Numbchux

If it's a remanufactured one, it'll say Duralast on the box, but it's a cardone. Same reman stuff you get from most parts stores. Pretty crappy quality from them. I'm kind of curious about the new ones (Duralast Gold on the box). I'm not sure who makes them, but completely different story, we've had almost zero problems with them, and they're not much more expensive. I believe they are available for the rear of an EA81, so I may try some on my Brat (no core either, so keep the old ones as spares).

The difference is in the harness. If you've got a 5MT harness, it will have the AT/MT identification pin in it (which should be grounded), which will tell the ECU that the vehicle is a MT. If you have an AT harness, it will not have that pin...

You sure? All the convertible subarus I know of were aftermarket.

Aftermarket Coilovers can be made to fit. The actual coil springs are larger diameter, and would likely slip off the spring perch on an EA82 shock.

It's a phase 2. The fact that it's dependent on the temperature of the transmission, I don't think it's related to the TCU at all, I think it's either a sticking solenoid, or the converter itself.

Looks great. I have not changed it, but I've only had the car for about 1k miles. I looks like it's been recently changed.

Trying to flip this car and it's giving me problems.... Occasionally, when the transmission is not up to temp, the torque converter will lock up and not unlock for a while. It will even stall the motor if you stop. If I were still driving it, I'd put some sort of test light in line with that wire to try to narrow that down, but the car is on a used car lot. The transmission works great otherwise. Any ideas?

It would either require extensive wiring modification to use the OB ECU and harness in the WRX, or a GD Impreza 2.5RS harness.... I, too, would recommend against it.

I've done it both ways. Pull the engine. Don't have to remove the exhaust, just unbolt it from the engine. Don't have to mess with the axles. It's also substantially easier to install the new clutch on the engine with the engine out, instead of lying under the car. You can either disconnect the Power steering lines, and cap them, or a little more work to just unbolt the pump from the engine and leave the lines connected but no worries about leakage. Drain the coolant system, pull the radiator. Remove AC compressor from engine and set aside (do not disconnect any lines....), remove bellhousing bolts, remove motor mount nuts, remove motor. Here's me doing a new clutch behind the EJ22e in my Loyale: It took me 4 or 5 hours, including driving to Northern tool and buying the hoist, and then assembling the hoist, and I replaced the oil pan.

Have a peek here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/104872-bg-on-31s/ They didn't do quite as much lift as you're talking, but same idea. They had to run 1.5" wheel spacers, as the struts no longer tuck inside the wheel, but that's about it. Great way to do it. My brat is lifted with the same principle, just re-engineered for the EA suspension design.

Pretty neat But it really irritates me that there is absolutely no listed photo credit for any of them. Just some guy with some blog space doing some google image searching and reposting as his own.

This is how people die. I'll walk before anyone gets anywhere near my vehicles with a chain. The rear bumper on my Brat has 2" square tube (1/4" thick, IIRC) pounded easily 18" into the frame rails where the rear bumper mounts, and bolted with Grade 8 hardware in 4 or 5 places on each side. Then 2 pieces of tube welded onto that to tie it together. Then the ends of that square tube have holes drilled in them for a shackle and recovery strap to be attached. Here's an old picture, right after we finished building it:

Well, the symptoms sound like a burst line to me. Are you loosing fluid since the pedal feel changed? I would start looking under the vehicle for brake fluid coming out somewhere, there are quite a bit of lines in front of the rear wheels that are exposed to the elements, so I'd start there. Also look for brake fluid on the inside of your tires to see if a caliper/cylinder is leaking. The reservoir would have had to get quite low (empty, in fact) to pull air into the system. Which it doesn't sound like you let happen, but if it did, and you've got a bubble in the master cylinder, that would be a serious problem, and could require bench bleeding the master to clear it up. But if you're confident that you don't have a leak somewhere, start with a traditional bleeding, if you got air in from the reservoir, it will require quite a bit of fluid to be pushed through to get it out. As for the starting issue. Loyales tend to run too much amperage through the ignition switch itself, so the plug in the steering column tends to deform slightly, and then you get a bad connection. When it gives you trouble, hold the key in the "start" position, and then push up on the bottom of the steering column with your knee. It'll probably start right up.....I know mine always did.

The 225s I ran were on WRX 16x6.5 wheels, +53 IIRC. Most of the time I ran 215/45r17s on 17x8 +48s, which were Ok most of the time, but would rub on the fenders if overloaded (and my rear fenders were rolled flat). The hub is what locates the wheel in the fender well...so it doesn't matter. But I was running XT6 backing plates and caliper brackets and 200SX calipers

I was running XT6 hubs, rotors, etc.

Than yours is shot. On a few occasions, I've had a stock EJ 5MT AWD high centered, one axle on the ground, one axle in the air, and they've both spun together like true 4WD. On one particular occasion back when Austin had his WaterWagon II up here in northern MN. He had it stuck with both front tires hanging in the air, and both rears planted firmly on the ground. And the back tires dug some pretty good holes. I don't do almost any real mudding. But in the snow, I've never been let down by the center diff, usually front and/or rear depending on the setup. Or tires....

