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Car is done! Kept it two tone for the win. Purchased new sheet metal including radiator support, center hood stay, and right/left hand radiator panels for about $160. These come painted (black) from Subaru. Or just cut them out of a donor. I counted just over 20 spot welds for the total weld job. Didn't have to completely remove the fenders to access the weld points for the radiator support, just moved them aside. Removing the bent metal wasn't hard using a 3/8" spot welder hole saw removal tool and a drill motor to punch through the spot welds. For the rebuild, these welds are beyond the harbor freight 240V "pinch" spot welder in my opinion due to the lower section essentially welding to a tube. My neighbor has a HF MIG welder that did an excellent job welding the new metal in place. Just cover the whole engine first with fiberglass cloth to avoid hot slag melting the harness. Before removing any metal I marked the outline of the pieces to help line things up. Having the headlights in place helped line up the two radiator panels (actually they should be called condenser panels) prior to welding. The hood latch was aligned with the hood and clamped prior to welding. After welding, put the condenser/radiator/headlights/bumper/bumper cover back on.

I had a similar issue on my 35th anniversary car (2004). Critters had gotten into the left rear quarter panel and chewed the wiring harness. Shorting the turn signal circuit to the LR light, and damaging the wiring to the antenna (I think your 2000 will have a conventional antenna on the roof over the driver's door). Every time I used the Left turn signal, the gauge cluster would go dead. As long as I remembered not to use that signal, things were cool. If you can't think of a more specific correlation between using a function like that and the failure, I'd buy a breaker for that fuse so it could be reset and continue on. Hope that helps!

Spent a little more time on some further disassembly last night - got the control arms, sway bar, and transmission crossmember out without having to cut anything major - just one little bracket needed chopping to get the parking brake cable off - the bolt was so caked it was practically cemented on. I've also removed the steering rack so I can drop the engine and transmission on without running into the rag joint while I work out that problem. After reviewing some other builds again (there are only so many I've been able to find) I may end up switching tracks and modifying the impreza engine subframe to fit in the Brat for an easier time getting the steering rack clearances I need in order to avoid chopping up the transmission bell housing. For now, however, I'm going to push ahead using the modified Brat subframe so I can keep the impreza actually rollable for a little longer. I need to put together a couple dollies for the husk so I can keep workflow going in my shop during the day, and once i pull the control arms, knuckles, steering, and front suspension components that becomes much much more of a chore. I've got the camber plates sketched up and getting ready to be CNC'd - very excited for that part. I'd like to design an adapter to allow for the install of these coils into the original knuckles while I'm in here for the folks more committed to keeping the 4x140 bolt pattern than I am. In combination with the coilovers & camber plate adapters this may end up being a serviceable way to get new suspension on these old cars.

Sure thing! Brief run-down: My parents bought this car new in 1981, been in the family ever since. It was handed down to my brother and then me, both our first cars. I drove it for a couple years then took it off the road more than 10 years ago for a full bare shell restoration with upgrades. Been back on the road close to 4 years. It's now got a 2" lift kit + 27" tires, touring wagon dash/center console, power steer/air con/power windows, entirely new wiring loom designed and made by me, L series 5 spd, air adjustable rear shocks, 5ch sound system with sat-nav. The list could go on...I'm constantly working at improving and upgrading things. The front suspension will be next as its way too stiff. New gearbox coming soon etc. Here's from a recent camping/fishing trip with the 4WD club It's my daily driver and gets pushed into service for vaious jobs... Right after I got the new 15" wheels

Easy fix. I've done several of them. While you can pull out the support, if you have a self serve yard and you can cut out the parts you need from a undamaged car that's the way to go. You can cut out the damage and weld in the new parts. Cutout more than you need and then trim back.

I would think so. Find the air leaks first then back that idle screw out appropriately. Good luck

Probably lots of old vacuum hoses and even a small leak can make your idle rough. "To detect vacuum leaks in a carb car, the most common method is to use a carb cleaner or a similar spray around suspected leak areas while the engine is running; if the engine RPM changes noticeably when the spray is applied, it indicates a vacuum leak at that point."

