Its insurance time ... was sort of dreading it really, I have been insured with Keith Michaels and so phoned and spoke to Jeremy, so all mods declared, I mean everything, plus also advance declaration of suspension upgrades which are the next move.

On a like for like replacement basis the extra cost was £149 for the full year. !!

Great support and service.

cheers

bob

That's because you're an old fart Bob!!!! :D

I was with Iain this week and he said you have done some good things with your boost control etc. :) I'm sure he said you had increased the power as well!?

I dont know, we wait 3 months for an update and all you've got is insurance ....... :D

Suspension next, std stuff is simply not up to it !! Seriously looking at Bilstein B16 with a few amendments. Need a test drive first though. Car is running well, I've just added Race Rom back into the equation.

Shaun there are advantages to being that ... :D:D

Yes I have managed to get the wastegate solenoid duty's to between 45 and 55 % across the rev range and its pulling much harder for the tighter control. I also tried at at 1.9 bar :cool::cool: I didn't leave it at that though its back to its original levels now.


cheers

bob

Hi Bob,
Great read.
If only such meticulous attention to detail came cheaper.
Your cryogenics work sounds as if it might help me. You map my forged 2.5 Legacy 341/345 but I've worn it out very quickly by short journeys. I will need to replace the block and pistons, so am interested in anything that will reduce engine wear during warm-up. Do you think the cryogenic treatment as described by you will make a worthwhile difference?
Or are piston choice and build tolerance more relevant?
Also - though off your topic - would a Subaru block warmer help? Or do I need to find a similar immersion heater method to directly heat my engine oil for it to be effective.
Hope to see you next year with bigger compressor covers and wheels on my turbos.
Regards
John

Hi John, answer is "it should" and is certainly worth doing under the circumstances, but what do you call a short run? Oil choice can also help if you are locked into the short run problem.

Wear during warm up is independent of piston to bore clearance largely, obviously the closer the fit the longer life could be predicted BUT its all about intended use and you need "proper" clearances to run at significantly elevated power levels.

There are systems about, for example, that can be used to heat the coolant and flow it around the engine to warm it up before starting if you do really short trips.

best regards

bob

Hi John,

I am running a forged 2.1 litre and do a lot of short journeys with the car, as i work 1.5 miles from home, so it's just about up to temp by the time i switch off.

I've done 15K miles since the build then had to do the headgaskets, so stripped the engine and rebuilt it. The bores and pistons were like new, just gave it a very gentle hone to bed the new rings i put in during the refresh, they could have stayed in but it seemed sensible to swap whilst apart.

Pistons are Mahle 2618 high expansion items with a clearance of 0.0035", it's never used oil. The pistons have a teflon coating on the skirts to reduce wear and friction, that coating was as good as new.

I would think the spec of your piston has a big bearing on wear rates when doing a lot of running at cold temperatures.

Engine was running 360bhp/400lbft for most of that mileage, now runs 460/470.

Suspension choices made, car is going in for "surgery" on the 10th sept and coming out on the 14th. In general its getting ..

**Bump Steer kit
Rear diff mounts
**rear arm bushes
Pitch mount
**Front arm bushes
**Roll bar R 24mm
**Roll bar F 24mm
**Adjust links
Rear diff support
**Adjustable top mounts
**Bilstein B16 kit
wide B16 kit
**Front arm mod castor

Don't ask me what it all does (lol) but its Simons "full monte" which is being run by several cars competing in the various sprint series to very good effect. John (F) you can comment far better than I.

About half a day allocated for the setup once its all on.

The asterisks were considered 'must have" but me being me it had to be done right so going for whatever Simon thinks is needed. I have not stinted it yet so not starting now.

Modified lower arms being a Simon speciality just to say.

In case you don't know Simon is Chevron Motorsport. No question he is the man for this job.

So I am very excited to be honest I never though that the phrase "waiting for Xmas" would ever be applied to me but thats what it feels like, the car is brilliant but is badly let down by its std suspension, plain scary at times in fact.

The B16 kit is valved to Simons specification and is not the std system normally supplied.

cheers

bob

Sounds like it's a cunning plan for the handling mods. Look forward in hearing your feedback. :)

At what position do you think you'll be able to divulge Meth results?

problem with handling mods is its so difficult to "quantify" the results.

Meth ... well I suppose I will have to do it but I want to get the suspension all sorted out first thats the main priority. Still thinking about how far I want to take it to be honest, I suppose a 600 number would be "nice".

cheers

bob

Bob, thanks for re-map on 22nd Aug at Surrey RR. car is simply sensational. Launch control and anti-lag are spot on. I still cannot believe the "Magic Meth" recipe!! Simply put 20% in with the V-Power, sit you in the passenger seat with your laptop and BOOM! 468 BHP grows to 503HP!! The most surprising point of all is the razor sharp throttle response.

Now my quest is compete for a 500hp/500ftlb motor I can work on getting the ride height and corner weights finessed. Can't see my 50 Gallons of methanol lasting very long at this rate!! and I am really looking forward to tracking the living daylights out of it for the first time in 4 years!! Yay!

Ed it was my pleasure, I am really happy that, at last, the car is as you wanted and am privileged to have been involved in resurrecting it.

Meth is certainly a different ball game, not just the increase in performance thats achievable but for the whole driving experience.

thanks again

bob

Near enough the same Chevron set up I have on mine, only you have better coilovers! The lower arms make for awsome turn in, you`re gonna love it, Simon certainly know his stuff!

Just back from dropping the car off, back up there to fetch it on Friday, looking forward to the drive back !!

cheers

bob

Will be interesting to read your findings Bob. I was most unimpressed by the Std set up on the Hawk and the PPP wasn't much better, managing to be fidgety, bouncy and hard. Just the BCs with comfort springs were a massive improvement and very cost effective and had become a bit of a no-brainer for hawk owners who didn't want to spend something like 2.5k on a Ohlins kit, so it will be great to see how the Blisteins perform. Is the valving set up with a road bias - you mentioned the kit had been used in competition?

