idosubaru

no clue nip. CRACK! i mistyped earlier, the LONGER control arm is the side that is wearing fast. it also has an impact mark on it - like a lip of the metal is bent up. but how could a control arm "be too long"? it has a curve in it so maybe it got "pushed up" around the curve and lengthened the effective length i was measuring? on the bad side that's wearing - the front control arm - points forward and in front of the hub, has a bushing that doesn't look good. isn't broken, no give when i yanked on it, but the bushing is cracked and "sticking out" past the lip of the bore it's pressed into. if the MOOG is a replacement part - then the sway bar end link was replaced on one side, but not the same side that is wearing faster.

+1, for a used transmission. they don't fail enough to warrant a rebuild for me. save your old one or at least remove the rear extension housing with the center differential. if you get torque bind then you can swap that, doesn't require trans removal to swap either.

05 impreza calipers are no different than earlier models so the calipers won't be an issue. the only thing i can think of is if they moved the caliper out a hair to allow for larger rotors. highly unlikely and i bet 16's would *still* fit even if they did. so you could look up rotor diameter if you're really worried about it - any favorite online parts vendor or ebay should show what year rotors are the same or the actual size to make a comparison. if 2005 matches any earlier year, you're golden. if it's just a regular impreza i wouldn't worry about it. but that's easy to say when it's not my time and money!

oh crack, yeah i forgot about lining up the steering wheel to reinstall properly, good call JCE. all the EJ's i've ever done the steering wheel has come off really easy without any tools. 80's stuff i've found much more difficult.

can you describe the noise? is it always exactly the same, never changes? is it on one side of the engine or both? how long has it been doing it?

yeah hotdog that's a great idea! nothing looks out of the ordinary, i was inspecting it. hope it's not super-loaded and hard to reassemble? guess it shouldn't be that big of a deal, just a couple bolts.

i didn't know jack about air bag stuff and just started learning right here like you're doing. everything you need to know is right here on this board. a few minutes figuring out how that search function and there's very few things you won't be able to tackle. once you figure out what you need car-parts.com is the used parts resource you'll want.

this decision won't make any real world difference in the rest of the life of the vehicle so i wouldn't worry too much about it. i'd avoid Fram's due to their use of cardboard inside of them but even if you didn't it's not a big deal.

While I'll be surprised if it's something else you'll want to check the code first to be sure unless you just happen to have an extra clock spring siting availale. Like I said, they are very easy to replace. I’ve rebuilt wrecks and replaced tons of air bag stuff, it’s easy, bags don’t just randomly deploy. I don’t even disconnect the battery but you’re supposed to – so you should. No, it’s easy. There’s lots of safety precautions like that which you ignore daily, it’s just a warning a corporate CYA….i mean it’s legit but you’d have a be a real goob to go blowing up air bags multiple times.

we are trying telling you how to fix the "open circuit". by "open circuit" he's just saying that the code tells you that the ECU detects a "fault" somewhere - something is out of specifications.....or an "open circuit". there's a way to get the air bag light to start flashing then you just count the flashes. first series of long flashes are 10 each and the next set of shorter flashes are one each. so FLASH....FLASH....Flash/Flash/Flash. Is 2 longs and 3 shorts or a 23. practice using the search function here, it's very helpful. i don't recall from memory how to flash that code but i've done it before by searching here. it's going to be something like find a plug under the steering column (i believe towards the center console side) and ground one of the pins in the plug. run a wire from the pin to any ground...even the battery ground if you have to. once you do that it'll flash the code.

i'm with GD. the gains to be had from an N/A motor are rather small. it's usually better to enjoy the car for what it's good at than make it something it's not. a fast, cheap EJ25 is going to be a tough project. i haven't seen many dyno charts for N/A mods like exhaust and intake. if you want novelty and a little fun then by all means get whatever you want, intake, exhaust, etc.

could that alone cause bearing stress? This is awesome - both of my daily drivers have smoked up rear suspension. Looks like I found something definitive on the other at least.

