Bushwick

Could be the tires. For whatever reason, I ended up with busted belts in BOTH rear tires, at about the same time. Tires were older Michelins. I suspect I pushed them too hard after a rear bar upgrade and seeing how the car handled, or it was from last winter doughnuts in the snow. Either way, both tires went and caused a horrid shake. Oddly enough, the front tires were OK. I've heard of issues from people buying overseas JDM stuff that either fails quickly, or was bad to begin with. Suppose it's possible they sent you an incorrect gear ratio. To confirm the rear tire ratio, raise BOTH wheel off the ground and leave the trans in neutral. Mark the inside of the tire that spins forward (Posi rears both spin forward) and note the drive shaft position. Tire should spin 1 time per 4.11 turns of the driveshaft. 4.11 is closer to 4, and 4.44 is closer to 4.5, so it should be clear what's back there. Takes 5 minutes to check. Also, check that the driveshaft is still tightened to the hub spline. I remember the 7.7" AND 8.8" Ford driveshafts coming loose from those bolts backing off. Should be using red loctite to ensure they stay put.

You guys should be replacing ALL your vacuum lines as well as inspecting the check valve that's attached right ahead of the evap canister, then see if the P0440 comes back. My 95' had what appeared to be 100% original vacuum lines everywhere. A couple, were loosely attached to the nipple, and 2 had splits on the underside that weren't detectable from a visual only. The toughest to reach vacuum line connection is the one under the 2 intake runners on the passenger side intake. If the engine is like mine, you can barely slip a (think it was 10mm) a wrench between the 2 runners, unbolt the vacuum sensor, then carefully work towards rear of engine to remove vacuum lines and replace. I ended up just zip tying the sensor to another spot as it was easier to get at now. Car idled and ran better after doing the vacuum lines, and there are ZERO vacuum leaks. A quick inspection would have had you believe the lines were all OK. My check valve for the evap canister had failed as well. You could blow though it AND suck through it which means it was bad. Cleaning it didn't help either. Now, this was all on a 95' EJ22, and there were ZERO codes getting thrown, but on newer engines they should be more sensitive. Anyways, 20 minutes of vacuum line replacement (if it's rubber, replace it; exception being the power brake canister although those hoses do fail eventually, but make sure the replacement is able to hold the same amount of pressure and doesn't crush easily) with the ones under the 2 runners being most difficult to get at, and the reward was a better running engine, especially at idle which wasn't as erratic after. As well as catching a bad check valve that needs to be working correctly in order to purge fumes from the gas tank, which on newer cars if that feature isn't working correctly, it'll throw evap codes and cause drivability issues. To 1Subaru1, I suspect your P0440 will come back around 50 miles as those aren't related to spark plugs and plug wires. So do the vacuum lines and check the check valve.

Generally speaking, I've seen a LOT of guys stick, say a Holset HX35 on a FWD 4 cyl. then brag how they are making 400+ hp at the wheels. The problem is, that's a peak HP rating at redline, which we'll say is 6500 rpm for the sake of argument. Now, if you were to look at a dyno graph of that engine, it'll make 65hp off idle, 100 hp at 1900 rpm, 120 hp at 2200 rpm, 150 hp at 3500 rpm, then at 3700 rpm when the turbo is finally up and moving, the number jumps to 250 hp, and finally at 6500 rpm it's making 410 hp. While it's "technically" a 410 hp engine and great for forum bragging rights, in a 3k pound car, it'll be lucky to hit a mid 12 in the 1/4 mile. IF the engine had a higher average HP/TQ, which means it made more HP/TQ below 2000 rpm, like a NA V8 does, it'd probably be in the low 11's assuming it hooked. A lot of those same guys will defend their decision of sticking an incorrect turbine housing and oversized turbine wheel on (by turbine I'm referring to the exhaust-side of the turbo) by saying it's not as hard on the engine since you aren't making ungodly torque off-idle and throughout the low revs. While that's technically true, since the engine is barely making stock NA HP levels under 3500 rpm, and is already moving above 3500 rpm, it makes for a fairly slow car. 260 hp V8 can get you a 13 flat if you weigh around 2700 pounds. The early 00's Trans Ams could run a 13 flat on street tires with only 300 hp. Put that same 300 hp V8 in a 2700 pound car and you are deep in the 12's, with a 110 hp LESS than the guy running a wrong a turbo that's playing catch up the entire race and already has the engine fairly maxed out. Now, if the same guy stuck say a GTX2871 on the car (a GT2571 can be made by custom matching of wheels, and would allow for more low-end power), I think high 11's would be reasonable in a 3200 pound body, with very low 11's at 2700 pounds, which is nearly HALF the HP of these Hellcat Dodges popping up. Do you see what I'm getting at? Don't focus on some pointless "peak" HP number that's only good for bragging in forums "My 4cyl. makes 450 hp from a Holset HX40" but barely runs a 12.4 in the 1/4. Whereas a 320 hp engine making peak torque as early as possible and holding it as long as possible, while making say 180 hp at 2k rpm, 250 at 3600 rpm, and 300 and higher the rest of the way up to redline will make for a much more stout car. Unless you are aiming for the standing mile run, 7k rpms and that oversized turbo won't be very fun. And since we are talking about some sort of buggy car, you want as much power off the line as possible and I'd even say LESS of a redline with a cam that favors off the line performance and midrange powerband and it'll scoot like a cat with a firecracker up it's @ss

