Numbchux

Long story....but basically, we're putting a '92 Legacy SS 4EAT into an '02 Outback 3.0 We have the Legacy TCU, and I'm pretty sure with a tach signal modulator we could give that TCU what it would need. But It'd be much easier to use the Outback TCU.

Oh, you're thinking of the backing plate. yea, that wouldn't be too hard to replicate if you don't already have some

Why does it have to be local? You can probably buy the parts online (either from rockauto, or here on the boards) and shipped to you for cheaper than a local source. Hop on Rock Auto, and compare part numbers to find out what years work with what. Most vehicles use a drum-in-disc parking brake system (or just plain drums). So finding a donor car with a caliper with an integrated mechanical parking brake will be difficult. Years ago, Tex had some modified or straight-up custom backing plates which allowed him to use some toyota supra calipers for the rear ebrake. Hydraulic handbrakes are not designed for prolonged use (as a parking brake). And yes, depending on the nature of your local inspections, may not pass, as they do not offer a backup in case of hydraulic failure. Same goes for line locks. I just looked on RockAuto. Those rear calipers are only listed on '88 and '89 accords, and are very expensive. You've got MUCH better luck finding a Nissan 240. Pictures of the rest of my rear ebrake conversion are in with my 5-lug swap thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=79257

In the USRM, under the brake section, is my writeup of the 200SX swap. There are LOTS of pictures of the project and parts involved.

You're not going to get it up to "full" pressure with the starter (with or without the plugs in). But it will get above the ~7psi required for the oil light, and you will get quite a bit of oil circulation, make sure all the air is out, etc.

I think PLANNING on being a freelance recovery vehicle is asking for trouble. There's a reason that a tow truck for a simple recovery costs so much more than the gas/diesel and the guys time. There's a LOT of liability (and therefore insurance) involved. Most vehicles short of 3/4ton+ pickups do not have decent tow points (unless they happen to have a trailer hitch, but even then, backwards isn't always the way to go). So if you hook your tow strap up to something, and do damage, you've painted a law suit target on your back. There's also potential for injury by pulling out a vehicle with a tow strap. A winch allows a degree of control and finesse that removes a lot of safety risk from the situation. With a strap, you will have to have someone in that other vehicle, and if they don't know what to do, EVERYONE is at risk. And if something happens, you will all be wishing they'd waited for the tow truck. This is just not true. I've pulled out a few vehicles from pretty nasty spots in subarus, and even my FWD Toyota Celica. It's all about having good tires, a good recovery strap, and safe recovery practices. So while I agree it's a bad idea, I completely disagree with the logic. Justify getting good snow tires with your safety, and that of the people around you. As soon as you drive one day in mediocre conditions, you will be amazed at how much more control you have, and how much risk you were taking by driving on anything else. A good set of snow tires will cost a few hundred bucks, and last at least 3 years if you only take mediocre care of them (I have Blizzaks, which are notorious for wearing out quickly if the weather gets warm. By only running them 3 or 4 months a year, I'm on my 5th year, and I'll be shocked if I don't get 2 more). A VERY small price to pay. All that said. If you still think this is a good idea... You will need BEEFY tow pionts, and the only way to do that is to build a new rear bumper. Use some "C" channel steel, and run it in where the old bumper bolted on, and drill holes in the ends. This way you can attach a shackle right to that, which will safely direct all of the load into the unibody. Then you can weld a couple pipes to the channel to make a bumper between that. Simple, and extremely strong. Like this: Get a RECOVERY strap, not a tow strap. A tow strap has hooks on the ends, do NOT use one of these for recovery. A recovery strap has loops on the ends. You will then need at least 2 shackles to attach them to something. This will ensure that the strap stays attached to both vehicles, and drastically reduces your chances of something turning into a projectile. When you're towing, always drape something (jacket, floor mat, etc.) over the strap, you're trying to weight the strap down to prevent the projectile issue. Also avoid snapping the strap at all costs. I keep ragging on this projectile issue, but it's VERY commonly overlooked, and very dangerous. A member of our local club (Northern Minnesota Jeepers) died a few years ago pulling a couple kids out of a small mud hole. He hooked up to the tow strap on their poorly-built bumper, and gave it a tug. The welds holding the D-ring to the bumper tore, and the D-ring, and shackle, were launched. They hit him in the back of the head, and killed him on the spot.

Thanks guys! We won the dirty impreza contest, and we're only a handful down on NASIOC. I have to agree, that wrap on the whiteout car is pretty sweet.... but we've got a widebody GC, that we built 100% ourselves.

