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Be sure to use the full kit (belt, idlers, and water pump), not just the belt. I thought I'd get away with just the belt on my '02 at 60k and do the full kit at 120k - WRONG! It failed 400 miles from home and put me at the mercy of a mechanic the locals said was good - WRONG! It was expensive, frustrating, and left a whole series of Easter eggs for me to find and repair. Really, who breaks the head off a bolt and just epoxies it in place? There's no harm in shortening the maintenance interval if you are concerned - much easier than totally re-engineering the engine and controls.

Just posting this to avoid any dangerous situations. On the phase 2 EJ engines intakes there are 3 sections of around 3 inch high pressure line: one on the drivers side just below where the fuel lines from the car connect one on the front passengers side ( partially covered by metal shield on some models) and one in the back going to the fuel pressure regulator The first 2 are the ones that i have seen leaking regularly I think that over time the fuel line shrinks with age so the hose clamps are no longer tight. Just a couple turns will usually stop the leaking. Make sure you have the proper philips head so that you dont strip them Some times it takes a little work to rotate the clamps around so that you can easily get to them with a screw driver. I tightened the ones on my 2002 forester S over the summer but last week wiht the extreme cold we had here in Ohio mine started leaking again. Turned the clamps a little more and havent seen anymore leaks. So please check yours and keep a nose out for gas fumes. I can add some pics if people would like Thanks

Absolutely, it was a great idea to post here. I've been all around these engines for decades, so my questions and comments are aiming for clarity to help you.

It wasn't tampered with. The speedometer is off because the transmission was swapped to another gear ratio transmission. It's common. It's impossible for the timing belt to cause metal shavings in the oil like you're describing. You never told us what you meant by "timing slip". You never said it was fixed - just that you had it looked at, they said it was fine to drive, and you drove 400 miles. That doesn't sound like a problematic timing slip. It doesn't matter what happened, we know it's unrelated because when a compromised timing belt damages the engine it can't in anyway introduce metal to the oil. So they are unrelated. Also, if it slipped enough to cause damage - it would have needed repaired the moment it happened. If timing belts slip on an interference engine (which yours is), the pistons bend the valves, rendering the car undrivable, or it drives terribly, or no damage at all. It wasn't undrivable and you didn't say any severe performance issues. So there was no damage. The moment the belt "slips" (ambiguity notwithstading) it's either damaged or not. It can't cause issues later.

maybe you have incorrect sized tires and/or the transmission was swapped from a vehicle with a different final drive ratio. Odometers are usually 'rolled back' (total mileage reduced) but that is not going to affect the rate of accumulation.

If the front guard are the same between models the bonnet/hoot will swap over Thats the easy way to think about it. Cheers Bennie

Check the grounds. The main one from the negative side of the battery to the starter can get funky and cause issues. There is one on the intake that can also get checked. And the one from the battery to the body of the car. I have seen all 3 of those get cruddy and cause all kinds of issues

Negative. Brat's are gen 1 till 1982. GD

Good feedback. Unfortunately there’s no way to tell what caused it without definitive tangible evidence. Oil leaks are a predominant and ubiquitous cause of lower end failure exactly like you’re seeing. Oil gets low, then the oil overheats, degrades, localized overheating comprises the bearing surfaces, which take awhile to actually fail. Like days weeks or months depending how bad the initial damage was. So you’d need quantitative proof they caused this. Not just guesses. The easiest way it’s their fault is if the sump is bent or it was low on oil. But if they already drained the oil there’s no way to verify how much came out. So the sump is the item to inspect. But that requires pulling or cutting the pan off to look at. How do you know the mileage was tampered with? If you’ve been “chasing oil leaks” either this car may have been in rough shape with many leaks or the shop didn’t do a great job of diagnosing what was causing the leaks to begin with.

Just starting a car and idling doesn't help a battery stay charged very much. The amount of energy used for a cold start will take a pretty long time to recover by idling at low RPMs to get any benefit. Assuming the battery is in good shape, it would need a good 15-20 minutes of highway driving to keep the alternator amps up for charging, to keep it in top shape. As batteries age they lose the Cold Cranking Amps on their own. The colder weather just stresses them that much more

That might work on an old diesel that has some serious mass to it and no real electrical like a D8 Cat... Don't do this on anything modern. GD

How long have you owned this car? If it’s a recent purchase number 2 is more likely. It sounds like you’re chasing oil leaks. “cam seal replaced”….not long after….”oil pan seal replaced”. This makes number 2 sound likely. Other than that missing info: 1. The pan doesn’t easily drop out like it looks like. It looks like it does but the sump won’t clear the pan baffles so the engine needs lifted. So if they’re used to some other easy cars/truck manufacturers that just unbolt and come off they could have wrestled the pan and damaged the sump. Pull the pan and check the sump. If it’s damaged then they wrestled it off. Given it a Midas that sees all makes and models it would be very easy to look at a Subaru and think it’s easy and try to rip the pan off and damage the sump. 2. If the cam seal, pan (and maybe other items) were leaking then it could have previously been run very low on oil which frequently comprises the lower end bearings. 3. They forgot to add oil. How much came out when they drained it?

If I have not done the job before, I always like to hit the self serve junk yards and pull the part there. It's a great learning experience and you don't have to worry about breaking something you need. You've already done that with the car you parted out.

Which engine / year / model ? My vote is they oil pan deal. Maybe they hit the siphon tube ? Good luck with it. Hope you don’t need an attorney for this.

Interference is a non issue. Put this out of your mind. You need forged pistons (due to ring lang failure), and a Killer-B pickup tube, and a silicone turbo inlet. Also redirecting the turbo oil feed from the head to the engine block is an excellent idea. Beyond that there are many other applications so be carful.. GD

heeeeeey. i’ve been lurking the forums since buying the murder machine in 2017 & getting so much info from y’all thought i’d finally post some photos. 1986 gl wagon, ea81 swap with weber conversion, 4 inch sjr lift. 6 lug conversion currently running 215/75/15. all the interior lights have been deleted, & the cooling fan is on a toggle - i live in leadville so it’s usually cool enuf. straight exhaust to annoy the neighbors. just installed the steel front bumper & winch!

They are not the “exact same” but hey you made it work. For the person trying to keep their car correct the handles are unique from 72-77 stage one here in the States , then 77(stage two) - 79 cars and gen one Brat.

I'll pause here and mention that before doing all of this, I had literally no clue what I was doing. I do my own regular maintenance stuff (oil changes and all that) but I am no auto mechanic. I learned enough about mechanics and whatnot from spending 5 years in the Marine Corps as a hydraulics/airframes mechanic; but I will reiterate that I am by no means competent. I take stuff apart, look at manuals and here on USMB to figure it out and do my best to troubleshoot and get it back together. This is a learning process for me, so if you see anything concerning please let me know; I am all about constructive criticism.

The whole front end was trashed, and had like 2 inches of play in the steering wheel and wandered all over the place on the road. First thing I did was replace shocks, springs, tie rods, ball joints, did a 6-lug swap, and lifted it 3" with a 1.5" subframe drop. I bought the cheapest 15x7 wheels I could find and some 26"ish Yokohama Geolandars and threw them on (I don't like the stance; too little backspacing but I'll fix that later with some different wheels). I drove it with the destroyed head gasket for a few months until I got tired of going through a quart of oil per week. I also grabbed a Loyale grille from a JY (the stock one was missing a "tooth") and now she looks like this: