jaylew

So I thought I just finished up a 6 month project, when an airbag light was present when I first started the car. I took it to a dealership to have the airbag DTC's read, and they are as follows 41 - side airbag RH failure 27 - ODS communication error 42 - side airbag LH failure 36 - seat position sensor LH failure 38 - buckle switch LH failure 29 - ODS failure To give back story I swapped for a black interior. I bought 07 front seats. The ODS (Occupant Detection System), and driver seat belt buckle are from the original tan interior, driver seat position sensor (plugged in but not mounted) The driver seat belt harness is from an 05 junk yard car. At the time of having the codes read, I had junk yard 05, driver and passenger seat airbags plugged in NOT the 07 seat airbags. My thoughts as of right now, the buckle warning is really driver seat belt harness pretensioner. As for the rest I am baffled at the moment. I will be looking into it further, but if anyone knows of any harnesses that somehow involve all of these things and I somehow forgot to plug it in, I am game. I will post any research I find both on the car and off. ** i have all the sensors from the original seats from the car, except for the airbags

Raising from the dead, did you ever get the airbag light to go away? and how?

Thanks!! Here are some beauty shots! I love the ride height!

I might be an idiot. I took the car to Subaru, and filled them in on my project (abridged) to figure out the airbag light. Nothing was hooked up, but it pretty much came down to likely that the 2007+ side airbags are not compatible with the 2005 airbag control module. So while the plugs are the same, they are not necessarily the same. Why I am an idiot is because just yesterday, I threw out the old 05 seats, airbags and all.....(I managed to tear them apart for heating elements, and other sensors for scavenging)...don't get be started. So now I am on the search for 2005 seats, doesn't need to be GT or in good condition. I just need the GD airbags!

Thanks! Yeah, I tried to cover as much as possible. Especially the more technical stuff. It really was a project that snowballed once I got started, but I am super pleased with the results. I could have just bought a new car, but I had fun with it, and took a few days break anytime I started getting burnt out. I hadn't really modified the car until this project so now I can call the car mine. (in my mind, maintenance doesn't count, but modding is what makes a car 'yours')

So my seat nonsense may not be the issue with the airbag. It could be because the car was on throughout the past 6 months to test things like the new stereo, but the two seat airbags were unplugged. Looking into it, it may have to be cleared by the dealership or a shop. So I am still figuring out if my seat fix nonsense works or not.

First start in 6 months went without any problems. I made sure to crank the engine without starting it for at least 20 seconds, after a fresh oil change to ensure oil pressure. 5/14 marks the first time the car got rolled out of the garage since the end of October. I love the ride height, its ready for 18's to fill out the wheel well. Interior is awesome! I do have an airbag light on, and I believe it is due to my passenger seat nonsense. I am going to have to investigate as it looks like my solution isn't working. I couldn't really test it on the car until now, since the car needs to be running in order to test it. Now it is time for alignment and inspection!

the gauge pod holder, that is for the cubby above the head unit right?

Interior is getting installed!! Drivers seat is plug n play when installing 2008 seats in the 2005 car. The 05 seat belt buckle receptacle must be swapped over to the later model seat though. Also, you will have to either change the power plug on the later model seat or the car side harness as the power plug changed. Personally I soldered in the plug from 08 on the car side harness so that If I chose to add Spec B memory seats I could easily and the memory computer would get power. The passenger seat involved some creativity to have the occupant sensor work. Most of the R&D is written here I am using an inverter chip to make the voltage output of the 08 sensor better match the sensors on the 05 seat. I wrapped up all the plugs and wires no longer being used in a huge heat shrink tube. So the occupant control unit and harness from the 08 seat had to be removed and the 05 unit mounted. The 08 passenger seat belt receptacle just needed to be re-pinned because Subaru also decided to change the plug orientation between model years. I also was able to successfully get the under dash panels and glove box from an 08 in the junk yard to fit in the 05. I like the look of the fake wood going across the whole dash better than it terminating next to the head unit in 05. It helps break up the black dash and black bottom trim. Today will hopefully be the cars first start up in 6 months. I expect plenty of check engine codes or BCU codes from stuff being unplugged at random times.

Finally! Gas tank is back in, subframe back in and full front and rear suspension back in...starting to look like a roller again. I started by installing enough suspension so that I could plumb the brake lines and calipers. That was so I could bleed the brakes before the gas tank went back. This way if there were any issues with the new line, or leaks I could address it now while it's still easy. I left a 2x4 wedged between the floor and brake pedal so that the system had constant pressure for 24 hours. After no sign of leaks that meant I could forge ahead with installing the rest. Now it is time to get the carpet installed and the rest of the interior back in. a test start up should be pretty soon.

