el_freddo

Ah you miss the point of the Lego principle with Subarus there Jonno! While the impreza and forester are based on the same platform, the impreza typically saw drivetrain upgrades before the forester models did. But everything’s interchangeable if you know what you’re wanting to achieve and learn where all the parts reside within the various models - or stumble across them. There are enough foresters around to seek parts from your particular year model if it’s a small or particular part to the foz. Can’t really say the same for the good old L series or MY line up for ease of parts availability. Still Lego if you know what you’re doing My 20c Cheers Bennie

Several things you can do/check: - ensure the cam belt is timed correctly - check the air filter, if ancient or dirty replace it - no exhaust blockages? Hard to tell with this one - all fluids in good condition/fresh? - tyre pressures good? The hardest one of those is the checking of the cam timing belt to ensure the two cam wheels and the crank are correctly aligned. We’ve got a 2000 Gen3 RX Liberty (Legacy) with the EJ251 with almost 500,000km on the original engine and it still pulls like a freight train - it’s a manual which is the difference compared to your Oitback with the auto. Cheers Bennie

They don’t look very lowered judging by the control arm in the pic you provided - assuming this is sitting on the ground and not jacked up in the air. If that is a pic of it jacked up with the wheel in the air can you post a pic of the car sitting on the ground the way it usually would? What model Subaru are we talking here and what springs are fitted? Cheers Bennie

Or that sway bar is designed for a Subaru that’s been lowered.

It could be a damaged outer CV joint. I had an issue with my brumby where there was a very bad shimmy at speed that would slow down with the vehicle speed to the point that the steering wheel would wobble left and right with the tyre rotation and it was speed sensitive. The issue turned out to be an outer CV joint on the left hand side that would lock up at one point through its rotation with the stub axle on an angle. It was extreme and I could replicate it with the CV shaft in my hands. Yours may be more subtle than this though. I’d start by swapping out the shaft on the side you feel that the shimmy is induced from then the other one if it the shimmy is still there. Cheers Bennie

If you can physically move it around yourself under the vehicle when on ramps (avoid doing this on Jack stands!) you’ll know if they’re no good as the gearbox will move around excessively. If the PO said they replaced the clutch I’d be checking this out asap - remove the battery then remove the starter motor. This will give you access to the 12mm bolts on the clutch pressure plate to see if any of them are loose or missing - you’ll need a Z shaped spanner that typically has ring spanners on each end that step down to get I my the bolts from memory. You might be able to get an inspection camera in there to check the clutch fingers and ensure none are broken/missing. I hope this helps! Cheers Bennie

Sounds like it’s an internal gearbox issue. But it’s an odd one since it’s there when in neutral with the clutch disengaged (foot in/on clutch pedal). I’d be checking and changing your gearbox oil as suggested by idosubaru, best case scenario you’re low on oil and you’re hearing the gears meshing/whirring as you’ve mentioned. Worst case scenario is the gearbox lets go and leaves you stranded. The vibration is interesting too. A uni joint on the tailshaft could do that. Also what are your gearbox mounts and engine mounts like, can you lever the gearbox or engine around easily? This wouldn’t be helping if they move easily. That’s all I can come up with for now - other than the 4wd mechanism partially engaging so the synchro is grinding but it’s a single range that uses the vacuum actuated cable to engage 4wd so I think that one is ruled out. Cheers Bennie

$500 surge tank… whaaat? You’re not needing a race spec surge tank! Get one off ebay, it shouldn’t cost anywhere near $500 and if you’re fitting it yourself you won’t need much other than some time and maybe a bracket once you work out a mounting location. Or if you’ve got a mate that’s a welder get them to make one up for you - it doesn’t need to be a huge capacity, a litre should easily do the job. Cheers Bennie

Get a fuel tank from an EFI model - the SPFI or GL-10 will have the baffled tank you’re after. At half a tank you won’t have an issue, below quarter of a tank you might though. If you can’t get a baffled tank go for a surge tank/swirl pot setup between the factory tank and the EFI pump. It doesn’t have to be huge but you will need your stock Fawcett pump between the factory tank and the surge tank/swirl pot and have the fuel return go to the surge tank/swirl pot and its overflow going to the factory tank. Or just keep your fuel tank above a quarter all the time (personally I suck at this and for some reason enjoy running my fuel tank low low low). Cheers Bennie

