Mr B

Good start to the day & more enjoyable than a soggy weetabix :-)

I buy hardware only, mainly as prefer some of the older 14.1" notebooks for workshop use (tough & easy/cheap repair) & likes of hp dv6000 machines can be bought for price of take away & with cpu change to best in range & an SSD they perform better than many decent spec new but with huge saving in initial cost & also easily repaired/maintained as parts are in abundance. Windows 7 was easy to hooky licence with OEM certificates & bios 2.1 patch. Had good deal on 2 7 extra licences from MS though. Quite hard these days in UK to buy a PC/Notebook without an OS.

I think the 8 fiasco gave them a right rumping, throw in popularity of OSX & GPL. open source OS growth has forced the licensing to be free or damn close to it . Won't be as flexible as old days of a retail key & OS install media but if do backups & review setup media options before a disaster etc it should be good for most & hard to grumble if truly free ...

They are quite forgiving on pirated systems, treat you as an innocent & tend offer cut prices even if you contact them over your licensing issues. Never had any licence issues with them even when have been a bit naughty so they get a thumbs up for that ...

Eating doughnuts & looking at MS remarks on the 10 upgrade would suggest that current idea is a guaranteed 1yr window from release date to update free & that updated OS remains free for life on that hardware system. Is possible free update will become permanent pending on the market in terms of popularity & OS competitiveness . Not a bad deal if 10 turns out a winner, will have a use for my 8 retail key after all :-)

Lol , I do feel better after the rant :-) Productive day today & not going off the rails :-P No snickers but we have fresh decent large proper bakery doughnuts on a Friday lunch :-)

wasted most of my morning moaning over 8 & I'm not even using it besides on spare notebook :-S

^ You're fired ... lol

Yeh I would probably go with half decent cat1 system & dump the teardrop transponder & the key with fob. I would get 2 standard metal keys cut, maybe on scooby or STI emblem blanks & have the cat1 alarm fobs work the central locking direct. easy live with over current setup plus insurance will like cat1 cert. I quite like autowatch, sigma & Cobra alarms but worth doing some research so buy something you happy with, alarms are quite cheap these days ... Those touch style immobilisers are normally only done as cheapest option for importers (about £75 trade)

Quite old in today's world & after couple years they only really support current model range. Kind of one of those things and more canon than MS at blame. Beauty with 7 was even real old stuff we had for XP would work on 7 sometimes required compatibility mode & the admin trick like you doing on 8 but once tweaked it would run faultless. I run MS on everything & still on WM6.5.5 on the phone, like you say Windows Phone looks nice & tiles work good on the phone but man is it basic/incompetent, very much a dumb phone compared to old WM6.5 or Android. Fingers crossed on 10, let me know how your mum gets on with it :-D Best I get cracking, my own moaning is holding up the workshop today :-P

Office printer is canon. Indeed use compatible inks & all fine under 7. Could get around it with a canon service utility that would function on what was needed. Canon had listed driver as not full 8 compatible & not likely get updated. Main concern for me beside my personal dislike of 8 was our diagnostic software as that needs run without hassle.

yeh we have driver issues with diagnosis cables & software for gas analyser crashes. Also compatibility with our office printer was half hearted & some driver functions such as ink level & advanced maintenance would not work. do agree within reason that driver issues not exactly MS fault but they really need do best effort with backward compatibility & that was one of the big points of Windows 7 adoption success. Working with the OS was an eyesore & clever OS should be intuitive in use ! Will be using 7 in the workshop for some time I expect, will play with 10 once retail released & had some teething time but won't be swapped until support gone for 7 or because it that damn amazing it worth the money & effort to update.

I'll send you a tub of Vaseline & a strip of leather to bite on ... Most worthwhile things in life require some unpleasantness at first :-)

I like a chinese digital pocket planner more than Vista :-) Just amazing that some of the supposedly best OS development team in the world could produce Vista then top it with 8 8.1 So yeh bit of a 8 hater me, quite capable with PC's too - software & hardware but 8 & 8.1 was useless for my needs, sure some things can be resolved by extreme effort but that not how a modern OS should work. In business time is money & if i'm spending extra 20 minutes per diagnosis session due to driver issues & crashes someone got pay for that time . I still have 8.1 on the spare notebook on one drive & amazes me how !Removed! it is every time I have a play with it. design is awful, compatibility is awful, lack of inspiration & logical concept is in abundance, I have no idea what MS development team & testing had been doing to produce such a useless windows evolution :-/ Fingers crossed 10 is back on track & they put some effort in it ! Hope the Phone version of 10 half decent too as not great fan of Android or Apple. Proper ranting old timer me :-D :-P

