long travel Outbacks or making Subarus faster and more reliable offroad

[Cyfun]

From what I understand of Heim joints, they need to be frequently manually lubricated.  Might make it a pain in the rump roast since you actually drive your car frequently, plus they might all be hard to get to underneath.

 

Why use stock bushings when you could get some super cheap polyurethane bushings for some other car.  It's not like you're trying to keep the car remotely original, lol.  In fact, maybe some bigass truck bushings would be just the ticket:

 

[Cyfun]

By the way, do you know anyone who has stuck a powerful Subaru motor on a VW buggy transaxle?  I've been tossing around the idea of making a rear-engine rwd buggy with either a Frankenmotor or an H6.  Can you imagine what a wheelie machine that'd be?

[pontoontodd]

I thought about polyurethane but those can be noisy also if not regularly greased.  I'll look around a little more.  Good point about being able to use some non stock sized bushings though, since we're making the links.

 

By the way, do you know anyone who has stuck a powerful Subaru motor on a VW buggy transaxle?  I've been tossing around the idea of making a rear-engine rwd buggy with either a Frankenmotor or an H6.  Can you imagine what a wheelie machine that'd be?

 

One of our friends recently put an EZ30 in his four seat street legal buggy.  He is just running a bus transaxle, but it does have some aftermarket gears in it.  He also runs fairly small tires to help the transaxle live.  Between the small tires and it being a four seater, I don't think it wheelies, but he said it will chirp the tires if you're too aggressive shifting into fourth gear.  He really likes the H6 and that's one reason we're planning on swapping one in my 99 OB.  There are a lot of people who've put Subaru engines in air cooled VWs, so adapters and clutches are readily available.

[Numbchux]

We're planning on making lateral links since we've bent them repeatedly on the Outback and at least one on the Forester.  Not a big deal when it happens, and fairly easy to straighten out, just figure if we actually finish the V2R they're sure to all be bent.  Figure we just make them fit the stock bushings but make the main tube 1" .095" or .120" 4130 or something stronger than stock.  So I was looking at bushings and the dealer wants a silly amount for them, $10-$24 each.

 

I did find this place that sells them for $6 each:

http://www.fastwrx.com/products/subaru-oem-lateral-link-to-knuckle-bushing

Anybody know if they're any good?  Couldn't find any mention of them online.

 

These Group N lateral link bushings are cheaper than the standard ones from the dealer:

http://www.rallispec.com/mou_bush_rstbk1.html

 

Am I missing something?

 

We've discussed making them tie rod style, heim joints / rod ends at both ends and a threaded tube in the middle.  My experience with rod ends is that they would get sloppy pretty fast on a street car.  The stock bushings seem to last almost forever.

 

 

I assume that is the 20251AA040, as $5.88 is Subaru MSRP for that. That part number is only the rear lateral link bushing on non-STi GDs (fronts and rears are that number on an STi). The front lateral link is a 20251AA000, which is $30.45!

 

I've driven a few cars with heims in the rear, and while they handle abuse well, they clunk. We had them in our Rally car (TSSFab, although I don't think they offer them anymore), if you're worried about noise, I wouldn't recommend them.

 

 

I've got all poly bushings in my Celica, have for several years. Love it, a little white lithium on them at install, and they're quiet as the proverbial church mouse.

[pontoontodd]

Pretty exciting stuff here, trying to fix the power driver's seat in the 2002 OB.  When we first got it, it would move forward but only sometimes backward.  All the other adjustments work fine.  Now it will only move forward.  Fortunately, since it is from CA, I was able to easily unbolt the seat.  The plug going to the fore/aft motor was getting +/- 12VDC when I pushed the switch both ways.  Took the seat completely out and put it on the workbench for disassembly.  When I hotwired the fore/aft motor with 12V either way, it would occasionally twitch or hum, and one time moved about an inch, but usually did nothing.  So I don't think it's a switch/wiring/fuse problem.

 

 

Removed the whole fore/aft mechanism

 

 

The bearing blocks spin freely on the screws.  The screws don't seem to turn, so I assume the right angle gearbox(es) or motor are locked up.

 

One side slid freely, the other was sticky but not terrible.

 

 

For the meantime I just threaded the bearing block things most of the way up the screws to give me more legroom.  The bearing blocks have to bolt to the rails before you slide the whole thing in and bolt in the gearboxes.

 

 

Anybody know of a place to get that mechanism without buying a whole seat?  Only nearby junkyard with a good seat wants $160, and it's still about an hour drive.  Don't see anybody on the forums parting one out with a seat at the moment.

