Hi, I'm new to this forum, just bought my fourth Subaru. I sold my H6 Outback last January, and bought a beater bugeye GX wagon, to see if downsizing to an Impreza would work for me. It did, so I started looking for a decent uk turbo 2000 wagon. Six months and many sh*t cars later, I finally found it. Two owners, MY1999, genuine 48k miles, stack of bills showing no less than 23 services. That's an oil change every 2000-odd miles. And it's had two cambelt changes. The engine bay is bone dry with zero oil mist or weeps. No rust on arches, but wheels need a refurb. The interior is like new. Tyres are matching Firestone TZ300s, not great tyres, and 6 years old, so they'll be gone sharpish and replaced with something proper. It's totally bog standard right down to the original twin exit back box. I've driven it long and hard in the two weeks I've had it, and it feels tight and new. Marvellous. I already feel the need for the PPP torque curve though, and it's eerily quiet.....
Here it is:

 

That's a beauty mate,make sure you keep it that way.
With a car as tidy as that I would concentrate on preserving it before modding it.

 

A fine example of a great car
Forget modding it
That's old hat now especially on a old rapidly apreciating classic car like this
Preservation ,lots of money spent detailing it and enjoy it as it is
Top speed 142
0-60 5.5 -6.1 is fast enough

Having a car like this is grat and should be looked after ..forever




Classic wagons will always rule

 

That is a beautiful looking scoob. Great find.

Mind if I ask you how much you paid?

 

i have to agree, dont mod it! i had a turbo 2000 wagon exact same but it had bubbling arches etc and paint wasnt the best so it didnt matter too much and i had it running 315bhp with an apexi ecu, nicer wheels, sti suspension etc. but thats a keeper bud. as the lord says enjoy and keep it nice, people would much rather admire a mint standard car than a tarted up one.

 

Another one for "keep it standard" how do people find cars like this. I had trouble finding one this nice 10 years ago.

Great car.

 

This one's a keeper for sure. First thing is preservation, and soon it's going up on a lift to clean and rustproof the underneath, and sort a few minor bodywork imperfections. It is my daily though, and for sure it's plenty fast enough, but I could use some more mid range torque to improve driveability cross country. I came to this conclusion after a day's drive from Bristol-Aberystwyth-Shrewsbury-Bristol, all on A and B roads. I intend to limit any mods to OEM ones, ie genuine Prodrive ecu and exhaust, to preserve the originality. Easily reversible too. As far as the appearance goes, it will remain untouched, I've been driving for 45 years now, and have owned many classic cars, so appreciate the importance of originality. My car modding budget all goes on my mk1 mx5 anyway....
Here's the engine bay after a quick dry clean:

 

Very nice, in the interest of fairness he did only say PPP which is acceptable in my eyes, go for the prodrive back box too they make a nice sound without being in your face.

Note to self; type faster.

 

We are clearly telling you how to suck eggs, looks like the car is in safe hands.

p.s no more pics, you're making me sick with jealousy

 

In the interest of fairness he did sa........oh you get it.

 

Nice wagon ! Was going to try keep mine oem esque with prodrive upgrades and general bits like vibra technics mounts

I failed and it's more track than road

 

Found it on Autotrader......six months patience finally paid off. They are out there.

 

very smart!! exhaust wise have a look at the one for sale here.. genuine STi part, to keep your OEM theme going, plus a bargain!! I need someone to buy it before I do lol.

https://www.scoobynet.com/subaru-par...m-6-speed.html

In fact the centre section (removes second cat) and back box would be good for you with a PPP ECU, then stick the original stuff in the garage.

One thing I'd recommend certainly if you go for the prodrive ECU (personally I'd do it regardless) is to replace the fuel pump, a walbro one will be fine.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the exhaust , I'm now doing some advanced man-maths.......any issues with mot emissions with a decat centre section? I also need to track down a silicone y-pipe for the intercooler. I have located a Prodrive ecu, a bit pricey, but need to know correct numbers etc to see if it really is for a M99 car. Out of interest I just checked my existing ecu, and it's the favoured black label AE800, so that's good. And yes, all original parts will be stored.

 

no problems with a decat centre, catted downpipe is fine for MOT, besides pretty sure PPP removes the second cat from factory. Just to add Joe selling that exhaust is a respected member on here so you won't have any issues.

Y pipe.. Prodrive ones are now rare and hard to come by, the other option is to look for an STi Y pipe, just make sure you get one with the red hose.

The ECU should have a pink STi sticker on it from memory, and being a later car it should be four plug, early ones like my 97 car are three plug. Prodrive ECU's do tend to have some value, I think i paid £250 for mine.

The bonus for you is I'm pretty sure the later ones are plug and play, whereas my 97 required the keys coding.

I've no doubt you'll be happy with the gains, standard to PPP is a nice improvement in every area :-)

 

Thanks for the info bud, very helpful. I've always thought of the PPP as fine tuning the car for the UK, and the increase in torque from 3000rpm looks just the ticket. The man-maths worked out (doesn't it always...) and I have bought the exhaust centre and back box from Joe. The ecu I'm watching is on the 'bay with a start price of £245. I gather it should be p&p on my car, with no key coding needed. We'll see....my existing AE800 ecu has 3 plugs, with space for a 4th with no pins in it. The eBay one has the same arrangement, and is pink STI labelled and marked SP 100 107 1011 A18-000-D1X

 

This is going to be a great car and a good investment for the future
In smiles as well as monetary value

Looking forward to more pictures including rear arches

 

Yes, thanks, I'm hoping this will not decrease in value for a change. It's a great car, and out of all the Subarus I've owned it's the best of the bunch. I've removed the rubber protectors from the rear arches, and cleaned and waxoyled the inside of the lip as a short term bodge until I can do it properly. Pics to follow!

