FerGloyale

yes I've been running that setup for 10+ years. I want to get rid of torsion for spring. it keeps failing...just not up to the added weight of lift, skids, tools, winch, etc..... So with the torsion gone, there is no reason to keep the diff snout so low below the arm pivots. Clearance at the diff suffers, in addition to all the inadequacies of hollow stubs and short, rare EA81 axle shafts. I could go to EA82 rear, but even that is getting more rare to find parts, uses the hollow diff stubs, and really guys break those rear axles all the time too. First gen EJ stuff would be great. the Legacies and imprezas I've seen wheelin seldom have rear diff or axle issues. But the ea81 body doesn't have good structure to mount a Macpherson setup back there without alot of unibody modification. Using this newer multilink setup allows me to adapt the mounts, rather than reworking the unibody. Goal is to gain clearance at the diff with med/full loads, and have stronger diff and axles without losing travel over the EA81 setup. And hopefully more replaceable axles/wheel bearings later. Rear ebrake too.

yeah, nobody should try this at home. Unless they want to. But don't take my confidence and enthusiasm as an endorsement of this as a "good idea" in any way. EXPERIMENTAL. WILL NOT BE DRIVEN ON ROAD UNTIL LOTS OF TESTING.

Shocks may well bottom out destroying them internally. You could put some bumpers on the strut rod itself, under the dust boot, like the fronts have.

Yeah, I was gonna say that on a stock ish height car, you aren't gonna get a lot more out of this setup than stock. It's a lot of work for not much gain unless you can clear more tire. I can't imagine trying to do the cut and welds of the mounts with it on the car. As for the handling on road....IDK......It's an experiment. It's not like the 8" lifted EA81 rear suspension was all that great........camber and toe all over the place as the torsion arm rotates through it's range. Preliminary measurement actually shows just a little overall toe and camber change at extremes of the travel. The stock setup has that issue to some degree too. This is the infamous "ghost walk" rear setup. Those short links did in fact tug the wheel in to the body a lot both on compression and on droop. The longer arms keep the wheel "out" more overall. And that's with the wheels going a few extra inches of travel each way. I don't expect to be going thorugh full travel range on the highway......so as long as it's adjustable to a reasonably nuetral toe setting in the middle 6-8" of travel range it *SHOULD BE* ok. It's an experiment. I want stronger rear axles that are still available if they do break. I will miss the ease of "popin in" an EA81 shaft with no tools.....but If this works I shouldn't need to do that much anymore. I will say that moving the suspension through it's range "feels" easier now......Not as much torque on the bushings at the limits of their range. Scalman, one thing I would recommend.....is to loosen EVERY pivot bolt in yer whole rear suspension while the car is in the air.......that alone will let the suspension bushing untwist, and allow a little more droop if you have any extra to be had. Then retighten bushings with the car just barely set down on the ground. (wood blocks under rear hubs) This "centers" the bushings so they aren't constantly fighting the suspensions movement as much. If you really want to take advantage of yer lift try to find a slightly longer shock to put in there. Not sure what there is in yer market.

Well.....I might have some insight. This is after some work today. Fixed the front pivots relative to the subframe acorrding to Datum point specs in the FSM..,,,,pretty close anyhow. IMG_3466 by Dans Subaru, on Flickr At full "compression" there is about 1/3th inch toe in.....pretty ewxtreme but I don't really ever expect to see this much uptravel in the suspension.....bump stops will limit. IMG_3458 by Dans Subaru, on Flickr And here at nearly maximum droop or down travel, there is about 1/4 inch toe out. Not awful......and I still have so adjusment in the rear arms to try to bring it in. IMG_3459 by Dans Subaru, on Flickr I'm gonna roll with it.......tommorow, is mount onto the car day.

Is there power to the fuse at #5? I guess there would have to be for it to be blowing. Does it blow instanlty or once the key is "on" Try unpluggin the horns. IIRC, it's blue wire with red stripe that is 12v+ to stereo memory. If it's not that it's the green with a single pole connector. My EA82 knowledge is fading from memory and I'm not by my books now.

