scrap487

So, this is something I haven't experienced before on any vehicle... I was on my way driving to a final exam this morning, and had to get on it hard to merge with traffic. It shifted really hard into second since I didn't give it any time for the RPM to drop, and no surprise something didn't like it. Loud pop, and then lost all power. I was able to coast to safety. I can shift into any gear in the transmission without disengaging the clutch, while stopped with engine running, it doesn't seem like anything in the granny is spinning. There are no additional noise aside from the initial bang. What are your guys thoughts? Car has about 350k on it, rebuilt original ej22 with ej25 bottom end 85k ago. Prior to this, I had to drive through about a foot and a half to two feet of water a few weeks ago, and its had a good amount of clutch shudder since... Its going to be a few weeks till I can tear into it, its obvious it will be a major job. I can't wait to see what interesting stuff happened inside.

I've never needed to work on the axles of ej series cars as I've only owned one, but in the 80s generation of subies, they do tend to make a lot more noise turning if the outer joint is bad, but both turning and putting a load on the car will cause them to make noise. One thing you could try is to firmly grab hold of the axle and see if there is any movement up/down/front/back, if it's really bad I think you'll discover noticeable play(some side-side movement may be normal, but I can't say for sure). Is the sound reproducible with the vehicle not moving? IE, starting from a stop up a very steep grade, or giving it throttle while holding the brakes to keep the car stopped(should go without saying, but careful where you do this if you aren't familiar with the power of the brakes or engine).

Thanks john, The sleeve most definitely goes with the flat face on the outside, so that the flange on the bolt tightens against it, to isolate it from vibrations from the tensioner when the engine is running.

Yeah, new idler came with new sleeve, bolt and sleeve on both are identical. With new idler and new tensioner, it fits very tightly, if I were to pull the grenade pin out it probably wouldn't move much. I guess I'm just uncomfortable with the very tight fit and tiny amount of clearance. Does it matter that none of the new idlers have the flange on the back, like the old one(see bottom right, one with the orange seals on the bearings)? I'm probably being overly anal, but I have no idea if this is an interference engine in its configuration, absolutely do not want to risk being 1000 miles away and experience a destroyed valve train... Also, I don't think its relevant, but just in case, car has a manual transmission. Update: Okay, so I definitely was worrying too much about it. Stopped by and talked to the awesome guys at Superior Import Repair and they got me set straight. The tensioner pulleys are identical part numbers, and difference is in the casting, machined dimensions are close enough to work fine, though I'd take it back and get something that looked closer to the original part but I'm stuck with this one and it should work. They also told me the flanged idler is just a newer design, and the older cars used both idlers w/o flanges and that the bearings are actually better in the older design. Gonna go put everything together and call it a day...

Between school, and not really needing to wrench much due to my current subie that's been extraordinarily reliable, I'm returning after quite a long break from the board... What I'm working with: 1999 legacy brighton, with 350k+ miles. Originally had ej22, rebuilt engine when I got it about 4 years ago. My memory is foggy on some of the details, but when I rebuilt it I found that parts were pretty hard to find and expensive relative to that of the ej25, and knew someone that had the bottom end from an old ej25. So we put the ej25 block in with the ej22 heads, intake, etc, everything dropped right in and has been a fantastic engine since. SOHC ej25, CR is modest, or even slightly less than the original ej22, lots of fun to drive and when everything is good it'll range between 28-32 mpg on the highway. Except... Here I am about 70k later doing the timing belts and other fun stuff(I couldn't remember if it was a 65k belt or 105k, and front crank has been leaking for some time now) and I'm having issues getting the right parts, partially due to me being a dumba** and not doing the right kind of research before hand and not writing down what I used years ago. Turned out to be a good thing I'm doing it now, old belt has several cracks forming and 2 of the idlers bearings had more play than I would have liked. I'm already more $$ into it than I want to be, I have 2 questions: 1) What is the importance of the style idler pulls used? I will attach a photo, but one of the old idlers has a lip that sticks up on the back of it, on the DOHC motors I notice that none of the idlers have this but the SOHC motors have one. Is it important that I replace the old idler with one of the same style? or would it be fine with an idler that is different(see picture below, the new parts from the kit I have line the top, next to the old parts along the bottom row). 2) The tensioner pulley I bought I thought was mostly identical, but once installed I noticed that it could potentially rub on the drive sprocket on the crankshaft, where as the old one has slightly more clearance. After inspection, the only difference between the old and new one I could find is that there is more meat on the part of the pulley where the piston from the tensioner presses against(should be obvious in the picture). I feel like there maybe should be a spacer or washer that goes between the idler and the block and this would provide enough clearance, but I don't remember one being there when I took the old one off, and doesn't quite make sense if the old one clears without anything like that. I'm not really sure what to do other than go back and find one that better matches the old one--which means either waiting another day(was supposed to be in sacramento yesterday) or forking over more $$. What do you guys think?

