I ended up buying stainless rivnuts and hardware on Amazon. I like the idea of stronger steel threads for something that may be used several times. I also found some nice black oxide bolts to keep my firewall all black which I think will look good. I'm also going to try some 1mm nylon washers to keep the bolts from digging into my painted panels. Hopefully they keep tension and don't relax over time. If they do I'll just remove them.
I'm having a hell of a time getting the ball joint stud out of the lower control arms. I soaked them both in penetrating oil overnight and still couldn't knock them off with a dead blow hammer. I was able to get 1 off with a gear puller which made a loud cracking sound when it came loose. I thought I broke the gear puller in half! The 2nd LCA isn't budging. The gear puller isn't grabbing well enough and it already slightly tore the steel in 1 area. I'm going to soak it in penetrating oil while I'm out of town until Sunday. Any other tips or tricks?
Ha...my tip costs money. Buy new parts! I gave up with our LCA’s and spindle knuckles.
818 "S"pyder delivered 11/27/20, using 2007 Impreza 2.5l NA donor. Work mostly being done by my son Liam...body work and paint being done by dad (that's me)
MK3.1 #6583RD, built from 2008-2019, sold 11/2011
I'm having a hell of a time getting the ball joint stud out of the lower control arms. I soaked them both in penetrating oil overnight and still couldn't knock them off with a dead blow hammer. I was able to get 1 off with a gear puller which made a loud cracking sound when it came loose. I thought I broke the gear puller in half! The 2nd LCA isn't budging. The gear puller isn't grabbing well enough and it already slightly tore the steel in 1 area. I'm going to soak it in penetrating oil while I'm out of town until Sunday. Any other tips or tricks?
Maybe this is basic and you know it already, but you aren't hitting the nut are you? I find that putting pressure on it with a clamp or jack (in the direction of trying to push it apart), then hitting the side of the taper always pops them lose. Put the pressure on it with your gear puller if you can while leaving the side of the taper housing clear to wack it with a hammer. It will come apart.
Wow. I have to admit that when I found my donor down in Georgia, I was somewhat disappointed in the drive I needed to take from NY to get it. Truth be told, I never intentionally thought to look for a car from the south, but now I am quickly realizing how lucky I was to back into it. These are my LCAs just removed from the car with no prep yet. The one ball joint stud simply fell out when I removed the nut. The other didn't, but I haven't even attempted to get it out yet.
Good luck with yours..... I've been having good success with Blaster penetrating oil.
Ha...my tip costs money. Buy new parts! I gave up with our LCA’s and spindle knuckles.
I looked up prices of new arms and was motivated to get this last ball joint off lol. However, $30 puller, $20 pickle fork, looks like I'll need 2 new ball joints $70, I'm going to paint these arms with Eastwood chassis paint ~$20, and about 6 hours of work... Maybe new isn't a bad deal
Originally Posted by FFRWRX
Maybe this is basic and you know it already, but you aren't hitting the nut are you? I find that putting pressure on it with a clamp or jack (in the direction of trying to push it apart), then hitting the side of the taper always pops them lose. Put the pressure on it with your gear puller if you can while leaving the side of the taper housing clear to wack it with a hammer. It will come apart.
Thank you for the tips! No I wasn't hitting the nut. That was how I had the arm when I was using the gear puller. I did try hitting the arm while the gear puller held tension with no luck. I went and bought a ball joint separater (aka pickle fork). After hammering that all the way in it still hadn't popped. So I started wedging wood under the handle and hammering that in. After 5 minutes of wedging it finally popped! Pics below to show my magic solution.
Originally Posted by roadrashrob
Wow. I have to admit that when I found my donor down in Georgia, I was somewhat disappointed in the drive I needed to take from NY to get it. Truth be told, I never intentionally thought to look for a car from the south, but now I am quickly realizing how lucky I was to back into it. These are my LCAs just removed from the car with no prep yet. The one ball joint stud simply fell out when I removed the nut. The other didn't, but I haven't even attempted to get it out yet.
Good luck with yours..... I've been having good success with Blaster penetrating oil.
My donor is from the south but these parts seem fairly beat up. I let PB Blaster sit on it for a full day.
Anybody know what size and grade bolt goes in the lower hole, of the front spindle to upper ball joint bracket? FFR supplies a 10.9 / M16 bolt for the upper hole and says to use the OEM strut mount bolt/nut for the lower hole. I'm missing the OEM hardware for the lower hole. I bought 8.8 / M14 hardware and now I'm second guessing myself if I should buy 10.9?
