GeneralDisorder

Looks good - the only thing I would add is that you shouldn't pack the bearings completely tight with grease like that. It needs room for expansion as it heats up - grease works at operating temp by "dropping" - that is at a specified working temperature the semi-solid grease turns to an oil-like liquid and lubircates the bearings - it also expands with temperature. With no room for expansion it will eventually either blow the seals out and some of the grease will be lost anyway - possibly comprimising the seal, or it will spoil the grease from overheating and the grease will start to turn solid from being cooked. It's a real eye-opener to pop the seals out of a new "lifetime" greased, sealed bearing and see just how little grease there really is in there. In the case of open tapered roller bearings like those, there does need to be extra to compensate for the bearing cavity, but the general rule is that you fill bearing cavities to 1/3 capacity unless otherwise instructed by the engineer's. I don't mean to nit-pick you too hard or anything - you've done an excelent job with the tools you had on hand. Most people don't even attempt the 4WD rear bearings and you get extra points for accomplishing the job (even if you did have to hit a machine shop for a press-job on one side). One of the hardest rules for me to learn with respect to bearing pockets and fit's between races, pockets, and shafts was how they are supposed to feel. Since the Subaru rear's are held in place with that ring nut there is not a real tight fit between the pocket and the race - as such if it doesn't go in with minimal effort then close inspection of the pocket for burrs, corrosion, and out-of-round conditions should be performed. Fileing and dressing should normally correct most issues and the race will go in with ease. Same goes for the stub shaft going through the bearings. It's not an interferance fit and as you show - a few prying implements - properly blocked - and with care taken that the shaft is centered up - should pull them right through. GD

Looks good - the only thing I would add is that you shouldn't pack the bearings completely tight with grease like that. It needs room for expansion as it heats up - grease works at operating temp by "dropping" - that is at a specified working temperature the semi-solid grease turns to an oil-like liquid and lubircates the bearings - it also expands with temperature. With no room for expansion it will eventually either blow the seals out and some of the grease will be lost anyway - possibly comprimising the seal, or it will spoil the grease from overheating and the grease will start to turn solid from being cooked. It's a real eye-opener to pop the seals out of a new "lifetime" greased, sealed bearing and see just how little grease there really is in there. In the case of open tapered roller bearings like those, there does need to be extra to compensate for the bearing cavity, but the general rule is that you fill bearing cavities to 1/3 capacity unless otherwise instructed by the engineer's. I don't mean to nit-pick you too hard or anything - you've done an excelent job with the tools you had on hand. Most people don't even attempt the 4WD rear bearings and you get extra points for accomplishing the job (even if you did have to hit a machine shop for a press-job on one side). One of the hardest rules for me to learn with respect to bearing pockets and fit's between races, pockets, and shafts was how they are supposed to feel. Since the Subaru rear's are held in place with that ring nut there is not a real tight fit between the pocket and the race - as such if it doesn't go in with minimal effort then close inspection of the pocket for burrs, corrosion, and out-of-round conditions should be performed. Fileing and dressing should normally correct most issues and the race will go in with ease. Same goes for the stub shaft going through the bearings. It's not an interferance fit and as you show - a few prying implements - properly blocked - and with care taken that the shaft is centered up - should pull them right through. GD

The trick is to unbolt the knuckles and swing the axles outward so you can mount the diff without having to put the axle shafts into it first. It's like two bolts on either side for the knuckles. GD

