Bushwick

Just giving another update here. Everything has been holding up great and working w/o issues. I did have to replace the 2008 battery once the temps reached -0, but otherwise running the smaller belt with the wider ribbed pulley has shown no ill effects as of yet. I can run heater on, rear defrost on, lights on, and the single 10" Alpine R bumping away at 400+ watts (or whatever this old amp is doing) and no squealing, with nice, consistently bright lights even at idle. The wires are all OK and NOT overheating (not that they should anyways). Like the other cars I've run before this, there has been no issues running off the post as well as ZERO dimming. Though, I forgot to mention you want your "12v remote power on" to come from the head unit itself (even if you run a separate switch in line with the head unit) to avoid any amp on "bump" or discharge noise. You won't get any noise from the 12v source wire (unless you have a bad ground) being from the post, but you definitely want the head unit to switch on through an "amp on" or suppose a powered antennae line if the head unit is older.

I learned my lesson years ago with a Lincoln that put the door lock switches up high on the actual door. It had rather heavy doors that liked to "close" from the weight, and what would happen is I'd be standing up while reaching in the car, the door would bump me in the rear and "lock". What I started to do was ALWAYS make sure that the window is cracked open enough in case the doors locked, so that this way I could reach in and manually unlock the doors. This has saved me PLENTY of times with other cars as well and becomes 2nd nature to the point I don't even think twice about it. So, if engine is running (i.e. the keys aren't in my pocket) the driver side window gets cracked open.

If it remains problematic, you can wire in a 12v key "ON" source and bypass the factory BS and connect to the field "ON" on the alt. That way, every time you start the car it's charging w/o worries.

A front WRX bar is not plug and play. I have a STi bar and it'll need custom stand-off blocks on the frame/crossmember to clear the exhaust leaving the heads, OR custom pipes with different radius to clear the straight bar from a WRX. i.e. the Legacy bar has "U" hoops to clear the exhaust and the WRX bar is basically straight across since the turbo'd cars have different down pipes. If you went with the custom pipes, I suggest sourcing factory WRX down pipes, and cutting the flange OFF just before it connects to the turbo, and welding in a universal fitting. Then, fit in a section of pipe with a matching fitting and route it to your existing mid-pipe. Lot of work, but the final result will be a better handling Legacy. Considering you are putting 17" rims in there (more unsprung weight) with much wider tires than stock, It'd probably be worth the extra effort to improve the handling characteristics for even low speed turns. For the rear, it's easier to source an Outback swaybar from the late 90's as it's a direct fit and needs no mods. I suggest sourcing some aluminum end links from a WRX (aftermarket) and making those fit as they should help the factory bars work a little more efficiently considering plastic isn't exactly rigid or strong, and will snap over time. Try the Outback bar first on the rear, if it's not enough, then source a STi rear bar. You'll need Forester stand-offs to get it to clear the rear exhaust hoop I believe. Forester stand-offs in question are about 3/4" taller from what I've been told. You don't need a ton of power to appreciate better handling, but if you improve the tire grip, you'll worsen the already weak sway bars, though the fronts aren't nearly as bad the "pinky finger" sized rear bar we get factory. The Outback bar is like going from a "pinky" to a "thumb" in diameter, so well worth it. The stock STi bar is only a mm or so larger. If it were me, I'd probably go with a 20-22mm rear bar to get the most out of your wide tires and extra lift. I made a custom rear (4 point) shock tower brace in my 9-3 Saab and the handling improvements were very good. I noticed a huge improvement with slow speed, 90 degree turns where it just points and goes. I'd suggest doing the same for your Legacy by making a cross bar that connects at the top of both rear struts, then "T" it down so attaches to the floor's brace just by the seats. Make a 4 point so it has 2 different floor attaching points and then cross brace those to the horizontal bar. If down carefully, it won't interfere with anything in the trunk, and if the rear seats are down or removed, it'll still be minimally invasive. Carpet the pipe, wrap in vinyl, or powder coat, etc. and it'll be very inconspicuous. I made my 9-3's to be easily removable w/o the knowing it was ever there in case it's a turn-off for a future buyer if it ever gets sold. I spent about $25 in parts from Lowe's and used square tubing. Picked up a $100 arc welder from Harbor Freight that welds thicker steel very well and it's already paid for itself many times over now.