Anybody know what size and grade bolt goes in the lower hole, of the front spindle to upper ball joint bracket? FFR supplies a 10.9 / M16 bolt for the upper hole and says to use the OEM strut mount bolt/nut for the lower hole. I'm missing the OEM hardware for the lower hole. I bought 8.8 / M14 hardware and now I'm second guessing myself if I should buy 10.9?
Thanks Bob. I also bought 8.8 bolts for my LCA mount bolts. I'm going to return all the bolts today and get 10.9 hardware with some extra washers. I mocked up my front suspension last night to make sure all the sizes worked and I agree washers look necessary for hex bolts here. Unless I can find flanged hex bolts today. See my question in red below.
Originally Posted by Bob_n_Cincy
This is what I bought from Belmetric
12 x WFHV16 - Hardened Flat Washer (WFHV16) = $6.12
4 x BH16X1.5X40 - Hex bolt 10.9 (BH16X1.5X40) = $18.24 LCA Mounts? The largest I can fit is M14 without drilling the car mounts slightly bigger. I also have to twist an M16 bolt to barely thread it through the bushing mount. Did you modify for a bigger M16?
12 x NNH16X1.5 - Class 10 Nylock (NNH16X1.5) = $15.36
12 x NNH14X1.5 - Class 10 Nylock (NNH14X1.5) = $16.32
4 x BH14X1.5X60 - Hex bolt 10.9 (BH14X1.5X60) = $18.96 Spindle Bracket Upper Hole
4 x BH16X1.5X65 - Hex bolt 10.9 (BH16X1.5X65) = $19.52 Spindle Bracket Lower Hole
I was buying for 2 cars and the LCA mount bolts. So you may need to adjust your quantities.
Bob
Looking back, I used M14 donor bolts on the LCA mount with belmetric nuts and washers. I had to significantly grind my hole to make LCA bracket fit. I also used som m14 x 60mm on the rear spindle.
I found 10.9 hardware for the front suspension with all flanged bolts so that was nice. After mocking up my passenger side everything fit well so I stripped it back down to paint the bare metal pieces. I also painted my anti-roll bar cherry red which I think will look awesome up front.
I put my girlfriend to work riveting the bottom panels to the frame. We both really liked the air riveter. Having no stuck rivets made it quick work. The floor panels that came installed on the frame had some warping where they met the riveted panels, so I filled the larger gaps with extra RTV sealant to keep out debris and stop any potential sources for rattling.
Power steering lines have been deleted and it's looking much cleaner. One of the boots is torn and leaking so I'm waiting on a replacement.
I got the front firewall installed with some black rivets and it looks so good! The blacked out wall looks cleaner IMO.
I've been struggling for the last week to get the front axles separated. I've tried hammering and the pipe trick with 2 different sizes of pipe. No luck so far. If I get desperate I'll just drop them off at Subaru.
I've been taking everything off my car to paint it, so it still looks like a bare frame after a month. I'm excited to get my front suspension, steering rack, and anti-roll bar installed this week so it looks like I've been doing something with my time. The Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black paint I've been using for most of my metal parts seems to take a few days to truly harden. So I've been giving priority to those parts and painting them as soon as I can so they can start drying. While those dry I move onto other items. Rinse and repeat.
I've been struggling for the last week to get the front axles separated. I've tried hammering and the pipe trick with 2 different sizes of pipe. No luck so far. If I get desperate I'll just drop them off at Subaru.
Any chance the axles are aftermarket replacements? Others have had issues with those.
Any chance the axles are aftermarket replacements? Others have had issues with those.
I think at least 1 is aftermarket. If you look in my pic the inner joint has a smooth cup on the closer axle, and 3 large grooves on the cup on the axle behind it. I can't get the inner joint apart on the further axle and there are different grooves on the axle shaft itself under the boots too. I'm dropping them off at Subaru so they can pull them apart for me. I've spent enough time on these and I'm sure my neighbors are sick of hearing the thuds from using the pipe trick.
I can't get the inner joint apart on the further axle and there are different grooves on the axle shaft itself under the boots too.
Hi Mcamera,
On the inner CV joints, there is a 3" diameter wire ring that has to be removed. Then the 3-lobe slides out with zero force. See my picture below.
Last edited by Bob_n_Cincy; 12-01-2020 at 11:30 AM.
