idosubaru

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/153118-ej22-or-ej18-swap-into-ej25d-dohc-vehicle/ it's really easy - you'll just bolt Ej22 heads onto an EJ25 block. done. when reading that write up - rather than swap engines - you'll simply bolt EJ22 heads onto an EJ25 block. then follow all the details in that thread. use EJ22 intake manifold and single port exhaust if using 96 and up heads.

check front strut top extensions - does it look like rotating the strut tower braces would bring it back in more? you installed all the front spacers?

you can leak down test the cylinders without the timing belt. Close all the valves and have at it. If you want to install the belt though: +1, hold flat spots on cams with an open wrench. an impact can get them off - but you likely don't have one good enough for that lack of room and then you might not want to spinny spinny them not knowing what catastrophe is going on in there.

Yes and no - I wouldn't call it normal but it's not surprising either - If you started carrying more weight and walking/running/moving faster - would your body be sore? Newer Subaru's (and maybe other manufacturers) have more wheel bearing failures than older ones. Vehicles get larger in size, more weight, more performance, and marketing favors suspension feel and experience over durability. I would guess other manufacturers have the same experience unless their prior wheel bearings sucked to begin with too. You're also nearing 10 years, some boots, bushings, and bearings are going to age. Check to make sure there's no recall or anything regarding bearings. I don't know of any that late, but I know earlier models had some recalls/extended warranties or better bearing designs.

As said there's issues with that swap. I wouldn't do it.

Are you sure that's the whole story, because it doesn't make any sense (which is why LT said to get a new mechanic). Rack boots are replaced all. the. time. Very common. There's no way a mechanic is surprised by a rack boot. They're very easy to replace too. Technically speaking you only need to remove ONE NUT to replace the boot. Loosen inner tie rod lock nut, unthread outer tie rod from inner (don't even need to remove the wheel), replace boot. That's good you're on point about CV maintenance, and I agree it should simply be done quickly but it's the other way around. OEM Subaru CV joints with broken boots and clicking will run 50,000 miles without issues if you avoid slinging sand and abrasives in the joint - think southern GA sand roads and beach driving. I've done it countless times, not a big deal, they are very robust joints. If it's the inner joints start making noise, vibrating - you can clean, reboot, and regrease and they're good to go. You're talking DIY and I agree with you - but considering how many mechanics install new axles over rebooting, and this guy is using a mechanic - that makes it even less important - just run the axle another few years, might as well get some use out of them before the mechanic throws on cheap aftermarkets! Or buy a used Subaru axle for $15 - $30 www.car-part.com lots and lots of options, no driveability risks, tens of thousands of miles to plan your repair....no big deal. Steering rack boots are more dangerous because you risk ruining the rack. The dirt and debris gets in there and every time you steering it's working past a seal on the rack and will cause it to leak eventually. A leaking rack is more problematic if it's dumping fluid and you got no power steering and more expensive and a much bigger job than a CV axle.

