200k mile '05 OBXT 5MT build

Yay OBXT! MT or AT? Mine's at 133K.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

192.168.100.1 192.168.1.1

MT, this one is at 230k

last night after 71 days in the garage, I started the car. No CEL and it idled fine! I currently have the cob stage 1 93 octane map loaded. I did a few laps around the driveway but had a few issues, small coolant leak, power steering sounded horrible and was aerating the fluid, brakes were dragging.

This morning after doing some research I re-seated the return line to the power steering pump, and installed the belt shroud/bracket thing. This resolved my power steering issues. I then replaced the hose clamp on the coolant hose coming from the top side of the turbo, aired up the tires, and adjusted the parking brake. After doing a few more laps I drained out the cheap oil I had in the car, and did an oil change with Rotella t6 and a new filter. I drove the car down the road and went through all the gears, pushed it to about 5lbs of boost. Everything felt pretty good, going to take it easy for a while still. Here is the car out in the driveway, notice I tinted the front windows since the last update (my brother did). Car is also on coilovers in the rear and stock struts up front, hence the odd stance.

Update: I've put roughly 250 miles on the car, no longer taking it easy. So far so good, no drips drops or leaks to be found I was underboosting a little bit, so I flashed a cobb stage 2 high waste gate tune and it seems to be about right. Here is part of the datalog, this was a 4th gear pull up a small hill:

I still have some pretty serious cali lean, but I've been trying to put miles on so I can do a 500 mile oil change soon...

Once the coilover parts arrive I plan on running this wheel/tire setup, some lightly used 225/55/r17 Continental extreme contacts on wrx wheels.

The tint on the rear side windows is pretty faded and doesn't match the fronts in certain light, might get around to fixing that eventually.

You should add some parameters to your log. I’d add AF learning 1, AF correction 1, Feedback knock correction, Fine learned knock correction, and Ignition timing. If you can, also add AVCS L&R as well. What you’re currently logging tells very little about what the ecm is doing.

Realtime display on your accessport, depending on version, should include AF learn,1 AF correction 1, FBKC, FLKC, DAM.

Are you running a 3” downpipe? If not you probably should stick to stage 1.

You should add some parameters to your log. I’d add AF learning 1, AF correction 1, Feedback knock correction, Fine learned knock correction, and Ignition timing. If you can, also add AVCS L&R as well. What you’re currently logging tells very little about what the ecm is doing.

 

Realtime display on your accessport, depending on version, should include AF learn,1 AF correction 1, FBKC, FLKC, DAM.

 

Are you running a 3” downpipe? If not you probably should stick to stage 1.

I'll add those parameters and datalog today. I'll try to get a good picture but I do not think the downpipe is stock, seems pretty big and has a stainless part welded on the rear. The catback is stock however.

Pulled both cars in the garage today:

Here is the downpipe on the xt:

Added some parameters and did a datalog of a 3-4 gear pull up a decent hill. let me know what you guys think of this.

3rd:

4th

Ok so definitely looks like 3” downpipe so should be ok to be stage 2 ots. That fine learned knock is a little concerning but considering you’re running an ots tune not surprising. I’d definitely recommend a tune asap. Check the DAM in realtime or log it if you want. No real need for the dynamic advance in the log. You could replace it with DAM. If DAM is lower than 1.00 you should be cautious because it means timing is pulled globally to prevent knock. There is tons of info here on LGT and over at nasioc about knock correction. Read up! It’s very interesting and will help you understand what the ecm is doing. COBB also has a ton of basic info on their website.

Be cautious though and don’t get too carried away with boost right now till you get a proper tune because knock will make all your work up to this point worth nothing.

Ok so definitely looks like 3” downpipe so should be ok to be stage 2 ots. That fine learned knock is a little concerning but considering you’re running an ots tune not surprising. I’d definitely recommend a tune asap. Check the DAM in realtime or log it if you want. No real need for the dynamic advance in the log. You could replace it with DAM. If DAM is lower than 1.00 you should be cautious because it means timing is pulled globally to prevent knock. There is tons of info here on LGT and over at nasioc about knock correction. Read up! It’s very interesting and will help you understand what the ecm is doing. COBB also has a ton of basic info on their website.

 

Be cautious though and don’t get too carried away with boost right now till you get a proper tune because knock will make all your work up to this point worth nothing.

Okay thanks! I didn't see DAM but I'll look again, I'm using a v2 access port. I will definitely read up on it. I normally don't drive WOT (more like 80-90%) and even in these pulls I didn't rev it out much.

