Boltonator

Range has never been an issue with the Legacy wagon (BP5) thankfully. 720km is the most I have done in one tank in the North Island over summer. I think it was New Plymouth to Taupo, some shagging about and then to Paraparaumu. I suppose with all fuel being imported these days there's no strong reason for there to be supply issues on the premium grades. Compression ratios are going up too for dat fuel economy.

It has been a few years.... I see earlier in this chat that the Queenstown/Wanaka area was a big question mark for 98 but they now have it at Wanaka at the new BP just before the township. I didn't see it in Queenstown. I visited both for the airshow. Currently sitting at $3.32 before 6c loyalty card discount. Cromwell reports having it as well on the website. Wanaka does not, but I gave them a call before I travelled down and filled up there twice. I also saw two NPDs in Cromwell and Frankton with 100+ Octane Greymouth also has 98 at their Mobil as well as their BP.

Did you ever get to the bottom of this? My 5th gear in my Legacy has done this for years but it got louder when I changed my Transmission mount and Pitch mount for STi items last year. I have a broader range of speeds from 85kph up to maybe 110. It only gets so loud for me and my driving style means that I don't really boost much in 5th.

Haha updating the last post to say that after two and a half weeks of being down I got my car sorted last night. I decided to order an aftermarket turbo inlet from Pro Speed Racing in Australia. I also picked up the turbo elbow gasket and bought some intake gaskets too. My old intake gaskets were the ones where they basically glued some silicone rings to some shim-stock, so I got some thick Radium ones. Fitment of the new turbo inlet isn't ideal as I was having a battle getting some sharply milled barb fittings onto some old and stiff vacuum lines (mainly the PCV/breather ones). No one near me had the large PCV hose only the smaller stuff. Its a little crooked at the turbo but its engaged, clamped and not leaking as far as I can tell. Its nice to have a quiet car again. Those old little Corollas are loud AF at highway speeds.

Regarding Q6. These cars already have a 12mm oil pump. I think its because along with supporting the usual turbos and bearings they have 4 AVCS solenoids to feed as well.

Big week for the tinkering. Pulled the manifold today. Got the valve deleted, valve cut out and the pipe blocked. The PBMS plate and the exhaust gasket probably have 1mm overlap at the worst but I think it will hold The only casualties were a turbo inlet that was probably borked anyway and a turbo elbow gasket that broke from my carelessness. Ill inquire about those parts tomorrow, Ill probably just get an acceptible condition used OEM replacement inlet. I have also had poor luck with wheel bearings having had a sound quickly develop in the front, in the last week. Lifted one wheel, noisy spin, replaced hub. Test drive, sound persists but its just quiet enough with one new bearing to hear the other one get louder and sharper pitched in the turns you'd expect. Ill have to replace it tomorrow, its disassembled already. Im YOLOing it and going aftermarket with GSP ones from BNT for now more because I can walk in and buy them. Thank god I have a Corolla for emergencies. The big goal is to have it back together to cruise somewhere with Mrs Boltonator for Valentines day.

So you would pull the manifold before you would pull the up pipe? The pedant in me wants to blank it off closest to the source but the other option would allow me to check my banjo bolt as well. Options options.....

Deleted the easier of the two Secondary Air pump combi valves and put the PBMS blanking plate on the back of the head. I had hopes that the exhaust noise that I was hearing on startup was from the easy valve but alas it was not the case and I have to do the right side one before it fails completely. Its only a matter of time with the NRV stuck open. I'll probably leave the other valve in place and just blank the back of the head after I remove the up pipe. I could cut the pipe but I don't know what kind of access I'm going to have with the turbo still in place.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I bought one of the knockoff turbo blankets off AliExpress last year. Smoked a bit to start off with but hasn't caught fire or anything yet. The only negative is that it doesn't cover the inlet to the turbo very well. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33000085676.html I also bought some snazzy Subaru logo valve caps too

I probably won't before my next change interval in 25000km but I'll get some then. As I said it's just a short interval between cold and hot where it isn't the best feeling (am I feeling each cone synchronise?). Its mint at all other times especially once warm.

I use Penrite Trans Gear 75w-90 for my BP5. I can't say it is awesome but it is adequate. There's a bit of a period between being cold and fully hot where 3rd gear has to be engaged gently at low rpm or it doesn't feel quite right. I have it in the diff too.

It looks like all FA and FB engines are timing chain based. I can't speak to any issues. Are you getting a PPI, I find them very helpful. Just make sure you get all the pages of the report.

On the later cars the diagrams show a filtered air source (usually in the turbo inlet) and then a vacuum source which you have now repaired. Both ends have a duty solenoid valve. Unless there are some non returns in the system you would have had a very slight air leak post MAF when the system was energised. Good find! Edit: It is possible that they both are vaccum sources for both boost and off-boost conditions. Double Edit: Looks like there have been myriad revisions of the system over the years so disregard my ramblings

I assume you have ordered and received your plugs already. I will vouch for the Green Sparkplug company as well. I bought a set of 4 ILFR6Bs in December two years ago and they came and were as advertised. Shipped from the UK so it took a little bit of time to arrive but I sat on them until I did my cambelt and idlers a couple of months later anyway. No drivability issues in the 30000km they've been in my car.

