idosubaru

the cracks between the valve seats are no big deal. with maybe one or two exceptions, every single head i've pulled has the cracks between the valves. they are repairable, but can be beyond repair of course too. a good machine shop should know about this. find someone familiar with Subaru's. my machine shop repairs them with Stitch pins and knows subaru heads. the other crack sounds like it's trashed though. have a machine shop look at it, but probably easier just to get another head. a used head will probably have the valve seat cracks, but they should be repairable. all of the ones i've pulled were repairable. i'd suspect turbo motors are more prone to having worse cracks.

good brakes (not dragging) well greased, synthetic grease in the cv's and hub bearings.

caliper doesn't need to be removed to replace the pads. if you do need to remove the caliper, there are two bolts holding the caliper bracket to the back of the hub. remove those two bolts (17 mm on the XT6 and i think the same on the EA82) and the caliper assembly comes off.

forgot to add, the holes are almost always a little deeper than the bolts or studs used in them. so if the helicoil is the same...or even if it's a tad longer than the stud you shouldn't have a problem getting it to go all the way in and sit flush with the exhaust outlets. 15mm all the way. i don't ever remember having different length helicoils to choose from, i'll keep that in mind next time i buy some for sure.

first step - tatoo on your head "NO EZ OUTS!!" they suck, they break all the time and create far more problems than they ever solve. they should be illegal. two easy ways to remove it. one is to weld another bolt or nut to it. but if you can't weld or have no access to the bolt then no dice. another easy method is to cut a slot in the top of the remaining bolt so you can use a stout screwdriver on it. if it's recessed im not sure youll get a good slot cut in it. if you attempt to drill it out, get a left handed drill bit. they will help back the bolt out while you're drilling. removing the radiator and all helps, hitting it straight on is your best bet and less risky. i have a right angle drill and drill attachment that allows you to do it from above, but even with that it's still harder to get it straight and see what yo'ure doing. but if you have radiators and A/C stuff in the way sometimes it's a good option. don't forget the left handed drill bit, that's the way to go on this one. if the bolt is recessed alot, then is it possible to use a really short bolt in the threads that are still there? i think these tensioners have two bolts, so one won't be necessarily carrying any load if the other is holding the tensioner to the block. might be worth a shot. if there's enough room and depending which one it is, i might be tempted to stick a short bolt in there with some locktite (the non-permanent kind of course!). if you get the bolt out and in the process of doing that you bunged up the threads, no worries. chase them with a die. and remember that these holes are longer than the bolts used in them. so if your threads are jacked up, get a longer than stock bolt, it will reach the brand new, never used threads at the bottom of the hole and hold just fine. good luck and let us know how it goes.

the 15mm should be fine. they can be trimmed as needed, though that can be annoying sometimes. yes they are available locally. call and ask first, but they should have them in stock.

you posted at the exact same time i did, check out the pointers i posted above.

it's definitely 1.25 pitch.

yes, i've done it a dozen times. you can attempt to chase the threads, clean them up and use longer studs to see if that helps, but usually it doesnt on the exhaust studs. probably best and save time to just assume they're shot. the job is actually fairly straight forward for a helicoil job. access and room isn't a problem. the most annoying part of the deal is removing and replacing the exhaust manifold. on the ones i've done the holes in the exhaust flange are too small for the drill bit and insert, so the headers have to come off. other than that, drill, tap and insert. probably one of the easier helicoil jobs to do on a soob. if i remember correctly the hole will be actually deeper than just one insert. but you can get away with using just one or make the attempt of trying to insert two on top of each other. i've done both and had no problems either way. just figured i'd mention it in case you notice the inserts aren't as long as the studs/original holes. have eye protection handy, you'll be lying on your back with metal (possibly hot) shavings falling on your face.

i already answered this question in general format in my earlier post and am speaking from experience, not theory. it would likely depend on the vehicle, but in general no. reduction in "back pressure" does not mean higher gas mileage. GD brings up a good point about the fuel maps. dylan (a member here but not very active) drives a dodge neon and says the right year and FWD manual trans can get 50 mpg highway of course. he said there's a modification you can do to the O2 sensor that allows the ECU to run at a better mixture than stock....something very similar to what GD said. at that point you'd want to closely monitor to make sure you're not running lean. his is a very simple mod that retains the stock ECU but still leans the mixture out. i always wondered if and how it could be done to a soob. i don't have time for megasquirt but would love to learn it and build one. it's really annoying that i can't find his emails about that. i just sent him an email, hope he replies and i'll follow up with more info.

