Subaru_dude

Actually gear oil is what's supposed to be in the transmission of it's a manual. I wouldn't want to run a 5spd on ATF for too long...

I put 3 quarts in my EA71 2wd 5spd and it put it exactly on the full. Either the dipstick is wrong, not all the fluid drained out of the transmission (like previous poster said, how much drained out?), or you drained your oil instead! lol. This IS a manual transmission right?

I've got an '84 coupe 2wd 5spd with some rust, ticky lifters, rotted muffler, a backfiring problem, and that crappy feedback carb. I get all kindsa hell for driving that stinky machine. My friends really just think it's a piece of crap. But I can see the look of suprise in their eyes when it cranks up before the starter even makes a full turn.... The only 2 people that have ridden in it BOTH said it sounded like the tanks in Battlefield 3 (which they play often). Now THEY affectionately refer to it as the tank!

What part of TN?

There wasn't really anything special about it. All these other models I see were extremely well built and reliable. Any EA besides the EA82 is exceptional. The EA82 is good and all... but doesn't compare to everything else they built. What I'm saying is EA82s are crap and every one left on the road should be swapped out for an EA81.

The first of March. AWESOME on gas. Traded my '95 Legacy wagon for it after the clutch went out again (crooked input shaft due to failed bearing). Leaks water in the rear window and the windshield. I may have a job soon, if so I'll be putting some money into it. Starts right up EVERY time!!!

I had an '88 sedan 2wd 5spd at one time, never got below 30mpg around town. On the highway, it could regularly get 37mpg but on a trip back from Nashville with a strong tailwind I got 41. That car got excellent mileage.

Yeah it's bare bones, big difference from my '96 Outback. gets great mileage, could get better with a spfi swap I suppose. Needs axles too. But right now I'm broke so I'll live with it how it is.

2wd 5spd. 256,000 on the odo but speedo quit working probably about 6 months ago. Did oil change, trans greast change, air filter, tires and that's about it. Have a 3rd eye grill and light for it... just have to see if it even works. Needs the little seals between the front and back windows. Rear window leaks too... I'll deal with that later. Runs great and gets high 30s!!! I'll use this thread as my progress thread. Sometime this summer I plan on taking care of all the rust and possibly repainting it.

Hey from TN. Nice Forester you got there. You should check out the pics of my lifted Outback! (R.I.P.)

Welcome to the Subaru world. Too bad it's an auto, you'd much more enjoy a manual trans with the hi-lo 4wd. T-tops would be awesome too. Can't beat a camo Brat though, no matter the options it lacks. That would be the perfect hunting vehicle. It can fit into some tight places.

I would say that's true. I'm in a hurry because I've been without a car a while. It's together at least, just gotta replace a ball-joint. Did the brakes on my sister's '96 Legacy today so didn't have time to do that, all went smoothly at least. Rear discs are so nice.....

Not changing your cars oil on time has nothing to do with the quality of the bolts. And it's not rusty, less rusty than my Outback was actually. Not that the Outback was a rust bucket, I just got it out in the snow alot. The bolts on the underside were pretty well tainted with the dreaded RUST... but at least they weren't made out of damn lead like this LEGACY!!!!!!!!!!!

Got a '95 Brighton Legacy with 244,000 miles for $500 ($700 after expenses) that needed a clutch. Dropping the trans wasn't bad, but going back in was another story. The 4 smaller bolts that go into the body at the rear tranny crossmember were all sorda stripped. Nothing an impact and elbow grease didn't fix. Got one bolt each side, the other 2 were too fubard. Then the larger tranny crossmember that has one larger bolt on each side gave me some trouble. The weld nuts in the body both broke loose. Using the impact I eventually got them both tight though so no big deal. Front axles, no problem. Tie rod ends gave me some crap too. I unscrewed the castle nuts so that the nut stuck up above the threads. Well, after the 4th smack with the BFH it stripped the threads out of the nut. Ok, I'll just go ahead and beat on it till it comes out and get a new tie rod end. It finally does come out, pretty mushroomed. Same happened on the other side. The vaccuum hoses under the hood were all in pretty bad shape too. Got it all together, and didn't make it 2 miles down the road and something catastrophically fell apart in the front end. I don't blame that on the car, probably something I missed working on the car in the near pitch black. My Outback was of WAY better quality. The bolts in the Brighton are of much worse quality. Is it because it's a '95 and they were cheaping out to sell them? My Outback was a '96 and was WAY easier to work on. Even the rubber hoses in the Outback, having 10,000 more miles, were still soft and pliable. WTH????????? Oh yeah, and the transmission pops out of gear quite a bit. I ABUSED the Outbacks' trans with 3000rpm clutch dumps going up rocky hills, slamming it in reverse, changing gears without using the clutch (took some practice but I could do it pretty smoothly after a few tries) and it never showed a HINT of trouble. What gives? Should I avoid Legacies and stick with strictly Outback or is it because it's a '95? I'm pissed. I was hoping the simplicity of the Brighton would be a nice change but this car is absolute crap. Were some of them made in USA? I'm sure if some were this is one of them.

