Member Profile - Craig's '08 Spc.B wagon

[nvmylh]

Hey guys,
Had this car for a while now, thought I would transfer the build/project over to this site. Here is the info from subyclub, I'll try to get the photos working on here soon:

27/07/2020
Looks like its been well maintained but potentially has a headgasket issue. Long hills sees the temp gauge start rising, on the flats or anything else and it seems ok. Lots of oil and crap behind the passenger side head so I'm guessing that could be it. The drivers head is far cleaner, no oil.

Current Specs: 184,000km auto spec B, stock everything.

Plans:

- Get it roadworthy'd and mobile.
- 6 speed manual conversion using everything from the spec.b sedan I picked up a while ago. Yes the rear cross member will need to be lengthened, easy job for me but will just cost a little to get engineered. Planning on doing the whole, ecu+BIU+cluster+key barrel swap too. The sedan cluster is at 175k km so pretty close
- Send the centre diff for a checkup and rebuild by corgiewerxs
- Shifter bush kit
- Some lightreading re. manual swaps: https://legacygt.com...hlight=5eat 6mt
- Potential full engine swap from the sedan too, that motor looks A1 and drove perfect, so might swap that straight in when the gearbox happens. Then start rebuilding the original motor.
- Turbo! More specifically, gt35 from an xr6, supergramps style manifolds, internal gate, plus whatever injectors I need to safely run, possibly go down the E85 route. Hoping to lower the compression, arp studs etc. will be the goal pending funds.
- STI rear mufflers - pending suitability with making say 220+rwkw?
- STI Pink springs and (provided the rear bilsteins are ok), I'll rebuild/put new bushes in the struts and install.
- Outback radiator
- Fix the front bar, pull some slight dents out of panels.

Once this thing is underway and on the road, I'll look at selling my outback or parting it out. Theres a few bits on it that will hopefully fund turbo stuff!


Manifold specs: 32NB stainless pipe (36mm ID, head exhaust ports measure 35), supergramps(Turbo Yoda) style design, merge into 50mm tube, will have v-bands and into a 2.25" up pipe. I'm not expecting this to go 300+rwkw like actual supergramps, hence the smaller pipes etc.

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[nvmylh]

Combining a few posts from subyclub together here:

18/08/2020
Well it would have been roadworthy'd if it wasnt for bloody covid! I had a mate's brother have a look over it at his work. Finally recevied some bushes in after being stuffed around by 2 fairly big name suppliers, now the workshop can't do light vehicle rwc's.. Looks like I'll have to wait it out or go somewhere and pay far more and risk having little shlt picked on..

Replaced the front control arm rear bushes with a whiteline caster kit, superpro front bushes that I already had in the shed, front sway bar links, machined discs and new pads all round, replaced missing bumper clips.

Ordered some whiteline rear diff and trailing arm front bush kits, looks like I'll use the covid time to replace them.

Been keeping an eye out for some STI quad tip mufflers, for anyones reference in future, hears the difference in tip length from sedan to wagon. I'm pretty certain the STI mufflers with have the same difference?

28/08/2020
Well rear trailing arm and diff bushes turned into the whole rear end coming out.
Hopefully this choice of whiteline and OEM bushes goes alright:

- whiteline trailing arm front bushes, rear diff and diff carrier
- oem everything else
- new bilstein bushes for the rear shocks

Next on the list will be to rebuild the front struts (bushes and seals arrived yesterday), seem to have a funny noise when reversing out of the drive way at a slight incline.
All the rear end bushes replaces including the lower shock bushes, but not the sway bars. Hoping to get a bigger sway bar when possible.

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[nvmylh]

02/12/2020
No 6 speed swap yet but it will be getting a slight radiator upgrade (koyo A2465 gen2 outback ez30, 25mm thick) as the exisiting is an easy 180km old by the look of it.

