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Been showing the old girl some love the last couple of weeks. New engine oil, oil filter, front and rear fuel filters, washed the air cleaner. New top and bottom radiator hoses. Both the inlet and return heater hoses. All three of the bypass hoses. Went back to an exhaust manifold without a catalytic converter and relocated the cat converter down into the straight pipe, this has been a far better result than I expected in both performance and sound. Remote Central Locking. Which is wired into the electric window circuit and will wind up the windows from the remote. Kenwood 7" Double Din Head Unit. Carpeted the stereo/rear speaker box. Mounted LED Combination Stop/Tail/Ind and Reverse lights on to the rear ladder bar, has been wired in with a plug on each side so that the bar can still be removed. Fitted LED Daylight Running Lights to the bullbar, both the front DRL's and the LED's that I have mounted on the rear ladder bar have been wired into the ignition so that they come on as soon as the vehicle is started, with a rocker switch that I can also turn them off for those secret squirrel moments. Finally gave in and decided to butcher my nice unmolested center console. Where the original stereo use to be I have made an aluminium plate to cover it up that houses 4 rocker switches which control the Spotlights, DRL's, Fog Lights and Reverse/Work Lights, with a USB/3.5mm Aux inputs for the stereo. Have also been considering drilling a hole into the cavity/pocket in front of the gear shifter to mount the USB/3.5 Aux Input into but I really don't want to cut my console up anymore than I have to. Tilt adjustable steering column. And the big one, POWER STEERING!!! Has totally changed little Ruby Doo to drive. Replaced all 3 belts, power steering, A/C and Alternator. Replaced the pigtail on one of the Hella Rallye 4000 spotlights, its good to have all the spotlights working again :-) Ordered a complete nolathane front suspension bush kit. And seeing as the tailgate mechanism likes to go a little weird on these things, mine wasn't working at all, to get the tailgate open I had to remove the inside panel so I could open it from there. I replaced it with another one that I eventually found that is in really good condition, to avoid having to use it, I fitted an electric boot release actuator into the tailgate so that now I can open it from the central locking remote or the button inside. Things to come in the near future (hopefully within the next couple of weeks, if this rain doesn't PO soon that may turn into within the next couple of months) is a 5 speed conversion. Pretty sure I've got all the parts required to do this with now but am yet to pull Ruby's engine out and see if she has the larger diameter flywheel. Pretty sure that has been the majority of the work so far.

That's still really funny to me. Folks who think that clearly never had any older Subarus. EA81s are a whopping 82 hp from the factory. The ever loved 2.2 only put out 135 hp. They say they barely bumped the hp for the 2018+, but I swear mine's much faster than the first gen Xtreks that I've owned.

^^^^ wow while I NEED to do about 4-5 things to my 2 soobs, I did manage to replace the bottom part of the intake air box on the 03. It and the WRX both have the slots cracked-out that the 'tab' part of the upper box slides into. If you do this, take the upper half off. Not just loosen the 2 clips, take the hose clamp loose going to the rear of the engine. There is a hose holder ,I think on a PS hose, there is a lever on the plastic clip, pull up and it will slide off the metal bracket on the lower box. There are 2 12mm bolts going thru some rubber grommets into the fender metal. A 12 inch extension will help getting those out. Try to get your other hand near them to prevent dropping. The lower box will pull away from the inside of the fender. There a plastic pin that goes into a grommet and of course the intake tube. You should be able to take it out. You will need to move the grommets to the new part. easiest to take the metal sleeve out, move them, then reinsert the sleeve. You must move the little bracket for the hose-holder. Unscrew it, pop the sheet metal capture-nut gadget out. pop it in the new lower box half, then remount the bracket. If the upper grommet for the plastic molded-on pin came out, put it back in the fender. Sorta fold the lower box into place, you mount the hose-holder back to the bracket by sliding it on till it clicks in place, then carefully position and screw the 2 12mm bolts back in. Put in a new filter, slide and clip in the top box after reconnecting its hose and tightening the hose clamp. I had been using zip ties strung together under the broken box to try to keep it sealed. Finally broke down and bought the parts for both cars recently. now I need to replace o-rings in and recharge the a/c system on the WRX, install its new lower intake box, and investigate the smell of burned grease - probably a split cvj boot. and the 03 Outback needs a new a/c hose and recharging, and a radiator fan assembly swapped-out.

do the EJ conversion now, or at the same time.

CVJ Axles in Colorado will rebuild your OEM axles. They sent me OEM reman'd 1984 GL front axles earlier this year, great service! All through email.

IS the engine thermostat 190 degrees F? That is stock temp. and the heat air temp is pretty good. I have a 180 in one of mine, the heat is noticeably not as powerful. Also, verify if the door that selects fresh VS recirculated air is working. Normally, for any heat or defrost mode it should be bringing in fresh air. Another thing I have modified, I can switch it independently - if you run with the door on recirculate, the windows can fog. I only use the recirculate for the first few minutes from a cold start outside in winter. A/C Max is the setting that puts it in recirculate normally. Another thought - if the engine is running at stock temp [190] and everything else above seems normal, have mice ever been in the heater system? They could have removed the sealing foam from the blend door and you won't get full power heat due to leaking.

there is a hole in the case of the ecu about half way down the side and if you look inside you can see s a green LED flashing. It also displays the codes in diagnosis mode

I’m frequently at the dealer for parts but would never buy fluids and filters there. I’ll pick up a trans filter only because I’m unfamiliar with alternatives on something rarely replaced. But now I can copy and paste GDs posted part number!

In my experience, freeing them up like that will only last a few days then they go back to seized. I've tried that a couple times. Get it on order. GD

Check the u-joint assembly between the column and the rack. Ideally remove it and check for loss of motion in one axis. GD

Oh, you're good...

I’ve done this prior to our last trip: Worked a treat and made packing/retrieving gear soooo much easier compared to the old setup. It’s also lighter There’s a kitchen cabinet that slides in under the left shelf - it will end up on a set of slides so you can use it from the back of the vehicle or remove it and use it on a bench/table etc. Our setup is pretty much sorted now. I’m very happy with it. Cheers Bennie

http://imgur.com/gallery/eM4CqMm My first L Series, a 91 EA82 5sp Dual Range Besides a tear in the passenger floor mat the interior is in great condition. 2" lift, new exhaust and rebuilt brakes. A bit of rust here and there but great condition overall for what I paid.