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I finally got a chance to really look at it, and it turned out to be the driveshaft (prop shaft). It was odd though, because, when the car was sitting, it would somehow cause the center bearing to lock so it didn't feel loose at all. I only figured it out by getting under it, with the left rear on jack stands, and having someone spin the left rear wheel while I watched the driveshaft rotate. It got to a specific spot, then it came loose. Got another shaft at a u-pull yard for $23 on sale, and the vibration is gone.

Brat is still alive and kicking.....

B and I pulled the dash out of the Impreza and worked on some wiring. The neutral and clutch switches (for canceling the cruise control) haven't been registering on the Haltech in a while. I had them wired 12VDC to one side, signal wire to Haltech on the other side. B suggested trying to ground them and that made them turn on and off at the Haltech. Still don't understand that, had them wired to power and they worked for a while. I think they stopped working when I replaced the expansion module or updated the firmware. Regardless, they work now. B installed the cabin air filter kit. Slammo turned me on to this. Very simple install/upgrade. B also cleaned out the HVAC box and blower motor. B wired in a retained accessory power module from timers.shop. Set that up to keep the power to the family band radio and two cigarette lighter outlets after the ignition is turned off. Will set that to 99 minutes I think. Been meaning to do that for years. He also made a little panel and added a switch so we can turn on one fuel pump or the other once the extra fuel tank is done. He replaced the backlight bulb in the gauge cluster so the clock shows up now. I wired all four EGR solenoid grounds to one of the outputs of the Haltech so we can see if that does anything. Wanted to get it working before we tune the car on a dyno. I got the horn working. Since the cruise inputs for the Haltech need a 5VDC power supply I had to separate that out (they're normally powered by the 12VDC horn circuit) and run the horn power through one of the airbag wires. The main reason for pulling the dash was to try to get the speedo working. After some trial and error and back and forth with Dakota Digital, I seem to have it working now. Will update the EZ36 swap thread with details. On that topic, I plan on just putting a swap guide and base map on my website soon too. Not sure how to share files on here.

My ‘81 dropping by to get parts for my ‘23

My Brats are in Denver. Let me know of any interest Shawn was the last to work on 1980. It's been sitting for 15 years sense put in storage. Any help on what they are worth today.

It's a80 and brown has the roll bar. That's why I bought it for the silver one. Last thing done to silver was webber. There's the headlights.

I did it. I bought a 1986 GL Wagon as my first ever Subaru. It already has a few modifications such as a lift, 5 lug adapters, larger wheels/tires and BMW headlights that I will be keeping. I need to rework the DIY fender flares that it has. I'm looking for a replacement manual transmission for this year as the one I have is in pieces. I would like to put the original one back together so feel free to point me in the right direction for a build/repair manual. Thanks!

Yes, dual range 5 speed. I've found a few about 4 hours away. I have two already. One is scattered and the other was in the process of being torn down by the last owner with no recollection of why he was doing it. I've looked at a couple different manuals, but I don't know which bolts go where or the other specs of the parts that have been removed. The internet is a big lace, so I'm confident I'll get it going.

Totally shooting from the hip here, these are all ideas and I've never done any of these methods. 1. Maybe you could fill the piston from the bottom (use it as a bowl) and fill it with dry ice or liquid nitrogen. Maybe you could get the piston cold enough to get it to shrink and you could use your timber+hammer method to remove it then. You may have a temperature transfer to the cylinder walls so this may not work. But the sleeves and piston should contract at different rates. 2. Pour water into the cylinder all the way to the top. Reinstall the head (maybe add some cheap RTV or the like) and stick the block half with the head on into the freezer. Maybe the hydraulic pressure from the water freezing could remove the piston. Or you'll end up cracking the block or head so best use a head that is already too far gone.

