el_freddo

Sam try running the front half of the shaft only, drop the rear section. That’s one of the beauties of the L series two piece shaft. The only other things I can think of are: - broken/worn engine or gearbox mounts - modified gearbox mounts aren’t sitting true/have changed driveline angles - rear output shaft bearings are toast in the gearbox, but this is usually accompanied with a leaking rear output shaft seal too (been there done that) Other thoughts point towards a drive shaft issue, and it could be any of them! I know you’re down and out on this one, keep at it though, you’ll work it out. I doubt an EJ conversion will solve anything - but with that said, do you have all cylinders running at 100%? Theory on this: if the vibration happens in 4th but disappears by dropping to 3rd or it changes significantly, it could be an engine issue. 4th ratio is just over a 1:1 engine speed to tailshaft speed. If there’s something in the engine that’s not operating as it should it could be manifesting as this vibration. One of the reasons I say engine issue is because we had an old family bus Holden WB Statesman series II with the 308. One day towing it developed a MASSIVE vibration under load to the point it was almost undrivable - we limped it home. The issue turned out to be one fed spark plug and a failing spark lead. For a V8 that was substantial and surprising that it was just that simple. Does this vibration come on strong/quickly straight up when you start driving or does it work itself up to the vibration at set cruise speeds? Cheers Bennie

That billet knuckle!! It would be sick to make a billet EA swing arm with the EJ bearing setup to make rear disc swaps easier, then we could legally (in Oz) and easily upgrade the tyre size to the same as the forester without major complicated engineering testing we require over here. But that would be Uber expensive to make up, hence why it’s not done. Keep the good work coming! You have this going in no time! Cheers Bennie

I think the greys were found on the autos and the reds found on the manual engines - possibly only for the series 1 setup as the red to injectors are very common from my understanding. With the engine management on these vehicles I highly doubt they’re that highly calibrated/sensitive to an injector swap like this. Just do an ecu reset between the swap and let it relearn its settings before driving it. Or just get the red ones, you could have them cleaned and flow tested if you felt the need to on the old ones. Cheers Bennie

Rear discs swap over turbo L to non turbo L no worries. I’ve run mine swapped to the NA setup without adding anything to the brake line setup for many years and they work fine. The issue that comes into play is if you’re wanting to swap 4wd to 2wd or vice versa. The hub and backing plate bearing holes are specific to 2wd or 4wd, they don’t interchange (2wd backing plates can be enlarged to 4wd spec, but this is a one way ticket!). Cheers Bennie

Which your engine doesn’t have the IACV. Cheers Bennie

Other thought is whether you have the spark leads on the right spark plugs… Cheers Bennie

I’d be investigating those crank and cam angle sensor issues before pulling the engine out. It’s very rare that one or both sensor died - but if they were dropped it’s possible to damage them. Make sure they’re properly plugged in too, and that it’s the correct wire that’s plugged in - I recently read about an injector plug being connected to the crank or cam sensor (can’t remember which one). Also, ignore the arrow on the cam wheel as this is not used for timing. Use the little tab mark on the rim of the cam wheel. From memory the arrow should be pointing at the 1:30 mark. That arrow is there to indicate which cylinder is at top dead centre through the engine cycle. Cheers Bennie

G’day Hamm3y, Youre the first one I’ve heard of this happening to on an EA82 platform, I’ve heard of many on the EA81 platform. Causes? Probably a loose castleated nut or a shot cone washer. Someone might know. The fix is to replace that hub with another one. Cheers Bennie

Like for the fixing of bits and getting the brat to where you want it. But I’d also give you a dislike for moving OS and selling!! No need to - just have them bead blasted to rough them up again and they’ll work like new. But then again, for that amount of effort on the 4spd no one that is in a right frame of mind would consider going down that path. Get a 5spd a fit that in. Cheers Bennie

Awesome result! what did it sell for? Cheers Bennie

Plastic end tank on the heater core is leaking. Don’t drive it as they can completely let go (not fun!). Don’t get second hand units, they’ll just do the same, been there done that twice! I managed to get an all copper unit about ten years ago now and haven’t looked back since. To do the swap the whole dashboard has to come out to then pull out the heater box to remove the leaking heater core. Not a hard task, just fiddly then heavy when removing the dash board from the car via the passenger’s side. Cheers Bennie

If you didn’t swap the crank cam wheel/gear that’ll be the issue. If you’re using the SF5 heads you’ll already be using the matched cam wheels, otherwise the LHS inlet cam wheel needs to be swapped for the SF one. But I reckon it’s that crank trigger wheel that’s the issue. Also look into the details about the GT forester setup that’s detuned compared to the same block and heads used in the WRX model of the same years. I believe there are differences in cam specs, tune and obviously the turbo (TF035 vs the TD04). It could be worth playing around with cams, ECU and the turbo for a better factory setup. Loads of info out there, I could be wrong as it’s not something I’ve followed up on as I don’t have a reason to. Cheers Bennie

Same for the L series. Pretty neat setup but I don’t fully understand why they did this. Cheers Bennie

You’ll probably find it’s the radius rod that’s bent and not the control arm, they can flex quite a bit with their suspension bush on the subframe end. Fingers crossed it’s a cheap and easy fix. I hope the scum that was responsible for this action has a date with Karma soon! Cheers Bennie

