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That’s a face palm moment! It’s even written in the advert title and again on top of the engine after I looked a bit closer. So that’ll also have the 5 stud setup and AWD. Bit of a unicorn these days I’d imagine. A 3L H6 conversion would be pretty sweet All the best with the decision. Cheers Bennie

I’d be cautious that it’s been resprayed, looks like it may have had one done looking at the lack of paint work shine in the pics. It would be worth checking it out in person if you were seriously considering this unit. It’s got the “spider” manifold which is said to be better than the regular run of the mill EA82 MPFI unit. Hardest part is making the decision without emotion taking over. There will always be another one, you might have to wait a while between the offerings out there. Or you might find one via word of mouth through friends, family and friends of friends. Learn what to look out for with these vehicles and that’ll help you out with picking a solid unit for your enjoyment Cheers Bennie

I drop the exhaust. Makes it very easy to remove the rack. If you drill out the spot welds on the jacking plate and replace with bolts the whole lot drops out super easy. Alignment is required after and if DIYing it this can take some time to get it right. I’d take it to your nearest shop that you trust. Cheers Bennie

I’ve never managed that in the engine bay! But I’ve removed five or so of these without any issues as described in my previous post. Cheers Bennie

Agreed with that last paragraph. As for the warranty stuff that’s good info and justified. Having several EA82 engines in my L series they’re a serious PITA to keep oil in them with their crap OHC box setup. That was a design flaw to meet the marketing of OHC performance. I truely believe the EA81 was destined for the L series until the OHC performance catch cry wasn’t met. Anyway, I digress from the topic at hand. There are most likely more EJ25Ds on the road than there were EA82s. There are certainly more EJ25s overall! I really like the EJ251 in my sister’s RX Liberty (1999/2000 model). It pulls like a freight train and with the proper HG swap, shaved heads and DIY valve grind it’s still going strong at 470-480,000km. Very happy with it. Cheers Bennie

I’d argue it was the EA82, then made worse with the EA82 turbo... But it’s definitely the worse EJ series engine of all time. And it’s reputation tainted the EJ251’s, coupled with the dodgy factory head gaskets that leaked early and externally it cemented the general EJ25’s reputation as poor. But with the correct HG used in the EJ251 onwards with a swap job done correctly they’re a very reliable engine. As for the OP, the best EJ25D “hybrid” build I seem to read about over and over is the EJ251 bottom end between the EJ25D heads. Can’t tell you what HGs to use though, and this is the important bit to get right! Cheers Bennie

That’s an awesome offer from John! Definitely take him up on that if you can. Ppl are always looking for those jump seats and they’d be a tidy addition to your brat! We didn’t get them over here, they’re a US specific item! The T tops (known as fun tops from the factory) aka Targa tops are awesome too. My brumby has them and I love driving with them off. I often wonder what it would be like if I could remove/wind down the rear window at the same time Knowing that you’ll have this vehicle for some time there’s no rush to buy parts. Save your coin so you’re ready when an item unexpectedly pops up for sale If you’re looking at keeping the EA81 keep an eye out for an oil pump in good condition - NEVER use a hammer to remove yours as they break and always remove the crank pulley to remove the oil pump. There are other NLA items that others can list off for you. Oil pump is the most obvious one that comes to mind atm. Cheers Bennie

Do your research on the forum of the options to swap out the EJ25D to something more reliable. I know I’ve read many of GD’s posts about this and many other active members have done this with the same results and the same comments to be made. With the wiring issues mentioned etc, I was initially thinking you were talking about doing a full engine swap including wiring loom, but that’s not necessary unless you’re moving to a factory turbo engine. Then it gets full on in the wiring department! Get onto those threads about swapping out the EJ25D Cheers Bennie

If your brake fluid is low this could also indicate the need for new brake pads, check these too before going all in on a brake fluid top up - otherwise you could overflow the reservoir when you put the new pads in depending on how you do your pad changes. Cheers Bennie

Finger’s crossed mate! Cheers Bennie

Rarer than rocking horse hens teeth poo! All the best with your search! Cheers Bennie