Did you confirm the struts were OK? If you still can't diagnose it, take it to a local Good Year or something (I semi-trust their mechanics as at least being honest, especially if when they caught something I didn't, but they are WAY to weary to do some things like reset an air bag light ) as I believe they still do "free inspections" and should be able to confirm the issue. Then come back and talk to us for any advice or clarification if needed. The rear crossmember was fairly easy to do, despite 50% of literally being "gone". The stuff I threw out was the handful of things from memory that appeared to be able to make noise if in a bad enough state of disrepair. IF the pumpkin housing where it bolts through the rubber bushing in the rear crossmember, where to be allowed to float freely and no longer be tied to the crossmember, I suspect it'd be difficult to diagnose. After seeing what was left of the old crossmember, it made me wonder how long it had been rotting like that to even get like that. Not kidding, there were huge chunks off the top area completely gone. It's ironic though, as this was the reason the previous owner's son (he was in his 40's) was essentially forcing his 70 something year old mother to sell the car as she had apparently been driving it like that for sometime before saying anything to him, and he figured she probably shouldn't be driving anymore as it definitely wasn't safe. Even better was no one wanted to buy it from them which allowed me to get a super running Legacy (albeit with some rust and garage door frame paint scuffs) for an excellent bargain. So, either look more closely at the struts, crossmember, stabilizer bar c-clamps, end links, etc. and find what's broken, or try and let someone diagnose for free. Hopefully the top strut mounts on the wheel wells are still solid. Oh yeah, is yours a wagon? Have you ruled out the rear hatch? Mine started making some noise that sounded like a squeaky chassis or dry suspension, and even appeared to be coming from outside the car at low speeds. Pushed down on the bumper and the rear hatch was making it on the passenger side. One other thing that dawned on me just now, have you inspected the exhaust? A missing or rotted rubber hanger could allow the pipe or muffler to drop just enough that it's clunking on something. I'd say the muffler bumping under the rear bumper area would make the banging noise, even worse if a strut was bad as the entire wheel will move violently up/down, which would exacerbate other noises like a muffler bumping. Have even seen corners on catalytic converters bump trans tunnels at highway speeds making a hard to diagnose bumping up front. Pair of vice grips bending the corner tabs down took care of that in another car.

The cheaper NGK and other plugs have already shortened the length of the grounding strap over some other brands (Champion comes to mind). Judging by the crude marks to cut the straps to fix them against the threading, they aren't putting the money into anything but a square tip, which isn't ideal for air flow and the spark has more area to deviate on. Also, plugs might be forced to keep costs down in production and might have to consider an emission impact. Anyways, like I said, it's already been proven so I'm not going to waste the time defending it.

Who are you talking to? This is the 2nd post you've gone off in a trolling comment that doesn't help the topic starter.

