xrayspecs

Biggest things depending on mileage, wheel bearings, all the tie rods and ball joints with just new oem or like oem parts. just those will improve the car drastically.

 

i am in the middle right now of finishing the whole rear end to poly on mine.

just did mine, there is an oring on the steel tubes (both pressure and return lines) that seals onto the hoses on from the pump. not sure if your mean those or where the hard tube pressure lines go into the pinion assembly. would need pictures to be sure.

Subframe is back in!

 

Diff bushing crush tubes all lubed up and inserted.

 

put the front dogbone in so I could lift it up with the jack. not pictured some 2x4's so it would lift evenly.

 

 

Subframe in! Bushings look great and cant wait to see how they improve the car.

 

 

Now to finish installing the rest of the arms and torque it all to spec.

Finally found some time and a break in the 100+ days to get the rear diff bushings installed into the subframe. The finish on the KDT906 bushings isn't the greatest and the sharp metal edge of the bushing was digging in and causing the bushings to not start square to the location. some time with a small die makers file and it helped a lot. I put a chamfer on the leading edge of the bushing band helped a lot, i also used some assembly grease and froze the bushing to shrink it a tad.

 

A piece of 5/8" grade 8 all thread is a great replacement for a press if you have the patience. I used a 2" x 3" pipe fitting as a stand off/support to pull against with the bushing, i didn't want to wreck the sub frame trying to pull against the thin wall tubing the bushing resides in.

 

 

 

 

Now i just have to put it all back together.

the parts catalog for the 04 shows that they are electronic throttle body cars, i would have to dig up the FSM's for 02, 03 and 04 to confirm what year made the switch for 50 states, iirc Cali cars made the switch a year before the rest of the cars to electronic throttle body.

 

if you wanted to swap ECU's you would need to know the FSM(wiring diagrams) for the car the ECU/ECM came off of and compare it to the FSM(wiring diagrams) for the car your putting it into and make sure they match for I/O if you want it be straight plug and play.

 

also, if you have a dirty iacv, or pcv, or a minor vaccum or emissions leak the car will feel like it has snap throttle.

Short answer, probably no.

 

the early cars 00-02 are all cable throttle bodies, i know i have an early 02 sometime mid/late 02 and depending on if the car is 50 state or cal emissions they switched to throttle bodies by wire.

looks like lately I've been averaging right at 25 mpg for combined, this would be 80/20 highway city, graph of the dataset going back to 2014.

 

always liked that color on the wagons, good looking car.

The pile of old crusty blown out rubber

 

 

the Powerflex bushings are a money fit, getting the old ones out by far took the most work.

 

 

lower front bushings in place, follow the directions as they are different sizes and go in a certain way.

 

 

 

Lower rear/outer bushings in, these also are different sizes and go in a certain way. the pin holes go vertical on both sides.

 

 

 

just need to finish with the upper link and rear diff bushings itll be reassembly time.

 

Take it to a local muffler shop and have them weld something up for you. there's little bolt on aftermarket for the 00-04 h4 especially with regards to exhaust.

Been busy with work lately, however managed to get some more of the diff bushings out.

 

 

 

installed KTD905 Into the outrigger. Almost done cutting and chipping the stubborn subframe bushings all out so I can put the polymer ones in.

 

 

Subframe Bushings out, after almost 20 years they really really really really didnt want to come out of the subframe without a fight. I have zero body rust, but the subrframe bushings had some on the bushing that was really keeping them in. They all pretty much look like this one once they came out.

 

 

sub-frame all ready for the new Powerflex poly bushings.

 

 

Bushings fit perfectly. cant wait to see how they transform the car along with all the other bushings.

 

 

 

 

Rear most bushing on the trailing arms is out and working on getting the bushings out of the upper links.

 

Finished stripping the rear sub-frame of the links and hubs. My plan is to put new bushings in the sub-frame, then put the sub-frame back in, then add the diff back and build the suspension back into the car as i get the bushings into all the links. I really should upgrade the sway bar and shocks/springs.

 

 

since I plan on installing the whiteline adjustable control arms, I am putting on the toe lock bolts in.

 

Original OEM adjusters.

 

 

The lock kit next to the oem eccentric bolt adjusters

 

 

Temporally installed in the sub-frame till the arms go in.

 

 

I haven't got a press in my home garage yet and my work shop is full up with work so cant exactly sneak a subframe in to press bushing in and out right now without getting in trouble. Resorted to how i've done it before in the past.

 

started with the diff bushings as they were already 90% ripped.

 

Start with cutting out all of the guts of the rubber you can out of the bushing.

 

 

then you need to use a metal blade or high TPI bald for the next step. put the saw into the bushing and start cutting, you want to cut through the metal of only the bushing. you want to make 3~4 notches all on the same side about 1/2" from each other. use a chisel/punch and hammer to peal the bushing back where the notches are located at. take care not to gall the face on the subframe when doing this.