Also, a reason for running MANY batteries is guys get a an alt rewound, they leave the factory pulley on, then it won't charge at idle (reason why they sit there and press the gas pedal = stupid) I had a custom pulley cut for the other car to avoid this that increased shaft speed.

Since you like beating a dead horse, here's a link I pulled about adding more batteries. Funny thing, it supports my claim: http://cartech.about.com/od/Car-Audio/f/Do-I-Need-An-Extra-Battery-For-My-High-End-Car-Audio-System.htm And here's a simple basics about charging systems with amps. Funny, it looks like the alt is powering the amp directly in the flash diagram, right? Guess you missed that like I missed we grabbed the same link LOL. http://www.bcae1.com/charging.htm Once again, the alt powers the system, battery is for starting or engine OFF scenarios and produces a load otherwise (in reference to a bigger system and NOT the car running). Your alt is overworked and expecting the battery to pick up the slack is silly. For $50 you can put 110-130 amp in there and have a healthy system that isn't under-powered or overworked. Capacitors are useless on real systems and actually hurt smaller systems as the alt HAS to power it just like any other accessory. This has been common knowledge for awhile now. Anyone looking to run a bigger system in your car, just upgrade the alt. That's all you need.

You are running a 75 amp alt with 80 amp draw?? and chastising over running off the alt's post instead of straining the entire electrical system? LOL yeah, sure. 600 watt RMS doesn't pull 40 amp buddy, you're more around 300-400 watt per amp mono bridged and that's being optimistic and rating it 100% cold pushing high frequencies. You can run more amp than the alt can handle, but you aren't seeing the full limit of the amp, and you are starving everything else in the car like the headlights, unless you have the gain down so low it barely registers. The alt's life will be greatly shortened. If you had real amps, I'd say do it right and upgrade the alt, but you apparently know better. Battery has NO effect on a an engine running system. Banks of batteries? You sure the car is even running? Or maybe they have a need for the batteries like hydraulics. I've always seen multi alternators in cars that run and have systems. Phoneix is junk. Ranks up there with Pyramid. Go talk to to an actual alt/generator shop.

Softer sidewalls are meant for a more car-like ride. If you have the clearance, get some small truck tires meant for on/off road. Ride will suffer a bit on road with added noise, and mileage will probably decrease as well, but durability should increase. Stopping effort might increase as well, so get used to them and any added stopping time they might introduce on the highway or roads.

@Eulogious The battery starts the car- that's it. It doesn't add anything else. Battery voltage is 12v, alt running is typically 14v. Only time battery comes into play is if the engine is off and radio is on. That's it. The charge wire(s) that run from the alt to battery (however long it takes to get there) can be bypassed with amp's power wire so long as it's fused. You get less dimming, and significantly LESS current draw being pulled through ALL the factory electronics and small gauge wiring. Running off a battery post taxes the entire system. Running off the post on the top exterior of the alt avoids all this. I've gotten to this conclusion from alt/generator rewinders that suggest this, as well as actual amp place that do the same (no, not Best Buy or any other retail chain, an actual local, but big amp/stereo dealer that installs in house and has all mid to high end stuff). To further support this claim, I've run high-end and mid-end amps for years w/o any damage to the amps. I'm talking $800 to $1200 EACH for the higher end amps running a true 600 watt rms or better to a 1200 watt mono Crossfire class D. Running everything from 12" Crossfire BMF to 4 JL W6 12", to Alpine type R's. The 600 watt amps (both running mono, 60 amp draw each with own power line and separate fuses) were unregulated, so they'd scale to whatever the alt put out. I ran that set up for about 4 years in my Lincoln Mark VIII with a custom rewound 290 amp alt. I ran off the battery post when in the beginning, and not only COOKED the fuse holders, but was going through Optima red tops after roughly 10 months. After taking the advice of running from the outside alt post, I never had any issues there after. I ran that system to it's limit the entire time is was set up, and other than the 12" Crossfire BMF lasting about 3 years at that power level, the electronics never missed a beat. Save the rants. EDIT: Semis have 3-6 batteries, but 1 130 amp alt on average. Ever see the guys with $4k worth of lights? The alt powers those. The batteries are for starting ONLY. The battery does NOT act as a reserve. That's a myth. I've been there, done that. Running a 1000+ CA battery had ZERO effect over running a 550 CA battery. ZERO. Hence my 1st upgrade was the biggest battery I could stuff in which I found out the hard way had no effect. The system still dimmed like crazy even with very conservative setting with gain and frequency cuts. Usually I had to control the amp's gain through the head unit on heavy bass note tracks. Once the alt was upgraded, that was no longer an issue. Capacitors are useless junk too. A cheap gimmick for those too cheap to upgrade the alt. I would not have risked damaging A couple grands worth of amps if it ruined them.

