boon

Racetech RTROAD if you plan to leave it in all the time. Probably still work with a 3-point belt due to reduced wing height. RT4009 if you're going to remove it when you're not tracking it. For the money you can't go past a Racetech. Don't bother with the japanese stuff like Brides, they are made for pencil-width people. And skip any off-brand stuff, NZKW etc are probably not heinous but you get a lot more pedigree for a few hundred $ by going to a Racetech.

No, not that collectible. Especially with that many K's. At the end of the day they're a relatively common car, and not terribly noteworthy. $8.5k is a SHITLOAD to pay for a mid-90s WRX with >200 thou on it that is no longer collectible because it's been modified anyway. You would need your head read if you bought it.

Correct, marginally smaller. Apparently good to ~380wkw, but that's kinda internet mythology. I'll be running them with my baby BorgWarner, looking forward to the reliability and awesome heat shielding of OEM parts

Yes. Most (all?) BP/BL Legacys are twinscroll. I have a set of the headers off one in my garage. The headers are slightly lower diameter than the STI ones, and have a different flange at both ends of the uppipe.

I'm gonna say it's either a tiny exhaust leak, or the injectors. My pinks were loud as a loud thing. EDIT: Check your power steering fluid level too for good luck.

Zeus nailed it. Consider going to a Nolathane bush, although they can be a bit squeaky, especially if they dry out. As a side note, these can be an easier job if the car is on the ground, or at least has the wheels supported.

The running gear is fundamentally identical to a Impreza STI so I'm going to say the above still applies. It might be worth contacting Subaru NZ then coming back to let us all know what they have to say nowadays though

EDIT: I am dumb. This is what Subaru NZ said about it roughly 18 months ago: Ethanol suitability for Subarus Most Subarus purchased new in New Zealand since 1990 are capable of running on the ethanol blended fuel now being introduced to the local market. However any Japanese domestic specification models which have been imported here second hand (i.e.). second hand Japanese imports - should not be run on the ethanol blended fuel. These cars are only suitable for 3 percent blended fuels. The fuel being sold in New Zealand has a 10 percent ethanol blend. The 10 percent ethanol blended fuel could cause damage to the fuel line, fuel injector sealing, fuel pump or fuel regulator of these second hand Japanese imports. The fumes from the blended fuel after combustion can also have a harmful effect on the catalytic converter, the exhaust gas regulator and the muffler. Those Subarus which can use the 10 percent ethanol blended fuel have a 17 digit VIN number beginning with either JF1 or JF2. The VIN number can be found at the bottom of the central door pillar on the passenger’s side of the car or in the engine bay. The second hand Japanese imports which should not use the ethanol blended fuel have VIN numbers starting with 7A8. A small number of models sold new in New Zealand cannot use the 10 percent blended fuel. They are.- Legacy RS, Legacy GT, Legacy GTB, Legacy RSK and Legacy Blitzen from 1990 onwards; the Impreza STI from 1997 onwards and the Forester STI. They do not have JF1 or JF2 VIN numbers. Owners who are not sure if they can use the ethanol-blended fuel in their car should consult their nearest Subaru Authorised Dealer. In Summary DO NOT USE Ethanol Blended Fuel - E5 or E10 if your car is: A Subaru with VIN Number that starts with 7A8, or Second hand Japanese imported Subaru, or A New Zealand New Subaru that is any of these models: Legacy RS, Legacy GT, Legacy GTB, Legacy RSK and Legacy Blitzen Impreza STI Forester STI

I could be wrong but I'm fairly sure the oil drain is a formed hose, not just a length of generic rubber hose, so you will need to buy one from Subaru if that's the case.

I don't think so - most of the seals are single-piece moulded items with all sorts of odd shapes and sticky-out bits.

Hrm I quite like the look of that ProVent thing. Where do people typically plumb the drain-back in? Tee it off the turbo drain?