 

 

 

the bushing should look like this once you start to get it pealed back, just keep beating it with a punch till it pops out.

 

 

 

when done right, shouldnt take anymore time than using a press and the proper jigs.

 

 

 

for my next trick press the bushings in with no press... but need to knock the rest of the subframe bushing out.

Underdog, thanks for the solid walk through and information with part numbers on your installation of the STI rack. It helped a bunch for my install on a 3rd gen.

Sub-frame is out, so many crusty bushings, got all of the links loose and time to start putting the new urethane ones in. lots of PB blaster and cheater bars to get bolts and nuts that havent moved in almost 20 years loose. time to start planing adding shop air to my garage.

 

 

 

 

Started on pulling the whole rear sub-frame. No rush on this since Ill have to get a press for a few of the bushings.

 

first step, disconnect the exhaust, two 14mm nuts and bolts. I dont even try and take the axle back off as its so rusted (OEM) and just pull the whole mid pipe and it off together.

 

 

disconnect the driveshaft from the diff.

 

 

then the only things left holding the whole sub-frame in are the dampers, abs speed sensors, park brake cable and rear brake lines. Its been a while since I have flushed the brakes, so i just disconnected the hoses and will bleed the brakes later. I should probably get new soft lines anyways, since I'm already doing the work.

 

 

 

 

PRO TIP, Put all your ebrake springs/clips/pieces in a baggie and write what side it goes on the baggie in sharpie. less looking for lost springs later

 

 

to get to the subframe bolts disconnect the sway bar, it gets it out of the way.

 

 

also, what 20 year old rubber bushings tend to do. can't wait to have them all replaced and not blown out.

 

 

 

everything is loose, and ready to drop.

 

So got the Ujoint installed today, and took it around the block, with just an eyeball alignment HOLY COW is this steering rack an improvement! also with no more rag joint you really do feel more of the road through the steering wheel. so much for NVH!

 

I'll have to get out the tape measure and align the car so I can drive it to the shop for a proper alignment soon.

New shortened 15+ STI ujoint next to the original one with the rag joint.

 

Ujoint installed finally, although I did mess the timing up on the shafts so I'll have to take it apart and fix that this weekend. no broken clock spring though which is good.

 

 

took a 1/4" off each outer tire rod to get the needed ability to get some toe. both the tie rod outer and inner shafts have 1.75+/-.05 thread on them and I used a thinner jam nut to achieve toe in.

 

 

Finally back on the ground.

 

 

 

Not for long though! finally dug every part out of everywhere in the garage for the next project.

 

 

slowly chipping away at my want to do list for this chassis.

 

 

pulled out the ujoint and painted it with some black enamel paint as in my excitement to drive the car. I had skipped that step putting it all back together, waiting for the paint to dry also gave me some time to adjust the toe back to reasonable enough to get it to the alignment shop, and straighten out the steering as it was majorly misaligned.

 

 

car is now in backwards for the next step, will be pulling the whole rear subframe off the car.

 

small update.

 

finally welded up the ujoint. this weekend will be installing it and trimming my tie rods a bit more so I can get some toe adjustment back, I wasn't aggressive on the first cut, cause its a lot harder to put metal back later.

 

I feel like a slacker reading your thread. However looking forward to the next post

 

Yeah, there was a lot of hording parts though over the last year or so for this and the next work I have planned. Pulling the rear sub-frame and doing all the rear bushings also gives me a good excuse to buy a hydraulic press for the home garage

 

Plus I recently had my work situation change and I don't have to commute way to far daily which leaves more time for wrenching.

Slowly chipping away at this project, between work, house projects and family not had much time the last few weeks to finish it up and get the BE on the ground.

 

Cut down and got the STI u-joint shaft to the correct length. right now need to get some time to TIG it back up.

 

first cut of the OEM weld out

 

Fit check on the rack and steering column.

 

 

Installed the power steering cooler in front of the grill, and test fit all the hoses this location is temp with this front clip, when I swap the JDM front clip ill move the location and hoses to a permanent place and build a proper bracket for the cooler...

 

 

the hydraulic lines on the +15 steering rack are oriented a bit different than the OEM rack that was removed, as a result the return line is oriented a bit different than it was originally, not an issue as I am using aftermarket on the return line to loop it through the cooler before returning to the reservoir.

 

 

 

OEM sway bar and jack plate back in, a sway bar and new shocks are next on the to buy list after i finish installing the bushings in the rear axle.

 

 

 

The rack pressure lines also clear the Borla UEL that i have fit check before installation of my header .

 

 

once the I get the ujoint in, it'll be time to flip the car around in the garage and pull the whole rear subframe.

