NorthWet

On the pushbutton 4WD in my XT, I was getting sloppy habits and resting my hand on the shift knob, occasionally just brushing the 4WD button. This caused my car to buck and bang as it slipped in and out of 4WD. 4WD is activated by a combination of solenoids and vacuum diaphrams... lots of opportunites for mischief.

Car model and year would help. Also, transmission type. If you happen to have a pushbutton 4WD tranny, might be slipping into 4WD and binding the driveline, then slipping out and making the bang. *Edit - found some other postings you made, and it seems like you have a " 92 loyale 5 speed ea82".

I might still be concerned and pursue this a bit. Seems to me that if they are raised than it is likely to affect the HLA's working. My understanding is that when a reground cam is used that the HLA's might need shims to reset the clearance within range. Rasised seats might cause clearance to be incorrect.

Last Millennium, I used to be the "''gofer" at a radiator shop. We used to do everything, including building tanks from sheet brass to assemble a custom radiator. If you find a good radiator shop, they can be quite a resource. Unfortunately, I haven't found a good one in years. Even the old-timers around here pretty much order complete radiators instead of rod/repair/recore work. The one shop I know that will build custom radiators really only does semi-custom: He wants production tanks instead of making up what he needs. sigh!

+1 on the "no engine needs backpressure". The whole backpressure myth probably sprung up due to misunderstanding of using pressure pulses to tune the powerband. These are reflected pressures, going both positive and negative, and transient in nature. Backpressure is merely resistance to flow, and only causes the engine to work harder to overcome the pressure. Further OT: Exhaust flow speed is also not important in and of itself. It is an indirect measure of other factors. Case in point: If you port the exhaust to open air (ala WWII aircraft V-12s) it becomes irrelevant. (But you lose the ability to use pressure pulses to powerband-tune.) Back on topic: If the cat is badly deteriorated, you probably aren't hurting the environment much if any by gutting it. You could also assuage your conscience by adding an aftermarket cat.

Stock, there is no line from the turbo to the radiator. Only fittings at the radiator are inlet, outlet, and on aftermarket rads virtually all come with tranny cooler lines. Turbo coolant lines run from bottom of right (non-disty) head to the turbo, and then another line runs from turbo to the T-stat housing. (BTW, this hose is exposed to EXTREME heat and is a critical/common failure point. The heat can cause the cheap hose to literally crumble.) Aluminum does not transfer/dissipate heat anywhere near as well as copper/brass, and also tends to deteriorate thermally over time (IIRC due to buildup of thermally insulating oxide layer). Stay away from aluminum cores if possible. The 2-row-core radiator is spec'd at being able to dissipate only about 20-30% more heat than the single (too lazy to run out in the rain to grab my FSM ), so the real-world difference is not as great as one might think. The 2-row cores are probably still available if you search hard enough. I have been told for years that they are unavailable and have managed to find them; but may be true now.

I have at least one (I think 2) disks that look just like that. Both are from 90/91 Legacies. The first had something damage the input shaft snout (can't remember exactly what; I got it that way), and the second I bought that way, replaced the clutch set and drove it for several thousand miles before the car would refuse to shift. (It also acts like it is stuck in neutral, but may have blown another disk).

Regarding the FWD rear knuckle, if the 96 is like the earlier (i.e. -1990) Legacy, the bearings are in-unit with the hub assembly. (Not separately available.) http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=115970

Finesse might be better than my brute-force way. Might be worth trying to access the band's piston. Not sure of operation modes, but you might have also dislodged the band strut. (Not sure if the strut coming adrift would stick it in forward or do just the opposite.) I have dislodged/bent a band strut on a 4EAT from overstressing it... very badly.