I haven't backtracked on anything and have no idea what you are talking about or what your problem is. You are also warping statements and clearly taking others out of context, along with making stuff up and pulling figures from thin air and trying to pass them off as if I've said them (I've never PM'd you either so don't even try that). You asked for "proof", I submitted said proof, and now you are becoming belligerent? (that's rhetorical, please don't bother me anymore and any future comments from you will be ignored)

Multi-function switch? I'm assuming you rigged something then in place of the factory switch? If that's the case, then yeah, it could be that. I'd probe whatever wires you have running to it for 12v+ power and work back from there (some sort of "short" could be there and messing up the circuit), though I suspect your flasher relay is bad. I know on older cars (haven't messed with one in ages) they used to have a round flasher relay (what actually creates the blinking effect) and if it failed, turns wouldn't work. Some cars had 2 independent ones, one for turns, another for hazards IIRC. I know my old 79' Cobra had no working flashers/hazards and a new flasher relay fixed it. Time to bust out the voltmeter and find out where the issue is. For thoroughness, I'd check the actual bulbs in all 4 corners and make sure they are all OK as well. Although unlikely, it is possible to either have all or some burned out (like say they were overloaded and burned out). I know my 95' had both rear brake light bulbs/running light burned out in the rear and I could swear they worked when I bought it. Both filaments where scorched.

*UPDATE* Just wanted to update on this. Finally got my old amplifier in the other day when it was in the 60's (15 degrees right now and dropping ) and have put the setup through some testing since it passed my preliminary probation reliability period. I had yet to change the old belt that was on the car when purchased (was dry and cracking) and after several hundred miles with the 130 alt and it's factory pulley (remember, it has an extra rib) and the belt showed ZERO signs of damage i.e. no improper loading on the belt, no outside wear, no missing ribbing, no slipping, etc.This particular amplifier can pull somewhere around 75 amp on it's own (it's a piglet) under full load (it's wired directly to the top charge post of the alt and fused, NOT running off battery post!). Running everything ON at night in cold weather and letting the amp overpower an Alpine R 10" in a big, professionally ported box (I love these subs more than W6 JL 12's ) while sitting at a stop light and getting ZERO dimming. I put a brand new belt on since it doesn't appear to wanna destroy them and figured it was a matter of time before the old when would let go, and discovered there was a seemingly "sweet spot" with getting it tight. First night, tightened it after install, started car, revved engine, it squealed. Tightened a little more, no squeal. Restarted car, all was quiet. Let it set overnight, restarted and it squealed again. Crossing fingers this wasn't going to be an issue with a missing rib on the belt, I tightened a touch more and all is quiet. Still a little slack there. I did notice before changing the old belt, out of the blue I got a little squeal at idle the day before I bought the new belt, but it wasn't a belt squeal. I backed off the adjustment a touch and it quieted, so apparently it was over-tightened originally and took awhile to manifest, so keep this in mind if you retrofit one of these; too tight = potential bearing squeal. Belt dressing conditioner probably wouldn't hurt and might help the belt overall in longevity, but I've never used that stuff. My walk away impression from this upgrade is great. These 130 amp alternators can be had for a song, junk yards see them as a "Subaru" alt and nothing fancy about them; 2010 to present means the cars in yards are still new with low mileage; this alt with factory pulley spins fast enough at low idle (550-600 rpm in gear with auto) to power everything and then some w/o dimming (which is actually saying a lot as many won't even kick on at those engine speeds), which means it has a nice, aggressive "power curve" (similar to how an engine powerband across the rpms looks; whether by nature or with the pulley speed) making it suitable for high amperage demands at low rpm/idling making it very suitable for newer Legacy, WRX, Outback, Forester, etc. with aftermarket stereos. Wiring for factory charge wires (there are 2 in tandem connecting at top post) are still soft and pliable, and show no signs of scorching or overheating- just remember NOT to run aftermarket amps, lights, etc. off the battery post as it can easily over power these small wires.

