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DON'T SEPERATE THE CASE HALVES IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO! If you do, you'll want to line bore the main bearing journals. If the bottom end isn't damaged, don't bother messing with it.

Good to know for anyone looking at importing a hatch from the US to a RHD country...

Subaru heat shields are notorious for rattling. And your symptoms (low RPMs, light-load, decelerating) seem to point at heat shields. BUT, heat shield will also rattle with the car stationary. And the rattling can be quite loud when the engine is started. If you cannot create the rattle at zero speed, then it is most likely not the heat shields.

My first build log i've actually posted somewhere, picked this 1st gen up from texas and had it shipped up to me in ohio, the plan, is to 100% restore back to original, and make it a new brat again

Three scoob family, now looking for a model non-specific forum. Willing to share experiences, maintenane tips etc. Have rebuilt engines, suspension, diffs, clutches in my off grid workshop with no mains power! love my 1990s Subarus!!

On our 2005 Outback, our backup lights have been collecting water during rainstorms. Usually it appears as heavy condensation or fog, but after a big rain when I open the tailgate hatch and remove the backup light bulb, water runs out of the assembly. So far it has not shorted out the electrical outlet. I searched the forums but had a hard time finding exactly this problem on this car, so I just want to provide some info and couple helpful links for someone down the road. This is not a difficult repair with basic tools, but do allow at least a couple hours, more like 3 or 4 if you take your time. It took me a long time because once I got the tailgate bezel off (the part where the backup lights are), there was a lot of clean up to do - and of course you want to take your time on a careful reassembly. Body panel clip removal tools are very handy, but not essential. Harbor Freight has a cheap set. I was careful, but still managed to break one of the clip anchors and two bolts. This necessitated getting creative with a different screw and anchor, which took a while to figure out. Both of the breaks were caused by the nut/bolt being rusty, and not loosing. You will need some silicone sealant for the lights themselves, and 3M Strip-Calk, which is about $17. The Strip-Calk is specifically made for assembling body parts and light housings, etc. This was originally described to me as, "Dumdum comes in 12 inch long string sections (like the very thin red licorice)". I also used a lot of 409 and paper towels getting everything nice and clean. I have noticed in the past that most leaks are associated with a build up of dirt and grim in hidden or hard to reach areas. This first video covers removing the interior panels. You do not need to remove the long horizontal panel above the window. Also, on the rubbery weather striping, the small white clips popped right out, which is better than separating them from the strip as Tony does. I taped the strip back in place so it would not be damaged if the tailgate closed. You need to unclip one electrical connector, which on my car was kind of a pain. In this second video, Bruce removes all those interior panels, but also the tailgate outer bezel with the reverse light assemblies. If you only have time for one video, watch this one. I think Bruce misses a set of nuts on each side of the tailgate bezel, far left and right. They are covered by skinny black panels, which I only partially removed (I could not budge the visible clip, but the hidden ones came right off). If you have removed all the 8mm nuts inside the tailgate and the bezel does not budge, look for those other four nuts. Besides using the Strip-Calk on each side of the light foam and around all the bolt hole locations, I put a strip along the rubber edge below the window, wear the bezel makes contact. That is the first place for water to enter under the bezel recesses. I used the silicon to seal all around the light assembly, where the clear part meets the black assembly. That should about do it. Time for a beer.

That's the entire function of the oil cooler, it exchanges heat between the engine oil and coolant. Oil flows through it to the filter and then back through it to the engine block, and coolant flows through it via a pair of rubber hoses. The hoses are flexible, so you can unbolt the cooler from the block and move it around some (plenty for replacing it's Oring). One of those hoses goes to a steel line that crosses in front of the oil pan, this can be unbolted from the engine to gain even more flexibility without opening the cooling system. I'm not sure if it'll be enough to really be beneficial in accessing the oil switch. In 2008, Subaru switched coolant types. I've seen newer cars with conventional green in them, but I certainly wouldn't mix them, at which point a gallon of Subaru stuff typically makes more sense then flushing the system to replace with conventional green fluid. Adding fluid isn't any different. I think that setup still has a conventional radiator cap/overflow bottle.

