hi Krieger, im afraid i am not sure what you mean by shims?.. but here is a pic of the starter and i think it just bolts in at the top and has a nut and washer holding it in place at the bottom. regarding the relay,. it looks like something someone has added (i cant see subaru putting a relay in that position, and there is not relay or whole for a relay in my van). does your van have added fog lights? or maybe it is to do with your push button ignition? does that still work now the wires have come off the relay?
Couldn't stop thinking about that damn relay and I went and checked to see where the wires go. I pulled the floor mat out and followed the wire down throgh the floor panel and it's going to the fog lamps. Yeah. Will have that checked by someone who knows what's what. I will supply the parts. The van had fog lamps on it, but I took them off because the lenses were cracked and the entire system was corroded. Pretty sure they didn't worked. I will buy a new pair of fog lamps. The lamps themselves looked aftermarket, but the switch looks original. I think I should call the previous owner again and ask him. The thing is, I did saw something that would look like that black relay that I'm talking about in the repair manual, but I could not find the purpose for it. Google Translate knows less German than I do. Now, about the shims. I must admit I didn't even knew that such a thing exist before I watched an EricTheCarGuy video on YT. Unfortunately, I saw the video AFTER I took my starter off. The shims are supposed to be some thin metal plates which, from my understanding, you must sandwich between the engine block and the starter before you bolt the starter down. That is supposed to tilt the whole unit enough to properly align it to the engine gear ring. Certain starters require shims to be aligned and the lack of those shims causes grinding noise(which I experienced since I put my starter back on). Now, this could also may be a slight misalignment that could be fixed just by being more careful when I install it, or it may very well be caused by improper cranking due to low current that in term was caused by the crappy power lines(which I eliminated). I tend to get freaky and start worrying too much. That's why I keep on asking...... just to make sure. I really don't want to do any damage to my van and I get scared too easy when I mess things up. I'm really anxious to put the battery box and cables back on the car and then try to crank it. Will brush some more layers of paint on those bits tomorrow at the ranch and I'll install them on Sunday if the weather allows me to do so. Hopefully, the new battery cables and the soldering on the broken wires will fix my cranking problems and I hope the oil pressure light will go on again. Also, I really hope that the installation of the CD player will be a success. Kind of a long story on that one too, to make it short I just have to salvage a piece of wire from my XR4Ti, make a ground wire, solder it and the + wire that was originally on the car's stereo to the power input plug on the CD player and then solder the speaker wires to their respective plug . Wish me luck!
I took the starter off again today and took a peak at the ring gear. Sadly, some of the teeth on the ring gear are damaged. I don't know, at least the ones that I could see through the hole, hopefully not all of them. This really sucks. I had my brother press the clutch pedal and I was able to see movement on the clutch components through the starter hole. I don't know if that's good news or bad. I will make a short video. I do have some pics of the teeth, but they are not very good since it was kinda' hard to set the focus right for such a tight space. I will try to be more careful when installing the starter tomorrow. Will try and guide it a bit further away from the ring gear. I'm thinking that if I keep it pulled back towards the back of the car and have someone else tighten the bolts, maybe it will align better. I also noticed something I didn't noticed before. The plug on the fuel flow solenoid on the carb(red arrow: http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/5479/carburateurspruitst.jpg ) is broken. The plastic on the "mother" side is there, but the one on the "father" side is missing and the contacts are exposed. Will buy a new plug tomorrow from the auto-market and install it properly. Hope that it will be an improvement. Also, thanks Paulhills for pointing that out in your thread. Also, I will get the parts that I painted at the ranch back home. Not sure if they are fully dried off, but I will try and install them or leave them inside to dry(outside is really really cold, that's why they are not done). Now, about the starter and oil light not working when I tried to test them, I've been doing some thinking and it may have been a bad ground situation. Hopefully it will work tomorrow when I'll install it for good. In my logic, it would make sense because the starter has a ground on the engine(contact and bolted down), so does the oil pressure switch. If I made a bad ground with the starter(let's say that I put the jump cample on a dirty area and there was no good contact), the circuit might be open. I don't know, it's just a guess... just something to help me sleep at night. Now is time for me to go. Check with you guys tomorrow evening.
