darkstarxi Posted July 6, 2023 Author Share Posted July 6, 2023 Checked that last banjo bolt underneath the turbo inlet that I thought I'd already removed the filter from and I guess I was correct. Removed the butterfly valves from the TGV housings. Both sides went shockingly well until the last screw on each side, which gave me hell - especially the very last one. Installed GrimmSpeed phenolic thermal 8mm intake manifold spacers sandwiched between new head>TGV gaskets. Bagged up injectors to be sent out for dynamic service. Replaced intake manifold>TGV gaskets. Removed a bunch of brackets, etc. that I don't intend to re-use in my efforts to simplify everything going on around and underneath the intake manifold. Started putting things back together to figure out how to best tidy up everything and realized I can't get very far without having to re-do things until I get the injectors back from service. Left it like this for the time being. Ordered NGK LFR7AIX Iridium IX 1-step colder spark plugs and a new Subaru 16175AA331 throttle body gasket that won't be here until Sunday at best. Will get the injectors sent out when I'm able to - probably on Monday. Will focus my attention on exhaust alignment / axle seal replacement / ball joints replacement / flexible brake lines replacement before getting back into the engine bay. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstarxi Posted July 7, 2023 Author Share Posted July 7, 2023 Today started off well and turned into a nightmare and a half. First the good(?) news: Old ball joints and axle seals: New axle seal installed D/S: New ball joint installed D/S: Now the bad news: - Both axles fell apart several times while I fought with everything to get it back together. Had to remove them from the transmission again and then wrestle to reassemble and reinstall both of them several times. As a result, it's possible there's damage to the axles and/or the new axle seals - we'll see in time. The passenger's side gave me a lot more hell because the inboard joint completely separated from the rest of the axle and the rollers fell off the spider and a lot of grease was lost. I currently have a zip tie on the inboard boot in place of the band that fell off. I ordered SS zip ties to replace it because there's a lot of heat in that area and I don't know how the plastic zip tie would hold up. Will put some more grease in there before I seal it up with the SS zip tie(s) and hope for the best. - The clip that held the ball joint boot to the socket on the passenger's side fell off and again, a lot of grease was lost. Luckily, these ball joints are greaseable so that's not a big deal other than the mess. I couldn't for the life of me get the clip back on after I got the boot re-seated on the socket so I gave up and - again...zip tie to the rescue. May replace with a SS zip tie if I can. - Maybe worst of all, the passenger's side knuckle broke when I was prying at it to get the ball joint out of it. The front one of the two "tabs" that the pinch bolt pinches together sheared clean off, so I guess I'm in the market for a replacement knuckle. What a lame design choice on Subaru's part. I'm sure I'm not the first or the last one to do this to one of these knuckles. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstarxi Posted July 7, 2023 Author Share Posted July 7, 2023 Update: Just ordered a new SKP SK698220 passenger's side knuckle from RockAuto! $90.03 shipped. Should be here Tuesday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstarxi Posted July 21, 2023 Author Share Posted July 21, 2023 Got a bunch of new grease into the front passenger's side axle inboard joint/boot and got it sealed up w/ SS zip ties. Got the clip back on the passenger's side ball joint and got it pumped full of grease. Got my replacement passenger's side knuckle and ended up ordering a new hub/bearing assembly for it too. New knuckle w/ new hub/bearing and new ball joint all assembled and ready to be installed: Got that all installed and finally got all four tires back on the ground. Don't remember if I mentioned it earlier in this thread but I shipped my fuel injectors out to Deatschwerks on 7/11 for Dynamic Injector Service and am impatiently waiting to get them back so that I can proceed w/ getting the engine bay back together. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 Great looking car/awesome project. Keep up the great work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 On 7/7/2023 at 3:40 PM, darkstarxi said: Today started off well and turned into a nightmare and a half. First the good(?) news: Old ball joints and axle seals: New axle seal installed D/S: New ball joint installed D/S: Now the bad news: - Both axles fell apart several times while I fought with everything to get it back together. Had to remove them from the transmission again and then wrestle to reassemble and reinstall both of them several times. As a result, it's possible there's damage to the axles and/or the new axle seals - we'll see in time. The passenger's side gave me a lot more hell because the inboard joint completely separated from the rest of the axle and the rollers fell off the spider and a lot of grease was