Datsuncog's Heaps: Sept 2023 - Another Year's T-Met Exemption Certificate...

[matt27]

I spent most of yesterday morning reading all the updates on this thread since January, a great way to kill a few hours, highly recommended!

 

Its a shame the cars had to go, but sometimes defeat needs to be accepted - and it did result in the Springwatch update, which my wife loved.

[Datsuncog]

Apologies for the silence since Saturday and failure to produce the promised pictures 'n' vids - technical and other issues intervened.

I haven't been a sobbing, incapacitated heap for the past 48 hours at their loss, I promise you (no, really).

 

I now give you, in memorium of these two bloody-minded old heaps, a pictorial guide to Saturday's events.

(You may wish to put some atmospheric music on at this point, to set the appropriate low-key mood of Gallic rumination and regret - I'd recommend Yann Tiersen's "Comptine d'un autre été", but I've no doubt everyone has their own go-to in situations such as this - some of which have already been shared. Pete 'n' Dud definitely do the job equally as well.)

Well, just before two o'clock, there comes a knock at the door.

A very nice chap in orange hi-viz stands there, with a double-deck Mitsubishi Fuso parked up by the kerb behind - my very own eastern-European Charon, if you will, come to ferry my dead frogchod across the River Styx (or, at least, the River Bann - which some may argue fulfils largely the same function. If you've ever spent an involuntary afternoon in Ardboe waiting for the AA to show up, you'll know what I mean).

The hour is at hand.

Fighting the urge to tell him no no no, you must have the wrong address, I love these cars and I'm keeping them forever - I instead confirm that these are indeed the vehicles for collection, and they're both starting and running.

Hi-Viz's eyebrows shoot up. Really? These? Both starting? Maybe he thinks I'm delusional. Maybe he's just had to deal with a lot of Lagunas in his time.

So KAZ is first in line. As he lowers the ramps, I start her for the very last time. First turn of the key, she catches and thrums into life. What a star.

Four years to the day since she passed into my ownership, I'd like to think I've given her a good run in her autumnal years. We travelled 28,000 miles together, and she never missed a beat other than the time the battery went pop. An honest car, eager to please; unexpectedly pleasant to drive, and with a turn of speed that surprised one or two, back in the day. With added bASeness, this was a car I'll truly miss. I wish I could have helped her live on, with an MOT and then possibly a roffle on these fair pages, but with my exceedingly mediocre skills and unfavourable circumstances, t'was only a pipe dream.

Up she goes. Looking pretty good fitted with those criss-cross alloys - that she never even got to drive on. Ah now.

[Turns away, fumbles for a handkerchief, much honking]

As you may be able to tell from the video, I'd neglected to tell Hi-Viz personally that KAZ is effectively brakeless with a banjaxed master cylinder - to his evident surprise while bringing her up to the top deck. I only advised him they were starting and driving. Oops. In fairness, I'd given the new owner the full rundown of their various shortcomings as functioning motor vehicles, but I didn't confirm or deny anything to the collection driver about stopping capabilities. It's not really the done thing to apply a don't ask - don't tell policy in shiter circles. My bad. But he manages fine; it's probably not the worst he's had to handle.

Next for the deck is TAZ. Unlike ever-faithful KAZ, at first I have my doubts that this horror is even gonna start. It cranks over slowly on the starter, painfully, like the battery's half-flat - but I'd topped it up just the other day. I give the key another twist, booting the throttle this time, and this time it seems a little less sluggardly and a little more like it might want to maybe think about starting, at some point. A third attempt, and there's chugging now, and finally, on the fourth go, the 1783/1794cc engine (I never did get to the bottom of that one) finally catches and runs roughly, producing clouds of white smoke. It is not a happy car. Equally, I am not a happy owner, so I guess we're more or less quits.

I thrash it up the short drive to the top, and leave it to idle and burp there, sounding for all the world like the engine has been replaced by a tiny prison, with all the inmates under the bonnet participating in an enamel-plate-rattling protest.

There's just over half a tank of BP's finest in this ungrateful bugger, which is irritating - but then again, magical thinking might postulate that putting TAZ's evil-infected sports rims onto KAZ caused her brakes to suddenly become inoperable and freeze the bleed nipples solid, so who's to say that fuel from its demonic tank wouldn't make the Subaru blow up or start oozing blood from the headlining? Yeah yeah, I know it makes no rational sense, but when did old French cars ever make rational sense, on any level? The past four weeks of spirit-shredding automotive despair has well and truly put me down the rabbit-hole. This is why they need to go.

