripped a few bits off the engine for @bludgod to do some trouble shooting on another car he was mapping , so didnt get much of chance to play with the ESL really, but found it fine , i have heard of a few people struggling to get the logging working properly , but i never had any real issues, that being said the work i have done with it was minimal so far.




For now yes, the engine will be going in this weekend as i have no daily and have commandeered the wife's car, so need to get something sorted ASAP. Long term still not 100% , @bludgod is coaxing me to shell it into a 1600 shell, so that might be fun lol, either that or strip it and scrap the shell and sell the saleable bits

ill take a lend of your esl board lend or buy

 

[Lyons]

I’m lost. Is that 3 big eyes you have now? How many classics?!

 

[Gaz86]

Happen to have a decent TD04/05 lying about at all??

 

[southsky sunrise]

Take it dad didn’t end up with the blue one Simon? Surprising he seamed to quite a persuasive sort

 

[bigsigh]

Waow , June 2018 since this was last posted in

some amount of greenery growing on hernow

This arrived today , so big silvers rusty arches will be the test bed

 

[bigsigh]

Take it dad didn’t end up with the blue one Simon? Surprising he seamed to quite a persuasive sort

Sorry I missed this Fred , he like to talk but he couldn’t handle anything anyway quick now days

 

[bigsigh]

Minor Thread Revival.
This has sat the the yard from the engine was donated to the RMS blue bugeye in June 2018.
Anyway , decided to have a poke at it to see whats involved in getting it through the MOT, TLDR : ... a LOT

• Major rust in the NSR suspension town (very common)
• rusty arches at the rear (both sides)
• heavily corroded running gear / suspension / brakes
• no engine
  
• 4 years of greenery growing from every crevice

First job was to power wash the green off it, of course we didnt get far, even towing with the JCB the handbrake shoes were welded to the inside of the drums (i left the handbrake off to try and avoid this). pulled off the rear wheels, off with the calipers and smashed off the discs to destroy the shoes and get it rolling.

Once rolling the power washer on hot made short work of the growth, and also lifted most of the paint off the front bumper (have a replacement anyway)

 

[bigsigh]

Got it pushed up into the shed and ready to strip down

Up onto axle stands and dropped the rear suspension, calipers off again, ditched the brake discs, disconnected the prop from the diff , and have the trailing arms disconnected from the hubs, just the handbrake cables and ABS sensors to disconnect and the subframe and lateral arms can be dropped out.

The plan is to see how deep the rot has spread, and if i can get it fixed, if the chassis is salvageable then its game on , if not ill just scrap her.

 

[bludgod]

Pickup a nice 2.0 hawk gx shell if you can find one and transplant everything too it

 

[bigsigh]

It's Def an option Pete , but I have gathered a fair few bug parts over the years , sti headlights , jdm blob tails and blob rear bumper to match and a few other bits , would like to do it if I can, without throwing money at another chassis , but we'll see

 

[NickR]

Fair play! What happened to our blue RMS Bug WRX? Is it still on the go?

 

[bigsigh]

Fair play! What happened to our blue RMS Bug WRX? Is it still on the go?

i never heard of it again , watched it drive away and never saw it again... thankfully

 

[Chris0]

Suprised how well it came up after the wash! Still have the old EJ205 from my forester if you need one for parts? No doubt you have more stock up there than Eastwoods

 

[bigsigh]

Suprised how well it came up after the wash! Still have the old EJ205 from my forester if you need one for parts? No doubt you have more stock up there than Eastwoods

4 at the last count and a 2.1 stroker needing assembly

 

[bigsigh]

Got a couple more hours at it this afternoon, the ABS sensors are fused into the hubs, new ones are £40 a side, trying to chisel them out will likely just damage them anyway so i just nipped the wire each side.
Released the handbrake cable from the hub each side and then was able to drop the rear subframe with diff, driveshafts, lateral arms and hubs all intact.

got a trailing arm off one side and ready to drop off the other side except for a handbrake cable bracket, which i soaked in WD40 and will get off tomorrow.
Then took the rear bumper off , the bumper support bracket has totally disintegrated which is fairly standard, there is only one small hole in the rear panel which is a nice surprise , was expecting it to be worse.

