07x09 - Subaru Impreza WRX

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to Wheeler Dealers, the show
that loves modern classics. We take worn

out cars and we put them back on the
road to motoring health. I buy the cars.

And I tackle everything from the
bonnet right down to the exhaust

system and once I've given
each car a thorough overhaul...

We sell them on for a profit.

Well that's the plan.

This time we're on the hunt for
a modern classic car that's got

stunning performance and rally
bred handling. Sounds good huh? It is.

The Subaru Impreza,
as they say in the films,

looks ain't deceiving.
This is one mean motor.

It was designed to rally. This Japanese
bruiser has permanent 4x4 and in

standard turbo tune offers 220bhp
and an all to 60 in a frenzied 5.7 seconds.

World Rally Champ in 95, 2001 and 3, the
Impreza is one iconic piece of engineering.

And when you aren't pushing the laws of
physics, there's space for a family and you'll

get 30 miles to the gallon. That's why the
Impreza is one of the UK's favourite fast cars.

And the numbers stack up too. At launch
a nice spec bug eye top 20 grand but a

used one that's not even 10 years old
can be had for under our 5 grand budget.

So it should be easy for me to
find a good Scooby, shouldn't it?

Now if you want to find a Subaru
Impreza WRX then just shake a

stick in the air because there's
literally hundreds out there.

Web prices range from 1500
quid to well over 10 grand so

I'm going to narrow down my
search for a particular model.

A low miles 2001 bug eye WRX, the most popular
spec. It should be 5 grand. I'm sticking

in 4 as my maximum price and bang, suddenly
there are only a handful of cars showing.

Now the first car that I found is a 2001 silver Subaru
Impreza. Nice colour, good strong car. Nobody seems

to have mucked around with this one because it's got
no nasty paint jobs, no stupid lights bolted to it.

Slightly under budget at £3,995. Then there's
another one. It's blue this time, another

strong colour and it comes in just at budget
at £4,000. So they're both worth a look.

Now I'm on my way to go
and see this silver car up at a

dealer's near Bedford which
is good because it's not too far.

But as I've said before, there's
plenty of WRXs out there and if this

one is no good I'm going to have
second falls about walking away.

Well here I am at a very nice looking car
dealership. It's all a bit strange for me. Usually I

want to be this side retailing cars to the public
but here I am sort of poacher termed game keeper.

And the car I'm looking for is that one in
there, that cracking little Subaru Impreza.

Yeah nice cars, look at this. Merc, Volvo
convertible, Audi convertible and this.

Cracking little Subaru Impreza and
the price is right. Very nice looking car.

Right, let's go and meet the salesman.
Hello mate, you alright?

Hi Mike. Are you Simon?
Yes I am. Simon, spoke to

you on the phone. Looking
forward to seeing this.

What can you tell me about
it? Basically it was a part

exchange. The guy who
owned it wanted a standard one.

He's kept it completely standard from you
but his circumstances changed, he needed

a diesel. So he brought a Mondeo diesel
off of us and part exchange this basically.

I bet he went home and cried
after that didn't he? He said he

had sleepless night before he
part exchanged it, yes he did.

Going from a Subaru Impreza to
a Mondeo diesel? Yes. Well let's

hope that easel off is my game.
How many owners has it had?

He was the second
owner, it was originally a

lease car. So just two
owners from those? Yes.

Right now at the heart of any
of these cars is what's under the

bonnet. Wow, look at that. They
really do cram those engines in.

That's one of my favourite
engines, that flat 4 220bhp.

Yep. It's cracking isn't it?
Can I hear it? Of course.

Yep, fire it up for us. There it is,
that very distinctive noise. Give it a rev.

That to me sounds spot
on. Yeah I like that very

much. That engine does
sound sweet doesn't it?

Oh it certainly does Mike, as I say
I think he's looked after the car and

if you look at the interior as well
it's all standard immaculate condition.

Very little wear, seats, 80,000 miles and
it looks like it's been well looked after.

That steering wheel looks
brand new, it doesn't look like it's

done 80,000 miles. Hardly
anywhere, gear, stick, everything really.

Right let's have a look at
the boot. Right now inside

the boot, that was impressed
me the size of them.

Plus you get that bit that
folds down in the middle so

you can put your skis in.
Yeah if you're a bit of a skier.

Right now it's really important
when you're buying one of

these to get underneath the
carpets, have a good look round,

any dodgy seam welds, any signs of any
accident damage. Because being a high powered

sports car it could have visited the wrong
side of a hedge once or twice in its life.

Let's have a quick look
underneath. Right. Yeah that

rear pipe's a bit rotten.
Yeah a little bit rusty.

