1996 Impreza OBS Restore/Build

[lstevens76]

Ok, so I really like this car.  I have another post about when I bought it and some of the stuff I need to do to it.  This is my build thread where I can not only keep track of all the work I've done but also it allows me a single place to ask for help and for people to follow what I'm doing, since I have a lot of fun plans for this car.

 

So, to begin with I bought this '96 Subaru Impreza OBS for $450.  It runs and drives, but of course for this cost it's going to have problems.  Two of the tires were good, two were about bald, and the rims were toast.  It had a knock sensor CEL and a Speed Sensor CEL and the speedometer didn't work.  Someone had tried to steal the stereo and broken all the trim around it along with the face and face attachment plastic for the stereo.  The blower motor doesn't work, the struts are shot (possibly bad springs now too).  The body has damage, but almost all of it is in removable parts (i.e. doors, fenders, etc...) and the interior is extremely dirty.  The back hatch lock isn't working correctly and the carpet/mats are completely missing from the back.  The timing belt idlers need replaced (skate board sound).  The power steering is leaking up near the pump and he was putting "Power Steering Fluid" in it. I know, it says it on the cap, but that means you have to read the cap................  The alternator wiring is kind of screwed.  There was a short at the bolt on spot I guess (that's what he told me) and he did some jimmy rigged thing that I will have to correct later.  AC Belt is not attached and he direct wired the AC fan (for no good reason) because it wasn't coming on (which of course it's not going to come on with the AC off!).

 

What I've done so far:

Picked up a brand new set of 185/70/14 Toyo Eclipse on 5x100 Rims and put them on (total cost $100).  

Replaced Knock Sensor ($45)

Replaced Speedometer adapter ($15)

Replaced Front Windshield Wipers ($30)

Replaced Center Console Trim and found an Alpine Stereo on CL ($20) like what was in it so it just plugged right in.

Replaced PVC ($1.99)

 

Things to still do:

Spark Plugs

Spark Plug Wires (don't want to do these until I have the PS leak fixed because I want nice and pretty NGK blue ones.  )

Power Steering Pump, possibly the rack as well

Struts/springs

Air Filter

Blower Motor Problem resolved

AC Fixed (yes I want my AC!  )

Bulbs for Heater Controls/Gear Selection (it's an Automatic.  Don't go the 5 speed thing please as my right shoulder is a problem and shifting causes me problems).

 

I'll post up some new pictures of the car in a bit, including the nasty dirty interior that I'm starting on today.  

 

 

My most pressing questions are regarding struts right now:

 

Will Impreza OBS Top Hats fit over Forester Strut/spring assemblies?  How much lift would "JUST" Forester Struts give (no spacers) and would it require the links, etc... as it does when doing a full lift?

 

Either way on that question, how long do Subaru Struts tend to last?  I'm considering a full used set to begin with (Either OBS or Forester) so I don't have to count coils to make sure it wasn't lowered or having a broken one.  It also gives me the entire setup for each strut so if I pull it out and find a broken spring, top hat, bottom, etc... I already have all the parts this way.

 

And this forum is great.  I've gotten tons of help and really appreciate all of it.

[lstevens76]

Ok, no more CEL!  I can move onto other things.  Some things I forgot above that are on my list:

 

Timing Belt Covers and Idlers

thermostat

Transmission Service (hasn't been done in at least 8 years that I know of since the PO never had it done and had owned the car since '07).

 

It's raining and my phone doesn't like me at the moment plus I need a shower and change of clothes before I go running around so I'll get pictures later.  I'm also working on cleaning out the inside so I can vacuum and at least get rid of some of the dirt.

Edited April 11, 2015 by lstevens76

[lstevens76]

Ok, so now I'm getting a P0441 after driving around 50 miles, but I was also under 3/4 of a tank when it came on.  I cleared it earlier drove around 20 miles and it hasn't come back (not even pending) yet so I think that's the gas cap.

 

But, while I was at a friends house I discovered I have a coolant leak, but not sure where.  I have 2 primary possible culprits.  Either the thermostat isn't working worth a darn or it's non-existent.  If it's non-existent this means no gasket which = obvious probable coolant leak.  I also noticed the radiator cap is not OEM and doesn't feel to have the correct tension on it, secondary problem.

 

And after the tires were balanced the wobble and spring noise aren't near as bad.  It still needs struts, but it's a lot nicer to drive now.

