NorthWet

Thanks, Caboobaroo. Everyday there is something to learn.

Duty-C is internal, accessible by removing the rear extension housing.

I do not understand what concern is trying to be expressed here. The engine doesn't care in what crank-angle state that it was removed. There is no alignment data that will be lost and prove not-easy to recover when you are ready to put the belts back on. I DO agree to not remove the distributor from the cam case. There is rarely any reason to do so, and it just complicates things by making you have to set the ignition timing afterwards (though it should be checked anyway).

If you press on the clip from the closed side, pressing it against the crank, the legs will will move out of the retaining slots and you can remove the crank without the clips flying. If you plan to do this a lot, you can purchase a "GM trim tool" that slips in and presses the clip.

To amplify something GG said: those "o-rings" for the cam carrier do NOT come with aftermarket (Fel-Pro, etc) HG sets. You HAVE to get them separately, and you will hate yourself if you do not use the proper Subaru part.

Don't give up on it just because I have some guesses as to what happened. I am just guessing, and I have been known to be wrong. My guess would require LOTS of movement fore and aft, close to 1/4inch. Also, you would find large debris in the oil pan. If neither of these are true, your engine may be just fine.

Radially (at least in the context that I mean) would be up and down. Axially (same disclaimer) would be forward and backward. If your flywheel, while bolted to the crank flange, can be shifted in a fore/aft direction for more than 12 thousands of an inch, then the thrust bearing on the crankshaft (integral with one of the main bearings, IIRC) is worn out.

If the crank is moving axially by any significant amount (>0.0118 inch), than I would imagine the thrust bearing on the crank is shot.

To replace the HGs or belts: yes. When the belts are put back on, the significant timing marks are scribed onto the rim of the flywheel, and the flywheel can only fit on one way due to an asymmetrical bolt pattern. This part really is foolproof. Until you put on the second t-belt, where the manual can be vague on a step.

Simple answer to the cam sprocket back-torque: no. What they are trying do is get all of the slack onto the tensioner side of the belt. If it is a new belt, it probably won't matter much as you may need to reset the tensioner in a few hundred miles anyway. If you want to, you can grab the cam sprocket with your hand and apply some back-torque to it. BTW, the first time I did belts, I saw that torque spec and misread it: I saw the INCH-lbs figure and thought it said FOOT-lbs, so I welded-up a special tool to handle that kind of torque... DUH!

Most likely (in my mind) for your oily engine is that the PCV system is gunked up, and oil is being sucked in through the intake. Clean it up a little, check over the PCV system, and drop it in. Do an oil change earlier than usual. These engines are sturdy beasts. I have never head of a broken crank (I think that you would have to remove one and beat it with a sledgehammer to break it), the heads do not crack, and except for abuse the short-block just does not wearout.

Nope. TDC is irrelevant for anything you are likely to do except for setting ignition timing.

If the upper hose gets hot and the the lower hose stays cold, you are probably looking at a plugged radiator core. It is also possible that your heater core might also be plugged.

I checked with my insurers after the fact, and found that I was SOL. Might be a little impractical to get that kind of insurance on 25 vehicles... only 2 of which are covered at the same time for minimum requirements.

If you remove the engine to do the HGs, the clutch is pretty easy (and would be another plus to removing the engine to do the HGs). The issue with the bearings is damage to the bearing-material from the coolant, which chemically attacks the metals. I have had a couple engines where things went fine, and one engine that started getting rod-bearing failure 10-20k miles later. Took 6 months to fail from first audible symptoms.

You said that the "coolant return hose" was cold to the touch. Which hose is this? A radiator hose or heater hose?

Race it? The SVX really is a heavy car. Great GT, not so great sports/race car. It is absolutely fabulous on the freeway, including get great fuel mileage. I think of my XT as a fighter plane, and the SVX as an interceptor. The body was in really good condition prior to that tree fall. What luck: The only object of any value on 2 acres, and the one tree that fell centerlined it. sigh.

If I parted it out, the parts would find homes in our 2 other SVXs. I just hate giving up on things and parting them. Getting a roof and having it attached, painted, etc is probably not financially realistic. Hard to justify several thousand dollars of work on a car that cost me $250. The roadster/convertible idea crossed my mind. Still would have to get a new windshield which is hideously expensive from the dealership and marginally acceptable in the replacement market. Thought about a Porsche Speedster-ish windshield, but would probably not complement the lines. Roofless also is a pain in western Washington... especially with no garage.

I had plans for this '92 SVX L, but an alder tree altered my plans. Any suggestions for it other than parting it out?

Once I improved my installation method, the only issues that I have had with remanufactured axles has been with failure of often low-quality boots. I am not saying that they are all wonderful axles (please consider the advice given about which to buy), but they should be at least serviceable. Also, it seems generally considered that it is nearly impossible to overtorque the axle nut. (I know, sounds like a challenge... ) Some people suggest torquing into the 200-225ft-lb range. Don't be shy using your torque wrench. Good luck!

I assume that the thread that you are referring to is this one: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=127525 (If it is, my post might save future searchers some time. )

C'mon, Brian, tell us what you REALLY think! Isn't off-roading supposed to be about tinkering, trying to see what works for YOU, rather than what "tuner shops" and unimaginative participants say has worked in the past? Seems to me (disclaimer: I haven't done non-road driving), that others would want to see what happens when somebody else does something different or extreme, so that it if it works they can try it on there own Subaru, or if it doesn't they don't have emptier wallets and a pile of broken parts. Sounds like its wins and grins all around. I guess that only works if you have have a sube that you offroad.

Although the clicking suggests a different issue, I would check that I installed the dished washer on the axle the correct way, and also make sure I retorqued the axle nut. The axle doesn't always seat fully in the hub when you install it, and with some driving it tends to free up and start sliding axially in the hub, making various noises. Retorqueing will eliminate this slack. The dished washer needs to go on properly, otherwise it does not provide proper pressures on the hub and the axle, again allowing the axle to slide axially in the hub. At one time, I thought that I had gotten a series of bad "re-man"s, and for me it turned out that I was just not doing a proper job installing them. The small number of miles suggests to me axle slack, but it could just be bad axles.

Milesfox is generally right. My concern is that "diffs" usually use extreme-pressure gear lube, ones that include high sulfur content (kind of why gear lube smells so strongly) to handle the high point-pressures in hypoid gear sets. My view is that anything that dilutes that is likely to cause long-term issues with ring/pinion wear. Short term, there is unlikely to be any issue.

If you added ATF into the gear oil of the differential, I would think that you really need to totally drain the diff and refill with proper gear oil. Some might even suggest a refill and drain. High-load gear-tooth contacts need different stuff than ATF.