Yeah but I think we would
have priced it accordingly

for the overall condition
of the car to be fair.

I just want to see how well it drives
so is it okay to take it for a test drive?

Yeah sure, just don't break it.
I wonder, cheeky.

I've driven a lot of
these in the past and they

never fail to impress me
just how good they are.

And it's all due to this great
big turbo up front sucking in

the air, pushing 220 brake
horsepower out through those wheels.

And it really is
fantastic, the real world

performance of this car
is absolutely stunning.

It's absolutely lovely to whip it up through the
gears and you can feel that every single one of the


down the four wheel drive system onto the tarmac.

None of it goes to waste, absolutely superb.
You've got to remember this car was derived from

a rally car so it's got brilliant grip, brilliant
performance and an amazing handling car.

Oh, wicked!

But all is not perfect because the clutch has got a problem, it's
right at the very top of its biting point and there's a little

bit of slip in it so I would imagine it needs a new clutch and
that is causing a problem when I'm driving it at the moment.

Now also when I stamp hard on
the brakes like now, it does break

but there's a bit of shuddering
coming through the front wheels.

I would imagine there's something wrong
with one of the discs so that I need a

dressing as well but other than that, you
know, it gets down the road pretty swiftly.

I was planning to see the blue
car I saw advertised on the Internet

as well but my trading no houses,
this deal is the one to chase.

Now the question is, do I want this Impreza?
Well the truth is it's about a thousand pound

cheaper than what I was expecting to pay for
a similar car so the answer to that is yes.

But for me and Ed to earn a good
profit out of this car, I need to get it

right at this side of the process.
I need to get it a little bit cheaper.

So I'm going to bid him three grand. Yeah,
three grand. That's going to hurt a bit.

Very nice car. Had a good test drive.
Yeah, I like that.

It's very good.

There are problems with it though.
The clutch is really high. I mean I'd be

amazed if it makes it back to the workshop.
I think it needs changing immediately.

There's that rusty exhaust pipe at
the back. Plus I want to leave a little

bit of a margin in it for myself. I
was going to bid you three grand.

We couldn't go there I'm afraid Mike. Take it
into account though it does need a clutch so

if I can put that on the invoice, you take it
as it is then we'll go to three and a half.

Three and a half grand? Yeah.

You can do a bit better than that.

I'll tell you what, I think it's written all over your
face what you're going to take for it. I'll give you 32.50

cash, I'll drive the thing away, you clear a nice space on
your car site, you'll put some Trumpy Audi in there instead.

Me and you will have a deal.
What do you say?

Okay, we'll have a deal.

Top work. Got myself an Impreza.

I got a car that delivers extreme
driving pleasure for less than three

and a half grand. That's sweet
music to the ears of a Wheeler dealer.

But I've only given the car a quick
once over and this is a complex

motor so if I've missed anything
I may as well cash in my chips.

Come back after the break to see whether
a certain tall gentleman shares my joy.

Welcome back to Wheeler Dealers.
Our project this time is a Subaru Impreza

because I'm a junkie for performance
handling and limpet like grip.

Wicked.

This Subaru Impreza
WRX set me back just 32.50.

Got myself an Impreza.

A donut jush is set
because the price is right.

Only the juddery brakes and the high
clutch worry me. Can they be sorted easily?

I need to get back to
the workshop and show

Ed our new toy and
hope he can get it fixed.

I'm absolutely delighted
with our little Subaru

Impreza. I'm really pleased
with the deal as well.

It could have gone either
way with Simon. He's a car

dealer and they can be
tricky to break, trust me.

But, you know, for the money I think
we've got a very, very, very decent car.

The one thing I am getting
worried about is this clutch pedal. It's

getting really high and it's getting
more difficult to change gear.

I'll be lucky to make it
back to the workshop.

I also think I've created a little bit of a problem
because when we come to sell this motor we're going

to put it amongst a sea of other Subaru Imprezas all
for sale around the four or five grand price Mark.

It's not just a case of
fixing the clutch and punting

it out the door. We need
to make this car different.

The thing is, can we do that on a budget?

Well, I do have confidence
and the reason I've

got confidence is because
I've got the tall man.

That's pretty cool.

What do you think of that?
That's great actually.

Fun guide, Subaru Impreza WRX.

I really want to work on one of these.
This is really cool actually.

It's a world running car, Ed, for the road.
It's wicked.

It is really good and
it's really, really clean.

It is clean and it was cheap as well.

How much do you pay for it? 32.50 for that.

That's not bad is it really?

It's not bad for all that car. That would
have been over 20,000 pounds when it was new

and you can get all of that motor in today
from the four grand. I feel it's a bargain.

It is a bargain I suppose but
is there much wrong with it?

