idosubaru

that's cool it's running and looks nice, glad he likes it, that's all that matters. financially it's a terrible deal. yes you can easily get an EJ vehicle for that price range. 3 or 4 years ago i got my wifes 1997 Impreza OBS with 60,000 miles for less. antiquated in many ways - ugly, no safety features, no air bags, weak brakes, horrible wheel upgrade options, underpowered. age affects things as bad as mileage anyway...seals, gaskets, rubber, hoses, etc. hopefully it's not an automatic, then he got completely ripped off. if it's a manual AWD that's cool.

any previous work done to this car? original engine? head gaskets replaced? how many previous owners? have the cam sprockets ever been removed? i think there's some info missing. the cam sprockets are installed on the correct sides? the pulleys didn't get swapped around (can't imagine it but..)? the crank sprocket is installed properly?

chase the threads in the exhaust. at this point the threads on the O2 sensor are likely damaged as well. chase those with a die as well. a fine file will work too to clean them up if they're not really bad, which they probably aren't. assembly with non-permanent lock tite. heli-coil or timeserts would also work but they can run $40-ish. taps and dies are expensive as well. a shop might charge $50.

i don't know of links off the top of my head, but i could find them in a minute or two with some searching here and online. there's also the FSM's, a bunch of us have those we could send...i think there are even sites to download them from?

it certainly depends on the overall condition of the vehicle as well, but $1,500 isn't unreasonable. if it's the car you want then price out the parts and buy it accordingly. if it's listed at $1,500 and the motor is bad they'll probably take less. i would definitely put an EJ22 in it before buying a used EJ25. the last thing you want is to go through all that work and end up with a bad EJ25 - head gaskets, rod bearing, piston slap, hole in the block. cheaper and better motor. CCR sells top of the line rebuilds if you're willing to pay. for an EJ25 it's worth it since used ones are so expensive (they're expensive because of how often they fail).

i wouldn't worry about it too much, but it is a risk for sure. the one i saw towed for 700 miles worked fine for a few years before it failed...but i never did verify why it failed - could have just been the clutch or something. so yeah, 2 miles shouldn't mean too much.

so your current automatic has a 3.9 final drive? i'm sure you have already seen it, but there's a really good manual trans break down chart that has all the final drive ratios listed for various models. any cable operated EJ trans up to 1998 will work. from looking at my hydraulic and cable operated transmissions, i think it would be a small deal to convert from one to the other, but sounds like you'd probably rather avoid that anyway. 1999+ transmissions have a different bell housing. they still work, but the bolt holes are different and require using only one bolt for the starter and not using all the holes...or drilling/tapping for the second starter hole.

first you'll want to decide which clutch set up you want - hydraulic or clutch cable. this will determine which transmission you want to get. you can essentially use just about any EJ transmission you want. do you mind swapping the rear diff, then the final drive doesn't matter? legacy and impreza axles are interchangeable for AWD stuff, so no worries there.

a cheaper option is to just swap in a used hub and don't bother with a complete bearing job. they don't fail all that often and when they do they typically give you ample warning (like yours is now) so it's a reasonable option if you have time to find one and a shop to install the hub. i did this for a friend over the summer - $40 for a used hub and he's good to go. swapping a hub is wwaaaaay easier than doing a bearing replacement. and he saved hundreds of dollars. it's a rather intense job and often will encounter rust in your area (where i'm from too!). that price doesn't surprise me, particularly for the rockville area, that's not exactly a place to get smoking deals...and if you did you might have to worry!? you could probably get it a bit cheaper, but parts alone are $100 just for the bearings and seals. really? overtightening the axle nut is bad for bearings? i've always tightened XT6 axles nuts as tight as i can get them with a long pipe. maybe i'm destroying my EJ bearings by doing this?

he mentioned the top hat, not the entire strut assembly. i'm not sure what good it would do you, but an Impreza strut top hat should fit into the EA82 bolt holes.....not sure about the "strut side", but i'm not sure what that would gain you? you might want to give a hint about what you're trying to do. like they said - the EJ struts do not even come close to interchanging with the EA stuff. the bottom mounts aren't even remotely similar.

odd for such a new vehicle, have it covered under warranty. something this new often won't have just "age" issues like a car a few years.

ha ha! lol indeed. i knew you meant the keyway, that's a stellar idea. i think in the original post though it sounded like his friend meant the pulley to the crank.

the XT6 HLA's are identical. i've seen them seized and cause tapping. that's normal and not caused by the pump itself. read the XT6 owners manual if it's still in the glove box, it even addresses that. the EA82/ER27 valve train needs volume, not pressure, so the pressure gauge is limited in some ways. a new pump might bring the "pressure reading" up a bit...but so would resealing your existing pump. for accurate oil pressure get an aftermarket pressure gauge and replace the sender.

i replied off line...you should answer those questions here. does the crank pulley look new or newer than a really old original pulley? it's possible it was replaced by the prior owner...and the old pulley did the damage. otherwise it's a two piece pulley, look at it closely (like i mentioned off line) and see if it's beginning to separate.

it's not a big deal, do it anyway you want that gets the coolant out eh? i didn't do it either way and it worked. go figure. compare a typical stant to a subaru t-stat. stant looks like a painted cardboard kids toy and the Subaru looks like NASA material.