 

I'm just glad I know how to do all the mechanic work myself, and I'm glad that I buy tires from Discount since they balanced these tires for free.

[lstevens76]

Ok, so I got all the big trash out of the inside and now (after I do a couple of things) I'm heading to a carwash to try and get the interior clean.   It may not be possible, I don't know yet. lol

 

[lstevens76]

On the passenger seat the sunglasses and OBD2 Bluetooth adapter are mine.  I cleaned out everything that wasn't mine and most of the stuff that was mine in prep to go to the car wash.

 

I do have a few of the trim pieces for the back (mostly just the hatch stuff) so that will be a junkyard run for those and probably replacing most of that back trim anyways since some of it's beat up and cracked.

Edited April 12, 2015 by lstevens76

[lstevens76]

ok, vacuumed it out and did some cleaning.  The blower decided to work, then not work. Not sure what's going on there yet.  It wasn't working at all before.

 

But, in the process of cleaning I went to the car wash (rather damage there vacuum then my kirby. ) and got it washed.  So now I have "daylight"  pictures.

 

[fishy]

Good job so far, I enjoy a good build/mod/repair thread with pictures!

That thing sure was farm fresh on the inside though, holy monkey!

[lstevens76]

Oh, farm fresh is an understatement. lol  There was actual dirt, and I meant dirt, caked onto the back seat (not all off yet) and under the back seat.  The carpet will just flat out get replaced and I'm considering just replacing the lower back seat out of a junkyard (yes it's that bad).

 

I'll post interior pictures in a bit of what it looks like now that I've done some cleaning.  Just ended up in pain so stopped.  To get it fully clean is probably going to take a while and may not happen till I buy the carpet.  I need to pull the seats and clean the tracks, plus I want to replace the drivers side seat I think.  I believe the springs are collapsed just like my Durango, but a used Subaru seat is a whole lot cheaper than a used Durango seat that is "tan" and in good condition. lol

[lstevens76]

Here is how the interior looks now.  I want to take my Kirby to it, but out of steam for the day as I have someone coming to look at the Legacy so I had to get it cleaned up.  Sad part is the Legacy has a nicer interior and I already did the TB, Idlers, water pump, plugs, wires, PCV, ECT, and more to it.  Just can't drive a 5MT anymore.

 

[fishy]

Big improvements! I see what you mean about the carpet and rear seat bottom though. Good luck there

[ccrinc]

Take the back seat bottom out, spray a bunch of orange cleaner on it and then hose the crap out of it!  Seriously.  (Oh, and stiff brush to it before hosing.)

 

Frankly, in CO, any running Subaru for $450 is a righteous buy.  But, dayummm...what did they haul in it? Pigs.  Like real ones??

[AdventureSubaru]

Wow. Yeah. That thing was a roach. It's looking much better already. Looks like it just needs to be absolutely soaked for a while to loosen up that dirt. Used to have one of those little carpet cleaners that you could rent. A couple gallons of dollar store all purpose cleaner or even a small bucket of dishsoap and hot water soaking for a while and then a few hours with the carpet cleaner would usually do the trick. Doesn't look like it's badly stained. Just really dirty.

 

Looks like the car will pay for it's own cleaning with all the "rebates" (Coins on the floor) I once got a project minivan that had been used for pizza deliveries. I filled two home depot yard waste bags with trash out of it and found over $40. in change in the process of cleaning it.

[lstevens76]

Cleaning will have to wait as mechanical is the top priority.

 

Finally found my wobble,both front ball joints are bad.

 

Plus I need to out a camshaft sensor in it. Seems mine has intermittent failure causing no-start issues.

[lstevens76]

The Ball Joint is done and was definitely bad.  It was only the driver's side one.  I was informed correctly, I mistyped it. lol  The vibration is in the body now, not a wobble in the steering, telling me the struts need done right away.  Still going through options on that.  

 

I have the thermostat, coolant, gasket, and the subaru additive to do it I just need to.

 

So far I think I'm getting close to 30mpg (roughly 28mpg on my last fill up), but the speedometer is a little fast and sometimes sluggish so I'm not 100% sure that's accurate.  And yes that matters because that is why I own 2 vehicles.  If the Durango could get the MPG the Subaru does I would keep the Durango due to versatility, but that's the price you pay for that as well. lol

 

I did clean the windows the other night.  It made a big difference in the way the car felt.  It's weird how the little things can make something feel different.