All the best

Paul

Hi Paul, the valving is Simons custom spec which he ordered the units with, the setup I will have will be suitable for sprint or track use, I suspect some road compromise will be there but the cars that have had this done, and that I then mapped, all felt pretty spot on when we were out in them so maybe not.

The car is not my daily drive any more so I am viewing it somewhat differently.

Also decided to have the Chevron combined radiator/oil cooler unit installed with modine delete. Not this week as there simply isn't time but this will happen shortly. that gets me a full rad height oil cooler without compromising on pipe routing etc, so many installs are a bit of a pickle.

cheers

bob

My Radiator/oil cooler combined assembly is waiting for me at Chevron too Bob, it's a great peice of kit, so much neater and more efficient than the usual fair of trying to neatly mount a Mocal stand alone cooler matrix. F1 cars back in the 70's started to do this setup where you combine the oil and water matrix into a single entity, makes packaging so much neater and improves airflow.

You wont be disapointed with the handling changes, apart from the increase in overall grip and improved balance you will notice far more feel from the steering.

will these combined rads fit the 2008 on hatches too?

reasonable cost ??

Spoke to Simon at 19:40 this evening and final settings were just being applied to the car, level of detail he goes into, we were discussing a 5mm difference in ride height as each height would require completely different setups. Anyway having sorted out that the car will be ready for me tomorrow on time.

I will probably wince until I start the drive home as obviously the costs are not small. But it will be, like everything else on the car, what I set out to do and provide the result I expect.

The combined rad/oil cooler is definitely the way to go, for mine the oil cooler can sit on the drivers side end minimising the pipe runs and making a very tidy and neat solution. Saw your unit there waiting for you John awesome quality product.

Yes he should be able to sort out a version for the hatch ... no the cost will not be cheap this is using very high quality F1 level cores. You get what you pay for iyswim. Its small price to pay though given the cost of an engine.

cheers

bob

Well done Bob, I love suspension work and the way it transforms a standard Impreza is incredible. I remember my first track day with the standard setup fighting understeer in every corner. Today the only limiing factor on the track is the driver ;).

Can't wait to catch up with you face to face in 2 week's time.
Josef

Hi Josef, well your own car shows just what a difference a well sorted suspension setup can do, I had a first real chance to "play" this afternoon and to say the car is awesome would be an understatement. I am still being tentative with it and already able to carry speed at a far higher level than before with this car. Coming back from castle Combe cross country on roads I know very well the difference was staggering. The only thing I have changed so far is the tyre pressures, started with 32psi front and 30 rear and now using 35 front and 33 rear. ContiSport 3 tyres 225-45-17. I will be using 235's when I change next. I have a few pics which I ail put up later.

Very much looking forward to my trip out there in two weeks time, will be good to catch up and have a few beers as well as mapping.

cheers

bob

Sounds good Bob.

In all honesty Bob, what's the compliance like now (compared to how it was before)? I'm quite lucky as all my OEM "bits" are still relatively new and still very tight, however, when the suspension does start to "go", I will be seriously considering the Billys.

Very interesting read Bob! Have just read it from the start and must say car has undergone quite a transformation!

I was up with my mate simon in the rb320 Couple of weeks back having it mapped (where i had to do the driving on behalf of simon ;) ) and was talking to you about the twinscroll set up, i have now taken the plung and bought a jdm blob running the lm450 turbo, car is a total different league from my uk power wise but have noticed its boosting at 2bar on my gauge. Car is still running stock bottom end as well, so will be booking in with you soon so you can run your eye over whats what with it all for me as i have been thinking on a meth map, but would the stock bottom end take it at this level?

Any hints tips or advice from yourself or shaun are widely appreciated as you seem to be setting the markers with these turbos :)

Looking forward to getting booked in as soon as i can find a replacement rear diff as it has a bit of a knock going on!

Great work Bob :thumb:

Craig

Craig,
I achieve 440ftlb @ 1.8bar. If we increase boost it pulls ignition (it's not always about boost in isolation). I'm very happy with my torque. Obviously all set-ups and maps can be very different, so I suspect it's horses for courses as to what works and how it works.

Personally I think you're starting to push reliablity by running a LM450 on meth on an untouched engine. Saying that though.... it's not stopping me doing it in a couple of weeks time, to see how the engine responds. :D

Bob may have other views I'm sure. :)

I wouldn`t mind some pics of this "oil cooler/radiator" combo doo-dar..as and when you get the chance..:thumb:

Hi Shaun, the car copes with road variation very well, its actually got a sort of "fast road" setup on it but it would also work well on the track, my std suspension was very "bobbly" iyswim and it was not good over humps and bumps, this is far better. You are welcome to see for yourself if we can manage that.

Standard engines are a variable feast and what might be ok on one will not be possible on another, so you sort of step into the unknown, I have always felt 400 bhp was "ok" for fast road, when you take a car on track and give it serious abuse then its a different league.

Craig just shout as and when you are ready, two bar sounds a bit excessive (!) so watch out for that and try and keep it under control.

Pics ... yes I have some and when I can get them off my phone will post.

cheers

bob

Pics ... apologies for phone quality

cheers

bob



https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6222796/DPP_1125.JPG

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6222796/DPP_1126.JPG

Thanks for the pics Bob. Looks very "smart"..

Ap`s first, Simtek upgrade second, cooler third,,,,God , will the shopping list ever stop:cuckoo:

That does look very smart ...

Ahh, it was your rad i ate my lunch off the other day :D