What Have You Done to your Soobie lately? (Please post in here and keep it going)

[Mugs]

Changed the tires on my Foz today.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oruO6TuoSB4&feature=youtu.be

 

THE HELL with all that, Rob, next time get a-hold of me and bring them to the shop. I'll do them for for you, or let you do them using my equipment. Dang man, that be cray cray. 

[rrgrr]

After days (weeks?) of trying to sort this hitachi in the freezing while every brittle fitting snapped off, two rebuild kits, and trying to remap all the vac lines/ports, testing resulting in a series of stalls, limping home thru the neighborhood and a tapestry of obscenities, -I broke down and ordered the Weber, it should be here tomorrow. kind of disappointed cause I'd like to get the few more mpgs I know I can with the hitachi, (as dreamy as a new weber sounds).

Today I discovered the problem was the little tube connecting the secondary throttle diaphragm had a crack where I didn't see it.  I'm calling it a Win

Still not crazy about all the emissions stuff, but i understand a lot more of it now.

[l75eya]

Rebuilt old driver's side axle from my GL to put on the Loyale. Followed Numbchux guide in the repair section. ( http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/96433-axle-rebuild/ )

Got everything nice and clean;
(inner)



Put some good Lithium grease in there.
(outer)




Followed JesZek's write-up on pro-longing axle life. ( http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/114267-advice-for-longer-cv-joints-life/ )

Used zip-ties.


These are good, high quality zip-ties. They're rated for up to 250 lbs. Industrial stuff. I felt like I couldn't quite get it zipped tightly enough in my opinion. While I was installing the axle I caught the edge of the outer cup on something and the bigger end of the boot just popped right off. I cut off that zip tie (one in the photo above actually) and put a new one. Pulled that sucker as tight as I could with a pair of pliers. Definitely tighter; hope it stays. Think I'll go for the metal straps next-time though.

No more clicking yay! Salt wreaked havoc on the old one. (torn boots). Was clicking while driving in a straight line. Accelerating from a stop while the wheel was turned sounded like the axle was about to explode. Much much better now.

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Maybe those Zip ties are too Thick for the application? 

 

I didn't used Industrial Grade ones, but the Best Quality I could grab.

 

Please let us Know how those perform there...

 

Kind Regards.

[81EA81]

YES! I finally had the time to bolt up some blocks Ive been slowly but surly making.

 

Ive spent many late nights cutting, drilling,hammering and test fitting and at last it shall pay off.

 

So far Ive spent about $55 on steel, bits, hacksaw blades and cut off wheels.Though I sacrificed one makeshift drill press in the process.

 

All the hardware is from two 1st Gen Legacys and an EA81 hatch. So its all Metric all the way! 

 

I still need to bolt up the exhaust and hook up the 4wd linkage. Of course I will need new rubber, but I need to work over the little details first.

 

Thank you.

[aba4430]

87 Brat - Work in progress

1. Replaced both stub shaft seals, and retainer o-rings.  Had gear oil leaking from both seals.  The right side had pushed out and was sitting almost flush with the seal retainer.  Amazed as to how did not lose more oil.  However, did one at a time.  Both seal retainers had to be turned almost the same number of turns, five.
2. Replacing drive shafts again after only a year, and @4K miles.  Both had started knocking, the passenger side more so.  Obtained free GSP replacements from ADAP.  Hopefully, these will be better.  Will replace after steering rack has been installed tomorrow.
3. Steering - In the process of replacing inner (Moog) and outer (B&A, Japanese ones with grease fittings) tie rods, steering boots with spring clips, both steering rack bushings, and the rubber steering coupler.  Had to take the rack out to install the OEM steering boots, after having struggled with them for hours under the car.  Will replace the assembled rack tomorrow, along with the OEM steering coupler.
4. I have the rear disc brake kit, but want to buy new hoses, as the ones that came with the kit appear severely hardened.  The kit I have supposedly came off a 87 RX coupe.  I may just take the old ones to a local store and see if they can match it up with ones in stock.

More tomorrow.

Edited December 27, 2013 by aba4430

[mcmillonbe]

Haven't done much with the Brat until today, it was pretty cold here with lots of snow, so skiing took priority.  A few weeks ago, I was driving the Brat and it suddenly lost power going up a steep snow covered hill.  Managed to get it home and parked it till it warmed up.  It started right up after sitting a week and I took it over to my brother in laws rental to clear his driveway with my snowblower.  He wanted to take a drive around the block, so as we started driving, it did the same thing, after about 15 minutes, it died.  It would barely idle, and would not rev.  Ended up having him tow me home in his Tahoe.

So today, it started right up, idled fine in the garage.  Decided to drain the tank, gas looked fine, no clumps or anything.  Put fresh gas in it, and viola!  The fuel pump started making racket then the car died and did the same thing the two other times.

