GeneralDisorder

The 251 is a great engine. Don't know where you got that it's unreliable.... I recently rebuilt a 251 for a member here that lost a rod bearing at 472k. That's not unreliable. The 251 and newer have 52mm rod journals unlike the 25D's 48mm journals which were it's bottom end weakness. GD

Replace the engine. It hasn't had consistent maintenance with quality oil and the rings are carboned up. GD

If you break off manifold bolts you will almost certainly have to drill them out and heli-coil the holes. They can be a real pain. Get your manifold gaskets from the dealer only. Aftermarket suck. GD

It wouldn't help. The LSD chunk requires the SS specific stub axles to work properly. Non-LSD stubs will not work. The SS stubs are side specific and are NOT the same as any later model VLSD. You MUST use stubs from another 91 SS. VLSD's are a joke - mostly a marketing gimick - and are generally considered dead weight after 50k. Sure they may still work to some degree - but it's not even close to worth doing if you have to spend a bunch of money on stubs to even get it installed. Buying one of these - even with stubs - is basically a waste of money unless it's very low miles or new. The gamble is just too great. IMO they are worth no more than an open diff. They cannot be rebuilt or serviced which makes them an unacceptable used purchase. Further - they are only useful for spirited street driving. They are (in the Subaru incarnation) completely useless off-road. The clutch types are almost useless and the VLSD's might as well not even be there. Waste of time and effort. GD

Yes - because coolant flows through the intake manifold and the gaskets between it and the head seperate the coolant from the intake ports. When these gaskets fail it is almost always on the coolant side and usually the engine ingests some amount of coolant into the intake port. That coolant will pool in the cylinders or behind the intake valve and has to be burned off when the engine is first started - thus the white smoke. I would say your radiator is partially clogged or the thermoswitch is bad... The thermoswitch in the radiator that turns on the fan may not be seeing the same temps as the rest of the radiator. Driving the car runs air across the radiator at all times and thus it doesn't overheat. If the thermoswitch isn't working properly the fan will shut off even though the engine is not cooling properly. This is normal behavior for a carb. You have to operate the throttle - the fast idle cam will not disengage on it's own. The choke has to pull off AND you have to snap the throttle occasionally to let the fast idle cam drop out. Typical Hitachi carb problems. Replace it with a Weber or rebuild the Hitachi. This has nothing to do with the cooling system though. Pull the intake manifold and inspect the gaskets. Be prepared to break off bolts that hold the manifold to the heads. It happens and sometimes it's unavoidable. GD

Be prepared - you will have to order it and its possible that its discontinued. GD

Dealer only or used from another tranny. Those are the only options. GD

There is no correlation. You need to pull the codes. GD

I've used a couple now. No problems. They are clearly the same part as OEM. GD

You probably just need intake manifold gaskets and a working radiator fan. GD

We do have a solution for stock headers though - clamp-on or weld-on conversion flanges to modify the dual-port headers. Runs about $75 for a set. Sube101 makes these as well. GD

Fuel economy is not related to the loss of AWD. The worst that can happen in FWD mode is that you eventually burn out the duty-c solenoid from applying constant 12v to it. But frankly that could take years based on the experience of members on this forum and it's only a $100 part brand new from the dealer that is easily replaced. Run it. Figure out the problem later. It's silly to dump the time and resources you have into this problem - try another TCU from a board member (post in the wanted section) and wait for a deal to come around on a good used transmission. I have bought 50 or more used engines and transmissions - I have returned exactly ONE engine for excessive crank end play which I inspected once I got it home and got the timing components off. They swapped it out for another engine that was just fine. Auto recyclers are not happy when parts come back. Get a warrantee if you like. GD

Agreed - on any of the EJ's you just use the aftermarket radio installation adaptor harness that's like $10 to $15 at any stereo shop. I have a Sony deck with bluetooth in my '91 SS and I've installed countless stereo's using these adators without any problems at all. If the factory radio plug has been cut out - get a reverse harness for it. They sell them to repair damaged radio harnesses and to reinstall factory deck's. Cheap on Amazon or ebay. GD