Holy heck what is the mileage on the thing? I wouldn't be surprised if they were the factory plugs.

I think even if I change an engine or make it spit fire or anything cool I will refrain from posting here until someone else does I did change my Transmission Mount for a Group N this week. Awesome mod! What surprised me wasn't the actual gearbox related benefits (no jerking in 1st, direct acceleration) but how solid my car feels when a bump upsets it. Before the car felt vague over railroad tracks or any kind of bumpy terrain and I thought that the suspension had seen better days. But what I was likely feeling was the Transmission swinging around under the car, now its locked in place and the car glides over the rough stuff. My wife is going to get a surprise when i wring out the car, its quite shouty inside at higher rpms.

The followup to my last post was that I must have nicked my Axle seal doing the job because I lost about 0.5L of gear oil over the space of a week and 400km and had spots in the driveway. I put a new one in today. Touch wood it has sorted the leak. It must be one of those items Subaru of NZ mark up a heap because I paid nearly $50 for it. The boot kit was only $85

I rebooted my first CV axle today with a OEM kit. Grease was sporadically leaking from the small clamp on the inner PTJ boot. Oddly enough it wasn't the one next to the downpipe. Once I had it apart I very quickly found out why. The grease was very liquid. I could pour it out. I wonder whether they just do that or whether it has been diluted with water. Regardless, it was a phenomenally messy job. The OEM clamps are specific to the diameter of the boot. Took a bit of tinkering with a set of pliers and a g-clamp to get them tightened up. I got told by the Subaru shop that the mechanics don't like using them and I could see why. Reading horror stories on the internet made me prepare for a fight with the axle nut and hub but a foot on my 2 foot breaker bar and a 6 point 32mm socket did the trick. It didn't even let go with a bang it was that disappointing.

"I must align the center crank FIRST and then put the camlocking took on. I must not remove the tool until the new belt is on and tensioned? What if the two cams are slightly out of time due the the age of the belt and need to be realigned. How can I adjust the timing of the two camshafts if they are locked together?" -Yes you keep the tool on until the new belt is on. It doesn't need to be fully tensioned to take the tool off, the teeth just need to be engaged on the sprockets. I must have turned the engine over 20 times before I was satisfied and pulled the tensioner pin. The tool has wrench flats for turning the sprocket when the tool is on and there is a bolt to provide tension to lock it in place. When you set the crank mark to the correct position the belt should align the marks that face each other on the two sprockets. If these are not aligned due to a stretched belt then you would have to make a small adjustment to make them line up. It was easy enough to just have 'enough' tension on the tool and then turn the sprocket. Both of the intake (upper) camshafts are AVCS and not just the right hand one? -On the EJ20Y and X all four are AVCS. If there's a cover over the Allen bolt then it's AVCS. When you mention the right hand side, you mean looking into the engine bay correct? Not in relation to the direction of the vehicle and the engine. -The Camshaft locking tool goes on the LH sprockets or the passenger side sprockets. So I believe I am referring to the driver's point of view but I my have made a mistake somewhere in my wall of text. Quite a few kits I have seen come with seals. Are these seals for behind the camshaft sprockets? These are optional and not necessary for just a belt replacement right? -Yes they are optional as far as belt replacement goes. There are lots of opinions on the internet regarding the frequency and necessity of replacing them. The most common is that you should replace the camseals as a preventative measure. That is what the mechanics certainly recommend but the average consumer doesn't want to have to go back to the shop and duplicate work just to save a hundred on parts. Others say that they should only be replaced if there is evidence that one is leaking. A severely leaking one can compromise the integrity of the belt. Certainly if one is leaking then you would be remiss if you did not replace them all. For my own particular car they made a change from a black rubber cam seal to a tan coloured one midway through the 4th generation that from internet anecdotes doesn't seem to fail at the same rate as the ones before. Camseals can leak for other reasons that are not wear related like a blocked PCV valve (excessive crank case pressure). I feel like I need a Wikipedia-esque [Citation needed] because a lot of this comes from internet research I did while preparing to do my own timing belt. Best of luck.

I was also a bit worried about buying a turbo Subaru but I have found my 2008 manual Legacy to be quite reliable. I have found that it is quite fussy about the fluids I put in though. I am quite fastidious about performing the scheduled maintenance (generally done by myself). At 100,000km I wouldn't be worried about head gaskets (turbos have meaty ones) but whether the timing belt (+ idlers + waterpump) service has been done. One of my idlers was very dry and would undoubtedly have failed if I had just replaced the belt.

