idosubaru

replace the cabin filter? at 140,000+ miles it's probably warranted. did they check the axles? they can sling grease onto the back of the engine or exhaust. but it's grease not oil so it doesn't flow and drip and is slightly less noticeable. if the axles have ever been replaced/rebooted then maybe a small amount of grease squeezed out and got slung around like that rather than blatantly obvious amounts when the boot cracks. i've seen that before too - more likely on aftermarket axles.

TWE made some custom pipes for the turbo, someone down south still has a few new ones for $200-$300 each. delta cams for cams. intake and exhaust however you prefer. later XT's have spider intakes with a little better flow. i forget if the 86's have those but i thought they did not? pretty simple stuff. the EA82T is widely known in the Subaru world as a ticking time bomb and the worst engine subaru ever made. it's a really poor platform for anything but cheap maintenance, daily driver. the reason i say that isn't to dissuade you, but that upgrades generally mean more power and heat - not good on 25 year old turbo's, gaskets, bearings, and Subaru's least reliable motor ever. this is not a WRX - this is old school primitive engine management, terrible engine design, poor flowing heads, poor flowing intake, 2 valve per cylinder heads, on an engine that can't keep itself cool. go play with it, most of us enjoy tinkering and trying things out, so by all means tear it up. just be sure you go into it with the right mindset, that's all. or crank the boost until you blow up, move on and be done with it. most of us wish we would have taken this advice a long time ago

Wow that's crazy, that's like two threads like this in a week and it's the first time I've ever heard of it. The other guy just spliced in new solenoid or two as well and didn't say anything so I'm assuming he didn't do anything special. I would just solder it and shrink wrap it. I would avoid electrical tape.

pull engine, start disassembling until the heads are off. keep good track of all the parts and reassemble just like it was. in some ways it's really hard. the way you ask the question *suggests* you have no idea where to start and this job might be too big for you. it is quite an undertaking - it doesn't cost $1,200 to replace a $60 gasket for no reason. in other ways it's not hard, there's just a lot of bolts and parts to keep track of and pull the motor. this motor is really hard to do in the engine bay - you can try and jack the engine up, unbolt some mounts, etc but it's not a fun job without pulling the engine. it's the hardest subaru engine to do in the car and isn't possible without at least moving the engine some.

yeah nearly everything should be indentical then between those trans. you can physically swap them actually if you get a matching rear differential to match the lower 4.11 gear ratio of the L trans. it'll plug and play and work just fine. as for TC and FP line up, just make sure when you attach the engine and trans there's a gap between the FP and TC - they should NOT touch when the engine and trans are fully seated together. installing the FP to TC bolts should "draw them together" so to speak. if the plate touches before the engine trans do then it's not fully seated. there's no concerns on orientation between the FP and TC, doesn't matter so long as all the bolt holes line up.

what years are we working with here? 1990 and 2010 legacy trans are not interchangeable. regular verses outback won't be a problem swapping those parts. the years might cause issue. I'd replace the torque converter seal, the graphite-like bushing/seal that goes around the torque converter shaft (Subaru only item), and the rear seal the driveshaft slides through.

you don't need to leave any of them in place. the rear piece isn't required to be removed for timing belt purposes so it's an extra unnecessary step for someone just doing a timing belt job. belt covers have accommodations for the oil pump sending unit wire or the oil dipstick. i run the wire behind the belt and believe I usually run it behind the passengers side tensioner to keep away from the belt. the dipstick i think i leave the center timing cover in place (using only two bolts so it's easy to remove) so as to keep the dipstick holder in place.

be more specific. you can do anything you want to a car with enough resources or money. 5 lug swap is nice and opens up lots of wheel options. you can bolt on nearly any Subaru 5 lug wheel ever made except for SVX wheels and 2005+ STi's. i would opt for preventative maintenance and a reliable vehicle. those motors turn to garbage really quick if the turbo blows or they spout coolant leaks. coolant leaks are easy on cars that are a quarter of a century old - there's radiator, gaskets, and rubber hoses everywhere that are prone to leak.

+1. if you want to play with it, make it louder, and enjoy the novelty of it, then go do whatever you want that you like to tinker with and play with. you'll learn as you go. if you actually want it to accelerate faster then reread GD's reply. it'll take a motor swap or forced induction (turbo/supercharger) to make that actually happen.

your hunch is correct, the 99's have the Phase II.

yeah that's just all wrong. these motors run for a very long time. they end up in Junkyards for all sorts of reasons, but not usually the engine. wrecks and rust are the most common. i wouldn't install an engine if it wasn't good for another 100k, that's just a waste of my time. i installed an EJ18 into mine, $150, 3 month warranty, 100k. I got 40k on it right now and expect another 100k easily. the EJ18's and EJ22's are excellent motors, some of the best subaru ever made for reliability. if you keep them from overheating or running out of oil they essentially outlast most other things on the vehicle. rebuilds as a rule are really expensive and time consuming (making it even more expensive to pay someone to do it). the parts and machine costs to do it right add up very quickly. that's nice and all and maybe is a good fit for some people but way overkill on a subaru considering the myriad of options for cheap reliable solutions.

