el_freddo

Sounds good mate! Yeah @STi 22B - join in!! Cheers Bennie

No harm at all Jono! Lokks good. What are you using for the centre piece between the rear and front gearbox crossmembers? Cheers Bennie

@Steptoe - tried these sites? https://www.allcarmanuals.com/factory-service-manual-48-Subaru-Impreza-WRX-GC.html This is another good one from memory: https://workshop-manuals.com/subaru/ Or find an old Haynes manual, they actually have a good pinout for the ECU - at least the one in the liberty manual is good, if that’s anything to go by it’ll be the same for the impreza one. Cheers Bennie

You need to look for the FSM. They won’t show you these at the dealership. Cheers Bennie

Paul, I’ll call you this weekend. Either tomorrow night (yay for daylight savings!), or Sunday. Jonno, I use an 8 or a 10mm hex deep socket to get these retainer bolts out. It’s worked for me every time (twice so far). Cheers Bennie

Ah, by shielding you mean the plastic conduit stuff. I am talking about the metal shielding on the sensor wiring - it’s under a grey wrap/tube. Keep that stuff there, do not remove! No worries about messaging Cheers Bennie

Yeah sorry, metho = methalyated spirits. It’s a white alcohol, not for drinking! I’m not sure what it’s called over your way (if it is named differently). Cheers Bennie

I wash down with petrol or whatever I have on hand. Then use metho to wipe all mating surfaces before applying silicone sealant (where needed) or fitting the rubber seals or the gasket needed. As for head bolt thread tap, I used GD’s suggestion of cutting a slice in a used headbolt (recommended to use new bolts if you don’t know their history or they’ve been used more than once - from what I’ve been told - and I’ve done this on my current HG job) and using the headbolt to clean up the threads. The rest of the engine cleaning, it comes down to how fastidious you want to be about it. Cheers Bennie

Ooh... you definitely want the shielding. This does not need to be removed in the cut down process. Tape removal is all good. Knowing what each plug is or having the mating plug is not always necessary. You just need the plugs and wiring to the engine harness, the igniter, air flow metre, O2 sensor, knock sensor, and the cam and crank sensors. And the ECU of course! It’s normal to be overwhelmed with your first cut down! First link looks pretty good. Second link, I don’t like how they’ve cut up the WHOLE loom to then piece it back together. You need numbchux’s conversion guide: this is where you need to be looking. It’s specific to the conversion into an EA platform. I hope that helps. Cheers Bennie

The only wiring diagram you really need is the ECU pinout. The main power relay diagram can be useful to actually (for your first cut down), but really the big yellow wire is power and the little yellow with a stripe (from memory but can’t remember the strep colour). The large black trace red wire is fuel pump power wire. Cheers Bennie

21 = fuel pump relay. 22 doesn’t look familiar. 8 = igniter. 11 will be clutch and brake switches for cruise control The others I don’t know. The best way to do it is to unwrap the wiring, then trace all wiring from the ECU and tape these wires together as you fish them out from any unwanted wires. Once you’ve got all of these wires taped, find where any tee off to other things and what they’re for - eg: fuel pump relay or sensors on engine. Anything you don’t need (once correctly identified!), cut and remove from the loom. You should end up with: - ignition power - permanent power - backup power - starter wire (for ECU to richen the mixture for cold starts, references the start wire to the starter motor) - fuel pump wire - temp and oil light wires (use the EA wiring for this). - vehicle speed sensor wiring It’s best to have the wiring diagram to get your head around it. The Haynes manual has a good diagram of the ECU pinout with wire colours that’s generally easier to read than the FSM wiring diagrams. Put a fuse panel between those power wires including the starter reference wire and the EA loom. You will only need the vehicle speed sensor wire to tap into your factory L series loom. If MY another vehicle speed sensor source needs to be made. Cheers Bennie

