MilesFox

the 3.0 MAY be more reliable, as far as the potential for bad head gaskets, but the 2.5 would be less expensive to maintain, more common of an engine. i have no experience with a 3.0 motor myself. others will chime in...

Lets let Steve get some other opinions. He has been banging his head and getting shut down with the same non-detailed answers everywhere else. Hence i suggested to come to USMB to talk to folks that have torn apart and assembled enough stuff to know what fits, vs other forums

clutch may be dragging? do you have a hard time going into 1st or reverse when stopped and engine running? if so, the clutch may not be disengaging entirely, and dragging enough to cause some friction at stops

I was making some suggestions to Steve (op)about shock travel vs overall lenght of strut. I mentioned when i put frester struts in my legacy, the shock part of the strut had more travel than the height of the spring, and i would get the car jouncing up and slamming onto the spring. what i was saying is to find a spring that will fill out the strut travel, be a little tighter and have a little hight from the springs alone, as to not max out the axle angles by having also a longer strut. this is where steve is coming from, spring height and TRAVEL instead of just a taller strut(unless the strut has more travel than oem 2.5i impreza)

Bosal is a good brand as far as i am concerned, they are the only supplier at NAPA that can get me the metal exhaust gaskets for ea82's I would think that a lot of the newer exhaust parts witt fit together the same. I was able to replace a single piece y pipe on a 92 legacy with a 2 cat unit from a 95, and the midpipe/muffler. i think you have a good shot of everything fitting together, you have done your homework. the only differences across years should be single or dual port exhaust manifold

i second the loos of coolant. cold heat is definately a sighn of LOW coolant, since it is being lost somehwere. i guesss the only way to be confident in diagnosing a head gasket is to have several of them go bad and therefore know what to compare to. if you cannot source a leak, you could try a can of K&W block sealer. if that does not work, then schedule for a head gasket. the K&W just might be a permanent fix. i have had good luck with the stuff. it worked in my toyota sealing up the bubbles in the radiator

I am considering this for my 95 legacy. i got the $$$ in the bank, so long as its still there by march! I'll pm you if i decide to go with it

fuse panel on the driver side kick panel, just behind the hood release. if you yank the fuse the abs light will appear on the dash

the 2.5 has solid lifters with shims for lash adjustment, unlike the ea82 with hydrailic lash adjusters. the idea of Marvel's Mystery Oil is to cure the 'tick of death' associated with cam tower o-rings or dirty HLA's in ea82's. If you have lifter noise in the 2.5, shims will be in order next time the heads are serviced. You could run the MMO through to keep deposits and sjudge from forming. Ideally, apply the mmo just before oil changes.

the 96 will be just as mod-capable as the 99, since any swaps on either of these cars will involve the same amount of work and parts sourcing. My opinion, the 96 would be the better choice

the er27 is actually ea82 based, it fits in the gl's and loyale's bellhousings. a wrx motor will physically bolt in, you will need to swap a turbo crossmember or make a cutout for the up-pipe. the 2.2 were sohc, and according to the wikipedia artilcle on Ej motors, the 99 has the sohc 2.5 engine, for that year only, and then came back in 2005 as the non turbo option. an ej22 out of 90-94 will be a direct bolt on, and you use the ej1.8 intake on the 2.2 to match the wiring harnesses. a 95-96 legact or impreza 2.2 should be all plug and play. otherwise other stuff will fit but be different. but instead of modifications, its more the correct mix and match of stock subaru parts from different models, and such a mixed build will still take any unmodified oem subaru part as a replacement

you have to pull the engine to service the breather plate. although its annoying, its not anything that will lose oil pressure, you are not damaging the engine as long as you dont let it run out of oil. may want to schedule having the motor out and just do all the seals and timing belts

I second the interior installation, just keep it inside the rear storage compartment, keeps it from corroding. what kind did you get that was a plug-in model? i have never seen a plug and play unit for a subaru, even as a hitch installer at u-haul for 2 years. otherwise, i was gonna say with the splice in 3-wire unit, be sure to gorund it to the body, or you might get a taillight warning on the dash if a trailer light goes out. also, if the trailer lights are grounded through the frame, you wont have to worry about a ground lead to the pigtail because it will ground through the ball.

remove the vacuum line from the EGR valve and plug it see if that helps. maybe the egr is stuck open, when it should be closed at idle

subaru oem uses 12x1.25 thread and 19mm lugnuts with 60 deg seat. you can go with 21mm lugnuts with same thread and seat(on subaru wheels) i swapped chrysler wheels on my legacy. the chrysler had a coarse thread for the lugs, 21mm, did not screw on. i just used 21mm metric nuts and was good to go. the studs could ghave been longer for the chrysler wheels, though. they treaded on all the way but the last thread, but is secure enough for me to drive on it.

