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Ashcroft's MY06 E85 3.0R-B/Raptor sedan

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 9:07 am
by dan_ashcroft
OK, so finally getting a thread up.

Bought the car (2005 (MY06) sedan) almost a couple of months ago, slowly cleaning up little things here and there to get it the way I like it. On paper it seems to that the 3RB is perfect (3.0R, 6MT, big brakes etc), but the doesn't seem to be the same in real life. After the initial thrill of owning it for a couple of days, noticed the following things that needed fixing:
* brakes (spongy / vague)
* lights (poor vision)
* shifter position (personal preference)
* reverse light not working
* performance not what it could be

Re: Ashcroft's 2005 3RB sedan

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 9:17 am
by dan_ashcroft
The previous owner was obviously a BlueBrigade fan so the first thing I did was get rid of the HIDiot lights and LEDS that they had fitted. They HIDiot lights were extremely blue, I am guessing 8k, and speed signs that I could normally see at 150m away (in rural streets) were no longer readable until about 80m. Put some Narva +120 in the lows, and Osram Night Breakers in the highs, much better. Can see so much more. Also got rid of the LEDS in the parkers and the fogs, which is lucky because we have had some real fog in GWS where I work, and mickey mouse LEDS weren't going to do anything. Nothing wrong with HIDS in general, but fitting them to the wrong reflectors, and choosing colour over effectiveness is not something I would do. Wish I took pics, the difference is that big.

Re: Ashcroft's 2005 3RB sedan

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 9:19 am
by ferret89
Hi mate.

1) Fit better brake pads and fluid (QFM are good)
2) Investigate brighter bulbs, also check that the wire clip holding the bulb in place hasn't broken and the bulb not sitting right causing poor field of view
3) Can't really change the shifter position...
4) Replace the bulb and check the fuse, if those don't fix it take it to a mechanic for investigation
5) Get it tuned by your local tuner or send Kido tuning a pm, also look into Raptor headers etc.

After these see how you feel about it, better pads and a tune will make you love the car I think :lol:

Re: Ashcroft's 2005 3RB sedan

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 9:30 am
by dan_ashcroft
Fixed the reverse light switch one Saturday afternoon, thanks to the reverse light thread which was a real help: http://forum.liberty.asn.au/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=27418

What a pain, having to loosen everything up to get the transmission to sink down and then use newly-bought crows feet socket attachments to get the switch in and out. (Although always like a genuine reason to get new tools.)

Was in a rush and tried to cheat and save some time by not unbolting the shifter from the linkages, realise now that that was a mistake. Since when shifting into 2nd, about once a week, it would feel like it went in, but then pop back out and complain loudly (synchro-stylee, with girlfriend giving me sideways glances). Wasn't happening too often so took care and waited for a Cobb shifter I had ordered to turn up, knowing that I would prob work it out when I swapped it over. When I opened it up I found this mark at the top of the shifter base:

straighten subaru shifter linkage stay rod

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 9:45 am
by dan_ashcroft
At first I thought it was the previous owner but then remembered that I had done the reverse light switch without releasing the shifter (against Brunsy's) advice.

Don't have a pic, but it was obvious the shifter was hitting the shifter base at 7 o'clock, this was causing it to pop back out every now and then. Much more noticeable with the Cobb shifter in place.

Pulled the shifter linkages out over the weekend, had a good think about what was causing it. Ruled out the shift rod, large in diameter and quite thick. Looked at the stay rod (the bottom rod) and realised that if I bent it in the opposite direction of the mark the shifter would have the room it needs to move.

So put in the vice, and applied some serious elbow grease to get it to swing down. Gave it 10mm (at the end) to start off with, fitted it and not enough, but in the right direction. Gave it another 20mm (30mm all up) and refitted it: perfect.

You can see from the pic where it was (light vertical pencil mark to the top left of the front stay bushing (above the hole in the washing machine) and where it is now.
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So, the time I tried to save when doing the reverse switch was only about 1/10 of the time I spent fixing this. :roll:

Re: Ashcroft's 2005 3RB sedan

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 9:56 am
by dan_ashcroft
ferret89 wrote:Hi mate.

1) Fit better brake pads and fluid (QFM are good)
2) Investigate brighter bulbs, also check that the wire clip holding the bulb in place hasn't broken and the bulb not sitting right causing poor field of view
3) Can't really change the shifter position...
4) Replace the bulb and check the fuse, if those don't fix it take it to a mechanic for investigation
5) Get it tuned by your local tuner or send Kido tuning a pm, also look into Raptor headers etc.

After these see how you feel about it, better pads and a tune will make you love the car I think :lol:


Thanks for the tips, actually, have fixed most of these, just getting through the backlog of posts I should have made already. :)


Got some braided lines and Intima pads from Paul and StreetToTrack. Happy with the better performance. I am guessing that I probably could have got half that from just flushing the fluid and bleeding, but happy to know that the rest is up to scratch as well.

I used to have a Gen2 Outback (still have, but not running) and comparing the feel of my brakes to that, well I prefer the Gen2's brakes. Obviously the performance is better in the 3RB, but I can't dab the brakes like I used to settle the car mid-corner. I was hoping that these changes would have fixed that, but still not there. It's the initial action of the pedal that I want to increase. I have bled the brakes again since then just to make sure no air is trapped in there, as well as activating the ABS to flush any possible air out as well.

