I’ll set the scene for you. Ive not been super interested in cars all that long…maybe seriously for 3 years. I learnt to drive when I was 17 and was passed within a few months. So I’m a young driver in the UK (currently 19) ,18 at the time that I was looking for a car. So as you can expect, I had to mentally prepare myself to be bent over the barrel by the insurance companies.

It was at the beginning of my car search I got quite fond of 90’s-00’s japanese cars (uh oh). For a laugh I was looking at insurance prices with my friend Jake at the time in a uni lecture theatre; not really listening to the thermodynamics lecturer. Comparing the odd Coupe, RX-7, RX-8 and Subaru, I found that actually the insurance prices for a 90’s MX-5 or a 1.6/2.0 NA Impreza were on the high end of “yeah I can afford that (barely)”. So what did I do?

I trawled google, eBay, Autotrader, Gumtree and hell, even the Facebook marketplace of all places. I eventually stumbled upon a lovely ’02 Impreza GL with 106k miles on it. I purchased it. After a rigorous driveway inspection with Jake, and £800 deficit in my bank account I was rolling down the road in my new (to me) car.

This was the advert picture.

and this is what I got.

I loved the car, wasn’t overly fast, but boy was it fun and handled extremely well. Some would say I enjoyed the car a little too well. It was clean, rust free and had fairly good bodywork. It even came with rally style Morette headlights (which I’m still undecided on).

On the First week of February 2017 I begun to hear a knocking on startup that would eventually fade when the engine reached its working temperature. Numerous google searches told me it was “harmless piston slap”. The lack of a check engine light and the oil and coolant level being optimal set my mind at ease.

Until…

I was driving along the motorway, ~13 miles from home on my way to my uni accom, when the knocking didnt go away after the engine warmed up. In fact, it got a lot worst on this particular journey. I was minding my own business tootling down the road with the radio on to drown out the knocking when the car cut out…as I was in the inside lane. Shit. I pulled over onto the hard shoulder and immediately started to start the car again. Grinding. Again. A sputter of life and then death.

I read the codes on the engine (shameless sellout plug for cheap eBay OBDII readers) and it told me my car was suffering from an engine knock and that it was causing a misfire on cylinder #4.

Devastated, I reluctantly called my insurance company and got my breakdown cover details to get the car towed home. The car was left on my parents drive for 2 weeks, while I enjoyed myself a little too much on holiday, before my father and I towed it to my uncle’s farm.

A short word on my uncle. He has been a tradesman his entire life in the automotive and engineering industries. He has at some point been: A mechanic, Paint something-or-other, helicopter technician, Land Rover mechanic for the police before taking up a “cushy desk job” as he puts it. No question, this man knows his s*#%.

He recommended a new engine, and so for £200 I picked up an engine with 42k on the odom from a ’03 impreza sitting in a breakers yard. This engine was immaculate.

So the process began of removing the old engine and finding out exactly what went wrong.

To my horror, I discovered this car gore:

Yes! the memes about end bearings in subarus are correct (f#$%). The bearing on #4 had slipped and was about as much use as a chocolate teapot, ruined the con rod and the crank shaft. New engine was a good idea after all. So after about 3 months and change. I had the new engine in (and some STI Prodrive suspension) after working weekends; with my uncle there if I needed help.

On the 21st of may 2017, she started first time! I had successfully swapped an engine. It was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done but I wouldn’t trade the time spent with my uncle and the experience for a working car first time. The moral of the story I suppose (as all good stories have one…right?) is this:

Stay in school

dont do drugs (too often)

If you buy yourself a lemon…make some F%#*@ng lemonde and fix it.

There’s more to come with my Bluebaru…Stay tuned for boost, brakes, big rumble and hopefully not another bottom end bearings fiasco.

“Bwah” – Blubaru 2017