Tony's 91 SS 29Dec R.I.P.

[SILINC3R]

Oh yea the garage has 2 overhead heaters so its very warm.

[SILINC3R]

So, saturday I finally installed all my suspension and brake components I have been acquiring since I purchased this vehicle. Took 12 hours in total to complete and this. May sound like a lot which it is but I did this ompletely by myself except for bleeding the brakes. Not for the faint of heart to do such a job as it can be pain if you dont take the time and think about why something is not going as it should. Fortunately I have access to a full lift wth scissor jack and pneumatic tools. Have to say I've never felt so sore the next day. Felt like I got the shit kick out of me and I work out for an hour and a half everyday. When it was completed drove home only to wake up 3 hours later so I could stand 24 hour duty on Sunday, . While I drove home I noticed my brakes sounded like shit, metalic scraping and the rears were making a cool rubbing spacecraft noice. Figured/hoped it was just the new brakes. Luckly only had a 7 mile trip home and then 7 mile to work in the morning. I figured it was just the baxking shield rubbing against the rotor as that always seems to get bent in this process. So 5 pm rolls around Sunday and I throw the car on the lift again so I can fix the backing plate and inspect the rotors and pads to see if how bad it was. Was only the front left and just minor rubbing as it was only 14 miles total and total speed whole trip is 40 MPH. So reasembled everything properly and checked the rears . Brake fluid was all over the inside of the rear tires. I immediately new what had happened. In my sleep deprived finishing up of the rears I had decided that the brake lines would be fine and not need to be secured and figured I could get to it tomorrow and come up with something permanent. The reason behind this was the aftermarket lines are very stiff as opposed to the rubber ones as they should be since that is there job. I had secured them in their stock location up front since there is more articultaion and determeined the would be fine. Well I had to end replacing them with the old ones and all is well now . The rears struts do clunk over bumps so I am hoping I just need to tighten the strut top bolts that meet the chassis. This seems to be a common problem.

So here is what the operation was:

93 struts (front and rear)
02 WRX springs (front and rear)
03 WRX front brake setup (calipers, Subaru OEM pads, Duralast rotors)
Ebay braided lines (Magnum)
new front banjo washers
Racing Blue brake fluid

[SILINC3R]

Some of my time was spent taking apart the struts to get nuts or the rubber spring seats. Also all the pads were shot, down passed the grove so that was a relieve. So were the struts not compressible one bet, hince wh she rode like a Caddy .

special tools you need to complete said operation:

caliper piston compressor - $8 at autozone ( C-clamp works also)
spring compressor - $59 rental deposit at Autozone, you get your money back/ zipties will only help you take it apart. Also only needed if struts are not assembled
breaker bar
impact gun - good for strut to knuckle bolts and Jesus nut ( nut that is on strut piston) Also if you have AWD and the rear lower strut to knuckle bolt is giving trouble because it is nearly inaccessible due to the axle use a breaker bar on the bolt and use all your might to break it lose. If it spins but is still frozen try the other way to tighten it. Hopefully it will grab and tighten and then you can loosen it from there.
10 MM flare nut wrench - if you dont have one you can cut a box wrench as I had to do. If this is not a option you can use vise grips. If this fails you probably f'ed the metal brake line
Torque wrench - not necessary but it might make you feel better.

[SILINC3R]

Duralast Gold on top/ Subaru OEM on bottom
reason why I tried to go cheap was it was 60 bucks less. however if your doing a swap and not replacing pads you will not get anti-rattle clips which are $5 bucks a piece fro the dealership.



PARTSSSSSS






where the flare nut wrench comes into play



shiney



installed



DONE




BONUS- buddy's 06

[Legacy777]

Good work Tony.

That sucks about the lines leaking.

Did you ever get the rear clunk taken care of?

[SILINC3R]

Thanks, no not yet. Hoping I just need to tighten those top mount bolts.

[beatersubi]

I find that its best to give everything on top of the strut a final torque after the weight of the car is on the suspension.
What exactly was it that caused the rear lines to leak?

[SILINC3R]

well i did tighten them all the way when the car was off the lift maybe ill try it again. the lines rubbed the inside of the tires

[SILINC3R]

Clunking noise taken care of. Jesus bolts must be tighten all the way or there will be some noise.

[Legacy777]

You talking about the bolt on the top of the strut shaft?

[SILINC3R]

Yes, that's what I am referring to lol.

