idosubaru

leave the portion of the driveline connected to the transmission in place to keep the rear extension housing sealed. or get a FWD transmission. if it's for gas mileage reasons, you won't notice any difference, i've done it in both manual trans and auto trans...not for gas mileage purposes but i watch my mileage consistently and no difference running an AWD trans in FWD. otherwise, just leave the driveshaft in place and you're golden.

has any recent work been done? could be a connector pulled apart partially or something like that. no changes you can feel in shifting or otherwise?

Yetiman - on the harsh shifting. i forget what year you have but on the older 4EAT auto's there's a shift resistor bolted to the passengers side strut tower in the engine bay. i actually disconnect mine to make the shifts firmer. they are quite violent, but i do it because the older XT6's have a slow/delayed 3rd to 4th shift and this helps that out alot. but it increases the snap in the 1st and 2nd shifts. i would bet this shift resistor is unplugged....or the wiring/pins are out of line!! it may be on the passengers strut tower, if i remember i'll check my wife's 97 impreza. i know the SVX is in a different place, but i think the early EJ series motors are on the strut tower. on the snow driving - try installing the Duty Solenoid C switch. only requires splicing into one wire and make the automatic transmissions HOT HOT HOT in the snow. makes driving in actual snow phenomenal. it essentially "locks" the front and rear wheels via the transfer clutches. info on this board about if you want to search. otherwise you have to rely on the TCU which really limits the AWD performance. don't really need this unless you're off road or in serious snow/mud/slippery stuff.

that is some serious damage. park sisters car by dog. leave window down. most hate bugs and kill them. most hate mice and kill them, a small contingent of mice hugging trappers out there. farmers hate birds that doo doo 4 inches of dung on their equipment so they shoot them. horse owners shoot groundhogs that make holes and break horse legs. some shoot cats, and love dogs. some people don't view dogs much more than other animals. some people, sadly more and more in the past 10 years, treat their dogs better than their kids. we all draw our lines in different places, this dog-shooting discussion has come up a few times. it is interesting. glad it didn't turn into a name calling heated debate!

if cheap is important, the best option is a couple used units (order from the south or other non-rust states). they tend to last quite awhile if they don't rust out. throw a spare in the trunk, they're super easy to swap out (not counting the 3 mounting bolts that are likely rusted). have zip-ties ready too. another board member installed an MSD fuel pump, $100 new here: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=MSD%2D2225 here are discussions about installing the MSD pump on an ER27, which is the same pump as the EA82: http://xt6.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1742 http://www.xt6.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4104&highlight=fuel+pump i bought this same pump and couldn't get it to work right. if i hard wired it, it worked fine, but for some reason it wouldn't come on if i plugged it in? maybe i had the wiring backwards..doubtful since i hard wired it fine, but who knows. it's been sitting since last summer and i'm about to try to get it to work again in my XT EA82 instead of my XT6. i had good customer service from Summit, they said they'd replace the pump eventhough i wasn't sure if i did something wrong or not. i kept it since i was not confident the pump was to blame.

i'd have a machine shop do the heads, most likely they will mill them no problem. be sure to tell them what you did so they can be mindful of that while checking them. did you dremel tool the block too or just the heads? this is a terrible suggestion but worse case scenario you could get very fine body work sandpaper and gently go over any knicks or cuts in the metal. focus only on ones that interfere with suspect areas of the block/heads and gasket. this isn't recommended at all for head gasket mating surfaces but if the surface is uneven in anyway, you'd at least want it smooth, you'd introduce a slight warp to the block or head, but better than a compromised spot in the form of a gouge or knick. depends where the marks are too....if you removed metal right at a water jacket or something that would suck. again...horrible idea and i can't see the heads, but if they are really bad then i'd opt for a smooth head over one that's gouged. that picture of the block looks mighty clean. the older generation head gaskets are usually clumped on there and leave permanent impressions in the block. the blocks/heads i've pulled on higher mileage motors are much more caked on and very hard to clean up. worst part of the head gasket job to me is the clean up. no cleaner, scotch pad, chemical solution has helped more than a tiny bit so far. i hope the newer ones are all as easy as those pictures as i haven't had to do one yet! it's worth the machine shop time on the heads just to let them clean it up then i only worry about the block.

awesome job yetiman (a.k.a. mr. resilient) , i don't see a reference to this "bad wire" earlier in the thread. where/what was it? glad you found it! so...you selling or keeping this "project"?

here are some pictures of the area where the WGDS is and what it looks like. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=55964 not sure on pin number for it. you can use a continuity tester to check for pins if you're not sure. i wonder if the ECU is capable of running without those disconnected and not show a trouble code? i know the car will run fine without the O2 sensor disconnected and i'm pretty sure it won't show a CEL as i've driven that way many times. it will throw a CEL if it has compromised input from those sensors, but doesn't care if they are connected or not. on an MPFI i don't believe there is anything in place of the boost switch. but i'd like clarification because i just swapped from turbo to non-turbo. if you need that bracket i have one i don't need from my conversion.