No, but you might feel it slightly sometimes when reversing. I believe there’s something in the device that uses gravity to activate the hill holder. If facing down hill it won’t hold the brakes on - and it seems to only act on one part of the system. EG: brakes the front left and rear right or vice versa. Pretty sure it’s the FL and RR circuit that’s used. Cheers Bennie

You’d be right in assuming that! As Moosen’s said, allow a bit of play - then test it out, you should have the hill holder let go just as the clutch takes up some bite. You don’t want the clutch to be fighting the hill holder (too tight). Test, adjust, test etc until you’re happy with how it behaves/feels when you use it. Looser is better than tighter - you’ll learn how to drive with how you adjust it. I disabled mine in my L series - had too many sketchy situations when reversing down steep hills I didn’t make it up. I just live without it and don’t really notice any difference really (my brumby didn’t get one so they’re basically the same to drive in that regard). Cheers Bennie

Set the clutch and allow 1/8” play to the hill holder engagement is how I recall that adjustment. But it’s been about a decade since I’ve owned one. If nobody else chimes in I’ll look it up in the manual. Or did you lose the nuts at the threaded end?

B's Forester continues to run well, isn't consuming much oil. We started work on some rear strut tower braces for my Impreza. Didn't have couplers or enough tubing for a crossbar but we probably have over half the work done. Still have to space the seat latches and relocate the seat belts and add a spare tire mount too. I've been fixated on carrying more fuel since our last trip out west. Would have allowed us to get even farther off the beaten path before having to return to civilization for fuel. I looked into rectangular off the shelf gas tanks but none of them seem to fit well in the spare tire well. My latest idea is to just make one. Two pieces of aluminum, fairly simply cut and bent. Can keep the floor flat this way, should hold 10-12 gallons. Thinking I'll just make the flat flaps wide enough to bolt in under the strut tower braces. Fairly easy/simple mounting and might stiffen the chassis a bit without adding a lot of weight. Thinking 1/8" thick aluminum, two ports in the front, one high, one low. Already have some of the parts. Took the Impreza down to southern IL over the weekend. Drove on a lot of icy/snowy back roads on our way to various hiking trails. A few that were dirt but nothing real crazy. One time we stopped on an icy uphill grade because there was another car parked off to the side and I decided to ask them if they needed anything. They didn't but at first I was getting just some rear wheel spin trying to drive back up the hill. Locked the center diff and drove up without any drama, after about ten or twenty seconds of that I unlocked it, never had to use it the rest of the weekend.

Is replacing the turn signal switch indicated (pun intended), too? Just had a similar issue - but on a Ford - resolved w/the switch.

Could be a few things. Usually a driveshaft or sticking caliper will be effected by throttle/brake use, but not always. If putting the FWD fuse in makes it go away, it's likely driveshaft or rear axle related. If it's a sticking caliper, spending some time at speed and then gently stopping will leave one brake VERY Hot (like, just hold your hand in front of the wheel, you'll feel it. Don't touch the rotor!) Inspect all suspension bushings. Control arms, ball joints, tie rods and ends, steering rack bushings, etc. A combination of a slightly out of balance tire and a couple of old bushings, for example, can turn into a pretty good wobble.

Tom, here in CT I was able to keep my “totaled due to value,etc.” Legacy but only I can continue to drive it. If I sell the car that next owner has to take it through CT inspection to verify it’s still roadworthy. So that’s another amazing thing they do in our favor. I was amazed. And of course I’m VERY happy since my 94 is the family truck and just keeps rolling and functioning. Tell your friend !

The accident was out of state and my insurance company said that it wouldn't be reportable to Tennessee. So I'm hoping that I don't need a salvage title and all that headache. Car is in southern Michigan right now so that could be a mess.

You can just twist, pull, bend them back into shape. They're not that structurally important relative to the bumper beam, the top radiator support is very flimsy, it's not that stout. I've put on gloves and yanked them by hand forward a few inches before. Not gonna do that to a bent bumper beam. They're welded in place so the job is 300% harder if you have to cut and weld, which I've done before. Yes, totally repairable and easy. d If you want original show room lines it'll be harder than being okay with your hood lines being 2 mm off. I'm pretty sure TN Is very favorable to this but You should look into state laws on rebuilding and reconstructing if the insurance sends you a salvage title. If you're lucky the insurance just doesn't mess with it and doesn't send you a salvage title. THen you dont' have to do anything. But they're supposed to and usually do. If they do then you have to get it recertified by the state before you can title and tag it. You have to go through a separate inspection for that in some states. Some are rigorous and some are very easy and pass just about anything. Check that process out.

I used DRW bushings. They work well and I've heard good things about them. Some bushings will need to be burned out with a blow torch and cleaned up with a steel pipe brush. Some bushings have metal sleeves that allowed them to be pressed in upon assembly at Fuji. If you burned out a bushing and the replacement one doesn't fit, check to see if there's a sleeve. The sleeves have to be cut out with a hacksaw (some bushings are designed to fit inside the sleeves so double-triple check before you go cutting away) It may be a good idea to inspect all the other bushings as well as your strut mounts.

