GeneralDisorder

Yes that is bunk. Cost to machine both heads is $70 to $80. The gaskets themselves are about $100 to $150 for all of them you would need (manifolds, valve covers, head gaskets, etc). Block's simply don't warp. I've seen some severely overheated engines and the block's are never a problem. And frankly, most of the time it's not necesary to mill the heads. 99 times out of 100 a small amount of warpage will make zero difference in the end result. There are extreme cases out there, but by and large just torqueing them down will pull them into alignment and seal them. I've reinstalled heads that weren't perfectly flat on many occasions and never had a problem. You can even sand the heads flat by hand with a flat surface, some glass, and the right grit sanding belt. As much as people would like to think they are, these are not swiss watches. They aren't AK-47's either, but you have to have the proper perspective on an engine. A reciprocating, internal combustion engine has come a long, long way since they were designed 100+ years ago. I've pulled the heads on EA81's, sanded both surfaces with a 3M pad, and reinstalled them the same day. Those engines are still running strong 10's of thousands of miles later. Total cost to me - less than $50. EJ's are no different - newer - but no different if you are careful and know what you are doing. Head Gasket = Trivial. Why do you think so many of us buy them with bad HG's and resell them? Because it's a walk in the park for ~$2000 profit. Mostly because people are scared by the hype and have zero understanding of what it really means. GD

You can adjust it's response time with an orifice in the line to the pressure swith and you can dampen the open/close of the wastegate with another orifice in the line to the the actuator. It will require some tuning to avoid high cycling, yes. But as those switches are used frequently in turbo applications to turn on extra injecotors or NOS systems, etc - I dont think it would have an extremely high failure rate. On the contrary, my experience is that, when properly maintained, the purely mechanical control's such as this would be, are often more reliable than their electronic counterparts. It's highly dependant on the system being used though, and one thing is for sure - a mechanical system such as he is contemplating will not be any cheaper than a used electronic controller, and will require more knowledge and tuning to get right. The electronic controllers are designed to be installed by your average 17 year old and hide much of what is going on in their programming. GD

I'm pretty loaded with my own projects right now or I would give you a hand. That said, a transmission swap does not require a lift. You need a jack, and 4 jack stands ($100 tops at Harbor Frieght), and the willingness to get the job done. You get the car as high as the jack stands will go (I like the 6-ton models for their added height), and start unbolting stuff. If you search on here you can find an outline of the procedure for swapping a tranny. I've covered it multiple times. Call Foster Auto Parts or any of the other auto-recyclers around the portland metro - you should be able to get a used tranny with a warrantee for around $200 to $300. If you are the adventurous type - find a wrecked EA82 at one of the LKQ u-pull-it yards (wrecked because you know it must have drove well enough to hit something!) and pull the tranny yourself - $119 + $25 core. That way you also get to see how everything comes apart on a vehicle that isn't your own so doesn't matter if you break something. Overheating issues are rarely difficult to fix on the non-turbo EA82's such as your's. Could easily just need a new radaitor, etc. I say fix it but that's up to you - you could spent $1000 on another car that needs just as much money put into it. Unless you are prepared to spend $3,000 to $5,000 (and even then nothing is gauranteed) then you are better off with the evil you know vs. the evil you don't. GD

You need to start by welding up that leak - that is the major source of the backfires. As for the mixture... with the Hitachi it's not such a simple question to answer. There aren't any adjustments except for idle and that's not your problem. A rich exhaust is generally a condition caused by poor engine tune in general. You start the process at the begining - check your compression. If you don't have good comp. it's going to be rough to tune out all the harsh running and idle misses, etc. From there you need to verify good ignition - check your spark color. Gap/clean your plugs, etc. Set your timing and check for proper advance. Get a vacuum gauge and check your readings - check for leaks. Verify proper spray pattern from the carb nozzles. If you haven't found the solution after that you may have to tear the carb down for a clean and rebuild. GD

Ultra Grey is what I use, but black would work as well. You may be seeing blow-by gasses if the leak is really bad. GD

The valve cover gaskets are cork - it's common for them to leak. Just replace it - takes like 10 minutes. GD

Yeah but if you are buying something that's 3 to 5 years old then one would hope that you can afford to own something that's 3 to 5 years old.... know what I mean? And as you pointed out - the smart buyer looks for the older model that has already had the updated gaskets installed. Once they have been done right - they stay done generally speaking. There's a lot of things that can go wrong with cars of every make and model. Subaru's are generally better than the competition in that their failures are rarely going to threaten the viability of the car. Most any Subaru on the road, old or new, can make it to 300k with careful maintenance. Head gaskets are probably the *most* major repair you would ever have to make. GD

