500_19B's Bugeye resurrection

[500_19B]

Got all the bits and pieces lined up to complete the brakes (pads, lines, shims etc.)



Everything went together without any notable issue and I think it is just the bleeding left to go. Before I re-installed the master cylinder after rebuilding it, I did a bench bleed, so I hope the rest of the bleeding goes well.

The part I have some doubts on is the ABS unit. I had everything apart for quite some time, so I do not know if I will be running into issues with air entrapped in that part of the system

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[500_19B]

My son and I did the initial brake bleeding this week, which took a good while as the system was very empty. It seems to have worked well, the pedal is now extremely firm, but of course until the engine is running, and the brake booster has vacuum, it is a little hard to know for sure. Also, having the master cylinder brace on surely is adding to the pedal firmness. At any rate, it is either totally bled, or close. We have another unopened container of fluid still, so we will push a lot of that through the system before the first drive as an extra step.

Aside from that, during the week started to get things ready to put the front-end bodywork together. First up is the bumper cover. All the previously refinished bracketry for the bumper cover has been coated in Cosmoline and installed.



There are plastic brackets at the top corners that were a little damaged, so new ones were put in.



Fixing them in was a matter of some rivets and a plastic clip.



In 2002, the Subaru grill emblem had a black background, shortly thereafter, it was changed to the blue-gradient background that is still used today. I left it to my son to pick what to use for a new emblem. The choices were:

• Original 2002 black
• Newer blue gradient
• Blue stylized “I” (Impreza)
• Pink stylized “I”
• Pink six-star logo

Interestingly, my son decided to stay with the understated original.

The old emblem was very tired looking:



The new emblem and cleaned up grill certainly look better:

[500_19B]

Another weekend spent working on projects in the garden and for the in-laws. Upside is I am in the good books, downside is progress was frustratingly slow.

The new boost controller came in so that is now in the car. I did not plug in the front O2 sensor, as I have decided to renew it after all...





The other noteworthy item is the front bumper & beam are on. You may be wondering... that is an old battery I am just using temporarily, as it does not hold charge very well, but it is OK for testing things, I just have to keep charging it.





The shopping list for big items is getting shorter. The main items (aside from trim bits) are a new downpipe, both O2 sensors, new MAF (yeah, decided to change that too) and new coil packs (another item that at first I thought I would reuse, but now I am just wanting to bring these items all up to date at the same time).

From what I read, the coil packs and MAF do gradually lose effectiveness over time.

Not too much more, but they are all pricey items. Oh well!

The end of this project is starting to look not so far away. The current goal is to finish the mechanical items by October and have the car running. The remainder of the cosmetics (door seals, trim etc.) will be done by the spring, at which point we will do the alignment and then see what we have.

[PeterFromCanada]

Almost there, she looks amazing

[500_19B]

Actually did a fair amount of work this weekend, but not a lot of pics to show for it.

Amongst small odds & ends was a tweak to the removable tailpipe silencer for the Blitz exhaust. Those familiar with the Blitz Nur-Spec know that it is definitely on the loud side, which I never minded. However, there has been a lot of chatter in these parts over the past year that police are clamping down. There have been stories of cars being impounded over exhausts (but I think the cars in question are usually pretty extreme in all ways). All that said, I think it will be safer to use the silencer piece, which does take the volume down quite a bit. And, given that it is the classic low-pitch boxer rumble, we should be OK. Well, at least for now.

The small issue was that the piece slides into the tailpipe and is fixed with a single bolt from the bottom. As such, the entire piece can vibrate relative to the tailpipe and adds an annoying rattle like sound to the exhaust. Not loud, but it is there. So an extra hole was added to the top of the tailpipe for a second bolt to steady the unit. Rather than weld in a nut, a rivet nut was added.



Way back in post #84 I talked about what I did about the rear sway bar mounting, where I had put in weld-in nuts that had thin flanges on the outside. My concern at the time was that the original weld-in nuts (two of which I broke) were mounted behind two layers of sheet metal, one of which was pretty stout. As the time, I had first thought to weld in reinforcement plates, but then decided to just partially drill through the flanges, adjacent and inboard of the existing weld, and then plug weld it up. Basically, just increasing the effective weld area.