Only the block is good for this swap. You’ll need to drop the block between the 2006 heads. This will allow you to run the factory engine management etc with the EJ22. There’s no other east way to do it without a whole lot of bastardisation that would need to be pioneered - even then it might not be too reliable. The other way to do it is with a complete harness layover of the EJ22’s engine management and ECU. This will have complications as your 2006 may be a CANBUS system and will throw a tonne of codes at you since it won’t know it’s running another engine. Emissions stuff may also be an issue doing it this way. In Oz you can’t put an older engine into a newer car like you’re suggesting. Swapping the block in between the factory 2006 heads would be the way to do it if it were me. You’d be copping a power loss with the reduction in displacement and there may be an issue with the “mushroom” shaped combustion chamber created with the EJ25 heads on the EJ22 - might not be an issue, I really don’t know for sure. Food for thought! Cheers Bennie

Solved I had a broken wire in my engine harness going to my IAC valve. Spliced in a new wire and she's been running good for over a week. Now I'm back to searching high and low for engine parts. I plan to do a full engine rebuild come summer and I am trying to plan for the worst. If anyone knows someone who knows someone who has parts, by all means any leads are appreciated. :] btw cotter pins slotted into female harness connectors make testing for continuity while bending wires a lot easier.

I think that just about covers everything! Only thing left to do was get it dyno tuned. This took 2 different attempts; the first time was plagued by fuel pressure and electrical gremlins. After this I made the hard fuel return line to get more flow back to the tank. Also when I made the new engine loom that goes under the manifold. The 2nd visit was trouble-free and I got a whopping 60kW at the front wheels or 80hp Still this is plenty enough to light up the 27" tires and have the open front diff torque steer the car if I floor it from a stop. The gearing in the 3.7 ratio L series 5 speed is all wrong for 27" tires. I'm waiting on a 3.9 ratio gearbox rebuild which should make it nicer to drive I think. This will be going into an EJ gearbox casing so I can do-away with the adapter plate and use a full EJ flywheel and clutch. This is still in progress. In any case it drives much better now and uses less fuel than the EA81 twin carb. Highway cruising is a breeze, I can stay in 5th gear for most hills. And the absolute best part and one of the reasons I did this whole swap; no more oil leaks on the driveway! Fire away with any questions you might have.

Would more suspicious the timing is well off. A hard shift can cause to have a load on the crank and when the timing belt tensioner is broken/loose or just bad you can skip couple of notches. Normally manual gearboxes have a protective guide over the crank-axle sprocket to prevent tooth jumping. Just in case this piece is or went missing it could have happened. Check the metal plate in this (see this unsharp image just above the sprocket) from this thread.

Low compression reading? And same reading on all four cylinders? I would suspect a problem with the compression gage itself.

Does it start without the maf connected? Try disconnecting battery to clear all maf learning, unplug the maf and keep it disconnected, plug back in the battery and start it. At very least it should start the engine in failsafe limp mode. If it starts again, the problem is likely sensors. If it's not starting then, it's more basic mechanical: fuel, spark, timing...

Could be lack of fuel? Either low tank level, or something else related to fuel?

B and I decided to break in the engine on the Forester. Didn't start and idle well at first. Had a code for coolant temp high. I found the coolant temp sensor and we hadn't plugged the connector in so B did that. Seemed to idle smooth but he tried to do as little of that as possible. Went out of town and tried to run it at moderate load and RPM for 20-30 minutes. Ran as well as expected, temps were stable, sucked some coolant out of the overflow when it cooled off. B's big project was replacing his hatch. It'd been beat for a while, he got a better one over a year ago, wanted to wait until he had a good rear bumper to protect it. Added some wire plugs because the junkyard had cut the wiring. Swapped over wiper motor, lock, and actuator, got everything working.

