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When shifting from 4wd high to 4wd low ALWAYS use the clutch! And it’s best to shift into the next higher gear if on the move Cheers Bennie

The rings are lapped perfectly cylindrical and smooth in a tool steel tube at the time of manufacture. They virtually do not require any seating. What little "break in" takes place is kept to an absolute minimum by ensuring the rings are smooth and the walls have a finished plateau surface devoid of any raised wear points. The top ring is a steel nitrided ring and virtually requires no "seating". Secondary compression/oil control is cast iron and these will seat easily with no honing at all. Indeed the Subaru rings are so thin that honing the cylinder is likely to overheat the rings and cause them to lose their spring tension resulting in WORSE compression. Also the wear materials and impregnated honing grit will tear up your bearings and shorten engine life as they mix with the oil and end up through the whole engine. Show me a mirror finish in a used Subaru bore and I'll show you a block that needs to be bored oversized due to excessive wear. There are NO cases where a flex hone is a suitable answer. If the bores have so much wear that all the cross hatching (which are the valley's of the plateau finish) is gone, the bore is SHOT and no amount of honing will bring it back. It would require a rebore to the next piston oversize, and the last step in that process is a proper diamond finish plateau hone. I can produce references from the 80's that were already stating not to hone cylinders on a rebuild unless absolutely necessary if you want to achieve quickest seating and highest ultimate compression. Piston ring manufacturing, and engine manufacturing tolerances eliminated the need for honing on rebuilds back in the 1980's. Things have only got better since then. The reality is - if the bore isn't good enough to run - you need to bore it out to the next piston size. And more important than the cylinders BY FAR, is the line hone. After 100k the line hone takes on all the shape and appeal of an elderly bag lady. With the #2/3/4 main's having sometimes three times the allowable oil clearance. And the best reason of all - I build Subaru engines FOR A LIVING. I do this every day and we build everything from stock to engines making well over 600 crank horsepower. I haven't honed a cylinder wall in 15 years and not a single engine uses oil or has failed to properly seat the rings. And they seat FAST. It has been (wisely) said that on the first revolution of the engine the rings are wearing in - on the second they are wearing out. I will typically do a 100 mile break-in and then we go full-throttle. My engines always exhibit perfect, uniform compression, and the oil changes show no wear materials. The first oil change at 500 miles ALWAYS shows ZERO oil consumption. Oh yeah - and it isn't opinion. It's FACT. Once you have done this as many times as I have - it's not an opinion anymore. I speak from VAST experience. GD

I want to get to see GD's shop some day. Heck, I'd even be free help for a week.

In the EA81s they wanted you to make the shift from 2WD to 4WD at less than 50 mph, IIRC.

You might also need to swap the crank and lhs cam sprocket/gear for ignition timing to work properly or at all. Cheers Bennie

Probably federal vs California emissions. Just swap the intake manifolds. GD

Must be something about where we vs mice are. Here they are a major threat to anything left outside. I've had them damage wires, lucky the car didn't catch fire. Build nests in the entire hvac system. They pull the fuzz from under the carpets and stuff it into the ducts, blower, anywhere. And bring in acorns,etc. Leave pee and poo everywhere. I'm in CT, so they definitely look for places to get out of the cold.

Thanks Texan, I was not aware of that kind of service. I live in between Baltimore and Philadelphia, so good possiblities (plus a bunch of junk yards)

My reading comprehension is on holiday today...

Ya all will never guess what THIS is ?? My local "independent Subaru Repair" guy, Chris Raffi LENT IT TO ME! What a nice guy and he keeps up a nice looking shop too, so if anyone is close to 90260 and they need pro service give him a call 310-674-5226 Raffi Motors. I'll also still see if my "DrumDial" shows differences in deflection. Now the only problem I have is I only have 3/8" torque wrenches - why they used a 1/2" female for just 25 ft/lbs. max is serious overkill IMHO.

14 v while running is normal, should be fine with charging. 10V at rest is low. There may be a partially failed diode in the alternator or other electric leak drawing the battery down. Sometimes batteries go bad early. Normal 5 years is max. I always put in the biggest one that will fit in the space available. But if it is cranking anywhere near normally, the battery is not why it won't fire.

You can test for a blocked exhaust by loosening the 4 y pipe to head nuts. Get about 1/2" of clearance, see how it runs. It will be loud. But if it runs good, then you know the exhaust is plugged. Another way to check is to connect a vacuum cleaner to the tail pipe end. Do tye same with the 4 bolts, get space for air to get in. Canister or shop vac style. The vacuum cleaner motor should barely change it's tone when connected vs disconnected from the tail pipe.