Mike W

Oh yeah VSS1 is the rear, VSS2 is the speedo. Yeah the 1/16" on the tires is circumfence...all four are dang close in size and the master techs say that's close enough not to matter. So I got 12point-something ohms for Duty Sol C on the two that I tested. Andyjo got 13 ohms on his in the diff lock thread. Maybe it's supposed to be exactly 13ohms? If you have time to check the FSM to confirm that'd be great. I'll double check the FWD fuse. Another weird thing it's started doing is that when I start it up, the trans feels like it's in gear even though it's definitely in park. So when the engine fires up it's immediately working rather hard as though it's trying to move the car even though the trans is in park. Not sure if that's due to bind in the AWD or if the trans is on it's way out. I'm starting to think a used trans from Japan might be in my future. But I still need to know what the heck is going on with this one. Today I was going to have the gurus at Smart Service check it out but they're super busy until next week. Hopefully I can figure it out before then.

Well I am often wrong and I like easier cheaper fixes. But both times I had the driveline off, I checked the u-joints and carrier bearing and they seemed fine. And the alleged torque bind feels like driving a car with a fully locked center diff on dry ground except that it stutters as the clutches chatter and slip. It's wierd that it doesn't bind at all when I first start driving but after a short distance seems like it's doing the 50/50 split thing.

Just checked the tires again. Near as I can tell they're all within less than 1/16th of an inch and are at about 50% tread wear. Seems pretty close to me. I might go buy tires just because they're on sale at Costco. No laptop and no code reader. That laptop homebrew method looks cool. I'm currently planning to take the car to Smart Service on Friday to scan for codes and see what they think. I rechecked and cleaned the connectors. Running seperate wires for sol C looks like it'd be a pain and I'd rather not hack into the harness if I can help it. Ok well maybe I'd hack it to install a diff lock switch, but I need to sort this out first. I did check duty sol C with ohm meter at the connector. 12 ohms should be good, right? I checked sol C in my spare rear extension housing and it was also 12 ohms. So just to be clear, the torque bind started a few months after I installed this '97 tranny into my '93 car. Then a few weeks ago I swapped out the rear extension housing hoping that'd fix the torque bind. No dice. The torque bind is exactly the same with either extension housing. What I haven't swapped out yet is VSS2. When I swapped the rear extension I kept the old VSS2 because it appeared to be hard wired into the harness. So VSS2 might be the culpret. I wonder if VSS2 is the same part number for all final drive ratios? This is a 4:11 ratio tranny transplanted into a 3:9 car if that could matter. I mentioned the TPS and air suspension because I'd swear I read on one of these threads that error codes or wierd signals from those systems can mess with the TCU. Maybe a shot in the dark but I did rip out the air suspension around the time I started having torque bind.

Those factory tow points rip off and fly through the air better than steel hooks. They're just for looks and holding the car down on the ship from Japan. On my Hatchback I connected the left and right bumper mounts together under the car and the bumper mounts go up inside the unibody as far as I could get 'em. The rear bumper is also connected to the diff hanger mounts for reinforcing. The idea was to attach the bumpers to as much unibody as possible since it's all kinda wimpy. I have a couple of good quality 3"x 30' straps plus 2 six foot long tree saver slings from Northern Tool. All my straps have reinforced loop ends. The tree slings come in handy not just if you have to winch off a tree but also when you just need a little extra length or to go around a corner, or you can loop them around the ends of a tube bumper if you don't have a shackle. For a car with wimpy tow points, you could use the tree slings to distribute the force to both sides of the crossmember or whatever's solid. I'm into carrying way too much extra weight, so I also carry a come-along, four shackles, an extra 25' x 1/4" cable, plus a snatch block. The old stock Superwinch on the front bumper isn't good for much and I never got the portable 4500# winch set up but it looks great on the coffee table.

Finding the Sol C wire... According to urban_sub in this thread: "The connector is just under the hood over the torque converter housing. There are two found in this area -its the one closest to the driver side. It is a 16 contact connector in a 4X4 configuration. To test solenoid C (AWD) electrically, place an ohmmeter between pins 4 and 11 on the connector half going to the transmission. Looking at the contact side of the connector and the locking tab facing up, the pin numbering will start 1 on the upper right corner going left and down. So 4 will be on the upper left corner and 11 will be the third row, second from the left. This should show 9-17 ohms if solenoid windings haven't burned or wire connection hasn't been severed." Edit: I just tested mine. Yes Solinoid C is indeed pins 4 & 11. This is on a '97 Legacy trans in a '93 car. I got 12 ohms at the pins on the trans harness and also got 12 ohms when I tested Solinoid C in a spare rear extension housing I have sitting here. So has anyone made progress building a fancy adjustable diff lock switch like those guys made for their Foresters? At the moment I'd be happy to just get my car out of full AWD. For some reason the TCU wants to engage the rear drive all the time. Has me stumped...time to get the codes read and see if Smart Service can figure out what it's deal is.