Awesome find @6 Star! Can you drop the link to that thread in here for a read (and vice versa)? Cheers Bennie

I’m sure we all are for you mate! All the best with the initial start and the run from there on. Cheers Bennie

What you need to know @faunjoustino: - GD owns and runs his own Subaru specialist workshop. His advice is worth gold in our community. - while it was your dad’s vehicle and you’re precious of it, what you plan to do to get it up and running could be an exercise in wasting money - only because you can’t definitively explain why it was overheating. Personally I would’ve done as GD said as a matter of course for me. Getting it started on the old fluids won’t hurt it so long as there’s oil and coolant/water where it should be. Once it’s running then work out where any issues are - coolant leaks, split hoses or if it is the dreaded head gasket, which being the DOHC EJ25D seems highly likely. Once you know it runs and what needs what, that’s when you start spending your hard earned to keep it running sweet and to daily drive it. This is when you change the oil and the coolant etc. I hope this puts a few things into perspective. We understand it’s sentimental to you, but this doesn’t mean you have to waste money on it for no good reason. Trying to catch all of your new coolant when you need to pull and tear down the engine due to HG replacement is not fun. Many of us have been there and done that! Cheers Bennie

Welcome. You’ll be well versed in a lot of the Subaru mechanical stuff with 5 head gasket replacements under your belt already! You’ll pick up on some tips on getting this task right every time. Cleaning all mating surfaces and other bits is one large part of a successful HG replacement in my book. Cheers Bennie

G’day grandpa Phil! That sucks mate! To paint a clearer picture, you have an ‘86 L series with the EJ22 fitted? Any recent maintenance that’s had anything to do with fuel lines? Usually the cause of fuel coming out of the charcoal canister is fuel lines incorrectly connected. There could be another issue at play where the fuel tank is pressurising and pushing fuel out the vent line. Hoping you can provide more info on this to help resolve the issue. Cheers Bennie

Do you have ABS? And if you do is there an issue with the ABS system? I don’t know if this applies to the Gen1 - I know of some later model vehicles that will disable the cruise if there’s an issue with the ABS system. Also, if your Speedo isn’t working your cruise won’t work either. The cruise uses a reed switch built into the instrument cluster behind the speedo. I don’t know what circuit this operates on but it would be worth checking all your fuses too. If your legacy has an electronic speedo as found in the higher end Gen1s, it’ll use the reed switch at the gearbox for speedo and cruise. Make sure all your brake lights work too. Some vehicles will disable the cruise if you have a stop light that’s not working! Hopefully it’s something simple. Definitely share some pics! You’ll need a third party hosting company to post pics from. Imgur is a popular choice these days. Welcome to the forum Cheers Bennie

Did you replace the O rings on the coolant crossover pipe when you had the engine apart for HGs? These can also weep overtime and make and have coolant smell. If they’re really bad you’ll see a small pool of coolant on the top of the engine block. Cheers Bennie

Just caught up on a few pages since I last dropped in on this thread. Congrats on completing the Vegas to Reno rally! Sounds like a tough gig to say the least. What’s that old saying about real race drivers driving their race vehicle home? Hats off to you and your vehicle. And I’m really stoked for you about the low range and centre diff lock! I had ideas but you’ve done something so much better than what I was thinking (mimicking the factory low range but at the centre diff). I truely hope this venture gets off the ground and that many take it up. I’d love one but as the usual Subaru fan, all desires and no cash. Plus I don’t currently have a later model Subaru for this. I’ll be spreading the word if you want it to get around, let me know! Love the pics. With the wildlife shots, any chance you could drop the name of the creature under the pic? The one that I was most interested in looks like two small snakes, but I think they’re legless lizards, correct?? Keep up the sharing and developing of parts, you’re in a tight niche market but hopefully the parts will move easily allowing you guys to do more of what you love! Cheers Bennie