Fitting the gen4 fans on looks pretty simple so far. The drivers side fan has 1 screw that lines up perfect (the photo makes it look like its on an angle but is actually straight), then just need a small bracket (must be thin, I'll try 1.6mm steel and keep an eye on it for fatigue) with holes 20mm offset to bolt up. Fyi the gen2 fans are 120w vs 160w each for the gen4 libs.

The passenger side fan can be shifted slightly to make 1 screw fit but it puts the fan on a bit of an angle and would need the shroud trimmed slightly so it doesn't rub on the end tank. I'm actually going to go with this and make 1 small bracket to mount the other screw ( fyi: the adapter bracket needs to be 5mm thick to get the heights correct, the other screw needs a 5mm spacer and longer M6 screws).

Other than that the nexus is in a running, works pretty good so far, hoping to get an android auto app working so I can plug the phone in. Plus make a little panel to fill the gap or even find an AV panel to suit.

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23/12/2020
Pics to follow but its all starting, engine and auto box should be out tomorrow.

- 6mt axles all rebuilt, new boots and grease - Has anyone here ever done this and actually got 130+gr of grease in a CV? Its a sh1tload of grease..
- new reverse and neutral swtiches in the 6mt
- new exedy HD clutch ready to go
- new axle and tailshaft seals in the box, new clutch bearing snouth thing
- new seals in the diff
- machined up some new shifter knuckle bushings, plus have a whiteline kit to install
- gen3 outback h6 radiator ready to go as well as a EJ thermostat (91C full open vs 95 for the EZ)
- turbo oil return welded into the rocker cover (fingers crossed the turbo actually happens in the near future!)

To do:

- install 6mt engine and gearbox, axles, rear diff
- remove interior stuff and TCU, replace ecu, biu, cluster and key barrel with units from the 6mt car
- remove the auto brake pedal and install the manual version plus the clutch pedal
- wiring - clutch, inhibitor bypass, neutral and reverse switch
- clutch master cylinder
- swap the ABS units, bleed brakes

Wishing I'd had the 6mt out sooner so I had time to send the the center diff of to corgiewerx!

[nvmylh]

05/01/2021

Had some progress over the last few days:

- gearbox is in and adapter plate made, bit hard to see in the photo as I painted it black. If the adapter plate turns out all good, I've got the dimensions and could potentially get some laser-cut for anyone else would wants to do this conversion.
- wiring mods done - will get some photos of what I did soon.
- starter motor rebuilt (still waiting on the new brush assembly) - Thank you to Corgiwerx for the heads up on the brushes! Mine were exactly like they described.
- new clutch in, engine installed,
- shifter with new bushes installed, feels mint!
- clutch pedal installed - need to check out bleeding it.
- ABS unit swapped over - need to bleed
- then everything plugged in (and took out the fuel pump fuse) to let me turn the ignition on and see what would happen!

So far so good! Everything worked, dash still has the flashing cruise light, a wheel fell off at the auction place so I think this caused an ABS fault code. Other thing is the nexus 7 and BTSSM would not connect, no idea why yet.

One interesting thing, the central locking is still controlled by the original key, not the sedan's key. I thought this would have all been controlled and linked with the BIU, but it looks as though its all separate. I should be right to swap whatever parts into the wagon key.

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08/01/2021
Well guys it finally started! I was starting to get nervous as it was doing some weird things. My first stuff up was not plugging the engine into the main loom properly, was very annoyed at myself for that one..

Next the engine still wouldn't start and came up with fault codes: P0118 (temp sensor), P0123 (throttle position sensor), P0328 (knock sensor 1), P0333 (knock sensor 1) - all these were " circuit HIGH" faults.

I thought I was in trouble as it all pointed to a short circuit somewhere and these sensors all share a common ground or shield wire. But then I wondered more about what mods I had done that could have caused a short circuit and the one thing that kept coming back was this auto-manual identification wire on C15. You ground this for a manual, leave open for an auto. I saw on the wiring diagrams that it should connect to C14 and another wire somewhere, so I stripped C14, spliced it in. This was wrong!

