Shale's THIRD freakin' Legacy: Meet Leonidas!

[Shale]

This message comes live to you from my private padded cell, featuring a lovely straight-jacket.

I HAVE GONE MAD.



...meet my new baby, Leonidas.

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/5606/photo0012x.jpg

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He is a 1992 BC5 Legacy GT 2.0 AWD...VF10-powered with the standard water-air intercooler :)

Or...should be. You see, Leonidas is a parts car. I saved him from the crusher he was destined for; half-way through being parted, he popped up for urgent sale as he was taking up space on the previous owner's yard.

We arrived to tow him with a car I affectionately dubbed 'Steve the Pirate' - it is a facelift GT type S2, essentially STi's attempt at insanity before the Impreza. It was stolen and recovered, lacked a headlight. One eyed S2...Steve the Pirate :)

Steve tried to tow the new car backwards up the grass driveway onto the main shared driveway. Nope, not having a bar of it. Four people pushing, Steve doing AWD burnouts and full boost, the dang thing scraped two huge moats with the front wheels getting onto the main drive. In the process it sliced one of the guy's hands open resisting, and slammed another's in the door jamb with the rocking. Ouch.

Blew a fuse trying to jump-start without ignition. Made awesome grinding/ticking sounds getting towed forward, didn't want to follow Steve at all!

Called a tow truck. It didn't like that either...tried to spit the dollies when we arrived back.

By this time the car had caused enough carnage. Like the car it seemed hell-bent on following in the footsteps in, 'Sparta', it needed an epic name. Like it's 1990 BC5 pre-facelift brother Sparta (and likewise Steve's older brother), this epic car had a spartan name. Leonidas.

Work continued yesterday - we installed a new ignition amongst other things; we lack only exhaust and an intercooler at this point. Few issues we found on first start...

1) It absolutely refused to pick up at all until third try, where after 20 or 30 cranks it fired on one. 10 more cranks, it picked up two. Try one last time and it finally picked up all four, ran like a dog, then stalled (as expected).

2) Interestingly, it was surging forward. IN PARK.

3) It vomited half the sump out the turbo. Oil, petrol and mud...dear god!

Considering the engine is beyond help and the gearbox is stuck in drive...we have a few minor issues to fix. https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2009/11/unamusedgif-1.jpg


The plan of action:

1) Take the car up to Reuben's place to lurk by the mighty GTB-Ltd and make faces at it while it sits and rots as all deregistered cars do
2) Send my spare closed deck shortblock, and 20G heads to a friend nearby. Get them crack tested and planed.
3) Reassemble with metal headgaskets
4) Manual convert Frankie viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13582 (https://sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13582), put her gear into Leonidas
5) Test out new spraying gear; repaint the whole car
6) Install alarm, get re-complianced, re-registered and back on the road :)

This car is a restoration, and will eventually be a gift to the family - in particular, my little sister. She is a BIG Subaru fan and dreams of a 22B...but loves my cars (well, Shale anyway. She hates Frank cuz she's fat :< ).

And I finally, FINALLY, have the dream - a Dirty Ol' BC! :grin:

[Zac]

you lucky biatch

looks in way better condition then my BK :(

[Shale]

Mate you have no idea... :grin: SO much better than anyone could have imagined.

Here's some crosspostage... :grin:


Uh yeah, it's still stuck in drive. We needed to yank it with the tractor to get it anywhere! Left awesome skidmarks on the parking bay gravel on the way out.

We got stuck in prepping the engine to be pulled; half of the intake piping et al, of course, had turned to plastic, so a few parts are going to need to be replaced. It's also going to earn itself a new TD04; the turbo had been freeboosted for a fair while and as such, is pretty much grenaded. There's oil in the everything! Big cleanup ahead for the parts going back on.

We're assuming more than just the turbo is shagged at this point, so I brought my spare block up just in case. We think it's a minter and just needs planing. The engine in the car though...not entirely sure.

At any rate - experts. WRX EJ20G heads on a Legacy EJ20G block - yay or nay?

New gearbox is up there too, ready for installation. Big thanks to Mat...hope you're enjoying the cash! And a little less clutch meat :P

Another issue we have found is that the fuel pump is getting no power. To get the darn thing to actually start, we had to rig the fuel pump up to a few small battery cells as well as crank it over. Thoughts?




