GeneralDisorder

Before you get into upgrades you are going to need to swap out the engine and tranny for a dual-range tranny and side-starter engine to match (EA81 is a good choice). Without the low-range of the later '81+ dual range transmission you aren't going to turn large tires for beans and if you can't do that then you have no need of a lift. Then you will want to yard out the carb and install a Weber, or do the SPFI conversion. Here's a link to my conversion write up: http://home.comcast.net/~trilinear/EA81_SPFI.html GD

So is it in fact a 3AT rather than a 4EAT? GD

That doesn't appear to be the case: Looking at the parts listing on www.subarupartsforyou.com it shows the same sensor for both EJ22 and EJ25 legacys (including Outback's) from 97 through 99. I'm betting it's just a bad sensor. Get a new one as they aren't that expensive. GD

10w40 also has a lot of vicosity modifier in it. I also would not reccomend you run an SAE 40 in a Subaru engine. The tollerances are just too tight (less than .001") and they don't open up much at all with age. 10w30 is specified for the life of the engine for a reason. If you have ticking lifters then I sugest addressing the cause of the ticking. Heavy oil may mask it for a while but I would rather listen to the ticking and end up replacing some lifters or the oil pump than have the bottom end eat itself. I've experienced a Subaru rod letting go and it's not a pretty scene at all. I've also torn down a few EA series engines and seen what the tollerances are like in them. Thus I give you my experienced opinion. GD

I would replace the sensor. When I installed the engine in my 91 SS, the replacement had been sitting in a garage for several years. The knock sensor died all by itself - just from sitting. New sensor cured the problem. GD

Subaru ECU's are rarely at fault for anything. They are die-hard components and although I have owned several dozen Subaru's, and I have a pile of ECU's in the garage I have NEVER seen one fail. It's always something else. Apparently you can kill some of the older one's if you connect the battery backwards for more than 30 seconds or so. I've never met an idiot who tried it though. GD

Definitely the O2 sensor. GD

Well - the body style you have was also shared by the Gen 1 Brat's, which actually came with the EA81 for the 1981 model year only. So a direct swap would involve the engine cross-member from a 1981 Brat GL. Barring that as they are stupendously difficult to find, you will have to modify the steering linkage from the column to the rack in order to clear the bell-housing IIRC. The EA81's (except the rare turbo version) were always carbureted, but you do have the option, if you are so inclined, of converting them to Single Point Fuel Injection. My conversion manual is here: http://home.comcast.net/~trilinear/EA81_SPFI.html It adds greatly to the driveability and the fuel economy of the engine. It's a bit of a performance boost as well. The EA81 came in the following vehicles: 1980 2WD GL's (DL's and 4WD's were the EA71) 1981 through 1984 GL's. 1982 through 1984 DL's. 1982 through 1987 Brat's. 1985 through 1989 Hatchback DL's & GL's (but not the STD). GD

Beleive me - they are not even close to the level of overcomplicated german engineering that VW/Porsche/Audi can lay claim to. I have worked on plenty of the VW/Audi stuff and I don't like them one little bit. Besides being stupid fast, the overbuilt Audi's suffer from far worse MFS than my 91 Legacy SS does. And the SS isn't without it's moments :-\. GD

Yes - you will need the driveshaft from a MT. The transmissions are different overall length's and the front section is different to compensate. A standard non-turbo 5 MT D/R would almost certainly have a FD of 3.9:1. The RX tranny and other FT4WD 5 MT's would be 3.7:1. The last 4EAT FT4WD turbo I parted out was also a 3.9:1. But many turbo's were 3.7:1..... I don't know if that applies to the 4EAT FT4WD tranny or not. Perhaps some years were different from others. I don't know for sure. GD

I tend to avoid oils with that much viscosity modifier in them. 0w is designed to flow at -35 degrees.... do you really need that kind of low temp oil? 10w is good to -25... GD

The major problem is the ball joint system. The ball joints are different between EA81 and EA82 such that the knuckles will not fit the EA81 control arm. The whole reason that the 5 lug bolt-on swap is possible on the EA82's is the existence of the XT6 control arms - they allow adaptation between the Legacy/Impreza ball-joint and the EA82 style control arm/leading rod system. Unfortunately there is no control arm out there that facilitates this between the EA81 and the Leg/Imp system because the EA81 is narrower and so has shorter control arms. There is also the issue of the strut top-hats, but that is easily handled by drilling new mounting holes in the strut towers. There is also the problem of the e-brake system. The Leg/Imp e-brake's are on the rear wheels.... So with custom control arms, or by machining the existing EA81 control arms to accept a new style ball-joint, it can be done. There also has to be some swappage with the tie rod ends I believe. Really, for the work involved, it's much simpler, and a lot stronger to just convert your existing hubs to 6 lug Chevy/Toyota. The 5 lug swap yield many rim choices for the street crowd but if you are going with big off-road tires then 6 lug is the way to go. Not only because there are more lugs and that is stronger in itself, but also because the lugs are spaced 20mm farther from the center and thus less torque is put on them with large mud-tires. Thus the reason trucks intended to run these style/size of tire from the factory are so equipped. GD