 

As much as I love AC and cruise control, I really don't understand power seats.  Just seems like they're slower, heavier, more expensive, and less reliable.  The super adjustable cushion on this one is kind of nice, but not worth it.  Maybe I should just look for a leather manual seat.

[Uberoo]

  Maybe I should just look for a leather manual seat.

 

A manual seat will be lighter,simpler,and faster to use.All good things especially on a race car.However,a non powered leather seat will be hard to find,you might have to grab the manual rails from another seat and bolt them to your leather seat.Also,Leather sucks on really hot days,maybe cloth seats would be better for race car.

[pontoontodd]

A manual seat will be lighter,simpler,and faster to use.All good things especially on a race car.However,a non powered leather seat will be hard to find,you might have to grab the manual rails from another seat and bolt them to your leather seat.Also,Leather sucks on really hot days,maybe cloth seats would be better for race car.

 

This is going in the 2002, which we don't plan on racing.  Have to use a race seat for desert racing anyhow.  The other seats are tan leather so I'd like to get something to match that.  Looks like they didn't offer manual leather driver's seats though.  After looking at it, I kind of doubt you'd be able to put the manual slide rails under this seat.

[Numbchux]

Also, I think I remember from my research several years ago that all the leather cars have side airbags (built into the seat), and all the cloth ones don't....I might be wrong on that, but something to look into.

 

 

 

 

I looked up the OEM assembly, MSRP is like $400.....surprise surprise.

 

 

Try car-part.com. They may even ship it to you. I know I've purchased seat parts (for work) from junkyards that needed to be shipped.

[pontoontodd]

Also, I think I remember from my research several years ago that all the leather cars have side airbags (built into the seat), and all the cloth ones don't....I might be wrong on that, but something to look into.

 

 

 

 

I looked up the OEM assembly, MSRP is like $400.....surprise surprise.

 

 

Try car-part.com. They may even ship it to you. I know I've purchased seat parts (for work) from junkyards that needed to be shipped.

 

I think that's also what car-part said about the airbags, not at all concerned about that.  That power seat I saw listed for $160 was on car-part.com.  There was at least one that was cheaper but in C condition, seems like a waste of time to swap in a worn out seat.  I should call some of them and see if they'd just sell the fore/aft mechanism.

[pontoontodd]

Below follows the saga of purchasing an H6 donor car.

 

The only nearby junkyard I could find on car-part that had a decent engine and it was still in the car wanted $1500 for the front clip.  Not sure how we'd get it home or what we'd do with it once it was here.  Seemed like just buying a running car wouldn't cost much more.

 

I've been watching co part, and even bid on one car a while back.  I haven't found a good way to see what cars actually sell for, but it seems like anything that runs and drives is at least $1500.

 

There were two listed on craigslist in Milwaukee with 6cyl, so I arranged a time to meet the guy with the cheaper car and we drove up there. Address he gave us turned out to be a Wells Fargo branch. I called and he said he'd just sold it, then had some story about how he just sold a 2006 but was coming to meet us in the 2001. He pulled into the parking lot a few minutes later and said there were a few other guys who had called him. They'd been waiting in other cars in the lot.  My friend quickly noticed it was a four cylinder. We drove over to a McDonalds so we could use the bathroom and I looked up the other Milwaukee ad. Different price, pictures, and wording, but same phone number.  Not sure what kind of scam was going down there, but he did change the listings to four cylinder.  Texted a guy in south bend Indiana who had one for sale for $1200 and he texted me back quickly that it was still for sale. I sent him a few more questions and have never heard back.  Ad was gone the next day so I assume he sold it.  There is another one in Chicago that we have not been able to get a reply from all week, so we went back home.

 

There was a 2002 OB H6 sedan on co part for $550 buy it now. Runs and drives, 187k miles, dent in hood and fender. Called the M97 broker and it's about $1100 with fees. So I had them buy it now. Wired the money over in the afternoon.
Confirmed with the yard that I could just drive it out (I've read online that some make you tow it out even if it runs).

I had called a tow service in Rockford a shop I deal with recommended.  They go in and out of Chicago all the time so they'd tow the car to Rockford for $110.