Here’s some good info from COBB if you haven’t already seen it

http:// https://www.cobbtuning.com/subaru-knock-monitoring-and-dit-knock-logic-changes/

Took the car on a golf trip today, had 4 people/3 golf bags in it. Did some more datalogging. I saw the DAM drop a few times but it returned to 1 pretty fast. The car felt okay.

I've put the DAM, Fine Knock Learn, and Throttle Position in yellow. I last filled up with ethanol free 91 octane from Holiday

Here is 3rd WOT:

Not sure what happened here:

Nice Outback! Recently picked mine up, also for the sum of $2500

Mine came lowered on Tein coilovers and with a plethora of goodies in the back including a Koyorad, headers, downpipe, TGV deletes, and a GFB BPV ready to install. Hoping to throw all those on at the end of the summer and get it tuned for a nice reliable winter car / second daily for when my truck gets torn apart for its new transplant.

Might even scavenge the ACT StreetLite flywheel and Stage 2 clutch I have in my Forester.

-Justin

Nice Outback! Recently picked mine up, also for the sum of $2500

 

Mine came lowered on Tein coilovers and with a plethora of goodies in the back including a Koyorad, headers, downpipe, TGV deletes, and a GFB BPV ready to install. Hoping to throw all those on at the end of the summer and get it tuned for a nice reliable winter car / second daily for when my truck gets torn apart for its new transplant.

 

Might even scavenge the ACT StreetLite flywheel and Stage 2 clutch I have in my Forester.

 

-Justin

$2500 already lowered, what a steal! How many miles? I dig the ski box, was thinking of putting my yakima rack on this car but not sure I can run my wind fairing with the sunroof, might go the box route.

Got my coils on and adjusted how I want them today, here is some pics:

The rear tint is really starting to bug me so that may get fixed soon. I've now put about 700 miles on the car since the engine was out, drove it on a 4 hour round trip drive last week and it did well.

$2500 already lowered, what a steal! How many miles? I dig the ski box, was thinking of putting my yakima rack on this car but not sure I can run my wind fairing with the sunroof, might go the box route.

It's got a good 200k on it, bone stock and still running strong. I liked the box too but unfortunately it didn't come with the car. Might throw a snowboard rack on it though

-Justin

Another update:

I've started running shell 93 octane fuel in the car and it seems to like it (on the stage 2 91 oct hwg tune). Had about 1500 miles of hard, problem free driving.

One morning I thought I was seeing smoke in my rear view mirror, so I pulled over and looked under the car. There was oil dripping from the timing cover on the passenger side . It was landing on the header causing smoke (no heat shield). I flat towed the car home and took it apart.

The oil was coming from the AVCS actuator on the passenger side. Leaking from the back plate near the gear, not the cam bolt cover. I did not replace the seals when I cleaned these out (there are kits on ebay shipping from Russia and I may order one for the future, but apparently subaru does not sell the seals as the actuator is not supposed to be serviceable) .

I also noticed the (new) timing belt had a big rub mark down it. After taking it off I saw this:

I believe the problem was how I put the cover above the crank gear on. There were rub marks on it. I did not know most kits come with a tool to space this cover. So for the cost of one Gates timing belt and component kit I now have the tool and will not forget to use it .

I had an extra new timing belt left over from my 98 forester, and almost considered using it. However I did not do components with the other belt, and the tensioner I had was a little suspect (compressed pretty easy). A Gates timing belt and component kit on rock auto was cheaper than a new Gates tensioner from the parts store anyways. The part numbers do not match up between the cars, but the belt specs are the same and it seemed to fit better than the Gates one. Here are some pics if anyone is curious about a NA DOHC belt on a turbo DOHC.

The belt brand is OMNI 5

Gates on bottom

Wrapped around the xt cam gear

I put the gates kit and belt on, as well as a new OEM AVCS actuator/cam gear for the passenger side. I left the old unit on the drivers side, hoping that one is sealed up better. I also put new o rings on the cam bolt covers this time lol. The alternator is missing in this picture because the one on my old outback died and I had to borrow it for a couple days.

I have been through about a tank and a half of gas since doing this and all seems well.

Did you space the guides for the 3 cam gears (on the corners)?

Yeah those were fine, just the guide on the crank gear was rubbing. I have put another 1000 miles on now since the new belt/AVCS actuator and there are no rub marks.

Time for an update! The car is mostly doing well (It is October now). I'll post a few pictures from over the summer and end with most recent...

spooky

Next to my other Outback

Next to my friends lowered H6 at the junkyard

GF bought a paddle board and I hauled it on a 3 hour drive with the xt.

