GeneralDisorder

Yes - it's very small. I don't know the exact dimentional difference with EA82 carb vs. EA82 SPFI, but I know that EA71 pistons are about .008 - .010" taller than EA81 pistons and give a ratio increase from 8.7:1 to around 9.3:1 when combined with .020" off the heads. That was off some calculations I ran years ago when I built up an EA81. GD

Turbo pistons (which are also MPFI engines) have indents - they are 7.7:1 ratio pistons. N/A pistons have valve cut-out's but are not "dished" like the turbo pistons. GD

Carbed engine is 9.0:1 SPFI/MPFI are 9.5:1 The difference is the pistons. They are taller above the wrist pin's. Not worth the difference in HP for an N/A engine though. Too much work for too little gain without further mods. GD

What "smog garbage" are you refering to? Muti-Port FI or Single Port FI? GD

Yep - I've seen them fall out as well - very common on worn 4 speed's. Just swap it with a 5 speed - it's on it's last legs and not worth rebuilding. GD

For more power you need more fuel and more air. You are already forcing the air into the engine at higher than atmospheric pressure with the turbo and so if you want more of it you have two options - increase the pressure, or increase the volume. Since increasing the pressure is out of the question for this engine you need to determine where your bottleneck for volume is located (if there is one). Ports, valves, or the CFM of the compressor wheel on the turbo - a larger turbo will flow higher CFM at the same pressure. But it may be that you are already approaching the volumetric efficiency of the engine and thus the only way to increase the volume would be to increase the displacment. I suspect that if you want more power you will end up needing higher boost. We all know that it's a mistake to do this with a stock engine so if you want that you will need to o-ring the block, replace the head bolts with studs, and change out the pistons. With careful management you could probably see 175 HP or a bit more. But the cost is high for that type of custom work and you may not get it right the first time around. That's why you see so many people doing EJ swaps. A non-turbo EJ22 with 200k on it will handle 5 psi all day long and twice on Sundays making 200 HP. You can pick them up under any rock for the price of dinner at a nice steakhouse. GD

rockauto has the grey top's for $32.79 each. Maybe more than you were looking to spend but thought I would mention it in case you were considering a new set. GD

1/2" ratchet + socket. Smack the end of the ratchet handle with a sizeable hammer that has some weight. I use a hand sledge. Repeat until the bolt comes loose. You could prop a breaker bar against the frame rail and hit the starter - though I prefer the first method. Possible that it's too tight for the 1/2" gun. Just do one of the above. You should get used to using the first method as it's the best for junk yards. GD

Don't mess with hooking up the hard-lines from the EGR/Advance to the carb - just run new vacuum hose from the carb to the devices you want to run. You don't need the idle-cut solenoid. GD

I haven't had a bad EMPI yet - though I think I have a boot going out on one. They have been good to me for the price. GD

Are you sure there isn't some other reason that it's difficult to steer? Bad strut tops, improper tire inflation, etc? How much power are you expecting it to have? GD

Pretty typical, yeah. They rarely fail. Don't worry about it - worst that could happen is you lose PS and have to use your arm strength to turn the wheel - it's not that big of a deal with a Subaru. GD

I can tell you right now those blocks are too thin unless you sleeve the bolts or reinforce them from the open sides. Anything thinner than 1/4" wall thickness will be smashed (the sides will bow outward or the whole block will start collapsing to the side). I've seen this first hand with a 4" lift on an EA81 - 3/16" wall thickness was used and the blocks collapsed and the bolts came loose. It will be ok if you aren't doing any of the rough stuff at all - just driving around town on the street is ok. But when you need to get some suspension action going..... bad juju my friend. Also - I no longer through-bolt my blocks. I use the stock body bolts on the top of the block and a new set of short bolts/washers on the bottom - this way no amount of flex in the block will cause the bolts to loosen or rip away from the body and the required hardware is much cheaper and you can use SAE. Yes - it makes it harder to tighen them but it's worth it. You just get in there with a wobbly and a long extension. Also I don't drill out the blocks for a clearanced hole - I tap them and thread the bolt into the block and then use a fender washer/lock nut/nut on the other side as a locker. GD

Depends on the dealer - mine gives me local shop prices (they call it "cash wholesale) which are comparable. It's about dead even after shipping so I just deal with my local dealer instead. There's just no big win for ordering online. And the more business you take to them - they more they see your face, etc - the cheaper the parts get. With a local dealer it's about building a relationship which isn't effective for a lot of folks either because they do too little business with them or because their dealer parts department is staffed by asses or those who are not friendly to your vintage. GD