I notice HyRax has gone to a STI master cylinder and booster, guessing that this increased ratio is what I am looking for, but this will have to wait for a while.

Re: Ashcroft's 2005 3RB sedan

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 10:02 am
by dan_ashcroft
Btw, while reading up on the various braided lines available, there were posts about the legality of different lines, ie whether they are marked as compliant.

The HEL lines do come with a clear section of outer that is laser printed with the magic code (FMV1066? - can't remember exactly) that apparently denotes compliance with ADR requirements for braided brake lines.

Re: Ashcroft's 2005 3RB sedan

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 10:18 am
by dan_ashcroft
ferret89 wrote:5) Get it tuned by your local tuner or send Kido tuning a pm, also look into Raptor headers etc.

After these see how you feel about it, better pads and a tune will make you love the car I think :lol:



Already in touch with Tradewind, have put my name down for headers in the next order when it happens. Kido tune will happen in a month or two, need to get bank balance back to normal. :(

Can't wait though! :D

Seriously thinking about E85 too. Just need to read up more about effects of the fuel on engine oil, and increased oil changes.

Re: Ashcroft's 2005 3RB sedan

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 10:22 am
by dan_ashcroft
dan_ashcroft wrote: When I opened it up I found this mark at the top of the shifter base:


Btw, that's the pic AFTER I bent the stay rod back, so the base was actually further up the picture, ie in relation to the shifter pivot bolt holes. Hope I am making sense? :)

Re: Ashcroft's 2005 3RB sedan

PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2015 11:54 pm
by dan_ashcroft
Finished installing a Cusco oil catch can today. Wasn't sure if it was baffled or not, but bought it after reading a US site say it was - it isn't. Not the sellers fault so kept it, and I don't have the money for a Saikou Michi so this will have to do for the time being. Bought it as getting ready for E85, want somewhere to catch any possible vapours coming out of the oil as it heats up.

Modded it slightly as it is basically a tin can with an inlet and outlet that intersect at right angles, and at the same level. Concerned the outlet could grab anything as soon as it comes into the can. Bought some 10mm aluminium tube from Bunnings, placed a small bend in one end and cut it to length to fit within the fitting and the can. Now the inlet pushes the vapour/oil onto the opposite wall of the inlet and cirulates the gases downward before it come back up again to reach the outlet. I'm hoping this will give any vapours time to condense into a liquid.
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Made a bracket of two pieces of some gal steel I found in the shed, basically bent a bracket out of them and bolted up underneath an existing bracket plus 2 mounts that already existed in the strut tower.
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Installed!
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Re: Ashcroft's 2005 3RB sedan

PostPosted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 12:30 pm
by dan_ashcroft
Did the air filter, cleaned MAF, and used some upper engine cleaner (actually Nulon Air Intake Cleaner).

Guess which side of the MAF is the air-facing side?? ;)
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Used CRC mass airflow meter cleaner, took a couple of minutes of spraying and wiating for it to burn off, but suprised how good it worked.


1st part of the the Nulon AIC instructions is to spray it on the throttle body and give it a wipe down, glad I did...
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I wasn't sure if the OCC that I installed yesterday would be of much use. Looking at the above you can see just how much dirty crankcase fumes (over time anyway) is being recirculated back into the engine. Hopefully the OCC will pick some of that up.

Re: Ashcroft's 2005 3RB sedan

PostPosted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 8:56 pm
by dan_ashcroft
Did the engine and transmission oil over the weekend. Put in some Penrite HPR 5 Diesel as a "treatment" for the oil galleries, and to use as a "sacrificial" oil during the changeover to E85. Not sure if it will burn off nasties/varnish in tank / fuel lines etc - I'm overly cautious I guess.

During the week I went out and picked up a T70 Torx socket in preparation to change out the transmission oil. Got under there and found out I didn't need it as it had a 21mm head bolt with an integral magnet. Maybe it had been swapped out in the past by the dealer or a later mechanic? The car has an extensive service history, but after seeing the dirty MAF sensor and throttle body in posts up above, you can see that they only do the minimum. Anyway, at least it shows that someone at some point has replaced the oil at least once. :)

Re: Ashcroft's 2005 3RB sedan

PostPosted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 10:54 pm
by BillyCorgi
The 5 speeders use the Torx for the gearbox drain.
The 6 Speeders have the 14mmAF on the gearbox pan and the (about) 21mmAF with magnet in the crown wheel casting.

Did you do the oil in the rear diff?

Re: Ashcroft's 2005 3RB sedan

PostPosted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 8:33 am
by dan_ashcroft
Ah, OK. So it might not have been changed after all! ;) Thanks for clearing that up. Confusing as the FSM for the 6MT has a pic of the Torx plug in it too.

Diff is this weekends job. I have to coordinate time on my neighbours driveway so can't always do a long session of work on the stands. Need to go get a breaker bar beforehand, and after seeing your post, a good short extension I can sacrifice, although I think I'm going to try it with just the square of the breaker bar first, will disconnect the rear exhaust so I can get in there. Definitely following your previous advice of getting the filler open before draining. :)

Re: Ashcroft's 2005 3RB sedan

PostPosted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 8:53 am
by andy_mac
Just to muddy the waters a bit more, mine had the t70 torx for one of the gearbox drain holes, so did all the how-to's i've seen too. They were all post facelift spec b's though so it could have changed from pre.