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Hope you had a Great Christmas in this strange 2020. Stay Healthy and Safe as we move into 2021! Happy Boxing Day.

Replace the PCV valve, use Subaru OEM.

Used photogrammetry to get the mockup rear knuckle on a computer. I didn't do a good enough job to get a really clean model out of it but it gave me a decent starting point. Measured all the hole locations later to make them accurate. Designed this in CAD to make it as boxed in / gusseted as possible but not super heavy. Stock rear knuckle bare is nine pounds, this one should be about 14 pounds. I think it will be a lot stronger. The main point though is to get bolt on wheel bearings (same as front). Also with some diff stub adapters we can use the big female front CV axles which are stronger and we won't have to carry as many spares. It's also designed to use the same front rotors we normally use and a caliper with a lever for parking brake. Z is going to 3D print a couple so we can test fit them before making them out of steel.

You can put it on the dyno - we run it nearly every day. Baseline runs are $120. The EA82 is an evolutionary dead end. It's got the heads and manifold of a tractor and the cooling system won't handle hours of WOT and full boost. Not to mention you can't get enough parts to keep up with the failures you will experience should you attempt that. Rebuilds aren't even meaningfully possible since no one is setup to main line hone the blocks and you can't get an oil pump from anywhere. It's a really poor choice of platform for a vintage/retro build. It's a wasteland out there for parts. The engine was just barely adequate in the 80's in stock form - now it's flat out garbage with EJ22's making significantly more power without a turbo and doing so with better fuel economy. My 1990 Legacy loaner car has 336k on the original drivetrain. GD

That’s amazing. Well done man!

I wish I could get my hands on it to sort it out. It looks like he used a red wire nut to connect all those wires together. Remove the tape and unscrew wire nut. Put it back on the Black (hot) wire OR pull the 30 amp fuse. To play it safe check for voltage on the removed wires. They should all be dead. Check for continuity from each of the wires (probably Red/Y) to pins 2 and 13. Mark the one for pins 2 and 13. Scroll up and look at the wiring diagram you posted. The wires from the fuse to the relay are Yellow. The wires out of the relay are Yellow/Red. If the continuity check says one of those wires goes to pins 2 and 13 it must be moved to the output of the relay, or add another relay to power it. With the fuse in I would check amperage draw on each of those wires one at a time from the black wire with an amp meter.

Are you sure the timing belt isn't one tooth off?

A southern EJ22 swapped 1998 Forester or 96-99 Outback is the best for reliability and ease of maintenance. Buy one of those from the south and you won’t learn much because there won’t be much to do to it. That engine and 4EAT trans will run forever. 00-04 Outback and 99-04 Forester are a close second. They have head gasket issues that can be mitigated by a DIY mechanical person and have a perfectly reliable 100k with that same bullet proof 4EAT as the 90’s stuff. Those head gasket issues make them really easy to pick up cheap. Proper repair and you’re good for a reliable 100k. 05+ is when degradations start but many are small and mostly annoyances. Drivetrain and stranding items like engine/trans is largely the same as 00-04. Same thing - get one cheap leaking oil and repair it properly for a reliable 100k. This is also when the annoying CANBUS system. Not a big deal but can’t do engine swaps any more. 05-09 outback (forester years and shifted slightly but are less common so I’m less familiar) is basically the same on overall drivetrain like engine and trans. Same head gasket points, can still get the 4EAT This range Forester or Outback with EJ25 and 4EAT is probably your best bet for newer and predictable issues and maintenance. Right around 2010+ starts to drift into CVTs, early FB engines with ring issues and oil consumption. I would avoid those. I usually recommend favoring 00-09 or getting as new as you can 2017+ to avoid 2011-2016 first iteration CVT and FB engines in Forester and Outback. But if you’re buying a low cost car needing work then sometimes that all goes out the window for a good deal. Its not like they’re all blowing up - I just picked up a 2011 Forester for parts with 260,000 miles and it runs perfectly fine. Some of us here see too many Subaru’s and have the wherewithal to be picky. I get mine from the south or west to avoid rust....but I can’t expect family and friends I help to do the same.