The fascinating thing about this car is it's as mint as I dreamed it could be, ignoring the mechanical woes of an obviously older car. The underside of it shows evidence of love; it's clean as hell, and has some obviously new or non-abused parts. The engine mounts look brand new! There's very little caked grease, rust or scrapes under there. Someone really, really loved this thing.

I was also able to get the glass all round squeaky clean and spotless; no watermarks, no damage. It's impressive stuff.

But perhaps the most impressive is the paint itself; the side panels got a claybar, cut and polish while I was up there. My god, SHINY CAR! There are NO dings on the panels. There are minimal, unnoticeable scratches. The clearcoat is in perfect condition, aside from the upward-facing surfaces...which are shagged.

Yay, dark cars.

So the boot, wing, bonnet and roof are getting a respray, as are the wing mirrors. The rest though... mint, mint, mint! It's staying that colour, because that grey is amazing when it's brought back up to standard.

God, I love this car :)



Here are a few lol shots...we were trying to jump start it with Frankie.

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/6683/dsc00066j.jpg

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Bigger photos courtesy of Reuben and the boys, who pulled the engine after I left. As you can see...the car also scored a cut and polish courtesy of yours truly...most of it is in better condition that I've ever seen on such an old car!

[anothernord]

Awesome. I loved all the backstory with the car.

[Shale]

Cheers bro :) He's quite a vehicle, with quite a name - and he's earned it! Can't wait til it drives :)

[MudRunner]

Loving this, please keep the story up! :D

[Shale]

Thanks for the love, fulla! Think I will go up north again tomorrow to start tearing down that old 20G and see what's broken. I'm thinking it's just the turbo... and a TD04 will fix that no sweat.

[Shale]

Oh man I COMPLETELY forgot to update this...

So, I have two questions to ask you fullas.

1) When you lack a proper tow car, a tractor, or a flat section where you can push a car... what do you do?

A: you use a VZ BC.

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/6082/dsc00005jp.jpg

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/3426/dsc00006hg.jpg

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3472/dsc00007qix.jpg

The Immovable Object meets the Unstoppable Force!! :grin: ;D <3333 BCs.


2) How does very, very good news become very, very bad news in 5 seconds flat?

A: You leave it to Leonidas >=/

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/3093/dsc00009eb.jpg

YEEEEEEAH CLOSED DECK BLOCK!! ;D

http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/4528/dsc00010a.jpg

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-..

BROKEN closed deck block! :'(

Found out in daylight that it was OPEN DECK too...so no loss.

Now I'm pondering buying a pair of RS-RA heads that are for sale, mating them with my spare closed deck EJ20G shotblock...and putting the RS-RA engine in FRANKIE...so Leonidas can have a reliable, solid WRX motor. The one that Frankie currently rapes to death... :lol:

[MRLancaster]

You seem like a very happy person! Hope all goes well! my baby Anya is on a break :/ i got laid off, so she doesnt get any new treats for a while :( but alas! all will work out eventually! But hey, maybe my girlfriend will let me mess around in her wrx again! :3 (avatar has me and my girlfriends babies)

keep posting updates :D

[Shale]

I AM a very happy person :grin: Tis how I roll...everything is a positive.

Know the feeling of being cash-strapped. I don't earn enough to reliably flat/rent here in the big smoke so I'm crashed with my folks applying for jobs left right and centre. Leonidas hasn't helped...

And hey. You have a girlfriend with a WRX...that's something! :smt007

I need to get a glut of things paid for, then it's time to do yet more on the Legacys <3

[MRLancaster]

I AM a very happy person :grin: Tis how I roll...everything is a positive.

Know the feeling of being cash-strapped. I don't earn enough to reliably flat/rent here in the big smoke so I'm crashed with my folks applying for jobs left right and centre. Leonidas hasn't helped...

And hey. You have a girlfriend with a WRX...that's something! :smt007

I need to get a glut of things paid for, then it's time to do yet more on the Legacys <3

yup i have the slow wagon, and she has the fast sedan. :) lol
next thing im going to get for my baby is lowering springs. I cant wait to lower the wagon! gonna look beast! so whats leonidas's plans in life? other than motor swap

[Shale]

Haha, you need a fast wagon like mine. That's gonna be HELLA fast once it's got the full RS-RA kit and kaboodle!

