Numbchux

This is dead on. I work at an auto parts store. We use RockAuto ALL the time for reference. Best listings anywhere, if you use your head a little while using them. They are, however, a large network of distributors and warehouses. It's highly likely that you will get some NOS stuff that's been around awhile. Of course, this is possible anywhere. We ordered a pair of CV axles for my friend's '88 VW Scirrocco at work and the boxes looked like they're at least 15 years old. Heck, I've gotten some ancient packaging ordering straight from the dealer. My point is, it's absolutely possible. And I don't think there's a reliable way to prevent that entirely. RockAuto probably has more turnover than almost any other source, but they also probably have more inventory. Smaller sources might have fresher inventory, but they also will have less turnover, so there's just as much a chance of getting something that's been sitting around awhile. One thing I will say, is always inspect your products thoroughly when you receive them, and if anything looks fishy, don't bicker and badmouth on the internet CALL THEM. RockAuto has excellent customer service, and if they sent you something wrong, be it a human error, catalog error, shipping error, etc. In my experience (I've ordered from them probably 30 times or more) they will go way out of their way to make it right.

You keep talking about not using cheap parts......but you're using Wiseco pistons.....just sayin. I've also seen many strong-running engines using the 11mm oil pump. I know a couple guys who swear by them. I think your oil pressure issue was not related to the pump. And your bearing failure either related to the oil pressure issue, or possibly the mis-matched crank (I think the majority of the mis-matched shortblock projects I've seen have ended in catastrophic failure). Just my 2 Cents. I'm sure you'll get it buttoned up and back on the dyno/road soon.

That's very strange. The only parts in your shortblock that I would use are the ones that you're blaming for the failure.

Heck, that reminds me. I've seen rally cars where they just zip-tie or tape a hose onto the wiper arm. No nozzle or anything, just dump a crapload of fluid right onto the window....

I don't know the numbers off hand, but it's very unlikely that they would ever need to be changed unless they were run with a completely ruined pad (metal on metal).

I should have been more specific. But I didn't say EA for a reason. I've done lots of compression tests, never on an EA. But that's sort of my point, I don't think the math is simple. But by your math, the only engine variable that matters is compression ratio, and 9:1 is on the high end of what I've done. I've seen Turbo EJs with 8:1 or less put out 150psi, which by that equation (14.7x8=117.6) is not even remotely possible.

That sounds low. At "normal" altitudes (I live at just over 1k ft, or so), a healthy engine can easily put out 160-175psi. I find it hard to believe that it would be less than 60% of that! But, either way. What's more important than what the number is, is that all 4 are pretty close. When you have 1 or 2 that are drastically out of whack from the rest, that's when you have a real problem.

spec has been offering those long before the EJ swap was common. I'm assuming someone built (or was building) some crazy EA82t, and ponied up the cash for the R&D for spec to develop those. Don't think I've ever heard of anyone buying one though.

I don't think the bottleneck is the pump itself, but the nozzles. I added a pair of '85-86 cowl-mounted sprayers to my '88, in addition to the stock hood-mounted ones, with just the single stock pump, and I would definitely say it double the volume of water hitting the windshield. I can't imagine that the EJ pumps are drastically less efficient. I would start by adding more nozzles. Dorman makes some really nice, fan-pattern ones that don't clip in, but have a nut on the bottom. This makes them very easy to drill a hole anywhere and mount them (I tried them, since I had to relocate them onto the cowl on my 4runner. I now have them on all my cars...). We have them in stock at the AutoZone where I work. I would add at least one more pair, and then decide if you need to upgrade your pump.

I'm sorry, I misunderstood. I didn't realize you were asking about adding a trans cooler to reduce your engine temps. No, I highly doubt that would work. You need to focus on the engine cooling. 4 things you can look into. 1. Increasing your coolant-cooling capacity. i.e. larger radiator. I know that's not an easy solution, but adding some sort of cooler inline with the heater core lines might be an option (grab a junkyard heater core and plumb it in with a manual water valve....) 2. Increasing the efficiency of your coolant. i.e. changing the antifreeze mix. Of course, use caution, increasing the percentage of water in your system will increase the cooling efficiency, but will also increase the freezing point. IMO this is not an option in MN.... 3. Oil cooler. Not much more to say there....I know ones with a thermostat in them exist. Add a little extra cooling capacity to the other fluid in the engine. 4. Increase the airflow. Car engine bays are almost always a high air pressure zone. Lots of air going in, not much coming out. There are hundreds of ways to do this....Everything from spacing the hinges up and removing the rear hood seal to allow air out the back, to cutting/drilling holes in the hood, legit hood cowls, scoops mounted backwards, new vents, junkyard vents etc. etc. here's a thread with some ideas: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1977436 I know a friend of mine added a WRC-style vent right behind his radiator, and it drastically lowered ambient temps in his entire engine bay, lowered average coolant temperatures, and intake temperatures (he had a front-mount IC as well). I'm not sure where he got it, but similar to the real thing seen here:

The axle stubs have to match the diff carrier. So you could take the LSD that was in the RX, and put the LSD carrier in the 4.444 case with it's gears, and then you could use the EA82 stubs and axles with no trouble. Otherwise, in order to use the impreza diff as-is, you will need hybrid axles.

Yes, EA81 and EA82 are different. With the engine listings there, OHV (over head valve...i.e. pushrods) is EA81, and SOHC is EA82. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but those parts should be the same for all EA82s. When I'm looking up stuff for an EA82, I look them up for a 1989 (the least overlap in body styles). Or, look them up for the 85, but then click on the part number and look at the year ranges and models they fit, make sure brat, or anything 1984 or older is NOT on the list. As always with RockAuto. The full Year Make Model Engine lookup is not perfect, frequently they're only reliable to Year Make Model (not even to the model with EA Subarus, as the "model" name is actually a trim level, and has nothing to do with body style). But what makes RockAuto so awesome, is they give you as much information as is available from the manufacturer about the part. In the part description it will list body styles, and other application notes, frequently even dimensions. As for which pads to get, that's sort of a crapshoot. You can always find someone that has a horror story about everything. I've always had really good experiences with Beck/Arnley products (although I've never used their brake pads, I put a set of their shoes on my girlfriend's car). OE material on EA82s was organic, which is typically the cheapest type of pad available, so you can't really under-do it.

The ECU case doesn't need to be grounded. It gets everything it needs through the harness. Yea, when I've done EJ swap harnesses, they require no ground hookup. Just plug into the engine harness, and everything needed is right there on the block. Simple, and extremely functional.

Yep. All engine related parts should be grounded to the engine block. Adding a contact to the chassis isn't going to hurt anything, but if the wires to the block were removed, that could.

I call BS on that last sentence. Different part numbers doesn't mean not interchangeable, or even different at all. I've had many of them apart, mixed and matched, and the only significant difference I've noticed is the tabs for the forward rear diff hanger (FWD vs 4WD). The '85-86 ones had tabs for little flaps to deflect debris away from the axle boots. And I think the turbo ones had a slightly different exhaust hanger on it.... My '92 Loyale got one from an 85 GL wagon originally with the 4WD swap, then I swapped in the whole mess from an '86 XT turbo (sway bar mounts on the arms themselves), and that recently failed in a similar way to what's shown here, and I believe it got one from a later turbo wagon (the car has changed hands a couple times since I owned it....so I'm not 100% sure).

This is what I suspected. You're not looking at ignition components, as you have a bigger/simpler problem. Your ECU is not powering up correctly. Pull up an ECU pinout for your ECU, and triple check that you have good power and ground to all the wires that need it.

Correction, '93-'94 FWD 5MT Impreza. The FWD autos had 25-spline.

OD of the inner wheel seal is different between XT6 and EJ. They will not interchange. Here's my post about seal dimensions, including part numbers for interchange: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/97563-how-long-will-axles-last-2-lifted-xt6/?p=821114

In my experience, the ECU will prime the fuel pump at least once if the power and grounds are all connected correctly. If the starter signal has been triggered a few times (there's probably a total time equation of somesort in the ECU program) with no signal from the crank angle sensor, it will stop priming the fuel pump. Truth be told, the fuel pump circuit isn't MANDATORY, as the engine will run with the pump on it's own dedicated source. But, it's a pretty simple circuit, and will give you quite a bit of insight on what the ECU is doing.

Yea, I had that grill in a couple later EA82s....I really prefer the way they look. Just ziptied it in.

The trans cooler is built into the radiator (as it should be to work correctly). The transmission operates at a higher temperature than the engine, but it only needs a relatively small capacity cooler and low volume through it because it's letting the coolant do most of the work. In order to do the same job, but only relying on airflow to cool the fluid, a much larger capacity cooler would be required. The correct way to add an external trans cooler, is to add it in line AFTER the cooler in the radiator. This way the ATF gets cooled off considerably as it goes through the radiator, and then is cooled off further in the aux cooler. So the answer is simple. The heat energy generated by the transmission is put directly into the engine coolant. Of course, the rest of the cooling system is built to accomodate that, so it's not really a big deal. As presslab said, energy cannot be created or destroyed. The engine converts the energy in the fuel to heat and torque. An Automatic transmission takes the torque from the engine, and in order to function, some of that torque is lost and converted into heat as well, which has to be dissipated. A Manual transmission is much more efficient, so much less of the torque is lost and converted into heat.

I daily drove my car for a year with that wire dangling. It cranked longer, especially in the winter (no choke), but it still started every time. I don't believe that circuit is designed to hold any sort of load (hence the small gauge wire going into the ECU), so if your voltage drops elsewhere, I think you need to resolve that. But, I haven't tested it, or seen any concrete information either way. Of course, it should be hooked up for correct operation, but I don't believe, for a second, that that has anything to do with the issue seen here.

Starter signal will not effect spark. It just changes the fuel trims (choke). First thing I would do is un-hardwire the fuel pump (or, at the very least, hook a test light to that wire on the ECU) to make sure that your ECU is powering up correctly. If your ECU isn't priming the fuel pump, you have bigger and simpler problems.

Well, since I hate it when people don't follow-up when they have issues....I suppose I better follow up. 2 drain and fills (about a gallon of new ATF each time) didn't help. Replaced the TCC solenoid (another gallon of fresh ATF), nothing. So, again with the knowledge that it's temperature-related, we decided it had to be mechanical. It just happened that my friend who's helping me fix and flip this car just parted out an 01 2.5RS with a 4EAT, and that trans was sitting on the floor of the garage. We didn't want to do it, but it had to be done. Long day on Saturday, a few issues, and a few surprises (3 new greaseable u-joints in the driveshaft!), but the transmission is swapped. We re-resealed the oil separator on the back of the engine while we were at it, as it was seeming to leak a bit. The problem has gone away. Long story short, I think it was the converter itself having a mechanical problem causing it to stick on when the fluid was not up to temperature.

Well, no N/A EJ ECU is re-tuneable.....so unless you're running a standalone, that's not an option. Assuming this is an up-stream 02 Sensor (it helps to know what year, model, size, etc. EJ you have ), it is used to constantly adjust fuel trims. Yes, install it.