Yeah, I put the battery back on, installed the starter. I kept it pulled back as I tightened the bolts down. I soldered the ignition wire back its position, but unfortunately, I was not able to cover it in heat shrink tube, but in electrical tape. I had a good friend of mine do all the wiring(electronics freak, studies that in college so yeah... good help). He said he put a piece of rubber insulation over the bonded area so the glue from the electrical tape doesn't mess the contact up(again). I must say, the starter works really good. No click, no clack, starts off fine. The thing is... some times, when I release the ignition button, it does a very short grinding noise. That kinda' bugs me. Also, the clutch looks like it's permanently engaged. I don't know.... will have to look into that. I don't quite saw it happen, but this friend of mine said Tomorrow, if all go well and the rain stops for a few hours before lunch time, I'll go take a look down in the auto-market and buy a set of plugs(ass seen in the pic from my last post) for that fuel valve solenoid thing. We had a really hard time soldering wires, especially those inside the engine compartment. They were nasty and corroded. We also pulled the wire loom back under the slam panel, but I have to add a piece to one wire going on the intake manifold so it will clear well. We also tried to fix up the music system, we did all the wiring, but a crappy wired power input ended up in a short on the CD player ground so we might've killed it. This good friend of mine took it home, took it apart and said that there are signs indicating that somewhere in the past someone did the same mistake and fixed it. We'll see. If it works, it works, if not.... I'll buy a replacement unit. Oil pressure bulb still doesn't work. I think it may be burnt. Will check that as well. Good luck, everybody! Will keep you posted.
Short view through starter hole video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr0lJZki8cI . Short crank test video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsqQMwbG0qo&feature=youtu.be . The starter runs great. First time every time. Also, no grinding noise or anything. In case you're wondering, the engine doesn't start because I took out the fuel pump/ignition coil fuse. Oil pressure light won't go on. I will take the dash apart and try to see if the bulb is burned out. We also re-soldered the broken 4WD/2WD electro-valve wires back together and sealed the joint. Weirdly enough, now I can't hear the click I used to hear coming from somewhere deep down when I push the 4WD button with the ignition on. That's scary. The wires are set in the right position(I filmed their correct position before they broke off). I checked with the voltmeter and I get constant 2.something V on the pins. No changes when the button is pushed. The stereo works. We finally made it run. I had to have 2 + wires(one from battery and one from the ignition) and one -. Because I want the stereo to work with or without the ignition key on, we only installed one battery + so it didn't worked. We jumped another wire from the battery to the ignition + pin on the connector and it worked. Unfortunately, the speakers that I installed(brand-freaking-new) can't handle the bass coming from the radio, so I think I'm gonna have to replace them with the old ones(if I can find them). We'll see how those work. Anyways, good luck with your little vans, guys!
HI Sorry have been busy installing the 97 engine, The shims on my starter were betwen starter and gearbox, guess to make it fit right as it was not a orginal starter. I put in orginall starter with the ´97 engine and no shims. works great.. I am still having trouble with the wiring as seen on this photo. but i will get there some day. Hope you get yours up and running soon.
Whoa..... dude, that's a lot of work you've got there. It's a lot of work, but you shouldn't give up. The transplant IS possible. I know it. I've seen it happen. I saw a 1992 Libero identical to mine, only in tip top condition for sale on a website and it had the FA engine installed. My Libero needs a lot of work. I managed to find the speakers that it had when I bought it, I tested them and they sound better so I'll use those two. I'm very curious of why the car moves when I crank it without holding the clutch pedal down even when it's not in gear. The starter runs great. Sometimes it makes a tiny little grinding noise when I disengage it, but it doesn't look serious. I think the teeth on the ring gear are chipped in one tiny spot and every time the bendix engages or disengages on that portion, it make a little grinding noise. Otherwise it runs really smooth. It looks like it stopped raining so I'll go out with my camera and make a little video. Good luck with your wires. Please post more photos and videos. The YT awaits. It desires more Subaru Libero videos. Have a good day!