Leonidas is planned to be a birthday gift to my BC5-loving little sister...but I'm getting so dang attached I dunno if I can do it! He's going to be a full resto project, probably converted to manual after Frank's been given the same.

I'm gonna give it to her but name her as primary driver, rather than legally hand it over (something that can be done very easily in NZ... owner is an older family member). If she wants to sell it, TOO BAD... I'll help her buy a new car (most likely an earlier Legacy, in black, knowing her) and take Leo back...as he's one of my babies now :)

He's going to get a respray, better tyres, a manual conversion, and a proper exhaust in the foreseeable future...more than anything he's a resto, not a modification project. Frank on the other hand... :twisted:

[Shale]

Minor update. My baby Leonidas is finally home :smile:

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I've tidied the interior and scrubbed it to buggery. Just need to aim a hose at the ash tray (allergic to smoke, yaaay) and put a motor in. Lol.

It's in dire need of paint and a few other bits and pieces, but on the whole this car is close to roadworthy again!

[Airgne]

good stuff. wish i had a 1st gen.

[Shale]

They are totally worth the blood, sweat and tears. Amazing creatures to drive!!

[Airgne]

i know. pissed that i sold mine. i would rather have sold my 3rd gen than my 1st.

[Cervantes]

i know. pissed that i sold mine. i would rather have sold my 3rd gen than my 1st.


:smt019

[Shale]

^ epic response is epic :lol:

[Reuben]

Mmmmm, Dat Ass.

Also, i'm sad to report, the white BC VZ shown above pushing leo into the garage, is now a banana. Some blond git T-boned it while it was parked on the street! I'm just glad my brother wasn't in it when it happened :(

RAGE AT BAD DRIVERS!

[Shale]

NOOOOOO not the push car!! It had an awesome tree growing out the passenger's door and everything :cry:

Very lucky your bro wasn't inside indeed. Is it insured, getting replaced?

Poor BC. Another sibling goes to Subaru heaven...

[Reuben]

No, wasn't insured, wasn't worth much over $1500 anyway. We're hoping the girls insurance will come to the party, as it is her fault... Fuking into a parked car FFS.

[Shale]

Pretty damn ffffffpethul if you ask me. HERPA DERP I CANZ DRIEV, BANG! Wow.

[Shale]

Leonidas is officially "Mr Unloved"...

Sold to a ricer, blown up, sold a day before being made into coke cans. Sent up to Wellsford for long term storage. Sent back home months later on threat of being onsold. Stored up the street from home until he was given an 'abandoned car' notice and was 24 hours from going to scrap YET AGAIN...

Mum and I just forked out a handful of cash to have him in storage until the new engine arrives. At this point I'm absolutely gagging to get this car going again as I just can't keep moving/hiding/storing the poor thing. :/

[Kiwi GT]

I was wondering how long it would take to get a fine or notice slapped on it!

Where's it being stored??

[Shale]

It's over at Crown Storage (I think you can see his bum on the Captain Springs side). Far safer there and dirt cheap frankly :D

Juuuuust waiting on the motor now. Timing is shocking.

[chuckthefuk]

:-o THIS IS LEGACY!!!!

-Chuck

[Shale]

You can just see it OMNOMNOMNOMing a Toyota following declaring that, then wiping the 'yoda's paint off its bumper :D

[Shale]

Just as a wee update... we have an engine booked for this guy. Wiretap's murdered BC5 (someone T-boned him) is getting re-shelled with an RS Legacy of the same year and colour (HNNNNNGH GENUINE RS) and he has no use for the powertrain.

Leonidas is getting the RS motor. Frankie is getting the manual conversion, spare steering rack and fuel pump. Wiretap's getting a huge chunk of my pay. All is well!! :D

[Navi271]

Honestly, I love how you describe things. It's like I'm reading a good book!

I can see it now, The Wild Adventures of Leonidas... lol, Good to hear he's finally getting a motor.

[Shale]

I'm a writer by nature, just with the attention span ofn a squirrel on nosecandy :P I can describe things in the most ridiculous manner possible, but applying it in a real life situation just ends in-... OOH, SQUIRREL.