We drove into the auction in Wheeling the next afternoon. Got the paperwork pretty quickly, had to give them the buyer number (make sure you have the buyer number if you buy a car at auction through a broker), probably waited a half hour or so for them to bring the car out. They have a ton of cars which they move around with two giant forked wheel loaders (whether or not the cars run) that are in constant motion.  The guy who dropped it off asked me what our car's license plate number was. I didn't have mine memorized, not sure if that's really what he was asking, but he eventually just decided to ignore it and left the car.  I hopped in, found the key, and it fired right up.  Drove it back and forth a few times, it made some clunking and scraping noises, but seemed to be mostly functional.  We drove it out of the bullpen and out into their visitor lot. The trans clearly wasn't working well but seemed like it would be good enough. Coolant was definitely bubbling into the overflow, so probably bad head gaskets.  Popped the radiator cap off before it was warm and it was full. Idled rough, check engine light on. Engine oil, PS, brake fluid were all good, even had ¾ tank of gas. Could not remove auto trans dipstick.  My friend followed me in the 2002 OB wagon and I headed west. Only made it a few miles until the trans in the sedan started acting like it was in neutral. Pulled into a parking lot, got the dipstick out with a vice grips, and put in a quart of ATF. May have been slightly low. Added ATF didn't help. Basically you can drive it up to about 35mph normally, if you try to go 40+ it's like the final drive disengages or something, but it doesn't make any noise. The speedo and tach swing around freely when you hit the gas. Between that and the likely bad head gaskets, we figured we wouldn't make it back to Rockford. Spent a bunch of time calling various tow companies near there that wanted $300-400 to tow it to Rockford. The tow company from Rockford wasn't able to pick it up on short notice though. Eventually we left the car at my friend's parents' house, which was about ten miles away.  By the time we got there the temp gauge had gone all the way up a couple of times.  Left the floormats under the front end to catch the coolant and went home.

Tow place picked it up the next day and towed it to Rockford for $150.  I was barely able to drive it halfway in the garage since the trans was mostly not engaging.  Had to push it the rest of the way in.

Here are pictures from the auction site:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So if anyone wants parts, PM me, I'm definitely keeping the engine and associated wiring and computers.  My friend wants the radiator and fan assembly.  I plan on keeping the wheels and tires for summer use on the 02 wagon.  Other than that, I will probably scrap the rest by the end of the month.

I will try to see if I can use parts from this seat to fix the 02 wagon, but this one moves back and not forward.

Edited February 3, 2017 by pontoontodd

[pontoontodd]

Got the 02 OB power seat working, it was the switch.  Put in the one out of the sedan and it works fine.  After swapping over the front/back mechanism of course, which was a pain.

 

Drove the Impreza a couple of times today since it's been sitting for a few weeks.  Did two ~30 min trips in town with a short stop in the middle of each.  Both times the temp came up normally, held steady for most of the trip, and then the last five minutes or so started creeping up, even with the heat all the way up.  It's 20F today and the radiator fan was running both times when I got home.  The first time the overflow bottle was overflowing.  It was empty before the second trip, so I filled it most of the way up, but the radiator was still full.  At the end of the second trip the overflow was still at about the same level, but the hose was bubbling.  So the head gaskets are probably starting to go, right?

 

On the plus side, the starter and trans have been working.

[Uberoo]

you should turn that into the race car.

[pontoontodd]

you should turn that into the race car.

 

You mean because it's the lightest car you could get with an EZ30?

 

We probably won't because:

It would be a lot of work and expense to do the fuel cell and pumps, cage, seats, belts, window nets, bumpers, etc on this one.  And building a cage in a sedan would probably be harder than a wagon.

It would be hard to fit all the stuff we want to take in a sedan.

This thing is pretty rusty, so not worth keeping and building up (I know, I did that with the 99 but going to try to avoid ever doing that again).  You can't really tell from the pictures, but I'll put up a picture of the front bumper beam sometime.  It's about half steel and half air/iron oxide.

 

For years now the Impreza will randomly lose coolant.  Hard to say if it leaks since it's normally parked on a porous surface.  After the first time it overheated last week, I had waited a few hours and tried to add coolant but couldn't add much.  The second time it overheated it was bubbling in the overflow.  This morning I was able to add a quart or two to the radiator and overflow.  I just drove it for an hour and a half (with some stops, maybe driving half the time) and no overheating, no bubbling.  So maybe it was just low on coolant before.  That would be nice.

[pontoontodd]

So here's my current Subaru collection:

 

 

Here's the rusty front bumper beam I mentioned:

 

 

So we were working on this sedan and my friend noticed the LF CV axle was pulled apart.  The shaft was out of the outer joint and the inner joint (boot holding it on) and the inner CV was pulled mostly out of the trans.  I thought I heard some noises like that when we first drove it, but most of the time it was pretty quiet.

