wooohooo

[Legacy777]

dont you mean brat4by4?

I was tired and delusional....hehe

[Legacy777]

Hmm, it's odd that you are having such a problem. My buddy JUST did an AWD swap into his 93 Impreza, and said it was fairly straight forward. He used a 90 Legacy L as the donor.

Oh it is quite straight forward. The AWD swap part is done. I took the auto tranny out today.....that was a major pain in the ass. One of the bottom studs got bent slightly. It shouldn't be enough to cause a problem. Or so I'm hoping.

[THAWA]

on the engine? it might. how bad is it?

[evolutionmovement]

The engine studs can be replaced if necessary. Clamp it with a vise grip and turn it out.

Steve

[entirelyturbo]

Ewwww, yeah that's not good. I hope the threads are at least okay...

[BAC5.2]

The engine studs can be replaced if necessary. Clamp it with a vise grip and turn it out.

Steve

Goddamn Steve, the answer man. You need to get a job at SOA.

Actually.... check your PM's in a few minutes...

[evolutionmovement]

He he, I've been there so I know - I used my old N/A ones on the turbo as it fell on the studs a few times so I figured I'd save the aggravation of finding out they were bent even if they didn't look it.

Steve

[Legacy777]

Thanks Steve!!

I'll take the ones out of the donor car. I know those are fine. I don't think it's bent bad, but if I can swap it out for one that isn't, why not, right. The driver's side is fine. I'll check tomorrow.

Wow.....I don't know what was more a pain in the ass....getting the auto trans out, or putting the pedals in. WOW is all I have to say. I spent the entire day putting those freakin pedals in.

I took out the seats and peeled the carpet back to get at things and remove the AT shifter selector. Getting the old stuff out wasn't too bad, however I tried getting the new pedals in was a bitch. I ended up having to lower the steering column. Tried to get it in and trace where I needed to cut out the hole for the clutch MC, however that didn't work. I ended up making a template. Took the MC and booster out, cut the holes out, and it was perfect. Had to cut that freakin insulation and shit.

HOWEVER....this HUGE wiring loom was in the way and I had to move it out of the way to get the pedals in, but not interfere with the hvac levers under there. Ended up pushing it out of the way and zip tieing it up.

One other thing was that there was a spot for another mount/bolt. But my car did not have a spot to mount to. I wonder if they changed the chassis in 91 and onward.

I don't think it will matter though. The whole pedal system is pretty rigid in there.

So after a good 8-10 hours I have 3 pedals now, all the sensors are in, but not hooked up, booster was swapped out for single stage booster, and clutch MC is in.

I spent more time laying on my back twisted and contorted. Ahh.....well at least it's done.

Hopefully if I get the clutch fork tomorrow, I'll be ready to put the tranny in on saturday.....woohoo

[Legacy777]

Oh.....was also going to mention......I'm not sure if I'm going to replace the rear crank seal. It's bone dry.

Anyone feel this is a bad idea?

[Lunatech]

I think if you can get at it easily, it would be an easy piece of maintenance. But, you know how some quick and easy jobs can go sometimes.

[evolutionmovement]

I'd do it for peace of mind as a newer one would theoretically take longer to leak than an old one, but there's always the old adage "if it ain't broke don't fix it." In my case, I guess it would depend on whether or not I had the seal at hand (I did).

Steve

[Legacy777]

yeah you're probably right. I was thinking about it last night.....I might as well just do it....

[entirelyturbo]

I actually say don't replace it as Steve did say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Just as I said, rear main leaks are very uncommon on Subarus...

[Legacy777]

too late....replaced I boogered up the old seal getting it out, and using it to whack the new one in. I tapped the new one in so it was flush with the lip. That should be fine.

I put the short throw shifter in today, as well as the flywheel, clutch, & pressure plate. I also swapped out that bent engine stud. I've got a pic or two in the latest batch of pics. That stupid drain/cover thing at the bottom of the engine was a little bit of a pain to put on.

I'm pretty much ready for the tranny now. I'm just waiting on the damn clutch fork that stupid nasioc dork boy was supposed to send a long time ago. he was also supposed to have the pin, but couldn't find it....so I had to order a new one....and am still waiting on that....but I can at least get the tranny in without that.

So assuming he shipped the fork out overnight.....I should have it tomorrow....he said today or tomorrow. I'd like to get the tranny in by the weekend. Then I just need to button up the front suspension, connect all the clutch hydraulics, driveline, and misc mechanical stuff. Then it's on to the electrical stuff.

Then it's done

[Legacy777]

Ok.....I seriously wanted to kill someone this afternoon, or at least run them over repeatedly!!!!!!

Let's go back a few hours. I went back to work today....after being off for a week. So yeah......that was lots of fun....however my attitude towards work has been a little non-chalent lately.....I don't get worked up about it. However with this car project almost done, it's about the only thing on my mind. So focusing on work, and other stuff is a little difficult.

I got a call today from the dude I bought the legacy wagon from in florida.....WTF....he apparently was in houston the other week....and was supposed to deposit some money into an account for his ex wife. He didn't do it for some reason, and asked if I could do it, if he wired the money to me.... Now at first.....I was like....who the fuck is this...?? I was like, just deposit it in florida. He said his ex would ask where it was deposited, and see it was in florida......I mean come on......this is so ridiculous. I told him I'd help him out, both the western union and bank of america are near by.

