GeneralDisorder

Timing marks are on the flywheel or flex-plate. Those are the ones you want to use. Sometimes the crank pulleys don't have the pin that aligns them and they also have more play in them than the flywheel/flexplate has. GD

Perhaps a bad connection at the coolant temp sensor. ECU thinks the car is warm and isn't fireing the injectors long enough to do any good on a cold start. In other words - no cold enrichment taking place. Plugging and unplugging that connector or just being in a warm dry environment might have helped.... etc. Hard to say for sure. GD

Agree with all of that. GD

What CV axle? Are you going to use a Legacy rear outer CV? Hhhmmm..... maybe but I doubt it will work. Then you have to consider the brake parts.... What backing plate will you use and what rotor/caliper bracket, etc? Shaving off 1/16" of OD on the hub will probably not be a concern.... but you are making a one-off part here. Replaceability is a concern. GD

Heh. If you were closer I would buy it. I think it was a great idea and it payed off for you. Prior to this post I hadn't ever considered that brake fluid was so chemically similar to glycol. That being the case - if the HG's were replaced and the system flushed with clean water it shouldn't have hurt anything. Something that's been on my mind - since they are so similar could I dump used brake fluid in with the used anti-freeze? I mean I'm sure I *could* but I wonder if it would be a huge problem for the guys that recycle the stuff or it it really wouldn't matter either way.... GD

A lot more expensive than coating or knurling. Hell if you coat the original pistons you have basically the same thing. Of course the turn-around time is longer to have them coated than to buy new ones. The coating can potentially take up more clearance also as the thicker coating is "adjustable" via polishing it down. Not so with the stock replacements. GD

Use the Subaru coolant conditioner. Works great. Does not hurt hoses or gaskets. Not sure where he got that idea. I've used it sucessfully a number of times. Coolant will sometimes leave a white residue when it dry's. You sure it's not oil? I've seen oil leaks on as new as '06 with under 100k. GD

93 will not have the right flange bolt pattern. You will need a 96 to 99 rear section and you may need a 99 specifically for the front section as the auto's chagned in design in '99. I do not know if the '00 and up use the same driveline as the '99 even though the tranny is the same because the body style changed and thus they could be longer. I'm fairly confident that a '96 to '99 rear section will work - just probanbly not the front. A Subaru dealer could tell you for certian what part numbers will interchange, etc. GD

99 should be 105k interval. GD

It could definitely work. Another solution to getting the skirt clearances up is to coat them with teflon, or whatever it is that SwainTech uses and is calling PC-9.... looks alot like a Teflon variant to me. :-p. The PC-9 is about $24 per piston plus shipping and can take up .004" of additional clearance. I have gone this route and have installed these in a 25D based frankenmotor (with careful fitment by adjusting the coating with 1200 git till the clearance was acceptable) and there wasn't any piston slap so I guess it worked Knurling could potentially take up a lot more than that. Easily in the neighborhood of .010" but I hope you wouldn't need that much on any Subaru engine. This is more of a "trick" to avoid boreing oversized and buying new pistons. But it does work. GD

Right on! *Real* machine repair is what you just did. Anyone can hang parts and that's what the automotive industry has been leaning toward for the last couple decades. Easier to find monkeys to do it and easier to train them when there is nothing more complex than bolts and hose clamps. That's why most manufacturers have gone to sealed bearing/hub assembies for the wheel bearings - you just remove a few bolts and put in the new pre-loaded assembly. Dealerships don't rebuild engines or transmissions anymore - they just order new "assemblies" and swap them out. It takes the variables out of the equation and means they can hire unskilled workers for lower wages. You know that at one time people actually rebuilt things like water pumps? The world of industrial machinery where I come from this is still the SOP. You can't get away from it in that setting since there is not the volume to warrant that type of a system. GD

Do the Nissan Maxima swap. Easier and cleaner. If you want one I sell them for $110 plus shipping ready to bolt in and tested, etc. GD