There's a few little jobs that you need
to do to it. Come and have a look inside.

Absolutely and utterly immaculate.
There's nothing to do in here.

The interior hasn't even got
a blemish on it. It's like new.

It is amazing and what does it drive like?

It actually drives really well. That


engine up front, big turbo,
gold pin in all the air. It's wicked.

That's fantastic. Power
steering, five speed gearbox.

Do you want me to carry
on? Four electric windows.

I'm just wondering if there's
anything wrong with it at all in any

way. Even if it's like a hint wrong.
Go on, there must be something.

Of course there's always
something wrong when I

buy a car. This one, the
clutch pedal is too high.

So I was desperately trying to
get it back to the workshop. I didn't

think it was going to make it back
because the clutch needs replacing.

Okay, so we need to do the clutch.
Right, and everything else?

Yeah, one other little job. When I stab
my foot on the brakes there's a bit of a

shudder that comes through the steering.
It's almost like the ABS is on all the time.

So probably the discs are warped.

That's what I thought it was.
Warped discs. So discs and clutch.

Alright, well fair enough.
Is the rest of the engine okay?

The rest of the engine's fine.
Open the bonnet, have a look.

You'll like this. You know those big hands
of yours? Look how easy this is to work on.

Oh my word, that is
properly tight in there, isn't it?

It is, ain't it?
Cram that engine in, don't they?

Wow. That'd be fun to work on.

It will be fun to work on,
but there's a little bit of

work down at the back. I'll
show you that. Come down.

Slide yourself underneath
and look at the rear pipe in here.

Okay, so there's a bit of
corrosion on the exhaust.

Well there's not really a
lot to do on this, is there?

Not really, don't worry though. There is more
to come because, you know, this Subaru, once we

do those jobs, it will just be, could be lost
in a sea of other Subarus out there for sale.

What we need to do is to make this
one stand out from the rest of the crowd.

Okay.

And we can do that by two
simple things. One is to make

it go faster, and the other
one is to make it look better.

Making it faster shouldn't be too hard at
all because, of course, the boxer engine is

brilliant for tuning, but making it look
better, I'll have to think about that a bit.

Come on Ed, you can do it!

Of course I can.
Let's get it in the workshop.

This Subaru is a fast car.
There is no doubting that.

But to get the very best
from its performance, you

need to make sure that
everything is just right.

Now unfortunately, when Mike
was on his test drive, he did complain

that our Impreza had a very
high biting point on the clutch.

Now that probably means the
clutch is about to go, and that

means that's the first thing
I'm going to have a look into.

Swapping a clutch involves separating the gearbox
from the engine, unbolting the pressure plate, which

pushes the friction or centre plate onto the
flywheel, and then changing the clutch for a new one.

Some cars are more challenging
than others, and you can probably

guess which camp the
four-wheel drive Subaru falls into.

First up, the protective
cover, cat, and exhaust all have

to come off so I can get
decent access to the gearbox.

With a conventional two-wheel
drive road car, to get at the

clutch, you've got to remove
quite a few bits and pieces.

Obviously, if it's a front-wheel drive
car, you've got to get at the drive shaft.

If it's a rear-wheel drive car, you're
going to have to take the prop shaft off.

Because it's quite sporty
and it's four-wheel drive,

there's a load of extra
stuff in the engine bay.

Firstly, we've got a turbo, an intercooler,
loads of electric brains as well.

There's really not an awful lot of room
to be moving the engine around with.

But also, you've got the added bonus of a
pair of drive shafts and a prop shaft, all

of which have to come off to get the gearbox
off the engine to get at that clutch.

It's a real pain.

The prop shaft is hidden by a
bracing plate, and once this is removed,

I can get to the four bolts that
connect it to the rear flange.

Now, I've undone all four
bolts on the end of this prop

shaft here, but I'm leaving
one of them in finger tight.

So then when I undo the bearing
carrier, this end doesn't drop on my head.

The prop shaft is off the car, but we're
barely scratching the surface of this job.

Next up, I need to whizz off the wheels
and then undo the suspension ball joint.

To get at our clutch, I need to
separate the gearbox from the engine.

But to do that, I need to separate
the drive shaft from the gearbox.

To do that, I need to get enough space so I've
had to disconnect the bottom ball joint so that

I can pull the suspension away and then actually
get those drive shafts away from the gearbox.

It's a long old job, this.

And that's the drive shafts disconnected.

Under the bonnet, the
Impreza is tightly packed with kit.

To get more spanner room, I'm
taking off the intercooler and pipework.

I'm hours into this job,
not even halfway through.