Edited April 15, 2015 by lstevens76

[lstevens76]

Well my day turned from long, to bad.  I was running around and everything seemed fine, but I hadn't done the thermostat yet.  I was already suspicious because I seemed to be losing coolant, but being a 2.2L I chocked that up to a leak somewhere.

 

I stopped at my aunts and jumpstarted her and it appeared I lost some coolant at the radiator (odd spot), but the temp didn't show hot so I didn't think twice about it at that point.  There's no cap on the overflow so I figured it had just spurted some out between the angle the car was at, etc...

 

I didn't make it all the way back to my grandfather's before it got hot.  Shut it down to cool down and limped it to my grandfather's.

 

Decided I had a coolant leak and it needed fixed so picked up the upper and lower radiator hoses and replaced the thermostat w/ fresh Subaru Coolant, etc...

 

While idling after doing the work I saw the bubbles and knew, whether I wanted to admit it or not.  All the up/down temp and the leaking coolant have a source.

 

I went to test drive (hoping it was just air in the system) and didn't make it two blocks before I saw steam popping out of the radiator and pulled over.  It had pushed the radiator cap off, but wasn't registering hot.

 

I limped it back to my grandfather's and I now have a misfire on cylinder 4, obvious water/steam in the exhaust, and it's pushing pressure out the radiator cap enough that after about 5/10 minutes it will blow the cap off.

 

I'm going to blue devil it tomorrow, refill it with Peak generic antifreeze (phosphate free of course) and hope that holds while I order parts.

[lstevens76]

Ok, that blower motor was much easier to get out than I expected.  Funny part is, I bench tested it right there in the car and worked upside down so I put it back in, and it didn't work.  It doesn't work when in the correct position to be installed. lol

 

And the air bubbles are out of the coolant and no more white smoke.  It appears Blue Devil bought me time.  I think due to that I'm going to replace the radiator and blower motor first.  Then I can put together the parts to either replace the engine, which is what I am looking at primarily, or repair this one (or both?).  Either way it bought me time so I can fix other things.  

 

The big problem is I got myself into one hell of a project with the engine issues.  I really didn't expect major engine issues based on the test drives (both at good temperatures).  

 

Right now I need to fix things as I can so I can trace down other problems.  Problems like the struts and the missing cargo area flooring/grommet are creating a lot of noise/vibration issues making it harder to trace down other issues.  

 

There's someone with a '99 Outback and has all 4 struts (complete assemblies) and another with a full set of '06 WRX Struts (without springs).  The Outback struts would work, not sure about the WRX struts, and both options would be less than $100.  

 

I'm considering both options, but the outback struts would require the trailing arms and I don't think the WRX Struts will.

[lstevens76]

I guess I should update this.  Blue Devil sort of worked.  I no longer have White Smoke nor am I pouring water out of the exhaust.  I can drive over 50 miles and not overheat, but it seems I'm still pushing combustion gases into the coolant.  I'm not 100% sure on this, but it seems like it.  I'm also not going to bother testing for it.

 

At this point I know I need to do something so I'm putting together a parts list, etc...  It needs to get me by through the week and seems like it will do that then I will have this upcoming weekend to go spend at the pick-a-part and find a good engine, pull it, and get ready to work on it and swap it in.

 

If you have combustion gases in coolant, the pour'n'go is not the solution and I already knew that in the back of my mind.  Basically you need to use the full product, with water, and the thermostat out.  You idle it for 50 minutes and then shut it down, let it completely cool off overnight, then run it again.  The reason for this is to give the product the opportunity to get into that spot where the combustion gases are coming out.

 

The reason I'm not doing that is because a used engine is $230 at the pull-a-part, a head gasket kit is $60 for a cheap one, etc....  Running Blue Devil is $100 roughly by the time it's said and done.  Since I will be doing the work myself I would rather put that $100+ into the parts.

Edited April 19, 2015 by lstevens76

[lstevens76]

Ok, I hope to pick up the WRX struts and put them on tomorrow.  I'll take pictures/video and show people what was done and how it was done.  

 

I'm also going to work on getting  my garage empty this week.  I want the OBS in the garage on Saturday and I think I'm going to go ahead and pull the engine and tear the heads off.  

 

The thing runs really good, almost too good.  I can't hear any internal engine noise form it (not even lifter ticking).  

