kimokalihi's 91 SS EJ20 Swap

[93legacylsleeper]

I was unaware that the SVX came with a 6 speed. Kimo, have you ever heard of anyone doing a 1 piece driveline on these cars

[kimokalihi]

No i havent. The svx only came and an auto but someone swapped a 6sp into it.

[kimokalihi]

You really need to upgrade your steering wheel, lol

Thats florin's fault too. He wouldnt sell me his sweet stitched velvet nardi wheel.

[93legacylsleeper]

I just bought some brakes from Florin Your car is looking real good with the skirts and black roof hope you don't mind if I pull the copy card...

[kimokalihi]

Go for it! I was considering buying those brakes I believe. Nice setup. My car doesn't have the skirts on yet. I'm just going to wait until I buy white paint to paint them and some other things.

[93legacylsleeper]

Yeah I got the 4pot/2pot setup I was debating between expensive Brembos or the 05+ LGT brakes or the 4pot 2pot. I think i made the right choice.

[kimokalihi]

They should be pretty sick with those EBC rotor and pads and the stainless hoses. I'm jealous.

[kimokalihi]

Yesterday I sanded my steering rack with 400, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500 and 2000 grit wetsand paper. Took an hour or so and I was pretty tired of doing it by the end but it's all nice and shiny now. Slowly making progess on it. Slowly.







Today I got some goodies in the mail and maybe I can get them on the car today and see if it fixes the loose drivetrain clunks.

Turn-In-Concepts trans crossmember bushings in pinkish red, Kartboy rear diff outrigger bushings and kartboy subframe locking bolts.

[Dominator]

Good stuff! I'm interested to see how your installs go and what you think of them and the difference they make.

[kimokalihi]

I ended up having them remove the rear diff bushings because they don't fit our cars I guess. Pretty bummed about that because I think those would make a world of difference in both the clunk issue and response. I'm sure that's where a lot of the snappyness is being sapped out of the car since that's where the diff would pivot at.

[Dominator]

Also, I've been meaning to ask, what are you hoping to gain with your steering rack restore job? Is that a quick rack or something special? It look great now, but It seems like it's been a lot of work and hassle for you so far.

[kimokalihi]

Oh, lol. My power steering doesn't work. It works slightly but compared to my other legacy it's non-existant. The rack I'm sure is worn, the boots are both torn and probably the biggest issue is the power steering lines themselves. What happened was when I swapped the DOHC EJ20G the heads were way too tall and the lines had to be bent to fit properly and they already had 90 degree bends in them which had to be straighted out to give me more length to reach around the heads. If you've ever tried unbending a 90 degree bend in a pipe you can imagine how well that went. It ended up kinking them and if I mess with them any further they're going to split open. I've been driving around with no power steering for the entire time I've had the car.

Now that I've relocated my coolant reservoir tank I believe I can run the power steering lines on top of the heads right next to the manifold without bending them or at least very little bending. I picked up a used set of lines from the junkyard the other day and when I swap in my new rack I'll replace the lines as well and should have perfectly functioning power steering that doesn't leak a drop.

It's the same rack, just from a 92 or 93 SS. Also, I should have a tighter feel with upgraded Whiteline power steering rack bushings.

[kimokalihi]

Gf: didnt you just get new bushings? (referring to last weeks carrier bushings) why did you need more?
Me:haha theres tons of bushings on a car and ive only just begun replacing them.

[beatersubi]

...GF:

[Florin1]

Or GF:

[Legacy777]

I ended up having them remove the rear diff bushings because they don't fit our cars I guess. Pretty bummed about that because I think those would make a world of difference in both the clunk issue and response. I'm sure that's where a lot of the snappyness is being sapped out of the car since that's where the diff would pivot at.

Which bushings are you referring to? The ones in the pic for the front T part of the rear crossmember?

[Dominator]

^^ I think he means he removed them from his initial order for the bushings. After the discussion about them not fitting our cars.

[kimokalihi]

I ended up having them remove the rear diff bushings because they don't fit our cars I guess. Pretty bummed about that because I think those would make a world of difference in both the clunk issue and response. I'm sure that's where a lot of the snappyness is being sapped out of the car since that's where the diff would pivot at.

Which bushings are you referring to? The ones in the pic for the front T part of the rear crossmember?

No the actual rear differential bushings. The two that go in the rear diff bracket.

[kimokalihi]

Got them installed. Took it for a quick drive after the trans crossmember bushings were in and it felt a tiny bit better I think but that could be placebo. Then I installed the subframe locking bolts and rear diff outrigger bushings using the thin bushings and not the thick ones. Seemed to fit much better than the thicker ones which I think are for WRX and newer cars.









Initial thoughts are that those subframe locking bolts sure made things a hell of a lot more audible. Not only can I hear my diff now (more so in 1st and 2nd gear) but I can also hear the road louder now. So if you drive your car daily and don't really like noise, don't install these bolts. I don't drive this too often and for this car I could care less. I just want performance and responsiveness and no clunks or creaking. Still have a stupid creaking noise up front on the left side that sounds like it's coming from right around where the simply subie fender braces are installed. I thought the bolts might have come loose a bit but I checked them the other day and they're tighter than a nun's cunt so it's not that but I bet it's a result of installing them. Makes a cracking sound every time I hit a bump. It didn't initially do that when I installed them but it does it constantly now and it drives me nuts.

Back to the bushings and stuff. It definitely took away some of the slack in the drivetrain and I think if I replaced those rear diff bushings it would be great and pretty much all that would be left would be the driveshaft itself?

[Dominator]

Damn dude, you are quick! The photos are great, thanks for sharing those. The installs were fairly painless I take it?

I looked up diff bushings for you today, you know, another set of eyes looking never hurts. But I didn't come up with anything yet. I was checking some Australian sites and companies looking for 89-93 Liberty parts, but nothing where I was looking.

I hope you pioneer it and find out what it takes. You're helping us all when you do. I know there are a handful of things from your build that I will be implementing in mine when I come to that point.

[kimokalihi]

Meh, I work at a slow pace and taking pictures doesn't help. Plus I like to take all the bolts and nuts that I remove and clean them up with the wire wheel on my grinder and then hit them with some anti-seize spray before putting them back on the car so if I ever have to do them again they're nice and clean and come right out.

Took me 4 hours to do it all but you could easily do it in 1 if you weren't taking pictures and didn't care about cleaning the parts. I also had to drive over to a friend's house right down the street to borrow a 10mm allen socket for the subframe bolts. Don't know why you would make an allen bolt on a car but whatever. How many people are going to have a 10mm allen socket? Not a lot. Pissed me off that it wasn't a standard bolt head. Added 20 mins to my install time.

Thanks for looking but I honestly don't think there has ever been an aftermarket bushing for the rear diff bracket on these cars.

[Deride]

I have a 10mm allen socket, use it to take the cover off the dowel pin thing for the shift fork on the turbo transmissions.

[Legacy777]

Yes the sub-frame lock bolts do add a bit to the noise of the car. You get used to it. I drove from Houston to San Francisico with pretty much all hardened bushings in the car

I'll do some looking into the rear diff bushings. If I can find some split poly bushings, I'll probably replace them.

[kimokalihi]

I have a 10mm allen socket, use it to take the cover off the dowel pin thing for the shift fork on the turbo transmissions.

Ive always used an allen wrench for that but now im going to buy the sockets.

[beatersubi]

What do have for front tophats?

In a pinch, a 10mm bolt head (6mm bolt, i think) with a few nuts on the bolt works in place of an allen key. Put a socket on the nut and the head of the bolt in the cap screw and away you go.