pontoontodd

That looks good, I'd do the same thing in the rear.

Alternator has still been putting out 15V (or 16 depending on where and how you measure it) most of the time. I had an extra alternator plug with wiring so I wired one terminal to switched ignition and started experimenting with resistors on the other one that is supposed to get 4-5V from the ECU. With a low amount of resistance, say 10k ohms, it gets about 9V at the alternator when plugged in. This is about what the ECU is putting out and causes the alternator to run at 16V. With more resistance (10M ohms), the voltage at the alternator pin is under 6V and the alternator was putting out 15V. Then I realized I didn't have the center pin hooked up to the battery yet. I connected that and now it puts out 13-14V at various RPMs and under high or low load. So I'm going to leave it that way for now. Still have the plug wired into the original H6 wiring harness I can plug in to the alternator. While trying to adjust the alignment I noticed the RR CV axle could plunge quite a bit, but the joints were fairly tight. Took that out and took the outer boot off and found the snapring on the end of the bar was broken. Put in a different one, regreased, and reassembled that. Rear wiper hasn't worked for at least a few months, we've looked at it before, seemed like the motor was good. I tried to find the rear wiper relay based on the wiring diagram but couldn't. Had my friend look at it and he noticed some wires going down out of the main bundle behind the RR wheel well, those went to a relay that was bolted into the hole in the bottom center of the picture below. Amazingly that nut just threaded right off. Since that wheel well hasn't been sealed in a decade or so the wiring was corroded and broken. I cleaned up the terminals on the relay and put new female spade terminals on the wires and the rear wiper works again. My friend replaced the RR CV boot and wheel bearing on his Forester and we put in a catch can. It seems to be getting oil in the intake and fouling the plugs. Right now we just replaced the PCV valve and plumbed the valve cover breathers to the catch can, might have to do that with the crankcase breather later.

In case anyone else is trying to put a newer EJ trans into an older EJ car, the main issue keeping the 2005 Forester trans from being a direct swap was the axle stubs and seals. I have a few 4EAT stubs and they fit the front diff but the seal diameter on them is 30mm. The seals on the trans are much bigger. I thought about buying or reusing some 30mm seals, the OD measures about the same. Instead I ordered some IR35x30x13 inner bearing races and siliconed them onto the stubs. They're smooth and hardened so hopefully the sleeves and seals will last a long time. They seem like a good fit in the seals, there's a good amount of tension. The shift yoke is different, the later transmissions use a straight bolt and the older ones used a shoulder bolt, so I swapped that over from my old trans. Other than that everything is the same, this 2005 Forester trans seems to work well in my 1999 Outback.

The main issue keeping the 2005 Forester trans from being a direct swap was the axle stubs and seals. I have a few 4EAT stubs and they fit the front diff but the seal diameter on them is 30mm. The seals on the trans are much bigger. I thought about buying or reusing some 30mm seals, the OD measures about the same. Instead I ordered some IR35x30x13 inner bearing races and siliconed them onto the stubs. They're smooth and hardened so hopefully the sleeves and seals will last a long time. They seem like a good fit in the seals, there's a good amount of tension. The next issue I ran into while reassembling was one of the exhaust studs started pulling out of the head. I unthreaded it, drilled and tapped the head, and installed a threaded insert. Trans is quiet and shifts smoothly. Alternator is back to putting out 15V, not sure why. Engine is back to cutting out for a split second occasionally.

Interesting. Those tow hooks are tough, we've pulled cars out of the mud with them many times with some hard yanks and they hold up well.

Seems like power steering leaks on Subarus are common. Check all the line fittings you can get to. I think there are a few on the driver's side near where the steering column comes down to the rack. There are also two on the passenger side just above the crossmember. If you have to add power steering fluid you know that's leaking.

Plugged in a blower motor out of the H6 donor car and it works, so it was definitely the motor and not the wiring. I noticed the passenger side wiper arm has a little bend to it. Pulled up on the driver's side wiper arm and it seems to increase the force on the wiper. Bent the wiper arm to give it a little more preload. Haven't driven the car in the rain but judging by spraying water on the windshield and running the wipers it definitely helped. Also gets the spring a little farther away from the windshield, that was still rubbing occasionally. My friend thinks it may have been bent originally and has been flattened out by hitting too many tree branches. The bolt that connects the shifter to the u-joint on the '99 is a shoulder bolt. On the two transmissions I just bought ('05 Forester and '13 Impreza) it's just a normal bolt, so one end would have been loose in my shifter. The bushings are a different size too, so I have to use my old u-joint. While looking at these I noticed the "weld" connecting the two round pieces. Has anyone ever seen these fail at that spot? The two in the picture are from the 05 and 13, my 99 looks the same.