I ran out of time to hook up the fuel pressure gauge, but my money is a bad fuel pump.  Also, I guess the PO decided that the fuel filter wasn't necessary.  So after I verify fuel pressure, I will get a fuel filter back there and a new fuel pump.  Anyone have any input on aftermarket brands? I know it just has to be a low pressure unit.

I have missed driving the Brat, my h6 is much nicer, but its a tank and not much fun to drive.

[Tom0]

Put a new steering wheel on the wagon. After getting the wrong Autotecnica boss kit from supercheap, checked trademe and got a HKB one for $5.50, up to $16.50 with shipping which was a good score fit perfect and feels a lot better then the old one. Pics attached http://puu.sh/60Whe.jpg http://puu.sh/60WeN.jpg

[l75eya]

New radiator in the GL. 100 bucks I didn't have to begin with. Grrrrr.

[1-3-2-4]

Slowly mounting stuff back on

 

[spazomatic]

Drove it out to shoot pool....slid around the snow, picked up a nail, changed the tire. Got home, threw a block of wood in the back cuz my scissor jack is now too short for my setup.

[mcmillonbe]

Decided to finally attempt to fix the Brat today.  Replaced the under hood fuel filter and shot the fuel lines with carb cleaner and compressed air. Viola! It made it back home after driving it around the block without dying on me.  Maybe just crap in the fuel system.  Might get brave tomorrow and take it for an extended drive to see if that finally fixed the problem.  

[belacane]

I was having issues with bucking when my brat reached operating temperature.

I cleaned out the carb, but the real issue turned out to be a vacuum leak in the big line from the EGR  (which I recently learned tends to leak after some years). I decided to just plug the whole thermal vacuum valve to EGR at the intake. She runs great again. Here are pictures of what I did (on the passenger side of the engine).

 

 

 

[stancedEA81]

    ^{Trying to get a feel on how low I want it to be... Removed springs from from struts and have the rear shocks bottomed out... In the process of modding the front struts so it will be this low with springs on them...}

 

 

 

Got an old diverter valve from a 1.8T VW and installed... even got to run it down the road.... turbo spools good....untill it runs the bowl out of fuel....  Hopefully be fixing that problem soon.... (PS diverter not installed in picture below)

 

 

^{Will try and post pictures of the struts when i get them done.}

[Adam N.D.J.]

I started last week resurrecting my 84 Turbo Hardtop for use
as a more family friendly alternative to the BRZ.  First thing is swapping out the auto for a manual. Once I have power to the ground again and can actually drive her then I’ll work on getting some form of gauge cluster either converted or built to replace
the pile of digitals I have in the back seat.  It will be nice to drive her once again, I pretty much just parked it in a corner when the dash died in 09.  I was really cool jumping the battery and having the engine start right up on the second crank.  Hope to get some real wheel time this weekend.  Things are looking good, new parts are rolling in, just got the clutch in and received the new “rear motor mounts”, as O’reilly’s calls them.

 

[rrgrr]

Had to do some emergency grinding on my front fender where a rough spot gouged my tire. gonna need some proper trimming/rolling I'm afraid, and a bit of the inner mud flap where it's cleaning my tires, has to go too. It's very slushy, sloppy and SALTY here now.

[espey_16]

I had to put another front passenger side cv in, and in the process I put new ball joints in both sides. I also put another rear hatch on the car, I broke the window out of the last one by putting a huge dent right beside it.

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

 

What Have I Done to my Soobie lately?

 

I just realized that I've done...

 

 

 

 

...Nothing to my Subaru "BumbleBeast" since more than a year ago,

 

Except Driving it and its regular oil changes; it has been Running Flawlessly.

 

I Realized it after reading This ~► Post on my Subie's Thread.

 

Kind Regards.

[jono]

I sort of feel like Jeszek does ,when I look at a certain unfinished project ...got a little closer today, tracked down a genuine sump gasket, sump off, removed old crusty gasket, degreased the sludge in the bottom, washed and washed the sump innards out until sqeaky clean.

 

Oh, Jeszek, if you saw the sludge of 23 years and 188,000km, you'll wanna do more than an oil change on the BB !

 

Just gotta find and flat black if not already, a pair of engine mounts and my EA82M will be ready for transplanting into my 84 Brumby

 

EA82M ? you ask ?

 

EA82 carb block, EA82T reco heads, EA82T cams, mizpah reco HVLA's, mpfi inlet manifold and throttle body with injectors blocked off, brand new clutch found in old wreck, and set up to take dedicated LPG - propane to you guys in the US & Canada

 

M is for Mongrel

Edited January 11, 2014 by jono

[The Dude Abides]

So little known to most of you still on here my wheel bearings have been bad for about 5 years now and i finally have my garage to do them in.  If course rust stops me dead in my tracks once again.  Hopefully PB blaster will clear it up.