 

The spindle nut wasn't staked:

 

 

Here's what the axle looked like:

 

 

Put in an axle I picked up off the ground at a junkyard this summer.

 

It drives better now but the AT oil temp light comes on right away, I don't remember seeing that much before.  Also, the speedo doesn't seem to register in first gear, and it stays in first longer than you'd expect.  Once it shifts into second, speedo works.

 

We've gotten a lot of the wiring exposed and some of it removed.  I'll post up pictures of that when we make more progress.

[pontoontodd]

I've learned a lot about Subaru wiring in the last ten days.  I'll try to leave out a lot of the trial and error and just describe what we've done that seems to work.  The goal is to trim the wiring down as much as possible but have no trouble codes and functional cruise control.  After going through this I see why some people would just pay someone a few hundred dollars to do this or even go standalone.  But it's been interesting.

 

This thread is great, I need to sign up there to give thanks if nothing else:

http://www.rs25.com/forums/f145/t155496-dynes-1999-2-5rs-h6-ez30d-swap.html
 

Far more helpful though is the FSM.  Fortunately I've seen links to them online.  More about that later.

http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/Legacy%20Outback/2002/

 

This is one of the things I noticed when removing the dash.  Some micro switch just below the hood release.  I think it was attached to the remote start.

 

 

I took the dash out in about three hours at a relaxed pace.  Much easier than the 99, mainly since there wasn't a roll cage in the way, also since we'd just done the 99, and this one did seem to have a few less things connecting the dash to the car.  On the 99 I unscrewed the stalks and slid them off the steering column, which was kind of a pain and still didn't give the dash a lot of room to get by.  On this sedan I just unbolted the steering column from the cross beam with the two bolts and it drops to the floor.  Much easier.  Passenger side air bag is pretty heavy, might wind up leaving those out of the 99.  Especially since the wiring will be far from stock when we're done.

 

 

Took the cross beam, HVAC, and ABS stuff out.  First step was just start unplugging stuff until codes came up or the car died.  Cut/peeled most of the electrical tape off the harness too.  Labeled where various things plugged in.

 

 

The first thing we decided to attack was the wiring to the front.  It goes out under the driver's fender and then back in under the hood by the battery.  That would clearly prevent us from getting the harness out of the car in one piece so we unplugged everything and got it inside the car.

 

 

Laid out on the ground next to the car.

 

 

These harnesses are all hopelessly tangled and often have splices in the middle of wire runs, so it's not like you can just take the wires from a certain plug back to the fuse box or something and cut them off there.  Spread out for easier trimming.

 

 

So then I cut off all those wires laying out on the floor.  They go to the various lights, horns, and ABS.  The ones going out the car to the front are for the fans and the underhood fuse box.

[pontoontodd]

I still can't quite figure out the fuel level circuit. The fuel level sender(s) are definitely through a blue plug going to the back with about a dozen wires (I've cut all but three).  If you unplug it the fuel gauge reads empty and the code is on.  I can wire those through resistors to ground to get the fuel gauge to read over half a tank, but the code still comes on.  After I cut the fuel level wire (according to the manual) at the ECU that code does not come up with or without the connector unplugged.  Problem solved you say.  This is all with the dash harness plugged into the interior fuse block. If you unplug either of those dash harness plugs from the fuse block, the gauges don't come on and you get the code.  Only after many hours of messing with this did I look up the code in the FSM to find that the first troubleshooting step basically says if the speedo/tach aren't working, you'll get the code.  So I don't know of a good way around that.  Certainly don't have room to stuff the 02 instrument cluster in the 99 somewhere just to keep one code from coming up.  The wire that goes to the ECU that's supposedly for fuel level did read 3V before I cut it (stripped a little insulation off).  So we wired two resistors between 5V and ground so that in between them was 3V and spliced that to the ECU.  Still fuel level code comes up with the dash unplugged.  I could definitely use some help here.

 

On the plus side I figured out the fuel temp circuit (P0183), evap (P0447), and code P1400. Just started cutting wires leading to the back of the car. For the fuel temp circuit I just had to run a 3.5k resistor between the red/light blue and black/yellow wires. The wires for the other two codes were constant 12V from the rear, even with the ignition off. So I found a constant 12V (should eventually try to find something switched so it doesn't drain the battery). By accidentally touching it to ground and blowing the fuse found out it's for the clock / interior lights. First wired that through a 10 ohm resistor to the two wires for the other codes. Green/black for P1400, brown/yellow for P0447. Smoked that resistor pretty quick. Then put in a 3.9k resistor, didn't smoke, no codes.

