lagwagon

On 3/15/2024 at 1:02 PM, KZJonny said:

That's what I came up with as well upon searching more. Bummer I'll have to get them shipped in from the US. Seems a little unlikely that as small as Canadia is, that there wouldn't be some way to replaced 'frikkin injector o-rings, which are 'single use...' 

Everything has to be the hard way huh?

 

EDIT: $35 USD for International shipping. I think I am going to have to find some other way.

Contact this guy: https://performancefuelinjection.ca/

He is pretty well respected around here for injector rebuilds and testing. He did mine on my old car (yellow side feeds). He doesn't show the parts on his site but he can get them for sure. The full rebuild and testing on mine was $100 or $150 with the parts being like $30 I think, for o-rings, filter baskets, and pintle caps (I used the older style with less ports and plastic pintle caps).

47 minutes ago, Humble Rumble said:

I don't know of any USDM cars that have ever actually fit the 5th gen JDM Bilsteins, I believe there was some difference that made them not fit properly or something (i think s2baru attempted years back but i don't exactly recall). From what I've heard from overseas owners, they're roughly comparable to the 4th gen Bilsteins. Also, on the note of the Konis, I believe that the same Koni struts are used for both 4th and 5th gen (I know at very least that the front strut-insert is the same part number, and rears are the same as 08-14 WRX). 

Awesome, I didn't realize the front inserts were the same pn, maybe I can yank them out of the strut housings. Rears would be different as the lower mounting bolt is not the same size between 4th and 5th gen (smaller on 5th gen).

2 hours ago, Humble Rumble said:

There was no factory Bilsteins for the USDM 5th gens. I'd say the best comparable setup to what you had previously would be H&R 3.6R springs ("-2" suffix on the part number) paired with either 13/14 versionOEM/Rockauto struts, or if you want more, Koni Yellow struts if you want adjustable damping, though you'll need to cut some donor front struts to harvest their strut housings for the Koni's. I had the Koni+H&R combo and was sublime, absolutely perfect sports sedan handling and ride, and could get racetrack stiff if you wanted to on the hardest damping setting. 

Thanks Rumble! 

I went through your project log and the Kein mounts you have (ksub015) don't seem to be available from anywhere right now. 

My plan for suspension is either 2013/14 upgrade (front springs and seats from dealership, all other parts from rock auto), or the JDM Bilsteins. I don't want to lower it and I don't want it overdamped like my 4th gen was. I did/do have Konis with King springs for 4th gen and they road much nicer than the Bilsteins but there was an issue with the insert pushing through the bottom of the strut tube so I'm not too happy about that, nor am I happy about the lower spring perch on the WRX koni full body strut. I've had Konis on two platforms and found that I set the damping and then never touched them again. One on platform, full soft was still very harsh, and on the 4th gen full soft is about the same as brand new stock KYBs.

Softest to hardest, where do 5th gen JDM bilsteins sit? (I know there aren't 5th gen USDM bilsteins). This is my frame of reference, unless somebody has shock dynos for the 5th gen JDM bilsteins. If they are anywhere in the top half of the list they should be fine for me.

Softest

4th gen Konis (soft)

4th gen USDM bilsteins

4th gen JDM bilsteins (rev C/D)

4th gen JDM bilsteins (rev B)

4th gen JDM bilsteins (rev A)

4th gen konis (hard)???

4th gen B6/B8 bilsteins

4th gen konis (hard)???

Hardest

Sorry for nerding out hard on this, lol, and thank you to everybody for your comments!

4 hours ago, Humble Rumble said:

People totally under estimate just how much even brand new OEM engine mounts will improve this platforms response and feel since the rear mounts are literally ON the transmission itself and function as trans mounts too. Especially considering that the youngest 5th gens are now 11 years old, even if the car has literally no miles on it, the rubber in the mounts will be suffering from age fatigue and not performing their best.

I have the Kein hardened mounts on mine and the immediate acceleration feedback difference compared to before is insane, feels like it just pulls forever now. It also completely eliminated the hesitation and shift shock when shifting down into 1st, which is something 99% of 3.6R drivers complain about. Smoother than butter now, totally worthwhile maintenance item or upgrade for anyone.

Is that the same mount as for the 3.0? 

