Long time no talk i-Club. So it's a few years later and I get a phone call from my son. Things didn't quite work out the way I planned for him after I gave him the 03 Bugeye. He lost the key and the 3rd party keyfob to the car. I was able to source a really old Audiovox prestige keyfob and get it programmed. I took the title to the Subaru dealership in Napa and showed them the title, ordered the STi wedge key, and had it cut with the cut code upon arrival....

But that's not the worst part.

Unfortunately, the car was not taken care of. The V7 Seats are dirty... The paint looks like the car sat in the sun for 2 years without being washed..

And that's not the worst part either.

The car is not running well. According to my son, it started acting weird with power loss, especially in the lower revs, and feeling gutless with some bogging. He lost the key when he stopped driving it and didn't want to tell me. It has a P0171. (bank 1 lean) The shop I would normally go to in the bay area is no longer servicing cars.
I'm looking for a few things if anyone can help me out.

1. A Tacrix cable so I may log/view how the car is running in real-time with openECU.
2. A Bugeye downpipe as it is smog time. If I can get the car running better I'll do the DP swap and keep it on the road, otherwise, it's non-op time.
3. A reputable bay area shop that is familiar with bugeyes. I didn't think I'd have such a hard time finding a shop, but I get that many shops don't want to touch anything that is "tuned".

I've done the usual searches and combined that with my experience over the years of owning 4 different turbo Suby's including 3 bugeyes. (1 built). Before I start replacing parts I want to see what the car is doing.
Most likely parts that need to be replaced:
- fuel filter
- upstream o2 sensor
- fuel pump
- MAF

Halp!

 

It is non-op time probably, simply because of DP unless you can borrow one for smog maybe. Even used DPs are stupid expensive and a new one is insanity as the price is mind boggling.

You might want to include coil packs in that list if they are original. I'd pull plugs and see how they look, might tell you if one or more cyl is not healthy, at least that might give you an idea where to look next. Fuel filter is quick swap on that one, since it is in the engine bay and obviously MAF is easy to pull and clean and air filter easy to replace, so I'd do them regardless, especially if it had been sitting.

 

This poor bugeye.

Fast forward 4 years and the car has been non-opped sitting in my back yard. I look at it and it just bums me out. The fact that a downpipe is over $1k is disappointing and in order to get it running I have to do the following.

- Locate a stock DP for smog, or buy a 3" catted DP for ridiculous price
- change plugs
- change air filter
- change fuel filter
- Replace top hats or install some coilovers.
- Replace battery
- do the zip tie trick on one of the coil packs with a broken clip. (Causing the CEL).
- do something about the plant or wrap it.

anybody have a DP I can use for smog?

 

Register it in South Dakota. They will let you do it over the phone and mail you a plate. They don't give a f.