hanyou

Thanks for the info all, looks to be more involved than I care to take on at the moment. For now I think I will just work on getting a JDM Forester to strip for when I move back to the US.

I have seen plenty of threads about swapping manual engines and transmissions into the Brat, but does anyone have a build thread for an automatic? I am looking to essentially buy an automatic Legacy and swap over the entire drivetrain into an automatic Brat. Is anyone aware of any fitment issues or other trouble to expect or am I mostly looking at a bolt on situation? Any/all speculation welcome! Thanks!

So while I was here in Tokyo I ended up buying my first Fozzy... 2000 STI Forester (SF5 flavor). The idea is to gut it to bare chassis and swap it into a USDM chassis, as close to 100% swap as possible. Any insight on what years would be best for compatibility? At present, I plan on putting some minor holes through the firewall to make the donor RHD but swap a MPH overlay onto the existing speedo rather than flash the ECU. I have heard tales of Jspec OBD-II being incompatible with US readers as well.

Ended up putting the one rail where it was and put the other rail in between the Outback rail holes.. threw on 3 washers between the rail and the steel piece so the seat release now clears the plastic. Everything looks great and still has the low height. Rest of the seats should take 1/4th of the time at best. Very happy with the project but dang that leather is cold this time of year

Yes, the Outback rails have been removed to make this project as bolt on as possible. Based on my measurements I am going to just drill into part of the seat rail and attach the left side of the rail direct to the seat between the original holes. Doing the passenger seat first as proof of concept, then finishing out the others at a later time.

I have seen a lot of other methods to go about this with fairly elaborate fabrications being done, just wanted to throw this out as an idea... Our main goal was to get it done without requiring any welding as neither of us know how to weld and wanted to keep the costs down. The only welding done was by our shop to get us the 18"x18" sheet as he did not have a single piece of that size. A lot of mistakes and learning were done on this.. Brat seat rails are 13" long with 11 7/8" distance between center of bolt holes, rails need to be 16" apart. We attempted to bolt to the original holes on the Outback seats and put the Brat rails in between but in my haste I put the 16" distance from edges of rails instead of bolt center.. seat ended up balanced wonderfully but does not line up with rail system of the vehicle so we are currently back to the drawing board. The Outback bolts interfere with the rails if mounted underneath them and some lengthening of the rails needs to be done to attach it to the seats. Hope this helps give someone an idea on how to do this better, it makes the height of the finished product less of an issue by not having the traditional tubular steel/aluminum.

Not the green connectors, the black ones. Messed around with it a bit today and the power light went out. Once I started driving it kicked back on but it does still need a bit of tranny fluid. Hoping topping off the fluid will do it, slightly below the cold fill now that its been driven a bit. Should know in two days when the stores open again :s

Messed around a bit more and ended up with code 75 for line pressure duty solenoid.. When I jacked up the car to mess with the tires I had jacked on the tranny pan and the rear dif, so I dropped the pan and took a look before swapping fluids. Everything looked fine so I reseated the connectors and gave it fresh fluids. The shifting is going smoother but still noticeable and the car utterly lacks power going up any sort of incline. I am also getting 120km (75 miles) for half a tank of gas compared to 100km per 1/4 tank now. Unhooked the battery for the night and finally cleared my CEL codes I previously took care of, but the power light is still there. It feels like I am finally shifting outside of 3d though. I have been drudging the internet for a better picture of the solenoid as I have heard it is in/on the tranny as well as in the engine bay but I have yet to find anything remotely helpful. Mechanic off base thinks the transmission is toast (didnt know about the solenoid) but as I said, the car only has 50k miles on it and doesnt seem likely for the condition/location. I did pull a code for the IACV at one point but I cleaned it up really well (again) and it seems the code is gone. PCV valve also previously cleaned. When I plug in the ECU cable I just get a flashing CEL with no codes. Cant find a single air leak and it has a fresh air filter/oil/tranny fluid.