That's an absolutely reasonable concern. I sold an EJ25D short block to a guy this summer. I pulled the block myself, the car drove into the shop before the motor was pulled, it made zero noise. He called me once be got it installed saying it was knocking. I went and had a listen, and sure enough, bottom end noise.... I asked him if he primed the oil system. "Huh?" Coincidence? Maybe... but I think he ruined that motor

Carl of Ziptie Rally is in the NASIOC Top Scoob competition right now with #171, and very close to winning it!! http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2272807 And Izzy is in the Dirty Impreza one with #858...(this one closes in about 9 hours....so you might miss it) http://www.dirtyimpreza.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24075

EJ oil pumps are driven directly from the crank. No way to spin them independent of each other. I always prime the oil system, even after just an oil change. Just un-plug the crank-angle sensor, and crank until the oil light goes out. There will be compression, but no fuel or spark....

By definition of the words, 4wd part of the time means that you have another option. which you will not. you will not be able to drive out on pavement at all. Also, Subaru offers a part time box, so when you say you are going to convert it to PT, it's reasonable to assume that you are expecting it to function like one. 1. incorrect, it can be used 2. yes 3. no 4. sort of. Subaru never brought them here, but you would not be the first to import one Start with an RX box (you HAVE to use the gearset from a FT4WD D/R). Add the 1.59 low range gearset from a non turbo part time box (RX box has 1.19). Add R&P of your choice (for 4.111 or 4.444, OD of the ring will have to be reduced to clear low range gearset). Use 5MT front diff of your choice. Use matched set of EJ center diff and housing (either phase 1 and 2 can be used as a set)

Sort of. It would be AWD. In order to swap the pinion shaft, you have to start with a full-time box, and then swap the center diff and housing from an EJ car. Also, the EA82 pinion shaft is longer, so you'd have to lengthen the EJ one to work with the EA82 center diff.

I could try to offer some advice, but I'd be making assumptions since you didn't tell us the details.

You are right, you cannot mix and match the pinion and center diff without major modification. But, I'm using an EJ pinion shaft and EJ center diff. Crisis averted I have tested it, Separately. a 4.111 pinion shaft and center diff (from a '93 legacy) will work with an XT6 ouput shaft (lower gearset). I have tested this outside the case. Also, I have swapped the case halves from an XT6 gearbox with a '94 impreza 4.111 AWD one (all internals, front diff, center diff, and center diff housing) and actually run it. I am 99.9% confident that it will work as I imagine. I know the 4.444 ring gear will have to be made a bit smaller to clear the low range gearset. I'm confident enough that I'm purchasing front LSD, center LSD, low range gearset, and R&P. I'll probably have close to a grand into the transmission, and about $500 into the rest of the car.

So, on a whim, we went up to the offroad park just north of here yesterday. Pretty posh being able to put the brat in a 25 foot enclosed trailer and haul it up with a F-350 with a 7.3 Power stroke and a 6-speed manual transmission. Made it a lot more fun to ride the subaru hard at the park, because all I have to do is limp it out to the parking lot and I'm good. Had some electrical issues (somehow the alternator is generating voltage, but it's not getting in the battery....started a thread about it in the old-gen section). Had some running issues. once the engine was good and warm, I had no partial throttle. I had idle, and WOT. anything between just bogged down. And the stock carb in it's current, neglected condition REALLY didn't like hills. Frequently bogging out on climbs. Even stalling and bogging after steep descents. Only picture of the brat from the day: checking battery connections while waiting for a jeep to turn around and come give me a jump so I could give that hill climb another try. Oh yea, and the EJ double-springpin I had installed in the shift linkage fell out. I went for a quick 1-2 shift at one point (on the core road, thank goodness), and the shifter came off in my hand (the pivot ball is pretty much shot too....so no resistance there). So, I got to drive back to the parking lot and load into the trailer with only 2nd Hi or Lo.

As I continue to consider using a front LSD in my brat. The issue of front axles keeps coming up. I can't find an axle stub that will work with the LSD that I want with 23 splines. So I have to try to make some hybrid axles. Would it be possible to use EA82 front axles? Obviously they're longer, but it seems to me, lengthen the control arms, and some EJ TREs, and done. On paper, EA81 and EA82 axle outers look the same. RockAuto says they're both 30 spline outers. Would an EA82 axle work with an EA81 knuckle and hub? Actually, while I'm on the subject. I have the front suspension from an '87 EA82 (leftovers from a 5-lug swap). What would it take to use the EA82 control arms?