8 minutes ago, creep_nu said:

i know a couple people have removed theirs for konis...from what i gathered from old posts they're over damped and over sprung so they're not particularly comfortable.  great for handling, bad for comfort.  @Scubaboo removed his as far as i can recall.  i'd like to hear more experience too, i keep seeing good sets for a reasonable price and am curious...my lady needs new shocks and they've got my itching

I'm coming off B8s and pinks on my 4th gen (sold it last night) so if anybody has a comparison to that setup that would be great. I was ok with that setup 4 years ago when I was still in my 30's but its a bit harsh on my back now. I would say they were overdamped.

From what I've read, USDM, or JDM OEM Bilsteins would probably suit me better, on the 4th gen chassis. I'm hoping for feedback that the 5th gen stuff is similar. I assume that most 5th gen folks are less tolerant of overdamped suspension than 4th gen since it is not as sharp/precise a vehicle as the 4th gen overall.

Well, I drove it for the last time last night, then bolted on a new plate for the new owners and watched it drive off. 6 years with 4th gens and I have to say, they are great when nothing is breaking. I'll be over in the 5th gen forum mostly now but I'll lurk here since these are still the best looking and performing Legacys. 

Anybody running the JDM Bilsteins in their car? 

Has anybody upgraded their rear diff to an LSD unit?

I read in another thread that our rear diff is an R160 but the pictures I've seen online of it do not look like a typical R160 case (forward set of mounting holes isn't there, casting shape is different etc.)

I've found 3.083FD R160 JDM VLSDs for pretty reasonable prices but I'm not sure if it will 1) bolt up, and 2) accept our axles. Any help?

I've also seen the Cusco units that show compatibility with a wide range of models, including ours, but they are close to $2k CAD + setup and install and I'm looking for a cheaper OEM+ type upgrade, or I'll leave it as is.

12 minutes ago, KZJonny said:

Dang! Same country, but Alberta is just a little to far to go. I'd buy a clean ABP M/T any day.

Yeah, it's not worth it to ship these cars across country at their current value. Even within a province it gets pretty pricey.

I did new low beam bulbs and wiper blades and a good wash on the weekend, then posted the car for sale locally. I will be sad to see it go but it has been very stressful driving the car over the last few months. I'm happy to be driving the 5th gen 3.6R, it is much more comfortable, much cheaper on gas, and much cheaper on maintenance so far.

18 hours ago, KZJonny said:

It’ll be Lagwagon that might have dibs, I’ve already got the wiring kit + STi controller on the ‘to install’ list for this winter.

I'm in Canada so I'll give up that dibs.

14 hours ago, boxkita said:

have you done the fuel pump wiring upgrade? if not, that might fix an unknown fuel starvation issue. I think @covertrussian did the writeup on the wiring 

I personally haven't done it but it may have been done at some point already given the age of the car and the care the original owners (father/son[subaru tech]) took of it. I'll look it up and see. Is it running the pump off a relay with power direct from the battery?

Drove it, broke it (LR spring), took it to the shop to get checked out before getting new tires tomorrow. What is with Subarus and breaking springs? I broke the LF spring in my 4th gen wagon a couple of years ago as well, that car was at 225,000-km while the 5th gen is only at 116,000-km.

3 hours ago, xt2005bonbon said:

So, did you notice exactly in which load and rpm range that knock keep showing up? Also, as you probably know, high load and low rpm is not a good combination. But I do get lazy sometimes to downshift .

What I'd do is basically log and keep note of the load/rpm range it happens and, if it is indeed happening in open loop, check if the actual AFR is meeting the AFR target.

That's my plan. Mech's thought is fuel starvation, as was my thought. I'll watch the fuel strategy as well, hadn't thought to do that so thanks for the suggestion.

3 minutes ago, xt2005bonbon said:

Does it knock a lot in open loop or in closed loop?

It'll knock (-2° of FBKC) in open loop under 2000 rpm clutching in and out but I usually let it warm up to 120-130° before driving. Open loop/WOT, I haven't noticed any but I don't drive the car over 4000 rpm often, or WOT often (probably still enough to get to peak requested torque due to how those correlate with pedal position). Usually it knocks at constant speed (my average day I max out at 80km/hr), or moderate acceleration, or high load/low rpm like maintaining speed on hills. I actually very rarely see the knock events but I see the FKL adjusting and have seen it as bad as -3.8 recently, on top of the -5 I've pulled from the A/P itself. I tried to decrease the amount of timing pulled but knock got worse (I think that post is a few pages back in this thread now) so it's back at -5 again.

