el_freddo

Buy the diametre size you need and replace as necessary. Bennie

Pull engine down, have the heads shaved to get them flat again. Invest in some quality head gaskets and put it all back together. If you’ve properly overheated the engine you may have softened the metal, no big deal for a putt-putt NA engine. Or EJ it to really bring it to life Cheers Bennie

I can see pics now! That drain plug magnet looks pretty good, I’d consider that normal. Change/flush/drop/replace are all the same thing. Don’t refill the gearbox through a plug hole, use the dip stick - one quirk of the Subaru models that’s really handy! From memory 3.5ltrs is what’s required for the PT4wd box. “to flush or not to flush” - I’ve only ever changed oil in a vehicle that’s new to me. This gives me piece of mind knowing there’s fresh fluid in the various places - and I know what age/quality it is. I’m still yet to change the trans fluid in the auto of our family bus, it’s the last one to do - I’m not looking forward to it, hence why I’ve put it off... Seals: Clean up the area around the old seal, then I jimmy them out with a flat headed screw driver trying not to touch any of the mating surfaces as you don’t want to damage these. Lube the new seal with a rubber grease. Gently tap the new seal in with a hammer and flat punch, be gentle! Subaru seals will last the longest generally. The selector shaft seems to only be available through Subaru. The front diff stub seals are done from the “inside” - you need to remove the “sundial” bearing tensioner. Mark the case and the dial at the same point, count how many times it takes to wind them out until it comes out. Put another mark on the case so you know where to start winding in from. Knockout old seal, lube up new seal (only on the moving surface contact areas), fit new seal, replace dials to the count and marks you made previously. Do one side at a time so you don’t get the parts and your reference marks mixed up - this will change the diff setting that could lead to premature failure. Front diff seals are directional, ensure you fit the correct side according to its designated direction. The seal for the shafts and the big O rings are the same as the Liberty/legacy phase 1 and phase 2 gearboxes with the diff stub axles Cheers Bennie

G’day @bajaleo, What data are you trying to look at? The 1993 is OBDI so connecting for live data I believe is a difficult thing to achieve. If wanting to read codes you’ll need to find the test mode connectors, connect them, then read the flashes from the check engine light. These codes will point you in the direction of the sensors that are having issues. The Oxygen sensor will sometimes not throw any codes, but not function properly, as this could give poor fuel economy and feel like it’s lacking performance. The AFM could be dirty and be giving false readings to the ECU, effecting the performance of the engine. I hope this helps. Cheers Bennie

Having to move seems to be the current theme going on. Our landlords want us to move out so we were given our standard 60 day notice out of the blue. Not good and totally unexpected. So I’m frantically putting one of the projects together so it’s back on all four wheels so we can easily move it! Hopefully finding a suitable place to live won’t be as difficult or as expensive as over here; all housing, whether buying or renting went nuts with the prices skyrocketing just after the pandemic started! All the best, and good work on the engine install. I’m looking forward to reading about a successful start and no leaks etc! Cheers Bennie

Go for an EA82 manifold. It bolts to the EA81 and offers mounting for a slightly larger hitachi carb. It will change the way the hot side radiator hose is routed, it will point in a forwards direction from the front of the engine’s RHS. Factory setup points to the engine’s RHS at the RHS rear of the engine. Cheers Bennie

Don’t split your trans if you don’t have to! Fix the shifter slop, relatively straightforward job, just tricky in the space to work with. You can replace any leaky seals. You won’t have any gaskets leaking, that’s unheard of unless the box was opened up and poorly resealed. The typical sign that your trans is on the way out is odd noises. If it’s whining in a particular gear, or if there’s a noise the winds up with the vehicle speed it typically spells trouble. Change your gearbox oil. If you’ve not done it it’ll be worth the effort and it’s easy to do. If you’re keen to flush metal out use some cheap oil and do several flushes, then put in good oil. Personally I’d just drop the oil and put in good quality oil that meets the requirements in the specs list. The dual range is probably leaking out the various seals, particularly the ones associated with the dual range 4wd system. Do not open up this box - the rear drive transfer is a bloody Pandora’s box of springs, dedent balls and other metal parts that’s a bit of a nightmare to put back together. But it’s awesome when you do get it back together, it works and you didn’t drop any of the parts into the gearbox! Cheers Bennie

Awesome to get an update on this! With the EFI pump you might want to look into running a “swirl pot” or surge tank - have the factory low pressure pump feed into the tank, the EFI pump suck from the tank, fuel return line plumb into the tank and the tank overflow run back into the factory tank (or T in between the low pressure pump and the tank). This will stop the EFI pump starving of fuel and dying prematurely as a result. Plus it’ll help too when off-roading with some of the odd angles we get our vehicles in Looks good though! Cheers Bennie