Tell you what, Leonidas has a story and a half on him yes... but he ain't got nothing on his grey siblings. Even if one of them is a drooling, incontinent, senile old woman of a BF5 peeing three kinds of fluid all over my driveway.

But yes. Sparta 2.0 arrives in Auckland tomorrow, and from there who knows wtf will happen. Whenever that thing gets stripped and re-thinged (thinged? About as close as I can describe to a reverse re-shell), the other Leggies get cool stuff too. :)

[Navi271]

I can tell! Even what you just wrote I can tell, I need to be more descriptive it seems... And yeah, I guess he is pretty young compared to all the others you have in the family. Can't wait for all these projects to start!

[Reuben]

Mega bump...

Well, comnsidering I commute this car to work now, and am constantly fixing it, I should update the thread (Was actually going to start a new thread, then thought I should probably search for this one).

Its a long story... For literally 2 years+ this car sat, unfixed... It had got to a state of mostly complete, but due Amy working mega full time, then going to uni, me moving south the Queenstown, our mate drunken working constant overtime and cash jobs, only person left to work on it was Amy's ex, cameron... Bits and bobs happened here and there, but nothing came of it. Then Amy moved south (I should point out Amy (shale) is my partner for those who didn't know).

Well, with Amy south, and the car still at her parents place, they got fed up, and decided to take it to a mechanic to get finished. They actually were very resonable about the whole thing given the un-usual nature of the whole thing (having a project car dumped uncompleted on their door step, and told to make it run). It eventually ran, and eventually got through compliance (a BIG ordeal here), and then went back home to once again sit undriven on the driveway... It still wasn't fixed, I can't recall exactly what needed to be done but the list was still long...

More than a year after Amy had moved south, and then eventually to Queenstown to live with me, and after getting her two other babies down south, Frank the multicoloured GT battle wagon, and Shale the poster boy GC8, we decided (read: were told), it was time to get Leo down south... So yet ANOTHER "holiday" (read: sent back home to Auckland to fix yet another Subie)... I went up a few days early, and got started... The list involved rebuilding the power steering pump, fixing some random interior issues, and swapping the rear diff, since it made a HELL of a whine while driving (more on that later). During the process I found the engine had no thermostat, so I popped a new one in... We got the car up and running, and did a bunch of successful test drives, until the night before leaving, where we finally opened him up and gave him the beans down our favourite twisty road... No overheating! yay! Then on the motorway back... Yup... MASSIVE overheat, while we frantically dashed to the nearest off-ramp to power him off... After letting the car cool off we limped to a petrol station, with the temp gauge spiking, and dropping, and spiking, but we got there all right... Asked the guy there if he had any buckets, to which his reply was "huh?", so I emptied the tool box out, and drained the coolant into that, popped the thermostat out, and then topped him back up... In the carpark... At 2am... CHUR.

Next day was packing and getting ready to leave, and we literally drove the length of the country in that state, no thermostat, with the chance of an overheat, and a new diff that whined just as badly as the old one. Oh, not to mention the car had (still has) stupid ricer lowering springs on the factory butter smooth shocks, so the bumpstops were ANNIHILATED...

Picture time...
First dawn after getting him running, back up at my parents place where he spent much of his time before moving 60km's south to Amy's parents place.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/12/IMG_65891-1.jpg (http://s197.photobucket.com/user/Pilot_Reuben/media/IMG_6589-1.jpg.html)

Diff swap, Yaaaay!
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/12/IMG_6594-1.jpg (http://s197.photobucket.com/user/Pilot_Reuben/media/IMG_6594.jpg.html)

2am thermo removal... Booo...
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/12/C3EC66E35E6B43D080A0541955E9952923900000-1.jpg (http://s197.photobucket.com/user/Pilot_Reuben/media/C3EC66E3-5E6B-43D0-80A0-541955E99529-2390-00000495678381ED.jpg.html)

Yes, we had time to fit in a track day on the drive down, cause we are bowss. This was our mate joe and his RS.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/12/IMG_66991-1.jpg (http://s197.photobucket.com/user/Pilot_Reuben/media/IMG_6699-1.jpg.html)

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/12/IMG_6665-1.jpg (http://s197.photobucket.com/user/Pilot_Reuben/media/IMG_6665.jpg.html)

