jonathan909

GD: I get it - the stuff we talk about here is pure practicality for me: Cheap, easy and fun to work on, good parts availability and interchangeability, good fuel economy 4WD (since we live out in the country and actually need it), and a platform I've really been enjoying learning about for the past few years. I understand what you're talking about, and it's interesting that there's reasonably high aftermarket tech available for the older rides you're working on. Me, I do embedded systems, so I'm entirely comfortable with that stuff, but for fun I want low tech - the hobby ride I'm working on at the moment is a '64 Rambler Classic. This one came with a 196 (straight six), but it's going to get upgraded to (an AMC) 327, and rather than upgrading the electronics, the plan is to find an old tube car radio to replace the stock transistorized AM of the era. If I can pull that off, there's a set of vanity plates in my future: EMP HARD.

I'll pull them, but suspect one or more may be NFG, so I guess I'll be sticking with stock this time. Back to valves, though: I'm just coming to fully appreciate the high-magnitude SNAFU that is the suction-cup-stick hand lapping tool. I like listening to the abrasive and getting a feel for it, but the non-grippyness of the cup to the valve is taking all the fun out of the job. Is there a better way e.g. someone who makes a cup that really sticks?

That seems to be a growing sentiment. I did a bit of a garage cleanout last summer, and the chap who came out to relieve me of a bunch of disused Jeep parts was an HVAC tech who used to be a mechanic - and who switched trades for exactly the reasons you articulated. So if you don't mind my asking, what are you collecting?

Fwiw, I think anyone who buys a new car has stripped some threads. And it isn't just cheap SOBs like me who hold that opinion; read Warren Buffet's view of the subject.

I don't know how you could describe the prices for those things other than "barmy". Spending five times (5X) what the vehicle cost for this frill is just not on.

Gotcha. So where do I find EJ251 pistons? Is that what my '02 Forester had?

Please elaborate. What are the differences, and what would the benefits be? I'm jamming econo, so buying (new) pistons is probably out of the question, as is buying an entire junkyard motor in order to get a used set. It doesn't strike me as practical to try to remove a set in the boneyard. [Edit] I'm kinda stoopid and haven't actually laid hands on any engines other than EJ22, EJ25D, and EJ25S. Now, is what's commonly referred to as EJ25S actually EJ251? If so, I have a borken one out of my short-lived '02 Forester (PO ran it dry and busted a rod through the crankcase, so the engine swap was my first work on it). Given the circumstances, it's unlikely there'll be usable parts in it, but getting a look at the pistons might be educational.

No, just rebuilding with what I had. It's a low-budget, first-time, try-not-to-screw-it-up job. Did I make a mistake?

I figured what the he11, I paid for 'em, might as well use 'em. I took care to clean out the holes under the oil rings, and the PCV is on the list, so no worries on those fronts.

Got my baseline measurements and pulled the valves out of one EJ25D head. There's a reason two of the exhausts were way out of spec (.013 and .018) - they were bent, alright, by the timing failure. Busy with the cleanup and the lapping will come shortly, but I have a question: Since the rebuild kit included stem seals (and this motor was an oil burner prior to the timing boo-boo, so I want to be sure to seal up every possible leakage path), I pulled the old seals out. I notice, though, that the old seals are clearly marked IN and EX, but the new seals are all the same. Does it matter?

Perhaps so, but I'd be willing to give it a try anyway - certainly couldn't make it worse. And in the event that the strike isn't head-on, but the kind of just-clipped that would take out a headlight and its immediate surroundings, it might actually help by deflecting the foul thing to the side.

As discussed (OT) in another thread, deer have wiped out two Foresters (1999 and 2002) for us this year. As nice as the insurance settlements were, I'm really not interested in going through all that again. So, for the newest (2001), I'd like to get a hardcore grille guard, something like this. I found the pic online via another forum, but there was no information on who manufactured it. Can anyone offer any leads?

The timer is in the switch? That's counterintuitive - I would expect it to be under-dash. But if you're right, that's easier.

By "module in the rear of the car", do you mean the wiper motor itself? Because I have no idea where the timer circuit is located - I'd expect it to be under the dash rather than in the motor assembly.