 

 

At this point the only thing going to the back is the 8 wire plug for the fuel pump, which actually looks the same as the one in the 99. I plan on just running a new fuel pump wire anyhow, the one in the 99 is pretty small gauge and corroded. So still have to sort out which of those wires goes to the fuel pump.

 

I had unplugged over half the connections to the underhood fuse block when we were on our unplugging spree the other day.  Had to plug most of them back in to get the alternator back to charging 14.5V. If you unplug one of them it goes to 15.5V!

 

Before we started on the rest of this, I drove it around the block. The speedo only registered over about 30mph, but then it and the cruise control worked.

 

We messed with the P0051 H02S heater control circuit low code.  Figure if nothing else it would be nice to get the check engine light off so if it came on we'd know we have a new code.  This appears to be the driver's side O2 sensor heater, which has no continuity between the two adjacent pins (pass side OK). Tried putting in several different resistors but can't get rid of the code.

 

Seemed like only the passenger side fan would come on, so I messed with that. Got a temp sensor so I could plug it in and heat it up to get the fans to come on. Sort of worked, but it would cool back off quickly, especially with the fans on. The harness end has +5V on one side of the pair of pins. The third pin gets 10V from the harness and is 1k ohms to ground through the sensor.  I'm just going to start using a lowercase o for ohms.  The temp sensor across the two pins is about:

3k ohms = 55F

1k ohms = 109F

120o = 210F

47o = 210F

So I left the 47o resistor in, which made the ECU try to turn the fans on. Each fan has four pins, two hot and two ground. One of the ground pins is always grounded, although I think the resistance was high (18o?). The other one gets grounded by the fan relay on the firewall, but that was high resistance, about 18o. The two hot leads are switched on by relays main 1 and main 2 (or sub 1 and sub 2).  There is also a 30A fuse for each fan, the one for the main fan was blown so I replaced that.  Main fan is driver's side, sub fan is passenger side. Relays all seemed good, ground pins are getting grounded (more or less), hot pins are 12V. What's strange is that unplugging the temp sensor will cause the fan to run on low, high, and seemingly higher than normal and cycle between those for a while. Driver's side never works, so I assume that motor is bad. When we wire this up to the fans in the 99 we'll make sure the ground is low resistance.  Plan on just using the fans in the 99 and this wiring.

[pontoontodd]

Finally, what I've heard is the hardest part of making this swap work, the transmission control module (TCM).  We figured the easiest way was to keep it and just trick it into thinking it's still connected to an auto trans (again, thanks to the rs25 thread).

 

First thing I tried with the trans was to unplug the passenger side plug on the top of the trans (B11/T4).  Car won't start.  Plugged that back in and unplugged the driver side plug (B12/T3).  Engine started but had a P0866 TCM Communication circuit high code, the fuel level code (probably because the VSS wires go through that plug so the speedo doesn't work), and the engine seemed down on power.  Plugged that back in and unplugged one of the plugs from the TCM, got a P0866.  Unplugging just the other connector to the TCM gives the P0866 and P1698.  With either or both unplugged you can still drive the car but it seems to be very low on power, won't go over 2000RPM in drive, but seems faster in reverse.  Only so hard you want to test that in the alley though.

It was about at this point that I realized the 2002 FSM shows three plugs for the TCM and ours has only two.  Three plugs appears to be for the VDC model.  It does seem to show the right colors for the plugs at the trans.  I downloaded the 2001 supplement for 6 cylinder which seems to show the right plugs and wire colors for our TCM, but the colors for the plugs at the trans are the wrong colors in the 2001 FSM.  Car was built 10/01.

 

Figured the easiest thing to start on would be the gear selector.  There is a mechanical cable going from the shifter in the car to the trans.  There is a wire plug going to the top of the trans known as the inhibitor switch that tells the TCM what gear you're in.  This also lights up the reverse lights and connects the circuit for the starter if you're in park or neutral.  So the first step is to splice the white/blue and white/green so that it will start no matter what.  Next step was to wire in a three position switch so we could ground neutral or drive to the TCM.  One position grounds the reverse pin of the TCM, the middle grounds nothing and causes a code, and the other position grounds the D pin.  Took a bit to figure out to cut all the other gear position wires so the trans didn't think we were in say reverse and drive at the same time.  Yes, this is semi posterior, keep in mind we're just trying to make the car fully driveable with no codes and nothing attached to the trans, eventually this will be wired to some kind of clutch and/or neutral switch and not this crudely.  Plus, if you think this wiring is questionable, you haven't seen anything yet.