Do it. Shouldn't be a problem. GD

Somewhat desireable for a rural postal carrier. Otherwise unless it's pretty nice and you can find someone interested in doing a JDM twin-turbo swap or something..... not all that desireable. As a "car" it's got a limited audience as most people just looking for something to drive will not want the oddball RHD postal legacy. I would likely pass on it myself - I buy to fix/resell though so it wouldn't make any sense for me. If you just want it for transportation and are willing to wait for a postal carrier to buy it off you then by all means. If you find the right person at the right time it could be an easy sell for a decent profit as postal Jeep's are expensive and hard to come by for the rural carriers - thus the reason Subaru made the RHD Legacy's for the US market in the first place. GD

It's a normal 60k service. 60, 120, 180, 240, etc. Timing belts and all that. Sounds like you already took care of it. It's in your owners manual if you have one. GD

Bumper, lower grill support, marker light, fender. Easily done for around $100 at most yards. Get some matching paint ~ $100 in materials for paint/prep. Shoot the fender, grill support and lower bumper off the car - re-black the top of the bumper. Install. You will have some straightening to do on the core support where the fender bolts on - but it doesn't have to be perfect since the fender hides it and it's not visible from the engine bay. A LOT cheaper than the Sentra to repair. GD

Yep - under the air bleeds you will find the Emulsion Tubes - those should be F50's in almost all cases - good to remove them for cleaning though so I always double check. I have found a few oddball e-tubes before. Bend a 3/32" hook in the end of a paper clip wire - use that to pull the e-tubes from the base - you reach down inside and grab them through one of their air holes and pull them out. Sometimes they can get pretty stuck so soaking like you did helps. There's not much to the Weber's - anyone can rebuild one and jet it properly if they have the recipe for their engine. The trick is tuning and setup on them. Getting them to idle correctly with smooth progression and no deiseling on shutdown. It's a balancing act of idle speed, idle mixture, timing, etc. GD

Looks good - should work fine I would think. Primary/Secondary jets should be 140/140. Primary/Secondray air-bleeds should be 170/160. For an EA81 I like a 50 or 55 idle jet. EA82's like a 60. GD

rockauto.com Any Beck/Arnley dealer Retrofit some used EJ mounts Make your own Etc..... GD

Interesting - so do the sensors have the same number of pins, etc? Do they both have the same brand of ABS unit? If so I would say it's just a plug difference and they can be swapped - the sensor's are just hall-effect sensors and should all pretty much work on the same principle. GD

+1 to both of those. I'm getting less and less inclined to be bending over engine bay's - though I rarely work on EA82T's. My turbo car is not much more fun to wrench on but at least it's reliable and FAST so I can justify the extra work Personally - I would remove the engine. Then part out the car so I didn't have to put it back GD

If you search in the retro-fitting forum a bit it should give you an idea of the job. Basically the engine and exhaust bolt up with no mods. The intake is different so you have to use an EJ22 from an OBD-II car (96 through 99) and a manifold from either an EJ25 phase II, or there are wireing modifications I think that can allow you to use the EJ22 manifold if it's new enough - basically the car's computer will run the EJ22 with no problem - it's just a matter of giving it the manifold w/sensors that it wants. They are MUCH more reliable engines than the phase-I or phase-II EJ25's so if the car is nice it's probably worth the effort. Plus once the conversion is done, EJ22's are a dime a dozen since they rarely fail. GD

Most of the EA81's that didn't have feedback carbs had ASV's on both sides. Some are vacuum operated and some are not. Cut the steel tube about 2" from where it threads into the spacer under the head - put a quarter down in the bottom of the threaded port on the spacer and thread the 2" section of the tube back one. Eliminate anything else that was connected to the tube. Do the same for both sides. The low compression is probably exhaust valve seats. To fix you would have to pull the heads. The ticking could be exhaust leaks or it could be lifters. The lifters are accesible only with the oil pan removed and the push-rods loosened. If they are ticking it likely means they are dirty or worn - you have good solid oil pressure so that's not the problem. Try replacing one quart of oil with ATF for a while. The shaking at idle is probably a vacuum leak or a lean miss. Check for vacuum leaks and check how hot your spark looks and regap your plugs if you haven't done it recently. GD