Grey can be a color of happiness

Grey. The clouds grey out the sun. Darkness looms. Lightning flashes and thunder rumbles in the distance. This is usually the picture when one mentions grey. Especially in this July weather. This week though, my vision of grey was shrouded in sun and gold and unbridled joy. Such was my state when I got the latest updates from Diastar. After a long wait, the engine bay preparation was now complete and the final ingredient was some primer to pave the way for the engine drop.

Primer Grey: Fish-eye view, a specialty of Leon Photographer.

What a lovely lovely view.

Grey Tower: Ready for a coat

The engine bay had been touched up and sanded down in readiness for the paintwork to come. What followed was meticulous wrapping of the various bits of plastic, steel bolts and pipes in the bay to avoid overspray. In my perfect world, overspray would be treated as a serious offense.

Left Tower:

The battery seat area had been seam welded and smoothed out. All previous traces of corrosion eliminated.

Right Tower:

A similar success story on the right hand side strut tower. Good thing that this side had not suffered much damage from the elements, if any.

Front elevation: Straightened out

The front end had been straighened out. All that remains to be done here is to get the reinforced crash bar in place. This will take a bit of modification as this crash bar is a bolt-on item in the newer generation imprezas. The idea is to replace those bent bits with mounts where the crash bar will be mounted.

Crash bar: well, part of it.

I know. Not the best pictorial representation. This is the crash bar that is going to serve as the front side defense. We should have better shots of this, dry fitted, in the next blog post.

Out with the old: WRX 4 pot brakes

These just got retired. Still in good nick though, they will serve the next owner well.

The upgrade...

Steel braided lines:

These steel braided lines are part of the new setup. The expectation is that they will improve the brake performance as well as the brake feel; quicker, firmer and more consistent pedal response.

Hello precision, pleased to meet you.

OEM Brembo Brakes:

OEM Brembo Brakes will handle stopping duties. Coupled with some decent pads, they should be more than adequate. While the gold works for the stock setup, we will be looking at a more interesting color to match the vehicle theme.

Transformation 1:

Transformation taking form. No matter how much this section will be cleaned up, there will be some traces of the damage and repair that had to be done. Kind of similar to human scar tissue, a stark reminder of consequences that follow poor decisions. However, the work that has gone in here is excellent. Dry fitted and everything squares out.

Transformation 2:

Look how far we have come! Just a little more surface prep and this will be ready for paint.

Side bracing 1:

Some addittional bracing between the mud guards and the door frame. These are pretty much standard issue in the newer models.

Side bracing 2:

Similar application on the left hand side.

Next steps: All white everything

Next, the engine bay gets some licks of high heat paint and the motor goes in. There should be quick successive updates from hereon seeing as the pace of work will significantly increase. I look forward to having a rolling shell in the coming week.