kimokalihi's 91 SS EJ20 Swap

[kimokalihi]

Top hat camber plates? Allen bolts. I'm trying to picture what you're talking about but I'm failing.

[beatersubi]

Not sure if I can articulate what I mean. I understand pictures better than words.
Use the head of a hex-head bolt in the head of the cap screw as a make-shift allen key.

[Dominator]

He means doing something like this in a pinch.

Allen Wrench in a Pinch

If you’re working on your quad, and you need a larger Allen wrench than you have in your toolbox, try using the head of a bolt. You can either use a bolt with vise grips if you’re in a hurry, or you can even double-nut the other side of the bolt and use a socket or a wrench.

[kimokalihi]

Ok got it now. Thanks. Good idea.

[beatersubi]

Thank you, Dominator. My brain feels better now, having seen pictures.

[kimokalihi]

Steering rack rebuild is finished! Not in the car but it's done. Hoping I did a proper job and it doesn't leak...It was a pretty involved process. That how-to could use some more pictures for sure. Especially assembly pictures.

Sure does look pretty though. All cleaned up (it was nasty) and I took a wire wheel to the bolts and tie rods. New Whiteline rack bushings to boot. I want the whiteline castor tie rods but don't feel like spending $240 on them right now.

I accidently installed the tie rods/ends on the wrong sides so I have to swap the tie rod ends before I put it in my car. I had to come home and check the parts catalog to make sure the threaded rods were the same length so I would know if I could swap just the ends or the rods as well which would have been a PITA. Just checked and they're the same part number so I can just swap the ends real quick. Can't wait to have power steering for the first time. Maybe next week...maybe.

[SILINC3R]

very very nice. It'll also be great for checking leaks since it will be so clean. Cant remember did you get new boots or just reuse your old ones? I had those bushings on my rack also after having a replacement and doing a not so intense cleaning and it felt more solid and tighter as well as smooth at the same time

[kimokalihi]

Nice. Brand new boots and spring seals. I'm getting excited! My current rack doesn't even return to center. Plus I'll have a straight steering wheel for the first time. All kinds of good stuff will come of this.

[Danny-G]

I need to do something like this. Mine leaks till the pump starts whining, and it will lose fluid the second I put more in. I even tried some Lucas stop leak stuff, its almost gone now and I still have the leak. The boots are torn so I probably would be best rebuilding a junkyard one. Hopefully I'll end up with one that looks this nice, looks like you ordered it from the dealer.

[kimokalihi]

Didn't look that way when I bought it from Stephen. It's undergone massive reconstructive surgery. I likes me some clean parts.

[kimokalihi]

Got the rack installed today with my new power steering lines I snagged from the junkyard. It seemed like it was going to be easy to make the new lines fit but that was far from truth. I hate hard lines.

I got everything except the linkage from the rack to the steering shaft back on and then put some ATF in the system and while I was underneath about to install the linkage I got dripped on. The return line from the rack is leaking. When I installed the hard lines after rebuilding the rack that line had a slightly crooked bolt. It was all the way tight and one side touched the rack and the other side had a tiny gap. It thought it was fine but I guess not. Pretty bummed right now. I think the whole rack has to come out again now. It's got to be cross threaded which means either the pinion housing has to be swapped out or the return line. Either way I'm not happy about it. I was so close.

[Dominator]

Aww dude, I'm sorry. You did so much work to get it rebuilt too. I hope it's just the hardline and not the female threads in the rack.

[kimokalihi]

Me too. I think the pinion housing is cast iron...not sure though. I couldn't believe it when it happened. My heart sank and I cried a little inside.

[kimokalihi]

Couple hours and I got it fixed. Swapped out the return line on the rack with the one from my old rack. Checked the threads on both the rack and the line and the line was the only one damaged due to it being made of such soft metal and the rack pinion housing is cast iron I'm pretty sure. Wasn't as hard to do as I thought it would be. I managed to only have to remove the bottom plate below the rack, both swaybar mounts and the endlink on the driver side, the rack mounting brackets and of course, the return line. I managed to pull the pinion housing out of the crossmember just enough to get a wrench on the bolt and remove it.

Here's what the threads looked like.



I filled it up and turned the wheel a bunch of times and didn't see any leaks so I think I'm good to go. Initial impressions after only 5 minutes of driving are not much of a difference. The "power steering" itself seems unchanged really. The only difference I noticed was it actually returns to center now. Before when you turn the wheel it would pretty much stay where you put it. Feels very strange now that it corrects itself. It's much harder to turn than my old wagon. I drove it the other day and it as soo easy and smooth. I think it should be helping me out more but then again I have tires that are probably 2 inches wider than on the wagon. Don't know if that's the difference or my pump is now working well. Or possibly backlash needing adjustment? I followed the FSM specs for adjusting it so it should be good to go there.

[Dominator]

Nice, glad it was an easy fix, and just the line that was cross-threaded. No change in the feeling? Are you sure the pump is working? It's weird that it's not working better now at least. When I swapped my engine, I drove a little bit without fluid in the pump ( ~1 mile while working out bugs) and it was really tough to steer. A day and night difference with it working than not.

[kimokalihi]

I think its probably the pump. I imagine driving it for 9,000 miles with kinked lines might have worn it out plus 172,000 miles of regular use. Its giving me a little assist just nowhere near as easy as my old legacy.

[beatersubi]

Stock Legacy pump? I've got a spare.
I don't remember the steering being that hard when I drove it. The wider tires could be mostly to blame.
Glad to see it was a relatively easy fix. Better the fitting than the housing.

[kimokalihi]

Hmmm...any idea what the rebuild kit costs?

[beatersubi]

For the pump?

[RckyMtnLegacy]

I rebuilt mine for 25 bucks. 22 for the rebuild kit and 3 for cleaner. Just be careful when you split it up since it has very small parts. Fun to see how it works though.

[kimokalihi]

Yeah Stephen, rebuild kit for the ps pump.

[kimokalihi]

Found it.

90-92 - 34419AA030 $23.71
93-94 - 34419AA100 $23.71

[RckyMtnLegacy]

Yep thats what I used. I also painted the reservoir since I had it out too.

[Legacy777]

Check out this thread for info about the rebuild and pictures.

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=24143

Wider tires will make the steering feel "heavier". Take the belt off the pump and try turning the pump by hand. If it spins freely, the pump is fine.

[kimokalihi]

Thanks Josh.

Got the car aligned today and it was way off where I thought it was but now it drives much better.







Did a 1/4 pull in my car today on an empty straight road with dynolicious app on my ipod and ran a 14.6...pretty slow. The first pull with a really bad launch was 16.1 and I really slammed through the gears the second time yet my 0-60 time even with the much better launch was only 3/100s of a second faster. 88 mph the first time and 94 mph the second time. It estimates 181 WHP. That sounds about right to me considering I'm pretty sure I'm running super low compression with my forester heads/wrx block combo and a 2 liter block with a turbo that's bit large for it.

Overall I'm disappointed but at the same time it's about what I expected. If that makes any sense. I can tell this car is slower with this block and I'm annoyed that I chose to keep the fuel cut when I got this chip from rob because it's preventing me from running 18lbs of boost.