Based on the other jobs you have done in the past there shouldn't be a steep learning curve for timing belt replacement. The tools that will assist you in your job are the Camshaft locking tool for the LH Cam Sprockets, a 2 foot breaker bar and a Torque Wrench as the idlers need to be torqued to specific settings. The camshaft locking tool is to lock your cam sprockets into position before you start removing the belt and pulleys and helps you put the belt on correctly after everything is back together. Do read up on other people's experiences and watch some Youtube tutorials because there are a few pitfalls that can be traps. I did this job in the summer and haven't had any issues so far. If you had an Auto you would also need the wrench that holds the Harmonic Balancer Pulley still so that you can bust off the 22mm Nut. But with the Manual you can just set it to 5th Gear with the handbrake on and that should lock the engine up enough to undo that nut. I also got a proper 10mm allen bolt tool and loosened the Camshaft sprocket bolts because I want to be able to loosen them in the future. My procedure was Remove the Battery and the Air box (access more than anything, was also doing Sparkplugs at the same time) Remove the Coolant, Hoses and the Radiator (radiator can be kept in but it makes life difficult). The fans can stay attached to the Radiator assembly, just remove the two connectors on each side at the bottom. Remove the Accessory drive pulleys and the A/C Tensioner Remove the bolts that hold on the plastic cover for the timing components Lock the car into 5th with the Handbrake on and bust the nut off the Harmonic Balancer. Put that nut back onto the Crank timing sprocket and rotate the engine over until all of the marks line up. Optional: Slightly loosen and retorque the Allen bolts (to roughly 75nm but its really something like 37nm plus 45°) if you're not replacing camseals because it should make replacement easier down the road. If you don't have impact rated sockets you will bend the sockets, these bolts are made insanely tight over time by the AVCS system. Loosen all of the guides around the Crank pulley Remove the front covers of the AVCS pulleys. Put your Camlock tool on the right two pulleys. Remove all of the pulleys, the tensioner and the waterpump. Reinstall in reverse. You need to align the marks on the new timing belt with the sprockets. The 'Key' mark on the belt is a dotted line that goes onto the top of the Crank pulley. Use a bit of oil fliter box folded in half to set the distance for the timing belt guides over the Crank, RH bottom and LH sprockets. It should slide in with just a little bit of friction. It takes time because when you turn those bolts often it pushes the guides in a certain direction. One big thing that catches people out is that once you have the pin pulled on the tensioner often the LH pulleys won't perfectly line up. As the belt settles in these will line up so its nothing to lose sleep over. Turn over the engine a few times to check that the belt is keeping good alignment. Removing the sparkplugs before doing this job makes it easier to line things up and turn over the engine. Dont remove the belt until you have everything aligned and that camlock tool on. Use genuine Subaru components, if you can find the part numbers from the OEM suppliers then those are good substitutes but I just threw $650 at the Subaru dealership and came out with a box of everything i needed.

Had a bit of a field day recently with the BP5. I removed the turbo heat shield and trimmed off the piece that bolts onto the downpipe for ease of removal in the future. I also took out the lower heat shield as it never stays in place. I was looking for ease of engine removal in the future. I am considering installing a turbo blanket but the good ones look more like engine bling so I don't really know if they're considered a good mod or not. My so called heat shield noise is actually wastegate flutter confirmed by moving the actuator. It only used to happen after going onto boost and heating up the turbo but I could replicate the noise by wiggling the actuator with a pair of pliers when the car was parked and then going for a drive. Its not adjustable so I guess I'm living it for the moment. It stops once the manifold goes into vacuum a few times. I also pumped up the tyres to 35F and 34R because the fuel prices are kicking my ass at the moment. Got 7.4L/100km on a nana cruise to Greymouth and back so that was good.

Perhaps not today but in the last week. Did my first timing belt change after about a year plus of doing the research online. Used a genuine kit from Armstrongs. Setting the belt guide spacing was interesting as well as nearly stripping out the small pulley bolt due to bad info on the internet. All in all it runs great. There was that little niggly thing where the right side pulleys didnt line up perfectly after pulling the tensioner pin. Also did the sparkplugs. I loosened the engine mounts and lifted the sides of the engine both individually putting a tilt on the engine. Got the plugs in well but it took me a week to figure out that the rattling that ensued after was because of a heat shield bolt that came loose. Took quite a few extensions through the downpipe tube to snug it up.

In Hokitika our local BP has dropped 95 octane entirely and now offers 98. We also have NPD 100+. I think BP werent selling enough 95 with NPDs killer prices.

I got the 08 Leggy GT back today from the mechanics. The Secondary Air pump had failed causing sporadic fault codes which would go and then come back a little while down the road. They sent the ECU away for a remap, to get the Secondary pump turned off in the system so it's now a vestigial lump on the engine. I think they also put in a new tune or applied the corrections to the basemap, because I usually blow a fair amount of black smoke if my ECU gets reset when I do my first pull which then goes away with subsequent pulls as the ECU adjusts its AFRs. Anyway it's awesome. I was just glad it wasn't caused by the change in Oil type that I put in 2000kms ago. Moved from Castrol Edge Titanium to Penrite HPR5, both 5W-40. Also got my brakes chamfered to stop an annoying squeak.