So.......this is all getting put on an EA81 body car that's already got 8 inch lift blocks. The wheels wells are opened up quite a bit already. The exhaust is routed already to go up and over the whole subframe. I haven't welded the mounts on, but yeah when I do it will be tacks at first a some testing to determine travel. I really need to get the mounting points for the front pivots (trailing arm) set. That will happen when I start actually rolling the subframe under the EA81 body. Sounds like you need to block down yer subframe another inch or two, ehh...jk . Those are 31" tire in my pics......even if you got that much travel out of yer setup, you'd be draggin the subframe on the ground with the stockish size tires.

So I worked on teh subframe today. Decided to simplify and just use existing pieces to make the longer links, no ball joints for now. Cut the forward lower link brackets off. IMG_3443 by Dans Subaru, on Flickr IMG_3444 by Dans Subaru, on Flickr Extended the front links to the length of the rear links. Bolts welded to table a jig to make sure links are all the same. IMG_3442 by Dans Subaru, on Flickr Mocked up with the cut off brackets ready to swap to the opposite side of the subframe rail. Works out damn near perfect, shifts the mounts to match the links at 17.6 in from 12.3 or so. IMG_3446 by Dans Subaru, on Flickr IMG_3447 by Dans Subaru, on Flickr Subframe at compression, at this piont the only limiting factor is the axle shafts hitting the subframe......max compression possible. diff bottom 2 inches off floor. IMG_3448 by Dans Subaru, on Flickr And subframe flexed to near maximum droop. Diff at 17" off the floor. * note the lower front links are not fixed to the subframe yet. More work to come soon. IMG_3448 by Dans Subaru, on Flickr IMG_3449 by Dans Subaru, on Flickr

dang it gotta remember to look at dates on these

it's not a "neutral safety switch" Neutral switch on MT subarus HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH STARTING And to the OP......If part 30 in the upper diagrahm is broken, you are going to get stuck in 4wd at some point. Possibly even stuck in 4 low. That is the 4wd shift collar and has several interlock pins inside to grab and let go of the lo range rod. Happens when the 4wd shift rod rotates while being pushed in/out. Plan on needing to replace that fork.

How are you verifying this? If the harness has power, then the ECU should have it too. Does the CEL light with Key on? Check the underhood fuse box. It is very unlikely that wiring up inside the harness suddenly seperated.

Later OBD II harness is easier to trim. None of needed wires gtrghh SMJ so y can toss it. Hooking up CEL is EXCACTLY the same....1 wire. Fuel temp sensor is not ned to run engine. That said I have no problem running an OBD I harness/ecu in some of my swaps. OBD I and OBD II harness are completely NOT intaerchangable.

I want maximum travel but not for speed just dealing with big terrain. As for the trailing arm bushing, the trailing arm is cast. so no modding it really unless I'm missing something. It's got the whole hub mount built into it. I suppose building a whole plate steel long arm with a heavy duty link could be done. But I am sticking to the stock so stock or upgrade aftermarket type bushings if there are any would be the only way to go. I think a balljoint type for the inner end link for the forward lower arm would be enough. I was thinking cut the outer ends off some legacy front control arms and weld them to the subframe so they sit right in front of the inner CV cups to make new inner front pivot points. And then using the solid, long camry links with a mount for a bolt on type newer legacy lower balljoint at the other end. My builds are always about recycling old subie parts and keeping the consumable replacement parts stream all Subaru if possible. Lots of scavenged used take off parts used to prototype, and once the design is dialed I MIGHT splurge and put a few brand new items in. But it's a wheeler, and gets hammered, so using "life left still" used parts is great for the budget.

It will overheat again eventually. They pretty much all do Be prepared to do the HG job. I do the whole job out the door including new timing belt set for just under 2000. That is EVERYTHING resealed. Pistons pulled, new rings. Head surfaced. Japanese OE parts.