Did you figure out what this is? I have a similar issue currently. I'm 98% certain my problem is caused by a piece of the inner wheel bearing seal on my driver side came loose and is riding/rubbing/bouncing around the axle shaft stub. Can barely hear it, but most noticeable when cruising 50-60mph and driving next to a wall or barrier on the freeway.

The Subaru filters are probably the best ones to use. They're reasonably priced at the dealership I go to out here in Portland. I usually buy a couple at a time so its been a while since I've had to buy one, but I don't remember paying more than $5-$6 each, about on par with any bosch or wix filter. I'd shy away from anything but the basic fram filters, I've heard their tough guard ones are waaaay too restrictive and can cause oil pressure issues. Forgot to answer your initial question: Yes, the Subaru filters do have an anti-drain back flap/valve.

I didn't know that was recommended for rebuilds, I was told go cheap oil for break in than switch to a synthetic. I've been using castrol gtx 10-30. Would it make any difference at this point? I'm pretty sure after thinking about it the blue smoke every once in a while might be due to the PCV system, not the quality of the build. Whats normal for these engines, should the light go off instantly or how long does it need to run to build up sufficient pressure, it usually in the mornings it takes the longest, and that's 1-1.5 seconds or less. The guy that built it said he shimmed something so it should put out more pressure but i have no idea how the oil pump operates on the EJ series engines.

shiny specks in the oil

I might just be overly paranoid here about every little detail buuuut heres my story: Freshly rebuilt ej25 with about 3500 miles on it, changed the oil+filter 3 times in the first 1200 miles and twice since then. How long is the oil pressure light typically supposed to stay on for at start up? if it sits for more than a couple hours the light is seeming to stay on longer than I remember it did the first few weeks after I put it in the car; about 1 second, accompanied with a bunch of noise that goes away soon as the light goes off. Changed the oil last weekend and it's still putting out a fair amount of metal shavings. Every once in a while I'll get a puff of blue smoke at start up(only happened once this last week), but I think that might be due to the rings not being completely set yet. Do I have anything to worry about or is there something I should look into? I'm planning on hooking it up to a oil pressure gauge on thursday to see what its actually putting out. I searched around for a bit but had trouble finding anything helpful thanks

this may be a bit out there/ignorant/lazy question cause i'm still fairly new to the toyota stuff... but here it goes: Any body know how similar or easy it would be to adapt this bell housing you're working to an early landcruiser transmission if it all? I want to say completely differant, aka completely differant/unrelated project but I've been a bit curious about the ez36, but I dunno if that really would be all that satisfying for the cost vs dropping in a cummins 4bt or 6bt I've been dreaming of but I'm still curious about it...

omg AWESOMENESSS :banana: I've either been driving around with my vents ziptied shut in the winter or flapping around in the wind in the summer. I wonder if he can do any custom engraving/milling on the handles easily...

That or this http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2662/3869333363_6f73be75df_b.jpg is exactly what I'm looking for

Depends on the kind of wheeling you do; and your driving habits but yeah your clutch will hold up for a while with 29s on, but if you want to keep up with jeeps and the like you need to think alot about gearing if where you plan on wheeling has any decent length inclines or boulders you got to get over, you will be struggling with any decent 29" mud tire when you're loaded down with gear. I used to have a '93 cherokee that came stock with a 4:1 low range, lightweight and 190hp so you can get away with going crazy on the tires for cheap; vs subaru 1.8:1 and 75hp, go huge on tires without spending $$$$ and there will be something left to be desired. Subies biggest advantage is being tiny and lightweight, so take that into consideration...

I may be interested later in september depending on what you guys come up with I have a 99 legacy... I've been thinking alot about making a bumper/push bar for it this fall but I doubt I'll have time to personally fab anything for it. Don't need anything too crazy, the car sits low, really just looking for some extra protection driving around in the snow during the winter that will still look respectable on a mostly street rig. As far as a skid plate I'm badly wanting something burly.

Though I'd give an update on this so whoever goes searching can find some kind of meaning in this thread. Ended up taking the motor to get rebuilt, sure enough #1 rod bearing was shot. Was going to have this motor rebuilt but had trouble sourcing the right rings in the timeframe I had... sooo the guy I had working on this happened to have a phase 1 ej25 block sitting around, so he put that together with my phase 2 ej22 heads. Just got done dropping it in, and it runs friggin amazing. I have no idea what the CR is, the impression I got is it's pretty close to stock if not exactly that, but compared to the tired motor before it, its quite satisfying in the pants taking off. I haven't had a chance to wind it out yet but will here in a few when I go to get some food and gas. Didn't really come across any issues(at least on my end as far as installations goes), although supposedly phase 2 ej22 sohc heads likely won't work on a phase 1 ej22 block without machining the pistons because the area dished out for the valves is differant. :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:

I recomend against 31" tires unless you plan on spending a LOT more time and money on gearing solutions. I ran 29" TSL/SXs that measured a bit over 30 on my '81 and it was a dog getting up some hills without longer than comfortable running start. My suggestion is try to find differant tires, and get tires to fit your lift, not build your lift to fit your tires. If I were to do it again I'd only go about 4" and try to get a least half of that through some suspension modification instead of all from body lift/blocks, get some super skinny 27s or 28s, somewhere around 7-8.5 wide and weld the rear diff, convert to spfi or drop in an ej25 with ej22 heads on it... list continues for a bit....

I'd also suggest inspecting your motor and transmission mounts. Do the symptoms changes at while accelerating, cruising or decelerating(engine braking)?

why do you want to drill some rims if you don't have a subie... If you don't have a spare hub or brake drum sitting around, just take one off your rig, its easy and shouldn't take very long.

Yeah I saw the frankenstein thread on nasioc, tons of info but didn't come to anything certain on the HG. Most everything I've read says most head/block combinations work with a few exceptions. I have no idea how accurate it is but I've gotten the impression the single port sohc phase II ej22 heads yield a higher compression ratio than the dual port dohc phase 1 heads... which my case would be a lot less work than using the older heads: can keep stock intake and not have to mess too much with the wiring harness. The only other thing I haven't figured out yet is if the stock ecu will run the motor well enough or if more work is required there.

I have only searched for about 2 hours so far(so much overwhelming information to sort through) but I'm having trouble finding anything definitive about what headgasket to use or if customizing one is required. I've seen cometic mentioned in several places but haven't found any usable information about the headgasket I'd need. I have a '99 phase II ej22, cyl #1 rod bearing is toast. My guess is a phase I ej25 block is going to be easiest/cheapest to find quickly.

Well bummer, the 2 long blocks I had both had a fair amount of water find its way into them somehow, both turn over fine but both had at least one cylinder with rust caked on and some pitting. Not going to tear apart the '92 engine, so I'm thinking more about trying to find a 2.5L block; seems like they should be everywhere and dirt cheap for one with HG issues. Guy I work with said splitting a block and rebuilding it completely is a huge waste of time, money and really time consuming, but from looking at it it doesn't seem overly complex and would be considerably cheaper than buying a good running phase II motor. Comments? Going to spend tonight reading up about the 2.5L w/ 2.2 heads....

picked up all 3 ej22s I had sitting at my parents near white salmon today. One is complete intake and all from the 92 lsi, some cobwebs but turns over nice and smooth. the other two i have I fear may have suffered from a bit of condensation in the cylinders, they broke loose and turn but feel "dry", hard to turn by hand... how bad can it be and still be usable without complete rebuild? kind of a shame to pull the '92 motor apart for this, but I also realized I will need to find a new Y pipe as the early motors are dual port exhaust and the 99 is single port. Planning to pull the motor out the car tomorrow after school, any bets on how long it should take? I pulled an ea82 out of a friends car about 2 weeks ago, went from running to sitting on the ground next to the car in about an hour and half and it seems like this ej has a whole lot less junk to deal with. Stoked

I totally missed everything GD said haha... so yeah mechanical lifters. I borrowed a code reader from schucks up the street, the 2 codes it had thrown was for cat system inefficiency and for the knock sensor; since clearing the codes the CEL has remained off since then. Pulled the spark plug itself and the injector plug from number one cylinder... I should have figured but since I was half asleep I wasn't expecting it. Loud as hell... impossible to tell if the knock went away completely at idle. With the spark plug in but fuel injector unplugged the knock completely dissappears above idle. if I end up not being able to reuse the heads on this motor, what intake do I need from 95+? 2.5 or 2.2? and I'm assuming 95-98 phase 1 correct? Thanks!

I have an '86 std with an ea71, I've been slowly collecting parts for an ej swap over the last year or so and one thing I want to change is the transmission and I want to keep it a FWD car(really... I do, honest, I swear I'm not crazy). The 4 speed is geared rediculously for the ea71 for the kind of driving I do, its borderline frustrating to drive out in the country/mountains; granted I probably wouldn't have any issues with this 4 speed and an ej22 but i want a 5 speed. How many people have done EJ swaps into FWD subies? What are my choices for 5 speed transmissions and which am I most likely to find easily? I know I could use a d/r 5spd but I'm pretty sure I'd have to cut out part of the tranny tunnel which I'd rather not do, along with there being some dead weight being a 4wd tranny. I have no idea what subaru made for FWD cars outside of the two '86 std hatches I've owned so far and an early 90's legacy auto a friend of mine had... search didnt net me much.