Pulled engine for clutch swap, now redlines when starting!!

[EgoMyLego]

Okay, I've got my tail between my legs so to speak. I finally got around to pulling my motor/tranny for a much needed clutch change yesterday... first major job I've done on the car which is a 92 n/a ej22 AWD 5MT. I couldn't have asked for a better day to do it (sunny and warm in Seattle) though with it being winter and the days short, i wound up putting everything back in place by flashlight. This may have been the reason why thing's went a bit south. If any one has answers to the following questions please reply.

I had to do in the work in an uncovered driveway and despite meticulous bagging and tagging bolts and parts, I lost the bolts to the upper wishbone mount. Would it be safe to drive the car to the junkyard in search of a replacement without the mount in place?

While putting the cross-member back in place the front driver side bolt, which i'm positive wasn't cross threaded or under load because the cross-member was jacked, made a snapping noise and wouldn't go further in or come out. I'm assuming i broke the weld on the nut inside the frame. Does anyone have recommendations of what to do from here? I don't have any welding equipment and my facilities cap out at hand tools a joist and some jacks...

To cap it all off, when I went to start the car, I'd forgotten to connect the air line from the block to the intake hose. It blasted off and immediately redlined so I killed it, found the disconnected hose and started it again... Wham, straight to 7000 rpms. Killed it again took the battery off, tried again and still got the over revving. Any ideas what i did? I changed spark plugs while I had the engine out to NGK iridiums which i don't believe could contribute to the issue. The only other thing I did wrong was not filling the radiator completely because I only had a bit of straight coolant and no distilled water.

Any help is much appreciated!!! This job turned into a nightmare. I've never spent 8 hours changing a clutch before

[beatersubi]

Check the throttle cable and throttle linkage for anything that might be holding the throttle from closing completely. Also, check the connector on the IAC for a secure connection.
You should be okay to drive without the pitch stop bolt. I'd take it easy, just to be safe though, especially starting from a stop. No 5K rpm clutch drops.
As for the crossmember welded nut... its hard to say without seeing it. If it doesn't spin freely (like it won't tighten) then the weld probably didn't break. If it won't turn either way, the bolt is likely cross-threaded. In which case, you should try to remove it, then tap the threads and try again to tighten the bolt, carefully.

[MConte05]

As for the weld nut breaking. Don't worry about it. It happened to me too on my rally car. All I did was slot a few large washers and shove it inbetween the frame and the crossmemeber to take up the slack. Nothing bad will happen. If you don't put in the washers all you'll hear is a clunk when shifting really hard (like on a rally stage).

[FundamentalyConfused]

I'll seccond beater's idea on checking throttle cables. If you took the motor out then you would have had to take the cables off and if there's not a tiny bit of slack in the cable when it's supposed to idle then it needs adjustment.

I had to adjust my throttle cable to turn my idle down once and it didn't take much adjustment to create a reaction.

[EgoMyLego]

Thanks guys. I'll check the throttle cable and the IAC first and go from there. The cross member bolt definitely broke the internal nut, the whole thing spins free and i cant get the bolt to even come out. Slotting washers it is. Thanks for the idea MConte05.

[FundamentalyConfused]

You can use tap water in a pinch to do your coolant 50/50. I haven't had any issues in the 20+ years of working with cars using well water that was treated with a water softener. I can't really say for city water though.

[Someperson]

Buy a gallon of distilled at the grocery store

[EgoMyLego]

So I've fixed most of the mistakes I made. Used distilled water, figured out that the throttle cable was binding up because if fell out of its carrier, and remounted the upper wishbone style mount. So I'm almost in the clear. I just have the broken internal frame nut on the cross member to deal with. I just took the car down to the grocery store and back and my linkage was screaming bloody murder each time the tranny would sag and it would impact the drive line (so every shift, bump in the road, while braking, turning etc.). Does anyone know of shop in north Seattle that could work out a fix for this, like tomorrow? It's definitely a broken internal nut and i can't get the bolt out or further in. I was really hoping I could just use some washers and gap the bolt, but luck is not on my side with this project...

[FundamentalyConfused]

Are you 100% sure there's no holes to go through to get at that nut?

[EgoMyLego]

All done. Thank baby Jesus. Hopefully I'll never have to take the tranny out again! I had to weld the cross member in place because of the broken bolt but the car is running great. To any of those wondering, I'd highly recommend using the OEM Exedy flywheel and clutch kit. Smooth as butter.

Lesson learned about doing major work on a Subaru in the dark. With all the complications I spent over 10 hours on this project.

Thank you all for the help!

[Legacy777]

Was it the engine or transmission crossmember that had the loose bolt? You could have cut a hole in the frame/body and gotten to the back side of the bolt to either reweld it or just tighten it, and then weld a plate back on or some other type of cover.

[turboleg]

I would check with your state inspection agency before cutting into the "frame". In NY any visual weldments to the structural unibody is grounds for failing a safety inspection. The hull is pretty much good for scrap at that point.
I've welded some of mine in similar situations, but I took very close note to what the final job looks like after welding, grinding, sanding and painting. Undercoat helps to hide it to.

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