BoostedBalls

Wow, I forgot how easy it is to work on Subarus. I had the engine out in less than 2 hours, replaced the flexplate that was cracked all the way around the bolt holes. The only thing holding it together was the shape of the crack! It was actually two pieces that were puzzle-pieced together! So, props to NIPPER; he diagnosed the issue. It got dark before I was able to get all the goodies hooked back up but I'm confident that the problem has been resolved. I guess I'm glad the flexplate was the weak link in the system. My wife has been doing neutral drops in this thing for too long. I bought her a 2001 GTI turbo to replace the Legacy. I think I beat it into her that you have to wait until the trans engages before you stomp the gas. I guess I better tell her that her new turbo car has to warm up a little before taking off and it needs to idle for a while before you shut it down. Otherwise I'll probably be replacing a turbo in that soon. Just remember- Common sense is all that common.

As many of you already know, my flexplate is likely busted in my 1993 Legacy. (thanks USMB for the help there!) Do you guys think it would easier / quicker to pull the engine or to pull the trans to get at the flexplate? I was thinking it would be easier to just pull the engine. Looks like I have another couple days of ugly weather here in Portland, OR before I can get started on it anyway. OR- maybe I can pull the trans back a few inches to get to it? Hmm??? Chuck

15,000 miles could equal 350,000 if she hasn't kept up on the oil changes. Reason I say this is clutch shudder is sometimes caused by crankshaft endplay (thrust bearing wear). I hope it's a throw-out bearing though, but I've never seen a throw-out bearing fail at 15k. I have seen (mostly women) skip oil changes and cause thrust bearing failure at 15k. good luck

WD40 is without a doubt, the absolute BEST stuff in the entire world...for cleaning your hands up after working on a greasy Subaru. Some old folk say it's great for arthreitis too! BUT- PB Blaster works wonders for breaking rusty hardware loose. I haven't tried the other stuff that people are swearing by. But I think I'll give them a shot. I usually break out the propane torch (sometimes MAPP gas) if there is a really stubborn bolt then I touch the hot bolt head with an Ice cube and that works almost all the time. Gotta be quick after hitting it with the ice cube though. The ice trick only works on the male threads, it will work against you if you use it on the female threads, ie: axle nuts. Hit the axle with the ice cube, not the nut and have a wrench and hammer, or impact gun ready.

After reading all of that, I think I probably damaged the flexplate when I was monkeying it all together when the torque converter wouldn't go in. I've done this same maintenance on so many other vehicles, I'm just amazed at how much I struggled with it to find out that the torque converter wouldn't go in. I'm a seasoned mechanic and I naturally looked over such a simple job, talk about frustrating! So- anyone who plans on taking their torque converter out of the trans- Speak very kindly to it and be very gental! Otherwise, it can make your life hell.

That could have been my post because I was having a hell of a time getting the torque converter back in the trans a year or so ago. I even took the trans out and stood it up on end and still no luck. Not sure what changed inside the torque converter because another one slid on with ease. I'm hoping the flexplate is the issue. And I'm NOT taking the torque converter out of the trans pump this time. I should be able to get this done in one day if I have all the stuff. I'll update this when I find out for sure. Thanks!!!!!

Awesome! That's what I'm talking about! The love is everywhere! I have only broken a flexplate once before and that was on a supercharged big block chevy and it sounded nothing like this. That engine was a monster though. I'm sure that it must be the flex plate though; it sounded like scraping sheet metal months ago and now sounds like a "whacking". I guess I'll ***************foot it on my way home from work tonight! I just hope I don't open it up to find something that I did wrong. It should be interesting though, maybe some metal chunks here and there, I live for this! OH- Is anyone selling a flexplate for a 1993 Legacy? Hahaha! I'm in 97113 Oregon

