Mikku

Fitted the WC Lathe Werks knob to the stock shifter today and I love it! It looks cool, feels great and whether it's my imagination or not, it seems to have made shifting feel a bit more solid, if not easier. Can't wait to see how it goes with the Kartboy short shifter, that also came in the same box! 😁

Greased up the rear struts to get rid of or at least dampen the dreaded "clunk" and switched out the winter wheelset for a bit of gold! 😎

Switched out the winter wheelset today and whilst I was there, I lifted up the dust boots on the rear struts and smothered the shafts with lithium grease. Hopefully that will keep them quiet for a while. 👍 The "new" gold rims look the dog's danglies!! 😎

Good info there, which I'll be putting to the test soon because this arrived yesterday! 😎

This arrived yesterday. Looks and feels like a quality piece of kit. 😎

Delivery received today from New Jersey! I know what I'll be doing this weekend. 👍

So I took the WRX to Subaru yesterday, taking the mechanic out for a quick drive beforehand, so he could hear the noise I was talking about. I also told him about the play in the rear end links. The diagnosis was that the left rear strut was sticking, so they gave that a good doing over, greased it up and that seems to have cured the problem, albeit for the moment. Reading about this problem online, I'm guessing that this will be a temporary fix but at least I now know what the issue is and can keep it (and the right strut) greased up through the year. The mechanic also noted that the top radiator hose was bulging and the top of the radiator was starting to show its age, so they'll have to be replaced over the next few months. Along with those rear end links! Onwards and upwards! 👍

Thanks J! 👍

For brake fluid, read steering rack fluid!! I really should read my posts more carefully before pressing the submit button! 🙄

Thanks J! I've had a roll around under there and can't see anything that's obviously amiss other than some play in the sway bar end links (I think the bushings have seen better days), which gives me the excuse to buy some Kartboy replacements. However, I'm not sure that's causing the noise I'm hearing (which occurs when pulling away and stopping rather than going over bumps) and since it's now happening more noticeably and frequently and I have a couple of long drives coming up, I've booked the car in for an inspection at my local Subaru dealer to see what they say. If it's a quick and easy fix then I'll have a go myself but if not, they can do it. I hate paying dealer rates but such is life. 🙄

Since it's over 16 years old and done 70,000 miles, I'm thinking about replacing the stock pitch mount on my '05 WRX Wagon. There is a Group N version with uprated rubber bushings but I'm leaning more towards an aftermarket mount with polyurethane bushings, as per the example pictured below. My only concern is the level of increased NVH. Am therefore after some feedback from anyone who has done this mod to an older Impreza. Thanks in advance.

Thanks! I thought there shouldn't be any play there. Kartboy here we come! 👍

So last weekend I managed to fix the infamous power steering whine that was annoying the hell out of me, and probably my neighbours, especially on cold, early morning start-ups! The problem was indeed the O-ring, which was one of the older style, black ones rather than the salmon-coloured ones that Subaru now uses. It wasn’t broken but was hard, so I guess was allowing air into the system because the engine is now a lot quieter. Unfortunately, the steering now shudders at very low turning speed, which it never did before. After fitting the O-ring, I tried to bleed the system by turning the steering wheel from lock to lock. The foaming head on the brake fluid did reduce but didn’t completely disappear despite turning the wheel back and forth about ten times. I was worried about damaging something, especially as the car was on the ground, so I stopped at that point but am now wondering if I should have kept going. The upper reservoir return hose was also quite hard and I’m not sure when the brake fluid was last changed, so replacing those two are now on my jobs-to-do list. Apart from that, there are no fluid leaks that I can see and everything looks nice and dry down below. Should I be looking for or checking anything else? Thanks in advance for any comments, ideas or suggestions.

So I was rolling around under the WRX at the weekend, checking for any obvious reasons for the clunking sound that’s coming from the rear end of the car. One thing I noticed was the amount of play in the OEM rear sway bar end links, which I could wiggle around quite a bit just by hand. Is this normal or are the bushings showing their age? Assuming that they’re the original ones, in which case they’ve been on there for 17 years and over 113,000km, I’m inclined to replace them anyway but thought I’d check on here first. Thanks in advance for any replies or suggestions.