'90 and '91 5-speeds used the metal MAF - like the '91-'94 EJ22T(urbos). '90-'94 Automatics and all '95-'98 (and '99 EJ25D) EJ Subarus used the same green label plastic JECS/AUTECS MAFs - only dif is whether they're Japan or USA-made. So, yeah - limited availability on your year. I'd check w/the used auto parts yards for one, too. And try Car-part.com. Lastly and this may not be a viable option, but do some research on swapping the ECU/ECM to a '92-'94 Legacy as the 5speed and Automatics used the same MAF. Per this pinout diagram the only diff is the 'barometric pressure sensor': https://www.surrealmirage.com/vrg3/ecupins/ But, IIRC, the IAC and injectors were also different on the '90-'91 model. But may still work w/the newer ECU? Just a (bad?) thought. For more old Legacy info check here: https://bbs.legacycentral.org/

AFAIK a timing kit is a timin kit. Just make sure you get a phase 1 or phase 2 kit as needed - and ensure you’re getting the correct tensioner design as they swapped in the phase 1 era and ran with that tensioner ever since. When you reconnect the battery and start the engine you shouldn’t touch the throttle - the ECU will change engine speeds as it works out it’s idle. I believe this is set as the engine comes up to full running temp. If it’s still stalling at times something else is at play. Clear and check codes again. If the fuel pump wasn’t replaced also consider this could be the issue. When a fuel pump dies it can do it randomly then start again, or it could completely dies. Also stale fuel can be problematic with getting the engine started. If it’s really bad you will smell a varnish like smell from the exhaust. Other thought with the poor idle is a sticky idle air control valve. Could be worth pulling and cleaning up. Do not remove the top cap as that’s the idle set from factory. Apparently you can adjust this once the engine is up to full temp to set the engine idle speed - but it typically doesn’t need to be touched. That’s all I can come up with - I hope some of it at the least is useful! Cheers Bennie

I’m going through parts as the weather warms. For sure I have the MAF from at least the 92-94 and maybe 90-91. I’m not sure there’s even a difference on that item. Probably all the same for all EJ22E 90-96. As I can I’ll check the boxes I have which happen to be right up front waiting for spring. If I have the 5-pin I’ll let you know asap.

Hey maybe your lucky moment. I have that exact transmission which I personally extracted from a 2000 Legacy GT wagon. It is a 4:11 I pretty sure. Those also run larger wheels. The car I purchased to part out for my own needs (engine) had a front end collision. Car had only 124k on it. I jumped on this once I saw it. That engine is in our wagon. We drove it from east coast to west and it now resides in AZ with our son. That was over two years ago. So the engine should speak for the transmission for future reliability. I have the transmission on a dolly in my storage. It’s in Milford CT if that helps. I haven’t checked your location but I’ll do that after I post this. Being February in New England it’s a little chilly out to make a crate. But if you’re wanting it shipped I’d be willing once the temps get a little higher. Off topic- somehow I cannot locate the remote dashboard cup holder I had from that GT. But I also have a good load of parts from that 2000 GT and also from a 2002 sedan. I don’t want much at all. I’m cleaning house and would be happy to make a sweet deal on that transmission.

I never did get them loose and could not find the lever either. The seat covers already had the opening to slip the headrests through. Problem partially solved.

Bennie, you convinced me that sorting the voltage regulator issue out first was the way to go, and I’m glad you did. I waited to get a new alternator before installing a new coil. I’d known for a while I’d probably need to replace it soon, so it was a good time to do it. Unfortunately though, it still wouldn’t start with the new coil installed, and I didn’t have time to do any further troubleshooting. I’m planning to charge the battery up tomorrow and see if I can figure anything out.

Here’s a shot of pump setup.