lost. I currently have a zip tie on the inboard boot in place of the band that fell off. I ordered SS zip ties to replace it because there's a lot of heat in that area and I don't know how the plastic zip tie would hold up. Will put some more grease in there before I seal it up with the SS zip tie(s) and hope for the best. - The clip that held the ball joint boot to the socket on the passenger's side fell off and again, a lot of grease was lost. Luckily, these ball joints are greaseable so that's not a big deal other than the mess. I couldn't for the life of me get the clip back on after I got the boot re-seated on the socket so I gave up and - again...zip tie to the rescue. May replace with a SS zip tie if I can. - Maybe worst of all, the passenger's side knuckle broke when I was prying at it to get the ball joint out of it. The front one of the two "tabs" that the pinch bolt pinches together sheared clean off, so I guess I'm in the market for a replacement knuckle. What a lame design choice on Subaru's part. I'm sure I'm not the first or the last one to do this to one of these knuckles. I will eventually be tackling these suspension components too. Not sure how you like to work, many of us just go at it disassembling/installing. But if I may suggest downloading a free copy of the Factory Service Manual to avoid costly mistake in the future. I don't guide myself 100% from it, but its warnings and foot notes have proven very helpful sometimes to avoid braking/damaging certain important parts in the installation process. Looking forward to seeing your work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstarxi Posted July 22, 2023 Author Share Posted July 22, 2023 3 hours ago, RumblyXT said: Great looking car/awesome project. Keep up the great work! Much appreciated. 3 hours ago, RumblyXT said: I will eventually be tackling these suspension components too. Not sure how you like to work, many of us just go at it disassembling/installing. But if I may suggest downloading a free copy of the Factory Service Manual to avoid costly mistake in the future. I don't guide myself 100% from it, but its warnings and foot notes have proven very helpful sometimes to avoid braking/damaging certain important parts in the installation process. Looking forward to seeing your work. I'm a pretty experienced auto mechanic with a good idea about how things come apart and go back together. With that said, I have the FSM, but typically only reference it when troubleshooting electrical issues or for specifications such as bolt/nut torque, fluid capacities, spark plug gaps, etc. - you get the idea. Like I said a few posts ago, I'm sure I'm not the first or the last one to do this to one of these knuckles. It's an usual way to secure a ball joint and is definitely more difficult to remove than the more common way they're secured is - shit...you can't even get ball joints separately for lots of vehicles without replacing the whole control arm or a section of it with the ball joint already pressed in. I'd bet they fail pretty often after being separated a few times, but maybe I'd lose that bet. Hopefully, with greaseable ball joints in there now, there'll be no reason to have to separate the ball joint from the knuckle any time in the near future. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstarxi Posted July 27, 2023 Author Share Posted July 27, 2023 Replaced my NGK SILFR6A Laser Iridium OE Heat Range Spark Plugs that I put in about 20k miles ago w/ NGK LFR7AIX Iridium IX 1-Step Colder Spark Plugs Gapped to 0.030”. Driver's side old plugs w/ one new plug: Passenger's side old plugs: Finally got the injectors that I sent to Deatschwerks for dynamic injector service on 7/11 back today. Very pleased with the technical aspect and very displeased with the customer service aspect of the experience. Test results, notes, and injectors: Now I have to find the time to get the injectors installed and get everything under the hood back together in its new and improved state... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Febreze Mee Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 Man, I'm sorry to hear about the poor customer service. It's everything for me, and it's not as present as it was at the time of my parents/grandparents. Used to be you were out of business if you had poor customer service. Good to know, as I will be looking elsewhere for injector services. 1 MILKRUN - Click Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstarxi Posted August 7, 2023 Author Share Posted August 7, 2023 (edited) Did a lot of tidying up & prep work for reassembly... - Permanently removed the shields or whatever you'd call them for the fuel rails - this requires finding a new spot to attach a bundle of grounds on the driver's side but doesn't change anything else about the install except for simplification. - Removed the brackets from the fuel/EVAP lines that run underneath the intake manifold because I won't be reattaching them to the underside of the intake and have no use for them. - Shaved a lot of stuff that will not be necessary off of the intake manifold. Left two mounting points up front - one will be for the EBCS and the other will likely