Can I still post here? - 98 2.5GT

[jamal]

I did some things today.

My throwout bearing has been squeaking since slightly after I changed the headgaskets. So I bought a new one and some kartboy parts:



I had an sti transmission mount sitting around:



The stock 5-speed one looks like this:



I figured the 6-speed part might be better. Plus it goes along with the sti motor mounts I'm using. To install all this stuff step one is to remove the transmission. I modded our jack so that I can bolt the transmission mount directly to it:



Here's the tranny:



It was pretty dirty so I cleaned it:



Then I took apart the crossmember and replaced the rubber bushings with urethane:



Then replaced the rear shifter stay with the urethane kartboy part:



Put on the new throwout bearing:



And re-installed the transmission, put in the front shifter bushings, and also the driveshaft and whatnot had to go back on:



Okay that's about it for now. The biggest thing I've noticed is the shifter feel due to the front and rear busings. Doing the outrigger bushings created a growl on decel, and all this stuff hasn't added too much nvh. the drivetrain is a little louder on acceleration now but that's about it.

[jamal]

Have I mentioned my new swaybars?

robispec agreed to pay me in parts for the work I did at our suspension day, so now I have 22mm front and rear adjustable whiteline bars.



Those are 04+ impreza mounting brackets to go with the rear bar.



The GTs have a different front crossmember than the other Legacies of the generation it seems, with stronger front swaybar mounts and a different bushing. So I rolled around with just the rear bar set to soft for awhile.

I have to say that got rid of a lot of understeer. I have the front bar on now, set to soft with the rear at medium and the car handles so much better and has so much more grip. Honestly though I wish there was a 24mm rear bar available.

We have another suspension day this weekend so I'll get my car realigned and see what it weights while I'm at it. I think I'll even pull off my frort strut to slot it some more so I can bump the camber up a little over -2.

[jamal]

Well it's been awhile since I've done anything to my car. The lack of funds certainly doesn't help.

last week I did do the brakes and replace the knock sensor. My WRX front and legacy H6 rear brakes went on with some Hawk HPS pads and SS lines. Around town the brakes don't feel a lot better, but I was up on a canyon road recently and the mystery brakes I had on there didn't cut it at all. 10 miles into a 70 mile drive I had to slow way down and take it easy. It's really not confidence inspiring to have questionable brakes on a steep, twisty road late at night.



So anyway the brakes feel pretty good, but I would still much rather have a set of 4-pots up front. There's more play than I'd like at the top of the pedal and a little more initial bite out of the pads would be nice. But once I'm into them they're solid and they held up to some abuse up in the mountains recently. I might try to adjust the rod at the pedal to see if that helps.


Also I checked the alignment today and it's about where I thought. Floor wasn't level, so until I get on a flat surface I'll just take the average.

Front camber: -2.6 degrees
rear camber: -1.4 degreess

[93Leg-c]

Great build, Jamal!

I PM'd you with questions.

[speedmaxx]

clean looking ride!
should handle well with that set up

[jamal]

re-aligned the car yesterday on scales with lasers. I was surprisingly close with the previous one.

Toe was zero all around but the rear was shifted a bit (3/4" over the wheelbase).

Front camber is -2.5 on both sides
rear camber is -1.1 on both sides

amazingly I had no cross camber, even in the front where I slotted the struts and basically set the alignment by eye.

car weights 3080, with 0.2% cross.

[jamal]

broke my car last weekend doing a canyon drive. The worst part was that it happened at the top, so we had to have a flatbed drive up there at 11pm. Since none of us had AAA plus or whatever I could only get a tow to the bottom of the hill, where we left the car in a grocery store parking lot. Then I got a ride to pick up a truck and trailer, which was an hour away.

my car on the trailer:



AQ Motorsports (formerly Harman Motive):





Taking motor out and apart:







Broken stuff:



To top it off I had practically no compression in cylinder 1 due to a leaking intake valve, so I'm having the heads rebuilt too. I kind of wanted to do it myself but I think I'll leave it to the professionals so that they come back all nice and clean and resurfaced.

The machine shop I'm using, Outfront Motorsports, is hooking me up big time on the parts and labor. He's going to give me an exchanged crank, rods, and pistons for practically nothing. Then i need to buy an oil pump and headgaskets, but I can re-use pretty much everything else since it's all new. Should be putting this thing back together next week.

[SiCkSTi04]

good to hear your car being put back together so fast!