Hate to start another Torque Bind thread but I'm not finding answers searching the old stuff and I need to get this fixed during the holidays. Car is a '93 LSi. A few thousand miles ago the AT failed due to pressure loss & slipping. I replaced the trans with a used out of a '97 and swapped the rear diff. to match the ratio. Worked fine for a couple thousand miles but started having torque bind. Interestingly, it didn't bind after sitting overnight, but after a driving a few blocks it starts binding. Checked tire diameter...front and rear are pretty darn close. Changed ATF four times...still binds. Installing FWD fuse does nothing. Power light blinks code for Duty Sol C. After talking to some Subaru Master Techs, it sounded like Duty Solinoid C could be sticking or the clutch pack could be munched or the pinion shaft could be gnarled up. Cure... rebuild what's in the rear extension housing. The old transmission did not have torque bind and it was still sitting here, so I tried putting that rear extension housing onto the trans in my car. Absolultely no difference. Still binds after I drive a half mile or so. In the "Center Diff Lock" thread someone mentioned that problems with the Air Suspension system can be related to Torque Bind. How so? It just happens that when my problems started, I had just removed the air suspension and swapped to KYBs. I've also seen mention of Throttle Posistion Sensor faults causing Torque Bind. How so? And I've seen that Vehicle Speed Sensors tell the TCU how to bias the AWD Torque. It just happens that my speedometer does bounce a little. Could VSS1 or VSS2 be the culpret? How to test VSS? Sorry about the long post. I wanted to be clear on where I'm at with this. Any help appreciated!

Cost? Are the KYB struts the same one's normally spec'ed for the Outback? Part numbers might be cool if you still have them handy. Looks good and thanks for posting it!

On a stock '83 wagon I had custom 1-7/8" tubing from the cat back to a Dynomax superturbo2 muffler. The result was a loss of low end torque noticable as I took off from stop lights but a big gain in freeway high end hp. Going up hills on the freeway I no longer had to downshift where I used to. Kind of like adding a fifth gear. Fuel economy improved a bit too. Noise was increased a bit becasue the stock exhaust is double wall tubing and had a resonator in the middle of the car. The custom exhaust added kind of rumble at idle but it wasn't bad. On a different car with an EA81 engine and Weber carb. I did 2" custom tubing from the cat back to a turbo muffler. Big improvement in the top end and a little loss of low end torque, but not nearly as bad as with the stock Hitachi carb. In other words, Weber carbs seem to like more free flowing exhaust. Then I added a custom bent 2" y-pipe. That was a mistake...big loss of hp and torque. Apparently some back pressure near the engine is needed for "scavenging" of exhaust gases. So I went back to the stock y-pipe and it was sweet. On this car I used a small round generic turbo muffler and it is much louder than the car with the Dynomax turbo muff. Neighbors definitely notice when I start this car early in the morning. The other thing worth mentioning is that changing the exhaust back pressure can affect the combustion in the engine. Therefore the carb jetting might need to change when you mess with the exhaust.

For those that do carry a Hi Lift, I'd recommend also carrying a scissor or floor jack as well. When I ripped the captive nuts out of the unibody and needed to reconnect the torsion bar to the body, I sure was glad I still had the scissor jack on board. A couple feet of chain, some long hose clamps, and ratchet straps also came in handy but that's gettin off topic.

And spare control arms, radius rods, etc. As I found out. I'm still thankful to Todd for the parts and Ken and Zap for the fixing my car when I was feeling like crap. Remote chance I might be up for going in Jan. I'll stay tuned for updates.

I've seen that car around North Seattle. Probably the fourth EA82T wagon with hood scoop I've seen in as many months. Matt, that's an interesting part of pickle wagon history I didn't know. I've got most of the repairs and bugs worked out now, but still not driving it.

I've got a $30 Northern Tool ripoff copy of a High Lift and love it. Only used it once in the woods to move the car sideways. Jacked front up and shoved it over get out from between the trees. Gotta have sturdy bumpers anyway for winching and tree bouncing. I have mine mounted just inside the rear hatch, just inside where the tail lights are. Installed big nuts in the unibody and run allen cap bolts through the jack to hold it down. Yeah it's heavy but so are the tools and everything else.

