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Yeah. I think 91 will work though. Good point. Ahh yes, bit I might be tempted to wheel it. But, back to point. wow, that would be 2 firsts for me. Rebuilding a engine and doing tranny work. oh wait make that 3... having a kid bw

I need some input from your. I have a 2k OBS w/rod knock and messed up 2nd gear synchros. With my wife & I expecting, I need fix this 4 door as the baby mover. Other vehicles is an SVX, RX & BRAT. My wife will most likely be driving this around. She has expressed that she would like to make it a bit taller so it is more SUV like. That means more power and better torque to turn the bigger tires. I have Forester struts right now & it can comfortably fit 225/60/16’s. Power with those tires & the stock Ej22 was pretty anemic. I am thinking EJ25/22head High Compression Frankenstein build with a EA82 5 spd D/R tranny. Parts List: 1996 EJ25 DOHC pulled from junkyard with 167k a set of EJ25 head gaskets. a set of EJ22 Cometic HGs cams with a torque grind from DeltaCams EA82 DR 5 spd 3.9 less than 100k Rear LSD 3.7 High Performance Clutch I need input in the following areas 1) head gaskets. The EJ25 gaskets that I have are not OEM and I don’t know if they are designed to fix the phase 1 HG problem. I have a set of EJ22 cometic HGs. The bore difference is 1.35mm radius. Do you think these will work or should I should get some EJ25 hybrid ones? 2) Transmission, Should I go through the trouble of swapping this in? Does anyone foresee problems with the high HP and the High performance clutch in 2wd holding up. Part of the reason why I think this might be ok is that my wife will be the primary driver. She is not hard on cars. Or should I yank the Fulltime 4WD DR from the RX? Or source an EJ tranny or maybe do an auto swap. (remember mostly wife driven) 3) Clutch What kind of clutch? I know that a 6 puck clutch is good for high power applications. Will that be too harsh for the Mrs? The Pressure plate will have to be heavier that stock. With the cable clutch of both the stock tranny and the EA tranny do you think this is going to be too hard for the wife’s leg? 4) go up more? With the Forester strut lift & the 225/60/16 tires, I am taller than a stock Outback. What’s the biggest tire people have put onto the strut lifted OBS. I remember seeing a thread about OBS’ using the rear trailing arm mount from a Lego or Outback to allow for a more centered wheel after the lift. I have a set of the mounts to try out. I figure if I want to go taller, I will need lift blocks. Are 2 inch blocks going to affect the camber up front? That’s all I can think of for now. BW

my uncle lives and has a business in China. I will contact him and see if he can get pricing. BW

Wouldn't really call an RX an APC. It's more like a fast attack vehicle. Sounds fun. BW

i guess this is the next step in my mechanical education. The farthest I have gone is redoing headgaskets. I have taken three engines apart just to see what they look like, by they are all lying in a heap or been recycled. Is there anything special I should know about getting the bearings put in right and all of that other stuff or am I just over complicating things? Thanks BW

I contacted the Reagan ranch once and about seeing the BRAT and it's only open to donors and not to the public. anyone donate to the Ronald Reagan Foundation? I have tried to see if I could get a friend w/a press pass to get in and take pictures of it, but he didn't respond and life went on. BW

thanks. Found a machine shop that will inspect and balance the crank for $65.00. That seems like a screaming deal. Anyone know if those bolt that secure the shortblock halves together are reusable or are they the same as the head bolts? I also found a place that makes clutches. Depending on what materials are used and how strong the pressure plate has to be, they range from $250 on up. He can also make 4 or 6 puck clutches at that price. BW

How do I tell if an engine that I bought it good. At the junkyard, put my finger into the oilpan and there was no metal shavings, crank turns by hand, coolant is green. i mainly want the shortblock to make a frankenstein ej25. I will be pulling the heads to do a HG job. Also plan to reseal it while it's on the stand. The car had 160k on. There was slight front end damage, but not certain if that was the reason it was on the yard or if it happened afterwards. Someone got the tranny from it. There is no real indication as to why it was in the yard. It's a 1996 EJ25 DOHC so it might be a HG problem that they just gave up on. i guess once I pull the heads I will be able to tell more. The shortblock should be ok if it was a victim of the Phase I HG problem right? IIRC it's the heads that warp and not the shortblocks. BW

