DrieStone

At this point, I'm pretty sure I'm not dealing with wheel bearings, half-shafts, or transmission bearings (I've replaced some/all of these components). I'm down to the idea that it's bushings or transmission. It did happen suddenly, so it seems odd that it would be a bushing issue. I wouldn't want to take the car up faster than 25MPH. No rubbing sounds, no issues/changes under braking. Nothing while coasting, but the car jitters and shakes under acceleration. Engaging 4WD doesn't seem to change anything. Car does have an SJR lift and 6 lug wheels. Car has been fine for years with this setup, but started having issues earlier this year. Current trans is a 3 speed auto, but I have a 5 speed manual that I picked up to eventually swap. Has anyone had a similar issue?

Stick with me. I have a '92 Loyale with a little bit of lift on oversized tires (27", so nothing extreme). Last year I took it camping a few times, and fully loaded for camping it struggled to maintain speed up hills on the highway. My eventual plans (maybe in the next 12-18 months) is to do an EJ swap (I also have a 5 speed with low-range that will go in), but that's not in the cards for the forseeable future. So, I'm toying with the idea of maybe adding nitrous (25 or 35 shot) to the car that I can use when the car needs a little more of a kick in the pants. I know a lot of people will say this is a bad idea (but on the scale of "bad" it's not that bad). I'm not looking to roast tires or anything, it's just a cheap, easy power adder compared to trying to go turbo. Let's be honest, an engine swap is going to be super time consuming. If it was a weekend or two I'd make that happen, but I want to be able to use the car until I'm ready to actually start the swap. I'm not worried about the longevity of the engine, but I'm also not looking to make any crazy power. The engine is in decent shape (certainly leaving oil drips under it at this point), but I don't see much need to spend time to fix any issues. I'm probably going to be looking for a used system to keep the costs down. I've also never messed with nitrous (owned several turbo Subraus/cars in the past, and that's always been my go-to). Yes, I also realize the fact that I can run out, etc. etc. I'm just exploring the idea of this to make my life a bit easier. Thoughts? Hate? Love? Experience doing this sort of thing?

I've been doing some maintenance on my '92 Loyale and I've noticed the outer sections of the rear crossmember is pretty badly rusted (this is where the "trailing" arm connects to the body. I'm thinking I may want to do something about this before it fails. There's some body rot elsewhere, but overall the car is is decent shape. It has a lift and the rear tires are sitting forward so I should lengthen the arms as well (secondary project). It looks like only real purpose is to locate the outer bracket for the arm. Not sure if anyone has fixed this. I'm thinking I'll cut the end of the crossmember off and fabricate up a bracket in such a way that I can get a good weld on it. I'm no expert, but this pretty much only carrying a front/back load, so I should be able to come up with something that works pretty well. Thoughts?

There was a slit in my CV (brand new half-shaft), but it was obviously turned so I couldn't see it. Obvious answer, I just assumed that I shouldn't have a torn CV on a new half-shaft.

I was driving my Loyale today and noticed that I was getting smoke out the back under acceleration. When I got home, I popped the hood and saw smoking grease/oil on the cat that sits right behind the passenger side CV. There are grease marks where it looks like the CV flung its grease out, but that was there before. I recently had the driver's CV go, and I did a complete half-shaft swap with what is supposed to be shafts with CVs that are better equipped for lifted Subarus. The New CV has grease/oil "drops" on them, the boot looks fine, and there's no evidence that there is new grease being flung from the CV. There is evidence that this fluid is coming from somewhere else and hitting the new half-shaft though. I would say it looks like grease more than oil, but the stuff on the front cat was oil-like (due to heat). I do have an oil leak on the engine, but the engine looks dry in that area (the bottom of the engine is wet and I'll get some drips on the ground under the car). I'm a little mystified by the source of this. I am planning an engine/trans swap in the near future, so I'm not worried if it's something significant. I want to get through this winter with the car and not worry. I checked my engine oil level and trans fluid level, and they both seem fine. Anyone have an idea of what I should investigate here?

I feel completely stupid for not thinking of this. I used to use this trick on my Jeep before I locked the rear.