That RAM redrive is pretty cool, nicer thank most I've seen. Would be sweet to slip one between engine and trans. Maybe NSI at Arlington has an EA81 redrive unit laying around they'd sell for cheap? Probably not...if it flies it costs. But maybe they get too worn and tired to fly, but still good enough for land use? Here's a couple of lists of aircraft conversion vendors incase anyone wants to troll for redrives. Powerplants Engine Accessories If I was rollin in cash, I'd like to put one of those Klune V reduction boxes between the trans and divorced t/c. Pics and article here: Klune V

I recently swapped auto trans on my Legacy and it wasn't bad. But if someone could do it correctly and not screw things up for a couple hundred bucks, that might be a tempting way to go. But I tend to do things myself because I don't trust most shops. The auto trans is heavier than it looks. I didn't have anyone to help me so I spent $50 on a Harbor Frieght scissor lift transmission jack and it was well worth it. The jack made lifting and moving the trans easy. It's gets a bit wiggly when the trans is jacked way up high, but that helps weasle it into position to mate with the engine. To drop the trans out the bottom, the car needs to be up kind of high. I used four 6-ton jackstands. When you seperate the trans from the engine, use some wire or something to retain the torque converter to the trans so you don't drop it. Remove the pitch stopper and tilt the engine backward. I guess that's all the tips I can think of for now. But in answering your question, it's really not hard, just more of a hassle...remove axles, driveline, exhaust, etc. Basically took me half a weekend.

Just need to go to the experiment aircraft airshow at Arlington and wait for one to fall out of the sky. Man that's morbid. Bad Mike.

I agree that the machining doesn't look that tough. Santa definitely needs to bring Adam a Bridgeport. Bet he'd make good use of one. But hey if you don't have time yourself and it's just not gettin done, how about let the local trade school machine it for ya'? (If anyone is still teaching metal shop that is.) I've heard that works pretty good...you supply the material and drawing, they cut and get some extra credit points. Back when I was actually doing stuff, I was looking at 300zx turbo rear end components. Even thought of even using the complete rear end, modified for more travel, hydraulic ram to actuate the rear steer, and air locker in the R200. That Nissan is pretty strong and I figured those axles should be good for 33" tires. Might be worth checking out if you haven't already. Anyhow, keep going for it Adam. Good to see R&D McGuyvering in progress!

Wow Ed, I tuned in late to this drama. Glad this wasn't another high speed persuit event and you got it back mostly intact. So given the zero tolerance thing at the boarder, any idea if the crooks contaminated your car and did the police have their doggies sniff it as part of their evidence gathering? I'm just thinking how any left over traces of whatever could seriously ruin any trips you might take to Canada.

Or if Jared's web address isn't handy, you can Google the words "crawl ratio." First hit seems to work. Crawl ratio expained

Hmm, sounds interesting. Yeah I'd like to see the pics and/or check it out in person sometime.

