randomiams 1993 Legacy SS with bonus TW action within!

[randomiam]

Well, things not not exactly looking up on the fresh rebuilt motor

I went ahead swapped the oil pressure sensor out with a cleaned up one and the same issues occur: Went ahead and got a oil compression tester and its really not looking very positive. I'm seeing <10psi on idle and at peak, around 40-50psi at rpm. Clearances on the bearings should all be standard and I guess its possible there is an issue with oil pump but it seems unlikely right now.

I was under the impression 5w30 would be fine as a break in oil but I'm gonna take a series of steps before doing anything too drastic. Picked up some generic 10w30 and a much better filter.. Definitely going to take a good look at the oil and possibly pull the pan and check out the pickup this weekend if things don't improve.

Car isn't leaving the garage again until I get to the bottom of this low oil pressure business. Not cool.

[randomiam]

Making some progress. Wound up pulling motor again to remove oil pan and pickup and inspect; Screw fighting with that damn thing underneath the car. The pickup itself looked fine and the o-ring was present; tiny bit of RTV showed up in pickup screen so now it has me curious. No serious metal shavings or signs of issue with the bearings; Still looks pretty.

Probably going to pull the oil pump next and reinspect. I may just replace the oil pickup and oil pump if I can find some reasonable prices. This has also taught me a good lesson about taking apart your daily driver. Soon to be remedied.

Progress has been slow as I have began working quite a bit more to bring in some extra cash; Distracted by a few other Legacys too.

Also:


Don't drive with rod knock, or suspected rod knock! Began teardown of blown motor we got with a shell. Extra 128k mile motor is being gone through to drop in the clean sedan shell. I'm kind of paranoid about driving that thing.. The interior is too clean.

[Legacy777]

Ouch!!

[randomiam]

The cross pipe above the block halves actually took a massive hit too. Nuts.

I'm pretty excited to tear it down and examine things further. Subautopsy. I have discovered a few odd things. The oil pan on that motor was somewhat different; The pan itself has some extra internal stuff going on with it-- difficult to describe, so I will take comparison photos and include them on the next update. Bit curious if said oil pan might not have helped contribute to the disaster

Also: I'm not entirely sure but I have noticed that the intake manifold off that motor is different than that of the other two in that it has a raised inner mounting bolt setup -- It's as if its cast differently.



Looking at the service manual it looks appropriate but my other two intake manifolds do not have this raised portion and use different length bolts.

[Legacy777]

Is that pic where the fuel rails bolt to? I think some of them were different, but I don't have the details as to when and how exactly.

[randomiam]

That's right next to the fuel rails, where the intake bolts onto the cylinder heads. It is a bit strange.. Wonder why it changed.

Not much in the way of an update. I have been slacking on the car stuff lately. I stripped the wagon and had it hauled off last week. I still have a ton of parts stowed away; lot of interior stuff I'll be getting rid of soon.

Ordered a few parts for the automatic shell of mine.. Maybe I will finish it tonight. Maybe.

I'm kind of still in a pause on the built motor. I'll probably get back to pulling the oil pump etc once the other car is running. Hoping to avoid tearing it all down again but that might be the safest option. Maybe go over clearances again, new oil pump, pickup and if clearances are ok, go with OEM bearings this next time around. argh.

[randomiam]

bump bump bump

So pretty much no progress has been made on the 93 SS-- I have been distracted with getting the other shell out of here and rehabbing the wagon some.

Since the wagon has been here:
Swapped in different radiator
Replaced AC condensor, AC works awesome!
Pulled out front end, still shoddy
New charcoal canister
New wires/plugs-- fuel filter is probably in order soon.
Swapped out the fuel pump
NA hood, slightly better fender, not smashed hatch have been installed
Driver side CV axle has been replaced
Swapped on fairly new tires
NA grill
Replaced headlights, passenger side turn signal

So the wagon work is nearing an end.. for now. It will remain as my daily driver and the bulk of the car will stay stock during that time.. Might grab a few misc things and do the brakes soon but yeah.

and uhh.. Seeing as my 5MT in the sedan is kind of on its way out, I'm gonna grab a EJ20G + Tranny and differential to expedite getting it back on the road during the process of going through the built 2.2 motor.

