Yet another new guy 05 OBXT build

[subisubisu]

20 minutes ago, Max Capacity said:

I think I posted the tip years ago after mounting my first GS tmic, put the hose on the tmic outlet overnight, the day before you install it. It opens that hose to the right and easy fit. Then install on ATB like you did, first.

I try to do a good job of RTFF to vacuum up all the good tips out there, but I must have missed that one.  I definitely would have done that.  I'm glad you repeated it here.

[subisubisu]

It lives!  Or at least it starts.  There is a not-normal and not-pleasant sound coming from the bellhousing area.  Since the flywheel, starter, clutch and 6MT are all new to the car, I have some diagnosing to do.  I also had quite a time with bleeding the clutch master and slave cylinders, so it's not unreasonable to doubt any part of the function of that part of the powertrain.  Time to research and troubleshoot.

[subisubisu]

With the car on stands, how should the wheels react when I turn them by hand?  An AWD car presents lots of options:

Out of gear, I'd guess I can turn a front wheel and the rears won't turn, but the opposite front would turn in the opposite direction.  Same at the rear - no effect on the front, but opposite rear in opposite direction, due to the differential.

In a forward gear, if I turn a front wheel forward, I expect to see the rear wheel turning forward.

In reverse, if I turn a front wheel backward, I expect to see the rear wheel turning backward.

Or am I all confused?  Without ever having operated this transmission in a running car, I have no basis to compare feel of the shifter, and want to verify operation.  Do I need to adjust anything?  My other AWD vehicles have automatic transmissions and aren't much help for comparison.

Later - Well, that's not what I found.  I put the shift lever in reverse; banged (gently) against the stop on the right, then pulled up the collar on the shifter shaft and pulled the knob further right and aft.  Then I turned wheels, and the fronts turned oppositely without disturbing the rears, and the rears turned oppositely (when I turned one) without disturbing the fronts.

Edited August 8, 2023 by subisubisu

[subisubisu]

Huge relief - the noise was the new ACT clutch plate rubbing against a sheet metal guard or shroud of some kind.  Now there's a gap (since it's only sheet metal).  And wheels spin in the proper directions when in gear under power.  Imma get this thing on the ground this weekend.

[subisubisu]

Backed it out of the garage under its own power today.  Torqued the axle nuts and lug nuts and drove it up and down the block, keeping RPM under 2k.  I tried getting it into third but it bucked me a bit; not too surprising at neighborhood speeds and low RPMs.  First, second and reverse seem to be OK.  This was just the safe start ROM load, and I wasn't cleared to drive it, but I caved to the desire to get it rolling.  Strong smell of burning petroleum products, not surprising considering the spills I tried to avoid but could not.  Now that my curiosity has been satisfied a bit I expect to let it sit until I can get a driving ROM load next week.

[subisubisu]

Had the P2021 code, but forum to the rescue!

Cleaned connectors, still had the code.  Clocked the sensor, now no codes at all!

Time to set up the fishing line square cage and see about getting my alignment closer.  Eyeballing it, the rears look ok, just a tiny bit of negative camber.  The front negative camber is more noticeable, and also appear to be toed out a bit.  Time to get some measurements and see where it really is.  I haven't found a shop yet where I am confident to take a modified, lowered OBXT, and it would be nice not to have to trailer it there when I do decide to give one a try.

 

[subisubisu]

Alignment underway.  That is, I cut PVC pipe and set up my fishing line box, and took measurements to confirm that the front tires are toed out.  I'll get under and adjust tomorrow.

Now that it looks like I might actually get to drive the thing, I also want to replace the cracked front windshield.  I remember that it seemed like every single LGT or OBXT I looked into when I was hunting a  car back in 2020 had a cracked windshield.  Does anyone else see a tendency to crack, or was that just one more thing that most people neglect as they approach selling an old car?  Is there any recommendation on where to source a windshield, or where to avoid?  I used Safelite for my Acura a couple of times (it was a rock magnet, no issue with the Safelite product) and would go there again based on past experience, unless there is a better option I can learn about.

[subisubisu]

Went from toe-out to a bit of toe-in.  I think in the end I want zero toe, but at this point I think I can drive it a bit to start the engine break-in and tune processes and go from there.  I was glad that I was able to get to toe-in measurements even with the 2015 STi steering rack and the Whiteline roll center/bump steer kit, although I have pretty well used up the tie rod travel.  I only have less than a degree of negative (top inward) camber, and my goal is about 1.5, but that can wait.  I'm not going to be cornering hard for a while as the tuning process is undergone, and it's still on the tires that were on it when I bought it (i.e., Outback tires, not STi tires).  The rear has just a touch of toe-out, but not enough to worry me now, and I'll address it later.  I didn't measure the rear camber, as they look a bit negative just eyeballing them, and I expect to be able to do the driving that I need to.

Eventually I expect two more cycles of jack up and set down at each end, if I am lucky:  raise it up and adjust, tighten and set down.  If it measures good, then raise it and torque to final value; otherwise repeat.  It looks like the preferred adjustment sequence is rear before front, and camber before toe.

The string box alignment procedure is a bit tedious, but not really hard.  There are YouTube videos on the topic, as well as any number of other resources.  It's old school, but the old school worked then and still does now.  I expect the laser tools at the shops are about throughput - I would never make money charging a competitive price doing what I'm doing, but it is working for me as my only customer.

[subisubisu]

Argh.  It wasn't wanting to take the gas pedal, when I tried taking it on on the street, even after I cleared the TGV code.  Now I guess I have an idea why - it popped the P0171 code, left bank lean.  So, I guess I have too much air in the system after the MAF.  It could be other things, too, but I confess that I was a bit surprised to not have any ECU complaints after what is after all my first assembly attempt.  I am hoping to spot a flopping hose, and that it's not a pinhole on the backside of one, or heaven forbid a cracked plastic pipe.

