Still no SVX or many Subaru in South Africa

[BRADY]

Hi all!

I am in Durban now, with the band and have STILL not seen any SVX or many Subaru! The Germans have the car market stitched up over here - so many VW, Audi, Mercedes and BMW here it is frightening!! All the cars look the same!

Mike

[ProSport]

Hi Brady and everyone else.

Only picking up on this thread now. I recently joined the forum.

I am from Cape Town, South Africa and managed to get my hands on an extremely rare '92 SVX.

Sources at Subaru South Africa claim that only 17 of these cars were imported way back in '92. They only have 3 left on their service books that they are aware off. There could be more out there, but I have only ever seen 2 in my entire life. one of them in my garage and the other one I saw in 2002.

The SVX is my 8th Subie. I've had quite a collection. The brand is growing rapidly in SA, but very much still a niche brand. We like it to remain that way. We also have a very strong an loyal Subaru Owners Club with divisions all over the country, including Durban. you can check out our local forums at http://www.socsa.org.za/

Will register the SVX a little bit later. Got to get cracking with work. my first day back at the office after 3 weeks holiday!

Nice to meet you all!

[fasteract7]

Wilkom,

Always liked the Pearl/Black's the best...was my 1st SVX. Hope you find the Forum useful.

Craig

[ProSport]

Originally Posted by fasteract7

Wilkom,

Always liked the Pearl/Black's the best...was my 1st SVX. Hope you find the Forum useful.

Craig

Hi Craig

Thanks for the welcome message. I feel at home already and looking forward to interact with everyone as I go on this journey with my SVX. I have a couple of small changes/mods in mind, but would like to keep her as close to original as possible.

1. New rims bought already from a 2006 STI - gold. Just have to get the tires and fit them
2. Would love to get my hands on one of those SVX hood badges - looks like bull horns. if anyone knows where I can get, please let me know
3. New exhaust back box to allow better airflow and off course more sound! Perhaps go full on free flow. Remove the cats and all. What is the general feel amongst everyone with regards to exhaust mods? I don't want to scare the neighbors' kids but I want them to hear the car coming down the road at least ;-)

Christie

[fasteract7]

Christie,

http://svx-motorsport-accessories.st...jdmalhoem.html

The above link gets you to Dayle's SVX site and those JDM badges. He also has quite a few SVX specific items too..not inexpensive and the post will be !!!

STi rims..nice. A somewhat tired suspension with no weight in the rear will take 235/40-18 tires w/o rubbing. Any weight in rear and bumps will cause most 245/40-18 setups to rub on the outer fender lip unless fancy upgrades and aggressive neg. camber changes envisioned.

A nice ultra high performance tire even in the smaller diameters/widths will make for great handling. I use -1.4 degree camber in fts/0 degree in back with Michelin Pilots. For summer have even gone with BFG R1 DOT races and Pilot Cups and carved curves at speeds this almost 2 ton car has no right to expect.

My own take on the exhaust...I would rather spend the funds in other areas. Removing or changing the single post cat resonator makes for a drone usually.
Also per SVX gurus will reduce power ( a Search will reveal long threads on this).

My personal experience.. I swapped in a 4.44 tranny/rr diff from a 99 Forester with aftermarket trans cooler (overkill), added an adjustable fuel pressure regulator (Search AFPR), drop resister mod, the starter relay mod, change struts at each 60K miles interval, urethane ft/rr swaybar bushings, keep rotors fresh and have run Carbotech X8 front pads when I ran the stickies...they have to much bite for most other tires and you end up ABS'ing when braking aggressively. Noisy as hell but absurdly good stopping ability. Most aggressive pad for rear are Hawk HP Plus's Most of the fun (?) I have is figuring out and fixing the little problems that show up..the MAF's seem to fail to a greater or lesser degree ever 50-60K miles on average. Still have an ABS code I can't fix..probably the control unit under the passenger seat/rt side door sill area.


FYI, changed to "real" synthetic (not Hydrocracked Mobil 1 syn) and valve cover seals oozed like crazy...back to Mobil 1 type synthetic and dry again.


Have fun looking up the DIY's and such. My take on adding power to an SVX is "can't really be realistically done" short of the few folks who, thanks to an on site garage/machine shop, added SC/turbo kits and even here you are talking expense, custom fabrication, no real source for a aftermarket ECU piggyback except top of the line Hydra, etc., a low limit to boost for all this time and money unless the compression of the engine is lowered via a rebuild or, again, a cobbled up methanol injection system.

I take satisfaction in my SVX's Guigiaro styling, rarity, and ,via tires/suspension/alignment changes/brake upgrades in this AWD framework, can make my commutes fun enough in this over engineered GT "big boned" girl!

Cheers,

Craig