Loren

Everything genuine in NZ is super expensive...just a single axle nut is $25! I thought the $70 was the repco price though... which would be ridiculous. Well done getting it fixed.

Repco won't sell you axles, just CV kits as far as I know. $70 is a S*** tonne of money for a rubber boot, grease and a couple of cable ties. If I have a ripped boot, I generally remove the whole axle, remove both CVs, clean completely, inspect and repack with grease and new boots. You only need to replace the CV if it's worn. The axle nut on the hub can be anywhere from hard to get off to impossible... the last one I did had to be cut off with a hammer and chisel. Most of the time they will come off with a large breaker bar... a long extension pipe might be needed. The hand brake should hold the car still. If the inner CV boot or CV is the one that needs replacing, you could just change it while on the car... won't be that hard.

Mine spits a bit of black S*** when cold as well... I think it's just moisture loosening some of the black stuff that builds up in the exhaust... no big deal.

Swapping the crank and left intake will get you part of the way... but what if the cam profiles are different?

If you have an on the edge tune and no knock monitoring on the ecu... you really don't want any decrease in octane. Plus who wants oil coating their turbo, IC and intake manifold even if it doesn't affect the octane?

A very simple setup... 2 litre can with three inlets and one outlet. 2 x 1/2 inch inlets for the header breathers... and a 3/4 inch inlet for the crank breather. The outlet is 1.5 inches which is piped out under the car. So no PCV and nothing going back into the intake. I don't bother piping the oil back into the sump as it looks nasty once it's been in the can... plus I don't track it much so don't actually get large volumes of oil in there. I have no idea where the 1 litre of oil over a weekend goes I also trimmed up the head breather gaskets, so they flow better.

I would also like to know... for example my car will magically disappear a litre of oil on a race weekend, does that qualify?

Got new lexan rear screen fitted... so all windows are in now. The screen was a lot bigger than the standard one... so no room for any trim.

Without any changes? not even wiring changes? I doubt it.

Fake news... I've never seen curry at a sushi shop

I didn't even know that the Japanese ate curry.

It will last 100 years if you throw money at it constantly.

yes I thought so maybe too... changed it to Brett... then to be sure I listened to him say his name... and couldn't tell, so put it back.

Good old Brent... one of the worst aussie accents ever.

Bugger... it means the centre of the bearing that is supposed to spin, was seized ...and the outer casing of the bearing was instead doing the spinning. Happened to me once too.

I have to disagree here... it's usually an insufficient cool down that warps or even cracks the disks. Parking up when there is still a lot of heat in the calliper causes a hot spot... which leads to localised expansion... and a warped or cracked disk. Personally I think the subaru 4 pot is too small for the track and so much heat in generated that even a nice slow warm up and a good cool down will not save the disk. I have to machine or replace the front disks after every track session... one of the reasons I don't bother with the track much.

Genuine bearing kit is only $150. Don't use a cheap one or you might be doing it again in a few months.

A cracked disk would knock and shudder... but the braking performance would be S*** as well.

Can't be the rear diff or front diff if it happens on the straights... you can get hoping under very heavy brakes when the centre diff is locked up very tight... but if you don't have DCCD, then probably not that as you'd get chronic binding on low speed corners if the centre diff was that tight. I think I can see the knock through the gear stick... correct? So the drive train is bouncing around quite a bit... could be what you are hearing. So maybe the bushes on the gearbox are a bit soft for track work... or maybe something else causing it to bounce excessively.

Juddering will be warped disks... happens to me every time I go to the track... need bigger disks. As for the noise... does it happen on the straights or only the corners? Can you feel the knock through the brake pedal? Does it only happen when the brakes are hot? Do you have DCCD and is it locked up pretty tight when on the brakes? Do you know the condition of the rear diff? Could be something loose or worn... no idea what. Sounds bad enough that it might be doing damage though.

Yep, those are good, Jamie was a Subaru mechanic for quite a while... they are more focussed on race cars though, so probably not the best for general stuff... although same is true of macbilt.

Not true at all. Avoid them. macbilt are absolute experts... Ray Hartley merely purchased a bunch of subaru specific stuff from maclennans when they went under. No experts there. If you don't need a subaru expert, Wellington European are very good mechanics. https://www.wellingtoneuropean.co.nz/

That's my understanding as well.

It's a slippery slope and the costs add up very fast. If you have problems that are really above you're abilities to fix... or you just don't have the tools, then taking it to a professional is a good thing. If you just can't be bothered... and have run out of steam... maybe it would be better to take a break from the car for a while until your enthusiasm returns.

Don't panic... unlikely a sump swap would have done anything... it's no different to an oil change as far as the motor is concerned. Just keep an eye on the oil consumption for a while.