The shaved 88 Shitaco

[harlerocco]

Thought the exhaust leak was from the gasket between the manifold and the downpipe. Replaced that yesterday and it still has a HUGE leak. Turns out the downpipe has broken right underneath where it mounts to the manifold. Not sure how that happened, but it happened in the flex pipe. I called Tectonics who I bought it from and they warrantee it for 2 years, so I have a repair kit with a revised flex pipe and revised short shifter on their way to me. Hopefully I will have that all welded back on and rolling soon. Two weeks until I leave to H2O so I'd really like to get some miles in before that. New engine seems to run nicely though, just unbearable to run it for any length of time due to the exhaust leak.

[0_0Paulk]

I'll probably break my neck if i ever see this thing rolling around IRL...I think i have seen your other car.

Looking good!

[harlerocco]

So the exhaust leak is fixed. New flex pipe welded onto the downpipe and installed. Drove the car around after that and it was great. Runs better than it ever has.

Here's the old flex pipe that failed:





Then I go to reconnect my power for my air compressor on the battery and this happens when I tighten it. That's what I get for getting cheap Advance Auto terminals.



So Got a new one and I'm good to go! Everything seems to work... but then the car won't start again. I thought the battery was a bit flat so hooked it up to the jump box... no difference. Starter seemed to be toast. I searched if the 16V starter was the same as an 8V starter (because I have a couple laying around) and it turns out the 8V starter not only is a direct fit but an upgrade as well. Threw one in today and the car is all good.

In the midst of everything, I had to get my old 16V engine out of my friends shop. It had been there for like forever and it needed to go. So I cleaned out the Outback a bit and since I loaded the ABA into the back of it before, I figured the 16V would go back there no problem. 3 of us lifted it in there and laid it on the back, I drove home and everything was good... for a while. Freeway was fine, turning was fine, coming to a stop was fine. Then I go to accelerate from a stop sign very slowly, going about 5mph, and the 16V decides to stand up and do a backflip towards the back of the car.

It wasn't good... I'll let the pictures do the talking.







So yeah, the engine tried to escape and blew out my entire rear window. Fuck. Not even going to worry about this until after H2O. I leave next Tuesday morning and have plenty of things to do on the Scirocco (mainly cleaning and driving it) before then.

I'll leave with a picture I snapped in my friends shop a few days ago. They had an E30 in for a new trans, my Scirocco, and my friends CRX with a JDM ITR swap. It was a pretty rad red 80's car party. All cars have build dates in the 80's, even though two of them are technically 90's models.

[P78]

any special reason you chose the ABA over the ABF engine?


and sucks about your outback

[harlerocco]

any special reason you chose the ABA over the ABF engine?


and sucks about your outback

Well an ABF would cost me at least $1500 before any maintenance assuming I could even find one since they were never offered here.

ABA was free and has about $300 in new maintenance parts (which is pretty much everything).

[theseeker411]

Sucks about the Outback, dude. Hope I see you at H2O.

[harlerocco]

It has been a few months without any updates. Not much to really go over. H2O was great. The trip sucked big time and was about 1600 miles in total. Rained the whole way there (downpour actually). I had a great time in Ocean City despite weather. Drove the car around a bunch because that's the most fun thing to do at H2O, even with all the rain. Never really saw any pics of my car from the weekend, since the rain kept pics/videos on the strip at rather low quantities.

Car did great even though the swap was finished the day before I left. Glad I got the kinks worked out before departure.

I drove it to some local shows and a few small out of town trips in October. On Halloween I drove to Tennessee to visit Cory Hutchison for his going away BBQ before he moved to California. I almost didn't take the Scirocco but I'm really glad I did. Ryan Sermonet surprised nearly everyone with taking his e30 out of storage and building some RS001's for it, then taking it to Cory's for a sort of 'unveiling'. We are now rimzo partners, even though his look a bit different because of the drastically different tire sizes. Pics from that weekend:





Since then I haven't driven the car once. Today I finally decided to check it out and start it, let it run for a bit, and test fit some wheels I recently bought. 15x7 4x100 Carving Head 40's were the choice, and I doubt they will ever go on the car. I was curious, bored, and wanted an excuse to mess with the car. I know these are a real '**** it or love it' type wheel, but I'm more on the love side. Please excuse all the mud, but it hasn't been washed in well over a month now (plus Cory's driveway loves to get cars dirty).







Car was super dead and I had to hook the jump box up for a bit to get it to start. Let it run for about 30 minutes and it was nice to see everything still functioning (or not functioning) the way I left it. I'm hoping for good enough weather to give it a proper wash/wax/vacuum soon, and then a proper drive. Ever since I had to replace that fuel tank that rusted from the inside out, I'm paranoid about leaving the car for a while without it running or low on gas.

Also last month was rough on the Subaru. It had a host of problems that needed to be remedied. Finally got it back and installed a slight lift, all terrains, impreza steelies, and yellow fogs while I was at it.







So now that my daily is capable of being a daily, I can give more money and attention to the Scirocco again. I have some plans for this winter, and hopefully I can make them happen. I'll definitely have this updated more as it all happens.

[harlerocco]

I sold my RS's.

New rimzos soon. I hope.

[Khalil]

Papa Rimzos

[harlerocco]

Papa Rimzos

Better lips, better khrome, Papa Rimzolitos.

So wheels come back from redrill soon, then I have to figure out how wide I want them, then finishing work on them.

In the meantime I ordered some bits and pieces for the car that I have needed for a while. Front turn signal bulb holders, new speedo cable, door striker pins, headlight dust/moisture covers (water at H2O kept blowing out my bulbs!). Lastly I found some manual side view mirrors in the UK I had shipped over. Mk2 Sciroccos in the USA only ever came with power mirrors which don't work super well (or at all in my case) and I'd like to get rid of them. Plus I'll have something a bit different and simple.

Been missing driving it so here's a couple pics from the feature that have me reminiscing about warmer times

[kittenpuncher]

the changes in store for this winter are excellent, this car is becoming quite a beauty. Love the carving heads.

[JHermes]

love all the work that is going into this car.
you are doing it justice!

btw do you have a little movie of the sound of your car?
i would really like to hear it.

[harlerocco]

love all the work that is going into this car.
you are doing it justice!

btw do you have a little movie of the sound of your car?
i would really like to hear it.

Don't have any videos of it unfortunately. It still has a full exhaust with resonator and OEM muffler so it's fairly quiet.

Took apart my headlight assemblies and realized I need to redo them entirely.



Mirrors came in yesterday. It will be so nice to have manual ones. Need to swap the covers with my smoothed and painted ones, then install.

[harlerocco]

Well, these mirrors don't have removable covers unlike my original ones, so it looks like these are getting smoothed and painted as well...

[Matt]

I have no idea how the door panels look on these, but when you go from power to manual, are you going to have to drill holes in the plastic where the mirror bolts to the door?