I have used the Amsoil engine flush and so have a few mechanic friends of mine. It does remove a lot of crap. Definitely a good product. I haven't ever used their oil - tried some of their gear oil for crunchy 5 speed I had and it made it worse :-\. Went to Valvoline Synthetic on reccomendation of other's in the Subaru community and it's considerably better. I recently had the pleasure of openeing up a 1990 EJ22 engine with 255k on it. I don't know when it was switched over to synthetic but for sure since about 175k it's had only Mobile 1 synthetic. The owner is an older gentleman - retired Air Force mechanic. He has, among other things, a couple restored vintage Fords, and an '05 Audi S4 Turbo..... he is pretty anal about his cars and his maintenenace. I pulled the engine for a reseal and a clutch replacement (first clutch since he bought it new in '90 ). The inside of the engine was pristene - no oil varnish at all. It runs like new at 255k. He is not one to care about maintenance costs - the Mobile 1 and filter are changed every 5k. Personally I think it's overkill (though it certainly works!). I run regular oil (Chevron is high quality and cheap by the case at places like Costco - around $1.99 a quart) and 5k intervals on my engines and on the older stuff I run Rislone in place of a quart of oil at every change. It works just fine and I've pulled apart engines that never had a drop of synthetic in their lives that were just as clean because the oil was changed religiously at 3k - last one had 258k on it and looked like the day it was built inside (EA82 - little old lady owned). I've mentioned this before, but it needs to be pointed out that Synthtic oil really buys you NOTHING unless you increase the mileage you are putting on it. Right up to the point that regular oil starts to breakdown (usually between 5k to 7k), synthetic really doesn't help you. Synthetic just lasts a lot longer before it breaks down - though when it does it falls off fast and hard - usually turning to a semi-solid or outright roofing tar. If you don't plan to do an oil analysis program at least bi-annually to re-calibrate your change interval for the oil and filter (they may not coincide), you are just throwing away money. The real savings in running synthetics is realized when you find out how far you can push it - usually somewhere in the 15k mile range but you can't tell for sure till you run OA on it and get a feeling for where the viscocity begins to radically change, when the heavy metal content goes way up, and when the additive package breaks down. GD

Most of the dealers stock them since they are so commonly stripped. As noted it's probably not worth saving $2 by ordering online only to spend $5 getting it shipped. Local dealer is right around $6 for that part for me. GD

Cam lobes might be wiped, yeah. If that's the case look for it to get worse in the near future since it's getting down into the meat of the cam where there is not a hardened surface for the lifter to ride on. Readjust them and see what happens is all I can say. I had a rocker arm disintegrate on my 350 SBC after it sat for a lot of years. I did an adjustment and it's been fine - maybe it's just in need of an adjustment after years and lots of miles.... I was told that my cam is either wiped or the rocker studs are backing out of the heads. The engine is a '79 so personally I think it was just high mileage and never adjusted. :-\ GD

Do you have the cable routed under both the steering column and the heater core hoses? Improper routing can lead to premature breakage. Otherwise - I would say the pressure plate is too heavy for the cable. If you can't push the pedal all the way to the floor with your hand - it's too heavy or the cable is binding. GD

Since you replaced the calipers - maybe the parking brake cables are too tight causing the pads to drag against the rotor? GD

The threaded plastic peice is like $6 from the dealer. You don't need the whole assembly - just the plastic tensioner nut. GD

None of the solutions to those problems have anything at all to do with OBD-II vs. OBD-I. They should all be covered in the various write-up's and information availible here on the board. A few searches should be all that's needed to gather the answers to those simple questions. GD

A new or rebuilt head on a tired bottom end can result in higher cylinder pressure's and can cause more rapid failure of worn rod bearings, etc. Subaru's don't typically wear their bore or rings much - what gets them is the rod bearings. At the mileage indicated - there's just no point in trying to fix it. Chances are that something else will fail sooner rather than later. Used engine - resealed, new timing belt/WP kit. Easily doable for $500 or less. GD

When it seizes it will wear through the pressure plate fingers. Not a big deal - just drive it without using the clutch. Start it up - get it warm, and then just kill it at lights and start it in 1st gear. You don't need the clutch to shift - just rev-match it going into each gear. When down shifiting you put in neutral, rev it up just a bit past where the gear will land, then stick it in gear as it drops past the correct RPM. Up-shifting is easy - just shift but slow down a bit. It will naturally drop in RPM's when you put in neutral and as it passes the right RPM for the gear you just drop it in. Once you get it to the freeway you are golden. People might honk and give you the finger a couple times but it's totally doable. I've done it a couple times. A good skill to have - clutch cables break, T/O's wear out - it happens. Doesn't stop me from getting where I have to go. Rick

Run a D-Check and see what you get for codes. Most of the sensors can be tested with a digital multi-meter and compared against specifications. Do not remove the IAC. It is not an emissions device - it allows air into the engine so it can idle. Without it very little air gets by the closed throttle plate. There really isn't much in the way of emissions on the SPFI systems. EGR and Evap. Purge solenoid's - that's pretty much it. GD

Pistons will interchange. Heads will not. EA81 pistons into an EA71 will lower your compression. EA71 pistons into an EA81 will raise the compression. GD

Compression test doesn't tell you sqaut - you need to do a leak down test. But with that many miles - just drop in a used engine and be done with it. GD