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Five Years? ... you mean you drove your subie with worn Ball Bearings for Five Years?

 

Once I had a Ball Bearing issue on the same side (rear / Passenger) of my EA82 Wagon, after a month of making noises, I was planning to change 'em the next weekend, suddenly one of said bearings decided to fail and the rear wheel immediately stopped spinning without mercy; I was drivin' ~ @ 30 Mph during late night in a Boulevard and the car stopped in almost straight line.

 

The car won't moved forward, but I managed to drive in reverse few meters 'till I heard a grind sound; then I was able to drive slowly forward to my home (Few blocks away from the fail place) where I did inspected everything the next morning.

 

Long story short: I had to replace the whole trailing arm, because the bearing damaged the spindle beyond safe repair...  

 

Since then, I change any noisy ball bearing as soon as possible... so I am amazed how yours lasted working worn for five years... you're Lucky!

 

Kind Regards.

[wagonist]

I figured out how to roll the cargo cover on my E82 Wagon so that it works again. I now know all 3 other ways to roll it so that it doesn't work. Pretty clever, those Fuji boys!

Write up on this please!!!!!

[1-3-2-4]

Kroil FTW!

[marcusgl10z28]

I ran bad bearings for about 3 years... the niose was so LOUD! And it would shake the car and shake violently

 

a couple ball bearing in the frond were missing a couple chunks and one cage was split in half clean...

[SnatchedHatch]

I haven't posted in awhile. My 87' GL had some surface rust in the back from a rear ending. Also the rear window latches were gone and the bailing wire was not cutting it.

 

1.) I took off the window/rubber seal on both sides, the tailights and bumper (an plate).

2.) Next used a mix of an angle grinder with a wire brush and some paint stripper til I was satisfied I had removed as much rust as possible. Worked well!

3.A) Primed, painted. Duplicolor was way off, so I didn't buy more and just used a completely different color so as to finish the job and prevent rust.

4.A) I used some roofing chauling to seal the windows. XO bad idea.

 

----I decided I'd hunt down some better paint and redo it at some later time. This was near the end of fall.

 

So I found some Honda paint and glitter clear coat that gets really close to the stock paint, and I've been stocking up on it.

 

What with the miscolored stripes and patches, and a streak of "warm" weather, I stopped procrastinating and took apart the back end again.

Mind you, this was just before the midwest got slammed with the snow, and later, artic temps, we had a few "warm" days right beforehand. codswalloping perfect timing, thanks to that the paint doesn't look as great, because.. well, half the time it was freezing instead of drying.

I taped up the car and painted on section right on NY Eve. ...after a wicked hangover, I continued on the day after the next. That was when the cold was setting in, had no choice but to pick up the pace.

 

3. So anyways, I did the whole back end, and went for a better look as I hated the patches of paint from before. I'll post pics of that later.

4. Also, used Gorilla tape and a razor to reseal the back windows, that worked like a charm.

Forgot to mention, since fall I've:

 

5.) Done some maintenance:

replaced some caps around the car, the gas cap included. I drove around in that gasoline chamber for so long before I realized it was just an old gas cap seal... XO, smell's 100% gone now.

replaced the driver's CV shaft,
and got a seat cover and warmer ,

packed and taped up the rear CV joints as the boots are cracked (and I've heard about the headaches involved with replacing those),

 

6.) Also, got my steelies blasted and painted and slapped on a new set of winters literally just in time for our first snow).

Found a set of white subaru grid hub caps, cleaned the years of brake dust off of those and slapepd them on.

7.) Replaced my barnyard special of a radio antannae (literally a rusty steel rod, wtf man.. oh well looks liek the last guy had a budget lol)

with an OEM Corolla one, WOW I can hear twice the amount of stations now.

8.) WD-40ed (bumpers) and Armoralled all the grey trim, so that it's HEY black now.

 

 

I'll post pics of what I can.

Plans for the future:

I want to install a Weber (the carb! although a hatchback tailgate special... hmm)

Brake fluid flush, coolant flush.

 

Recently, thankfully after I passed my emissions test (with flying colors, I'm impressed), my center Catylytic converter started rattling really bad.

I'm good for one year on the emissions test, so to put off buying a cat, I though I could cut it out and connect the piping.

...or better yet, a cheap expansion/magnification chamber. Whatever it's called, a chamber to boost my boxer's song.

I had to get a muffler when I bought the car, and did it so quick I never considered a cherry bomb. At this point it wouldn't make sense to switch, but this could make a world of a difference.

 

Anybody know if this is doable? Would I have backflow issues? I'm going to make a post on this but any help here would be appreciated.

 

Edited January 13, 2014 by SnatchedHatch