I disconnected (automatic mode) C15, the engine started! BUT then I grounded it (manual mode) and the engine still started which is good but confusing... Anyway, I will be grounding this wire to the chassis from now on.

I still have some fault codes carried over from the doner car. I'm not sure how to (if its even possible without a proper SSM) clear these. C0072 (yaw rate sensor), C0071 (steering angle sensor), C0047(CAN comunication). I'm guessing the first 2 are from when the passenger front wheel fell off at the auction yard, someone didn't bolt a wheel on properly!

Next I have to finish bolting the exhaust on, bleed the brakes, fill rear diff with oil and go find somewhere to lock the brakes and get the ABS working. Apparently this is a good way of bleeding the ABS unit, but then you have to re-bleed the brakes again. I hope the ABS will actually work with these fault codes going on, we'll see!

[nvmylh]

11/01/2021
Hey guys, well all the fault codes are gone (thanks to the nexus 7 and BTSSM), cruise control works and no engine lights or anything. I didn't know at the time that BTSSM could clear codes!

Here are my notes on the wiring:

- get an accurate copy of the FSM for your car!

- Bypass the inhibitor relay shown in ST(06)-01. I made small wire approx. 50mm long with 2 male, flat blade terminals on each end. Plugged it into poles 3 and 4. Leave the other terminals in the relay plug empty. Cover with electrical tape. The relay is located up behind the fuse box to the right of the steering wheel.

- I ran 2 x 2core wires from the gearbox, through the firewall and to the ecu (neutral safety switch) and to the back-up light relay.

- Wire in the back-up/reverse light as per BACK/L(R )-01 in the FSM. The reverse wires only need 2 male flat blade terminals and to be plugged into poles 3 and 4 on the relay plug. Leave the other terminals in the relay plug empty. Cover with electrical tape

- Wire in the neutral safety switch to C31 on the ECU (see page E/G(RH6)-12 in FSM). I cut the existing C31 wire, joined the NSS to the ECU side of that wire, then joined the other NSS wire to the B122 joint connector. I spliced into 1 wire in that joint connector and joined the NSS wire to that. The other end of the C31 wire that you cut just gets taped up.

- Wire in the clutch as per E/G(RH6)-05. I ran a 2 core wire from the clutch pedal/switch across to the ECU, then cut the C25 wire (which exists in the auto loom), joined clutch wires to that.

- Add a pin and wire to C15 on the ECU and ground this to the chassis. This is the auto/manual ID wire for the ECU. The diagrams I had showed this joining with C14 which I originally did but this caused a bunch of "circuit high" faults which all pointed to a short circuit somewhere. Ground this to the chassis or ECU mounts as I did.

- Remove the PV-IGN relay, I don't really know what this does, looks like some sort of power supply to the TCM.

Plug in your BUI, cluster, ECU, swap your ABS unit and Key barrel assembly for the manual version. To remove the key barrel, use a sharp cold-chisel and gently hammer the security bolts off (in clockwise direction), replace with M8 screws. Unplug the TCM (hide those plugs somewhere up in the dash), tape up the 2 x auto trans plugs in the engine bay (you only need the oxy sensors plugs). Off you go!

I have no idea if this will work for 2.5T - 5eat cars but I'd be surprised if it didnt.

I also used a 21200AA072 thermostat, these open and are fully open 4degrees lower than the standard h6 thermostat. I can definitely see lower temps on the BTSSM gauges. See the link below for more info:

https://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.ph ... ount=14760

[Yowie]

Good stuff. This thread is going to be even cooler when you get some pictures sorted.

- ABS unit swapped over - need to bleed

You and Jesse Ventura from Predator seem to have the same issue.

[nvmylh]

haha yea I was hoping I could link the photos straight from subyclub. Need to find somewhere to host them.

I bled the brakes like normal and haven't had any issues. But I haven't found a wet grassy area to test it actually.

