Numbchux

Heads aren't your main issue, oil pressure loss is a concern to the main bearings and piston rings (likely your cause of oil consumption). If it was only driven a couple miles, it probably didn't overheat, which would mean almost zero chance of warped heads. These are all wear items, and can be replaced. But depending on how much damage they absorbed, they may be causing more damage to the crank, pistons, and block. Get an engine reseal kit, bearings, and rings (measure the last 2 before ordering, you may need/want oversized ones), give it a DIY cylinder hone, and it'll be good for many many years of service to come.

There's always the garden edging option....

In the front? Absolutely not unless it was put in by a previous owner. A Front LSD was not available from subaru until the mid-90s in Japan, and 2004 STi in the US. That said, any front diff designed for a subaru 5-speed would be a direct fit. I'm putting a Carbonetic front LSD, that's advertised for a 2002-2007 WRX, in an '80s trans. But, it's not cheap, and not a small project.....so highly unlikely.

I'm not the person to ask. Never bought new front struts for a 4-lug subaru....

Thought I replied to this... The XT6 trans does not have the low range stuff any more than the phase 1 EJs do. The case is shaped to leave room for the gears, but it would still require some serious machining to get everything to mount up. IMHO not worth it. Here's some phase 1 EJ gears laid in an XT6 case: I think the XT6 trans might have the ticket that might not require the RX donor, though. You could probably mix and match input and output shafts like GLoyale did (He used an EJ ouput shaft and gears, which didn't work out). As the N/A PT4WD Dual-Range and XT6 FT4WD trans have the same gear ratios, but likely not the difference in hypoid cuts by using the EJ ouput shaft and gears. But this is just speculation.... Got the circlips and case gaskets from the dealership today. Going to stop by my buddy's shop tomorrow to see if the machining is done. I'll be out of town for the weekend, so I won't be able to test-fit until next week sometime....but it's getting close. Then I have to find time to strip another EJ harness....and put the whole mess in the brat. And THEN, I have to measure the driveshaft and have that modded. Oh yea, and find my 4.444 rear end. I took a glance in my shed today, and only saw a 3.7. Maybe tear apart some of my spare axles to make some deep-DOJ rear axles. I also was looking at a gear calculator, comparing my 4.3Runner setup to the Brat... 4.3Runner, 4L60, Toyota 2.26 Low, Toyota 4.10 axles, 35s: 3.06 x 2.26 x 4.1 = 28.4 3k rpm in 1st Low = 961 feet/minute Brat, on 29s: 3.545 x 1.592 x 4.444 = 25 3k rpm in 1st Low = 909 feet/minute The 4.3Runner is an Auto, so it has the torque converter. But the Brat is a LOT lighter. With the EJ MPFI, it should be a very capable rig. Especially with the front LSD, and hopefully an auto-locker in the rear

Excel Gs are superseding GR2s. The only difference is black paint instead of silver and a different sticker, and they have the same part numbers. Which means parts dealers have no way to order one or the other. In fact it's not uncommon to get some of each. My Celica has 3 Excel-Gs and one GR2. IIRC, any 4WD EA82 should use the same rear shock. Only difference I can think of would be the internal valving. I don't think they'd bother having different valving for the different body styles just for a stock replacement, but if it does, grab the wagon ones, as those have the stiffest springs (most weight).

When I first did my 5-lug swap, I was running '92 Legacy FWD shafts (came from the same donor as my EJ22). Over the years, blown boots and wheel bearings have led to a number of different '90s EJ axles and knuckle combinations to be swapped out, all with no trouble at all. This was in my '92 Loyale, AWD XT6 control arms, EJ knuckles and struts, EA81 TREs. Then swapped into my '88 XT6, with stock AWD XT6 control arms, and EJ knuckles and struts, XT6 TREs And now in my '89 XT6, ditto.... Never had an issue with length. To give you some measurements, these are all EMPI photos/measurements, found on RockAuto: EA82t 4-lug: That says compressed length is 27 3/8" XT6 5-lug: 26 5/8" EJ (I pulled it for a '99 Impreza 2.5RS) 26 7/8" And on inner wheel seals. These are a press fit into the knuckle, and have to seal against the surface on the CV. Dimensions are from National brand seals XT6: Shaft Size=2.283", Housing Bore=2.992, Outer Diameter=3.001, Width=0.307in EJ: Shaft Size=2.205", Housing Bore=2.846, Outer Diameter=2.858, Width=0.315in As you can see, the XT6 seal will not fit into the EJ knuckle (OD), and the XT6 CV would not seat correctly (shaft size). If you convince yourself that XT6 axles are your ticket, here's a post I made a couple years ago on the subject, with part numbers for conversion seals. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showpost.php?p=836218&postcount=20

non-widebody EJ axles should work fine. I ran a few different combinations of '90s EJ axles in my wagon, and they worked just fine. Longer, but within the travel of the DOJ. XT6 is close, but will require a different inner seal to seat correctly. I don't remember what 6MTs had what for axle splines. But if you've got female splines on the transmission, I believe 4EAT stubs will give you the 25 male splines you need to make older EJ parts work

460!