A peculiarity of this car, as
part of the process of trying

to get to our clutch, obviously
by taking the gearbox off,

I need to remove the pin that holds in the
clutch release bearing arm to the gearbox.

Now the way I need to do that
is I have to unbolt this kind of

aluminium plug, which has got an
aluminium socket sort of hole in it.

And then what I need to
do is then actually get an

M6 bolt, wind that into the
shaft and then remove it.

And of course when I
come to put everything back

together again, it'll just be
the reverse of the process.

Now if you didn't know that,
you could be completely stuffed.

The gearbox is ready for removal.

Before I prise the
gearbox from the engine, I

line up a transmission
Jack under each of them.

The gearbox is heavy and
bulky, so I need Paul's assistance.

Okay, are you ready?

And now we carefully drop
the gearbox away from the car.

All to get to this, the offending clutch.

When you see the work
involved, you can see why

most garages charge
around £500 for the labour.

It's probably why the car was
such a reasonable buy for Mike.

Now this is our pressure
plate here, in the middle is the

release bearing, on the
outside you can see the flywheel.

And between our pressure
plate and our flywheel is

the friction plate, which
is the bit that's worn away.

So to get to that, I now
need to undo six more bolts

and then I can take all
this away from the car.

Subarus usually need a
new clutch every 70,000 miles.

This one is ripe for change.

I'll be swapping it for a heavy
duty unit that can handle up

to 300 horsepower, so there
is an added benefit to the job.

Well that's the old clutch and
this is the bit we've been waiting for.

This is the centre plate,
you can see there's two

bits or discs of friction
material on either side

and they're riveted onto
this bit of metal in the

middle and you can see
it's actually rather thin.

If you compare it with our
brand new centre plate, you

can see there's actually
quite a difference in thickness.

But perhaps a better
example there is if you look at

the rivets here, as you
hold all these things together,

you can see there's
almost no distance between

the top of the rivet
and the friction material.

compared to say this one where
there's a huge depth of material there.

So if we hadn't rescued it when
we did, these rivets would start

to gouge metal out of either
the pressure plate or the flywheel

and then of course we'd
have to replace both of

those as well and that
would get very expensive.

So we can discard that and I'm
going to put this back onto the car.

Before I do, as always, I'm just
going to give it a bit of a clean.

Well this is our centre
plate for the clutch.

What I'm going to do is
use a clever little widget

I've made out of just a bolt
and a load of masking tape

and the idea is to make
sure that this is perfectly

concentric with the
centre of the flywheel.

So I'm going to put this smaller
end into the first motion shaft bearing

and then of course the fatter end
goes into the centre of our clutch.

Don't worry, I won't be leaving
this alignment tool in place.

I'll be removing it before
the gearbox goes back in.

And with everything ready, the box
has returned to the transmission tunnel.

Back with the pipework
and back with the intercooler.

There are no shortcuts,
I've got to carefully bolt

everything back in that took
me hours and hours to remove.

This little chap is one of
the roll pins that stops the

drive shafts from accidentally
pulling off the differential.

I'll admit that tackling a
difficult job does give me a buzz,

but I had hoped changing the clutch
on this car wouldn't be quite so tough.

With the new clutch assembly in place, it's
going to be good for thousands more miles.

I'd best get on with the next job.

Our Impreza is going to be
fantastic fun on the open road,

but when you've got this
much power under the bonnet,

you want to be 100%
sure that you've got enough

braking power to
actually stop the thing.

Now unfortunately, Mike noticed there
was a bit of a judder under hard braking,

and that just won't do, so I need to have
a closer look to see what the problem is.

Brake judder is often
caused by warped discs.

Looking at the discs with
the naked eye, it's hard to tell,

but I do have a simple
gizmo for just this occasion.

This dial Gauge will
tell me pretty accurately

if the discs are warped
and by how much.

Wow, well there we go you see,

so although I couldn't actually see
that the disc was warped by looking at it,

by using the dial Gauge, we've
got proof that Mike was right.

We've got a movement here of this dial
going from 30 all the way around to 85,

which is 0.45 mm, nearly
half a mm of movement.

That means when
you put your foot on the

brake, the disc is going
to be flapping around.

You're going to feel
that in the steering

and also in the brake
pedal as well perhaps,

and that is not a feeling
that fills you with confidence.

So what I need to do is change
this disc, but also change the canopy,

because I'm not really happy
about the condition of that either.

It's far too rusty.

It's a fantastic opportunity for us to
upgrade the performance of our brakes,

if we can get Mike to find us some
bigger discs and some bigger callipers.

Ed has asked me to find some
uprated callipers and discs.

New, that'll be £1500 a pair,

but I found a
performance car centre that

imports fast Japanese
cars and also brakes them.