 

 

 

So now we can drive the car with the passenger side unplugged from the trans. Still seems to be anemic in drive, won't go much over 2000RPM, but seems to keep slowly accelerating, but fast in reverse.

 

First thing we did after unplugging the plug on the driver's side was to splice wires across it for the VSS. This made the speedo work, and we never got codes for the other speed sensors. I think at this point the OBDII port stopped working. We grounded the pin for ground at the harness and it started working again. How would you ever figure that out if you just had the harness and were trying to get it to work in a different car? Various solenoid codes started coming up, and we started just jamming resistors between the sockets of those pins to duplicate the resistance of those solenoids. That basically worked but some of them started going up in smoke. Fortunately I had some appropriate resistance 1W and 10W resistors we were able to put in place of the main two shift solenoids. Another small one smoked and all we had were 0.25W resistors, so I just took about a dozen of about 12x the resistance of the solenoid and wrapped them all together.

 

 

These eventually discolored but seemed to still have the same resistance we started with. At least once we were able to drive it without any transmission codes (switch in N or D, didn't seem to matter). Still anemic in drive but quick in reverse. We looked up the ratios in the FSM to find that reverse was geared taller than first. So maybe it will only go to 2000RPM but that is faster in reverse? Tried it again and I got over 2500RPM in reverse (which is plenty fast in the alley). Maybe without the electronics, the cable manually shifts it through 1,2,3,4. Tried it in first, still won't go much over 2000RPM.  Keep in mind this is with everything unplugged from the trans.  So there is no way the TCM or ECU knows what gear it's in, or even if it's in gear, except for that switch I wired in.  With the driver's side plugged in, got over 3000RPM in drive pretty quickly. Finally it dawned on us that it must be mechanically in third or fourth and the solenoids are downshifting it. Unplugged the driver's side at the trans again and put our resistors back in to the harness side. We figured out that the 1 and 2 shift solenoids were hot when the switch is in D (to the TCM) and wired those to 12V with the ignition on. Now it seems to accelerate much better, but might be in second based on RPM/mph and seat of the pants.  Here is that masterpiece of electrical engineering:

 

 

FSM says the ATF temp sensor should be between 275 and 375 ohms, so we put a 330 ohm resistor in the harness plug. Never got an ATF temp code, but the ATF temp light comes on (flashes) in the dash. Sensor reads 600o through the harness plug, so we tried a few around there, and a 220o, still no code but light on the dash kept flashing.  Reads about 3.5k ohm cold.  Speedo has stopped working, wires for that have probably come loose.

 

I'm going to get a breadboard and some 10W resistors to wire close to the TCM to get rid of that mess.  Need to get a solid connection on the VSS too, that still isn't working but shows continuity on my DMM.

 

So I think my main conundrum is that fuel level A code, and how to get rid of it without the dash / instrument panel wiring.  Anybody know how to do that?

[pontoontodd]

Made a decent resistor bank for the TCM.  Used 47 ohm resistors, the solenoids measure 4 or 15 ohms, but I've read online that people who've done this swap have used much higher ohm resistors without problems, I will probably go higher still in the future as the 47ohm resistors get pretty warm.  I'll probably get a screw terminal banks at that time as my soldering is not very good.

 

 

Poked a few strands of each wire through the breadboard and bent them over to keep the wires from pulling out.

 

 

We've been able to drive the car with the transmission completely unplugged (except VSS jumped across the plug) and everything seems to work fine except the cruise.  Only transmission code is the neutral circuit low.  Still either flashes or lights up steady the ATF temp light on the dash but no code.  Speedo (and OBDII mph) doesn't register until you get up to about 20mph but then works all the time.

 

So I started the diagnosis procedure for the neutral circuit low code.  One of the first tests is to see if the harness is shorted to ground on that pin.  It is grounded whether I have the toggle switch to the TCM in N or D.  So I cut that wire near the ECU. No code with the toggle switch in N or D.  Probably not the right way to do it, the FSM says that should be 5V in R or D/3/2/1, but the only code I'm getting is that O2 sensor.  That even seems to be the case with the dash unplugged too.

