Numbchux

I've heard of people having issues with the axles bottoming out, but I haven't encountered it. I drove to work this morning in my XT6 with '92 FWD Legacy front knuckles and axles in it. EA81 rod ends are the ticket, same threads/taper, but shorter overall length. I, too, had rubbing issues with 225 on WRX wheels (225/60r16, IIRC), both on the trailing arm and the spring perch (Miata shocks, at the time). But I had plenty of clearance with the fender. And my 215s on my 17x8+48 Rotas had plenty of clearance with the arm, and was crazy tight against the body (and still rubbed against the frame rail in the front while turning). So I think a 225 could be done with the right offset wheel. But anything beyond that would require fairly significant modification. And you can get a lot of grip out of a 225!

When you say you're pushing on the throttle, how far? All the way to the floor? If that's the case, that is telling the computer to cut fuel entirely to clear a flood-scenario. I can think of a few things that could cause this... Fuel pressure regulator (I don't think quite matches up with your symptoms, but free and easy to check. Pull the vacuum line and see if there is fuel in it. The diaphragm in the regulator can fail, causing fuel to leak past it, and into the vacuum line) Fuel injector O-rings. Harder to diagnose. Very cheap part, fairly easy to do, but slightly time consuming (good DIY job, but still might be costly if you're paying for shop time). Coolant temp sensor. If the ECU thinks the engine is cold, it will use a lot more fuel when starting. I *thought* these usually fail the other way around (ECU thinks the engine is warm, and therefore doesn't get enough cold-start enrichment when it's cold)....but I could be wrong. Not a terribly expensive part, but kind of annoying to get to, even to test....

+1 for KYBs, through RockAuto. RockAuto's catalog is fairly accurate but it doesn't do all the work for you, just be sure to read the description of each part to make sure it fits your car. Google "RockAuto Discount Code". They send out a 5% off code after almost every order that's good for a short time. It's not much, but it usually covers shipping.

Hybrid transmission is definitely possible, and has been done. We did that in my friend's rally car, as he has a phase 1 jdm 4.111 transmission in it, but we wanted to put the sweet Group N 10 NM center diff, which is phase 2. Got the whole housing, transfer gears, and diff, and swapped it all over. Doable in the car. Much easier than swapping the whole trans.

Oh yea, those wheels look great on old-gen cars! And after I painted them bronze With EJ knuckle/strut, camber adjustment is easy. I've had EJ knuckles/axles with stock XT6 control arms in 3 different cars now, never had any bind....

Cool I just know that an EJ knuckle and tie rod end, with an EA82/XT6 inner tie rod, rack, and control arm, zero toe (or really anywhere near it) is not obtainable. And it appears that there is quite a bit more than 10mm of thread exposed on that tie rod there... Have you had it on an alignment rack? What was your reasoning for the control arm lengthening?

So, EA82 inner bushing, welded onto an XT6 arm. Only a bit longer. But the tie rod combination/adjustment is a lot longer than what I'm running. XT6 knuckles? or just a ton of toe-out in that picture?

Remove the pads completely, and then put the caliper back on. That way you can move the caliper back and forth on the slide pins to make sure those are all moving freely. Then make sure the pads move freely on the clips, and nothing is binding.

It's virtually the exact same pump on all EA82s (2 different hub heights, but same idea). I've done it on a '92, '88, and '85 for sure....probably more. there's a bolt under the alternator that holds that water pipe to the head, then it should come out of the housing fairly easily, there's just an O-ring there, (helps to remove that radiator hose, too).

Did you replace the pad clips, too? If those get rusty, the pads can hang up, and drag. Our Outback was doing that, and when I would pull off the freeway (very gentle braking), one front brake was crazy hot (don't touch the rotors, you can feel the heat several inches away). I assume the PO had the pads replaced, but not the hardware, new clips and pin boots fixed it. Make sure those caliper pins are greased, and moving freely, too. Uneven pad wear means something isn't working correctly.

It's really dependent on maintenance and use. But ultimately I don't think they're any more or less reliable than anything else. With occasional fluid/filter changes, and without being beat on too terribly, I would expect it to have quite a lot of life left in it at that mileage. I don't think the EJ25s really ever shook the head gasket issues, they got less prominent, but never "solved". So it's totally reasonable they had the engine torn down from normal use at that age. Our '03 has seeping head gaskets, and it has less than 150k on it. Brake pads is the only thing that's unrelated in that list....and those wear out, so that's not suspicious. It's an old-ish car with a lot of miles on it... That would be on the cheap end (although not suspiciously so) for that car around here. Outbacks are based on the Legacy (basically a trim level), and Outback Sports are based on the Impreza.

