Month Project tunred Winter Project

[kzr750r1]

Thanks for the warning on the air control actuators... Need to get this fixed at some point. Only issue I'm facing at the moment is the post shut off burble.

[jaylew]

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

Edited November 6, 2019 by jaylew

[gkinslow]

Ran into that same squeak. No amount of lubrication will substitute for that bushing either.

[jaylew]

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

Edited November 6, 2019 by jaylew

[jaylew]

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

Edited November 6, 2019 by jaylew

[kzr750r1]

Noticed the orientation deal posting pictures here. To correct this before uploading I run it through the windows 10 edit (crop and rotate) but don't change it (if it's viewing in the right orientation) and save. Not sure what this is doing for the forum code to see the right orientation but it's worked for me lately.

Nice progress. Sorry to hear about the Job. What field are you looking?

[jaylew]

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

Edited August 13, 2019 by jaylew

[JmP6889928]

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

 

Early Subarus had them mounted to the under panel on the DS dash with a little lift up door over them. They were great for access and you just shut the door and it looked fine.

 

I can't understand why car companies do something really well and then change it for something really stupid.

[awfulwaffle]

What are the odds you could guesstimate the line lengths for the Nicopp sections you used?

[JmP6889928]

Buy the coil and fittings and make them yourself. The tubing is very easily bent and while flaring is a bit of a challenge, once you have the hang of it, you'll be fine.

[jaylew]

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.

[jaylew]

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

Edited November 6, 2019 by jaylew

[jaylew]

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.

Edited November 6, 2019 by jaylew

[jaylew]

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.

Edited November 6, 2019 by jaylew

[Holla]

The black interior is so much better. I like the wood grain on the later 4th gens too.

[jaylew]

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!

[jaylew]

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.

[TMBLKDG]

This thread makes me tired just reading it. Great job! I've done this kind of thing to cars before, I'm impressed you have the energy and stick-to-it-ness to get it done.

[jaylew]

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')

[jaylew]

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!

[TMBLKDG]

Ouch. Sounds like something I'd do. Good luck!

[TMBLKDG]

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')

 

 

Definitely! I'm in the same boat with my car. I figured I could either buy a new car or build my own, so I'm building one because I don't really like any new cars anyway and I've always wanted one of these 5MT wagons in black with black ltd interior. I'll have way more money into it than it's worth when done but it'll be "my" car and it'll be as close to new as it needs to be for me to be happy driving it for a good long time.

[jaylew]

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

Edited November 6, 2019 by jaylew

[jaylew]

Ok, she is back on the road and inspected!! I tried getting it inspected 2 weeks ago, but 2 miles from the shop, got a CEL for evap. So I cleared the code, filled the tank for the first time in 7 months and it hasn't come back yet..knock on wood.

 

 

Also had to get SPC rear camber arms because the driver side was way out of spec and there was no way of fixing it with stock arms. I chalk it up to 236k miles and lowering the car that is was so far out of alignment. Anyway, the SPC arms seem awesome, for OE type bushings but still plenty of camber control. A lot cheaper than whiteline and as mentioned not poly bushings!

 

 

I am still hunting down the airbag light, so for now all passengers ride in the back seat. And I can confirm that THIS code reader can read 4th gen airbag codes so no dealership required.

Edited November 6, 2019 by jaylew

[jaylew]

so, a pesky evap code has come back. I got the P0453 code right after getting the car running again. I thought it was due to draining the tank other nonsense so I filled the tank, cleared the code and figured that was it. Nope, it came back. Turns out that this kind of evap sensor only tests when the tank is below 1/2 tank, closer to 3/4. So instead of being responsible for hunting down some stupid slightly leaky evap line, I will do the responsible ( sarcasm ) thing and finally get my taxtrix/romraider running to just turn off that code.