I lean on GD for block recommendations and experience. He does this stuff all the time and has described in detail in other posts about why. Look those comments up if you need more background and fact checking. It’s enlightening and data and experience driven. Im a member of a lot of Subaru forums since the 1990s, I know exactly what you mean! Blocks are tough and I don’t think advice given is purposely misguided. There’s just not much volume to go on. Few people are doing any volume of blocks over a long enough time to make more than anecdotal assumptions, there’s no good data. And almost no one has the volume or time to do it multiple ways and compare data. GD is about as close as you can get to that anywhere online when it comes to Subaru blocks.

Subaru GL wagon. AMR500 supercharger. https://www.instagram.com/p/CA3_R7_nJik/

5 Year update, lmao. Figured i'd add a couple notes for reference. Went with a Dorman Reman Driveshaft, great quality, no problems, balanced well and has grease fittings - sweet. Center Bearing is included IIRC because I can't recall anything about that part of the install. Note: I wouldn't recommend trying to rebuild the driveshaft / u joints yourself, as the u-joints are not designed to be serviced, and while they share similarities to the Nissan drivetrain and *can* be serviced (so they say) , I learned they are a royal b^tch to replace and do require a lot of specialized skill to replace. NEAPCO makes replacement bearings, and as much as I wanted to save a buck and do it on my own, tried and decided it was probably a waste of time. YMMV, there area a few YT videos and I believe @ the time, there was a very informative video of some dude that was repairing a HONDA driveshaft that helped show what needed to be done. Did not need to do anything extra to the transmission snout, ie: snout sleeve. My 98 was a Phase 1 engine - 4 bolts + 1 stud for starter. Donor trans was a Phase 2 w/ 8 bolts, (2 for starter). Trans bolted up no problem, however instead of drilling+tapping a hole to receive the (1) starter bolt needed, I left it be. Works fine, I added loctite to the single existing bolt just in case. Torsional loads are not a concern because the starter has a machined lip that will contact the bellhousing to support any torsional load if the starter were to dislocate / shift. Whole reason for 5MT swap was that my 4EAT was tired, and obviously had some strange shifting patterns and habits that could only indicate imminent failure (ha ha). I was in a rush, and with a stroke of luck, there was crashed Forester @ the local junkyard, so I jumped on it, since I needed to fix it quickly anyway. I could have sourced a more *desirable* transmission and gone about the whole process differently, sure. But, ahem my excuse = lazy+no time. Anyway, the 4eat differential ratio was a 4.11, so lucky me, the donor Forester 5MT apparently had a 4.11 final drive as well, which definitely worked out in my favor, too - I didn't have to muck with the rear end. Personally, I think it really worked out, in a weird way. I guess i'm happy with it, all things considered. The donor transmission in the Forester has a shorter 2nd, 3rd, @ 4th gear ratio compared to most Impreza gearsets / 3.9 Final Drives except the RA models, which is pretty neat. Coupled with a 4.11 Final drive, city drivability seems improved. I mean, with 137 horsepower on tap, gearing helps a ton. *wink wink* Only caveat is that the VSS gear on the front differential is geared for the Forester tires - (larger rolling diameter) and cannot be changed without some type of sophisticated electronic DIY VSS speedo calibrator converter custom deal or, replacement of the actual gear (ie: take it all apart ^_^) I'm lazy, so I chose to leave it and calculate the offset if I wanted to know the real story on things. Cheers.

The way I've seen a few done is with aluminum blocks machined to go between the manifold.and the head. Routs the coolant to hoses, the intake port passes through.

ok, update as of less than 15 minutes ago... topped up the radiator - was very slightly low, but not low enough it should have caused a no heat situation... overflow also got topped up just because I turned everything off when I started the car & let it come up to operating temp.. temp gauge rock solid dead in the middle of the sweep. heater temp was still set to 80 on Drivers side, 70 on pass... turned it on, and lo & behold, we have heat, and plenty of it... So.. thinking this is NOT heater core, t-stat or water pump related... electronics perhaps? I dunno, not familiar enough with the climate control system What say you guys?

We were asking about the heater core hoses that go through the firewall to the heater core. One or both, cold, warm or hot after a few minutes of idling? With the temp gauge at normal, both of those hoses should be hot. When you said bottom hose, I think of radiator hoses.

