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You need a factory Subaru thermostat. They are made by Tama so if you find a supplier that sells those they will also work. ALL OTHERS WILL NOT WORK. That is almost certainly your problem. Your water pump is fine. The impeller is cast iron. GD

I know that the transmission and rear differential must have same gear ratio to work properly. Car in question is an 08 Impreza WRX with 5MT. According to cars101.com this was supplied with a 3.90 gear ratio. Current ebay sellers are offering JDM transmissions with matching 4.44 rear differential. Question is what would be the difference in operation if the MT/Rear Diff with a 3.90 was replaced with a MT/Rear Diff with a 4.44 ratio?

Just wanted to comment and say I'm currently diagnosing a FP relay issue on my 87 SPFI ea82 GL and this was extremely helpful, thank you czny.

Yes, But, Do Not Buy. Those are cheap for a reason...they're cheap. And the 5 5-star reviews all read like some ONE (person) used Google translate for us gullible Americans. You'd be better served to buy a set of WRX '02-'07 struts and 'ghetto' the rear mount holes to fit them (you'll need to enlarge 2 about 1/4-1/2").

The main journals in the block get compressed due to crankshaft flex from rod pressure exerted by the the force of combustion in the cylinders. This flex compresses the aluminium of the block such that in the thrust direction the main bearing oil clearances are opened up over time. The stock bearing clearance spec is .0004" to .0012" - I have seen engines with as much as .0035" on the #3 main. Excessive clearance on the main journals leads to insufficient oil supply to the rod bearings. Remember - aluminium has very similar density to oak - and the same feeds and speeds for machining are used for both. All the combustion pressure on the Subaru crank - which although being forged has some areas that are VERY thin in cross-section - causes deflection. This pounds the main line into an hour-glassed shape where the front and rear mains are usually close to spec, but 2, 3, and 4 are hogged out and it's like a hotdog down a hallway in there. It is for this reason that I WILL NOT rebuild a used engine without doing a main-line hone. Which involves surfacing the case on the smooth side, and honing the mains back to spec. It can only be done once. GD

442 can be a number of things. To know for sure you need to have a smoke test performed. First step is to get a new fuel filler cap from Subaru. They occasionally go bad and aren't that expensive. Clear the code and see if it comes back. If it does have a shop perform a smoke test - tell them you want to do the repair yourself you just need them to tell you where the leak is. GD

I think it's possible a bad PCV valve can contribute to oil loss.

Engine is back together and dropped in. The car starts and moves under its own power and didn't overheat or leak any precious fluids in the time we left it running. I'll be doing shakedown runs this evening to ensure all is well. Thanks for all the advice!

IF yours is spfi it will be mounted on a bracket held with one screw to a dash support behind the instrument cluster. BUT you can get at it by removing the plastic panels on between steering wheel & foot pedals, then lowering your ECM(3 12 mm nuts hold this in place) to get at the screw. Fuel pump relay is the round one - Intermotor(SMP) part # RY51. Don't confuse that one with 4 relays on back of dash above fuse panel. They are interchangeable though. If yours is carbureted someone else will have to chime in.

MY 87 ea82 spfi fuel pump relay(Std Mtr Prod # RY51) is located above ECM alongside ignition relay(Std Mtr Prod # RY56). Both mounted to same bracket held with 1 screw after moving ECM out of way. Relay contacts can & do fry lowering voltage thru contacts.

And for the carrier bearing we just flipped the bracket and it lined up perfect. The way the mount works made the driveshaft sit at almost the perfect angle after we flipped it. Those were the two things that we did that saved us some time.

Oh, and for the steering extenstion, I just used a steering shaft from an 96/97 outback and it worked great. It was the perfect length, and I didn't have to weld it :-)

If you don't want to shred your axels, a full lift is needed. I have a 3" SJR lift with 07/08 Forester struts and the axels are at more of an angle, but nothing extreme and I have had no issues so far, but it's only been lifted a month. As for placement of the blocks, engine mounts, trans mounts, rear subframe, and any other place where the body attaches to the suspension. It was at least 17 different places, if not a few more. Literally every place the body and the suspension meet.