*** "success"? *** The lower control arm on the bad side is 1/8" shorter than the other side. Looks like they should be the same. And the sway bar end link was replaced at one point. I bought this car wrecked and rebuilt the front end, it had been run off road at a high rate of speed, so this isn't a huge surprise. I have two questions: 1. would 1/8" shorter cause uneven tire wear? If yes: 2. how did the alignment shop miss this? could it "pass" alignment but still be wrong, doesn't seem like it. So - next step is replace that control arm and see if it fixes it. None of the bushings are obviously bad - there's some minor cracking but nothing obvious. Like you mentioned some are really hard to see because they're recessed under brackets or bolts, couldn't really tell visually. Prying and pulling yielded no noticeable play.

Pretty sure the spring isn't broken I'll check though. Gap measurements were just with the car sitting on the ground. Previous owner had all the work done elsewhere so you'd think they wouldn't mix and match but who knows.

you're talking just regular EA series disc brakes? XT6 are the same and I have a few of those i could send if you're just looking for calipers?

nice hit! it'll work on all EJ's within those years, impreza too.

yeah that has the look of a fully prepped head. i'd do exactly what Qman said.

I'm going to wash the thing well and see if I can see any paint differences and hopefully get some more specific measurements to see where these geometrical differences are coming from. Seems like that has to point to something right? the only time i replaced them came from Subaru. all the rest were used assemblies. Great, thanks Northwet. Yeah all FWD are the same. I forgot about it until this discussion but I have a FWD rear bearing that a friend gave me just to be nice, not knowing it had 4WD bearings in a FWD car. I never opened it knowing it was wrong, but just went and looked and bam there's the bearing! So next time I'll order a FWD knuckle and have bearings ready for it.

Great, thanks for the first hand feedback SB i'll be looking at those then.

i posted some info on this in your engine thread i think. good luck finding a solution one way or the other. if price is a concern another option might be an EJ18, no one wants those so they're cheap as dirt. i bought one with 80k in great shape for $150. your EJ22 manifold will bolt right on top of it.

the clock spring in the steering wheel is probably having a bad contact. that's the only really common issue. they're so easy to replace that i'd just get a used one. you can have the light flash the codes, i don't recall how from memory but i've done it before by searching on here and following instructions. the light will flash you the code and that tells you why the light is on.

*** Update - with some maybe pertinent information? Short story when comparing drivers and passengers side: 1. The bad side (d/s) has a one inch higher gap between the body and wheel. 2. The bottom of the strut, on the bad side, is about one inch further from the inner body structure of the vehicle. Though I would have assumed an impact would do the opposite - force the drivers (bad side) closer to the body, not further? Is this because the struts are different or there's an actual geometry issue? Either way it suggests something - geometry is off or a strut has been replaced.

have you seen GD's thread on burnt exhaust valves, that's a good discussion on the topic he just started recently.

i wouldn't over think the keyway and details. i've reinstalled them before with just the bolt, no keyway in place, only the bolt holding it. works just fine if it's tight enough, never had a problem doing that. i've also seen folks spot weld the harmonic balancers back together...or use self-tapping sheet metal screws to hold the two halves together! not that i recommend any of those ideas, but i'm just saying i wouldn't stress about it too much from such a technical perspective. do the best you can, make the crank and bolt threads clean so they engage perfectly smoothly and make it TIGHT. you'll be golden. 1.25 is the pitch, not sure the diameter but i'd lean heavily towards your hunch of M8. if you need to size it - you can often just "borrow" a bolt from the engine bay - like memory tells me the fender bolts on top are easily accessible and M8x1.25.....either way, find a bolt that fits the thread so you have somethign to take with you to the parts store and match up. or if you have a die set, just use a die to figure it out?

many (if not most) aftermarket axles are like that, it's not just NAPA.