presslab

Today I updated my paddle shift code (now it's interrupt driven) and raised the shift points in the TCU. Wow! It's great being able to go all the way up to 7300 RPM now, there is a ton of power up there! I also changed the downshift points so it's much more eager to downshift when stomping the skinny pedal. It will now downshift to 2nd at 72 MPH. The torque converter lockup maps on my '90 EJ22 TCU are a bit funky, maybe I'll fix those too. Probably easiest to steal the maps from a newer TCU. My temperature gauge reads a bit low I guess, it seems I have the problem that most have had here. I'll poke around in the cluster, I have an idea for fixing this problem.

Is your AFR at idle stoic? How about when cruising? Is the NB-O2 sensor voltage toggling at idle? You can look at the LED inside the ECU to see if the O2 is toggling.

I believe the WRX trans has 25 spline stubs; my trans is in storage otherwise I'd double check, but I'm pretty sure. Maybe you're thinking of the 27 splines at the hub. I have no experience with the XT6 manual tranny, but I find it hard to believe that a transaxle designed for 145 HP is stronger than one designed for 260 HP. I'm sure using the smaller XT6 clutch will help with trans longevity.

I should also mention www.techchoiceparts.com offers a custom hose build service for $20 but I have never used it.

Rayeveritt.com used to make custom hoses for a great price, but no longer. I had all the hoses on my van made by him and years later they are still leak free. If you find another online place I'd be curious to know what it is. I've decided I do enough A/C work that I bought a Mastercool crimper for about $150; for the price it makes great crimps. I buy fittings and hose from www.techchoiceparts.com, and ferrules from NAPA. The places around here won't put a new hose onto an old fitting so I'm pretty much forced to do it myself if I want to reuse the fittings. www.mcmaster.com also has high pressure compression fittings, maybe you can just replace your flare with a compression fitting. I've used compression fittings before for A/C and power steering and they've worked out great.

When I got my EJ20G it came with the maching WRX tranny meant to take the power. That'd probably be your best bet, although you'll need to swap the diff to keep the same final drive ratios.

I believe the XT6 uses the same tranny as the XT, so the same adapter should work. That said, I don't think a manual tranny will last very long under the power of the EJ20 turbo. The automatic can hold up to more power but you'll need to do something to firm up the shifts.

Sure, send me a PM with your address and you can have a set for the cost of shipping.

I noticed the lower control arm bushings were looking sad, and I wanted to replace them. From the factory, it seems only the whole arm is available with the bushing pre-installed. No thanks. I saw that SuperPro has these bushings, but Tein quoted me a 2 month lead time! No thanks. I did some digging and I found Energy Suspension 8.2105 could work, looking at the dimensions. And at $21 from Amazon (enough for three cars) they were a deal! I got them in two days. With a little trimming from the cut-off wheel they fit nice into the control arm. I reused the inner sleeve from the old bushing after removing the rubber. The sleeve is a bit small for the bushing by about 0.3mm, but it's a pretty good fit really. If you have a lathe it would take a minute to make slightly larger sleeves; mine is in storage unfortunately. I had urethane on my previous cars and they like to squeak after a while. This time I wanted an easy way to grease them, so I installed a zerk. I squirted some marine grease in there and they're real smooth. Here are the photos:

That's a great looking car. I wish my door panels looked that good. Thanks for posting!

Thanks dude! I finally got the A/C working last weekend. It works great! It'll be almost 90F today and I'm glad I got it done in time for summer. I used the ES-12a hydrocarbon refrigerant, like I had in it last time. I don't know if the larger compressor really helps much or not, but the condenser sure gets hot, which is a good thing. The real test of my two-row EA radiator system will be pulling a long hill under boost while the A/C is on. Next time I make a trip over the mountain I'll take note of the temperature. The dual speed Spal fan setup is great too, high and low speeds all working as they should with the A/C going. The one area this engine really shines is under hot conditions. The EA82T worked the turbo pretty hard with it's restrictive heads, and this equates to a lot of hot air. With the EJ20G the engine still has a ton of power when it's hot out. I could notice the EA82T struggling when it was hot, pulling timing and whatnot. So I'm sure I'll be tinkering with it here and there but this pretty much completes my conversion. I'd like to thank everyone for their comments and assistance, particularly Suberdave for the JDM schematics which were invaluable, pmugabi for his ECU mods, and Paul in OZ for his mount wedges.

Been having a lot of fun lately. I've been bumping back up the timing bit by bit from my retarded values. It seems like the midrange can't take as much advance but the upper end can. Kinda a slow process burning ROMs, but at least I ordered more EEPROMs as I gave all mine away. So I welded the A/C hoses only to find the JDM A/C compressor was fubar! I replaced it with a '98 Legacy one but the suction hose was different and I needed to modify the bracket. Luckily the suction hose from the same car worked pretty much bolt-on. Now just waiting on a new dryer, I decided to replace it. The original A/C rocked it, and now it's got an even larger compressor. It's starting to get warm here, the other day it was mid 80s F.