You say it clunks, then raise it up (extending the struts fully as the tires drop and body raises), lower and sound goes away, only to return later, seems it would point to something that's affected by raising the car. It's probably the struts then or something on/in them failing. The road noise could actually be a blown out strut that can't dampen the spring anymore. I've seen cars going the road with completely wasted struts and the rear wheel is bouncing so quickly, it looks like it's going over whoops on a dirt bike track.

Can you do us a favor? Try timing a 0 to 60 before and after on the same stretch of level road. I suggest running premium 93 or at least 91, and say a 1/3 of a tank of gas, while leaving everything in/on the car exactly the same before/after so the results aren't artificially altered. If you have a camera, try setting it on the top of the steering column so it records the speedo and tach, as that'll be the most accurate way to compare the speeds against an online stopwatch, which is more accurate than a video player's time. Would love to see what the measured difference is. Never dawned on me to try that before as I already it made a difference, but in lieu of a dyno, it's the the next best way to pop the finger at the disbelievers This "mod" is tried and true, and it's been around for 40-50+ years. I've never heard of a wheel bearing going out like that either. Usually bearings go out rather slowly, and give plenty of notice they are giving up the ghost.

You'd need a GTX2871 or GTX2876 to hit that power level with a single turbo and NOT be a lag car that does absolutely nothing until 3-4k rpm. OR you can run 2 smaller turbos like twin GT2554 or even better a twin GT17xx setup at moderate boost levels. The GT2554 at around 14 psi each would get you there. The GT17 turbo at around 10 psi each would be 400 hp, and the lag wouldn't be bad. But you'll need a tunable ECM to account for fuel, bigger injectors, MAP sensor, boost, timing retard under boost, timing advance, etc. If you feel up to it, you can try a carb with the turbos, but it needs to be able to accept boost and it MUST be professionally jetted and adjusted. Can also try a super charger like the Mustangs run as there wouldn't be lag from that and it'd make enough hp to be fun. If none of this is your cup of tea, try a T5 Saab engine and read up on their tuning software as people have reversed it, and those engines can tolerate that power level on stock internals. The tuning software has a plethora of preconfigured "safe" tunes that also has a user friendly interface with drop down boxes to select say a GT2871 turbo, 630cc injectors, a Walbro fuel pump, and be up and running. Though I'll have to warn you, there's some homework on your part needed to dump the factory .bin files and flash the donor ECM with it as the ECM's are keyed to the car. Otherwise, go with a NA Ford 351w with a set of heads and a small cam, or look for a modern GM V8 and throw a carb on it and go.

I'd look at the tires, as well as the strut assembly. Raise car, check the struts. Check where they attach at the fender well for excess rust, rotting, etc. Carefully inspect the rear crossmember. My 95' Legacy Wagon had it's rear crossmember completely free floating and not even attached to the body anymore when I purchased mine @177k miles. The metal is thin and stamped out. Once it rusts, it's only a matter of time before it needs replaced. The top of the crossmember is a snow/salt trap, that isn't easily washed off from normal driving and needs rinsed periodically. Look at ALL the points where the crossmember connects to something and it's bushings. Check the rear control arms as well. Also, with the rear of the car raised, check the rear stabilizer. Make sure it's still attached at all points and make sure the end links haven't snapped. The rear crossmember has 4 body points it bolts through and 2 more on the pumpkin. Check those spots carefully that they haven't snapped or rotted out. Also, inspect the mount at the rear the pumpkin cover attaches through. It has 2 bolt studs. The bushing can fail.

Has anyone tried this with their car yet? Hoping to hear how your car's fared with the better spark and less hesitation

@ThosL Farm cats would be a good deterrent if you at least handled the kittens (wash hands thoroughly, that cat parasite that invades human brains isn't worth it) so they were semi-tame and hung around. Could buy bulk generic cat food once in awhile and leave water out. They should hang around the immediate area and would be fairly effective at keeping the immediate mouse population thinned. Owls, hawks, etc., if you could entice them to the area, would be helpful too. Going the poison route, set up the boxes along the foundation of the garage, house, shed, and they'll go in. Not recommended for rural areas as poisoned rodents will kill the birds.