I moved it from near a tree when we had some fierce winds the other night. It was good to just be in it for that short amount of time. I haven’t touched anything else on it - since we’re in the high to extreme fire danger period I’d rather have it in one piece and running than in bits and immobile. Plan/thinking there is if there’s a fire and I’m home the brumby will be one of the two vehicles leaving the place, with the other vehicle being the family bus driven by Mrs El Freddo. This might change once on the Christmas break when I’ll have near zero work load and a carb kit in my hand. Cheers Bennie

Have you thrown a new O2 sensor at it to see if this resolves the issue like you think it will? Fingers crossed that’ll sort out the issue. Cheers Bennie

Ok finally nutted this one out. Had the wiring extension on my cam angle sensor the wrong way around. Idles minty smooth and sounds real meaty when revving it now! Cheers Bennie

Ok since there’s been zero contact or update from Micah or aselby I went ahead and applied their build application/idea to an EJ205 setup. I’m not done yet as I’ve got an NA EJ202 block and matching heads as the test mule running all the turbo gear from a 2002 SF GT forester - which I’m not sure if this model was sold in the US. It’s basically the GD WRX setup but with a TF035 turbo. I’ve got it running which is a great feeling but I also have a misfire on cylinder 1 and a check engine light I can’t read (I need to splice in the diagnostics plug as I got a bit trigger happy with the wire cutters). On cylinder 1!I’ve checked the coil pack, swapped for a good running one on another cylinder, same for the spark plug but the issue remains with cylinder 1. Wiring continuity for the coil pack and injector checks out from either unit to the ECU. Valve clearances are good/on point. Compression on each cylinder, engine cold is: Cyl 1 = 185psi Cyl 2 = 200psi Cyl 3 = 210psi Cyl 4 = 205psi It seems the HG issue is on cylinder 1 but that compression doesn’t seem poor enough to induce a misfiring cylinder to the point that disconnecting the coil’s trigger doesn’t change the engine’s behaviour at all What I haven’t done is swapped the injector to another cylinder to see if the issue moves with the injector, that’s next to do. I can hear the injector clicking using a piece of dowel held against it when the engine is running. Disconnecting the coil plug doesn’t change the idle at all, or how it revs. Does anyone have any insights as to what the issue might be? I’ve cut down the loom with the only things not hooked up are the temp sensor for the deleted up pipe cat, the neutral switch and those random wires that go to dash switches such as the rear demister etc. I don’t have the fuel temp sensor in the fuel tank hooked up but haven’t heard of this being an issue before. This wiring loom and ECU combo ran fine with the complete DOHC EJ205 still in the Forester before it was pulled out and I started playing with it all. Cheers Bennie

Have you bled the front brakes yet? With the redundancy system from memory you should bleed the front first then then opposite rear second, then the other front followed by the other rear brake. There may be a particular side to start on too, the FSM or Haynes should outline what the procedure is. Have you got all the air out of the master cylinder too? Cheers Bennie

@czny- I hadn’t thought about buying a carb kit, but near $AU200 for a kit (postage is half if not more!) I’ll opt out of that, not that I’m keen to strip the carb down - but it might have to come to that yet. Glad it’s not my only ride! Those are good points Jonno, I checked the dizzy advance diaphragm before the last Sydney trip and it seems to hold going by they way it holds the tip of my tongue on the end of the hose until I remove it. Only got the air recirc stuff run by vacuum in the cab and that’s all good too. I’ll have to check the brake booster - I haven’t noticed any chance in braking feel/performance or any noises either. What I do get twice every year at around the same time (changes then about six months later it returns to “normal”) is a change in the behaviour from the carb. When the weather cools for winter it typically seems to use more fuel and idle nice at a steady 700ish rpm. Then at some point as the weather warms up the idle increases for no apparent reason and my fuel economy moves back to good economy without any power loss. I have tried the spray method to find vacuum leaks but am yet to find anything - unless I’m doing something wrong there (something stupid no doubt). I’ve checked that the throttle butterfly isn’t being held open by the throttle cable. Several years ago I put new genuine intake manifold gaskets in thinking the issue was a vacuum leak at this point in the system. No change. This is an issue that’s plagued this engine for a long time so I’ve just lived with it, now it’s manifested into this that I don’t want to live with! That’s it for now. Cheers Bennie