I know it's a bit of a ride for you, but I've got an EA81 with hydro lifters out of an '85 hatch. It has 86,000 miles on it. It'd be perfect for that Fiat...

Don't worry guys, the flesh is cooking in the hot sunlight as we speak. It is almost ripe for the picking.

I think the structure could have done better . Really wish I had the money for a brand new Forester 5spd, but I'm eyeing a '94 Legacy 2wd (BOOOOOO) 5spd. Hopefully the mileage will be a tad better, IF I manage to get the money before it gets gone. I haven't seen over 30mpg in a couple years:o.

Taking a left onto another road in the rain and slid off an embankment. I was going too fast and the road was recently asphalted. It was similar to driving in unusually slick slush. I was in an all-out drift when I hit the curb. Right rear tire hit the curb first and threw my front end over the enbankment, and over I went landing on the passenger side roof. I'm very grateful I was unhurt and able to walk away. No insurance though... poo.

These threads come up all the time. You just can't compare EJ22s and EA82s. And EA82s are not very good roadtrip cars no matter how you look at it. This is coming from somebody who's 6'4" though, for a smaller lighter person those seats could be tolerable. EA82s leak alot of oil too, it's just built in their design. And that's not good for the environment. EA81s on the other hand... now THOSE are GOOD cars. Once again, not really for road trips but for a dead reliable, durable and long lasting setup... you can't beat it. ESPECIALLY not with an EA82. Heads practically designed to warp when overheaded AND an unusually weak cooling system... recipe for disaster. No wonder they're all dead. Barely any left around here. The last remaing Soobie shop that specialized in older Subarus closed down, at the time I had 2 EA82s that were running. Without him, there's nowhere to find parts so I retired them and got an Impreza. NOWHERE near as fun to drive as the EA82 though... those EA82 bodies are just plain light and well balanced. To sum it up: EA82 body + EA81 engine = only pre-EJ22 setup that's worth anything besides just straight up EA81s back.

I had an '87 wagon 5spd d/r and took it from E. TN to Omaha, Nebraska and from there to Golden, CO. MAN what a DOG on the interstate. It was pitiful. The seats SUCKED too. 28mpg? I get better out of my Outback. No love for Hitachi carbs here!!! However, I do believe that if it was equipped with better seats and spfi I would have thoroughly enjoyed driving it and probably would have gotten better mileage too.

Yeah I don't blame you one bit for not wanting to do that again. It does suck.

You want to make an offer? I bought it for $1300. I also have a d/r gear-set from an EA82 I'll throw in for $100. Thanks Kyle. I still got those Outback Springs if you want them. My sister decided against it for her Legacy. Actually I do have fogs, they're the PIAAs mounted on the bumper. They were useless mounted in the stock fog light area. Too low, made the other side of humps in the road look like massive abysses, but I guess that's what you get with insanely bright lights.

King Springs, GR2 struts, 3/4" strut spacers in the rear, sportrack aero xl topper. All I need is a d/r (I have an awd d/r from australia... think I'm gonna go with EA82 d/r though for true 4wd) and skid plates.

I am only ASSUMING there must be external lines. In one of the many online descriptions of the new engines it stated there were no passages between the heads and block, eliminating the possiblity of head gasket failure. However I didn't consider how much of a pain rusted up metal lines would be... oh well. You'll probably never need to pull them off anyway... (another assumption). *Update* Apparently I'm completely wrong. There ARE passages for coolant and oil just like all cars. I have no idea where I read that info. I have suddenly lost trust in this new design... we'll just have to see if they hold up.

That's true, the head gaskets shouldn't be anymore difficult but there's absolutely no oil or coolant passages going from the block to the heads. I'm ASSUMING there must be external lines (either rubber or metal [hopefully metal]) going from the heads to the block. That's a neat design ain't it??