Called local shop to separate my CV joints - Recommended a machine shop they often use
Called machine shop - said they don't do that
Called Subaru - said they don't do that and recommended I call a local shop
Called another local shop - took axles to them and after 20 minutes they said they couldn't get it apart - recommend Detroit Axle
Drive 25 min to Detroit Axle - They popped 1 apart and said the other was a Chinese knockoff that they couldn't get apart with their machine. I told him all I needed was the CV housing so he cut the guts out and $50 later I am back on track!
Just a typical Tuesday of trying to complete 1 task in between meetings and work. Glad I bought the Factory Five axles for the rear.
I think at least 1 is aftermarket. If you look in my pic the inner joint has a smooth cup on the closer axle, and 3 large grooves on the cup on the axle behind it. I can't get the inner joint apart on the further axle and there are different grooves on the axle shaft itself under the boots too. I'm dropping them off at Subaru so they can pull them apart for me. I've spent enough time on these and I'm sure my neighbors are sick of hearing the thuds from using the pipe trick.
That's interesting, the further one with the green pain on the inner CV joint looks to be OEM. I would've expected that one to separate more easily. You may want to check the spline count on the Chinese CV joint, I've rarely seen aftermarket CV joints that are compatible with OEM/FFR shafts.
That's interesting, the further one with the green pain on the inner CV joint looks to be OEM. I would've expected that one to separate more easily. You may want to check the spline count on the Chinese CV joint, I've rarely seen aftermarket CV joints that are compatible with OEM/FFR shafts.
You're right the green one is the OEM. Bob pointed out there's a retaining clip on the inner CV joint of the OEM axle. On the aftermarket inner joint, there was no clip holding the tri-lobe in. That's why I was confused when the OEM didn't come apart as easily. I wasn't looking for a clip.
Both outer joints were installed in the front spindles when I got them so I know they fit. I bought new rear axles from FFR so luckily I don't need to reuse any of the front axles including the Chinese one.
Actually you need to keep the outer axle stub that goes back into the front spindle knuckle, and this gets bolted back into the hub with the large 32 mm nut. This is how the hub and bearings are retained on the knuckle.
818 "S"pyder delivered 11/27/20, using 2007 Impreza 2.5l NA donor. Work mostly being done by my son Liam...body work and paint being done by dad (that's me)
MK3.1 #6583RD, built from 2008-2019, sold 11/2011
Correct, I only need the outer CV housings which came to me installed in the spindles. So I know they fit. I don't need anything else from the front axles to assemble the rear axles, since I bought fresh FFR rear axles.
Figured you knew that...sorry if it was obvious! We are at the same stage and Liam just finished the front suspension install last night with the fully loaded front knuckle and hub.
818 "S"pyder delivered 11/27/20, using 2007 Impreza 2.5l NA donor. Work mostly being done by my son Liam...body work and paint being done by dad (that's me)
MK3.1 #6583RD, built from 2008-2019, sold 11/2011
Doesn't hurt to make sure what I'm doing makes sense haha. That's awesome! That's an ambitious Capstone project, I hope he's enjoying the build. I feel like this is a great experience to teach project management. You're constantly trying to plan and order items so they're available for you to work with, but something is always missing, late, or doesn't work the way you want it. It's keeping me on my toes. I've been waiting on a steering rack boot (donor was leaking) and new front lower ball joints (destroyed them during removal) to finish installing my front suspension/rack. The boot was on backorder but nobody told me until it was a week late. It'll be here Monday, 13 days after I ordered it with 2 day shipping.
Front spindles are painted even though I'm not sure you'll ever see them when the car is completed. I bought a pack of silicone plugs to cover threaded holes during painting and they have been really useful. I'd recommend them if you're painting a lot of items since they save on prep time and keep paint out of sensitive areas really well. I used close to 10 plugs on each spindle and it only took a minute with cleaner lines compared to tape.
My package with new front ball joints and a replacement steering rack boot were finally delivered yesterday. I ordered them on Nov 24th. I can finally finish installing my front suspension when I get back in the garage on Sunday.
I had a lot of trouble disassembling my rear suspension parts from the spindle. It's difficult when they're not attached the car and move around while you're trying to break free rusted bolts. The first rear link I was working on, came off without the bushing that remained rusted to the spindle bolt. I ended up cutting the bushing off but didn't want to do that for each of the other 3 bushings. So I went and bought a 4lb engineering hammer at Lowes. This thing is AWESOME. It broke free the other arm on the same spindle, and the other 2 arms on the RH spindle with several good whacks. I didn't think it would be that much better than a 3lb dead blow hammer but I was wrong. It transfers a lot more energy and can actually break free rusted bolts. Spend the $25 at the beginning of your build. It would have saved me a $40 bushing that took 3 hours to ruin, and helped me before I ruined the other 3 bushings.
