LankyKiwi's Rally-flavored SP20

[Riot_Polizei]

I cannot speak for the first two questions, but for the last one about WRX seats, I wouldn't try it.

I tried putting 02 WRX seats in my car, and while they do bolt in with some adjusting and bending, they rest at an awkward angle. It'll guaranteed give you back problems.

I'd ask JP Perera how his 06 WRX seats fit, though. They might play a little nicer.

[LankyKiwi]

A couple of weekends ago was the 2nd Gumboot Rally for this year, from Taupo to Napier then back via some stunning backroads and windy lanes. We stayed the night in Napier and had dinner in the local prison, the whole event was themed 'Inmate Escape'

I didn't do much theme work but still went and had a blast with some amazing people!




Turns out my $2 chopping boards aren't the best mud flaps! The issues is that they are curved inwards and can't flex properly, with some proper brackets they'll work much better

The car is running mint, last week was it's annual Warrant of Fitness/ roadworthiness check. It needed 2 new tires and some fixing of the exhaust leaks, but nothing too major, which isn't too shabby for a car with nearly 210,000 kms


Next on the list to do is to build an airbox, and I've attempted to order a rear sway bar from AWR racing. Hopefully that works as I've heard and read so much good things about upgrading the sway bar on these cars

[LankyKiwi]

After a few weeks of waiting, mainly due to NZ Customs, a big box arrived on my doorstep



ooohhhhh Shiny car parts, fresh from AWR in California



Compared to the absolutely shagged standard swaybar and endlinks

The car is so much sharper now, it actually turns in and goes where I point it on the twisty backroads around here. The stock car handles great, but adding this swaybar has pushed it up another level entirely




Also installed the Mintblue rear wing that I found at a wreckers. The paint isn't the best (Matches the car lol) but it fits and looks great

Next up for this car is to finish the airbox project, find the source of the clunk from the rear suspension, and look in to tires to replace the rears.

Any suggestions for a decent tire in 215/40 R17?

[Riot_Polizei]

Woah man, looks sharp! What endlinks are those? Looks fancy.

As for tire recommendations, I really liked my Yokohama S-Drives. A budget-conscious pick for the street and performance, and they wear like iron.

[grffn]

Oh man I am so jealous haha, always been eyeballing that AWR sway bar but never pulled the trigger... is this the one you got? https://store.awrracing.com/sway-bar...21-5mm-3303sw/
Did the box come with everything you need?

[LankyKiwi]

Thanks guys

@riot; thanks for the tire recommendation, another one for the list! Endlinks came with the sway bar and are really well made

@grffn; yep that's the one. It came with everything in the workbench pic, endlinks, clunk fix brackets, bushes and OEM horse shoe brackets. I grabbed extra bushes and mounts for future maintenance/ just in case

[LankyKiwi]

Coming home from the dentist (of all places to spend Halloween!) I cut a corner a little too much and hit a pothole a little too hard.


The front wheel took most of it and ate itself, the rear wheel got off easy and bent (might be repairable) Managed to get home with the spare on the front and a flat rear and grabbed a cheap steelie from a wrecker to get the car rolling. Luckily the near new tire up front looks to be OK and no suspension bits are bent.

Both photos are of the front wheel, the rear has a similar bend in it but no cracks

The current plan is to find a set of mazda6 17 inch wheels and transfer the tires over, Finding a replacement OZ wheel is going to be 'fun' if I even end up keeping them


I'm gutted because I love these wheels and they suit the car to the ground, hopefully the bent wheel can be repaired and I can find a replacement wheel, otherwise I'll be looking for another set of wheels that fit, are light-ish and look good.

[Riot_Polizei]

Oh man that sucks...my sympathies man, hope you can get that rectified. Friggin potholes...

I know you can repair bent steelies by hammering them back in place, but I'm not sure about alloys. Way stronger, but more brittle, you dig?

