TheSamba.com :: View topic - The "great-life-lesson-on-limits-and-not-cheapening-out" Syncro

Sun Feb 02, 2020 8:01 am

Thanks, I'll keep an eye on them. If they become a pain to keep replacing I'll make bolt in brackets. I also still have the original clips, I could wrap them in rubber/EPDM or something.

Sun Feb 02, 2020 10:22 am

djkeev wrote: If these are run if the mill home depot or similar zip ties, they won't hold up.

That's an interesting warning. I used Home Depot zip ties for my heater pipes on my '91 over 6 years ago and none of the zip ties have failed in that time.

Sun Feb 02, 2020 3:10 pm

I guess I need to start looking out for the Zip™ brand ties.

My heater fan motor was completely seized up for a while, and I successfully got it back into functioning condition by lubing it up and working the fan blades manually to free everything. Check out the Mullendore Port thread for details.

Sun Feb 02, 2020 5:02 pm

Nice. With a little care and PB blaster I have done the same, but I bought a new blower motor just in case. I really don't want to pull the dash twice. I might throw an e30 brake booster in while the dash is out as well.

I found a new leak. I love how strong the silicone hoses are, but man... they are so leak prone. I should have used charge piping T bolt clamps, maybe they wouldn't leak then! I used a rachet to tighten it down again, hopefully it stays.

I decided to waste a lot of hours making an unnecessarily finished (and not even finished) spacer. My original idea was to take 1" box tubing and weld it together and then drill holes. But then I couldn't find where I put it (not with the other metals) so I went to home depot and found 1/2x2 half square and went from there. I figured I'll cut 4 pieces and weld them together.

I didn't bevel the edges enough and I welded too fast so the penetration wasn't that great. I welded the inside seam about 1" on both sides to reinforce it, but then I thought I should really box them in, because I need that extra strength!

Grind the welds smooth

Then a little bit of primer. I got impatient and wanted to go over to a friends house before dark, so paint will have to wait.

I put the toolchest and jack under the engine and jacked it until it was supported so I could undo the bolts for the subframe.

Found some longer hardware and bolted them in.

I noticed a difference before the van even moved. Just putting it into reverse! It just slotted in there! I mean, it's not a new car or a rifle bolt shifter like an RX8 or anything, but this made a very noticeable difference. Driving it around the other gears were great too. After the hump at neutral the shifter seemed to fall into the gear slot. Before, it felt like I was really fighting the shifter at each shift.

I drove it to my friends house 15 minutes away and guess what? No more drivetrain vibration!Thanks AJ! Now I am noticing some other noises though, but they're certainly getting fewer.

Sun Feb 02, 2020 5:24 pm

yeah you NEED to replace those hose clamps on the silicone hoses with the smooth non-cheese grater hose clamps.

you can get t bolt or slip-lined screw drive ones.. but need to protect the softer silicone.

Sun Feb 02, 2020 5:38 pm

These are the clamps RMW sent with the hose kit. They have a smooth interior that wraps around so the worm wheel doesn't cheese grate the hoses. They just don't seem to be holding tension 100% though. Maybe with a few heat cycles things will start sticking better.

Sun Feb 09, 2020 8:54 pm

I replaced another of the RMW hose clamps with 2 BMW hose clamps at the cross over tube back to the thermostat. The hose had started to leak and when I went to tighten the hose clamp it stripped. I really am considering T bolt clamps...

I got tired of seeing the black panels so I took the sliding door track cover to Ace to look for paint. No dice there. At Lowes I found Rustoleum Metallic Champagne Mist though. It looked a little more saturated in color, but pretty close. I really hated how the nozzle sprayed and the color really changed depending on the angle you laid the paint down. Flat even strokes matched the closest.

I didn't bother masking off the mud guard because I'm classy like that.

Honestly, I'm entirely ok with this match. It's not perfect, but from 5 feet? Eh, good enough.

So then on to my real electrical problems with the rear lights. The rear lights are all working and fine until the headlights turn on. Then hell breaks loose. I swear I cleaned every single surface on the rear taillights, I can swap the housings back and forth and the same issue presents itself, it has to be a grounding issue in the passenger taillight circuit.

