Time for an update! I was off traveling for a friend's wedding, and the shop is getting
way too full with multiple beetles exploded...but here we are.
The welding on the body shell is now complete. I have my buddy Bob to thank for that. For some odd reason he really enjoys thin sheet-metal welding. He must be ill or something :P
While waiting for the 'ok' to run the car down to the body shop, I've tried to start dealing with a number of the items needed on the Subaru swap. I pulled out my bins of Subaru-Swap items, and discovered that I don't actually have everything that I need for the swap. It looks like I (likely) scrapped the motor that came out of my donor, probably when I moved seven years ago. At the time I had one or two running Subarus that I was using as 'daily drivers' so it would have seemed logical. But one of those Subarus, my wagon, is a 2.5i engine with variable valve timing and the drive-by-wire throttle. Neither of which I want in the car. My '05 that we just yanked the motor out of, rats had destroyed the wiring harness in many places...so it's just a good core longblock I can use.
In doing some detailed research, I need to have the following from the same car: Wiring harness, under dash harness, intake manifold, cam/crank gears, intake wiring harness. Hmph.
In my current stash:
- Wiring harness from a 2002 - missing the "intake harness".
- Engine and intake from a 2005 DBW - missing the intake harness (rats)
- A boat load of rebuild parts and timing belt kit to match the 2005.
This leads me to three options: find yet another Subaru donor to strip, find a parts car / wrecking yard that has the right year/model for me to pull my missing bits from, or just accept DBW and variable valve timing and part out my wagon. Hmmmmm. As I was contemplating this, a guy walked up to me at the car wash in town and asked "Hey, any chance you need a parts car?" Um, yes? So I have a tentative deal on a running, driving, Subaru Legacy. More updates soon!
On the transmission side, I have two transmissions to work with (currently). The first is a "known good transmission" I purchased from a local rally shop, and the second is the one I just pulled out of my 2.5RS Rat-infested parts car. The rally shop transmission is most desirable, because it has the diff-studs that I need for use with the Subarugears parts...so lets open it up! The fact that there are broken parts floating around the centre diff, not a great start...
We haven't even gotten to the drain plug at this point...but pulling good sized metal bits out of cavities here does not bode well. Sharpie for scale.
Ahhh, there's your problem. It would appear that 3rd gear has left the building.
The rear diff casing has a good score mark on it, but may still be okay to swap over into my newer transmission. I may also just take the circlip axle stubs and see if they will fit in the spring-clip front diff. I can't find any definitive answers as to whether this is OK or not.
But onto the second gearbox...
This one is fortunately clean inside, and has all the teeth where they should be.
Unfortunately, the speed sensor was damaged, and seized to the case. The whole assembly came out in pieces, and I have to find an exploded parts diagram and manual to figure out how to pull the GOOD pieces out of the parts transmission to put into this one. I also may need to buy a really large tap to clean out the threads for it, because I can't seem to get them clean with a pick and brush, and don't want to damage the aluminum case.
So that's where I'm at. Body ready for the body shop (but haven't heard back that they are good to take it)...can't start on the floor pan because my shop is out of space. And four steps
backwards on the Subaru swap :P
-Dave