idosubaru

awesome dude, glad it worked out for you!

there's different kinds of off roading and different objectives. if engine/exhaust clearance is your only concern definitely swap the cross members, it's super easy to do. you don't have a turbo cross member do you? it's still in the RX isn't it?

i bought one from advanced auto parts and it's POS to work on subaru heads with. you think this one from sears works well on the EA82's? the one i got doesn't really work at all...requires other tools to coax the valve retainers off.

sounds like a head gasket unfortunately. if it was previously overheated ever (highly likely in a 230,000 mile/20 year old car that carries a $500 OEM only radiator with no aftermarket source)....then it's almost a given.

1-828-724-1616 these guys have an ECU for $65 from a 1998 Impreza have you done any jump-starting or had any recent work done? I wouldn't expect an ECU to go bad for no reason.

with multiple codes showing i find it best to attack one at a time. in your case i'd look to solve the idle circuit malfunction problem first and go from there. it also might be a good idea to reset the ECU and see which codes appear immediately on the next start up. this would show the most emminent issues. not really sure on the speed sensor things, that's an odd ball of sorts, don't see very much of that. the vehicle speed sensors in older subaru's never cause issue, even when they cause the CEL to come on, but the newer ones could be completey different. that's why i mentioned that i'd look into the idle circuit more, it's more common and causes more issues on older subaru's when the VSS never does. but again...newer generations are completely different. you should be able to score a relatively cheap ($50) used ECU (engine computer) to swap in place and see if that alleviates any of the codes. he mentioned TCM - i'd guess he has an automatic.

the lines between colors seem random and don't offer much to the vehicle. not that they look bad, but they don't offer or do anything for it either. maybe that's just me. it's hard to tell with that drawing, i'm not really good at picturing colors too well. kind of sucks that the coloring doesn't show the actual brilliance of a fresh paint job. doesn't do justice to what you're idea.

there are a number of on-line vendors mentioned on this site. use the search function to find out more. Subiegal (jamie) is one, Toney is another though i can't recall their contact info. do a search you can't miss.

i knew i shouldn't have installed my engine upside down.

sure it will depending on how exactly it fails. "blown" signifies more than just a small leak so that's different in a way. if by blown you mean "completely gone, loosing 2 gallons of coolant immediately after start up", then it needs a head gasket but certainly isn't driveable. that might not be the case in this car, it doesn't say. if it's driveable i'd guess it's not "blown" by your definition as it's still driveable which is entirely possible as well. now that i think about it, myxphlyx RX is a turbo and it had externally seeping head gaskets as well that i replaced. very slow leak as he never added coolant in the year he owned it. either way it isn't a "good thing" and i wouldn't count on driving it very much in terms of making a purchasing decision.

bingo. different failure modes. internal leaks rarely last very long as they progressively get worse fast. external leaks can run for a very long time. "can", not always! i've seen a few do anywhere from 20k - 40k miles with no increase in coolant loss, but the gaskets were finally replaced.

i hate to add to your list and price but at that mileage you'd be best to replace the noisey or bad timing pulleys (one is surely to be old and have noisey bearings). if you plan on keeping the car awhile, this is highly recommended. you'd be a forever subaru hater if you pay all of this and then a bad bearing fries your new timing belt in 6 months. takes the mechanic no substantial amount of time to check the pulley's while he's in there. the sprocketed pulley by the oil pump will be the most likely to sound noisey and need replacing. others should be checked as well. dont' forget the 5 dollar thermostat with all of this too. same thing...no point in new radiator and water pump only to have the 5 dollar thermostat fail and overheat/blow up the motor. done right this joker should get you another 100,000.

i've had two non-turbo's like that. one was an internal leak that i drove for 20,000 or so miles just fine (not including adding of the coolant of course!). it was a leak on the outside edge (of the head, sort of on the fire-wall side of the engine so to speak) between the cylinder wall and one of the small coolant passages at about 3 o-oclock (looking at the head). the other was a small external leak. i actually traded for the car and was told it was a "hose", nope sure wasn't it was a head gasket. passengers side seeped out the back ever so slowly. this one leaked very slow, rarely needing coolant. i replaced the headgaskets on both of these. lots of newer generation vehicles will leak slowly as well, dodge neon's, any pontiac or buick with that POS 3100 6 cylinder, the subaru 2.5's...etc. all can be driven for quite awhile before serious issues occur. similar failure modes but much larger frequency. and of course i've seen the completely blown head gaskets before as well. loud and wet!