Hi guys. My SmurfBus fired of yesterday and sounds great. got a problem with leaking fuel pump, tiny tiny rust holes in it, so i have to find another before i do more test runs, and checks. Thks a lot for you help guys, i would newer have got so far with out you.. Sigkrist
Congratulations on your big achievement! I think you may be able to TEMPORARILY fix the rust holes in the fuel pump with some polyester fiber glass body filler. As far as I remember, that was immune to gas. I don't know, try it out on something else first. Hopefully, it will hold until you find a new pump. Also, I can't stress enough the need for videos . I would really like to see how your van runs. Now, my van. Got the right side quarter panel backing out to see the fuel separator. All seems to be in order there. No broken tubes. The broken lines are outside in the engine compartment and going to some sort of a canister thing in front of the rear wheel on the passenger side. I made a little video to show you guys. We also figured out the handbrake problem. It appears that the van has 2 cables(possibly 3, 1 from the lever and 1 for each rear wheel) : one from the handbrake lever(longitudinal) and one connecting both rear wheels(transversal) . The one connecting the wheels is pulled by the one from the lever. On my van, the one going to the wheels is broken. Will place an order for a new part as soon as possible. I'm also on the lookout for info on how to install the seat belts. Anyone who can help me with some pics, that would be really sweet. Thanks a lot and again, congratulations on your success!
I talked over the phone with that awesome engineer man that I know and he said that he'd strip and clean my carb, but I have to take it out myself. This is my task for today. That and, probably/hopefully, removing the broken piece of handbrake cable that is still attached to the left rear wheel. Wish me luck. PS: We bought a pair of kick ass 3 ton jack stands and a lot of spray paint. I sprayed my brother's windshield wipers in satin black and I'll do mine today. Gave them a few coats of primer last night, today is time to make them BLAAAAAACK.
Alright. I'll make this one quick: Carburetor: off. Will send to that engineer man dude to take it apart and clean it. Vacuum lines all labeled and with a video on how to put them back made. I do have like 3 or 4 lines that I don't know where to connect. Windscreen wipers: painted black. MAAAAAAD. Troublesome speaker: fixed by an good friend of mine, mounted on the car, sounds great. Broken left side handbrake cable is still on the car. I can't get the drums out. Is there a trick that I should use? I tried hammering them, I tried PB blaster, I've tried unscrewing the small screw with the allen key head from the back of the assembly. Now it won't go back on. Anyways, I need advice. I called the last owner and he said that I have to pop open the big 30-something mm nut on the end of the drive shaft. He said that thisi is how he remembers. Personally, I never heard of such thing. I've worked with drum brakes before(hell, even today , on another car) and I never heard of this. To remove the drive shaft nut in order to remove the drum. Is it true? Have you guys ever done this before? How do you guys remove the drums on your Liberos? Please, help me. I have to remove that bastard tomorrow in order to get the broken piece of handbrake cable out. Thanks!
HI Great you are making good progress on the car.. and sound like you are doing a great good djob on it to. Wish i had your patience. To the brakes. I had to take the shaft nut of to change my brake shoes.. so i guess its the same with your car. here is pict of the system from my manual to check if we are talking about the same thing, I had to take "T2" of to losen. the brakedrum and center are one pice, this is not common things but i now few cars that use this system like some Daihatsu, Chrysler Voyager and few more, hope this will help
Hello to everyone. I have the same van like Krieger-san and have one problem. I need to know, how much water fits in this van.