I have a Jeep Cherokee which is my main "wheeler", and the Subaru project is more because it seems weird. I want to see how much I can do with the platform (keeping with Subaru parts and not throwing live axles under it). This is good info, and gives me hope. I probably won't even break into the transmission until next spring, but I'll make sure I document things appropriately.

I was able to find a five speed with low range for my '92 Loyale, I was also excited to see that Torq sells a auto locker for the rear. It got me thinking about the front. I don't need a locker up front, but I wouldn't be opposed to it either. I've seen notes that the EJ and EA transmissions are similar and that a front LSD for EJ transmissions may fit the EA. As with any of this, the info seems to be somewhere between a rumor and old forum posts linking to other forum threads that don't exist any longer. Has anyone thrown any kind of a LSD in a 5 speed (with the low range) trans? The transmission is out of the car and I have some time to dig into it if there is such an animal. Looks like I can split the case and get to the diff fairly quickly while the trans is out.

Ok, I discovered that it's the PHV, and used for hill holding. I really don't care about this, so I guess I don't need to worry about it! Am I mistaken here? I can just skip this entirely if I don't care about hill holding.

I'm pulling parts off a late 80s GL to convert my 92 to manual transmission. I've run into something I'm unfamiliar with, and I can't seem to find an easy answer. The clutch pedal has a cable that goes into a linkage "system" that sits under the brake booster. The two cables off this make sense, but there are 3 hardlines on this thing. Looks like at least one goes into the engine somewhere, another goes through the firewall. What the heck are these hardlines? If they were vacuum lines, I would assume they'd be rubber. I'm assuming they're hydraulic lines for some reason, but what do they do? I looked in my Hanes manual, and it looks like they just routed the clutch cable right to the clutch on earlier cars. Color me confused. I can take a pic and post if this isn't clear. I'm so close to being finished grabbing what I need from this car, I just want to finish pulling the pedals and clutch cables and get it out of my garage. Thanks!

On second thought, maybe it is an EA82. Looks like the EA81 cars had the battery on the passenger side? I don't think the EA81 came on the third gen Leone. So if the GL looks like the Loyale (it does), then it should be an EA82.

I think it's a non-turbo (I think the turbo should say turbo on the intake right, and the gauge cluster looks the same as my '92). My Loyale is push button 4WD. I don't know much about the donor. I have a pic of the engine, but I don't know how to identify an EA81 vs EA82. My guess is that it might be an EA81, because I don't see a timing belt cover. Are there non-interchangeable parts that I may have to worry about if it's an EA81?

Thanks, good to know I'll need the flywheel (and starter). I figured I'd grab the rear diff either way since I kinda figured a different gearing. Good to hear that the cluster is a pain as well (I mean, not good, but goes along with my plan not to do anything with it). I didn't realize the clutch was cable activated, so I'll keep the eye out there. I just wanted to make sure that I didn't have to screw around with axle shafts or hubs. Thanks for the help!

I might have the opportunity to pick what I want off a salvage 80s GL with manual/low range. I currently have a '92 Loyale auto. If I'm going to go through the trouble of a manual swap, I'll probably just do an EJ swap at the same time (but that's for another day). For now, I want to try to grab everything I may need off the GL. I probably won't even get to the actual swap for a year or more, but I'd hate to not grab something that I need. I'm going to need: Master cylinder/clutch pedal Brake pedal (or can I cut the auto pedal down to fit?) Transmission Driveshaft (I assume) Rear Diff (not sure if the gearing is different, and maybe the diff on the donor is limited slip?) Interior trim/knob(s) Can I continue to run my existing hubs and half-shafts? If I don't care about the gauges, do I need to bother?

Brakes are inboard from the hubs, (which is not typical), so the rotor bolts to the backside of the hub instead of slipping over the studs, so it shouldn't matter if the hub has been modified for 6-bolts.

I wish I had known that! I guess I replaced the crank angle sensor for nothing... but it's good info for the future.

And, I can (most likely) confirm that all is right. I wired a relay and she starts up easily, I even had all the parts I needed laying around, so that's a bonus.

Dave, I swear you've been my savior in the past (and practically next door), so thanks! I've verified that the car does turn over (and run) if I short the starter to the battery. I assume I can just put a relay in-line since the resistance of the wire probably isn't high enough to prevent the relay from working.

I've searched through the forums and haven't found a definitive list of "what could this be". I had an 11,13, and 34 (crank angle & EGR). I swapped the actuator for the EGR valve which fixed the code 34, and swapped the crank angle sensor (what I assume is an optical sensor at the bottom of the distributor), but the car is still throwing the 11 & 13. I hear the relay for the starter click (not the tapping of the actuator trying to engage the starter, but the click and the dash lights dim), but car doesn't crank. Battery is topped off (even hooked up my battery box, just in case). I connected the green & clear connectors under the dash, turned the car to on, then turned off and disconnected (which I believe resets the ECU). Now, I've experienced a no-start situation before, but it's infrequent, and after getting these errors I thought maybe the crank angle sensor was on its way out and that was the cause of the issue. At this point, I'm at a loss of what to do next. What else should I be checking?

Did you ever figure this out? I'm running bigger tires in the Loyale and I can't seem to find any evidence of anyone doing a VSS or speedo correction on the Loyales.

My '92 Loyale sounded like a VW bug when I bought it. Looking underneath it's obvious that there was an exhaust leak on the driver's side head. Someone had replaced 3 of the exhaust studs with bolts as well. So I did what any good shadetree mechanic would do. I bought a new set of exhaust studs, a helicoil kit, and new gaskets. I buttoned everything up, but nope... still have the leak. I bought a set of better (thicker metal) gaskets which I haven't put on yet, but I'm wondering what I can do to help the situation here. Can I double stack exhaust gaskets? Is there something else I can do outside of swapping the exhaust itself?

I just finished an SJR 4" lift on my 92 Loyale and it's a fairly painless process (just takes time). As others have said, you do have to sort the steering out by cutting and welding an extension onto the knuckle. I've heard that you can swap the knuckle for a forester knuckle, but I don't know the truth in that.

If this car was worth keeping stock I would. The body on this is rusty with a lot of damage, the interior is shot. It was sitting, outside for many years. I don't really think that it's a restoration candidate. I have no guilt in modifying it in this way. Although, somewhat ironically I bet the engine/transmission are in better shape than the rest of the car. I think that guy's build looks pretty good (although I think he needs classic wheels). You think he butchered it because of the internal modifications? Or just that he had a perfectly good Brat that he decided to modify? I don't know what his looked like originally, but I probably would have kept it stock as well. My goal is to try to preserve the outward appearance as much as possible (dents and all). I'm leaning toward getting a turbo Legacy GT (Liberty). I already own one of those so I could parts swap and test a lot easier.

So I've spent an hour or so on the board, and perhaps my search-fu just isn't great. In general the consensus is that getting an EJ into an EA71 is more work than an EA81/82, but not impossible. The car is a '78 Leone. I was hoping to find a "best practice" guide of sorts on this. My thought is that it will probably be easier to try to get the engine/trans/suspension from a modern EJ car into the EA71. I'm not a Subaru expert, but I'm not exactly a newbie either. My guess is that I can grab the front and rear subframe and fabricate new top hats? I know there's going to a lot of fab work to get the engine and subframes to fit. I guess the questions I have are: Is there a preferred donor if I'm planning on trying to transplant suspension too? I'm thinking second 2.0L gen Impreza Are there any other major gotchas that I'm not aware of? I know the Impreza is 6" wider so I'll have to make up the difference somewhere. I'll have some serious wiring work to do, modifying the transmission tunnel, etc. etc. I'm sure someone has done this (probably a bunch of people), but I can't find any EA71 specific threads that talk about anything more than engine/trans swap.

I wanted to follow up on this since I found and repaired the issue. I checked the battery and saw good voltage. I removed the negative battery terminal and used my battery box (attached to hot and ground) to see if the car would start (taking the battery out of the loop) to no avail. I was going to check the fusable links (I think I was going to jumper the battery to the side of the fusable links). I don't remember if I wiggled the positive terminal or what... but under the plastic covering the clamp had degraded and was quite thin. With some wiggling of the positive terminal the car was able to start. I replaced the positive battery clamp with a new unit and it's been working flawlessly since.