The new metal separator cover uses different hardware. The plastic cover used countersunk screws & the metal uses flat ones.
For the new hardware, not all 6 screws are the same. For some reason Subaru recommends installing the black screw with Loctite. Keep an eye out for that if you are doing this to your car. The black screw goes into the hole with the arrow pointing to it, presumably so you know which one will fight you the most if you need to remove in the future.
I applied a bead of RTV to the back of the separator cover & thoroughly cleaned the block where it will make contact.
The rear main seal and separator cover installed in just a few mins, hopefully this will help keep all the oil in the engine where it belongs
Attachment 4034
Leaking oil, it's what makes a 2nd gen, a 2nd gen...
We still love 'em anyways though.
if its not leaking oil, how do you know if it has oil?Originally Posted by Muse
Exactly!
I finished installing the new rear main seal and separator plate, everything went as planned. Once those bits were finished, it was time to pop the engine back in.
As the engine hovered over the empty bay I remembered angle the load balancer, so the front of the engine was tipped up towards the ceiling. My cousin came over to lower the hoist while I guided the engine into the bay and aligned the lower bell housing bolts. We managed to get the engine back in within 10 minutes or so!
It was later that night I realized I had never aligned & torqued the clutch or flywheel! Sooo... the next morning I pulled the engine back out & tidied that up.
Getting the engine back in alone was a nightmare! For whatever reason, I struggled to get those same bell housing bolts aligned. After playing with the angle of the load balancer for about 90 minutes, I was able to finally get the bell housing bolts to slide in place. Then I jiggled the engine and it slid in place a centimeter at a time...
Finally after a few hours the engine was back in, so I began to reassemble. All was going good until it was time to bleed the clutch (which I previously learned was a huge pain in the a$$)
Using my pneumatic bleeder, I put about 32 ounces of DOT 4 through the system. As usual, there was no air coming through the bleeder but the clutch pedal was soft...
As I stood there pondering this, for no real reason, I pressed on the clutch fork & depressed the slave cylinder. When I did this I noticed a few tiny air bubbles in the fluid reservoir. Intrigued by this, I continued to push on the fork & sure enough a couple larger air bubbles appeared. I got in the car and noticed the clutch pedal seemed slightly firmer. So I continued to repeat this process for about an hour, until eventually no bubbles were present in the fluid.
I don't understand how there could still be air in the system, I had even held the slave cylinder over the engine to ensure the bleeder fitting was the highest point to allow air to escape... At any rate, the pedal feels good now.
I reassembled everything, filled all the fluids and am happy to say the first few test drives were great!
Here's a pic of the new oil pan & Cusco engine mounts installed
Since I had installed a new oil pickup, pan, etc. I wanted to keep a close eye on oil pressure.
Being on a "budget" I opted for the Pro-Sport JDM gauge. I read a lot of reviews, and this gauge has features (digital display, programmable warnings) I wanted for a fair enough price.
It came with a small sending unit that I mounted to the firewall. I opted to use a couple feet of steel braided hose & plumbed the sending unit into the oil galley underneath the alternator.
I brought all the wiring through the same grommet I used for the boost gauge (I cut a smallish hole into the grommet to pull it through). Electrical was simple. I used some self soldering butt connectors (thank you Amazon) & wired the 12v & Accessory into the turbo timer harness.
I found a RHD A-pillar mount to hold the boost & oil pressure gauges. Some leftover black plastic conduit helped tidy up the hoses & wiring (I tried to pull them through behind the dash, but I wasnt able to get the dash aligned properly after).
Overall I am happy with the install, although it is a bit amateurThe gauge pod blends in well enough & is sturdy, & the gauge position is just right for me.
Since I still had a few weeks until the Autocross season began, & I knew the car needed an alignment, I decided to splurge (again). I found an awesome deal on a set of Whiteline adjustable rear lateral links & control arms.
Thankfully the underside of this BG5 is rust free, but i still made sure to treat all the OEM hardware with penetrating oil. I sprayed & resprayed each nut & bolt for a couple days before I put a wrench to anything.
During disassembly I used a tall screw jack to press the rear knuckle ( I had read this helps align the trailing arm & help when removing the lateral link / knuckle bolts)
Normally removing these bolts is a pain, because of their length & that they get rusted/corroded, it can be easy to break when trying to remove them.
The car gods were smiling on me, because I had both sides completed within 45 minutes (after 2 days of soaking in PB)
Here is a look at the new rear end, I'm bringing the car for a performance alignment later this week!!
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