Awesome, thanks for the responses. I usually live in the older generation area since I like to push the limits of the ea-82t; it's nice to know the love is everywhere! I was really hoping to just slap the hardware in and go. I guess it's never that easy. I'll have to look further into the wiring before I wrip it apart. SO- I'm starting top think that I may NOT have a tranny issue after all. Here's the history... Wife has been doing neutral drops (not intentionally) for the past couple years on it. (Not waiting until the transmission fully engaged drive before hitting the gas). She's only been driving a short while and I just noticed her doing this a while back and I was like AH! do you do that all the time?? She says yes. So I start to invision a transmission replacement. 1. It has always had the torque bind while turning sharp at low speed. No biggie. 2. Revs too high at the upshift to 2nd. This only happens for the first shift after starting the engine. After that, it's all good. 3. I blew the engine out a while back and replaced it with a 155k wreck. I had a hell of time getting the torque converter back into the trans. Two trans shops couldn't even get the sucker in! One of the shops had a used torque converter laying around, it slid right in so I bought it and that's what's in there now. 4. Got it all back together- Engine or trans or torque converter had a sheetmetal sort of scraping sound that went on for about 20k miles. Then it turned into a light intermittent tapping. Almost like valvetrain but it was coming from the back of the engine or trans. Then recently, it turned into what sounds more like rod knock. I put 50w oil in it to see if the sound changed. (this will usually smoothen out a rod knock a little. This wasn't the case, still loud as hell. The noise is only present when the engine is NOT under load. It makes a hell of a racket at idle, in gear or out of gear and when I let off the gas sharply. 5. The torque converter seems to be doing its job- I can push the brake peddal with everything I have and still overpower it with 3/4 throttle. 6. The car runs and drives as good as it ever has right now. Plenty of power, still shifts ok, no stalling, etc. 7. I jacked the car up and the sound seems to be coming from the back of the engine. Hard to isolate ya know? 8. I drained the front diff and put some 140w in it. It was a long shot and I knew it. problem still exists. Duh So I'm driving the car until it completely fails so I can see clearly what is broken. If it turnes out to be engine problems, I'll just replace the engine a live with the auto trans for a while longer. (too many other cool projects going at the moment to mess with the Legacy unless I have to) Any ideas????

Yeah, the 4eat trans in the wife's car seems to be going out and I just bought her another car. I love the car but I don't like driving auto transmissions so I'm not about to put another auto in it. Also, the trans shop wants 3500 bones for a rebuild!!! No way Jose! So, what do I need to pull from the JY to make this happen? Pedal cluster, Trans trans mount??? flywheel & clutch driveshaft??? Is there anything I need to do to the trans computer to make this work? I tried the Surrealmirage webste for the swap and I couldn't find it. Chuck- portland, or

I read a reply that compaired a Subaru to a GM???? HAR HAR HAR I used to be a diehard chevy guy, until I figured out that the company went to sh*t beginning in roughly 1996 with the vortec setup. Yes, great heads, but everything else sucked. I've now given up on GM. Check out what my buddy is going through on his 96 Suburban: Starter died, ok- let's replace it. Starter #2- end breaks off with only a couple engine revolutions. Must be a bad starter. starter #3 end breaks off again, these are brand new with lifetime warantee. Do research, found that the timing can jump to 50degrees when the crank sensor goes bad $75. This also causes ring gear breakages and even block breakage in many vehicles. Wow, thank god the block didn't break. Starter #4 with new CPS sensor- block breaks! Close inspection of fracture shows that it has been partially broken for a while because part of the crack has light rust. No repair for this sucker! We are building another engine (350) for it right now, sure hope the sensor was the original problem. If it isn't- it's pipe bomb time! Either way, my buddy is completely pissed at GM. Who doesn't test crap like this before mass production??? I'll tell you- a company in desparation because they are paying out just as much in pension wages for past employees as they are for current employees and have to put the cheapest garbage in their product line in hopes of making a profit as the company tanks. They did get the award for the largest lay-off in history though so good for them. And after my 99 Astro van that seemed to fall to pieces at 100k, I'll shop elsewhere thank you. Now back to the ea82t- I bought one with 155k on the clock and the speedo cable had been disconected for who knows how long. That's fine, it was cheap. Let's race it! 20psi, stock engine, cams, heads, etc. Just a 5th injector and some stuff I fabbed up myself, less than $700 into the whole thing, I ran the crap out of it with the boost gauge barried at 20psi for many hard rallyX's and drags. Ran consistantly low 14's. I took the engine apart even though it still ran strong because I KNEW sthere had to be some internal dameahe somewhere. The thing looked BEAUTIFULL inside. Bearings had a little wear but there was still plenty of hone marks on the walls. I NEVER had an issue with the head gaskets in that thing, I did see those hairline cracks between the valves, but they mean squat. Yes, the GM 3.8 was one of the best engines off all time but the entire product quality has tanked. Long live Subaru!