Ferry crossing
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/12/IMG_6703-1.jpg (http://s197.photobucket.com/user/Pilot_Reuben/media/IMG_6703.jpg.html)

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/12/IMG_6717-1.jpg (http://s197.photobucket.com/user/Pilot_Reuben/media/IMG_6717.jpg.html)

South Island, where all the scenery is...
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/12/IMG_6726-1.jpg (http://s197.photobucket.com/user/Pilot_Reuben/media/IMG_6726.jpg.html)

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/12/IMG_6740-1.jpg (http://s197.photobucket.com/user/Pilot_Reuben/media/IMG_6740.jpg.html)

WRX play mate over one of the passes. Turns out she was a chicken driver, but we'll take what we can get.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/12/IMG_6756-1.jpg (http://s197.photobucket.com/user/Pilot_Reuben/media/IMG_6756.jpg.html)

Home sweet home:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/09/9683593311_eef7318b02_o-1.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/57752725@N05/9683593311/)
IMG_7912 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/57752725@N05/9683593311/) by Reuben Horsley (http://www.flickr.com/people/57752725@N05/), on Flickr

Average day at our house once the whole family was together for the first time.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/12/9737571927_c43bd71f79_o-1.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/57752725@N05/9737571927/)
IMG_7935 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/57752725@N05/9737571927/) by Reuben Horsley (http://www.flickr.com/people/57752725@N05/), on Flickr

Leo - with the fucked paint, Our flatmates BF's foz, Frank the multi coloured wagon in the back, Lexi - our friends BE, Rusty - our other mates BF GT, Shale - the mrs's pride and joy, Beast - My pride and joy, and Blighter (unseen) blocking the whole garage for his project.

Once down in Queenstown, the car once again, sat dormant for moths, with the threat of overheating quelled by being themostatless, stupid springs, whining diff, and all manor of other oddities... Until I decided wee Blighter was to get a K-Brace. Well, that turned out swimmingly, so Leo was suddenly yanked back into service to be commuted (Beast does NOT get commuted, forged engine go nugga nugga). It's been nice actually, the car is actually a beauty on the inside, pure factory mint condition glass, nice power from the VF8, just an all round beauty... But I got fed up with the whine, so took it to a mates workshop, got him up on the hoist, and probed around to see if it was actually the diff or something else... Well the discovery was quite a surprise. Whoever put the gearbox in didn't notice it. Whoever got the car running didn't notice it. Whoever re-complied the car didn't notice it. I didn't notice it... But the forester gearbox we put in, still had the forester gearbox mount... which has the gearbox sitting a good 5-10mm lower down than a standard Subie... And with a front crossmember factory legacy, and a rear gearbox mount forester, the gearbox was actually pointing to the ground, and put a 10-20º kink in the driveshaft!!! This in turn was making the universal joints (which are NOT constant velocity joints) put an intense vibration through the whole drivetrain at speed! Ouch! 5000km's it drove like that too! With a standard legacy gearbox mount installed that night, the whine FINALLY died, as was the binding differentials. Wow what a fuckup that was. To celebrate I went for a fang, and promptly blew up the gearbox...

Fuck.

Well, it actually wasn't all bad, we quickly figured out the gearbox was fine and operated as normal, it just made a HUGE GOD AWEFUL AMMOUNT OF GRINDING NOISES... A quick look in through the inspection hole found metal filings all over the torque converter and flex plate... Torque converter bolts... Whew... Since by this time it was decided Blighter was to be manual, I just stole his bolts, and fixed up Leo. He was missing two, and a third was unwound and making all the noise, and the last one was loose, but still wound in... Massive derp...

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/12/11045467593_3bed0db71a_o-1.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/57752725@N05/11045467593/)
IMG_8211 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/57752725@N05/11045467593/) by Reuben Horsley (http://www.flickr.com/people/57752725@N05/), on Flickr

One of only TWO bolts holding the flex plate on...
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/12/11045466983_e8a88d5879_o-1.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/57752725@N05/11045466983/)
IMG_8214 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/57752725@N05/11045466983/) by Reuben Horsley (http://www.flickr.com/people/57752725@N05/), on Flickr

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/12/11045466583_379ff1723f_o-1.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/57752725@N05/11045466583/)
IMG_8217 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/57752725@N05/11045466583/) by Reuben Horsley (http://www.flickr.com/people/57752725@N05/), on Flickr

And this brings us up to date. Leo has been fixed for about two weeks now, Blighter is still in the garage getting the manual conversion, and Beast is still sitting in the drive way staunchly not getting commuted.