 

Noticed in one of the wiring diagrams for the cruise that one of the wires to the cruise module goes through the inhibitor switch. I have that all hotwired now so maybe that was making the cruise think it's in neutral.  Cruise works now with that wire to the ECU cut, dash plugged in or not.

 

Seemed like the main reason to have the dash plugged in was the alternator wouldn't charge without it and it would cause the fuel level code.  The FSM showed one of the wires going through the battery idiot light.  So I wired a resistor instead, alternator charges and no fuel level code (usually) with this:

 

 

I guess I don't understand exactly how this works, wouldn't the battery idiot light come on when the alternator is charging?

 

 

One of the last things I did before we pulled all the wiring out was to figure out the feeds for the various gauges and idiot lights.  Debated putting the 02 instrument cluster in the 99 but physically it's surprisingly different and electrically it will probably be simpler to keep the 99 instrument cluster.

 

So, again using the FSM, figured out the CEL/MIL, oil pressure idiot light, and temp sender (for gauge).  The FSM seems to have the right wire colors but the pinouts for the instrument cluster are different than the actual gauges.  Some of them were easy to confirm by testing for continuity on the well labeled circuit board to the pins on the top of the instrument cluster.  Final confirmation was cutting them and then grounding the CEL/MIL and oil pressure to see them light up and putting a resistor between temp gauge and ground to see the needle move.  Oil pressure switch is green/orange, MIL/CEL is red/white, and temp is pink/white.

 

Also figured out which wire to cut to kill the tach but still read on the OBDII scanner, same with the speedo.

 

 

The only other thing going through that super multiple junction that we're using is the main cruise switch, so wired around that and test drove the car again to make sure the cruise works.

 

 

Now we've got all the wiring out of the car and working on paring it down.  I'll put up some pictures of that soon.  Once this swap is done I might make a separate mini thread with the basics of how to do the wiring.

 

Someone suggested I get the car tuned once this is all done, should be able to clear some of these persistent but unimportant codes and make 10% more midrange torque for a few hundred bucks.  So far I have not been able to find someone who can do that to the EZ30.  Anybody know of a good tuning solution for these engines?  I can see after spending two weeks already on this wiring, having to buy a whole running car, and not having an easy tuning solution why a lot of people who use these engines just use a standalone ECU.

[pontoontodd]

This is the wiring we removed that seemed to be necessary to run the engine and cruise control and radiator fans with no trouble codes.

 

 

Inside of car mostly free of wiring.

 

 

This is the harness after we traced back a bunch of the plugs we weren't using and cut those wires out.  Labeled the wires we will need to splice into the other car with pieces of red tape.  Most of those are for the gauges and idiot lights.

 

 

Wiring we took out of the car that we don't think we need, but I'll hang onto it for a while to be sure.

 

 

I got the H6 out of the 02 donor sedan yesterday.  The entire exhaust system is one piece, so it's pretty heavy.  I was able to disconnect the power steering lines at the crossmember, so with luck those will hook up easily.  Only thing I hadn't done when I checked the FSM for removal instructions was the torque converter bolts.  Those are not as bad as I thought they'd be.  I did unplug a few things and move the wiring out of the way for the ratchet.  Only four of them and once they were broken loose I could thread them out with my fingers.  Then the converter pilot and/or bellhousing dowels were stuck, but nothing a hammer can't fix.

 

 

Today I'll start removing the H4 from the 99.

[pontoontodd]

One thing I did before installing the H6 was to RTV that plastic cover for the torque converter bolts back in.  Also duct taped both sides of the flywheel shield, there were some slots in it.  May not last but it's a nice thought.  Clutch out of the 99 was pretty dusty but not terrible.

 

 

Another thing I did while there was no engine in the 99 was to fix this.  I think it's been like this for a while, I think it's just from the crossmember bolts being overtightened.

 

 

Cleaned off the paint and caulk, hammered it flush, welded it, and repainted it.

 

 

H6 went in fairly easily.  We hooked up the wiring and the fuel lines and it fired right up.  Still a lot of work to do but a relief to hear it run.  Only trouble code was fuel temp, we had taken out the resistors for that.

 

 

It is definitely longer, maybe only an inch, but there is no way any Subaru fans are going to fit between the radiator and the engine.  Even if they did, I don't know where the air would go when it came out.  Piece of 2" square tubing in between I was using to check for clearance.  I think the only reasonable solution is to put a pair of pusher fans on the front.

