lagwagon

I resprayed my rust repair with "color matched" paint, lol. First, it wrinkled on top of the paint from last week and I had to sand everything back to primer, second, it looks more like Newport Blue* than Atlantic Blue. Oh well.

I also dropped my 10-mm inside the rear quarter and spent two sessions fishing it out. Finally got it with two magnets, one flexy, and one telescopic. I am probably more happy about fishing out the socket than the paint.

*The darker color actually looks nicer, I'd say. Maybe that is what I'll get it repainted with when I get the panel cut out.

Yeah, a thing I learned about POR-15 is that it takes a looooooooooong time to cure. When I was doing the inside, I came back every other day to put on coats. What are you using for paint? I have some 33A paint in spraycans that I used to color-match my grille. I'm sure it's a decent match for this paint color when it was fresh, but the sun exposure definitely makes a difference.

I couldn't get a can of 33A made up until this week so I used some off the shelf Dupli-color and 1K clear. I'm going to redo it this weekend with the 33A with 1K clear mixed in instead of separate 2K since the rust is coming through the panel and probably will bubble in the next 6 months regardless of what I do.

I had the paint mixed at a local supply shop and wet it looks pretty close, slightly darker, so we'll see how it looks when it's on and dry.

I have a carbon grill that I might spray with it as well, since the clear on it has failed. I'll have to sand that and see if I can get it smooth enough. Not looking good though as I think there are cracks through the resin all the way to the carbon.

Finally had time to grab an oil sample and bring it in to work. Draining down through a filter for a few days, then we'll get it in the SEM to do some spectroscopy. Also grabbed some filings off of a spare crank I have sitting, so I can get a profile of the steel's signature to use as a reference when analyzing the oil. Simultaneously sent a sample of the same oil to Blackstone. Based on some UOAs I got from a friend who builds some fun cars and has an STI with a similar build list to mine, it seems like the lead spike I saw may not be a killer - just a sign that some bearing contact occurred at some point when I was romping on the car. This seems to mesh with the fact that oil pressure is fine and there are no new noises. Going to make a thread on this once I have the spectroscopy results and the Blackstone UOA back, so we all have some reference material.

 

While I wait, got cracking on the only spot of body cancer the wagon has. Ground away the big spot of rust on the outside, found more inside, cleaned that up with a long porting bit, POR-15'd the crap out of the inside of the fender and in between the outer and inner sheet metal layer, and closed up with a piece of sheet metal trimmed to size. Need to stitch it again and re-flatten, as I went a little light on filler and see a few pinholes. Then smooth, paint, POR-15 the backside again to make sure I didn't expose any metal by burning through the first coats of paint. Not as bad as I thought it would be, first time doing any kind of rust repair beyond the poke-it-with-my-finger-till-it-falls-off method.

I did the same corner on the same ABP color wagon this weekend, but the POR-15 wouldn't harden after a full day and I needed to get it done for this morning so now it's just etch primer, high build primer, paint and clear. There were 5 tiny pin pricks of rust that I couldn't grind out without going through and I don't have the skills (or tools) to do a cut out like you did. I'm hoping this gets me through the winter without any bubbling and then I can have a shop do the cut and weld next year.

Few things I did over the weekend:

Took apart the glove box since it wasn't staying closed. Found out there was a missing screw clip on the lower left hand side so I stole the one off the console decorative trim piece as its still held in by the shifter surround. Everything seems to be working now after adjusting the latch loop and putting in that extra screw.

Replaced the front swaybar bushings and one end link with a nice part from Great North Performance. Unfortunately, the old Kartboy end link was installed without washers and the steel sleeve is seized to the bolt and the two pieces are stuck on the swaybar. I cobbled together the best bushings and put it back together and it will go to the shop on Thursday to be cut out, or replaced with the other bar I have.

Studded tires are in at the shop so I need to drop off winter wheels this morning to get them mounted. I haven't driven studded tires since the early 2000s so I'm excited to see how good they are on icy highways.

