idosubaru

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.

with the exception of the SVX (and arguably the old school 3AT) subaru auto transmissions are very reliable and not prone to many problems. except torque bind of course and that's reasonably addressable in most cases. i've had very few problems with my now approaching 20 year old auto transmissions in my XT6's. i've only replaced one with 150,000 miles and it took a beating from me before i knew much about cars. all in all, subaru auto trans seem fairly solid...for an auto trans of course!

i think a transmission cooler is far more valuable than what type of ATF to use. some transmission shops install after market trans coolers on rebuilds as standard practice because they are that effective at preventing trans damage. of course they get to bypass the weak and unknown condition radiator that way too. consider an aftermarket trans cooler. any type of off road or towing, heavy load usage should definitely get a trans cooler.

zillions of threads and details covering this. very easy job to do, sounds like you'll have no problems doing it. tons of tips here on getting the crank pulley out. remove the fans and you'll have plenty of room for a socket wrench. and yes, you are wise to go ahead and replace it. pay attention to the pulleys while you're in there. make sure they are solid, not noisey and don't free wheel too easily. you're not going back in for another 100,000 miles, it's asking a good bit to count on all those pulleys lasting 200,000. replace the water pump for the same reason.

looks great. excellent job. did you rebuild the block or use a used one? did you paint the block for any reason other than cosmetics? the EA81 cams are internally driven by a crank gear, is that how it works?

do not let it overheat. the radiator, hoses, clamps, thermostat, radiator caps....if they haven't been replaced they can easily cause overheating at some point. overheating is not a good thing. if you keep coolant and fresh oil flowing to the block they wont' see significant wear.

same here on 20 year old 80's subaru's. still rolling with original shims and clips. pad slap them and away you go. i've seen very few brake issues with subaru's. none of the 12 or so that i've put significant miles on have made any noise.

i've run them in FWD for a long time. it was a long time ago but i'd say 6 months to a year and 10,000 or more miles off the top of my head. done it on automatics and manuals with no problems. for long term i remove the driveshaft, don't know if that matters but i figure that's no load on that output shaft. yours probably has the screen type filter if it's a pre-1998 model. you might want to skip replacing that, i wouldn't do it. those things don't require replacing and they are just catch screens like in your oil sump pick up tube and fuel pump sock, they are never replaced. ive replaced them but they're never even remotely dirty and are a pain..particularly when the gasket leaks afterwards which is usually the case! you can have my impreza parts car with manual trans for $200!

why do all that work if you're planning a swap anyway? change the fluid or run it in FWD until you have the swap ready to go.

the old one isn't reusable at all? put a post in the parts wanted forum. find out which heads are interchangeable, you don't have to have a 2002 as the 2.5's are indentical across a wide range. pick up a used head and have it rebuilt. i know an excellent aluminum head speciliast in eldersburg, MD that i take all my heads too.

cab, i like that idea as i want to be driving this one now. i can reinstall later. i'm going to try one other compressor (since nothing airs up even when i power the compressor and solenoid). after that the coil overs are going in.

i'd read the packaging of the adapter you plan on using, it should state the capacity. i personally would not tie it down, but that's just me. or tie it "up" i should say. i guess it would take off a few pounds, but i don't think it would matter. i don't think at 180 it's fine and at 205 it fails. there's surely a huge safety margin implied if they say 200 pounds.