What did you do to your Baja today?

[Toybox06]

Just bought this gem, it needs a front diff but it was only 250.00. So thought I’d clean it up a bit.

[ltdan12a]

dude nice score!!!

[Toybox06]

Thank you! Very excited to own my first Subaru. (I always thought it’d be a Brat). Scrubbed down the wheels today. So much brake dust! It was a balmy 30 degrees. Lol

[mike-tracy]

Thank you! Very excited to own my first Subaru. (I always thought it’d be a Brat). Scrubbed down the wheels today. So much brake dust! It was a balmy 30 degrees. Lol

I like your SHO

[06Suparu]

Found a new project to do lol. I neglected to close my hood tight the other day when i was playing with the lights. Looks like im replacing the hood, grille and windshield. Good times lol. It looks like the hood and grille are the same on my 02 Outback but i will do some checking.

[06Suparu]

On a better note. I got my LED bulbs today. Here are the before and afters. I polished up the spare housings the other day. I cant wait to see how they do when i go to work at 4am tomorrow.

[greymud]

When you change bulb type, make sure you aim the headlights after. Pretty simple, just need a screwdriver, 40 ft of flat space next to a wall, a tape measure, and some electrical tape.

[STEVEW]

On a better note. I got my LED bulbs today. Here are the before and afters. I polished up the spare housings the other day. I cant wait to see how they do when i go to work at 4am tomorrow.

Where in NH are you? I'm near Nashua. I have a Legacy grille you can have if you want to pick it up (see pic). It has 1 or 2 broken bolt tabs. There is also a guy on FB marketplace selling a Baja hood in Fitchburg MA for around $100. There may still be a red hood from an 03 at Holland's in Billerica too.
LEDs without projectors will blind oncoming traffic and really won't give you that much more light output, they will be brighter up close but won't be a good focused beam for distance. Kaizen has some really nice headlight options and I believe he sells retrofit kits for DIY www.kaizenlighting.com

EyDyebB3Tc26KD6Pr7qwJg.jpg (3.72 MiB) Viewed 582678 times

[06Suparu]

Im in Troy. I found a hood and grille in Mass thats even the correct color. I bought some good LEDs from Auxbeam. I thought i would need to adjust my lights but they dont seem to bother anyone yet. If they do i will adjust them.

[Toybox06]

My 250.00 Baja is in need of a lot more than just a transmission. So this is what I’m doing...hint there’s 2 of them and they get us all in the end. Lol

[Toybox06]

[quote=mike-tracy

I like your SHO
[/quote]

Thank you this is a better shot of that car.

[Toybox06]

Pulled bad transmission out and stabbed new one in right out the top using the dog bone torque limiter bracket on the bell housing (engine was out) didn’t have to disturb the exhaust or driveshaft that way. Installed new torque converter seal. Installed the new steering rack and new ps lines. Installed new Felpro MLS headgasket set and painted the cleaned up long block. Why because I was there lol. Going to pull the crossover back off and paint it as well along with disassembling the intake manifold for painting, detailing, and installing new seals and vacuum lines. I’m thinking black or silver any thoughts? The block almost ended up lime green lol. Bought oil pan gasket set. Debating on factory style RTV or Felpro rubber composite for sealing the pan. Any opinions there?

[Guacamole]

Pulled bad transmission out and stabbed new one in right out the top using the dog bone torque limiter bracket on the bell housing (engine was out) didn’t have to disturb the exhaust or driveshaft that way. Installed new torque converter seal. Installed the new steering rack and new ps lines. Installed new Felpro MLS headgasket set and painted the cleaned up long block. Why because I was there lol. Going to pull the crossover back off and paint it as well along with disassembling the intake manifold for painting, detailing, and installing new seals and vacuum lines. I’m thinking black or silver any thoughts? The block almost ended up lime green lol. Bought oil pan gasket set. Debating on factory style RTV or Felpro rubber composite for sealing the pan. Any opinions there?

How difficult was the transmission swap? Is it something you can just pull and swap with an identical model? Mine's feeling like it's on its way out.

[Toybox06]

How difficult was the transmission swap? Is it something you can just pull and swap with an identical model? Mine's feeling like it's on its way out.
[/quote]

It is fairly involved, being a glutton for punishment I pulled the engine first to repair the failing head gaskets. Then while I had an empty hole, I hooked up to the trans with my cherry picker and pulled it up through the engine bay. This is not even near a normal swap so I can’t really guide you. I will tell you the trans removal involves removing much of the front suspension the cv axles, most of the exhaust the heat shields and driveshaft, the starter some electrical connectors, the shift linkage, the bell housing bolts are easiest with the cv axles out of the way and most taken from the top, The cooling system to get to the balancer bolt ultimately to hold the bolt in order to remove the torque converter bolts finally the transmission crossmember. I’m sure I’m leaving something out but you get the idea. It sounds much worse than it is. But it’s time consuming. I had the engine out in 5 hours and that included building my cherry picker and putting it on the stand. From there the trans took another 3 hours to remove and reinstall. But I eliminated removing the exhaust heat Shields and driveshafts this way. I also took the opportunity to replace the steering rack while I was there and it was half apart. There are a bunch of videos that walk you through the r&r of the transmission by itself and I’d allot 5-6 hours for the swap at least. Good luck.

[Toybox06]

Today was very slow going as I was installing my freshly painted coolant crossover tube one of the bolts stripped. Ugh! Go to the store buy a helicoil kit install said kit took as much time tonight as it did to do the swap the trans. But I think it looks great.