I spent Saturday working on my rear-rear firewall before Bruce (1 of my dachshunds) slipped a disc in his back and I spent the next 3 days at the vet/neurologist. He's on 6 weeks of strict crate rest but is already recovering quickly. He's walking pretty well but Monday we have a follow up and we'll decide if he needs surgery. Before I left town on Tuesday I finished and painted my firewall with high heat, gloss black paint so it could cure for 7 days while I'm gone. I think it's going to turn out well but I wish I used thicker aluminum. All Lowe's had was 0.025" aluminum sheets and it's flimsy and difficult to work with. I would recommend at least 0.040" like most of the FFR panels. The 2 bottom panels will get black rivets, and the top 3 panels will get black 10-24 button head screws so they can be removed. I have some thin 1mm self adhesive seal I'm going to use between the panels and the frame.
Work looks very good. I'm glad you are taking good care of Bruce.
818S/C : Chassis #25 with 06 WRX 2.5 turbo, ABS, cruise, PS, A/C, Apple CarPlay, rear camera, power windows & locks, leather & other complexities. Sold 10/19 with 5,800 miles.
Mk3 Roadster #6228 4.6L, T45, IRS, PS, PB, ABS, Cruise, Koni's, 17" Halibrands, red w/ silver - 9K miles then sold @ Barrett-Jackson Jan 2011 (got back cash spent).
Feel better Bruce! My dog blew out his ACL a year ago. Who knew dogs could have such human (and expensive) ailments?!! ;-)
I've been powder coating some of my parts, so have the silicone plugs for that process. Agree they have come in handy while painting as well. Easy in, easy out...
Feel better Bruce! My dog blew out his ACL a year ago. Who knew dogs could have such human (and expensive) ailments?!! ;-)
I've been powder coating some of my parts, so have the silicone plugs for that process. Agree they have come in handy while painting as well. Easy in, easy out...
Pickup our kit a week from today! Can't wait.
Congrats! Good luck with the pickup and inventory. It's fun just going through the different parts.
Front suspension, steering rack, sway bar, and rear-rear firewall installed. I used 1.5mm thick, 1" wide foam in between the rivnuts for the firewall. My rivnuts stand out 1mm from the frame so this will fill the gap in between and hopefully stop any rattles from the panels. I found the foam on Amazon and now that I've used it, I can say it's high quality. Dense closed cell material, great adhesion, and rated -60-300ºF. Here's a link for anybody that's interested.
818 "S"pyder delivered 11/27/20, using 2007 Impreza 2.5l NA donor. Work mostly being done by my son Liam...body work and paint being done by dad (that's me)
MK3.1 #6583RD, built from 2008-2019, sold 11/2011
Thanks! The firewall will be removed for most of the build. I just wanted to line everything up before I riveted the bottom panel on permanently. Looking good you guys are moving quickly. Have you pressure/leak tested your fuel tank since it's common for the FFR tank to leak? Or considered an extra vent tube since it's difficult to fill with the inlet being half way up the tank? Are you going to do any foam/hydramat in the tank to help with the fuel starving issues?
I see you already have your engine in. I'm hoping to drop mine in within the next week. I'm going to change the spark plugs, engine mounts, swap in a Killer B oil pickup, and do the coolant pipe mod before I drop it in though.
Good luck with your engine install. If you can get a hand it’s not too hard, we were halfway up in the air with the engine on the hoist, and had to stop and think...and then my son and I had it in within 5 minutes. He’s the driving force behind the speed of our build.
Since we have a 2007 NA donor, our fuel pump is not what’s depicted in the manual. Got it figured out and yes, we are adding a dedicated large diameter vent right above the filler tube location. I’ve not considered filling or pressure testing the tank. Might be scared to try it now...he’s got electrical harness stung all across the tank and frame.
Last edited by Scott Meyer; 12-18-2020 at 07:50 PM.
818 "S"pyder delivered 11/27/20, using 2007 Impreza 2.5l NA donor. Work mostly being done by my son Liam...body work and paint being done by dad (that's me)
MK3.1 #6583RD, built from 2008-2019, sold 11/2011
I'm very close to dropping the motor in but I had a laundry list of items I wanted to do first:
- Wayne's coolant mod
- STI Group N engine mounts
- Killer B oil pickup
- Spark plugs
- Alternator
- Throttle body
The arm on the tensioning bracket for the alternator cracked, but luckily it's above the locking bolt so the belt's tension doesn't rely on it after the locking bolt is torqued down. It might have cracked from putting it in my dishwasher? I know cast metals are porous but I didn't think a 200ºF bath would be a problem for a part attached to a hot motor.