be used for a vacuum block. The vacuum block is sitting on top of the turbo inlet in the last two images - it's currently being used to prop up the coolant reservoir so it doesn't leak much. Also capped most of the vacuum connections on the intake manifold for if I'm successful with the vacuum block. Lots of photos of the shaved intake manifold with everything removed indicated by the red circles - I may have missed some circles but I believe I got everything. I had a mishap when shaving the area that the factory intercooler support bracket mounted to and ended up with a small hole in the manifold - did my best to plastic weld it and hopefully it holds. - Shaved brackets off of purge solenoid valves, MAP sensor, anything else that will not be remounted to the intake manifold to keep them as small as possible as they will be tucked underneath/behind/TBD the intake manifold. - Removed most or all of the hoses that attach to the intake manifold and/or turbo inlet as they will be replaced with silicone hoses and routed to my liking. Labeled them for reference when getting creative with the new hoses. Removed the stupid plastic thing that bolts to the rear of the intake manifold and connects the two valve cover breathers and the turbo inlet and will be replacing with regular hose & connectors. I ordered a bunch of hose in 4, 6, 8, and 13mm + some connectors/fittings to make it all work. The goal here is simplification and tidiness. I want to minimize clutter and get as much useless stuff out of the way for ease of working under the hood because I can't stand modern rat's nest engine bays. When the hoses, etc. arrive, everything under the hood goes back together. Will have new spark plugs, serviced fuel injectors, butterfly plate-less TGV housings, phenolic IM spacers, all new gaskets, and anything else I'm forgetting in addition to everything above on it's next startup... Edited August 7, 2023 by darkstarxi 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted August 7, 2023 Share Posted August 7, 2023 Not sure if it's just me, but I can't see the pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstarxi Posted August 7, 2023 Author Share Posted August 7, 2023 9 minutes ago, RumblyXT said: Not sure if it's just me, but I can't see the pics. Might be just you. They show up on my phone and on my computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted August 7, 2023 Share Posted August 7, 2023 Disregard, it’s probably my firewall at work. They show up on my phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstarxi Posted August 18, 2023 Author Share Posted August 18, 2023 (edited) The finished product (I think): Shaved intake manifold, red EMUSA vacuum manifold, blue silicone hoses aplenty, etc. EBCS bolted directly to intake manifold bolt on left and vacuum manifold bolted to intake manifold bolt on right with custom made bracket. Test drove it and gave it some hell and my plastic welding seems to hold just fine. Neglected to take pictures of the process because I was very focused and it was bitch-ass hot outside. Updated build list is in the first post. Happy to answer any questions. Next up is adjust exhaust positioning so the muffler tips are located properly and the exhaust doesn't hit the rear sway bar, good car wash with underbody cleaning, alignment, & re-tune. Edited August 20, 2023 by darkstarxi 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted August 18, 2023 Share Posted August 18, 2023 Good Lord.. that’s one huge aftermarket parts list. Very nice man. Congrats! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enlight Posted August 18, 2023 Share Posted August 18, 2023 That EMUSA vacuum manifold is pretty nifty. Really cleans up the bay... I like how you are hiding everything under the manifold. It kind of reminds me of the clean desktop PC cabling setups. Very clean. 2 muFreight.co A JDM Container Sharing Service from Japan to NYC Website | Instagram | Email Bessie II's Thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstarxi Posted August 18, 2023 Author Share Posted August 18, 2023 Uploading some stuff that I used to help w/ disassembly, reassembly, rerouting, etc. The first one, I made myself in MS Paint and the other three are from the FSM with some markups. Forgive my less than accurate nomenclature in some places - wasn't planning on sharing this with anyone but I think they're some very useful resources. As always, feel free to ask questions about any of it including things that I didn't mark up. These are for my 2007 spec.B but I believe it's the same for all 2007-2009 turbo models. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted August 18, 2023 Share Posted August 18, 2023 (edited) If there is one thing I really dislike about the ej motors is the huge amount of vacuum hoses these engines bring. My older '00 Runner I think has like 7-8 main vacuum lines total.… Vacuum lines and replacing spark plugs lol Edited August 18, 2023 by RumblyXT 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstarxi Posted August 18, 2023 Author Share Posted August 18, 2023 Agreed on vacuum lines and spark plugs...and a bunch of other stuff. It's what makes a Subaru...a Subaru. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstarxi Posted August 20, 2023 Author Share Posted August 20, 2023 (edited) Removed the whole exhaust rear of the downpipe as one piece because it wouldn’t come apart and then separated it off the car. Took lots of heat, penetrating oil, a BFH, a slide hammer, a vise, and plenty of elbow grease. Four pieces - straight off the downpipe, then a Y, then the two axle back sections. This particular exhaust uses slip joints, rather than flanges . It was one of only two aftermarket mods I bought the car with and it works so I’ve kept it. After getting it all apart, I reinstalled it starting from the front and working toward the back, leaving everything loose and using plenty of lube on the slip joints to ensure I’d be able to tweak it. When all was said and done, I think I went from about 1/8” clearance between the passenger’s side axle back section and the rear sway bar to about 3/8” clearance. Couldn’t manage to get more than that but it seems to be enough so victory! Gonna drive it around awhile to make sure everything is good under the hood and under the car - then drive through car wash with underbody cleaning to clean up whatever messes I left under the car, drive it some more so if anything’s leaking, it will show it’s ugly face post-car wash, then a good once over - then hopefully alignment and tune! Edited August 20, 2023 by darkstarxi 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Febreze Mee Posted August 21, 2023 Share Posted August 21, 2023 I'll be curious to hear back, after some more miles are put on it, that the exhaust clearance remained at 3/8" clearance from the RSB. The same issue of the exhaust rattling on the sway bar has come to haunt me in the last 18 months. I've replaced all hanger bushing with new OEM and tried adjusting. I've now resorted to purchasing a product @Gex recommended to a few others. "EVIL ENERGY Exhaust Hanger Rubber Adjustable Insulator Bushing Mount 4 Holes Universal 2Pcs" 2 MILKRUN - Click Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstarxi Posted August 21, 2023 Author Share Posted August 21, 2023 6 hours ago, Febreze Mee said: I'll be curious to hear back, after some more miles are put on it, that the exhaust clearance remained at 3/8" clearance from the RSB. The same issue of the exhaust rattling on the sway bar has come to haunt me in the last 18 months. I've replaced all hanger bushing with new OEM and tried adjusting. I've now resorted to purchasing a product @Gex recommended to a few others. "EVIL ENERGY Exhaust Hanger Rubber Adjustable Insulator Bushing Mount 4 Holes Universal 2Pcs" We'll see. I'm running the Kartboy poly long hangers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstarxi Posted August 23, 2023 Author Share Posted August 23, 2023 Gave it a good once over today and found a few things in need of attention... Before: After: Here's a closer look... Before: After: Gives you a better look at my plastic welding of the intake manifold on the car as well... Also... - adjusted the front passenger's side brake dust shield as it was barely making contact with the rotor in one place - added grease to front and rear sway bar end links, tie rod ends, and ball joints - verified no exhaust leaks and no change in clearance between passenger's side axle back section and rear sway bar - and cleaned up the engine bay a little better with some degreaser and a hose down 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstarxi Posted August 24, 2023 Author Share Posted August 24, 2023 Drove it a bunch today and found that the passenger's side axle-back was still rattling on the rear sway bar around 2100-2200 RPM only. Removed the passenger's side axle-back after marking with tape where it needed some massaging and then massaged the shit out of it with a BFH and reinstalled. Forgot to snap a pic of the massaged area before reinstalling it on the car and you can't see it in the pic below but the clearance speaks for itself. Opted to go this route rather than changing hangers or whatever because I don't want the position of the muffler to change and I don't want any change in ground clearance. Drove it a bunch more to make sure nothing else was of concern and then got it washed. Post-wash pics: 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstarxi Posted August 25, 2023 Author Share Posted August 25, 2023 Put another 100-something miles on the car today. Ran the tank empty and filled up with fresh 93. No issues with anything drivability related including sway bar>exhaust clearance. Idles a little funny but I'm assuming that's tune related because I can't think of anything else it could be. Gave the car another once-over under the hood and under the car and found nothing needing attention except for a small leak in the steering rack that I've been well aware of and am in no rush to address. Added butyl tape from behind along the seam between the front lip and the front bumper to seal it up and then reinstalled the skid plate. Will reach out about alignment and tuning this weekend or this coming week to get appointments... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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