mountaingoatgruff

sorry dude, but china makes crap. that's all there is to it. i wouldn't think ONCE about putting chinese alloys on my car! the japanese are a different people with different goals, as evidenced by their drastically different markets/governments/societies. what the japanese have done is irrelevant to what the chinese are doing. i have never bought a chinese product and found myself satisfied with it's quality. never once. can you say "planned obsolescence?" i strongly advocate a boycott of chinese goods (where possible/reasonable, as sad as that is to have to make such a qualification) because of what their mgf'ing is doing to the environment, our bodies, our economy/job market (see qualifying remark above) and int'l commerce by and large.

i always have trouble with air getting trapped in the system if i don't fill the engine itself with coolant through the upper hose first. if there's just enough air in there it can look like its overheating while idling sometimes when its probably not. also, if there's that much gunk in your overflow then there's at least that much gunk in the rest of the system. i just replaced a motor with bad hg's in one of my subes - grey/black gunk all over. i'm running straight water (fill with water, drive for a day, drain and repeat) to rinse it, then i'll use a coolant system cleaner, then i'll actually put good antifreeze ($) in there. only thing is, if it freezes where you live - drain it as soon as it cools off so you don't forget and wake up to a cracked block...

i've got a harbor freight multi-bit set with security torx, snapped the tip of the one that fits those srs computer screws on a 97 legacy... i ended up cutting a groove with a pneumatic cut-off and used my huge craftsman flathead with a wrench on the square shank. i'll be taking the srs computer out of my new-to-me 97 OBS to clean up the soda sludge in that area and i definitely plan on replacing those screws with hex head bolts.

yeah, its got the factory roof rack and hood scoop. it sits lower than the 93, though. i'm sure its tire size - the 93 has 185 75 14's from a legacy and the OBS has 195 60 15's on aftermarket rims. i haven't put them side by side but i'm swapping the motors in the OBS right now and there's noticeably less space under it. i'll be putting the 185 14's on the OBS. any word on those pistons, anyone?

the car has 209k on it. i've got a decent 95 longblock with 160k that i'll swap in there for now. i'm debating about entirely rebuilding the 97 so i'll have it ready and waiting for either of my 2.2 cars but that'll be down the road. either way, i don't really want to just slap new hg's on a 209k mile bottom end. i can't be sure exactly what the mileage was driving home, but i'd say it was certainly over 30mpg despite the car's issues. does anyone know, if i put earlier pistons in the 97 EJ22 will it be non-interference? from what i've read, 97 and up are interference because they used taller pistons for a higher compression ratio. if i rebuild the engine, i want it to be non-interference - the hp cost is far worth the reliability gain to me.

got the 97 OBS today drove it home from concord to modesto with no problem. the temp gauge shoots up if you let it idle but i have a feeling the engine is full of air, at 2k rpm's the needle drops like a rock. definitely a leaking hg, though. its a shame - that 2.2 runs smooth and strong and gets great mileage with that 5speed. hg been blown for over a year, the previous owners (real good folks, bs'ed with them for a hour) took care not to overheat it or let the coolant run low (there's 7 empty antifreeze jugs in the back:lol:). the 5speed was replaced with a rebuilt unit by aamco just before the hg's began leaking. paperwork shows warranty on trans just expired a couple months ago. also, 3.90's = better mileage! theives broke in a month ago and stole the system, broke front pass door glass. the glass was replaced already but i'll have to swap parts to fix the rest of the damage. cel is on - code 0440 for evap system. i'll have to look into it. headlight by battery has corrosion, will need to be cleaned & rewired. i plan on swapping the rear hatch, passenger fender, carpet, seats, door panels and some trim from the 93 into the 97. after the nightmare of a time i've had with that a/t 93, i'm glad to do this "easy stuff" fixing this m/t 97 up. plus, my wife and i really like the blue/silver two-tone paint and the vented & scooped hood, much more pleasant than the red toad. i'll post pics once its presentable.

i'll be parting the 93 as soon as i'm done raiding it for parts myself. i intend on selling the 4eat with warranty paperwork but i haven't worked out a price yet, cost $1800 for the shop rebuild.

i remember reading somewhere that subaru subcontracted the mfg'ing of their oil filters to fram's parent company. anyone got reliable info on this? i paid $8 for each filter at the turlock, ca subaru but they're outta business now, too. i order parts from 1stsubaruparts.com and make sure i add a few filters each time. they're like $6 for each pair and if you're already ordering other stuff shipping isn't really an issue. if i buy a filter locally, i get a mobil1 filter at kragen's for $9.

