idosubaru

99-01 EJ22's are fine. you can not drop in a complete earlier EJ22 and have it be plug and play. different wiring, sensors, etc.

a guy on subaruxt.com, i can't recall his exact user name but his name is Wayne. he did that on his Subaru and it worked. he has a thread there about it. it's easy with good tools. the axle nuts can be insanely hard to remove. have an impact gun, torch, or 3/4" socket set available. i've sheared off multiple 1/2" sockets, breaker bars, and socket wrenches on axle nuts. i now have a 3/4" socket set and 900 ft/lb impact gun, it's easy. wrestling with that nut can mean the difference between 5 minutes and an hour. if you have any rust at all - just remove the top strut mount bolt, it's the only bolt you have to remove to remove the axle. loosen the lower bolt, remove the top one an the knuckle swings out enough to pull the axle off the trans first, thread it upwards towards the hood, then snake it out underneath. you have to mark the bolt head (not the nut) of the top bolt since it affects alignment. it's really simple, just mark it with something semi-permanent or permanent so you can resinllat the bolt in the same position and maintain alignement. with the wheel off you're only removing one bolt, one nut (axle nut) and loosening another to get the axle out. and knock the pin out. the axle pin holes only line up one way when reinstalling, take note, the pin won't fit if it's not the right way. self explanatory when you look at the splines int he shaft at each hole. it's not symmetric from one hole to the next. 30 minutes to swap one axle....plan on an hour or hour and a half for first time. that should roughly cover it. i get used Subaru axles with good boots for $25-$33 each and then reboot them. that's a great way to avoid the aftermarket axle junk and it's inexpensive too. not that i recommend it or consider it good practice but i've personally rebooted noisy axles and haven't had issues with them yet. again, not saying i'd do it on someone elses car, one i'm selling, or even very often, but i've done it before and so far no issues.

i overlaid multiple gaskets and couldn't tell a difference. maybe because they were all used gaskets or something and kind of trashed?

i had some EJ25 and EJ22 heads lying around, I couldn't tell a difference between the two. it did appear like one set had L22 and another L25 on them....that looks like 2.2 and 2.5 markings? intake and exhaust valves are the same on Phase II 2's, how do the heads differ? cams probably...?

great, thanks Shawn, got the heads bolted on tonight.

What is it? Same as Phase II SOHC EJ25 head bolt torque procedure?

yes - you need ANY 99+ EJ22, that will work. they are kind of pricey since there aren't many of them around and they were phasing out EJ22's which are no longer used post 2001.

most likely it's a leak from any number of other of places - hose, water pump, clamp, etc. with an unknown prior history and 15+ years on it there are other possibilities, though unlikely.

been there, done that. it's the axle. stuff it full of grease and you can drive cross country (you'll just need to stuff it a couple of times). GD is right. i've done this multiple times, i drove two thousand miles from Colorado to Maryland doing this (i bought a tub of grease and made multiple stops). for kicks i rebooted that axle when i got home and it's been fine since then - over two years ago. i won't call that normal or a good idea. the joints are heating up and expansion is causing temperature related interference. it goes away when you stop and let it cool down to ambient temperatures.

95% for $150 sounds great to me and is definitely what i would do, but that just comes down to opinion. $150 to be done with it and save the time involved in removing panels, painting, delivering, picking up, is worth a lot to me too. if that %5 bothers you and you want perfect then the new hood sprayed by a professional painter you trust would be a great option. i wouldn't price shop too much on paint, i'd go for quality on automotive finishes if you're paying someone to do it.

they should be just looking for a cat. that doesn't mean if they see something else they might not check into it further, but i would think that's really rare. never heard of anyone having an issue with this fix on other forums.