The owner, Saj, tells me he
might have something for me.

Are you Saj?

I am. Saj, how you doing Mike Brewer?

Nice to meet you too.
Wow, look at this. What is this?

This is our Subaru drift car.

A drift car, that's where they slide
their back out on bends, isn't it?

That's right, yes.

Awesome bit of kit.
What is a Subaru Impreza?

That's a Subaru body.
We've got a Nissan Skyline engine.

That's a Nissan Skyline engine.

And this is what your
business is all about.

You get Japanese cars, you
import them in, brake them up,

and then you can make another car
out of them or improve your own car.

Exactly.

Right, well when I spoke to you on
the phone, I need to improve our car.

I need some brakes.

No problem, just behind you is Subaru.

These are Brembo brakes, they're 330mm,

much larger than what you
have on the WRX at 290,

so much more efficient braking.

It certainly looks like the
tool for the job, doesn't it?

Very nice. How much are these?

£575 a set.

£575? I suppose you can't put a
price on safety though, can you?

You can, it's £575.

Fair point, fair point.

Can you do a deal on those?
Can you make them a bit cheaper?

Well what I can do for you
is do your deal on the wheels.

I don't need wheels, my car's got
a lovely set of shiny wheels on it.

They're perfect.

You will unfortunately,
because the Brembo's

much bigger and you
need a wider offset wheel.

Like this STI set here.

So I'm going to need
a set of different wheels

to go along with the different
sized discs and calipers.

That's right.

I didn't think about that.

So they're going to be how much?

£475.

With tyres?

So that's £475 for wheels and tyres
and £575 for the discs and calipers.

It's £1,050.

And what deal can you do for me?

They're in lovely condition,
not a Mark on them.

What will you give me for them?

I could allow you £200 for the whole deal.

£200, so it's £850 to swap.

We could do that for you.

Hold out your end.

So far I've shelled out on
upgraded wheels, discs,

brakes and clutch.

So the kitty has taken a pound in.

I'm more than a grand
down and I need to make

every penny of that back
when the car goes on sale.

Welcome back to Wheel Of Dealers.

We're working our magic
on a Subaru Impreza.

I gave just £3,250 for it.

That's a good deal,

but making a profit on these cars is tough

as there's so many good ones out there.

So our idea is to add value.

by making the Scooby go faster,

stop better and look smarter.

It's time to find out if Ed
is meeting the challenge.

Ed?

All right, let's go.

How you doing, mate?

How you doing, buddy?

Very well.

Now, have you been taking a
good car and making it even better?

I certainly have.

I did have to start with the basics.

Remember that dodgy old clutch?

Yep.

Well, it was a bit of a pig
to fix, but it has been done.

Wicked.

It was very high on the
test drive and changing it

will make a heap of difference
when we come to flog it.

It's straight onto the motor.

But, of course, because I've
got bigger calipers than this,

you have to buy a bigger
alloy wheel for the offset.

So I've got new alloy
wheels and tyres as well.

Okay, well, that is very great,
but you're supposed to be

saving money on this and
you're spending it like water.

Yeah, but you know what I'm
like, a bit of a Wheeler-dealer,

so I use my nails and I manage to put our
alloy wheels and tyres in part exchange.

That is very clever.

The alloy wheels are the same
colour as that and they don't match.

They're gold.

So what we really need to do
is change the colour of the car

to blue to make it all nice and...
Or just paint the alloy wheels.

Okay, I'm sure I can sort
something out with that.

Mike has certainly excelled
himself for getting us this brake kit.

It's fantastic.

These calipers are huge.

They're still four-part like
the ones on the car already,

but they're so much bigger and
they're made out of aluminium,

so the unsprung weight is much better.

And these discs are just ginormous

and this upgrade is going to make.

a huge difference in the
car and take the old ones off.

Now I've got to clamp the brake lines,

disconnect the caliper
and then I can free the disc.

Braking performance is directly related
to the pressure exerted by the caliper,

the area of the brake pads and the distance
of the pads from the centre of the wheel.

So the bigger Brembo upgrades
will make a massive difference.

Now before I dispose
of these old bits,

let's just compare
them with the new stuff.

Look at the difference in there.

Look at that thickness.

And those extra holes
there are going to mean,

of course, you're going to get a lot
more air in to help cool those brakes.

But also if you compare the diameter,

this is obviously so much bigger, so again
it's going to add to our braking force.

Then if you compare the calipers,

look at that.

This new one is such a
beast compared to the old one.

It's going to make such a difference.

But also, despite being almost twice the
size, it's actually about the same weight.

Amazing.

Once they're in place,

the calipers can be bolted on.

The brake pads were part of the deal.

