viperguy

and lets just say security has been ramped up significantly...

Never got her back, but have just started dating her hot sister...

heh im just dreamin, no idea really where to from here, such a pain in the ass

Yeah you too, looks like I'll just have to get that 2015/6/7 STI after all, looking on the bright side and all that

Sorry to hear about that, seems like someone was out shopping, mine was nabbed too, similar situation, fully alarmed but not a peep out of it

Welp I guess it happens to us all...as of last night my baby has been taken from me: Light Silver 1997 WRX wagon, rego CZM794, notable features I guess would be the 3" stainless exhaust? Other than that completely stock looking besides: light window tints, rear hatch sticker removal, antenna is a bit askew, and not particularly fancy wheels (17" 5 spoke style "shadow chrome?" colour)...taken from Houghton Bay road between about 1am and 7am Car had an AVS alarm and was literally outside my bedroom window so its pretty amazing that they can get them so stealthily....

awesome, cheers heaps for that, just like mine is doing on the plus side, it took sweet f**k all wd40 to get the actuator arm moving smooth as butter, just squirted a bunch of it up into where the arm comes out and a bit down the housing pivot and cycled it a bunch of times, feels good as new and no more rattling at idle not looking forward to the smoke tomorrow though so drama over thankfully

could someone snap a pic of how far their actuator pivots the wastegate arm....I just want to double check that this new downpipe i got installed isnt interfering with the wastegate opening fully as I cant remember how far it used to move.... wastegate arm is currently rotating about 30-45 degrees at full actuator extension at a guess...but I've yet to go for gold at freeing it up and getting it moving smoothly

oh ok, cheers for that!

are they hard to source? trademe sure didnt seem to offer me much

no need to wait, I found the issue after a little poking and prodding and banging around: Sticking wastegate! mechanism is really stiff and the spring tension does'nt appear to be enough to close it fully so its just resting there rattling away at idle but if I pushed it closed its whisper quiet. So I guess does anyone have any hints and tips they've found that work well before I go crazy with the finest lubricants money can buy

fingers crossed, lets see what the weekend brings

all there as far as I know noise seems very turbo-area-centric, I'd have thought a header shield rattle might sound a bit more "everywhere" in the engine bay being down under the engine...but i guess the downpipe area is a natural place for under-car sounds to resonate up through....

headers are all stock, did have a new stainless turbo-back system thrown on by Midas last week which included a new up-pipe, but I'm pretty sure I'd been hearing some noises before that...maybe I'll throw the car on the wheel ramps this weekend and go hunting before I get too depressed (or hopeful?)

Well howdy all, I suspect my VF23 is on the way out, theres a distinct rattle coming from the turbo area that sounds like a loose metal cover (although theres no covers nearby as I've removed the heatshield any years back). Theres no scary sounds audible when driving, I just catch it when idling at the lights etc The noise comes and goes with RPM changes and I'm not noticing the smooth ball bearing turbo spool-down whine Im used to when I turn the car off. Power is the same as I can tell, theres no noticeable changes in how boost comes on or is kept, just the rattling noise, oil changes have always been at 5000 with 5w30 Castrol Edge. Turbo has in my estimate ~160k on it So seeing as I just had a cam belt damage scare caused by a bolt that came loose and bounced around inside my cam covers I'm very cautious about funny noises now and a grenading turbo is not something I want to deal with... So I guess my question is: What can I actually replace these good old things with nowadays that isn't like hunting for a unicorn? Im not chasing more power, just something that comes on about the same time (or lower) and carries that power up to 6500 or so. Cheers everyone