Yes and you'll want to get some studs for the heads as well. They are an oddball size though so be prepared to pay.... GD

Both classic symptoms of a vacuum leak. Spray around the manifold and hoses with carb cleaner - when you find a leak the engine speed will increase for a short time. GD

The term "head gasket job" has, in the last 20 years, become 100% interchangeable with "boondogle". Thing is - it's a freakin GASKET people. So what if you have to change one every 150k to 200k? It's really not a big deal. It doesn't mean the engine is junk. It's not like we are replacing pistons or rod bearings or something. 30 years ago you would be replacing the whole engine by that mileage. Are there engines that can make 300k without a single failure? Certainly - but some folks like you think that it's *easy* to engineer stuff like that. It frankly isn't. Mostly it's straight luck. You try your best with a design but sometimes you don't hit a winner - the automotive industry isn't NASA and trust me - when someone design's a car to never fail.... you nor I will be able to afford it. Stop ragging on Subaru - it's your perceptions of what "should be" that are wrong. If you are looking for something in the auto industry that isn't going to fail - you just have to wait it out. It's easy to compare the EJ22's with the EJ25 *now* - but it wasn't so clear back when they were 3 to 5 years old. No one knew they would be the unkillable machines they turned out to be. At some point you have to stick your neck out and take your chances. Every newer vehicle is a roll of the dice - doesn't matter what brand it is. Hell - look at all the suckers that bought a Pontiac in the last few years - bet they didn't see GM folding that division did they? Yeah it is - if you want to be 100% sure it will never leak you need a team of engineers to subject it to everything imaginable for 3 years before you sell a single one. So you and 6 other guys can cough up the $1.5 million for your engine that will never leak.... I'll just replace a few gaskets every 5 to 10 years and be on my way. As for the 2.5 - I have a '99 Forester (SOHC phase II) in my driveway with 232k on the original gaskets. 100% dealership maintenance till I got it. It's only a single example, but they don't all blow if you look at them cross-eyed. GD

Does it run? Very often wire colors change when going through harness connectors. GD

Came time to drain the fluid before pulling out the driveline and I got a pretty good assortment in my prize package. Definitely gear teeth in there. The gear oil doesn't look bad - not black anyway. I don't know what they did to this poor thing, but it looks as if the tranny is probably junk at this point. Even if I replace the bad components I'm not sure I want to take a chance with all that metal in the bearings. I'll see when I get in there, but I'm not big on reusing bearings even if they aren't contaminated so it might be best to just throw the whole thing in the dumpster.... I'll probably have the tranny out tonight or tomorrow morning so I'll post what I find inside it with pictures of course. GD

I used to just flip them on their roof to get to the tranny - till customer's started complaining about their change falling out of their pockets and there was one tub-o-lard that broke the damn seat belt and landed on his dome! At least it was good for a laugh..... AAHHHH to remember the old days GD

Yeah - that should work fine. Basically you are building the industrial equivelent of an aftermarket boost controller. What you are really building is an adjustable pressure, compressor load/unload control. I know all about industrial compressor controls.... My concern is that it will not reload (close the wastegate) fast enough using only a single-way solenoid valve and your check valve trick - in fact thinking about it - a simple check valve like that would not allow the wastegate to close at all till the manifold pressure drops below the wastegate set point..... what would happen is the wastegate would get no signal till the hobbs switch opens the solenoid. Then when the solenoid closes again, the pressure would only bleed down through the check valve to what was in the manifold and if that stayed higher than the wastegate set point (4 to 6 psi probably) the wastegate would hang open till the boost dropped to below the wastegate diaphram set point..... not desireable since if you are running 10 psi of boost you want the wastegate to close anytime the manifold pressure drops below 10. If it were me, I would just use a true three-way solenoid valve that vents the wastegate line to atmosphere when the valve closes - it switches the valve discharge line from one input to the other (which would be open to atmosphere). A regular 1/8" NPT 3-Way Asco valve should do the trick. No check valve to fail either. GD

Yep - bought myself a small (450 lb) tranny jack at Harbor Frieght last night. I'm sick of humping them out and back in by hand. Too awkward. GD

Yeah - AC parts for Gen 1's are REALLY rare. Don't thrash the stuff when you pull it out as someone will want to shelve that stuff. GD

Thanks guys - that was my concern as well - that there is just a ton of information missing on both ends. Am I going to pay $350 for a tranny that has unknown ratio's, and that the seller has never driven and doesn't even know what vehicle it for sure came from?!? Not this sucker..... If I were going to buy one I would much rather pay $700 for a single unit - shipped by someone that at least has verified what's in it and that it doesn't look like a hand-grenade went off inside it. GD