So I took a page out of 2008+ legacy's book, and added foam sound deadening to the plastic wrap that lines the doors. When the door panels go back on, I might also add some batting as added sound deadening and rattle reduction. I also lined the floors with the foam (likely won't make much of a difference but its the thought that counts). I was recently in the junk yard, and happened upon a 2008 3.0 with the Harmon Kardon stereo. I snagged everything. Add that to the list of upgrades. So for the past few days, I have been making a harness to run from the head unit, to the amplifier under the pass seat, then back to the car harness behind the head unit. Also running the wire to the sub in the back, and having to run wires for the individually driven tweeters on the front doors (what a PITA to run new wire along the door harness). But it is done and it sounds so much better than stock!! Also of course all the speaker plugs are different so I had to cut the door harnesses and solder in the new plugs for the H&K speakers...worth it though. It turned into perfect timing since I had the dash apart and carpet out. Made it easier to run the wiring. I installed new seat belts for the black interior, but first let them soak in soapy water since the belts are from the junk yard. Finally I brought my resonator pipe to a friend to do some welding on it. It had a leak at the exhaust hanger and at the Y to the mufflers. I plan on making my own exhaust in the near future, so the hack job fix is fine with me for now. I am deleting a muffler, because that made it easier to patch the hole at the Y point, rather than struggling to clean the rust between the pipes for good welds and likely still have a leak. I am still stock power so the slight restriction by doing this shouldn't be too bad (again this will be replaced within the next year) Besides that, the interior has started to go back in. I am going to blow air through the brake line system to clean it, then pressure test it. I also plan to yank out the transmission and preventative replace the clutch fork (everything is still out of the way so it is super easy at this point). I'd hate to do all this work only to have the fork crack and bend on me. I had it happen on my 96 outback with similar mileage. That is pretty much it for now

So, I got around to testing the '07 sensor with an inverter chip i had laying around, and it seems to work. Just leaning on it with my hands while the hydraulic bag is on a desk top, I am able to get the voltage to drop down to below 2 volts on the output. So When that output is sent to the inverter. When the 2 volt threshold is broken, the output of the inverter goes from 0V to 5V. I will give that a shot from the start (no way of knowing until I start up the car since the system doesn't indicate anything until engine is running). I do want to figure out a more dynamic way so that it doesn't act like a switch. For that I might need to look into some sort of OpAmp set up or something. For now, it is enough to keep going forward. Ultimate fall back is still wiring it so the sensing wire is always given 4-5V so that the brain always thinks someone is sitting down. With this whole swap, I want the airbags to be fully functional for passenger safety. Once this is tested on the car with it running, I will report back

So I finally got around to testing the pressure sensor of the 07 seat since its pins are labeled 5V Vout Gnd. The Vout reads 4V when the sensor is unloaded (no fat asses sitting down). When pressure is applied to the hydraulic bag, it goes down to less than 2V. Now I know the sensor trend for the 07 seat I then got to testing the 05 sensor The sensor output has 4 pins. Looking down the barrel (also reference my hand drawing) with the connector tabs oriented as drawn, only pins 1,2 and 4 are used. Pin 1 is yellow, Pin 2 is Red, and Pin 4 is Black or Brown. I assumed the black/brown wire is Gnd, and that Either red or yellow are 5V and Vout (all wild assumptions). I was close. Black/Brown(4)-Gnd Red(2)-Vout Yellow(1)-5V The trend of the 05 sensor conveniently is different (Yay). Unloaded I was reading 1.6V. Pressing the load cell I was reading 4.5V. So Good news is the sensors act similarly. Whatever signal I come up with I just need to attach at a node to all 4 sensor plugs and have the brain from the 05 seat just be zip-tied under the 07 seat. Either I need to invert the signal with some transistor set up (still brain storming) or just hook the 5V signal with a resistor to all the Vout lines so that the car thinks someone is always sitting on the seat. With the latter idea I would have to trick the car that the seat belt is always buckled too. Any ideas to invert the signal would be great, I will be looking into it now.

The least expensive route is definitely (not including cost of tools, cheap or expensive) going with bulk line. I just am running out of time on this project and was getting frustrated in flaring my own lines that I gave in. I will give it another go sometime in the future. I just couldn't bring myself to trust the flares that seemed to be coming out good, and I don't have the time to spend pressure testing and checking for leaks. For the pre-flared I used 60 inch to cross over to driver side rear 12 inch for the two lengths along the trailing arm 30 inch for the run to the passenger side rear 20 inch to go from inside the car to the outside coupler I am going to be buying some spray wax (any suggestions on which to get) to coat the flare nuts and an additional precautionary measure.