All '92+ have D/S airbags.... you sure you don't have a '91? Lets see a picture of this '92 non-airbag wheel and maybe we can figure out what you need. GD

Yeah - just let the running of the engine pump them up. Disconnect the coil pack connector and crank till the oil pressure idiot light goes out. Then reconnect your coil pack and start the engine. The lash adjusters will work themselves out. GD

So are you going to actually pay me for the car and *then* blow it up... or is it going to reside out in the country and rust away? You haven't responded to my PM on this matter..... You have had the car for basically a year or more now. And have owed me a paltry sum on it for that entire time. Don't you think it's time to settle up on the car itself and stop buying upgrades for it or video games or whatever it is you buy? I've been more than reasonable for as long as I care to be. You need to man up and pay your debt or stop driving it. GD

The OEM o-ring most likely has the size written on the part number label. That's typically how Subaru does things. So you could order a single one and get the size.... or possibly the parts people would tell you the size. It's most likely a nominal size and it's pretty easy to take some caliper measurements off the parts, and the thickness of the o-ring and infer the size from that. Again - you have to realize that they aren't going to use a special size for most of this stuff - as Quidam points out this same lifter is used on many models and when engineer's design stuff they often reuse components like lifters that are already availible to decrease the cost. GD

The only thing worth beans in the EJ22T is the BLOCK ITSELF. The rest is crap. The heads have smaller (but sodium filled) valves than the EJ22E, the piston oil squirters are not neccesary and often fall out and end up in the oil pan, and the pistons are nothing special - just lower compression than the 22E. If you put the 22T pistons inside the 22E case then you could easily use all the turbo components. At 165 HP the open deck design of the 22E isn't a problem. It's not really a problem till you hit about 300 HP actually. The 22E pistons are too high of a compression ratio to safely run the stock EJ22T boost pressure of 8.5 psi. Max boost on a high-comp. 22E is about 4 or 5 psi and they aren't that reliable even kept that low. But they will make a ton of power while they last - somewhere around 200 HP. GD

o-rings can be measured and I would have just done that and ordered generic silicone units of the correct size. The DNJ engine components brand would be my choice. I've used a lot of their parts without issue. But then if it were me I would just swap out the whole rocker assembly for a good used one. This isn't rocket science - and we aren't building swiss watches or nukes here. GD

Actually that's not at all the case. The EJ25's are great engines if you take care of them and give them what they want - synthetic oil and occasional HG's. They will live a long happy life if you just follow their rules. GD

Yep - 15A is a nice upgrade. If you or anyone else needs a connector a 95 to 99 alt upgrade - look no further than your local yard. Browse for Nissan's. The Maxima's from 86 to 94 have the same connector as the Subaru's from '95 to '99. GD

No it isn't. That's a standard '85 model D/R shifter. They are different but are prone to splitting in half. GD

That's a standard dual-range front input shaft bearing setup. They all look like that. Someone probably tried to get at the front input shaft seal - but you can't get to it from there. The plate does have bolts on the outside but there is no way to remove it without splitting the case and taking out the snap ring that holds the input shaft bearing into that front bearing holder/quill plate. GD

It's not an RX. It wouldn't have had the air suspension if it was. It's looks like it's just a 4WD Turbo sedan - possibly a GL-10. It's an odd combination. May not be original as far as the interior goes. Someone could have ordered the RX seats and belts for it when it was newish.... really hard to say. 85 was a really strange year though so it could be this was an availible package. GD

O-ring color is *somtimes* an indication of the material it's made from. But not always. Orange is *usually* silicone. Which is a MUCH higher temp rated o-ring than Buna-n, Viton, or HNBR. It's about the highest temp rated o-ring that's commonly availible. You generally don't see Orange or Blue in any other type of material. But color is NOT a scientific measure of composition. GD