el_freddo

To be clear, the EA81 does not have a cam belt not available in the L series. More modern fuel injected Subaru engines are a very worth while conversion and can get around many of the NLA parts for the engine side of things. Most common is probably still the EJ22 conversion from the Gen1 and Gen2 Legacy’s. Cheers Bennie

Have you adjusted the spark timing? You’ll need a timing light to do this. Cheers Bennie

I too did this after my initial rebuild of the EA82. Money that would’ve been best spent on an EJ conversion. If you ever rebuild an engine and don’t know the history of the radiator with plastic end tanks - replace it!! My dodgy old radiator cost me a 9 month old rebuilt engine Cheers Bennie

It will bolt in and work regardless of what EJ engine is used. If the final drive ratio is the same, you won’t have any drive issues. It will rev higher in fifth though. Your speedo may not be accurate, you’ll have to suck it and see - the speedo drive gear may be different and thus give a different speedo output signal rate. A speedo corrector may be needed. Cheers Bennie

That above your oil filter with the pipe coming from it is an oil cooler. The pipes have coolant in them. I’ve only ever seen them on H4 turbos or the H6 NA. I’ve not seen them on H4 NAs before - unless this is a turbo equipped vehicle. Cheers Bennie

Side question - why does your NA EJ25 have an oil cooler? I thought these were turbo and H6 models only? And thanks for the link GD. I found the darker writing a little difficult to read but it reads well! I too made the mistake of using the VIN listed HGs on my sister’s Gen3 and it ended exactly as you say I does. That engine copped a 100,000km head gasket swap to the 642 units, it also had all the usual maintenance items done too. You don’t mention replacing rings while the HGs are being done, not always done? Cheers Bennie

GD has the multi layer steel head gasket part numbers etched in his brain. These will be the items you want to use for the replacement headgaskets. I’m in the middle of the same thing now. Picked up a $300 SG Foz with 370,000km on the clock, engine leaking oil like a sieve and a rear strut that wasn’t happy at all. Should be a good car once the work is done. It’ll be the same with yours. I also opted to swap valve stem seals and lap the valves. I’m hesitant to swap rings on an engine that isn’t mine since it would be the first time I’ve done it and I’m not completely up on that process of ring gaps etc. Cheers Bennie

Great way to start the new decade! What an update. Can’t wait for some pics or a video of it running. I’m still loving those flares, so 70’s but still tight and fresh! Cheers Bennie

The clutch disc could have disentgrated. I did that on my EJ22 powered L series running a factory clutch setup... there were 19 pieces and one bit I couldn’t find so who knows where that went! It locked up first, then I drove it another ~350km by rev matching and starting it in gear when needing to do a standing start. If you need to get the box out, leave the engine in place unless you have other things to do to it like HGs. Drop the box from under the vehicle, much easier. Using a motorcycle jack helps. Driveshafts can be removed as the gearbox is dropped out slowly (and installed as the gearbox is lifted back in - time saver!). If box comes out, it’s a good time to assess and reboot the front driveshafts if need be. Cheers Bennie

Hmmm... from your description it could be any of those three things. Usually if you kill a gearbox you typically have other gears to use, even if it sounds like a factory of angry leprechauns with hammers in there. Cheers Bennie

What do your outer CV joints look like? I hope the new year brings you some good news! Happy new year to all. See you in 2020 very soon (I realise you guys have to wait half a day for it though, worse than Radelaide, they’re half an hr behind but it seems like more than that Cheers Bennie

Trailing arm spacers will centre the rear wheel. Cheers Bennie

I’ll be interested to see how often you chew out CV shafts without a subframe drop. I’m guessing you’re permanent front wheel drive and not AWD? Looks mint. They should’ve come from the factory like this! Cheers Bennie

Second pic, single tab. Natu2 confirmed that! Check the engine wiring plug for high resistance (on the temp sensor wire) or the temp sensor wire for a break. Temp sensors for the gauge don’t typically die, and if they do, they won’t work then not work and work again. It’ll go - false reading, worse false reading then dead, if it’s going to show any symptoms. Cheers Bennie

64274 at an educated guess how many are active each month? No idea. Cheers Bennie

Welcome dugdrum. Got any pics of your 02? I’m guessing Impreza? Cheers Bennie

That’s pretty cool. Still a white light though? Did you guys get the L series fog lights with (what I believe was) a set of electrically operated covers over your way? They never came out here but were super cool! You don’t see anything like them on the market nowadays. Cheers Bennie

THanka for that heartless. I’m sure ppl know the difference between fognsnd driving lights. The problem with “fog” lights is the everyone runs them ALL THE TIME with their headlights on. They’re typically glary and if they were true fog lights they would be yellow to pearce though the white cloud. White light reflects back, so why are fog lights typically white or so close to it that they’re not really fog lights. Lights are one of my pet hates on cars. HID lights are another one manufacturers slipped through. Crap light, glary colour (cool white). They should never let them on the road. If you had uber smooth roads that didn’t make the suspension bounce that could make life with oncoming HIDs easier to live with. I wrapped my driving lights when living in the snow because that’s what I had. They were awesome and worked way better than I ever expected. The local constabulary didn’t have an issue with yellow lights across the front of my car during that time. Cheers Bennie

Fog lights shouldn’t be used for throwing light down the road. They’re too low to start with and they’ll blind on-coming drivers. Really they shouldn’t be used unless IN fog. It’s a big issue over here in Oz, many use them all the time and as an oncoming driver they’re not great to work with. Dunno why they’re called fog lights anyway, they should be full yellow for good fog penetration! I did a snow season over here and wrapped my lights in yellow cellophane, including my driving lights. Worked mint when we were covered in clouds. Cheers Bennie

Some programs allow you to resize image by pixels. If this is an option, resize to 800x600 (aspect ratio box checked it’ll do automatically adjust the other box). If it’s portrait, do 600x800 Cheers Bennie

@JSIMONIS97 - if the key barrel is locked up and you can’t turn the key but you can pull the key in and out: make sure there is no weight on the steering wheel. If there’s tension in the steering held against the ignition barrel lock you’ll never be able to turn your key. Simply hold the steering wheel with the tension against your hand (pulling/pushing on the wheel) while you operate the key with your other hand. If this isn’t the case, your barrel is definitelty rooted. Search eBay for an aftermarket replacement Cheers Bennie

A what? All the aftermarket Y pipe needs is a pipe welded to the RHS exhaust that drops from the header pipe. This pipe only needs to have two decent tack welds to hold it on. Heat will transfer very easily to the intake air charge. This system is only used a low revs, so it’s not like it needs to be sucking pure hot air at a great rate of knots, nor would you want it to be once the engine is at full operating temp. Cheers Bennie

Any chance you can get us a pic of what you’re looking at down the dipstick tube? Phone cameras are good for these types of pics. Cheers Bennie

I didn’t know this was an elusive “item”. All Australian delivered DL’s have the single in-dash speaker (povo pack) “stereo system”. I’ve since put speakers in the doors on mine - pretty much the first mid I did over a decade ago! Cheers Bennie

There you go, I thought this was considered a two piece shaft because it is flexible in the middle, regardless of flanges etc. Cheers Bennie