Wow, For that kind of dough, I would drop in a turbo long block with a blowthrough carb setup, or even a drawthrough. Either way, the Side draft delorto loves the turbo. See what 200hp feels like in that little car.

go for it. I;ve run a couple of the RHB-5's from the ea82t on air-cooled VW engine with no problems. Also, these VW engines are only driven with an abusive right foot. The coolant will be better of course and I would hook it up, but if you need this sucker running pronto, go for it!

Get a "leakdown checker" $50, it's a way better test than a compression test anyway. You will need an air compressor though. This will isolate the test to rings, valve seats and head gaskets. A regular compression test throws in some variables like cam condition, lifter pumping action, etc; makes it kinda hard to tell if there is a problem and what the problem might be. You don't to crank the engine with the leakdown test, just rotate the engine 2 turns, checking each cylinder at compression TDC.

I hope that's not the problem. I just built this thing. I'm pretty sure it's the PCV setup because I had the same symptoms with my last ea-82t after I messed with the PCV system. The crappy thing is, mine looks like it's setup the same as the diagram in a couple posts back (except mine's turbocharged) There was a hose coming off of the stock cast throttlebody inlet and I don't remember where that was supposed to go but I know I have run it many time with it plugged and it ran great. I can't imagine that any of the PCV plumbing should ever see boost pressure. I'll mess with it some more when the weather clears up...

Yeah, the EGR is actually a good thing because it allows spent exhaust into the intake which actually lowers the combustion temps by slowing the burn and controls nitrides in the exhaust. The EGR went south on my Suburban and I had to disconnect it to make it run ok off idle but now it has a slight ping at part throttle. CE light comes on too because O2 sensor reads higher levels of emmisions. Too bad I disabled the one on my RX before realizing the benifits of it. I don't think it will work with the megasquirt that I plan to run on it anyway...

so this is how I should do it? Cut and plug the line?

Sweet, I do have it all sealed from atmosphere though. Everything is connected to the turbo inlet between the turbo and MAF. It should all be metered the way it is but It doesn't like to run. There are no leaks, all new hose.

Ok, cool. So I can just remove one 'T' and keep the passenger head venting to the turbo and the driver side head as well as the center vent for the cranckcase connected to the PCV valve. ? I got the new valve at Autozone. I deleted the EGR, I hope it doesn't screw things up too much. I'll hook up the PCV system like I mentioned above and I'll let you guys know how she does. Oh, the dimes did the trick in the HLA bores, there is no valvetrain noise to speak of, at least not for the few seconds that the engine runs. I can't wait to see how this setup performs. ***stage 3 Delta ground cams, light port job, 2" stainless header with collector, T3 turbo with large .60 compressor and .48 exhaust, 2.5" stainless downpipe, Audi external wastegate with separate 1.25" stainless downpipe, K&N filter, BOV, 5th injector. I built a large water-to-air intercooler and it didn't fit! Damn! The new plan is to built an even bigger one that will mount to the passenger floorboard. Bonneville style baby! Bring on the dry ice! I'll slide the passenger seat back a ways since I don't have back seats anyway.

Ok guys, I have the fresh hot engine dropped in the RX and it looks sweet as hell with all the stainless stuff everywhere and the big garrett turbo and external wastegate. I know it took me friggin FOREVER but it's there. I have also been turbocharging a Harley and an LT1 350 so give me a little break. Here's the issue: The engine starts right up and runs ok for about 5 seconds then it cuts out. I can keep it running with the throttle but it doesn't like it. My last ea82t did this when I messed with the PCV system, I guess there was a little leak there somewhere. Well, this engine has been replumbed a little bit. I put in a new PCV valve and I just T'ed it off to the cam covers and the inlet to the turbo. It seemed wrong when I did it but I went with it anyway. Does anyone know what the most basic setup is that will still make the engine run good? Can I just slap on some breather filters and call it good? I would love to know. Also, I am gearing up for the megasquirt and I'm wanting to get rid of a lot of the vacuum lines in there. Which ones must I keep for it to run with the stock ecm until I can get the MS going? I noticed that someone has done a really nice write-up for the megasquirt on an 87 RX (just like mine), wire diagrams, field values, etc. I can't wait to do it myself!

