Tidgy

So things are progressing,

track work is very different to road, oil temps, fuel supply etc need to be thought about

450 is pretty much gonna be a fresh build engine so a 2.5 will be fine around that (built right), 2.5 is a less revvy engine than the 2.0 but has alot more low down grunt. Other option is to have 2.0 stroked to 2.1. For road use i would go 2.5, Im going that route but aiming for 500-550 so had the block converted to closed deck. My7 advise would be go see a specialist and chat through options and costs. 450bhp will need alot of supporting mods to run reliably and safley so your gonna be into 5 figure sums

full respray will sort out any hidden problem areas (such as arches etc), but cost alot of money for a decent job. Be very wary of cheap paint jobs thoughs, it's the prep and ime spent that makes a decent paint job, not just a quick squirt of paint

depends how long its been stood and in what condition. I know a guy who left his stood for 3 years without proper coolant in it just water, 3 winters later and headgaskets gone as soon as they put boost through it cos when engines froze the ice has expanded and lifted the head. not to mention the heater matrix leaking like a sive. Still blamed it on the garage it went to for some work lol

Could be the timing is out as well

first step get it on a dyno, find out why its hesitating. You could carry on chasing it round things and not find it

i'd stop playing with boost pipes and such and get it looked at, the map could well need looking at and keep causig the fault could casue damage to the new engine

has it been mapped?

Small update today, look whats back from machine shop :D followed by a normal block vs closed deck converted

Scoobyclinic at chesterfield, although be Pat Herborn if it's Ecuteked. Andy F is the only other one i'd let near mine

working for me still

Tis a no from me

Loads of options, budget is gonna be the biggest thing :)

550bhp is going to be nocking on the door of £20k from a standard car. So it's a case of how deep are his pockets? Brakes are !Removed! on early one so thats a must, 330mm AP 6 pot kit is £1250 from godspeed, if i were doing brakes thats where my money would go, you can get cheaper kits, but AP's are the daddy and if your eventual goals are 500+ then you need proper stoppers. Engine wise depends how lucky he is, some early ones actualy had closed deck blocks. WRX's were kinda throw together with what ever they had on the shelf, some folks got lucky. Has he got a budget in mind he wants to spend?

Ah if its not on standard shocks then prob not, sorry missed that bit. could be the top mount or possibly a bushing issue, need to get it looked at to see where the noise is comming from

You can get spare key blanks/fob on the bay for not alot of money, it's always been the coding thats an issue. so if he can do it for £60 then might not be too bad. Timpsons can cut it for you, just not code it

sounds about right im afraid. coding is the issue not the blank :(

wasn't this more aimed at high milage diesels?

you aint missing much. THere pretty useless on there and some of the advice is shockingly bad

hahaha, make sure you do it again :D lmao

Saw on youscoob soc flyer had been put on someones windscreen, come on who was it? lol

Cobra do a track friendly system for imprezas, not sure on legacy and forrester so best bet have a look at their website. Free flowing yet not too noisey.

Idea of it is it allows vertical, but not lateral movement. Seems to be an improvements over none (according to peter solberg and chris atkinson), but not sure how it compares to a proper brace due to them doing a test with and without, not against a solid one