As you can see in the pics, the pinion shaft is a drastically different length between the FT4WD and AWD setups, so the center diff has to match the pinion or major fabrication becomes necessary. I've seen the stock VLSD center diff perform offroad, and am fairly confident in it's strength. And if it turns out to be insufficient, the Group N unit (5 times stronger than stock) or DCCD are both simple swaps, and probably less than a cut and weld and treatment on a pinion shaft. PT4WD transmissions have the pinion shaft as part of the output shaft. They are not seperable. So the output shaft must come from a FT4WD or AWD unit. And the input shaft is unique to the dual range. The only way to get both with USDM parts without mixing and matching, is the RX box. RX originally was 3.7 axle ratio, and 1.192 low range.

Bearing splitter came today. 4.444 pinion gear has a bearing on it. Carbonetic diff has side bearings. I did notice, that even once I got the bearing and washer pressed onto the pinion, something was a different length, and that the nut wouldn't be able to tighten things up properly.... Compared that little spline adapter to an EJ one....yep, there's the problem: Diameters and spline counts are the same, but length is slightly different. Good to know, and got it straightened out. Machine work should be done in a few days. Then I can put the trans back together. Then I can start the project of putting it in the brat (along with the EJ18 swap....). Then I can have the driveline modified, etc. etc. that DCCD hasn't sold yet.....might throw him a lowball....

This is beyond epic. I raise a glass to Suberdave for sheer awesome! I wonder how the FWD trans internals vary from AWD in an EJ. If you could re-use some of the FWD parts in a pull-type case. That would solve your clutch issue.....although I'm not sure how other things would hold up. Also, as it turns out, it's really not difficult to use 23-spline axle stubs with a Carbonetic front LSD. Just a little machine work to convert the 5MT 23-spline stubs to use a circlip instead of the snapring.

yep....twice....

Found out a friend of mine has a lathe at his shop. Dropped off the parts there, he's very confident that he can make it happen. He thought it would be best to chamfer the ring gear, and not modify the collar at all. Ordered a bearing splitter, so I can put swap bearings onto the pinion and front diff.

This, those pumps are designed to push fluid, not pull it. Just like a fuel pump. Also, that vacuum canister is fairly crucial to making the HVAC system work.

the Outback has dual exhaust ports on the engine. The '97 will have single-ports. So if you use this engine, you will have to swap the exhaust manifold too. But everything else should be plug-n-play. I put a '94 2.2 in a '96 outback last summer. Wasn't hard at all, maybe 8 hours of fairly casual work. I had to remove the intake manifold to swap the 2.5 wiring and a few of the sensors across. I also had to swap the 2.5 throttle body, as the throttle position sensor was different. And the crank/cam sensors had slightly different wiring, but swapped right across. Car runs like a champ now! With both full engines, you should have everything you need to get it running. But if you want/need to have the check engine light off, you might need to do some figuring for the EGR...

I wouldn't worry about the gauges. Just leave the auto indicators there, they'll just be off. You'll need some custom work on the crossmember. And have the driveshaft modified. Some experimenting with shift linkage/mounting. Axles. Either '93-'94 5MT FWD Impreza axles, custom homemade hybrid axles, or put 25 spline stubs in your trans (If you're not afraid to split the trans, this is probably the best option. LMK if you need a pair, I probably have 6 or 8 5MT 25-spline front stubs lying around). Yep, pedal box from a cable-clutch 5MT EJ car. Rear diff. Don't know what year legacy you're dealing with. First gen's should all have female splines on the inner DOJs for the rear axles (easy to tell, just look if there's springpins or not), these will make the EA82 diff a bolt-on thing. Otherwise you may want to grab a 3.9 rear diff from an EJ car to simplify axles.

I don't know. I'm not super comfortable taking material off either. But when it comes down to it, it'll probably be cheaper to have it all taken off one piece, instead of some of each. I'm not putting huge power through this, so I think it should be OK. Don't know anyone with a lathe (that I know of...)...so it'll have to be through a shop. As for treating it. I have an in with Diversified Cryogenics (aka Frozen Rotors). I was talking to them years ago about cryo treating D/R internals when I wanted to put power through them. They recommended not going that route, as cryo treating means the metal can't flex, which actually makes it brittle. For transmission internals, it's not an improvement. In other news.....I found this... http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2377483 So tempting. But I think I'll run this center diff a bit first, see if it actually needs to be upgraded. Swapping it out in the vehicle is actually not very difficult.

