idosubaru

why won't they match?

not true, you can also run in RWD. which the title of this post suggests he is doing.

rebuilt motor, bring it if it's known to be rebuilt and known to be a good job. entire block? just head gaskets? turbo gaskets, water/oil lines? sounds like a good car if it's a quality rebuild.

the SVX has the only higher final drive ratio, but like mentioned above it has different axles. it would be a very very small difference in gas mileage anyway. getting different tires is probably a much better alternative - skinnier and taller = better mileage. tire compound makes a difference to but harder to compare.

what are the differences between the 2.2 and 2.5? i've yet to see a local 2.2 with a blown headgasket for sale eventhough i've seen some with 200,000 plus. see about one 2.5 every month or 2 for sale with a bad headgasket....and that's only the ones that admit it! the problem areas may lie where the 2.2 platform was changed to accept the 2.5 goodies. seems to me the coolant passages would be similar since the heads are interchangeable between the two, but i've yet to open an EJ yet either.

i wouldn't get the 2.5. there! the turbo seems expensive. there's a local selling a 93/94 legacy turbo for $2,000 appears to be in great shape. i'm tempted but i'm moving.

forgot about value. if you plan on reselling and it's badged as being in and accident before then that will deter prospective buyers. it may even end up with a salvaged title depending on your state laws.

you will definitely want a stand alone/dedicated ATF cooler. yes your car has one now, every automatic subaru has one. they are incorporated into the radiator side tanks. very weak design and since the ATF doesn't even pass through the fins, only the side tank..and coupled with the fact that the radiator is heated by the engine coolant makes it most inefficient. an aftermarket cooler costs $30-$40 brand new. completely bypass the stock ATF routing and go with a dedicated ATF cool, it's well worth the investment.

if you get larger wheels you get smaller sidewall tires so the actual wheel/tire combo size does not change. but...if you wanted to go with larger rims and tires you can do that as well. the dealer is F.O.S as usual. "mess up the cars sensors"??? what they have "wheel size sensors" on them? ha ha. your limitation will be clearance if you want larger tires too, but you can for sure go up a size or two with no issue.

does it matter AWD/FWD? i don't guess it does but dealer gave me FWD sway bar bushings and they wouldn't fit in my AWD. that plymouth idea sounds crazy...any chance of posting a picture of those? if anyone else tries this, post pic's if you can. just curious, i won't have time to do this any time soon.

pat yourself on the back for not reusing that thing after it was beat though. that's one job you don't want to say "well that's good enough" on.

grr...can't do that weekend. any weekend in august is bad at this point.

crack, that's crazy. yeah i'd beef that thing up. i'm surprised the hatch is open (won't it hit someone in the head if the shocks fail or hit a bad bump?) and why don't they have a wheel or something under that seat? i'd probably have a shop that speciliazes in trailers make you a heavy duty high class hitch if you can't find a bolt on.

what happened to the old engine? how are the fusible links (by the battery)? pull them out, make sure the ends are all clean and none are broken. reinstall. make sure the engine connectors are fully seated. it is very easy to plug them in but not have them fully seated where all pins are engaged. double check. is the CEL giving any codes in the trunk (LED on the ECu will flash the code for you). check the distributor plug connection. check the engine grounds. forget where they are on the EA82T exactly. front drivers side of engine on XT6, but EA82T could very well be different. the FET is a small dime sized device under the coil. it needs to be grounded and in good condition for the car to start. it's attached to the coil bracket and has one wiring harness connection. make sure the distributor and rotor are good. pull it off and look. i've had brand new ones self destruct internally (and still spark...but at the wrong time). you get no spark at the coil or plugs? you didn't do any swapping of engine harness, distributor, body harness or ECU right? all that is identical? same year and model EA82T? all EA82T distributors do not interchange. check this list and let us know what you find....sounds like alot but shouldn't take long at all.