I'm not sure what you mean. I don't know whether there's snow/ice on the ground in Maryland at the moment, but if there is, if you get moving on a slippery road and hit the brakes and lock the wheels, do you feel the ABS buzz in the pedal? If so, it's "mostly" working and there's probably a specific fault (like one wheel sensor not feeding the ABS controller) to be debugged vs. a systemic failure that would indicate it had been somehow disabled. To me, "multimeter" means volts, ohms, and (milli)amps, so I'm assuming you're talking about some kind of ODBII (yeah, I know it's supposed to be OBD, but I like the Wu Tang reference) device. No matter; the way to diagnose the fault is with the diagnostic pin and blinkenlicht method mentioned above.

If what you mean by "traction control" is a transmission function, you're looking in the wrong place. The ABS light is connected directly to the ABS unit and performs a couple of functions. First (as you're seeing now), it's letting you know there's something wrong with the ABS. But that includes the ABS unit being disconnected altogether - the ABS connector has an integral switch that turns on the light if it's unplugged. You didn't say whether the ABS is working at all (which would be helpful). So you should first check to see that it's plugged in, then look to the fuse box and make sure they're all there (there are a couple that serve the ABS), as the easiest way for someone to disable the ABS would be to yank the fuse. Then, if all that looks sound, connect the diagnostic pin under the dash (there's another thread here a few days old that'll give you further info) and see whether there are any codes to read out via the ABS light blinkety-blink.

I'm kinda in the same neighborhood with my wonderbeater '95 Legacy - it's a (stripped-down) Brighton, but a few years ago I was given a new hatchback to replace the original, which was rusting through. The replacement has a wiper, which was not present in the original, so I snagged the combination switch as well from the donor car, but haven't yet gotten around to installing it. As I recall, the rear wiper connector was present in my car's harness, so I'm hoping that the remainder of the harness, and in particular, the connector for the combination switch, will support the rear wiper as well. I don't have a lot of confidence in the possibility, though, having seen other cases in which you'd think the harness and connectors would be there, but aren't. I'm thinking in particular of retrofitting seat heaters into my wife's '98 Legacy DD. I don't get why they don't simplify the inventory at the factory and just use the same harness for every car, which would ease the installation (i.e. by the dealer) of options that a buyer later decided he/she wants. I get that omitting a few feet of wire and a couple of connectors reduces the cost of that harness by a few pennies, but speaking from the perspective of a design engineer, I think it's a poor tradeoff.

Thanks - I don't think I'll be bothering Santa over this one.

No, I'm pretty sure it's just a fuse. Besides, thermistors aren't usually in axial packages.

Also, the passenger-side windshield sprayer has a check valve in the line that seems to fail closed with some frequency. I don't know whether there's one in the line to the rear window as well.

Clarification appreciated. Related question: The little tool shown for depressing the lifter (for shim removal/installation) with the cam in place - is it commonly available, or only made by Subaru? I don't see one at Company 23.

D@mn straight. That's the rule: Do not swerve to miss a deer - hitting the ditch is more likely to kill you, and the deer is unlikely to do more than damage the car and die (though the first one I really nailed a few years ago went high, blew half the windshield into my face, and pushed the roofline back about six inches). But you have to swerve to miss the moose, because they're both heavy and high, and sure to come through the windshield and kill you. A near-miss of a moose at night is just about the most terrifying thing you can imagine, because as you pass it at speed in a small, low car like a Legacy it looks ten or twenty feet tall. It's really a weird effect, and lots of people report it. A friend of mine who used to have a Ferrari had a much more amusing story about one of the other guys he drove with (I can't remember whether his was another Ferrari or a Lamborghini) hitting a deer out in my neighborhood, and since the car was so low it scooped the viscera and blew it all into the passenger compartment...

I should have noted the valve clearances before I stripped this motor down, but failed to do so. Before I start pulling the valves out of the heads for cleaning, lapping, new seals, etc., I'd like to get those "before" measurements. But the TSM only gives them based on the rotational position of the right (passenger) side cam sprockets, which doesn't help me a lot with just the left side head on the bench. So is there something that shows what the correct positions of the left side cams are for measuring lash, or is this just a dumb question?

I tell you, around here more people should be calling for the large-scale extermination of those vermin. According to both the Mounties and the body shops, more than half of the accidents they deal with in this area are deer strikes.

Sure - a highly volatile degreaser like trichloroethylene is residue-free, but that strikes me as a pricey way to clean CV components. They're really referring to common cleaners, esp. the varsol we have in our parts cleaning tanks. Anyone who uses gas as a cleaning solvent (indoors) deserves to have the fumes creep into his basement and blow his house off its foundation. Gasoline is evil.