I however had errands to run after work, so I had to now fit this in. I go to western union after working out, and the lady was like I can't give you the money because he misspelled you're last name. columbo instead of colombo. I was like come on! So strike 1 on that.

Next I was expecting the clutch fork that dumb fuck on nabisco sent me. Guess what.....it wasn't here. I check the tracking number, and it says invalid address. I call fedex....and she's like, wow he didn't even spell your name correctly, and there wasn't ANY address, the stupid shit just put the street name. LUCKILY it was at the local fedex place, so I was able to pick it up. But that added an extra 20 min onto my errand running time.

Napa is like the only autoparts store in Houston that carries valvoline 75w90 dino gear oil.....and they closed at 7. So I had to run up there and deal with all the morons on the road.

I make it up there, get the gear oil.....nearly cleaned him out of it. Left him with 2 qts. I asked about the banjo bolt. No go there.

I then proceed to pep boys.....no go there on the banjo bolt.

Next I stop at lowes.....the guy didn't even know what a banjo bolt was. He was like "oh a bolt with a hole in the middle. I haven't seen one of those before"

I then head to o'reilys, waited in line for a while....no go there.

Head to autozone. had a bunch of stupid asses cutting in line and this jackoff asist manager who was talking on the phone with someone that was obviously not a customer, but a friend..... They had a few banjo bolts, but none with the right thread pitch.

and that was my evening....two hours of fun fun time, driving around houston with the dumb ass morons, and driving the nissan like it's a race car. Needless to say it doesn't handle too well....hah.

I'm going to call one more specialty place about the banjo bolt tomorrow morning. If they don't have anything, I'll have to order from baker and 2-day air or something.

Ya know, as big as houston is, and how much they claim they are industrial and commerical, they don't have squat for normal consumers. I hate Houston!!

Just thought of a place.....I'll call grainger tomorrow too. We've got a local grainger.

Ok I'm sort of done ranting.

[Legacy777]

no go with grainger......

Oh on a positive note, the clutch fork pin will be here tomorrow along with new pedal covers, and a new lighted key that I need to take to the dealer to cut. Old one is starting to crack on the plastic case, and is worn.

[Legacy777]

Got the tranny in last night. Went in pretty easily. We had to reposition the jack, but once we did that, and sort of had the holes lined up with the studs, I just tilted the motor back and pulled it on.

One thing I did learn about the clutch fork and throwout bearing. It needs to be installed on the transmission snout, and then the fork installed. Rather then putting the bearing on the pressure plate. Once you install the tranny and move the fork foward, the throw out bearing snaps into the pressure plate.

I had some issues with the one cv axle....it was being a pain and not lining up. Finally got it in. I need to put the starter in, finish up the misc stuff, and wiring.....going to re-wire that ground strap to the tranny, put the struts in, etc.

I hooked up the short shifter, and wow, that thing feels great from the little I played with it. Throw is nice and short, and crisp.

Only thing I noticed was the spring force pulling the shifter back in the Neutral position was a little stronger in one direction then the other.....but that's being incredibly AR.

[vrg3]

Cool. Usually it's a painful saga to get the transmission into the engine.

Most older Subaru 5-speeds I've driven (including my current Legacy) have a weaker spring pulling towards the right than towards the left... I would guess that's because you spend more time in 1st and 2nd than in 5th and reverse.

[THAWA]

couldnt the spring thing also be related to how it's positioned? Like when it's in 1st and 2nd, the spring is expanded, whereas when it's in 5th and rev the spring is compressed (or viceversa)?

[Legacy777]

Yeah....that could be. There is some spring or whatever in the transmission to return the shifter from 5th/reverse to neutral.

The external spring is what returns the shifter from 1st/2nd to neutral.

Richard Buckner said on the newer models 02+ I think they did away with the external spring and everything's inside the tranny now.

[Brat4by4]

Do you mean there is more resistance going into the 5th-Rev area? A lot of manufacturers do this to give the driver a physical feedback clue that they are going into the realm of super gears. One could screw stuff up and the other can get better gas mileage. I know for sure Hondas do this, too.

[entirelyturbo]

Doesn't everyone's car do that? I know mine does...

[Legacy777]

Do you mean there is more resistance going into the 5th-Rev area? A lot of manufacturers do this to give the driver a physical feedback clue that they are going into the realm of super gears. One could screw stuff up and the other can get better gas mileage. I know for sure Hondas do this, too.

No...backwards.....moving the shifter left to the 1st & 2nd gear area takes more resistance then moving it right to the 5th & reverse area.

It's all in what's providing the return resistance for the linkage to center itself.

It's a minor observation my AR self noticed. I'll wait until I get everything together to make any final judgements.

[BAC5.2]

I wish my spring was stiffer on the center return from 1/2. It feels so sloppy sometimes

I also want a short shifter, just to crispen things up.

[Legacy777]

The feel is really nice with the short shifter and new linkage piece. I'm really quite surprised it feels the way it does, because I've driven quite a few subarus that feel like mush....even newer ones.

I got the front struts on, driveline in, and filled the diff and tranny with fluid.

I'm sort of holding off on putting the starter and all that shit back together until I get the clutch slave cylinder on and bled. That's goin to be real fun. Might try out the vacuum pump. I need a "good" one man bleeder kit.