idosubaru

spark plugs and wires are a good start. use OEM wires, i personally use magnecor wires as they are excellent and never need replaced which means they yield like new performance after 100,000 miles. and they do, as i've had multiple sets for that much and more. otherwise, don't get anything other than OEM Subaru wires for this motor. use NGK plugs only. be sure they are gapped properly. check your tire pressure. next time you buy tires get the skinniest size tire you can get. typically you can step down at least one width in tire size (or one up). if you do high speed cornering or drive aggressive then don't get thinner tires as they won't perform as well (but you wo'nt notice a difference for daily driver typical driving). 02 sensor, but i've never had any mpg increase from changing these, but everyone else says it can help as do the advertisers (but i certainly don't trust them!). what kind of driving you do makes a difference as well. more time on the brake and go pedal equals less gas mileage. make sure you don't have any unnecessary weight in the car that you're carrying around. i don't claim it's accurate but i read before that on average (whatever that is?) every 100 pounds of extra weight can reduce gas mileage by 1 mpg. for all highway miles extra weight doesn't make any difference though. i would see zero difference driving with a loaded car entirely on the highway then unloading and driving home empty. but for more stop and go circumstances possibly.

what? an EJ motor will bolt right up to an EA crossmember with no modification? that's crazy talk, i never new that but i have a couple EJ22's lying around. i wonder what kind of gas mileage the EJ22 is capable of with an EA transmission. i know my impreza gets crap for mileage compared to the older EA vehicles. my 6 cylinder XT6 with gets better mileage than my EJ22, both with AWD auto's.

cool thanks, will (or won't!) do. i wasn't going to, but sounds straight foward, i'm swapping soon as i can two the car here. looks like snow may delay that. thanks again all.

probably could. CCR has a great reputation with subaru motors and has been around along time and done nothing but subaru. price the parts or ask the local shop and see what they come up with.

cool, no need for FWD yet. i figure if they're the same gearing and it's a straight swap why not have dual range right? it's exactly the same as the FT4WD trans in there except extra gearing. i'll swap the RX motor and trans into my XT Turbo at the same time. thanks again all! awesome, you're the MAN!!!

sometimes you need to rock it back and forth or turn it a little to get the splines to line up. they can be picky and want to set dead on before it'll slide. if there are different axles (i'm not familiar with all the varieties of EJ's out there) count the splines on the transmission output shaft or on the old CV shaft and see if they match the new one too.

i think youre on the right track, i can't imagine the car running fine when cold if the timing belt was hosed. although having a cam position sensor i can see why he's so intent on checking it out on an interference motor. ECU is cracked up on the wiring to one of the sensors could be shorted/bad? probably a good idea to test continuity resistance of the cam sensor wires from the ECU pinout if you have new sensors but still have the code. i don't know the spec's of those sensors, you'll need an FSM or someone to tell you. dealer can tell you if you can't find it elsewhere. ask for the resistance of teh sensor, or test it and compare to someone else's.

thanks, makes sense. how hard is it to swap this 89 dual range RX trans into an 87.5 turbo XT FT4WD? only issue is room for the additional shifter? (not including the low range) the gearing is the same right?

is the dual range RX transmission a FT4WD or does it have a FWD mode as well? i thought the dual ranges were all FT4WD, but saw another thread today that says there are dual range trans with FWD modes.

if the CE light is on, have it checked and post what the code is. advanced auto parts, autozone, etc can read the codes for free. or dealers/mechanics do it for a charge $40-$80. give us the code and code description the decoder thing spits out. and also, mileage, ever had a tune up? recently in the shop?

if you have a 96 outback, try posting in the newer generation forums in case the valve HLA setup is different than the older generation. there were changes to valve trains in the newer soobs, but i don't know when. a moderator may end up moving this to new generation if he sees it.

that's a vent tube and is probably meant for releasing pressure, good job checking and noticing that. not sure what to do about it. otherwise you should be able to reinstall the seal and be fine if you can figure out the vent issue. make sure the torque converter is seated all the way before bolting it back to the engine. search on some other threads for detailed info, the last 1/4 inch is hard to seat right and easy to not notice before bolting it up.

yes, the distributor is only driven by the drivers side cam, independent of the passengers side cam and belt. but i think yo'ure way ahead of me anyway, with the smell and all sounds like you might be onto something i just don't know what. how about the fuses inside the cabin? those will make a popping noise when they blow as well, definitely an audible pop when they blow sometimes. i'd look at those. did you check for spark yet?

passengers side timing belt? check for spark?

could easily be the timing belts, i think you've made a good guess. pull the left and right covers, they come off quick and easy. look for bad belt. you can also remove the distributor cap to see if the distributor is turning. if it's not then the drivers side tbelt is broke. if you hear a "slapping" noise while cranking that's a broken timing belt flopping around, but doesn't always do that and might be a little dangerous if it wraps around something it shouldn't. if it is a broken belt, replace and you're good to go. fusible links are next to the battery in most soobs i've seen in a roughly 1 inch by 4 inch size black box. pull the top and have a look at the 4 or 5 fusible links in there.

