GeneralDisorder

I use a jack and a block of wood under the oil pan to rock the engine back. You can get it farther back and many of the newer rigs have that plastic tank radiator and the amount of flexing that goes on when trying to shove a tranny against the engine when it's resting on the radiator..... makes me nervous. I did use that method in the past but I came up against a few cars where that hasn't worked and thus the new system for me. GD

I'm not 100% on this but I don't think that cover plate is easily accesible without pulling the transmission. And if the car was *moving* when this happened and assuming it is in 2 gears at once.... the transmission is shot. There's possibly broken teeth, and in any case the shift linkage got so sloppy that this happened in the first place..... that pretty much indicates it's a gonner. I wouldn't reuse that transmission without openening it up and inspecting at the very least. GD

There is no alternator idler so I'll assume you mean the AC ilder. The plastic tensioner nut is $6 at the dealer. They break all the time. No point in getting a used one. For the rest of the stuff - post in the wanted section. GD

Certainly - he did at that. And don't take my "technical mumbo jumbo" to mean that your experience is not valid and useful to the discussion. Just that it might be biased due to used differentials of unknown mileage and history..... both the clutch type and viscous type wear out and from what I have read it's not very many miles either. Race teams typically rebuild their clutch types every season - as mentioned in that wikipedia quote there is evidence that the viscous units are all but worn out after 60k or so. GD

Many of the '99s are like that. My '99 Forester has them as well and I was also a bit shocked that it had twin intake filters. The second filter isn't terribly expensive at the dealer though so I'm not too annoyed by it. Rest assured it is 100% stock. Probably a CA emissions thing. The dealer confirmed for me that it does indeed call for both filters. For whatever reason the '99 Forester automatic that I have seems to have been built to go a million miles - not only does it have twin air filters but it also came stock with the turbo oil cooler.... the engine is in amazing condition for 247k. I attribute it to that oil cooler keeping the engine oil from breaking down. Really amazing what that will do for an engine - definitely putting one on all my performance builds. GD

It depends on the method they use. Wheel bearings can be a pain on EJ cars - the outer race is REAL solid in the knuckle. Depends on if they use a hub-tamer type tool, or a press, or farm it out to a machine shop. With rust, etc..... I could see it taking 4 hours. The bearings themselves are only about $35 to $45. You could almost buy a hub-tamer for what they have quoted and just do the job yourself. I have also used the "Front Wheel Drive Service Adaptor Set" from Harbor Frieght which runs about $100 now to do the wheel bearings. In combination with a few other tools and using the hub-tamer manual as a reference on how to set it up it worked well. GD

I have probably done 20+ transmissions with mine. It works very well considering the alternatives. Like any tool it requires a bit of a learning curve - where to place it and the proper angles to put it at for the Subaru transaxles. I don't use the strap at all for example - and with MT's I turn them sideways on the jack to clear the suspension when rolling them under and then flip them back uprightin the tunnel. If you don't have a lift.... this is easily the best value out there for doing transmission replacements. GD

There's quite a bit of difference in how they work - the Viscous units have a fluid that when heated due to shearing forces becomes nearly a solid (very high viscosity) thus "gluing" the stack of plates contained in the fluid. This action takes *time* to occur. Now how much time is determined by the design but it would seem that it's considerably longer (and possibly when they do lock it's weaker) than the clutch types. Additionally they are sealed and unserviceable and untuneable. You get what you get and there's nothing you can ever do to change it. That's not acceptable for a lot of users. Personally I feel that Subaru went to the viscous style LSD because they wanted something that would never fail and improve traction to some degree - but "functionality" took a backseat to cost and marketing considerations. Being able to say you have a limited slip is nice and most people aren't going to know the difference. If you look at the 6 speed STi's you'll notice they don't use the viscous coupling devices at all. Nor do most other high-end race inspired setups.... most are using Torsen or Helical (Torsen type 1) diffs or clutch types. Interesting qoute from Wikipedia: "Viscous LSDs are less efficient than mechanical types, that is, they "lose" some power. In particular, any sustained load which overheats the silicone results in sudden permanent loss of the differential effect. They do have the virtue of failing gracefully, reverting to semi-open differential behaviour. Typically a visco-differential that has covered 60,000 miles (97,000 km) or more will be functioning largely as an open differential" GD

