Postcards from the Pleiades.
Irregular, not necessarily chronological.
Results of work or notes related to places and times, rather than strict knowledge about cars.
Primarily a record of what’s happening, but also a nod to Subaru and the wider Subie family.
64983 km
327784 km
331741 km
332430 km
342351 km
154703 km
155102 km
I’d like to think that the wheels of the TDT bureaucracy are grinding away at my application (exemption for the short VIN). In the meantime, I managed to sort out a few things in the break between Christmas and New Year. Hopefully, this will pay off during the MOT prior to the permanent registration.
First, I replaced the headlights. I’ve been hunting for original European spec ones for a long time. So far, I’ve only managed to buy the right-hand one, maybe the left will show up on the classifieds someday. In the meantime, I fitted a Depo aftermarket. To be honest, the quality seems to be very good and, apart from the branding, they’re no different from the originals. I bought the right one with electric height adjustment, so if I ever find a matching left-hand one, I might have an idea for my next hobby project.
Now all that’s left is to keep my fingers crossed. All the documents have been collected, packed into an envelope, and sent to TDT. While we’re at it, it’s worth noting the irony of living in a country where a 17-character VIN format (ISO 3779) was encoded into law, and then an institution was created to grant exemptions, yet it has only a single office for the entire country.
In Poland, vehicles with VIN numbers that do not follow the standard 17-character format must obtain an official exemption from TDT to be legally registered. Although the required documents are clearly listed on the website, the process appears to have a certain entropy embedded, both in terms of the time it takes and the final outcome.
It happened. On December 10th, somewhere on the eastern outskirts of the Royal Capital City of Kraków, I was greeted by the following sight:
Type R ready for pickup. For various reasons the whole thing dragged on a bit; what was supposed to be 3 weeks turned into 5, but honestly, it doesn’t bother me one bit. I really like how Mariusz worked on the car. We were constantly in touch, he answered all my questions, and every now and then I’d drop by to see the progress. And every single time it was the same: I’d say I was just stopping by for 10 minutes to see how things were going, and an hour later: “Alright, I’m heading out now, because I could honestly talk cars with you all day long”. Mariusz is clearly a true enthusiast - petrol runs through his veins - and, most importantly, he approaches everything with a craftsman’s precision and dedication.
There was already a post about the 3*555, now it’s time for another trio: the EJ20. It’s confirmed: the bearing waved goodbye.
Interestingly, it turned out that the Type R doesn’t have its original engine, one it left the factory with, but a different one, from an earlier model (93–96?). Crankshafts for those engines are no longer available, so even if I had any doubts about whether to rebuild or drop in a new short block, the lack of a crankshaft would have cleared them right up.
There’s no use crying, especially since the milk has long been spilled. The next thing I did after recording the video from the previous post was call Carfit. So, the plan is already in place: we’re going with a new short block, W20C - the strongest one.
Inside, the knocking
Bearing falls to the abyss
Silence rules - with death
It might not seem like much, but the 2*555 turned into 3. No surprise there, after all, Subaru is a disease, and it’s a progressive one. In my case, that’s definitely true. Another symptom was noticed on September 29:
After travelling halfway around the world, Subaru finally reports for duty in the Green Corner of Silesia.