GeneralDisorder

None at all. I like it better without the joint in fact. The steering is very solid and responsive. Mine has 28" MT's. GD

10-30 is best year round. If it gets very cold you should invest in a block heater. I would not go to a 20w till it was below 20 degrees and only if I didn't have a block heater. The tollerances in these engines, even after hundreds of thousands of miles, are VERY tight. Heavier weight oil is never needed as the engine will simply destroy itself if the tollereances get that high. Sounds like you have a bad sending unit to me. The sending unit hangs down about 1" to the passenger side of the oil filter. You can't miss it - it's bulbous thing hanging down with a wire attached to it. It's a metric thread somewhere around 12mm or 13mm IIRC. Anyway you need an adaptor for most gauges. Good gauges will come with them, but any pressure gauge that reads from say 0 to 60 or even 0 to 100 will work. Just plumb it in using some nylon tubing. In leiu of buying a new sending unit, you could do this: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=55186 That's my poor-man's approach. Then you use a cheap pressure gauge and some tubing. GD

I'm not sure pics would even be helpful really. It's just two stock u-joint assemblies with a section of splined shaft connecting them together. Make the shaft between them such a length as will be adequate with your lift block height. It connects directly to the column splines and directly to the rack splines. There's nothing at all special about it. GD

More power than the SPFI. Those are rated at 95 HP. Probably a miniscule increase in fuel economy. The 85 2WD GL MPFI was a rare beast and the parts are oddball for it. GD

Start thinking in terms of this: There is NO (read VERY little) aftermarket for your car. There isn't any money in it as the people looking for aftermarket parts are few and most owners of this vintage are not willing to spend the money. These (Loyale's and older) are cheap, (mostly) reliable transportion with an emphasis on 4WD and fuel ecomony. The EA82 Turbo was, for most intents and purposes, the first mass market turbo charged Subaru. As such they aren't much more than an experiment and marketing tool used at a time when Subaru's sales in the US were still pretty slim and they made a lot of attempts to target fringe buyers. Most of the stuff that's out there is either old stock from the 80's, or it's factory parts from things like the RX's that can be adapted for other body styles. Now - with that said, on to your specific question. Lowering the EA82's (as with most cars) isn't so much a factor of buying aftermarket parts as it is finding what parts will fit from other makes and models. And in this case it's not just the springs but also the struts themselves as the locations of the spring perches is mostly what changes the ride height. For the front, strut's and springs for an RX will take you down a bit. For the rear people have been using Mazda Miata stuff. Do some searches on those two and you should find all the threads and information you need. GD

Stock boost is about 8 psi. There are no plug & play ECU's out there but some have run MegaSquirt - that's a whole topic in itself though. The stock ECU is pretty good and very reliable - it's simple enough that it will handle light mods without any problems for the most part. Exhaust is a good start - there are some custom down-pipe's out there that have been made for the EA82T's by TWE but they aren't easy to get and not cheap. Beyond that anything you do will have to be custom made as no one sells exhaust systems for EA82T's. GD

That's true, but the EA82T expects positive manifold pressure. The ER27 ECU does not. It wasn't setup to run forced induction and an EA82T ECU won't work as it doesn't have the ability to drive 6 injectors. Thus my assertion that custom fuel management will be required. And it won't be easy as there is zero aftermarket support for the EA/ER series FI components. MegaSquirt is probably the best option but the learning curve is steep and that coupled with the expense makes the whole project more expensive and frustrating than an EJ20 swap. And for 200 HP I can't see the point. GD

Mine has two u-joints with the splined end of a junk column cut off and used to couple them together. No rag joint. Works just fine - no pillow block required. GD

Dealership or junk yard. GD

But making use of what you have will actually end up costing more than a simple EJ swap. Think about the fuel management problems - forced induction is going to need fuel enrichment and the ER27 ECU can't handle it. There isn't an ECU availible from the EA/ER series era that *can* handle positive manifold pressure on a 6 cylinder. So you are looking at custom fuel management, and probably using something like MegaSquirt as there is no support in the aftermarket management community for EA series components. Then there's the totally custom exhaust system on top of that - larger injectors, IC, etc. The amount of tuning and messing around with it you would have to do would make it hard to justify for the 40 HP you are looking to gain. That's easily attainable with known reliable EJ components and you won't be charting your own path to get there. GD

EJ22 is (primarily) the 90 to 94 Legacy engine. It's a 2.2 with 135 HP stock. Adaptor plates are availible from SJR, Rguyver, and other members on this board. Do a search and you'll find some sources. It can work with an automatic I'm sure but that's not typical of where it's used. Generally it's used with manual transmissions. I have not done any automatics myself nor do I know anyone that has.... but I don't see why it wouldn't work. Generally for wireing you just transplant the entire engine control harness and ECU from a donor legacy. They are all over the junk yards now so it's easy to get the harnesses. You just strip out the engine control circuits, provide them with power, and piggyback them to the existing vehicle harness. GD

The ER27 heads are almost identical in design to the EA82 heads. Thus they can't really handle boost well. The engine is rare, and the parts are expensive. If you want 200 HP that's easily done for a lot less money with an EJ engine. The non-turbo 2.5's are approaching that now without any forced induction. I agree that the ER27 is a neat engine, but it's just doesn't make good economic sense to mod them with the expense of their rare parts. GD