Sorry for giving wrong info on the grommet. Never looked closely at mine, and it actually has a metal tube welded on, as opposed to say Ford stuff that had a rubber grommet over the hole in the canister, which the check valve resides in. Glad to hear your brakes are at least working with a new check valve though. $30 is pretty steep, but it's worth it to have a solid pedal.

You don't need one if it's not throwing codes for the rear O2. As long as the rear O2 is as as close as possible, you should be OK. All the extender does is "trick" the the ECM into thinking everything is OK for guys that run cat-less, or have a CEL after exhaust mods.

Bung sizes are the same front/rear. If you do away with a 2nd cat and have a straight pipe in it's spot, you can move the rear O2 directly AFTER the main/1st cat. It's main function is to just monitor that thew cat is doing it's job. Some universal cats will have the rear bung incorporated into the cat. I have a Magnaflow "universal" cat as well as my emissions cat in the Saab. It's got the rear bung directly in the casing after the honeycomb. Front O2 is way up by the turbo. For best flow, get a small, round cat like turbo downpipes have. They are maybe 6" to 8" long, and look like a 1/4 of a glass pack. Your universal is long, and has lots of honeycomb. In my car, it's killing power, but I'm way out there with hp. Either way, dropping the rear cat will net you some lost power. Here's the type of cat I suggest: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/flo-2230130/overview/ That's a 3" cat. Make sure yours is OBDII variant. Buy that in 2.25" and adapt to your header, then run 2.25" cat-back. Along with an open airfilter, or cold air, etc. it'll net most power w/o loosing too much down low. If you can, keep your existing pipe with cat, and use a fresh one for the new cat so if you run into issues, you can swap back. It's "illegal" to sell as car w/o a cat or an incorrect one, and the buyer can actually sue you over it. So if time does come to sell, it'll be less of a headache. @Fairtax I beat to you it few lines up

Yeah, mine is Trionic 5, and was before the GM T7 engines were installed, but both systems are reversed. Considering Subaru is so popular, I'm just surprised the 90's stuff hasn't been reversed yet. If someone was really dedicated, they could probably get a T5 ECM working on a Subaru. It has every thing to tune a turbo car OR run it NA, and is fundamentally the same, though I don't think they have cam sensor inputs. Everything else could be altered with the software to "read" the Subaru stuff. A used ECM is $20, plus another $20 for ECM to engine harness, T5 software is free, the CAN-USB adapter is $100, need a 15v DC power supply and clips + loose wires to connect, and a PC to open the software. So, for $180 you can try if you know what's up, or drop $1000+ plus on a stand alone system.

It'll mainly be more timing. If your revs are uncorked and allowed to 7600, your hp will increase on the top end. A compression ratio of 10:1 is near perfect for a street car. It'll compliment the cam you are going with, but you MUST run premium 93 if you get both an ECM and comp. bump. Keep in mind, a 10-15 hp bump is probably a V8 engine. Figure 5-7.5 hp for a 4 cyl. The engine will be more responsive. And also, don't think of it as a "peak" hp number. 5 hp and maybe 10 tq across the entire range will be noticeable, especially with all the other mods. By itself, probably not worth it. But with cam, el header, exhaust, open element air filter, compression, and ECM, even if every "mod" nets 5 hp each and 5 tq EACH, that's 30 hp and 30 tq total when combined. Obviously that's conservative, but you get the point. Increasing your average Hp/Tq figures across most of the rev range will be where it's at when you punch it and want to move. If you ever want to turbo the car, don't mess with the compression, or make sure it stays around 9.5:1 to 9:1.

