deadhp1's 94 lifted n/a wagon ej253 swap

[deadhp1]

Yep, it seems like it fits just right.

[deadhp1]

My cheap $70 ebay radiator got here on Thursday, but I didn't have a chance to put it in until today.
So in while I waited this week I took apart my fans. I sanded the rusted housings and painted them with some leftover engine enamel.



I also took my whiteline strut tower bar off and painted the strut tower tops with some rustoleum metalic satin nickel. For now it's ok, I'm not missing the rust but I'm missing the yellow.


And the finished project is a little ricey, but it's also functional. At least my fan housings won't rust apart.

[Legacy777]

Looks good! The red sorta matches the car....so it's not too ricey

[deadhp1]

Well I normally paint the intake manifolds and valve covers with the same paint. I just got lazy while putting this together and those metal fuel injector clips looked like they would snap if I stripped it totally down. When the intake is stripped down I usually paint the fuel lines black.
Maybe once I actually have some funds I'll take it apart to paint it.

I drove the car around today and it's a totally different beast! The steering is way tighter with the forester control arms. You can really see how the whiteline bushings have tightened up the steering rack.
The new 4-wire o2 sensor made the car much more responsive. My gas mileage seems better now too.

I should be picking up some 02 wrx seats this week. I'll either be getting just the fronts in perfect condition, or the front/rears in okay condition. I'm just haggling with the sellers right now.
I might get a free rear seat from a local guy. I've heard that you can take the cloth off the rears and put them onto the stock legacy seats.

I'll be picking up some whiteline outrigger bushings to help tighten up the rear diff. I'm also going to pull the complete subframe out of the forester to swap into the 94 legacy. My bushings are all shot so it seems like the best choice.

That's about it for now!

[deadhp1]

Today I got my front 02 wrx seats and installed them.
I swapped the 94 legacy seatbelt clip and had to grind a small nub off to make them fit properly.


The car feels so much better now. When I hit bumps and turns off-road I no longer slide or get stabbed by a spring.
Since the car is an L I am used to sitting up higher than my brother's turbo legacy. These seats feel like maybe 1/2" higher than my stock seats.

Now I just need to get some 02 wrx rear seats so I can steal the fabric off of them to reskin my rears.
I'm thinking of taking the seat heaters from the forester and installing them into my wrx fronts.

I'd also like to do something about the carpet. I'm thinking of possibly stripping it out and using bedliner coating on it or finding some form fitting plastic inserts.

[Aeryck]

WOW!

[Legacy777]

Yeah the WRX seats don't sit much higher than the L seats....so yeah I didn't have any issues with them either, and really like how supportive they are. The 02-03 WRX seats are still some of the best seats Subaru has made for the US model line up. Even the new STi seats are not as good.

[ciper]

The 02-03 WRX seats are still some of the best seats Subaru has made for the US model line up. Even the new STi seats are not as good.

Quoted for the truth.
I think the issue is that 02-03 WRX seats were Japanese versions and the later ones were fat ass american versions

[deadhp1]

Well driving home today I was thinking to myself "Oh how nice is it that my check engine light is off."

About 30 seconds later the check engine light decided to pop on and speedometer quit.
LOL sometimes I think my car hates me.

So I checked the codes and it's a code 33.
Looks like when it stops raining I will try pulling the cable from the tranny and spinning it to see if the speedometer reads.
I'll also put the car on jackstands, put it in drive and see if the it rotates where the cable adapter goes into the tranny.

I'm hoping it's just a cable or perhaps the adapter the screws into the top of the tranny.
I really don't want to have to replace the speedometer gear inside the tranny, or even the speedometer head on the back of the cluster.

We had the gear strip out on a 97 impreza and had it repaired at the dealer($900!! for a $20 plastic gear). This time I'd rather attempt it myself.


In other news I started pulling the rear subframe of the forester when I noticed that the rear abs sensor has a different connector on it. Looks like I may be splicing that or re-pinning it as I've never had luck removing the sensors from the spindles.
I've also started soaking those long lateral link bolts in case I want to remove them. I just put in an order for some aerokroil.
Anyhow I'll need to do the rear suframe/knuckle soon as my driver's side rear wheel bearing is making an angry grinding noise at me.

[Legacy777]

Quoted for the truth.
I think the issue is that 02-03 WRX seats were Japanese versions and the later ones were fat ass american versions

Yeah that's possible....either way....they're awesome seats, and if I were to get a new car, I hate the thought of losing those seats.

[deadhp1]

I'd have to say that my new seats really were a nice addition. I think I'd only get rid of them for some jdm v4 sti seats.

Anyhow I took apart my speedometer cable and found what broke.


I'm just glad that it's not the gears inside the tranny.
I'll be ordering the new part today. Part # 737411752. It costs about $15 from the dealer.

[Legacy777]

Yup, those are a common failure point and pretty easy to replace.

[deadhp1]

My car is back on the road with a working speedometer. I'm very happy it was just that cheap part.

My progress on taking the forester rear sub-frame out has been quite slow.
I've been struggling with the long lateral link bolts. Today my kroil arrived and we were able to get the driver's side bolt out.
The passenger bolt is practically welded to the forward bushing. I've tried the impact wrench, impact hammer, and lastly a 2-prong puller. I was able to push the bushing out of the forward link, but the sleeve is still seized to the bolt.