Like other cars that that have heated/non heated options, it's a matter of searching for all the missing bits and assimilating them to be like the donor. So grab the switches, the wiring to the switches leading back to the main harness, any extra wiring feeding the donor's fuse box, etc. Then it's a matter of installing and feeding power to it. If you want to save time and effort (and possibly potential headache...like say you wire it up improperly and it overheats and melts wiring for other components) you can buy your own wire (better be correct gauge or a step thicker), some wire connecting spades (or whatever they are called) a fuse holder receptacle, fuse, etc. and wire the fuse holder to a main 12v+. Find a REALLY good METAL spot to run a ground bolt through, and wire the switches to the 12v+ and ground (leave fuse holder EMPTY until finished) Use the factory points from the seat and marry them to the switches. Viola' you have heated seats. I think Auto Zone has a 30amp breaker that might work good for that in lieu of a fuse assuming each front seat only pulls 15 amp (I have no clue what they pull, but that's probably close. Suppose Heartless' link might show). If you are doing front and rear heated seats, run the rear independently with it's own, separate fuse. Also, another thing to consider is upgrading the alternator to whatever the donor car has. You probably have the 85 amp alt which can struggle powering lights, heater full blast, rear defrost on, wipers going, brake lights on, turn signals on, etc. while idling at a stop light as an 85 amp won't produce a full 85 amp at idle (probably doesn't see a full 85 until 2-3k rpm). Even a 110 amp alt would be a big help which is probably what's in the donor. If you run aftermarket stereo and small amplifier to big amplifier, consider retrofitting a 130 amp from a 2010 or newer 3.6L Tribecca, Baja, etc. I'm running one in my 95' Legacy (takes minor mods to get it fitted) and it works great so far. Even running a heavy amplifier that can pull as much as 75 amps on it's own and I get ZERO dimming at idle with everything ON at a stop light GL and post updates how you worked it out.

Are your hazards working? Turn the hazards on and see if they all flash. If you hold the turn signal stalk (either direction) do they light up in the dash and outside? (I'm assuming they are like other cars that will at least light up w/o flashing and stay on as long as you hold the stalk lever) If hazards aren't working either, then suspect a faulty flasher relay. If hazards ARE working, your turn signal switch might have failed and it's part of the stalk lever, which means you need to unscrew the column cover, remove the screws fastening the lever switch to the core column, and replace the unit. Very expensive to replace, and better to find used in a lower mileage or newer/compatible car.

