Adam

Hello and welcome. I love the Lotus too but I could never get in or out of them! Impreza is much more practical :)

Northern hemisphere? I can only think of one or two of Fruity's plans that don't fall into that area!

Now we're in trouble.

Not just the RA that isn't making money, all Subarus have seen their prices fall through the floor in the last few years.

May be worth creating a new account with no post, or a small amount of post, just to test things like this.

Big ends don't whine, they knock, clatter and bang! If it does it all the time the vehicle is moving then most likely a wheel bearings, if it only does it under power then more likely to be a diff.

I can, just can't afford to buy any of them!

Re seats... They are still here, I have photos on my PC but I'm not home until late tonight so I'll get them posted at the weekend. If you're still interested we can talk money then. A friend has a Tegiwa stopper on her GT-B and it looks to be a good, well made design. I can't see any reasons not to recommend that, but then I haven't seen any of the other makes so can't comment on them.

It's a good value for money mod and they do make a difference on older cars. From about 2003 (not sure of exact date) Subaru updated the design of the Master Cylinder so the stopper isn't needed and the brakes are much better... The new design will fit older cars, Bip has changed his and it's on my to-do list!

LED bulbs are very directional. I don't have them in my car but I've seen them in a friend's Legacy and coverage is patchy... You get a bright spot directly under the light but not much light everywhere else.

Looks like every post/thread made after noon on 14th November has been lost... Does that include new members' accounts too?

I have low tints on my GT-B on all side windows and the tailgate. Still looks good from the outside but its not silly dark so doesn't attract the attention of the law.

I was in Tlag's garage yesterday and Bip unboxed a turbo the size of a water melon and said his Dad would be using it in the project car, so I have a rough idea what he's up to!

She was sat in the back of my car plotting ways to get her own car to the 'ring all the way home, and after talking to your wife today I think she is keen on taking her Z3 over too... Sounds like you're going to have a convoy from Coventry to Germany soon!

The photo with the BMWs and the Merc was in the hotel car park and belonged to our fellow guests. Always a good time there. We didn't go with the expectation of doing a lot of driving because it's the wrong time of year. Both the Legacys that went were bought earlier in the year as cheap run-abouts as my GT-B has head gasket issues, and Rob's GT-V had bottom-end fail at Hockenheim. I hadn't been since 2012 so this weekend was my last chance to make sure my record of going every year was unbroken, even if it was only in a GL! It also gave me a chance to take my 16-year old son for his first trip... Methinks he'll be going back whenever he can!

It's normally really quiet at the 'Ring at this time of year, but this weekend the weather on Saturday was very good and it was quite busy. There was snow on Sunday, but by then we were heading home! My car wasn't the only Legacy 2.0 GL there!

The block cases but not the internals as they will not be strong enough. Turbo engines also have a lower compression ratio so the pistons have shaped surface, while non-turbo pistons are flat.

Subaru say every 6,000 miles but I like to do mine more often if I can. Use a Genuine Subaru filter too. These engines will last well but only if you look after the oil. EJ205 was the basic turbo engine for version 5 and 6. It was also used on the WRX but that car had a higher state of tune. The STi used the EJ207 which had more agressive cams and revised inlet. In the Applied model code, digit 6 is the trim level. '8' was used for the base turbo model in all markets, so in the UK that was Turbo 2000, in mainland Europe it was the GT and in Japan it was the WRX. Digit 5 gives the market, with 2, 4 or 5 being for Japan (2, 4 or 5 doors), 'K' for Eurpoe RHD and 'L' for Europe LHD. ('Y' was USA if you seen any of them!). The 17-digit VIN code was not used in Japan when the classis Impreza was built. If your car was a JDM car the VIN would be GF8-xxxxxx. The WRX and STi versions were not sold in the UK until version 7 (New Age 'Bug Eye').

I hope to meet up with Tlag and Bip next week to talk about a new website for their business. If they want that page (and the gearbox code page also on that site) I will dig out the original source code and rewrite it for them. If they're not interested maybe we can talk about hosting it on here somewhere? It was a lot of work when I wrote it and it seems a shame to see it vanish when the hosting contract runs out.

From memory it would have been about 220bhp from new. They can get 250-260bhp with a good map so if you are getting more it probably will have had other work done. Is the paperwork a rolling road print out or a mapper's estimate? Do you know who did the map?

Yes, but when that was new it was the best you could get in the UK, so don't feel too upset! I broke one for parts earlier in the year and I still have a full interior for sale... You don't need new seats by any chance :p

You trying to make me blush?!

Not planning to film as most of the driving will be at night. I'll probably do a couple of laps while I'm there, but that's not the reason for going... It's an end-of-season p*** up! I'll have my DSLR with me so I'll get some stills and post them when I get back.

Since writing that page I've been able to decode most common Subaru codes from memory. Sometime I feel like a right geek!

Funny you should say that, but the only time I ever drink that stuff is heading home after one of our European trips. It is therefore time to stock up again as I'm off to the Nürburgring this weekend...