88RxTuner

+1 on building spacers and installing coil-overs. This would be the best route to go in the long run anyway, given the ease of maintenance and 'tunability' of the shocks if you decide to change them. Possibly build new spring seats on the aftermarket shocks? Maybe one of those "Ebay" universal coil-over kits? (no experience here, just an idea...)

""Found a local gas station that will wash and oil the bottom of my car for $30, ok price?"" Who needs to oil the bottom of their car when they have an EA motor?? Doesnt that thorougly lubricate the entire undercarriage by itself? (j/k) (Come on, nobody else jumped on this one? lol) JUST SAY NO to stop-leaks!! In any way, shape or form. "Oh, but it's a conditioner too and will help prevent cooling system problems!!" OH, but it's particulate matter you are voluntarily introducing into your cooling/oil/trans/etc system!! Come on! Seriously, though, stop-leaks generally tend to do more harm than good, clogging up radiators, oil filters, trans filters, etc... depending on what system you put them in. 'Specially the ones with "PTFE" lubricant in them, PTFE consists of PARTICULATE MATTER!! I use DELO 15-40w heavy duty diesel truck oil in my RX... but I'm a diesel mechanic and that's what's free to me!! 88RxTuner EDIT: Vanishing coolant leak potentially heater core... did it go away when you turned the heater off? Either that or a stuck thermostat , bad radiator cap , or a separating lower radiator core seam... anything else will show up with a pressure test (WHICH I strongly suggest you perform...)

Ummm... I dont know for sure if my header is "picture-worthy"....Yours is so pretty... It's naught more than some cobbled together pieces of pipe and a bunch of ugly welds.. but it's functional, at least 1000% more functional than the factory "T" pipe ( It can hardly be called a "Y" pipe...) before the turbo. I uprated it to 2" for the primaries and a 2 1/4 into the turbo, but same basic design as yours, with the "Y" moved up to right under the turbo and the r/s header tube making a loop back up and into the "Y".

Define new engine.... Does your's not run, and you are looking for a replacement? OR Are you looking for something that you know has been professionally rebuilt, because you dont want to have to touch it for 50+ thousand miles? My usual stop is the wrecking yard, after a cursory compression check and inspection, I proceed to re-seal the engine and throw new timing belts on it. Less costly, more labor-intensive. It's a toss-up. You said EA81 OR 82... are you building something? If building something from 'scratch' so to speak, I second the possibility of a newer powerplant... 88RxTuner EDIT: Sorry, forgot to say, +1 on CCR being the best solution, with their warranty and reputation before them... just make sure you have a core for them.

Is it a feedback carb?? Manual or electric choke? Sounds to me like an idle circute malfunction.

Applies to EA engines: Due to the NON-SELF-ADJUSTING nature of the tensioners, Subaru recommends tensioning of the belts every 10-15k miles... Every 4 oil changes, guys!!! It only takes about a half hour if you've ever done it before, isnt that well worth not breaking down because your cam timing jumped 6 teeth? Failure to re-tension the timing belts has different results, depending on the quality of your last T-belt, your normal usage of the car, etc. NEW belts will stretch the most in the first 5-8k miles, depending on how hard you run them..and YES, they will stretch enough to skip time. I lost a Tbelt at 20k, but I regularly rev over 7,000rpm... If you are nice to your engine (<<< NOT me...) you may actually see 60k out of a non-adjusted timing belt....but probably not. I've averaged the life of a non-maintained timing belt at around 35-40k miles, based on my customers.. But I try and convince them that if you tension it at 15,000mi it may last over 70k, thus cutting back on having to replace them. 88RxTuner EDIT: Timing belts skip cause they are loose.... I.E. Have not been tensioned for 20k miles...

No, My timing belt failure was due to my negligence in adjusting the tension... I went 21,000 miles and did not tension them. If your point was to say that maintenance negligence causes failures, then I agree... You are entirely correct, it is a lack of maintenance that causes these engines to break down. But your statement that timing belt failures are "overblown", which I took (perhaps mistakenly??) to mean over-rated, is a bump in the road. Timing belt failures are all too common on these engines, and YES!!! It is entirely due to poor maintenance procedures!! Friends??? 88RxTuner

Hmmm... 12 more WHP on a Rex.. that's about 18-20 more CHP on an engine that was already tuned to make 250CHP... The exhaust is not restricted, they have fuel mapping down pat, and it's a speed density system that does not re-calibrate fuel to free(er) flowing intake and exhaust...Not to mention, your example has not addressed fuel metering or ANY programming, for that matter. Yea, I'd believe about 12-15 more WHP on an unprogrammed ECM. You're saying that taking an "inefficient" engine like the EA82T, opening the exhaust from 2 cats and 1-7/8" exhaust to 2.5" downpipe and NO restriction, even on the VF-7 (which I have already improved on my car) on an engine that meters fuel STRICTLY on incoming airflow, and therefore maintains an increase in fuel volume with the same increase in air flow up to the mechanical limits of the system.... This will not increase the power percentage at least as much as your "WRX" example? My friend, I think you have just proven yourself wrong, based on your own theory... Hmm, 250 goes to 262, give or take... but 136 cant go to 150 without you steaming up like a pot of hot tea?? Your refusal of someone elses power numbers is understood, and nothing peeves me more than the guy who claims outrageous power increases from the most miniscule of modifications. BUT, we are not here claiming to have had "ONE HUNDRED HORSEPOWER INCREASE!!!" by changing the damned air filter, or some other ridiculosity such as that. We are here as your peers, as people who have actually been there and done that... as people with some experience in the field, as I'm sure you have. You dont strike me as inexperienced or under-educated. It may be wise of you to listen and learn instead of trying to prove yourself to be the know-it-all wise-rump roast that you apparently think you are. We are not debating how much power anyone has, we are not debating whose care is "better" or "faster" or anything of the like... We are simply here to inform the person who ASKED the question that it is not particularly difficult or expensive to achieve his goal of 150hp out of this engine... 88RxTuner P.S. A 250hp Rex with free-flowing intake, 3" catless downpipe and open exhaust, STI TMIC, Fuel mods, PLUS an ECM tweak and tune will make 60+ whp more than it's stock counterpart... Been there, Done that, and I'm sure plenty of Rex guys will be glad to inform you that 325-350CHP is not close to hard to get out of the EJ20, with the proper ECM tuning...

Define 'overblown' problem... Would YOU like to be stuck on the side of the road, albeit with a functional (i.e. not destroyed) engine? Happened to me... On Christmas morning, none the less... I was going to get my wife's surprise present and ended up calling her to say I was broke down 40mi from home. Merry Flippin Christmas... Regardless of whether or not you damage the engine or not, it's still a major inconvenience to have your car mysteriously quit running in the middle of a flippin cornfield... I dont think timing belt maintenance is "overblown" at all. By the way, most people dont know that you are supposed to adjust the tension on your timing belts (on the EA82s) every 15,000 miles... That's every 4 oil changes, guys.. Takes about 45 minutes on the ground, with hand tools, and quicker if you've done it a couple times. The slack in the belt, which causes the belt to 'flap' around and become overstressed, is a primary cause of premature timing belt failure. These belts are designed to go 60+ thousand miles. 88RxTuner

STOP!!!!!!! RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Run for an hour, like idling and warming up, and put-putting down the road? have you gone WOT on this new engine? Step one when you grenade an engine... DO NOT move parts to your new engine without THOROUGHLY steam cleaning all nooks, crannies, passageways, etc. and replacing all vacuum hoses, check valves, tee's, and any other place where debris COULD, no matter what the chances, end up.... I hope we dont have to do this again, for your sake... I would remove the intake, remove the throttle body and all fittings, accessories, vacuum tees, etc, Remove anything that was on the old engine, THOROUGHLY pressure wash / steam clean the intake runners and ALL accessories... I would also pull all the spark plugs and put a flashlight down the tube, rotate the engine by hand and see with your own eyes whether any damage has been done or not. If not, maybe stuff one of those extend-o-magnets down there and see if you get any steel out of your cyl's. Better now after an Hour than let the rest of that crap float into your cyl's...let this be the basis for whether or not you pull the heads off again. 88RxTuner

Is there a way of testing this "amplifier" transistor? I went to the recylclers today, and unfortunatley could not find a single other subaru with this type of ignition coil bracket, with the amplifier transistor riveted to it... No Luck with the MODIS... he wont let it out if the shop. 88RxTuner

+1 on gauge reading... IF the engine is truly not warming up, this could be your root cause. I would agree with the above mentioned suggestions of using a Subaru Thermostat.. I have run too many engines with WAY too many 'Kragen Brand" thermostats, Stant, Universal Cooling, Etc whatever, and pretty much all of them fail either immediately or in an unfortunately short period of time. The blend door suggestion was simply something off the top of my head, I would suggest you check and replace your Tstat with the factory issued unit... 88RxTuner