 

Since I started this thread yesterday I'm well on the way to having all the bits for the PPP bar the intercooler pipe. Postie should soon be bringing me exhaust bits and a (hopefully) correct Prodrive ecu. Thanks for all the help and comments chaps, much appreciated.
I've now spent the money I had set aside for a new set of teeth and a new hearing aid (par for the course for a superannuated rock'n'roller). So I guess I'll be hooning along with a toothless grin, oblivious to the wailing sirens behind....
More pics:


^^Hackneyed shot of Subaru next to the double points machine. Actually, I'm pleasantly surprised by the fuel consumption - 25mpg in general use, 27mpg on a no-motorway run. Having run a 3.0 H6 for a few years, that's quite good.....

Some work needed on offside rear arch:




With my other car:





What looks like a garage is in fact a recording studio, but since I've recently gone stone deaf in one ear, with added tinnitus, all the gear will be sold and the building turned back into a garage. Which is where the Subaru will live.

 

nice car mate hard to find them like that these days

 

The second paragraph on #19 is the funniest thing I have ever read on Snet.
Pure quality Fookin hilarious,Brilliant

 

Tinnitus yep got that from loud music great car love a wagon

 

Update: well I bought Samco intercooler hoses in the end, in black, until I can find a blue Prodrive y-pipe. Also stuck a Cosworth panel filter in, and a new MAF whilst I had the creddy card out. Excellent service from Cath at Advanced Automotive in Kingswood Bristol.
New exhaust arrived this morning from joe v3sti, very well packaged indeed:



As an unexpected bonus, Joe included a nice pink bath towel, I needed a new one, so more money saved there

The Prodrive ecu also arrived today, and I can confirm that on my '99MY it is indeed plug'n'play. Started on the button, no key coding needed. Amazing. Back in the day, if we wanted more power, we'd buy the biggest carbs we could find, knock up an inlet manifold out of scaffold pipe, and spend 6 months with a box of jets and needles trying to get the engine to run properly, if at all.....it took me far less time this morning to upgrade to 350nm and 240 ps than it did to unwrap the exhaust. Happy days.

 

good stuff! Once you get the exhaust and sort the Y pipe that should make a noticeable difference aswell.

If you want another job to add to the list I'd recommend removing the rear bumper, this is important to allow you to inspect the condition of rear bumper bar, rear panel and lower rear quarters. It's simple to remove, I did a quick guide for another member in the tech section the other day.

Ps. don't forget about considering a new fuel pump at some stage, especially as you've upped the ante a little now!

 

Yes, thanks for the advice, rear bumper is coming off when I get the car up on a mate's lift to do cleaning/rustproofing. Doesn't look too bad under there, the car was kept in a garage for the first 11 years or so. Fuel pump may be a future purchase if I feel I need it, but another issue needs to be addressed first - although the cambelt has been changed twice, the last time 7000 miles ago, there's no mention of tensioners and idlers in the paperwork, so I'm going to do the whole lot. Running old Mercs for a decade taught me the value of preventative maintenance..... The Samco y-pipe is the same as the Prodrive one and should do the same job, I only want the Prodrive one for the sake of originality.
The only other mod I want to do is driving lights in place of the fogs. The standard headlamps are pretty poor as you all know.

 

cool, behind the rear bumper is probably the best place to see what your dealing with, if it's solid under there that will be a good sign for the rest of the car.

Where they tend to all go is up in the rear suspension turrets on the outer faces, when you get it on the ramp stick your hand up the outside of the shock to the top mount and see what you find. If your solid there then you really are onto a winner! Personally if this is the case I'd drop the rear shocks so you can rustproof the area properly, the shocks are only a 5 min job to get out of the way.

Re fuel pump, if I remember correctly an uprated one was part of the Prodrive package on the classics so really is worth considering as they must of felt the stock one wasn't quite up to it, preventative maintenance as you say!

 

Another update on this. I've done 2000 miles in the 6 weeks since I bought it, mostly with the ppp fitted, mostly in West Wales. I couldn't be more happy with it. The mid range torque is phenomenal, the car feels light and handy, the grip is immense even on the crap Firestones. It's very fast. I get 25-27mpg driving it like you should, and eked out 30mpg on a 300 mile run to pick up some mx5 wheels I didn't need. In fact, I don't often need to rev much beyond 4000rpm at all, the gear ratios are bang on for keeping it in the zone. A great package, properly developed for real world use. It's just brilliant to drive.
Next up is uprated fuel pump (current one is 15 years old....), cambelt tensioner and idlers, oil change for engine, gearbox and rear diff, and a set of new Nokian zLine tyres. Then more rust prevention. I also want a set of oil temp, pressure, and boost guages. Anyone need a kidney?

 

That's a cracker of a wagon. Well done.

 

Update: Nokian z-Lines fitted and scrubbed in, excellent in the wet and dry. £70 a corner from Oponeo. Uprated Walboro pump fitted, loud! Found a brand new set of Prodrive front and rear mats cheap. Blue Prodrive y- pipe sourced and fitted in place of the Samco. Prodrive back box fitted, much burble, more noise but not too much. I'm a bit deaf, so the rather subtle STi one I put on wasn't quite doing it for me, the tyre noise was louder....I've changed the oil again, 10w40 Mobil semi. Bought a WALK, fitting it next week when I've got the car up on the lift for rust prevention etc. I've ordered an OEM dash top centre gauge pod from Germany, and I've got a face plate for 52mm gauges, I'm attempting to fit three white faced 52mm gauges instead of unavailable 45mm ones like the original Lensos. Oil temp, oil pressure, boost. Let's see how that goes....

 

Looks and great and PPP mods well worth it. You planning on keeping standard 4 pots or you going to get a set of prodrive callipers?