Subaru update

 I have been pretty busy working behind the scenes to try and get things organised with the Beast lately. 

The Engine

Around end of February, I sent a spare block and heads off to the machine shop to get machined. This is when things slowed down....... 

After 5 weeks I found out that the cylinder head had been damaged by the courier, and a piece had chipped off the camshaft seal area. It couldn't be replaced. 

So the hunt started for spare heads. There were none available second hand anywhere and the cost for two matching new heads aw pushing 1700 pounds. No thanks. Thankfully Jonny at OCS Performance had a set on the shelf. Jonny went out of his way to et them to me and shortly after I had them in the post to the machine shop. 

Queue another wait...... into July and the closed deck conversion was complete......and now it was time to get them delivered. Turns out thanks to Brexit and the Northern Ireland protocol, its incredibly difficult to get things shipped from England. 

After sorting a pallet and a pallet company to collect it, I had to arrange some online info on the government portal to get a special number to allow me post and receive goods! Strangely it all went ahead smoothly.......

Just waiting on the pallet arriving now with the EJ257 closed deck block, heads, 14mm studs and Mahle pistons. Again, this was a niggly point with me as I had requested RCM or cosworth pistons after the Make ones were suggested. After a load of time went by and I checked up, the work had been completed (bore/hone etc) and I was getting Mahle pistons. OK, so they are 2612 material, but its just annoying that the small detail wasn't confirmed before proceeding. 

Track day

You might have seen some videos already on my youtube and facebook of the track day at Kirkistown. Fantastic day from start to finish. The beast behaved well on track and performed all day long without issue.

There was zero brake fade even after 15-20 mins around the circuit pushing the car as hard as I could and braking as late as possible. 

The engine was fantastic and never missed a beat. It was only on the track where I could really push the upper limits of third gear. After the second lap session, there was only one lap where I heard the water temperature gauge starting to bleep at me. This was to indicate it was at the upper limit of the operating temp. around 110 deg. C. I quickly indicated and moved to the inside to let some cars pass me safely then coasted and cruised around for one lap to et some air flow through the radiator. After that, the temps came down and I gave it another hammering in third gear.....yet again it lasted the remainder of the session without issues. 

After 2 lap session, I had used half a tank of fuel, as you could actually see the fuel drop when moving!! After getting a little over confident on some of the straights, my braking was a little too late and I managed a few impressive power slides as I pushed the 10" tyres to the limit of grip. The first time it really bumped the heart rate up. After that......I enjoyed the practice. 

All in all, the car needs some brake pads and a quick service, due to the oil being under full load for a good few track laps. If I can finish off the celica soon, I plan to remove the engine from the beast and start working on the next one. Next stop 700bhp!