You go on ahead and ask a machinist. They will also LOL at you. You're really going to sleeve an engine for which you can no longer buy an oil pump? Talk about a stupid waste of money. WE DO sleeve EJ's for performance reasons. The cost to INSTALL and machine for the sleeves (not the cost of the sleeves or the block itself) is about $3,000 GD

Happy holidays to you all! @idosubaru @john in KY @DaveT @el_freddo @naru2 This is where I am now : I fixed the alternator's wiring by adding the line labeled "S" that stands for "voltage sense" this was cut and left on the side. I reattached the wires I had cut suspecting they were shorted. These wires were all fine all along. I prepared 4 new injector harnesses by cutting the old ones and soldering the new ones then using heat shrink on their solder joints. I fired it up. It started. But with a clanking noise, I let it run for a good 10 minutes. And then I noticed it smoothed out, at first it was like a wave, it would run ckanky then I would hear the typical EA82 purring. In the end it really seem it got a lot better. I noticed injector #4 still leaks fuel, but at a lower rate. When putting a long screw driver it sounded as if that injector 4 was clicking. The computer (damaged after a short when attempting to find the injector pulses) works good enough to run the ignition and distribution and in fact, it gave me code 42. Very clear 4 long pulses and 2 quick ones. Reading about it, it is related to "Injector" stuck open or closed. Which makes all the sense considering all the issues with injector 4. Perhaps that injector is faulty despite thought of being fine otherwise. However, reading on USBM, someone mentioned that code 42 refers to "Idle Switch" this would be consistent with the car's behaviour now. After the auxiliary air valve was released of keeping the idle still, the car couldn't maintain an idle any longer. The suspicion now is that the pin in the ECU that controls the iddle switch is fried. (Most expected) With all this, I'm calling it a massive improvement! The next actions include an oil and filter change, a swap and test of the injector #4. Waiting for the new ECU that is on its way. And fixing the relays for the radiator fans. Yes, I eliminated the fan clutch and placed 2 radiator fans. However I need a separate relay for the now main fan. It drags too much current for the current auxiliary radiator fan. I'll keep the updates coming

Sounds like you are off 1 or maybe 2 tooth. Going by your description, It's firing way late, so you have to turn the rotor ahead of where it is. Ahead - in the direction it turns when running. That will effectively get the body back to it's normal rotation at 20 degrees.

That's a crack. Whether it occurred during manufacture or later when it was running is anyone's guess - probably from cooling when it was cast. The EA82T heads are prone to cracking into the cooling jackets though if pushed hard. I wouldn't run them particularly hard. Anyone that has attempted more than 150 WHP from the EA82T has not had it last long. They just weren't up to the task. Properly setup and monitored though they can last a decent amount of time at stock power or slightly over - 120 at the wheels for example. The biggest problem is now the lack of parts and the frustrating complexity of the whole assembly compared to an EJ that can quadruple their performance with ease and are much simpler overall without the tendency toward ticking lifters, cracking heads, etc. GD

Hello world! Way back in 2019, I purchased a beaut little 1989 brumby as my first project car. It has a 5-speed transmission, air-con (de-gassed), a new exhaust, an aluminium radiator, relatively fresh chunky tires, and barely any rust or under-body damage as far as I can see; so when I saw it on sale for $500, I knew had to snatch it up! This isn’t to say the car doesn’t have problems, it’s currently unregistered, has no interior, blows smoke like a 2-stroke, sustained many dents in use as a bush-basher, and I don’t appear to be the first amateur to attempt to restore it. I’ve documented the major problems below. The car was all the way down in Batemans Bay when I bought it, so my Uncle had to pick it up for me. The plan was to go get it after a couple of months, but of course, rampant bush-fires and global pandemics conspired to keep me away from my newest pride and joy, to the point that the first time I saw it in person was in August. As things worked out, I am now in Batemans Bay staying at my Uncle's, and I started on the bodywork in October. Unfortunately, as much as I love this car, I have a long history of unfinished projects, so I’ve started this build thread in order to both give myself some accountability, and draw on the knowledge of more experienced enthusiasts to help me finish. Here are some pictures of the project; (I am terrible at documenting things, so I don't have any pictures of the exterior from before I started) The car as it is now; The worst of the rust; The tailgate before, during, and after paint stripping and panel beating; A full centimeter of putty off the tailgate; A small sample of the wiring I will have to deal with; The Interior when I got the car; What I found when I removed the floor vinyl; (The newest newspaper was from Dec 2016) h As you can see, my brumby is currently in that dangerous stage all project cars seem to go through, where they sit un-worked for an indefinite amount of time, while the risk they go unfinished grows as parts slowly disappear. So hopefully this thread gives me that extra bit of motivation to keep going. Thanks for listening!