You’ll need to use the forester heads and intake on the EJ22 block. Plug and play doing this from my understanding. If the foz was an EJ251 you’ll be down on power. A properly maintained EJ251 is a great engine in my book, almost up there with the EJ22. Thinking about it you might have an EJ253, someone will know for sure. Cheers Bennie

The Original Owner may not have know about the EA82 SPFI adaptation to the EA81, or couldn’t get the parts to do it. I’ve heard a similar thing over here in Oz - we didn’t get the SPFI. I’ve only heard about this, never seen it, apparently some fella(s) adapted a Holden Camira EFI system to the EA81 or EA82. It was most likely a TBI unit - I heard it was a common conversion for other 1.8L’ish 4 cylinder engines. I’ve thought about the same thing from the Nissan Navara 4 cylinder petrol engines for the EA81, maybe one day... I guess the Original Owner was working with equipment they knew would work, or that they knew they could make it work - and they’ve obviously got it sorted. Since you have the mega squirt tune, it could be worth your while keeping the setup as is and just run it. Cheers Bennie

Tesla swap would be mint! I’ve seen a doco about Amon in the states that do it all sorts of old and high end vehicles. Insane amount of torque on hand. From what they were saying the circuitry needs some trickery to manage the batteries or something. It was an interesting viewing. Sadly I can’t remember the name of the program, but the host was driving a silver bug converted with what I think was a Tesla unit via the gearbox for an authentic driving experience. Cheers Bennie

That’s a crazy amount of dedication and effort for an engine that many, including myself, would’ve binned! Have a bit more faith in your work! I guess having a low expectation won’t be so disappointing if it does leak, smoke, not run! Make sure your valves are correctly adjusted. The first time I fired up my EA81 after a semi similar build, it was only running on one bank properly as the other bank’s valve gaps were too tight and not making full compression. It smoked heaps too, my heart sank - I forgot that I oiled the cylinders during the slow rebuild, once this burnt off she was smoke free! This is what came with my brumby many moons ago. One small bit of pitting at the top of cylinder 1 or 2, can’t remember now... We drained out about 15L of an oil and water concoction! This engine dropped an internal Welch plug and dumped the coolant into the engine. I’m still driving this engine, so with the work you’ve put into yours it should run fine, unless the carb etc needs further attention. Cheers Bennie

After cracking into some log splitting on my dad’s repowered log splitter using an EA81, I thought I’d post a pic and ask other forum members what they have as a piece of home made machinery with a Subaru engine, or what have you adapted a Subaru engine to? Pics are a must! ^ this is Dad’s home made log splitter. We built it when I was in primary school about 30 years ago from a crashed Mazda 808 and a high volume low pressure ram from a Drott bull dozer. It’s got a matching hydraulic switch lever from the drott. The rest was fabricated by Dad, using the Mazda’s 1.4L inline four as the power plant. Several years ago after sitting for more years again, we went to fire it up and found the engine was seized. We’ve got a few Subaru parts cars at his place now, including one Kellogg’s cornflakes spec Brumby with complete drivetrain. He used the EA81 with the bell housing from an EA82 auto to adapt the hydraulic pump to the engine. Wiring transferred over easily. It’s quite a neat swap and it still works a treat. Best bit is if this engine has an issue we have spares to swap around etc. This thing will split the toughest wood we have in our area - the River Redgum. That stuff can pop when it splits and shoot the wood off the splitter! Most of our wood is White Gum, Manna Gum, Grey Box or Stringy Bark. The Manna Gum and Grey Box can be hard to split too. The log splitter sure as hell beats swinging the axe! We also have a small bobcat that runs a two cylinder Sherpa engine, that’s an ongoing project and parts are very hard to come by for that one... So, what have you got adapted to or built around a Subaru engine? I hope you enjoyed the read. Cheers Bennie

Sounds like there might be a fault in the wiring for the oil pressure gauge. Could be a loose joint/connection somewhere or possibly a dodgy sender unit too. A mechanical or quality electric aftermarket oil pressure gauge is a good back up to have, or just a good addition to the “too late” idiot light. Cheers Bennie