idosubaru

sweet use of heat! i like it!

spray them down good with PB blaster or something else. then try to punch them out from behind. use a long punch or something similar...some screwdrivers will work. gently tap them out with a hammer. they will push out, still threaded onto the screw. gently prying between the covers around both sides of the bolt will also extract it but at the risk of damaging the covers. some that you can't get to from behind will have to be addressed this way. or break them off and run without covers. not trying to start that debate all over again, just letting you know that's an option in case you didn't.

slap a new belt on and see what happens. i'm with nipper, the car will likely fire up just fine. while the belt is off, take a good look and spin each pulley/idler for the timing belt and see if any are seized or noisey. any that don't feel tight and smooth you should be thinking about replacing in the near future. you can do a leak down test without the timing belt in place.

i think $250 is high. should be able to find someone closer to the $150 range to install a complete axle, even in "city" areas which are typically on the higher end i'd think. i'll go ahead and be the weirdo of the group, a clicking front CV joint with torn boots will last 50,000 miles. i've driven them that long and they've never failed. so i wouldn't worry about it too much if that's more money than you want to spend or you'd like to do this yourself in the future. if they start clicking while you're going straight, that's when i start thinking they definitely need to be replaced. all this to say....your axle isn't likely to fall apart anytime soon, so don't feel pressured into getting it done right away. if you did attempt this yourself a jack is not enough, you'd need jackstands or blocks to hold the car. don't crawl under it with just a jack holding it.

while you were doing the work did the rotors get any bit of rust on them? if it goes away when you apply the brakes it sounds like pad/rotor issues.

doesn't sound good. on older subaru's there's a POWER light that will blink 16 times when you first start the car if the TCU sees any transmission problems, does yours do that? i'd unplug the shift resistor and see what happens. it's usually mounted on the passengers side strut tower on olther subaru's, not sure about yours. it kind of "smooths" out the shifts and drags them out a second or two. i always unplug mine to get firmer shifts. you could try the same just to see if it mitigates the problem at all. i don't think it will, but it's one plug and easy to do.

did you install new crankshaft sprockets and peg them in place? i'd install new sprockets and make sure they are pegged to the crank. a seized cam would seem to just cause the timing belts to skip a tooth, but might want to make sure they both turn over fine and aren't stressing the belt/crank too much. seems like the sprockets don't want to turn with the crank.

hard stuff would be wiring harness and ECU. if that's already pulled and ready for you, that's alot of work already done for you.

best bet is to find a complete parts car and swap out. florida may be a tough place to find subaru's though. if so you'll have to put forth cash or some legwork to find all you need. around here it would be nothing to find a complete FWD subaru with parts needed somewhere between free and $150.

lube the emergency brake mechanism with fresh grease. spraying it may have temporarily loosened it up but probably washed away whatever old nasty grease was in there to begin with. i'd regrease the e-brake mechanism. if that doesn't work, replace with a used caliper or rebuild your old one. XT6 has front emergency brakes and the only tool i've needed is the standard caliper "block" that attaches to a socket they sell for $3 at the auto parts store. is this tool set you speak of the one that compresses and turns the piston into the bore? if so, they are junk. i and others at http://www.xt6.net have used them and broken them right out of the box. i guess they only work if the caliper piston turns very easily which i have never been so lucky to have happen!

you could have a digital camera in your car ready in case you see one around. check autotrader.com for local used car dealer listings of any late 80's subaru. if it's not an XT6 (6 cylinder) it will be an EA82. snap lots of pics of wiring, hoses, fuel, vacuum lines.

that keyway/crank is fixable. i'd save that time, downtime and money, fix it the easy way and start preparing for your new car or engine swap. post pictures of it, it's fixable. i've helped a couple people fix crank ends without tearing the motor down. there's even a company that makes a "kit" specifically for the EJ22 to fix this.

here's a link: http://www.mizpahprecision.com/pricing.htm

get rebuilt HLA's from mizpah engineering. they're like 5 bucks each. or you can pull them apart and clean them yourself....i've done it but it's super annoying and takes way too long. i'll never do it again. you can also send them your old ones to rebuild and it's like $4 each. online parts prices are much better for Subaru OEM parts if you ever do need to go that route. i'd use the old rocker arms, i've never had problems swapping out HLA's before. good luck and have fun!

LSD is awesome in the snow, towing/pulling in nasty stuff and off road. for regular driving...overkill.

in general you can get one cheaper than that. but that's an excellent motor, low miles and will last quite a long time and it has new timing belts. that's a good thing. if you're looking for a vehicle that will give you lots of trouble free miles ahead, this is probably it. of course i'd talk them down.....

your best bet would be to get the numbers off the face of the pulleys and any bearing supply house can match those numbers with the correct bearings. if i were you i'd get an entire set of used pulleys. i'm sure there are plenty lying around, i have some from a 2.5 SOHC sitting somewhere. post in the parts wanted forum or find a junkyard that has a bad motor. or go to a pull it yourself yard and get a set of old pulleys. get these all rebuilt that way you have new pulleys ready to go when you do the timing belt job.

i have an inverter in my 97 impreza Outback Sport. no problems.

gear oil change. ask some knowledgeable folks about the best gear oil to use. i believe some are better at helping this grinding issue than others. i'm not one to comment on it.

the "seal" is really only the dust boot, you can't see the actual seal that holds the brake fluid in the caliper bore. but that's a good sign it's in good shape. i'd keep working at it, the caliper should slide off the pin with some effort. you rotated it up first and then tried to slide it back? is this the front or rear? i think you have drums in the rear but not sure. if it has the e-brake cable on it, that can cause sticking as well. make sure that's smooth and releasing all the way.

how have you closed the 85 hp gap?

GD is right, the stock brake lines won't expand due to severe braking or the MC. but with age they can be compromised and cause expansion issues....so you're really addressing different issues age/reliability/performance all at the same time....in which case there's no right or wrong answer. just depends how you want to address the issue of aged lines. someone posted a problem exactly like this earlier this year. they would push the brakes and have terrible braking. couldn't track the problem and ended up being one of the brake lines was actually bubbling/expanding or whatever you call it. replaced that line and all was good. with new lines in good condition GD is right. so for reliability reasons you may want to replace them in which case SS might not really be much more expensive. someone at http://www.xt6.net had a complete set made for his EA82T XT Turbo, i'd look for that thread and see who did it, how much and make a decision on what you want to do based on that.

i checked, when i pull the interior tab to release the door the latch at the gas door does nothing. it doesn't move at all. rusted somewhere maybe? i'll look into it more, let me know if you know what this means.

check all the HLA's on that affected cylinder. a bad HLA can cause compression problems as well. check the lobes on the camshaft too. a visual/hand inspection comparing the lobes to the lobes on the "good" cylinder should show major problems. leave the valve cover off when you reassemble and turn the motor over by hand once the tbelts are on. make sure the valves appear to be opening and closing correctly. if this is the case, a bad headgasket wasn't the problem to begin with so you won't notice anything. head gasket leaks aren't typically obvious unless the car is run for a long time with them bad or it's a massive leak.

rear CV axle. how many miles on it? cracked boot? boot look like it was ever replaced? sheared off lug studs held behind an alloy center cap cause ticking as well. more rattling...but can be fairly consistent.