In case it helps someone out in the future, the pinout for my 99 Legacy Outback trailer wiring connector is: 12V battery right turn brake left turn running lights ground Looking at plug on car with catch at the top. This is probably the same for many years and models of Subarus although they have different wire colors. The converters seem to use standard wire colors: white = ground brown = running lights yellow = left red = brake green = right large red or black = battery + The converter I got from a junk car seems bad, the left turn light is on when you plug it in.

I think the stock bumper beam on my 99 Legacy Outback was plastic/fiberglass, so definitely not safe for flat towing. Should have clarified, on the Subarus we've flat towed we have a tube under the radiator support and oil pan that attaches to the tow hook mounts and front crossmember. That's what we tow with. Running safety chains around something else in addition is a must.

So I got one of these converter boxes from a junkyard. I think it was from a 2007 Outback. I plugged it into my 1999 Outback and it's definitely not right. One of the brake lights on the trailer lights is on all the time, even with ignition off. The six pin plug is the same at the back of the car but the wire colors are all different (I cut the plug off the car I got the wiring from). Does anyone have a pinout or wire color chart for the Subaru converter box?

I've done similar to what woodswagon has done. I like the idea of backfeeding the lights on the car being towed, might have to do that eventually. We've always used the HF magnetic tow lights. The problem with those is that the wiring is very weak, each conductor has about four strands and they break easily. I just rewired it with some new four color trailer wire and put a new four pin end on it. I've also used a coiled trailer wire connector, takes stress off the wires while turning. https://www.amazon.com/Wesbar-787206-5-Flat-Coiled-Adapter/dp/B007V4XME4/ We are usually towing one Subaru with another so this helps keep things in line: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cht-17200

We put the 52 mile trans in the car this afternoon. Have to wait for the sleeves to press on the axle stubs before I finish hooking everything up, they should be in by Tuesday. The blower motor doesn't spin with 12V applied to it, it's getting 12V, so need to find/buy a new motor for that. Wondering if the 18V running burned it out. It does probably have 20 years and 256k miles on it. Before we pulled the trans I ran the car again and it's still only making 12.5V. If I turn on everything it still makes 12V or a little more, so it seems to still be working just not making 14V. I have tried another alternator that was working good last year that's doing the same thing. I checked the wiring again, one pin is 12V with ignition on, center pin is 12V straight to battery, the third pin has good conductivity to the correct pin on the ECU. The FSM says that pin should have 4-5V with the ignition on but it's 8V, would that cause this problem? I think I have another alternator plug and I'm tempted to wire that in completely separate with a resistor to that third pin so it has 4-5V, wire the other two pins to battery and ignition and try that.

Thanks for the tips, I need to get on this, I've been watching TSS fab and haven't seen any updates on the 4.44 / 4.86 R&P. Clear out your PMs please.

Drove about 90 miles to pick up this gem. 2005 Forester 5MT with 52 miles on it, they said it was out of a crash test car. Funny how much cleaner it is than the 2013. 4EAT stubs fit, seals in the trans are too big. I ordered some 30x35x13mm ground bearing races that I can hopefully press on the stubs to make it seal. One of the switches has the wiring cut, I have a few of those lying around. Impreza drove out there and back great, almost four hours round trip. Head gaskets seem to be holding.

Subarupartwholesale shows the same part number for the front diff side gears in the 2005 Forester 5MT and 2013 Impreza 5MT, so I think my 4EAT stubs should fit.

Did you get front wheel drive or four wheel drive SVX axles? Car-part lists them separately, there's a pair of 4WD SVX axles in town for $45 each. I know the early 90s Legacy FWD axles were bigger than the 4WD axles.

Noticed car-part lists tons of different axles for 2003 Impreza. I understand AT and MT are different, sounds like you're saying the sedan is wider than the wagon, so that explains the front. For the rear they're showing different left vs right and different for RS/TS/Outback/WRX (different for sedan and wagon)??? Are there really ten different rear axles?

I would really like to find a 5MT with less than 100k miles and 20 years on it. Must have 4.11 ring and pinion and VSS. A taller fifth than the stock 99 Outback (.87) would be nice too. The only thing I can find like that I can find is the 2004-2008 Forester. According to the FSM and subarupartwholesale, they had a VSS until 2008. In 2009 it shows a plug. I've seen pictures on car-part of a 2004 and 2005 with the VSS in the side. Car-part is showing the 2004, 2005, and 2006-08 do not interchange but I don't know why. According to the FSMs and cars101 the 04-08 Forester has about the same ratios as my 99 OB but a taller (.78) fifth. The pictures on car-part show plugs in the side, no CV axle stubs. The plugs look pretty big too, I'm assuming it's the same issue I ran into with the 2013 Impreza trans. It looks like those bigger seals can be replaced without unthreading the side caps, is that right? Couldn't find stubs on subarupartwholesale for 04-06 Forester in the front axle or front diff section. Anyone know if my 2002 4EAT stubs would fit? Again, worst case I turn up a couple sleeves in the meantime to make the seals work. There are a couple of 2005 Forester 5MTs with about 60k miles on them within 50 miles of my house for about $500. Anything else I should check?