Transmission is shot. If you get that one you will be replacing that tranny. GD

He would have to swap in some rear end parts and make the Legacy an AWD. But that's not real difficult. It all just bolts on. GD

That's not entirely true - if the '87 is a "Full Time 4 Wheel Drive" transmission it will be the same 4EAT as the '90 Legacy uses. You can interchange the front bell-housing sections between the two and you can indeed install it into the Legacy without an adaptor or any special work. But if it's the normal 3AT automatic. No such luck. Those are not at all compatible. But the good news is that 4EAT's for the Legacy are a dime a dozen. I can pick one up from any of the yards around here for $200 to $250 with a warantee. And they last nearly forever. GD

Having two pathetically small turbo's instead of one.... to what end? The engine still can't handle more than about 10 psi without serious reliability issues. There are only two reason to do a twin-turbo setup: 1. You need more CFM at a given pressure. 2. You run them sequentially. This is done using one small turbo and one large turbo. You can't use two of the same size turbo for a sequential setup. So.... you can't do #2 because you don't have two turbo's that are different in size. If you aquired another turbo that was larger than the VF7 it would do you no good because the engine still can't stand anything over 10 psi.... thus it would never really spool at all. And since the nominal pressure of the VF7 is around 7 psi.... the whole idea behind it being no turbo-lag due to tiny little turbo that spools instantly..... the whole point of the sequential system is lost. #1 is similarly a waste - you don't need more CFM unless you increase the size of the engine. Twin turbo's are typically used on larger displacement engines like V6's, and V8's so you can get the CFM needed without having an turbine wheel the size of one of your rims that will spool sometime next week. So no - this is neither practical nor desireable for the EA82T.... you are best served by not modding that engine at all.... unless you prefer walking. GD

Not easily. If you have to ask - you aren't equipped for the task. GD

Obviously it must be said that if it's either not-economical, or you have incompetant machinists.... the factory finish is better. But a skilled shop can do a resurface in like 15 minutes or less. They charge me $25 per head to do a hot-tank and resurface on Subaru heads. That adds $50 to the job and they will let me know how the valves look, etc. I typically have them install new stem seals at the same time to avoid oil consumption. As for surface finish - I can get a finish as good as the factory finish with glass, sandpaper, and WD-40. I can get a mirror finish if I want - that's not neccesary though. It's all about the surface finish IMO. I agree that warpage is very rare and is the engine has been overheated that severely it's likely toast. There are cases where I will have heads rebuilt from engines that threw a rod, etc though.... and in the process a resurface needs to done. GD

If you are just buying the bearings and sycro's the parts aren't that bad. The rear input shaft bearing and the rear driven shaft bearing are the big ones that fail..... Syncro baulk rings are like $15 to $20 unless you have a turbo tranny that has a double syncro on 2nd - those are like three times as much. GD

OBX through ebay - you can "buy it now" for $358: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/02-06-SUBARU-IMPREZA-WRX-OBX-LSD-HELICAL-Differential-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem4cf62b3801QQitemZ330547542017QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories And yes - I can confirm that this will fit ANY 5MT including the D/R from '85 to '06 at least..... it will work beyond that if you change axles in the newer stuff.... I'm not sure Jacob really stressed this enough - it casters itself back to center in a HURRY. Like the wheel is almost a blur even at low speeds of 20 to 30 MPH. If you are an idiot driver - you definitely do not want one of these. If you let go of the wheel the car will basically instantly straigten out and continue going wherever it was pointed when you let go...... GD