I'm sorry, I had thought about adding this to my previous post about my electrical issues with this rig (turned out to be the wire at the fusible link box). But decided the symptoms were different enough that I would start a new post.....so I forgot some of that crucial background information. Like, it's an '84 brat, stock EA81. AFAIK the entire electrical system is almost completely stock. If you've seen pics of my brat, don't be fooled, only the decals say turbo, it never was. Another piece of information from the other thread that I should have re-iterated. My brat is not stored at my home. It's at a friend's shop, about 25 miles from my house, and not in a direction that is on the way to anywhere....so diagnosing problems are a bit difficult. Closest auto parts store to the shop is about 18 miles one way. Also, as soon as I finish building the 5-speed, it's getting an EJ. So bandaid fixes are preferred for now. Alright, all that said. Let me simplify the symptoms a bit: All of the symptoms all day match up with a failed battery. Frozen, or just plain dead. Not accepting a charge. Basically, I'm running off the alternator. BUT, early in the day, I swapped batteries with a buddy's jeep. His battery had a great charge, which allowed my rig to restart when necessary. After about 4 hours in his Jeep, my old battery had been charged very well. It started the jeep again when we got back to the trailers, and when we swapped it back in the brat, it easily restarted. So, it's not the battery. Also, with the good battery in the brat, the volt gauge still jumped all over the place. In my experience, a car with a good alternator/regulator, but with a completely failed battery, will show some pretty crazy voltage variation related to the engine speed. With the engine running, it's the same symptoms that I noticed when that terminal at the fusible links corroded. Except, when that happened, and the engine was turned off, jumper cables to the battery terminals didn't help. It's like there's a diode in the system, allowing the battery to discharge, but not charge. Here's the only pic of the brat from the day...checking the connections while I wait for a jeep to turn around and come give me a jump start to get another run at that hill:

So, I had the failure of that wire from the battery terminal to the fuse box. took it off, cleaned it up, soldered it, etc. And those symptoms were fixed, (like....stuff works again). Put it in the rally trailer, and hauled it up to the offroad park just north of here for the day today.....had a couple problems. Battery was dead, ok, no surprise, the thing's been sitting for awhile. Jumped it, and headed out. Over the course of the few hours that we were out on the trails, I discovered that the volt gauge fluctuates quite a bit with the engine speed. In fact, it would peg all the way to 18v if I didn't have any accessories on (headlights and heat on kept it below 14v the whole time). So, the alternator is charging... But the battery wasn't being charged. Thought it might have been the battery, so we swapped batteries with one in a buddy's Jeep. It charged just fine in his rig.... The volt gauge is reading the voltage coming off the alternator. And it responds when jumper cables are hooked up directly to the battery terminals. Sooooo.....theoretically they are connected. Any ideas?

87+ should be 23 spline if it's part time 4wd. the turbos would have been full time. yes, EA82s Have a wider track. if your axles are not making noise, your time and money would be better spent rebuilding them. For less than $20 ea, you could put brand new boots and grease on them, and they'll be better than most "New" axles you might buy.

I'm no expert...but here's what I did. Taking the case apart is not too difficult. Just make sure you keep track of where the bolts and brackets came from. Only hard part is the shift linkage, you'll have to remove the access panel on the top of the center diff case, and there's a set bolt in the piece that activates the switches for neutral and reverse, this will allow more travel in the shift rod which will allow you to seperate it from the front case halves. I just pulled the internals out of one case, and dropped them in the other. I made no adjustments, to anything. I just made sure the shims followed the gearset. Just make sure you get it sealed up good, and keep an eye on it. Mine leaked dry.....which ruined it....

not necessary

Yes, full XT6 clutch kit will be fine. The pressure plate is the only different part (stronger clamping force). I have bought the Beck/Arnley one from Rock Auto 3 times for 3 different cars (2 behind EJ22s), I love them. You can get full timing belt kits on ebay for a decent price. Look for PCI brand belt kits. They also have them with a water pump, I've done it that way a few times. If you do, though, get an OEM pump gasket (which is metal, compared to the paper one you'll get with the aftermarket pump). You can also get OEM crank and cam seals from smallcar.com for much cheaper than most dealers. I don't get anything from the dealer. The "subaru" dealer up here is also a mopar dealer, and the parts guys don't have a clue or care about the subaru parts. If you want to do a full rebuild, I recommend getting a full gasket kit from 1stsubaruparts.com. It'll have every gasket for the whole motor....pretty sweet.

It would take some serious machining to make the bearing surfaces. The early cases have the shape to clear the gearset....but it'd still be a project.... Very cool project, and well-made video. Although, I have to admit, with bordering on the ultimate combination of torque and gearing (only thing missing is 4.444s), he sure does use momentum and wheelspeed a LOT. Might just be the tires letting it down....

maybe

don't blame the lift. 5-10k is all I've ever gotten out of remanned axles on any of my subarus, with or without a lift. Hell, I've "re-manufactured" stock axles myself (taken dry, sandy, even fallen-apart axles, cleaned them, and put new boots and grease in there) and had great luck.