edrach

I would always use an OEM PCV; difference in price is minimal; difference in possible grief is unending. As for the sparkplugs, I've always used NGK non platinum with good success on EA81, Ea82, EJ22 engines. I know the newer engines require platinum plugs. Which engine are you talking about?

Red Robin sounds good. The Voloce (spelling bad...local biker place in Totem Lake) Restaurant would be okay too.

Sucker king is right; the right boot fails more often since it gets a lot of heat from the catalytic converter. If you're running too lean it gets even hotter and causes the boots to fail pre-maturely. I once made an "air scoop" to deflect the heat away from the boot and run some cooling air between the scoop and catalytic converter. Worked pretty well.

It also happens when the axle nut is not tightened to the 145 ft-lbs of torque. Get a new hub from the local wrecking yard; that's the easiest and cheapest fix.

I believe there are rural portions of King and Snohomish counties that don't require emissions testing; I'd check with WA state on that.

You might also try reaching richierich in Portland. He runs an independent Subaru only repair shop. I'm sure he can do better for you than the dealer in Bend. Does the car drive at all? I know Bend is quite a distance from Portland. Good luck. Something isn't right that you should be having that trouble with a Legacy with only 88K on it. Who's the last one who had the crank pulley off and why?

EJ22 engine has two coolant sensors; one for the ECU and one for the temp guage. Make sure you get the correct one.

You might consider safety cables to keep it from flying forward.

Try PMing richierich.

I do have to agree with the features of the EA82; the d/r tranny is nicer than my AWD; the gas consumption is better since the car is lighter; overall maintenance costs over the long term might be lower (heaven help me if I need to replace an IAC; but a one belt replacement for the timing belt is so much easier than two). However, for a daily driver which isn't going into the woods, or such (I have my Brat for that), I still prefer my Legacy.

No adjustments, but I do remember a thread posted a short while ago for cleaning the air control valve. If yours is an automatic transmission car, I have a good working used one available (check my post in the for sale section).

I hate to be the dissenting opinion here but I'll add my two cents. If you want to drop an EJ22 into your EA81 or EA82 vehicle, feel free to do that. I wouldn't stop you and I think it's cool that you can do it. It's not a choice I would make for myself since I have enough projects. However, having driven an '86 GL for over 10 years (and loved it) and still driving (and loving it) my '84 Brat, I finally upgraded to a '91 Legacy wagon for my daily driver. Having worked on all three generations fairly extensively, I find the Legacy the easiest to work on. I can change an axle on my old GL in less than an hour; I did my first axle change on my Legacy in less than 20 minutes....no special puller needed, no hassle pushing the splined shaft out of the hub. I had to replace the engine in my Legacy recently and two of us did that job in just a little over 5 hours. I was amazed how easy it was to get the PS pump and A/C out of the way and unplugging the engine harness with just 3 connectors. Almost every job that I've done on my older cars seems easier on my Legacy. And the handling.....My old GL couldn't compare to my Legacy. Just needed to add my two cents worth. Sorry for the rant.

Is you don't want to re-use the old ones, try www.1stsubaruparts.com; that way you'll get ones that are correct for the application.

I guesss they're not paid to check the ECS light. During the test where they smoked my brakes, the operator aborted the test by shutting off the engine. However, the protocol was still running and it printed out a test passed form with the idle speed at 0!

www.cvaxles.com $55 plus shipping and rebuildable core. Another outfit that actually rebuilds them by replacing the inner and outer joints.

The copy that's floating around was done by a USMB member about 4 years ago. It was very well done at the time. Somehow he's disappeared from the Board. I don't know where the $35 prices came from (or the $70 for that matter). I bought my hard copy of HTKYSA, Vol 2 for $10 plus shipping off ebay a while back.

I don't believe Larry Owens would care (I believe he died a few years ago), but the publisher might have some issues even though the book has been out of print for a few years.

I use the 75W-90NS redline gear oil in my '91 Legacy which had a 3rd gear crunch when I bought it 60K miles ago. Gearbox is smooth now; I've either gotten used to avoiding the crunch or the redline is doing it for me.

Local Seattle Pull a Part yard will sell you all the parts you need for about $120 or less. But I agree, it would be cheaper to find a 4WD wagon and certainly less work. With a pull a part yard you not only have to remove all the parts needed as well as re-install them. 4WD wagons with a blown head gasket or some other minor problem can be had for a song and would make for much better candidates for restoration.

First belt change usually doesn't require new idlers or water pump; but the second one I wouldn't do it without them available.

My harbor freight electric impact tool does 95% of the axle nuts I've tried; the other 5% get my 4 foot extension on my 1/2" breaker bar...it's a craftsman and I've only had to replace one in 5 years. For the really difficult ones at Pull a Part where the brakes are useless and the wheels are in the air, I have a steel rim with a two foot bar welded on it to keep the hub from turning. I just bolt on the rim and prop up the bar a crank on the breaker bar.

Wow! I did the same job on my '91 Legacy and bought the OEM parts at 35% off list from an on-line dealership (including the water pump). Parts alone cost me $536; I supplied the labor and it took about 3 hours. I think you got a great deal. I did wind up replacing all the idlers as well as the tensioner since I had 155K on the engine (2nd belt replacement as far as I could tell).

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks these rules are unmanageable. But I'm just out there for fun. The interesting thing is that under the old class structure, cars with a similar range of times would run the course so two or three cars could be on the course at the same time. Now a stock Brat could be running against a stock WRX which likely will result in longer times for the event since one can't always load the course with more than one car. Also, it will discourage new comers who own older cars since they become even more uncompetitive in their Stock class.

You'll also have to replace the flywheel and clutch since the 2WD version uses a smaller diameter clutch disk.

I was lucky enough to find a puller on ebay a few years ago and that's made life easier when replacing an EA81 or EA82 front axle. I've always removed the axle by pounding them out carefully with a sledge hammer. Before I had the puller, I used to pry the axle back in with a collection of large washers and two large screw drivers. Never damaged a wheel bearing that I know of on my Brat which has seen over 6 axles in the 5 years that I've owned it (I've been using used axles for the most part). I do use a lubricant on the axle stub; that does the outer bearing, but not the inner one. In either case, I've never had to replace front bearings on my Brat or any of the two wagons we've owned or my son's '82 Brat. I haven't kept count but I've replaced in excess of two dozen axles over the years on multiple cars.