As a final, one-finger act of defiance, I note that TAZ's airbag light has come on. Well, screw you too, buddy.

Out you go. Eyes remain dry here, funnily enough.

Nice trail of... something. Coolant? Brake fluid? Ectoplasm? I have no idea what it is, or even which car it's come from (mildly worryingly, it's still there 48 hrs later).

And there we have it. Hi-Viz makes appropriate tetherings with ratchet straps, while I wander round the wagon snapping away like a halfwit on holiday. I'm sure he encounters all sorts of nutters as part of his job.

Locked together in death, as in life, they're ready to go. Hi-Viz gives the straps a final check, shakes my hand, and clambers into the Mitsubishi. And then he just sits there. Maybe he's checking his phone. Maybe he's having a wee doze.

Mrs DC and Cat resort to harnessing the Power Of The Mind, to will the universe into making these dreadful cars fuck away off out of their lives.

And it must work, because look... a three point-turn, and off he goes.

There we are. Gone.

Here endeth my Laguna odyssey, of sorts. It's been a rum 'un. Like all shiters, you win some, lose some. Feelings are... mixed.

Would I have another? Actually I don't know. I really did like that silver Phase 1 RN estate on Car & Classic, but really - life may be too short to only drive Phase 1 Lagunas. I've driven, enjoyed, hated and mistrusted these two at various stages over the past four years. They can be good cars, I'd certainly recommend one as a 'modern classic' that costs buttons and is every bit as capable as a modern, but I think I'm ready to try something else. There's a big automotive buffet out there - I don't want to be pegged as that guy who always orders the cheese omelette in any given restaurant, regardless of cuisine.

But. A pause is needed, a stocktaking, maybe even a bit of grieving at what was and what could have been.

It's a few days before I'll be taxing the Subaru, so I'll hopefully use this little time as a bit of a buffer to work through my complex feelings about Rennerdom - and then crack on with the Forester and see what's what.

2.0, flat-4 boxer, AWD - with a ruddy great turbo? Well... alright then.

 

Cheers to all of you who have read through this whole sorry saga over the past six months, offering advice and commiserations at key moments, and for all the extremely kind feedback received - which, in truth, has left me a little overwhelmed. Hey, if I can't be any good at fixing cars, then at least I can try to be entertaining in my inevitable defeat. I shall endeavour to uphold the same standards in whatever else is to come.

Catch you all on the flipside, kids - stay tuned for the next chapter.

Dat

[Datsuncog]

[beko1987]

[somewhatfoolish]

(You may wish to put some music on at this point, to set the appropriate mood of Gallic rumination and regret - I'd recommend Yann Tiersen's "Comptine d'un autre été", but I've no doubt everyone has their own go-to in situations such as this, some of which have already been shared. Pete 'n' Dud definitely do the job equally as well.)

There are few situations in life which cannot be made a little brighter or less grim by supplementing them with this as a soundtrack.

 

[Split_Pin]

A fantastic final write up and I share a little bit of your sadness.

 

Looking forward to the Forester escapades now!

[Datsuncog]

On 4/30/2018 at 4:19 PM, Split_Pin said:

Looking forward to the Forester escapades now!

Here's hoping these escapades to come aren't quite as 'exciting' as the rest of late... though I do want to give it a service very soon. And a clean. Definitely a clean.

At the minute, it smells largely of Crisp 'n' Dry and gives me the dry bokes a bit when I get in... I'm even considering taking it down to Latvia's finest on the demolition site, and let them do their stuff... full platinum-grade valet for £60. It's not that bad, but it's not great either.

No doubt it'll all be catalogued in excruciating detail soon enough...

Some things really couldn't wait, mind...

[mrbenn]

Great write-up of the departure of the terrible twosome. And much appreciated, I certainly needed a bit of closure on this, it has been a difficult tale at times! Fair play to you for persevering as long as you did.

 

Shame about the models but, having been in the position of needing to sell a good number in the past, when people talk of "deals" they're usually talking about them giving you fuck all, sadly!

