1 Lucky Texan

first, sorry about the size of that pic, other Forums auto-resize large images. No, that was at my first real job. Just some old electronics gear we used.

It is very disrespectful to friction, and will banish it to the land of Wind and Ghosts!

that'll buff right out. (glad you're OK - that's what's important)

It isn't unusual for O2 sensors to become 'lazy' as they get older and won't switch fast enough. Clearing a lot of codes and monitoring how quickly the come back is a good idea. I've has 'spurious' codes on my wife's Outback from a battery with a bad cell. And my youngest daughter's Impala set some weird fuel-related code. I reset the ECU and the code's been gone for months. But, just recently, she had to have a battery cable replaced for hidden coorosion - so, maybe some kinda low/marginal voltage can cause odd codes sometimes. If your sensors are original, they are likely getting old. The codes rarely point to a part that's bad - they point to a system that is not satisfying the ECU's threshold requirements. But I bet a lot of people have dropped $800 on a converter when an $80 sensor would have been all they needed. If you can also get your short/long term fuel trims read from FreezeFrame data, that 'might' show something too. But the system will try to compensate for vacuum leaks and bad/dirty MAF and other issues so, it's a great idea to start there first.

I don't have a lot of pics of myself, here's one when I caught a mole in my front yard lol! here's couple of me from the early/mid 70s !!!;

all kinda cars running that day(about 4 soobs total IIRC) - including, some kinda Audi wagon, a Boxster, a sick lowered VW, a Z06, a Lotus Elise,a Mustang AND a lady in a Saturn Vue!!!

Good post. I was gonna suggest it might just be from condensation given the limited extent of it. And I've seen that before on other cars I've owned (not soobs). But I guess I never thought about the PCV valve connection - good info. thanx.

so, did a bad axle break the ball joint? Or, the other way?

+1 on removing weight (mass). The calculations vary with vehicle weight but, a rule of thumb is; 11 lbs. = 1 hp. and if that is rotating mass, it's even more. do you need a back seat or a spare tire? Some folks even try to use motorcycle/ATV batteries to save weight!

consider the Empi 80-5521 mine's been fine on my wife's Outback. Good pricing from Rockauto, maybe check Amazon too. They are all new, assembled in the US (with a new Chinese CV joint IIRC) so, everything is properly precision ground and heat treated. came with a new pin and the gold nut and 12 month warranty. So far, working fine. Or go with MWE, they seem to be everyone's favorite rebuild.

I have had some luck challenging a local dealer with online prices, got them to match, and 'almost' match in 2 instances. But, yeah, not uncommon for some dealers to mark-up dramatically I guess.

just bumping in case anyone else needs the torque values; both seem to be 25 ftlbs.) The noise is still intermittently occurring. After reading that sometimes the o-ring/hose connection to the PS Pump can allow air to be sucked in and cause noise, the next time I drove her car, I exercised the wheel from lock to lock, as the pump would strain at the limits, she says "That's the sound I heard!" So, I need to investigate that hose deal.

dunno about soobs, but from experiences with a Mitsubishi and a Toyota, don't buy any aftermarket that has a smaller hole in it than stock - bigger OK, just not smaller. And be VERY careful to wipe things off in that area and don't let any debris get in when you re-install the new sender. They can read weird if debris gets in the hole.

you could get a g-tech or, if you have a smart phone, download an acceleration app. That way, you do a few runs before each mod, then a few after the mod, and measure the improvement in hp/torque.

you might check the battery voltage but, it seems more like there's a common ground somewhere. If you wiggle some cables, will the radio come on? maybe someone will have a schematic and respond with that info.

How are wipers, cig lighter, and radio related? well, when it's raining so hard the wipers don't clear enough water to see, you pull over, listen to the radio, and light a cig to wait for the storm to ease up. what do i win?

I suppose if you approach it as a 'project'/'toy' it would be a lot of fun. But, IF you rely on it as your daily driver, I think you will have a lot of frustration ahead of you. Just be prepared, have a Plan B at every step, and some back-up means of transportation. I wonder if CCR has an EJ22T short block you could start with? anyway, I hope it goes smoothly. If you do get more ponies, do not neglect your braking upgrades!

well, every climate has it's problems, it's rare for a battery to last more than 2.5 - 3 years here. sigh

I've read that the threaded holes are for 8mm bolts. I pity you guys that have corrosion problems, I just take my rotors right off. I DO use a wire brush on the surfaces and on the wheels studs - but there's only a little surface rust. I use this for lubing the sliding parts;

Well, I'm not 'there' of course, but, I think you should make an effort to get a second opinion. Or, at least, have the bearing replaced first, then see how the car behaves.

Before I had the opportunity to spend enough to get my WRX, I was trying to research what you seem to want to do - boosting performance of an NA engine (I was shopping for an OBS) but, there just isn't much. Easiest is to find a good intake and exhaust combo, but reducing unsprung rotating mass might be next (lighter rims and tires) then, maybe reduce rotating mass (lightweight flywheel, maybe alloy pulleys) then, reduce mass, take out anything you don't need - back seat, spare tire, tools - w'ever. maybe Sparco or other seats are lighter than stock??? dunno. There might be some way to buildup the internals for more compression and run avgas or something crazy like that. But - the crazier you get, the more likely you compromise the reliability. On the highways, really, you can't safely/legally utilize much of the POWER, but, you can do some mods and make the car more 'tossable'. The guy that holds the record at a local track drives 134hp Miata. And he can beat the pants off of all the torque monsters that show up - vettes, Mustangs, you name it. he also owns a Gallardo. So, you might actually check into a local HDPE or autoX track experience. Or go rallycross with it. Then you're looking at brake and suspension mods. Soobs are not good candidates for 1/8 - 1/4 mile rockets. You can do it if you throw plenty of $$$$ at it, but you'd be better off with a Mustang if that's where you wanna be. In addition to reading here, you might do some reading at NASIOC and at scoobymods.

if you live where there are a lot of soobs in wrecking yards - probably easiest to swap in a turbo plant from and wrecked WRX.

sometimes, you're just plain mean aren't ya? ;^)

hmmmm....universals are often for the rear sensor, they won't work for the front. but there probably are universals for the front so - dunno, might worth triple checking that anyway. Sensor 1=front, sensor2=rear. You could have a wiring problem somewhere or a bad ECM.