DieselMonte

So this has been torturing me as usual. Running driving then wouldn't. VCDS said cam sensor no signal, so prayed it was just that. New one sourced, fitted easily. Cleared the code fine but still will not start. Pulled fuel lines, lift pump is priming, it is getting fuel to the hard lines to the engine. Rev counter is showing revs, cranking well. Belt seems fine no teeth missing etc etc. Only hope is injector loom. Pulled off the valve cover for a look and... It all looks very fresh. The parts car had 216k on it, I don't think this head has near that in it. Cam and all looks fresh, lifters etc look healthy. Very nice surprise to see. But doesn't solve my problem. Map sensor code still there but was there when it was running so not too worried about it, yet.

Went to Melbourne last week. Was really busy all weekend Still slow but markedly faster than last time Found by pulling a fuse I could cheat the soft limiter and make it quicker off the jump. Fair spin to to Yorkshire and back, and getting searched at Holyhead is never fun nor surprising. Still got solid fuel economy. Persistent check engine light which is either the map sensor or a glow plug. Left with a lovely gift of 4 semi slicks in my size, which will hopefully be put to use before years end. Nearly at 170k so almost time for another full service, and test.

So got some odds and ends. RHR calipers handbrake mechanism failed, even though it's nearly a year old Otherwise worked fine but having half of an already meager handbrake is very annoying. Also fitted new handbrake cables at the same time. Gathered some bits to refresh the shifter New cable ends, new bits for the shifter box also. Can't post the before video but a vast improvement, still not amazing, but better than before. VID_20240922_202622009.mp4

Not much new Fitted and wired in the spotlamps Usual trick of tapping the high beam didn't really work. They work in such a way that when the lights are off the high beam gets 12 volts with ignition, and no power on dips, then power with main beams. So simple solution was to use a blank from the parts car, drill it to accept a switch and run it so I can decide to have spotlamps only or at night (when the dips are on) they will come on with the main beam. Not ideal but useable. Video of them. They do help give more light but the lights on this are shockingly good anyhow. Snagged the rear emblem off the parts car, it has little dowels to snap into the boot which mine doesn't have, if I use it I'll just get crafty with double sided tape. Front emblem on the grille is pretty rough also. Also fitted my metros which I'm undecided on. Number plate surround is a bit much I think.

So finally found a way to get it over the pit. NCT was due end of month, got a date this evening to get it tested, spent yesterday prepping it, cleaning some spots, tightening the handbrake etc. Cleaned it up nice outside too. They spent ages looking at it in the test which had me very worried however Clean sheet aside from the Vin. Problem there being it's so old it doesn't show the vin on their system, so I've a form to send off if I want to update that. Pre 93 so old logbook, so not computerised. But now tested to this time in 2026. Going fine too. Finally Still have the parts car there but nothing else really needed for mine. Yet Getting 40mpg to boot.

New Lamps looking nice Taking it out for runs, fairly good so far. Very smokey. Boost wont come on until 3000, only wants to make .5 bar according to my gauge. Double checked lines to vac box and all seem ok. But starting, stopping, steering and changing gears. Having a problem with the oil pressure sensor, comes on after 2000 rpm, Didn't do it in the vrs, and changed the sensor for an identical one off the old ASY Lump, so presume wire. Since it's a simple tap into the oil cooler I don't see why I shouldn't fit a gauge of my own there too with a fitting, to be sure. Wiring around the coolant temp sensor into the rad is rotten and the plug for it basically pulled off, looks fixed before. Can grab some loom from the SDI loom and make new. Wiring for the fans is hooked up, as is the bonnet catch (can't remember if that's ever worked on the vrs) Gave it a lube service, genuine filter of course. Fresh fuel, air and Pollen done previous and no miles so no point changing them. Used an oil flush and coolant flush, no harm in it. Oil was black but fine, coolant (water) was very slightly mucky. Filled up with G12 now. Oh, New Ball Joints and Track rod ends on it too. Lemforder units. Abs Fault in it seems to be a sensor and map sensor fault also.

Moved things around to have a section for parts cars Carbs on Can do it with my eyes closed. Couldnt find a gasket set so had to wait to get material and make one. Gave it a service while I was waiting for the gasket stuff to come. Oil change plus fuel filters. Some gunk in old ones but not major like I'm used to seeing. All looking nice and standard. Fitted the spots but didn't wire them in yet. Took it for a run and it drove very well, filled it with fresh fuel plus used an E10 additive. And took it to a local car show yesterday. Only gave it a quick wash as it was raining, just to get the dust off. Going very well so far so.

