noahrexion

Well kudos to you for helping out. Pulling older rusty cars apart is always a nail biter. Heres to hoping for good bearings and a smooth process ahead of you.

I read your story.

 

If you're trying to be a good neighbor and wanting to do this on the cheap please stick with OEM parts. Don't buy the ebay quick struts or anything like that. I don't know your budget but I always recommend against putting junk on a car to be "cheap": I've learned that lesson repeatedly throughout my life.

 

The 98-99 assemblies will work 100% on your ride. Is it possible the car will have a slight 1/2" lift? Definitely. Does it matter? Your call...

 

I see you broke a spring and that is likely a combo of fatigue/age and being in PA with rust. If you try to source used parts locally, definitely inspect them as much as possible - look for powder coating peeling from the coil springs themselves or any bare metal exposed on them to indicate possible failure. Better yet, buy used from ANY part of the country that doesn't have rust if you can afford the shipping.

 

Consider merging your threads into one as well so those trying to help/assist can easily follow your progress and all pertinent questions stay organized.

You won't notice any discernible difference - definitely not 10%. Your pad choice will make the most noticeable difference.

 

Larger calipers with increased fluid capacity with stock master cylinder will also make the brakes feel more "touchy on/off".

 

You can always trade in your GT calipers as cores for whatever other caliper you desire.

How long have you had the car? You said it recently developed this problem so I'm guessing a while.

 

You said you have another subaru - assuming the same generation of 2.2

 

Have you considered swapping the knock sensor and/or pressure sensor to just see if they make a difference? Both of those CAN cause hesitation/timing retard without a CEL.

Your problem happens under heavier load of getting on throttle up a hill and its as if the ECU cannot react to the immediate throttle adjustment/load.

 

I hope you continue with this one and we find out where it goes. Have you had any CEL's recently?

Manual or Auto trans?

 

Is this with the A/C compressor running? I know you said heat on, is this with the AC button pushed?

 

Have you checked your new plugs since installing them? If so what did they look like?

WOW!

With some embarrassment I have to apologize and admit my hastyness, frustration and poor vision lead me to believe Subaru hadn't listed the torque specs in the factory service manual.

 

I was very wrong! In plain site, I never looked in the correct section.

 

Moving from decades of Honda to Subaru. Honda service manuals seem easier for me to navigate.

 

They are way easier to navigate - Subaru didn't have the budget (then).

It is very quick to pull the rocker cover and check - what is the build date of the car/motor?

 

My 96' has roller rockers with hydraulic lash adjusters. About 3k miles ago I changed oil, t belt and resealed the front cover and rockers and everything. I developed a tick that got louder over the last few weeks - not dissimilar from a rod knock (didn't go away). I presume maybe a small piece of something (sealer/debris?) got stuck in an oil passage perhaps.

 

It was on the pass side so I popped the cover and pushed each HLA to see if there was any movement (air) and I didn't find ANY to budge at all which was a good thing. I still opted to take the rocker assy off and clean out every single HLA and found that each one was a little sticky and, despite my regular clean synthetic oil everywhere else, they had dark black oil coming out. After putting everything back together the tick is completely gone. This is not an atypical either, many have done this.

 

Subaru didn't have a hard cutoff of motor design between 96/97 (and other changeovers as well) for specific model years - it was based off of the build date and even then I don't know when that was. Your MY97 could have been built in the summer of 96' and have all the same components as a MY96 EJ22 with HLA just like mine. Best way to tell is to pop the 3 bolts on the pass side cover and check. If you see the adjustment nut and screw slot you know you have SLA and not HLA.

 

To answer your question, yes SLA can sound quite loud. If many are out of adjustment than it can sound like a sewing machine, if only a few or one than it can mimic a rod knock just like a HLA can. Does yours go away after being warmed up? When was the last time you changed the oil? Having any power loss or HG issues? Do you remember the timeline for which the tick developed? Anything noticeable precede the sound?

It doesn't matter too much which 2 pots you get (pre 2005), they'll all "work" the same. There are different sizes for different years/makes though.

 

The WRX are 11.3" if I recall correctly - you can get outback 2 pots from either late 2001 build or 2002+ and they're 12" I think. The gen 1 outback and GT are, as Brighton said, 10.9" as opposed to our 10.2" and dual piston.

 

WRX/Forester/OB/Leg are plentiful and easy to swap on. Your 16" WRX wheels will clear all of them.

