303 Fabric & Vinyl cleaner. See below for link & better instructions on using it. I have used other products to try to clean it up before but have not worked like this stuff

I found in my favorite place ebay. HERE is the link, its from the UK. I am not sure if you can get the smaller sizes here, I did have a quick look, but only found the larger sizes for around $25 AUS +. I think this little bottle was around $11 AUS to the door.

Ok bit of a step by step. This is for the bottom half of my steering wheel (the top part of mine is not red stitched, its black) & handbrake only. You will require more ear cleaning thingo's, to do the top half of the steering wheel and gear knob.

1. Get your supplies. 303 cleaner, some clean damp / wet cloths & 25 or more ear cleaning cotton tips.

2. Give the stitching a careful wipe over with a clean, damp cloth, to remove any residual surface contaminants.

3. Spray a small amount (2 sprays) onto the end of the cotton tip and dab / rub onto the stitching. The cotton tip should get black and dirty quite quickly. Mine did.

4. As the tip gets dirty turn it 1/4 / 1/2 of a turn to keep the surface applying the cleaner, clean & not moving the dirt around. As the tip becomes completely dirty, turn it over and use other end of tip, once you have sprayed it with the cleaner a couple of times, as in part 3. I used 8 tips for applying the cleaner to the handbrake & bottom half of the steering wheel. I think I cant really remember now.

5. Once the cleaner has had about 10 - 15 seconds on the stitching, use the remaining cotton tips to wipe the residue away slowly. I don't think it really matters how you do this. But for the handbrake, I tried to, start in the center of the lever, and push outward, toward the passenger side, for the passenger side of the lever, and drivers side for the drivers side. The steering wheel, I just rubbed, up and down & in and out. As I said before it does not matter really, just keep the tips clean, to try to remove the grime, opposed to moving it around.

6. Keep changing the tips out as they become dirty. They should not take long to go black, as there should be a decent amount of grease and grime on there. Just remember the tips have 2 sides to use

7. Once finished, get a clean damp to wet rag and wipe over the stitching, to remove all residue.

8. I got the Mrs hairdryer and gave the stitching a dry once completed.

9. Apply again if required. I did the centre of the handbrake again, as it was still not as bright as the rest of the lever. You will / should see the stitching become cleaner as you go, even when it is still wet from the cleaner / water (from the damp to wet cloth). It will get a little brighter once dried with the hairdryer you use.

10. Listen to some good tunes while you do it. If you don't have any good tunes, whistle or something

Pointers.

Try as much as possible to keep it off the leather / vinyl. You will no doubt get it on there, but, try as much as possible to keep it off.

Spray the tips with the 303 outside the car, so not to get over-spray on the inside of the car. Or remove the sprayer and dip the bottle with the cotton tips.

The instructions are on the bottle and it does say it can be diluted, but I did not bother. I am not telling you not too, just saying that I didn't. Just make sure you give it a REALLY GOOD wipe over with a damp / wet cloth once completed to get rid of ANY residue.

You will more than likely only use about 15 sprays of the product max. So it seems a waste to buy a big $30 bottle here in Aus. But you might find a small bottle somewhere. Spotlight or something like,may have it.

If you have any questions send me a PM & I will try to help ya

Hope this is of some help. This product did not damage my stitching, plastic or leather / vinyl in anyway. This does not mean it wont damage yours and I take no responsibility in you following the instructions above, should you experience damage in anyway. Had to throw that in, just in case.

Away you go

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Cheers,

Simon.

This needs to go to cosmetic DIY!! Very good Simon!!

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DAYTIME: 2005 Black WRX Wagon with Sti goodies!
PLAYTIME: 2002 WR Blue WRX Sti with goodies and more to come!

Cheers buddy

__________________
Cheers,

Simon.

Hey guys, I managed to get around to changing out the guard liners and give the inner arches a bit of a spray, to freshen them up.

So I got the guard liners and clips from Subaru. The rubberised paint from Super Cheap Auto. The making tape, wax & grease remover etc, is what I had left over from painting my rims.

Started by removing the old liner. It was easier than I thought. Just undid the plastic screw caps, popped them out and it came out in one piece.

Then I masked up areas not wanting to be painted.

Gave the inner well area to be painted, a good clean and then wipe over with wax and grease remover.

Sprayed on the rubber paint. Only to the areas already painted.

Put on the new guard liner. This had to be jiggled back and forth a little to line up the holes. But went straight in pretty much.

Pretty straight forward & simple really. As I said before I thought it would have been a little more difficult, but had both sides done in about a hour. This was giving the paint 20 min to dry in this time.

Pics of before the paint and installing the new guard liners. You can see where the old liner has cracked at the bottom.