 

Onwards and upwards

[Datsuncog]

Well, with the Gooners well and truly gone, the rest of the weekend was spent puttering about, trying to get other long-neglected household tasks nearer to completion.

The fence at the side of the house took a bit of a battering in the storms over the winter, coming adrift from the batten securing it to the wall. In order to repair this, I had to move another piece of Autoshite-related tat that's previously not had much of a look-in during the progress of this Renner-heavy thread...

 

Three wheels...

10" BL rims...

Separate chassis...

Completely rotten floor...

Unreliable electrics...

 

Nope, it's not an Invacar.

 

It's the homebrew trailer I bought from a guy in Hastings (or was it Eastbourne?) back in 2005, for £110.

It's spent the last nine months trapped behind the non-moving KAZ, which was irritating because TAZ was the first car I'd owned with a towbar since... well, since I sent the scabby-arsed Volvo 240 off to pursue a short but, by all accounts, spectacular career as a racing car at Mildenhall. That was six years ago, and the intervening span has not been terribly kind to the trailer since then.

Built in the vendor's garage to a pretty high standard sometime in the 1990s, as a simple T-form chassis trailer for hauling camping gear, it came to me with a full complement of 4x Mini 10" wheels: two on the axle, one bolted to the drawbar as a mounted spare, and another loose spare. Sadly, owing to considerations of weight and space, the fourth wheel had to be dumped prior to leaving Brighton in The Poor Old Escort.

In fact, a lot of things had to be dumped/left behind when leaving Brighton. The point of buying the trailer was so that we didn't have to leave things behind; but when it came to the crunch, it seemed that all available space was fully occupied by boxes and boxes (and more boxes) of My Stuff.

Luckily, our flatmate was kind* enough to immortalise the lovely moment when my then-girlfriend realised that the entire trailer was taken up with boxes of records and model cars, and therefore we'd have to leave the few items of her grandparents' furniture and other personal chattels that she really wanted to bring.

Oh boy. Now there's a picture for the 'Single And Sad' thread. Not so very long after, I was both of these things. I believe that there is a correlation.

In case you hadn't yet twigged, yes I can be a bit of a dick. Maybe not deliberately or maliciously, but a dick nonetheless.

So the trailer made it all the way to Nottingham, and thence back to Norn Iron via Anglesey and Dublin. It then lived down the side of my folks' place for a number of years while I was in Australia followed by scabbing round assorted rented hovels in Belfast, during which time it merrily filled with water despite having a tarp over it, and the rot really set in.

It was last properly used back in 2010 during the last house move, when it supplemented the XM estate's cavernous loadspace for extra carrying capacity. The floor was pretty crispy even then, and thereafter it was relegated to light duties only, like moving hedge clippings up the road to the tip. It's now been unused since 2012.

The newly-arrived Forester does not have a towbar, which I'm kinda glad about in one way as it hopefully means it hasn't been dragging horseboxes around (although a substantial quantity of straw and grains discovered beneath a trim panel in the boot does suggest it's no stranger to equine-related activities) - I may see how much it would cost to get one fitted. Probably a fair whack.

In the meantime, the trailer looks like it could definitely use a full strip-down, including chassis de-rusting and repainting, plus a complete new floor (sheet aluminium rather than marine ply, maybe?) and a rub-down followed by several coats of yacht varnish to the woodwork up top. I'd be very surprised if the lights weren't rusted to buggery too, so a whole new trailer wiring kit may be on the cards to avoid spending ages trying to fix corroded connectors.

If the Subaru proves as dependable as hoped, I may get the chance to bring this back to life over the summer.

[beko1987]

Well don't these look familiar...

 

[Split_Pin]

At least the silver one looks to be living on!

[beko1987]

Might have shit him up by commenting "it's Kaz and Taz!!!". Even Gareth asked what was wrong when I gasped. Gave him the brief story. Will see if he replies... He only joined yesterday. Will resist linking to this thread for now until I find out if he's a decent chap or not. Or he's already found it and knows about it anyway ... Hi Maurice!

[oldcars]

Do you think it will be a Road to Hell for the new owner, or will he have one fixed up and be Driving Home for Christmas?

[Faker]

I have to say datsuncog, you are a witty sod!

 

Good luck with the Japanese king of the go anywhere family estate. They're a formidable yoke.