There's no wiring issues at all, that's the easy part - just bolt the entire EJ18 manifold onto the EJ22 like GD said. if the EJ22 has a knock sensor just remove it and send it to me or you can just leave it there. some EJ22's only have single port exhaust EJ18's have dual port. you can either look for EJ22's with dual ports (pre-1996) or you can just swap the exhaust manifold too - it bolts right up and swaps directly in place and you essentially have to remove it/unbolt it from the engine anyway to replace the motor so it's hardly any extra work. you'll want an EJ22 with EGR as EJ18's have EGR

That's really high. You should be getting a 30,000 - 60,000 mile EJ22 resealed valve covers, cam seals, crank seal, cam cap orings, oil pump resealed, water pump, timing belt pulleys, timing belt tensioner, timing belt, rear baffle plate resealed, PCV valve, spark plugs, and plug wires for that cost. Dealers only charges $1,200-$1,500 to repair the headgaskets, is there a compelling reason you're wanting to double the cost to repair your vehicle? Conversion costs can vary wildly due to costs of engines which can be all over the place and varies too. Some place overcharge for engines, $1,000. Others might be $300 but also have high miles. It's really hard to say it costs a certain amount but $2,700 is certainly way too high. So the place might not be able to source a reasonably priced engine. Find out why the cost is so high and go from there. If it's labor then I'd think I'd shop elsewhere. If it's the engine then maybe you can source one and have them install it. Folks on here might even have something.

post in the parts wanted forum. $365 in Fort Worth, TX 1-800-862-9802 No price Fort Worth, 1-800-838-9901 $350 in TX 915-877-7075 I'd do just what you said and get a used one and try it out and see if you like it. If that works out then look into suppliers if you need quantities of them. They're very robust engines and not prone to issues if taken care of. ebay is great for parts as they have complete timing belt kits with all new pulleys for only $60 or so, great deal.

it's either oil dripping on the exhaust and burning off or axle grease splattering out of a cracked CV boot onto the exhaust. CV axles are no big deal. if it's an oil leak i'd consider it no big deal as long as it's not the rear main seal (highly unlikely), pan gasket, or headgasket. problem is all oil leaks typically coagulate in similar ares so an unfamiliar inspection might not help. generally the furthest forward and outward you find the oil is probably it's origin - start looking at the front of the valve covers and work your way inwards and back - as soon as you see oil that's a likely leakage point. you could post a picture of the underneath of the engine here as well to see if we can tell.

sounds like HG but make sure first. the HG are actually easy to do on this car (as far as headgaskets go) and does not require removing the motor, can do them right in the engine bay.

+1 mine is 3 feet and i'd like a 4 or 5 footer.

the 2.5 isn't a bad motor and is not to be avoided. you just want to proceed carefully with that knowledge in hand. a board member is selling a newer legacy outback right now that's been swapped with the more reliable EJ22. i realize you want more power but the EJ22 is more reliable and cheaper to maintain. you can also try to find one that's already been repaired. the 2000 (and some 99) models are less prone to issues and when it does happen they are far less catastrophic as they don't overheat and leave you stranded, you just drip coolant and have no symptoms until it runs low on coolant and then starts to overheat. they can be driven for a long time like this...but anyway - the 2000 and up models are more preferable for that and other reasons. you should be able to find one in your price range.

they've tried a few different things, it's a tough thing to get right really, they're in a tough position. many folks have more than one too.

where does that information come from? if it's just based on threads i'd guess weather and time of year has an affect too. charts of new members and threads/day for a statistical anaylysis?

any EJ25. well, i haven't checked the 2010's yet but i doubt you're looking for that new.

are they Subaru rotors or aftermarket? an aftermarket rotor could be made out of cheap steel and not as tolerant. newer generation subaru's warp rotors like crazy though. my 2002 OBW is vibrating like mad now once they get heated up. warping older generation subaru rotors almost never happens for me and i've been driving those since 1993. the newer stuff just warps more for some reason...heavier cars?

suggestions still apply in terms of heat. removing the pan will no longer be an option obviously. you didn't say manual trans. actually you suggested the opposite - tranny fluid suggests Automatic Transmission Fluid. Manuals use gear oil, not tranny fluid. I don't worry about semantics but without knowing we have to guess. typically good to lay out there what model, trans, etc.

they're experience might inform you here, that's why i'd call. that's the closest HLA to the relief valve spring, i expected the opposite. personally the HLA's from mizpah are so cheap i think i would only have two solutions here personally. one would just be to leave it for awhile and ignore it which is probably what i'd do but i'm so strapped for time i just wouldn't want to take the carrier off again. the other would be to go in and replace them all again on that side. the labor involved wouldn't be worth my time to try and guess which ones are bad or if any of the others are compromised and might cause issue later.

slides are likely frozen or the piston is stuck in the bore. sometimes they are REALLY hard to remove, like they'll need heat to get them out. easiest solution is to just get a used caliper and bracket and install it. if you're rather not spend the $50 you'll have to examine it first to see what you'll need. if you can get the slides off you might just need a new boot or nothing at all if you're really lucky.