The month started by getting the car ready for Rounds 2 and 3 of the Highland Speed at Fintray. This involved fitting the new DS2500 rear pads and custom grooved discs supplied by Ian Godney at Godspeed Brakes last month.

From there it was a case of fitting my newly powder-coated sump. This allowed me to finish my SPA dual oil temperature gauge installation by mounting a temperature sender in the sump. In turn, fitting the sump allowed me to install the oil separator i designed a couple of months ago (also freshly powder coated). The separator drains condensed fluids back to the sump and allows gases to vent through the mini K&N filter. It currently gets a bit pongy in the car when stuck in traffic so the gases may be routed elsewhere shortly!

After giving the car a quick rinse and fitting the R888-equipped Speedline wheels the weekend of Fintray House Hillclimb came around. Unfortunately the oil pump pressure relief valve stuck open after my second practice run. With no oil pressure i had no choice but to trailer the car home (thanks John) and spectate for the remainder of the weekend. :-(

I had planned to buy a Roger Clark Motorsport oil pump for my soon-to-be-fitted EJ257 short-block. Due to the failure of the original oil pump this part was rapidly moved up the priority-purchase list! With the pump new pump fitted and the oil filtered and inspected for contaminiation i winced and started the car... 7.0barg oil pressure! This soon dropped to a healthy 3.0barg at idle once the oil was warm and yes, i'm still driving the car with fingers crossed!

After spending a week or two away from the Impreza i decided to fit a baby Denso alternator i was given a few months back. I had a bracket CNC machined to crank the alternator the opposite way to my previous effort. Together with a new adjuster this offers a far more efficient means of tensioning the belt. The whole assembly weighs in over 2kg lighter than the standard setup too.