This weekend's job to do! 👍

So after the excitement of buying nice, new but “unnecessary” parts, I need to turn my attention to some maintenance issues. Two in particular. First up is to fix what I think is “power steering whine”, which I seem to get every time I start up and run the car from cold. And it does get flipping cold over here! I’ve read lots about this whine on here and elsewhere, so will start off replacing the O-ring and go from there. This weekend I’ll also whip off the air intake duct to check out the upper suction hose (aka the power steering reservoir line hose??) to see if that needs replacing too. The second job to investigate and hopefully sort out is the mechanical clunk that comes from the back end, usually when I pull away from standstill or come to a stop. Since I’m no mechanic, this will most probably be well beyond my skill level, but before I dust down the wallet and head to my local dealer, I want to get under the car to see if there’s anything obviously amiss to my untrained eye. I first thought it was the rear brakes but I’m now thinking driveshaft or suspension. It doesn’t seem to happen when driving, or at least I haven’t noticed if it does, so who knows!?

Thanks J! 👍 Have just cleaned out my PayPal account for the attached! 😎

Decided to go in a slightly different direction and have just ordered a spherical knob from WC Lathe Werks. I love the looks, size and shape of the Cobb but one of the things I've been reading about them is their weight, or more specifically, the lack thereof. The Lathe Werks one is a little more expensive but comes with a brass insert which increases the weight and in the end, that was the deciding factor. Will post up some pics when it arrives but below is a pic from the website. 👍

Well I did check and it looks like I have the standard shifter, as per the pics below. However, I have decided against the Perrin adapter and have just ordered a Kartboy shifter instead!! 😁 I liked the simplicity of the Perrin adapter, both from a design and installation point of view but the more I looked at it, the more I thought that it's a work-around, compared to a replacement shifter. Plus the need to bend the metal, base plate and the different shift position were both minus points in my book. The Kartboy shifter seems to get rave reviews from many, and since it's only a little more expensive than the Perrin adapter, I therefore decided to go for one of those instead.

Fitted some 2SP bonnet struts at the weekend. A vast improvement over the prehistoric bonnet rod/stay. 👍

Thanks! Yeah, just over a fortnight's not too bad, especially with a Russian invasion looming!!

The bonnet struts arrived yesterday and I fitted them today. They appear well-made and fitted fine, once I worked out what went where! The bonnet now moves smoothly back into position and is a night and day improvement over the stock set-up. A recommended upgrade! 👍

Fitted some bonnet struts to the Wagon! 👍

Am thinking about getting one of the black, Delrin gear knobs from Cobb. Am therefore looking for some real-world feedback on these. Anyone using/used one? Thanks in advance! 👍

So my JDM Wagon came with an aftermarket Carrozzeria audio/navi system, as pictured below. If you have never heard of the name before, it’s a popular Japanese brand made by Pioneer for the Japanese market. This particular model was a top-of-the-range “cyber navi” that was manufactured in 2012 and fitted to the car in 2013. I know that because the navi history shows the first destination in August of that year!! It has Bluetooth, an SD card reader, a tv, a front camera as well as the normal CD and radio. And of course the navi. I’ve never had a navi before, let alone a Japanese one, so don’t know if this is normal but even when I’m not using it, it/she invites me to take a rest after I’ve been driving for 2 hours. She also tells me that I’ve been idling too much in traffic and to turn my lights on when daylight starts to fade. It’s like having my mum in the car!! Which is not a good thing, in case you were wondering. 🤪 Moreover, the navi is THE most counter-intuitive piece of technology that I’ve experienced to date. Not having English instructions (or being able to read a Japanese user guide) doesn’t help but man, it’s annoying. For example, if you change your mind after typing in a destination and pressing the green “go” button, I can’t work out how to stop the damn thing! You would have thought there’d be a red “stop” or “exit” button but no, nothing! All of which leads me to the conclusion that it’s going! Soon!! And will be replaced with something much more simple to understand and operate! Watch this space! 👍