Driveshaft is two sections. Rear section is the same between manual/automatic but the front section is not. GD

He hasn't logged into the site since his last post. We may never know at this point. GD

Depending on how the VR's are set - 14.5 is not outside of what I would consider normal. 14.7 is a bit high. I like to see between 14 and 14.5 when I'm checking directly off the alternator. But if you normally see 13.8 and it's now climbed an entire volt then it's most likely shot. That probably means the reading directly off the alt is somewhere north of 15. GD

Looks like you are in my area. I do all kinds of custom stuff - from minor repairs to custom engine swaps, lifts, cosmetic repair, etc. I have MIG, TIG, and plasma at my disposal. I specialize in the older Subaru's and Subaru's in general. I have two of my own EA81's, etc. Send me a message or an email - cropperr(at)gmail(dot)com if you are still in need of repair help or guidance. GD

Probably - likey because of the poly-v belts used on the XT's MPFI layout. The v-belt pulleys went away from that design and just have studs that go through the pulley to the fan clutch hub and the nuts hold both on. 87+ I think are all like that. Cheaper to manufacture - less machine work and fewer parts. GD

Yeah but look where you live.... here in the larger cities the prices are a lot higher. Cost of living and running a business is higher. I would use a lot more used knuckles if they were $15. As it is the prices in the yards around here are so high that I can replace a bearing for the same price or less and not deal with the yards at all. Engines run about $400 to $600, Transmissions are around $200 to $400. GD

That's an old style (85/86) pulley system. GD

The knuckle is just a bearing pocket. What has gone bad on the knuckle that you can't install a new bearing? Hub's can be damaged if the bearing cone's race spins on the hub but you can just replace the hub with a used one. Personally I opt for bearing replacements since it's a $40 fix either way - bearing and seals or a used knuckle. But with the bearing option I get new bearings instead of unknown used ones. Sounds like something wasn't done right with the installation of the last bearing. The Harbor Frieght set works well but doesn't come with any real instructions - I printed out the Subaru instructions for the Hub Tamer or Hub Shark or whatever I found online in PDF format. Worked well enough as a general outline. I've done dozens of them and I've never had a repeat failure. GD

With a hydro lifter type setup there is very little or no gap. The "gap" would be for a solid lifter type system. The whole point of the hydro lifter system is that it always keeps a small amount of pressure on the lifter pivot - but not enough to overpower the valve spring. This eliminates the need for valve adjustments that were required every 15,000 miles or so on engines like the EA81 but has the drawback that it always robs a tiny amount of power through friction. Improvements in metalurgy, lubricants, and roller rockers have extended the time between valve adjustments to beyond 100,000 miles making the hydraulic lifter self-adjustment system obsolete. That tiny drag on the valve train means lost power and economy and these days that's no longer acceptable due to high fuel prices. Thus all Subaru engines from 97 on are solid lifter arrangements of one form or another. Often what causes them to "tick" is not necesarily a lack of oil flow (well in a sense) but rather "aeration" of the oil - wherein the oil contains tiny air bubbles that were introduced from leaking seals at the pump. These bubbles collect in the lifters and are difficult to expel. Air compresses while oil does not and that means the lifter is "mushy" and making clacking noises when it's pushed by the rocker. GD

Electric is the main fan. Leave it. Ditch the WP fan. It robs HP and is annoying - loud and hard to work around. GD

What's wrong with the ones on the car? GD

Put the clutches and duty-c from the now damaged transmission (broken oil pump if you didn't properly seat the TC) into the old one. You can order new clutches and solenoids from Subaru. Just take the old one's out to match them up, etc. You can still test the duty-c - just have to apply 12v to it. Find the wire at the transmission connector and apply 12v to the solenoid. Should put it in FWD mode. GD

Does the check engine light come on when you first turn on the ignition (bulb check)? Just beacuse you don't see the light doesn't mean there aren't stored codes. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen a used car where the idiot light was bypassed or rewired to come on with one of the other idiot lights durring the bulb check and then go out when you start it.... GD