MR_Loyale

Made it to the stealership yesterday. Picked up the headbolts, got the throwout bearing carrier clips. Made a trip to Pick N Pull in OR where I found my white Loyale Sedan's twin. Wanted a good white grill. Got there and it wasn't as good as in the pics, but I found a FACTORY FRESH quality front seat. Yeah, it IS that good. The car only had 72K miles when it went to the junkers (sniff). From what I can tell the people just didn't want it anymore. The engine in it looks good to me. Anyhow, know all the buttons for the ac and temp selection and how they are all washed out from years of use? Well these ones are like factory, so I grabbed them to put in my white Loyale. That was Saturday. Oh and today I got this: FINALLY! I got an AWD Subaru!!! Only took 20 years. My cherry is popped and I am now officially a Subaru whore.

I couldn't help myself. I have been looking for an AWD sedan for a while now. Oh sure there are lots of wagons out there. I am just not a wagon sort of guy. I have always preferred Sedans ever since I got my original FWD in 1994. Most of the sedans for sale are either automatic or FWD. Now I got myself a beautiful red one (1992 AWD, 5spd mt): Here it is next to my other Loyale, hereby known as Uno: I am now officially a Subaru Whore!

Got the good stuff for my transmission. Autozone says they are not carrying it anymore. I got the last three.

I dry fitted the covers, towers and head. I am thinking I want to paint the tower, heads and block. What do you think?

Well this is definitely chrome. Yes, you can plate chrome onto aluminum. Not sure where you were told it was not possible. Heck you can even plate chrome onto plastic (hmm scratches his head...). Here is the place that did the work: http://queencityplating.com/ Looking at the website, I think the reason your facebook friend couldn't get chrome to stick was poor surface preparation. Aluminum can be porous and so just plating over it directly would probably not work well. Queen City spends a lot of time doing surface prep, thus the 4 week wait. When done right, there is just as much artistry and craftsmanship involved as there is chemistry. And it ain't cheap! But can one really put a price on beauty? I think not!

Sure. What would you like to know?

Monday I had ordered an instrument cluster for the Dodge that was scheduled to arrive today. I also got an email yesterday that my cam covers were done and ready for pick up in Mukilteo. The Subaru dealer (Peninsula Subaru) also said the head bolts were in. I also ordered the Exedy clutch kit for my Subaru that should have also come today. So i puttered about on the internet all morning hoping the UPS guy would arrive with my instrument cluster for my Dodge Ram 1500. I didn't want to be on I-5 with no turn signals, no gas gauge, no speedo, no tach, etc. I waited waited waited until 12:30 and then said to heck with it (in stronger language of course). I waited over three weeks for the cam covers to be done and by God I was getting them today to uplift what has been a depressing week on Dodge drama and little to no progress on the Subaru (due to the Dodge drama). So I set off in the Dodge to get to the place in Mukilteo by 4:30 pm before they close. Not open Saturday so Monday would be the next opportunity. I filled the truck full so watching the gauge was no problem and I had the GPS to tell me my speed. For signals I resorted to the old fashion arm signals to indicate which way I was turning. The first bit of good luck came when I pulled up just in time for the Kingston ferry to Edmonds ferry. I was sure I was going to have to wait an hour at least but I got right on. It was almost 3pm when I arrived at the destination in Mukilteo. I was anxiously contemplating the result all the way up there. Just the thought of the cam covers made me happy inside. I walked up to the counter and the lady handed me what looked like prime steaks from the butcher wrapped in brown outer paper with white tissue inside. "Take a look" she said. She didn't have to ask me twice. So I carefully peeled back the brown paper, then the tissues, and paused for a moment.I think i felt a tear roll down my cheek as I gazed upon this: That is why a dirty greasy engine bay just will not do. I don't want my 20th anniversary engine bling getting messy. I am even watching my fingerprints. All I could say over and over was "These are better than new from the factory!" with an awestruck look on my face. I left there at 3:15 pm headed south to the Tacoma Harbor Freight, the only store that had an ODBII code reader with ABS that they had on sale. I was giddy as a school girl all they way even though it took me almost 4 hours in traffic to get there. Who'd a thunk a little chrome could be so therapeutic? All the time I was driving using my arm signals no longer angered me. I felt like this: I made it to Tacoma Harbor Freight, got the OBDII scanner, proved that it was the cluster at fault in the Dodge and headed back home. Other than no speedo, gas gauge, tach, cruise control, turn signals, temp gauge, charge indicator, oil pressure gauge or wipers - the truck ran fine. The trans shifted fine. It was the cluster internally couldn't talk to others, not the bus being down despite the "No Bus" message in the odometer window. Being able to get communication with the PCM (powertrain control module) and TCM (trans control module) using the scanner was proof it was the cluster and not the entire bus. And there were no codes returned either. Yes, I had proven that I was in deed "Cluster F***ed", so off I went with arm signals heading home. When I arrived back home (about 8 pm) , there were two big boxes waiting for me on my porch. One had the eBay Dodge instrument cluster, which I immediately installed (took 10 min). IT ALL WORKS! All computer in the Dodge now talk nicely. I got turn signals, gas gauge, speedo, wipers, temp, charge gauges and even cruise control works! I can say for certain had I taken it to the Dodge stealership, I wouldn't get out for less than $800-$1000. My eBay cluster costs $75. Only thing is now my 40,000 miles says 203,000 miles, lol. But I will send the cluster back east for reprogramming. The other box had this: For all the frustration that was this week with the Dodge drama, this day made it all better. Saturday I am getting the head bolts and starting to put the engine back together.

