[Flatfoot98H4]

NICE ! How much longer till your running?

 

[JO5HUA]

Quarantine hasn't affected me like most people, I worked over 50 hours last week and almost 60 the week before. Despite this, I have been getting a lot of stuff done at home too. My deck project is nearly done and it looks amazing, I set up another computer in the office for my wife to work from home, I got a great dane puppy and I also put in some work on the Impreza

The last plug I had to convert to 99 spec was the fuel tank and with help from the diagrams the merge was pretty straightforward match same colors with just a couple exceptions, the fuel pump controller is now up by the dash and that's where the fresh white wire is going

I got the sensor wires and the boost gauge hose run through the firewall so I could fit the dash in, I ordered the long hose kit from WRXtra and I would say it's more than long enough to satisfy

I also got the oil pressure sender kit from WRXtra hoping the alternator would fit better and it does but the factory pressure switch will not fit in the rear port so close to the bpv hose, I want to keep the factory switch so it just wasn't meant to be

This is the way the kit was meant to be installed anyway and it just made everything so much easier, I'm willing to sacrifice a little accuracy just to be done with this and move on

Since I was having so much trouble with the top hose fitting it made a lot of sense to cut it for the temp sender, made the hose much easier to fit and I can expect a fair amount of accuracy from this location

The aos just really doesn't want to fit and every way I try to fit the hoses they come really close to heat or sharp edges, the can itself has such a small area it can be in and I have spent a lot of time trying to make it work but it doesn't seem possible

I want to revisit these header tank hoses but for now it will have to do, I completely ditched the power steering cooler and maybe it will make a comeback if for some reason it feels necessary

I ditched the aos and just put in the factory pvc so, with the intercooler in, all that's left is to hook up the boost gauge hose T to the bpv reference hose and connect the ground wire to the battery then I can flash the tune

I primed the oil pressure a bunch by cranking it over with the non chipped key then fired her up for the first time since 8 August 2015, that's almost 5 years of sitting so it burned a lot of oil but so far no check engine light

All the oil burning turned my muffler into a milkshake but it has stopped burning at idle, when I drove it around it still puts out smoke if I get it close to boost so I'm hoping the rings find their seats again soon. There's just so much to shakedown I'm really hoping everything works out but I'm expecting there to be setbacks, thanks to everyone for your help and support I couldn't have done this without the people willing to share their knowledge on forums

 

[bue car]

Right? Still doing 55 hours a week...getting tired of these posts about being bored inside.

Car looks good!

 

[scruff3333]

Try having a grocery store.
Some of us haven't had a day off in a month.
Thanks disgusting hoarding people.

 

[Bast]

Admits to getting a puppy... has no photo of said puppy. WTF MAN!


Ps. Love the title change.

 

[bue car]

Agreed. Kitchens was so pre-VS

 

[JO5HUA]

Here's some of the other thing I've got going on in pictures

New puppy's name is Blue and she's purebred Great Dane

Toyota made it ridiculously hard to change the oil in the new 4runner, a big fuck you to the home mechanics

I reused as much wood from the old deck as I could and added a water channeling membrane, The new beam is 6x10 and the 4x12 stringers are the old beam and ledger. Why anybody would use a 4x12 for a ledger I cannot explain, they also used 2x6 and subfloor sheets for the shed roof

New fish's name is Spike and he's a freshwater puffer

Drippin

 

[6DemonBag]

Damn! 5 years...had some free time at work and just finished reading your build thread to date. Your dedication to this build is impressive. You've got a lot of really cool parts and customization, in addition to swapping the FXT drivetrain and harness merge. I wish I had parts yards full of Subarus where I reside. Seems like you've been able to source a bunch of choice parts form there. Keep up the good work.

 

[bue car]

Great non car updates! The puppers looks big already!

 

[Bast]

She's a beaut! Also nice work on the deck.

 

[JO5HUA]

Try having a grocery store.
Some of us haven't had a day off in a month.
Thanks disgusting hoarding people.

I am a meat cutter so I know it. To top it all off we are in contract negotiations right now and, among other bullshit things, they want to cut our sick pay rate down to the state minimum... during a pandemic... when we have massive support from the public... The CEO sends thank you emails out every other week though and that makes all the difference

Back to this nightmare project, the big issue is oil leaks. I'm sure sitting for 5 years was not kind on any of the gaskets and seals which is why you should always seal up a motor for storage properly even if you think that it will be a super quick turnaround because you are only kidding yourself and all your projects take way longer than they should. Maybe I'm just projecting, but it isn't a bad idea

First off, oil is leaking from the pressure sender hose so I tightened that up as much as I could in the limited space

When I took off the intercooler noticed a lot of oil in the elbow so makes me think the old pcv is not doing it's job

There wasn't so much oil going through the intercooler though, when I took off the throttle body I saw a bunch of oil dripping into the intake manifold from the pcv hose

The pcv from the Forester was tired and I remember replacing it on my wife's XT solved the oil consumption issue on that car so even though it feels like throwing a glass of water at a forest fire I replaced it with a new one

I was concerned about the bpv hose coming into such close contact with the pressure sender hose so I tied a piece of rubber hose around it to insulate

The milkshake is gone and now I have a lot of wet oil in the exhaust, it doesn't smoke as much now but it is sure leaking

The left side looks dry but the right side it looks like oil is coming from the valve cover, the oil cooler, the timing cover...