It's probably not bad fuel, My XT6 ran just fine on 5 year old fuel.... Pull the fuel line from the rail (after the filter), put it into a container, and cycle the key. That will tell you if you're getting any fuel. If that's good, I would want to put an actual fuel pressure gauge on it, to make sure it's getting enough fuel. Then noid lights to see if the ECU is even trying to fire the injectors.

It is driven by the v-belts, but the body of the pump is very much behind the timing belt. Every one I've done, I did while doing a timing belt job anyway. I think I've heard that people have been able to sneak it out from there without removing the timing belt, but I can't confirm that. The outer timing belt cover bolts to the water pump, so you'll need to take that off to even see 2 of the mounting bolts. I would remove the radiator for access, replace the timing belts, reseal the oil pump at the very least while I was in that far. Or just rip the whole thing out and put a real engine in there

The timing belt cover has to come off for sure (crank pulley has to come off for that...). To do it correctly, the timing belts should be removed. You, evidently, have not done too many water pumps . There's a reason that it's frequently done preventatively on most timing belt jobs.

FYI, coolant does not run through either of those gaskets on an EJ like it does on an EA. Head gaskets, or cracked block/head is the only way I know of that coolant can get burned in an EJ. I probably would take a shot at that '99 you listed. It's a 2.2, so probably not something major. It'd be worth making a phone call, or even a visit to try to get more information about its symptoms. I wouldn't be surprised if it's something fairly simple.

You could do it that way. The way I would do it, would be to splice into the 2 wires at the ECU, and run them to a Double Pole (this would keep the 2 circuits separate when the switch is off) switch to ground. That way there's no load on the switch, and you're maintaining stock fuse and relay functionality. That does not protect against relay failure, but with 4 relays, the system is already pretty redundant. The way I mentioned wiring it, would use 3 of the 4 relays to control your 3 fans. So you could possibly re purpose one of them, there is another relay on that holder that is for the A/C compressor, that you obviously won't be using.

Do you have the part number for those squirters? I've looked before, and I didn't see them listed in the catalog. But with a part number, they certainly might be available.

You can typically get brake drum hardware kits from most aftermarket suppliers. I see many brands listed on RockAuto for an '84, and I see them on Autozone and Napa (napa would be a special order here, which usually costs more and takes quite awhile. Autozone would have it tomorrow with no extra charge).

I have also done a 4WD conversion. You'll need the transmission, driveshaft, and basically the entire rear suspension. driveshaft carrier bearing has nowhere to mount. Several ways to do it, I had a one-piece shaft made.... Rear diff hanger will have nowhere to bolt. I drilled and tapped, which worked great for something like 7 years and 60k miles (car was killed last summer when the last owner drove drunk and crashed it.....rear diff still attached). RWD....depends how you want to do it. Do a 4WD swap with a true 4WD Subaru transmission, lock it in 4WD, disassemble the front axle shafts, beat on it until it breaks. Transmission output will probably be the weak link. That's about the only way with the stock engine. there are several options for beefier RWD transmission that will bolt to an EJ/EG/EZ/FA/FB Subaru engine, but not for an EA. It is possible to make a custom adapter plate/flywheel/clutch to use something else...but it would be a one-off.

Definitely not

I'm having some seemingly conflicting symptoms. I'd like to put it down, and see if anyone has any suggestions. Car: 1989 4EAT AWD XT6. 117,5xx miles, so yea, it's been sitting more than driving. Specifically the last 6 years or so, outside with a drained and open (missing upper hose) cooling system. Rust and/or corrosion probably a major portion of the issue. Virtually stock cooling system (with the exception of one radiator cap....I'll mention later). Cooling/heating system worked perfect when parked. When I first started driving it again this fall, I let it idle several times up to operating temperature to make sure the system didn't leak when pressurized, and the fans worked correctly (check and check). Seemed to be very slow to warm up. New Subaru thermostat and gasket were installed, no change. The last week or 2 (it's been very cold, several mornings more than 10 below, may or may not be related), I've noticed occasionally that at a stop, the temperature creeps up. about 2/3 on the gauge, maybe a bit more. Not quite enough to be alarmed about, but definitely more than it should. As soon as I start driving again, it cools down, immediately. All the while, putting out pretty luke warm heat into the cabin. This all sounds to me like it's not getting very good circulation, clogged radiator and/or heater core and/or water pump etc. BUT, once I start driving, it cools down below "normal". This doesn't seem to make sense to me. I'm assuming the thermostat is closing as it should, and blocking off flow to the radiator, and it's certainly not dissipating a massive amount of heat through the heater core....how could it be overcooling? This doesn't usually happen for long, this morning, I tried revving the rpms to about 2500 while at a stop to try to isolate airflow vs. coolant flow, and it didn't seem to make any difference. This seems to me like it would point more towards a clogged radiator.... Thoughts? I think once it warms up, I'll flush the engine, radiator, and heater core separately. Any recommendations for a flush/cleanser product? Maybe throw the thermostat in a pot and make sure it actually stays closed as long as it should. I had a small coolant leak that I thought was the small bypass hose near the radiator cap over the thermostat housing. I replaced that cap with a higher pressure one (EJ 16psi, instead of the stock XT6 13psi). My thought process was that it might prevent the cap from releasing, and therefore reduce the pressure in that bypass hose. It did stop my leak, but I suspect it may have been the cap itself leaking. I'm now concerned that the fact that this cap isn't opening might be reducing flow to the thermostat housing, and preventing it from working as it should....somehow. I'm considering either buying one (or maybe two) new XT6 caps (my cost on OE or aftermarket is about the same, but OE is way less available), or one new EJ cap (considerably cheaper) to match the other. These would have the same effect of equalizing the pressure and restoring flow through the thermostat housing. On one hand, higher pressure would increase the boiling point, which shouldn't be an issue. It puts a little extra strain on the hoses and seals, but I don't think 3 psi is that big a deal. Am I missing something? I have no idea the condition or history of the timing belts/water pump. But being as this is just a daily/RallyX beater, and non-interference. I'd really rather not delve into that realm if I don't have to.