So I started to cut it.
At this point I'm going to save up and order a rear poly bushing kit and a new bolt.
I'm thinking that Prothane makes the cheapest bushings, so that may be the way for me.
It's going to be a while before I can get the lsd/axles/sway bar/subframe into the car.

I've been looking at paint colors and am really leaning towards satin or flat black.
For flat black I've been looking at John Deere Blitz Black.
For Satin Black I've been looking at John Deere Semi-Gloss Black, Rustoleum Satin Black, and Krylon Satin Black.

I've also been wondering about using Rustoleum Hammered Grey. I've used it before and you can get a very nice effect if you spray clear over it.

[deadhp1]

So stock lateral link bushings from the dealer cost more than the Group N bushings from Rallispec.

I'm trying to decide if I should go with Group N lateral link bushings for $120 plus shipping or if I should buy these adjustable lateral links + adjustable trailing arms for $210.


The down side of the godspeed ebay links is that they use pillow ball mounts which would end up being noisy.
The upside is that I wouldn't have to press bushings in and I'd also have adjustable trailing arms to help center the rear wheels.

I could always buy the adjustable trailing arms separately for $130 at a later date.
I don't think I'd have too much trouble pressing bushings in, but do I really want too?

To ebay or not to ebay, that is the question.

[Legacy777]

Pressing the lateral link bushings in is doable. Don't even try the trailing link bushings.....they suck beyond belief. The front bushing on the trailing link needs a pretty heavy duty press. The rear bushing in the hub needs a special tool.

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... ol/images/

[deadhp1]

Well we don't have a press....yet. It's on our list of things to buy when we have some cash.

You've confirmed my doubts about the current trailing arm bushings.

Is that a BigSky WRX bushing tool? It looks very nice.

We do have a Hub Tamer kit which we have used on bushings and front/rear wheel bearings.

At the worst I may buy a piece of pipe.

Anyhow If I don't get the adjustable trailing arm I might buy 2-piece poly bushings for the current trailing arms.
At least I have a couple of extra trailing arms to practice on.
Hooray for parts cars! lol

[Legacy777]

If I had to do it all over again, I'd just go with the 2-piece poly bushings. They're much easier and work fine.

Yes that is BigSky WRX's bushing tool that was made by a NASIOC member overseas. It was made out of very nice material and made quite well. This was I think a second revision after some tweaks and info from the first one. There's probably a thread on NASIOC with all the info. I got it, scanned the instruction manual, pictures, etc and hosted it for others to see when the tool got passed around.

Here is the operating manual and a few other pics.

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... op_man.doc
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... stall1.jpg
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... stall2.jpg
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... stall3.jpg
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... rview1.jpg
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... rview2.jpg
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... moval1.jpg
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... moval2.jpg

[deadhp1]

I picked up these yesterday.

I got home, put them in and I don't fit nicely in them. They are meant for someone with a bit less mass then me. lol
So I put them up for sale.


On my way back home my rear wheel bearing started making horrible noise. It sounds like I'm driving a pod racer now.
I'll have to change that this week (

[jp233]

Damn, this is sweet!

I was about to say, if you still don't have your wheels/tires totally sorted if you wanted to off-road, I just picked up a set of 95-99 Outback wheels with near perfect 205/70/15 Yoko Geolander AT-S tires..... they don't really fit my FWD wagon yet and I'm not sure if they'll fit my AWD wagon since it was an air suspension car (converted StrutMasters). Haven't test fitted yet but you're also a long way from me so..... if my brother in Boston wants to buy a southern rust-free car and have me drive it up, I could deliver sometime.

[deadhp1]

I think I'm set for wheels and tires. I just picked up another forester wheel/tire set LOL.


This weekend I grabbed another set of forester struts/springs from an 02 for free.

We also just grabbed a 2005 Impreza Outback Sport Wagon w/65k miles for $950 the only thing it needs is an engine, clutch, and a really good cleaning. It had been sitting for 2 years.


I've ordered my group-n lateral link bushings and lateral link bolts. They should be in this week sometime.
I'm getting ready to swap the rear subframe/lateral links/spindles/LSD and put on my adjustable Whiteline RSB.

I haven't really done much to the car in the last week as I sprained both ankles and threw my back out. I'm starting to feel like wrenching again now.

[deadhp1]

I've finally started working on my car again.
Over the last 3 days my brother and I have changed out the driver's side rear wheel bearing and replaced the outer lateral link bushings with group n's.
The wheel bearing was pretty straight forward. I didn't even have the cut the long lateral link bolt.
The group n bushings were a little more difficult. We used a 32mm socket as the receiver and a 2 prong puller from the Hub Tamer kit to press the bushings out and in.

I'll be dropping the forester rear subframe this week and tearing it apart to paint it and get it ready for new bushings.
After that's set I'll be putting my vLSD, forester subframe, and whiteline rear sway bar into my legacy.
I've also got a set of superpro poly trailing arm bushings to install.


More to come in the next couple of weeks as I attempt rust repair on the rear quarter, fit my turbo bumper, and check the fitment of my brush bar.