EZ outs suck. ***if*** the EZ worked, then whatever method you use to drill the hole to use the EZout - would work better without an EZ out - so there are no gains but very risky. They often shear off and then they are stuck. Usually means drilling the aluminum out to the side of it and bashing it into that cavity you drilled. They're a PITA and not a good fit on exhaust studs, i'd never use one in a billion years on exhaust studs. 1. As he said - weld a nut to studs sticking out clean the studs up to clean metal if you can (i'm usually lazy and skip that 50% of the time). put a nut just a tad bigger over top the studs sticking out of the heads. weld the nut to the stud. let it cool. use a socket to remove the nut. if that doesn't work - drill them out. 2. drill them out. get a good set of *left handed* drill bits. start with a small bit first and get it centered in the bolt. might have to chisel/grind it flat to get it to start in the center. don't put any side pressure on a small bit - they're brittle and break easily. increase the size of the bits. eventually the remainder of the bolts unthreads itself with the left handed turning actoin of the left handed drill bit. move up to a size close to the OD of the bolt quickly - like 2nd or 3rd drill bit choice. if the threads are damaged in the head - either chase them with a tap or rethread them for 7/16" or 1/2" studs - lots of information about how to do that on hear - it's really simple. drill the first hole with a small bit so you can get it centered - the second bit increase to much closer to the OD of the bolt. if they don't spin out - drill them to close to the OD size and then you can just pick the outer shell out of the hole. use a punch or chisel or other tool to peel the reamining OD, when it's thin it will literally bend/peel like aluminum can (exaggerating but you get the point), get it started and just start chipping away at it and out itl'll come. Another option is to call a few machine shops and ask if they'll do it on the vehicle. I've actually orchestrated some stuff like this before - call around and see if any will do it, you might get lucky. I called around Florida for a friend who was in a similar situation and mechanics wouldnt' touch his toyota 4 runner due to a bad crank - i swore to him it was repairable - they said engine replacement only. i called around and finally found a machine shop that would look at it and they fixed it for like $300...i don't remember the exact price but it beat the mechanics wanting thousands for an engine replacement. he drove that car into the ground at 260,000 miles beating the snot out of it as a work truck. Yes you can pull the heads. If you go through the trouble to pull the heads I'd just have a machine shop do it - if you can't do it on the car, having them off isn't likely to help that much. machine shops do this every day and shouldn't charge too much to do it for you - they'll likely charge the minimum 1 hour rate - so $75 - $150 depending where you go. those EJ22 heads are really easy to remove - but man that's still a lot of work for an exhaust stud - too bad you got 4 of them! AH! might be simple to just pull the entire engine and do the exhaust studs without pulling the heads. buy an engine stand for $50 or cheaper used.

LT gets cookies for calling the clogged exhaust. wow - thanks for following up - most "clogged cat" diagnosis are wrong - good job testing it first! Subaru converters are designed to last the life of the vehicles - I've even spoken to engineers that work in plants that make catalytic converters - but that's hardly needed with the decades of 200,000+ mile OEM installed converters that never have issues on well maintained/no issue Subarus. I would keep a close eye on the fuel mileage, performance, and engine codes and make sure you're not burning up the new cat.

it doesn't matter. don't read all the obsessive oil information on the internet. you can switch brands and weights all day long. follow the owners manual and you're golden. 30 year old Subarus and 200,000+ mile Subarus run all day long with whatever is cheap and on sale - brand, weight matter not in oil longevity. again - follow the owners manual.

that's not a seal on the drivers side and isn't routinely replaced, leave it be unless you clearly see an issue with it. although technically you haven't told us what engine you're talking about - but no EJ engines have a replaceable seal on the rear of the engine or anything replaceable on the drivers side rear.

Can't swap to a 4 cylinder, there is no such thing as a kit. If there was, a kit like that would cost more than just buying a used H6 engine. These engines are easily found: ebay www.car-part.com various JDM suppliers will ship them to your door- they're roughly $1,000 out here.

wow, nice hit. so there's one seal device (oring) between the handbrake mechanism and the caliper bore? no other gaskets or anything?

do you need to take the emergency brake stuff off? i just rebuild them without touching the ebrake stuff i think - it never fails. if it does just get another used one, not worth rebuilding something that has an extremely low failure rate. otherwise they're really easy, no special tools needed for a rebuild. you probably know this but the pistons are on a threaded spindle as he just said and need turned to move - there's a tool that's like $5 or less at any auto parts store for turnign the piston, just slap the side that engages the piston the best and put your socket wrench on it, looks like this: http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_20553.jpg

compression test might be the simplest valve test at this point - pull plug and test.

I think we need to know for certain whether or not the spark plug is firing. Have you verified that cylinder has no spark? With a timing light or pulling the plug wire and watching for spark? If you swap wires it still does the same thing - no spark using two different wires? Or by "firing" do you simply mean that cylinder is dead? If that's the case I'd be checking valves like fairtax said - maybe something went awry while adjusting or there's a shop towel stuck on the valve (just kidding)....but something?