the rear control arm is the assembly that the hub/bearings are connected too. it would be very difficult to confuse with anything else as it's the thing the rotors/wheels attach too. it is shaped quite funny...sort of an "L" shape. the bolts can be stubborn as all get out to remove, they are big and typically rusted in place....of cousre that's my east-coast experience talking. but not that bad, i removed an XT6 rear like that not too long ago. if you're willing to ship the dash trim and/or steering column covers let me know. they are very very delicate and normally break though, so tread lightly around them. actually i doubt you can get them off without breaking, kind of a hit or miss type procedure.

how many miles and what engine? i think this would be an EA82. if the "knock" is just tapping, then you may only need to reseal the oil pump (which could be causing your massive oil leak as well). $20 for the parts to do that. for compression - probably head gaskets. the bottom ends typically don't need rebuilds. new headgaskets and oil pump seals might take care of business for you.

should all swap over. you will have to take the power steering and the lines from the pump down to the rack from the 2.5 to put onto the 2.2. aside from that you can use either the 2.2 or 2.5 stuff.

dude you're almost there....same thing now except missing one step. tighten strip make-something-work

i thought about that as well but i'm almost certain it wouldn't work. with some customizing you could use EA82T injectors on the XT6, the EA82T ECU to drive them and just duplicate the signals for the other two injectors, but then you'd have to time them properly anyway....which is a MS-like process. extra injector and stock XT6 ECU is the way to go without getting into stand alones. but hey.....there's always one way to find out! do it! when i get the turbo on mine i'll swap in an EA82T ECU and see what happens.

or....the TPS screws strip. so you end up drilling them out. another favorite of TPS fun.

good point. tire companies would have you believe that if you buy new tires and don't get an alignment at the same time the tire will detread and separate within minutes. i'm a little peeved at the hundreds of needless dollars i spent in the past, trying to make up for lost time and save others. let me say it this way....proper alignment is very important. but that doesn't mean it needs to be done with every tire change. i will also correct myself based on your comment on another point, most cars (newer ones for sure) should definititely be inspected closely or aligned after suspension work. the older subaru's (that i mentioned before) don't have all the degrees of alignment so they may not be as susceptible as most vehicles. EA and ER series subaru are missing one of the three adjustments, it's not possible.

not true. they are replaceable...sort of. if you know how to do it and get the right parts. they are not designed to be replaceable. they are designed as a part of the driveshaft without the intention of greasing or replacing. it can be done, but it's not a typicaly u-joint replacement on the EA82 and ER27.

listen to 1 lucky texan. alignments are not necessary. i've put 100,000 miles on a car, had the suspension apart multiple times, driven off road, and never get alignments. even after the repairs that "require" alignment. i replace ball joints, hubs, struts, tires....never get alignments. my tires have always warn perfectly even. until they start to wear uneven i'm not dropping money on an alignment (or more importantly letting someone else touch my car).

i'm still stuck at "fog lights never made sense to me". i've yet to see them make any difference driving in the fog. inspection is like any other system, lots of things to pick apart, but you gotta play it. the title of this thread is really the beginning and the end of it.

make sure they are OEM Subaru wires. that can cause problems similar to what you are describing. the newer EJ22 (your 2.2 liter) and EJ25 motors are not very forgiving and don't work well without OEM wires. NGK plugs should also be used. the ignition coil pack would also be a good thing to look at. but a used one for a couple dollars and swap it in.

it's easier to talk in terms of your circumstances, what is happening? to try and answer....it could and it is designed to do that. but that doesn't always happen. it is possible to have a bad sensor but not throw the CEL. that shouldn't happen, but it can (though rare).

the ujoints are not replaceable. they are staked in ujoints and there is no replacement. but - rockford does make a ujoint that will work in place of the OEM design. requires a little work to install them, but afterwards they are greasable and replaceable. i rebuilt my XT6 driveshaft this way. forget how much the ujoints cost, but they charged $50-$100 to install all new ujoints that i purchased, i forget exact price. well worth it for a new driveshaft.

i highly doubt you'd have to remove the steering rack to remove the inner tie rod. i've never done it, but i've removed/installed a number of steering racks. i would be very surprised to hear differently. should be a fairly straight forward process. the outer tie rod is only attached by one bolt, so once you remove that it will dangle down freely and you should have access to the inner rod and boot as needed.

from NAPA? the ones i've bought before suck hardcore. i'd imagine a good stainless variety that doesn't rust should work. the ridges arent' good for flow, but we're not talking high performance here and is a great way to do it yourself. how long has he had it on his truck? lots of miles/use on it? so...this has 2 O2 sensors and you're worried about removing one of them? can you reinstall the sensor somewhere else? O2 bungs are 2 dollars at the shop, maybe you can just install one in your new exhaust setup. guy gave me one free when i stopped in the muffler shop and asked for an O2 plug. or as a last resort, let them install it for you in the pipe you're going to use. let us know how it goes.

this is a board members RX now sitting in my driveway. the rear wheels are collapsed in due to rust and the wheels are resting on the inner fender well. they are mighty picky though with inspections...funny thing, this car passed inspection last year!?!?

i thought that SPFI and MPFI all had the same fuel pumps. all non-carbbed EA82's have the same fuel pump. do a search, there was a great thread just yesterday about fuel pumps, lots of pic's and aftermarket fuel pumps discussed there.