Rockauto lists that boot as "Optional heat resistant material." Here is the photo:

Thank you for your kind regard. I think those will work. Before my Com-C mounts I had pillow ball mounts like the ones you show, from Tein. They were fine, a bit noisy. Without the rubber on the Com-C you can hear the struts click-clacking going down the road. Not loud but a little annoying. I needed to make a special shoulder nut to allow the air hose to come out the top. The nut I used was one of those "mag" wheel lug nuts, and then I cut the top off. This worked great. Also a tiny bit of filing was needed on the three mounting holes, but this was quite easy.

I found the adjustable radius rod here, about $100 for the set. My setup was about $20, but this is for those of you that need some adjustment. http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=674693

Yes 1/4 watt is fine. Ohm's Law shows that 1/4 watt can handle a voltage of (0.25 * 1000)^0.5 = 15.8 volts. And in reality the full voltage is not dropped across this resistor, so there is plenty of margin.

Ok, I think this is the part number "Raybestos 8168038". The silicone boot is gray in color, although I don't think gray=silicone necessarily.

I had the same problem with the boot near the catalytic converter on my turbo motor. I kept going through regular rubber boots, and then I bought a silicone one and it's been great for a few years. The silicone one is softer so you'll need to be careful on the tightening of the clamps, but it's very flexible and heat resistant. I should have the part number at home, I'll post it up this evening.

I have seen a few GL-10s in the wreckers with air suspension, but never a Legacy with it. Maybe they didn't sell that model around here. I guess I could buy new struts, and use regular Legacy parts for the other stuff. That's $$$ though. That is an interesting idea. My vehicle is stock height (and I like it) so I tried to drill the new hole to keep the same angle of the control arm. No negative posts? Maybe you're a glass mostly full kind of guy. You didn't see: Or maybe Yes of course. I'd be happy to entertain ideas of improvement.

I guess I should have expected some critique posting my images here. We all have opinions, but I doubt that those that are throwing stones have ever heard of someone having a problem because of this. Hmm? It's just all talk, but I'm here doing. Why you gotta be hatin'! I didn't use adjustable radius rods because I don't need them. This is the maximum caster that I can have without tire rub. Why would I pay extra? Don't berate me because I don't like to waste my money like you do. My method is no less correct than your aftermarket rods of unknown quality. I don't want to 5-lug it either. As stated I have the air suspension and I like it. There is no inexpensive 5-lug air suspension option in the USA. Anyway it seems like all the street oriented guys are running 5-lug with WRX suspension and WRX wheels. Boooorrrriiinng. I'm about 50 mi north of San Francisco. Thanks to the rest of you for your comments! I just wanted to share my ideas with others. If you don't like them, please have polite constructive criticism, or just move on.

I redrilled the hubs for 6 lug on my milling machine, put those Isuzu Rodeo wheels on, and painted them black. The wheel specs are 1999 Isuzu Rodeo alloy wheels, 6.5x15", with 5.25" backspacing.

Did you put a spacer over the threads like I did on mine? With the 4 washers, and the spacer, the preload on the bushings is the same as before. It's just pushed futher out. The bushing in the control arm has little metal spikes on the end to bite into the steel of the subframe. I was pretty confident they would stay put, as they didn't move in the original location either. I don't think the extra hole weakens the subframe appreciably.

Yes, I have the air suspension. I really like it! I replaced the fluid in the struts and repressurized them, to increase the damping. Here's a recent shot of the car.

I've been trying for a while to get a more performance oriented suspension alignment on my GL-10 wagon. The two issues being caster and static camber. Here's how I handled the caster problem, by pushing the strut rod forward. It moves the tire forward a 1/2" too, so make sure there is clearance for this. The steering feel is better, and it also gets more negative camber when going around turns. Two of these: http://www.mcmaster.com/nav/enter.asp?partnum=8491A734 And a box of these: http://www.mcmaster.com/nav/enter.asp?partnum=98026A036 The camber I attacked in two ways. I used the Com-C strut tops from Whiteline that moved the strut mounting point inward; these are for the early WRX. I also drilled new holes in the subframe to push out the lower control arms. I was worried about the bolts slipping, but they've been fine for a year now. http://www.rallysportdirect.com/Whiteline-Com-C-Caster-Camber-Adjusting-Strut-Mount-Subaru-Models-inc-2002-2007-WRX-STI Handling is pretty fantastic now. With the Advan AD08 tires, the struts modified for stiffness, and the alignment mods, it's just about where I want it.

Well, I think my driving style has something to do with it. And now my engine has close to 300 HP. I've tried some crap brand, and Meyle, and the latest ones are Brembo.