Thanks, moosens! I see the view count steadily climbing - This is really mostly a build log for me than anything else, a repository for the photos so folks doing similar might find something useful in it. Audience participation is not required 😅 That being said i have a pretty good update, so buckle in for some more photos! I'm going to split these into two posts to help manage my thoughts and keep things coherent. Last post I'd marked where I need to rough cut to get the 5 speed in under the car, so earlier last week I finally took the death wheel to the tunnel. I also needed to cut into little tiny bit of the firewall, but I've not started disassembling the dash or any of the guts under there. Luckily I'm not a huge dude so with no engine or trans in it I was able to jump in the engine bay and cut from the inside where i needed to (only the frontmost horizontal cut, really. The rest was accessible from inside.) Garden hose and fire extinguisher were at the ready in case I caught any old matting or something on fire under the console but no such emergency occured. I will need to get in there and remove the dash and underlying componentry to assess the condition of those parts - as evidenced by the clutter in the cab, I'm really leaning towards splicing a lot (if not all) of the impreza interior workings and trims into the cab. If I can restore the original dash I will do so, but at the moment I'm not sure how much hodgepodging is going to be necessary under there to keep everything working as it should, given that I have decided to do an entire wiring harness install from the Impreza - completely replacing the old crusty stuff in the Brat. But I digress - none of that can happen until I've built a roller of the brat again - so after the tunnel cut, I roughly placed the transmission where it will live by way of careful propping up on jackstands and the engine crossmember , and promptly left it there for a few days... until yesterday. Onto the next post!

Code compliance issue is no longer - gave the compliance officer a call and he was extremely easy to work with. Donor husk is in the garage for the time being, but apparently a car cover will suffice if I need to move it back out into the drive. That out of the way, we got the first test fitting of the EJ out of the way yesterday. It would appear that with only a slight extension of the mounting slots on the original crossmember, the new engine should drop right into it, but as expected the fit is very, very tight. It could (by my measurements anyway) be done without notching the frame, however that would leave mere millimeters of clearance at the back of the valve covers. It will still be a much tighter fit than its original chassis even with notching, so like past builders I will also be notching the frame. (Noted where I'm notching things out in blue sharpie in the photo.) I should have about a half inch of clearance on either side when that's complete unless I find a way to relocate that forward mounting bolt for the subframe - in which case I can probably get a little more. I also have 99% of the original wiring harness out of the donor now, and I'm pretty decided on attempting a full retrofit of most of the newer components into the old car, including the HVAC system. By my eye everything *should* fit, but it will be extremely tight. Since I'm also going as far as installing pretty much everything else of note from the impreza, I'm also considering either adapting the power steering rack to fit the old Brat crossmember, or adapting the Impreza crossmember to fit the Brat, although I suspect the simplest route would be to ditch the power steering in its entirety and just use the original Brat steering gear. My only concern there would be replacement of components on the steering gear down the line - I hate having to track down parts for weeks or months at a time. These next few days I'll be pulling the old 4 speed from the Brat and starting on the frame notching job. Somewhere in there I'm also going to do a refresh on the EJ while it's accessible. Oil pump, rear main seal, timing kit, that kind of thing, but that will likely be after the new year holiday, especially since I forsee a lot of removal and reinstall of the new engine and transmission while i do the fabrication on the crossmember, firewall, and transmission tunnel to get those to fit where they need to be. PS - as i build on this I'll be putting the parts and pieces I no longer need up for sale, including the complete but now partially disassembled EA71 engine. Maybe someone with more patience or skill can get that head free and give this thing a new life. Same goes with the transmission and other miscellaneous components as I go.

I would love to see the end result, 242Hp and 220Tq would make for a quick car!

Whatever happened to this project?

Nice, shame about the 32/36 Weber.

Heres the vid !!

I just did a 3" strut lift (front & back) with 2" drop blocks for the engine, tranny and rear diff. I had to extend the steering shaft by 1.3". To extend the steering shaft: Remove the shaft. Scribe a line across the middle section to ensure the shaft goes back together in the correct orientation after cutting it in half and welding it back together with the extension. cut it in half at the center weld. cut a piece of bar or pipe to the desired length (I turned down the ends of the extension on a lathe so the extension slipped into the cut halfs of the steering shaft). Weld it in place (make sure you dunk it in water as you weld as the temps from welding are not good for the rubber seals in the steering shaft) making sure the lines you scribed previously line up. Install.