A quick dab of copper grease makes
for easier movement within the assembly

and should reduce the
chances of brake squeal.

Then the pads slide in easily and
are retained with two pins and a spring.

Swapping calipers and discs is
easy enough for a home mechanic,

but with numerous fast-fitting stations
around, the cost savings are pretty small.

So for safety reasons,

I'd suggest giving this
job to the professionals.

I've done the near side.

I must also tackle the off side.

After changing the other caliper,

I need to bleed the braking system

with Paul's help.

I open the brake filler cap,

top up with fresh DOT 4 fluid

and purge the air out of the
system through the bleed n*pples.

Up.

Down.

Down.

As the air is expelled,

the brake pedal firms up.

Yeah, it feels pretty good now.

But we're not finished yet.

We need some wheels.

Mike had to buy some
bigger wheels because our

uprated brakes were so
much bigger than standard.

He managed to get hold of these
fantastically good condition rims,

but unfortunately, they're in
that classic Subaru gold colour.

Now luckily, these days, it doesn't cost
very much to get your wheels refurbished.

I got a mate to repaint our
wheels in this fantastic satin black

and that is going to
look so mean on the car.

Mike wanted me to make
the Impreza stand out and

this £200 colour swap
ticks the box perfectly.

So, the Subaru is looking cool.

but it's not just about looks.

Everything you can see here
does a job just the way I like it.

Without doubt, in standard form,
this is already a pretty fast car

but you can always make even
a fast car just that little bit quicker.

An internal combustion
engine gets its power

from explosions caused
by burning fuel and air.

The first thing to do is just to
make those explosions bigger

and you can do that by chucking
more fuel and air into the engine

and then, of course, you really want
to get those exhaust gases out again

as quickly as possible so the
engine is ready for the next cycle.

I'm going to deal with the
fuel issue a little bit later on,

but the next two jobs are going to be helping
to get the engine to breathe in and out

a little bit easier.

If you want to tune a WRX,

the first job is making
it breathe in easier.

We have an air box here.

You can see this is where
the air comes into the engine,

comes in through this duct here,
goes through the bottom of this air box

through the air filter and eventually
makes its way into the inlet manifold.

If I just undo these two clips here,

it should reveal the air filter.

I'll just pull that out.

This is a standard air filter.

You can see it's kind of
yellowy on the outside.

That's the colour it
is when it first goes in.

Any foreign bodies
that are actually in the air

from getting all the way into the
engine and causing some damage.

A standard filter element is
normally either made out of paper

or in fact a synthetic fabric.

You get a big sheet, fold it up
to get this huge surface area.

It's a nice cost-effective part and it
does work fine on a standard motor,

but we are trying to go
for a little bit extra power.

We're going to use this uprated
high-performance air filter.

The idea is this is made
out of a cotton gauze.

It's about loads of layers of this stuff

all stuck together, again
in the same kind of funny

shape, but then it's
got a little bit of light

oil spread over the
top of that in the factory.

The idea of that is
to grab those bits of

dirt, but at the same
time, the special design

of this filter means
that the air isn't as

restricted as it would
be with the standard filter.

The best bit is, rather than
having to throw this away

every so often, you can actually
wash this every 50,000 miles.

Now it really isn't a
hard thing to do this.

Just have to pop the
air filter into position.

It's ever so slightly thicker,

just to give it a really good seal.

And then to make sure that
the little tangs at the bottom

of the air box are going
to fit into the little holes.

Like so.

And just ease it down into place.

And pop the two clips on.

and our new performance part is fitted.

So it should be able to breathe in easily,

so now we need to
make it breathe out easily.

And to do that, we
need to get the car up in

the air and do something
with the exhaust.

To this end, I've spent £180 on a
secondhand big bore performance system.

Modifications like this
don't instantly add power,

but they'll certainly make a difference
when I come to tune the engine later.

Now our original exhaust was
just over two inches in diameter.

This is three inches.

And of course that bigger
volume means there's going to be a

lot less restrictions and it's
going to mean that our engine

is going to be able to
breathe out a lot more easily.

Fitting the exhaust is pretty simple.

Connect a few nuts, bolts and Springs.

It only takes a few moments.

Are you ready?

Three, two, one, liftoff!

Fantastic!

I don't know if you're
going to hear me over this

awesome verbal, but it
really is quite wonderful.

But, just changing the exhaust system
and the air filter alone isn't quite.

going to give me that
horsepower that I'm looking for.

I need to do something else.

And what am I going to do?

Well, I'm going to mess around
on the insides of the engine's brain.

Okay, so far we've uprated the brakes.

on our Impreza so it can
handle a bit more oomph.

