kimokalihi's 91 SS EJ20 Swap

[kimokalihi]

We left in the morning before the show. I brought my friend with me and he was sick and he got a lot worse and was going to call his parents to come get him and it's 3.5 hours away so I was like,"No way I'm letting them drive out here to get you." So we left. Sucks but my fault for taking him when he was sick.

I'm going to buy a new rebuilt rack most likely from Jakes shop for $350 and that way I will have all new bushings and a brand new rack I won't have to deal with.

[SLODRIVE]

Your rack's fine Kimo, it's just sticky from sitting so long. Don't waste money on another one, it just needs a little conditioner and/or some more bleeding.

[mike-tracy]

OK no prob. Just PM me what I owe you.

[Deride]

Like I said check the joint between the rack and column, I've seen a few of them crust up pretty bad and it does exactly what you described when it happens.

[kimokalihi]

Well if it makes any difference both boots are torn and it leaks. How do I check if that joint is bad or not and what do I do if it is?

[kimokalihi]

Another thing I've noticed is the car doesn't feel as solid as I expected it to. It feels a lot like my wagon felt where if you swerve back and forth driving down a straightaway it feels like the struts are moving in and out. The car is flat around corners and has no body roll but my metro feels much more solid if I swerve back and forth.

Is this worn bushings somewhere? Almost feels like it's just sitting on top of 4 hard springs and when you swerve it oscillates back and forth on top of the springs.

[SLODRIVE]

Well if it makes any difference both boots are torn and it leaks. How do I check if that joint is bad or not and what do I do if it is?

Well never mind then. You need a new rack!

[kimokalihi]

Haha! I know. I want a new rack and new bushings and new seals. While I'm at it I'm doing custom lines as well because mine are somewhat kinked from bending them to fit this motor. The rack worked ok for the first couple weeks. It was a little harder to turn if the wheel was straight but once you turned it a little either way it was like the power steering kicked in and was easy. Not it's bad. It'll turn one way easy and the other way it'll be super hard to turn, like 5X harder than no power steering at all and it shutters bad. Once you get through the hard part then it becomes easy to turn that direction and once you turn it the other way and get past straight it becomes hard to turn that direction.

Anybody know where I can get custom power steering hose made?

[kimokalihi]

I was searching NASIOC to find out how to bleed the rack and didn't come up with squat and the FSM doesn't have anything on bleeding that I could find either. I did however find a thread that said only to use ATF Dexron II automatic transmission fluid and NOT power steering fluid. Ooops. My bad. I filled it up with Redline power steering fluid. Will that harm the system? What's the difference?

Can someone tell me what the procedure is to flush the system and bleed it properly once it's refilled?

[PhyrraM]

Bleeding it is just turning it lock-to-lock a few times with the motor running. It just circulates enough fluid to push all the air to the reservoir where it rises to the top.

[kimokalihi]

Oh rly...lol then I would say it's pretty bled driving it around for a couple weeks. Except the lines may be a bit kinked. My accessory belt started squealing pretty bad when I start up the car. I wonder if it's related.

[kleinkid]

Have you replaced the ball joints? If not, you should. The feel after replacing worn ball joints with new ones is much tighter, no slop.

[kimokalihi]

Nope. Maybe I'll replace them when I replace the rack. It was nice meeting you BTW. It was a bummer we didn't stay for the show.

[ericem]

[quote="kimokalihi"]Another thing I've noticed is the car doesn't feel as solid as I expected it to. It feels a lot like my wagon felt where if you swerve back and forth driving down a straightaway it feels like the struts are moving in and out. The car is flat around corners and has no body roll but my metro feels much more solid if I swerve back and forth.

Is this worn bushings somewhere? Almost feels like it's just sitting on top of 4 hard springs and when you swerve it oscillates back and forth on top of the springs.[/quote]

I know what you mean! I replaced my control arm transverse bushing with the STi ones and it definitely feels tighter, next step is my steering rack bushings, and driver side ball joint. Also I think if I put new sway bar bushings it would help. Recently purchases some H & R springs currently running stock springs on new GR2's.

[kimokalihi]

I just changed my rear swaybar setting from softest to hardest so now it's equivalent to 20mm rear with 20mm WRX wagon front bar. Then I installed the passenger side simply subie fender brace that I had been procrastinating. Took 10 mins. I didn't notice much difference in handling driving it. It still understeers but around one sharp turn I was able to get what felt and sounded like a split second of lost traction from the outside rear tire. Maybe I need a 24mm rear swaybar? I need to pick up some amber bulbs for my rear turn signals since I removed the amber lenses.

