SuBrat84

I doubt your legacy has any kind of adjustable suspension... the outback suspension stuff will give you a 2" lift not counting the tires.. which I think are only 30mm difference..

I think you would have to know what shop it was serviced at...

That's just silly. Having an auto makes you pay LESS attention when you're driving. Oh well... just use the sport shift to get the feel for shifting. You'd be hard pressed to get that drivetrain for much less than 4000. Unless you know someone, ya know? If I were you I would just do the intake/exhaust work.. do a little research for what the best stuff is for the GT. And then get yourself some suspension upgrades, bigger sway bars, get some strut braces.. get better brakes, rotors, etc... GET A TRANNY COOLER. That car will already do ~140mph stock.. a little intake and exhaust for some extra torque off the line will do fine.

Auto or Manual? How mechanically inclined are you? You wont get a lot of gains without doing internals.. like cams and stuff.. Without getting to into tearing stuff apart I would say you'll want to put a Cold Air Intake.. I prefer AEM but dunno if they make one for the legacy or not. You'll want to do exhaust from the heads back.. 2" or better pipe.. high flow cat.. muffler.. maybe better fuel injectors.. Or just find a wrx or sti engine/drivetrain for under 2k!! Edit: I'm not sure if a better MAF is available or not?

My legacy always ticked.. lol.. but I would definately be willing to take a look to see how bad what kind of ticking you have is. I live in Tucson, on the east side near Speedway and Wilmot. I'm always all about meeting new Subaru people in the area.. hopefully one of these days I'll know enough people to have a cook-out/camp-out or something. I don't have a lot of plans this weekend... I'm trying to get a "FREE" 84 or 85 wagon out of phoenix, and I might try to wrench on the XT6 a little.. but other than that I'm totally open. If you want to e-mail me: elijafir@cox.net or if you prefer calling then: 520 891 6828. Hopefully your legacy isn't to the point of needing a new motor... the 2.2s are generally very reliable. Well, let me know! -Eli-

I never knew if it was solid or hydro.. Would that cause over heating too?

Yeah very noticable noises. at idle it clacked pretty badly.. between 1200-3000 rpms it sounded quite like it was supposed to and anything beyond 3k the clacking came back with a vengence. I had assumed it was the rod bearings.. because it still clacked when I had it down to the block.. #3 did it the worst.. and #1 did it too. Now I'm leaning more towards bent rods or something warped or I don't know. The rod bearings seem to be very smooth and okay.. but that may because they are detached from the pistons? Maybe the main bearing was bad? This is the very first block I've ever split. So.. I'm totally lost! Edit: Yeah it is Solid lifters.. and they all were just fine, really clean still and smooth and moved around flawlessly. Like I said I haven't seen anything look odd except that cam.. and didn't really think that a little deteriorating would cause my problems.. but had to ask.

I can recommend myself. I'm not a professional.. but I'm not trying to rip anyone off. I can do motor swaps and whatever.. I have a couple references of people I've done work for here in Tucson. I don't have a garage.. just a concrete slab. If you're looking for a shop to do work for you try calling up Motorsport Warehouse on 1st ave. in Tucson. Dayle is an SVX enthusiast so he may be willing to work on that for you. Good luck with whatever you decide. -Eli-

I'm really curious about your cam shaft there... I just pulled an ea81 out of a brat that has nearly 1/4 million on the ticker... and the cam looks almost exactly like yours... deteriorating on the edges of the lobes like that. It wouldn't idle right or make power over 3k and it would start to overheat. I tore her apart to try to find the problem... I'm not done cleaning parts but it looks to me like the cam shaft is the only "bad" part. Is it possible that damage like that is causing our problems? Is it possible other stuff is/was getting damaged by have a cam shaft that looks like that? Looks like I need to buy micrometers and plastigauges and crap, eh?

If your driveshaft had a slight warp to it.. that would cause torque bind. Wouldn't it?

lol.. i've been using old air compressor hose to patch up busted coolant lines in my honda.

Yes if you can find upgrades for the "GT" they will fit in yours. The only thing different is the suspension/wheels as far as I know.

Okay. I cannot remove the lifters. There is just no clearance for it.. they slide all the way until they hit the block. Solid lifter motor.. should I just spring to get myself a hydro lifter motor or should I continue rebuilding what I've got? I'm under the impression that hydro lifter motors are better? Solids need adjustment? Is it possible that all this motor needed was an adjustment? It seems to idle fairly okay.. but when you get to about 3k it knocks or slaps or clacks or something pretty badly and has no power after 3k. It will start to overheat as well. I have it down to the block now.. and when i turn it by hand the #3 piston makes the noise the worst "clack... clack" right before and right after TDC. I'm figuring I have to tear it all the way down.. and do something to fix that, right? Probably some crank or rod bearings going out from being overheated? This is such a great learning experiance.

