Hailz

Hey, I had a VF31 put on my 1997 GTB for the primary - apparently these are off a B4 up wards model, straight bolt in and seems a hell of a lot peppier than the previous item, boost comes on really early which is awesome! I did have a moan about it when it was first put on because it barely worked lol but after a few km's had gone by she was away! (it was a brand spanker from Subby NZ - must be a run in period perhaps?)

No just retail price for the kit, I could'nt tell you what the labour would be as my rear main seal was umm "leaking" lol so the mechanical warranty guys payed for gearbox removal and refit, one thing the workshop manager streesed that I do while the box was out was replace the gudgeon plate at the rear of the block with a metal one as some of these models were fitted with plastic ones which can split and leak, something to think about perhaps

In my GTB I've run Castrol gtx protec 15/40 & Magnatec 10/30 and also Magnatec 5/30 (both magantec oils were professional specific only) but I rekon it get the best performance with the 5/30 and also pretty good fuel economy also and it doesn't seem to use any either, my mate runs the same 5/30 in his GTB with 188,000km's on the original engine and doesn't burn a drop.

I have the exact same model car and I've just had mine replaced about 2,000km's ago and i just went for a genuine Subaru WRX Sti one that was supplied and fitted by local Subby dealer and the full clutch kit cost $690 inc gst with 12 months parts/labor warranty, I figured if the factory one put up with a 100,000km's of driving then chances are it'll do it again. I've never seen the point of putting beefed up clutches in cars that are putting out maybe an extra 20kw max extra power than when they left the factory, unless your replicating Ken Blocks driving every day I wouldn't bother really, and I think clutches would be the least of your worries if that was the case though lol. Have got to say the new clutch in mine made it a completely different car, it's now so easy to drove and no wild shudder every gear change! well worth the money in my opinion.

Nah I haven't bothered really, I've always dealt with Armstrong's since I brought the Subby, other than a local mechanic just round the road for little things, I find Armstrong's are ultra thorough and brilliant to deal with, a little pricey perhaps but hey I always say you pay for what you get really.

Yeah you've got some very good points there, I kind of knew I should go all out with it so you have reassured me I'm not wasting any money, I think $1350 for all that work inc gst and labour isn't really all that bad aye?

Ok so the Leggy's coming up time for its 1st cambelt change (oh they grow up so fast lol) Anyway I've got a couple options from Armstrong's in Chch, opt 1: "Basic cambelt change" which is cambelt, tensioner and labour for $465. or opt 2: "Full cambelt change" which includes thermostat/gasket, waterpump/gasket, toothed idler bearing, 2x smooth idler bearings, 1 piece tensioner, cambelt, oil pump O ring, crank seal, 4x cam seals, 5L engine coolant all for $1350 inc labour and gst and all genuine parts. What I dont know is if I need to go all out and get everything replaced eg opt 2 or just do bare minimum eg opt 1, who thinks I'm wasting my money getting everything done?

Looks like a tidy number, you would be hard pressed to find one that year with such low km's, havent seen it around town though, +1 on the primary turbo issue I had to do mine at 90km's as it sounded like a hover craft lol, go the TT's !!

Yeah I had my clutch done at the Subby dealership in Chch on the GTB and that sounds very reasonable, my clutch kit which was a genuine Subby one (same as wrx sti apparently) and the clutch kit was $690 incl gst, I dont see why people spend big money for H/D clutches on a standard car unless your a wolly and start doing launches ect, I priced up around four different clutches when I was looking and the genuine item was actually the cheapest believe it or not. Food for thought.

Ok my search is still on for my project car, so I've found another half decent looking one but the owner reckons that he's had the engine rebuilt but has no receipts as his mate done it, now as far as I'm concerned no receipts - no work done! Would there be anything that might be a give away to say that it actually has been rebuilt? Obviously I will notice the things like piston slap, smoke ect but if there's something that I might be able to check up on in the engine bay could someone let me know? I'm reasonably mechanically minded but I'm no engine re-builder lol

+1 on the multitrax 75/90 I also got reccomended the syntrax 75/90 which castrol make too, castrol EPX 80/90 for the rear diff, got that info from my workshop manual and a Castrol rep

Mate it's only gas there still making it lol

I'd be keen to make the trip down

Oh those pics were from last year, we've been wanting to go up this year but just haven't got the time as yet, if the roads anything like last year I'd be very carefull as by the time we got back down we had two flat tyres, might pay to run balloon tyres as opposed to the low pro ones - it's bloody rough up there sometimes!

My mates GTB up Mt Hutt - the best place for a Subby!! -3 degres and loving it!!!

Looks like a nice and tidy RS, those ANZ wheels look the part aye, good on you for hanging on to it for so long unlike all the other Ashburton trippers that change cars every 10 mins! I see the pic of the engine coming out of it, did the original one spit the dummy?

Guys, Haynes workshop manuals are a saviour! only around $50 and could save anyone a whole heap of trouble, I highly recommend them.

Ok I've had a wee look myself and yeah your right they do a 22mm adj rear but no adj front and one thing that makes it tricky is that most of their H/D fronts are for non turbo - mines the TT model, aparantly no compatability, here's my thought now, Subaru's are prone to understeer so how about I put a 22mm in both front and rear - oviously the adj one for the rear and then I can fine tune things a little to balance things up as personally I dont think 1mm of an upgrade (which the guy had reccomended) is enough to do the job really, the wagon currently runs the nice and hard Bilstiens with HKS lowered/hardend springs with Nolathane bushes up front and strut bar Thanks!

Yeah sorry i ment oversteer lol, honestly in the two years I have owned the car I've never actually managed to get the car sliding as such - perhaps I need to grow a pair lol, the main reason is I do allot of twisty hill driving mainly for fun and just want to eliminate the wee bit of sway feeling it has under hard turning, you think just doing the rear would do that for me? It's purely for a "feeling" kind of thing rather that me having probs with the car actually getting slipery, thanks heaps for your info mate!

Hey thanks for that, the only problem is they only do a 20mm for the rear and no larger and no adjustibility at all, so I probly could'nt get the understeer thing going on but it seems quite "bulky" when you get erratic lol hence the thought for an upgrade, would you say it made the car a bit of a prick to ride in (uncomfortable)?

Looking to upgrade the original swaybars on my BG Legacy and apparently Whiteline are the way to go, for my car they offer an extra 2mm on the 20mm already in the front and 1mm extra from the 19mm already in the rear, apparently this will give me +50% F and +25% R better performance, anyone had this kind of kit fitted with good/average results?

Man this thread rocks! Keep up the good work guys and thanks for everyones tips/pointers.

Yeah I have another legacy that shape (non turbo) as a parts car so I've got plenty of spares lol, I think I might leave this one really and keep looking - even if it is cheap I'm sure there's just as good ones out there and I wont have to deal with the "I'm leaving the country in 10 mins so decide!" rushed as hell attitude, as I have found out in the past it pays not to rush and if it seems to be too cheap to be true chances are it'll cost me in the long run and I'm not too keen on the idea that I'll never be able to contact the previous owner.

Where do you put it? Somewhere in the intake I'm guessing?

I'd get it pressure tested myself, I had the same problem with a TX3 Laser I used to have, if you gave it the jandal for a minute or two one of the radiator tanks would squirt a little bit onto the exhaust manifold, the pressure tester showed it up straight away, it's not overly expensive to get a mechanic to do it either.