GeneralDisorder

Some sheet metal from the looks of it. Probably nothing else. Definately not what I would start with and not where I would end things if I was going to do up a forester. GD

You may have gone too large with that secondary jet - it sounds like it's having trouble at part throttle on the secondary side. You may be flooding it when the secondary first starts to open. What jets were in it before and what is in it now? I can tell you what may be happening better if I know what jets you are running. I think you are getting a lot of power at wide-open-throttle because the air-bleed is leaning it out just enough to counter the super-rich secondary main jet - it's still rich but it should be pretty rich at wide-open-throttle anyway. GD

The major problem is in relocating the radiator. The engine will be in the way. GD

Just about anything will fit with modification. I generally use EA82 or Legacy seats when I convert. Nothing out there is a straight bolt-in. If you are looking for more height (lower seat), the best I've found is from an 80's Isuzu Impulse. 3 of the 4 holes for the EA81 rails line up on them. That's about as close to bolt-in as you are going to get. EA82 seats are easy to adapt - you make 4 tabs to weld to the seat frame to offset the rails inward by 1.5" IIRC. I just wrap the seat in wet rags and weld the tabs on - bolt on the rails and bolt them into the car. Takes about an hour. GD

Honda and Toyota both have used starters with compatible contacts and brushes. There are posts about this over on NASIOC - IIRC there are links to some ebay auctions where you can get contact and brush sets for real cheap. Worth the 15 minutes to replace them yourself IMO. GD

I should think that any ECU for an EA82 Turbo XT should work. I know people have tried to retro-fit the "spider" manifold from the XT to their regular EA82 Turbo engines with mixed results - the major difference I believe is that the regular turbo uses a 3 pin TPS and the XT used a 4 pin TPS (something along those lines anyway - I'm no expert in EA82T's - I can tell you how craptastic of an engine they are, but the MPFI they used isn't my area of study you might say....). You might make a seperate post about asking about converting from a standard EA82T manifold to the spider manifold as that is really what you are going to be doing. The XT has it's ECU in the trunk - so the wiring harness is completely different and much larger. But there are much more knowledgable people on this board than myself with regards to the ins/outs of the EA82T's MPFI variations. GD

The "new" engine is from a Turbo XT. Not really "newer" per-se, just a different model. They were made alongside the regular turbo. The block and heads are the same so you could swap over to your old stuff. If you get an ECU from another hot-wire MAF turbo car you could use the manifold and electrical components from the XT engine..... you might need the ECU from the XT though for the TPS..... I'm not totally sure on that one. In my opinion it would be desireable to use the XT stuff if you can. There's definitely more work involved in doing that so it's a call you will have to make. GD

The accelerator pump boot is only there to keep dust out - it will not cause a problem if it's ripped. The seal for the pump is on the end of the shaft. GD

The FI distributors use needle bearings that are easily replaced - sadly the carb units (which didn't need the accuracy that the optical pickup in the FI units required) used bushings which are press-fit into the housing and may need to be reamed or line-bored to size. GD

The shaft bushings are failing - they can be replaced. There's some threads on here about the necessary part numbers, etc. I'm not sure if the old bushings need to be reamed out or if the new bushings need to be reamed to size or not. Replacing the bushings is not something I would attempt if you have never done such things but it is possible. Better to just pickup a used one - someone on this board will have one laying about. All the carb EA82 distributors are interchangeable. GD

Open it and replace the contacts. GD

All the scavenging you need is done in the stock header - before any cats. The cats should flow as freely as possible. If you think you might be down on mileage and can't find any other reasons - it's worth a look inside the cat. I picked up about 3 MPG when I opened up the cat on my '83 hatch. The contents were completely gone and the metal brackets and mesh screen were wadded up in the outlet. Bumped me up to 26 MPG from about 23 (engine has a low comp. cylinder). GD

There is no difference in how the two-row units connect. They are functionally identical - about 3/4" thicker is the only difference. There is no fitment issues with them. That said, you don't need it. Singe row is just fine for a non-turbo. Just remember to replace your coolant at least every two years. GD

If you want to clean your engine, run a quart of ATF and three quarts of inexpensive oil for 500 miles. Do this several times. Rislone has similar results but is more expensive. GD

If the engine should overheat for any reason, the thermostat will lock in the open posistion and will never close again. It's to insure that a severe overheat will not result in the thermostat failing in the closed posistion after it cools. GD

I don't think he's talking about swapping the whole DOJ - I think he's just swapping the outer race of the DOJ - the "cup" portion. Thus mixing wear components, but it will effectively yeild a working joint if you find the right size 25 spline cup to match the inner race of the stock EA81 DOJ. That way no shaft splines would come into play. GD

