carfreak85

I would not use those unless you enjoy checking fastener torque, replacing wheel bearings and increased steering effort.

Trim the quad-lamp grill. The honeycomb grills are almost a perfect fit once trimmed, since they have a shape similar to the lamp door already in their design.

Well, out of the box the EJ207 is simply a better engine. It's the base for all of Subaru's high output street cars since 2001. Revs 1k rpm higher, I read that it is a smoother revving engine too. V7 EJ207 may have forged pistons from the factory. The cost of a used EJ207 is equivalent to the parts and labor needed to replace an EJ257. People who have gone with the EJ207 seem to swear by it. @GeneralDisorder You guys play with the EJ207 much?

NASIOC has had lots of this sort of discussion over the years. If you search for the "EJ207 Owners" thread you will learn a lot about the later JDM 2.0L engines and how they compare to the EJ255/7 blocks. There is another thread about the Willal (sp?) billet block on NASIOC that I think has some comparisons to the stock EJ block.

ECS lamp does come on in the EA81Ts. I've seen it flash during a misfire event.

As the cars get older and become legal to import we may see an increase in the number of EJ20G blocks floating around in the states. This same block is still being used in all Subaru factory-backed motorsports programs that are allowed to run the 2.0l displacement. Nurburgring challenge car, ARA cars, Isle of Mann, etc., they all run the EJ20G with the fully closed deck.

Also, if you have to take out a bank loan and pick up a second job to afford the car, I would really suggest thinking about what is a priority in your life right now. Having a neat project car that will need a lot of work soon, or financial independence with zero outstanding debt? Not trying to come across as a jerk, just trying to impart some knowledge and experience to you.

Halogen projectors are for halogen bulbs. Re-based HID/LED bulbs are not the correct way to do it.

For headlamp restoration I just buy whatever kit is on sale. Once they start to yellow, they will neve stay clear again, so I just plan to polish and buff again in six months, unless I replace the lamps first.

What, no photos?!

If you have plastic headlamp lenses, I would start by polishing those until they're crystal clear. HIR bulbs might be your next logical step and are low hanging fruit versus your next best bet, which is a custom headlamp wiring harness with larger gauge wires, etc. If you want to spend real money an HID or LED retrofit is the true answer. I'm currently swapping Lexus RX350 bi-xenon projectors into my JDM STI headlamps. The one thing you should avoid at ALL COSTS is the inexpensive LED/HID upgrades that put a halogen bulb base on an HID/LED bulb. Not only are these illegal in all 50 states, but no matter what a company's marketing says about their product, you can't cheat physics. Halogen lamps are designed to work with halogen bulbs. HID lamps with HID bulbs, and LED lamps are designed around the way an LED outputs light. YOU CANNOT REALISTICALLY MIX AND MATCH BULBS AND LAMPS and expect to actually have "better" night vision.

No need to alter the gasket, the engine will cool just fine, though I'm sure @GeneralDisorder will have more to say on the subject.

That's kind of what I was getting at, Subaru hit an internal threshold of some percentage of the overall vehicle population. Likely 2% of all XVs built, or some such. We have similar warranty thresholds at my work. Additionally, in California if a single part sees more than 50 failures (i.e. if the knock sensor fails on 50 different XVs) the state requires manufacturers to fix those parts and reimburse customers who have paid for that specific repair.

When I bought my EA81T wagon the 3rd gear in the 3AT was dead. I drove it 25 miles home in second gear, pulled it into my garage and yanked that sucker out, never looked back. My EA81T coupe has never really run right, so I've never been able to get a good feel for the condition of its 3AT. EA81Ts were like the SVX, they were born to have three pedals, but were saddled at birth with a slow, sloppy automatic. The real problem with the 3ATs is that basically none of them were properly maintained in their youth (those one or two maintenance items mentioned above) so nearly all of them are junk at this age.

If anything, keep the EA81 and ditch the 3AT, such a garbage transmission!

Sometimes part numbers will reactivate due to new stock in the national parts system. It's not announced to the public, so if there are some parts you're looking for, make a list and check them occasionally.

You wasted money by including a catch can in your PCV system. For those looking to modify your PCV system, this thread lays out the routing that Prodrive developed for early GC/GD WRC cars. Don't spend a dime on a catch can. It's just another item to maintain and you don't want that oil going back in your engine anyway, now that it's full of moisture.

Don't hone it. @GeneralDisorder

Where is the ad?

I have no idea how the BC coilovers on the rear of my RX are mounted up top, I should check that out. I know Nico made some sweet looking billet upper mounts for his GL. On the lower mount, we just knocked off the captive nut and used appropriate diameter hardware.

I've read that it's essentially the same head casting as the EJ20G engines.

http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=1

I won't get into the hp/torque metaphors, but people's opinions can change over time. Perhaps GD learned new information about the EJ25 cylinder heads that has swayed his opinion on what he would recommend.

USDM: 2004-current STI, 06-14 WRX, 04-13 forester, 05-14 Legacy turbo (not so sure on the legacy). These all used one form or another of the USDM 2.5L EJ-T engine, but not all were EJ257 specifically (i.e. EJ255).

I'll have to look at the camber plates on my RX tonight to see how they're oriented. I think most of the adjustment is already used up. @NumbchuxI wouldn't modify the strut towers (except to add the Group A reinforcements). Camber plates are pretty simple to fab, so I'd probably just cannibalize some inexpensive plates for their bearings/hardware and fab an EA82-specific plate. I would really love some top-of-the-strut-tower camber plates like Ground Control has for Imprezas, but the geometry of the strut tower leaves me scratching my head. I'd love to incorporate some sort of master cylinder brace and a triangulated strut tower brace too, if I can squeeze all that functionality into one place...