idosubaru

wheels won't affect the AWD at all. keep the offset close to stock as possible to save your wheel bearings or just get another set of subaru rims that you like and put on there. don't recall ever seeing an OBS with sunroof either, never noticed that.

they all bolt up until 1999. The bell housing changes on 1999 models. It is still workable actually with some customizing - but not a bolt up.

yes 15" wheels are fine - or better yet go to 16", that's what i put on all of mine. better selection and nicer looking wheels though the tires are a bit more expensive than 15's. at 10 years old and using it for long trips i'd want to do a complete tune up - timing belt, water pump, and any leaking seals (if not all of them), spark plugs, wires, PCV Valve, air filter, and fuel filter. sounds like a long list but isn't that bad of a job.

it's a horizontally opposed 4 cylinder engine - also known as a "Flat 4". there are two heads, two timing belts, and two pistons face one way and two face the other way. looking at an exploded picture view of the engine would help. and right the EA71 - those are 7.1 liters right, they have to be they're so fast!?!?!

you're right, i edited my post so noone gets confused. i would have tested it - (but i was on dialup!)

really??? it doesn't have cruise control? i thought they all did - mine does. you can source all the components and install a stock Subaru OBS cruise control. i know people that have done that, but haven't done it myself. as a matter of fact - i wonder if it once did have it but somehow was swapped - is it the stock steering wheel? or does someone know if 99 impreza OBS's may not have had it from the factory? reason i ask is if it did have it at one point (and someone swapped steering wheels) all of the wiring may be present? you could tell by looking in the engine bay, but i'm guessing to my surprise that some just didn't have it.

hmmmm.....drool.....wipe off keyboard.....glad you found that thread!

Ah! forgot - noob - welcome to USMB - doubtful you'll have a question that can't be answered here, how sweet is that!?!? anything that age needs a good looking over of bearings, brakes, axles, etc.

EA81 refers to the engine - and also reveals much about the chassis and other parts as well. Someone else will probably have a more eloquent explanation than i can come up with right now. The designations do represent the displacement of the engine. For example the newer vehicles have EJ25 - which are 2.5 liter engines. Your EA81 is a 1.8 liter, not sure why they dropped the one or it's backwards like that, but the 8 is a reference to engine size. The EA81 is a neat little beast - no timing belts!

WOW phil - that is awesome, you da man for keeping that all straight. i like the ignition coil on the left - throws us subaru people off. and what is the distributor doing up front, baffled by that one?

While you're surfing USMB - it's also helpful to make a folder just for Subaru information. Create documents with links to specific USMB posts that may interest you in the future.

you are good to ask, thanks for doing it! it's smart, makes things more efficient and you really get more information that way. the search function works best with 4 or more letters. that's been brought up multiple times and it appears there's no way if you want to search for something with 3 letters there is one option that works fairly well - try this: *XT6 or XT6* the most handy feature i like to use is to go to "Advanced Search". Rather than click on "Search" - click on the little arrow right next to it and go to the Advanced Search option. When you do that you can narrow down the forum - like yours would be Older Generation forum. Then you can also narrow it down by "search titles only". good luck!

you're welcome. i responded to your PM's so i'll leave it there and wait to see what happens. go ahead and respond here though it's easier to keep track of. good luck!

what's up st. clairsville, im not far from you! yes leave the AC lines all connected and tie it out of the way. other than that, it's not that tricky. separating the engine may take awhile, just keep working your way around the bellhousing until it starts to separate. that's the most tedious part. rust is your enemy here, a real time killer. rusted exhaust manifold bolts or motor mounts can ruin your day. hit them with PB Blaster, Deep Creep, or Liquid Wrench as many times as you can before starting the job. Preferrably a couple days before, hit them once a day or something. Do the same with clamps in the engine bay - any that look salvageable anyway - radiator, heater hose and ATF lines. if they're really rusted, just twist and rip them off with channel locks. make SURE you have the torque converter seated properly when reinstalling, there are numerous threads about this on here. not doing so will trash your trans. pull the radiator to protect it from swinging engines.

get one of the torque converter holes lined up through the inspection hole in the bellhousing. then hold it there while rotating the engine (flexplate will move with it). when it's lined up your done. and like john said - if the engine and transmission bellhousing don't seat flush before bolting those two things together it's not fully seated. actually the torque converter bolts should draw the torque converter "out" of the transmission about 1/8" so to speak. not doing that right risks ruining the transmission, see a couple of those a year where people don't know or assume it's right.

no problem, i hope it helps. if you go to do one be sure the print out the endwrench article on them and combine that with the tips from here - it's like a fine meal..a little of this, just the right amount of that!!! hmmmm.....

EJ25's are going on 10+ years old now too. engines are not like wine, they don't get better with age. an EJ22 vehicle will be much kinder to you (everything else being equal) than an EJ25. it's rare that people need "second" engines, but it does happen. there are instances on this board that you will find with a search. spend some time searching and reading. there are only a very small percentage of users of this board that are here to help and advise. like you, most coming seeking advice, not reading other threads. many, particularly ones with blown engines or seeking advice, come when they have issues and to ask questions and that's it. so it will be sparse getting any feedback from a large majority of the members here. if i had to have an EJ25 vehicle i'd buy one with a blown motor and install a CCR engine before paying average rates for a "good" one. actually i just bought a Legacy and yanked the perfectly good running EJ25 (with new headgaskets) out of it to install a better motor!

if you line the timing marks up before removing them - then the cams won't snap in such a way that they cause any damage. i believe it's just the drivers side top cam that is most prone to snap, but it won't cause anything to hit and you just rotate it back.

i would do that in reverse order, i think you'll find the ATF change may help significantly unless the tires have a significant size difference or have wear causing the same.

first the EJ25 - then the EJ22 or is that a typo?

it's not amazing, there's something abnormal going on. either it's very light braking, highway mileage or the pads were replaced and it's not known. imagine driving 100,000 miles while never stopping...lots of highway miles will allow higher mileages.

yes, it's easy. i never use a special tool. line the marks up before removing the old belt. remove it and reinstall. if one cam snaps out of place, no harm done, just move it back the same way it snapped out. i had no problem doing my first DOHC timing belt. special tools are way overkill. there are loooong discussions about special tools, ordering, part numbers, dimensions, tricks, and making one...but it's unnecessary. get small c clamps and pad them to hold the timing belt to the sprocket when reinstalling, that's a fantastic tip i saw mentioned by the new guy aircrafte. the belt will want to sort of pop off the cams when you're first installing it. taking the cams off is another task as they are typically very tight and that's what the previous poster is referring too. i leave the old belt in place and remove them that way.

awesome - thanks for the update and glad everything is going well! wonder if there's a thread in the USRM detailing these links and efforts? replacing the rear clutch packs and Duty C are common enough that it should be - but i've yet to do it (crossing fingers....).

if yours is a known good engine i'd rather rehab that one. is there anything wrong with it? thing is - even a "low mileage" JDM EA82 engine will still have seals in it that are 10 or 20 years old and be prone to leaking...so it'll need all the typical stuff that yours might need anyway - timing belts, crank seal, oil pump resealed, cam seals, cam orings, valve cover gaskets, rear main, separator...etc. if yours has good compression and runs good it may be worth keeping. just look up "JDM" for the motor you're after. completely anecdotal since many people have good luck but i bought one a year or two ago that came complete with bad head gaskets.

if you have limited vacation and you're not hurting for money then loosing vacation is a huge cost. i wouldn't have to anyway, but it wouldn't be worth it for me to use a vacation day just to fix a car. i have friends too that only have one vehicle so the thought of taking that vehicle down gets cumbersome - needing rides, needing a part or a ride somewhere, they're less likely to do big jobs or wait a long time to do it. not everyone has 5 subaru's, poor people!