Numbchux

Also, you have to take the whole strut/spring assembly out of the car, bolt the lift block to it, then bolt it up to the car, and then attach the knuckle to the strut. If you're trying to sneak the lift block on top of the strut with it all still attached, it's not going to work.

Cool idea. I would love to do a hidden winch mount on our Outback. I have to be honest, just looking at those pictures, the size and configuration of those mounting bolts holding that angle steel on scares the hell out of me. 5000 lb is relatively low as far as winches go, but that's still a lot of force for what looks like a few 3/8" Grade 5 bolts. I would recommend adding some 1/2" Grade 8 hardware, right in the middle of the angle, if you can.

Are you sure your checking the transmission fluid and not the front diff? The transmission has 2 dip sticks, longer one on the left is for ATF, short one on the right side is for the front diff. Differential uses gear oil, which would be exactly as you describe. My other thought, is ATF turns clear when it boils. So maybe you have a transmission cooler issue that's cooked the fluid. And yes, a conventional transmission flush is done through the transmission cooler lines. Could easily be done without any device, just put the return line in an empty bucket, and put the supply line to a full container of new fluid.

This is pretty definitive. There's plenty of power at the battery, but only a trickle is getting to the car. Bad connection, almost exclusively. I like to turn the parking lights on (presumably they will not come on), and then start wiggling the main battery wires (positive between the battery and fuse box, and negatives) until they actually light up. That'll give you a pretty good idea of where your bad connection is. If wiggling things around doesn't give any change, then grab some jumper cables, and just hook up one black clamp to the negative battery terminal, and try the other one on a few solid grounds, both on the engine and the body. I've seen where the insulation on one of the battery cables gets damaged slightly, and moisture can get in, and corrode the copper, but the wire still looks good. Luckily, the fact that nothing works, pretty much limits you to 4 or 5 connections, and about 4 feet of wire.

Year and model of your Subaru would be relevant information here. So would miles, condition, maintenance, and/or modifications history

Step one is to figure out what code you're getting now. The car is trying to tell you what's wrong.... ASSuming it's a P0304 again, I think you should try your water spray test again. It's possible that the casing on the coil is cracked and still arcing to the mounting bolt. If you can't recreate the symptom, or don't see any arcing, the next thing to try is to swap injectors between 2 and 4. This is not a difficult job, just be aware that the OE injector "O-rings" are expensive (like $15 each or something), so be gentle with them, they're almost always reusable. If you still aren't getting a change, a compression test might be a good idea. In my experience, a burnt valve isn't an intermittent symptom, and will definitely show up on a compression test. A sticking valve can be intermittent, and may not show, so that might be hard to place if that's what it turns out to be. Original plugs in that engine were Champ RC10YC4, which Subaru superceded to an NGK BKR6E-11, both are a Copper plug. The Platinums probably won't cause a problem, but I wouldn't plan to use them any more than the recommended 30k miles for the Coppers.

So you say your thinking about turboing your stock engine as opposed to swapping. And then talk about replacing the engine. I'm not a fan of the 22t. Phase I bearing supports are considerably less beefy than phase II. Oil squirters are prone to falling out. Closed deck means considerably less coolant capacity. #3 thrust bearing. EJ257 or 207 is the engine to have. The only advantage it has over your block is the compression is more boost-friendly. If you want to tear everything apart for lower compression, just get pistons for your shortblock. 25D heads flow very well, but the cams are not ideal for turbo use (too much overlap), and the heads still do not have the provisions for oil lines to the turbo. So if you're going to do it right, you need a lot more parts than just the heads (Not to mention head and other gaskets). It's an option, but apples vs oranges when compared to fabricating an up-pipe to put a turbo on the stock engine.

Seems pretty obvious to me, temp gauge should read about 1/2. The engine is not up to temperature = Thermostat is opening too soon.

From the Owner's Manual: "1. Parking lights will flash when the vehicle’s battery is disconnected and reconnected. To stop lights from flashing, either: - Press remote transmitter “UNLOCK” button once. - Turn the ignition switch to the “ON” position and press programming button for one second (see location below)."