It's really not that hard to split the EJ 5MT's and rebuild one.... but setting the front R&P clearance and blacklash is the most involved part and it can be frustrating. I probably spent an hour or more just tweaking the R&P on the '96 STi 5 speed I just build - in addition to the guts going into a non-turbo 5MT case we also were installing an OBX Helical front diff..... so the R&P had to be reset basically from scratch. In the end it's a *feel* kind of thing with a little voodoo thrown in trying to "read" the pattern in the prussian blue dye on the teeth. Fun, fun. GD

Typically it's not needed. I do it because I am usually having stem seals replaced, valves done, etc at the same time..... Ultimately it makes for a better repair I think. Better gasket adhesion - and no possibility of warpage. GD

Doesn't surprise me that someone would burn an EA82T in the woods. Probably just lost their marbles trying to keep it running . GD

I have a VLSD on my '91 SS. It seems to react more to higher-speed manuevering on pavement. The rear will step out a bit when I'm taking "spirited" corners. I don't notice it much though. Jacob's Brat had a VLSD before we did the AWD transmission swap and even in 4WD I had a hard time noticing it was there. When we went to the 4.111 transmission I also built a 4.111 clutch-type LSD and it's much more "tail happy" now. From my experience and from everything I've read from the rally community - the VLSD's seem pretty worthless. Add in the fact that the clutch-type's can be rebuilt and also "tuned" with preload adjustments and the clutch-type seems the all-around winner for the rear diff. Front and center are different stories since those are less accesible.... the OBX Helical we put in the Brat is not a thing I would reccomend to most people - it changes the driveing characteristics of the car in a big way. GD

If you had the transmission out it would have been a simple process to just set the backlash correctly with a dial indicator through the drain plug hole. You remove both the o-rings on the adjuster cups and then set the gear tooth backlash to .007" - .015" IIRC. Mark those locations and then install your o-rings and seals. *edited* - I had the backlash numbers wrong. GD

The D/R's are easy find. I wouldn't worry about it till you can hear it over the stereo. The input shaft bearing arrangement on the D/R is quite robust and it is unlikely to fail suddenly. GD

You can cause internal damage to the transmission if the tires are different in overall size due to wear or improper inflation. It's not really an issue of saftely but rather that you will damage your transmission eventually if you don't pay close attention to tire wear. Tires should be rotated frequently enough that the wear remains consistent across all 4. Usually this means about every 10,000 miles or so they should be swapped front-to-rear. GD

All the 2.5's have head gasket problems of one type or another from '96 to 2004. Though the worst offenders are the '96 to '99 EJ25D (DOHC). They overheat due to exhaust gasses entering the cooling system. '00 to '04 (as well as '99 2.5RS/Forester) use the EJ253/EJ251 and these head gaskets are prone to EXTERNAL leakage - thus they do not overheat unless allowed to run low on coolant. Subaru has a stop-leak additive that addresses this problem quite well though these head gaskets also tend to leak oil but to a much lesser degree. Usually the leaks are only on the driver's side head. In both cases Subaru has updated head gaskets that solve the problems. GD

You are on the right track contacting members here that are in your area. If you were in the PNW it wouldn't be a problem as there are many of us that have the knowledge are are happy to assist a fellow member..... I don't think your problems are related to the Subaru engine designe but rather a lack of knowledge and understanding on the part of the "mechanics" that have worked on it thus far. Clearly something went wrong or was improperly handled by the shop that was supposed to simply fix some oil leaks. We can't blame Subaru for the incompetance of these hack mechanics. Have you thought about getting a tool set and trying some simple things yourself? You would be way ahead of the game in terms of price - a few hours labor at most shops would easily pay for the tools you would need. Verifying the timing on the belt for example is reasonably easy to do with only a few tools and we can walk you through the process. A compression tester is about $10 from Harbor Frieght tools.... you need only a 1/4" drive socket set to remove the outer belt covers and then a 22mm socket and 1/2" ratchet to turn the engine over by hand and check the belt sprocket marks..... GD