Back From the Dead Rebuild Thread

[KevinEdgar]

Wow absolutely love this!

[socalsleeper]

I have been making progress, but again slower that I would like on the steering system. This is the last part to call this "done" so I have been trying to focus on this before I get distracted by some other shinny object.

 

So here is what I am up to. I have decided to add a 10 row cooler in the passenger side fender well. I got the cooler and all of the shinny bits to make my own -6an lines. Before anyone comments on power steering requiring high pressure fittings this is on the return side (low pressure) so AN lines are way over kill. Stock this has regular rubber lines with hose clamps.

 

 

I got a 3/8 to -6AN adapter that will be place on the line that feeds the reservoir, this instead will go down to the cooler and back up to the reservoir. The only hang up on this is the line is 10mm versus the 9.5mm OD of a 3/8 line. I think I might be able to make this work, if not I have a barb to AN adapter as plan B.

 

Right now I'm in the process of making the mounting bracket. This will be made from 16 gauge steel very simple design. I do plan on eventually adding some dimples to give it some more rigidity plus they do pretty look cool . Which brings me to my current detour, to make this bracket I needed a way to put the bends in the panel so I am making a DIY metal brake that you see people make on youtube. Not hard, but not easy if you don't have a band saw and welder on hand which I don't... But this is basically done, just cleaning it up and giving it a coat of paint to keep it from rusting. I should have the panel done in a couple of days, just have to drill some holes and pop a few rivnuts in to the frame rail.

 

 

The hot air will exit in front of the wheel via that vent I shared previously, and I do have a plan for the incoming cool air charge, but that is much later down the line via a custom duct/shroud. For now I want to get the mounting and the pluming all done.

[BagRidersJohn]

Looking slick man!! I made my own low pressure power steering hoses on my WRX using AN parts and it works great -- you'll love it! There are a couple of different ways you can go about adapting the pump inlet to AN, feel free to shoot me a PM If you'd like! As for the high pressure side, Chase Bays has a high pressure hose that I run on my WRX and it is high quality, I like it. I'd venture a guess it would fit on the BL chassis too seeing as the distance from the port on the rack to the pump's outlet should be pretty close.

 

Making a brake without a welder or bandsaw does not sound easy!! I'm excited to see your outcome. Personally I've been waiting for a good reason to buy the SWAG offroad finger brake kit for the HF 20 ton press but I haven't needed to make a bracket in a while so I've put it off.

 

Keep up the great work man!

[socalsleeper]

Yeah the metal brake has been a bit of a pain, also because I don't want to make too much noise since I live in an apartment community right now. Trying stay under the radar to some extent... It would be easier, and much louder if I busted out the angle grinder and went to town. I got the brake 95% done last night I just need to make two small notches for some clearance I noticed when I was bolting it up last night. but I managed to get my first bend on a small bit of scrap 16 gauge, worked great decent bend radius. I think the bracket will come out nicely should have it done this evening.

 

Thanks for the info on the AN lines. My immediate goal is just the return side, I am sure I will eventually make AN lines to and from the PS pump sooner than later. I have a lonnggg list of things to do, so I will prob move on to something else.

Might be getting some fuel lines mocked up??? I really want to get the brakes sorted out. Still looking for some brembos to pop up that are not totally wrecked for $1000+

[socalsleeper]

So I have been putting some time in the garage trying to get this power steering cooler all done, almost there. I got the bracket bent up, holes drilled into the chassis where it is going to mount and even added some rivnuts.

 

My metal brake worked OK-ish. It gave me some decent bents, but the 16g and the length of material was about as much as this dinky thing can handle. Where it did not go so well was I tried to add a small flange, there was not enough material to hold down properly so I had to use a hammer to get it to lay down nicely. Bad part is it now has some hammer marks, ugh. No problem I can add a thin layer of body filler make it nice and smooth, before I paint it. Can't leave raw steel like that anyways. Still need to do some trimming, and I need to make a small support bracket to keep it from rocking left to right.

 

 

 

 

Next is the fender liner, I got the template lined up and began cutting, this is a brand new liner so there was some hesitation, but full-send right... I got the vent lined up where it is going to go. I just need to get some foam insulation tape before I can rivet this guy in permanently.

 

 

 

 

 

I also got the lines made up, but how I routed them they are very inconspicuous, so the picture did not make much sense. As for the connection coming from the P/S rack to the cooler that is beefy line material wise so to get my AN adapter I have to do some light sanding to get the olive to fit. I'll give this a try and if there is any sign of the material getting too thin I'll get a new line and use a barb adapter. But these lines have a lot of meat and I am taking off only about .3mm of material overall

Edited March 3, 2021 by socalsleeper

[jaylew]

This is pretty dope. Might I ask the motivation behind adding this cooler?