With the EA82's such as yours they already have a proportioning valve so you should be fine. It's as straight of a bolt-on upgrade as you can get. Master cylinders are all the same. Just bolt them on, bleed them, and go. GD

The 4EAT probably has a 3.9 rear diff. But check and see. If not you will also need the rear diff from the donor. The axles will have to be changed. No way around it. The MT is 23 spline and the turbo axles are 25 spline. The stubs are not removable from the MT so you must use the non-turbo axles. Speedo still uses a cable. If the 4EAT cable isn't long enough you will have to use the MT cable from the donor. It will work fine with the cluster. Everything else should bolt straight up. You will have to jumper the nuetral start inhibitor switch pins on the old 4EAT shifter wireing harness. Should be pretty simple to figure out with a DMM and your ignition key. You can't drive around in FWD without losing all your transmission fluid. The driveline has to be in place in order to seal the rear output of the transaxle - just like any other RWD transmission. GD

+1. Bought a wagon for $100 because of that. GD

Subaru engines never have ring ridges. In fact that's largely a problem of the past as the materials used in liners and rings have largely eliminated that problem. But the Subaru boxers have excelent lubrication systems and ring ridges are completely unknown to them. Second - you don't remove the liners. They are cast into the block. You remove plugs on the sides of the block halves to access the wrist pins. The pins come out the side, and then the block halves can be seperated. The EA63 is nearly identical to the later EA71 and the EA81 in basic design. The parts may be difficult to source though and for extra power you might consider swapping to the EA71 as it's a bit more common now. Try rockauto.com for the EA63 parts. If they are availible through sealed-power then they will carry them. GD

I would question the quality of something made (ostensibly) in the US and sold for that price. The last Focus I worked on (2002) was a horrible, plastic, toy of a car. I see how it could be attractive to a lot of car buyers though - the american public doesn't seem to understand that you get what your pay for - thus the popularity of wal-mart. GD

Properly cleaned and with a new o-ring that specific junction is the least of my worries on an EA82. The o-ring is of such a size that the bolt only need prevent the pipe from popping out of the water pump. It seals based on compression of the o-ring not from the bolt. It's a completely valid design in my opinion. GD

Most power options except for THE power option that matters.... the one under the hood. Ugly car with 140 HP on a 2500 lb frame..... yeah your girl has excelent taste in avoiding that thing. For $8k she got AWD, and an extra 120 HP. The WRX has no competion in the Ford world I'm afraid. They tried to enter the tuner market with the Focus - the result was that Steve Saleen threw in the towel when Ford forced him to do something with the Focus. After looking it over he threw his hands up and put a NOS bottle on the thing. He delivered them to Ford who threatened to fire him if he didn't take the bottle off (can you imagine selling a factory NOS equipped Focus?). He quit instead. They did sell the 200 he made - with the provision that if you broke the seal on the bottle the warantee was instantly void GD

If the warrantee was going to be voided it already has been. As for shortening the life of the vehicle - it shouldn't hurt it. The EJ20 has the overhead to handle 260 without problem. I would not remove either of those modifications. The Exhaust is innocous and the ECU tuning is ok provided you run premium..... But, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, should she ever run regular gas. Subaru turbo's run 92 or higher. Subaru claims extended use of lower octane fuel can cause engine damage. It will definately affect the performance as the ECU will knock the timing back to compensate. Forced induction is one of those circumstances where octane matters a lot. The WRX is not a gas-saver and I respectfully say that if the price matters that much she should look for something that is. GD

I had to do a clutch in a V6 Contour not long ago. OMG what a nightmare. Had to drain the power steering fluid, remove the entire front suspension/engine cross-member/power steering rack assembly before I could even get to the transmission. Transverse is one thing, but that car is just plain wrong. Idiots designed it. GD

You can bend out the tabs on the center caps and make them fit without the rings. But the rings are cheap - just order a set at the dealer. They are like $5 each. They get old, yellow, and brittle and end up falling out when someone removes a cap - they they just don't get replaced. They are there to protect the white paint on the rims, and center the caps. They are not used on the plain steel rims, only on the white wagon wheels. GD

There is an ignition relay, yes. But the failure you had doesn't sound like a relay failure. They generally either refuse to pull-in, or their contacts go bad. For it to just fail like that while you are driving would take a complete failure of the relay's drive coil.... that's almost unheard of at 12v. And you would probably have smelled it as it's under the dash. The 4 fuseable links and the fuse panel under the dash is in fact all the fuses the car has. Did you actually remove each one and check it? You can test the coil by testing resistance across the primary and secondary circuits in the coil. Check from the negative to the positive post, and then check from the positive (or negative) to the tower. On one you should see less than 10 ohms, and on the other around 8,000 to 12,000 ohms... GD

FIRST - check all your fuses. Make sure the timing belt stll has all it's teeth. Check that the screw didn't fall out of the distributor rotor. Beyond that it could be the coil, ignitor (on the coil bracket), the distributor, the ECU, etc. In depth tests will have to begin to determine for sure. GD

My quick reference manual doesn't show that particular hose. It shows the nipple but not the hose itself. I don't have any other parts manuals that cover the EA82's so someone else will have to look it up. Sorry. GD