That's the heart of it. By comparison though, the EA82T turns to crap sooner than any other Subaru engine. And the potential return for your investment isn't there - for the cost of a brand new EA82T and accessories I could have a good running phase II EJ22 putting out near the same power. Add a tiny bit of boost to it and I'm way out of the EA82T's league both in performance and reliability. There's a nice collection of folks that have run good condtion used EJ22's with 5 psi and flogged the hell out of them for a long time. The majority of them take it - and with replacement used EJ22's availible for typically around $200 to $400..... the economy Subaru turbo engine has a new name - and it's not the EA82T. It's not that they can't be reliable Rob - it's that it's not worth it anymore. So much better is out there for the same money or less. GD

You might pick up a few MPG if the cat is clogged or broken and jamming the outlet of the chamber. If it's not then you won't gain a thing. I run about 75% on them having some sort of issue that I wouldn't have known about had I not opened them up. So I don't even bother trying to save them anymore. If I needed a cat for some reason (I don't smog my rigs) then I would buy an aftermarket cat off ebay for $60 and weld it into the mid-pipe. The stock 20 year old cat is too much of a gamble IMO. Better to open them and know where you stand. I always cut about a 6" sqaure out of the cat on the top, gut the internals, then weld the flap back on. It's all hidden under the heat sheild and they weld real nice as they are stainless. GD

Replace the radiator. They aren't worth flushing and it's not going to be effetive unless you have access to an alkali hot tank or similar type of chemical metal stripping. The stuff availible to the public is not worth your time or money. Your water pump isn't the issue. GD

Not all EA81 axles have the same joint sizes - and this goes for Legacy's as well. We have known for a long time that it can be done but what no one ever bothers to check is which axles it takes to do it. EA81's axles come in two flavors and the Legacy axles come in two, maybe three more. That's a total of 4 or 6 combinations of joint components - not all of which will work. It's not as simple as it first appears - especially if the first one you try works as seems to be the case for you. GD

Those could very easily be 14" - they look to be Jackman's..... GD

108 or 109 in the shade at my place. Was 104 in our shop today. We started 2 hours early so we could go home at 2 pm. Bad day in the shop. Hot people all around. Frustrating machines. No coolness to be had anywhere. GD

Most of that stuff is pretty easy to troubleshoot and fix if you have the time and the inclination. In fact all of it besides the clutch. YOU are going to have to do it though - I say this for several reasons. First the car is quite old and most mechanics are going to have trouble with it simply due to age - they don't see these often anymore and there just isn't the skilled force of technicians for EA82T's that there once was. Second, as you pointed out, it would not be worth the investment of money to have all that stuff done. The clutch is difficult. Think of it this way - you *could* end up doing a clutch on any vehicle you buy (I'm assuming you aren't in the market for a brand new rig). That is simply a maintenance item and besides being a pain in the neck in the case of a turbo..... it's not something you can kill off the car over. I would have to say that if you aren't sure about doing it yourself then you probably shouldn't do it. It is almost universally acknowledged that it is easier to pull the engine for clutch jobs on Subaru's..... with the exception (IMO) of turbo's - the exhaust alone makes for an often maddeningly difficult pull. They are also crammed full of hoses, lines, and plumbing. It would be my preference to pull the tranny for a clutch job on your model.... but that's not easy the first time you do one..... it's not even easy the 10th time. If you rented a transmission jack you would stand a much better chance but it's still a hassle - especially if you don't like working on your back. Also - the EA82T will eventually bite you. It's a craptastic engine and it's lifespan with the maintenance level you are indicating it has received is limited. My suggestion is that you trade up to a gen 1 Legacy (90 to 94 - 93/94 being the choice years). More power, more comfort, MORE (WAY more) reliability, and they are stupendously cheap these days. Rarely commanding over $1000. Then you can sell that rolling time bomb you have. GD

Anything is possible - the stock hood scoop on your Imp. is not even half as big as it would need to be to divert enough air for the radiator. With enough fabrication just about anything is possible. You could mount it on the roof if you wanted. GD

Typically that's the case. They are abused their entire life then expected to keep taking it. The engine design has major drawbacks that make it uneconomical to repair or modify. When they were new in the mid-80's though, they were fairly high-tech for their time. Unfortunately they fall under one of GD's rules to live by - "never buy the first generation of anything". The EA82 was the first production OHC for Subaru - then to top it off you add a primitive turbo system and a pathetic cooling system that's got no overhead built into it at all..... it was an experiment and they are lucky it didn't totally turn every buyer of an EA82T against Subaru for life. The real problem is that they departed from the tried and true EA series pushrod engines and the engineering that went into the EA82/T was not well done. Subaru's second-string of engineer's built the EA82 by adapting an OHC and belt system to the EA81. They did not have the CAD design system that the EJ engineer's had (R&D on the EJ's began in '85 with Subaru's top engineering team). The EA82 is a kludge - a solution looking for a problem. There is nothing the EA82 design can do that the EA81 design couldn't do better already. They have been shown reliable to 200 HP with turbo/super charging - no EA82/T has topped that to my knowledge. It was merely a sales pitch - they could say they had OHC engines like their competition and they could claim a "new" design in their sales literature. GD