 

If I pick up a low mileage engine I still won't know the history and will have to get into it on top of the cost of the engine.  Tearing into this one is my best option and since I won't have my son next week (starting Friday) I figure this weekend I can tear it down and spend all week working on it, getting parts, etc... and have it back together by the following Friday.

[AdventureSubaru]

Try and take some before and after measurements of the ground clearance. I'm curious what sort of lift the WRX struts may bring.

[lstevens76]

Try and take some before and after measurements of the ground clearance. I'm curious what sort of lift the WRX struts may bring.

 

I just picked up the '06 WRX Struts today.  Hoping to either buy/rent a spring compressor in the morning and at least get the fronts on before I have to get my son.

[lstevens76]

Try and take some before and after measurements of the ground clearance. I'm curious what sort of lift the WRX struts may bring.

 

I didn't get the before measurments, and they probably wouldn't have been right anyways.  When I removed the driver's side strut after compressing the spring it collapsed in on itself.  You pull it out, and it will just collapse back in.  I'll try to take a video of that tomorrow.  Maybe that was a feature, self collapsing struts?  lol (yes I was being sarcastic)

 

I only got the fronts done today, I will try and do the rears in the morning and get some new pictures.

 

Here is what the front looks like now:

 

And what it used to look like:

 

 

As you can tell, it's only slightly higher.  I'll get some more pictures tomorrow after I do the rear struts.  

Edited April 26, 2015 by lstevens76

[lstevens76]

And all done.  The pain is worth it.  I have a little more clearance and no more rear-end sway going down the interestate!  Plus the spring noise in the front is gone as well.

 

Here's what she looks like now.

 

[lstevens76]

So, all the parts came in yesterday to do the HG, TB, WP, etc... Then I went over to a buddies house for a bit last night and..............

 

One of his friends that was parked next to me hit my LH Rear Quarter Panel Fender. I have to get a quote (not sure where I'm going to do that yet) and he will pay for the damage, but really disheartening as this was the one part of the body I knew I could get away with no, or a very tiny, amount of body work. The rest is all just swap parts and I don't do body work.

 

[lstevens76]

UPDATE:

 

Well, what I hadn't added was that Tuesday it starting drinking water like it was, well water, but not like a car should. It also started getting some good size air bubbles in the system causing erroneous temporary coolant sensor readings. I've dealt w/ the air pocket issue before in other cars so I knew the symptom/cause but when your pushing exhaust into the coolant it's not a bleeding issue unfortunately (tried that).

One way or another either tonight or in the morning the engine is coming out and getting pretty much an upper end rebuild, new timing parts (all of it), timing belt covers, new radiator, etc....

Just trying to figure out where I'm going to do it.

Oh, and the TYC radiator arrived. Blatant big blue "KOYO" on the box for $73 from Amazon w/ free shipping on prime.  No, it's not all aluminum as they don't make those for automatics.

So, for parts I have:

Complete engine gasket set (so most, if not all, gaskets/seals are being replaced)
Fel-Pro Head Gaskets
Complete timing belt kit including Aisin Water Pump, Mitsushimo Belt, idlers, and tensioner.
Subaru replacement Separator plate
Subaru Caulking Tube of Silicone Gasket Maker
NGK Irridium Plugs
NGK FX41 Plug Wires
Fuel Filter
Air Filter
Cam Sensor

[lstevens76]

And here is what it is getting at the moment.  I'll update w/ pictures of the timing belt cover (non-existent right now) after I clean them and I'm hoping to find the rear right cover as well due to a break in it.

 

This picture is:  (Bottom left to right) Purolator One Air Filter, GMB Idlers and Tensioner, Fel-Pro Head Gaskets (x2), NGK Irridium Plugs, NGK FX41 Plug Wires (Top left to right) Aisin Water Pump w/ Metal gasket (included) and Thermostat Gasket, Purolator Fuel Filter, Caulking tube of Subaru Silicone Gasket Maker, Cam Sensor, Mitsuboshi Timing Belt, Subaru OEM Steel Separator Plate.

 

Close ups:

 

This is the Evergreen Complete Engine Gasket/Seal Kit (to note I'm not using the head gaskets but this is what they look like):

 

And finally my "TYC" / Koyorad radiator:

 

What isn't here is the coolant I am picking up today, the AC Compressor O-Rings that are being replaced, and the PS Pump O-Ring being replaced.