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Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2019 4:57 pm
by El_Freddo
Well it’s almost August 2019, and I’ve got Basil in for HGs due to the pesky coolant and oil leaking externally. Head were shaved this time for piece of mind.

I ended up getting new head bolts - at about $4 a piece it made sense to go this way. I also found out there’s two different types of head bolts - the middle two are different to the outer two and are marked by paint on the head of the bolt. Last time I shoved them in any which way!

Anyway, I’m trying to find info on gearboxes. The replacement has a different code - only in the rear letters (when excluding the first two digits before the hyphen.

So I’ve got:
2000 RX model: H9 - TY75XFADA
2003 RX model: 54 - TY75XFCAB

What I want to know is whether the diff ratios are the same. I know they both came from the RX but I want to make sure I don’t have to chase a rear diff for this gearbox. I just want to throw it in and drive (once the engine is back in) without the centre diff exploding.

That’s about it for now, just trying to find that info!

Cheers

Bennie

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 7:44 pm
by El_Freddo
I’ve finally got the engine back together and in two weeks ago now (I think). Everything was good with the engine. HGs done, cam belt replaced including all pulleys and tensioner, waterpump stayed, all new oil seals.

Cam retainer plate removed for valve stem seals to be replaced. Valves were lapped while this was done - missed opportunity otherwise. I reckon many ppl fail to reseal the cam retainer plate when the HGs are done, this allows them to weep oil again in a short amount of time.

Sump was resealed with fresh silicone. New rear main seal and the two plates on the back of the engine were resealed too. So oil loss should be nil from leaks now!

The issue now is with the replacement gearbox. I’ve got a wobble on the front left that Toonga thinks could be a drive shaft - issue wasn’t there before but I’ll swap shafts left to right while the box is out.

I’ve split both gearboxes beyond just the centre diff. I have new bearings for the front diff to help eliminate that wobble - if it was bearing related, doubtful but new bearings in there will be nice anyway.

The old box slipped out of gear in 3rd and 4th around town when cruising on light throttle. Turned out there was a bearing collapsing that allowed too much lateral movement in the top shaft. So that box would’ve detonated at some point due to this bearing.

New box in the initial test drives is tight. So new diff bearings and the good centre diff will have us a sweet box that will hopefully see Basil out to the end of his days.

As for gearbox codes: info from Subyclub.com said the different bits in the later part of the code “A” and “C” referred to the revision of the vehicle - basically the cosmetic looks of the vehicle. The other ones I think refer to the centre diff in the gearbox. Cases are very similar but there are different bearings used for the rear drive from the centre diff.

Our original (good) centre diff uses ball and cage bearings. The replacement gearbox uses tapered roller bearings. There are slight housing changes to accommodate this but the centre diff looks like it’s interchangable between the two housings.

Once the box is back together it’ll go back in Basil. Then we’ll sort out a new rear muffler (there’s a genome STi muffler on gumtree that’s very tempting - but it’s more than what I want to spend) before he’s delivered back to my sister. It’s been a long time coming!

Cheers

Bennie

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 5:58 am
by Bumpty
It sounds like you sort of know what you’re doing :shock:

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:29 pm
by El_Freddo
Bumpty wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 5:58 am
It sounds like you sort of know what you’re doing :shock:
We'll see mate!

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^ the replacement gearbox. The old one is on the floor behind me in the pic, in the same amount of pieces!

Some of the work done on Basil's engine while I had it out:

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^ Valve lapping. Not much fun, but with a cheat's way with a DC electric drill and a piece of vacuum hose it was much easier!

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^ "Look Dad, I got the head bolts in the right order this time!" - seriously though, I didn't realise there were two different head bolt types on the EJ251s. I only noticed the painted ones when I was removing them - and they weren't where they were meant to be - in the centre two holes! Got it sorted this time.

For those that know, I removed the cam retainer plate to do the valve lapping and valve stem seal replacement. I wasn't going to lap the valves, but since I was already there it was worth the extra time to do the job. Once the head bolts were torqued down the cam retainer plate (and cam etc) was replaced with fresh silicone - something many don't do on these HG jobs. Hopefully no weeping oil leak from under the retainer plate for us!

Diff bearings are now removed. I'll put the new ones on tomorrow night (all going well), then begin prepping, aka cleaning, the gearbox cases for resealing. I'll also have to mess around with the diff bearing retainers due to the new bearings going in, things may have changed a tiny bit. New seals will go in too - these were meant for a gearbox I've got planned for Redback.

