'THE CROW' Prodrive Edition V7 STi - Blue / Black

[STIBUGEYES]

Forgive me as I have been having issues getting this up and have been extracting parts from my build thread so it might look a bit mixed up lol

My new pride and joy is a type UK not a JDM but I am over the moon with it. I feels worlds apart from the WRX and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed my old STI. For those of you who know your number plates well these are from Ireland and no I didn’t go that far to get the car.

I went to have a look at another prodrive STI that turned out to be an absolute dog of a car. I told the guy that I wasn’t happy that I had been all the way to see the car and it was not what I thought It was. Let’s say the pictures did it justice. After a coffee and a chat he asked me what was on my bucket list and he showed me a private collection that he had. Now due to where this guys is and where his collection is I have agreed as gentlemen not to disclose where it is as he is worried about the theft issues. If I was him I would have round the clock security. !Removed! HELL SOME OF THE CARS……

After a bit of haggling and a heavy night on the sauce with the bloke we struck up a deal and I am now the proud new owner. The car has wanted for nothing in it life time. I am the 3rd owner and the car has just hit 80k. It has all the paperwork from its purchase including all the previous MOT papers and recipes of all work carried out. There has been no expense spared on this car and I hope to be able to keep that up.

A pic of here when I first got her.

The Car then went to the clinic all day for a full blown inspection. They have really been to town on it and I’m over the moon with it.

With an oil change some new Wiper Blades fitted she was pretty much in great nick. Poor Dave had the task of fitting the new steering wheel that turned out to be a mammoth task doing the rewiring and change over from the clock spring.

Now for the parts that need to be replaced due to age. I need to get a new Front sub frame as mine is showing signs of rust and age. IMPORTANT but not urgent and my exhaust is blowing in a few places. Again I can live with that.

So the plan for the next few months decide where I want to go with power and get an exhaust to accommodate it at the same time get I get it fitted get the sub frame done.

Hummmmmm need something new and shiny for the car.............

So after taking the car out for a 200 mile round trip to make sure all was good I got the dreaded CEL light................. So limped home off boost and took the car off the road until Sat.

Got home and plugged it in found out that I might be a CEL fix needed or an o2 sensor. fingers crossed that it wasn't a £ 300 quid jobby and for a change the ball was in my court and it was a Cel fix that was needed due to the decat.

So next on the shopping list as I have now decided what direction im going with the car will be a nice SCR exhaust and some new headers as my current ones are showing a leak. Going to rip them out and put new ones on ''Get it done once and get it done right''

[STIBUGEYES]

Finally got a decent day with the weather and got a chance to give the car a good going over too see whatstate it was in. Now I have never claimed to be a detailer but I was happy with how it cleaned up within my abilities. I have snow foamed, Clayed polished & sealed the car. There is the usual swirls & minor scratches that will need seeing too at a later date but for the time being I wanted to prevent any further damages. The car will get looked at by someone that knows what they are doing ha ha

[stants]

Good doings mate although I reckon you'll be a master at detailing soon with a black car !

[STIBUGEYES]

See as we have turned the corner with the weather I have been doing some parts shopping ready to make some changes to the car. Just got myself some nice new shoes. With the WRX I had the NS-2Rs and I was blown away with how well they handled and stuck to the road. So I have been shopping around for a few weeks to get the best price and I got a blinder of a deal from http://www.oponeo.co...medium#8968986

They were by far the cheapest I could find online so I am happy with that. I have also ordered a set of gauges so I can see what is going on. Boost Pressure, Oil Pressure and Oil Temperature along with a nice new dash pod. To top that off I have ordered a set of front and rear strut braces. With any luck this will all be here this week so I can get them installed. I have fitted some bonnet dampers as I prefer them and want to be different

I have also sprayed a few interior parts (pictures to follow)

Now all I need to do is decide on an Exhaust. Now I know I said that I was going to go for the SCR one but I am now not sure what I want to do. I don't want an ear bleeder but at the same time I don't want to not hear the rumble when I boot it. So that will be the next purchase when I stop farting around an commit to getting one

[STIBUGEYES]

Good doings mate although I reckon you'll be a master at detailing soon with a black car !