Yes, but its worth it to check the valves right? Do you have a stethoscope?

I went to a 16" WRX rim with 205/55 tires and they're just perfect for me. My L isn't underpowered at all with them and I get incredible MPG.

 

7.5" wide wheel I hope you have proper offset. The wrx wheels are 6.5" wide and they're 55 offset and wouldn't accommodate much more width without dropping the offset to something like 45 or less. I think 205 would be about as thing a tire as you could run on a 7.5" wide wheel anyhow so you may be limited in tire selection.

Denso as well (which is OEM and usually a few $ cheaper).

Not in that the car will feel differently to you, just longevity.

 

NGK V power copper is a great (cheaper) choice; if you need to save that $10 than do so knowing that you're not sacrificing anything really other than your time. You can expect about twice the life from a platinum plug vs copper; a little more (perhaps) for iridium but I have only heard/read that, I've never sprung for them myself and had the experience.

My L had the wiring for the lights and the tweeters just taped up.

https://shop.exedyusa.com/exedy-oem/exedy-oem-replacement-clutch-kit/15010/i-125830.aspx

 

15010 is the Exedy part number you want.

If you're mechanically inclined and want to diagnose then you'll have to take that route; otherwise any subaru mechanic can help you with that quickly.

 

The 2.2 is not a common motor to pop HG's on but it does happen about as frequently as any other really high mileage japanese (reliable) motor depending on conditions/maintenance.

 

I'd recommend downloading a factory service manual digitally and doing a little reading on HG's to see what you may be getting into. Do you know where the coolant is coming from? What conditions exist when this happens? It's a lot harder to cool an EJ motor properly in back of a VW, has the motor been overheated?

Passenger front?

wheel bearing dude

I meant the strainer which will come with the fuel pump if you buy one.

You should definitely replace the fuel filter when you replace a fuel pump.

Did you get any decent look inside the tank? Has the car been in any accidents/gnarly offroading situation? Any physically damaged lines or anything?

 

I didn't catch the 10psi thing earlier. Does your gauge have a vacuum port on it (giving you the ability to check its accuracy with air)? That is way too low of pressure and it could be blockage (could be as easy as fuel filter literally) or voltage issue as mentioned about (corroded terminals, always suspect grounds first since they're exposed).

 

Do you have a volt meter (not the test light)?

 

The plug to the pump has 6 terminals, when looking straight at it , its oriented:

 

3 - 2 - 1

6 - 5 - 4

 

Terminal 1 is ground and 4 is +12V, you can test the pump that way when its out but don't run it for more than a few seconds without load. And make sure not to make the connection at the pump itself for potential of spark; make your connection away from the fuel ridden pump at the source of power (battery).

I think you're on the right track honestly.

 

Has this all happened with the same tank of gas? Where did you fill up at most recently?

Did you happen to run the tank down to empty prior to the first one going?

Have you changed your fuel filter yet (OEM are cheap and worth it)?

Have you tested either of the first two that you pulled with 12V power to see if they run?

What did the pickup look like?

 

Report back!

I just came up on this thread through a search and figured I would chime in for folks searching in future:

 

110 - made in USA and from the pictures it looks like the nose pulley is steel

107 - made Japan and nose pulley is aluminum

Yep but then you get stuck with a 3rd gen car...

 

Not sure how many you're doing but you might consider doing all of em (I would at that mileage). Not that bad in price if you buy some Timkens and seals from rock auto and then do all the labor yourself - just bring it all into shop to have them put the hour of work in.

The actual temp sensor (ECU) is the one located up higher towards the hood, the temp gauge sensor is the one lower down on the left.

 

If it pegs immediately to hot its bad if it does that overnight. I would ask to see if it were an air bubble or you had the system open for service recently but if it does it when its absolutely cold than that sensor is bad.

 

 

Fan control gets input to relay from the ECU. Easiest to first check fuse (13) - relay/wiring - and then finally the fan motor itself. You an jump +12V to either (low) or both (high) of the non black (ground) wires on the fan motor to make sure that it works.

To get to the bearings you need to pull the hub. Replacement of the hub isn't necessary at all, you can simply replace the bearings and reuse your old hub (with new seals).

 

You will need a press. See this link and check out section 4-2:

 

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/second-gen-factory-service-manuals-literature-186552.html

Installed new deck: https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/DVD+Receivers/AVH-1440NEX

 

Installed wrx wheels - big improvement over the L steelies.

 

Installed new Denso O2 sensor bank 1.