Snowman

Very good point. If it was my car, I'd pull the engine and do both HG's as well as all the oil seals and stuff just for good measure. That way, it should be dependable for quite some time.

It seems there have been a lot of threads recently asking about various gaskets, sealants, and the like, so here's my schpeel on that stuff, which I have figured out from my experience with EA81, EA82, and EJ22 engines. The newer DOHC motors are a different animal, and I haven't touched one of those yet, so this advice may or may not apply. 1. If you don't like re-doing gaskets and seals, use OEM ones for everything, especially the headgaskets and intake manifold gaskets. They are different from the ones NAPA sells, and yes, they are better. They are also not much more expensive if you get them from a discount place like 1stsubaruparts. 2. Headgaskets - ALL Subaru OEM headgaskets go on dry, with no sealant, adhesive, or anything. Adding sealant will not make them less likely to leak. It will probably get in the way of the gasket sealing as designed, and the headgasket will probably leak sooner or later. One exception I have considered but not experimented with is putting a tiny amount of anaerobic sealant (see section on anaerobic sealant) around the oil passage hole in EA82 headgaskets. I am going to try this at some point and report my findings. 3. Intake manifold gaskets - The OEM gaskets are designed to go on dry. Using RTV sealant in place of the gaskets or in addition to them WILL cause a water leak into the intake as well as externally. If you feel that you must put something on the intake gaskets, or if you are stuck using aftermarket ones, put on a light coating of copper spray-on sealant. 4. EA82 cam towers - Are you sick and tired of having this place keep leaking no matter how many times you reseal it with RTV? The solution is to not use RTV. Instead, spend the extra money for anaerobic sealant, which works much better for this application. Another good sealant to use here is Permatex Ultra Grey. I do not use it myself, but I have been told by others that it's good stuff. Be sure to put a dab of assembly lube on the O-ring so that it seats perfectly. 5. EJ-series oil pump - This metal to metal seal is critical, so it must be absolutely spotless. Like the EA82 cam towers, I don't like using regular RTV here. Others have reported good luck with Ultra Grey, but as usual, I prefer anaerobic sealant. Make sure you replace the O-ring with a new one from Subaru. On a related note, if you just need to replace the front crank seal, it's much easier and less risky to just take the oil pump off and drive the seal out from behind than trying to pull it out while the oil pump is still on the car. 6. EA82 oil pump - Use absolutely no sealant on the oil pump. Coat the mickey mouse gasket with assembly lube or engine oil so that it slips in and seats properly. If the oil pump shaft seal is leaking, it's easier to just replace the pump. The leak is caused by a worn shaft, so if you just replace the seal, the leak will come back in a few thousand miles. 7. EA81/EA71 oil pump - The paper gasket should be coated with the copper spray on gasket coating or something similar. Again, no RTV (you can probably tell that I really don't like RTV). 8. EA81/EA71 rocker cover gaskets - I like to use avaition form-a-gasket on the rocker cover gaskets. It seems to hold them in place well during assembly, and doesn't tend to leak. Put a little assembly lube or engine oil on the sealing washers. 9. EA82/EJ22 rocker cover gaskets - Absolutely no sealant should be used. Coat the rubber gaskets and sealing washers with assembly lube or engine oil. 10. Oil pan - I know it's often a huge pain to clean all the old gasket material off, but it's worth it in the long run. I've had the best luck coating the new gasket with anaerobic sealant, though aviation form-a-gasket works well too. This is one place that I would also use RTV, but only if I was desparate. 11. EA-series water pump inlet pipe - I like to provide a backup for the O-ring by putting a healthy ring of high-temp RTV on the pipe right behind the o-ring...don't let it actually touch the o-ring however. 12. EA-series water pump gasket - Use the spray on copper gasket sealant here for best results. 13. EJ-series water pump gasket - I've had good luck with anaerobic sealant on this gasket. 14. Why I like anaerobic sealant - You're probably wondering what's so good about this magic stuff. Well, here's why: Aside from the fact that it sets up better than RTV-type sealants and is less prone to leaking, I like anaerobic sealant because any excess that is not clamped in the mating surface does not set up (hence the name), and remains oil-soluble. This means that no little globs form on the inside of the engine, like when RTV-type sealants are used. Those little globs can catch in the oil pickup or the HVLA's, among other places. The other reason I use anaerobic sealant is that it's what all of the major heavy duty engine manufacturers recommend for use on metal to metal sealing surfaces. I figure, if it's good enough for Caterpillar, Detroit Diesel, Cummins, Volvo, etc, it's good enough for my Subaru. 15. It's not "the more the merrier" - Most people tend to put on too much sealant, thinking that if a little bit seals well, then more must seal better. This is a false assumption. In most cases, this extra sealant gets squished out, which accomplishes nothing, aside from putting a bunch of sealant inside the engine where it can harm things. 16. Exhaust gaskets - Use only OEM gaskets here. Everything else develops leaks in short order. You can often get away with reusing the OEM gaskets if they were not leaking already. Pay special attention to the mounting studs and how much you tighten the nuts, as this is critical. The studs really like to strip out, so too much torque is a no-no, but if you don't tighten them enough, it will leak. 17. Case halves - Another metal to metal seal, where anaerobic sealant is the preferred thing to use. Be very careful not to use too much, and to keep it away from the bearings. This mating surface must be absolutely spotless, as it is probably the most critical one in the whole engine.

