Just picked up my 1st Impreza

[shadowvyper]

Still got my 96 legacy GT but decided that was not enough I just bought myself a little project which I think was about to be scrapped(couldn't let that happen) I have an early version 1 Import which I must say is brilliant. It's as clean as a whistle bodywork wise but the engine needs a bit of going over. It has quite a bad oil leak from the rear of the engine so I think I will have the engine out and replace all gaskets and oil seals. It's the fully closed deck engine the bottom end of which was rebuilt last year (new rings rods and shells) I would like to keep the old girl alive as I think there are not too many version 1's around these day's, I may be wrong probably am but I love it. Will throw a couple of pick's on when it's stopped !Removed! raining.

[stants]

Well done sir ! Always like to see People rescuing them instead of being broken

[shadowvyper]

Thank you Stants, here's a couple of pic's of the old girl.

[savage bulldogs]

Yeah i think Clean classics in general are a bit thin on the ground now [emoji19] but I suppose the early ones are over 20 yrs old .

I'm bit bias but I do like to see the early ones being restored as a lot of the v1's have been broken and had their cdb's ripped out for big power builds

other than fixing the oil leak do you have any other plans for it ?

[shadowvyper]

I'm not planning on any mod's, just hopefully going to restore it back to it's original beauty, although saying that I do plan a colour change I'm not keen on the silver. Bonnet scoop has got to go in favour of an original for that model and the only other non original mod's are likely to be a full decat stainless system and the Z4 ecu which I have already replaced for the original C2 model. I love the look of the mod'ed scoob's they are so varied and stylish I just think I want to keep this as original as I can. I'm not sure the boot spoiler is original either but that suits the car well me thinks. The leak I have discovered is the front crankshaft oil seal so I will be replacing all the seals on the front of the engine when I change the cambelt. Any advice on any other aspect of the way the car looks in relation to how it would have looked originally would be much appreciated. Thank in advance people your assistance is always much appreciated.

[D.Pavely]

If it's been rebuilt may have a leaking rear crankshaft seal or could be the block joint leaking

[shadowvyper]

I'm seriously considering engine out and all oil seals and gaskets replaced as I would really like to see this car still going strong a few years down the line yet, The bottom rebuild was only done last year I have the receipt for the work, surely the block would still have some guarantee if it turns out that is where it is leaking from(I shall have to phone them monday and find out). The rebuild was done by Star Engineers Chelmsford the work done was shaft shells 4xrods rings and gaskets complete according to the receipt. I've fallen for the old girl so she will get whatever she needs to make her right.

[D.Pavely]

If it was rebuilt you shouldn't need to do all the gaskets as it would have been measured to tolerance no need to waste good workmanship. It's common to get a poor seal now and then

[savage bulldogs]

The z4 ecu is a common mod on early wrx's as the map runs tdo5, 440's and wrx profile cams to produce 260 hp . I've personally never switched ecu's or decated without mapping straight afterwards and would suggest to at least get it on a rolling road to make sure it's running ok (especially if decated )

The spoiler looks like the standard one on impreza wrx and sti up to v4 ,apart from the a few special models

Although I've only ever owned 2 classics and they've both been silver [emoji16]

I agree I'd much prefer a white or graphite grey saloon to be be honest

Check the sump for leaks while you're replacing seals as the sump is just three bonded on from factory and can weap at the crank ends

you can buy a group n cork sump gasket as a upgrade which can help reduce the chances of it leaking .