It’s been suggested that the wobble feeling from the front left is a driveshaft. While the box is out I’ll swap the driveshafts over and see if the issue moves with it. Gearbox looks really good. The old one had a dead bearing in the upper shaft between 4th and 5th. I’ll throw some new front diff bearings in while the box is apart. I can’t see any damage to the diff bearings or anything abnormal. They do look well worn though, no noises at all in the <30km I’ve driven with this gearbox in the car. Cheers Bennie

Ouch. Never throw anything away until a week after the job is done. Then you’ll need something the week later Murphy’s Law. I believe there is only two types of crank and cam pulleys, but I could be wrong. Best bet is to find the same model and year build as your subi in the parts yard, then pilfer the crank sprocket and camwheel. Cheers Bennie

That should be on them if they put the PS fluid in... but then again, I wouldn’t want them to be touching my vehicle if they’re pulling stunts like that. Cheers Bennie

Diff stubs, as in the diff stub axles? They’re held in with clips internally so there’s no chance they’ll move. This liberty/legacy has the gearbox with the diff stub axles, it’s one of the last models before they went to the male driveshaft setup. Cheers Bennie

Sounds like a money grab to me. I’ve never heard of this happening. But then again, I’ve only ever heard of brake lines being flushed with fresh brake fluid until it comes out the other end clean. I’d also look up symptoms of gelled brake fluid and compare that info to what you’re experiencing. All the best with it. Cheers Bennie

A windscreen place over here had no issues getting a new windscreen and windscreen rubber for my brumby three months ago I think you can also find them on eBay.com.au Cheers Bennie

Correct. I should’ve said I meant under boost conditions. That’s the ECU’s job. Non tunable so you’re stuck with the factory tune unless you go aftermarket management. Our task is to ensure all sensors are working correctly so the ECU can do its thing correctly. Cheers Bennie

The patient: 1999/2000 RX Liberty wagon (EJ251) 5spd manual. Issue: swapped in second hand gearbox (pick a part special!) only to find the vehicle now has a wobble like feeling from the front left when under acceleration, becomes worse with heavier acceleration. All other times the vehicle generally feels unsettled. Both of these issues were not present with the last gearbox. The other issue is that I have that totally awesome “catch-let go-catch-let” go feeling or experience when turning tight such as when performing a U turn - classic symptoms of a dead centre diff.Questions: 1) can a stuffed centre diff create the issue with the front end that I’m experiencing?2) can the viscous gel stuff leak from the viscous LSD housing, and if so, what does it look like? Question 2 was asked because after stripping down the old box that was replaced, I’ve found a ball of what looks like silicone near the front diff area, and in between the drive and output of the centre diff is the same sort of material. It does seem like silicone but it’s just odd. This gearbox has presumably done over 400k km now - if it hasnt been changed at some point. It was swapped because of a bearing noise and it was slipping out of gear (possibly due to shot pitch stopper rod and gearboxs mount).Upon rotating the centre diff it seems the noise is in the rear bearing. This centre diff is good so itll end up in the wagon either way - unless that grey material is the viscous gel stuff. The plan is to build one good box from the two. I’ll be replacing the front diff bearings, all seals and most likely use the centre diff bearings from the replacement box as there’s zero noise from this box, other than the noise when performing a U turn. Cheers Bennie

My sister’s liberty did a similar sort of thing in the driveway when idling. The issue for us was the IACV, I’d fiddled with it and caused an issue. Our fix was to reset the computer. No problems for the rest of today. Got any codes? Cheers Bennie

Link didn’t load for me, but the answer is no, justy parts will not fit your L series. Cheers Bennie

L series 4wd sedan (rare!) or wagon will be a direct replacement. Put your swing arms on for the swaybar and rear discs. The L series 2wd will fit but needs the front diff mount welded on. Cheers Bennie

Welcome Mike! Seems like you’re pretty sorted Cheers Bennie

Im looking forward to hearing that it’s successfuly running and is returned to the happy owner without further issue. Cheers Bennie

Mine is the same! New clips would be a good idea. Cheers Bennie