Snowman

I've heard about people swapping in distys from the later EA81s. There shouldn't be any reason why it would not work.

Does the piston slap sound change under load like a rod knock?

I THINK that all the XTs have the same windows, but I'm not positive. Others here will know for sure. Does the car overheat while driving or just while sitting there? If the fan isn't coming on, it could just be a blown fuse, or the thermoswitch could be bad (or just unplugged by accident). Try bypassing the thermoswitch with the key on using a little jumper wire or a paper clip. If the fan comes on, the thermoswitch is bad.

The main advantage I can see to the electric fan is that it's only running when you need it, which is not often. That mechanical fan is ALWAYS sucking a little bit of power from the engine. It's also more rotating mass that has to be spun up when you rev, so response might be a bit quicker without it. At least in my experience the stock electric fan alone isn't adequate for all situations. Maybe with a 2-row turbo radiator, but not with the stock 1-row. My car also seems to warm up faster in the winter without the mechanical fan constantly spinning.

Just look up the pressures in a service manual. I would imagine it should work as long as both vehicles have similar fuel systems (i.e. carbed and carbed or MPFI and MPFI).

I was thinking about getting a 1500 watt inverter like we have in the rigs at work. I already have a 100-amp GM alternator and an Optima battery, so the electrical system should be able to keep up as long as the compressor wasn't running constantly. Maybe just the inverter would be the ticket, as it wouldn't take up much space, and I could bring a compressor with whenever I needed it. A permanent onboard air setup would take up space and complicate things underhood, slowing down engine work, which would suck. I'll check on the diving tank idea. I bet that would even run an impact pretty well for a while. Thanks for the input guys!

Eric, I'm not sure you made your advice clear enough in that last post.

My mom's 97 OBW with the EJ25 developed piston slap at around 130,000 km. Switching to Mobil 1 seems to have lessened the noise slightly (now I just have to fix the oil leaks:rolleyes: ). It now has 150,000 km and is running stronger than ever. I'm not positive about this, but I imagine that it would cause less wear/damage if the car was driven gently until it reached operating temperature.

Yeah. Put a turbo on it from an EA82T or something. I think there's an adjustment for max fueling on the VW pumps, which you could probably turn up a bit. I'm not sure if the timing would need tweaking. Just get an EGT gauge and watch it religiously while you experiment.

Off the top of my head, maybe it's got a vacuum leak in the base gasket letting in enough air that the adjusment doesn't make a difference. I suppose that extra fuel getting in via a leaking top gasket could do the same thing.

Nice score! Just make sure the T-belt is in good shape as the Justy has an interference engine.

What's actually wrong with the engine? If it's not something that could cause it to suddenly leave you stranded, I'd drive the car for a while, then find a good used engine and put it in yourself. Engine swaps on subarus are easy, you can rent the cherrypicker cheap, and it would be a great learning experience. Just my two cents.

Proper grounding can make a huge difference in many cases. At work this summer we had a bus that was not charging at all when even a small load was applied to the electrical system. The alternator was fine, but it was not getting grounded properly. Some new one-gauge cable and ten minutes later, the problem was solved.

Try 1stsubarupart.com or thepartsbin.com. Stay away from NAPA seals and gaskets. Reseal the cam towers while you're at it. Use Permatex Anaerobic Sealant, not RTV. For the oil pump, I actually got an OEM one cheaper at 1stsubaruparts.com than I could get an aftermarket one at NAPA. Replace all the little tiny coolant hoses that go from the block to the intake manifold and various other places. These hoses always get neglected, and this is a good time to replace them.

So, I've been thinking about a couple of add-ons for my subaru for quite some time now, but I really can't decide if they would be useful or not. I've always thought it would be neat to have onboard air for airing up tires or running air ratchets and impact wrenches and stuff. The other thing I'm considering is an inverter so I could run A/C power tools and worklights. So, from your experience, do you think you would ever actually use such things, or would they just be novelty items that get used once and forgotten about?

You can always just replace the oil pump. It's not a big deal on your engine and would take about an hour.

Go to your parts store and get some oil filter pliers. They have serrated teeth that dig into the filter.

You may be able to put an LSD unit it from a turbo car, but the gear ratio will probably be different, so you would have to put the LSD carrier in your differential.

I think it depends on where you're at and how many subaru nuts are in your area. Where I live, subaru fanatics are few and far between, so if I refer to a car as anything but "subaru", I have to explain myself.

Yes, the clutch cable tension is adjustable on your car. There is a 12mm adjustment nut on the end of the cable with a 10mm jam nut holding it in place. Just be sure to leave some free travel so that the TO bearing is not constantly spinning.

Amanda, you should go to school in F-banks. It'd be great to have another USMBer up here! Your brat would like it much better here too...deep snow is their TRUE home.

Hmm...I'm out of ideas. Just roll the windows down and drive faster!

Could be a leaking intake gasket as well. Try starting it up and looking for bubbles in the coolant, as that will tell you if its a HG.

That's really cool. I did not know that.

There are six sections - most of the books have two sections.