A little more progress this week, but alas I won't be able to turn a wrench or start working on the next phase of the thing for a while, so next update will be in the new year. Looks like every time i make a step forward, a corresponding step backward shows up in the form of another problem to solve. Firstly - the step forward: Successfully got the frame rails notched out - handily this exploratory cutting revealed that the extra crossmember hole is already reinforced inside and as such will not require me to sleeve it in order to move the mounting bolts out of the way for the frame work. it also appears that widening the mounting slots also did the trick and with the transmission removed and out of the way, the new EJ22 drops right in where it needs to be, plenty of room, way more than i was expecting to end up with. Just have to hit it with some rust converter and weld-through primer and box it back in now. Secondly, the step backward - The original steering rack is now (just barely) interfering with one of the lower studs that mount the transmission to the engine block, so now I have to figure out a way to get that clearance back, none of the other builds I've followed mention this as an issue - either that or I just wasn't paying enough attention. . Options I've come up with so far are: A) shift the original rack to the driver side of the slightly or maybe extend the shaft so the soft, disc-shaped connection (not sure what that part is called) doesn't interfere with the stud or transmission case. B ) Transplant the power steering rack from the Impreza, which doesn't use this same connection to the steering column and thus should clear. I'd planned on doing this anyway though I'd hoped to get the rest of the transplant done first for logistical reasons (It's easier to move two cars around when they both have working steering for as long as possible) which If any 2nd- gen swap guys have run into similar issues, I'm all ears - So far most of the stuff required for the swap into this earlier Gen 1 seems to be very similar to the later Gen 2's, just with less room to work. Hoping maybe one of y'all have a good suggestion. I'm debating at least for the mockup phase for the transmission, its requisite mounts, and the transmission tunnel modifications to maybe just remove that stud and see if I get lucky with the clearance on the transmission case. Anyways, that's a wrap til 2025 - In broad strokes, once I've got the engine and transmission mounted and located, it's on to front suspension transplant, then stripping the rear suspension off the Impreza shell and scrapping that to get the space back to fabricate on the rear end of the brat.

Yea, sometimes grease isn't thick enough and will push past the ball bearings. A slice or 2 of bread actually works better.

B/W is for the light. This must be connected for the alternator to charge. It can be fooled with a resistor with similar resistance as the bulb to 12v. Yellow is for the voltage reference. Wherever you connect this to, the alternator will target 14.5v at. In the OE config, it's tapped into an ignition switched engine fuse in the cabin. That's how it should be done. That said, the results would be acceptable to tap it into a switched power wire just about anywhere, but it might not be as effective at compensating for voltage drop, and therefore might not charge the battery as effectively.

The series 2 starter motors used to become unresponsive due to a lack of power to energise the starter solenoid. The work around here was to setup a horn relay that’s triggered by the factory starter wire to give a better 12v hit to the starter solenoid via better and shorter wires from the battery (and appropriately fused). Hopefully it’s something as simple as this. Those cam and crank angle sensors will need to be sorted out but they won’t stop the engine from being turned over by the starter motor. The engine just won’t start as the ECU won’t see the crank or cam signals - which means a code or a check engine light won’t be thrown. Cheers Bennie

I did change the auto trans fluid in the white Outback. It seems to be driving as normally as a 4EAT can. Got B's car back in the garage. Timing belt is shredded into a few pieces. All the idlers spin free and the tensioner was extended. Removed the engine, took off the intake and heads. All(?) the valves were bent. You can see where a few of them hit the pistons. Since he's had a few of these engines start to burn a lot of oil and we're assuming those were due to stuck rings, while we had the heads off we removed the pistons and replaced the rings. First pin came out fairly easily but we made a tool for the slide hammer to remove the rest. After we made and used this tool B noticed the Subaru FSM recommends using their tool which looks just like it. The old oil control rings barely floated. None of the rings stuck very far beyond the piston either and had about double the gap specified. Bores were within .001" round and taper which amazed me for an engine with about 150k miles on it. Gapped the new rings (they were all good out of the box) and put the pistons back in. B had lapped all the valves and replaced the valve stem seals in a better used pair of heads he had. New head gaskets, head bolts, seals, timing set, etc. Tried the old packing with grease and hammering in a pin to push the pilot bearing out trick. That didn't work. So we replaced the pilot bearing in the conventional manner. When I was tightening down the longest bolt for the PS pump it stripped out of the block. Not enough room between engine and condenser to fit a drill and drill bit so I could install a thread repair. Fortunately I was able to tap the hole deeper and use a longer bolt. Cranked a few times for about ten seconds each with the coil pack unplugged so we could get some oil circulating. Once we plugged that back in it fired right up. Seems to idle a little low and rough to me but I don't know what's normal. Runs smooth when you rev it up a little to 1000-2000RPM. No noticeable leaks or smoke. Just drove it out of the garage and back in the driveway but seems to be ready for another off road adventure.

Yep, totally fixable. Hood, grill, LH headlight and bracket, upper radiator support (still available new from Subaru), maybe latch support, radiator, RH fan shroud and blade, condenser (hard to tell how damaged, and if you want A/C), air intake duct. Maybe bumper cover and/or tow hook cover. Upper radiator support is spot welded in, there's a few ways to deal with that, depending what equipment you have access to.