Yeah...I had figured on making the front lower links same length as the rear arms. with an adjuster in each to fine tune the toe. What I was unsure of is what angle to make it? Parallel to the plane of the rear arm? steeper, shallower.....seems anything but parallel would bind, but the OE setup runs different angles soooo? I am just using bushings still for now. AlthoughI don't like how much the front link "twists" as the trailing arm pivots up and down, so I may switch to a balljoint on the inner end where I am making the subframe mod to hold the longer links. I looked at the forward link, I don't think removing it entirely would be a good idea. It's the only thing that really holds the toe. The large bushing at the front of the trailing arm has lots of flex and already is known for sliding to the outside edge of the mount. so you really need the front lower link and rear lower link to keep the toe static. I think. This car needs to be safe and roadworthy, as well as wheelable. Oh and I will have mismatched wheels/hubs for a bit......eventually swapping over to EJ front hubs and axles too. Not until I have the EJ rear e-brake cables all hooked up and operational. Until then I want to keep the front E-brakes.

Ig relay is way up in the top corner of the dash, drivers side. In a bracket wit the fuel pump. I don't think that's your problem though, since you seem to have power to the ECU. The CEL does light with key on, correct?

Have you verified the timing belt is intact? And not skipped time?

Todd, I would like to know more about the longer links you plan to make. I will be using this same 00-04 rear suspension setup to replace the original torsion bar rear suspension and short axles in my EA81 body wagon. The old EA81 torsions are not holding up well, keep getting sagged out. And Axles keep breaking, and I can't buy more. Stubs break, so I'd like to switch to the newer internal mating type axles. My shocks will be custom after the subframe is mounted and travel figured. What I have been wondering is how long to make the longer lower links? Or do I even need to make both sets longer or just the forward super shorties. Whatever I make will be adjustable to help set toe correctly. (got some old 90's Camry rear links with with adjustable sections I can use with Suby ends welded on) I was starting in on the welding for this project before christmas, but a death in the family has put fun projects on hold while I tend to the wife and kids. I will try to get some pictures up. If you have any shots of your lower link setup or any other input that would be great.

None of the ECU wires will be running separate from the wrapped harness. My guess is that's an old wire someone added in. (probably poorly). I would honestly ignore it unless you REALLY Think it's part of the factory wiring. At any rate you can test the ignition relay and power to ECU. First, does CEL light with key on? if so, the IG relay is working. and ECU has power. Test the Yellow wire at the Alternator for 12v with key on. If it has power, so does the rest of the injector harness and the ECU sensors. If that's all good and no start still I would look at the wires behind/under the throttle body. There are connectors there, 3 on a bracket. 3 pin crank sensor(gray) 3 pin Cam sensor (white) and 1 pin for knock sensor. Check the crank and cam sonsors particularly. ECU case does not need to be bolte to ground. it grounds through the wires on the intake. If CEL lights, ECU has ground.

Would be way too long. Possibly too wide also. And way too heavy is an even bigger issue. The EA81 cars there is no real upgade for a strut/spring combo that would hold up to that weight. Even if you found something to work, the weight balance of the car would be WAAAAY off. It would be a hell of a stop light racer though....if you could keep the tires from spinning or the trans from breaking.

I do........with halogens. Save the light bar for the SxS

Now on Youtube.

yes. identical.

There were several different turbo trans and flywheel types. Some will work with the NA trans, others will not. what exact combo are you trying for?

I can't see how ANY light bar is legal to have on a road going rig? They are definitely not legal to use other than "off-road", and unlike old drivng lights/KC lights they don't have covers available. I personally think they suck, even offroad. Saw an old guy on his hunting trip go into a ditch cause a "gambler" driver blinded him with his Friggin aircraft landing light grade LED bar on a curve on a loggin road. Plus LEDs burn out or have board issue where individual leds burnout. They are definitely not as "lifetime" usable as people like to think. Good ol fashion Halogens for me.