Thanks for the suggestion. The pictures are oriented correctly on my computer, it is just when I upload them for some reason they get rotated. As for the Job, I am an Electrical Engineer by degree but I am a solid mix of mechanical and electrical. I was unhappy with my job anyway so in the long run it is for the better

Last resort would be sourcing 05 seats. I like the 07+ better (the internal design for support etc Also the frames are different so while it is possible to swap the leather / cushion, it is not ideal. It is easy for the seat bottom, but the seat back looks to be a pain. The seat backs don't inter-change between years with the way they bolt up the 05 seat uses strain gauge sensors (4x) to sense someone sitting, where as the 07 uses the hydraulic pressure sensor. Each of the 4 strain sensors connects to a small module, I am assuming some form of Analog to Digital converter so that the detection brain only worries about a 0-5 volt signal (just guessing here) The 07 sensor only puts out a voltage difference as the sensor has 3 pins (Vin, Gnd, Ref). I am going to testing for either the resistance range of the 4 strain gauges and just put a static resistor in place of them, so that the 05 harness and brain can move over to the 07 seat. This method (if it works) would make the car think someone is always sitting in the seat therefore always arming the airbag for the passenger side. My other method I am going to try is see if what I presume is the A-D converter's working output voltage range is. I will do the same for the 07 pressure gauge. If both have similar enough characteristics I will use the hydraulic pressure gauge and wire it to all four sensing pig tails on the 05 so that the 07 sensor works with the 05 brain. This way the air bag will arm when someone is sitting in the seat, and disarm when no one is there. These are all my hopes and dreams and here's hoping it all works the way I am hypothesizing. If anyone has knowledge on this stuff feel free to join in!!

A lot has been done since I last checked in. I got laid off so more time to finish the car, but also half the time is spent job searching. Updates include, rear brake hardlines are done!!!!!!!!!!! I attempted to make them myself from bulk NiCopp...that was a mistake. Tried to make it a learning experience of flaring lines and making them all myself but NiCopp is a bitch to flare. I thought it was just me, but when I flared the steel lines on the car, they came out perfect every time. NiCopp is just softer and unpredictable which how it will mold in the flare dies. So my suggestion is buy pre-flared lines. I found this site AGS Company and so far it worked well. Some of the lines of course are slightly longer than desired so I go creative with the bending, but relatively painless process. I finished patching the rust spot on the passenger side wheel well. Not extensive enough to warrant a patch panel from Subie Savers and since its not structural, no welding required. I painted everything first, then used 3M Window Weld to glue the patch panel I made in place. Bigger the Gob, Better the Job!! When the plastic panel is clipped back in none of the work is visible (can't see it from my house). Prior owner had the drivers door handle replaced at some point with a black non paint matched piece. So like a year ago, I picked up a paint matched handle from the junk yard (yay!!). I go to replace it and find out that the handle I got is from a different MY and subaru just had to go and change the mechanism just a little (F#$%!) So after the rust was sanded away (poor installation of the non color matching handle) I may have to put the black handle back for now if I can't source a 2005 blue handle within the next two weeks. Ebay hasn't helped at first look today. Anyone want to sell if you have the means??? I also started attempting doing the seat swap (I bought 2007 black seats a while ago). I am updating a separate thread on this here because its kind of involved and a project all to itself. Diver seat is easy to make work. Just re-pin the power distribution plug. The 05 seat has location sensors for that only indicate the extremes of the seat positioning, so simply not plugging them in and all should be ok. The passenger seat in 05 has 4 strain sensors for occupant sensing where as the 07 uses a hydraulic pressure sensor. I am cooking something up to try and fool the occupant detection into thinking there is always someone there (air bag always armed) or maybe making the 07 sensor work with the 05 detection system. Such fun!! **again I do not know how to control the orientation of the pictures once uploaded to this site. When you view them in a separate window/tab they orient correctly

Hello, I am in the process of swapping my interior from tan to black. To do so, I bought front seats from an '07...I have an '05. The driver seat is super easy. Literally nothing changed besides the plug design for the motor power (universal plug used for memory and non memory seats) Passenger is a hole nother can of worms. everything changed; frame, occupant sensor, even the plug for the seat belt is flipped (same plug but now male and female plugs are on different sides of the harness) Thankfully the side airbag is the same plug So I am thinking that I will just move the brain of the occupant sensor from the '05 to the '07 and plug it all in to the car harness. I will remove the occupant sensor from the '07 because it is not needed anymore. The hitch is that while that will work and I won't get any warnings , I am afraid that as a result the passenger airbag will never arm even when a passenger is present. I know how to trick the occupant brain module into thinking the seat buckle is latched, but the 4 pressure sensors.. Does anyone know how to trick those 4 pressure sensors into thinking there is someone there? My thought process is that I will just have the passenger air bags always armed even if there is no passenger. I don't care if they deploy when no one is there. Looking at the 4 sensors, I see 3 wires leading back from each sensor to the brain. My first thought is that the sensors act like potentiometers, so a simple resistor would do the trick. If anyone has ideas or knows, please let me know. I want to have the air bags work in the event of an accident Thank you