i'm seeing 97-2001 impreza's and 97-99 legacies will work. other years/models possible as well, i'm not saying these are the only years that will work. i don't know if ABS or non-ABS makes a difference. i don't know if they all came with ABS or that was an option? as long as whatever you get is the same you'll be golden. it is strange for your calipers to be going out like that. any unusual service of the vehicle? towing, off road, weather? the slides like mentioned earlier should be greased with every brake job, otherwise they may cause sticking. though still strange failure rate for you...two calipers. good luck with getting it fixed.

ha ha! sorry, didn't mean to sound negative. grumpy and lonely old man is humerous! i am neither. sometimes i get straight to the point and skip presentation. that's the problem with the internet, it's like problem solving to me and i focus more on the problem solving than the person. bu that's not all bad, this is a car forum and not a social class (good thing i'm a ENGINEER - BIG DORK!!!) for those that have met me and i've personally helped them fix their cars they'll know i'm not a jerk..i think? i try to help and be as concise as possible. with time spent here and on other boards sometimes i get 'straight to the facts'. i try to help alot of people on various boards and time is limited. better descriptions are easier for people to respond to and easier for the original poster to find later if he still needs help. so i'm only suggesting it to help them. for people that post once every few months when they have a problem or peruse the boards every now and again this forum isn't that much of a concern. some of us are here often and on other boards trying to help and quite involved even off the board in various ways. i trade off quantity for presentation sometimes and for that i appologize. i'll try to be more friendly and less negative in the way i phrase suggestions. but i'm not perfect so i can't promise anything, your suggestions can be more friendly as well grumpy! thanks!

yah, i've done it before. it's not too bad at all. really not much too it, it's just annoying working from under the car and you don't have great access to the rear extension housing (where the seal is). you'll have to remove the driveshaft to replace the seal. when you do , make sure the driveshaft doesn't have any excessive rust or anything on the input shaft that could compromise your new seal. it shouldn't unless it's been replaced before. and be careful sliding the driveshaft into the extension housing when youre done, you dont' want to bung up your new seal.

incorrect. there were two different types of head gasket issues depending on year. one was an internal leak and one was external. head gasket issues are valid for any 2.5 prior to 2000 MY. they were all "limited incident issues", none are gauranteed to have it, nor have near the predictability of say the dodge neon head gasket conundrum. subaru never offered a 2.4 liter in vehicles offered in america and i've never heard of one elsewhere.

easy job. well worth doing yourself and you'll know you're doing it right. a mechanic will charge $450 and just change the belt. do it yourself and you get good info or doing water pump, oil pump seal, and pulleys while you're in there. replace any pulleys that are not tight (like a new pulley would be). if you can't take the car down for long, get all new pulleys and replace whichever ones you need and then return the others. replace the water pump while it's all apart since the timing belt has to be removed to replace it. oil pump seals are easily accessible and take a few minutes once the belt is off, i'd replace those as well. i'd get Subaru belts and oil pumps seals. the rest is up to you. on an interference engine i'd get all Subaru but yours isn't interference so it might be worth a try for aftermarket parts if you want to save $.

a specific title can help with more responses from people who know your situation (car won't start, car stalls, car blows up, tire fell off...etc). and it's easier to find in the future using the search function. was this car running or yo'ure trying to get it running? that makes a HUGE difference. sounds at first like it was running, you worked on it and now it isn't, but then you said it sat for awhile so sounds like it hasn't ran for awhile. if it hasn't ran for awhile, then the gas is old and the car won't start. get some good gas in there. check for spark at each cylinder. pull each plug and make sure it's getting spark while you're cranking the motor. passengers side cylinders are 1 and 3 front to back. drivers side cylinders are 2 and 4 front to back. the starter does sound weak if you're just getting clicking. that doesn't necessarily mean the starter is bad though, it might not be getting enough power. how is the battery? with repeated attempts to start the battery will drain very quickly. have a running car available to jump from. check the battery terminal connections. if they are dirty, old or corroded or not tight that is a problem as well. the starter draws alot of current, a bad connection will cause the clicking and no turn-over. if it's turning over at all, the engine is not seized.

(2) 1989 XT6 AWD manual, 1987.5 XT Turbo FT4WD, 1989 XT6 AWD automatic, 1988 XT6 AWD automatic, (3) XT6 parts cars

no problem jeff, i figured you probably didn't realize his setup is completely custom since you're new-ish to the board. supercharger outlets are really annoying, i haven't seen any that look easy to work with but i haven't looked much either. turbo's are cake, nice round orifices to work with!

agreed, pull the engine and trans as an assembly. works great.

$40 per head for milling. if you're talking complete valve job, pressure tested and milled, about $150. add $25 - $40 for any cracks between valves seats that may need repaired. i would consider these on the high end of prices since prices are higher around where i live. you can get a few bucks lower in more rural areas.