Edit to update - Found that the hose from the backside of the purge valve was loose.  Little bugger hid itself though, and I spent some time looking up diagrams to see where it was supposed to go.  Attached it by pushing it back on, but the purge valve "nipple" (really a narrow extended tube) has no barb or ridge, so I don't see what's to prevent it from happening again, even with a ziptie.  Started the engine and cleared the code, although CRUISE is still blinking.  I guess I need to reset the ECU?

Edited August 26, 2023 by subisubisu

[subisubisu]

A couple of months have passed, and some progress made.  New tires which included an alignment, so that part is off my mind for now.  No rubbing noises with the Legacy-sized tires on the Outback rims.  Internet calculators tell me to expect the speedometer to be off, but I haven't driven it enough to observe any discrepancies.

No more vacuum leaks found.  Fuel pressure regulator signal is now taken off a tee from the blowoff pressure valve.  Spraying combustible stuff at hose joints starting after the MAF (now new) to the TGV mounts does not change idle.

Replaced the fuel pressure regulator with a Radium DMR unit, and the AEM 340 class pump in the OEM bucket with a no-name aftermarket assembly since nothing I have done has changed the driving behavior in the slightest.  Now that I have a pressure gauge in the send line, I can see what is going on.  Before replacing the bucket+pump assembly, pressure ran low at idle (18 psi or so) and was unaffected by adjusting the regulator set screw.  After replacing it, the pressure runs high (68 psi or so) and is unaffected by adjusting the regulator set screw. 

I have disassembled and reassembled the regulator a couple of times now.  It's not a complex device, and nothing seems wrong.  A spring pushes a hemispherical plug, which rides on a rubber diaphragm, down into the intake orifice.  The set screw pushes a top hat to act as a plunger to load the spring.  Fuel pressure should press from the intake orifice against the hemisphere, which is opposed by the spring.  It's hard for me to test, but when installed it definitely is allowing fuel to flow, no matter where the screw is.  That is, I have not risked breaking the puny 3/32 Allen key to try to drive the set screw all the way down, but I can raise the set screw to the top until it obviously isn't engaging the top hat anymore and the supply line pressure doesn't change.

My wideband O2 signal has failed somehow.  The gauge is showing ---, so it is getting power.  RomRaider is showing the input from it as frozen.  I can deselect it and reselect it and get a different value, but it is not a live signal.  The stock O2 signal is showing reasonable values though, near 14.7 at idle and it goes briefly rich and then lean before regaining 14.7 or so quickly when I zap the throttle (pulse input, quick open/close).

I have elected to record more fuel trim values offered by RomRaider, but I don't know what they really are yet.  I was hoping to see the short-term and long-term values.  I do see the #1 and #3 values diverging quite a lot now, and the long term values from learning view for the idle range are now showing -9% or so, compared to positive values before replacing the fuel pump assembly.  That seems to match the difference between low fuel pressure before and high fuel pressure now.

More research to do....

[subisubisu]

There were two problems with the wideband apparently - the ground wire had come loose from the serial adapter so that the laptop was not reading the signal.  AND, apparently the wideband sensor itself has been used up/fouled/rendered unusable, according to what I picked up in internet searches.

What happens is that when I turn the key to on (but not start or run) the gauge does its power-up routine, running the light around the circumference of the dial and back while briefly displaying codes before settling to a display of 14.5.  However, now it starts to climb, in the 15's, 16's, and up until it goes past 18 and starts to read the ---.  It does the same if the car is started.  New sensor ordered.

I finally diagnosed my connection mistake with the FPR.  100% my error, it's working fine now and I have dialed it in to 43.5 at idle and atmospheric reference.  Just kidding, the gauge isn't that precise, but it's close, and it drops appropriately when I reconnect the vacuum signal now.  Test drive around the block was good as far as I could tell.  Car's O2 sensor is staying close to the magic mid-14's, for what that's worth.  When I get the new wideband sensor and install it, I can at last start logging some data for the tuner again.

I'm liking the 6AN connections for the fuel lines that now replace the factory set-up.  It has made removing and replacing fuel line parts easy as I have struggled to diagnose my fuel system issues.

[subisubisu]

Drove the car on an errand at lunchtime and changed the oil and filter.  Another 6 quarts of Motul 10w40 Break-in oil, hoping to go 500 miles this time.  Only had 40 miles on the first fill, and a bunch of idling time.  It was very sparkly, but I am led to believe that can be normal after a bottom-end rebuild.  Time will tell.

Edited October 24, 2023 by subisubisu

[Febreze Mee]

It's normal. I've been told by my builder it's normal, and I have experienced the same thing for myself, twice now. It was only a couple oil changes ago that I stopped getting as heavy of a sparkle. My oil seems to be normal to the eye. 

Here is what my oil looked like after the first change of non-break-in oil (1,294mi on the oil pictured below):

 

The new engine went in on June 10. This was my last oil-change log:

Date: October 11, 2023

Chassis: 197,920mi

Engine: 16,246mi

11th OCI: 2,052mi

Oil Type Drained: Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 5W-30 (Full Synthetic)

Filter Type: Tokyo Roki N3R1 14 

Sampled*

 

Every oil change, I have used a Tokyo Roki filter and have been consistent with oil manufacturer/type/weight. I have 7 of 11 oil changes sampled and off to Black Stone for analysis. Sent a few weeks ago, still waiting on data to get returned.

 

[blackobxt]

Rainbow oil is normal for the first few changes lol.