Yeah, equal length are just that. They are essentially "tuned" and power from each cylinder is more consistent, i.e. each cylinder is closer to making the same hp/tq. With unequal length, there can be slight variations across each cylinder. If you run a single cat, make SURE it does what both cats do. I haven't looked at cats recently, but they are actually named differently depending on design. Some cars run a single cat, that does all the work. Other cars run dual cats, where the front one is slightly different than the rear if I understand it correctly. To be safe, you can "only" replace a cat if it's failed or defective, so remember that if the question pops up, as your cats need to be "bad". Running too rich or lean for too long can ruin them, as does some fuel additives. The fuel additives can clog and overheat them, which causes them to melt the honeycomb. Melted honeycomb looks like melted glass FYI. If you switch to a single, hi-flow universal cat (Summit Racing is a great place to snag them, $80-120). Since you are NA, you probably don't have to worry about the material telescoping at your power level. Otherwise, they make a staggered honeycomb that prevents this, but those cost more. Hi-flow cats have wider holes in the honeycomb. think of factory cats as being the type of screen that faucets have, and high-flow cats as having the widest holes available fore a screen door that won't stop gnats, but will stop flies. The short, round cats that are advertised as "high-flow" are what we use in turbo'd cars to reduce back pressure at the turbo. You'll loose some torque early on, but it should pick up HP and tq throughout the powerband. It should also respond quicker to sudden pedal mashes. Being a CA. car, get a CA compliant cat to avoid BS. Better yet, keep your factory cat for inspections, then keep the "race cat" for "races" As far as the bungs go, you need the first O2 directly ahead of the cat. Use the factory cat and O2 location to put a new bung on the other pipe, avoid installing in a bend. The rear O2, needs to be directly after the cat, the closer the better. Use a touch of anti-seize on the threads and it'll be easy to remove in the future. Basically, get a straight pipe exhaust and add the cat to it and both O2 bungs. Fit everything before tacking into place. Add an extra flex pipe (those braided $25 section will work, and will limit any stress, though it shouldn't be as bad a transverse mounted engine in a true FWD car). Reset the battery and start the car. Give the cat a break in period. After 50 miles, if you CEL comes on, find out which O2 sensor has the issue. If it's the rear O2, buy 2 anti-fouler spark plug caps. They can be threaded into one another, and the O2 can be threaded into that. The bottom anti-fouler that get's threaded directly into the exhaust, needs it's hole drilled out. The top one I forget if it needs a slight drilling or not. Anyways, this pulls the rear O2 up and away from the direct stream of flow, BUT it allows it to sample the exhaust enough that it won't throw a bad O2 CEL. Mustang guys and even the Honda guys have to do this. I did it in my Saab before I had the tuning software and the car was cat-less briefly, and it worked and never threw a code despite no cat being there. I doubt you'll have the issue though if you install a correct "all in one" universal cat, but the option is there and it's easier than adding more bungs trying to find an optimum spot, and as you can infer, if you ever want to run "cat-less", this trick will stop the CEL for the rear O2 from popping up. Google "CEL eliminator for rear O2" to find threads about hole drilling size. Can but the cheapo anti-foulers at Auto Zone, which has 2 to a pack for like $6. Can buy aftermarket, which has the extra length in one unit, but they are nearly $20. Wherever you add the rear O2 bung, make SURE you have about 4" of clearance for the O2, and a spacer if you ever decide to run one, so obviously can't add bung to bottom of pipe or up top if it's going to hit the trans tunnel or firewall, etc.

I'm surprised the Subaru stuff hasn't been reverse engineered yet. Saab stuff is, and there's a decent following supporting it, even down to guys selling CAN/USB adapters and making a software program that has all the values to adjust. The best bang for buck you can get is upping your timing under WOT and maybe bumping base timing a bit, but you'll need to constantly run 93 octane.

