NorthWet

What do you consider as "upgrade"? Nabco/Tokico makes a variety of master cylinders with diffeent bore sizes that could be used with some ingenuity, maybe even grafting the entire master/booster set form a Nissan/Toyota/et al.

The 2-row radiator is standard equipment in turbo vehicles. Airflow is not really a concern/issue with this body-style, so don't obsess about it. A properly functioning 1-row works fine under most conditions. Any multi-row radiator is a tradeoff, as each additional row offers less additional cooling than a similar increase in frontal area but adds drag, but a 2-row has minimal trade-off. There may be clearance issues in front of the water pump/mechanical fan (sounds like you have one due to A/C) which may require you getting the slightly shorter-shaft waterpump. Without seeing the metal particles that came out I can't comment on those other than it might have been cooling system sealer-in-a-can debris.

HUH? Totally unrelated. The EGR has little effect on anything other than being in the way during maintenance.

Heli-coils are steel, and you said that aluminum threads got pulled out, so I am a little confused.

Again, the cam timing is NOT set referenced to TDC. If you are concerned that the cam belts are not properly aligned, there is no (practical) substitute for using the center mark of the 3 marks on the flywheel, aligning one cam sprocket with the hole pointing at the notch in the belt cover, rotating the engine one full revolution to the center of the 3 marks again, and aligning the other cam sprocket with the hole pointing at its cover's notch. Rotate the engine a couple of times and recheck that you got things aligned. Very easy to get off a tooth, hence the recheck.

The clock is a fairly easy fix. See my "sticky" in For Sale Forum: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=26603

Well Rob, maybe if you knew how to fix things you wouldn't have gone through 20 Subaru's!!! J/K (can't get emoticons to work anymore ) Seriously, when I did my first/last EA81 oil pump, it had a paper gasket IIRC, but that was 1988. And, every gasket that I have ever seen that has been exposed to oil and heat has "baked" to an unuseable, hard, brittle mess that sealed nothing. Not something that I would deliberately do.

Heli-Coil or TimeSert.

I happen to have an 81 FSM...

I think that 20k is FAR too long for Champions. Especially in a EA82-turbo. Though last time I tried a set was in the 80's in my Datsun. They lasted about 2k miles before they shorted out. Never had any issues with NGKs in any of my cars and motorcycles.

Does not seem to be a truly useful question to ask. Are you trying to determine cam-timing (in which case you want to use the 3 marks and not TDC), or ignition timing (in which case the cam-sprocket mark is pretty irrelevant)?

Normally, if the Insurance Company "totals" your car and you do a buyback, the WA State title is not "branded". I have one that has been "totaled" twice (first time the damage was 2 bumpers and an exhaust pipe, second was 2 fenders and the hood) without a branded title.

All tubes in the radiator are of same importance. Radiators can plug at the bottom, at the top, in the middle, and in various combinations. When you feel the radiator for temp, a properly flowing radiator should feel fairly consitant from top to bottom. Cold bands are plugged rows (or if they are near the top, possibly low coolant level). All of the "L" body (EA82-style) sedans and wagons (and 3-door, I believe) share interchangeable radiators.

Any of the detergent-based cooling system cleaners should work.

If the engine was running prior to t-belt breaking/change, and you did not remove the distributor, then there should be no reason to muddy things up by pulling the distributor now. These are non-interference engines, no valves should be damaged. Did you recheck belt alignment after finishing driver's side and releasing tensioners?

Is there a possibility the problem is with the installation of this new cat? Maybe no heat shielding, or maybe designed/installed to close to the axle boot? I have had an axle boot tear and dump grease on my cat, but it landed on the heat shielding where all it did was smell bad.

Neat. One of the things my wife really wanted in the EA82-style wagons and sedans were rear shoulder harnesses. I will have to go take a peek...

If you do not have coolant flow (because of stuck thermostat, blockage, bad/ineffective waterpump), then the engine can rapidly overheat, causing the oil to dramatically thin. Oil pressure plummets, oil vapors increase, oil slips past oil control rings and gets burned. This scenario would take several minutes at idle, but very rapidly under load.

In the USA, EA82-Turbos seldom came with a D/R transaxle, and these were the RX models. The turbo diff ratio is 3.70, no exceptions to the best of my knowledge. The 3.90 LSD is very uncommon, if it exists at all. The reason for needing the different axles and rear diff with a "turbo" tranny is because the diff ratio is 3.70 and the front diff's stub-axle splines are different. Shipping from the USA would be very expensive unless you have some special arrangement.

Were you able to find a new torque converter at a reasonable cost?

My vote, too. If the symptoms are worse while going around right hand turns/sweepers, even more indicative of PCV issues. Slightest amount of oil getting ingested will make the SPFI motor ping loudly.

Yup. I forgot the obvious.

Speaking of backfire, let's not assume that we know what the poster means. Is the backfire a loud pop out the exhaust, or into the intake (muffled, under the hood)? Although we should keep it simple, verifying good ignition timing and checking the ASV (my pick, also), other possibilities include burned valve and blown HG (though both unlikely given conditions at failure). *edit* - Coil, disty and ignition electronics also could be suspect, as if these are flaking you could get spark at the wrong time causing either form of "backfire".

How badly damaged is that cam gear? The EJs have a pretty substantial cam sprocket (compared to the stamped sheet metal of the EA82s), and I would be concerned about the force bing transmitted to the camshaft or cam housing extension (or whatever the heck that carrier between the head and cam sprocket is called).

No specific knowledge, but I believe so. BTW, if the EJ22 is so plentiful, why go with the EJ18? Just free?