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What is this thing on the back of the intake manifold? It's a '95 Legacy wagon with automatic. We're trying to swap in an engine from a '96 Legacy with a manual, and it doesn't have this excrescence on the manifold or the hole in the head for that copper pipe to thread into. We're going to swap the '95 manifold onto the running '96 engine, but there is no way we can install that copper pipe onto the '96 head. So, what is this, and can the '95 with AT work without it? can we just put a plug in that thing where the copper pipe goes, and live without it? The thread where I'm documenting the swap is here: Had to delete the picture there to make room for this one.

I agree, water temp sensors will tell you if it's an airflow problem. You could try removing the hood scoop and vent inserts in the hood, give all that air from the fans somewhere to go

I got a box with some EA71 rocker arms and put them into a spare EA81 cylinder head I had, The EA71 rockers fit ok, and the two holding bolts side into the EA81 cylinder head no probs, so I assume they would be compatible with the bolt pattern on the EA81 block. Its Just that I read occasionally that these rockers arms are not compatible, however going through the specifications in Haynes and Gregorys manuals on 1600/EA71 and 1800/EA81 engines they do not mention any differences in the rocker arms. I dont have a spare engine block to compare at the moment--Any comment out there.

B and I did some work on our cars. Replaced a front CV axle in the Forester that's been making noise occasionally but for quite a while. B changed his engine and trans oils. Trying to figure out Impreza's potential cooling problems. Seems better with the new thermostat but still crept up a couple times on our last trip out west in mild ambient temps. Really need to get some temp senders calibrated to the Haltech and get them installed on top and bottom of radiator. IIRC the middle of the coolant temp gauge is about 210F on the Haltech but I can't guarantee either is accurate. Infrared temp gun near the coolant temp sensor indicates it's at least close. Then 3/4 of the way up the gauge is 217F at the Haltech, probably still nothing to worry about but should confirm actual temps. Also thermostat is at the bottom/inlet of engine while the temp sensor is at the top so I'm getting coolant temp readings from the opposite end of the system than where the temps are controlled. One thing we did was a smoke test on three different Subarus. The Impreza's fans seemed to suck in the smoke as well as my white Outback with the stock fans. Could see at least some of it blowing out the back of the radiator, didn't seem to be blowing around the sides or out from between the condenser and radiator. So I think the fans are at least decent but since the overheating is a low vehicle speed issue perhaps we could get better fans although these had the highest CFM rating of any fans I could find. One idea I have is to add a large heater core above the ABS unit under the hood vent on the passenger side with an electric fan on it. The one we added to the back of the black Outback dropped coolant temps by 20F so that should do the trick and would be fairly easy to add. AC was discharged before our last trip so I added some refrigerant but now it will cycle on and off about once a minute. The high side spikes up to about 250psi while the low side drops to 20psi, then they briefly start to converge before the compressor kicks off. Wondering if I have a clogged orifice as this seems like a much larger pressure difference than the charts show. One time out west the coolant temps went up the power steering pump stopped working at low RPMs. After we got home I first tried installing a pump from an EZ30. Bracket is slightly different, no big deal, I'll swap the bracket. Nope, pulley is a different size too, not going to mess with trying to swap that over. So much for Legos. Got an EZ36 PS pump from a local junkyard and swapped it in this morning which solved that issue. We decided to tack up a couple trailing arms for B's eventual billet rear knuckle swap. Also trying to figure out my gas tank filling issue on the Impreza. I replaced the carbon canister which is usually the culprit. Not much better, also the one I pulled out seems good (not dumping carbon pellets out like the bad ones usually do). Pulled the hose off the canister that goes to the gas tank vent. When we blow compressed air in the gas filler air comes out that tube (seemed maybe a little blocked at first) similar to the Forester's. Last time I went to fill up with gas it shut off before the tank was full, I pulled that hose off the canister and then the tank filled as it should. Next time I'll try to remember to pull the other large hose off the canister instead.

It seems we can only attach 438kB of files total for the whole thread? that means one picture per thread!

Yanked the '96 engine out. Lots of crusty oil on it, can't see where it was coming from. Pulled a valve cover, the gasket looks peachy, but we'll put in a new gasket anyway. The inside looks nice and clean, no signs of crud. Notice that keeper bolted onto the back side of the head. It's not on the back of the other head, no keeper thingy there. We've pulled the flywheel off, this is the subie that was breaking flex disks every few hundred miles. We'll put the flex disk from the '95 on and hope for the best. Photo of the valves.

Thanks man. Can I insert that ground at any time to get the codes or does it have to in the midst of the handshake procedure?

Those are ground wires, specifically for plugging into that diagnostic connector. Insert one into pin 5.

Plug failure within a year caused me unending problems which caused me to change out everything else that I thought could be the cause of sputtering and misfiring. I didn't realize it could be the NGK plugs I put in. Forester is running as well as ever; I put on a couple Cooper tires yesterday that I got from the local junkyard for $50 on the rim each nicely mounted and balanced already.

NGK copper core is all you need. Subaru or NGK plug wires.

I'd have to check my order, probably Amazon. I know Home Depot got in trouble as they played games with customers selling DeWalt and other name brand equipment that were either seconds or knock offs.