My wife's been driving the 2001 OB H6 from Oregon for a couple days now and at most one night there were a few drops of oil or trans fluid under the car. Nothing this morning. So I probably got lucky and the head gaskets aren't leaking. It still needs a tie rod and rack boot and have to put the drip tray back under the front end but hopefully will be a reliable driver for a few years.

I replaced the valve cover gaskets, oil cooler gasket and hoses, resealed engine oil and auto trans pans, replaced engine and trans filters (three total), engine/trans/front diff oil, coolant, spark plugs, belt, idler pulleys, and air filter on my 2001 OB H6 a couple weeks ago. My wife's been driving it for a couple days now and at most one night there were a few drops of oil or trans fluid under the car. Nothing this morning. So I probably got lucky and the head gaskets aren't leaking. If you do all that at the same time it's not too bad, unbolt the exhaust from the engine, remove engine mount nuts, jack up the engine, then you can push it to one side or the other at a time. For the record I used MAHLEVS50489 from Rockauto. Would have just bought them from the dealer but it's expensive when you add up the valve cover and spark plug hole gaskets from Subaru.

I got a 2013 Impreza 5MT TY758V45AA. First thing I noticed is that the speed sensor hole is not machined. Some pictures of them I've seen online (now) have an allen plug, others are just not machined. Figured I could machine it or worst case use an old case half and adjust the side bearing. Checked the 4EAT spline stub and it fits the differential splines and bore nicely. The seal is much larger though, figure I could switch the seals or buy/make a sleeve. Case is not sitting flat in this picture. Finally got the case split open and there is no speedo gear cut on the 3/4 double gear. For what it's worth the gears measure the same width as the '99 5MT gears. Anyone want a 2013 Impreza 5MT with 39k miles on it? I really need to step up the 6MT/R180 conversion. Anyone with a good lead on that let me know, I see a bunch of them on NASIOC. In the short run there is a '99 5MT with 175k miles on it in town for $300 or one 70 miles away with 136k miles for $420 I will probably buy. Also still need to figure out the alternator voltage issue.

I will get one of those axles sometime to see. So I got a 2013 Impreza 5MT TY758V45AA. First thing I noticed is that the speed sensor hole is not machined. Some pictures of them I've seen online (now) have that allen plug you mention, others are just not machined. Figured I could machine it or worst case use an old case half and adjust the side bearing. Checked the 4EAT spline stub and it fits the differential splines and bore nicely. The seal is much larger though, figure I could switch the seals or buy/make a sleeve. Case is not sitting flat in this picture. Finally got the case split open and there is no speedo gear cut on the 3/4 double gear. For what it's worth the gears measure the same width as the '99 5MT gears. Anyone want a 2013 Impreza 5MT with 39k miles on it?

OK I'll just take a set, was wondering if it was some large size like 14 or 17. Still wondering if you know (or know where to find out) what axles might be longer than what I have. Have wider than stock control arms on the car and I have some old FWD Legacy axles that have more plunge than normal EJ axles, but if I could find a better source of long axles that would be good. Talked to a yard near here that has a 2016 with 19k miles, waiting to hear back to see if they can get it out of the car this week. Axles and trans for $650.

Could you tell me the allen / socket size so I can take it out at the yard? The 3-4 gearset part number for the '12 and '15 Impreza is the same and goes back to 2005 in Legacy/Outback turbo. The 2005 Legacy turbo just shows a plug and gasket (washer) for the speedo. This is the picture they have for that 3-4 gearset: argh!!!

Thanks for the shortcut. I would be nervous about something leaking and pumping all the oil out of the trans. Tried a different alternator this morning. Last year both of these alternators were putting out about 14V. Now they are both putting out about 12.5V. They're definitely doing something, without the engine running voltage is about 11.5V. Checked the three wire plug at the alternator again and the middle one is still 12V all the time (battery), another one is 12V with ignition on. What might be causing this? I've been getting a lot of help on the late model trans option in this thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/166503-late-model-5mt-into-99-outback/ I will probably check one out today or tomorrow.