School is starting up next month, so time will be kind of crunched down. I really do miss driving a manual transmission.

[randomiam]

update.. sorta.

Skipping any EJ20G ideas for a bit. I grabbed a motor on a pretty decent deal and might be up in going in a week or so. Need to go through my power steering rack first. Still need a transmission. Stay tuned.

[kimokalihi]

Ej22t? If you don't use it I might buy it from you.

[randomiam]

Bump.

Car is back in garage for surgery. I have the motor about ready to drop in.. Swapping out my broken 5mt and rear dif for my new gearbox. Came across a STI Ver 5 5MT 4.44 transmission with dccd and the neat center LSD.. rear 4.44 LSD.

The 3.9 open differential came out of car with little issue; however I do not know if its possible (or worth it?) to swap my axle stubs over to retain my current axles? The differential has no male stubs protruding.

edit: rear differential is from a 05ish Forester XT or something. Might just go grab the appropriate axles.

[Alphius]

The viscous LSD diffs usually require one axle to have a longer stub with a second set of splines. With the early female axles like Turbo Legacys have, one of the male stubs is longer and splined double. If you use axles without the double splined section, the diff will simply act like an open differential instead of an LSD, so if you need to do that temporarily you won't break anything.

Observe:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a313/ ... CF4297.jpg
http://datsun510.com/photopost/data/3602/FigureA.JPG

So if you get newer axles, you have to get a set from a VLSD car.
If you can find a set of VLSD stubs from a Turbo Legacy, you can use your stock axles.

All this is incorrect if you have a mechanical LSD, but I don't know if that is true for an '05 XT.

If you ever want to get rid of that DCCD trans...

[mike-tracy]

I miss read what you wrote, Alphius, initially lol. Here's what I know:
- The r160 MLSD diffs definitely use different length axles.
- The SVX has a vlsd and uses different length axles.
- The 91 SS resolves the different length axles by using different length axle stubs, so you can use n/a axles from a 1st gen.
- The phase II r160 vlsd rear diffs (including the FXT) do not use the funky axles shown above: ie. they do not have a longer section that fits into the differential. There is such thing as left and right side axles, but the part numbers (for the "left" and "right" sides, respectively) are the same for vlsd and open diffs from on opposedforces.com


So if you should be able to use standard 95-99 Legacy axles in the FXT rear diff. I'm rocking an 03 Outback Limited vlsd with the 2nd gen legacy axles, only thing I had to do was swap flanges for an older one to mate up with my drive shaft.

[randomiam]

Awesome- thanks for the super in depth replies. Seemed a bit murky there for a minute. Glad I don't have to do any silly hub swapping or canibal cv joint business. Will probably go yank some parts soon.

How is the outback vlsd Mike? What gearing is in your car currently? /goes to look around

[mike-tracy]

I'm running 4.11 gears. The vlsd doesn't make a dramatic difference. There are a couple of sharp corners by my house where I can feel the rear end start to slide then straighten out, but in general it feels like a normal diff.

The 4.11FD Seems to be a good compromise of acceleration and economy, but if I came across a dccd equipped 4.44 box I'd prob jump on it too. How do you control the older dccd trannies?

[Legacy777]

How do you control the older dccd trannies?

I would think you'd do it the same way as the newer ones. An aftermarket DCCD controller should work.

[mike-tracy]

Yep. DCCD pro has directions for the ver 5/6 DCCD tranny with their controller:

http://dccdpro.com/main/wp-content/down ... Wiring.jpg

[randomiam]

That's the route I will likely need to go down.. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on your build. It sounds like I should be able to suffice without the controller for a bit.. Might wind up under my Christmas tree or something.

Sounds like dccdpro is the best option. There are others but meh.