All going well I'll have Basil running again Sunday at the latest. Then to fix a few little, annoying issues, get a new rear muffler and send him off to his rightful owner (finally!).

Cheers

Bennie

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2019 10:50 pm
by El_Freddo
Today was a big day that started off early, before 7am starts in the shed are very rare events but it happened today.

After a wasted afternoon yesterday I didn’t have the gearbox sealed as I’d planned - I got sidelined from my plans is probably the best way to put it. Anyway...

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Up early this morning, prepped all surfaces for sealing. Sealed the front cases, sorted out the transfer case and rear bearing plate assembly too. Bolted it all together, only to find that when I went to sort out the diff preload/backlash (I cant remember which is which), I couldn’t for the life of me rosette the input shaft unless I used some vice grips, even then it was super difficult. Round one before the centre diff assembly went on (and the point you should mess around with the diff settings if you’ve changed anything such as front diff bearings):

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Box stripped down again. At least the centre diff section didn’t need full disassembly. I thought it was the upper shaft front bearing not seating on the dowel pin properly. Turned out it was a jammed synchro on the input shaft, the one that deals with the low range. I put it in with the input shaft. It has three slots for the retainer tabs in the low range selector hub to live in and stop the synchro ring from rotating freely.

With that sorted and the sealing surfaces cleaned and prepped again, the gearbox came together without issue. While still on the bench, engine side down, I sorted the diff settings (I had previously replaced the seals and put the O rings in once I was done messing around). Centre diff housing assembly went on and the box was sorted for install. Round two - done and ready for install:

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Dad came up and before the box went in we looked at the front left driveshaft. Outer joint was dry, we opened it up, cleaned out as much of the dried out grease as possible and packed in some fresh moly grease. It felt much better rotating the joint after this, nice and smooth! Hopefully that effort will pay off with the wobble disappearing.

Once the CV shaft was sorted we got the gearbox slotted in easily from under the subi; subi on ramps, gearbox on wooden blocks strapped down on a motorcycle jack. Best way to do it!

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The drive shafts slip on as the gearbox approaches the engine while being raised up. I think this is the fourth or fifth time I’ve done a gearbox this way now. No need to jack up the front end and pop ball joints out.

After the gearbox was in, all the other bits came together relatively quickly. After all that was done and before the exhaust went on, we replaced the steering rack boots. The repco units weren’t a great fit and the cable ties supplied were rubbish. A set of quality cable ties now hold the boots on the rack snugly.

Some brake maintenance up front was done too - replacement caliper brackets with freshly greased caliper slide pins were installed. These were sourced with factory caliper retainer bolts. Someone used non OEM or automotive spec bolts to hold the caliper on. They were a 13mm bolt head as opposed to 14mm. I didn’t like that plus the slide pins weren’t great, so I finally got that sorted.

Now I’ll be eagerly waiting for work to finish so I can get home and fill the gearbox and rear diff with oil (the silicone used on the gearbox needs this time to cure before meeting oil), replace the airbox and go for a drive!! Hopefully there won’t be any wobbles, vibrations or noises other than that of the sweet sweet subi burble this thing has, even with the clapped out rear muffler - that’ll be sorted this week all going well.

Cheers

Bennie

PS - my new Ryobi 18v kit has a “wizzer” tool in it for tightening/loosening bolts an nuts. This tool copped a flogging with this gearbox build and install. It makes things so much quicker and less physical ;)

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2019 11:01 pm
by El_Freddo
Gearbox and rear diff copped some oil this afternoon, then a test drive. He went well and there’s no gearbox noises or odd behaviour when doing U turns.

The wobble is still there though and I’ve since swapped the drive shafts left to right and vice versa. Wobble is still there under throttle application.

More driving made it worse over time and when cruising at different speeds you could feel it throughout the car sometimes, worse others and there were speeds where you couldn’t really feel it.

The thing that sold me on it being a wheel bearing was when doing a gentle swerve with clutch in you can hear a whining/whirring sound when the car has its weight on the left and it’s quiet when the weight is on the right. It’s a very subtle sound when travelling in a straight line.

I’ve also got a code 22 - knock sensor. It comes and goes so I’ll have to investigate the connectors in the system and see if that resolves anything. It’s still running well anyway!

Now to sort out this wheel bearing issue... then tidy up the exhaust and go from there.

Cheers

Bennie

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2019 10:26 pm
by RSR 555
How does the engine mounts look? Have they had any oil on them or come out of them?