Mine fell off so Iirc I used a jack to wedge it together and tightened the clip

So got some of the vrs' panels on And a new set of lamps Nice DPA ones with black inserts.

There's another word Ive been using too but it's not for a family friendly board such as this.

These are autoplas ones. Friend with a sunny had the same make on his funny enough

I am yeah and the 4WD turbo one.

So full exhaust on, need to fix the way the backbox mounts. And got sick of the barn dust so took it around for a wash. Got a jack and lifted it up to clean better underneath too, should have done a long time ago. Few more odds and ends on the way too. Also cleaned up the handbrake cables, just tied them to the beam.

Not terribly low, not a whole pile of cars sold in Kilkenny in the 90s. Logbook says 4th of February 92 Dublin was and still is where most cars are sold Something about Dublin regs Some manufacturers here register their demos in Dublin for the dealers Ive noticed. Logbook came. No months long drama on this one. And I gave it a wash. Came up suspiciously well but the paint is VERY flat. Leaked water for hours, because of all the holes the pressure washer forced water into. And took an inkling one day to give It a quick wipe down inside, so it's less of a biohazard. Lots of mould came off the headliner. Not a whole pile I need off it REALLY, but it's cheaper than the Weber kit I was looking at. Really just carb and starter will do me for now. Oh and the grille of course. They seem very very rare so I do want it. Can take a blank switch out of this so I don't have to butcher my wiring completely. Not entirely sure if they're fogs or spots however, guessing spots.

Just some more photos I've come across One from Melbourne and another a Friend took on the most recent run to the UK. Now have another car on the road so this won't be taking so much stress on its own. No point selling it, don't want to so I'm swapping between.

So long one. This thing wrecked my head with no spark Changed the coil first, nothing Changed the points, nope Plugs? Nope Condenser? Nope Checked the wires, nothing odd So I got annoyed and it sat in the garage. Saw an accuspark kit for the the older ea8X series Subaru's and bought it to try. While it didn't work, it included a new coil so put it on and it started. So most likely I ordered a dud coil first and didn't check it properly. That was fine. Got it driving, tried to take it to work one morning and got to the bottom of my hill before it started acting weird. Got halfway back up said hill and it died. Which caused this. So spark was fine, but wasn't working right Timings fine, spark is wrong. What could possibly be wrong. Have spark, have air, guess what wasn't getting through properly? But it would start and drive, then sputter and die when accelerating. So the C word once again. Almost made good on my promise to put a Weber on it, when by sheer chance a friend sends me a link to a listing of someone selling odds and ends, an MR2 some escort parts, and NSU Prinz and. Another 1992 Subaru Justy. What are the odds. It has never had an NCT (introduced in 2000) but was driven and used (taxed and insured) until 2022. 3 owners on the logbook, the dealership, the owner who owned it to 2022 and the man I bought it off. So for 200 euro, I got it. 90000 odd miles, 1L GL (5door) but same colour and spec as mine otherwise. Runs and drives, drove onto the trailer. It is completely rotten, there is no saving it. It makes the vRS I got for the SDI seem solid. Got it back home and took it for a spin. It starts on the button, engine is perfect. It is complete but as I say rotten. It has a very nice grille on it. An autoplas grille with spotlamps. It's in good shape and will find it's way to mine. Not a looker but all there. To drive, it's pretty good. Clutch must be new it's very strong. Carb is working perfectly. Even though it's got nearly triple the miles of mine the engine is strong. From what I know about it, it was well cared for until it got took off the road. Bit of a shame to strip it but there really is no saving it. Also bought this parts catalogue to boot.

So finally took it for its first spin outside in a long time. It runs, and drives. Had an issue where it died, not sure if it's the battery that was in it (very possible) or a charging issue. Well used to this from it's original incarnation. Put a bigger battery in it and seemed fine. Issue with the power brakes, seem to want to suck down and hold the brakes occasionally. Brakes work fine thankfully, clutch is very low but works fine. Just different to what I'm used to. Would say finishing stretch but not quite yet. Certain other projects detracting from this as usual. But we're getting there.