Maybe that’s their plan/method of getting it scrapped. “Nobody bid on it so it needs to be scrapped” - but on one could bid on it… Hopefully it goes up again for actual bids to be made! Cheers Bennie

I hang out for these updates!! With the above, are you saying the one bolt came before the five bolt R160? Or is there and early and later version of the two diffs (that I don’t know about)? Asking as the five bolt came before the one bolt. I know the 1980 brumby/BRAT models run with the five bolt diff and you could bolt one any five bolt r160 into the back of them. The one bolt I believe appeared mid to late naughties, but I think the five bolt is still to be found in those years as well depending on which vehicle model you look at - I could be wrong though! Cheers Bennie

Don’t take this as gospel, just a memory of what could be a nasty rumour online about EJ conversions into the fugly series. Measure up the width of the chassis rails to ensure they’re wide enough for the EJ22. I wouldn’t want you to be knee deep in the project only to find the engine doesn’t fit without major modification to the recipient vehicle! I recall a fella shoe-horning a DOHC turbo into one of these and had to do loads of mods to make it fit. From the convo around that, the feeling I got was that even a SOHC EJ22 isn’t an easy task to fit. What’s the diff output stub spline count? If it’s 23, why can’t you retain the factory front shafts? Personally, I don’t like offset track width front to rear - just check out the last land cruiser models for what I’m talking about. Yuck! As for the 2wd rear end, it could be a case of finding a set of wheel bearings that fit the EA stub axle and the EJ 2wd hub. Hopefully the stub axle is the correct length for this sort of swap. After that it’s how to graft/mount the EJ backing plate. The other bit is finding out if the 2wd hub is separate to the drum (I believe all 2wd EJ Subarus were rear drum, but I could be wrong about this). I hope this helps, I dare say you’ve got some research ahead of you. Cheers Bennie

Thanks for thinking of me @6 Star- I’ve not tried swapping the bell housings to fit a top mount starter EA71 in place of an EA81. Another issue to consider is that if you didn’t get the intake manifold for the EA71 you can’t swap the EA81 unit over afaik. All the best with it. Cheers Bennie

Someone will. It’s yet to be allocated an auction date/start time, hence why you can’t bid atm. It looks pretty good for its age. The front end sits a bit low it seems, maybe that’s the mechanical issue if it’s not engine related. The steering wheel is in the wrong side too Cheers Bennie

I once took to the inner cup on the rear with a grinding disc - ground down the pin hole until I could slide the cv cup off the stub axle. After this I was able to remove the remains of the punch and cotter pin that were stuck in the middle of the hollow stub axle. I still used that shaft, since it was on the rear I just used some cable ties to hold it in place. They never snapped in the time they were in there. I’ve still got that shaft kicking around as a spare. All the best with it, never a fun job when you get one of these stuck, but you learn and avoid doing it again (usually!) Cheers Bennie

Oil weeping always occurs with the cam retainer plate, especially if it’s not resealed when replacing HGs. Even then there’s no guarantee the leak won’t stay away for a great deal of time… Cheers Bennie

Why do you need to have a pod or basket up top all the time? Isn’t the wagon big enough in its cargo space?? And don’t go making posts about stuff not going wrong, Murphy will take it for a spin and it’ll return with a list of stuff for you to find and resolve!! And I agree with @88SubGL - she’s a beautiful example of the L series! Cheers Bennie

Link. Problem there is the $$$$ they ask for aftermarket systems here and that’s before you even factor in tuning! Plus where’s the fun in that? I know GD won’t understand that as time is money and EAs are a dead platform etc etc. Cheers Bennie

That doesn’t sound right to me! Every factory Subaru sunroof I’ve seen (admittedly not a 2011 model) requires the headlining to be at least dropped, this typically means the interior panels of all the pillars need to be removed as do the light and handle fittings. It’s not as daunting as it sounds, it’s more likely just something you don’t want to do - but if you want the best picture/gauge of the issues or health of your sunroof that is what you’ll need to do. There should also be drainage tubes that poke into the inner guards of each wheel - one for each corner of the sunroof. You might be able to get something long and plastic with a blunt end up these tubes to dislodge any crud that could be blocking one or more of these drainage tubes. To do this you will need to remove the plastic inner guard liner. Alternatively the cheap fix is to duct tape around the top of the sunroof to close the gap. All the best with it! Cheers Bennie

Hmmm, is the foz a series 1 (taillights on body only) or series 2 (taillights on boot lid too)? The phase 2 inlet gaskets don’t fit the phase 1 heads, so you can’t be swapping between the two without a head swap… and 1998 seems too early for the phase 2 to me (I could be wrong again!). In the Liberty it didn’t come in until 1999 when the first Gen3 models landed. Imprezas I thought were 1999 or 2000 when they swapped to the phase 2. Easiest way to tell if the block is phase 1 or 2 is the number of gearbox mount bolts. Both phases have the same lower studs as all Subaru EA engines. The phase 1 engine only has the upper two bellhousing bolts, the phase 2 has six bellhousing bolts and is commonly referred to as the eight bolt engine. Phase 1 heads have three retainer bolts in the centre line with cast lines on the cam cover. Phase 2 has five retainer bolts, one in each corner and one in the centre. These cam covers are smooth and the spark plug tubes are built into the cam covers. Cheers Bennie