idosubaru

the cylinders are typically in tip-top shape. i've pulled 200,000+ mile heads and they have always had the crosshatching. the only thing i've seen is rust spots on blocks that have sat for awhile. if done properly the head gaskets won't be an issue, you'll have other problems first.

funny you mention that, who was that with? this surprised me two days ago. with Liberty mutual my 2 XT6 is nearly twice that of my 97 OBS. i called Nationwide this week and there was no difference, every vehicle on our policy was within a few dollars ($5) of each other. I asked and they said they don't "calculate it that way anymore" or something to that affect. The airbags, ABS, two doors and even the fact that we have far more vehicles than drivers (2) didn't matter. I was surprised as well, but I guess different companies do different things. They said with newer vehicles (around 2000+) that would change significantly. Still curious if that's what would happen if I went through with them and gave them VIN's, and actual information, from what they said and your experience that is probably the case. maybe you could try another company? if you went to college, check with their alumni association. or any other possible group...military, etc. i get group discounts as an alumni of Georgia Tech and absolutely stellar rates. literally cut my insurance in half. HAAAAA!!!!!

this area has bargain basement EJ's as well. getting one for under $500 is easily doable. i'm sure there's other pockets..probably further up the northeast, colorado is a dime-a-dozen area too. that one sounds like the early impreza out here, needs a power steering pump $500. with EJ's you're getting airbags as well, none of the EA's had that.

search should bring it up...i know later models do like 1997 and up...i'm on dial up so i'm not searching for you! search button, click on "New Generation" and do some searches for "EJ22 hydraulic valves" "Hydraulic valves"...something like that.

i'd go for a Legacy too if you can find one in your price range. price wise it's usually easier on the pocket book to go with a loyale or EA82. there are great deals out there if you keep looking, but EA series stuff is far more prevalent and typically gives you more options than EJ stuff. finding an EA in great shape with under 100k on it is far easier than an EJ. but there's even 97-99 impreza's around me right now for well under $1000...they need a bit of work but far nicer than EA stuff and easier on my eyes than those early legacy's.

You need new ignition wires (spark plug wires). Use Subaru only, the only suitable substitute for aftermarket wires is Magnecor. After hearing a loud noise it might even be worth checking to make sure the wire didn't just detach itself or looking at hte engine and make sure nothing is flopping around or obviously wrong. But i'm guessing the loud noise was a backfire? As a side note, this is only for Subaru EJ engines, not a "general" rule of thumb. The EJ motor (like the EJ25 you have in the 2001 Legacy) are not forgiving when it comes to ignition components, it is best to use OEM Subaru plugs and wires. The plugs, NGK, are available far cheaper at any auto parts stores than at Subaru. Now there is a chance it is something else, but yo'ure at the mileage that the wires need to be addressed.

170k is high mileage. and another important thing to consider is age...if it's a 1990, that's a far cry from a 1999. a 1990 has had 9 years more of possible hose, radiator, clamp, water pump, thermostat, coolant loss, heater core or other cooling system failure. overheats significantly affect the life and reliability of a headgasket. an older car is more likely to have those kinds of overheats. if it's a 1990 and i know nothing else about it, i'd be more inclined than a 1999 that came out of a really clean, one owner, well maintained wreck. where you draw the line is up to you. on an EJ i'd probably err more towards...time is money and they don't fail very often so i'd leave it. my problem though is that i've never personally bought, seen, worked on or touched an EJ18 or EJ22 that has had a failed headgasket. as soon as i start seeing them, as GD and others surely have, then maybe that will change. low-mileage EJ engines aren't hard to find though. i look for them with 80k-100k personally and in those cases i don't replace the head gaskets. they are easy enough to do in the car (although i never have had to for an EJ18 or EJ22) that it's not worth all the extra effort to me "just in case". last one i picked up was $150 with 100k, i didn't have to pull it and that's with a warranty. if you're still worried, do a leak down test on it. if it "passes", it doesn't necessarily prove that the headgaskets are "good as new", but sure is reassuring. although i think for HLA equipped EJ's they can fail the leak down test due to the HLA's not being fully pumped up from sitting...which they do quickly once the engine is started. so might depend on the engine whether that's a worthwhile test or not. if they have adjustable valves (depending on year), i would do that with the motor out for sure.

yes, i'm positive of that. i haven't found XT6's difficult to come by. i had 9 XT6's on my property last year. i've gotten 4 free and had opportunities for more in the past that i just didn't have a need for, but of course chance is the rule here. one in MD was posted on here by a member in CA and i followed up on it. keep your eyes peeled. saw one in the paper last week and drove past one in a fenced in yard a couple weeks ago, i might stop and see if they want to get rid of it, i have some friends that might drive it. there was a member in Ohio that had a few that he didn't have a need for, but haven't seen him on here in awhile.

Seeing bubbles immediately after doing coolant system work sounds completely normal. Do you mean you just saw them after and not before the cleaning? What prompted the cleaning...perfectionism or did it look like total nastiness in there and you have other reasons to believe there are cooling system issues? for any pre-2000 Subaru's the head gasket problems are almost always accompanied by overheating.