Sometimes I feel like I get car- ADD. I tend to go off on tangents and stalling projects for whatever reason. Time to get this show back on the road.

[randomiam]

Bump. Seems as good a place as any to collectively document the stuff I've done and seeeeeing as how I grabbed Robert's (thesubielovers) 93 SS;

Car hauled to house; not starting at first-- It turns out it was just flooded hardcore and low on battery; Unplugged the fuel pump instead of trying clear flood mode and that seemed to help burn things off and get it going.

Changed the plugs out of precaution: some really wierd gunk in the spark plug holes.. Wires/Coilpack all appear fine.
Swapped in a known good fuel pump for the heck of it.
Replaced the MAF, Boost Control Solenoid & Map sensor, because well, why not? Still didn't solve the hesitation
Coolant temperature sensor replaced: problem solved. Was screwing up the signals to the ecu and running like garbage when warm for this reason.

but this thing was stolen for months annd still has issues.

- Replaced driver side lightbulb, had to rewire.. Not sure why they cut that off.
- Few fuses replaced and blinkers, automatic seatbelts work again.
- Went through and double checked the vacuum fittings; nothing was too off.
- The Blitz atmospheric BOV on the inter cooler had seized up and was no longer venting; easy enough to open it up and get it functional again. Still not thrilled about this; in the process of going back to bpv/recirculation
- Why the hell did they spray the brakes and rims white? Did a brief respray of the calipers to a less dumb looking black color and swapped on a different set of stock phone dials.
-They apparently jacked 80% percent of the exhaust setup leaving just the open downpipe. I tossed on a stock downpipe mutt exhaust setup for the time being.
Cleaned the interior a good deal: god damn I hate mold. I'm crossing my fingers that I've gotten the bulk of it out now. The WRX seats worry me a bit being cloth.. I think its possible to take the cloth off and wash those things.

Car is running great, still has things to be addressed but its still in recovery.

I'm happy, yes!

[kimokalihi]

They didn't steal the exhaust, it was off when the car was stolen. And I imagine they painted the wheels and brakes to attempt to make it look different so nobody would recognize it. I'm pretty sure I told robert to replace that coolant temp sensor before.

[randomiam]

Oh.. wow. Running around with just downpipe is begging to get pulled over. Suprised they kept it as long as they did.

I also swapped in a good key ignition assembly this weekend but its not 100% finished.

What do you guys think about possibly adapting the outlet of a functional blow off valve to a hose to recirculate vs using a stock BPV? I'm not confident that this current setup is holding the pressure that well so the point may be moot but I'm just kind of brainstorming. This is all off of a 2006 top mount.

[randomiam]

Trying to chase down electrical gremlins.. I hate electrical.

Dash lights/Tail lights/Parking light are all not functioning

Headlights work, switch appears operational, brake lights work.

Checked:
fuses, several times over, they look fine
tail & illumination relay - swapped with a good one, still nothing.

I guess the next step is to trace the wiring and locate the loose connection? Seems like its probably isolated between the relay and the switch, is there a common wiring issue here? Ideas?

[Danny-G]

Did you check the underhood fuses as well?

[SILINC3R]

Check the plugs that go to the fuse panel at your knee.

[randomiam]

yeah, the engine bay fuses and fuses near ecu have been checked a few times now, same with those relays (the plugs.. you mentioned?)

Going to try a few things in daylight.. We'll see out it shakes out.. Don't want to wire a temporary solution, I'm sure I can solve this.

[randomiam]

this thread is worthless without pictures

work in progress, turning the stock calipers into a slightly less rattle can white:


Picked this guy up so I can rig up some plumbing to use my stock bpv. Atmospheric no bueno, 15mpg.


Quick mockup:


It's a turboxs bov adapter of some sort, it should fit the bill though.

Electrical issue of dash & tail lights being fubar has resolved itself a bit, for now. I think I've narrowed it down to a loose connection on the column itself from the switch/parking switch. I'll have to address this before I close things back up.