There are usually multiple manual BH5s for sale in BC and Alberta so I can't imagine incurring the cost to swap the transmission. Just buy a different car. Try to get a Rev D, and get it tuned for the fuel in the area you live (lower mainland, interior etc.) There is a company that sells e-tunes specific to these cars and BC or Alberta gas.

If you are really dead set on the swap, there are threads on other sites that have pretty complete rundowns, but the wiring/electronics are not for a beginner.

Installed the KYB strut plus rear shocks on my wife’s car. Install went ok other than the bolt in the knuckle adjacent the shock bolt was the wrong way around so I couldn’t get a socket on the shock nut on the drivers side. The new mounts do not use a dog point stud so with 1/4” spacers there is full thread engagement.

The new springs have a full extra coil on them and the rear is sitting 2” higher than it was before so hopefully it settles a bit but I can’t see more than an inch of settlement occurring. The rear actually sits higher than the front now (rake).

Ride quality seems pretty good. Much better than what I put on the front a couple years ago.

Considering these are meant for a sedan I’m not sure how well they would work in that application. Don’t sedan springs usually lower the rear of a wagon?

I recently had what I think was a bad tank of Shell 91. Within 50-km of highway driving my DAM had dropped from 1.0 to 0.0, FKL was in the low to mid teens and FKC was ranging into the low teens. I pulled 5 degrees of timing and diluted the fuel as soon as I could.

I didn't reset or reflash and drove conservatively to see how quickly things would go back to normal. It took two full tanks of PetroCanada 94 to get back to DAM of 1. FKL got to all zeros and the only FKC I saw was while letting out the clutch in 1st gear. I started adjusting the timing back to zero one degree at a time. When I got back to zero, FKL went up to -0.7 in some cells around 2300 rpm so I pulled 1 degree and so far FKL has stayed at 0 everywhere.

It can be helpful to watch what is happening instead of just doing a reset right away since atmospheric conditions, traffic etc. could be fine for a return to DAM of 1.0 very quickly but maybe not on average for your total driving in a given day/week/month and you could do damage while it is adjusting back down.

I ordered the newly released KYB rear "strut-plus" shocks from RockAuto and they should be here in about a week. They are listed as a sedan application and I am installing them in a wagon so we will see how bad they sag. I do have 1/4" spacers I can throw on (and probably will right away) but if they are sagging too much I may try those LESJÖFORS springs they sell, instead of going with a larger spacer.

Has anybody else tried the new "strut-plus" assemblies in a wagon?

Yeah, we got the Alltrack with 6mt for $21k brand new, hard to beat, its a great car. Feels like an evolution of the LGT in a lot of ways, with a way higher quality interior. Tuning is weird with these though. Can chip/dp it to +80tq +60hp which should keep me happy when I start to get bored but I'm still trying to figure out the VW turbo tuning. I had a bunch of NA vw's back in the day, but lots changed since CIS injection.

My only concern with a canned tune and the 6mt is if the clutch will hold up. I've seen lots of complaints of slipping clutches in tuned GTIs and even stock Rs whereas the DSG versions seem to have little to no problems up into the 400 HP range.

Under the conditions you have described, I would look at sway bar end links (if you hadn't already replaced them) and body bushings first, then tie rods (if it's coming from the front end) or control arm bushings (if it's coming from the rear end, especially the upper control arms as they can get very noisy while still looking ok). Sometimes you can isolate the noise by pushing the top of the tire in (alternate sides each couple of pushes).

Axle noises can usually be replicated by driving in circles at full lock in a parking lot, and happen regardless of bumps, so test that out as well as it's super easy to do.

If it's any consolation, even though 5mt wagons are getting more rare, I don't think they are going up in price, at least not up here in Canada. I paid $6k CAD ($4800 USD) for mine with 150,000 miles (243,000 km)

Your car is pretty awesome, I would love to make my car like yours, but up here I'd be lucky to sell that car for $10k CAD, simply because it's a Legacy and not a WRX. I know that modifying cars is always a losing proposition but I can't stomach that much loss these days.

Also, good choice on the VW, I've been looking at 2019 Sportwagens as they are available with under 30,000 kms for less than 23k CAD right now (unfortunately DSG is really all that's available, and most are white). Alltracks are not easy to find up here, even though it would be a slightly better ski car for the family.

