kimokalihi's 91 SS EJ20 Swap

[kimokalihi]

Started work on my tail light tinting project. So far it's not really even tail light tinting since I masked off the actual tail lights and my plan is to tint the silver areas and the chrome trim. Hoping it comes out as well as I see it in my head lol. Took forever but I got them all prepped for paint. Plan to paint them on thursday.

When I started scuffing them up I noticed the black on the tops and bottoms of the trim was actually paint and it was rubbing off with the scuff pad. It looked like rubber to me but that's even better because it will paint better.








Couple shots after removing all the paint from the chrome and scuffing up the plastic.








Peeled this rubber trim off the edge of the tail light to get the whole lens.







Ready for paint!

[cj91legss]

Really? Sounds like a major pain in the ass to me. But if I must...Pray to God it's the clutch fork but I really don't think it is because when the engine is cold and I rev it a few times I get knock flashes when it's in neutral with the clutch in or out, doesn't matter. I can't see the clutch fork rattling when it's pushing on the clutch.

Yeah, there's absolutely no movement when you have pressure on the clutch. I'm not so sure why you're seeing knock tho. I'm assuming you've already talked to rob, Has he thought of anything else on the knock?

[Florin1]

If you do replace the knock wire like i did, just go to your local "guitar center". Radio shack was WAY to expensive because they sold it as a complete wire w/ rca connectors. GC sold it in bulk off a spool for like $1 a foot.

[cj91legss]

i have a roll of 2wire with an insulated sheild as well, you would only need one of the wires so the second wire you could just cut the ends. I'm in lakewood now so you'd have to come to me. You still have that VF11 i wanted to get from you awhile back?

[kimokalihi]

If you do replace the knock wire like i did, just go to your local "guitar center". Radio shack was WAY to expensive because they sold it as a complete wire w/ rca connectors. GC sold it in bulk off a spool for like $1 a foot.

Thanks for the idea. What's the point of the shielding anyways? Just to keep any voltage from other wires from interfering with it? I noticed the shielding ends several inches from the connector.

[kimokalihi]

i have a roll of 2wire with an insulated sheild as well, you would only need one of the wires so the second wire you could just cut the ends. I'm in lakewood now so you'd have to come to me. You still have that VF11 i wanted to get from you awhile back?

I'll probably hit up guitar center. I don't feel like driving to lakewood if I don't have to. I'm not sure if I have any more VF11s or not. I know I sold one to someone on here a while back.

[rob]

Shielded wire is important as it protects critical low voltage signals (like the knock sensor) from radio interference that occur in an electrically noisy environment. The shielded part needs to be grounded at the ECU end ONLY. I didn't realize you had replaced with a regular wire else I would have suggested to replace the wire. If you have any spare harnesses around you could probably scavenge what you needed.

-Rob

[evolutionmovement]

You can also buy shielding foil to wrap around the wires.

[kimokalihi]

I didn't use a regular wire. I went to thejunkyard and found a car with a harness in much better condition than mine and I soldered it to mine. So it still has the shielding.

[rob]

ah ok. Just make sure that the shielding has a path to ground on the ECU side.

[kimokalihi]

ah ok. Just make sure that the shielding has a path to ground on the ECU side.

Quick question. Does the knock sensor wire split into two wires at the ECU end? One for signal and one for shield ground?

[kimokalihi]

Clutch spring installed. Revved the engine a bunch of times when the engine was cold (haven't driven it in a couple days) after installing the spring and with the clutch engaged (pedal out) in neutral it still flickers when I blip the gas pedal. I haven't driven it since but I'm going to go ahead and assume it had nothing to do with the clutch fork.

[kimokalihi]

Got some goodies in the mail today! 2000 Subaru Outback side skirts.

I accidentally had them upside down in these pictures. It was before I realized I was mounting them with the bottom up, lol. Would have made for a much more solid install because the huge lip could have been bolted to the door sills but it would have required bending the whole skirt with a heat gun and they fit much better the right way.










