BBPeik

Well I pulled the center diff housing off of the back of the transmission today. Many scratches were found, main shaft bearing was really good, but it was replaced when Subaru did the center diff. The magnet in the pic was clean when I put it in the bottom of the center diff housing. There are many chunks and slivers of metal on the magnet. So folks it is not looking good. Looks like an STI swap is what is going to happen. Might as well, it will cost the same as fully rebuilding this transmission. This news gives me both a yippee and an oh crap feeling all at the same time.

^^^And now the real reason comes out. The fozz gets new suspension.

Yep, figured I would make a custom engine support. Seems to work real good considering. I am not too excited about the bearing issue either. I am sure the bearings themselves are much worse. Who knows how much metal wandered around inside the transmission either.

So I just did a little easy prelim investigation. I pulled the front diff carrier bearing races. The picture does not really do them justice, but they are scratched as hell. That is where I suspected the noise to be coming from so at least this points to my suspicions. I have not pulled the bearings themselves, but I am sure they look much worse.

Ok, so today I got the transmission removed from the car. What a royal PITA. I curse whatever man decided to put those stupid mounts on the transmission. Overall, everything went great though. Everything came out great except for three of the bolts on those mounts. They are fine thread and you can only get to them with a wrench. The worst part though is that you can only get a 1/4 turn at a time. Those three bolts took an hour. CV's and drive shaft look great and everything is nice and clean, so other than the transmission all is well. Basically though it is not too difficult. Not sure I would recommend this for everyone though. Next step will be to crack the trans open and see what is amiss.

Given that the Konis are disappearing and the Bilsteins are no longer sold we are fresh out of performance strut options. I know my Bilsteins have a lifetime warranty so I am good there. Do the Konis have a warranty like that. If not we are going to need to find some option for new owners soon. Coilovers are too much of a pain for a lot of people.

Do not pull the trans back. It is going to be way harder than pulling the motor. Not impossible, but trust me it will be much easier than the other way. You can also get a good look at the motor while it is out. Change spark plugs super easy if you are due and many other things. As FLlegacy said, those mounts on the trans are the engine mounts. They are a pain to remove for sure.

Spent a bit of time this afternoon on the car. Have the top side of things all set. Pulling that giant IC was a pain though, it is crazy heavy and I did not want to scratch it. Starter is out, slave cylinder is out, and all the top transmission bolts are out as well. Also managed to pull the center section of the exhaust and the heat shield that is between the exhaust and driveshaft. I will more than likely finish pulling the transmission on Saturday. I will keep you all posted.

Thanks Joe, I will let you know when I get to that point. That is a great offer.

When I bought my welder I had a hard time explaining to my wife why I needed it. I guess now I have a good excuse.

I am running a catted dp with stock after that. I like it mainly because it is quiet. I may be losing a bit of power, but trust me if I am it is not much.

Shadow: Changed the fluid about 7k ago. Trust me there were some chunks on the drain plug. Its no bueno. FL: Plans for the STI are as follows. Buy a junked STI and figure it out as I go. I get Brembos that way too.

So it begins today. As many of you know, one of my output shaft bearings is making quite a bit of noise. So I am beginning the process of removing the transmission for further investigation. Today I just started by getting the car situated on jack stands and draining the trans fluid. I posted a pic of the drain plug below. What are all those weird specs on it you ask? You guessed it, those are all little chunks of metal. So I would say there is definitely a problem. My plan for the transmission is as follows. 1. Remove and disassemble transmission. 2. Find out what the heck is wrong with it. 3. If it is just the output shaft and carrier bearings I will be replacing those and reassembling everything. Since the control arms are coming off too, I am going to replace the ball joints and bushings at the same time. 4. Now here is where it gets tricky. If I open the trans and find anything wrong with the gears or other main components I will be replacing it. Not with another one of ours though. If I find major problems I am going to buy a used old forester to drive around and begin the process of a full STI driveline swap. Secretly I am kinda hoping that happens:cool:, but we will just have to wait and see. Stay tuned.

Nice job. Glad to see someone else doing it. After doing it a few times it gets real easy.

^^^That V8 is awesome. One of the best sounding motors out there.

You will be happy with the factory clutch again, especially in traffic. I need the stage two, but trust me every day I wish I was able to have a factory clutch.

Hey you two. Take it to the shack already.

^^^Just a thought here, seeing as how no one can actually get a hold of them at Nameless. Have you thought of just driving up there and asking WTF. I know it is a little bit of a drive, but if I was that close I would not hesitate to drive up there and rattle their cage a bit.

^^^Yep GT hit it on the head. Correct in every detail.

Thanks for the post. I should post a cold weather pull now that the temps have dropped. My butt dyno says that the cooler weather has made my car a lot faster lately.

I was down at the coast today measuring a job and it was really gorgeous. Figured I would take a couple pics. http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah113/BBPeik/20161118_123851_zpslwygus7n.jpg http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah113/BBPeik/20161118_124627_zpsch3vveis.jpg

Another day in paradise. 76 and not a cloud in the sky.

Not sure about other shocks, but with the bilsteins mine settled to about 1 1/8 drop, of course adding the 19's raised the car up, but that is where they finally dropped too.

I am not contradicting your info and thanks for correcting the 11.3 to 11.03. I new I was close, just not quite right. I just know that all the tuners I spoke with wanted a WBO2. Possibly to see if the car was too rich? Not sure, I just know they all wanted me to have it before my tune.

I was goig through my google drive to clean things up. Found this video of a third pull. It is taken from down low so you can not see anything outside. It gives a real good view of my AEM WBO2. Lets you see how limited the stock O2 is(bottoms out at 11.3 I believe). https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bzwu6EBnx2DcNHQ5YUJwY3l6ZWM