nepbug's 01 Outback - 9/10/2025 Tying a Bow On It

[superu]

[nepbug]

I forgot to document this one a little while back, but I did a quick little upgrade of the shift knob. Swapped out the uninteresting plastic OEM one for an 05-09 LGT knob. Just a bit nicer. Now I need to get around to swapping in the nicer shifter boot that I have.



I also swapped in a new positive battery terminal today, the old one was needing to be retired pretty badly. Trying to tie up a few things before cold weather really sets in. I hope I get a few minutes this weekend to go out and loctitie all my fuel hose clamps.

[nepbug]

Cold weather is coming, but it was beautiful out today, so that meant it was time to repair my heated seats. I only had the seat bottoms working, so I just needed to replace the seat back heating elements.

Disassembly is pretty straight forward, the only tricky part if the back cover. To remove it you have to slide it up, pull out the bottom and then slide it back down.



You could see where the element burned up and broke.



I used zip ties in place of the hog rings that I had removed. Just remember to mind the direction if the zip tie heads so that you can access the tails to clip them off.




The 8-way power seat is a little trickier because you can't manipulate the seat back without power, but still wasn't that difficult.

[dna]

Is the heated switch trim piece different between the single cup and double cup consoles? I got the switches from an 01 and the trim piece is way bigger than the slot on the double cup console.


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[rkrenicki]

Is the heated switch trim piece different between the single cup and double cup consoles? I got the switches from an 01 and the trim piece is way bigger than the slot on the double cup console.


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Sounds like you answered your own question The switches are the same, but the insert is not.

[nepbug]

Haha, yep. I do believe I switched to the newer trim piece when I switched consoles.

95-04 heated seat switches all fit in the same and have the same plugs. It just depends of you want smooth switched our textured switched.

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[dna]

Yea I meant to reply back I kinda answered that when I posted it haha so I don't need new switches just the trim piece?


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[nepbug]

Yea I meant to reply back I kinda answered that when I posted it haha so I don't need new switches just the trim piece?


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Yep.

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[dna]

Got my heated seats wired in last night, thanks for the write up it helped out a lot.


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[nepbug]

Got my heated seats wired in last night, thanks for the write up it helped out a lot.


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Good to hear. Heated seats is definitely one if my favorite mods. I never realized how much I'd use them until I had them.

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[dna]

Definitely, that and the auto start on my forester is my favorite on a cold winter morning.


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[nepbug]

Definitely, that and the auto start on my forester is my favorite on a cold winter morning.


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I've got an auto-start sitting in my garage waiting for me to install it in my Forester. I'm envious you've got yours installed and going, seems like it will be a nice feature. What unit did you go with? I've got a Viper 5704V.

[dna]

I'm not really sure what kind it is, it was installed when we bought it. I will look into it though, I'm thinking about getting one for the Wagon.


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[Cooper197]

I've got an auto-start sitting in my garage waiting for me to install it in my Forester. I'm envious you've got yours installed and going, seems like it will be a nice feature. What unit did you go with? I've got a Viper 5704V.

They're a PITA to install, but totally worth it. I had the Python 5706 (Same thing as the Viper) in my '97 Legacy and loved it.
Just have to remember to set the HVAC controls to what you want before you exit the car!

[nepbug]

Finished my winter prep of the Outback today.

Loosened all of my fuel hose clamps that are near the block/intake manifold (4 on passenger side and 4 on driver side), added red loctite to the threads and then tightened them in an orientation that gives me access without taking too much off. No surprise fuel leaks from those clamps backing off in cold weather like last year, that sucked spending an hour chasing leaks in 5°F weather.

I also tightened up the clamps around the fuel filter (no loctite there) and found a few to be "not tight".

[superu]

Good to hear. Heated seats is definitely one if my favorite mods. I never realized how much I'd use them until I had them.

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COPY THAT, even in the desert (but this desert gets coooold

[nepbug]

Hit the 200k mile milestone yesterday sometime, bummer I missed it rolling over. That means I put about 24k miles on it in 14 months, woowee the new commute adds miles fast. Plus we do most of the household running around in it to keep miles off the other cars. it's been a workhorse.



I also picked up a remote timer for the oil pan/block heater this winter. This way I can plug it in the night before and in the morning just use the remote fob to turn it on from inside the warm house.