We've improved the way that the air
can get into the engine and the way

that the exhaust gases
can leave the engine.

So essentially, we've got it
ready for a bit more power.

But we're going to try and eke a
few more horses out of the engine

by messing with its brain,
which is why I'm here at

the rolling road of an
engine remapping specialist.

All right, Ian? Hi, Ed.

So you're our dyno technician for the day.

I am. Fantastic.

And you've plugged
our car into your laptop.

I certainly have.

So the idea is to get an idea of how
much horsepower we've got right now.

Exactly. Okay, so what's the next step?

Next step's to get the fans up in front of
the car and we're ready to run. Fantastic.

Next step's to get the
open road so that the

car won't overheat
while on the rolling road.

Next step, thrusters
on and the car needs to

be revved through
the range in every gear.

The computer gives an instant
horsepower readout. What's the story?

Well, Ian, I'm kind of
a little bit disappointed

because we've got roughly
about 205, 206 horsepower,

which sounds pretty good,
but I seem to remember that

these cars are supposed to
have about 218 out of the box.

Yeah, that's about right, Ed.

You've got an exhaust
and an air filter on this car.

and obviously the ECU's
still in standard form.

It's got all its catalysts on it and
everything to keep it MOT friendly.

It's probably starting to confuse
the standard ECU a little bit

and it's just pulling
things back a little bit.

Okay, so the work I've done so far has
actually made it worse rather than better,

but we kind of expected that, I guess.

Okay, so the next thing is
you're going to play with the ECU.

and you've got 240
horsepower with this one today.

That's pretty cool. Crap.

The 450-pound ECU remap works because
a standard car is conservatively tuned

to cope with a wide range
of atmospheric conditions

and varying petrol quality
throughout the world.

We've got super-unleaded
available in the UK,

so now we can tell the car's brain to
make the most of the better fuel quality,

extra air and better
outflow from the exhaust.

We don't want to overstretch the engine,

but more oomph is a sure
way to increase the selling price.

So how much extra power
can our engine deliver?

Well, what do you think of that, Ed?

Mate, that is fantastic.

Check it out, 243.5 horsepower.

Now, hang on, that is about 37 horsepower
more than we had when we started,

which is kind of nearly 20% improvement.

Yeah. That is awesome.

Am I right in thinking if it wasn't for
the modified exhaust and air filter.

and the exhaust is
definitely helping it out now.

Now we've unlocked the ECU, it all helps.

That is fantastic.
Well, thank you very much.

After the break, watch Ed add
the finishing touches to the Scooby

and I'll find out whether the
performance modifications

translate into a higher price
when I go hunting for a buyer.

Welcome back to Wheel Of Dealers.

This is our stonking Subaru Impreza
and we've almost finished the work on it.

Now, we bought a great car, but
we decided to make it even better.

Ed sorted the dumped clutch.

The brakes are now spec'd
up for high performance.

We've got a sports air filter and exhaust

and the engine has been
tuned to 245 brake horsepower.

We set out to change a stock
WRX into something outstanding

because that is the only
way to make a decent profit.

The oily bits are there now,
but the body looks standard.

What can Ed do to make our car stand out?

Mike asked me to make our
car look a bit more distinctive

and I figured your bog
standard go-faster stripe.

isn't really going to boost the value.

We needed something
a little bit more exclusive.

You can change the look of a car
without the expense of a paint job.

We've put so much love into this motor

we've decided to literally
put our names on it

with some clever graphics.

Our branding of the Scooby
does make the car unique

and I hope that will deliver more interest
from punters and therefore more profit.

The vinyl stripes are £100
and fitting them is a two-man job

so decal specialist James is
helping me peel off the big sticker.

Then it's a matter of making
sure the lines are straight.

It's fiddly and exacting

but it's giving us AC Cobra-style
stripes for Nissan Micron money.

Well that worked out a
lot better than I imagined.

Those stickers really do look the part

but looking at the whole
car we've ended up with a

much better transformation
than I thought was possible.

We've got a big difference
for a small amount of money.

and I do think we're actually
going to manage a little bit

of a profit on this one but
I'm not worried about that.

All I'm thinking about is hitting the
tarmac with our specced-up Scooby.

Our signature Subaru is
finished and Ed has faced a

massive challenge making
a fine car a brilliant car.

He's taken a modern
classic that had everything

going for it and
given it more appeal,

it's the shifter that
Wheeler Dealer stands for.

I found a dealer who wanted a shifter
trading and bagged it below the market price,

just 3.250.

I thought swapping the dodgy clutch
would be easy but Ed found it a struggle

as the mechanicals of
the car were so packed in.

The rusty exhaust was binned

and a used performance can
improve the engine exhaust flow.