I reckon you got off light - and your insurance company is being lazy. To me that’s not a difficult fix unless the engine crossmember or strut towers have moved, if it drove fine afterwards I’d say it’s fine. Buy the replacement parts and go to town on it. You’ve got nothing to lose from what I can see from those pics. I thought you’d have more carnage than hitting a kangaroo but apparently not. Cheers Bennie

Been a really long time since this thread was updated. Had my share of local trouble with attempted theft and damages. https://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/186359-beware-of-mevotech-parts/ Decided to go with KYB 2wd struts(new old stock) and Lesjofors '94 Kia Sephia front springs(4044208 on RA), new KYB strut mounts(SM5364, IF you can find 'em). New KYB 4wd rear shocks with better looking, less rusty springs. Rear cross member with gaps in mounts filled with urethane. Superpro front strut rod bushings(SPF2534K). Superpro new moustache bar bushings(same as rear diff mount bushing). Rides much better without all the bounciness on highways. Combination of Sachs 4wd struts with those Lesjofors springs, they're about .040" thicker than stock, will get you another inch of lift in front. Combination of those and 2wd rear KYB shocks + stock rear springs OR 4wd rear shocks with Honda Accord front springs, Lesjofors 4135713, may ride even front to rear. Just a suggestion. KYB 2wd strut, Lesjofors spring, KYB mount, SJR 4" lift. For $86 shipped this McPherson spring compressor was worth it. MUCH safer to work around than those hook compressors that tend to slip and always at the wrong time. spring compressor Be sure to lube the threads and round part with gear oil.

Final update. By accident, after snapping up a subaru ground wire at a pick n pull, from another low mileage subaru, I installed the second ground wire in parallel with the current engine ground wire to the left side cam shaft cover area. Now, all of the relay switches that I am currently using cooled down to only nominal heating. Consequently, the horror stories that I described above about all of the new relay switches, may not in fact be applicable. So in conclusion, I recommend adding a second in parallel ground wire to your car if you have over 200,000 miles. Heck you may even be able to get those new bad boy LED headlights to work, without screwing up your digital dash and dash dimmers.

Emergency Relay Switch Update. Do not install any new relay switches that you buy from anybody, including your Subaru dealer, BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL BAD. They are going to all get up to 130F, or they won't allow your engine to run smoothly, but for certain they will give off noxious fumes that are likely poisonous. You can thank the automobile conspiracy for getting these old Subarus off of the road for that, because this is how far they are willing to go in order to get you to buy a new car from them. It does not matter whether they are made in Japan, in China or in Taiwan, they are all bad and toxic to your health. Therefore, DO NOT CHANGE OUT YOUR RELAY SWITCHES. The relay switch that is most likely to blow is the Fan relay switch. When the Fan is in the number 3 position for more than about a 1/2 hour, then you are in danger of blowing that relay switch. If either of your two relay switches that run the engine cause the engine to no longer run, then swap them out with the other two or four relay switches that you have hidden behind the fuse box. The only relay switches that work properly are the ones that came with the original car. They have stamps on them like 01F17 or 03K15, but not exactly those stamps. GL10's have 6 relay switches. GL's have only 4 relay switches. If you are forced to go to then new toxic ones, then you are going to have to go nuclear and run wires from the relay switch connector by the fuse box, to a location in your car like the back seat floor, and find another actual relay switch connector that you will allow you to encasing your new toxic relay switch inside of a 30 caliber ammo box where the wire openings are caulked tight. Which is not a pretty option.

if it dies when it warms up then i think i know what it is, its your distributor, mine used to do it, it would work perfectly and awesome and 15min later it would just stall and die and never turn back on no matter what i did unless i waited 10-15min for it to cool, then it would start up like nothing happened. it drove me insane but inside your distributor theres a metal disk with alot of holes on it and a sensor that reads these holes, either your disk is dirty or the sensor (little tiny rectangle sensor) is failing when it warms up, im not talking about the rotor, more deeper is a metal disk that spins inside the distributor, thats why theres regular wires coming out of your distributor, took me a while to figure out why a distributor needed power (not the coil, just regular wires) mine failed because i washed the engine and i fried the sensor and it woukd fail on me only after driving for 15ish minutes.. if its not that, good luck. but try to put an ice pack around the distributor and see if your vehicle lasts longer with it on, thats how i found out about my problem.

this is an 03 - maybe the same;