You might take a look at the EA81 2WD sway bars. They are shaped differently in the area of the exhaust loop and it may just solve your problem. GD

You use the same clutch cable you have now. The only thing that changes is you move to the EA82 flywheel and clutch assembly that match the 5 speed trans. The flywheel bolts up like stock but you do have to grind a couple small areas on the EA81 bell housing to clear the flywheel - 5 minutes with a die grinder and it's done - really not a problem at all. The mounting holes for the flywheel are larger on the EA82's but it doesn't cause a problem - you just center it up, bolt it down tight, and it center's on the crank with a C-face anyway so there's no real alignment issues. Some folks have cut small sections of steel or aluminium tubing to bush the holes in the flywheel but most have done nothing and never had an issue. The starter has to be shimmed out a tiny bit - generally done with a washer under each mounting ear. Then the only thing left after that as far as mods go is to weld in the carrier bearing mount or have a single peice driveline (your stock unit) lengthened by a few inches as the 5 speed's are considerably shorter than the 4's. If you get Jerry's kit for the swap it will bolt-in with the above small modification and look 100% stock on the inside of the car. All you will notice is the better gearing and the extra gear. You don't even have to change your knob if you like it the way it is. It sound more involved than it really is, and a ton of folks have done the swap now. I've done several myself and the last one I used Jerry's kit and it went much quicker than the times before where I've fabbed the mounting myself. GD

You will break axles with a welded diff if you run them at a severe enough angle, but if you run them relatively flat you will likely twist the stubs off the diff first. If you want a locker, go to a larger diff - either a Hitachi R180 or an R200. I'm pretty sure the R200's used in the older Nissan truck IFS have locker options. It would require mods, but if you are going with a large lift anyway it can be done. GD

So, effectively, there is no reason to want one of these unless you want to get rid of the adaptor plate? Sounds like a waste of time, effort, and money to me. I thought that was probably the case but I wanted to ask and make sure. I'll just stick with my laser-cut, CNC'd adaptor plate and keep the $350 then. GD

Leaks in the exhaust or the ASV's, and unburned fuel will cause backfireing. Generally speaking, a good running (street) engine that's properly tuned will not backfire. Race engines are a horse of a totally different color and backfireing is generally unavoidable. GD

Yes it is quite amazing. My Brat currently has an SPFI EA82 in it. The 16 HP makes it quite a bit sportier. Turbo's don't play well with the SPFI's stock computer. You could go with something like MegaSquirt though that natively understands when manifold pressure goes above atmospheric. Well - I guess you asked the right guy since I'm the one that wrote the SPFI conversion manual for EA81's. Here's the link: http://home.comcast.net/~trilinear/EA81_SPFI.html GD

I wonder..... you know I've noticed that all my Gen 1 Legacy's (I've had like 5 or 6 of them now) have NEVER had a wheel bearing failure while I owned them. Even my 91 SS that was totally abused - wheel bearings are fine at somewhere north of 170k. On the other hand I have, in my garage right now, a '96 with 113k and a bad front wheel bearing, and I have a '99 Forester with both rear's going bad for the second, and third times. One has been replaced once, the other twice! Both were done multiple times by the dealer and barely made 50k before failing again. The knuckle I got at the yard for the '96 - came from a '94 with 156k on it. They feel great So yeah - I don't know what the deal is with this bearing stuff - perhaps it's supplier issues. I bet they get them out of Mexico or Taiwan. At any rate it would seem that trusting a used OEM bearing from a Gen 1 is better even than installing a new one at the dealer! I've wondered about that myself - the 4EAT's in the Gen 1 Legacy's seemingly never have this problem - despite the majority of them being owned by poor/young/careless folks at this late stage of the game. You would think that it would be rampant due to the tendancy for mismatching tires and poor maintenance among the primary catagory of owner's of these sub-$1000 cars. It's all very fishy really. What it seems to come down to is that Subaru feels that 1. It's not an issue, or that 2. Due to the higher power/torque output of the new engines, design changes were neccesary that had this failure mode as a side-effect..... but that seems unlikely because the 92 through 94 Turbo Touring Wagon's only came with 4EAT's, put down more power and torque than the current EJ25's, and still did not have this issue. Very strange indeed. GD

I had an assistant hold the shifter in the "area" where 2nd should be. I then *tapped* on the linkage with a brass drift and a BFH. Nothing. It's as if 2nd just wasn't there. Time to pull the tranny :-\. I hate doing tranny's..... I'm going to split it and see if it's a simple fix. If not I'll be looking for a replacement. GD