[beatersubi]

You could also try less front swaybar. Same effect.

[kimokalihi]

I could put the stock bar back on the front...

[kimokalihi]

You could also try less front swaybar. Same effect.

Hey stephen, Did you still want the STI suspension? I'll give it to you for $200. I need money! Need a new steering rack, new phone and pay bills.

Let me know. Thanks

Kimo

[kimokalihi]

My boost is set at 16lbs right now. But it spikes (I haven't had a chance to see what it spikes to) and hits fuel cut so I'm guessing 19+lbs. At least I think it is hitting over 18lbs which is where fuel cut kicks in on this ECU. I'll have to monitor this because so far each time it's happened (mainly downshifting into 3rd to pass) I have forgotten to check the boost gauge and it's only for a second or two.

I'm assuming this is the Hallman boost controller failing to open the wastegate quick enough. Or maybe it's just the wastegate not being able to slow the turbo down quick enough.

[Legacy777]

Kimo,

Refresh my memory on what your suspension setup is. The reason I ask is because if you have anything remotely similar to my setup, it should be on rails. The likely culprit as previously mentioned is likely bushings and/or ball joints....along with possibly your steering rack.

Too much sway bar isn't a good thing. However a larger front bar will actually decrease understeer because it improves front end grip. I know it's counter intuitive, but it works.

My suspension isn't overly fancy, but I've upgraded/replaced every component. I'm running KYB AGX struts with Whiteline Control lowering springs and STi group N top mounts. The rear lateral links are the Whiteline adjustable lateral links with poly bushings. The rear trailing arms have STi hardened bushings. I'm using Whiteline's subframe lock bolts. I've also got a 20-24mm adjustable Whiteline rear anti-sway bar (on the lowest setting) with Whiteline steel endlinks and HD rear mount. For the front, I'm running STi hardened bushings for the front and rear A-arm bushing. I've got the Whiteline steering rack bushings, and have replaced the tie rod ends and ball joints with new Subaru parts. Again, in the front I'm using a Whiteline 20 mm anti-sway bar with steel end links.

I think that's all of it.....but like I said, I think you've got some other stuff you should look at replacing/upgrading vs. getting a larger anti-sway bar.

[macipusy]

I agree with Josh. I almost have all the stock bushings replaced, and you could tell the difference. The bushings in the 20 year old car are most likely shot. The condition of my stock bushings was scary in some places.

[kimokalihi]

Yeah I'm almost positive it's bushings. I'm running Tein Type HT Gymkhana Master coilovers that look new and they seem to be handling great. The car is flat around corners. I have a whiteline 18-20mm adjustable rear swaybar set on the hardest setting. 20mm WRX wagon front swaybar. Simply Subie fender braces. 20 year old bushings on the rest of chassis.

If I buy a rebuilt steering rack it's going to have all new bushings I would imagine. It better for $350. So I'll need all the rest of the bushings. That's a lot of bushings. I wonder how much money it would be to replace all the chassis bushings? I'd prefer to go with STI hardened rubber bushings when possible over urethane because I don't want to have to grease them all the time.

[kimokalihi]

Is there anything I should know about adjusting the damper on these coilovers? When I installed them I just turned the dials on the top all the way to the left which I'm assuming means they're at the softest setting. Does the car need to be jacked up off the wheels to change the dampers? Anything else?

[Legacy777]

If you get a new steering rack, it will likely have new tie rod ends, that's it. You will need to get new bushings that go between the rack and crossmember.

I would highly recommend getting the super pro poly bushings. The STi hardened rubber bushings are a complete and utter pain to replace. The metal collared bushings on the rear trailing links and front A-arm are impossible to replace without a press. Even with a press it's complete bitch. The bushing on the rear hub is pretty much impossible to replace without the appropriate tool. Here's one BigskyWRX made....and was the only way I got the bushings in.
http://main.experiencetherave.com/subar ... ol/images/

The poly bushings don't really need to be regreased. I've never really regreased any of my poly bushings. If you do have to regrease them, you should not have to do it frequently.

[kimokalihi]

Really? I figured a remanufactured rack would come with new bushings. That's pretty stupid.