[Datsuncog]

So then: with tears now thoroughly dried, a £50 refund from Halfrauds for the unused oil etc back in my pocket, and most of the grime and oil around my well-chewed fingernails more or less dispersed - it's high time that I drew my little pity-party about the Gooner Twins to a close, and concentrated on what's actually occupying the driveway at the minute.

It's this thing.

A 2003 Subaru Forester Mk2, in 2.0 XT flavour, with the less-common (I'm informed) manual gearbox.

Following last Saturday's Renner-liquidation event, Mrs DC had pensively regarded the new arrival in KAZ's old spot the next day...

"It's not really the kind of car you'd drive at all... it's more the kind of car I would drive. I feel a bit guilty."

If she means the fact that it's Japanese, monochrome, and has a reputation for not breaking down frequently and extravagantly, then - yes, I suppose she's quite right. It's not the kind of car that I'd normally drive, or find myself drawn toward.

But that's not to say I don't very much like the Tonka-truck chunkiness, the novelty/practicality of AWD and a flat-4 turbocharged engine, and the unexpectedly meaty exhaust note, both on startup and under acceleration. I work best within parameters - with a huge and baffling automotive smorgasbord out there, being advised that a Forester or Saab 9-5 estate would find an enthusiastic reception was helpful. I hadn't even gone as far as searching Gumtree for a Saab before I'd seen, viewed and bought this one all in the space of a few hours.

And the cupholders. I know I keep banging on about it, but bloody hell - FOUR cupholders. It's taken me twenty-two years of motoring to ascend these giddy heights. Finally, I won't be at risk of inadvertently roasting my spuds through braking a bit too hard while a steaming hot paper cup is clasped between my not-insubstantial thighs.

The wardrobe-like lines of the Mk2 Forester give a practical enough air about it - almost Volvo 245-esque, in a way - but the front end has a rather more purposeful and pugnacious style to it than, say, a Honda CRV.

That substantial front chin, with those deeply embedded fogs, bring to mind its Impreza WRX underpinnings and, along with the slightly alarming bonnet intake vent, has the kind of gub that may cause an involuntary squeak from any other One-Speed-Wullies who suddenly clock it looming large in their rear-view mirror.

Not that I would ever drive in that manner, you understand.

So much for ruminations on the breed, then. What's this one actually like?

Well. First off, there may be a bit of an issue. How serious, I'm not sure.

The car sat on the drive for nearly a week from collecting it last Wednesday, to getting it taxed this Tuesday. While ambling home each day and approaching the house from the end of the street, I sort of noticed something - but convinced myself that it was just the uneven, angled driveway causing a bit of an optical illusion.

It was only yesterday, while the car was parked out the front in the rain while an electrician sorted out our dodgy wiring, that I had another look.

Is it just me, or is this thing dragging its arse on the floor like a whippet with impacted anal glands?

I've tried to convince myself otherwise, but to my eyes it simply doesn't look right. Feverish thoughts (in descending order of severity) include:

1. OMG total lash-up clunker cut 'n' shut deathtrap Rogue Traders sniffletissues sadface saw ya comin m8      ;
2. Imminent total rear suspension failure ££££££££££ fix;
3. Shagged/tired rear shocks 'n' springs after singlehandedly towing Chipperfield's Circus for 15 years (towbar craftily removed to avoid suspicion);
4. Some clown's slammed it for JDMYO! coilover shits 'n' giggles; another member of the Commedia del Arte brotherhood has later replaced the (broken?) front springs with standard ones, but left the lowered rears for that oh-so-fashionable sit up and beg stance;
5. That's just the way the Forester 2 looks - same way the original BMW 1-series always appeared to be sagging in the middle due to that curved lower doorline that I could never get on with.

So with great trepidation.. what thinketh the AS hivemind on this matter? Does it turn out that a fool and his (wife's savings) money were indeed soon parted?

 

I should point out at this stage that it does, in fact drive very well. Very well indeed. There's a bit of a rattle from the front end when negotiating speed bumps at much over a crawl; the vendor said it was the drop links and certainly they do sound very like a quieter version of the (completely shot) links on my Alfa 156. There's also a very faint, almost whisper-quiet trill of loose metal chinking briefly when moving off from a halt (of course, I immediately diagnosed that as a failing driveshaft or transfer box - not that I'm a catastrophist or anything).