Aiming to get a day at it tomorrow and get everything else out from under the car.

 

[bigsigh]

Pulled the last of the running gear off the car, also got the prop off , the car was undersealed at some point and the bits that are coated are good and solid, trouble is the bits that arent are crusty and in some places the moisture has gotten beneath the underseal and its rotted bad.

next up was the fuel tank , disconnected the pump wires and hoses from inside, then the fuel filler and overflow, the high pressure feed connector on the NS refused to separate , so i got stuck there for now.

pulled the exhaust head shield off and the rusted out bumper support brackets, for the price of them new i will just replace if this car ever goes back together.

Did a quick summary of the main areas that are going to need attention

Arches

Under the boot rubber seal

bottom of the rear panel

fuel filler neck where the drain blocks and lies full of water

rear shock towers on both sides

Have a set of later model rear lights and the bumper to match , so tried one on as a moral boost LOL

orig

facelift

 

[bigsigh]

Need to get the tank out so i can start grinding and cutting without worrying about setting myself on fire, also need to get the skirts off to check the sills then i can start ordering panels, there are good quality replacement sills and arch repair panels available, so ill pro go that route.

gonna need some 0.9mm sheet to make up patches, never bought any before so any recommendations appreciated

further forward the middle section of the car has been well sealed and has very little in the way of jack damage or abuse, so it will be handy to give it a clean up once the back is welded up

 

[big_pete]

Wow you have the heart of a lion staring into that lol

 

[bigsigh]

Wow you have the heart of a lion staring into that lol

I haven't done a load of welding and fabrication before , and it's something that interests me.

If I had a car worth any real money I probably wouldn't want to tackle it myself and risk devaluing it. This thing is not an economical repair at all, to pay someone to leave this right would far exceed the value of the car, and if I don't do it, it will be scrapped.

So I wanna do it to learn on and if I mess it up it was for scrap anyway and if I manage to get it MOT worthy then it's back to being a daily beater

It's never gonna be a concourse car , and that's Def not the intension , but if I could get it back on the road (solid enough rear suspension towers to pass MOT) I would def consider it a success

 

[brendy7]

Need to get the tank out so i can start grinding and cutting without worrying about setting myself on fire, also need to get the skirts off to check the sills then i can start ordering panels, there are good quality replacement sills and arch repair panels available, so ill pro go that route.

gonna need some 0.9mm sheet to make up patches, never bought any before so any recommendations appreciated

further forward the middle section of the car has been well sealed and has very little in the way of jack damage or abuse, so it will be handy to give it a clean up once the back is welded up

You can get sheets of tin from the motor factors I get mine from Colin Adams in all different sizes. I just done the underside of the missus sub there dropped everything out of it got the arms and frames shot blasted and coated new bushes worth doing of your planning on keeping it.

 

[bigsigh]

@brendy7 yep my bro in law was telling me the motor factors have it if I'm stuck , but they can be a bit dearer than the metal dealers ? I know of ruddells in ards which would be handy , but I'll ring about for prices next week and see

Which Impreza has your wife got ?

 

[Gambit]

Jeez thatll keep you occupied for a while anyhow!!

 

[brendy7]

@brendy7 yep my bro in law was telling me the motor factors have it if I'm stuck , but they can be a bit dearer than the metal dealers ? I know of ruddells in ards which would be handy , but I'll ring about for prices next week and see

Which Impreza has your wife got ?

It's a 04 WRX sliver as well just about finished up with the underside of it then I've a vf35 hybrid turbo to fit fuel regulator and rocker cover gaskets then hope to get it mot'd here in June. Theres a picture of the end result