There's some sort of "security" system. My '96 Outback had a yellow tag hanging from the battery cable (and I think under the hood or something) telling you how to disable it. It involved finding a little black button hanging in the wiring harness by the pedals and holding it for a few seconds or something.

Yes. All cars sold in the US in 1996 had to be OBD II.

No easy answer. But here are some pros and cons. There are way more wheel options available for the 6-lug. 5x100 is relatively rare by comparison. That said, most of those 6-lug options have much lower offset/backspacing, so if that's not your cup of tea, your a bit limited to basically the import 6-lug options (still Nissan, Toyota, Mazda, etc.), but I think those are still more common than 5x100. But I'm assuming since your talking about wider track width, you're probably not too concerned with keeping everything under the body work. 5-lug swap requires a lot more parts, basically the entire front suspension. Control arms, knuckles, brakes, axles, tie rod ends (assuming you're already running an EA82 steering rack to go with that crossmember), struts, etc. 2 options there. Use the XT6 knuckles, brakes. That way you're using as many parts as possible from that one donor car. You'll be limited to XT6 front pads and rotors (IIRC there's a cavalier option for rotors that works...), so parts aren't any less rare than what you've got. Those calipers will have ebrake mechanisms, if you want to retain the front ebrake. Assuming you have a transmission with 23-spline output, there will be no simple axle option. Either hybrid XT6-outer, 23-spline inner. Or one of a few options to use the rare 23-spline EJ axle option (inner wheel seal is different between EJ and XT6), or swapping 25-spline stubs into your trans. That donor car will have air struts (unless it's already been converted), so you'll have to get your hands on EJ complete strut/spring assemblies, and then modify them for the XT6 knuckles. You can probably dial in the correct toe with EJ tie rod ends, so that part is more easily available. Use the XT6 control arms as the intermediary to allow EJ knuckles and such. Obviously you will have to source a whole slew of other parts. I've heard there's a combination that will allow the XT6 calipers to bolt to some EJ caliper bracket (I think 2-piston, but I haven't confirmed that) to retain the front ebrake. Makes the pads and rotors common. Still have an axle challenge, but makes the '93-'94 5MT FWD Impreza application an easy option. Will require EA81 tie rod ends to dial in the toe (you also get better ackerman angle, but you probably won't notice on a lifted rig). EJ struts will bolt on. Some people have reported an axle length vs control arm length issue. I've done it many times and never seen it.....but beware and/or research. Rear doesn't yield almost any of those challenges. It's basically just a brake swap. I can't speak to the details of using an EA82/XT6 rear crossmember in an EA81, but I can say that the XT6 one is interchangeable with the EA82s. It will have sway bar mounts, just like an EA82t, but I'm betting you're not concerned with that.

It's been a long time since either of the EA81 lifts I helped install. But as I recall, a properly-built lift block will keep the strut tight against the inside of the tower (sometimes it's even necessary to "clearance" the strut tower to keep from rubbing). So you could theoretically adjust for more positive camber, but not less, and certainly not getting it into positive. The other issue I see with your plan, is if you have the adjustment between the strut and the block, there will be no way to adjust it without removing everything. Those bolts are not accessible once installed.

http://offroadingsubarus.com/rear-disc-conversion-on-ea81-ea82s/ It's an old write-up, but still accurate. Only thing I would do different is to shorten the steel line that used to go to the wheel cylinder (in that write-up, he just bends it out of the way). Most parts stores sell pre-flared chunks of line, too, you could just replace it with a new one. Or, you can replace the 2 rubber lines and the steel with the rear hose for an EJ car and it's banjo bolt. I used Centric braided stainless for a GD ('02-'07) Impreza. It comes off the caliper at an angle, instead of straight out, so you'll have to route it out around the back side of the shock. 2017-07-25_02-22-30 by Numbchux, on Flickr

Yes, Hubs are different between disc and drum (drum cars do not even have separate hubs). In that write-up, the hub and rotor are bolted together, but there are 2 pieces there, and you will need both.

No. Other than the basic concept, all the dimensions that matter are different, specifically that fronts are 30 spline, rears are 27.

Fair enough. Sounds like you've put way more research into this than I did....I know I just guessed on a drill size a bit smaller than the knurl of whatever studs I used (I don't remember either dimension). It helps that that is not a street-driven vehicle.... Carry-on.

