2001 2.5RS NA 4EAT swap to 93 Legacy 5MT

nice meeting you tonight... least we got some things done.. hope you got the trans mounted up....

 

Holy cow. This has been an insane weekend.

Another day filled with EXTREMELY generous help.

TSTRBOY04 - awesome.

aspiringRexer - awesome.

Snowbum - awesome.

EJ22Tim - mad hook-up man, I was a little miffed when you couldn't make it Friday, but seriously - this was a pipe dream without your parts and help. Extra awesome.

Not to forget:

9blackmax6 & wrexinator03 - both also awesome


5MT is in. All that's left is bolting some stuff back together and installing the wiring (probably another full day's worth, but at least I feel confident handling it myself). And cleanup - probably take me a couple days to set this garage straight.

Now I have to go do my second job cleaning an office building - has to be done by 8am!

MNSubaru rocks - you guys are the s**t.

 

*high five*

 

WOO! glad I could help. you'll be shiftin in no time!

 

Glad to help You have the cleanest rs i have EVER seen.

 

^ omg X1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000


00000000

7

 

Thanks again guys!! Bed time for me now. Yay!

 

cool, congrats on getting a ton done. With Nathan there it would be hard not o get alot done.

 

your welcome bud sorry i couldn't make it out again yesterday! hope you get that baby up and movin!!

 

hel yea man in glad we could all help ya out you're a good guy sorry I couldnt help out further but none the less that was a fun project to experience for the first time and
I'm glad you got her
done In 1 weekend especially for a
beginner lotta fun man congrats!!!

 

Did you get the rest of it buttoned down today?

 

they managed more then enough without me... ha hah .. it was good to work on a car that wasnt just a job but a fun time , to learn and to meet people.. cant wait till my house is done...

 

ps... just spoke with Quintan (sp?) and he was about to drive it home.. sweet...

 

Oh hell yes.

Good to meet you TSTR. Remind me not to insult your wife

 

ha ha ha.....

yep... will have to have a few of these nights when the house is done

 

get that sway
bar fixed yet?

 

curious, what happened to the old transmission?

 

This whole experience makes me want to pull the trigger on a 6-speed and all the associated stuff (brakes, wheels, suspension, etc)

 

Okay - whoohoo. Sorry for the lack of online updates, but today was busy.

I fired it up - it ran!!! Has the high idle problem, but I haven't had enough time to try all my wiring tricks that are up my sleeve.

Here's some pics of my custom wiring:

 

It will be for sale, as will all the other extras that came out (axles, diff, trim, etc), but I'm not sure about pricing yet.

 

Ata boy Qu3ntin!! Ive gotta
meet up with u Tuesday night and go for a
drive

 

So, I took the new 2001 2.5RS 5MT out for its maiden voyage.

First, I do have the high idle issue - just under 2k RPM. It threw a cell, I assume it's related to the idle, but I didn't check it yet (despite having a code checker in the glove box).

Eased her out. Nice smooth clutch engagement. Now, I've never owned a manual car and haven't driven one in about 8 years, so I have little basis for comparison, but it felt great.


Got to the end of the alley and went to turn onto the road and heard a loud scraping and clunk.

Stopped immediately. Looked. Something had scraped the wheel and knocked the balancing weight off! Yikes.


Took it around the block to pull back into the garage. Took the turns VERY slowly, but opened it up on the straights. OMFG!!! That is SO much snappier than the auto. LOVE IT!!

Came to a stop. Rev'd her right to 6 grand, then slipped my foot off the clutch pedal. Wham. Ha ha - just kidding. That's when the V-TEC kiked in y0!!11!


So, anyway. When I was putting the front sway bar in it just wasn't seeming right.

The dog-bone shaped pieces on the end weren't lining up right. I'd get one in and the other one would completely on the other side (towards the wheel) of the mounting spot for it (that connects to the control arm) - that would make it like 2 inches off - like it was too long.

We jacked the control arms up and gave it some muscle and it went in.

Then, when I raised the headers up, the sway bar was in the way.

So I turned it around and twisted it some so the bends on either side of the 'H'-shaped engine crossmember-thingy (the jack point) went towards the back of the car.

It still was considerably off. We were able to get it in with less jacking on the control arms, but it still seemed wrong.

When I lowered the car, it seemed like it was considerably lower than it used to be, but the distance between the tire and the fender well looked the same - just less under car clearance.

The part that was rubbing against the wheel during turning was the end of the bolt that connects the actual metal sway bar to that hard plasticy dog-bone shaped piece.

With the wheels straight the distance between the end of the bolt and the inside of the wheel looked the same left to right, but when turning right the right wheel would rub and likewise when turning left the left wheel would rub (but the right was always worse than the left).


So, I'm pretty sure the sway bar is in wrong. I was working on another part when 9blackmax6 took it out, so I didn't really see how it was in. I tried calling a couple people to ask about it when I knew it wasn't going in right, but it was difficult to communicate it over the phone.