So we took it out for its first proper blat on Tuesday evening, as Mr TADTS recommended, along some of South-East Antrim's more rural thoroughfares, and I have to admit that I'm very impressed for the most part.

I shall refrain from reaching into my big bag of Clarksonisms when trying to find appropriate similes and metaphors, but suffice to say it sticks to even twisty bits of C-road at the NSL with impressive adhesion and almost no body roll; the steering is extremely precise, and the turning circle quite jaw-dropping in its nimbleness.

The engine runs very smoothly and with that rather lovely boxer burble; while the turbo kicks in as and when it should with no concerns. I'm adjusting myself to the slightly lighter brakes and longer clutch travel (after four years in a Laguna of some sort, I suppose I need to recalibrate). The whole package feels tight, not baggy - and as it appears to have been main-dealer serviced up until a few years ago, hopefully that's all to the good.

There are no untoward warning lights or other things to cause me concern; one of the instrument lights has packed up (the one that illuminates the speedo needle, naturally) so I'll have to sort that over the weekend if I can. Thanks to dedicated scrutiny of the owner's manual, I think I've now found out what all the stalks do and where the main driver controls are (the amount of duplication appears odd - two different means of activating the sidelights; two different positions on the stalk both of which turn on the rear wiper).

A few people had mentioned the "grim" interior on these, and while I can admit it's perhaps not a view to fall in love with, it's actually not all that bad.

The seats are a bit hard, I'll say that much. I can feel the heating elements through my arse cheeks and I'd sooner not, if I'm honest. But the position is fine, the instrument panel is clear to read and the rest of the dashboard controls are logical (unlike the button layout on a friend's Seat Ibiza Bocanegro, which reminded me rather unhappily of trying to solve cosine graph equations on a Casio FX9750-GII scientific calculator, but at motorway speed).

The tinted glass may take a bit of getting used to. It's really dark - I'd estimate an 85% light reduction, so getting on for full limo-tint - and while it's fine in bright sunlight, at twilight or even when it's overcast, it does feel like driving a van. There's very little to be seen at all through the rear-view mirror - at first, I thought that the anti-dazzle button had been activated - but the door mirrors are wide and do at least give excellent coverage when reversing. The long sunroof allows in a fair bit of light though, and makes the interior feel a bit less like a dungeon.

The signature pillarless Subaru door windows do let in a fair bit of road noise. Again, unsure whether new seals would cure that, or if it's just the way they are.

Stereo is a bit crap - I'm slightly surprised by the lack of steering wheel controls on a 2003 car, spoiled as I've been by the XM and Lagunas. Speakers are very wimpy, though a bit of playing about with the tone and balance controls produces something that might be considered a subtle hint at bass response. After a bit of fighting with the eject button, and lots of tugging, I also claim my exciting mystery free gift.

Oh.

I may look into swapping out the original stereo for my Pioneer aftermarket unit, as I do like MP3 connectivity. This is the first time I've had to go guddling for CDs rather than my iPod for about 10 years.

The boot's not bad - maybe not as deep as the Lagunas, and nowhere near the cavern that the XM and 240's tailgates revealed, but certainly capable of lugging loads. The carpet and plastics are all pretty much unmarked, which again seems to indicate that it hasn't been worked half to death, so don't know whether this does (or doesn't) shed any light on the droopy-arsedness. Extra 12v socket, cubbies, bag hooks and tonneau cover are also welcome additions. I put a B&Q internal door into the back on Wednesday, and it didn't cause any bother.

Bodywork is pretty straight, given the age and the potential for agricultural usage. There's a few minor bumper scuffs, and a small scratch or two here and there, but overall impressions are good.

Some bad spray paint is apparent above the rear n/s window - wonder whether someone's knocked it while loading roofbars. Appears that a puff of silver paint, with no preparation, no primer and no lacquer was applied at some stage, and is now coming off like magic dandruff. Will polish and investigate.

Some rust apparent in the door shuts above the rear sills; also a bit of bubbling coming out from behind the rear number plate. But, again - I need to keep reminding myself that this is not a new car. I mean, think of what most 1978 Marinas looked like in 1993. Oh that's right, they looked rather like Creda tumble dryers, because they'd all been squashed six years beforehand.