1 inch is way too much if what yo'ure talking about and what i'm thinking about are the same thing. sounds like you need another driveshaft. VERY odd for them to fail that early.

if the engine is already out then i wouldn't worry too much about ATF coming out. it's in there, but keep it facing "up" and it won't drain. it only drains out the shaft, not the front. so keep the motor side facing down and the trans side facing up. shouldn't be on there that bad, i doubt yo'ull have much problem freeing once you have at it.

i doubt you'll get a solid answer on this. exact transmission interchangeability questions are usually not answered very precisely. find out what final drive ratio you have. (probably 4.11 or 4.44...but maybe 3.9). any transmission from a 2.5 liter subaru will bolt up just fine, make sure the final drive is the same. (although even if it's different you could swap the rear differential as well). i can't recall when major changes were to the 2.5. try nasioc as well they would likely know the major changes the 2.5 went through (if any). as far as i know any transmission from a 1996 - 2001 2.5 liter will bolt up just fine...just make sure the final drive ratio is the same as yours or you swap rear differentials (very easy..it's like 3 bolts) as well.

what a job this turned out to be. 2 hour timing belt/water pump/oil pump/seal job turned into a marathon. titanium and cobalt bits did nothing, noone had diamond tipped bits but i can't imagine they'd last long enough to do anything. this bolt was HARD. i suspect the last time a water pump was done the person replaced the bolt with something else...stainless steel bolt or something because it was hard as crap to drill out. and i bet that's part of the reason it was seized in place as well, material. and i bet that's why my wire feed welder couldn't weld it very well....maybe the material would have been better with higher end welding. the steel tube cutter was awesome but wouldn't work because by the time i made it the bolt was already flush to the motor. so it was hard to get started perfectly, when i started cutting with it i ran into part of the remaining bolt somewhere and by then the groove was made and i couldn't get it to track without hitting the bolt. i should have used this method first when part of the bolt was still remaining. once it hit the bolt the steel would widdle away immediately, but cut the aluminum great. i continued drilling and took out a large swath on the "outside" of the bolt. then knocked it until it fell out of that area i drilled out. i had a bad block in my garage so i made sure to drill an enormous hole on top of that hole and check for any coolant passages. luckily there's nothing even close. in the end it left enough threads to put a bolt in but reduced some of the sealing area for the gasket. but all the gasket mating surface bewteen the bolt and coolant is fine, only the very outer edge of the bolt was drilled away. been driving it and so far it's fine. thanks for the help guys!

$215 is a great deal. they'll likely try say...well you need this and that once you're in there. water pump is a good idea but 96 is non-interference so it's *less* risky. but overheating a motor will toast it just as quick as an interference engine on broken belts. water pump, oil pump and cam seals are best done concurrently.

get a new car. yes they can repair it. yes they can repair it to dead on. but with that much damage it is very likely the metal has been compromised throughout and stressed. with a car that nice and safe i would not compromise. particularly considering the situation. if you were rear ended and it's someone else's fault you can ALWAYS get your way if you play your cards right. your best bet is to get an attorney NOW and let them settle this for you. i know people that have had 20 year old volkswagens completely rebuild and salvaged....thousands of dollars of damage on cars that were worth hundreds at the most. if the accident isn't your fault you can always get your car back however you want it. have it fixed, get a new one...it's up to you...if you persue the right course of action. this is a legal matter at this point and as much as i hate lawsuits and commonality of them, this is a matter best in the hands of an attorney.

if it's been loosing coolant for awhile and it's getting in the oil, then putting alot of time in it might not be a good idea. rod and main bearings don't last too long with too much coolant in the oil. normally the block may be fine, but with much coolant or water running with the oil it's questionable. depends how long and how much and where it's been loosing coolant.

others here will know better but i wouldn't expect any damage from that. those cams are quite snappy though. with a leakage test i think air would blow past a bent valve way faster than it'll leak through the rings. i think that would be obvious.

what do they do at the factory? did they break-in every production car off the line?

good job. complete new rings, bearings and everything? nice, interested to see those pictures. runs rough, any noise? HLA's tapping? timing belts off one tooth. distributor not set properly in housing...a tooth off (probably wouldn't start or would run really bad). ignition timing needs set?

also the oil pump has what you might call guides, kind of low profile ridges on the outer and inner diameters that ride along both sides of the timing belt. just small ridges sort of. these can separate from the pump, probably would have to be previously damaged to do so.