I found a man who had 2 Liberos(newer, fuel injected models) and he told me that the cooling system needs 2 liters of water. This is exactly how much I put in mine and it works. I can't see anything in that plastic reservoir, but it seems to work. I will have a look in the German repair manual. Right, the brakes. I followed the advice of the last owner and I took that center hub nut out. Get this: To get the nut off I had to buy a communist made 30mm socket(made from old soviet tanks), I levered with a big crowbar(also made from old soviet tanks), I had the car into gear, the brake pedal fully stumped on and two people standing in the trunk while a third guy pulled the crowbar-socket assembly. That thing was seriously stuck in there. As soon as that came off, the drum literally went off all by itself. To be honest, I kinda' like the system. It's a bit weird with the big nut thing, but after you get that out of the way, it's smooth sailing. You don't have to pry the drum out with screwdrivers like I did the first time I removed the drums from my XR4Ti. It's definitely a gazillion times easier than the system used on BMW with disk brake/drum brake assembly. We worked on one of those today as well and it took us a few hours even to get the old cables out. Mine took 5 minutes tops. Also, we inspected the condition and functionality of the brake cylinder(10/10) and brake shoes(10/10). A bit of brake cleaner to clear the dust, a bit of wire brushing and it was ready to go. Now all I have to do is to place an order for the new cable. I think I'll do it tomorrow. The inside of the drum wasn't bad either. Some slight wear lines, but nothing serious. No big wear line. Now, something not so good. I don't know how, I don't know why, but the CV boot on the rear passenger side wheel committed suicide. We'll have to replace that ASAP. I have the replacement parts, brand new from the last owner. Maybe he new something. I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun replacing them as well. I'm thinking that, since we're at it, to replace both CV boots(left and right). I don't know. We'll see. Thanks a lot for the advice and good work on your projects, guys!
Here's another short video that I just made. In this clip I describe my CV joint boot problem and the things I plan to do until my carburetor gets cleaned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXzVsNgBuTc .
So I started to work on my broken rear CV boot yesterday. Real messy job, I don't wish this to anyone. Take za' hammer, pound the axle shaft out of it's socket. It doesn't want to come out. Only by a few mm. So I decide to take the entire suspension control arm out. In order to do that, I have to take out the brake line. Of course, the nuts on that are frozen. After a few minutes of trying to remove those peacefully(and not succeeding), I decided to cut the brake line so I can use a 10mm socket. It's old, it's rusty, whatever... I can always make a new one from a brake line off me old Ford. Cut that out, got the strut bolt out and got enough slack to take the axle out of the socket in order to take the joint off so I can install a new rubber boot. I've cleared the old grease(mostly while trying to fish out the old axle C-clip from inside the joint), put new grease in(nasty stuff, really... I hope I never have to do this ever again in my life), I put the C-clip back in it's respective groove at the end of the shaft, aligned the splines and we started to pound that sucker back in. I THINK we got it right. The joint went up all the way. My only paranoia concern is that the C-clip would've missed getting into the joint(where we fished it out from). I do remember pushing the ends with a screwdriver, but I'm not sure if it went in all the way. I couldn't quite see really well because all the grease). The joint went all the way in, it went quite easy and it looked pretty solid, but I'm afraid that if I messed this up, the wheel may fall off. Am I crazy? Let's go past that. We put the rubber boot on, I secured with the clamps(which where really easy to mend) and now we can't get the axle back on its socket. We have to take out the lower control arm and of course a couple of bolts refuse to obey my orders. I tried beating them with a hammer, I've tried penetrating oil, sockets, wrenches, breaker bars, etc. Nothing works. Until I get that done, I can't move my van. So yeah, that's my mission, guys. Wish me luck. A short YT video will follow. Good day! Also, we've got another problem. I had a mate of mine pound the axle while I "steer" it from underneath the van. I specifically told him to put the nut on a couple of threads and pound on the nut, never on the axle itself and he didn't do that. The result.... he bent the threads. Now I can't get my locking nut on. I'll have to get a thread stripping tool from the ranch(I measured last night, it's 19mm) and try to fix that.
I replaced the CV boot, I've installed the drive shaft back on the car(it was really easy after I removed it from the gearbox) and I fixed the thread for the central locking nut. It was quite hard to do it because I couldn't find a 19mm threading tool. I had to use a small triangular file for the threads, a big one for the edge and a 19 mm nut. It took me a few hours and a new locking nut that I got for free from a really nice old man from the auto shop down the road, but I did it. I tried to install the headlamps back on the van today, they look much better with the frames painted BLAAACK. I do have a problem with them. Every time I put the high beam on and switch on the turn lights, all the outside bulbs on the car start blinking, along with the inside dash illumination. What the hell is that? It didn't do this before. I must mention that it only happens when the lights on the passenger side are connected. Also, the small white position bulb next to the passenger side turn signal doesn't work. I took the bulb out, took a really good look at it and the filament is not broken. I will replace that bulb, but the erratic blinking scares me. It sounds like a short somewhere. Have any of you guys ever faced this problem? Also must mention that I cleaned the plugs for the bulbs with electrical contact spray. A lot of intergalactic crud came out of them. I really need advice on this one, I'm not an electrics guy. Thanks!