For sure coming from the oil cooler

Oil coming down the exhaust ports on both sides seems to be only the forward ports though

Right side not as bad as the left, I'm wondering if the crankcase pressure is so great and that's why it's leaking from everywhere but I didn't do the test of taking the oil fill cap off because I'm retarded. Today will be putting the exhaust back on and running it on the jack stands to see if there is just a ton of blowby, I'm hoping it isn't turbo seal but it seems to be a combination of failures

 

[bue car]

Wow she bleedin'

Good luck!

 

[JO5HUA]

I ran it again with the oil cap off and it didn't feel like a lot of pressure, some pulsing for sure but doesn't feel like a ton of blowby

With the intercooler off it seems even a brand new pcv isn't able to stop oil getting sucked up and that's what I expected but I bought one anyway because I am stupid

This time a lot of oil made it into the intercooler so I have to clean that out now

Pretty sure oil is not supposed to pool up here, the pcv seems to be injecting oil at all points of contact

The vf39 tune from Cobb doesn't seem to be able to keep up with the vf48, obviously the fact it is an ots tune and for the wrong turbo I'm not expecting AF to be perfect but I'm seeing high teens and 20's with learning as high as 18%

The codes are starting to roll in and the dbw pedal codes I'm a little confused by and not sure how to reset it's range of motion, I'm hoping the misfire in cylinder 4 is just from so much oil getting into the intake

So it's pretty clear I need to install the aos and in trying to see how the hell I'm going to fit the crawford in there I found a video of the install on Bucky Lasek's at Crawford but 99% of the video is guys standing around chatting, the install is done in superspeed at the end without narration or anything helpful at all so thanks for the quality content Crawford

Another video of his car had some good stills of the engine bay and they were a little more helpful, I could probably find better images if I was connected on social media but I'd rather have mental health

This is the ideal location but my Cusco strut bar is right in the way, can't have both Crawford aos and Cusco strut bar at the same time it seems

To position the aos in it's ideal location an adapter plate is needed, I used a thick mending plate and painted it black

There isn't a better location than this, I will miss my strut bar dearly but I only wanted it for aesthetic reasons

 

[bue car]

So find a whiteline one like Bucky? I used to rock both, LOL, the good old days

 

[Spec R]

I just went thru the whole build. wow. i applaud the persistence. thanks for shedding light on the cusco underbrace. After installing mine, I knew something was wonky because there was a binding sound but I blamed it on worn bushings. I put in the whiteline anti lift bushings and new control arm bushings and there is still some binding. It doesnt help that I dont know whatever front subrame is on my car, but I assume it is from the donor 02 WRX that my EJ205 came from.

 

[JO5HUA]

So find a whiteline one like Bucky? I used to rock both, LOL, the good old days

I didn't actually want the added stiffness up front, I just liked the matching set front and rear and thought it looked good so I'm fine with leaving it off just disappointed since I spent so much time restoring it and polishing the aluminum was not easy

I just went thru the whole build. wow. i applaud the persistence. thanks for shedding light on the cusco underbrace. After installing mine, I knew something was wonky because there was a binding sound but I blamed it on worn bushings. I put in the whiteline anti lift bushings and new control arm bushings and there is still some binding. It doesnt help that I dont know whatever front subrame is on my car, but I assume it is from the donor 02 WRX that my EJ205 came from.

I don't think different subframes will make a difference unless they have the spacer like in a Forester and in that case you could just space the rear mount of the brace and probably keep the Forester FCAR

The AOS is in place and fitting without issues, now that the location is nailed down I will replace the hoses and work on better hose fitment

Not nearly as much oil in the intake now so I would call it a successful mod, the VF48 is not playing nice though so I'm stepping down to stage 2 while I work out all my issues

I tried to put the huge intercooler on with the TD04 and I discovered the wastegate actuator wasn't going to allow that to happen

I had hoped I could just swap actuators but that is not possible, easiest solution I could think of was to use a smaller intercooler

I picked up a JDM intercooler and I don't know if they fit differently but the mounts aren't able to line up so it just rests on them, the tune is perfect now and I see nothing out of the ordinary but still getting a strange tapping noise from the passenger side

The FXT column and steering link was causing some binding issues like I thought it would so I decided to use the Impreza column and swap the lock over, not knowing how it was secured I just started drilling the Impreza lock to see what happens

Turns out it is bolted on and the heads of the bolts snapped off for "security" so fucking stupid, the bolts were loose and turned out super easy

The problem with the FXT column was it's too long yet the Impreza column is actually longer, the mounting points to the dash bar are off just slightly but the length between the firewall and the dash beam is a greater difference

You can clearly see the rod is longer in the Impreza column and if Subaru would have just kept the coarse threads the links would just be interchangeable and this would be so much easier but nooooooo

Swapping the lock over was actually pretty easy and I thought it would be the most difficult part, making the hybrid steering link is definitely going to be the most difficult part

 

[bue car]

My bolts were pan allen head screws and the hole was filled with a softer metal that hardened. I agree they are not on their tight.

