kimokalihi's 91 SS EJ20 Swap

[kimokalihi]

I just got back from the junkyard. Got there and had just enough time to grab the two housings and the blower motor. I found a car that did not have AC! I didn't think those existed. Unfortunately someone beat me to it and all the HVAC stuff was gone but I did manage to snag the big rubber grommet that covers up hole for the 2 AC hoses so I don't have to break out the welder and do some amateur shit.

I also got the gasket for the fuel pump. I am going to remove the condenser from this new housing, fill in the holes with epoxy, clean them up and install them. I'm not taking apart the heater core section because there were no mice in it and it's not full of crap like the other housings. Plus it's just a major bitch to do. Hopefully it' s not clogged. Just in case I think I'll pull the heater hoses off and blow in one side.

Last night after removing the dash and HVAC components I looked at my car and though,"Damn, what the hell haven't I done on this car?" The whole interior has been out minus the carpet and most of it was replaced. The whole drivetrain and engine. The suspension was replaced and the wheels and tires will soon be replaced. The only thing I haven't tackled is the brakes and body work. Too bad I didn't keep track of all the hours I've spent on it. That would be cool to know.

[Deride]

LOL, I know how you feel. On my 2002 2.5RS I have had virtually everything out of it/replaced other than the fuel tank and rear crossmember. It is a great feeling knowing I did basically EVERYTHING myself other than my friend helping with swapping the bulkhead wiring from the 03 WRX donor I bought. (he runs a business doing wiring swaps on subies) You're getting very close, keep up the good work you won't regret it!

[93forestpearl]

Damn. People say rat's nest, but this is for real.



Good luck cleaning all that out and getting her right again.

[AWD_addict]

Your car is a zoo! I wonder if the mice climbed up the drain hose under the AC parts?

[kimokalihi]

That's the only thing I can think of. That stupid drain hose. I won't need that hose anymore will I? I remove all the AC components. The hose is pretty tiny but I've seen mice squeeze through very tight places. It's just strange that a mouse would think to crawl up something like that to find a place to nest. God I hate mice right now.

I just came home to spend some time with my girl but I snapped a ton of pics of stuff I'm selling and soon there will be a new subaru garage sale thread in the parts shed.

I'll go back later tonight and hopefully get the HVAC put back together with new parts that weren't infested. Maybe even get the dash back in...

[Deride]

The drain hose in the engine bay won't be needed with AC delete. I really don't think they could fit through that but who knows, f'n rodents!

[kimokalihi]

They were pretty small. The grommet was missing that goes in that the hole the hose runs through so they may have gotten in there. But if they had come in there I don't see how they got up into the vent. Actually, maybe they came into the car and crawled up in the vents by your feet. I'm really baffled they didn't chew up more of the interior. Like my WRX seats.

Anybody know of a good disinfectant to spray in the HVAC to kill off any shit they left behind and neutralize the smell?

[Legacy777]

Wow Kimo, you've had a lot of progress! Congrats on getting the car running.

See, just using the step bit works fine

On the check valve thing for the charcoal canister, you can really just eliminate it and replace it with a piece of hose.

For the seat belt blinky light. I'm guessing you've removed the auto seat belts. To get rid of the light, just unplug the pin from the ECU in the trunk. That's what I did. I was going to put in a manual seat belt controller, but honestly, just removing the pin was easy and the seat belt chime still works fine. I don't care if the seat belt guy lights up. You can see where the seat belt ECU is towards the bottom of these pics

http://main.experiencetherave.com/subar ... atbelts/07

I'll have to scan the seat belt ECU I-O and post. I can't seem to find it on my server.

[evolutionmovement]

Yes, you wouldn't want the seatbelt chime to stop working! That reminds me to clip that damn thing.

[kimokalihi]

I don't have a seatbelt chime as far as I know. Only chime I hear is when I open the door with the keys in the ignition. I hate chimes though.

So is that black wire in the picture the only thing I disconnect? Or all the connectors to the ECU? What is that ECU doing now that the automatic belts are gone anyway?

[Legacy777]

The only thing it's doing is providing a chime when the keys are in the ignition when you open the door and make the seat belt light illuminate.

If you do not want the chime or the light, just pull the ECU out completely.

[kimokalihi]

Might just do that. The noise is annoying and I can't lock my keys in anyways because of the anti-lock-your-keys-in-the-car feature. Awesome. I'll just unplug it and leave it in there probably.

[Legacy777]

Don't say you can't lock your keys in the car....because it can happen

[kimokalihi]

The dash is back in. I didn't get a picture of it but I imagine you know what it looks like. I did away with AC almost all together. The only thing left is the AC radiator which I would like to remove as well but don't quite feel like removing the radiator since it's full of coolant.