1996 LSi 1997 L my buddies 97L is the one with craptastic handling. my 96 LSi is MUCH tighter. so...sway bar or struts huh?

Yes, the wheels are different. The L model has 14" My LSi has 15" I'm fairly certain what i'm feeling is suspension though, not just tires. I know what that feels like since I run snow tires in the winter, ha ha!! It's a very big and noticeable difference, where as I never really notice swapping wheels/tires, except snow tires.

i drive a Legacy LSi, the high end Legacy's with the EJ25. i picked up a Legacy L, the base models that have an EJ22. great car but it seems to sway side to side a LOT more than my LSi. what's the main cause of that? different struts, sway bar, or something else? two front LSi or GT struts will fix that?

sorry dave i can't recall. i've seen it but never used it yet. search for it here and google. EJ crank fix or EJ22 crank or EJ25 crank kit....some variation of those terms. i would look it up but i'm on dial up at the moment so my hands are tied.

i generally agree with the statement about the grade of bolt to use but for the cam sprocket it really wouldn't matter to replace one of the bolts that way. only should matter in a pinch though, sounds like you have plenty of time to get the right bolt. you could also place a thread in the parts wanted forum, someone could surely mail you the bolts you need.

nice hit on the brat, good luck building it, that'll be a fulfilling project when done. i thought his name was from an 8th grade euphemism....

what did you replace the fuel pump with? a subaru or aftermarket pump? new or used? maybe the new pump isn't compatible or not working? do what rob mentioned first - plug the green test connector in first in the trunk by the ECU. with that plugged in and key on (but engine OFF), the pump will cycle on every second like rob said. you'll notice in the link drew gave above that there's a subaru XT specific forum, you'll want to join us over there when you get a chance! i have the pieces to lift my XT6 2" and will doing it this fall. from what i've seen lifting 2" is about max for reliable axle life. SJR or Scott in Bellingham makes lift kits for the EA82 (which is what your XT is), you can look for him on the board here and read through all the EA82 lift stuff. like mentioned already TONS of information on here about lifting your car. just keep in mind yours is an EA82 vehicle as you read through the stuff. you'll notice EA81, EA82, EJ = yours is EA82.

xt6 oil pumps can be found online for around $150 i believe, been awhile since i looked but i had no problem finding them 3 or so years ago when i got a new one. resealing the oil pump is easy enough to do that it's worth trying to reseal it before replacing it. i can tell you for certain the ticking is coming from a compromised seal or a frozen HLA, not from the oil pump itself. although there's a chance a new pump will seal better and prevent future ticking in rare cases, i've never had to replace an XT6 oil pump to solve ticking problems myself (and i've owned 20+ XT6's) - so that's why i recommend it as a last resort. i'd diagnose the ticking as an HLA or not before doing anything to it if the engine still runs. in my experience HLA failure (sticking = ticking) goes up significantly in soobs driven with blown head gaskets. if that's the case i'd consider rebuilding yours (really annoying) or buying rebuilt ones - they're only $5-$7 each from mizpah engineering. which is well worth avoiding rebuilding yourself. it's easy but time consuming and tedious work. though worth doing once just to see. i have a pair of corteco XT6 head gaskets if you want to buy them PM me.

dave - not worth scrapping it for. there's a kit made by a company to fix this actually. it's expensive but worth it to avoid scrapping a good car or welding. if by welding you mean welding the pulley to the crank that's a very bad idea in my opinion. if you mean fixing the crank to properly attach the pulley then go for it if you have the resources to do it. for what it's worth on the EJ22's it's possible to change the timing belts without removing the crank pulley, so if he does decide to weld it, just tell him to leave the covers off...or at least the center cover, then the timing belt is changeable. if doing this, i'd go ahead and replace the pulley to the upper right with a new one since that won't be replaceable with a "fixed" crank pulley.

i've always thought all the burping threads were odd since i've never had a problem before today either. thing is - i work on far more subaru's than most, not just my own. so not just a handful, but dozens of different vehicles over the years and no problem. did the same thing today and it was a beast??