I also started to convert my transmission to 2WD, but I'll have to wait until I get the axles attached. The gears are spinning when I try to take off the last few parts so I can't get them loose.
Great progress- keep on it (and posting).
Maybe it's just me, but I am always surprised when I see the stock lateral links* with the sway bar mounts "not removed". Cut and grind those warts off!
*AC Delco makes nice adjustable ones for ~$100 a pair so you don't need to use/be limited by the eccentric mount bolt adjustment.
Ha! I don't even have my kit yet (on the board to pick it up next Monday!) but made sure I cut those ears off before I powder coated the links. They would have drove me crazy!
The arm on the tensioning bracket for the alternator cracked, but luckily it's above the locking bolt so the belt's tension doesn't rely on it after the locking bolt is torqued down. It might have cracked from putting it in my dishwasher? I know cast metals are porous but I didn't think a 200ºF bath would be a problem for a part attached to a hot motor.
I think maybe the previous owner tried to adjust the tension without loosening the locking bolt? While you are waiting on the axles, be sure to pop the race out of the back of the transmission housing if you haven't since you took the photo. Wouldn't want it rattling around inside. Very nice color on the control arms.
You can use a long blade screwdriver and “wedge” the gears inside the front axle I put shaft splines to keep the tranny from spinning whilst you use an impact gun to remove the subject nut. Same from reinstalling it with the 2WD conversion part.
If you’ve not already bugged Bob in shipping at F5, he and I have exchanged many emails and think they shipped us the POL parts for the upper IRS brackets today via FedEx
818 "S"pyder delivered 11/27/20, using 2007 Impreza 2.5l NA donor. Work mostly being done by my son Liam...body work and paint being done by dad (that's me)
MK3.1 #6583RD, built from 2008-2019, sold 11/2011
I also started to convert my transmission to 2WD, but I'll have to wait until I get the axles attached. The gears are spinning when I try to take off the last few parts so I can't get them loose.
I have to leave room for future projects right (upgrading the suspension/links)? I didn't even think about cutting off the old sway bar mounts.
That makes more sense for the alternator. I didn't realize it was cracked until I was installing it and the arm was wiggling a good amount.
I emailed David at FFR about the IRS brackets I'm missing. I'm still waiting on a corrugated tube that's been missed twice and shipped out 3 weeks ago? Who knows with the shipping this month haha. I'll take another look at wedging the trans so I can get that nut removed.
Thank you guys for pointing out the race I left in the trans! If it's not in the upcoming instructions I may have missed it.
I was up until 230am last night getting the motor in the car. It took me 5 hours... nobody else? Just me? My first attempt was a really steep angle that didn't look good so I backed it out and started over. I had to crank my load leveler all the way to one side and slowly inched it in. It was a very tight fit for the header heat shields on the bottom and the intake inlet on top. I removed the coolant bottle, a ground cable, and a mounting bolt for the intake so I could flex it under the top frame rail. I was literally sliding the engine in using the cardboard I wrapped on my frame. Then I put the trans mount bolts in first and I had 1" more to go for the engine mounts to find their slots. So I figured they were put on backwards. I took them off, swapped the mounts and brackets around, compared them to the OEM mounts, had a 5 minute talk with my imaginary friend, and we decided they were right the first time but needed to slide into place before the trans mount. Then I noticed that my engine hoist, on it's furthest setting, was hitting my frame so I couldn't slide the engine in the last 1". Eventually I pushed the engine mounts in place and pulled the trans mount into place. The trans mount is a little stretched just sitting there BUT!... the engine is in and nothing broke. Tonight we beer to celebrate.
Glad you got the engine installed by yourself! We decided to forego the load leveler and used three nylon straps, and one of us lifted / pushed the tail of the transmission to adjust the angle.
Thanks Bob for posting about the upper bearing race. I didn’t catch that on ours and realize we need to remove the transaxle cover and shatter that puppy out of there.
818 "S"pyder delivered 11/27/20, using 2007 Impreza 2.5l NA donor. Work mostly being done by my son Liam...body work and paint being done by dad (that's me)
MK3.1 #6583RD, built from 2008-2019, sold 11/2011
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Originally Posted by mcamera