GAAAHHH!!! You changed your screen name. I'm not sure I can handle that

Well, he said he removed the axles from the transmission, and the slop is in the transmission itself, not the axles. Also, 25-spline would be an EA82 shaft, which would not be a direct fit in the hub, and would be too long. I don't think it would be possible to install it without making other modifications to prepare for that. So I would rule that out. That said, play in the stub shafts is really only possible from play in the side bearings of the front diff. This is adjustable, but will effect the gear mesh for the front ring/pinion, and should not change once set. What that means, is those bearings are likely worn out. I have not actually seen this happen (from wear, I saw it happen once in a recently rebuild one, where part of that bearing was left out....), but it seems the only way that a transmission could develop play there. I do not believe that there is any relation between the axle shafts and the issue you describe. An alignment would have to be WAAAAYYYY out of wack to put more strain on the axle. Like, crashed, bent, ruined. An OEM shaft should out-live the vehicle if the boots are replaced as soon as they leak, and the joints are properly cleaned and greased. A reman'd axle is at the mercy of the quality of it's core.....

I never actually had issues with the trailing arm. My 225s rubbed on the shock body, and my 17x8 +48s occasionally rubbed on the fender Also, are you planning on making a spacer for the other end of that piece? That would definitely be necessary to maintain the correct alignment. It's a sweet idea for sure, but I'm a little skeptical how it will work out in practice.

It's only doable with a phase 1 transmission. But why? So you'd have an EJ transmission, and everything needed to make that work AND you'd still need a bellhousing adapter and a crappy clutch.

That seems kind of extreme, but a wandering idle is frequently just a sticking PCV valve. They're cheap, and usually very easy.....I'd start with that.

I'll be using a T-leg 4EAT behind the EG33 in the race car I'm working on...... Only EJ turbos had a pull-style, and are all hydraulic. And they have very different clutch fork/pivots. Although I have now seen a pull-style clutch fork with a cable attached to it....so there's always that. Likely pretty hard pedal effort, but likely still might be better than swapping to a EJ pedals. I'd rock a late '90s EJ 5MT. Not terribly expensive, reasonably strong (if you don't drive it like a jackass, it'll hold up quite a while), push style clutch, VLSD center, common in 4.111 gears. IIRC, newer WRXs went back to a push-style clutch, so there are OEM (or equivalent) options that would hold up. Axles will still work. Front half of the driveshaft will have to be shortened a couple inches. Shift linkage would be best to be modified a bit (although I didn't in my '88 XT6, it was at a goofy angle, but it worked). No adapter plate. Probably regear the rear end. If your XT6 has a 5MT, you'll just need a Legacy center transmission crossmember and it'll all bolt right in.

Front LSD is a band-aid for the real problem. And it would have to be such a strong LSD to overcome the free-spinning front tire issue, that it would likely still cause understeer, by not letting the front tires spin at slightly different speeds. I had considered this too, back when I was running that trans, and WJM and I had a pretty lengthy discussion about how well that would work. The consensus was.....not. Certainly not enough to justify the cost of one (again, it's cheaper to do it right....VLSD center). Also: And....no. It isn't. It's a completely open center diff when unlocked. Absolutely no restriction or mechanical bias. In fact, the rear LSD means that the front is more likely to loose grip first.

Absolutely not. I've only driven one Subaru made in the last few years (well....I guess 2 counting the Scion FR-S...). But I have driven probably 20 90s EJ cars with various mods (or not), on an ice racing track. Most with dedicated snow tires. VLSD performs much better. This includes my '88 XT6, which I drove for awhile stockish (coil springs), then put EJ transmission internals. The only things that changed were slight gear ratio change and VLSD center. MASSIVE improvement!!! Then I did the EJ front knuckles....Again huge. My FWD, 1.6, Auto trans Celica is more fun to drive on the ice than any of my FT4WD Subarus were (on the same Blizzak Revo1s, which were brand-new on my loyale, and are currently on their 6th season on my Celica). And I would bet, faster. I bet the "improvement" you are feeling when locking the center diff, is the open diff sucking so bad. My experience, is while on pavement (center diff unlocked) you are at the mercy of your tires while off throttle, and then when you get on it in a tight bend (where AWD has it's advantage over 2WD) you just get one front tire spinning like mad. Aweful. In low traction racing, be it dirt or snow/ice, you have the same problem when unlocked, you have the same problem. But then when you lock the center, the EA alignment (camber, caster, ackerman) means that the front looses grip first. Only with some serious weight transfer can you get the car to rotate. And only with a rear LSD can you really hold it. The VLSD center offers just enough give to let the front tires grab on turn-in, but when you load it up, that thing grabs pretty hard. I've seen a stock 4k VLSD center diff perform in a lifted Impreza on the rocks, and was massively impressed. I am confident that it is a very strong unit when it needs to be. I plan to run a true 4WD 5MT in my '89 XT6 for RallyX, but that's mostly for the FWD setting, as I'm considering running a welded rear. I also have the EJ knuckles for camber and ackerman correction, and will be spacing the leading rods for castor correction. Also, significant weight reduction/relocation to get the balance more were it needs to be. I have said it before, and I'll say it again. I loved my FrankenWagon, but I HATED that transmission (RX FT4WD D/R).

I've put EJ center diff with EA82 internals....so the other way around would be possible. As is always the rule with Subaru transmissions, front pinion gear has to match the center diff. IMHO, it's a considerable step backwards. but each to their own.