I also forgot to add the updates from this winter.

 

The engine kept throwing a code for knock, took a spark plug replacement, and a new knock sensor. when I had pulled the old one off, it had a massive crack across the sensor, and testing bad with a multi-meter. All the LPS had in stock was one from a WRX, fit and has worked just fine.

 

Also had the wheel bearings on the passenger side front start to howl really bad.

replaced both front wheel bearings, seals, C-clips, lock nuts and the sound in the car decreased drastically.

 

Finally got around to getting the proper hardware for the longer fasteners needed on the drivers side.

 

I had picked up low grade fasteners to test fit everything when installing, however I guessed wrong on the fastener lengths. so after test fitting and measuring I ordered some M10x1.25 in Class 12.9 fasteners (70mm/80mm length), washers and lock washers for that side, i also measured up the spacer and got a stand off for the step side of the steering rack that was needed.

 

 

Steering rack installed clearance around the opened up steering rack.

 

 

now that everything is installed and in its proper place found out the +15STi steering knuckle is too long for the BE/BH chassis. see the below for side by side. I thought there might be enough splines on the steering shaft that it wouldn't be an issue. But now that i have the correct length bolts that is not the case and the shaft will need to be shortened. Based on what I have measured ill need to make it about 1.5"~2" shorter to match the overall length of the shaft that was removed. Kinda stuck on this install till I get this shortened and welded up.

 

Thanks! i try to keep it up to date with the big items and the running parts list is a cut and pastefrom my log book.

 

no better way to make memories and teach them is to get them involved!

The rack and pinion had been leaking a bit since before the fender bender. the leak finally killed the power steering pump when it got cold this winter. with everything going on finally have time to get all the parts together and tear into replacing the entire power steering system. Based on information from various forum threads on here and elsewhere i went ahead and got a +15MY steering rack to replace the OE unit. I also put in a while back a 5 panel wink mirror i made brackets to adapt to the OE visor mount point, I need to make another rev that has slots so i can get more adjustment on the mirror. I have always had these on my cars in the past and they kick ass for improving the rear visibility when driving.

 

Wink mirror brackets made two like this.

 

Mirror in place.

 

Installing the +15MY steering rack is pretty straight forward.... cleaned under the hood first so wouldnt be so dirty to work on.

 

 

You can see the failed seal on the passengers side that had been leaking since probably right after i completely rebuilt the front end a while back. it only recently got bad enough that it killed the pump. Went through the Simple Green cleaning this all up.

 

 

pull the pump, hoses, belt and power steering pump.

 

 

clean everything, and install the new power steering pump.

 

Steering racks next to each other after removing the old and busted OEM unit.

 

 

to get the newer steering rack to work with the OEM steering shaft you have to use the +15MY steering ujoint. the splines on the steering pinion are different than the ones on the 02 pinon so this piece has to be upgraded. i used Part number 34170VA30 from Subaru. ill get a picture of the new ujoint in place here shortly. the part number listed slides right onto the splines on the steering shaft with no problems.

 

 

the other major item is you have to open up the subframe, the power steering rack wont clear on the driverside without doing this. its a bit of trial and error of test fitting till you've gotten enough out of the way. size of the hole I made

 

 

the passengers side of the steering rack I reused the Whiteline bushing that i had installed on the previous rack ,and reused the OEM clamp and hardware.

 

***the other major item that i did address (didnt grab photos of the process) is you have to take about 1/2" of thread off of the inner tie rods on the +15MY STI rack. And about 3/8ths off the outter tie rods to get any toe in when you align the car, just cut and chase the threads. follow this guys instructions if you are going to do it yourself. https://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?p=42773116

 

*****NOTE the OEM BE outer tie rod ends, I installed previously part number ES3715 FIT onto the +15MY STI inner tie rods. in fact they look IDENTICAL dimensionaly to the ones that were on the steering rack assembly i purchased. I choose to reuse the MOOG units for three reasons, the wrench flat was in a different position (this lets me cut down the tie rod with no loss of the wrench flat area), they were still in great condition, and they have grease zerk fittings that allow me to service them every 10k or so.

 

 

I Currently the rack is in the car, however i need to reclock my steering wheel and finish the hoses.

 

The OEM power steering hoses fit onto the +15MY STI steering rack, see below for test fit before i started the installation, no need for any crazy custom hoses like i have seen on all the other installations of this steering rack.

 

 

will let everyone know how it transforms the car after its all in and aligned.

the emissions systems check need to be set to ready, the car needs to be drive cycled till they are, it can be anywhere from 50-150 miles for them to set as ready or fail.

For the 5mt, anything from a 5 speed will fit the shifter on the legacys the bushings and shifters are the same across the models in this year range.