It would be interesting to hear from someone that has ran both Konis and Bilsteins.

 

I can't comment on comparisons as I have had the factory Bilsteins on my '07 Spec B it's whole life. I will say that they are a great balance between performance and comfort, maybe leaning just slightly to comfort for an enthusiast driver. But of course this is all subjective.

 

I can say the longevity of the Bilsteins is very good. I drove my first set to 305k miles, and though they were not the same as new, they were still very good, with no leaks and a well controlled ride.

I've run KYB, Koni with King springs and Bilstein B8 with STI pinks (current setup). I would say the Bilstein HDs (B6 & B8) feel like they have significantly higher high speed damping than the Konis (i.e. they feel much more harsh than the Konis).

I would be shocked (no pun) if the OEM Bilsteins have anywhere close to the same damping forces as the HDs. I just can't imagine people accepting the level of "comfort" from the HDs off the showroom floor.

I did have the Konis and Bilsteins installed on two different GT wagons at the same time, so I was able to drive them back to back, and the Konis were much more comfortable feeling, with the same Whiteline sway bars on both cars. I then swapped the Bilsteins to the other car and replaced the Konis with OEM stuff.

Mostly the difference is in high speed damping (bumps/cracks), I doubt there is much difference in low speed damping (actual cornering/transitions). Even if there is a difference, you won't notice it on the street, unless you are getting silly.

TLDR: I didn't notice much difference between OEM KYBs and Koni/King combo but noticed a large difference between both and the Bilstein B8/Pinks combo.

I'm surprised there are no Bilstein recommendations and almost all Koni recommendations.

Are people not buying Bilsteins anymore?

I ran Konis and OEM KYBs back to back and even with King springs on the Konis there was no major difference in comfort or handling. If those were my two options I'd just stick with the KYBs and not deal with the hassle of cutting a set of struts (if yours are even in good enough shape to do that).

Where I live, it's almost a guarantee you'll need new strut bodies to cut up as anything still on the road is rusty, and there aren't that many Legacys in junk yards. JDM Bilsteins are a cheaper used option (they are usually around $400CAD here) vs $900CAD for a set of new Bilstein B6 shocks and struts with no springs, front perches or mounts.

Nothing I really did today but I did get a wheel alignment yesterday after replacing the inner and outer right side tie-rod ends and it seems my shake at idle is almost completely gone. Not sure why that would happen since I think I've narrowed the shake down to motor mounts. Maybe the rack was loose and they tightened it up???

In more important news, RockAuto is now carrying KYB Strut-Plus (front and rear). This is KYB's version of a quick strut type deal, fully assembled and ready to go. They are the most expensive quick strut option at about $600CAD +shipping for all four corners, but I still think that's pretty good.

You can do a couple of things - come up with some neoprene covers for the threaded sections, much like coilover covers, or spray the threaded sections with lithium grease periodically (the kind meant for garage door wheels works well). You could use a coating of anti-seize but that would be hand applied, not sprayed, and you would need to pull your wheels off to reapply whereas the spray on grease could be done with the wheels on.

Personally, since I drive so little, I just make sure to wash my car every week, regardless of cleanliness, and spray the underside as best I can (none of the washes near me have the drive-over underspray thing or the roller attachment for the wand).

This was winter #2 on KTA124 for me, but in Calgary we don't use calcium chloride, still sodium chloride and beet juice pickle spray and everything looks pretty good. If your town uses calcium chloride, I would step up cleaning and coating and maybe plan to pull your wheels every three or four weeks until you figure out how long the grease is staying on.

It sounds like the sensors are failing due to some sort of fouling or an electrical issue.

Fouling could be due to a very minor head gasket leak (oil or coolant into cylinders) or something that you might be doing in routine maintenance, like using a sealant or cleaner that is not safe for the sensor.

Electrical could be something like a bad ground or other damage to the harness. If your mech has tested the harness and found nothing wrong, it could be a small enough section of wire damage that you might have to strip the loom back to find it.