Trim these off. You won't need them and they prevent the skirts from fitting to the body properly.







Remove these black things using 2 10mm screws on the bottom. This allows the skirt to fit flush with the fender edge in the rear.








You'll need to cut the excess length off one end. I chose to do the front end because my mud flaps cover up the open end of the skirt that gets exposed when you chop off the end and the rear fits like it's stock this way. They look amazing! I can't wait to vinyl wrap them satin black and vinyl wrap my roof gloss black. Only thing left after that is put a screw or two in the rear and use a bunch of 3M double sided tape to mount them. The doubled sided tape idea worries me so I think I'll also get some type of bendable metal brackets and screw them to the bottom of the skirt where you won't see them and screw that into the bottom of the body.

[Dominator]

That looks sick! I can't wait to see it finished up (wrapped) with the tinted tail lights and tail panel finished and on there too.

[kimokalihi]

Thanks! I'm loving it. Took me forever to find and finally found them for a decent price from across the country $75 shipped. Ebay they were $150!

I would spray them satin black but I think they'll just fade if I do that.

[kimokalihi]

EVOscan cable finally arrived today! Weeee. I have my patch harness out to rewire it and hopefully that takes care of the electrical short or break. Hope to do some laptop datalogging here in a few days. Going all Fast and the Furious up in here!

[bmxkelowna]

hate to say it but youve got them on backwards (left on the right and right on the left)

[kimokalihi]

I didn't know which way they went but I thought this way looked the best. I tried it both ways. Regardless they're cut already anyways so they're staying that way. Thanks though.

[beatersubi]

They look better the way you have them. Why not paint or wrap them to match the car?

[kimokalihi]

Well, I don't think I'm going to be able to match this paint since it's so old and I don't think pearl white is an easy match. I'll see how it looks. I can always rip the vinyl off later and paint them. For now this is a quick easy fix.

[cj91legss]

Dammit, it's too bad i go thru tenino often in our work vehicle, otherwise i would stop by.....

[Florin1]

Kimo, that looks super! Lol. You make me jealous. Guess its time to find some skirts. lol Where id u find them? CL? Another forum?

[kimokalihi]

I made a WTB thread over here: http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/67-classifieds/ I started it back in July and just now found some. I kind of forgot about it for a while but they're not easy to find for an affordable price. Shipping cost the guy $22 from MN.

[kimokalihi]

3 Hours of work and I got the harness redone. Hopefully that solves my problem with the engine cutting out and dieing. I also ran the ignitor wires through the other side of the harness. Before they were coming out the wrong side and had to be wrapped over the top of the harness to where I mounted the ignitors and this was putting stress on the patch harness.

If this doesn't solve the problem, it's got to be the connectors but I think this should do the trick.

Removed all the temporary electrical tape from the harness that I had applied recently to rule out the possibility that the wires were touching each other and somehow shorting out. Left a lot of nasty crap on the wires from the tape but oh well.

[kimokalihi]

Tomorrow I will plug it in to my car and see if it runs. Then I will install EvoScan on the laptop and hook up my SSMI cable and get some datalogging in. Should be fun.

A friend of mine told me that after I described my issue with the false knock he talked to someone he met who builds WRX engines over in colorado and works at a subaru dealership and told him the problem I've been having and he says it's a common WRX engine problem and to put couple washers under the knock sensor. I didn't talk to him directly and my friend isn't a mechanic and isn't familiar with subaru engines but from what he told me it almost sounds like he's talking about desensitizing the sensor with rubber washers or something. I don't want to do that because I think that's not a good idea and I believe this should not be happening with the knock sensor mounted the way it's supposed to be.

I will note however, that when I was replacing the knock sensor last week I did notice the way that it bolts onto the block causes the wire to be pinned against the block and this may be causing a problem. Maybe this is why he said to put spacers between the sensor and the block to raise it up and get the wire off the block? Hmm...If they're metal washers it might not change the way it reads. Worth a try I'd say but I'll talk to Rob first.