Under the bonnet is naught but confusion to somebody who cut their teeth on Ford 1.6 Pintos. I can't even see the damn block. I don't even know where the spark plugs live. I'm guessing there's a turbo under there somewhere too, but buggered if I can find it. I'm going to have to go away and do a bit of serious studying before I start with any tinkering.

Still trying to see what the score is with the cambelt... dealer service record says belts were changed at 70k in 2012; handwritten letters on the cowling cover imply something was done just shy of 100k in 2015.

Vendor claimed that the water pump and timing belt were done earlier this year, and the belt I can see does look quite new - but my Knowledgeable Uncle (who ran a Legacy 1.6 Turbo for quite a few years) reckons the belt I can see driving the water pump is only the aux belt, and the separate timing belt's way down under all the other gubbins - and possibly only accessible from below. This does not sound terribly DIY-friendly to a duffer such as myself.

I took it on its first longish (50 mile) run yesterday, including motorway, and I'm still generally impressed. The fuel needle did not drop as much as feared; £58 filled the tank from near-empty. I threw in a shot of Redex just to keep things clean, too. Mrs DC drove it to work today to familiarise herself with it all; so I'll see what her impressions are later.

Verdict: starts, stops, runs well.

Even though there's nothing untoward in terms of noises or feel, the saggy-arse stance is concerning me greatly. I hope it's just my tired old eyes seeing problems where there are none...

[oldcars]

My 75 does that when you park it up near a dropped kerb. On the flat its fine. What is it like on the flat.

[Datsuncog]

It's the same on the flat! Must take some better pics.

I'd assumed it was my imagination until I approached it in B&Q's carpark the other night, but then tried to convince myself it was just an uneven surface. But the more I look, the more droopy it appears no matter where I park it.

When I originally viewed it, there wasn't a lot of space to stand back and take a good look at how it sat from a distance. So I'm not sure whether it's either just gone like that in the space of a week, or if it was always like that but I just didn't notice...

[Guest Hooli]

I had a non-turbot Legacy & the cambelt is a 50% above & below job as the block is so low in the car. Quite easy to do though.

[andy18s]

Ah!

Saggy Ass Suburu Syndrome

TADTS,and it may be a good idea to get that rustspot on the door/sill looked at before too long

[artdjones]

You can probably get rid of the tint if you hate it.Its's usually just a plastic film.See YouTube for instructions.

[Zelandeth]

Probably just tired springs I'd think. Take a look underneath and see if there's anything obviously amiss. Rear suspension is pretty conventional from what I remember.

 

Not unsurprising it's a bit saggy, as you've said, she's not a new car and being an estate will have likely carried a fair bit of weight. Plus springs simply don't seem to last as long as they used to these days. Doubt it's the end of the world.

 

The rust spot on the sill probably warrants attention sooner rather than later though before it gets any worse.

[Guest Hooli]

I like it anyway, proper cars those.

[Dave_Q]

One thing these things have going for them is the comprehensive service manuals.

 

Subaru actually provided enough info for a man with some hammerz and spanners to rebuild the whole thing from scratch in their shed, if required. 

 

http://vmx.yourcmc.ru/var/subaru/Impreza/Forester.pdf

 

 

Looks like the arches are meant to be about level. 

 

I wouldn't worry about it if it drives well.

[Split_Pin]

Definitely every Forester I have seen sits exactly the same way.

[Noel Tidybeard]

self leveling rear suspension was available in some markets on these

[Ghosty]

Used to have an A4 quattro that dragged its arse in a similar manner, the rear shocks had collapsed.

[Sir Snipes]

MacStruts all round if it's like an Imprezza so easy enough to change the springs. Bit more involved if it has the Legacy set-up but still not too bad.

Keep an eye on tyre inner edges as there will be a fair bit of camber when it's sat low.

[Datsuncog]

On 5/4/2018 at 5:45 PM, andy18s said:

Ah!

Saggy Ass Suburu Syndrome

TADTS,and it may be a good idea to get that rustspot on the door/sill looked at before too long

 

On 5/4/2018 at 6:22 PM, Zelandeth said:

Probably just tired springs I'd think. Take a look underneath and see if there's anything obviously amiss. Rear suspension is pretty conventional from what I remember.

Not unsurprising it's a bit saggy, as you've said, she's not a new car and being an estate will have likely carried a fair bit of weight. Plus springs simply don't seem to last as long as they used to these days. Doubt it's the end of the world.