That buggy looks nice. Where is the engine placement? Looks like it's tucked in between the seats. BW

I have a 16 year old that I know who expressed interest in buying the SVX that I have just resurrected. It’s a 1992 w/200k on the clock. I put in a 10k motor. I do not know the condition of the tranny, but there was an aftermarket cooler and the fluid looked red and did not smell burnt. Bought it from someone who lives in Lake Arrowhead in CA. The previous owner said that it was in good shape and made it up the mountain everyday. The elevation change was 5000 feet. Price I am asking is 2k. This is sort of a friend price. I know him b/c he is in the church teen youth group that my wife and I lead. Interior is shot, exterior needs a coat of wax to make it look OK. I told him that SVXi are not the best first car to own b/c of the scarcity of parts. I would be committed to helping him with any problems that might come along but I also don’t want him to be discouraged with what might be a lemon. The original plan in buying it was to part it out amongst three local SVX owners but they all had stuff happen and I ended up with the car. The money would be more helpful than another SVX, but do you think a kid can handle the power and the responsibility of maintain this car? Here is a copy of the info I am going to send him about SVXi. SVX non-interchangeable parts Engine AC compressor Front and rear Axles Struts Rear hubs Brakes Body panels (fenders, front clip, bumpers hood) Possible interchange Front hubs with 2005+STi or Tribeca Interchangeable or aftermarket parts Transmission – 5 speed from any model, automatic would require wiring Wheels – 2005+STi, Lexus, Tribeca, any 5X114 wheel w/45mm offset. Seats – Legacy Rear differential – all Front lights (smallcar.com) Problem areas and solutions Transmissions – repair or swap in transmission from another Subaru 5 speed swap is pretty direct, automatic swap requires extensive wiring. Brake rotors warping – aftermarket rotors (Ebay) Windows – no real solution except hoard spare parts, windshield $700, upper side window $250, lower side window $250 Automatic Seat Belts wearing down – retrofit static belts or replace Pros of SVX ownership People thinking that car is some exotic European sports car 230 HP AWD Owning “rare potentially collectable” car only 16,000 sold in US from 1992 to 1997 Cons of SVX ownership Maintenance is expensive (parts are hard to find) Full coverage to pay for glass damage Transmission failure is not a question of if, it’s a questions of “WHEN” Heavy car over 3600 lbs __________ does that about cover everything? Thoughts, concerns, comments? BW

Noah, the original post was to share some observations that I made when I transported a EJ engine w/tranny attached to it. It was resting on the jump seat frame and the axles lined up nicely with the rear wheel. Auto would be nice, but cable would be doable. Servos would be awesome. It's really not that hard to make a manual shift. There are basically two axis of motion. The shifter rod has to move forward and backwards and rotate clockwise and counterclockwise. I have a bunch of stuff that I need to do before I can even conceive of beginning this project. I think that main this would be a house of my own so I can really work on it w/o my a landlord getting all POed at me. I think one day, this will be a project that I will undertake. right now I have to get my house and thin out my soobie fleet b/c we are expecting a little bundle of joy. BW

Are you in So Cal or AZ? Like people are saying, those two are gonna be money pits. scour Craigslist for EA cars. There are still some that can be found. One observation is that parts are getting harder to find. I went junk yarding this weekend and saw two EA82s. I can't remember the last time I saw a decent EA81. Restoring older cars is a blast, but make sure you have a good platform to start with and it will get easier. BW

That's pretty much what I was originally thinking. At this time, things have significantly changed in life and I really can't do something like this for quite a while. This would a great father/offspring project. By then I am sure the will be all sorts of advances in powerplants and transmissions that will make an AWD mid engine BRAT possible. i am kicking around the idea of an EG33 BRAT. The weight in front is kind of a concern but the power... oh the power.... bw

Is this possible? I have a instrument cluster from a 1996 Outback that I got from a PAP for cheap and was wondering if it was possible to retrofit it into the BRAT. BW