i just installed larger wheels/tires on my XT6. the on-line tire size calculator said i should see a 5% difference due to the larger tires. i am only realizing a 3% increase, not sure why that is but apparently there is something inaccurate in the speedo, the calculations, tire size consistency. i know it's minor, but just a heads up.

this is definitely fresh oil. XT6 has electric power steering, not around that area where it would be on an EA82. oil is the only thing it's loosing and it's alot. and there's a lot of oil on top of the block. i mean oil, not caked on grease/dirt/grime. definite signs of oil just pooling up. oil filler is on the other side on an XT6 so that's not it either.

what's it worth to you, that's what matters. if you really need it, you may not get many chances down south to pick one up. might be a good deal for you. rats , i'd be checking the wiring too. rodents are fond of chewing insulation and wires.

i just installed impreza aftermarket steering rack bushings on my old school XT6. fit perfect.

i had this same problem years ago and i did get it to tighten without any crazy effort or tools but can't recall how. off the top of my head i'd run a die over the threads and equally run a tap through the castle nut. if the threads on both are clean and perfect it should glide right on with easy. then as soon as it grabs the hub it'll tighten. be sure to run it a number of times and sort of "push/pull" while turning the die over the threads. i like the jack idea as well.

i wish! not valve covers i've seen plenty of those. it's coming from the block. not the cam towers, centrally located - the block. it's directly under the intake manifold on the p/s half of the block. two of the bolts that hold the block halves together sit in sort of "indented" areas of the block. these are filled with oil just sitting in them. no signs of spatter or spray, just oil lying on the block.

my daily driver XT6 has oil on top of the engine. spark plugs 3 and 5 (passengers side rear two) have oil around the spark plugs, appears to be flowing from underneath the intake manifold and towards the center of the engine somewhere. most of the oil is just sitting on top of the engine block. PCV system is all clean and tight there is no oil on the wiring, hoses, etc. just on top of the engine block. can the bolts that hold the block together leak? wouldn't that be really odd? i don't see it pouring out from anywhere but i'm putting 1+ quarts in per 1,000 miles. i'm thinking i'll clean the top off as much as i can and see if i can spot where it's starting.

are you sure you want an engine swap for mild piston slap? from what i've read piston slap isn't a big issue really. might want to read up on it some if you haven't as except for the noise it's not much of an issue from what i've read here on the boards. if you already know that...then pardon the rambling!

i've seen seized timing pulley bearings on number of occassions. in those cases none made noises, but i imagine they could as i never drove them until they failed or tore the belt up. replace your belts and pulleys and you're probably golden. good time to replace the water pump and oil pump seals too, and cam seals. it's all right there once the belts are removed.

hubs are cheap and easy to find and easier to swap out if you can't get anywhere.

andy, sure valve adjustment party sounds good. and bring those snow tires with you!!! never done it before either, all my older soobs have HLA's and 200,000 miles...no adjustment ever needed.

there's some excellent DIY porting tips but i'm not home to look up the link. the basic idea is that you cannot properly improve flow without significant bench testing and matching of the ports. so you can't do a full on race, redesign of the heads. what you can do is smooth everything out. you're looking to take off all the casting flash around the edges and make all the ports relatively smooth. particularly around the valve radius' as well. you'll see the casting flash, it's very prominent. smooth that out. the other thing is to intake and gasket match the heads as well. typically the gaskets between the heads and intake manifold aren't perfectly matched. look to have a smooth flow from intake, gasket to head. on the older EA82 and ER27 motors you generally have to cut the gaskets down significantly as they protrude alot into the flow path. i have pictures of this posted at http://www.xt6.net but it doesn't really relate at all to your 2.5 motor except in principle. good luck and have fun