Snowman

What kind of car?

There are two 12mm adjustment nuts on the carb/throttle body end of the cable. Adjust until there is just a little bit of slack...make sure it's not too tight, as that can cause your idle to kick up at weird times.

I'm almost positive that the EA81 5 speed came only in 2wd. You could make up the linkage to run the EA82 4wd tranny in your car using a close-to-stock looking lever. It would take some fab work, but I'm sure it's possible.

You need to check it with a timing light.

Aside from 1970s models that are just hard to find because they all rusted away, I would say that the 1989 GL touring wagon with the d/r tranny is pretty darn rare in the US.

Any word yet on an EJ-EA engine adapter plate? Do you have pics of the legacy skid plates?

Basically, avoid the Gen I EJ25 engine, which was offered from 97-99. Although I agree that HG failure isn't generally considered the demise of an engine, unless you are repairing it yourself, the bill would be quite substantial. On an older car, many people would consider getting rid of the vehicle rather than fixing it if that happened. I would also agree that by "normal" standards, an engine lasting 100k is pretty good. By subaru standards, that's just getting broken in....I would bet money that a large portion of the early EJ22 cars on the road today will still be running around (with their original engines) when a large portion of the phase I EJ25 cars are sitting in junkyards.

Bolt retorquing can be a contentious issue. Some say that it's absolutely necessary, others (like myself) would disagree. You can do it with the engine in the car. In order to access the bolts with the cam towers on, you need to either buy or make a special socket. It may be easier just to remove the towers again like grossgary said.

Did you spin the engine 180 degrees between timing one camshaft and the other? Just checking to make sure that it's not something simple like that.

That's the spirit! Git-r-done!

Brad, I've seen you drive though!!

Wow Jerry, I am impressed! I've used my subaru to pull out a little Kubota tractor a couple of times, but that thing is like 4000 lbs tops.

You know, it probably doesn't make a significant difference, but painting or coating the engine in any way will reduce heat dissipation. In light of that, I would advise against doing anything with at least the block and the heads. The cam towers, rocker covers, and any accessories should be okay to paint though.

Can't you just look on the Y-pipe? According to my 86 FSM, the VIN doesn't tell you if it's a CA or 49-state model, which would be the indicator of having an oxygen sensor or not, assuming that your car is carbureted.

I'm going to embark on this procedure in the near future, and it looks like it shouldn't be a huge deal. You have to take off the crank pulley, the timing belt covers, and the timing belt to get to the water pump. It really doesn't look that hard, and would be a great learning experience.

Yeah, having it off one tooth will make it run like absolute crap.

If you're going to go to the trouble of swapping in the engine, ECM, and wiring harness, as well as adapting the tranny, I would put in a better engine than the EJ25. If you want a good n/a motor, go with the 90-94 EJ22 (biggest advantage is it's a non-interference engine). If you want more power, swap in an EJ20G from a WRX. Neither of those engines have the head gasket problems that the EJ25 is plagued by. The swap is a big project, but it's really not that hard.

The Chevron fuel system cleaner is some GOOD stuff. Nothing else I've used compares. Are you a leadfoot? I've found the fuel economy in my soobs varies tremendously depending on how they're driven.

That looks really nice. What was smashed up on the car?

If you live somewhere that doesn't get really cold or have much dust, the belts should last quite some time. I think they lasted about 80k on my mom's old wagon, but I'm not positive.

I believe so.

Is this inspection a local thing, a B.C. thing, or a nationwide thing? Just curious.

Go to 1stsubaruparts.com. They sell an OEM overhaul gasket set for less than $200. They probably can sell you head bolts too.

Good to hear that it worked out okay. The last EA82 I put together is using cam towers that had 205k on them. It now has somewhere around 20k on it since the rebuild and still runs fine with good oil pressure. As long as there are no big scrapes or anything on the bearing surfaces, they're fine.

Oh, I completely forgot to ask...what about the T-belt tensioners? I know on the EA82s they like to have problems by this mileage. Is this something to replace as well?