edrach

The easiest way is to disconnect the positive terminal on the battery and charge it fully. After the battery is charged, start the car and actuate either the lock or unlock button until the lights stop flashing. You might luck out and get the lights to stop flashing without starting the car. I know this may not help since it's not a quick fix but it should get you back to running again. I'm going to be doing this tomorrow on my Forester since I have to change out the battery. If my advice doesn't work (I was told the technique by an experienced Subaru mechanic of many years) I'll be in the same position you are now. I'm wishing both of us luck.

Judging from what you found it confirms that the DOJ (inner) was bad. Good to make Autozone eat it. Just a comment, the clicking noise indicating a bad axle is always from the CVJ (outer). A bad outer joint will click under full lock conditions indicating failure. A DOJ failure is almost always silent (NEVER clicking in my experience). Vibration under acceleration which goes away instantly when you let off on the gas is the hallmark indication of a bad DOJ. The vibration can be very minor or so bad you think the transmission is about to fall out of the car.

The only diff we're sure of is the rear LSD 3.700). If the car was having difficulty in 4WD with your original rear diff (3.900) you might have lucked out and gotten a 3.700 front diff which will match the LSD now in it. I don't believe that any of the earlier transmissions had a label on them to indicate a part number. Three things that might help. 1) Go back to Pull a Part and yank the transmission out of the car that had the LSD in it. If it's a d/r you should be okay with it. 2) Go back to the car that had the transmission that you now have in your car and look for the transmission part number on the VIN # plate in the engine compartment. Armed with that part number you might be able to confirm what ratio gearbox you have. Do this very carefully (i.e. don't be under the car while you're trying to count turns): 3)Drive your current car up onto one ramp to raise that side off the ground. Except for the AWD tranny, all the front diffs are Open. Put wheel chocks on the rear wheel as the ramp side to keep the car from moving. Jack up the other front wheel until it's off the ground. Mark the wheel with chalk at the 12 o'clock postion and turn the wheel and count turns. Now here's where theory runs into reality. Turning either the front wheel 3.7 revolutions (or 3.9) will result in one revolution of the driveshaft.....or the other way around....one revolution of the front wheel will result in either 3.7 or 3.9 turns of the driveshaft depending on the front diff ratio. I've never had to try method 3 before (and that's why I'm confused about the turns), but it should tell you something if methods 1 & 2 fail to get you the information you need. Lastly, try to meet up with XSNRG. He's reasonably local to you and might be able to figure out what you have there. A lot of information may have been mixed up in all these posts and speaking with someone in person who's pretty much an expert might resolve this dilemna. Good luck.

I just checked your SS link and it talks about Rally America's regs for rally cars. My reply to you was specifically about rallycross where SCCA regs are quite different in that they separate Stock FWD and Stock AWD into two separate classes. If you're building a RA car, I'd likely go with a FWD Impreza; cheaper to acquire and build; easier to learn when new to the sport. If you're building a rallycross car, I'd definitely go with the AWD Impreza since it's more fun to drive.

A big consideration with the Impreza is its lighter weight compared to the Legacy. You'll also find that the EJ18 is a very sporty engine that just loves to rev especially if you stick with 14" tires/wheels (car is a comparitive stone with 15" or larger). Another consideration is select your car carefully and choose one of the earlier Imprezas with the 4.11 rear. My old '94 Impreza (the white one which I ran two years ago) was sold to Paul Eklund and he's using it as a rental car for his rallycross school. I never confirmed the fact but my suspicion is that it has the 4.11 rear since it out performed my EJ22 wagon. You might try renting it at one of Paul E's schools to see if you like it. IMHO the EJ18 is a more reliable engine than either the EA82 and EJ22. Also, the EJ18 has more hp (and torque?) than the EA82. If cost is a consideration, the EJ18 can be had for a song compared to the EJ22.

You'll drop about 400 rpm at freeway speeds with the new 5th. You're right about the closer ratios on the way up that will help. The old gearbox was rev the tar out of 3rd or lug along in 4th going up long hills.

After three months of looking for a suitible replacement for my wife's Impreza we finally found the perfect car for her. A model S with a 5 speed in the color my wife preferred. Thanks to richierich who found this gem for us. Now I get the Impreza for myself.

Boy, I wouldn't have believed the old 4th gear ratio was so close the the new 5th; it certainly feels more like an over-drive than the numbers would indicate. The biggest difference that the numbers show is more "dig" in 3rd and 4th with the new gearbox.