Okay - so you were told cylinder 1 and 3 misfire and there are codes. Advance Auto, Autozone and other national chains read the codes for free so you can swing by one of those places if yours doesn't work to check. "customer diagnosis" is frequently inaccurate. If it is 1 & 3 I think I would be inspecting timing belt alignment, 1 & 3 are the passengers side cylinders.

Oh if you looked at the cap and rotor - you can turn the engine over either by hand (using a 22mm socket/wrench on crank pulley) or with the key (be careful) and watch the rotor spin as the engine turns. if the rotor doesn't move then the timing belt is broken. still better to check the timing belt itself in case something else is compromised but the rotor spinning is an easy test anyway as it's driven by the drivers side timing belt - the one most prone to break.

Most of the time if there's no issue before hand but is after some work is done - something is wrong with the installed parts. You had the same symptoms twice after dropping the trans and checkign things again? Can't imagine this being anything but how did clutch alignment go - you had the tool or are confident it went in properly? Maybe they're the wrong part or problematic in some way. Can you verify part numbers - still have the packaging from each part (not just a packing slip or receipt or order form - but the actual product package)? Or installation went wonky. I bought a clutch kit clearly labeled 2.7 liter XT6 clutch kit and it is not an XT6 clutch kit.

yes they fit. sometimes that era impreza rear struts sag a lot and you get the droopy rear end - if that's bad enough you might have some light rubbing in the rear particularly if you load the car up. but in general - there's no issue at all putting 16" Subaru 5x100 wheels on a 1997 Impreza, i've done it a ton of times.

we have XT Factory Service Manuals available at subaruxt.com for free. they have the EA82 engine in them and may be helpful as the FSM has what I think is all the trouble codes in a diagnostic tree format. i imagine you can find the FSM elsewhere too, google search, etc.

EJ22's don't blow headgaskets so they aren't typically replaced without reason. They're readily run 300,000 miles without issues if the engine has never been severely overheated. If you do replace them - they are super duper easy on that engine, so not a big deal if it's already out. The headbolts are external and crazy simple to remove. Use Subaru or high quality head gaskets - the cheap ebay head gaskets are no good. Failures immediately or under a year are seen - you can google and find it. Resurface the heads - easily done yourself, find the thread on here how to do it. This: And cam cap orings - there's two of them. If the separator is plastic, replace with a metal one. Otherwise just reseal it if it's metal like the early 90's stuff is. I often just replace the knock sensors too - they're like $10 on ebay and the most common sensor to fail, makes sense to me. Gates timing belt kits on Amazon have the belt and pulleys for cheap. Yours has the old style tensioner so it won't come with the timing belt kits - just the tensioner pulley will. You have to buy the tensioner separate to replace - the old style tensioners rarely fail where as the new style fail frequently. I'd replace it simply based on age and unknown history at this point.

you said "like 1 and 3 are not firing"....that's confusing...is that an example or literally, "like", you read the codes? 1. is the check engine light on? 2. read the codes and tell us the exact numbers. spark, fuel, and compression - check 'em.

gear oil is full? was this transmission operating perfectly 100% fine without issues (besides clutch slipping) before the work was done - or was this a car you recently got and don't know? you adjusted the clutch cable after installing the new clutch? what all did you replace? just the clutch? what about throw out bearing and pressure plate?

did it do the steering column clicking noise the second time too - i wonder where the fuel pump relay is...but you say you here it priming right?

read the check engine codes? broken drivers side timing belt? pull 3 10mm bolts on each side timing cover. if the drivers side isn't turning then the distributor isn't turning and the crank angle sensor isn't firing and you may also not get fuel if that's not happening? what do you mean fuel is going into the throttle body but not making it to the injector? how/what exactly are you testing?