The rust spot on the sill probably warrants attention sooner rather than later though before it gets any worse.

 

On 5/5/2018 at 12:04 AM, Split_Pin said:

Definitely every Forester I have seen sits exactly the same way.

 

On 5/5/2018 at 12:46 AM, Ghosty said:

Used to have an A4 quattro that dragged its arse in a similar manner, the rear shocks had collapsed.

 

On 5/5/2018 at 6:47 AM, Rusty Sills said:

MacStruts all round if it's like an Imprezza so easy enough to change the springs. Bit more involved if it has the Legacy set-up but still not too bad.

Keep an eye on tyre inner edges as there will be a fair bit of camber when it's sat low.

Aha... cheers so much for the advice and suggestions here folks; that really is a fair bit of weight off my mind. My main concern was that the wheels were about to fall off it within the week - if it's simply a case of shagged springs, then I'll see about getting them replaced next month.

I did have a bit of a look yesterday evening, and there's no evidence of oil leakage from the rear shocks that I can see - though the overall rear suspension set-up is quite different from what I've seen before: the shocks and springs appear quite steeply angled back into the body, and also shorter than I would have expected (though I don't really know what I was expecting).

I'm wondering whether the duff camber might be the reason behind the new tyres... I once drove a Fiesta Mk2 with seized track rod ends and the tracking way out, and it would chew through a pair of Kwik-Fit's finest budget tyres in about 5000 miles. I don't want to be doing that again!

But yes, the rust above the rear sill will also be receiving some attention as a priority. The o/s rear arch has lost its plastic liner at some stage, and there's a bit of scab around the lip of the arch too. I don't think anything's perforated yet, but I've seen a few Foresters that have gone into holes and I don't want mine to be doing that.

 

On 5/4/2018 at 9:07 PM, Dave_Q said:

One thing these things have going for them is the comprehensive service manuals.

Subaru actually provided enough info for a man with some hammerz and spanners to rebuild the whole thing from scratch in their shed, if required. 

http://vmx.yourcmc.ru/var/subaru/Impreza/Forester.pdf

Forester.JPG

Looks like the arches are meant to be about level. 

I wouldn't worry about it if i drives well.

Thanks so much for the link, that's mega helpful!

With only a transatlantic version of the HBOL available for the Forester (Legacy/Forester 2000-2008), I wasn't sure how much it would vary from UK-spec cars. If data like this is available online, then I may be ok without it.

Funny, Knowledgeable Uncle said pretty much the same thing about his Legacy estate - that everything seemed designed to come apart and go back together easily; fixings and connectors all seemed to be high quality and not made of quick-corroding Play-Doh.

Certainly, while changing a blown number plate bulb the other day, I was impressed that the cross-head screw retaining the lens seemed to be as good as new - on many 15 year old cars, I'd expect to find only a flaky brown wart remaining with no discernable means of removal.

It does drive well. If there were bangs and clonks and thuds from the rear, I'd be very concerned - but it really is just the way it looks that gave me pause for thought. I did see another, normally aspirated Forester of the same vintage while toddling home from the station yesterday, and it didn't have a saggy arse - and looked all the better for it. Maybe it'd had an easier life than mine,or maybe it'd had the springs changed already. But as we're hoping to keep this one for a good while, I'd rather get these jobs done now and avoid problems down the line.

I'll measure the wheel centre to arch distance, as per the handy-dandy chart above, later on. Appreciated!

 

On 5/4/2018 at 5:24 PM, Hooli said:

I had a non-turbot Legacy & the cambelt is a 50% above & below job as the block is so low in the car. Quite easy to do though.

I might try to raise her up later and take a good look underneath, just to familiarise myself. The Subaru manual seems to reckon 60k is the interval between belt changes, so if the vendor was indeed lying confused about which belt had been done recently, then it might be something worth thinking about... the dealer service history has 'TIMING BELT CHANGED' written in at the 70k service, so that's a definite - it's the 100k paint-marks from 2015 on the cowling that I'm unsure about their meaning.

I have changed timing belts before on cars, but they've generally been cheap old hatchbacks that I'm not too bothered about...

 

On 5/4/2018 at 6:15 PM, artdjones said:

You can probably get rid of the tint if you hate it.Its's usually just a plastic film.See YouTube for instructions.