Pedal assembly is back together along with the steering wheel back in place. The fuse box is back in place too. I don't like the placement of the OBDII plug, especially if I am going to have the tactrix plugged in. I removed it from the plastic mounting and snaked the wiring harness up next to the fuse box. I may need to add some foam for the rattle factor or zip-tie it down but now the plug is far easier to access via the fuse box access panel. Also the tactrix can have its home be there too. *I am pointing the the OBDII port in the one picture

So I finished refreshing the pedal assembly. If you have a squeaky clutch and its not the clutch fork, or the pivot points at the pedal, it is likely the bushing at the clutch pedal lever worn out. It is frankly too thin of a bushing for longevity in my opinion. I drilled out the lever to 7/16. I put in a beefier bushing form McMaster #2938T5. It does need to be clearanced down because the length is a hair too long. A new clevis pin and I am in business. The bushing is rated for 340 lb of dynamic thrust at 120 rpm, which I believe should be good enough. Time will tell. In order to remove the pedal assembly at the start, I dropped the steering column, and now that is being a pain to go back after installing the refreshed pedal assembly. I am about to take a pry bar to it to see if that helps. The circled portions of the column don't clear the green circle of the dash bar. I am going to try again now but any suggestions? ***EDIT** Turns out the rubber skirt at the firewall had popped one fold out, and I just needed to sit in the car and give a good yank on the steering wheel and all was good

I was able to find pre flared lines but everything seemed to be with standard nuts. Maybe I am blind or bad a searching for this but finding the M10x1.0 3/16 extended length nuts was a lot more difficult than expected. For how many cars that use metric brake fittings, I am surprised at the lack of pre-flared NiCopp with metric fittings. As for adapter couplers, I am not inclined to have a slew of adapters between the steel lines and calipers. If you know of somewhere, I am open to it as a back up Additionally if all goes well, then this is a way to learn something new

Started the process of flaring the steel center lines. I used the same OE coupler that is used outside the car by the gas tank. This weekend is time to make the rest of the rear lines from NiCopp. I found that the inline hydraulic flaring tool is best for steel lines and makes doing the inline flares easy, but it is not good at doing NiCopp. I have found so far the best tool for NiCopp is the Eastwood flaring tool #25304. I will report back after this weekend when hopefully all my hard lines are done. I also finished rebuilding the brakes calipers. OE rebuild kits, powder coated, and I doubled up on the NON-BUSHED guide pins for some robust brakes.

Hey so, small progress. New OE inner tie rods installed with super pro outer tie rods and new rack boots. Energy suspension bushings are installed too on the rack. I finally started working on the patch panel for the rust spot in the rear passenger wheel well. I will not be welding, but rather panel bonding (with 3M window weld) after painting it all thoroughly. I don't want any rust coming back hence the no welding. I think this will work out well once all patched up. I'll post pictures of the job complete. Just need to grind off the the remainder of the spot welds in the way and I can move forward.

I am in the process of replacing some of the brake lines now. The front passenger I am completely replacing because it is a short enough run and I rounded out the brake line bolt in the fender well. I was originally going to replace the entire length of the center lines but my mind changed when I saw how much of a PITA it will be at the fire wall. **If some one can tell me it is easy to remove the fan box assembly in the dash (my lower dash is already opened up) then I will go back to replacing the whole line*** So, now I plan to flare the current lines under the rear seat and run new NiCopp lines from there. The rest of the hard lines in the rear are being replaced with NiCopp. I will post pics once done but here is some progress of bending one of the NiCopp lines

Not converting to JDM dark, but I do have an entire GT black interior. I found a GT wagon at my local pull it yard back in the fall. I gutted it in about an hour and got everything except for front seats, which I picked up off CL (They're '08 seats so I will have to do some swapping of frames and harnesses to make it all work) I do want to go back and get a revised glove box back panel so to have the easier access to the cabin filter. The whole black GT leather interior I cleaned and then stored it in totes and trash bags to stay clean while I make the mess with the rest of the car!