Dang! That is an awesome score, Brad! If I remember correctly, you'd been wanting an RX for quite some time. Now you've finally got one. Is it running yet?

Am I correct in assuming that both of you are running the EJ22? Anybody got an EJ25 in their VW?

A friend of mine is thinking about doing a Subaru conversion in his 86 Vanagon Westy, and I'm just curious how much room there is in the engine bay with an EJ22 or an EJ25 in there. Can you change the timing belts, water pump, rocker cover gaskets, etc without too much trouble? Anybody got pics that illustrate this?

Thanks for the replies. I suppose I should have gotten an estimate first. Oh well, I'll just do another T-belt and frontend reseal for a friend and that will pay for it. Next time, I'll ship it to 88hatchmonster for redrilling. It sounds like some people have just had their holes milled out without filling them. That concept made me very nervous, which is why I went ahead and had them filled. Has anybody been running this setup for any length of time? What's your experience with it?

So I'm about ready to put the d/r 5spd tranny behind the EJ22 that's currently in the EA82 wagon. I sent the EA82 flywheel to a machine shop (a reputable business I have dealt with in the past) in the nearest town large enough to have one, and told them to fill and redrill the holes so that it matches the EJ22. Seems pretty simple. Then I got the bill, and it was over $250. They also said that they charged me substantially less than it cost them to do the job, and that they would not do another job like that again. For those of you out there who have done this yourself or have had somebody else do the work, how hard is it, and does it really take that long? How much did it cost for you?

Just last week, I was doing a timing belt and frontend reseal on a friend's 96 Legacy. Since it's an automatic, I had to figure out how to stop the engine so I could remove the crank pulley bolt. I tried a punch in one of the flexplate holes...the punch promptly fell down into the bellhousing, but didn't make it all the way out the bottom. Several minutes of cursing and trying not to throw things later, I decided that before resorting to pulling the engine out, I would jack the car up at various angles to try to get the punch to work its way down and out of the bellhousing. Sure enough, after jacking it up by the corners three times, the punch fell out onto the crossmember and I retrieved it with a magnet. That was a relief! After that, I decided to play it safe and replicate the crank pulley wrench as seen in the Subaru specialty tools section of the FSM.

It depends on where the engine makes power. Generally, you want to run at the lowest RPM at which the engine is still making peak torque. Below that RPM, it's struggling to keep up, you have to use more throttle, and more fuel is burned. For example, an EA82 engine makes peak torque at 2800 rpm. Running at 2000-2500 RPM on the highway will probably burn MORE gas in that engine that running around 3000-3500. (That's an extreme but in my experience true example...the EA82 makes NO power below 3000, so you'd probably have it pretty close to the floor to keep it in 5th gear at 2000 RPM).

I have to disagree with a lot of people here, and say that I don't think that's too many RPMs for a Subaru engine to be spinning. Since the 1970's, Subaru has built its engines to be happy running in what is considered the "high" rev range by most standards. That's where they make power, and the fuel economy in at those revs doesn't suffer nearly as much as you might expect. The old EA82s with the 3AT transmission were spinning 4000 rpm at 60 mph, and didn't burn oil or experience a big loss in MPG. Most of the loss in efficiency was due to the slipping of the non-lockup torque converter, not because of the gearing. I've made trips of up to 500 miles in a 97 Outback with the EJ25 while running at 80-90 mph, which brings the revs up close to 4300. Even at those speeds, virtually no oil was burned, and at 90 mph, I was still getting over 20 MPG. In my car, a lifted 86 wagon with an EJ22 engine from a Legacy, I've experimented with running in different gears at highway speed, since my oversize tires have increased the effective final drive ratio a great deal. If I stay in 5th gear, the car requires a lot more throttle to maintain speed up hills than if I shift down to 4th. Despite the higher RPMs, my fuel economy improves when I keep the engine in its "happy" range, which is usually between 3000 and 4000 rpm. As to the oil consumption, I've seen lots of EJ-series Subarus that unexplainedly burned oil. In almost all of those cases, a new OEM PCV valve eliminated the oil usage.

