Boltonator

Fair enough a switched on one man owner-operator type or one make dealership tech who has VIN codes memorised might cry foul. But most I have dealt with have the mechanics that write up the sheet, check everything off then give the sheet to their receptionist who puts it into NZTA's system. Add in the complication that most Subarus in this country have 7A8 VIN numbers with the next 8 digits being a vague representation of the model the car is and you could fly under the radar. My post was mainly meant to be humour.

Endliiiinks! Turns out even the spendy Whiteline ones fail eventually, both went crook within 10000km of eachother. I also think I had them over-spaced with the washers they came with, my setup looked more like a Z then a straight link. Finally did rears too. No more noises..... for now

Thats why when I buy my next Subaru I want to be careful about what the Dealer puts down on the Rego sticker. I see in the case of one Impreza GT it read "2011 SUBARU IMPREZA GT 2.0 AWD AUT" like nah mate you only get the minimum: year, make and model so subtle changes won't get immediately flagged.

In the last week or two I have Found the source of my knocking sound. It was the infamous Bilstein knock from severe stiction on the seal/bushings. It sounded awful when doing tight turns. I did the stop-gap fix of lifting the car up slightly and greasing the tubes. It took quite a lot of manipulation of the car on a hot day to diagnose it, I was thinking a sway bar bush was stuffed. Done a 2300km road trip up to Auckland and back. First one in 3 years where there hasn't been some sort of minor issue. I removed the excess grease from the shocks when I got back. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes the knocking to return. My upcoming projects are to get the roof repainted (clear coat is crazing and deteriorating), change the accessory belts/pulley (car has just ticked over 160k km) and to fit a dash carpet as my dash is beyond stuffed. My goal is another 5 years from the car then it will be time to work toward getting something else.

More standard maintenance stuff Oil Change. Reboot and grease my second inner CV. Now I'm good for a while I think. The stuff that's been in there for 150000km is very liquid. Try to find the thing that thuds clunks knocks when I turn slowly nearer to lock. I see that brake pads, strut tops and Center diff are possible culprits. Car drives mint otherwise

Gearbox oil change yesterday with my 4 year old while my 1 year old was napping. Took off the intercooler to make my life easier for the filling. "Hmm that's a bit more oil than usual, better start saving for a new turbo" Got the funnel in the Gearbox fill point. Pour the oil in at a glacial pace so it doesn't burp everywhere. All good ~3L changed just like last time (5MT). "I'll just check that PCV valve....Ah buggery" When I did my turbo inlet swap in February I must not have seated the line from the tee to the PCV valve in properly and it has been disconnected with the line venting to atmosphere and the turbo inlet. I haven't exactly stayed off boost but it explains the bit more smoke I was getting when sometimes getting on it. If I have melted a piston I haven't seen any evidence so I will call it a lucky break.

Got my Legacy back from the panel beaters yesterday. I had an unfortunate incident with a post in my driveway during a dark and rainy night. The gudgeon that was sticking out of it tore up my rear quarter panel and smashed up the corner of my rear light. Looks shiny now.

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.