I don't want to hijack this thread but jesus, what the F***

Sounds like internets myths to me. Your gearbox doesn't know whether the torque is transferred through a single plate, a twin plate, or a giant collection of origami swans mushed into the bellhousing. Torque is torque. It may be because people take their twin plate and dump it, or because they were previously losing a bunch of power from the single plate and suddenly there's too much from the gearbox when they go to a twinplate. But if you set it up and drive it to engage like a single plate, a clutch is a clutch is a clutch. EDIT: Ok, I have done some internets research and apparently a fair bit of the skid missile folks out there seem to think that twin plate clutches blow gearboxes. I think it's a lot more likely that twin plate clutches just don't slip, whereas they could clutch kick all day on their shitty slipping single plate and it would just F*** the clutch up instead of the gearbox. As soon as they removed that weak link, the next weak link broke.

Not sure how you figure a twin plate is going to blow up the box when a single plate somehow isn't? They're just a force transfer mechanism.

Don't stuff around, go twin plate.

Honestly you're probably better off just changing the springs on the factory struts. Adjusties are a pain in the arse, by the time you consider stuff like the cost of buying them, the cost of a cert, probable increase in insurance costs, and the fact that unless you get really good ones they don't tend to last anywhere near as long as an OEM strut and half the time rebuilding them is a complete crap-shoot.

LVVTA is a mess TBH. Maybe they've got better in the last couple of years, I don't know, but they're having a very hard time divorcing themselves from their roots (guys building janky kit cars in their shed) to the modern reality of modified vehicles, which is now predominantly people making japanese imports faster with bolt-on parts. The ultimate representation of this is the driveshaft hoop rule and the way it was implemented/enforced. I was once told that if I reshelled a completely factory WRX driveline (engine + gearbox + driveshaft + diff) into a non-WRX shell it would need driveshaft hoops because I had increased the power of the car by too much. This was about the point I lost faith in the LVVTA to provide pragmatic representation of the car modifying community. EDIT: This rule has subsequently changed, but it took YEARS.

For clarity, when doing it on a BP, do they remove the entire dash? My dash pad is a cracked, messed up pile of S***, and if they're pulling it out when doing the recall I'll supply them with a replacement to put in at the time. That way they don't even have to be gentle when removing my one

I'd agree, they have been my "general car" mechanics for years, the Marsden village branch is also very good.

Mine did this with a genuine bearing that had never been touched. For whatever reason, even when the bearing is COMPLETELY rooted you won't really get noticeable wobble in the wheel, so it's kinda hard to pick up. But yeah, mine ruined the hub inner stub thing as well. Turned into about a $400 job or so? I figure you've got it well and truly sorted by now anyway.

I use Macbilt for suspension and alignment work, nobody in Wellington gets close to them for that stuff. General mechanic stuff, modifications, fabrication etc I go to Jamie at Llama Engineering.

Unpopular opinion: Sell the gauge pods. Having 11 billion gauges is very 2002. I also question their worth, are you going to look at the oil pressure half way around a big sweeper and go "oops there goes my bottom end"? Especially if they're cheap-ass gauges, they probably won't even have peak hold so you can't go "oooh I seeeeeee I hit 26psi just before it went nugga nugga"

If it was thick white, probably overfueling, if I had to guess I would say that the car got started and driven about 3 metres several times (moving it around the workshop etc) and may have had a bit of excess fuel around the place? Take it for a decent drive then have a look if it happens the next day.

The cheap chinese silicone is just so unbelievably S***. In the big picture of motoring, if you could spend $65 on heinous chinese S*** or $365 on genuine Samco or OEM hoses, you would have to be kinda crazy or a massive tight-arse to buy the cheap stuff. Literally the first time one of those poxy hoses bursts and you have to tow the car home the better hoses would have paid for themselves, let alone if you suffer engine damage as a result.

Umm, on a scale of one to really, really stolen, how stolen is the car you've bought?