Windows 8 & 8.1 is pig **** as simple as that. Interface is !Removed!, quite like tile design but f00king useless unless touchscreen & didn't go any deeper than the tile homescreen really. No start menu was huge *****-up & had huge potential for tile styling & widgets (apps) & was a must for user preference & hardware (non touchscreen) Driver issues is another disaster. I'm on 7 Ultimate for business & home use, Windows 8 & 8.1 was a disaster with our diagnostics kit so the free key I had was useless. Boot & shutdown times on 7 are just as good if use SSD & know how do a good install without useless bloatware & running services. Most businesses still on XP & 7, just look in a hospital or airport to back that up. Am hoping 10 has made vast improvements but not holding my breath as after using WM6.5.5 & then having that Windows Phone !Removed! supersede it proved how stupid & backwards MS are. I can datalog & live read faults on my Windows Mobile devices, on Windows Phone sending email with attachments was a challenge let alone any advanced usage :-D Totally going backwards with OS concept & design :-/ All sounds rather negative but I hold 7 in high regard as our computer usage on 7 has been faultless & easy in everything we thrown at it ... Don't like look of free offer on this 10 either, that just 1 year then you will paying Billy Boy ! I will test 10 on spare notebook but I can't throw away a working OS just to be up to date/trend ....

Transponder dongle looks like a Sterling to me possibly ! Maybe Toad but they normally have toad brand moulded on them !

You don't have an alarm do you !? or have you got a sigma as well !?, the 2 buttons on the key are purely remote central locking from factory unless upgraded by a sigma. When imported your JDM car would of had the tear drop transponder immobiliser fitted as part of UK conversion as vehicles of that age in UK need an immobiliser as minimum security requirement to pass testing. Your particular touch type transponder is a bit crap to use. What paperwork do you have for alarm as UK insurance would want this so you should have something. UK cars came with transponder inbuilt into key along with remote central locking. Sigma was a full secondary alarm option from UK Subaru dealers & added to work with original key fob housing. If you don't want use the teardrop touch responder you will have to remove & upgrade immobiliser/alarm system & have certificate for insurance ...

Doubt they will be much use and if can help will cost silly money probably. Grey import would probably of been done in UK but could be after-market Japan perhaps. Find out what make it is, if can not tell by fob then finding the brain under dash is needed & hopefully has model numbers so a spare key & programming instructions can be sourced.

No, key has transponder chip inside which needs be detected by receiver near ign barrel. get key cut with a transponder is only around £30 or less if shop about then you can use that key along with keypad. You have to remember you actually have 2 immobilizers, 1 being standard subaru with key transponder & ecu immobiliser & 2 being the Sigma in your case.

Thing is if CEL light comes on for faults like throttle sensor etc the codes will be stored. CEL for misfire will not store so would be good check/replace leads & plugs just to rule out basics. I have done a few scoobs with what seemed odd fault to turn into leads normally & on boosted motors plug & lead faults can be triggered by boost pressure as effects spark resistance.

you have a different alarm, find out what make it is ....

Would of thought your mechanic would have a diagnostic reader capable of basic communication with the pre OBD2 compliant subaru system. Most decent garage kit does. If you do have a 16pin OBD2 looking cable on your 97JDM then you can also use a ISO9141 compliant OBD2 cable & Free Subaru Select Monitor software (FreeSSM) to monitor faults & run tests. Up to 1996 was 9pin ssm1 connector 97-on had 16 pin OBD but was wired different & was called ssm2 by subaru ... FreeSSM software link is below > https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Ub2apq5-pfNHVKZE13clFxc1E/view?usp=sharing ssm2 16pin (OBD looking) compatible cable ISO9141 link is below > http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400786919123 How to make a 9pin ssm1 cable link is below > https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Ub2apq5-pfTkZCOGlJVnJpSmM/view?usp=sharing

I would guess if original cusco supplied springs they would be 6 to 7kg/mm on front & 5 to 6kg/mm on rear.

Measure internal diameter of your springs, should be 62-63mm for 2.5" standard coilover springs. 9" length sounds good even go to 10" if your strut has enough travel range on the body to make them work. link below with some springs, shop about as may save some cash. https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/s/suspension-steering/coilover-springs/faulkners-race-springs/2-5-inch-i-d-coilover-springs

Mmm 75lbs/inch is very soft helper spring, that is about 1.5kg/mm You want something like 4.5kg/mm or 5.0kg/mm front with around 3.75, 4.0kg/mm or 4.25kg/mm on rears. Do you know what rating current springs are !? Before fitting you need mark strut full droop & mark rod for full compression then when fitting & setting ride height you can see how far off the bump stop you are as if not enough compression travel left you will be on the bump stop once carry passengers/load. rough chart guide below on kg to lbs kg/mm to lbs/in ---------------------- 8.0 = 448 7.5 = 420 7.0 = 392 6.5 = 364 6.0 = 336 5.5 = 308 5.0 = 280 4.5 = 252 4.0 = 224 3.0 = 168 2.0 = 112