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2019 6:38 am
by El_Freddo
RSR 555 wrote:
Mon Nov 11, 2019 10:26 pm
How does the engine mounts look? Have they had any oil on them or come out of them?
Long story short - proper update to come - it was a self inflicted driveshaft issue!

Basil is running very well, sounds awesome and is now back to scaring birds and roos up on the Murray;)

Cheers

Bennie

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2020 7:35 pm
by El_Freddo
Basil's rims are now changed over to a set of stock 17 inch factory subaru rims. I think they're Gen4 liberty rims, but I'm not 100% sure - they came from a Gen1 that 1WD-Foz was wrecking.

Reason for the swap was that the ones in previous pics have cracked - big time! My sister sent me a video of a crack about 8cm long, parallel to the rim's edge and about 1 to 1.5cm inwards. I don't know how that tyre wasn't leaking! So now the tyres are swapped over and Basil looks more stock than ever :cry:

I'll grab some pics when I see him his weekend.

Cheers

Bennie

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 5:51 pm
by El_Freddo
Not much happened for Basil over the last few years other than smashing out kms, giving good fuel economy and smashing that set of factory 17 inch Liberty rims while up in Qld. According to Sis the edge of the road came into the lane where there was a pot hole, she couldn’t go around it due to oncoming traffic and when she saw it she couldn’t wipe off any speed so she basically hit it a full cruise speed. The front left rim was in two pieces - it shattered parallel to the rim’s edge for about half of the circumference of the rim, this piece came loose and rattled around in the wheel well where Sis was lucky it didn’t take out her brake line. The tyre was instantly flat.

The rear rim had a flat spot too. Spare tyre went on the front and Sis sourced a second spare to replace the rear with the flat spot. I’ve never seen anything like it. That was some time ago now. He’s now sporting a set of 16 inch six spoke GC8 WRX rims - ironically the same type he came to us with… With new tyres and their “chunky” tread when new they look really good on the Liberty.

Basil sat around for a while recently as Sis got a company car. I’ve since taken him on and he gives me a big smile with his thumping Subi beat!! Last week before coming home I couldn’t get second gear properly. Before long I had to rev match all gears. I couldn’t pick what the issue was, thought maybe a dead/jammed up spigot bearing holding the input shaft so it couldn’t be stationary - but when in gear and stationary there weren’t any noises and the car wanted to creep forward if you didn’t have your foot on the brakes. Forget about selecting a gear while stationary too - I had to turn the engine off to select first or reverse.

Today I found the issue - broken fingers on the clutch pressure plate. I wasn’t expecting that!

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Beaut day for it, but by the time I was sorting out the exhaust fitment the weather was trying to drop some moisture, very lightly spitting on and off, nothing to stress about or stop work over.

Basil is all sorted now and ready for the runs into work this week. Very happy it was an easy fix and that I had a pressure plate laying around!

Cheers

Bennie

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 5:55 pm
by Subyroo
Looks like Basil could use a bath under the hood too. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 9:23 pm
by El_Freddo
:lol:

And some panel beating, cable ties replaced with the actual clips they’re substituting and paint touch up all over!

He’s bit of a bucket but he’s solid and everything works as it should… until it doesn’t - which doesn’t happen often so can’t complain.

I forgot to add that he’s run over 484,000km! So close to the golden 500 :mrgreen:

Cheers

Bennie

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2023 5:55 pm
by Subyroo
Crikey! I could only rustle up 224,781kms in 13 years of owning my 2003 XS Forester. :o

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2024 10:36 pm
by El_Freddo
You’ll get there Subyroo! Basil has an extra ten years on your Subaru so “there’s still time” :lol:

For a long time now Basil sported some offroad expeditions with my sister, well one actually…

Late last year I tapped out the ding in the rear quarter that made him look way better even though he’s now got all the small little hammer marks from the inside if you really look at the bodywork. A week later I learned about a trick of putting a deflated basketball in the panelwork and inflating it. Bummer.

Anyway while at pick a part late last year I grabbed some parts to replace the story board that made him look like a real beater when viewing the LHS.

Decided to do it on the hottest day of the year so far, peak temp at 39°, under a tree on our street (no shed!) streaming the 2003 hottest 100 on double J that I missed yesterday. That helped the work in the heat! If I didn’t get stuck into it the work would continue to linger and possibly never get done.

I found some rust at the lower guard area behind the front wheel, not sure if this is normal for these models (also 20+ year old vehicle so it’s doing well!) but it turned out to be quite superficial after running the wire wheel over it and giving it several good coats of rust converter.