If you can't find an exact replacement, you could always try a reverse-staggered wheel set. You'd get more grip up front, better turn-in, and allow your rear to slide out more easily in the case of compettition racing. Of course, that's mechanical sliding and not "skill-based" sliding, though.

[LankyKiwi]

Cheers Riot, unfortunately it looks like the rear wheel is cracked too, so both wheels are scrap

Did manage to get some 17x7 Mazda 6 wheels yesterday so at least the car is on the same size wheels all round The offset isn't quite right (+55 instead of +45) and the rears are really close to the struts but it all clears and I got to keep my tires


I'm thinking of dropping back to 16 inch wheels for more lightness/ more options but it'll have to wait until next year

In other news I finally found an all black Nardi steering wheel in good condition, so that's going on the car soon!

[Apu]

Ooh...nasty.

I*ve got a mate selling a set of FD RX7 wheels with slicks on them (intended for use on an NC MX5) if you are open to having them shipped from Sydney.

[LankyKiwi]

After a bit of faffing around the airbox setup is finished and installed!


(sorry for the blurry shot)


Made from scrap aluminium it bolts in to factory captive nuts and seals off 95% of the filter from the engine bay, the overflow bottle was relocated on a custom bracket and some silicon bends and alloy tube connect everything together. It's got rivnuts holding the top on for access and even has a hole for the air temp sensor!



The pod filter sits just behind the headlight and draws air from the lower guard area, I might build a proper air diversion panel and replace the spotlight with an intake at some point...

Performance wise there isn't too much of an improvement, the butt dyno says there is a bit more pick up at around 3500/4000 rpm.

The best bit is the noise! Under load it makes a fantastic rrroooooooottt that's almost louder than the exhaust, Reminds me of my old Escort with it's twin choke carb

Next on the project list is....
Not much really, I really want new seats and the idea of a supercharger keeps popping up for some reason

Over the Christmas break I want to tidy the exterior up, finally fix the front bumper and a few other areas before deciding what to do next.

[grffn]

very clean job, looks good man! bout to put my aem short ram in tomorrow. kinda excited to hear the difference from stock

[tireboy]

Looks good...nice work..

[LankyKiwi]

Happy new year to all on this wonderful forum!


Finally a decent shot of the Mazda 6 wheels on the car lol, taken from the back as the front bumper is primed and ready for new paint (at long last )

Plans for early 2019 include more aesthetic upgrades/fixes, new wheels and tires, and replacement rear shocks.

I've snagged a cheap pair of '01 WRX seats to try out, if they work it'll be great, if not then I'll sell them on to my Flatmate for his '98 WRX.

[LankyKiwi]

This holiday season has been a busy one for this little car!

The peeling clearcoat on the front bumper finally got the better of me so I stripped it all off and repainted it with some colour-matched spray cans. I took the whole bumper back to base coat and smoothed out some of the road rash that it had collected over the years.



I did everything in the driveway with a few tarpaulins for dust control and shade



The end result is by no means perfect, partly because I ran out of clearcoat But it takes the front of the car from a ugly peeling mess to something that looks decent from a distance!
I also painted the grilles satin black and re-polished the headlights for an extra visual lift

With the paints out I decided to try painting the dash rings, to make them seem a little more fancy and up-market. Tamiya Gunmetal brush paint was used, with a steady hand and a fine brush!


I really like the colour and am tossing up whether to paint all of the interior plastics the same colour, thoughts?

Next up came the seats:

2001 WRX seats from a local Subaru wrecker that were too good a deal to pass up:



Installation required bending the front tabs, swapping the seatbelt clasps over and a bit of swearing to get it all to fit. I see the main problem with these seats, they do angle towards the centre of the car and don't sit as nice as the factory seats, However I've put a couple of hundred kms on these now and haven't had any comfort issues, they have fantastic support for the corners and look almost factory.


Lastly, and most importantly:



Evo 5 17x7.5 OZ Racing F1 wheels!

Another bargain as they are a little damaged, but nothing a coat of paint won't fix I'm thinking white with red logos because that colour combination works ridiculously well on these cars.