Now you mention it these arrived today any guesses??

I will reveal these at a later date

[stants]

Hmm handheld polisher/wet mop ?

[STIBUGEYES]

Yesterday saw the car go to tint for the back three windows.

The chap who did was a mobile one who came recommended from a mate of mine. To say that he was quick and professional is an understatement.

Sorry for the bad picture was taken this morning so I could put an update up. The car will be getting a clean and some better pictures taken over the weekend.

Due to being out on the p**s with work I didn't get much done this weekend.

I got as far as fitting the new number plate. A smaller road legal one and got rid of the plate covers that had Belfast all over them. Was driving me nuts people asking me if I was from Belfast with how Irish I sound

The Screws that were provided with the new plate were tapping screws and I refuse to puncture the bumper ;) So I ended up restoring the rusty bolts so they weren't an eye sore.

This bank holiday has been a busy one but I have managed to get some time in with the car so im happy

Inspired by a mate of mine I have added this little feature. Unfortunately the picture does it no justice but I love the little touch I adds to the looks.

The hubs are a job that I have been putting off for a while as I have been undecided as to what to do for the long run. I have decided to give these a clean up for the moment as I think I have decided in the long run what I am going to do... Watch this space. So rubbed down and then washed to remove the dust then protected in Hammerite.

Like an absolute tool I didn't take any pictures of the after part I got that carried away in doing it I forgot haha. but I am happy with the outcome as a temporary fix. I will have to do the front ones next but that is for another day.

went down the route of changing some of the fittings under the bonnet. This was done as I wanted to keep the theme of black on chrome / silver. Im happy with the quality and the way they look so I will be ordering another two packs of them so the rest can be done.

I also got a new snow foam lance and this one is so much better than the old one. made a nice little cocktail today and gave the car a bit of a wash. mix was way out but now improved

By the time I had found the camera again it had about dropped off but It did the job nicely. can tell the car hadn't moved after it had been on the jack a the ride height looks a tad high

[STIBUGEYES]

on one of the pages on here I made mention about the interior trim being done in plasti dip. Now I was really unhappy with the centre surround as I had made a s**t job off it. so I thought I would show you how cool and easy this stuff is to just pull off and start again.

Got a few more deliveries that should be here over the next few days well they had better be lol.

Next weekend sees the car off to the lads at the clinic so there will be another update then all being well,

[Gambit]

Liking that mate looking good. 

[Jay762]

Great thread - really shows what a difference a little bit of elbow grease can achieve

[STIBUGEYES]

Cheers Jay.

 

Still more to come this weekend so I hope to get another update up at some point soon

[STIBUGEYES]

This weekend was a bit of fun.
 
I have been playing with the idea of a new exhaust for many months but have not been able to decide what I wanted. I wanted something that was not going to be ear bleeding or a Jap exhaust look. I also wanted something that was going to give me plenty of flow for the long term future. So I have decided to go with a full cobra system. The down pipe on he old exhaust tapered down from 3 inch to two inch so I needed a new down pipe to marry up with the new centre and back box.
 
It has released the flat 4 rumble when you go for it but nice and quite during long drives. The same system is currently on the Vaughn SCR race car and is make 500bhp + and track legal with the Dba output. So happy happy.
 
A few pictures





Also during the exhaust work seen as the intercooler was out the senders we fitted and the wiring pulled for the gauges.

Spot the sender



Had a few other parts arrive on Friday to tart the engine bay up and get rid of some of the rusty looing bolts. I will get some pictures up of the changes in the next few days when I get a chance.







Well as the weather if getting nicer I have decided that the paint work could do with some TLC so I have ordered a rotary polisher and some paint treatment to take the swirls out and some minor scratches. This is a first for me but as the car is a project car I though I would have ago and see how I get on.

[STIBUGEYES]

Post man has just been