Went back at it after dinner.... Got the RX trans pulled apart. RX pinion next to the FXT pinion: The RX pinion has a "spacer" (basically just a piece of tube) to take up the extra length. But, pull that off, and the spline adapter, and nut from the RX pinion fit perfectly on the FXT pinion. I need to get a bearing separator to get that bearing off the pinion shaft. Not the final assembly, but test fit with the FXT pinion in the RX output shaft: And, proof of concept. RX output shaft and driven gears, no swapping gearsets at all. FXT pinion. Phase 1 EJ center diff: Now. 1.592 low range gears swapped onto the RX input shaft, and in the PT4WD case, with 4.444 ring gear: It does hit, ever so slightly. The edge of the teeth on the shifting collar for low range. I need to talk to machine shops. I think I could have a little material taken off the collar and ring gear, and get the clearance I need. And, all the mechanicals laid in the one case half. So, time to talk to a few machine shops about getting the ring gear, shifting collar, and axle stubs modded for this setup. And then put it all back together. I tell you, I'm REALLY not looking forward to getting the input shaft and drive gears seated in the case. It's a PITA in a single-range trans to get the alignment pins seated in the bearings. Add in all the crap for the dual range....and it's going to suck.

This stuff has been covered at length, and I will not spoon-feed some of the really reduntant. But, 2-door and 4-speed. That means it's an EA81. That has come to be known as a hatch. The '85 Wagons were EA82s, and a very different platforms. The ER27 is much longer, and will require much fabrication to fit. and will probably chew your 4 speed to bits. IMO, it's not worth doing if you don't put a 5-speed. front 5-lug swap in an EA81 is very involved. Short story is, it'll require custom axles. Front seats do not bolt quite right into an Ea82, I know that for sure. Done right will require some modification. I suspect EA81 would be similar.

My axle rebuild write-up: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=99712 I have seen some extremely nasty OEM joints brought back to life with a good cleaning, fresh grease and a new boot (like the one pictured in the write-up, that saw 15k miles in my '88 XT6, and is now in my '89 XT6 which is being prepped for RallyX). I wouldn't bother with OEM stuff there, just costs more. Most Auto Parts stores (I frequent O'Reilly's lately) can sell you a CV Boot Kit, which includes boot, clamps, grease, and usually some misc hardware you might need to replace (snaprings, circlips, sometimes even a springpin). They're usually about $10 a piece (2 per axle, you'd need 4 to do the whole front end of your car) I've never actively swapped axles from one side to the other. I try to avoid disassembling more than I have to (one side at a time), in case something goes wrong. But by the same token, there have been a few times when doing major projects, where I've replaced both axles simultaneously without giving any though to which side goes where (RX trans swap -> 25 spline axles, then 5-lug swap, and EJ knuckles/axles on my XT6s). Anyway, I'd say you'll likely have excellent luck with a good cleaning and re-booting. Swapping axles from one side to the other is just some extra complication.

Alright, I believe I have everything I need. Couple parts will need some modifying, but it's all there (Except sealant and oil...). '88 Gl Wagon transmission. This will be the donor transmission for the 1.592:1 Low Range, and 23 spline axle stubs Also pictured is the center diff housing (the diff and transfer gears are on the shelf) from a '93 Impreza. An RX FT4WD D/R (Unsure of the exact year of this one, but '87-'89), this will donate most of it's internals, 1-5 gears, input and output shafts: Also pictured is a brand-new, OEM 4.444 front ring and pinion gearset (Originally looked up for a JDM 5MT, found that part number superseded for a USDM Forester XT). And a Carbonetic clutch-type front LSD, listed for a 2002-2007 WRX. Due to a broken off speedometer cable in my RX case, I will probably use the GL PT4WD case. This also means I won't have to swap the low-range idler gear from one case to another. I have started tearing down the GL trans. Things I've noticed: It was not difficult to separate the Low Range gearset from the input shaft. Swapping it onto the RX input shaft should be a breeze (knock on wood....) The 3.9 ring gear (which does clear the 1.59 low range set) is the same outer diameter as the 4.444 gear. BUT, the 4.444 unit is thicker (due to a smaller pinion gear). I have heard that this ring gear will have to be modified to clear the low range gears, but an initial test-fit looks like it might work as-is. But time will tell. More to come as I make progress....

Pretty slim. the wheel bearing design is very different, so the chances of the hub being a direct swap are very slim. And then you'd still have to get the brakes and everything to work......yuck.

Yea, those. Here's what will happen if you only have it mounted on the sides:

Which is why I always order EA82 parts for an '89 (unless it's something unique to the older years...which isn't much). Too easy to get 1.8l GLs mixed up....