[socalsleeper]

This car is not my daily beater, and I 100% plan on putting this on the track. This will still be a street car but I don’t need it to get to work so I can go full ham.

Secondly most Subarus don’t have p/s coolers and when pushed people do have issues with the pump and rack seals, considering I just dropped 7 bills on a new 2015 rack I don’t want to buy another over being cheap.

[BagRidersJohn]

Awesome work man!! This looks so much more fun than what I've been up to, which is lying on my back with an angle grinder prepping the undercarriage for new coatings. Almost done and I'll post an update to my thread but good god, it sucks lol You're keeping me motivated to finish up so I can move onto fun stuff

[Underdog]

The p/s cooler setup is looking fantastic. Now you have me thinking about a similar vent to bring IATs down.

[shralp]

Like what you're doing here and jaylew's question was the same as mine as to the reasoning behind adding a PS cooler. I mean am I just one of the lucky ones or what? I've been tracking my '05 GT wagon pretty consistently since '08 have have had no failures; power steering pump, rack or otherwise.

[socalsleeper]

The p/s cooler setup is looking fantastic. Now you have me thinking about a similar vent to bring IATs down.

 

Getting air moving can only help, I plan on running a flat panel up front with a naca duct to the cooler, but something very similar can be done for an air intake.

[socalsleeper]

Like what you're doing here and jaylew's question was the same as mine as to the reasoning behind adding a PS cooler. I mean am I just one of the lucky ones or what? I've been tracking my '05 GT wagon pretty consistently since '08 have have had no failures; power steering pump, rack or otherwise.

 

Maybe we are luck with the Legacy but for a relatively small investment I ensure that I don’t have problems is worth it to me.

[boxkita]

Like what you're doing here and jaylew's question was the same as mine as to the reasoning behind adding a PS cooler. I mean am I just one of the lucky ones or what? I've been tracking my '05 GT wagon pretty consistently since '08 have have had no failures; power steering pump, rack or otherwise.

 

I had the same experience. Although Sgt.Gator spent alot of effort to add cooling to his p/s system. Adding the solid sti u-joint might cure those issues too. And the p/s cooler, which didn't ship on every 05 gt.

[socalsleeper]

My LGT did have the little tube cooler, but it is placed where there is no air flow. I could have just moved it, but again I am kind of going full ham here...

I have the Perrin lock down kit we’ll see how this feels. It will take a while to get used to all the changes with the new steering rack new brakes and full suspension upgrades. I have not driven this car in a long time.

[boxkita]

if you can find the sti joint, it removes all the play in the steering. MaxCapacity has a thread on it when he was fixing his front end wobble.

 

When you get your alignment done, start with a mostly stock setup. The full camber approach is usually too much for the track. Also invest high performance summer tires, or use race tires on takeoff wheels (bfg r1 or toyo rr had good life). You don't need much tire with slicks ( I used 225 & 235, Sgt.Gator used 235 & 245, shralp is in the same range, I think).

[shralp]

if you can find the sti joint, it removes all the play in the steering. MaxCapacity has a thread on it when he was fixing his front end wobble.

 

When you get your alignment done, start with a mostly stock setup. The full camber approach is usually too much for the track. Also invest high performance summer tires, or use race tires on takeoff wheels (bfg r1 or toyo rr had good life). You don't need much tire with slicks ( I used 225 & 235, Sgt.Gator used 235 & 245, shralp is in the same range, I think).

 

Yup been using 235\40\18 on my 18x8 Prodrives for many years on the track car as well as 245/40/18 last season. Typically around -2.0 F & -1.75 R but that’s just what worked for me. I’ll be bumping that up this season as I’ve switched to 17x9 Apex ARC8 wheels with 255/40/17 yoko A052. Got a set of 7 RARE Prodrive 18x8 ET 51 PFF7’s going up for sale!

[boxkita]

Yup been using 235\40\18 on my 18x8 Prodrives for many years on the track car as well as 245/40/18 last season. Typically around -2.0 F & -1.75 R but that’s just what worked for me. I’ll be bumping that up this season as I’ve switched to 17x9 Apex ARC8 wheels with 255/40/17 yoko A052. Got a set of 7 RARE Prodrive 18x8 ET 51 PFF7’s going up for sale!

 

or you could keep them and just run slicks on track?

[socalsleeper]

While I still have a ways to go, I will prob be running Conti Extreme Contact on the street and I have heard good things about the the Toyos on the track.

[shralp]

or you could keep them and just run slicks on track?

 

Pulling my summer 18x8 Enkei’s off the Outback to use for transport/rain tires on the Legacy and putting on the Apex / Yoko’s on when I get to the track. Once I burn thru the Hankooks on these Enkei’s I’ll probably get something more rain specific. 18 for show 17 for go as they say. Really no need for me to run 18’s at the track

Edited February 22, 2021 by shralp

[socalsleeper]

Quick update, I have been tinkering on the car but nothing worth taking pictures of. When I trimmed the dust shields for the rear brakes I had to touch up the exposed edges before I put the parking brake hardware back on. That is all done now.