Of course I had been running without the factory crossbars so I had to improvise. (broomsticks are good for 110mph fyi)

The car was down for a few weeks due to the rear U joint on the driveshaft being shot. I grabbed a driveshaft from a NA 5mt outback at the junkyard for $30 (luckily it was in excellent shape), swapped it out, then took the car on a 1000ish mile road trip. I had only put about 4k miles on at this point, and before the trip noticed both my rear tires were very worn. Also the car handled terrible in any sort of wet conditions.

Motel room by lake superior.

Dirty

These pictures were taken before the 1000mile trip...

Front tire

Rear tire... obviously a major issue.

After the road trip and another week of commuting to work, that rear tire blew out and I had to put my spare on to limp home. Spare is a snow tire from a 2012 forester I picked up as a project (needs engine)

I replaced both rear trailing arm bushings with a whiteline poly bushing and it seemed to help my handling in the wet a lot, so far so good for tire wear. I think this winter I will be parking it and tackling all the bushings in the suspension front and rear.

Old bushing, as you can see it was rusted out. Also snapped a nut off inside the body trying to remove the trailing arm brackets and had to cut a small hole in the floor under the rear seats.

At this time I noticed my intercooler end tanks were separating, so I picked up a used replacement local and ordered a reinforcement kit from ebay

Sitting on the snow tires.

This past weekend I took the car on another big road trip (600ish miles) with a car club I am apart of. It was snowing in this picture so the tire thing kinda worked out haha.

I can’t for the life of me find those intercooler reinforcement kits, mind posting a link?

This is the one I ordered, they accepted an offer of $75

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Subaru-LGT-WRX-FXT-The-Real-Bullet-Proof-Intercooler-TMIC-Upgrade/332739044634?pageci=6482bd9c-1f33-4ccb-a3d4-317ad25cc19f

Here is another update since I have not posted in 6 months:

I parked the car back in December and took insurance off it, believe it or not I don't want to drive it in the snow and I needed to resolve my tire wear issue anyways. Most of the winter I had mismatched wheels on it, and I accidently put a fb25 oil filter on when I changed oil last (as it was parked).

I was planning on driving my 2000 outback all winter, but I had a 2012 forester with a blown engine fall into my lap. I wound up putting a junkyard engine in the forester and selling my 2000 outback, then I let my girlfriend drive the forester while I drove her FWD escape for the winter so I could leave the XT parked. This obviously took some attention away from the XT but it turned out to be a good little car when I finished that project. FYI the junkyard quoted me $2200 for an engine when I told them I had a 2012 forester, but I wound up giving them the vin from a 2013 outback then they sold me a '14 legacy fb25 for $900. So there's a good tip if you have a forester with the FB25.

Eventually I got to work on the XT. I discovered it already had AVO sway bar brackets on it which I had never noticed before. I installed Megan racing rear toe/camber arms, new lgt rear upper control arms, a whiteline (21mm?) rear sway bar and moog endlinks. The toe adjustment bolts were rusted so my dad cut the arms off with a torch for me, and helped me do the bushings in the hub where the toe arm bolts. I just replaced the toe adjuster bolts with a straight bolt. There is a washer on each side of the subframe. I considered welding the washers to the subframe to make sure the bolt wouldn't be able to move, but it seems to be fine as is. I also tried out a cobb SF intake also but I didn't like the sound so I just replaced my K&N drop in filter.

Some of the old parts vs new

Notice the toe bolts.

All the new parts in one shot

About 3 weeks ago (early may), I changed to oil, eyeballed the rear toe, put the stock wheels/cooper cs3 all seasons back on then started to daily the car again. I drove it for about a week as it was, then took it to the Subaru dealership for an alignment and the takata air bag recall. I dropped the car off, they didn't ask any questions, didn't quote me any extra service, passed everything in their inspection, and the tech did an excellent job on the alignment. The xt has 242,000 miles at this point. I checked and made sure everything was snug just to be safe, and it was. 3 days before that appointment I took the forester in (which just rolled 150k) for the airbag recall at the same dealer. In their inspection they found a lot of things and recommended about $1500 of work including the 60k mile service, tires, alignment, oil leaks, burnt out bulbs, etc. I passed on that offer with the excuse that I just replaced the whole engine, then they asked me if I had changed the spark plugs

Anyways, this past weekend I drove the xt 3 hours away to run an autocross with a few friends. The car made 7 runs at the event, then drove through an hour of heavy rain on the way home at highway speed. Before the toe/camber arms the car was squirrely at 45mph in the rain, now it finally feels stable. I should have photos from the event soon and will post here. My best time in the outback was 44.6 seconds. My friend ran 44.1 seconds in a stock 2014 civic si. We had a blast and really got to push the cars hard.