2002 WRX Wagon

~Slideways~ · May 10

Shifter was super floppy so I installed a new linkage jobby thing:

I did not change the other bushings here,it feels like new now though. Maybe later I'll do the other bushes but I think I fixed the main issue.

~Slideways~ · May 10

Engine mount has these heat shields, I'm missing one, not sure if I lost it while taking the engine out or if it wasn't there when I got it.

I made this out of some scrap. Not pretty but it'll do.

~Slideways~ · May 10

Light weight flywheel, such a nice looking thing, also makes a nice 'ting' noise when you tap it unlike the factory one which sounds like hitting a lump of iron.

So it must be good right?

All torqued and loctite'd:

Not a super fancy clutch but will be nice to drive and hold a bit more than stock (not sure what a stock clutch holds in these actually).

P/plate on:

Yes I am working on the floor. Too much other stuff and this was meant to be a quick job.

~Slideways~ · May 10

Another USDM vs JDM comparison that I forgot in that earlier post:

Compression ratios.

USDM: 8.0:1

JDM: 9.0:1

That's a pretty significant difference, I assume it's because Japan has access to better fuel than some of the US market?

Should make for better economy, better response etc etc.

~Slideways~ · May 10

Tumble Generating Valves or TGV.

This generation was the first to use these, but only in certain markets at first. I didn't think mine would have them, but it does.

It's a set of butterflies in the intake manifold just before the heads. So unlike earlier EJ20's the manifold is split into two parts, the last 10cm or so is where it has these butterflies.

From what I've read, the first gen TGV's like these are only for emissions at cold start for about 30 seconds the rest of the time they are 'open'. So at cold start they are closed and the air is forced through a small gap, the idea is to create turbulence and a good fuel mixture, then once warm it does nothing....except create restriction...

Here you can see the throttle plates and the thin gap that the air is forced through right next to the injector hole:

So even when the plate are open, there is a thick shaft blocking air as well as the 'extra' wall to create the restricted path.

Now I told myself, Subaru's are fragile, the best thing is to leave them stock standard.

Don't modify it.

BUT I HAVE TO WAIT A MONTH FOR HOSES.... YOU COULD JUST....you know that restriction sucks.... you could.... remove them right?

No don't do it.

OK the plates are out, that's enough, if you leave the shaft there it means the TPS's won't know the plates are gone and there won't be any engine codes.

BUT THAT SHAFT IS BLOCKING AIR.

OK take it out then.... BUT THAT WALL IS BAD.

No wait what are you doing?

STOP

WTF ARE YOU DOING

Jesus christ, why do I do this to myself.

~Slideways~ · May 11

*sigh*

Guess I need to figure out how to tune one of these ecu's.

~Slideways~ · May 11

Market place find, BBS LM 17's much lighter and better than the 18's it came with.

~Slideways~ · May 11

Subaru Special Tool to clean the injectors.

They were very clean anyway but thought I should check.

~Slideways~ · May 11

I threaded the holes where the TGV shaft went, loctite on the theads and jb weld on the outside.

Then shaved the bolt end down smooth in the inside.

azzurro · May 12

On 08/05/2026 at 13:46, ~Slideways~ said:

@azzurro

Thanks for the scope creep.

... All 3 were very clean so I am not worried about the 4th one...

Your welcome! Good sign the engine has regular oil changes.

Looks like you dont need any help with scope creep tho!

Giz link for aliexpress leather knob? Mine has holes in it and i hate it

~Slideways~ · May 12

14 hours ago, azzurro said:

Your welcome! Good sign the engine has regular oil changes.

Looks like you dont need any help with scope creep tho!

Giz link for aliexpress leather knob? Mine has holes in it and i hate it

Haha I guess I don't need help no.

Link:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008518928783.html

Was about $20 when I ordered. Surprisingly good quality, will see how it lasts.

~Slideways~ · May 20

I read that you absolutely have to remove the whole dashboard to remove the heater core. And since the heater hoses had been looped I have to assume it leaks.

A new genuine heater core was going to be something crazy like $800.

I really didn't want to remove the dash.

It's in here behind this stuff:

Removed some stuff and found it. Definitely can't remove without the dash coming out, even if I remove the under dash fan and a/c stuff, it still won't come out due to having to come out towards the back of the car/away from the firewall. The hard lines are crimped on.

I thought, what about being a complete neanderthal and just hack sawing the hard lines, would it then slide out towards the passenger side or is it held in there some other way?

I don't have anything to lose really, if it doesn't work I will end up needing to replace it anyway.

So I cut the lines. Don't think I have any photos of that, it was awkward to get to.

But once the hard lines were cut, it just slides out!? I reckon they must be assembled in the factory like this and they crimp on the hard lines afterwards.

Here it is testing for leaks using some random hoses and compressed air.

Yep it leaks.

Needed a bigger bucket to be able to see the leak, it was a tiny not even pin hole.

JB welded:

Now I thought as a temp fix to see if it worked would be to join the cut hard lines again with heater hose. So I modified some pliers to make a bead:

Then made a bead:

Plan is this temporary fix will be to see if it works. Then look out for a replacement and remove the dash at a later time... probably.

~Slideways~ · May 20

The front inner cv boot was ripped.

I managed to replace it by removing the knuckle which is enough to pull the CV apart at the gearbox while leaving it still attached at the gbox.

Cleaned it out, replaced grease and boot with a genuine kit:

Those clamps are great, what a good design, reusable and don't need any fancy tools.

Didn't take any photos after this because I was covered in grease.

~Slideways~ · May 20

Tried the new wheels on. Monster truck wheel gap lol.

I've since had it on the ground again and it is at a nice ride height and the offset looks pretty much perfect.

~Slideways~ · May 20

Discovered the turbo is an TD04HL which only seems to have come on some JDM versions of the WRX and maybe Forester, it's higher flowing version than the TD04 and TD04L which was normal on the USDM and earlier model jdm WRX's.

The TD04L is the most common and very fast spool but no top end.

TD04HL is more for mid and top end giving up a small amount of spool time.

Interesting numbers I found

Inducer sizes:

1) TD04L ..... 46.8 x 41.2mm 7.7mm tip width .
2) TD04 std ... 47.2 x 40.0mm 6.8mm tip .
3) TD04H ...... 52.0 x 44.0mm 7.7mm tip .
4) TD04HL ..... 52.0 x 45.6mm 8.9mm tip .

The compressor sizes:

13T-6 ... 40.64 x 56.0 4.98 tip . 52.6 trim .
15T ...... 42.00 x 56.0 5.38 tip . 56.2 trim .
16T ...... 43.40 x 56.0 5.70 tip . 60.0 trim .

It seems most likely it is a 15T.

So based on the fact that a USDM car of the same year only had 8.0:1 compression, smaller port head, no AVCS, and 3.9:1 final drive, they get the smaller TD04L probably in order to keep response.

And JDM get 9:0.1, big port heads, AVCS (helps turbo spool and bottom end), 4.4 final drive and the higher flowing TD04HL.

Man the US got wrecked.

~Slideways~ · May 20

Put the intake back together with new gaskets:

You can see here that the top part of the intake manifold could have actually been ported out a bit but I'll leave it.

Making use of the tiny torque wrench I bought a while ago for really low Nm stuff:

Only goes up to 25Nm or so, but really handy:

~Slideways~ · May 20

Replaced the 3 fuel lines under the intake manifold which are known to leak with age, really hard to do without taking the manifold off so cheap insurance. I was going to replace with some ethanol safe fuel hose I had left over but the Subaru stuff is smaller than the 8mm ID I had so just bought genuine since it was cheap enough.