Can anyone clearly explain how this thing should be in there. Or, is anyone available tomorrow night to pop in for 1/2 an hour or so and show me?


Here's some photos.

 

Hmmm... Endlink should be facing up, not forward.

 

I'm a total noob. It could be in ass backwards - and I'm sure it is.

 

Also, when you put the swaybar on, you need weight on your wheels. So get some ramps or bricks so you can fit under her while working on it.

 

lol back asswards it prolly is

 

Can't just jack up the control arms? Or would that make it uneven?

Still not sure exactly how it's supposed to sit - though I got that the endlinks should be up not forward. What about the bends in the bar? How should they be sitting?

 

I just checked my rs

I would'nt feel comfortable about jacking on control arms.

Luckily your sway isnt on backwards. Saves alil time. You're going to have to separate the endlink from the sway bar. Then pivot the sway bar towards the rear of the car and put her back on.

 

You want a picture? I can take one if you need it.

 

AWESOME! I am so glad that it is working.

Snowbum is on the right track with the swaybar issue. the endlinks (rubber dog bones) should be vertical not horizontal as you have them. Just disconnect the endlinks and you should be able to pivot the var into the right posistion. As for having weight on the tires while you do it, I am not so sure you need to. I have heard this before and did it when I did my rear sway bar, but everytime I have disconnected / reconnected the front swaybar I have never had weight on the front wheels. Take a look at the last version of the write up I sent you there is a picture of the endlink and swaybar connected in step 14

I bet that CEL you are throwing is a P15XX or something that has to do with the TC control unit or something or other. mine threw that code right away. I would just give it some time and I bet that the idle will come down to normal on its own. Probably within a day or 2 of normal driving or short trips.

 

I think you may have to FLIP the bar left to right if rotating it doesnt work...

 

Nice job guys! Glad to hear that this was able to come together for you.

 

Thanks! All these guys helped SO much. I learned more about cars during this weekend then I think I had learned during my entire life up to that point.

YES!! That would definitely help.

I'll take a look in the write-up for that photo of how it goes. We removed it without weight on the car, and I don't recall it popping out like it was under as much tension as it is now.

The first time we had it in wrong and realized when the headers wouldn't go all the way up cause it was in the way I flipped it left to right then. I *think* it's in right - left-to-right-wise - now.

 

so is everything going well now???

 

It runs. I consider that alone a major success.

Gotta fix the sway bar tonight after work. Only got to drive it around two blocks. Other than the scraping while turning it was great.

I still have to try a few things to eliminate the high-idle (the ECU will learn itself back towards normal, but I'm sure it will forget when it gets reset, so I want to find a permanent solution).

Also, I haven't tested ABS yet. And I'm sure I have some code-throwing issues to deal with.



BTW - those parts I PM'd you about I did end up getting from EJ22Tim.

 

So everything transmission related is done?

 

Big heavy stuff, yes.

There's a little bit of wiring - speed sensor especially for me to do. Put back together the interior trim.

And, of course, sway bar. Can't drive it until I get that in right.

Then it will just be driving and watching for things - making sure it's all working right.

 

Sounds awesome man! If I get all my **** I have
to do tonight done I will swing over and help you fix it, if not tmrw after
I'm off work I can come over than too

 

No worries if you can't make it tonight, dude. Take care of your stuff.

Looks like I might've found what I need, anyway (FSM FTW - hopefully). Sounds like there are paint marks to show me how things ought to be aligned.


Also, for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to put a little grease on the stud from the ball joint that goes through the transverse link, but saw in the FSM looking for this a big, bold "CAUTION: DON'T PUT GREASE HERE NOOB!!" warning. Oops! So now I have to take the wheels back off and hammer that control arm/transverse link off and wipe away the grease.

I'm also guessing that my alignment is totally fubar'd from this project, so I just e-mailed Jeff the Alignment Guy - was time to have that done anyway, since it hasn't been done since I bought the car. Good opportunity to do that and get the winter tires on and rebalanced - especially since I just ripped the balancing weight off yesterday!!

 

WOAH! FSM torque specs. I never knew what the TQ specs were for the sway bar.

If you still dont have stuff figured out, drop me a PM or a phone call and I might be able to swing out late tomorrow or late thursday.

 

Pretty sure I got it figured out. I actually just put her back on the ground after turning the front sway bar/stabilizer bar and am about to take it for another test drive.


Now I'm just scared that I got a bad headgasket leak. :eek3:

 

Ya just did a tranny swap!....You can handle changing headgaskets

 

No time!! I'm just trying to gauge if it's bad.

Of course, now I'm paranoid, so I'm smelling coolant everywhere! :ugh::ugh::ugh:

 

common for your car

 

Even after it was already replaced under warranty preemptively? Cause that was already done.

http://www.mnsubaru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28677