normal behavior for a stock oil gauge.

if the battery goes dead again, consider a new one. if a battery goes dead too much, it will no longer hold a charge. a weak battery will stress the alternator. a new battery is the best bet to prevent an alternator failure

bellhousing bolts up. you will need to use an ea82 flywheel, and the ea81 bolts. you will need to transfer the ignition timing marks from the ea81 flywheel to the ea82 flywheel for the odeg mark. the holes on the ea82 flywheel are larger, but the ea81 bolts will bolt it on. use the complete dual range trans with flywheel, clutch, and 2 pc driveshaft. you might have to transfer the trans mount from the 4spd onto the spd, i cant remember, you might just be able to use the ea82 mount as it is

i meant to write up an article for ea82 axles. i took a bunch of pics of rebuilding the axle itself(replacing boots, regrease) here is the link to the pics if it will help you, the same idea will apply to REBUILDING any subaru axle http://www.economysuperstar.com/milesfox/gallery/axle/

another option for a 6 cyl would be an XT6, 2.7, based on the ea82. the eg33 will physically fit in an xt body with room for the radiator, if you are just using the body of the car for a testbed. the eg33 will not bolt up to the xt trans however, but you dont need the trans if you can make a mount for the pitch stopper. the engine mounts shoud fit the frame the same

I have re-used the 2.5 head bolts. i get the impression that they are TTY withthe angle type torque sequences, but i got away with re-using them. if you know what it takes to break the bolts, you can be careful to re-use them. I would take a shot at re-using them, being confident in my skills. If you go to the NAPA website, you can look up parts, and they will list the manufacture and countyr of origin. My felpro hgasket set was a mix and match of mexican seals, felpro paper/rubber gaskets, and OEM subaru head gaskets. My set did come with valve guide seals, but i did not use them since i was trying to keep the labor down for someone who was paying me for the work. shopping aftermarket vs subaru oem is ok, as long as you know what you are getting, there is a thread about parts manufacturers and who supplies what http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=108259&highlight=felpro

how about the little hose between the thermostat housing and the top of the block? there was no mention of it, maybe you forgot to ighten a clamp, or the hose itself is cracked. when this is leaking, it usually goes down the back of the engine on the passenger side

there are only 6 head bolts vs 9 in older ea82's I did an ej25d with engine out of car, and it was simple enough. the torque sequence is a little more complicated than ea82's, though seeing how the engine came apart, it looks to be designed to work on it in-car, you dont have to worry about lifters and followers and o-rings falling out when you try to reassemble the heads. I had the opportunity to timing belts on 2005 legacy, ej253 sohc, same engine as your impreza, and looks simple enough to do in- car one thing i can 'suggest' is you can remove the pitch bar, the lower engine mount studs, and jack up the front diff to raise the motor up about 3 inches, so you dont have to bend over so far and have better clearance around the frame rails be aware of all the coolant hoses and temp sensors whem pulling the intake. you may be better off to remove the TB first, this gives you WAY better access to the hoses and sensors, and the little timing window you will need a 12 pt 14mm socket, 1/2' dr. Aside from a torque wrench, see if you can find and angle gauge since the torque sequence calls for a series of 180 and 90 deg turns after clicking with a torque wrench if you get a head gasket set, it will come with all the cam seals, intake gaskets, and valve cover seals. a felpro gasket set from napa is roughly 200 bucks timing belt set with idlers is about 300 bucks including all the idlers and a new tensioner(gates, high quality idlers) going the napa route you will have about 500 in parts if you are doing EVERYHING, you could save on ebay stuff, but the ebay idlers may be so cheap that the old idlers would outlast the new ones

i was able to use an o-ring from the bulk stock theyhad at oreilley. I did take the cam tower with me to size it up. get 2 of them. when you get to doing the other side, you will be glad to have the spare. I bought the last 2 at oreilley, and napa was just plain out of them, and the oldschool vw shop did not have them at all you can get the generic 'HELP!' brand o-ring assortment, but you may have to get 2 sets to have 2 matching o-rings I have always used rubber o-ring. the only thing i can think of that is a copper o-ring is the one built into the head gasket itself

Timing belts are easy enough to do. I suggest NAPA. a timing belt kit with 281 tooth Gates belt, new style tensioner, and all the idlers is just under 300 bucks for the set. cam seals are 4-7 bucks apiece. if you order them individually you will likely get a part from japanese manufacture. the belt is easier to put on first before bolting on the tensioner. the driver side upper cam may seem half a tooth off, but this is ok with the slack in the belt