In the neighborhood of 10 to 12 psi is as high as I would go. But it's a subjective number and other's may dissagree. I deal with compressed air every day and I am painfuly aware of the power of a few psi. Before you go and change anything, make sure you have replaced the entire cooling system and all the hoses. It's good that the engine has been rebuilt, but make sure the cooling system has as well. The stock radiators are barely adequate and upgrading to a dual-core is beneficial. Heat is your biggest concern with these engines. The heads will crack and the gaskets will blow. You should have a wideband O2 sensor on it, as well as exhaust gas temp and boost gauges. You don't want to be guessing at anything - especially with manual boost controllers and such. Turbo's are very expensive toy's. The #1 reason people fail at their attemts to mod them is they buy all the "go-fast" parts before they buy any of the supporting gear to do it safely. You can easily eat up $1000 just in upgraded parts, gauges, and sensors before you increase even a single psi. But the flip-side is that you'll be looking for a new engine if you don't do that stuff first. It's very deceptive - you start out by increaseing the boost a few pounds.... everything seems OK..... it's addictive.... so you add a few more..... BAD things happen. My advice is that you forget about the EA82T and just install a non-turbo EJ22. You can get an engine for $250 to $300, an adaptor plate for around $150 - some wireing and plumbing and you are at 135 HP without any of the problems that come with the EA82's. GD

Be careful with the K&N stuff. They don't filter as well, and the oil can cause issues with hot-wire MAF sensors used on the EA82T. Frankly the existing panel filter is more than enough. Spend your money on exhaust as you'll get a lot more for your dollar. It's not that simple. The EA82T's are poor engines to be pushing lots of boost through. You can increase it a *bit* but go too far and you'll have a pile of useless scrap metal. An IC is a wise investment, but you have to consider fuel enrichment (larger injectors), and monitoring gear in order to safely proceed with increasing boost. Just installing an IC and a manual boost controller will almost certainly leave you with blown head gaskets, cracked heads, and possibly severe bottom end damage. We are used to seeing that around here - the EA82T "tuner" crowd turnover rate is stupendously high as people become inevitibly frustrated by the design constraints of the engine and are ultimately unable to overcome them and get tired of buying expensive (and hard to find) parts all to no avail. Those who have succesfully done EA82T builds have gone through multiple engines and are just stubborn. The learning curve is high and if you need to drive your car I highly sugest you just leave well-enough alone. LOL. Yank that boat anchor out and put in a real engine for starters. The EA82T has major design flaws that limit the reliable power you can put down. To overcome them requires more money than a straight swap to a newer, better designed engine does. So there's just no reason to bother. In race trim the EA82T was capable of pushing around 175 HP - but that's using a lot of non-stock components that can no longer be sourced, and it only had to last through a race or race season. To build them requires effort and money beyond what is practical. You probably aren't going to listen to me or any of the others around here that will tell you to move on and get something else if you want to play in turbo-land, but there it is. You can't say someone didn't warn you. GD

Could be anything. Unfortunately no one here will be able to help much unless you give us a picture at least. Wire colors are basically useless. It could be for a connector that goes nowhere (accesory you don't have), or it could be important. But wire colors are repeated over and over throughout the harness. They are not specific to an exact circuit. GD

1. Does the gauge fall to exactly zero when powered off? It should. If it doesn't the gauge itself is adjustable but it requires dissasembly of the cluster. 2. Does the pressure decrease once the engine is warmed? It should. 3. Test the pressure with a known good mechanical gauge. Otherwise you are just guessing. 4. You should be looking to see higher than 20 psi when the engine is at temp and idling. 5. Look for it to climb to 40 or 50 psi at cruiseing RPM. 6. You should never see 75 unless something is very wrong or your gauge/sender is fubar. GD

No. Timing belts, water pump, and oil pump should cost no more than $500 to $600. About $200 in parts if you do it yourself, and an experienced mechanic can do them all in about 3 hours. That leaves you with a 91 Loyale that's got 170k on it. Not worth even close to $2000. Push-button single range is not desireable. Being a Loyale it's stripped down which makes it actually a bit less desireable than an 88 or 89 GL and there are plenty of those to be found for less with that many miles or fewer. For the money you are looking at spending, get into a 90 to 94 Legacy. 92+ if you can. I got a wagon last year for $750 with only 135k on it because it needed a water pump. Cost me $190 in parts and 2 hours to fix. More power, more reliable, and more civilized than any EA series. Pass. GD

Best place to get a water pump is anywhere that has the cheapest price on Atsugi water/oil pumps. They are the OEM supplier for Subaru. Your dealer isn't even that expensive so that's definitely an option. I find myself rarely buying parts anywhere else. www.subaruparts.com seems to be one of the cheapest online dealers around. Part number is 21110AA060 For $56 (+$9.95 shipping) I don't know why you would bother going anywhere else. GD

Fuel pump only runs when cranking. You should not jumper around the FPCU - it's a safety device to prevent you from being roasted alive in a crash. You could apply 12v directly to the pump for testing purposes though. The cam can't be off 180 unless someone dissasembled the entire engine and installed it that way. They are gear driven. You may have electrical gremlins in the fuel pump circuit but I highly doubt the FPCU is to blame. GD

Self-tapper and some silicone would be best considering it's a FUEL tank filled with volatile gasoline vapor. With the hole being on the top I wouldn't hesitate to just plug it with a screw and some sealant. GD

Try replacing the plugs and wires anyway. Even if they look ok on the outside they can still break down internally. Get both from the dealer. GD

MWE is just some guy's initials that builds axles for Subaru's. They aren't available anywhere but through him personally. EMPI makes good axles and they are inexpensive. $58 each for my hatch. Check VW aftermarket shops - they will be EMPI dealer's and can order them for you. GD

How did you check the belts? Not only can they break, but they can strip the teeth off and appear to still be intact till you try to rotate it over. Air. Fuel. Spark. You are missing one at the proper time. Suspension adjustments are on the struts if they are original. Lower perch adjustment nuts on the front, and a three-position notch arrangement on the rear coil-over-shock tubes. GD

Should fit fine, yes. GD