HI If the C-clip does not set right the axle could come lose from the joint but wheel will stay on,the bearing and the lock nnut keeps it secure. It´s pretty easy to check, just jerk the joint good with hand, if it stays on shaft it´s ok, The light problem seems like a bad connection on ground(negative) by the description could be on the turn lights don´t get ground and are pulling it trough the park lights or vice versa, so check all ground wiring. As i remember the headlights have fixed postive and light swichs connect ground to the bulbs.
Thanks a lot for the advice. I did check the CV joint attachment eventually(when I pulled the drive shaft out of the gearbox), it's secured in place. I'm just paranoid as usually . I'm really happy right now that I managed to fix the thread on the shaft. A replacement part is quite expensive here. To be honest, I think it's one of my first damaged threads that I fix without a threading tool. I'm quite concerned about that wiring problem. Will check them tomorrow. Also, I will buy a tube of silicone soon and make new silicone gaskets for the front corner lights(parking lights+turn signal block). The factory gaskets rotted away. After I make new gaskets, I will clean the contacts again and replace the bulbs with new(bought them today). I also have to modify an old Ford brake line to replace the one that I cut in half, fit the used handbrake cable that I found in the bag of parts and do some experiments to see if and how the VW Polo wheels that I bought fit.
Just out of curiosity, I looked into the German repair manual for some specifications on the cooling system capacity and I found this: Kühlmittel-Fassungsvermögen: 0.9 lit . I've got 2.something liters in mine. It was completely dry when I put coolant in. Will mess around with it a bit, change the coolant a couple of times(plain water) before adding some good grade antifreeze. I bought some last winter, but I never got to put it in, I left it dry over the winter since I didn't get to use it.
New video on my van problems: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fIr8ABttks&feature=youtu.be . Thanks in advance for your advices!
I did some progress with my flashing lights problem(I think), results aren't quite here, but, hopefully, they're on the way. I took out all the contacts towards the turn signal lights and towards the headlamps and cleaned them with sandpaper, a small screwdriver and a lot of contact spray. I sprayed the mounting for the turn signal lights with Zn/Al spray. I still have no idea what does that black box under the dash does. Please help! I made new gaskets around the indicators with some silicone. The factory ones were rotten away. Also, I think I may have found a culprit. On the passenger side, the ground wire for the parking light seems to be interrupted. It only works if I wiggle it in the right position. Funny thing is that it does the same problem when that bulb is working as well. I should also mention that I did the testing without having the headlamps connected. Should that effect my results? Will replace that bad ground wire and see if it makes any difference. If not, I'm gonna go seek help from a professional. New video coming up soon on YT. Awaiting replies. Cheers!
Took a break from working on the lights, will most likely fix them up as they are(Frenkeinsteined) and then, after I get it street legal and working, I'll restore them to the original setup. A mate of mine(Electrical Stig) promised he'd help. I replaced the old brake line that I cut in half with a piece that my dad helped me mold from my old Ford donor car. Fitted in this evening and rustproofed it. Will fill the system with new brake fluid and flush the old one out. I took the old spare handbrake cable apart to inspect the steel wire, found it to have loose treads. I decided to makeshift a new cable from the old one that my brother took out from his BMW. It fits, it's waaaay better quality material and I have plenty to cut down to size. Should work out fine, just fine. Fine. This Saturday I'm gonna take the carb apart and clean it. I will be merely an assistant, Automotive Chuck Norris(Electrical Stig's dad) will be the master of the operation. Also, I took the EGR valve off the engine. Found it to be completely stuck. I poured gas in it, sprayed the rod with penetrating oil, poked the crud out with a screwdriver. Than I pushed the rod in with the screwdriver handle and I popped it free. Kept flushing it with gas until it started to work really smooth and the gas came out of it clean. Also sprayed it with intake/carburetor cleaner. I sprayed that into the EGR ports in the engine as well. I think there's a lot of crud in there as well, but who's taking that apart? Anyways, should be an improvement. I'm really anxious to start the van again. Still on my list: Lights and other electrics(usually grounds). Vacuum and 4WD. I got a tip for a former E10 user to get permanent 4WD. Great guy, eager to help. Brakes: flush the system, bleed it and the handbrake cable. Tires. Need new tires. I want to install 185/60R15. Hopefully they will fit, but I'm not sure. Also, need to machine the rims that I bought a bit. Rustproofing. Need to do it, but after I get my papers ready. I think that's pretty much it. Wish me luck!