[Lestat22]

Great job you are doing with that LGT... I kinda liked the silver rims over the black ones though Good luck with your project! Cheers from Costa Rica.

[jamal]

I called the machine shop at the beginning of last week to ask if my stuff was done, and apparently a message was not relayed by the guy I previously spoke with on the phone because they hadn't started on my block or heads yet.

Anyway, I picked my stuff up this afternoon:





Ooooo shiny:



step one is put the rod bearings in the rods, and the rods on the crank:



Then the main bearings go in the block halves and the crank goes in:



Here are all the case bolts and new washers. The washers have an o-ring built into them since some of the bolts are in the water jacket:



o-rings for oil and coolant passages:



case halves together:



installing pistons:



Shortblock mostly done:



Then I went home. Tomorrow I should have the motor together and possibly in the car if I have time before school.

[jamal]

car's done finally, here are the rest of the pictures I took.

freshly rebuilt heads:





Installing heads:







Timing stuff:



It seems I put all that stuff on without taking any pictures. I did take a video of myself putting on the timing belt but I look really greasy in it plus it doesn't play right on my computer. I'll try putting it on youtube at somepoint I suppose.

Things on the bottom of the motor:



finished and in the car:



my new free wheels:

[07Evolved]

wow, great build jamal! im looking forward to seeing it all back together.

[kleinkid]

Looks like fun. You are back in school?

[ciper]

I'm glad you got it back together. Did you ever fix the crazy shaking?

[jamal]

yep, ended up needing to replace both front axles.

this car has been a lot of work.

[93forestpearl]

At least you can fly through it once you have everything on hand. Nice work.

[jamal]

wow, great build jamal! im looking forward to seeing it all back together.

not only is it all together; I drove it to pheonix yesterday. and took a couple of pictures along the way. Here's one:

[Lestat22]

[quote="jamal"][quote="07Evolved"]wow, great build jamal! im looking forward to seeing it all back together.[/quote]

not only is it all together; I drove it to pheonix yesterday. and took a couple of pictures along the way. Here's one:

[img]http://jamalb.net/gallery/d/10030-2/IMG_0754.jpg[/img][/quote]


You have done a great job with your car!! I have a 91 Legacy LS and I'm planning on starting a little project on it, mostly in the exterior, I want to pant it and the same color of your car as mine is wine red...
Wish you the best, and keep it up!

[jamal]

I'm so annoyed right now. I have quite the oil leak coming from the back of the pan. Looks like I'll have to take it off and get angry with a hammer.

Although I think we have a newer sti pan around somewhere. I think those have better baffling to help prevent pickup starvation.

[ciper]

Might be faster to leave the engine in place (supported with a 2x4 across the strut towers) and drop the cross member so you don't have to unhook shit or drain the coolant.

[jamal]

or I could remove the pitch stop, undo the motor mounts, and lift at the front of the transmission using a screw jack.

[dropdfocus]

Nice build up Jamal! Sorry to see the curse of the 2.5 fell upon you as it does most people with the LGT. I'm so damn glad to own my SS since most of these problems do not arise as often.

BTW, the suspension components look awesome!!!

[jamal]

fixed my stupid oil leak and it wasn't the pan. Damn plastic pcv cover on the back of the block was leaking so I got to pull out my transmission again the other night. Guess I went a little light on the silicone. Anyway, replaced it with a steel cover to be safe and it appears to have stopped leaking.

[jamal]

Added some new parts the other day:



Whiteline Com-C offset top mounts, Racecomp Engineering Black springs, and a Whiteline roll center kit.

the tops are offset to add caster and camber. They're meant for a GD which means they don't point the same direction on my car but for me it's actually better. I have plenty of negative camber and these almost only add caster:



here's the roll center kit:



I also re-greased the sti strut housings while I was at it because the rears were starting to clunk:



Comparison between stock sti suspension and the black springs:




I bought tires for those LGT wheels as you might have noticed. They're Hankook Ventus V12 EVOs in 225/45-17. So far I'm very happy with the performance for the price.

Impressions of the suspension work:

Car definitely rides more firmly and there is more nvh transmitted into the car due to the springs and the stiffer rubber top mounts. The added caster made the steering a little heavier. Front of the car is a lot less vague and the car is more responsive. Overall very happy and I will be doing re-valved feal inserts and some new bushings in the rear of the suspension next.



Also I bought these things awhile back:

[beatersubi]

Do you notice any change to how it self-centers or does it track better on at freeway speeds w/ the extra caster?
Wouldn't one want less caster for more precise steering and probably better feel?