Mine, even with some weight in the rear and an auto, will easily spin all 4 on snow covered roads and presumably gravel, but you need to punch it and hope it kicks down. I've been able to do this going about 30-35 on snow slick roads (meaning there was just a coating on the road). It'll be pretty clear if the AWD is working or not. Also, on slick or gravel roads, the rear will kick out like a RWD car, but if you stay in it (keep pressing the gas pedal and steer into the direction the rear is pointing) you can pull out of it as the front tires are pulling you onward. Oversteer is pretty pronounced in hard turns as opposed to forced FWD. To test if FWD is working as intended, on some cars (dunno if newer cars have it) there is a "FWD" connector up against the passenger side fire wall. You can either stick a fuse in there (it's a cap that covers a fuse receptacle) or jump with wire and a switch. With a fuse in there, it forces FWD only and disengages the rear. I ran mine in forced FWD for a day once. It'll easily spin the fronts on wet pavement (thanks to the steep 4.11's) and car behaves VERY differently in turns, and wheel spin with the front moving is evident, not to mention the engine revs quicker while moving as it only powers the front tires. It'll also understeer pretty noticeably.

When I got my 95', it'd been sitting for about a year and had MANY lifters that were either collapsed, or only partially pumping. People were like "run kerosene in the oil", do this, do that, run it hard, etc., none of which I wanted to try with them fully collapsed, or wait a month to "see" if they'd unstick. I did however put fresh 10w30 Mobile One in and idle it to death, with some revving and nothing changed. I found a bone yard car with a little less mileage, popped the covers off, and all but 1 lifter were fully primed (though it did extend on it's own during the ride home in a plastic bag). I sprayed all of them down, poured fresh oil in a half cut off bottle, stuck a tiny pick in the check valve, and METHODICALLY pumped each lifter until only clear was coming out when pressing the plunger down. Empty oil from bottle half, fill with fresh again (2 lifters would blacken the oil) then pump again to be 100% clean oil was in there. After all that was done, I pour a cap full of oil in the lifter recess inside the rocker assembly, then inserted the lifter. The lifter being pressed in should force oil out of the feed hole in the shaft. I did that a couple times to get any gunk out. So far, it's been OK and holding up. W/o reading through everybody else's replies as I'm in a hurry, I'd say you have an obstruction somewhere (sludge, heavy tarnish build up, debris, etc.) with the oil feed and there isn't enough oil getting to the lifters. The real test will be pulling the cover and rocker assembly again and seeing which lifters are collapsed. If the intake side is down again, it'll be clear you have an oil starvation issue as they aren't getting enough. If the exhaust side is now collapsed, then I'd suspect you aren't priming them correctly.

I think we've thread-jacked enough, so this is my final statement on this matter. I can get used injectors for $6.90 EACH. http://www.pullapart.com/parts/pricing.aspx?letter=&loc=25pricelist (listed under "Fuel Injector") There are 4 Pull-A-Parts within a 35 mile radius of me. There are a plethora of Subaru passing through all 4 yards monthly. I often check mileage on the analogue clusters and they usually range from 90k to 170k on average (about half the mileage of 256k or possibly better if you are diligent). So for $30, I can get a set of 4 injectors (ej22 are more common here, but the ej25 are still plentiful if you look at Outback, Forester, etc.) pretty easily. More yards are turning up that bulk price everything (since scrap price is so high they make more from crushing) and don't care what it's from i.e. all 4 cyl. engines cost the same; all fenders cost the same, etc. So instead of spending $90 to just "test" injectors (which you can do at home with a little cleaner, a hose, and a battery yourself), for 1/3 of the price you can get used with a lot less mileage and still have money in your pocket. I spent 30 seconds and found this: http://www.injectorwarehouse.com/injectors/subaru/mp4225.htm That's about $55 EACH for Bostech Part # MP4225 after you give them a core worth $10. Here's the main link: http://www.injectorwarehouse.com/injectors/subaru/subarufuelinjectors.htm Seems $55 is the going price for 1.8, 2.2, and 2.5L.