Here is the passenger blinker being activated. Note the very slow clicking of the light and the fact that the blinker does not actually blink. Blinking alternates with the tail light and the brake light. :?

Here are the brakes being applied. Note the dimming of the bulbs and the fact that the blinker turns on instead of the brake light.

Here are the hazards on, same situation. With the head lights off, the correct bulbs flash. With the lights on, the taillights and brake light flash.

I assume this is a grounding issue. I have tried following the wiring diagram, but I can't determine what would cause this issue. I am not an electrical guru although eventually I usually stumble my way through these types of issues. I already replaced the headlight switch on the dash. Has anyone faced an issue similar to this and what was your solution?

Mon Feb 10, 2020 4:38 am

Zeitgeist 13 wrote: I guess I need to start looking out for the Zip™ brand ties.

My heater fan motor was completely seized up for a while, and I successfully got it back into functioning condition by lubing it up and working the fan blades manually to free everything. Check out the Mullendore Port thread for details.

Available at your Subaru dealer

=P~

Seriously, Lowe’s has some decent quality ones, it’s the HF type to avoid.

Tue Feb 11, 2020 7:49 pm

After 2 nights of chasing down grounds and finally getting around to ordering a test light, I got the electrical taillight gremlins figured out. The final fix and most likely the major cause of the cumulative issues was a broken ground in the passenger taillight. I bought new LED sidemarkers and it looks like the installation holes behind the covers match up to the OEM sidemarker holes, which is pretty neat. $15 is great too.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Z5SCQ90/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'll post up pics when I put everything back together tomorrow.

Wed Feb 12, 2020 2:34 pm

"Two E30s, a $yncro, and an old Audi TT"... and not one Porsche???

Wed Feb 12, 2020 8:44 pm

Maybe one day I'll get a Porsche. I am pretty fond of the Cayman. Then again, the new C8 Corvette looks like a hell of a deal.

After installing the new sidemarkers I find I am not a fan of the white base. I will probably paint them black at some point. The output of the SMD covered lights is very good. I really like the little projectors on the reverse lights, that really helps. Right now I am pretty sure I am throwing more light backwards with the reverse lights than the terrible headlights. It throws a solid amount of light 80' backwards. Blinkers are also looking great.

So that's the taillights wrapped up. I drove to a friends house again tonight and it ran pretty great. It's finally coming together! I think I can focus on the interior for a bit now.

Sat Feb 15, 2020 9:19 pm

Changed the transmission fluid, front diff fluid, and the front diff mounts. I think the front diff mounts were the last bushings I needed to be replaced. That should be everything now. Also finally remounted the Z bed. And drove all around in it today, lots of fun.

Compared to what I've seen here, I don't think my transmission drain plug looks too bad. The fluid was fairly brown, but still had some red/gold in the sunlight. It didn't smell terrible either.

The 3 biggest shards, at 5mm

I used an Audi TT transmission drain plug adapter to fill.

The front diff oil came out fairly gold, it can't have been that old. The drain plug looked ok.

Sat Feb 15, 2020 9:23 pm

The Audi fill adapter is pretty cool. How do you know when the trans is full?

Sun Feb 16, 2020 6:22 am

Math/Guessing. :) I put in 4.5 quarts and then watched the remaining oil in the tube. It stopped filling right before the adapter, so I knew it was full. Then I let the overflow drain out when I removed the adapter. I wasn't too concerned with getting all the old oil out because I'm going drive it for a few hundred miles and then change the oil again. When I do the second trans oil change I am going to lift the front of the van so it drains all out.

What are people's thoughts on the health of the transmission based on the trans drain plug?

Sun Feb 16, 2020 1:25 pm

The last time I pulled my drain plug and it had any pieces you could feel was the R&P needed replacement.

Does yours make any noise at all?

If in question, go to Harbor Freight and pick up a cheap scope camera and see what it inside.

This was mine.

Sun Feb 16, 2020 3:09 pm

just want to say - great thread 4Gears4Tires - well written and documented - impressive amount of work.

thanks for sharing...

Sun Feb 16, 2020 5:24 pm

4Gears4Tires wrote: Compared to what I've seen here, I don't think my transmission drain plug looks too bad. The fluid was fairly brown, but still had some red/gold in the sunlight.