That's a really good idea for a story!

You need to open up the knuckle a little bit by driving a chisel into the gap. After that, the strut will slide right out.

Hmmm, that's interesting. What sort of temperatures do you experience there? How does the price of the Delvac compare with regular Mobil1 oil?

I don't know what others have done, but my Accord springs went right on with no other modifications. I set my adjustable struts to the middle position, which should be about the same as the non-adjustable struts, and they've been working fine for close to 10,000 miles.

There's a couple of options that I know about: 1. RX springs are a direct swap. They aren't any taller, but they are stiffer, so there will be less sag and it will effectively raise the car about an inch. The bad part is that they're nearly impossible to find in-state. 2. If you're really ambitious, you could do the XT6 front suspension swap. I don't know how the spring rates compare, but it might be possible to put impreza/legacy/outback/forester springs on the XT6 struts. I don't know if they're the same size, but I do know that they're different from the EA82 struts. 3. Custom springs are always an option. They're not cheap, but you could get any spring rate and any height.

I'd also pour in some fuel line deicer...water may be the culprit. Generally, water in the gas causes trouble under acceleration, but it can do some weird stuff.

The test mode connectors are two little green connectors that are usually located near the firewall behind the driver's side strut. However, I think on the turbo models, they're under the steering column. When they're plugged together, the dynamic timing advance is set to 0, so that you can set the static timing with a timing light. Stab the disty as described above, set the timing adjustment to the middle of its range, plug in the connectors, and crank it. If it fires, set the timing using a light. If it doesn't fire, adjust the timing back and fourth until it does. You may also have to move the disty a tooth forward or back (I've rarely gotten it right on the first try).

Since, I posted in this thread the first time, I've had a few more... Ruby - Red 88 GL - Had the name when I bought her. Rita - 81 GL - Named after Bob Marley's wife Fenchurch - 87 GL - Any Douglas Adams fans out there? Stella - Blue 96 Legacy - Named after the song, "Stella Blue" Still haven't named the latest one, but I'm working on it. Right now, the engine is apart, with one stripped headbolt hole, so I've been calling it lots of names, but none of those seem appropriate to post here.

There's some dude in Europe that has 800,000 original kilometers on his gen 3 Legacy. Apparently, his job is delivering trailers all over the continent.

PCV system: positive crankcase ventilation Go to Subaru and ask for a PCV valve. Find the thing that looks like it on the back of the intake manifold. Clean out the hose that connects to that valve and any hoses that connect to that hose. Also, clean out the hoses going to the valve covers. (All of those components make up the PCV system). It's easy to pull the engine, which must be done separate from the tranny. Get an engine hoist or a come-along or something to lift the engine, disconnect everything, remove the radiator, and pull. The book, How To Keep Your Subaru Alive has a good section on engine removal.

Ouch. Sounds like you may have a blown HG. I would make sure that the issue wasn't just caused by something like a bad PCV valve, which can wreak all kinds of havoc on the intake. If it's cold out, there may have been enough condensation in the crankcase to cause what you describe. Generally, it's easier to just yank the motor if you're doing a HG replacement. Doing it in the car creates enough difficulties that it's worth the time to pull it out. If you do it, I would recommend just doing both sides. If one of them was weak enough to blow, the other may very well not be far behind.

Probably the easiest thing to do would be to find a stand-alone aftermarket cruise control from JC Whitney or something. I've never had a car with cruise, so it doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me, but if you want to have cruise, go for it and let us know how it works!

Good to hear you got it sorted out, Brian. We've all been there before, where you're thinking, "What the frick is going wrong!" and it's something simple.

Bummer...I don't have any spare ones. If you're desparate, it does work to use some high quality wire in place of the clips. I did that on a friend's car in January, and it hasn't had any trouble since. I wouldn't do that if it's not absolutely necessary, but it is an option. Anybody else tried this quick fix?

Permatex Anaerobic Sealant is better for any metal-to-metal sealing duties. It sets up better, and any excess sealant remains oil-soluble so it washes away, rather than forming big clumps inside the the engine, which can break off and get stuck in the oil pickup, or the lifters, or somewhere else. I keep telling people this, but nobody ever listens. Oh well .