Thanks for the warm welcome! I dig my Scoobs with no alarms, no bells, and the most advanced part on all three is the Legacy’s remote door lock which only works at arm’s-length distance from the car! (If the angle is right and the glass is not to dirty) Here is the trio; Vivio and Forester in the queue for oil and filters

@sparkyboy oh yes, she will be 100% again..just depends on how long that'll take, finding parts has become pretty hard but worth it, the wife and i were thinking of naming her alpha, considering she is the first of her "kind" lol

It would crack around the pressure switch, yes. You should be able to see it. If it's an automatic, you can power brake it in gear and maybe get the AVLS to engage.... GD

Oil does run through it, but only through the center and the rim that oil filter covers. The lines on the side are coolant in and out. It's wafer setup. Coolant runs between the wafers, and oil runs through the holes in the wafer stacks. Should be described more as a heat exchanger, than a cooler really. The blue coolant is subaru's (and others) special improved premium quality. Made by Pentafrost IIRC. But yeah it's just a bit expensive. I would just move the cooler to the side a bit, not actually remove it. Slip the new O-ring carefully up into it's groove before reinstalling. Should be enough to get to the oil sender.

It’s two sided - imports costs and complainance. Import costs are usually the same across the board. Compliance is not and depends on the vehicle. For example, the MY hatch can have brumby doors fitted to comply with the side intrusion bar requirement. The 3 door coupe, these need to be fitted by a qualified company. The means welding and labour time to do it. I don’t think the RHD conversion would be difficult, it’d just require an engineer to sign off and since you be using factory parts from a donor vehicle I doubt there would be an issue with this. May the end of the day it comes down to how deep your pockets are to take on a pursuit like this. I’d have a three door RXII coupe from NZ if I could afford it! And I’ll take a hatch while I’m at it Cheers Bennie

The high side is the line that goes to the condenser in front of the radiator.The low is the one that comes from inside the car. The low side hose is bigger than the high side hose. The sight glass eye is on the high side.

NO. Ring & pinion are a matched set.

Well the pressure switch tells the ECU that it's PWM signal to the solenoid was recieved and effected a change in the oil pressure going to the AVLS rocker assembly. So until there is a load on the engine above a certain RPM, the AVLS pressure switch doesn't receive oil pressure. That's also why I think the head got cracked. I don't use any torque wrench on them. I use a short ratchet and choke up on the head.... but years of industrial machinery taught me 1/8" NPT sending unit torque values and the various strengths of soft materials like brass and aluminum. My hands are calibrated instruments of torquing. GD

You should thrown the fail-pro's in the fuckit bucket and buy some proper Subaru 642's or 770's GD

Awesome build! How did you extend your steering rack? I’m doing a 3” lift on my ‘87 GL. Thanks! Clayton

There is some noise. I got the drivers side apart and I think it might be the bearing. With the knuckle out of the car and on the bench I can feel the bearing better and there's a liittle scratchiness to it. Ordered an axle for the left side and both wheel bearings/seals so hopefully that fiixes it.

Thanks for the update Ritchie! Glad it all went well! My brumby is currently dash-less and is RHD so I could’ve got the required pics for you. But I’m a little late to the party for that! Cheers Bennie

Hello all, just an update on this in case anybody wants to do this in the future. I completed the conversion, pretty straight forward really, the hardest part was cutting a hole on the nearside for the heater blower intake and spot welding on the rain deflection plate under the scuttle panel. Otherwise it was easy enough.

The AVLS pressure switches leak from the electrical connector - that was your first leak. And then I bet you cracked the head over tightening the new one. Seen it done a couple times. GD

Get on it Jono! Now is the time to be collecting bits for the Gen1 Liberty in my opinion. They’re still available in the yards, can be had for cheap on gumtree too atm. But like the L series, this is the death-nell for these vehicles being common and real easy to get parts for! I ran the engine today to show my dad. It’s sat for a week - and started no worries AND without any lifter tick. I’m pretty happy with it. The oil is milky so there’s a head gasket to be sorted but I was going to do that as a matter of preventative maintenance anyway. It didn’t take a lot of water, the sort of amount you’d expect for a cooling system that’s just been filled and run for the first time. Cheers Bennie

I'm about 75% on getting them off by hand. The 06+ cars with the pretzel header are a bit tighter but I'm 6'2" and hands to match. I've worked with this same pair of hands extensively over the years - indeed it's rare that I use any other pair. They say the average grip strength of 25-35 males in the US has decreased by something like 25% since 1980. I guess with the combination of video games, software engineering, Army, heavy industrial, and automotive I have the hand strength equivalent of your average super hero. And later in life probably a scorching case of carpal tunnel. GD

All this garbage and back n forth and the guy never answered my simple question. Why? What problem are you trying to solve? I have no time for games. I'm here to help people solve problems. It's my only real function here. It's not as if I need to ask many questions in this town. So what's the GD problem you are attempting to solve with swaptronics? GD

thats so cool beast you have. i so envy what cars you guys can drive there. if i would drove that were i live, people would think i'm going to war. lol .