GeneralDisorder

Codes? Have you run a D-Check? GD

If you are looking around the 10 year old mark, follow these guidelines. They have served me well. 1. Stay away from the first generation 2.5's. They have head gasket issues and although they can be fixed and many have, I wouldn't trust one that I didn't do myself. 2. Stick with the AWD 5 speed manual transmissions. No risk of torque bind, and they are near bulletproof. A little better mileage but the difference isn't much. Sportier as well with the 2.2 only putting out about 135 HP. 3. The 2.2 (EJ22) is an excellent engine. Of these the best are the 96 and older models, and of those the 90 through 94 are arguably simpler due to their OBD-I ECU. If you can find an EJ22 Turbo they are a lot more fun than the non turbo - a bit more complex, but no less reliable. Other than that, take a look at what models were available and search accordingly. Don't be hasty with your purchase - there are lots of good deals out there and you definitely don't want to pay too much. When I look for an AWD 5MT 90 to 94 Legacy in the NW I look to pay no more than $1000. Last one I got was $750 and needed a water pump. It was immaculate and low mileage. Here's a site with a lot of info on models over the 90's years. http://www.cars101.com/ GD

You need to do a battery load test before you do anything else. It definitely could be just a dead battery. Try jumping it from another car if you can't get to a parts place with a load tester. Nearly all auto parts stores will test batterys for free. GD

Brian is correct - it's just a metric roll-pin. 6mm I beleive. Fastenal could get them I'm sure. You don't need an account to shop through them unlike Granger. GD

Junk yard. Any older Subaru will have some on it. Just knock out a handfull with your 3/16" pin punch. Probably won't cost you anything beyond the entry fee and you'll get a chance to look for other stuff. They are virtually always included with new/reman axles so once you have done a few axles you will likely have spares comming out your ears. I have a whole drawer full of them in my garage. GD

I know Baxter Auto Parts carries generic brake components in metric. One thing to consider - it sounded in another post like this is going to be an off-road project. If you plan on doing any lift at all you may need to lengthen the lines or you may want to run additional steel hard line and change the way the soft lines are mounted. I don't like the tabs and the spring clips for off-road. I prefer to cover the brake lines with a slit rubber hose and then zip tie them. If they snag on something it will break the zip ties before it rips the line in half. That's the theory anyway. Baxter also has various lengths of steel brake line that you can bend to your needs. I got a couple 12" metric sections for a rear disc conversion I did on the VW sqaureback a few months back. www.rockauto.com has Beck Arnley's on close-out for $11.95 (one left) and regular price for $21.79. They are very likely repackaged OEM parts. Much of B/A's subaru parts are like that. GD

Yes. GD

Unfortunately no one sells wheel-well sheet metal. You can fabricate your own though. Body work is like sculpting. Seats are the same way. You'll have to find a used set. They generally aren't cheap due to the general rareity of them. Brat's are rare, and they haven't yet hit an age where people with the money to reproduce these parts are collecting them. It may happen eventually but thus far there isn't much. GD

I would hook 12v to the pump to see if it works... if not make sure there isn't something in the gas that's burning them out, ect. If it is then perhaps the fuel pump relay is malfunctioning. As noted above I would check the pin on the ECU that is responsible for grounding the coil in the relay and check to make sure it grounds that pin while cranking. GD

SPFI is more worth while. It has more power potential - it came off an engine with 16 more HP and will automatically handle upgrades beyond that due to it's computer controlled feedback system. SPFI is also more desireable off-road as it naturally has no problems with severe angles. The Weber will starve for fuel if you get it on a really steep incline due to the float bowl not being level. GD

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