Only as long as the mods favor the the cam's intended powerband. If you stick a cam on that's meant to make power from 1200 to 5600 rpm, and you stick an intake manifold on designed to perform best from 3500 to 6500, as opposed to one that favors off-idle to 5500, the differences will be noticeable. The 3500-6500 would be OK if the car was strictly a highway car, whereas the other one would make for a better driver and have more usable power in daily driving like climbing hills or accelerating from a stop. I cut my teeth on the 80's Mustangs and studied a LOT about aftermarket stuff for them. A mistake people often made was they'd get the biggest cam that'd fit w/o notching the pistons, stick a 750cfm to 850cfm carb on, run a giant intake w/o the divider, 1 3/4" headers, etc. Those cars were dogs. It's "peak" HP might have actually been 10-20hp higher right at redline vs. the next comparison, but it was too lazy getting there. Running a smaller 500-600cfm carb, 1 5/8" shorty headers, smaller cam with tighter lobe separation and say a redline at 5500, an intake matched to the cam's profile, and the car could be a full second+ quicker in the 1/4. Reason being, everything matched and complimented each other, and the engine is a velocity giant, so it will scoot as soon as you mash it. I remember racing a guy that in a late 70's Nova that had a ton of work into a 350, but everything was favoring top-end power. He didn't win by a long a shot, and I remember feeling bad for the guy as it was the car's maiden voyage and had a ton of work under the hood, but he was lucky to be running high 14's. Same thing happens with people plopping incorrect turbo's for their application. It might "make" 450 hp, but they can barely run a mid 12 in a 3k pound car. Had they stuck a turbo on that favors a usable power band, and the average HP across it it higher, despite say having a "peak" hp rating of 350, it'll be much quicker. Those Tesla cars can hang with Vettes despite making LESS "peak" hp. Reason is they make insane HP/TQ instantly and hold it across the entire gear; in other words, they have a very high average HP/Tq figure. As long as you match your parts carefully, you'll be good to go and should notice some improvement. If the car was extremely light, like say 2k pounds, you can get away with a top-end favoring build as the engine doesn't need a ton of torque to get moving.

If it was indeed valve to piston bind, it's probably shot. Even if the engine was OK after stalling, cranking it can bend the valves if jumped bad enough. I'm guessing people that actually managed to fair OK after a timing belt event either got VERY lucky, someone swapped their engine before they bought it with a non interference engine, or their problem was with the actual idlers seizing up. Not much with interference engines and sometimes not at all.

The compression test would tell you if a valve bent and isn't closing all the way (as would a micro camera that can be fed into the cylinder plug hole), but you'll need to realign with a new belt if the old one indeed stretched. You'll need to hand crank the engine with a 1/2" ratchet or breaker bar through a complete firing event of ALL 4 cylinders BEFORE cranking it, (so that means the compression event then the exhaust event) so it'll need to open the intake valves then the exhaust valves for each cylinder. If nothing is heard or felt grinding, clanking, binding, etc. (with vehicle in "N" and plugs pulled, it should spin fairly easily) you can probably try and test compression on each cyl., 1 at a time. I think it might be possible to get 2 cylinders on one side of engine near bottom to halfway of the stroke, which would allow you to hand turn each cam sprocket as it shouldn't hit the cylinder. That might give you an idea if it binds badly if a valve bent slightly and is sticking. Worth a shot. Maybe someone more intimate with the DOHC can comment. IF it passes a compression test and no odd sounds or resistance was felt, you can try starting it with a new belt. If you hear "popping", you have a bad valve. Suppose it's possible it could drop a rocker arm too.

One of my Mustangs had a smaller cam that favored low-end and mid-range and had a very wide torque curve (it was something similar to a towing RV cam but in a 2700 pound body). Redline wasn't very high (forget actual number) but man it screamed and nothing else sounded like it. When it had a C4 auto, it'd act like it had a stall converter. Was wondering what a 4cyl. with a cam would be like if it favors a tight profile and early power. People forget a great, low-end to mid-range cam makes the engine pick the car up and scoot which wins all races below 90mph. And the sound of a healthy engine below 3k rpm is so much more rewarding as it climbs near redline.

Once you get them installed, please do a walk around video as I'm sure others, including myself would love to hear if the idle is any different. A quick drive running through the gears with a camera on the tach and speedo would be a nice a touch too. GL with the install!

Buy new plug wires for the EJ25. They are cheap, or rather buy the cheapest ones. USE the EJ25 coil and not the EJ22 if you are saying the tip on the coil the wire connects to is different. When the engine swap time is ready, you can just swap engines and reuse the wires. Plug wires are a wearable item. Get battery acid on them and it'll eat right through. Wires that have a ton of unknown mileage, can get loose under the silicon and at the crimps. I wouldn't stick used spark plugs with unknown mileage in a car I want to run correctly, nor would I use "used" plug wires.