Unfortunately that whole idea and execution kept troubling me, as I ultimately was not so sure of it.

After finally giving in to my gut instinct, I decided to go back to plan A, which was to make it bombproof. So this week reinforcement plates were made from 4.8 mm plate (3/16").



All of the nearby stuff (fuel filler, EVAP etc.) has been removed and the plates have been welded in. Next is seam sealer, chip guard, epoxy primer and top coats. THEN the sway bar and fuel stuff can go back in. Finally can stop wondering about this.



On the front end, the headlights and grill are now in.





The back-ordered AC tensioner pulley came in, so that little detail is now done. Speaking of little details, a new AC label was also added in!

[DrTrae]

Absolutely beautiful work. This Bugeye is going to be a showstopper.

[500_19B]

Have not had much time over the past week. The welded-in sway bar reinforcements have been seam-sealed and coated with epoxy primer. This weekend will hopefully be the topcoats, then will let that cure for a week and then apply the Cosmoline and reassemble.

Ordered the new downpipe this week. It should arrive in a couple of weeks, and then the exhaust can all go back in. Decided on a Turbo XS downpipe as I wanted a pipe with the cat at the back of the pipe, under the car instead of up high between the turbo and the firewall.

In between, clean-up of the intercooler was finished, and it was reassembled with new gaskets and a new OEM charge pipe:







Also cleaned up and reinstalled the under-hood mat. The underside of the hood looks better without it, but I prefer to have it there.

[koffey]

Beauty.

[500_19B]

Only had a few hours on Saturday to work on the car. It was consumed by painting, as the sway bar bracket reinforcements needed to be top-coated. I didn’t want the batch of 2K clear to go to waste, so I looked around for anything else that still needed painting.

What I found was that there were a few spots on the seat rails (at the bolting locations) which had some rust.



So, both seats were masked off and the rust bits removed and primed and painted.



While that paintwork was going on outside, the welded in reinforcements were also done.





It will all be left to cure for a week, and then the Cosmoline will go on and everything will be reassembled back there.
Also picked up gear oil. MotylGear 75W90 for the transaxle and Motul 300 for the rear differential. Filled the transaxle, but still need to fill the differential.

[500_19B]

Looking forward to getting a bit more done this coming weekend. In the meantime, I found a little time last night to progress with some of the interior trim. Specifically, putting the "luggage shelf" back in. The wrinkle on this job was that there were a number of stiff foam blocks on the underside which helped stabilize the panel. All but one had come unstuck, and stupidly, I lost them.

Found a similar stiff foam material to make new blocks from, but I had to go through some trial and error to get the sizing right. Eventually got there and the panel and sail trims are now tightly in place.

[500_19B]

Made some better progress this weekend. Aside from a bunch of small odds and ends (e.g., adding a lower clamp to the turbo oil drain line etc.), the main item was finishing off the sway bar reinforcement diversion by putting everything back together, like the fuel filler and EVAP stuff with the 50 million hose connections. Still have to find some end links, but everything else is back in place.





Chipped away a bit on the interior. The A & B pillar trims and moles are back in as well as the front seats.





It is still looking possible to do a first start-up in October. Really hope to make that, as it would mean only trim and cosmetics would be remaining for the winter.

[500_19B]

The downpipe arrived this week (Turbo XS):



I like the concept of two pieces. It also is much easier to ship!

The quality looks quite good. The internal finishing at the ends and sensor bungs is nice and the flanges are super-thick.



Transferred the thermal blanket over to the new pipe. The top casting "sweeps" over towards the center of the car, which just means that the blanket does not fit as neatly, but still OK.



Also mounted the mirror housings. I had to do a lot of mix-n-match with connectors etc., but happily, both mirrors adjust correct. Only thing still needed are new mirror glasses (with the defrost heating elements). These are slightly pricey compared to the unheated version, so I will wait until the spring to buy them.