I was gonna say, your object embedded in the pistons looks to be part of a compression ring. I'm pretty sure we have established something came apart.. but I havent seen anyone mention reversion (negative pressure wave caused by the other cylinders drawing air out of the intake) yet... I had an EJ motor come apart, and it looked nearly identical in every way to this. I should suspect, looking at your pictures, that the head of the valve snapped off ( for reasons none of us may ever figure out ) and destroyed that piston, shattering it and the rings (which proceeded into other cyl... see below) and thereby caused the resulting damage. The damage done to the other cylinders I would suspect is due to pressure reversion which will have the tendancy to take all the little broken bits and pieces, such as that piece of piston ring, and suck them back into the intake manifold, then evenly distribute them across the rest of the otherwise functional cylinders, thus resulting in the classic "buckshot" pattern seen on the remaining pistons...and total failure of these remaining functional cylinders. You must remove the wrist pins before the engine will completely separate, but you should be able to crack the block with the pins in... perhaps a larger hammer/wedge? Keeping in mind they are glued together quite tightly... Sucks that it happed, man... Hope the next one goes better for you. 88RxTuner

So I noticed... I'm hoping it didn't fry the little electronic things all the way up to the ECM... Thanks for your input, trying to convince my buddy to let me use his MODIS... he's somewhat reluctant to let his 8,000 dollar baby out of his sight. 88RxTuner

Apology accepted, and yes.. I only lost 300 rpm. I custom designed and welded up a 2-into-1 header and up-pipe for my car that virtually eliminated boost lag (while still keeping that Oh-so-good Subaru noise coming out the back) and seemed to help the TD04 spool up nearly as quickly as the original VF7... Course, the 3" catless/ no muffler/ no restriction exhaust certainly did it's part. And for the price point, the WRX intercoolers are just fine. Cant justify spending a grand on some fancy intercooler when I only have 800bux into the car... Rex intercoolers are a dime a dozen. 88RxTuner

Aye.. As reliable as you want them to be. Reliability seems to be in direct proportion to the amount of preventative maintenance you want to do. I have been driving my RX for nearly 3 years now, it's down right now due to some godforsaken ignition problem, but this is the first time since I got it I have ever had to put any time into fixing it. I've spent plenty of time tweaking it, and I'm sure that if I had not been tweaking I probably wouldnt have the problem now that I do... Basic maintenance. Change your fluids, timing belts, do the tune ups, keep track of and repair leaks, breaks, etc. as necessary, and it will treat you just fine. Short stroke the maintenance program, and you will find yourself on the side of the road in short order... BTW, my RX has 241,000 on it, head gaskets at 176,000 and not a problem since, until now... and I beat the ever loving snot out of it. 88RxTuner

Double checked all fuses, ok after replacing the one mentioned above. Wouldn't a bad fuse or relay prevent power to the coil and to the dizzy? Both have appropriate power according to the trouble tree. As stated, removed, cleaned and re-installed all engine bay grounds just to be sure, and ohmed all grounds to the battery with less than 1 ohm resistance on any/all of them. YES, I have power on both sides of the coil when assembled. I have 11.4 volts on the black/ white wire ONLY to the + side when disconnected, and when assembled I have 11.4v at the + and 11.3v at the - side. Cked the voltage drop on the - side, fluctuates from 11.3v to 0v with turning of the dizzy.. is this normal for proper operation? Followed the trouble tree diagnostics from the manual and all indications pointed at the dizzy, which I traded out for known good dizzy ( which has the same bench test meter readings as the old one, after all) and still no start. Sounds like this ignition transistor amplifier thingy may be the issue.. this is new territory for me, so any advice is well recieved... Is there an easy fix for the amplifier? Thanks for your replies!! 88RxTuner

Subaru themselves actually released a TSB.. Technical Service Bulletin.. relating to this precise problem. Subaru states that so long as the cracks are limited to the area between the valves (web material) and do not show evidence of coolant leakage indicated by white buildup or abnormally clean areas around said cracks, that the heads are in perfectly functional shape and should not be replaced...

I lost 300 rpm on my spool time to full boost, and it's not because if the intercooler... it's because of the TD04 swap which has a larger exhaust turbine that takes more exhaust gas to get going, installed on an engine with less displacement than it was designed for... in laymans terms for the layman... I dont think 300 rpm is all that big of a deal, for being able to gain 1500 rpm on the top. By the way, your stated "Crappy intercooler" is what the OEM installs on their production performance car... I know plenty of people running WRX TMIC that seem to think it functions more than adequately, including those who own the WRX... Flamer...

Not familiar with "power transistor mounted to coil".... I have removed the coil and bracket, found one 2-wire round connector going to coil and one 2-wire "T" connector going to small round thing under coil that looks like it's riveted to the coil mounting bracket. PER Trouble tree diagnostics, everything checks out at these 2 connectors... but I could be wrong. Do you know something I dont??? (that would be great, by the way...) 88RxTuner

Been there, done that... All Cab fuses are a-ok. On initial diag, found the IGN_COIL fuse to be blown, replaced with same fuse, has not blown again. Have good power to coil. Tested output of sensors at Dizzy... Everything checks out OK... This is why I'm confused!!!!! lol Dammit!!