agree with everything GD says (in that last post anyway, ha ha!!!). keep trying to contact delta, have you called them, email...etc. heck if you waited 7 days already, send them a letter! in general, always go with the experience if you can. far better outcomes that way.

that's awesome info, thanks.

got it. thanks!

if someone knows and can PM or email me their mailing address that would be swell. i have a bunch of axles i wanted to get in the mail today. i forgot to ask for their address yesterday when i spoke to him.

pilot bearing or throwout bearing may be all you need. those are easy and are part of the clutch system and typically come with a clutch kit, i replace them with every clutch. if it's an input shaft bearing, that'll be inside the case and will require disassembling the transmission. i thumbed through some threads on here using the search function in the past year and got some good information for a friend of mine. i recall reading some information on diagnosing different trans/clutch related bearing noises, you might want to try to find those threads with the search.

exhaust work may depend on what kind of driving is done. on highway, country driving, an AWD automatic XT6 with a straight through muffler helps a good deal. the stock XT6 mufflers suck, not sure about others. i've swapped out cats, hollowed out the cat, installed high flow cats, custom headers, run straight pipe only, aftermarket mufflers and stock mufflers. with all the different exhaust set ups i've had it fairs best for my type of driving with just a simple muffler swap. all that other stuff provided unnoticeable gains or even losses (straight pipe). a simple google search would probably aid alot too.

scroll down to the bottom of the screen right now, on the very bottom left hand corner the site is showing threads similar to yours. use the search function to look up "performance", start by looking in thread titles only, then search the entire thread in the older generation forum. it's been covered extensively. most will tell you that an EA82 isn't really worth the time, 88hp instead of 80. cams are available - delta cams makes them for the EA82 - tons of information on them on this site. intake and exhaust is essentially build your own. remove the water coolant lines from the throttle body, switch to MPFI, get a spider manifold, loose your p/s and a/c, get an aluminum pulley...alot of work and loss of comfort and functionality to make a slow car a little less slow. i would avoid aftermarket coils, they cause problems and don't add anything. paint your existing coil red or yellow if that's what you're after!

i know this works if you drive more freeway/country driving. city mileage may be the opposite and different vehicles would have better results than others, i don't know. now that the disclaimer has been said, you can gain significant mileage by using larger wheels/tires. larger rolling diameter allows you to travel further with the same number of rotations. of course there's a limit because as the wheel/tire combo increases there are losses to be had as well, but i've done it and gotten good gains. you have to do some detailed calculating though because your speedometer will be off...and it's inaccurate to begin with. so it's hard to get accurate numbers. your odometer will no longer show the actual distance you're traveling...you'll be going further, so you'll have to figure a way to determine how far you're really traveling. skinniest and lowest rolling resistance tires you can install as well. but if you're doing this for $, then buying a set of dedicated tires won't fit the bill. but next set you get, you could down size to thinner tires. although EA81's are already insanely thin aren't they? remove as much unnecessary weight as possible from the vehicle. there's a complete thread about reducing the weight of an XT6 over at xt6.net, with some interesting ideas.

are you looking for stock spec's or performance grind spec's? you might want to have deltacams do the work for you. they have done alot of subaru work and are very famliar with cam grinds for the EA82.

Zapar, Imdew just mentioned that there are two types of 04 WRX springs, he said there are tapered and non-tapered varieties. do you know which one you used?

first - make sure it actually needs a bearing. just because someone says it does, doesn't make them right. machine shops i've taken them too will do the bearings for $50 a hub. you remove and reinstall the hub and save labor costs and dealing with mechanics. if money is an issue and the condition of the car is unknown, install a used hub. you can buy used hubs for $25-$40 easily. someone on here can probably send you one for cheap. if money is an issue it is better to do that than put $100+ into a car that ends up overheating, breaking down, needs a clutch....etc. you're not overly concerned about replacing the bearings in the "good" hubs right, so get another one just like it from a yard!

sounds relevant to me, "missing something" was what i was doing over and over and over.....

not a bad idea to check, mine never had anything go wrong that i would expect to burn the fusible links, was random as far as i could tell. all the wiring was green and nasty. crumbly bits and green stuff on the wires are bad. the outer colored sheaths don't mean anything, try to get a peak inside.

like me, you won't forget to check that real good next time, grr!

that article talks about MY series. what is that? any EA81? i have a friend with an EA81 hatch that i gave some seats to, he might be able to use that.