 

[JO5HUA]

My bolts were pan allen head screws and the hole was filled with a softer metal that hardened. I agree they are not on their tight.

I would have just used an extractor if I knew how loose they were

The steering link from the WRX was a real pain to separate but I managed to gut through the weld and grind it down enough to just pop the rest of the rod out

The GC steering link was a little easier, I just cut around the rod and ground off the remaining weld

The two pieces are now clean and ready to be rejoined

I wasn't sure if the orientation mattered or not so I looked at a bunch while I was at the junkyard and it doesn't seem like there is a standard, most of them were just slightly clocked so not to be in the same line

The fruit of all that labor, there must be a way to just swap the pinion gear

The old column back in and I realize the clockspring covers are different because the tilt lever is totally different

I really don't want to drop the column again just to put trim pieces on so they are going to sit in the passenger seat while I take it for a test drive

Everything is looking normal and this was after some spirited driving, I still get an odor of burning oil but I think there are a few leaks under the motor I need to check out

When I replaced my windscreen I used one that doesn't have the tint strip at the top, a decision I regretted on the first sunny day, so I put on another banner to provide some relief to my eyes

Pretty happy with how things have turned out but there is still so much to do

When I filled up at the fuel station I got the annoying click off every gallon so I need to diagnose the evap system

The burning oil smell that I mentioned, pretty sure it's the oil cooler leaking

I'm getting a tapping sound out of the right side cylinder head but only once the motor has warmed up, cold starts sound fine but once it reaches temp the noise is back, tested the injectors and it's not them so I'm thinking test coil packs next

There is a lot of camber on the front wheels, I'm hoping an alignment can get it to tolerable levels otherwise I'll have to rotate the caster added strut tops

The frikken brakes I have bled them so many times and they still feel sketch, this last time I got a bunch of air out of the front left but it only felt slightly better after. I think I need to just keep at it until I've completely flushed all the lines to be sure there is no more air

Then there's the things I haven't thought of that pop up randomly like my brake dust shield just decided to start contacting the rotor halfway through my drive and freaked me out, small problem easy fix though. It just gets overwhelming sometimes all these little things

 

[LYH45]

It just gets overwhelming sometimes all these little things

I think we all know the feeling. As they say sometimes its hard to see the forest through the trees. It's easy to forget what you've already accomplished and focus on the tiny things that are wrong. But like I mean look at it. The car's rad and you've done heaps of work on it so just remember that.
Just wanted to say I've been following this build for years and I love it. Keep up the good work mate, we're all rooting for you (you may need to look up the saying as it might be just an Australian thing).

 

[JO5HUA]

I think we all know the feeling. As they say sometimes its hard to see the forest through the trees. It's easy to forget what you've already accomplished and focus on the tiny things that are wrong. But like I mean look at it. The car's rad and you've done heaps of work on it so just remember that.
Just wanted to say I've been following this build for years and I love it. Keep up the good work mate, we're all rooting for you (you may need to look up the saying as it might be just an Australian thing).

Thanks for the kind words and following for years? You poor thing. I'm trying to see all the small problems as opportunity for small victories that keep me motivated

I clocked the steering wheel pretty close to center on my first attempt, still don't have a way to adapt the earlier clock spring to work with GC stalks so no horn or self cancelling signals for me yet

I got my first code on stage 2 after about an hour of driving, what I've read tells me if this is the only code then there is a high likelihood the sensor is bad

Looking for answers I notice the sensor looks a little banged up, probably banged it on the frame rail when I put in the motor

I'm pretty sure my oil leak is coming from the oil cooler o-rings, I thought it was this hose but it carries coolant

Bleeding the brakes for the 4th time and the pedal still feels firm but it just doesn't apply good pressure, I know the single stage booster will make a difference but this is really bad

I decided to put the Braids back on after toying with the idea of selling (never gonna happen) them, I think I'll use the 15" Braids as Winter wheels with snow tires, the 16" goldies as Spring/Fall wheels with all seasons and the 17" Prodrives as Summer wheels with grippy competition tires

Some glamour shots to celebrate being registered and back on the road legally

It took a while to get the years of garage dust off, I forgot how pretty this car can be

Turns out some of the suspension noise I was hearing was the endlink bolts that I left loose so I could tighten them with the car on the ground and then I never tightened them, luckily there was a couple threads still on them and nothing was lost

I always wondered what the writing on the roof vent said, don't worry Subaru only adult sized children will be operating this roof vent