567 replies to this topic

[Beckers]

Pretty cool bit of kit that flex fuel sensor, time to bring the ethanol content of 98 to the servo administrators? Probably won’t come to anything. Where can you get e85 from in Vic? 

Hey Bennie,

 

Some of the United servo's have it.

There is a E85 location thing on FB.

[Barbbachello]

United itself list all the locations you can get it. Nearest one is about 25-30 mins from me.
 

[El_Freddo]

Thanks fellas. Don’t think I’ll ever need it but good to know anyway. I don’t think we have a United servo in benders, I’ll have to check into that for reference (incase a mate needs the stuff.

Cheers

Bennie

[Beckers]

United itself list all the locations you can get it. Nearest one is about 25-30 mins from me.
 

That's what happens when you live out on the western wasteland.

[Barbbachello]

Good thing im an adult and can tolerate a 30 min drive. Good excuse to drive the ***** instead of it sitting in the shed

[Barbbachello]

Locked my keys in the car. Thankfully saved by a locksmith friend without having to smash anything. Ordered the GDB Option STI key that night. In earlier cars these require some work to get working but as the gen 3 is the same era as a GD its a direct replacement. The keyless buttons have never worked so not fussed about losing them. Ill eventually get an aftermarket alarm that does keyless so cool option key works nicely

[allpaw4]

Does the legacy key have the immobiliser transponder in them like the aussie model?

[Barbbachello]

It does not

[allpaw4]

Well that makes life nice and simple then. Very cool.

[U-Shell]

Do a flip

[Beckers]

Do a flip

Who is this old school gen3 owner that has just turned up again ??

My bet he's been in jail.

[Robert]

coolant works better when its inside the radiator m8

[Barbbachello]

coolant works better when its inside the radiator m8

Its cleaning the pistons instead

[Barbbachello]

Shelled out for a 1 piece v8/9 JDM STi intake manifold

No more TGV housings. Added bonus of an OEM 3 bar (2 bar positive) map sensor

[Barbbachello]

Pull up a chair and make a cuppa cos got a big update for everything

Taking things back exactly 1 month ago. My partner and I made an offer on a house, 3 hours later it was accepted. In budget and with more or less everything we wanted.

680sqm, still in Bacchus. 4 bed, "2" bath (ensuite is a shower and sink) and more or less the exact same shed as ive currently got. Down to the construction so most likely the same brand/build

 

So life has been hektik herding cats that is organising a mortgage and settlement. Lots of money going towards some tradies to give the house a fluff up before we move in. New carpets, coat of paint and some updated lighting and electrical etc

Thankfully my side hustle doing contract software development has stayed steady so ive been able to still build up some money for the car and we're in a position where I dont need to put it towards the house.

Speaking of the car is still going with the blown head gasket. Just needs the header tank refilled before you drive it anywhere and its "fine". Ive made a large order with Amayama who are able to source the less common parts/will order on demand rather than just letting you buy what they have in stock so have the following on order

• New cam gears (see a post weekly about 20 year old plastic gears exploding and killing engines)
• New timing case
• New sump
• New 10mm oil pump
• New dipstick and tube cos why not
• New oil filler neck

From the usual partsouq supplier ive sourced the cam seals and valve cover gaskets etc. Its actually cheaper to source the timing stuff locally and thats readily in stock so that will come later. 

 

The 208 heads, which have bigger ports than comparable single turbo WRX heads, will be getting tidied up and refreshed with new stem seals etc and ive bought a set of BC upgraded springs and retainers to go in, again to replace the 20 year old stock springs. Theyll go in with the V5 STi cams i bought earlier in the year and will happily handle 8000+ rpm. Also acquired some ARP 625+ head studs from an engine/head person connection through a mate for 1/4 of their retail price so they will go nicely with some RCM head gaskets to hold the boost in and hopefully cope with the used block surface a bit better.

 

To add to the complete redo ive bought a new vband stainless steel turbo housing and will be redoing the turbo setup as while it works is fairly agricultural with the mig welds and probably warped flanges. That will go together with a new 3.5" dump. 

We get the keys to the new house on Friday 31st of May and hopefully the car will be up on stands by the end of the weekend. Ive taken 2 weeks off work to get through the work on the house before we move in and will sneak out to the shed between coats of paint etc.

Aiming to have the car ready for the annual trip up to NSW in mid July. Going to be a tight deadline but will see what happens

[El_Freddo]

Congrats on the house purchase! Welcome to some stability in housing without the twice yearly inspections etc.

And well done on scoring a shed in the deal. I miss having a shed and one seems like a long time away yet. But a secure roof over our heads is better than the alternative.

Get that head gasket sorted before it really lets go and does any nasty damage! You don’t want to end up with soft heads!

Congrats again!

Bennie

[Barbbachello]

Been a busy bee. Took 2 weeks off work to work on the new house so havent actually had a day off for about 15 days straight. Home ownership amirite

First morning with the keys we arrived to the sound of dripping. Cool. Called a plumber who basically said itll cost 2k for me to find the issue so do all the work to find it and get access and then call us out. Cut some holes in plaster (thankfully in the room we had no plans for as it already had water damage). Finally found the issue. The patch of water damage we and the building inspector thought was coming from the old gravity hot water in the roof, was actually the other half of the old system, still connected to the water, spraying from beneath. So after pulling the floor apart (with my bare hands it was so rotten) we found the issue. Shitty fold and crimp had cracked and had been spraying water for who knows how long


Thankfully the bearer was still solid and the joist was save able with some bracing and a plumber mate was able to come out and crimp on some proper caps. With that sorted and carpet booked in to be installed we got stuck into painting the carpeted rooms. We've gone bold with the colours as my partner and I love the cosy luxury dark aesthetic. My office is a dark grey but when the sun hits is almost a navy blue, our bedroom is a dark green and my partners office is a dark crimson.

 

We also pulled up the awful vinyl in the kitchen to reveal tassie oak floorboards, like as it turns out the entire house. Theyre all in really good condition too and are booked in to be sanded and polished back to their former glory

Between coats of paint I got my shed setup


And got stuck into removing the engine for a teardown. Found where the head gasket was blown pretty quick

 

With the engine out I took a grinder to an old up pipe and my headers to convert them to vband as a new base for my new turbo setup

[El_Freddo]

Mate awesome find with the Tassie oak! And that leaking pipe, what a bummer but good thing you got on to it!

I envy the time and energy you’ve got for painting rooms etc. We had zero time to do any of that before we got booted from our old rental. All but two rooms are the same colour…

That head gasket looks like it really let go! I hope it’s an easy fix.

Cheers

Bennie

[RX25SE]

Congrats on the house purchase Barbs! Sweet looking shed too.

[Barbbachello]

Exactly 0 has happened on the car other than parts arriving and the heads being reco'd. Whod have thought that renovating a house and moving in takes so much time and energy 

 

Anywho, large box from Amayama arrived with all the OEM goodies like a new timing case and other bits and pieces

 

New OEM timing kit with cast impeller 2 port water pump as i dont run an oil cooler/warmer/modine. Also a set of 1.1mm RCM head gaskets

 

Heads went off to a contact near Bathurst of all places to be reco'd with the following work

• Cleaned, decked and all the usual stuff
• New viton stem seals
• The BC springs and retainers
• Solid buckets
• V5 STi cams
• Got talked into a set of GSC stainless valves by the brains trust to handle the e85 and to not fall apart with the increased RPM i wanted
• Primary turbo oil drain plugged with a press fit billet plug