 

 

H6 exhaust hits the trans crossmember on the driver's side.  Almost bolts up flush to the head, back end of the cats probably has to go up about 1".  Exhaust will go to the driver's side anyhow, so I'll just tweak the stock system for now to fit.

 

 

 

 

Tidied up the 2002 wiring a bit more.  Still a mess, but most of it seems to be needed for the engine, fans, cruise, etc.

 

Edited February 28, 2017 by pontoontodd

[AdventureSubaru]

I like where this is going. Did you do the head gaskets on the h6 yet or is that coming later?

[pontoontodd]

I like where this is going. Did you do the head gaskets on the h6 yet or is that coming later?

 

Nope, haven't done anything with it yet.  There was sparkly stuff in the coolant too, considering that and the 187k it has on it, it might be best to just buy a lower mileage engine.

[pontoontodd]

First thing I tried with the exhaust was cutting the driver's side most of the way, cutting the passenger side completely, and thought about extending that side.  That might have worked but it put the rear O2 into the tunnel by the time the exhaust cleared the crossmember.

 

 

Then I thought it would be simpler to just flip around that section of the driver's side exhaust.  It bends right away coming out of the front cat but is straight for a few inches before it goes into the rear cat.  That straight part is why it wouldn't clear the crossmember.  Here is what it looks like flipped around and tacked back together.  Still hits but seems like the flanges bolt up flush to the heads.

 

 

Welded back together.  Pipe in the bottom middle is what I flipped around.

 

 

Back in the car.

 

 

It was pretty loud with just the three cats, so I tacked the section with the next two silencers back in and wired it up for now.

[pontoontodd]

One issue with the radiator hoses is that the lower radiator water neck is about an inch away from the timing chain cover and points right at it.  You could probably jam the hose on but I doubt it would last.

 

 

Cut off the neck at an angle and made up a slightly longer and thicker piece to weld on.

 

 

Got it welded on.  Found out there is a pinhole leak (dark spot in the picture below), so I'll have to take it back.

 

 

Even with that welded on at an angle, the radiator hose still hits the timing chain cover.  I'll put a piece of rubber in between and it should be alright.  Also in this picture you can see that the "frame rail" on that side is buckled, so that doesn't help either.

 

 

The upper hoses were a little easier.  Only complication is that the H6 has two outlets but I want to keep this 2" core radiator which has just one inlet.  I got a tee from Jaguars that run, only place I could find something like that.  Those guys have been in business for a long time, we got a V8 Z car swap kit/book from them about 20 years ago.  Used a piece of 1.25" aluminum tubing, a radiator hose I had laying around, and cut up the long H6 hose.

 

 

On the plus side, I can drive the car now.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem much better than the EJ25.  Idle is high and erratic, definitely has an exhaust leak.

 

According to the GPS, with the EJ25 just before the swap, in third gear it went from 20 to 30mph in 6 seconds.  Took 5 seconds to go from 30 to 50mph.

With the EZ30, 20 to 30 took 2.5 seconds but 30 to 50 took 6 seconds.

 

When I drove it, I couldn't connect to the OBDII scanner, when I got back and grounded a wire I'd missed, just had codes for fuel pressure/fuel temp/evap.  I don't have a lot of things hooked up, VSS, gauges, etc, so that's next.  I'm wondering if it is electrical, the engine being weak, or a combination of the two.

[pontoontodd]

Hooked up most of the various wires and plugs.  Took me longer than it should have to realize that I have to splice the hot ignition switched lead from the 2002 harness into the same for the 99 since that is no longer plugged into the ignition switch.

 

It does seem to at least idle smoother now, after a few seconds it drops down to about 1000RPM.

 

Got the speedo working in dash but not reading MPH at ECU so cruise isn't working.  Auto VSS was two wires, the VSS in the 99 is three, but one of those which I think should be +12V doesn't have any voltage.  Same color (green/black) wire that goes to the speedo in dash spliced into the signal wire for the TCM, not sure what is going wrong there.  One time I drove it I had a code for VSS A, but not the last time, but ECU still showed just 0mph.

 

Turn signals, brake switch, power locks, and headlights are working, but wipers and power mirrors aren't.  When I turn it on there's a relay under hood that clicks on and off a few times, but then stops.

 

Any thoughts on those two issues would definitely be appreciated. 

 

Only other code was the fuel level A.

 

I figure tomorrow I'll work on the tach, temp gauge, idiot lights, and alternator wiring.  Hopefully those will be easy.