More pain Abs pump wasn't communicating, and the brakes weren't really working, pump appeared to be airlocked and since it couldn't communicate, I couldn't bleed it. To the point i was ready to rip it out and put the non abs kit in it. This evening I said I'd give it one last go, stripped all apart, then back together again and it's communicating. Ran through the bleeding process twice seems better. Not driven it yet but we'll soon see. Getting there. May invest in a stud and nut conversion sooner or later. Very annoying fitting wheels with no locating screws for the discs.

No dropped the engine off way before Meeting friends along the way, Stirling was one of them. Cold and normal predictably unpredictable weather.

Thought my second half posted Anyhow. Off the ferry, dropped off the engine and went up through Scotland. Up to Stirling,through Glencoe, then to Fort William, then Inverness. Fair spin. Next day we did the Isle of Skye which was fantastic. Day after that we went to Durness, which was also fantastic. And on the last day it was Applecross pass. Stunning views the whole time Roads up to the top were quite steep and not helped by people dicking about doing 7 up the hills. Next day it was the trek back to the ferry Aside from the views, there wasn't much drama, Just ticked 165k as I got home. Got decent Economy the whole trip, didn't make a fool out of myself I don't think, car took the roads quite well all said. The ST suspension is fantastic, it's really the best of both worlds. Even with an engine in the back it didn't bottom out. It held the road well throughout.

So, long week. Went on a trip to Scotland, doing my pre trip checks, came across this. Pad separated, on a bank holiday no less so couldn't get bits. Ended up getting some textars to go on in. Gave it a checkover again, and a lube service. Picked up some stuff for a friend, Quick wash and off to the UK on the 5th.

So got some parts of a wrecker mk2 and finally am bastardising a mk2 subframe into this. Few odds and ends, full subframe a mid body brace and some decent condition cladding for the middle, SDI didn't have them, vrs were broken and had a hole for a fuel cooler. These ones should be just right. Stripped and cleaned all up, wishbones looked ok but didn't use them. Used the spare wishbones with SuperPros castor Increase bushes, gave them a cleanup with the rest of the stuff. So like the monte the subframe and arms went Scania Chassis Grey. The brace went stone chip black. And the 20mm anti roll bar (size up from a vrs) I did something special with. Had some cayenne metallic in a can so sprayed it that. The results are fairly impressive for an evenings work. Did end up reusing most of the old hardware, Arb bushes were new and brackets were in decent shape so kept them for now. Will be getting new ball joints these are temporary. Good evening in all. Also put the vrs shell on a pallet to move it around. Works very well

So after much heartache, it finally moves. Brakes still having issues, clutch is low. I'll bleed em through again. Might need to use VCDS to bleed the abs pump. So with great difficulty, I got it on the pit to make life easier. Have to keep at it now of course. Glad it's moving don't get me wrong but Christ I should have been here a year ago. I really can't express how everything that could go wrong has. Pieced together a few other small things too. But the gearbox has been the main thing.

So a long while since I've updated. This thing has broke my heart, everything that could have broke did. Could not get the clutch to bleed at all, kept trying for ages until I spotted Slave gone. So of course that meant box off, the one thing I didn't want to do. Got it out myself, barely. Brand new Sachs slave gone in, clutch looks fresh, so I didn't touch it. Painted some stuff when it was off. LH inner cv boot was toast, so got a new boot, didn't end well, cv was pretty cooked so I had to get a new driveshaft. Getting the box back in was horrible, made an engine brace, worked well enough but still far too difficult. Dropped the subframe to get it in. May change out the subframe for a FL mk2 one, despise trying to line up the consoles and steering rack.

Another Trip to the UK Went to Melbourne for straight liners. Not a terrible run, mostly straight shot on the motorway so fairly little trouble. Got there VERY early so hung around York for a bit and then went to the air museum nearby. Even loaded with stuff it sat fairly well. Ended up sleeping in it, didn't bother taking a tent. Was a fantastic place, they even had a Saracen Did a few runs on Saturday And set some mediocre times. Soft limiter stopped me revving high enough so kept bogging off the line. First run was fastest and kept getting slower as the day went on. Exhaust would start rattling every time I finished a run and would stopped when I pushed it. Help from a friend bending the rearmost bracket solved most of it. Fastest time was a 10.61, slowest being 10.99 and the rest of the day was struggling in the 10.8s. Amazingly original clutch took it fine, aside from injector tick it ran fine the whole time too. Car drove very nicely over and back with the new suspension, even got 60 mpg on the way over. Pretty good weekend in all, definitely going again. Injector tick is getting worse and worse but still driving fine. It will need changed when it goes.