 

I got a killer deal locally on a new front lip and Cusco strut bar. I slapped the lip on the car the bar will stay off until I get the engine in, this thing still has the blue tape on it, and I don't want to beat it up.

 

This weekend I installed the 60/40 folding rear seat assy on the legacy. It all went together nicely except for the lower bench. I only got the upper form another member and I had planned to use my lower. Looks like the folding 60/40 have a slightly thicker bolster in the rear, and a little deeper of a cut out at the edges so there is a gap where the seats meet. Looks like I am on the hunt for a new lower bench and have a full rear to sell...

 

I just remembered that I got the P/S cooler finally done and installed on the car. It is all painted and fits great, I did have to trim a very small amount of the lower fender liner for a corner to clear, I have some ABS scraps that I will use to close that up.

I'll post a pic of this later.

 

As for what I am doing now, I am pulling the seats out and running the last of the wiring to each of the doors for the speakers from the rear of the car. Got the drivers side done, now on to the passengers side. Just a few connections to make and this is crossed off my list. For the audio set up I have planned I will need to find a place for the hazard switch since this will be inaccessible with the new head unit I want to use.

[socalsleeper]

So here is a little update, I have not been in the garage as much as I would like, but I do get a couple of hours here and there.

 

Interior wise

I removed the passenger seat and it was not as clean as I thought it was... Looks like there was some very old spilled coffee under there, out came the mini vac. Result it smells great in there now, and it cleaned up nicely.

 

Next I got the B pillar panels removed and spliced the wiring for the speaker wires now coming from the trunk. I also did the front passenger side, but the drivers side is still on the to-do list (I can't open the door enough in the garage as it sits)

 

I got my hands on a 2008+ steering wheel and I got that installed. I still have some wiring to do to get everything going to the right place. I already ordered the connector pins for that.

 

Power Steering wise

I ended up not being able to adapt the stock line to the -6an tube nut and decided to replace the line. I got an auto zone replacement line since they are cheap to replace if need be. I used a 180 degree molded hose to send the fluid to the cooler via a -6 barb adapter to the new line. The way I routed it if I want to make a second line directly to the rack return port that is an easy upgrade. The lines route under the bracket holding the ABS unit and are very discrete yet serviceable which is what I was going for.

 

Lastly, when I fitted the P/S cooler it required a small section of the fender liner to be cut for the lower corner. I bent up a small patch panel out of some aluminum that I had lying around.

Here is the panel before I painted it. I will be riveted in place and will have a decent sized opening for any rain water to find its way out.

 

Making progress, I also got a Honeycomb grill from another member but that is a little rough so I will be refinishing that soon as well.

Edited May 20, 2021 by socalsleeper

[socalsleeper]

I forgot to mention I removed the transmission cross member cleaned it and painted it. Installed the Group-N 6 speed mount.

 

I also removed the 5 speed shift linkage while I was under there.

 

Oh and I scraped most of the rubberized goop on 1/2 of the front wheel wells, that sucks... I'll post some pics later.

Edited April 1, 2021 by socalsleeper

[BagRidersJohn]

Lookin good!! I know your pain with that rubberized goop. I found a wire cup on an angle grinder to be the most efficient tool for removal but man that sh*t gets everywhere and is about a -10 out of 10 on the fun scale

[socalsleeper]

Lookin good!! I know your pain with that rubberized goop. I found a wire cup on an angle grinder to be the most efficient tool for removal but man that sh*t gets everywhere and is about a -10 out of 10 on the fun scale

 

I am hoping I don't have to get down to bare steel, I have a very light layer left on the surface after getting at it with the heat gun and a putty knife. Mind you I am only doing about 1/3 of the wheel well.

I will order some new seam sealer and some epoxy based paint to finish this up, but for now I am just glad to have the goop off.

[socalsleeper]

Quick update, mostly because BagRidersJohn is making me look like a total buster over here...

 

I have tinkered a little here and there. I go the 2008+ steering wheel installed, and ran the wires for the media controls all done. I am waiting for the airbag cover that is stuck in customs coming from Canada.

 

I have some money saved up and I am holding off to make another big purchase, coilovers & brembos.

 

Side note I just got word that I might have a chance to relocate for work so that makes everything much more interesting. I am kind of in a holding pattern until I know if that will happen or not.

 

About 5 years ago I moved from the westcoast to the eastcoast and that was mostly a purge and buy all new stuff, we might do something like that again, so that is exciting. In any case stay tuned I do have some plans they are just on pause for now.