Pics of the the rubber paint applied and the new guard liner in.





Looks pretty good I think. Ready for the freshly painted wheels tomorrow

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Cheers,

Simon.

Very nice!

So I have put the newly painted on this morning. I think they look really good. It took the best part of 2 and a 1/2 days to complete, but they have come out really well.

I am in the process of typing out the DIY, but it is taking me some times as I am sorting through the photos I took, trying to use the best ones. I also want to document it as best as I can. It should be up by the end of the week though hopefully.

I purchased some new black steel wheel nuts, to match the new wheels.



Still have to get around to a full detail, but with the weather and all, its been difficult.

Before:



After:

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Cheers,

Simon.

The perfect wrx package by far

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09 Evo X

Hey guys,

Thought I would give my thread a bit of an update.

I had an absolute blast driving around Collie a couple of weeks ago, even though I initially thought I had done some serious damage, it turns out my headers & up-pipe studs had come loose (thanks for the tip Doug). All was fixed at the ridge before dark the same night.

So, I have gotten tired of the extra HP & torque I got only a few months ago from my upgrades & am now getting everything together as a few of you will know for a stroker build. I already have the closed deck block (thanks Chris) & thanks to Rossco (cheers bud ) I managed to get a really good deal on the majority of parts I need from realstreetperformance.

The 2.35 stroker has been around a fair amount of time now & it’s tried and tested way to get some serious HP from the EJ20 block. For those who do not know where the 2.35 capacity comes from, I will do my best to explain.
Essentially, the block bore size becomes that of an EJ22 - 97mm, it then gets a 2.5 ltr crank put in, with the standard sized rods, & custom made pistons.

Due to the cost of this build I am doing it in the following 4 stages.

Stage 1. Build a really strong bottom end. Closed deck block machined out to accept sleeves, allowing more strength for the hammering it’s going to cop. Block machined to accept rear thrust bearing (I have not 100% confirmed this yet, it may stay centre) Manley 2.5 ltr billet crank, Pauter billet rods, CP forged pistons. ARP Case bolts. New water pump. Cosworth #12 oil pump, Killer B sump, oil pick up and windage tray. Heads mildly ported & generally cleaned up for now, with some bigger Cosworth cams, new springs Titanium retainers. 14mm head studs. Swirl pot & another fuel pump. Everything else on my setup to remain as it is. Same turbo, same intercooler, injectors etc…….Just with a re-tune

Below is how the sleeved block will look




Stage 2. Extensive headwork or a set of Cosworth heads. I am yet to decide, but you get the idea. The size of Cam I have gone for in stage 1, allows me to use them throughout the whole build. Clutch upgrade, once it lets go. Again same as stage 1, another tune




Stage 3. GT35R twin scroll (or equivalent) rotated mount, utilising my existing twin scroll headers, custom fabrication of an up-pipe & new / modified dump pipe. Ceramic coating. External waste gate. A combination of pre fabricated and custom parts for a large water to air intercooler set up, inclusive of a removable ice box in the boot (for the drags). Re-tune



Stage 4. E85 & Premium 98 fuel mix. 1000cc injectors. Nitrous (for the drags). Re tuned



My goal is to hopefully keep similar spool characteristics that I have now with the HKS 2835, with a heap more power & torque.

It will probably take me 12 months to get through to stage 4, but I know I am going enjoy the result & all the learning’s from it along the way. Once I finally get there of course.

A few of you will probably laugh at me, but I intended to do a lot of the fabrication work myself. As in, the water to air intercooler set up, the Tig welded up-pipe and dump pipe & help as much as I possibly can with the assembly. Of course I will be sending all the machining work to be done by a competent machining shop.

There are a couple of other people helping me immensely with this build, allowing me to learn along the way. But, I won’t name names, I am sure they will pipe up if they want to.

The majority of the parts for stage 1 are in transit right now & I hope to get the block away for machining as soon as I get the sleeves and pistons.

I will take as many photos as I can along the way and answer as many questions as I can, for those who are interested. Stage 1 should be complete by January hopefully, and then stage 2 by around May, stage 3 by this time next year & stage 4 won’t be too far behind stage 3. Stage 4 was really just to see the difference in the 2 fuel types & see how far I can safely push the combo. I hope to get down to the Motorplex around November time.

I have probably missed some stuff out writing this, but I will ensure everything that needs to be done is done. These photos above are used for example / guide only.


Should be an absolute monster when it’s all finished.

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Cheers,

Simon.

Should go like a shower of shit!

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[COLOR="Gray"]550Nm off a 2L... Just wish it was in the dak dak...[/COLOR]

Epic, good luck with it mate!

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asian: "i'm the master wanker"