Donor kebab

I have a black 93 donor that became a donor because the transmission pipe dripped onto the n/s exhaust whilst I was in a funeral cortege - slow slow quick quick stop - the resulting small fire caused virtually no damage inside the engine bay except that it kebabed the wiring loom to bits which is behind the bulkhead.
The car has done 165k - at 113k I had a new warranty gearbox ex International Motors- and at 137k the waterpump failed, which did for the engine totally, so everything was built new from the block up by Ace Kensington at a cost of £5.5k. The car is now kept in a garage near Buckingham, and I have only swapped the high rear light onto my other one. Has new brake discs etc etc etc and I have all the bills. I cant do the donor thing effectively so I want to sell the mortal remains for a sensible one off sum. Offers direct to me.

MM

[svxistentialist]

Hello Messenger, and welcome to the forum.

As this is your first post, sad to see you have had a litany of troubles, expensive ones at that.

Phil and Belha live in Bucks., so they may be close by.

High rear light? You don't say if the car is native English, or JDM import. The high rear light might indicate Japanese model. Which is it?

Joe

The high rear light was fitted to the car at my request by Ace Kensington when I had the motor rebuilt. How do you know if a car is an import? I never asked at the time when I bought from a dealer, but it had an English spec radio / stack CD. Ditto my current burgundy/black one.

MessengerO

[svxistentialist]

Hi Messenger

It generally depends on the specification, but the surest, or at least easiest way of identifying an original English registered car is via the lights. UK model [and LHD European] has glass headlamps. Mine is Japanese spec, and has goddawful perspex lenses that keep going brown and opaque. I would love to buy glass headlights from a donor car, so if you are parting it out, put me head of the queue for the headlamps.

There are other differences, such as the IR security immobiliser on the JDM cars, the English ones will have a normal remote central locking. Also, my car locks the doors once past 15kph, not standard on English models.

Another giveaway, particularly on early pre-95 cars, Japanese seem amazingly reluctant to pay for airbags. Only the highest specced cars will have them, though sometimes on a low spec car they will be on there, but will have been part of the options list.

English cars have the "high" bootlid brakelight painted over for some reason. A new LED can be screwed in and connected, or the original can be taken off and cleaned, then connected.

Generally English cars are the highest specification available, with two main exceptions; Japanese cars get powered folding mirrors, as well as the heated glass and remote control for the lenses, English cars come without the folding gizmo; also for 91 and 92, the high spec cars in Japan [chassis code CXD as opposed to CXW] had active four wheel steering a la Honda Prelude etc.

If you contact Phil and Belha, theirs is the only car I have ever seen with it. Their car is Claret and Black like yours and mine.


Joe

[svxistentialist]

Nearly forgot!

The rear lights clusters are quite different. Japanese cars do not have rear fog lights. English cars must have rear fogs with a separate switch. I have pictures of the cars from last year's meet in my locker. I must put in a composite showing a close-up of the different lenses.

Joe

[Andy]

The easiest way to tell is to go to your Subaru main dealer and order parts with your chassis number. If you get a black eye, it is an import. Also owners of UK spec cars are much better looking.

Further clues are headlamp washers on UK cars and the wording on the throttle body cover.

ps They all have the locking doors

[svxistentialist]

Is that so Andy? Yours locks automatically at speeds beyond 15kph? I am ill informed if so.

American cars do not auto-lock, and the earlier cars have that automatic seatbelt strap that nobody likes. Did early English cars get that?

Joe

[svxistentialist]

English car owners better looking, huh?

English cars must surely come with no vanity mirror for the driver's side.

They would obviously be superfluous.



Joe

[Andy]

Originally posted by svxistentialist
Is that so Andy? Yours locks automatically at speeds beyond 15kph? I am ill informed if so.

American cars do not auto-lock, and the earlier cars have that automatic seatbelt strap that nobody likes. Did early English cars get that?

Joe

Not quite Joe, Mine lock at speeds above 9mph As far as I know, it is a feature on all UK cars. We never had the funny seatbelts.

I now have a DVDR so I will try the film again for you.

[svxistentialist]

Thanks Andy,

I am planning to upgrade the PC sometime soon, so I will include a DVD burner with all the bells and whistles, +, -, *, you name it.

A mate of mine from Belfast has a Mitsubishi GTO, which auto-locks. However, he has a handy button on the dash that centrally unlocks it. As I understand it, SVXs did not get this unlock button till 94 or 95.

Has yours got an unlock button, or do you have to do like I do, unlock the driver's door all the time to allow a passenger to alight?

Joe

Thanks for bewildering clues to the origin of the species - in that case both of mine, registered as L 100 MM and L 1000 MM, are UK with glass lamps and fog switches etc. 100MM - the donor - had a high lens showing but no LEDs until I ordered the lamp and lens via ACE, which I think cost about £200.
Bigger wheels interest me but aren't they some tricky offset? In the meantime I painted my rims Hammerite smooth black about 18 months ago, and the wheels 'fill' the arches much better. I run the Vredestein Sportrac tyres which are quiter than Bridgestones, and were designed by Giugiaro, who designed the bodyshell of the SVX originally. Also, sometimes you see the wheels with the rotation spokes facing forward and sometimes back, as in the manual - I prefer forward, but does it matter?

[svxistentialist]

Good to know that those Vredsteins are quiet. That is a major plus for me. My car came originally with Japanese Dunlops, which made a constant howl or roar. Anything which defeats the stereo can not be tolerated.

Facing backwards as in the manual is the correct way. They are aerodynamically designed to cool the brakes better that way. That said, I prefer the look of them the "wrong" way round, but I run with them on proper like. The brakes do heat up the wheels a lot, and I like to be safe. If you don't do a lot of heavy stops from 100+, you should be safe enough from brake fade while wearing them backways, but be aware that the disks, particularly front ones, are prone to warp and shudder, so keep them as cool as possible.

If the rims are on correctly, the two left rims will have an L on them.

A good reason to get bigger rims is to fit bigger brakes. It is possible to get the proper offset. One of the members in Cornwall has fitted bigger brakes and rims, should be photos in my locker, a white car.

Joe

[svxistentialist]

Locker pic of Graham's big brakes and rims:

http://www.subaru-svx.net/photos/fil...alist/3198.jpg

[Nobody]

Hi guys,mine is 1995, one of 6 cars sold in Czech Rep. and I have not auto-lock up feature and even have not knew about this feature before...

Hi Messenger,

I only live up the road from you in Marsh Gibbon, and actually went to school in Buckingham (small world). I've not seen your SVX out and about on the roads... Though I did see a black one parked at Bicester Village about a month ago... Was that you?

Anyhow, my UK spec '94 model car doesn't auto-lock, as in, if a passenger wants to get out, the door isn't locked.

Though, I haven't seen it for so long, I'm beginning to dream that I've ever owned it in the first place The car has been at the main dealer in Witney for 12 weeks, see my other post about servicing woes - avoid them at all costs!!

BFN

Jason
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