I was reading this thread and wondering just how expensive.... So I looked it up. Part #38434AA050, MSRP of $577.93, which is actually less than I thought. But.....discontinued. Looks like you could still get one straight from Japan through Amayama trading, but then it's more than $700 https://www.amayama.com/en/search?q=38434AA050 I'm sure you could get an aftermarket one, if you really wanted.

2005 has drive-by-wire, immobilizer and 5EAT. Excellent car, excellent engine, but not a great swap candidate. Has to be run on a standalone ECU (which drives up your cost considerably). And I don't know how a person might get that to work with the 5EAT transmission. It may not be the best choice, but I think it's the only one that could be done reliably for $2k.

As I understand it, the OD of the knurl is 14.43mm, but it's supposed to be an interference fit. It might be designed for a 14mm hole. I know when I did my 6-lug conversion, I drilled smaller than the OD of the knurl, and it worked perfectly.

No-one has made a system to flash that ECU. And no, there's not really anything to get any more power out of them. There are a few things to shift the powerband up higher (lightweight or even underdriven pullies, primarily), which can make it feel faster, but generally speaking they just reduce low-rpm power.

Yep, EG33 doesn't fit without a little fabrication and creativity (I've seen some very creative ways that didn't require almost any fabrication, I've worked on a couple that required zero welding). EZ30 does fit fantastically. You don't need to swap head to turbo your engine, just need to have some exhaust fabricated. I've even seen it done so it goes up from the stock non-turbo manifold, and the up-pipe goes up behind the cv axle, which meant the engine crossmember didn't have to be changed. There's no point in going to the trouble of swapping heads to use all non-turbo parts. All the parts you'd need to turbo your engine, you'd need to swap in a turbo engine (turbo, intercooler, downpipe, coolant hoses, etc). Yes, it requires a little exhaust fabrication, but that seems pretty mild compared to pulling and replacing the engine, crossmember, and most of the interior to do an engine swap and harness merge. Stock turbo swap is not easy. EJ22t ('91-'94 Turbo Legacy) fits the best in the engine bay, but requires all the electrical merging work of any of these other swaps, and will not yield 250hp, no way. JDM stuff is cheap, but risky. Pretty hard to buy one that's in good shape. Also the wiring is very difficult (very few wiring diagrams available, and what's out there isn't very reliable), they do not have any on-board diagnostics, so much harder to troubleshoot any issues. Getting an '02-'05 USDM WRX wiring harness and ECU is a great option, as they're abundant (people part those out all the time), OBD II, and open-source tuneable. From there, you could run just about any combination of phase 2 turbo heads/block. But, you'll have a hard time putting together an engine for your budget. EJ205s are mostly blown up/abused. EJ255/257s are expensive.

This isn't quite true. It's not a great idea, but it absolutely CAN run, and will run surprisingly well. I've had personal experience with 2 2.2l Imprezas (one a '95, and the other a '97) that were turbo'd without any management mods for some time. There are ways to get it more fuel to compensate for the extra air. The biggest problem is the timing maps aren't really boost-friendly, so they're much more prone to detonation. And obviously the mechanical challenges of cam profile (you don't want any overlap in a forced induction engine) and compression ratio. These things make it less reliable. But depending on the person, vehicle and use, it can be a fantastic option to have some cheap fun. And even if you blow it up, 2.2s are cheap.

I disagree. The speed difference between the 2 wheels opposite is much more extreme than front-to-back. And with the Duty C engaged and a rear diff welded, the transmission, transfer clutches, and driveshaft are still not the weak link. It's the axle shafts. But being loaded with forward-drive torque, as well as the strain of different speeds on either side will put a bit more force on them then if they're just coasting, but not much. Also, I'm assuming your thinking of an EA82/XT6 with "pop the pins and go on your way". This is a 2000 Outback...axle failure isn't the end of the world, but it's much more difficult. As both ends must be present to keep the hub together and gear oil in the diff. And swapping out for a spare axle is not really an easy trail-side repair.

Yes, it would reduce the stress a little bit if they weren't loaded, but the hubs are still engaged to the axles full-time, so it would still be really hard on things on the street.