So… couple of minor “setbacks” has came up.
First, the water pump, or more specifically, either the gasket around the pump or the pump itself has failed for whatever reason. While water pumps are a straight-forward exercise of smooth-sailing, effortlessness on most vehicles, to me it may be easier just to remove the engine from the Subaru due to another issue that needs to be addressed. Let me elaborate a little more using pictures:
To service the water pump, it requires removing the radiator, crankshaft pulley, and timing along with all associated parts and electrical connections.
One of those items that will be removed are the Gates Powergrip hose clamps from the upper and lower radiator. The obvious downside to these particular clamps is that they a one-time use clamp. The upside to these is that they maintain a death-grip connection between the coolant hose and the receptacle. In the past, I’ve experienced random leakage due to weather (hoses contracts during the winter months and leaks) using both the OEM and worm-style along with silicone and OE rubber hoses. These thermoplastic clamps shrink to size once with a heat gun applied to them and evenly compresses the hose connection. They don’t wear over time like the way traditional clamps do.
Another consideration are t-bolt clamps, which give nearly the same even compression as the Powergrips if applied properly. Highly recommend staying with ones made from stainless steel and uses nylon locking hex nuts. I use T-bolts in other applications like the air intake but mostly rely on the Powergrips for the large diameter coolant connections.
Gates PowerGrip 32948 – Amazon
Second, the other issue would be the clutch; Rather, the ‘possiblity’ of the throwout/release bearing not seated properly. I won’t know for sure until I start ripping everything out above the hydraulic clutch assembly, which feels like everything when it comes to this compact vehicle.
In the image above, is the ‘typical’ diagram of the 5-speed 2002-2007 WRX transmission clutch assembly. In an ideal senario, once the engine is mated with the tranny the throwout/release bearing should catch to the collar/wire ring that is placed within the pressure plate (#6 on the diagram).
ACT does very good job explaining how the conponents interact with each other.
If interested, you can find it Here on Amazon or Here on the ACT website.
If the transmission has any other issue that I can’t resolve through coersion from above, then I may have to seperate it from the engine. Which, removing the engine is sometimes easier than dropping the transmission. Both acts are time consuming as well when working solo.
Banneker Motoring, Ltd.℠ 
You must be logged in to post a comment.