+2, maybe +10 on thanks for the articles.. I love old school scans. Thanks for your support, 4WD... I'm not out to prove I'm the best. There's plenty of other people out there running bigger and faster setups than what I have. ALL I was trying to say was, and this is in direct query of the original post who was just looking to get 150hp out of his EA82t, that it's not particulary hard to get over 150hp from an EA engine... No special machine work, no special pistons or rods, etc... I have built my RX on a tight, by tight I mean 35,000 a year with a wife and kid and house payment, budget... and I have taken all steps to build it as efficiently as possible. I cant afford to drop a hundred bux for a 15 minute dyno session 4 times a year. When I DID have it dyno'd I made AWD HP at the wheels 131 hp. That was before tweaking the boost and timing. I'm not saying I'm the best. I'm not saying I'm the fastest, cause I'm not!!! BUT, I would like to say to *** SUBIEMECH*** that is IS possible to make over 150 hp on a budget... and there's nothing special that needs to take place for it to happen!! A little creative ingenuity, a little researching of what does what, etc. Isn't that what we're all here for, to help each other? Not to flame each other, or put one another down...for sake of someone's opinion, no less.... 88RxTuner

And also, on the EJ series engines, it's not a matter of the seal coming loose either.. On the back of the oil pump, there is a steel plate held in place with 5 Phillips taper-head screws... Those screws have the tendancy to come loose and allow the steel plate to separate ever so slightly from the oil pump, allowing both air to enter on the suction side and pressurized oil to escape on the pressure side... this generally leaves a trail of oil down the front of the engine, under the timing cover, sometimes mistaken as the front of the oil pan leaking... which by the way rarely if ever happens. (the oil pan leak, that is...The oil pump failure is quite common.) 88RxTuner

It has been my experience, not to 'piss on your parade' or any such measure, that neither the crank seal nor the relief spring has a significant measure to do with the noisy lifter problem. It has been my experience, and NOTHING more than my OWN experience, that one of two things is the problem.. Either the lifters, and for that matter the entire engine, have been subject to such mistreatment that there is an accumulation of sludge in the oil passageways of the lifter, or the little "Mickey Mouse" shaped o-ring behind the oil pump is the fault of this particular problem. I have no solution to the mistreated engine problem, aside from draining the oil, replacing it with 4.5 quarts of transmission fluid and running it for around a half hour at idle... this should sufficiently break down any sludge particles that may be causing the oil system to bind... this treatment may need to be repeated at intervals, DO NOT run the engine under load (i.e. driving down the road) with transmission fluid in the crankcase.... My solution to the oil pump o-ring problem is to access and disassemble the oil pump, whereabouts you shall find the ' mickey mouse' o-ring and upon reassembly, I take the extra measure of 'gluing' the o-ring to the engine case and to the oil pump housing by means of a Toyota product... FIPG.... Form In Place Gasket material. Comes in 2 varieties, black for oil pans, pumps, etc, and Red for transmission pans, final drives, transfer cases,etc. It's the black one you want for engine work. Go to your Toyota dealer, ask yer parts fellow for "F. I. P. G. sealant", and he shall hand you a tube that resembles in all ways a container of R.T.V. Silicone, except it be black and white... and states clearly on it F.I.P.G...... This be the stuff you glue mister Mickey Mouse shaped o-ring onto the oil pump housing and also a thin film on the engine casing, and then assemble... I should think this will solve your lifter noise.. If not, it's a matter of mechanical failure, such as clogged passageways, mis-aligned oil galleys, or something of the like... Steve has a good and valid argument about cyl head dimensions and lifter pre-load perhaps contributing to the problem, which shows a well-thought comprehension of the mechanical dynamics of the HLA. However, barring significant alterations to the engine, i.e. decked heads, altered valvetrain, or plain ole worn out parts, etc. I should suspect that in your general case the oil pump o-ring or some mechanical issue as stated above would be the most likely culprit. Kicks to you, Steve, for proving your point and standing by it... 88RxTuner

Here's motivation... The more time you put into it before you need it, the more it's worth when you DO need it... I had my (I know, I know...) Suzuki Samurai up on jackstands for over a year before I finally finished the suspension and drivetrain... When I finished, I took it out for a test drive, and guess what??? 2 days after I had it, my damned Oldsmobubble broke down and I had nothing to drive except my Zuk... And BECAUSE I pushed it, and put so much time and effort into it, I have never had a problem with it since... All because I put the time into it when I had the time to invest... A project is just that, a project. Something you put your soul into to make it the best you are able...and if you treat it fairly, it will return the favor. 88RxTuner