A high performance air filter that
made the engine breathe better.

The brake discs were warped so we took the
opportunity to upgrade the whole system.

We needed wider wheels so I bagged
a used set and traded in the old ones.

Ed had them painted satin black.

All this came together
when Ed remapped the

engine and we ended up
with 245 brake horsepower.

Fantastic from a 2.0 litre engine.

What does the Scooby-O us?

The car was 3.250.

A bargain but parts for
this Impreza proved pricey.

In the end we spent 5,255 quid.

A great car but a great big spend.

Look at the Scooby!

It's always great to come and see a
car but this time it's double the pleasure.

It looks fantastic. Was it easy to do?

Well it was more manageable.

Your challenge was to get it straight
and then add a little something extra.

Now I've definitely got it to
go better and to stop better.

Well mate look at the wheels there.

Awesome and I love these two stripes
and what a lovely touch with our signature.

Top work.

Well thanks I'm glad you like
that because it was quite difficult

getting the right balance
between being bold and yet subtle.

Well I think you've
pulled it off and for that

and for all your hard
work you deserve a reward.

This raceway is known for plenty of different
racing series including the IndyCar.

but it's the perfect place for me and Ed.

Let's do it.

Come on then.

I tell you what Ed, it's
got some sharpness in it.

Look how quick it is.

Oh she's really quick,

much quicker than before
and you can drive it too because

it has got that horrible high
biting point on the clutch.

And Ed, she holds the road like a
demon and of course with the remap.

with the new exhaust and
the air force we've now got.


which is about 25 more than

stock so it really is a
properly mean machine

and don't forget those
operated brakes as well.

Well let's put them to the test.

Ready, go on then.

Oh my word, it's blinding.

I mean literally my eyes
nearly popped out of the socket.

That is awesome.

Okay you're ready.

I'm now going to set the computer.

to the first nought to 60.



That's standard.

Here we go, ready.

A little bit of wheel spin.



and it brakes, it can brake something.



Well done that man.

That is brilliant Ed.

I mean you can feel it's got a
load more power in this engine.

Wicked stuff.

Now I reckon Ed, if the
Rockingham straight was long enough,

we can get it up to 150 miles an hour.

I reckon you're right,

but you need to calm it down now
son because we need to sell this car,

not destroy it.

So tell me how much
money are we going to make?

Well it's always going
to be a challenge selling

this car because there's
plenty of them out there

but I needed our car to snap out
from the crowd and it certainly does that.

Alright then son, give
me some numbers then.

Well, it'd be nice to get six grand.

We did spend a few quid.

We certainly did but I reckon
once somebody's actually driven

this car they'd be nuts if
they didn't actually buy it.

I totally agree.

Now hold on to your hat son because we've
still got one more lap left but oh my word.

Well I always knew our Scooby
was going to be a difficult car to sell

but I didn't know it was
going to be this hard.

I advertised it on mainstream
sites for six grand and guess what?

Not a dicky bird.

So I reduced the price
down to five and a half grand.

and it's from this guy, Stuart.

He's hot to trot but I think I'm going
to have to use my Wheeler dealer now

to get this one shifted.

Wish me luck.

So Stu, still breathless
from that test drive?

Oh absolutely, I love the way it drives,

the way it handles.

Power delivery's lovely and smooth.

Really nice, really nice.

Do you like the way it looks?

It looks fantastic.

Black wheels and the gold calipers?

Yeah, they set it off lovely.

And what do you think of
this signature strip on the front?

That just sets it right off, doesn't it?

That sets it right off.

Fantastic, so you like the way it looks?

You like the way it drives?

I hope you like the price,
five and a half grand.

It's a proper car and I think
it'll give you years of pleasure.

Right, I was kind of hoping
more, I don't know, five grand?

Five grand, it's a bid.

It's a bit of a cheeky bid.

I couldn't let it go for five grand.

Tell you what, you seem like a nice bloke.

I'll give you 100 quid off,

I'll let you have it for £5,400.

Five three.

Did you bring cash?

Yeah.

No, it's £5,400.

Come on, have a deal with me.

I want out your end.

Five four.

Top work, you bought
yourself a proper Scooby.

Times are hard in the
second hand car market.

I feared this sound
would be tough and it was.

On the plus side, we had the pleasure of
driving and transforming a fantastic motor.

But on the flip side, we made
less than 200 quid in profit.

All right, so we didn't earn a load of
money, but at least we came out on top.

And this Subaru, look at it.

It's the best it could possibly be.

And you can't say fairer than that.

If you want to see more iconic cars getting
a turnaround treatment from me and Ed,

then join us again soon
on Wheel Of Dealers.

Tala!