They're all metric, that might be the key if you were trying standard sizes. It is good to know that most of the threads on Subaru's are a 1.25 pitch thread, very simple, just need to find the diameter. Easiest solution would have been to take the other adjusting nut into Lowes with you and match it up on their thread finder charts.

the recent storm proved the same thing...they suck in the snow. going down hill is just madness. the snow tires help some, but still annoying. i'll probably go play another day and see the difference between pulling the fuse and not pulling it...just for kicks. i didn't check, does ABS have a dedicated fuse in the interior box?

can you compare the new axle to the old one and make absolutely sure it's correct? you didn't pull the axle from a 5 lug converted vehicle or something similiar like that?

investigate further, remember that diagnosing over the internet is quite a chore....so more info is good. how are the bubbles happening? any overheating? are the bubbles happening all the time or only some times...like after overheating and shutting the car off?? etc.....bubbles alone don't verify anything.

define "right". throw $20k at a machine shop and they might think about something like this. but as a project that would actually happen, no.

stub shafts - they are easy to remove from automatics, but they are not removable from manual trans without splitting the block. if it was in the future anyway, do an XT6 5 lug conversion and then using XT6 axles? if there's any way to do everything at the same time, swapping in the AWD trans now would save you time. for gas mileage - an 88-91 FWD manual XT would have been an awesome starting point. 40+ mpg all highway driving right out of the box and the best hp rating of any non-turbo EA engine you can get.

way too high. but, you're paying for the mileage, not the vehicle. if you're a mileage buff then you'll have to make that decision. frankly i'm not impressed with low mileage cars, they have more issues, and more "strange" issues in my opinion. but my experience with low mileage vehicles is limited. if it has a 3AT transmission then avoid it unless you like doing transmission swaps. 4EAT is the far better choice if you want an automatic trans. i know some wagons , like the GL-10, and XT, XT6 had the 4EAT. those are not bad...you know, for auto transmissions.

before someone else says it, the DCCD in those beefed up STi 6 speeds have computers/controllers. your Legacy has an ECU (engine control unit) and nothing for the transmission.

yep, awesome, this should be very simple and straight forward. now as for the final drive ratio, i have no clue. i doubt they differ unless the engine changes. from what someone else suggested if the trans comes from a car with the same size tires as yours, then it would have the same final drive. i haven't verified it yet but just food for thought. as a FWDer it really doesn't matter! have you found any difference between those and the legacy FWDers?

yep, awesome, this should be very simple and straight forward. now as for the final drive ratio, i have no clue. i doubt they differ unless the engine changes with it. from what someone else suggested if the trans comes from a car with the same size tires as yours, then it would have the same final drive. i know that's a bizarre statement and i haven't verified it yet but just food for thought. as a FWDer it really doesn't matter! it really only has 3.9 as an option i believe though, can't think of why/how it would be anything else on a FWD impreza. have you found any difference between those and the legacy FWDers? in the legacy FWD was offered up to 1997 in the automatic variety. 1996 aren't too hard to find, 1997's are unicorns and rarely actually listed anywhere. not sure the last year manual FWD was offered.

no, you'll need to find an LSD!! i already answered this: do a search for more LSD rear diff information, this place is loaded with information and options. EJ LSD's are easier to find, but they aren't typically clutch type (they are viscous) VLSD and not as beneficial in offroad/snow. so depends what you want it for too. racing or messy driving?

yep, good call john. the early impreza's have different stub axles. you can not swap the stubby shafts (well you can, but you'd have to disassemble the front differential from the transmission...huge job). you can on an automatic, pop-out and pop-in, but not on manuals. the easy solution is to get whatever FWD transmission you want and get a matching set of axles for it. if you get a 1995 transmission, get 1995 cv axles to match. the wheel/hub side will be identical.

not sure. these guys have an okay parts look up function: http://www.subarupartsforyou.com/ i'd call the supplier and a subaru dealer to verify.

also revealing is the depth of the lip, you can see a definitive difference in the lip height. and giving what he just said about using the same pulley in both locations, it looks like that is what was used. of all the problems swapping those two nearly identical pulleys would have, i don't know that this would be it. so long as the pulley is lined up properly to the belt and is able to rotate with the belt, it would at most artificially change the timing. if it wasn't lined up with the belt, then it should destroy the belt, not the pulley.

i'm not sure why those part numbers don't match up, but they have a phone number on that ebay page, give them a call. Also - punch in THEIR part numbers into a Subaru online website and see what you get. If my internet wasn't slow right now i'd check it out too. I've purchased those kits before off of ebay for EJ engines and haven't had a problem yet. But I haven't purchased any 2000+ kits yet from them.

is the 85 an EA81 or EA82? if that turbo car is an automatic then i guess it has a 3AT transmission in it - that thing won't be compatible with anything and is worth the most by dropping it off to the scrap yard. get rid of it and swap to a manual transmission. don't bother saving any parts off of it, they are not compatible if it's a 3AT. if you want a 3.7 final drive ratio, forget swapping front diffs, that is an enormous job that you don't need. just get a manual transmission that has a 3.7 final drive. any turbo manual trans will have 3.7 final drive, an RX (they are all turbo's) or an XT Turbo manual transmission will definitely have a 3.7 final drive. in reality the 3.7 verses 3.9 final drive isn't much of a difference so just use what you have. someone did the calculations on this board, the difference isn't all that large. for EA82's - it's not model specific for the LSD's - you just have to look. the only model that always has an LSD is an RX - all the rest could go either way. as for the final drive ratios - i don't believe you can swap front differentials from automatics to manuals. on the actual ratios - this information is probably already here, did you try searching? there's a "search" button up top in the gray bar. no the final drive is not only different from automatics to manuals. RX and XT Turbo's manual trans have 3.7 final drive. if turbo wagons are the same, which i think they are, then all Turbo's are a 3.7 final drive ratio. a search should clarify whatever you need to know though.