Hey happy 400th! It's good to hear someone has done air shocks and likes them. Here in the states a lot of folks use the electric compressors found in big sedans with air suspension (Cadillacs, Buicks, etc.) They're cheap, light and if one is too slow for your on board air system, try two in tandem. I finally found this old post about longer shocks and then I dug around on shock manufacturer websites to confirm that shocks for a Chevy Chevelle should work. There's actually a long list of cars that use the same shock so it's easy to find the standard shocks on store shelves. However I couldn't find any air shocks locally today, so I picked up some cheapo Gabriel Red Riders to get me by until I do the air shocks. When I went to mount them, the upper bolt holes were too small for the 12mm Subaru bolts. So I ended up slotting both holes with a grinder. Not elegant but it was fast. For the lower mounts I put sleeve bushings through the rubber bushings with thick washers on both sides. There might still be a shock out there that's an easier fit, but I didn't find it. Seems that Subaru is the only vehicle that uses an upper mount cross pin with 12mm bolt holes. So you either need to open the holes up or use your old cross pin (which can be a fight.) So here's my long winded summary of what I learned about shocks today: Longer Rear Shocks for 3"-4"Lifted Subaru EA81s Shocks for '81 Toyota Landcruiser FJ60 work but you must add your old cross pin for the upper mount and need to use old sleeve bushing and extra washers on lower mounts. Chevy Chevelle Shocks: Top mount bar holes must be drilled out to fit 12mm Subaru bolts and lower mount sleeve bushings must be swapped over. Depending on the shock, you also might need to use longer top bolts and spacers to move the mount bar outboard for clearance. For the lower mount, washers may be needed on each side of the mount. Part Numbers Air Adjustable: Usually sold in pairs, sometimes with the air hose kit. They were over $100 locally or $50 on Ebay, RockAuto.com etc. Gabriel Hi Jackers Air Shocks #49152 (#39152 seems to be the old part number?) Air fitting exits on the side of shock so it should clear the body and tire. Monroe Max Air Shocks #MA717 Air fitting might face outward interfering with tire? The air bladders hangs down...more exposed to mud etc. Standard Shocks: KYB GR-2 Part# 343157 KYB GAS-A-JUST Part# KG5504 Monroe Monro-Matic Plus 33082 Monroe SensaTrac 5802 Gabriel Ultra 69604 Gabriel Gardian (aka Red Riders) 81492 Some other applications that use this Chevy Chevelle shock: MAKE MODEL QUALIFIER YEAR Buick Century All 1973 - 1977 Buick Estate Wagon All 1977 - 1989 Buick Gran Sport H.D. Suspension 1965 - 1967 Buick GS All 1970 - 1972 Buick GS 350 All 1968 - 1969 Buick GS 400 All 1968 - 1969 Buick GS 455 All 1970 - 1972 Buick Regal All 1973 - 1977 Buick Roadmaster Station Wagon 1991 - 1996 Buick Skylark H.D. Suspension (Exc. Sportwagon) 1964 - 1967 Buick Skylark Exc. 68-69 Sportwagon 1968 - 1972 Buick Special H.D. Suspension (Exc. Sportwagon) 1964 - 1967 Buick Special Exc. 68-69 Sportwagon 1968 - 1969 Buick Sportwagon All 1970 - 1972 Chevrolet Caprice Station Wagon 1973 - 1996 Chevrolet Chevelle H.D. Suspension 1964 - 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle All 1968 - 1973 Chevrolet El Camino All 1968 - 1977 Chevrolet Impala Station Wagon 1977 - 1983 Chevrolet Malibu H.D. Suspension 1964 - 1967 Chevrolet Malibu All 1973 - 1977 Chevrolet Monte Carlo All 1970 - 1972 GMC Sprint All 1971 - 1977 Nissan 610 Station Wagon 1973 - 1976 Nissan 710 Station Wagon 1974 - 1977 Nissan 810 Station Wagon 1977 - 1980 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser Station Wagon (RWD) 1977 - 1992 Oldsmobile Cutlass H.D. Suspension (Exc. Vista Cruiser) 1964 - 1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass All (Exc. Vista Cruiser) 1968 - 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass All 1973 - 1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme All (Exc. Vista Cruiser) 1971 - 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Exc. 1975-77 F-85 1973 - 1977 Oldsmobile F85 H.D. Suspension (Exc. Vista Cruiser) 1964 - 1967 Oldsmobile F85 All (Exc. Vista Cruiser) 1968 - 1972 Oldsmobile Toronado All 1971 - 1978 Pontiac Catalina Station Wagon 1971 - 1981 Pontiac Grand Am Exc. 1974 GTO 1973 - 1975 Pontiac Grand LeMans Exc. 1974 GTO 1975 - 1977 Pontiac Grand Prix All 1969 - 1987 Pontiac Grand Safari Station Wagon 1971 - 1978 Pontiac Grandville All 1971 - 1975 Pontiac GTO H.D. Suspension 1964 - 1967 Pontiac GTO All 1968 - 1973 Pontiac LeMans H.D. Suspension 1964 - 1967 Pontiac Parisienne Station Wagon 1976 - 1986 Pontiac Safari All 1987 - 1989 Pontiac Tempest H.D. Suspension 1964 - 1967 Pontiac Tempest All 1968 - 1970

Ok maybe he can post a pic. So uh, why do I want a bracket? The general idea here is to find the right shock for lifted EA81's that bolts straight on like the stock unit, but extends longer and collapses shorter so no extension bracket is needed. And I happen to want the air adjustable variety.

I haven't used this vendor, just stumbled upon their website. Strutmasters They apparently offer a ready to install coil suspension kit for those giving up on air suspension.

I can't seem to find the info searching, so... Which Gabrial Hi-Jacker Air Shocks for the rear of a 3" lifted EA81??? Whose has done it and how do you like them? I recall someone used shocks for a 75'ish Chevelle and just had to enlarge the top bolt holes and add spacers. I think someone else used Nova shocks and someone else might have used Explorer shocks. Which model is takes the least fooling around to bolt up? I currently have Monroe gas shocks for a '74 Landcruiser on the car. They worked fine but the rubber bushings failed. To mount them I had to install my old top mounting bar and that was a tight fit and probably led to the rubber blowing out. I want the air shocks so I can run the torsion bar on the soft side for trail performance and adjust the air shocks to match the cargo load.

Regarding the air cleaner adapter... Whoa! K&N has seriously jacked the price up! I paid less than half that much a five years ago when I bought mine from JAM Engineering. I just looked at the JAM website and see that K&N must have purchased the patent to make those filter adapters since they now have the K&N logo cast into it. http://www.jameng.com/products/index.phtml?section=14 They apparently discontinued selling a simple rectangular remote filter adapter that was under $50.

If you're wondering how tough the stock EA82 skid plate is, just put your floor jack under it and lift. I did that on mine and lifting only about half the car's weight started to cave it in. They're certainly better than nothing. But if rocks are on the agenda, ya might want to double up and weld two plates together or otherwise beef it up.