GeneralDisorder

I put the dial indicator on the rotors (bolted down to the hub with all 5 lug nuts), and the runout is between .002" and .0025" on all 4 rotors. Per my Haynes manual, the acceptable max runout is .0039" so I'm within the specs here. It doesn't seem to vibrate till the brakes heat up - are they just warping under the heat load because they are so thin - having been turned at least twice by the dealer? Or is the Haynes manual innacurate or the spec too wide? All pads are new - all slide pins greased. Lug nuts torqued to spec. ??!? GD

On non-turbo engines the stock intake is not restrictive enough to cause a problem. If there were better mileage to be had with a different intake then the engineer's would have made the change. That is why they aren't offered. Also there isn't a lot of money in aftermarket parts for N/A engines. The name of the game with Subaru is Turbo Charged AWD. Most people find out quick that they either just want a car that gets them from point A to point B or they want something they can tinker with - which means a turbo. You should be able to find a MAF adaptor for a cone filter. It will make the engine louder, but you won't increase HP or mileage to speak of. GD

It still requires an ignition source and unless you are a total moron you aren't going to be lighting a cigar while disconnecting fuel lines. And even if you drain the pressure off - you will still get fuel from the line when you disconnect it - as well as the filter being full of the stuff. No way, no how, are you going to avoid spilling at least a little bit of fuel while doing this. Thus you can talk flashpoint all day long but you don't see competant mechanic's blowing people's car's up on a regular basis because they didn't depressurize the fuel system - and I'm here to tell you that most don't. It's a waste of time. GD

Very likely - looks like an XT6 alt to me. Those are 90A but are harder to make fit the EA's. GD

All the Legacy 5 speed's I've torn down have the VC equipped center diff section. Including the '90 I dissasembled. Haven't had the good fortune to reassemble one yet - they have all been full of metal and failed bearings, etc. GD

You can find them for way less than $2,000 - I just bought a '91 sedan for $260 - needed an injector, brakes, and a wheel bearing - overdue for timing belts too but still - even with registration I'll be into the car like $600. Runs like a champ. GD

I would say the engine in your turbo wagon was replaced with one from a turbo XT. Only the XT's got the MPFI and MPFI-Turbo engines with multi-rib pulley's. Even the '90 Loyale RS Turbo was still using v-belts. Perhaps someone with an FSM can tell us if the XT's alternator was stiill 55A like the EA82T's in the rest of the body styles. I suspect it's rated the same they just had to switch to the multi-rib pulley and clearances with that belt arrangment dictated an enclosed-fan case. Looks very similar to the Maxima alt but a bit smaller as well as thinner in the mounting ears. GD

For the case halves it's going to call for a variant of 3-bond which you probably won't be able to source. It's a japanese brand of RTV but for flanged mating surfaces like these I prefer an anerobic sealant such as loctite 515 or 518. What do you need torque specs for? I don't have an FSM for the RX tranny specifically but I do have some that cover various transaxles. There isn't a lot inside these that requires super exact torque - no mechanical locks or gasket crush that I've seen. You should be able to use a standard torque table for the size/pitch of the threads you are working with. Any machinists handbook will have these. GD

I replaced the front's on my Turbo only to find no change to vibration (which really seemed like a front rotor kind of vibration), but it was the rear's all along. It seems to be the same with this '91 I'm working on now - the vibration seems like it's from the front but with the maintenance history and what I know from my turbo I'm betting it's actually the rear's. I'm going to actually check tomorrow with a dial indicator. GD

The EA82 rear's dont have a pressed in hub - they have an axle "stub" that slips through the bearings like the EA series front axles. The bearings are typically either a sealed unit or they are timken bearings that need to be packed. GD

XT's are the exception as they run multi-rib belt's & pulley's. I didn't realize they used an alt with a different case design. Still not 90A though. GD

Yeah - pretty much everything you can see on the exhaust is heat sheild so don't worry about it being loose. You do also have a bunch of rust though and the deterioration will continue - ultimately you'll end up with an exhaust leak somewhere. GD

I don't tend to experience this on my cars but after having bought a few Legacy's over the years I've noticed a tendancy for them to warp rotors. I've replaced: '94 Legacy GT Wagon: warped front rotors @ 165k. '91 Legacy Turbo SS: warped rear rotors (vented) @ 160k. I now have another '91 Legacy sedan that likely has warped rear's @ 215k and it's had this problem before. I'll put the dial indicator on it tomorrow and find out for sure, but according to the maintenance reccords the rears have been turned before for this issue and were "too thin to take a third turn!" according to the reccords from the dealer. I put all new pads on today and only then could I tell the rotors were warped as it was down to the backing plates on the old pads. What's the deal with these? Is this a pretty consistent issue? I've never had a problem with rotors warping on EA's - to the point that I almost never actually replaced a set - just pads and sometimes have them turned. With all this warping though I would be leary of taking material off an already thin design GD

