Iounno

Alright so I got my radio all wired up and everything works great, the only problem I'm having is the trim problem that a lot of other people have. Unfortunately for me my problem is a bit worse. I physically cannot get the left trim piece on as the climate control section of the double DIN is in the way. I tried loosening all the screws and shoving the whole unit to the right, but that didn't work. I've been using it with the trim pieces off for the last week but I'd really like to get it on. Did I mess up assembling the double DIN? I can add a photo later, but essentially it's like the whole unit is too far to the left. If I try to put the trim piece on, it gets caught on the bottom left of the DIN, and stick out at the top left and where it screws in. The shifter trim piece is also off slightly, where on the left the climate controls stick over the left side. I'm at a loss on what to do. I noticed my original head unit was also missing 2-3 screws with the top right plastic being stripped, so that was nice to find out. It's in there snug at least though.

I've been really busy this week and haven't had a chance to respond, sorry about that. I think I'm getting the car down a bit better and I really appreciate the help everyone. Notice a few of you in Portland/Vancouver which is cool to see! I'll have to go to a car meet once the world settles down a bit. I'm not sure I need a rear tranny mount or if just shifter bushings would do the job. Maybe replace the shift linkage as well. I'm thinking of just doing front and rear bushings and seeing to see if that fixes the problem first. Is this something I should have a shop do or would a jack and tools suffice? I'm seeing from videos online I have to get under the car and just take off a few bolts basically. Videos always seem easier than the real thing though. Never done anything before except the oil change myself. As a side note: I've been looking at how to get an AUX cable, and my two choices are the JDM Din unit or buying the adapter thing and running an aux to my center console. Which do you guys think is the better option? I have tan interior and the JDM option doesn't look the best if I'm being honest. Was thinking of wrapping the silver plastic pieces matte black to match or trying to find some black ones if those are available. My buddy also gave me his old amp and subwoofer that I need to install. Not really sure where/how I'm going to mount that stuff. Was thinking some wood cut out for the trunk I could leave a slot for the sub to fit into so it won't slide, then drill the amp into the wood? Would look super jank though. Just don't want to drill into my trunk if I don't have to.

Turns out I did not burn out my clutch and I'm just an idiot! The guy took it for a test drive, redlined it in basically every gear, did a 0-60+ pull and all was well. He said if someone brought this in to purchase he'd tell them it's great, so that's reassuring. We think what might be happening is me slipping the clutch too much and overheating it causing it to keep slipping. On my drive home I practiced holding the clutch in first to roll and whenever I did that I had no problems. If I notice it again he told me to just give the clutch some time to cool down then try again. I'll likely get my shifter bushings redone because he did say they were really bad. Is this something I can do myself as a first-timer or should I go to them? He quoted me around $200 in labor since the LGT is apparently more work than the WRX, but I can bring my own parts if I use them.

Surprisingly the $800 is including parts and labor. He said it was about $400 for the clutch, $400 or so for the labor. Every place I called said they'd likely just resurface my flywheel unless it's in pretty bad shape. So I assume with a flywheel it'd be more like $1300?

I’ll check tonight. I’m gonna head over to a local shop called DJ’s Automotive after work and he’s going to try out my car to see what’s wrong. He quoted me at $800 for clutch + installation, which isn’t terrible at all. That was with an EXEDY OEM+ (I think or he said Stage 1+) clutch. Other shops all were quoting me $1300 or more for same work.

Thanks again for the advice. I called around to PREracing and Superior Import Repair and both said it sounded like clutch slippage. SIR said they wouldn’t allow me to buy my own parts and I forgot to ask PRE, with both quoting me at $1300 to $1600 if flywheel needs replacing (aka surfacing won’t do). But both told me to just go with standard stage 1 instead of stage 2 since I’m completely stock, do you agree? SIR said stage 2 can cause extra wear on transmission as well. PRE recommended me an EXEDY stage 1 that’s slightly more forgiving than the standard one, can’t remember model number though. The part numbers on the rebuild paper for the clutch disk is 30100AA810, clutch plate is 30210AA550, bearing is 30502AA120. Flywheel part number is 12345AA010 (apparently dual mass).

Really didn’t want to hear that but I figured as much. Is that also why I’m having troubles pushing it into first? I live across the water from Portland, OR so thankfully there’s a large Subaru market around here. I’ll try to look up some places after work. Can I still drive my car, just make sure to get out of first immediately? I definitely give her the beans quite often after I see the gauge warm up, I was just afraid to redline and it’s really hard not to speed haha! I’ll make sure to drive it around more often and further. How much realistically should I expect to be paying? If I remember right from reading I should get a different clutch/flywheel from OEM, the WRX one or something? Thanks for the help.

To preface; 2 weeks ago I purchased my first car which is an MY05 RBP with a 5MT. It has a lot of miles at 187k but had a full engine rebuild with a new turbo, clutch, flywheel, etc. at 169k which was all standard OEM parts from the SKU numbers I checked on the paperwork. I've been really enjoying the car so far and can't wait to get the terrible head unit replaced with the JDM unit. Unfortunately, since this is my first car I'm bad with a manual and have killed it quite a few times, shifting improperly and bucking, etc. When coming off a stop I often over-rev on accident and jerk a bit, or I kill the car by not giving it enough gas. So, I'm having two problems: Recently as I've been getting better at not killing the car and bucking (still happens), I'm still finding it difficult shifting into first gear. It almost feels like it isn't slotting into place or engaging properly. I have no easy way to describe this as I'm really new to cars. I was thinking it might be the shifter bushings or synchros? Sometimes I noticed I can't even get it into first while my clutch pedal is shoved to the floor. Like today when pulling into my apartments, I tried to go into first from third after putting it in neutral after slowing down (between 5-10mph at most) for the turn in, and when I tried to put it into first, it just wouldn't slot into gear no matter what I did until I threw it into 2nd and buckled forward. I sat in my coworkers 4th gen WRX and the shifter still had a loose feeling, but actually sliding into gears felt smooth and like it was slotting perfectly into place. He tried my car and said it felt basically the same to him, but I notice how much firmer the WRX felt especially sliding into first gear compared to mine. My second problem is that occasionally - and in the last few days I've noticed it more - in first and recently second, as I press down the pedal, my revs climb fast, but my acceleration is much slower than usual. It also makes a very high pitched 'rrrrr' sound as if it's trying really hard but just not going that fast. Earlier today I was in first and it finally engaged properly and I felt a solid boost in first up to redline (first time ever revving that high) so I know what it should normally feel like, I just have no clue what could make it be fine sometimes and not fine others. I have no problems above second gear, with most of the time second gear giving tons of power. I typically drive to and from work (it's all short back roads) between first and third gear, as I never really go above 40mph. I do occasionally do small pulls along main roads but never really past 5.5k RPM or so. I recently changed my oil using 5W-30 Rotella with the RX-8 Tokyo Roki oil filter through reading on here about a week ago and it went well. I checked all my oil levels for everything today and all was fine except needing some washer fluid which can be taken care of at another time. So I fear that I've burnt out the clutch already and hopefully not the flywheel too as I really can't afford to replace either right now having just purchased the car. Thing is, I don't smell a burning smell when driving which is what I gather I should be smelling if it's a bad clutch. But I have no clue what that actually smells like and my nose isn't the best so who knows. As a side note, I've noticed that under the front dash I hear a gurgling sound. Could this be air in the coolant? The sound continues to happen for about 5 seconds after I turn off the car, but not always. It happened when I wasn't running the AC either, so I don't think it's the actuator motor that I read about on here. Would greatly appreciate any suggestions on what might be the issues here. Thanks for the help.