[nvmylh]

Slight update, got my exhaust headers installed over the weekend. Hardly given it the boot yet so no idea if they make a difference in how it goes (not that I really expect it). These manifolds (stock cats and mid section), plus the 2015 wrx STI rear mufflers and a 3" pipe from the filter box outlet to the throttle body seem to make some nice sound! Really deep 'boooaarrr' sound when it gets going, without being raspy and loud! I'll try get a video soon.

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Found both front outer cv boot's inner-clamps had come off at some stage. The generic repco band clamps do not work here.. Was finally able to get proper replacements from the local dealer. Replaced on the car as it didn't look like any grease had come out. Will keep a close eye on them!
- Mishimoto copy catch can is in, just on the rocker cover breather line for now, will be moving it to the PCV hose when some fittings come in. Putting it on the breather hose doesn't do anything!
- Replaced various vacuum hoses
- Jaycar 8" sub installed in the rear using a 16mm mdf spacer. The cover won't go back on yet, will look into that.
- Modified amp to go in soon with the 'gain-mod', hopefully this bring the new sub to life.
- Have a 20mm rear sway bar (plus mount brackets) in the works too, just need to finish bending it and maybe get it heat treated.

[nvmylh]

Quick pics of the modified WRX mufflers. If I was to do it again I'd maybe extend them at least another 10mm each.

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[bigBADbenny]

Amazing!
Beautiful work on the trans adapter plates.
Got more pics of fabricating them?

What year wrx sedan muffs did you mod?

Sway bar heat treatment?
Normalisation, quench hardening or tempering?
Did you bend the bar with oxy set?

[nvmylh]

1) Didn't grab anymore pics of the actual plate but I did measure and trace it up for any potential future use! This is what it looks like:

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2) I think they were 2014 or 2015. Little bit of work changing the hangers and tips. Hardest bit was getting the tips as close to eachother as possible (like actual STI tips..)

3) Not quite sure yet, was going to talk to the specialists first. I cold bent most of it so far in my press, seemed to bend quite nice. But I'm going to use an oxy to bend the arms as they need to be fairly tight and basically 90deg. I tried to simplify the shape so it has about half the amount of bends and the tightest is 23deg. I made a rear bar for my outback ages ago using the same 20mm 4140, we bent it with the oxy, machined square ends which the arms (laser cut plates) bolted/clamped onto. Never heat treated that and gave it a fair workout up the hills!

[bigBADbenny]

Definitely my15+ as that’s when the tip design improved: longer with a nice transition at the muffler end.
Got a set too for when I’m ready to fab em using my modded 08+ sti sedan muffs.

[nvmylh]

Not much has happened around here recently except for some Outfront motorsports/ARP head studs arriving and a 3D printed Nexus mount.

If anyone is interested I could ask my mate to print another off? Suits a JDM vent though. I could possbly draw up something similar for the standard NAV vent bezel but you lose a bit of screen.

I designed it to angle the nexus slightly (theres a 15mm gap at the bottom, 3mm at the top), yet to see how much it helps with glare and reflections. I'll fill, sand and paint it up when the new screen protector arrives too.

Loving the sound of the exhaust when the VVL opens up lately thats for sure!

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[bigBADbenny]

Love it!
What specific power management schema are you using for the nexus, is it currently reliable as regards shutdown, startup and power drain?

[nvmylh]

Using the standard Timur's Rom setup. Battery drain is a non-issue now that I'm using the hub and generic vag-com cable. The tactrix drained it pretty bad. It also charges at up to and over 1000mA with this setup.

Now and then it stuffs up and wont charge (though it says charging!), then you have to unplug it and restart it. If that happens too much I might look into an Xtrons android headunit and a new fascia.


OTG Cable: https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B0 ... UTF8&psc=1
Hub: https://www.mwave.com.au/product/orico- ... ck-ac21065
Vog-com OBD Cable: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/193908442904
4 port USB 12V power: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4-USB-Port- ... SwpZVe1hZi