Yes, we moved here at the beginning of September. We even had a party to see us off. I sold the 2.5RS because it wasn't coming with us. Stuart.
Yes, this is my daily driver. It has both car seats in the back for the sprogs, since I get to do the school run. That may not sound terribly exciting, but I can go one of two ways to the school, both of which involve twisty turny mountain roads :biggrin: Ah, now for the bad news. Get your hankies out chaps, you're going to need them... I met the shipping agent at a little after 8.30am local time. We then proceeded down to the port where we would take care of all the paperwork. Thankfully, the agent was very good, and the process was as smooth as I could have possibly hoped for. By 10.30am, I was standing beside my car on the right side of the port gates. I then stopped off for petrol on the way home, since the light was on, and it was thirsty after its long trip. From the petrol station, I went straight home to show my new toy to Trish. She came outside, made all the right ooh and aah noises, then took it for a quick drive around the block. That took her all of 90secs, and she then parked it back where I'd left it. She had time to turn it off and take the key out of the ignition, but before she had a chance to open her door, the guy across the street backed out of his driveway and hit the driver's door with his rear bumper. Yes, I was livid. And not one hint of an apology. He just kept saying it's OK, it's no problem, we'll take care of it. Fortunately, we have a very good friend who is a local, and she saw the whole thing, and quickly jumped in to prevent any bloodshed. It turns out the guy is the son of the neighbours across the street. His mum turned up about a minute after this happened, and she wound up shooing him away. She and the friend both told him he should at least apologise, so he did ultimately cast out a quick "I'm sorry", but he really didn't give a crap. So, the car hasn't had a bath yet since I'm waiting for the repair shop to take a look at it. In the meantime, here are the pics I took of it at the port, before it got pranged. Notice the flawless driver's door ? Stuart.
You said driver's door than showed a picture of the right side of the car. :drool: !! That is one dead sexy car. Hope the ding isn't anything bad (doesn't sound like it, but man I'd have been )
Nope. I thought it would be white. I've actually been looking around for one for a while, since we've been planning the move for almost a year. I really thought I'd pick one up locally, but the ones for sale locally were a bit rougher than I wanted. There was a really nice white version IV Type-R that I nearly bought, but it turned out to have a blown headgasket. The guy has since relisted it for €5000 less than he was asking when I looked at it. If he still has it in a year, it'll be worth lowballing him for it. It'd make a nice project car for an engine swap. And Trish really wanted me to go for the 4 door, since it's more practical with the kids. So, to get the spec I wanted, that meant an RA with A/C, or an RA Limited. It just so happens that this one came up for sale while dad was in the UK, so he had a chance to go and look at it for me. The PO turned out to be a kindred spirit, with documentation for everything, dyno charts, the lot. He'd also looked at a Version V one that was only £750 cheaper, but wasn't in anywhere near as good shape. So, I did get lucky. It's funny, but when I was looking at the V, and I was literally one day away from paying for it, it felt like I was settling for it. It didn't excite me. Then the VI came along, and that one felt like The One. It was totally bizarre. Trish is, however getting a bit tired of me saying "... weighs too much" whenever she asks about something that's missing. For example, "Where's the Jesus handle ?" "No Jesus handles, they weigh too much." Or "Where's the cigarette lighter ?" "No cigarette lighter, it weighs too much." And "Hey look a handy extra glove box. Hey, where's the passenger airbag ?" "Erm, passenger airbags weigh too much." She's a bit mad about that one. Sorry, love. Oh, crap, it's past midnight. I'd better shuffle off to bed. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone (it's already Thursday here, remember). Stuart.
Jeez, had it been me, that guy would have been nothing more than a mark on the pavement. I went off on some girl who was talking on her cell phone whose door hit my car a few days ago... Didn't leave a mark, but she still got an earful.
lol or WHAT ROAD.. as in it doesnt need a road to be driven I cant notice by the pictures if it has any but some 22b wide fenders would be the cherry topping
Stoooo-Now that we've seen her, would you be so kind as to post something on Youtube with a video joyriding in Cyprus? That would be a real treat!
I'm kind of video challenged, but we do have a fairly nice camera, so I'll give it a try and see what I can come up with. The plate is the old UK plate, and it was personalised. As far as I can tell, it represents the fictitious firm WAT Racing Development. The PO wanted a small number for when he went with a front mount. Less letters = smaller plate. Me, I think it would be more suited to a Toyota fan. The car will be getting fresh Cyprus plates once I get the paperwork done. "22B wide fenders weigh too much." Stuart.
I swapped in the stereo from my old RS last weekend. The JDM unit that was in it doesn't work well here (none of them do) since the frequency range doesn't suit our radio station selection. And really, who needs a MiniDisc player in their car when I can play MP3s off a USB flash drive ? Whatever happened to MiniDisc, anyway ? No, I didn't take any pictures yet, but I will. During the installation, I found that the balance worked OK, but the fader didn't produce any sound from the rear speakers. I was worried that I would have to trace down a wiring problem, until I looked in the boot. It would appear that rear speakers... say it with me folks... "weigh too much". So, all I have are the big speakers in the front doors. As you can well imagine, the sound quality isn't exactly great, but with all the noise from the exhaust, better/more speakers would probably just be a waste. Oh, and the new radio weighs significantly less than the old one, so I'm carrying on with the RA ethos. I've even lost 5lbs myself since I arrived here. Yes, that's how seriously I'm taking this car Stuart.
I found a translation of the DCCD User Guide the other day. This is my absolute favourite part... And this is my daily driven road car ? Stuart.
Out with the old... And in with the new... Well, almost new. The STi pedals used to be in my RS. The original pedals look to me like standard WRX ones. Ewww, this is an STi Type-RA, people! It deserves genuine STi pedals. Right ? :biggrin: Well, that's how I'm justifying spending an hour and a half getting that sodding accelerator pedal cover on. Man, that pin just doesn't want to line up. For future reference, installing that one pedal requires a 4.5mm spanner, a 2.5mm hex key, some lube (I had to make do with olive oil, in this instance), a torch, a mirror, two sets of vice grips and a big **** off hammer ! Swearing, however, did *not* seem to help in the slightest. Funny, 'cos it normally makes things go a bit easier. Stuart.
What he doesn't mention is the half hour before installation, where he polished the new pedals and kept whispering, "My Precious", in order to creep me out. Watching him do this sort of thing generally amuses me, in the same way watching a toddler eat spaghetti amuses me. Time flies in the face of such enthusiasm. But the mess... Really, Stoooo... you had to use the olive oil? :roll: --Trish
Well, I just *had* to get rid of the old MN grime from them to make way for the new Cyprus grime. And don't underestimate the lubricating powers of olive oil :biggrin: Stuart.
Went for a drive along the coast road from Limassol to the Birthplace of Aphrodite today. The missus took a quick video of the last couple of minutes of the trip, since you guys have been asking for vids... [YOUTUBE]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cMEUPDCv94k&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cMEUPDCv94k&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE] Sorry, no mountain road videos yet, since we haven't actually been up into the mountains during daylight hours. But, since there's snow up there on the mountains right now, I think we *should* take a trip up there real soon. Stuart.
I just watched it. I thought it was boring, and I was there, getting ill. Though I did like my comment to my son, "It's land, Honey. It's the big rock we came to see." Hopefully he'll find another car friend, so he has a cameraman who doesn't need so much "fresh air" whenever he zooms around the switchbacks on the way there. Better get going out there to watch movies with Stoooo, or he'll get grumpy. Englishmen can get so tetchy when they can't drink their tea with their womenfolk. Though it may just be this Englishman. He's kind of odd. Cute, but nevertheless, odd. --Trish
Well, we haven't had much of an update in here for a while, so I figured now would be as good a time as any. It turns out that rear seats also weigh too much... Just kidding, I took them out because I had some new odds and ends installed in the car this week, as well as having done the clear lights a few weeks ago. So now it looks like this... It is now riding on my old custom coilovers, which I think most of you are familiar with by now... And has a fresh set of DBA 4000 Series rotors squeezed by Ferodo DS2500 pads... Bye for now, Stuart.
The trouble with the old ones was that the tyres were too short, so the car would ground itself over ever little pebble. The tyres on these are a little taller, so I've gained a little ground clearance. The old ones may well get fresh tyres at some point and become my rainy-season wheels (it doesn't seem right to call them winter wheels on an MN forum), or if I ever get the AutoX thing off the ground here, I may ditch the old bronze ones for something else entirely with sticky R-Comps on them. But for now, I'm happy with it again. Now if I could just get a quote for those STRI gauges, life would be grand Stuart.
Very nice... this is pretty much my dream scoob... but i'll have to settle with making something as similar as possible, lol
They still are FYI, the Kartboy shift knob feels like liquid hot magma after a few hours in the sun here. I *really* need to remember to put the sun shade back in the car later.
I know I already posted a bunch of pics of the gauges in another thread, but it seems only right to drop one in here to sort of close the loop on that part that was discussed here... Next comes the oil cooler, then I have the MBC brace and a slam panel to put on. At that point, I think I'm out of parts that I plan to put on any time soon. The rest of the stuff I have on hand is just a small part of the big suspension job I'll embark upon if I ever manage to start an AutoX club here. Stuart.
Hiya Ctracey, Since I know Stoooo won't want to admit this, it's been sitting our back garden getting dirty because Stoooo hasn't taken it for a spin since... probably the beginning of June. The battery went dead and it's nearly out of petrol, and he just neglects poor, dirty, filthy Sue. We've moved from Cyprus to Yorkshire, England, and the insurance laws are such that I am not even allowed to be insured on it (I only have my Minnesota driver's license, not an English one). Stooo used to take me for rides out in the country in Sue, but we have learned something about me... I'm the world's WORST passenger. In a moment of concerted effort, he managed to make me car sick in less than 45 seconds as we were leaving the town of Pately Bridge (where I can assure you, you will find the most divine cream scones on the planet). I'm not sure why he doesn't take it out more... I know he loves the twisty, turny roads (and yes, they have hills here, too), and our boys adore riding along with him. There are speed cameras everywhere here, but that still shouldn't stop him, as you can still have lots of fun if you're not subject to motion sickness. And as the wife of Stoooo and co-owner of Sue, I would like to know why we're paying close to $5000 a year for insurance on a car that doesn't go anywhere... --Trish p.s. If grassing him up to his Subie mates doesn't jivvy up Stuart into taking Sue out for a spin and giving her a splash of petrol and a bath, I do not know what will. We all know it will make him happier to have twisty, turny ride around one of the loveliest places on Earth...
Haha, well played, Trish! I was doing something and over on the "mod" side of the forum and saw Stooooooooooooo pop up and it jarred my memories of this car/your new situation. You guys were moving right about when I was getting more and more involved with the site and I was super excited when I saw his picture "adventuring" in Cyprus. Good to see the family is doing well! Now show off just how lucky you are with the all rare parts and exclusive cars over in England, now! ~Chris
Okay... Fly me to England as a "Security Consultant" and I will pummel Stu, mock him continously for having such an awesome car that never gets driven, and rack up dozens of photo tickets on his plates before i leave. Hopefully i can set a speed record Once i get that whole "shifting with the left hand" thing down that is..