When we bought "Christine" (Steven King reference), it had a whole bunch of forward gears and no reverse. All of the forward gears actually worked ("D" was a little sticky/erratic). I flushed the ATF (looked like mud), drove it around to warm it up and hopefully clear out any lingering crud. The thing that finally worked for me (kids, don't try this at home) was multiple throttle run-ups to converter stall speed while stopped, let up and shift between forward and reverse and run it up again to stall speed. Did a couple of these, drive for a bit to let things cool down, and repeat. The last time I did it (duh!) there was a clunk noise and the problem resolved. Might have done so without my shenanigans. My guess is that a/the band near the rear of the tranny had its actuator-piston foul and got stuck. I think that the band's actuator is externally accessible on the right side near the transfer section (old memory, too tired to grab FSM). These are old memories and half-guesses.

Does it work just fine if you shift into 1st and then 2nd? If so, then pretty classic "governor" issue.

What do you consider the radius arm? Are we talking the lateral link (radially from engine crossmember to balljoint) or the compression/trailing link (from the lateral link to the transmission tunnel)? AFAIK, the lateral link bushing is part of the lateral link assembly, and can not be purchased separately. The 2 big donuts on the tunnel-end of the compression/trainling link are sold separately and (3 years ago) not that hard to find.

A possibility is that the reference was to removing both stub axles at once: This might make it difficult to properly reposition the diff carrier whne replaceing/retightening the bearing retainers.

OOPS! Mea Culpa!

It is not that I don't believe you, it is just that any other time that I have heard of offset wristpins the rods have also been offset in some way. Your explanation cleared things up. My 88 FSM has one drawing that shows a side indicator, and several that do not bother to show any markings, and there is no text that I have as yet found that refers to sided-ness or why. Thanks, guys.

My guess is that those are the antenna wires. On other L-series, the wires run into connectors under the carpeting on the center tunnel. I am not sure on the XT, as I have not yet been brave enough to try removing my XT's radio.

Gloyal is assuming that you are using an L-series dual-range transmission. If I understand correctly, you folk have dual-range transmissions in your EJ-engined Subarus. The 2 different transmissions have different change requirements.

Sounds like the hill-holder has issues. Does the cable that runs to the Clutch move freely? Does the hill-holders end of the cable pivot freely?

I would lean in this direction, too. Possibly even "prefer" the automatic: I have seen some good highway mileage figures from 4EAT-equipped soobs. (Our SVXs get 30mpg on the highway, even at 80MPH. Around town is a different story.)

Sorry, I apparently didn't get to the end of the thread before posting my previous comment. My experience was with and SVX which should have similar design. On mine, the tone-ring sensor just bolted to the back of the backing plate and its tip poked through the plate. Mine did not have any separate rod. It was a tight fit through the backing plate,

My lateral link came out nice and easy... but my location helps. GeneralDisorder set up a group-buy of Yield last year. He might be a good source of information.

After a couple of hours of trying to remember, looking at FSMs, and using SEARCH, I think that these must be SPFI pistons. *Edt - Not necessarily SPFI pistons after all. Finally found a drawing in my FSM that indicates XT having pistons with L/R markings. endedit* In all of my searching, I could not find how they are different. (I could only find 2 posts that mentioned L/R markings.) But, all sorts of posts about how they are interchangeable without mentioning sided-ness of the pistons.

That would imply the one of the engines used different connecting rods then the other engines. Although this is possible, I don't remember reading anything about different rods in any of the EA82s. If they are truly offset at the wristpins, then these pistons would not work in this block (as it sits) anyway, since I didn't swap the rods along with the pistons.

88 XT-4 MPFI. I swapped pistons into another block, and now that I have better light I see an arrow that I assume is indicating front-of block. Unfortunately (maybe), the arrows are pointing to the rear. (Apparently, I put "left-bank pistons" into right-bank case, and vice-versa.) Another set of MPFI pistons has no front/back arrow, and neither do turbo pistons. FSM does not mention a left-side/right-side difference. Any of the Gurus know if there is any difference, or if I can avoid the hassle of pulling the pistons back out and swapping them to the other side?

Disconnect the processor connector. IIRC, it is similar to the Loyale setup, so the connector is in the left fender under the fender liner. (along with the compressor)