Next on the agenda, FIX THE SHOCKS. We will be doing the Bilstein conversion like Blighter, and my mates BF GT got, and slowly but surely ironing out the kinks. We are going to replace the water pump, and while doing this deciding if the cambelt is new or old (unknown), and also going to install a tee-piece bridge accross the heater core hoses, as that's the second most likely suspect for the overheats. It will mean crap heating, but for now it will get us by, Blighter will be ready to go next winter, so Leo will be back off the road for 3 months during the winter. We will eventually rebuild the heater core, it's just a matter of time...

So there you go, there's Leo, the car I'm driving 99% of the time at the moment!

[wentz912]

Woohoo! he's alive!

[Reuben]

Annnnd he's dead!

So yeah, Leo's story continues...

Last week was hectic for me, had done a cash job cambelt on Sunday, then on Tuesday I started another cashie cambelt, but kept running into issues, first night I found the oil pump needed to come off, and I didn't have the parts. Second night the teeth slipped on the crank sprocket when I was tightening up the cam pulleys, and without a vice that stopped work dead. Third night finally finished it...

But on the second night, after work I nipped out Queenstown Motor Group (the local dealership), to pick up the oil pump seals I needed... And what should happen, well Leo's cambelt snapped of course. You know, because irony and all that jibber jabber. I pulled over after the engine had stopped, I was only cruising on frankton road, with the window down, so it was quite noisy, didn't hear anything untoward, just suddenly no power. Pulled over and tried cranking it, but it was cranking real weird.. Like REAL weird, enough to get me to pop a cambelt cover off to see if that's what it was... And sure enough...

Friday we towed him to the industrial place where all the mechanics are and parked him up in the dead car round-about.

Saturday Mitch and I popped down and went to go slap a spare cambelt on (one I had just taken off the cash-job car), and we got most the way there, got all the way up to putting the new belt on, before realising the old one had NO markings left at all, and I had left my paint pen at home... In the process of lining the cams up though, there were some bad noises... Not a good sign...

Sunday after work, I popped back up and got the belt on, and cranked it by hand, and well, Leo had REALLY good compression on 2 cyls, a shame cause the belt did take out some valves on the other two, one had very little to none, the last about 50/50, would last about 5 seconds on a leak down test, but enough to run. No grinding was to be had though. So I thought with nothing to lose, I should give him a shot at running...

AND IT RAN... Poorly. yeah, running on anywhere between 2 and 3 cyls, but ran none the less. Only let it run for maybe 15 seconds, didn't want to leave it on, should any more damage be done.

Course of action: Going to whip the engine out and the heads off and inspect. I've already priced up a head set with MLS headgaskets. NZ Gaskets are cheeeeeaaaaaap, but amy reckons she has a set of subie MLS HG's kicking around somewhere, so we'll be hunting for those. Depending on damage, we'll either replace some valves, or slap on some ol GT heads, but I want to keep the RS heads, since, well, RS. Stealing some GT valves and chucking them into the RS heads is a strong possibilty. At this stage I have access to GT heads only.





Question for the learned JDM scholar, BC RS camshafts vs BC GT camshafts, and BC RS ports vs BC GT ports. Any difference? Or was that 20hp more that RS's got turbo and tune only?

[Reuben]

Bump. This car still exists, and is still in the fleet. Unlike all the others that have been brought back to life, Leo sits still, with the cam belt snapped. Since then a tree fell on the bonnet, and munched up a fender, the bumper the grille and a headlight. But I have sourced all those parts as replacements, so at least we’re dent free, but now multi coloured.

Leo may be fixed this year. Maybe not. Finances are going to be TIGHT, I have to save for a trip to oz in September, track day in the north island in November, and a trip to my brothers wedding some time in 2019 in South Africa! Amidst paying my credit card off and making life work as a self employed mechanic.

We’ll see how things go eh.