From what I remember off the top of my head... You'll have to swap all the wiring on the engine, including the crank/cam sensors. The engine/wiring in that car may or may not have provisions for an EGR valve, but I think your '91 engine will have it regardless, worst case, you have to block some or all of it off. The '91 engine definitely will have dual exhaust ports on the head, the '95 engine should as well....but depending on the production date, or whether it's actually a '95 (we've probably all bought cars with an engine swap, or even just loose engines, that turned out to be different than advertised), it might be single port. In which case, you'll need some exhaust. The 90-94 2.2 stuff is a pretty different configuration, but if you get a "manifold" from a 2.5 (or aftermarket, Borla or similar), it should bolt onto the existing cat pipe with no other mods.

Not much. I probably wouldn't bother with a transmission flush, but a drain-and-fill is probably a good idea (just pull the drain plug and let it drain, and then replace the ~5qts that came out). Replacing the transmission filter is probably a good idea, it's a spin-on, mounted in kind of a goofy place, behind the bumper, under the battery, probably best-accessed from the wheel well, or directly underneath. Last year for the replaceable, external fuel filter. Front and rear diff gear oil would be a good idea. Something about the accessory belt drive on these cars seems to be prone to idler/tensioner failure with very little warning. The idler is bolted to an aluminum bracket that also supports the A/C compressor. We stock them, as they do get ruined more than occasionally. Subaru, and most aftermarket sources, will only list an entire tensioner assembly, even though you just need the pulley. I've heard that the idler pulley can be used on the tensioner, I know from experience that there's a cheap bearing available locally that can be pressed into the stock steel pulley. That's about it, really for preventative maintenance. It's fairly common for the valve covers to leak, so it may need those. Easiest to replace the spark plugs while the covers are off...

2010-2012 Outbacks have the Old EJ25. Basically the same engine they've been using since 1999. A little less prone to head gasket failure, but still present. 2013+ have FB25. As mentioned, timing chain, virtually zero head gasket issues. There was a batch of bad piston rings causing oil consumption problems right from new. Subaru has honored many many warranty claims on these to replace the entire shortblock (initially it was just the rings, but most have gotten whole shortblocks). And, there was just a class-action law suit settled, and letters will begin going out to current owners extending the warranty to 100,000 (or if that's already reached, one-year from letter postmark). Only transmission options for 4-cyl cars in this range are 6-speed manual, or CVT (this may be in the pro or con list depending on your personal preference. I think the CVT is pretty cool, even though it's pretty weird to drive. We haven't had too many issues with them, and getting good used ones is relatively easy). Than it was not an FB.

Right....now I remember why I don't mess with that convoluted nonsense. ASSuming your donor EJ had A/C (I haven't seen one without, but theoretically they exist), it has 4 relays. Stock fans are 2 speed. 3 Pin connectors, Black is ground on pin 1 on both of them. Main control on the ECU, activates the fan relay in the fuse box, and one in the A/C relay holder (IIRC, 2 fuses and 4 relays right next to the fuse box) giving 12v to pin 3 on both fans (Yellow with Red stripe on main fain, White with Blue stripe on Sub fan). Secondary ECU control activates the other 2 relays in the A/C holder, which gives 12v to the pin 2 on both fans as well (Light Green with Black stripe on main fan, and Yellow with Green stripe on sub fan), kicking them into high speed. So yea, I'd probably use the low speed wire (as it comes on first) from one of the fans to a single fan, with the best airflow. And then use each of the high speed wires to power your other 2 fans.