The 3 biggest shards, at 5mm

Well that's a lot of stuff, especially for oil that still has "color".
You don't know how "completely" the last guy changed it, could be some leftover trash.
People often change oil in hopes a trans will quiet down.
Does it have a whine?
There's some clear space on the magnet, (at least that's good).

The cold hard truth is, the shards came from somewhere.
The surface of a gear is chipping off like a pothole on the roadway.
Probably the R&P.
It's a hard pill to swallow.
Sorry to see that. :cry:

But at least now you "know", and you don't go on a long trip, getting stuck somewhere far from home.
If it's not whining I would assume it has another long trip left in it.
.....ASSUME...... (need x-ray eyes and a crystal ball for better assessment)
It will run a little longer, and other parts preserved if the oil is kept clean(er). Oil's only $20, some effort and and some stink, if it gets you another trip or two that's not so bad.
Maybe time to invest in a wifi-camera probe, and have a lookie at the R&P.
Then you'll know if it's one little pothole or a several big potholes.....

Curious to see what it shows at the next change. When the magnet is relatively clean it can hold onto shards better.

Need more members draining and posting drain magnet pics.
All these transaxles are getting friggin' OLD.
Need to keep a closer eye on them, and give the old fellers a higher level of maintenance!

Mon Feb 17, 2020 6:48 pm

I have a wifi borescope, I'll look inside and take some pictures when I drain the oil in a month or two. I was hoping on getting 2 years out of the transmission and then having it rebuilt while I did a motor swap. We'll see. It did have the 2wd engine bar installed for who knows how long, putting stresses on the trans. I could definitely feel a vrrrvrrrrvrrr driving down the road from the imbalance in angle.

Thanks for the opinions.

The van makes a lot of noises! :lol: But it doesn't have any gear whine and changing the transmission really smoothed out the shifting. I could feel the gears "crash" before and now it's pretty smooth. I'm half impressed. I've never had a trans oil change make any noticeable difference on any of a dozen e30s before, so I was pretty surprised at the difference.

The biggest noise it makes is honestly the fuel pump! Man that thing is loud. I think it really doesnt help that it's strapped right to the tensioned steel gas tank strap that is bolted right to the chassis. Next time it's up on the lift I am going to wrap it in rubber to try to isolate the noise a bit.

Sun Feb 23, 2020 6:00 pm

I wrapped the fuel pump in 2"x10" of soft foam right at the hose clamp, really quieted it down! So if you hear a strong whine at start up, consider doing the same.

Some yahoo didn't tighten their half shaft bolts down properly and when they were on their way to work on Friday the half shaft broke free! Needless to say that kind of sucked and I missed out on bringing my van when I met dobryan after work. I limped the van to a nearby friends house, half shaft slamming around like a jackhammer and borrowed one of his cars. When he got home, he put it back together with 3 of the better condition bolts and drove it to my house. I put it on the lift and it turns out every single half shaft bolt, front and rear was loose. Go me. The issue was I used a weak impact plus extensions and wobbles. I put maybe 10ftlbs on each bolt. :roll:

One of the bolts snapped, I guess it was the tightest one. It freely moved a little bit, but didnt want to turn out due to broken threads. I slotted it and used that same weak impact to get it out. And then I went around and tightened every bolt by hand to make sure they were tight. All 36 of them.

Does anyone know what this bolt hole on the transmission is? I'm pretty sure it had fresh looking oil when I stuck a flexible magnet tool in it. The one at the top near the zip tie end.

Painting the driveshaft and protectors with Mar-Hyde has been on my list for a while now since they are so rusty. First I hit everything with the wire wheel on a drill.

Then I painted it all. Looking a lot better! Since I poured too much Mar-Hyde (and you're not supposed to pour it back in) I ended up hitting a lot more of the surface rust near the rockers (note the Mar-Hyde is still white in spots) on the underside, random spots, and the shift linkage. I hate painting but I am glad it's protected now.

Including this almost duplicate pic because you can see the fuel pump with the foam wrap in the top left corner.

Sun Feb 23, 2020 6:24 pm

4Gears4Tires wrote:

Bummer about the half shaft coming loose!
Thanks for posting the slotting. It seems so obvious, but I've never seen that before before. Definitely a trick that's going to come in handy some day.