This guy is long gone - he posted ONE time. Probably should just let it die now. GD

Unlikely - but possible I suppose. The shift system inside the transmission is pretty simple. Unless something is bent with the shift rods and forks.... If there were a problem with the syncro's it wouldn't matter if you put it in second gear first before putting it in first. They use the same fork so possibly there could be an issue there. GD

Have you replaced your shift linkage bushings? It makes a lot of difference - trust me it's worth the $80 for all of them. If that doesn't work - try a bottle of Rislone engine treatment in place of a quart of gear oil. It cleans things up and helps with the syncro's. You sure the clutch is properly disengaging? GD

The ticking is your lifters. What you need to do is change your oil more often for a while and add a quart of Rislone engine treatment in place of one of the four quarts of oil. Do this every 1000 miles about 3 times then go back to 3000 mile oil changes and continue using the Rislone. If that doesn't fix the problem then it's going to take more invasive work to solve it and depending on how much you love the car and/or want that noise to stop it may or may not be worth the time and expense to solve it. As long as you keep it filled with oil and it has good oil pressure (which I would definitely check with a mechanical gauge as the stock gauges are notoriously poor indicators of actual pressure) then the ticking will not actually harm anything. You should run an oil pressure test just for peice of mind - it should be no lower than 15 to 20 psi at idle after the engine reaches operating temp, and it should rise to 40 or 50 psi at about 3000 RPM. If it does not you may need to replace or reseal the oil pump and at that time it would likely be a good idea to replace the cam tower o-rings as well. GD

Only the '85's and '86's had adjustable rear coil-over tubes. EA81's (80 to 84) had a torsion bar system that was adjustable. They dropped the adjustable suspension concept after '86 unless you bought the air suspension package. If you get a set of rear strut's from an earlier 4WD model they should have the adjustment collar. GD

XT6's do have rear disc, but they are 5 lug - if you find that it still has all it's suspention bits you should pull the front lower control arms, and the entire rear assembly as those parts are highly desireable for 5 lug conversions. None of the parts will help if you are looking for 4 lug disc parts though. GD

You don't have to replace any of the hard lines. Just the soft stuff. Brat fuel pumps are always on the left and SPFI fuel pumps are always on the right. That's normal. I use the stock Brat shelf and modifiy it to hold the SPFI pump - usually just cut one of the pump mounting studs off and mount the SPFI pump using its existing mounting band and rubber isolators. GD

Well - it's possible to pound the stub shaft (the part the Haynes manual is calling the "spline" ) out of the bearings with it still attached to the axle - but at some point you are going to want to dissasemble the axle from the shaft - if for no other reason than to correct the rusted spline joint so it will come apart in the future in case an axle must be replaced, etc. There's a couple options. A brass drift punch and a small sledge are useful. The more weight you can put behind the punch the better. When you need to move metal or break rust you want the biggest hammer that's easily handled. I would say a 3 or 4 lb sledge would be effective enough. The other options generally involve heat - a LOT of it. A small propane torch isn't going to cut it here. You need lots of heat and you need it quickly. An Oxy torch is the way to go. You might end up destroying the differential side seal and probably will cook the grease/boot on the axle as well. The last and most extreme option is to dissasemble the axle joint itself. At the bottom of the cup you will find a thin steel grease plug that prevents grease from escaping through the machined hole where the splines are located. That can be removed with some chiseling and punching. Then you have access to the splined stub shaft - either it can be unbolted from the diff with a 1/4" drive E10 torx socket and then punched out the cup on the bench with a vice/heat/BFM/whatever, or it just allows you to get penetrating oil into the splines from another direction which itself can be helpful. GD

What are you refering to when you say "spline"? You will have to remove the axle at least on the outer end in order to remove the trailing arm and take it to a shop. You knock out the roll pins with a pin punch (6mm or 3/16" works as well) and then the axle will slide off the splines on the stubs shafts. The axle will not slide far enough unless you either unbolt the strut from the trailing arm or unbolt the diff and push it sideways or drop it down. Sometimes the splines inside the axle cups get rusted and stuck to the splines on the stub shafts - especially on the outer ends as those are closest to the ground and thus water, road salt, etc. Sometimes they are very, very stuck. Anthing from beating, to heating with a torch, to cutting them off with a die-grinder has been done depending on the severity of the rust and how stuck they are. GD