Bump?

Uhmm.. since no one can give me a really good answer about it, here are some pics: So.. I'm assuming by everything I've read that this is a SOLID lifter motor? Please correct me if I'm wrong.. and let me know if it makes ANY difference for ordering the parts I need to rebuild it? I am going to split the block because the crazy noise it makes at 3k+ rpms is inside the block. I think it is the #3 because it makes a horrible like click sort of noise right before and right after it hits TDC. The other three sound fine. Compression before I pulled the motor was ~100 on everything but #2 or 4 I can't remember had ~150. Thanks guys.

I've taken all my subies in the sand. stock 84 brat no problems, 98 legacy gt no problems, 94 svx no problems.(the guy riding with me said "Man, you're hauling rump roast in this sand, I know a lot of guys with lifted trucks that couldn't go this fast in this deep sand!"(~40mph)). well I did suck a lot of sand into the air box. The only time I ever had a problem was in the RX before it had new tires and forgot to pressure down.. I got stuck in the sand and burnt up the clutch because my tires wanted to push instead of spin.. stupid stupid should have aired down. Used to go rompin with a friend who has an 88 GL Wagon that always did fine in the sand stock too. 4 Lo is a thing of beauty. If you start to get stuck, hop out and let your tires down to around 15 psi and you should be able to drive right out of there... provided you're not high centered.. which would require a little digging. Digging your rig out is half the fun of sand!!

Yeah.. I've seen subaru motors (ea81's all through EJ25s) with holes in the block you could put your hand in. I know it's not the same as a crack.. but, yeah.

Funny.. same thing my cousin said. Anyway.. I just got done pulling the motor.. it took me two hours.. not bad for my first pull. had to wrestle with a couple things here and there.. but it went pretty smooth. I will probably dismantle it tomarrow night to pinpoint the problems. Does $500 seem reasonable for a full rebuild kit? (This says it comes with pistons, rings, bearings, "Everything you need to rebuild your motor." (Of course not heads.. but internals and gaskets.) Maybe someone could point me to a walk through for a rebuild... and can anyone tell me how to identify if this thing is hydraulic or solid lifters? Aside from it having stickers or not?

That would fit a lot better if the build date was 10/82. Is this a possibility, but you were accidently told 10/83 because the CAR would be an '83?

EA81 588506 - 07/1984 Subaru Brat Should be original. Can anyone tell me the sure fire way to check if it's solid or hydro lifters? Thanks.

If you keep spinning the motor while watching in that hole (the timing hole) . you will see the timing marks go away and keep going until you see three lines that have no number or anything. Aim the arrow at the middle line.. one cam sprocket hole should be pointed up, the other cam sprocket hole should be pointed down.(180 degrees apart) A tooth or two off WILL make your car run like crap. After you have verified that your cam timing is correct, THEN you set your engine timing by spinning it around to TDC and putting your distributor in the correct place and adjust accordingly with a timing light.. Does that make any sense? Edit: I prefer using a breaker bar on the crank pulley bolt to spin the motor.

Oh yeah.. duh.. no timing belts on that one.. I'm so used to all the EA82s and EA82ts I've been working on lately.. anyway.. My concern about buying vacuum lines by the linear whatever.. is that some of them are custom bent and would end up having kinks if I just used regular hose, right? I suppose if I made them a bit longer or something they wouldn't kink.. I was just hoping someone may have compiled a vacuum kit for it. On another note.. I am wanting to use a Subaru gasket kit.. and I despise Rock Auto, I will never order anything from them again. Thanks so far.. keep it coming guys!

Well.. The SVX is officially gone now.. I need a ride to work. Gonna get the ole brat going. I'm pretty sure it has a blown head gasket.. if not worse. I'll probably just end up ordering a gasket kit. (Where would be a good place to get one BTW?) I was wondering if anyone knows if there is a vacuum line kit I can get or what's the best route to go there? Maybe you guys can help me out with a "checklist" of stuff to do while rebuilding the motor. I am going to replace obvious stuff like the clutch (Getting soft,) timing belts, spark plugs, etc.. but a checklist would still be great of everything that is 100% needs to be done.

I had the same problem on my Legacy when it had some Big O Euro Tours on it. I forget what they are rated at.. but they only lasted 18k (until metal was showing) with regular rotations.. and I drive like Ivan Stewart. Regardless.. they gave me $100 (off my new tire purchase) when I had to have them replaced.

It's also a good idea to get an alignment done when you get new tires, to make sure your tires wear evenly. I second the good year triple tread. Also, you should be able to get some kind of pro rating out of your old tires if they are 60k tires and wore out after only 20. They will give you a little grief about it.. but unless you drive like Mario Andretti or Ivan Stewart.. your tires should be lasting a bit longer than that.