When I was at the junkyard getting replacing HVAC parts I found a 90 wagon that came with no AC from the factory. I thought they all had AC. Learn something every day. Unfortunately somebody had taken the whole HVAC system but I did manage to snag this cool rubber grommet to plug up the hole in the firewall so I didn't have to weld it.









Removed the condenser from the new HVAC ducting and filled up the hose holes. I used a couple washers to fill in the holes along with a bunch of 5 minute epoxy. I love that stuff even though it smells nasty.









I cleaned all the new HVAC parts with soap and water and inside the old HVAC main ducting.








I didn't feel comfortable installing this ignitor jumper with the top open so I found a nice piece of ABS plastic that was the perfect thickness and width and I cut the length down and epoxied on. Looks factory! Very nice <---Insert Borat Voice---]











Speedo cable was replaced because it sounded like it was making noise when I drove it but I wasn't sure. Figured if the dash was coming out I might as well replace it. It's not cheap and if you don't have someone to help you it's damn near impossible. Could actually be impossible, I'm not sure. I couldn't do it on my own because of the ridiculous way it snakes through the crap under and in the dash. I had to cram my hand up in there and push up on the cable while my mother pushed the cable in from the engine bay. It was still hard even with her help.









The ECU is now in and zip tied in place. It was a bit loose and I didn't want it rattling against that bracing so I stuck a layer of sound deadener to the back of it. I had to take a hack saw and cut off the mounting brackets on the ECU since they are not at all compatible with this car.

[kimokalihi]

Quick question on this manual boost controller. Can I install it but still use the factory boost control solenoid to control boost and use the manual boost controller just to make sure it doesn't go past a certain level of boost as a safety net? I read the instructions and it just says to disconnect the factory BCS and stick the MBC between the nipple on the turbo outlet and the actuator nipple.

[Legacy777]

No I don't think you'll be able to use the MBC in the way you mentioned.

[kimokalihi]

Oh, alright. Well hmm. I need to talk to rob.

[kimokalihi]

When I got my dash back in and hooked up my battery again I noticed the right parking light was on. I didn't think much of it because the key was in the ignition and I figured I had turned it or something. But I removed the key and turned the lights off and it's still on. The left one now has a blown bulb and I noticed when I parked the car last week to pull the dash that the left blinker was blinking twice as fast as the right. Likely due to the parking light being out.

How do I fix this problem? I can't have that parking light on 24/7 obviously.

[kimokalihi]

I was just thinking about what could cause that light to stay on and then it dawned on me that I was messing with the parking light on top of the steering wheel and I didn't know what it was haha. I think it must be on. That makes me feel a lot better. I was starting to think those damn mice had eaten my wiring.

[cj91legss]

Hahahaha!!!!!!! that's funny. when i first got my wagon i did the same exact thing... only i was just getting into these so i had to ask a friend wtf was goin on.....

[kimokalihi]

Yeah the embarrassing thing is I've done this before and I guess since it's been so long since the last time I totally didn't think about it. Plus those mice didn't help. Freaking me out thinking they chewed up the wiring. Surprisingly though, I can't find any damage in the car from them. Maybe they only found access to the HVAC from the outside and were never in the car? They must have gone to a lot of trouble packing the blower motor full of nesting materials.

When I told my GF's mom about it she said her husband just found 4 cups of dog food in the airbox below the filter in their Nissan Frontier! I was under the hood of my GF's civic when she told me that and I pulled off her airbox top and there was a couple pieces of dog food in there as well. I guess they found a dead mouse in the dog food container. They must have filled it up when there was one in there and he got crushed.

I hate mice.

[evolutionmovement]

I don't know if there as bad with newer wiring. All the rodent-eaten wiring I've seen was the old style with the cloth covering. Could just be chance observation on my part or maybe there was something appealing in the old style.

[Mattheww044]

good to see the car is running man, all that hard work is finally paying off. U went all out nuts on this thing. Are you gonna be at the WCSS?

[Mattheww044]

holy crap, just saw the mice pics! thats crazy! apparently they like your car even more than you do! haha

[HappyFrog]

I was just thinking about what could cause that light to stay on and then it dawned on me that I was messing with the parking light on top of the steering wheel and I didn't know what it was haha. I think it must be on. That makes me feel a lot better. I was starting to think those damn mice had eaten my wiring.

Must have clicked mine a thousand times before I found out what it was for. Same thing with the bright button... and I'm still convinced it must have some other secret purpose.