For sure, especially now since her car won't start...probably bad crank sensor randomness- now that I'm in the doghouse I can try conversations about cats, usually a safe topic with her

cyls 3 and 4 share half the coil.....

Final follow-up on Grimace: As some of you may have read, I replaced my original (285k mile) transmission that endured years or torque bind abuse with a junkyard-pulled transmission that I grabbed out of an old sedan. When I installed the "new" transmission back in July of 2019, I had issues with getting the car to move in "D" or "3", it would just rev like in neutral. When I put the car in "1" or "2" the car would set off at a slow speed but then slip out of gear and free rev if given more than 1/4 throttle. Being in school at the time, I parked the car and planned to replace the transmission again when a better one showed up at a junkyard. Fast forward to June of 2020, I finished school and free time so I decided to perform a fluid change on the transmission again, just in case that might help, before returning it under warranty. After doing the fluid change the transmission would go into "D" and I would feel a slight lurch, like the car wanted to move. When I pressed the accelerator though, the car just revved up in RPM's. And as the RPM's wound down the car would start to creep forward, but not with any torque, almost like a clutch slipping really badly. After playing around with different combinations, I found that if I had the shift lever in position "2" with the "Manual" button pressed on the shift lever the car would start in 2nd gear with no problem. Once I was going over 18 MPH I could shift the car into "D" and the rest of the drive would be fine. It would shift between 2nd, 3rd, and 4th with no issues once it got past 18-20 MPH. If I put it in "1" it would work fine too, but that gear has so little speed in it that I would just start in "2" to avoid having to shift so many times. After about a month of driving the car like this I replaced the 6-year-old battery and suddenly I could start the car in "D" like the engineers had designed. But intermittently the car would not like starting in "D" at a red light and I would have to shift it down to "2" to get up to speed again. I don't know if that's due to the battery being disconnected and resetting the trans computer, or what. Another idea I had was that I forgot to top off the torque convertor before I shoved it into the housing, and maybe I was low on fluid for a while. And as a final, and sad ending to this story, I will add the newest development... Apparently I got the car up and driving so well that someone else wanted it. That's right, Grimace was stolen from me. After almost 10 years of ownership, and many fun adventures, my car has been taken from me. Its been about 3 weeks since then, so insurance wrote it off as a total loss a couple days ago. Even if he is recovered, grimace is gone from my life. :/

We are already seeing this on 2011's and 2012's. 10 years is about the useful life of a plastic radiator - especially with the new OAT blue coolant. Seems to be causing softening of the plastics. We just saw a lower tank failure on a 2014 a few months ago. We are now telling people 6-8 years is time for replacement. Also we are now mandating all plastic cam sprockets be replaced if we touch them. All are now 10 years old and we have had a few just come apart. One flew apart and bent 8 valves in a 2010 Forester about 11 months after a head gasket replacement. The plastic sheared off of the steel sprocket it was molded around. No appearance of cracks or damage on the remaining "ring" of the sprocket. Had a 25D sprocket explode a few years ago also - found all the pieces and nothing missing or chipped. Welcome to plastic. GD

looks nice here's mine;

Fair go fellas. Some people may not have been given the opportunity to learn about these sorts of things. Trust me I know - I work in a trauma informed education setting and we have teenagers that read and/or write at a grade 2/3 level of at all.. add in their complex behaviours due to the trauma they’ve experienced (ranges from abuse to lack of food, inattention, being around drunk/drug affected adults, no secure place to live/sleep etc). I’ll wait for a reply to see what ferp comes back with, then we’ll go from there. Cheers Bennie