XT6 has a FT4WD transmission. they do not have hi-lo, and it isn't "pushbutton" in the normal sense of the word. XT6 is full time 4WD the button is to lock the center differential. pushbutton transmissions typically refer to the PT4WD, the part time 4WD transmissions that are in FWD until you push the button (which is often, or always) on the stick shift itself.

pro's and cons to either. the EG33 is an awesome motor, very reliable and few issues. if you're really doing a turbo then i would look into which is the best for turbo applications since that's a high demand use of it.

phil - kingbobdole has done it, he's got more info and pic's and information on subaruxt.com about it. he also dropped his into a manual trans as well. there's a few other H6 (EG33) transplants and a few turbo's as well into XT6's. getting a wrecked vehicle is a nice way to do a swap.

don't swap cams - just the cam sprockets. and crank sprocket too just to be sure. you *might* not have to, but it is simpler to just swap them. sometimes you don't have to swap those - i haven't nailed down when they are different - but the sprockets just have different trigger points on them but are otherwise the same so therefore interchangeable. use the 2.5 cam and crank sprockets and intake manifold. use the 2.2 exhaust manifold. that's it.

it is 1.25 pitch threads. diameter - probably M8x1.25 if you find another 12mm bolt that looks just like it in the engine bay - or the 12mm rear 12mm drive shaft connecting bolts, they'll be the same threads.

nice hit, good score. so you still driving it? i had a new rotor fail (on an XT6 - same rotor as EA82T maybe) after a couple weeks/month too. the end of it just came apart...guess it too could have been disty failure if it was causing the rotor to tear up - but i seem to recall the rotor looked like the failure point.

is it really that bad that it needs to be done now? sometimes they can be told the HG's are bad but it's seeping so slow it doesn't even register as fluid loss...>?? i've seen some recent discussion about using the Turbo headgaskets instead of the non-turbo or possibly the 2010 headgaskets. i wouldn't want to install the same headgasket again.

use it where? how do you use it on door latches - up underneath or from the inside?

often times the door will open...but then won't shut and latch. today i opened the door and it wouldn't close to i tried locking/unlocking to free it up only it went to LOCK position and then wouldn't unlock (i did this manually). so the locking/latching mechanism is freezing shut somehow. what am i looking for? and what do i do about it? spray everything down and regrease? what kind of grease for door latches, locking, whatever parts are in there?

up to 2008's (probably 2009's too but i haven't seen one yet) are showing external headgasket leaks. 1996-1999 and 2000-2004 and 2005-2009 are all a little bit different in how they fail and the symptoms they exhibit. your uncle can keep driving the car as-is, it won't cause any issues as long as he doesn't let it run out of oil or coolant. they typically start leaking so slowly it doesn't really matter, not enough oil loss between oil changes to worry about. he can live with it until it gets bad or try to time the headgasket job with a timing belt job to save some work/money.

great thanks porc - i tried to briefly look up OEM but couldn't find it so I just posted that as a price reference showing that they're cheap. i'd go with the $129 OEM unit myself.

MWE in Colorado does top notch work - the only new/rebuilt axles worth buying in my opinion - the only i ever buy if needed outside of my normal rebooted used axle routine. but - MWE isn't what most folks do as it costs more and requires shipping, returning cores, etc. well worth it for a 100% solution to avoid the aftermarket axle circus.

i would lean towards something like Beck Arnley personally or another well known brand. that is almost exclusively what i have and they seem great. i've probably got 5-10 boxes of them in my garage. my guess is that most boot failurees are caused by installation error - it is easy to nick a boot during install or removal of the cumbersome axle in tight places.

reboot your axles. buy new boots. rockauto.com has amazing prices sometimes, but have to play with shipping. aftermarket axles suck - there are countless threads on every single subaru forum about aftermarket axles having issues. even if i have a failed axle i don't buy new ones from the store. Subaru prices are insane and aftermarkets suck really bad, i've personally had countless issues. if i have to replace an axle i buy a used subaru axle and reboot it. KYB are popular struts on Legacy and Outback, I would assume that's a good choice for impreza as well. thepartsbin.com rockauto.com have great prices online - and you can also look for specials and deals online - get a code that you enter when you check out and get 20% off sometimes. advance auto parts also has online codes where you can buy parts - get %20 off (or $25 off $100 or $50 off $150, etc). you can order online and pick up in store. if the local store doesn't have it in stock (so you can't get the discount online and pick up locally)- call them, ask them to order it so it's in their inventory, then order online to get the discount. lots of options. rockauto can have really crazy cheap prices (sometimes, not always). but - make absolutely sure it's the right part, their database is rather sucky and will list parts that dont' fit the vehicle you entered. just google, ebay, or use any other parts place to verify (advance, napa, etc).