With another year passing since any form of SH Garage Update on my two project cars – Project Spec C and Project Levin – I could dig in the excuse book for several reasons why.
Leisure has been a limiting factor, but it was a priority to use one car while the work continued with the other. My Subaru Impreza WRX Sti Spec C did not have many fixes and upgrades in the way, and this was intentional; I didn’t need two Autoreside paperweights.
Keeping the car mobile and usable meant only small tweaks, the first of which was to fit a number of group A-style for appearance, not watching. The next and most important change was to fit a front-mounted oil-to-air cooler, similar to what came in the ‘normal’ spec C (asphalt speck with 17-inch wheels). Given the earlier mention of oil temperature peaks up to 130 ° C, the broth laminova oil-water-to-water (mounted under the oil filter) that came in my ’16-inch ‘(Grindspec-Spec) simply did not keep up.
Flat-Four engines are a challenge to routed oil cooler lines, which is why the normal spec C-Cool has a cooler with hard lines. These are hard to find and expensive to buy, so I have chosen to merge an oil-to-air kit, to find the AN-Fittingen, Lines, Mocal Thermostatic Plate and Setrab oil cooler separately.
A little CAD (cardboard -supported design) was required to make the support brackets for the cooler.
Later GDB generation Subaru Imprezas came under it with a C-Brace that was designed to connect the mounting points of the forearm and to scrap around the key support and lower poor. Great, until you have to rouble an oil cooler line. After much deliberation, the most logical routing for the cooler lines was exactly where the brace was. More cad, some cut, grinding and gliding together with the MIG welder left a large enough notch for cleaning up.
After the an-lines have cut to the right lengths and the heat part that came closest to the exhaust manifold, it was all ready to fit.
Together with a motor oil change, the gearbox and the rear differential also received fresh liquids.
The last service item to be replaced was the panel air filter; The one in the car had seen better days. With the intention of supporting local industries where possible, I made a fast trip to Ramair filters – conveniently just a town from where I live – and checked that job of the list with a new Proram panel.
But the most dramatic upgrade that I made to Project Spec C in the past year was in the Suspension department. The intended purpose of Subaru for this model saw the regular STD road suspension replaced in the advantage of STD competition components. Although enough, I had always kept an eye on worthy replacements. Browsing a late night Facebook -Marketplaats Brought a just listed set of HKS Hipermax GT-Cailovers.
Removed from a newly imported Subaru S204 that was sent back to the standard standard, the HKS coilovers would be a perfect upgrade of the traffic suspension. They were eligible with 6 kg/mm in front and 3 kg/mm rear spring speeds and retained the reverse damper design.
They were in good condition, but a quick demolition, clean and chased the threads, they were together again. I run them at the maximum height, which is still slightly lower than I would like, but it works well for now and is a day and day difference about the stock setup in terms of rich quality.
A rare opportunity offered itself in the summer when I offered George the keys to my Subaru to see what it was like to drive. Schedules lit, so we could take one morning to absorb the B-Roads around Bicester and in turn the possibility for me to manage a poster car recently acquired Lancia Delta Integral Evo 2.
Boxy arches, four-wheel drive, four doors and turbo charger are the products of companies that are steeped in collecting heritage.
Clear progress has been made in the gap between the two, but also many similarities.
A quick stop to see the boys from Autosportif and Robbie’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI Tommi Mäkinen completed the dream setup.
After 2500 miles covered in the summer, I am still somewhat conflicting about what the next step is for Project Spec C; Perhaps larger wheels and tires to make it more capable. Or pick it up more, only about 15s and thick tires and live my Rally RECCE Car Dreams. Decisions, decisions! But for now the car is tucked away from the abundant amounts of salt in which British roads are covered every winter, wait patiently for spring.
You probably heard the saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child ‘, But, a little paraphrasing, having a good group of friends in the area to help during a car project is invaluable. From moral support to technical knowledge or just a reserve couple of hands, the help of friends cannot be underestimated. In the end, although I could have done almost all these things myself, it is much more fun to share the process with like -minded people.
Project Levin-Mijn ex-Featured Kouki AE86 Toyota Corolla Levin Hatchback – was just over a year away and underwent a number of reasonably dramatic repairs at Retro Speed Shop, which painted my previous Black AE86 Levin. Before she left, an extensive comic-down was required, where everything was removed that was not stuck, as well as some things that were. Given the difficulty in finding replacement glass, I chose to keep the windshield and rear quarter glass, but as a closing sale, everything else had to go.
After a lot of late-night research, the removal of sound deafters seemed to fall under two options: use a lot of heat or use a lot of cold. Heat is messy, smelly and requires a lot of cleaning, so instead I opted for dry icepellets.
Dry ice worked incredibly well, the pellets spread over the sound damping and then waiting for the magic to happen.
Here is a tip for anyone who is planning to try it for themselves: for all areas that do not have a flat surface, put the dry ice in a bag and take on the area, or even the back of it, a treat worked for me .
When the time finally came to move the car, creativity was needed to get it on the trailer. After they had forceded it in position on the trailer, some wooden pallets and rattles were needed to stabilize it on his rollover spit for the 2.5-hour journey. Rob May, who had previously shown his AE86 on Speedhunters, was gracious enough to drag the car to Stoke-on-Trent for me.
Because I had removed parts, areas that need attention revealed themselves. By the time Iain saw it at Retro Speed Shop, he was aware of the work that lay before us, except for a few hidden surprises.
Some extra bracing was also welded in the engine compartment.
Roest was cut out and new metal was welded in all areas that required it.
Replacement upper and lower rear panels were considered necessary, along with a few getting behind arches instead of the previously mounted wider fiberglass glass, because I go for more of an OEM+ look. It is great to finally see more and more reproduction and heritage components that become available for the AE86 when they are 40 years old.
However, I missed a few critical parts: the front mudguards were irreparable, the ventilated bonnet was sold with my previous AE86 and the boot lid had too many holes of previously riveted Aero supporters. The mudguards came from a friend in Japan, and both a spoillable boat member and a Bonnet in OEM style came from XTR Auto in the Czech Republic.
I made a few trips to the retro speed store to check in in the progress, so that more parts are needed as the panel work that came closer to the completion.
During one of those trips I had given Iain some basic drive to let the car roll for the collection, together with a set of wheels. I have always liked the work of Meister S1 and a full 15 × 7.5-inch set bought locally perfect for the arches of the stock width. As usual, with most AE86 owners, these are not the only set of wheels intended for the car, hopefully some others from Japan jobs in the coming weeks.
Again, with the help of a friend (this time Kevin), we have the car safely at home. It was enormously gratifying to see the car in a new layer of Toyota 040 Super White II, a huge transformation of what it looked like when I first bought it.
So what is the next step for project Levin? Because and when time is allowed, I have been to the garage, where I slowly re -assemble parts, where everything is cleared up to varying degrees. There have been some surprises that have not been budgeted, but Scope creep seems to be a common appearance when it comes to projects. Mark knows everything about this …
With an ambitious deadline of May prior to a sprint day, I really cut my work for me. But it does mean that I will soon have a SH garage update for you.
Chaydon Ford
Instagram: chaycore
Extra project 86 Photography by Retro Speed Shop
The SH garage on Speedhunters