definitely wouldn't run without the driver side belt - that runs the dist on an ea82, correct? i don't see how it could run w/out a pass t-belt but i'll check back on this one, many of you ea82 guys will know that easy!

as stated, check your brakes. if the rotors and pads look okay (pull the wheels and look through the windows on the back of each caliper to see a profile view of the pads, by fsm pads should be a minimum of .295" or 1/4" including metal backing ), make sure all the fasteners are still tight. if necessary, you can disconnect the park brake cables carefully tie them outta the way and see if it changes anything. my 84 hatch had a sticking park brake lever on the pass side causing it to drag a bit - didn't pull like you're talking about but you never know. i pulled the rubber boot off, regreased it, reclamped the boot with a piece of heavy wire and haven't had problems since.

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=89097&highlight=trans+code fourth post if its a 95 or later this won't work since those models don't have "1-hold" or "manual" buttons. besides hooking up a scanner, i'm not sure what the procedure for later models is.

as far as the 93's issues - its not the trans, the trans works beautifully when the electronic control system is working. i can hook up the select monitor with my brother driving and watch the tps signal, vss1 signal and line pressure solenoid signal go bananas outta nowhere. i replaced both sensors and half the trans solenoids but nothing changes. went through the harness twice and now its a bird's nest. it drives like a dream sometimes, other times it neutralizes and searches up and down for what gear to engage. the trans itself is fine and it even has a year waranty now. as for the 93 hubs going into the 97 OBS, its not gonna happen. the 93 has no abs and since the car will be used mostly by my wife with my son i'd like to keep the abs working. i'll probably have a shop swap the bearings over, i need bushings pressed into my hatch's contol arms anyways. overall, i think the 97 will make us much happier. i've been pissed off grumbling about this ugly red a/t pos for weeks now. i'll be glad to strip it, spit on it, sell the shell to a jy and have a nice blue 97 5speed OBS and my wife will just be glad when this whole thing is over! everytime i look at that red toad of a car i wish her 97 legacy never got smashed.

my haynes shows legacies have the wheel speed sensor mounted in the hub/knuckle so i'd assume impreza's do, too. looks like those 93 hubs won't work...

i compared part numbers at partsamerica.com and everything they've got listed except the brake pads will swap over, pads are different. my main concern is with the abs system. i want to use the 93 hubs since they've got brand new oem wheel bearings and seals and the 97's got 200k on it's bearings. is there abs stuff mounted on the 97's hubs and will the 97 calipers bolt to the 93 hubs?

my 93 L came with 175's on 14" steels. i'm mostly interested in the front suspension differences. i've given up on the 93 - i rebuilt the trans w/ my dad and it didn't work so my dad insisted on "loaning" me the cash to have a shop re-rebuild the trans. we did nothing wrong, there's just an electrical gremlin in there so that was $2000 wasted (thanks dad). has a new tps, new vss1, new o2 sensor, tested good tcm from another imp... $3000 later nobody can figure it out, not even the trans shop. there's gotta be something wrong in the harness but nobody can find it and i'm done looking. i hate automatics and here i am bending over backwards to get one to behave... anyways, i'm cutting my losses. i found a 97 OBS with some cosmetic and interior damage and a leaky hg for $600. its got an EJ22/5speed and its not fire engine red. i know it'll need a ton of work but if i can swap all the stuff over from the 93 its no big deal. i intend to swap: front hubs with wheel bearings and axles as whole assemblies (are 4EAT and 5MT axles the same?) ball joints front brake discs & pads (or will the 97's abs prevent this?) xenon headlight bulbs cd deck and stereo mounting/trim front seats bunches of trim and maybe the carpet if i'm up to it complete rear hatch with struts front pass inner door panel and the wheels even if the hg's really are shot (i haven't verified it yet) i'd rather start over fixing that than keep digging my grave with this 93's trans... i'm planning on picking up the car tomorrow so if any of these parts aren't compatable - please let me know! thanks

between an Impreza L and an Impreza Sport? i saw a sport wagon and it had the two-tone outback thing going, but it didn't seem to sit higher, had no fog lights or roof rack, interior looked the exact same as my L's and i couldn't guess what engine it had. had the same headlights as my 93 L, so it was an older one. is the Impreza Sport the "OBS" that i've seen refered to around here? do they usually have all the OB upgrades?

