Another update, the best news is the suspension has finally all been fitted! It's been a mission, the rear shocks refusing to part company with the hubs using the normal removal tools. Spanners, sockets, a breaker bar, torque wrench, blow torch, impact wrench, grinder, drill, many drill bits, hammer, chisel and more expletives and blasphemy then you could imagine have finally got the job done. The original rear shocks are now no more then chunks of scrap metal...
Fortunately I had spare nuts and bolts from the blue car and have liberally applied copper grease to ensure no ceasing of fastenings in the future.
As the suspension in terms of shocks and springs is completed (other then an alignment) I have taken on the challenge of the brakes next.
I was going to simply change the front disks but upon removal of the callipers (yes, they came off without any issues!) I found the seals around the pistons had passed their best and it made more sense to put the Brembos on from the blue car, which ironically are in a much better condition any how and have already freed off bleed nipples.
No doubt a double Brembo set up would be great... for generating huge amounts of heat.
I was going to fit my Hel lines at the same time as changing the callipers but the original stuff is going to need some TLC before it comes off without too much of a fuss.
The callipers and disks replaced, Performance Friction pads back in place too.
The rear brakes are in need of the same overhaul but will save that for another time, I have already snapped one of the heads off a calliper bolt so will also get a new set of bolts at the ready for the swap.
Interior bits were also on the 'to do' list as again the interior in the blue car was a little less scuffed and abused then Black Beauties, someone had attacked the head unit surround with a screwdriver and possibly had a habit of chucking keys around the Sti gear stick surround.
I also wanted to get the orange parts out of the headlights, fortunately I have done this in the past and the silver indicator bulbs had survived from the blue car accident so had what I needed ready to go.
It turns out the clear headlight lenses have started to degrade on the insides, so any amount of work on them to make them crystal clear is pointless unless I can remove them and work on the insides, which strikes me as fighting a loosing battle.
Still, despite the TLC the headlights need I'm happier with the look without the orange bits, as everyone is when they do this little mod.
Car has had an oil and filter change, I was glad to remove the 'whatever it was' branded oil filter and get a genuine Subaru one on there, not that it was the end of the world. Also need to change the plugs at some point soon.
I am still needing to measure up/fit the Whiteline rear arb, want to get some new drop links before I do it and need to get the mounting brackets from the blue car as they're much less corroded then the ones currently on the black car.
That's about it for now, things are still going in the right direction and having the blue car around for any spares I need is a blessing. As the winter months come in its not as nice to go working on the car, but that hasn't stopped me in the past so I will keep doing things here and there.