I am still working out the bugs. Power plant wise, it's great. I got it to pass Cali smog so now it's legal I recently had a problem with the radiator retaining too much heat and the plastic RS25 radiator that I used melted through. I solved the problem by getting another radiator for cheap at a PAP and then running a fan full time on the passenger side. I have a wrx OEM downpipe and the current set up is at the edge of the stock tune. I originally had a 3 inch with a single high flow cat and I would get detonation with WOT. The WRX down pipe is nice and happy going WOT. The RX chassis needs to get some work done on it. The rear struts are gone and I have to get those replace. I am looking to see if I can do either miata or lego struts. There is this weird squeaking noise coming from the rear that I think is related to the brakes, but I have yet to check. Interior still has an intermittent short for the cluster. The intermittent wipers also do not work so I have to play with the wipers to get them to sit flat when I turn them off. Overall I am pretty happy with the results. the power range of the EJ22t is great with the DR box. You can either down shift a gear, or go from high to low. Power is always there. BW

BRIAN i AM HEADED TO THE JY TODAY W/CRABMAN. WILL KEEP MY EYE OUT FOR SOME BRAT PARTS. PMING YOUR MY NUMBER

WHAT HE SAID.... (if I remember correctly from the pictures, the axle was already pulled apart at the tranny. With the castle nut removed, you just need some persuasion to get the axle out. I 2X4 w/a hammer works nicely. If you are not planning on using the axle again, just hammer it directly. It's easier to get the axle back in by removing the ball joint.) BW

well, some of you know about me and my wife's trials with having kids. But I am happy to announce that a new member to the USMB family will be due in August. Right now it's baby M. M for Mathias or Makaili. now I gotta figure out how I can get a tribeca. BW

reading all of these stories makes me happy I live in the land of SMOG Nazis, earthquakes, riots, fires, mudslides, vans full illegals going down the wrong way on the freeway and trigger happy police officers. on the flip side, too much heat from the engine in the RX weakened the plastic radiator ends and I sprung a geyser. BW

Wiring is not that hard. There are plenty of diagrams available on the internet, there are three people here on the board (myself included) that can do it for your for a dirt cheap price of $200 bucks. It took me 8 hours on my first harness but my last harness took me less than 5. mostly b/c I ended up chasing a wire that I ended up not having to. You basically get the wire bundle, lay it out. Look at your diagrams and start at the ECU connector and trace it down to where it terminates. Once you have identified and seperated all of the ECU wires, focus on the plugs coming from the engine harness. There are wires like the oil pressure, temp, voltage, and some others that need to be seperated from the bundle. You are going to end up w/about 1/4 of the harness when you are done and the rest you can keep as scrap wire or recycle for cash. If you do go the EJ route, there are some really good CD's available on Ebay. I got a copy of the mitchell on demand from Ebay and it has wiring diagrams from 1983 to 2000. anyways. Bret92: Go with the lego or imp if you don't the luxury of down time. You can pick one of those up for about $1000 or so depending on year and condition. BW

360, The notch I am talking about is a lot bigger than a pin hole. its about a quarter of an inch wide and goes all the way through the cylinder wall. The steel sleeve is intact. We'll see what the weld does and if it come out true BW

i have a SVX shortblock that has a notch the outside of the cylinder. Looks like there was possible gas erosion at that spot b/c the notch is not rough and it looks corroded. The notch has compromised the sealing surface and stopped at the steel sleeve. according to the person I got the part from it "ran fine and didn't overheat" the reason they replaced the shortblock was b/c the woodruff key was messed up. I had a auto machine shop take a look at it and they said that it could be welded but they don't do that there. They referred me over to a welder who said that he could do it. When I dropped off the part at his shop, I noticed a lot of aluminum engines sitting around so I know he does do work on aluminum. I posted something on the SVX forum and they were wary of welding to get the problem fixed. Is welding going to be a fix or is it a bad thing? BW

World auto racing is in for an interesting 2009 season. F1 cars are getting some extensive body/wing make overs, they are allowing kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS) and on the fly adjustable wings for more or less downforce. LeMans series cars are also allowed KERS. WRC going to Super 2000 cars at the end of 2009 might mean the more teams will drop out b/c its really not their technology that is being used. I agree with what Rallykeith said about Subaru's unlike return should the new engine layout be adopted. BTW, the Toyota ban was only for the end of the 1995 season and the 1996 season. They can still return if they wish. Problem is now who do I root for in the WRC?? BW

I had to do the same thing. previous owner broke something off inside the roll pin and it would not budge. I was doing the stretch axles anyways so I just cut into the DOJ cup. Replaced them with 1/4 bolts. easy on and off FTW.

Even better, I am in Torrance area.