I made my own tool. A piece of flat iron and two bolts.

There is a rubber ring covering the screws. You need to remove that ring. It just lifts off.

What type of distributor do you have? If it is a crank angle type (slotted wheel with optical pickup), you can remove the dust shield by undoing the two screws and clean the dust out with MAF cleaner.

I SHOULD be putting all my shiny SUBARU parts together right now. I ordered new head bolts but my only other ride, the #$#!!!@#@%%$%%$$#@#@!@$#$ DODGE, decided all its smart alecky computers would stop talking to each other. Now I got no speedo, no tach, no fuel gauge, no temp, no oil press gauge, no charge indicator, no turn signal. The odometer reads "NO BUS". Do you think that you can just hit the horn button and a switch closes to honk the horn? Noooo sireee. In fancy pants land, we got to have a computer in that horn sending a signal over a PCI (not the same PCI desktop pc's use) bus to another computer at the fuse box which will then switch on your horn. Same thing with headlights and turn signals. The fuse box isn't just fuses, nope. It is an "Integrated Power Module" (IPM). It's got to have a computer. And if the fuse box goes bad, that'll be $600 please. Hell for that kind of money, I could hire a midget to sit under the hood turning stuff off and on by voice command! Oh and this 2002 Dodge only has 40K miles on it. Yeah I am the original sucker er owner. Soo Thursday I am off to the junk yard to spelunk through the junk for my Dodge.

If you ever do that again, set up a video camera. That would make a great video. That is how they build the cars at the factory.

I will be doing them separate. The timing just worked out that way because of all the things i am doing. The transmission is in and I am just getting the engine together. Would like to do it together one day though so I can have tried it.

Got up to C&D Engine Shop in Kirkland and picked up the passenger side head. I didn't drive over from Bremerton but rather got a lift from a friend at work who then dropped me and the head off in Seattle to walk to the ferry. I am probably the only person ever to backpack an EA82 head around the streets of Seattle. Tomorrow I will go to the dealer to get the main seals front and back and the cam tower O-Rings. Slowly but surely it is coming together.

Got two cam towers and one head back from the machine shop. The other head is getting a helicoil for the exhaust bolt hole.

What is the transmission? AWD Manual, FWD Manual (TM70F)? The number will be on the transmission side of the bell housing where the trans meets the engine. If it is a manual, it should be TM something.

Shiny transmission awaiting installation back into car. The waiting transmission tunnel Tranmission is in. Now everything just needs to be hooked back up.

I think Subaru never intended to go farther with the BRZ, thus the "Z" for "Zenith".

Perhaps you got the wrong size pressure plate and/or clutch for your setup. That's my guess.

Prepping the two halves of the transmission to come together, I decided to leave a 20th anniversary message inside with my stamping kit for whoever opens this up again (not me I hope). A transmission Easter egg of sorts. That is the speedo gear on the right. No I am not going crazy. I've already arrived.

Got the input shaft bearing and seal for my transmission. Grant - this IS going back in next week!

Wiggle jiggle curse and swear.

I feel like a slacker.

Mine slipped in 2006 when the clutch was going bad. Either they didn't replace the clutch as they said or they did replace it either with a used junk yard part with no meat or perhaps they did replace it but so long ago it hasn't got any meat left. If they replaced it 5 years ago and said they "replaced it" then technically they didn't lie,I guess. Maybe they forgot to mention the burnouts and abuse they gave it after they replaced it. In my experience the beginning of slipping is more related to rpm rather than speed. On mine it would happen if I went above 60mph aggressively accelerating. When you take off in first gear you aren't going 3000 rpm like you would be in higher gears. Replace the clutch or learn to drive like a little old lady.

Someone needs an intervention.