Subarian

I know it sound like one of those "Duh!" things to say, but if you drain it, do it with the engine off, to avoid pump damage. Like Tiny Clark said, the system will bleed itself. Just full it to the mark, start the engine and turn it lock to lock a few times, and then refill it.

Unless I'm mistaken, the negative post on the coil grounds through the distributor, so it might cause some issues with your relay. The positive post is always hot when the ignition is on, which is why I chose that one. I haven't experienced any problems with it and I've used it like that for about 50,000 miles.

Gary, You mentioned one of your ECUs won't run the fuel pump. It might not be helpful to you, but I run the fuel pump on my carbed wagon directly off the + terminal on the coil. You might want to try a jumper and see if that will get it running.

I've seen two- I bought both of them with seized motors. One had obviously had coolant leaking into the cylinder and hydrolocked. The other one was run without any oil. I think it's basically impossible to ruin an EA82 without trying really, really hard.

The Weber only needs 2-3 pounds of pressure. The stock pump is fine. I put a FI fuel filter in the stock (for FI cars) location for better fuel filtering, but it's not necessary. I recommend running a return line from the Weber rather than blocking off the stock return line. Your fuel pump will last longer.

If you do have hydraulic adjusters, you probably need to clean them up. There are numerous posts here about TOD, or tick of death. That's what it's called, but it's really not serious other than being loud and annoying. You can put a half quart to a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil in the crankcase and run it at 3000+ RPMs for a few miles, and it will probably take care of it. NOTE: Marvel Mystery Oil is my preference; it's worked well for me on several engines, but other products are also available, like seafoam or even ATF.

I've used my Craftsman 1/2 ratchet many times to remove the crank bolt. I have an assortment of cheaters in lengths from about 10 inches to 2 feet. And I've never broken my 20 year old ratchet doing it this way. I currently own my 15th Subaru, so I've had some experience. So a 1/2 inch ratchet will work.

You need to leave at least 1 mm of free play, or you will prematurely wear out the clutch and/or throwout bearing.

A 327 would be very interesting, especially during a quick stop, when the car would probably nose over, isince the weight of the engine would be significantly farther forward and higher than stock. But why not a 350 or a 383? There's at least one guy on the board who's put a ER27 (XT-6 motor) in a GL, and EJ22 conversions are somewhat common. Some have put in turbocharged EJ motors (search for SuberDave). So there might be better alternatives to a SBC. I love the SBC; I've built lots of them and I have a 70 Chevy pickup that's getting a SB400. I just don't think the GL wagon is a good candidate for one.

How many miles/years on your water pump? They're a lot easier to replace when you've got the timing belts off anyway, so you might want to do that as preventive maintenance. A breaker bar is nice to have, but if you don't have one, you can use a cheater pipe on the handle of your ratchet to get more leverage. I only recommend doing this if the ratchet is cheap enough you don't mind replacing it or has a replacement guarantee.

If you can get a glass repair shop that does crack repair to fix it, you may still be able to salvage it. The repair materials used are very good, but they're not designed to be put under the kind of stress installing a windshield puts on the glass. Still, I've repaired cracks like you describe in the past with some success.

I would get underneath it and check the linkage. There's a pin (or maybe it's a bolt, I can't remember) on the end of the linkage that sometimes gets loose.

Never heard of doorstep-to-doorstep?

So will a Legacy AWD auto go straight into the SVX?

Yeah, I guess the SVX project could be worth some money, but I'm also remodeling my house, and time is limited. I guess the real question is how guilty I should feel about sending two lesser subarus to the scrap heap in order to build my project.

If you find it, I want a picture!

I guess I don't get what's so hard about it. Although I haven't done the swap yet, I'm getting ready to do it. It looks like the bolt holes just need to be reamed out a little bit. The flywheel is centered on the extension of the crank, and the bolts just attach it to the crank. I don't think any rebalancing should be necessary, since you're not removing a lot of material. I just plan on doing it myself. Somebody let me know if I'm wrong.

I picked up a project 86 wagon a couple of months ago. The body is really nice, and the motor is seized. So I found a 94 Legacy with 164,000 for $450 that was going to be an engine donor, but once I started working on it, it turned out to be too nice to part out (LS, AWD, all the goodies). So Thursday I bought a 90 Legacy with 165,000 miles for $250. The trans sounds like a garbage disposal with a couple of forks in it, but it got to my house under its own power. I suppose I could fix it, but it's only 2wd and I have this other idea..... I already have a FT 4wd dual range trans with the locking center diff and a LSD rear, and I have a rusty 86 turbo wagon that has the rear brakes, nice interior, axles, and other parts to donate. So it's going to take out two other subarus to build my project car, but it will end up being: 4wd wagon, lifted 2", 6 lugs with 29" tires, EJ22, d/r FT 4WD, rear LSD, 4-wheel disk brakes, additional soundproofing and the GL-10 seats and interior. I'm thinking it will be worth it. Just to add a twist, I had someone approach me today and offer me a 94 SVX with a bad tranny for $500. My wife asked me if I'd rather have that, but I think I'd still prefer my project car.

I just picked up Subaru number five (five current ones- I've owned about 14) for $250. It's a 90 Legacy with an automatic trans. The biggest problem is that the trans sounds like someone dropped a fork down the garbage disposal in the sink. The noise appears to be coming from the area of the torque convertor. Any ideas before I tear into it?

Otherwise, I'd look for the wire from the compressor clutch grounding out somewhere.

The OEM set made it 120,000 before it started to misfire. The misfire was actually due to a bad coil (they have coil-on-plug) and the plugs didn't look too bad. Not that I recommend going over your service interval, but when you have to change plugs in a van, sometimes you put it off for a while.....

Prices tend to vary quite a bit by region, but in my area it would be really difficult to find anyone to buy an 86 Subaru for that much. If it's really in good shape, it might fetch 1400 to 1600 around here.

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49975

Looks like a guy hunched over on a bike to me.

I can't say for sure about Subaru, but Bosch makes the OEM O2 sensors for many manufacturers. If you got the exact match, instead of a generic (splice the wires) replacement, I doubt the sensor is causing it. Swapping the old one in would be a good check.