I couldn't say since I use stock wheels/tires on my brat as well as a weber (which helps also). Try asking Zap, Qman, or Turbone4x4 since they have rigs with the larger tires.

Jeff, I opted to use the EA82 flywheel in my conversion so the EA82 clutchkit works just fine. I'm almost positive that the splines are the same for the EA81 kit, but I'm not sure. The only issue I had with the later flywheel is that the bolts holding in to the engine are slightly smaller so there's a tiny gap which most people don't feel is an issue once the bolts are torqued to the proper setting. Anal person that I am I found some thinwall tubing that I cut to 1/2" lengths to take up the slop. There's also an issue with starter motors but you'd have to research that. Bratsrus1 can answer a lot of those questions for you.

I'm with Jerry on this. Do it. He installed the 5 speed on my Brat and there's significant improvement. No more running at 3600 rpm on the interstate; ability to drop down to 4th on long hills on the highway. Also, the 5 speed d/r appears to be a more robust and reliable transmission.

Tough when you have to work Saturdays! I'll give you a call tomorrow; I've got a question about alignment.

Vibration under acceleration that goes away is almost always a bad DOJ on one of your axles. Frankly, I would suspect the one you just installed. Not likely the rears; they just never seem to go bad; and when they do it's not with those symptoms.

Our Toyota pickup with the timing chain exhibited chain slap at around 110K. There's an adjustment but the labor involved made me opt to pay the extra to just have the chain replaced and be done with it.

Belts are less expensive than either timing gears or chains to manufacture. Timing gears never seem to fail (look at your EA81 engine). Timing chains do stretch and wear out but would last longer than a timing belt. Simple economics, belts are the cheapest to manufacture and replace. Ask an early Toyota owner what it cost to replace a slapping timing chain in an L16 or L20 engine.

I will not buy an aftermarket rebuild alternator from anyone. I've found a local rebuilder who is "old school". I've found him expensive, but I never paid anywhere near $158 for a rebuild. Most of his "full" rebuilds have run around $120. Generally, the rebuilds run between $60 and $120 depending on what he finds bad. He generally warrantees his work for one year but I've never had to bring one of his alternators back for any reason.

Interesting. 1stsubaruparts.com used to be Auburn Subaru. They must have switched when Mike Scarf bought Auburn Subaru. I never noticed since I always call Jason anyway because the website is such a pain to navigate. Backordered parts come from wherever they can be found and I'd be ordering from Jason even if I still lived in NJ.

We were thinking of Ft. Lewis but would need an inside contact as well as lots of luck bringing a number of cars onto the base. It would be nice entertainment for some of the troops there if it could be done.

The earlier EA82 motor had two belts, one of them considerably smaller than the other and both narrower than the single belt on the EJ engines. I've had EA belts fail on me twice without any damage to the engine and both with more than 60K on the belts. I can understand why the newer EJ belts last longer and I don't know of any premature belt failures on the EJ engines; either the 2.2 or 2.5 engine. I also think the automatic belt tensioner helps on the EJ engines to keep the belt from failing prematurely. Looking to find a Forester to buy recently I found a number of them with 125K or more miles with no evidence that the belt had ever been changed. That being said, I think it is wise to change the belt at 105 months for the reasons given by nipper.

Is any of that thousands of acres flat, cleared and moderately dry and accessible to street legal vehicles? PRG is looking for a flat field around Olympia to set up a rally cross venue.

Moving the kernel wasn't to swap the casings; it was to move the kernel into a 3.900 rear diff to match the front diff. Anyway, looks like you have it under control.

Are you sure the front diff is a 3.700? I thought all the d/r front diffs were 3.900.

1stsubaruparts is Mike Scarf Subaru in Auburn, WA. Ask for Jason in parts (tollfree, 866-528-5282). He is much better to deal with over the phone; I find their website way too slow and non-intuitive. I haven't found a better place for OEM parts or better prices for that matter.

You might call Jason in Parts (866-528-5282) and see if he can do better for you. He sells only OEM and will ship around the country if needed.

I'm glad with your success; which PAP yard did you find it in? At that price, it's likely Lynnwood or Tacoma; I know Oly charges more. I'm glad the 3.7 worked for you, but it would have been easier to drop the LSD kernal into an open 3.9 diff. I'm pretty sure there's a write up somewhere on the board for that. I like your snorkle idea. The plastic breather does the same but they usually clog with age. With the hose you won't need to worry about any really deep puddles.