Jay762

The JDM aftermarket option puts them there as well - must admit I would be happy loosing the vents but hadn't thought about the single DIN idea and thin vent option the Blitz guage option for £300! https://www.japanparts.com/parts/detail/33804

quite right to!!

maybe follow @Mark D's approach and put some unequal length headers on it - oldschool scooby burble wont be mistaken for a volvo then ;)

yummy!!

Wotcha and welcome - keep us posted with progress

Wotcha and welcome

Sounds like a plan

Its a slippery slope - but hell of a slide

Some people just shouldn't be allowed to buy certain motors

Wotcha and welcome - keep us updated with progress

Sounds like you could have some crud built up. Cant remember who does them on here as a refurb / exchange basis....?

Wotcha and welcome!

its an estate car - you will get stuff like that. I can tell the difference but have an interest. Some hatch owners have had people complementing them on their Astra. With all car manufacturers being driven to effectively have all cars looking the same to meet all the design criteria it will probably get worse.

With a 97 wrx you can get the sports pack option with ESL which gives antilag + LC. Getting the extra chip installed costs about £30 for ESL to mod your existing ECU by soldering on the additional board so you either send your own or source a second standard ECU and send them that keeping your own on the road whilst you await the turnaround. I dont know of ECU's from other Subarus that would fit as a straight plug and play - as I understand it the 00/96 differs to 97/98 and they differ to 99/00 - all differ to newage But the one point I would make is going aftermarket gives you flexibility so factor in some time with someone who can setup the ECU specifically for your car, either on the road or book a dyno session. Whilst at the ESL course the concept of the ECU 'learning' and adjusting based on wideband inputs like on newer ECU's was discussed but it is not a function currently in place so plugging in someone elses which has been set to their car means it would potentially need adjusting to suit your motor

top job - looks great!!

cannot remember - did you do a full refurb or just free the piston before?

Nice result that - little bit of patience and saved some $$$

Wotcha and welcome!!

Wotcha and welcome - we have an opie oils discount setup so once you have decided on what you will servicing give OILMAN a shout to get the right stuff for your motor

Wotcha and welcome - also loving the Ducktail

Sounds like a fair old life there - and carried a donor card as well

Got you - well there could be some build up in them then - easy to drain out but a ball ache you dont need on such new motor

Yay - positive result and useful info for other members

As you have the STI all I have found are lowering options for 20mm lowering - compared to the WRX options which say 30mm - the STI must be lower as standard than the WRX. I have H&R spacers on my motor - great quality product. Why not go for a set of springs as a short term thing then that way it will be a compromise to get the looks whilst researching some coilover options which will get the car as low as you want with the flexibility of damping adjustment but will obviously cost quite a bit more. Or I have found this Koni / Eibach solution https://www.dcperformance.co.uk/uprated/koni-sport-front-dampers/subaru/impreza.html https://www.dcperformance.co.uk/uprated/eibach-pro-kit-springs/subaru/impreza.html comes in at about £900 sheets though

Just had a read of this thread. Driving with the excessive amount of oil in the sump and the flat configuration I would say there is a very good chance you have been throwing oil into the breather system - this in turn going through your chambers is going to impact the power of the combustion as well as coat your dpf. It might be worth having a look down your intake manifold. Excuse my ignorance cannot remember if the XV is NA or turbo but if so disconnecting some of the lower sitting intercooler hoses may result in draining oil out as well?