I'm a bit conflicted about the tint - on one hand, it's been professionally done to a high standard, with absolutely no wrinkles or bubbles (I used to sell a lot of tinting film to the Saxo/Corsa brigade while working in Halfords... some of the applications were messy in the extreme) and it defintely has some security advantages, which is why Mrs DC sees it as a definite plus. As this vehicle's not going to be used much around town, possibly it's not going to be much of a problem.

But it does make the black interior very dark indeed...  I think I'll see how I feel about it in a few weeks' time - I'll not be hasty!

 

On 5/4/2018 at 7:49 PM, Hooli said:

I like it anyway, proper cars those.

I think I like it too. It's a nice blend of being quite engaging to drive, without needing to be battled every inch of the way.

But! Time will tell.

[320touring]

Those rear suspension potential issues can be sorted with

 

MOAR BOOST!

[Datsuncog]

So, yesterday evening the Subaru (really going to have to think of an appropriate monicker here - and no, not Scooby) was pressed into service for the first time to move a borrowed petrol mower around.

Perhaps disappointingly, the mower didn't really fit even wih the seats down, and had to be chocked in place and the semi-open tailgate secured with bungee cords. It's been a minor surprise to learn that it's not really a very big car; I parked it next to a new-ish Clio the other day, and was surprised that the 'small' Renault was in fact taller and about the same width. Weird. Maybe it's just the high, square bonnet that makes it feel bigger while I'm driving it. But that's okay.

Over a sumptuous dinner of fish fingers, I asked Mrs DC about her intial impressions, after her little jaunt to the office in the Forester earlier.

"There's a surprising amount of go once the turbo spools up - I mean, it's not got the same paste-your-face-to-the-wall acceleration as the Impreza WRX, but it does want to shift. There's a bit of a flat spot around 60, but once you get past 80 and boot it again, I reckon it'd pull on up to 120 no bother, with a bit more left."

Ah. Yes.

I'd sort of forgotten that Mrs DC does like a bit of rather spirited driving. That goes some way to explaining how a quarter of a tank had vanished with only an extra 50 miles since Thursday night.

I will, of course, make the assumption that she was choosing to refer to the notional speed in this hypothetical situation in kilometers per hour, not miles. Of course. That's what I'm telling myself.

But then again, this is her previous experience with the Subaru marque:

She also flagged up that the front o/s brake seems to be getting very hot, hotter than the others - because, after the little proving session along the private* motorway, it appears that she took it over the Knockagh to see what its capabilities were on tiny, twisty roads.

This is The Knockagh. The foothills of the Antrim Plateau, with a thin ribbon of road wending its way across the top, via various layered hairpins and exceedingly tight bends. That little chimney you can see at the top? Yeah, that's a 110ft tall war memorial.

It's also the road where I crashed the Yaris into a verge on a snowy morning a few years back. It's a bit of a bugger, all told.

Apparently, the Forester will come to a halt absolutely fine and in a straight line in an emergency stop situation; she tested this a few times along this rural road, as well as throwing it into assorted sharp corners. It was only when she arrived back at Casa Datsuncog that the heat eminating from the driver's side wheel appeared noticable; while the others had some warmth, this one seemed to be radiating it like an oven.

I checked the discs for excessive heat later on, after a somewhat less frentic trip over to Marks & Spencer, and couldn't detect any difference under normal driving conditions, so I'm not sure whether there's an issue or not. I might take the wheel off this weekend though, just to reassure myself. All the discs seem quite recent, anyway - no massive scores or lipping evident.

Further parking on a known flat surface revealed that yes, the back end is definitely saggy. So that'll have to be dealt with at some point. The owner's manual does indeed advise that some models were fitted with self-levelling suspension, as mooted upthread, but is a bit vague about how that might be identified from the standard model. I'm hoping this is all basic stuff, as the thought of dealing with hydropneumatics, gyroscopes and/or telekinetic load expectation modules is a little more involved than I'd like right now.

Oh yes - while out and about last night, I also stopped off at McDonald's at Abbeycentre, and bought myself a coffee purely for the novelty of being able to put it in the cupholder, and then take it back out again. Yep, I really am that tragic and easily amused.

All in all... I'd describe my feelings at present as wary, but cautiously pleased.