i called the turlock, ca dealership and they're so butthurt about going out of business that they didn't even take me seriously. so i tried calling sonora and they just laughed that i would even ask for documentation on something "so old." i'm just gonna stick the non-egr manifold on there and let the ref decide if he wants to accept it... worst case scenario, the ref will insist i have a working egr. if that's the case i'll put the 97 egr equipped manifold & ecm in it and run wires for the egr after the fact. while i'm here, does anyone have part numbers for the following EJ stuff so i can order them online: o-ring seals for coolant crossover newer metal oil separator center t-belt cover seals (the rubber guys along the top & bottom) i can call the dealer again if i have to, no big deal. those guys are just so bent outta shape right now...

i just need to find something published by fhi or soa that says manual trans legacy's were not factory equipped with egr systems and i'll only have to go through this once. i guess this thread should be in the retrofit forum but whatever... since i'm dropping the ej into my 84 hatch, i have to have everything inspected by a state smog referee who will visually inspect to see that all the factory emissions systems from the donor car were swapped along with the engine and each system/part is hooked up/functioning. after that i just go through routine biannual ca smog checks with a sticker telling the tester/state that my 84 hatch gets smogged as a 95 legacy. when i did the spfi swap on this same hatch, the ref looked at the diaphragm of the egr to make sure it opened off idle. using an egr equipped manifold will only work if i eliminate the solenoid and run manifold vac straight to the egr valve so that its functional. i guess i'll keep looking for the documentation i need, maybe a dealership can help. i hate blatantly violating the law (even the retarded ones designed to sweep real issues under the carpet, which is exactly what ca's smog laws do) because it makes my local political actions and greater social opinions hypocritical.

the car will be obd2 at that point, so they'll just plug it into their emissions machine and it'll tell them the year/model based on what the ECM identifies itself as then they go through with their emissions systems schematics to verify everything is there and working. Subaru ECM's specifically state year, model and engine size but they only identify the trans to an ssm by what funtions are available so trans identification would be based on input not programming, right? iirc, eliminating pin 50 of the harness makes the ECM think its got a manual trans. the real issue is not that the 95 manifold doesn't have an EGR, its that the 95 ECM and harness won't support an EGR. since the 95 harness is already prepped for install i want to use it but then if i use the 97 EGR equipped manifold for "looks," the car will fail visual because they do verify that the EGR is operating (i know from experience...). my car will have a manual trans so as long as i can find documentation to support that all 95 manual trans EJ22 Legacy's came w/out EGR systems i should be fine. is it in the FSM?

I have seen some EJ22 Subarus that don't have EGR systems but i haven't noticed a pattern. i'm wondering if there's a rule to tell which 95 EJ22 Legacy's weren't equipped with EGR's. the reason i ask is that i have a 95 EJ22 w/out EGR and a 97 EJ22 w/ EGR and i want to use the 97 longblock (it has a ton of new parts/seals) with the 95 harness (already prepped and ready), ECM, intake, etc. in my hatch. for smog reasons, i need to be able to demonstrate that the donor car was CA emissions compliant non-EGR from the factory, and i need to be sure that whatever configuration made it such applies to my car.

cali has a state dept for unfair auto ins bs. you could see if there's an equivalent in wa. at the very least, they'd tell you what the laws really say and what you're legally entitled to in your state.

i updated the thread in the for sale section earlier today, i just remembered to post here so you'd know.

the hatch has 170k, the ej has 180k, i don't know about the trans. the engine has new t-belt, pulleys, tensioner, water pump, valve cover gaskets, oil pan gasket, cam seals, front & rear crank seals, rebuilt oil pump, and newish magnecor 8.5mm plug wires. the plan is to swap the 95 manifold i have onto the 97 longblock and run it with the 95 ecm & harness (the 95 is a cali non-egr motor and simpler is better, also some minor details will make passing the visual inspection easier as a 95, especially the vapor cansiter - has to be oe from donor car). i'll go with a ghetto rigged exhaust (cut & weld to make the legacy's fit) till i can get some $ for materials for a custom job. the trans has had all external seals replaced and looks to be in great shape. i'm about to go out and do my paint touch-up tonight...what a way to spend new year's!

i wanted to show off this engine, too: of course, i'll clean it up a bit more before it goes in...

i finally just started, thought i'd share... there was a ton of paint peeling under the master cylinder and the crossmember/suspension were caked with crud. so i tore it all down and i'll do some repainting there. i also wanted to clean everything really well, just being anal i guess. this is after cleaning it up, i'm sure plenty of folks wish there bay looked this good, that's one of the very few upsides of cali. being able to do this in the middle of winter is another... can you tell which side had a cv boot explode? 97 EJ22 (that water hearter is electric, not a fire hazard): 89 D/R 5 Speed: gen 1 a-bar, $12 at jy - i'll modify it for use on the hatch. those are the pups in the background: EA81 engine bay harness, minus a/c and engine management: