November 17, 2024

Latent Heat of Vaporization I.V

I get to go to the UK every now and then for work. Last week was one of those trips — a bit of office work and the company’s Christmas party. The UK is great for JDM parts because of the left-hand drive cars, and I took advantage of that. On the flight back, I brought this with me — a 12-liter worth of “this”:

Spec-C, brand new intercooler water tank with all the attachments and water pump.

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November 15, 2024

Latent Heat of Vaporization

For now, just a trial fit, but I’ve found myself a new wee project.

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November 14, 2024

Forester and its natural habitat

The Forester also got some attention. After 320,000 km, the SLS shocks were put aside and replaced with a new set of KYB — shocks, springs, strut mounts, and covers. And that’s when things started to snowball. While I was at it, I also did the rear brake discs and pads, pressed in new bushings for the rear control arm, and since I was going all in, I even replaced the driver’s window motor, as it was on its last legs. And that’s not all; I took a look under the car and noticed that the engine mount crossmembers need replacing as well. I have sourced them already and they are waiting to be fitted.

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August 21, 2024

Scale modeling: Post scriptum

I absolutely love cars with the Pleiades badge, but it’s a love that’s more on the difficult side. The mirrors — seemingly nothing special, just three screws, and either they’re on the car, or they’re not. Imagine my surprise when I found the beginnings of corrosion under the triangles:

This is yet another area that needs attention.

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August 20, 2024

Scale modeling III

The final task is to run the missing wiring responsible for controlling the mirror folding motors.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it’s really handy to have a spare wiring loom from the left door to use the original pins. Additionally, you’ll need copper wire. I bought 10 meters of 1mm double-core wire, which was probably a bit of an overkill. You can easily divide that in half, so 5 meters should be just enough. The 0.5mm diameter is closer to the original as well. The double-core wire works well because you need to run two wires, making it quite convenient.

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August 19, 2024

Scale modeling II

First the idea, then the order, waiting, the container shipped, a trip to the parcel locker, and I have it.

Getting the mirrors to work is a bit tricky. You need two sets, JDM and EUDM, to start with. Each set needs to be completely disassembled, and you’ll also need to add two extra wires to the harness and, finally, adjust the triangular bases to which the mirrors are attached. I decided to go with a hybrid approach:

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August 11, 2024

Scale modeling I.V

I checked the mirror plugs and the switch, removed the pins from the plug, and it turned out that none of the local electronics or automotive shops had the ones I needed, and what they had barely fit. Instead of forever struggling with the wrong pins, I decided to buy the entire wiring harness for the left door and give it a new lease of life.

Now, just waiting for my vacation, and it should be possible to put everything together.

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August 8, 2024

Rajd Małopolski

This weekend was the Rajd Małopolski, and I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t take a quick trip. So on Saturday, we headed to Maków Podhalański and once again saw the rally cars in action.

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July 29, 2024

Scale modeling

As kids, my cousins and I spent a lot of time building models, and now, after quite a few years, the thrill of building something out of small plastic parts has come back to me.

I always looked at the mirrors of modern day cars with envy as they gracefully glided to a full fold in parking lots. To be honest, I didn’t know that JDM Imprezas had electrically folding mirrors, but as soon as I found out, I immediately started plotting.

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