Here’s the before:

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And after:

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I had to swap the glass over due to the window tint. This task took ages as I basically had to strip the door to get it out. I swapped the external door handle over as well as it was missing the lock barrel and I didn’t like the look of it.

It’s 90% done now. Hanging the door, setting the door gaps and “tuning in” the stop point of the glass took a while. It all worked out well though.

What’s left to do now is replace a bit of wiring for the tweeter and swap that over to this door with the original door card as the other one was not the same style. The original speaker’s days are numbered too. It’s lost the outer support part that holds the cone to the outer ring. Both speakers were in the same condition. Still sounds ok, it won’t win a sound comp though.

Wiring looms were the same which was good and less work.

That’s it for now. Odometer is nearing the golden 500 with it being over the 494,000km mark now!

Cheers

Bennie

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2024 7:20 pm
by Subyroo
Bennie, sadly my Forester will never reach the kilometers anywhere near what "Basil" has achieved.
I swapped my Forester with my daughter, who later onsold it to a girlfriends son, last year he was t-boned and "Casper" was no more, he was written off. :( :( :(

I swapped over to a 2013 Honda CRV after the Forester, then a 2016 CRV and now an MY21 Honda HR-V with 110,000Kms on the clock after 3 years.

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2024 8:10 pm
by Silverbullet
Nice work Bennie keeping an older Subie alive. These and the early 2000's Foresters etc are the models turning up in droves recently at wrecking yards near me. At the end of their useful life or just the cost of a few spare parts to fix was more than the car is worth :(

High k's, a little rough round the edges, these are the cars for me :lol: I watch a few mechanics channels on YT and "just rolled in" is a great one for seeing the kind of catastrophic failures brand new cars can suffer for no apparent reason. Don't think I'll ever buy a new car, for myriad of reasons not just what might break. A car that you can fix yourself in the driveway (or in the street!) is a winner in my books.

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2024 8:42 pm
by El_Freddo
Subyroo apologies I locked in that your foz was a 2013 model, not a 2003 model with 13 years ownership. Sad ending but kind of good knowing where your car went, what happened to it and that it (I hope) saved its occupants in the T-bone incident that sent it to its grave.

SB, damn straight mate! I love older vehicles - this one has zero chimes etc and I’m yet to drive a vehicle that has so many “safety” features that it would be frustrating to drive. Case in point: my sister who owns Basil swapped her regular company car for another one told me tonight how it tries to correct her lane position and auto brakes in situations when the vehicle seems it necessary. She drives on country roads most of the time and one of our long practices is to hug the middle line or even keep a wheel over the middle line to give a buffer between you and any potential wildlife interaction. Her loan car doesn’t seem to like this!

Our mid-naughties Pajeros only hum at us if you leave the lights on with the ignition off - perfect for me.

The EJ251 is a great engine in my book once it’s got the MLS headgasket treatment sorted. It’s a fun engine in my book and pulls well for what it is. And in this case the factory engine nearing 500,000km is a good run I reckon!
My only gripe is the throttle sensitivity at light throttle in town or when moving through car parks - and when cold, it holds revs for several seconds before dropping back to idle or what you want in the next gear.

Small things, it’s still a good car to drive and I’m looking forward to the golden 500 and beyond, fingers crossed!

Cheers

Bennie

Re: Sister's Gen3 Liberty "Basil"

Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2024 11:06 am
by Subyroo
El_Freddo wrote:
Wed Feb 07, 2024 8:42 pm
Subyroo apologies I locked in that your foz was a 2013 model, not a 2003 model with 13 years ownership. Sad ending but kind of good knowing where your car went, what happened to it and that it (I hope) saved its occupants in the T-bone incident that sent it to its grave.

Cheers

Bennie
Thanks Bennie, the young bloke got out of the T-boned foz with no injuries, the safety aspects of the Subaru were what attracted me above all in the first place.
Our first subie was a 2000 RX 2.5 AWD Liberty Sedan, boy that thing hugged the road, the salesman in Townsville took us out for a test drive and he threw it into a roundabout at 80k/hr and frightened the shitta out of the wife and I. Credit to his skills and the cars handling, there wasn't even the hint of twitch in the Subie, we were sold at that point.
The foz always was a little bit behind in the cornering stats, but still did an admirable job just the same. A lot of other cars (or their drivers) couldn't stay close in the twisties or through roundabouts.