I was able to get my fresh long block dropped in the RX a couple weeks ago. Ihave done some fabrication work on the exhaust and intake system. The entire exhaust system is TIG welded stainless. That includes the Audi external wastegate and separate down pipe. The cams are Delta grinds and the heads have been lightly ported. I heard the engine breath life the other day. I didn't expect it to fire at the time, I didn't have a radiator in it. I was quick enough to shut it down in like 3 seconds. I got it all together and I'm totally redoing the crankcase ventalation and I think that's what's causing the engine to shut down after it runs for about 10 seconds. I got rained out on the project so I'll have to look over a vacuum diagram to make sure everything is hooked up right. For the next time I get a chance to work on it.

Subaru 1987 Subaru Hatchback 13.2 19.0 1993 Subaru Impreza L 10.6 17.9 1993 Subaru Impreza L Wagon 12.7 19.0 1993 Subaru Impreza LS AWD 12.1 18.8 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX 5.7 14.4 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STi 5.1 13.8 1989 Subaru Justy 4WD GL 12.0 18.5 1989 Subaru Justy GL ECVT 14.5 19.9 1990 Subaru Legacy LS 10.5 17.4 1991 Subaru Legacy Sport Sedan 8.5 16.0 1995 Subaru Legacy L Wagon 10.9 17.7 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback 9.8 17.4 1997 Subaru Legacy Outback Ltd. 9.1 17.0 2003 Subaru Sti Type RA Spec C 5.5 14.0 1992 Subaru SVX 7.3 15.5 1993 Subaru SVX 8.7 16.2 1981 Subaru DL Hardtop 13.4 N/A 1982 Subaru GL 14.8 19.7 1984 Subaru GL Turbo-Traction Wagon 13.0 19.0 1985 Subaru 4WD Turbo 10.5 17.9 1986 Subaru 4WD Turbo XT Coupe 9.7 17.2 1989 Subaru XT6 4WD 9.2 16.7 2003 Subaru WRX 6.0, n/a 2004 Subaru WRX Sti 4.9, 13.2

Build the ea-82t. My RX has the ea82t with a lot of mods and it ran a 14.2 on the 1/4 mile compaired to my 93 legacy with the ej22 at 17.3 seconds. Sure, the RX is a bit lighter but the neck-snapping turbo power is unmatched. Plus it's cool to beat a WRX with some little 1.8L 2 valve engine. I run my engine at 20 psi and I have never blown a head gasket. Intake temp has a lot to do with that. A good intercooler is a must. If you up the boost on the engine without an intercooler, go ahead and put some head gaskets on order and keep them nearby. With all of that said, I will be installing an ej22t into the car when this engine finally lets go. the ea82t is a great engine but it can only breathe so much.

Ok, OK, $35 shipped...? It's already boxed up because I had it on ebay, they killed my auction because they said I was spamming. I only had 820 keywords on the auction! haha

That's good to know. I know a lot of guys that run turbo Hondas with high compression and they seem to hold well, even at 11 second 1/4 miles. BUT, they have a couple more main bearings than we do. On the contrary, our main "caps" are a little beefier than theirs. With that said, I pushed an ea-82t with over 200K at over 20 psi of boost for many miles, many drags, and a few rallycrosses with zero problems. This is on the turbo block but I would guess it is stressing the bottom end more than a high compression block at moderate boost levels. I think if you are going for max power at high boost, I would go with the turbo short block, the n/a shortblock sounds like it will hold up fine and it would probably make a decent street car. Ignition timing would be a little bit more critical and I would not bog the engine under boost.

I have an 86 EA82t ECU for $40 shipped, PM me if interested.