Tlag

Amazing recovery at that speed. Superb driving

5w40 is a good call on the oil. If you don't know the cambelt history at all, it's worth changing for peace of mind. However, if you look at the cambelt plastic covers, it's only three easy to get to bolts to remove the near side cover. Take it off and using a spanner on the crank, turn the cambelt one full rotation. When you find the writing on the belt, it should be easy to see. If it's almost worn off or difficult to read due to wear, change the belt. If it's really easy to read and bright, it's probably been done recently. Obviously do the oil filter and air filter. Don't get an air filter that needs oiling. They ruin the MAF over time. If the brake fluid is not transparent any more, change that for 5.1. Look at the oil on the gearbox dipstick. If it's really see through and obviously red, leave it alone. If it's red-brown and /or smells rancid, change it and the rear diff fluid.

Have I missed something? I knew there was talk of the Impreza not being available in the UK anymore but I thought that was a good few months away. I just looked at the Subaru UK website and not only has the Impreza been deleted but so has the Legacy!. Choices if buying new are, XV, Forester, BRZ and Outback. That's it!

Hmmm, not sure about the back end if I'm honest. The bumper is a bit boxy when the rest of the car has curves.. Just my opinion. On the flip side, the interior looks really nice. :)

I've never really looked at them til now but I like what I see of yours. :) Just off to google what the back end looks like,

Looks like a bit of lift off under steer to me :) Gambit, you must be the first person ever to get the words Austin Meastro and rallying into the same sentence.

A simple test, although not totally conclusive. with the engine idling, unplug the maf. If there is absolutely no change to rpm or smoothness, the chances are the maf has had it.

The good news is that physically it will fit. The bad news is that you will need a good proportion of the legacy it came from. Wiring loom, ecu, vacuum system (of which there is lots). Probably lots more that escapes me at the moment. Not saying its impossible, or even difficult but it will need a lot of work.

So when you plug the two blacks together and turn the ignition, the two red lights do nothing? If there are no codes stored (so no issues) the light should bling continuously and steadily. If codes are stored, they should give long flashes and short flashes, but I guess you knew that. :) Might be worth asking if you could borrow a same colour maf (they have coloured labels on) on the internet around you.

Sounds like he has used vinyl with a low tack adhesive. He should be using 5 yr stuff for cars, minimum

Im fairly confident it will be Lambda or maf to be honest. A Lambda is not too expensive but mafs are so it would be nice to be able to interrogate the ecu for stored codes before buying one. If you have a look at the wiring loom, somewhere near the grey plug, you should ideally find two, single wire, black plugs and possibly two green ones. By plugging the black ones together and turning the ignition on, you can see how many times the check engine light flashes which equates to a code. If you have no check engine light or even the plugs, we could be struggling a bit. If thats the case, it might be worth asking the installer if he has a MAF that you could borrow, just to test before buying one. Try these people for parts. Not everying is on the website so worth a call if you cant see the bits. http://www.importcarparts.co.uk/default.asp

Although you have two probes. Only the wired in one is the Lambda. The other probe is a heat probe and the engine can be run easily without it which is why I guess its been chopped. Yes, its a 22mm spanner. Its always worth a clean before buying another. It might just work. Even if it only works for a short time, at least you will then know to replace that item. You may have a big problem finding a code reader. It was a thing called Subaru select and was phased out when OBD became the norm. You may get lucky and find someone with an old one, so worth asking.

The Subaru 'book time' to do a cambelt is 5 hours from memory. All I can say is that that must include at least two coffee breaks and a long lunch! The problem is that a garage with no experience of Subarus only has that figure to refer to. We have got it down to about an hour/hour and a half now, but thats after doing a lot of them :)

Hi, and welcome. Thats a really neat looking install. :) At this stage, looking from a keyboard, it could be a few things. I would look at the O2/lambda sensor. They have 2 circuits. When one goes down, you get really bad fuel consumption and when the other dies it can produce what you describe. Its only when both circuits fail that the 'check engine' light comes on the dash. (do you have the full wiring loom and dash installed?) The other possible is the MAF, which is normally engine side of the air filter box. If this was still in a Legacy, you could check for error codes to give you a pointer but Im not sure how much Subaru wiring you have installed.

Wish I had read this thread before replying to the PM now. That will teach me.

Excellent write up Gambit. First time you do it it will take ages. After that, each time you do it, it will get faster. In the end, it's a 20-30 minute job....... Once you've grown the double joints you need in your fingers. ;)

Rumour has it that it did it in 6m 47 seconds. It would be a new record if so. Have you seen the figures for that car. 0-62 in 2.8 and limited to 217mph!!!

Welcome along.

There goes the neighbourhood :( :)

Got to be honest. I don't know a lot about Fozzies. It's the same EJ20 block and ancillaries as the Impreza so no reason why you can't change things and fettle things in the same was as the Impreza. The XT is the closest in mechanical spec to the Impreza (other than the STI) so a good base to start with.

Hoover? How did you know? :) I will l be sucking up the air from the atmosphere and converting it into lots of noise and lots of forward motion, :) I will be a starting a build thread on the car, probably around Christmas time.

Unfortunately, it sounds like classic Subaru head gasket problems. Due to the design of the engines, it's very rare to find the oil and coolant mixing when the head gaskets go. Is far more common for the gasket to go, between the water jacket and the combustion chamber. The water system gets pressurised and the escape route for the coolant is through the expansion tank.

Totally agree, but when it comes to my project car............ ;)

The next time I go, I will be driving my project car. The Christmas overtime is going straight into that :) Anybody else in the family wants to take there own car, they can fund the trip themselves. :)

I was gutted not to be able to go on this run. My daughter went with them though, and now she is been bitten by the 'ring' bug. I can see a family trip happening in 2014 :)