Were those NGK’s from Amazon? If so, they may not be genuine NGK’s.

Auto has EGR, manual doesn't, iirc. Or maybe it was starting in 1996 so the 95 doesn't... don't remember exactly when. But some stuff switched between auto and manual, and between obd1 and obd2.

No photographic updates, but some work was done today and I figured I owed some proof of life. Still need to get the engine back out of the brat to get the bracketry welded in, the frame rails boxed in again, the crossmember modified some more, and a few more odds and ends, but I put that on pause slightly so that I can move towards reclaiming my shop space from the "donormobile." I've been working for a few months now around that Impreza shell and its welcome in my workspace has been worn pretty thin. Today I rolled the impreza chassis out and started prepping it for chopping and removal of all the remaining driveline components that i still need. That ended up being just disconnecting brake lines and the sway bar, along with removing and tossing the old ratty carpet and disconnecting the parking brake cables from the handle in the cabin. I've measured out the rough length of the section of Impreza trans tunnel that I'll need, but I'll probably be just taking the entirety of it and then trimming to size. Same goes for the rear suspension mounts and towers, but i suspect I might end up fabricating more of that than I might otherwise expect. I also did a quick on-the-ground measurement comparison of the width of the wheelbases between the Brat and the Impreza. from outer edge to outer edge of the rear tires, the brat sits at about 56.5", and the Impreza at 65.5", meaning I'll need to either modify the impreza rear diff crossmember and strut towers by removing about 9" of overall width to get the stock suspension control arms to be able to drop in place, or fabricate my own mounts & crossmember to add to the one on the Brat already. I am not 100% sure which will be the simpler of the two options, or if a third path might present itself, but the way I see it most of my progress on this build has been by just getting started and solving one problem at a time. Eventually I should run out of problems and it'll work, right? Speaking of other problems to solve - it seems that on my last post I've hit my max limit on uploadable files for the forum, so unless somehow I can get that 10MB cap lifted, I'm going to start linking photos as links in either a Drive link or another photo repository. Not a huge fan of that option - might also go back and reupload my images in a more compressed format so they can be hosted natively. Can't tell you how many photobucket albums and images I wish still existed - I'd hate to have that happen here. If anyone has any insight to keep more image files hosted by the forum directly, I'd love to hear from you.

We put a new belt, sprockets, water pump and so on onto the '95 right after we towed it home, and toward the end noticed that the keyway on the crank nose was damaged, and the crank sprocket had been jb welded in place. We think it was glued on a little bit out of time, and the engine won't start. Gave it a whiff of starting fluid and one cylinder fired while we cranked...looks like this engine is done. We'll pull the engine from the '96 this week, probably, and swap over the new belt, etc and the flex plate from the '95. The timing kit is the same for both engines, per the kit instructions. You say to swap the intake? Why is that?

I put in the recommended NGK plugs a year and a half ago or so; already worn out after 25K miles or less. I kept the Denso Iridiums I had before and the misfiring and sputtering stopped. Forester is running well now.

Ok thanks man. So am I taking one of those to a ground or to pin 5 in B58?

I made a walkaround video of the black Outback and recently revised it with some suggestions from slammo. It's currently unlisted, I'd appreciate some feedback on it before I make it public. Too long, too short, additions, subtractions, thumbnail choice, etc?

Just swap over the intake and accessories from the old engine onto the new engine, and it'll work great. I think the timing stuff is the same, but I can't remember for sure, so you could be safe and swap the sprockets from the old engine to the new engine, since you might as well put on a timing belt, tensioner, water pump kit while you have the engine out, just to avoid having the engine out again any time soon.

We have a '95 Legacy with automatic transmission and a damaged engine, and a '96 with a strong engine and problems with the manual transmission. The '95 has a great body and it makes sense to swap the engine over to it. Obviously we need to replace the flywheel with the '95's flex plate. Will that mess up the engine balance? What other problems are we going to have?

Hey sorry for the late reply, had issues logging into my account. They are Crosswind M/T that were on sale for $90 per. I can't imagine they will be great, but they are fine for this summer hitting some trails. I really wasn't sure what the final tire size would be, with gearing and clearance, so I went cheap for the first set.

Thanks Guys .

I’ve got rear discs on both my Brumby and L series without changing the standard system other than braided brake lines. The brumby is by far the vehicle with the best brakes now! The L series needs new rotors or pads after sitting around for a few years, plus it runs 27 inch diametre tyres so that takes some of the punch out of the brakes. If you’re running the old rubber hoses I highly recommend replacing them at the very least with new rubber hoses. Best upgrade is the braided. I had a kit for the brumby from an ADR approved kit from eBay that’s did all the stock hoses then the flexible line to the rear caliper made up and a local brake and clutch specialist for finish off they complete system. The important thing is that your fronts lock up before the rear. If you’re locking the rear up before the front I’d recommend overhauling the front brakes then looking into the front/rear brake bias if the issue persists. It’s down right dangerous to have the rear brakes lock up before the front. Cheers Bennie

No worries. Better to ask! Either wire is fine. You are just providing a ground to the computer to tell it to send the codes.