All_talk

A bump from the distant past… I found this project in a box a few days ago and have decided to see if anyone would like to move it along. Check my For Sale add here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=134697 Gary

I have fixed the squashed tube problem by driving progressively larger and larger socket into the fitting with a little light hammer work on the outside. Just be sure not to loose a socket down inside or drive one is so far or deep that you cant get a hold of it to pull it out. Gary

Hey Pat, Looong time no type. Thanks for the info, what you described is what I was thinking. Do you recall if the side gear for the rear is part of the flange section (with the through holes for the bolts) or part of the housing section (with the tapped holes). Gary

Thanks for the link, lots of good info and pics there. I still not sure if the transfer gear is on a hub that comes through the housing thats bolted together or turns with it. Also, dose anybody have a picture of a pinion shaft by itself out of the gear stack? F/T, P/T or EJ should show what I'm looking for. I'm wondering how the smaller splined end that drives out of the diff is connected to the pinion shaft, it looks to be a sleeve. To know if my crazy plan has any hope I think I'm going to have to buy a spare F/T EA box and a gen 1 EJ box and tear them down (I'm not going to rip the trans outta my RX or my T-Leg on a recon mission).

Thanks Qman, I thought that might be the one.

I’ve got some pictures of the assembled center diff unit but I’m trying to completely understand it (without tearing my RX apart). Anybody disassembled one? Got pics? Or maybe someone has a scan of an exploded view from the FSM? My biggest question at this point is about the output to the rear. The transfer gear looks to be mounted to the outer housing and if so the whole housing must be connected to the rear side gear. Anyway, if you have played with one or torn one down maybe you can fill me in. Gary

I’m pretty sure there isn’t one from the L series cars, all the fulltime cars were turbo. But what about the XT, any fulltime N/A 3.9 cars? Gary

Look in the offroad section here: http://shoptalkforums.com/index.php Gary

All Beetles have the VIN stamped in the top of the pan (frame) tunnel under the back seat, the body tag with the number in under the hood in the spare tire well. Check both, if there's a miss match there could be a problem with the title. I think they started putting the VIN in the lower left corner of the window in '68. Gary

I'm not sure how you plan to do this... I've been inside the Ej 4EAT and I dont think there is a practical way to make it happen. If the Ea trans is different maybe there is a way. Gary

The front speed sensor on the pre '95 cars (with cable speedo drive) is in the gauge cluster. The bounce that you see is likely due to a worn drive cable, relubing may help but a new cable would be best. Its possible that your cable was improperly reconnected or was pulled and is not full seated in the back of the gauge cluster, but if the speedo is working correctly I doubt thats the case. Some delay in the rear engagement is normal and I think the more mileage on the tranny the more likely you'll get it. My '92 Turbo Legacy had notable wheel spin before engagement. Gary

Not exactly true, open diffs are torque balancing devices, the two axels are always outputting the same torque (not the same speed or power). As long as no wheels are slipping both axels get half the available torque, and in the case of the Ej 5MT with the center diff, all 4 wheels get the same torque, 25% at each wheel… until a wheel starts to slip. When slip occurs in an open diff the output is still balanced, but is equal to the wheel with the least grip. So worst case, one wheel gets no traction (think one wheel off the ground), its outputting no torque and so is the other one that’s stopped on the ground. But in a LSD diff the VC (or clutch packs) use the speed difference from axel to axel to apply torque across the diff. The free spinning wheel still applies no torque, but the wheel with traction does (equal to the torque created across the VC) and starts to turn. And since “power” is a function of speed (RPM) and torque, the Subaru AWD system in the 5MT with its center VLSD does in fact “transfer power from the wheels that slip to the wheels that grip”. Gary