[Legacy777]

Yes, Impact wrench is about the only good way to get those really good and tight without the strut being on the car.

[SILINC3R]

So started the drive home and just outside of Portland, I turned off to get gas and found out I had no brakes. Managed to limp it to Vancouver to a Autozone were they magically had a brake line for the car. Subaru didn't even have it and they want 125 plus 65 for the hose. Payer 25 bucket and 15 minutes later was back on the road. The after market line was making contact with the rim and went almost right thruit.

[Legacy777]

Damn!

Glad you got it fixed. Be safe driving.

[SILINC3R]

So finally made it home to GA, safely with nothing broken. We were heading to Kansas City to stop and get some dinner before we continued on. I had been running the gas low so we didn't have to stop every 200 miles. I was getting 17-18 mpg due to having the Skybox and we were doing 80 as the speed limit was 75. Finally got to a gas station after driving 40 miles with the light on. My gas light comes on with 2-3 gallons left. I know your not supossed to do this but on the trip it was hard not to due to distance sometimes. So as we pulled into the gas station the Check Engine light came on. Hasn't come on since I owned the car. Filled up and started off again. The car was in D and stalled. So we stopped and tried again. Same thing. Ended up having to use only 3rd because when we would go into D it would ack like it was slipping and woudn't engage. So we put it into 3rd and drove the rest of the way home. I figured it was a tired olf fuelp pump so I just ordered a Walbro 255 P/N GSS341 & 400-791/WRX from horsepowerfreaks.com.

Afterwards I checked the ECU codes and got
45-Pressure Sensor and Pressure Exchange Solenoid Valve
Atmospheric Pressure Sensor was also a code 45 but for non-turbo so does not apply

32-Oxygen Sensor

Then did the TCU check

Existing-None/flashed on/off and didn't stop

Previous
23-Engine Revolution Signal
24-Duty Solenoid C
33-Vehicle Speed Sensor

So since these are Previous Codes the TCU is fine and I just need to reset it?

All this was grabbed off of surrealmirage.com

Thanks Josh for the great info as always

[SILINC3R]

So did some more research on the code 45 and check my lines and connectors AND......



this would explain why my boosy gauge wasnt working and why I was getting "fuel cut"

Check Engine light is off but the codes are still there when i plug the black connectors together so I just need to clear it?


And a bonus since the car works now/ car had over 1000 pounds extra for the 3000 mile journey

[cj91legss]

Goddamn, i hate doing brakes... It's always reassuring to know you have new stuff tho.

[SILINC3R]

Got my EDM headlights from Ben-legacy4ever, wrapped up like crazy.





Almost couldn't install the passenger side as there was bumper beam damage but was able to cut a little bit of the plastic on the light to get it to go in
Havent installed the corners yet as you need to do some wiring and havent wired up the leveling system, will do when i get out of A School

If you need these lights get ahold of either Timo or Legacy4ever, both are great people to work with. Have bought a set from both of them.

Also bought the headlight washer system from Timo, dont have pictures as there at my Dad's house. Also have EDM tail lights with the fogs coming from Timo as well.

Walbro 255LPH Fuel Pump

Have a video installing this will post when I put it together. Had some issues after installing. Read Here. Drove to Boone, NC for New Years and about 100 miles in stopped for gas and car didnt start and did the same thing. Check and everything was how it should be, ended up pulling the fuses out and putting them back in and seemed to fix it. thing it was the radio fuse #14 that i have read seems to be interconnected or something. havent had a problem since.

Next thing to do is replace the vavle cover gaskets on the passenger side a hope that cures by oil leak problem.

[Legacy777]

Tony,

You still having issues with the CEL? You should be able to just clear the codes if their stored codes.

[SILINC3R]

Nope, no more CEL. But i do need to clear them from the ECU.

[SILINC3R]

Replaced smokey vavle cover gaskets no more smoking. Bought new front tires because when I installed the new struts I didn't get an alignment like an idiot.

[mike-tracy]

Tony it makes me happy how far you've come with this car.

[SILINC3R]

Thanks Mike, I got more to come once I get done with school. Got parts stacking up at the parents house waiting to be put on.

[SILINC3R]

Never put this up

and installed a much needed filter $10 at autozone

[SILINC3R]

Finally got a dome light that works in my car from sqc151. Thanks again. When I opened the package I noticed something different between the two.

the new dome light


old dome light


both have same switches so kind of confused as to what this extra electronics is for