Some in the early days over here used to split the front hand brake and have two levers to grab one wheel only. This didn’t lose any power from the two wheels on the same axle being braked. Cheers Bennie

I’m sure there were different shaft thicknesses but for what reason I don’t know - probably 2wd vs PT4wd, with the 4wd one being thicker I reckon. Aftermarket axles can do what they want with these items, so it can be hit and miss, not to mention inaccuracies in parts catalogues from time to time. Cheers Bennie

I have zero experience with the Vortex body and interior bits. I can’t even tell you if the shift linkages are the same! Best of luck doing a swap. I doubt anyone with an impreza knows what they’re looking at unless they’re a real fanatic! Many EJ subaru fans don’t know about the L series let alone the Vortex/XT4/XT6 variants! Cheers Bennie

Thanks @Numbchux - I was meant to mention the 25 diff spline stub axles but forgot! If you have a PT box, forget doing a ratio change, very difficult to pull off and I’m yet to hear of anyone that’s done it yet. A 4.44:1 diff in the PT box would be awesome, more so if a matching 5th ratio can be added in for good revs at cruising speed. Cheers Bennie

I’m guessing this wasn’t a common conversion. Parts will be hard to find these days in terms of the pedal box if it differs to the L series. Everything else under the floor pan is L series based. Cheers Bennie

I’ve done it in a complete bitza box! I used an OBX helical diff - and found out after installing it that some bloke does a kit to build it up to be better than it is when it comes from the factory. The cheap build apparently has washers of different thicknesses and springs that don’t have the same rates or something. Mine worked well in the AWD box I put it in. To clear the low range gears you’ll need to chamfer the bolt heads on the diff. They’re Allen key heads so should be able to do it and retain enough meat to use the Allen key if ever needed to remove the bolts. Here’s a pic of box one time I had it open after it’s initial build. The phase 1 EJ cases (“4 bolt” bell housing mount) are the same internally as the EA82 cases for the two front units that you split. The rear housing needs to match whatever internals you’re using, and the front cases need to match in terms of single range/dual range internals. Can’t use dual range cases with single range internals and vice versa. EG: L series PT4wd dual range 5spd will work incased in a set of phase 1 EJ casings - must be a dual range case set though. Then the rest of the L series gear bolts on the back end. Up front it’ll bolt to an EJ and use all EJ factory flywheel, clutch pressure plate and disc Phase 2 gearboxes (“eight bolt” bell housing mounts) are only good for building AWD boxes from. Cheers Bennie

Ah yeah, Roger that! I was a bit miffed that you wouldn’t know about the CEL in the OBDII! It all makes sense now! Continue! Cheers Bennie

Every EFI system has a CEL. And OBDII can still have codes read through the CEL. I do this on my sister’s Gen3 Liberty/Legacy all the time, works a treat if you don’t have a scanner. Cheers Bennie

Dead trans right there! Cheers Bennie

Why not disconnect the battery and go again?? Cheers Bennie

If you keep the airbags and computer, write the VIN on the back of them for future reference. The question about the whole steering column with the airbag - totally doable. Just let the bag sit without power for at least 30mins. Could be a myth but I’d rather play it safe with airbags! Cheers Bennie

If it’ll be a dummy scoop make a plate under the scoop (painted up side black) that diverts water off to one side or the other. Job done. Cheers Bennie

Schmick mate!! Look after it! Cheers Bennie

Don’t adjust your idle screw! You’ll need to adjust your TPS to be back in spec - you’ll need a manual to tell you these details as it’s been ages since I adjusted one myself. Glad to hear it was the CTS, the over heat event could kill an old one easily I reckon. Cheers Bennie

I’m a bit late to the party but I was going to chip in that I use a motorcycle jack to raise and lower the gearbox out. It’s a bit fiddly as you have to remove the jack to get the gearbox out from under the vehicle. Then do the reverse when putting it in... And I’ve perfected the art of pulling the box out and reinstalling without needing to pull the ball joints out to swing the hubs out for the drive shaft removal from the box. Works a treat. Cheers Bennie

Also if the timing was adjusted it may have thrown things out of whack - there’s a set of plugs under the dashboard, above the driver’s feet that need to be connected when timing the dizzy. This stops the ECU from advancing the timing as you set it. And from what I know of the EA82 EFI systems it needs to be 20*btdc. Given that you overheated the EA82 it could have popped the HGs, or they were already on their way out. What compression do you have on each cylinder? Cheers Bennie

@Ionstorm66 - never seen that other than in the very base model EA81 units. Never seen that setup in the sedan or wagon L’s - they’ve always got a centre console! Cheers Bennie