Hello again! It's been a while since my last post, I didn't do much, but what I did is kinda' important. So I finally got my carb cleaned. Actually, me and that engineer dude friend of mine, we pulled both my carbs apart, cleaned them and we made a good working one out of the two. Much to my surprise, the second hand unit that I bought was in better shape than the original, so we used that, coupled with the accelerator plate assembly from the original. I soldered a new electrical coupling on the fuel cut-off solenoid, now it needs a couple of gaskets and it's ready to install. I did manage to find a vacuum line diagram that is supposed to be correct for my particular model(thanks to the guys at http://gisu.de). It's this one: http://www.kex.de/Bildergalerie/vaccumhosesystem.jpg . I didn't get to fix the headlamp issue, I still need more clarification on where the H4 lamp is supposed to go so I don't cause any damage. I re-did some wiring, I did some rustproofing in the engine compartment and I checked the oil level inside the gearbox. As you can probably see in the video that I made, I think it's quite low on oil. Will have to investigate. I do need help(as usual). The things that I need are addressed in the video. Any helpful replies will be appreciated. Thank you and good luck with your projects! My latest video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAP29jExl_s .
Hi guys! Long time no see. I have a question for you. I have to change the oil in the front diff and I'm not 100% sure which of the bolts are the filler and the dump plugs. I think the dump plug is a 17mm-ish bolt on the front side of the diff casing and the filler is an identical one towards the rear of the diff on the driver side. Am I right? I think I'm gonna go ahead and do it tomorrow. Will keep you posted. Progress has been made. Cheers!
Hello! It's been, once again, a long time since I last posted here. I accomplished a lot since my last post. I did change the diff oil, I changed the tires(brand new winter tires), I changed the clutch(the original was completely toast, that's why the van didn't move), I fixed the electrical problem(fixed itself actually, once I put all the bulbs back in place, new bulbs all around, of course). I also installed aftermarket fog lamps and I did the wiring from scratch. A tiny tachometer is on the way. I finally got to drive me little van after changing the clutch. It was amazing. This thing just glides. It's like driving a really tiny bus, one that can squeeze into any nook and cranny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ikYvk5k5bQ . I do have some problems with it though. First off, I have to clean the inside of the gas tank, I get junk in the carb even if I have 2 fuel filters on the system. I'd like to clean it without taking it off the car, I saw a bolt on the bottom end, I think that would be a drain plug. I think it would work if I rock the car real hard and then drain it, filter the gas through a women's sock, pour it in again, rock the car, drain it, filter it and so on. At least as a temporary measure, until I get to strip it out and wash it with water next summer. The carb is another problem. It won't open the air intake plate, so it would flood the engine with gas and won't even start. I think I saw the problem, it's this tiny linkage with a small roller, right in front of the throttle body that looks a bit bent and it doesn't work as it should. I will make a video of the thing since I got it off the car. Hopefully, after fixing that, it will work. When I drove it out of the garage where I got the clutch replaced, the car would start off rough, choke and die, or run on 2 cylinders. After a few minutes, when the engine hit operation temperature, it evened out. Driving it was fun, but the engine wouldn't rev up as high as it should. I think the problem lies in the bent linkage, causing the air intake to stay closed(or not fully opened), flooding the engine with gas(no air to evaporate the gas), making it slow. We'll see. I'll keep you posted. Cheerio!
Spring is in the air (almost). Any news? Sounds like you are almost done your epic overhaul job. If shipping weren't so expensive 8'd send you the rear shocks and front brake pads I mistakenly bought.. yours is a KJ8 chassis, right?