You can find inexpensive injectors new ONLINE if you look for them. They also can typically have better fuel atomization which can be very beneficial to the overall operation of the engine and can be just as good quality. "Siemens Deka" are an example. I can get used locally for next to nothing like pretty much anyone in the US can. I'll offer advice if I think it'll save somebody some money. If it was a carb with 256k miles, I'd say rebuild or replace depending on rarity and condition. With injectors that have THAT many miles, why throw away $88+ just to hear they'll need cleaned or rebuilt, or have one (or more) that can fail at any moment thereafter, which will add more $$$ to overall cost when it'd been cheaper to just have gone the other route to begin with? Not to mention injectors are NOT serviceable by normal mechanics. He'd be better off running kerosene through it in a stand-alone scenario (out of the car) and eyeing the pattern, googling a known "good" pattern, then going from there. Chances are he'll get scammed and handed back injectors with NOTHING done to them, or get pitched he'll need replacements or "repairs" to them where they'll go and get a junk yard set for $20, throw his away, and give him the bone yard injectors for an inflated price. No idea why you are calling me out on this, but come on.

Sometimes if a component fails while the engine is running, you'll get a handful of codes that don't exactly correspond to the fault (assuming something actually failed and we aren't talking about a mouse that chewed through an important section of harness). I found a link with the same issues and apparently the same style connector you have. http://www.justanswer.com/subaru/2rp9o-1993-subaru-impreza-won-t-start-think.html Make sure to scroll all the way down and read about main relay as I think that fixed it. Also explains how to probe the fuel pump for power. EDIT: I'd start with probing the pump for power at the pump.

Wow, no idea how I missed that. Chalk it up to a groggy post

Not sure how much better the 4-wheel disc are over the 95' Legacy I have with 4-wheel disc, but if they are the same you definitely need to upgrade as these seem taxed stopping a 3k pound wagon which is still pretty light compared to the portly cars some auto companies put out Can you get WRX rotors and calipers on it? Gotta think it'd be an easy swap and huge improvement over what you are running now, even if you have to swap to a larger steel rim.

Then upgrade the brakes with something larger. Should help with towing. LOL, I had a 96' Lincoln Mark VIII (factory air bags so rear never squatted, all corners ) that was in great shape. Needed to pull some vehicles I was buying and scrapping years back and didn't want to dump $$$$$ into a truck + the horrid MPG they'd get with the weight. Put a Class 2 ( ) hitch on it, rented a 700 pound tow dolly, and towed 5500+ pound F150 Ext cab, Chevy Vans, AWD Mazda vans, etc. etc. Car was 3900 pound curb weight with hitch (I scaled at truck stop). Then there was 200 pounds of stereo equipment in the trunk + 80 pounds of tools, etc. With me in the car, I was moving nearly 10k at times (total). Amazingly, it would get 10 mpg HWY pulling dolly and big vehicle (down from around 30-32 empty (cruise on, flat roads, car lowered) with mods that increased MPG over the factory 28 rating), could pull a hill really good and hold 70 mph doing it (OD turned off), and didn't have any real issues stopping. I pulled something like 20 vehicles that summer (maybe 3k miles total) before returning it to daily driver status and putting another 25k miles on it before selling. That car was really good to me only needing little things like front wheel bearings at 110k, an oil filter adapter gasket (inherent flaw from Ford), rear shocks, brakes, and rear bags when I first bought it. I had a laugh on the highway pulling the heavy dolly empty when one of those Dodge Hemi Rams (mid 00's) thought he was faster- he wasn't though heavier and I think more HP and definitely TQ, he was empty. Had a real good laugh over that. Was also funny pulling a big full-size pick up and passing trucks on hills, I know they were thinking W T ......

If you go auto and do any towing, a trans cooler is a MUST. HEAT is one of the biggest killers of auto trans. I wouldn't want a high-stall in a tow car. WAY too much heat to tow with unless you want to run a large cooler with a 10" fan, and MPG will suffer. Race car going for 1/4 mile or 60' is a different story. If you were constantly pulling hills, that'd be another argument in favor of a higher-stall. Also, you can apparently ground out a pin on the control module (whatever it's called) and kick on a power mode that changes the shift points and I'm assuming increases line pressure. Go that route instead and run a toggle switch to flip on when towing.

It'd be like $20 for used with a 1/4 of the mileage. They don't last forever and most likely are hurting performance and economy on some level.

If they are that old, don't waste the money messing with them. You can get aftermarket replacements for $35-50 each, or just source some used injectors off a lower mileage vehicle.