El_Freddo

Well the saga continues. I wanted to sort out the CTS wiring and get the intercooler fitted.

To sort out the CTS wiring and plug I decided to pull the intake manifold - this allowed me to repute the wiring harness to a route that I believe is somewhat near standard now. The temp sensor wire wouldn’t reach as all the wiring was at the front of the intake manifold. I destroyed the two now inlet manifold gaskets enough that I didn’t reuse them. I thought about it for a moment. I had a second set which swung me to put new ones in.

I swapped the throttle body over for one that hopefully has a good TPS on it - only to find the TPS was loose so I still need to dial it in properly, something I was hoping to avoid.

After this all the little things were jumping out at me - no clutch fork dust boot, no down pipe gasket fitted, turbo to intercooler pipe MIA. These things all took up time to sort out or find.

Now as she sits the intercooler is fitted. I need to bolt the support brackets on and work out what the front RHS mount bolts to as I reckon I’m missing a bracket there.

What I’m up to:
- researching the PCV pipework. I have the one that goes from under the intake up and over the top to the turbo elbow it seems. I need to find this pipe piece or install something until I find one. I don’t think I have one as I remember there being two hoses that were loose that smoked like crazy when the engine “ran”.
- need to find the last of the vacuum lines and workout the rest. I think I’m 99% there with how it all lays out, I just need to find my parts.
- find a replacement one-way looking valve thing over on the RHS strut tower with the solenoids and boost controller. Mine’s broken…
- need to decide: run the wrx PS pump that’s fitted or fit the “proper” gen1 PS pump. I think I’ll cross that bridge later but it’s in my mind.
- need to work out what the top solenoid above the boost controller does/where it’s vacuum line goes to on the engine.
- buy new vacuum hosing for some sections - the boost solenoid needs a few new hoses as these are very soft and perished.

That’s about it for now. This burst of work is over as I need to be doing other things ;(

It’s good to see the engine bay coming along now! The new turbo elbow is awesome and so squishy it was difficult to get some of the fittings in the ports!

After thought this morning on my way to work: I’m guessing the factory ECU can’t be “tuned” to get this issue sorted..?

Thanks Duncan, I’ll look into the bushes, I think they’re ok as this issue was there from day 1.

I reckon you’re on to it barbs, it feels like a sudden switch off of something. Typical Subaru to make this model’s IACV different to everything else in their line up!

Interesting that they cut the injectors for emissions but let it “run on” when it’s cold and you just want the revs to return to idle or some sort of a downward trajectory before tomorrow when it does it. Makes downshifting worthless.

Thanks for the input fellas. Good for thought.

Allpaw, might want to check your mounts as per Duncan’s suggestion.

I believe this issue started a very long time ago - and I know I’m not the only one! I’m just at the point that I’d like to do something about it. This issue is the worst part about this vehicle experience I reckon.

The plan with Basil is to keep him going so my sister’s mate’s daughter can learn how to drive manual with him. This got me thinking about this on/off throttle response issue. Putting your foot on the clutch pedal with a tiny bit of pressure can reduce the symptoms by allowing some clutch slip when in a carpark situation, but this isn’t the way to learn to drive nor is it the solution and it doesn’t help with light load and town speed limit cruising.

Interesting that your Gen5 is doing it to some degree.

I’ll have to pull the IACV plunger and check it out. It’s been a number of years since I’ve looked at it. Maybe it just needs a new rubber seal? Maybe - long shot here - a bbq gas bottle/hose grommet could possibly do the trick. Worth a try for a few bucks. I’ll look into it.

Got a pick a part run planned, I’ll look at other throttle bodies and see if anything might be worth further investigation if they’re not too expensive.

Lots to ponder.

Mr Kong, congrats on your wedding! Seems to be a few of these on the forum at the moment!

All the best, keep the good times rolling.

Cheers

Bennie