[dynonacht]

Congrats on the 200k, i missed 175k on my outback coming home from Arizona. Put 50+ thousand on mine since last January. Crazy how miles stack up.

[nepbug]

Congrats on the 200k, i missed 175k on my outback coming home from Arizona. Put 50+ thousand on mine since last January. Crazy how miles stack up.

Dang, you're putting 1000+ miles a week on it? Wow.

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[dynonacht]

Sorry, January of 2014. For a while I was at 120 miles a day.

[nepbug]

Sorry, January of 2014. For a while I was at 120 miles a day.

Ah, that's just a bit more then my pace. I'm about 75 miles/day commuting.

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[nepbug]

Just posting a quick picture of a rare (to me at least, this is the only one I've ever seen) rear wiper delete plug for second gen wagons. This will be going up the hill to @Go Mifune for his track wagon.





For completeness sake, the inner section has a diameter of ~35.5mm and the larger part has a diameter of ~50mm.

Little more info, it appears the part number for the wiper delete plug is 86515AC000 for anyone wanting to pick one up from the dealer.

[nepbug]

I put the outback up on a lift yesterday and did some inspections of the undercarriage. Everything looks good except the headgasket on the right side, it's moved beyond a weep and to a drip.

I might be one of the few people that is excited to have to do head gaskets, time for some upgrades!

I've got an extra set of heads in the garage so I'll start porting/polishing them and I'll send the cams off for a regrind at Delta. I'm thinking 1000 grind, but might go for 1500 grind, anyone have any opinions on the matter?

I might even build a rudimentary flow bench to do some flow testing and possibly velocity tune the heads.

[Yamazaki]

I guess another positive thing is that (in my limited experience) the bolts in areas that have oil all over them (from leaks) don't shear off due to rust. They are actually decent to deal with (even if really dirty).

[Yamazaki]

Oh, and as for the cam grind, I know @Airgne has 2000/1000 cams on his car. But he may not be able to chime in how he feels about them in a timely manner, depending where he is at the moment.

[nepbug]

Oh, and as for the cam grind, I know @Airgne has 2000/1000 cams on his car. But he may not be able to chime in how he feels about them in a timely manner, depending where he is at the moment.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that combo grind. @Airgne's car was the first one I had seen that on. Dammit, more choices.

I think I've got a couple of months still, I plan on doing this in the spring, but I'll keep an eye on things to see if I need to accelerate the schedule. This does give me motivation to get my Impreza done and on the road again too.

[Go Mifune]

Delta cams. I'll be keeping an eye on this.

[nepbug]

Ok, there was some brainstorming tonight about a possible head flow bench, here's a thought:

Go to a junkyard and get a MAF sensor, ECU, MAP sensor and OBD2 port from a car, all with pigtails and wire it up so that you can use the ECU to read the MAF and MAP signals and you log it via the OBD2 port. Sounds simple, but I would bet I'd need to simulate some other signals to fool the ECU, but maybe not. I could always go with manometers or magnahelic gauges, but I like the ability to log it and not having to get a calibrated orifice plate to get an actual flow number.

Also, I'm trying to think how important it would be to have a 99.5mm tube on the combustion chamber to simulate the engine cylinder and any shrouding it may contribute.

For future reference, here's some flow numbers for some Subaru heads
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=2034555

[nepbug]

Alright, parts ordered:

Valve Cover grommets: 13271AA071 x 10
Filler tube o-ring: 806923060 x 1
Spark Tube Seals - 10966AA030 x 4
Oil Pump O-Ring - 10991AA001 x 1
Head Gaskets - 11044AA642 x 2 (STi MLS gaskets, will raise compression slightly)
VC Gaskets - 13294AA053 - x 2
Intake Gaskets - 14035AA383 x 4
Cam Seals - 806732150 x 2
Crank Seal - 806733030 x 1
Cyl 4 Wrist Pin O-Ring - 806931070 x 1
Cam Plug - 807045040 x 2

That should just about cover it for what I need and stuff to do while I'm in there, might reseal the oil separator plate too. Now to get the cams sent to delta for the regrind and start a port/polish of the heads. We'll see what seals for the valve train I end up needing.

[Airgne]

So yes I do have 2000/1000 grind delta cams. I love them. I have factory crank HP/TQ at the ground so it is one of the best mods I could have done.