renob123

I was reading up on Frankenmotors and saw some discussion about this. Subaru switched to MLS prior to the latest revision, so seeing that it's MLS does not guarantee that it's the latest and greatest. However, I have no idea how substantial the changes were after they switched to MLS. It could just be different part numbers... Jacob

Hmm, that would explain it:) You don't need a harness. Mine work fine without one. You just need to understand how the lights and wiring work. Then you plug the right wire into the right connector on the new housing. It's way easier to use the adapter, though. That eBay link you posted included them. The Autopal people sell them separately, though. I never took before/after shots because I didn't get the lighting thing figured out until I had all of them in. Plus I had Silverstars in before, and I switched to cheap AutoPal bulbs. I'm thinking I'll see the real gains once I throw in the Xtravision bulbs. Jacob

Hmm, I get the feeling you didn't read that big-rump roast post I just put up... If I remember correctly, mine was 4656 for the lows. Read and understand my last post before acting on that, though. The high beam connector wasn't even close to the H1 replacement. Just pop the spade connectors out of the connector and plug them straight to the bulb. No fancy harness needed. Jacob

Wait, do we know it worked for 2 years? I didn't see that in this thread, at least. I was sort of guessing that they machined the flywheel to the wrong specs during the replacement. When this guy bought it, he could tell it was too soft, but the PO didn't know any better. It doesn't mean it worked for 2 years, in that case. I was asking how far the transmission was pulled away to see if some measurements of the step could be taken. I could be wrong, though. Jacob

Ok. Here are a few things that I wish I knew when I started: 1) Unlike all other rectangular sealed beam units, the 165mm ones use a different wiring setup than their bulb-in-a-housing counterparts. You can do what I did and try every different combination (or is that permutation?) of wires until the brights come on and stay off when they should, or you can get an adapter. The eBay link you posted includes the adapter you need. Pooparu ran that configuration and had no problems, although his setup is a little fancier:) This link shows the adapter. The extra pictures show the differences in pinouts: http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=120 2) I opted for AutoPal lights from eBay. They have the best reputation of the "budget" conversion kits. Hellas and Cibies are popular, but they were too expensive for me. I run H4s on the outside and H1s on the inside. The H4s have both high and low beams. I'm pretty sure that H4 is the same as 9007, which may be where some of your confusion is. I think that one spec is for Europe, and the other is for the US, but it's cheaper for bulb manufacturers to make one bulb that complies with both. The H4s work great with stock wiring. I'm not so sure about the H1s. I went with stock wattage, but there's just something about them I don't trust. They take like 1/2 of a second to turn on, which I assume is bad for wiring. 3) The AutoPal lights aren't meant for a common-positive system. This doesn't matter for the H4s, I don't think, but for the brights (H1s), you need to keep the metal of the headlight housing from touching the metal of the mount and screws. I took carfreak's advice and wrapped a bunch of duct tape around them. If not, then they'll always stay on. I'm running the bulbs I got from AutoPal, but they're cheap, so I got some Sylvania Xtravisions to go in later. From my research, they're the same as the SilverStars only without the blue coating, so they're superior and very similar (if not the same) to the stuff Daniel Stern sells from Osram. I hope that helped. Jacob

Is the loose clutch cable your only problem? How far back did you pull the transmission? Jacob

On a similar note, I was really surprised the first time I saw the new Outback. It sure seems to me that they're longer/taller than the original Foresters. Jacob

Hey Speedbuggy, can you give us some further specs on the build? Just about everything you've heard is speculation based on a stock STI. That thing is not a stock STI:banana: Jacob

Here's what I'd do: 1) Decide on what you want to do with the car. 2) Decide on how much money you want to spend. 3) Look at the stickies in the Naturally Aspirated forum on nasioc.com. There's a good power white paper there. 4) Search both here and NASIOC for answers to your questions. Most people at NASIOC will tell you that if you're serious about power, especially power/$ spent, then sell your car and get a WRX. Whether that's best for you depends mainly on #1 and #2 above. Some people here have/had NA Imprezas with decent power that were modified to fit #1 subject to the constraint of #2. Jacob

Yes there are. You'll have to search, though. Basically you need to change the LSD's ratio to match the transmission, or else it'll kerplode. Depending on what you want to use the car for, the full-time transmission may be worth swapping in. Jacob

Can you swap the transmission too? If not, then mixing 3.9 and 3.7 would be really bad. 4wd mode would probably destroy everything. The WRX is the only car I know of that uses different front and rear ratios, and that transmission is built for it. You may be able to run in 2wd with minimal problems, but then, why would you swap in the first place, or even have a Subaru, for that matter? Jacob

Heh, yeah, you have to unscrew it:) Also look at the hose attached to it for heavy buildup. Jacob

Show us your pics! Also, do they make that stuff in World Rally Blue? Jacob

I must be missing something. What was your reasoning behind this setup rather than the Frankenmotor? Jacob

I'd like to see some pics first to make sure it's what I have in mind, but it's an EJ-swapped Brat. Jacob

Did you attach a picture? If so, I can't seem to see it at work. The engine/transmission mounts are not the same thing. Rockauto.com lists the GL transmission mount as a rear engine mount. I don't know why, but they do. Jacob

I'd do suspension and brakes as well as I could for this sort of thing. Initially I was thinking about engine/transmission options for you, but I think that sort of thing could wait. In fact, just about everything else could wait. If you hit top speed after 15 minutes, make one turn, then you hit a checkpoint, then I don't imagine there will be that much wear on the engine/transmission. You'll get rattled to pieces, though:banana: Jacob

That's cool. I just wanted to know so I wouldn't send an amateur to his death. What year is the car? You should get a cage and better suspension at least. The cage you can do yourself. Depending on the year, you may be able to hit some decent speeds. They limit the average speed in really here too, but the cars can hit that speed very quickly. Jacob

Heh, yeah. I'm basing my knowledge on a Kylie Minogue video and a TV show that had this rock in it: What's your racing background? 200kph on dirt is very fast. Jacob

What speeds do you plan to hit? I'm just trying to see where this sport is between, say rock crawling and WRC. I'm not aware of any area in your continent that's like Dakar:) Does your Forester come with a turbo? If not, it may be worthwhile to see if you can swap one in due to some Foresters coming with a turbo from the factory. Jacob

I'm interested to see what you find out, since I've dealt with the same thing for a long time. Did you remove material from the back of the hubs for the 6-lug swap? The weights they use for wheels are pretty small. I wouldn't be surprised if I ground off too much on one spot. I've been thinking about taking my 6-lug hubs to my tire guy to see if he could do some sort of balancing on them. Jacob

Against what kind of cars would you be competing? What are their power/modification levels? Is ground clearance or approach/departure angle a concern? It's hard to recommend anything until we know more. In the meantime, you could look into something like this in the front: Jacob

I thought the sport package just came with the roll bar and a few other extras. I couldn't find it at cars101.com, though. Jacob

FWIW, this guy is getting good reviews on NABISCO for these things. Jacob

Hmm, this guy must not like money, because I'd give him some for a skid plate if it looked good... Jacob