Slapping sound turned into a bit of a thunking sound.. lug nuts backed out a bit so had some tire wobble, everything is golden for that now. Power light is still flashing and thunks into gear but it varies about how much based on temp outside it seems. Tranny fluid was almost see through clear color so I am assuming it is factory fluid from 98. I intend to swap it and the filter out tomorrow (<3 Subaru for having a drain plug on their tranny) and take a look at the differential fluids. Barring that I am a bit lost, I would think speed sensor with the different tire size, but with the power light flashing nonstop once I turn the car on it seems unlikely. Hoping I can find a different spot to mount the knock sensor as well, hate having christmas tree dashboard. On the bright side a newer turbo is being sold for cheap(?) at work so worst case I can part this one into the new one and junk this one, though I've hardly the heart to junk a Soob...

It is 60kph -- 37mph, fastest road in Japan that I know of around here. Wife said the rpms were rather high, 3k or more. Taking it to work tomorrow to see how it goes, though it sounds about undriveable. It only has 92,xxx km on it so id imagine its never had the filters or tranny fluid replaced, air filter was definitely the factory one anyways. Just seems odd that it had that size tire, got replaced, then all of the sudden decided there is an issue. I have heard of codes from the power light, but I am not sure which model to go by since the 98 Lancaster is roughly the 2000s model Outback stateside rather than the 90s one. Not to mention that its a steady equal on off on off without pauses.

The green should be the test connectors.. this is the black connectors. The pos that sold me the car had them unplugged already to hide the issue. The knock sensor is currently mounted on an empty hole above the torque converter until I find a better location. Tranny fluid looked good and full. Tranny filter next if I can track one down, parts are ungodly expensive over here. ($60 for a paper air filter? wtf)

To get right into things, I have a 1998 Lancaster that is acting strange. When I shift into gear, then let off the brake the vehicle slammed into gear a bit. I threw codes for a knock sensor but nothing else. The threads for the sensor got stripped so it was left alone and the ecu wires around the pedals were unplugged to pass a Japanese inspection since the car was running fine with good mileage. It is not plugged in at the moment because of this. After roughly 700 miles or so on supposedly new tires, it stripped the tread off. Assuming the tires were not balanced or alignment off, I put in a new set of tires of the same size. Stock tires are 16s, the tires on it when I got it/just replaced are 215 60 17s. I now have a bit of a slapping sound at very low speeds that I assume is rocks stuck to the tire sticker residue. More importantly, my power light continuously flashes and really slams into gear having messed with nothing but the tires. Today is the first day it has actually been driven and my wife said it would not even shift out of 1st gear, even getting up to 60kph. I suspect a combination of speed sensor and knock sensor messing with the timing/shift points. I am limited to using the on base hobby shop so cannot mess with it as much as id like. I intend to jack up the vehicle with no tires on and see how it works that way. Any wiser thoughts?

Losing coolant and oil.. no leaks, no bubbles in radiator, no weird smells, good power without smoking. Cracked block or head gaskets I figure, just in time for JCI inspection. Love to crack it open and take a peek but little access to tools/space anymore. POS that sold it to me unhooked the ECU cord too so with that plugged in im getting CEL 22 for knock sensor as well, most likely from overheating with the HG failure. Most likely get rid of it and pick up a 90s Subaru Dias Classic on base, I am nuts about the retro look of the front. Sidenote - I had just bought an air filter for this guy too, be thankful for your local autoparts stores.. everyone around here quoted me $40-50 for the most basic air filters (I got lucky and got it for $17 at Autobacs)

I have been looking over here in Japan.. I keep finding the hot ones set but no Subes... The hobby shops around do have some Outback models but they are $50+ for most of them. Did pick up a remote control WRX but it broke the first day of use

I can confirm this. I currently own a 84 automatic with no t-tops as well as an 83 automatic with t-tops. Neither are turbo.