[Black90tsiawd]

Bugeye's aren't typically my cup of tea. But your is the cleanest I've seen in maybe 20 years. Kudos to you sir.

[D-Rodman]

Originally Posted by Black90tsiawd

Bugeye's aren't typically my cup of tea. But your is the cleanest I've seen in maybe 20 years. Kudos to you sir.

Well, he has been cleaning everything really well, of course it’s the cleanest, lol.


Sent from my iPhone using NASIOC

[500_19B]

Have had a lot of fits and starts with the exhaust.

It all began this weekend with everything laid out, ready to be just bolted in:



Included with the bits and bobs were a new downstream O2 sensor, 90-degree “mechanical” fix and fresh exhaust hangers (the Kartboy long versions, what I had before… I like running the exhaust a little lower to keep the tip well away from the bumper).



Started by first bolting the new down pipe loosely in and then suspending the tailpipe from its hangers and then trying to put the mid pipe in.

When I bolted the pipe to the flange of the down pipe, the back end of the mid pipe would be waaayyy too high. So much that it contacted the differential carrier before the flanges were closed together. My first thought was “there must be something wrong with the down pipe”. The TurboXS was advertised as a new design with increased clearance for lowered cars. So, I thought maybe there was something about the new design that did not play nice with the old Blitz exhaust. I called the shop from which I had purchased the pipe, but they flat out said they would not accept a return on anything that had been installed. Even though I had been super careful not to damage anything, it was not to be.

Convinced that the downpipe was the issue, I found another shop that still had one old spec Grimmspeed V1 units left in stock, and at a good price. Actually, this shop is one I had done business with in the past and is a much nicer group to work with. Should have thought to go there first. I purchased the unit figuring that I would sell the TurboXS unit to someone who was comfortable that it would work in their application.

Really like the look of the Grimmspeed unit and prefer it slightly to the TurboXS. Popped it into place and, oops, the problem was still there. So now I am thinking “what the heck??”

Start looking at old pictures and then it dawns on me that the front end of the mid pipe (which necked down to 2.5”) actually had the flange at an angle relative to the centerline of the tube. This flange and neck were pretty beat up, and I had cut it down and had the supposedly great idea of using the salvaged 3” flange from the old (wrecked) downpipe in conjunction with a band clamp for a sleeved joint (see back in post 194 for photos).

The trouble is that I did not realize the issue with the angle and now the flange was perpendicular to the centerline of that part of the mid-pipe, which is what caused the fit issue. So, the TurboXS pipe is fine. However, I fell in love with the Grimmspeed unit and have decided to keep that and sell the TurboXS unit. I have a for sale posting in the classifieds if anyone is interested. I am motivated to sell to clear the space, so don’t be shy to make an offer!

https://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho....php?t=2952931

OK, I was a real idiot, looking back. I should have thought to question the mid-pipe first, but it never entered my head until later.

After finally getting my head on straight(er), I got back to work. I’ve cut a section out of the 3” flange piece so that a curve in the tube could be mimicked in such a way that the exhaust run ends up in the correct position. It all bolts together well now, but I now need to weld it all up, which will be next weekend’s project (I hope). Will try to get some decent pictures.

With that sorted, I was now able to “permanently” install the downpipe. As said before, I really like the look of this pipe, with the separate wastegate tube. Also dig the “raw” unpolished look.





The Grimmspeed gaskets are noticeable thicker than others I have seen:
Pipe in place:





Used as much of the OEM upper heat shield as I could (had it zinc plated and then painted it with VHT header paint:





Also have a Cusco head shield that will sit above this one, but have not got to that stage yet.

[Smoblikat]

This might be my favorite thread on here

Personally I prefer the exhaust to be a full bellmouth, but if its going to be a divorced wastegate version, that extra pipe on the side is sooooo sexy.

Your bugeye might be cleaner than mine!

[Smoblikat]

Double Double, Single Triple

[CharlesEwing33]

i still want your cat back lol. But jokes aside I enjoy seeing this project progress