Had new coils and plugs installed and had a compression test and leak down test done.

Cyl 1 - 130 - 2%

2 - 120 - 2.5%

3 - 125 - 2%

4 - 125 - 2%

So we know my pistons and rings are in good shape and no burnt valves. Still trying to figure out what is causing all the knock (other than our crap gas). I thought maybe the fuel pump was dying as knock seemed to be much worse below half tank but after watching it very closely for the last couple of tanks it seems to be a weak correlation (but not non-existent).

I'm still leaning towards it being either cam gears or a non-engine component that is hitting the same frequency as knock, maybe something in the transmission. The last rabbit hole was the leaking TGVs but deleting them didn't make anything better, other than fuel trims are pretty good (except B, which is always totally out of wack).

Edit: also washed the car on the weekend since we needed it to snow and that's how that works - wash car, get snow.

2 hours ago, Sudz said:

Edit: I found the thread

Hey lagwagon, I think there is an old thread with a step by step on installing fog lights. I can confirm that installing them in a pre-facelift bumper is a 10 to 20 minute job. You will need new black fog light bezels, fog lights, factory relays, fuses, and the mirror control switch with the fog light button. When I installed mine I ordered the bezels and fog lights new and went to a scrapyard for the relays and switch. The car is pre-wired so it's all plug and play.

Thanks for the parts list. I dug around on Heuberger and found a multi function switch with the rotating fog light bezel, I'm wondering if they updated that part. I'll have to try to find the part number you gave on their site. 

Is there a thread about converting from pre-face lift to face lift front end? I want foglights and it doesn't look like this was an option on pre-face lift NADM cars, unless I'm missing a model.

EDIT: maybe I just replace the black piece but retain the same bumper? That's what the NADM cars look like whereas the overseas cars look to have a very different foglight bezel.

On 9/24/2023 at 3:31 PM, pksystems said:

Picked up a JDM dual climate zone center panel with i88 harness and a pioneer head unit off FB marketplace.  I don't plan to use the head unit.  I now need to find a touchscreen to be used with the Clarion backup camera I grabbed from picknpull awhile ago.

Good to meet you E!

Edit: pulled apart my door panel yesterday to see about fixing the broken door handle. Got all the way to the door handle and couldn't remove it for fear of breaking it (new one isn't here yet for another week). Looks like the piece that connects to the latch rod broke. Lock rod still works. Actuator still works. Interior handle still works.

You said you replaced the MAF but did you replace the MAF plug? I-Wire sells a replacement as it is apparently a failure point. I'm not sure how this could be related to the cam sensor codes without there also being a MAF code though but I'm no mechanic.

1 minute ago, blackobxt said:

Outside handle didn’t work?

That's the one that broke

What did I do today? Nothing good...broke my driver's side door handle...lots of fun climbing over the shifter and e-brake handle.

Front control arms (Tuesday) and an alignment (yesterday) (at a shop, not me personally). Then noticed that the left DRL/high bulb is melted and the right is turning black. I guess that will be tonight. Also found out one tire is at 9/32 and the other 3 are at 5 or 6/32. Gotta figure something out there. I have a set of Forester Cross Sport BBS wheels that I can throw some tires on but A/S tires are low stock right now and winter tires aren't in (and I don't want to do that yet). 

I vacuumed and cleaned the carpets, and wiped the seats down with Meguiar's Gold leather cleaner. It's a new car to us and it had a weird smell so I needed to get the major cleaning stuff done to start making it our own. It's a late 2011 build 3.6R (silver) with DVD Nav and leather. We rolled over 104,000-kms coming home from our first trip to the mountains with it. I think this is also my first post in the 5th gen forum!

Been driving with the TGV deletes for about 3 weeks now and FKL is looking back to normal (worst is -1.4), albeit with -5 degrees of timing in the Access Port, so I moved to -3 degrees. Shall see how it goes. Word from the shop is that our gas is pretty bad right now, even 93/94 octane, so it might be a short experiment. Wish me luck?