I don't even remove the trailing arm from the car. I just drift them out and in with the arm still attached - no need for an alignment that way. I'm all about the quick and dirty (but doing the job right). GD

Talked with my friend - his box doesn't do DC unfortunately but depending on how the high-freq box is setup it may work with an AC box. He claims there are "much better" TIG machines out now....... I'm sure he will help though - he's just being high and mighty. He has a $2500 Lincoln sqaure wave at work. I'll PM you maybe later this weekend or next week. I have been aquireing quite a few gen 1 legacy's over the last few years and I have a good stash of parts now. GD

I still am not totally clear on your explanation - if you are saying that the pipe is cracked and thus "loose" at the red dotted line you drew then just weld it - I've had several like that and a good solid weld fixes them right up. I've done EA81's and EJ22's alike - they often crack at one of the junctions between the y-pipe and the cat. Poor weld quality of brittle welds due to the stainless cat housing. GD

Yeah - that's not the right picture. I'm not sure what that goes to but it's not an EA82T. Might be an XT6 alt but even at that it doesn't look right. And just because it's got a multi-rib pulley does NOT mean it runs a serpentine belt. Multi-rib belts are generally *used* in serpentine applications but there are many applications that don't as well - look at the EJ22's for example - multi-rib yes - serpentine no. GD

Were not talking about 18" of stack charge here - were talking about a silly spacer that's like a few inches thick. The EA and EJ intake runners are already like 14" long. Adding another couple isn't going to make any difference to speak of. GD

Yeah - this is a '91 that I'm working on. AT. I went looking for injectors and realized the difference. I don't know what it is about the 90/91's but they seem more sporty than the 92-94. Different ECU I guess. This '91 is a rocket compared to the '92 wagon we sold a few months ago. Both AT's, and both with excelent maintenance history - the '91 really moves where the '92 was rather slower. GD

Gen 1 Legacy wagons are pretty ugly too. Bigger inside and nicer to drive - about 100x nicer. Whole different generation of car really. And none of the problems of the EA82 engine. I've got nothing against the car's themselves - I like the EA82 sedan body a lot, but I can't justify the car based on the body and trans alone. My woman on the other hand - she can justify making me put an EJ22 into the EA82 body because....well I'm a sucker I guess. But if you like the EA82 then go for it. I stopped driving anything with that engine years ago - still have one in the GF's car, but all mine are EA81's and EJ22's. I will second the EA81 hatch - I have an '83 that's currently my daily but is being replaced with a '91 Legacy sedan as we speak. I'm half done with the brakes - just taking a computer break ATM. GD

Just upgrade to outback struts and springs. Get a gen 1 legacy wagon, fit up the OBW struts and springs and then some used 15" or 16" rims and your choice of tires. Easy. Find some place that does alignment's cheap.... instant Outback for peanuts. Struts are cheap from a lot of aftermarket sources and the springs are only like $60 or $70 each from the dealer IIRC. Used springs aren't hard to find anymore either. I see a fair number of OB's at the yards these days. '96 through '99 mostly - usually well wrecked but you take what you can get. GD

That's because the one's that have high mileage DO get traded in but aren't resold on lots - they are sold at dealer auction's and typically get sold to the junk yards or auto recyclers that reman or resell various parts off them. Only the low mileage cars get put on lots for resale to the public - thus that's all you will see. Look for a nice Legacy wagon. You won't be dissapointed. GD

The 5% change in distance from the injector to the intake valve will do virtually nothing. On throttle body injected vehicles the notion is that adding distance will cool the charge (as most throttle body's are heated), and will improve the mixing of the air and fuel (more time for the fuel to propery atomize into the air). But the "spacer's" aren't large enough to effect a dramatic change. One thing to consider is that some of these spacer's may be helping due to dirty injectors with poor spray patterns. Give it a little extra time to atomize and a poorly fireing injector might improve a bit. Cheesy is the proper word for this stuff. Now Phenolic spacers that are designed to prevent heating of the TB might actually help a tiny bit. Again probably not even noticeable without supporting mods but they are relatively cheap and might net 2 or 3 HP on a 250 HP turbo-charged engine - these types of mods are for the dyno junkies that care more about beating their friends on a chart than how worthwhile the mod actually is. GD

If the heat sheilds are loose, then just find a board member or an exhaust shop in your area to tack weld them in a few places to quiet them down. That's not untypical of these exhaust's - it's much cheaper to repair them than to replace them. If the heat sheilds are rotted out then you can just remove them - try to save the one over the cat as it protects the passenger side inner axle boot. GD

It's no aggrivation - I'm just trying to save the OP some headache's down the line. If he already owned the car and was asking these questions I would be happy to help - but if I can save him from getting into these issues in the first place then it seems wise to do so. GD