I remember my days of EA82 4wdn with a welded rear diff - very impressive and very easy to damage the floor pans if not careful! Cool pics, the area looks stunning! Cheers Bennie

@moosens- after today’s drive home I’m leaning towards the issue being the carb too. This morning’s drive to work was pretty good. But I noticed that gear changing to go faster would result in a jolt from loss of power then instant power return as I put my foot on the throttle. But if I let it over rev a little bit as I disengaged the clutch to change gear there wasn’t an issue. The drive home tonight was the same every gear change and the misfiring at cruise was back. And I’ve noticed when down shifting the burble with engine braking isn’t what I’d call normal, it’s popping and farting without a pattern to it unlike its regular rhythmic subaru burble during engine braking. Also at idle it sounds like it’s sick - almost as if it’s got a hot cam in it but it’s missing that cool semi misfire noise about it, and it’s not liking to idle. I’ve bumped the idle “up” to get it to ~800rpm atm which helps raise the red flag for the carb. Fun fun, I’m not wanting to put any time into the carb! Efi is where it’s at for me, much easier to deal with. If I do anything about the carb I’ll post back here, don’t hold your breath! Thank you for everyone’s thoughts on this issue! Cheers Bennie

@Rupart 4° btdc isn’t much and certainly not over advanced. They’re usually tuned at 6° to 8° before top dead centre. I think you might have the retard and advance the wrong way around in your description. I know this engine consumes oil and this brings down the effective RON rating of the fuel, even if it is slightly. @Steptoe's photos I don’t see how my EA81 would punish me for not liking the EA82 much, the EA81 already knows it’s a superior engine… Admittedly I am limping this EA81 along and I know that it won’t like this coming heat over summer. The next engine swap will be the EJ and it’s known this for a long time as it’s collected the various parts with me. It was flawless in its two trips to Sydney, the first one being at the drop of a hat and the second one planned. It was on this second trip that I ran the octane booster to avoid pinging in the warmer inland temps on the way home. I think I’m on my second tank of fuel since then and now is when this issue arose. To answer other questions - electronic ignition, new NGK spark plugs. Dizzy cap inspected and seems good, rotor button and tabs on dizzy cap had signs of corrosion. They’re cleaned up now and look good. Carbon button in dizzy cap present and in good shape. Shaft play would be less than 1mm in any direction. Can’t test drive today as it’s a great drinking arvo while tinkering away and I love having my licence… so I might drive her to work tomorrow (~80km round trip, what could go wrong?) to see if there’s any change with the build up on the dizzy tabs removed. This still doesn’t explain why there’s no issue under load when the ignition system is under the most stress. I’ll report back when I’ve got an update Cheers Bennie

I’ll put those things on the list. Thanks Moosens! I’m not a mechanic either but know these things quite well/well enough - just that I’m stumped on this one as having a load on the engine there’s no issue. I’ll report back with what I find. Cheers Bennie

Any bit in particular? It had a new coil and ignition module in 2019. What else should I be looking at/for? Cheers Bennie

It could be time for the old stater relay mod that was done back in the day. Add a 30amp horn relay triggered by the starter wire to give the starter solenoid a full 12v kick to get it going. If that doesn’t work then your starter motor is most likely toast or on the way to being toasted. Cheers Bennie

What year and model are we taking about here? Is the fuel pump in the engine bay or forward of the fuel tank? Got a pic of what you’re working with? Cheers Bennie

My brumby (in Oz) developed a misfire at cruise recently. It uses about 1mL of oil per km, detonates in warm weather unless an octane booster is added (which was done for two tanks prior to this tank of fuel), is run on 98RON fuel. From memory the timing is set at 4° btdc, anything more and it pings hardcore. No issues under load or when accelerating slowly or going hard with the misfire. Just at cruise it misfires giving small jolts in loss of power. The old plugs were pretty toasted so new plugs went in with no change with the issue. I’m open to ideas on this one as I can’t work it out and I want to keep driving it before a long winded EJ conversion happens to it. Cheers Bennie

Ok, that’s jibberish to me. I’m guessing you’re wanting to drop some VW diesel in an L series GL or GL-10 or XT6/Vortex. What gearbox would you use? Cheers Bennie

Wiring loom! Why didn’t you grab the wiring loom?! That could come back to bite you later on. That’s a fair effort to fit that amount of Subaru into the back of the Legacy! Time for some stiffer rear springs? Cheers Bennie