Another point if someone has to do an ej18 swap with the wiring change is that the ej18 block still has the threaded hole to instal a knock sensor into.

92 ECUs are not transmission-specific. But 90-91 MT use a different MAF and IAC than the rest of the 90-94 Legacy non-turbo engines. A 90 MT likely won't run right with a 92 ECU unless you swap on the MAF and IAC from a 90-91 AT or any 92-94.

I think a Turbo exhaust header from a EA82 with some mods to the crossmember would clear your pumpkin, what say ye? Looks like its gonna be fun, Im workin on a straight axle rig myself -Bill

Yeah, but- Why not be able to shoot in some new grease now and then? I'd rather grease my bearings than replace them. This idea is interesting. I was working on a way to force new grease into the bearings while the axles were out. But this idea is also worth thinking on. One question I have is- What about too much grease? If grease was fully packed into the housing, all around the spacer, ect., would it possibly cause a failer due to higher pressures or something? Some people say 1/3 full of grease. If it is not any problem to be full, then we should be able to pack all the grease we can into the hub (when we got the axles out) and be ok with it. What do you guys think about that?

You did'nt say which car you have. For my part i recently cleaned the throttle body and IAC with no ill effects at all. I replaced the electrical part of the IAC as close as I could to the initial settings and had no idle problems.

it is really simple, it involves cutting one wire and running it to the ign switch on only when switch is on. the fuel pump wire can also be wired to turn on when the coil is energized. im not at my subaru right now, could go there tomorrow eve and take a pic if you need me to. one wire engerizises the feild it is the one you cut and run to the ign switch/ relay. it is one of the wires on the t connector, beilve it is the big one. that is how i put a newer al into my 1981... oh yeah, i unpluged my old ex regulator also. wish i still had the old pic i belive it is the one marked on alt "E" one wire is for energize one is for guage. hope this helps

Hey, you could do it Jaguar style. Drill the spindle, like you were talking about. Also drill a hole through the hub, and put the zerk in the hub. pump grease into the hub, and old grease exits through the spindle. A similar setup exists on M60 tanks, except there are 2 holes in the hub, and none in the spindle. One hole contains the zerk, and the other has a relief valve. It's fun pumping those up with a pneumatic grease gun. You don't know when it's going to pop off, or where the nasty, old grease will fly. I probably have a few of these relief valves sitting around, if you wanna give it a shot.

The rears do last a long time. I've never replaced a set because of failure that did not result from some other problem. I had a set go bad because the little washer with the tab you bend down had sheared it's key off, and allowed the nut to spin off. (this was a 2WD rear bearing). On the 4WD this is much less likely to happen because of the design of the spindle. GD

Well - the way I figure your at least diluting the contaminates with more clean grease Also - if the bearings are cared for properly, and the car was designed with bearings that could hold it's weight, they should never fail. The metal never actually touches - the bearings ride on a thin coating of grease - the only way a bearing can wear out is it's it's got too much weight on it (thus sqeezing out all the grease), or if it's running dry, or with contaminated grease. So saying that they shouldn't need regreasing till they fail if properly installed doesn't make sense - if they were properly installed, they should never fail. Of course this isn't a perfect world, and they do indeed fail because of either improper installation, or seal failure, which lets in contaminates, and water (even clean water will ruin the grease), and lets the grease leak out. For these reasons I like the idea of a grease fitting - it would allow you to just replace the seals without having to remove the hub and pound the bearings out of it. Just remove the seals from either side, and pump in new grease till it runs clean from either side - new seals, and put it back together. This way you could prevent failure of the bearings for a long time I think. GD

Yeah - I have to dissagree junkie - water and other contiminates from the abuse that us off-roaders do to our bearings is going to make them fail prematurely. A good regreasing via a zirk fitting on the hub after every couple runs would help to keep them from running dry and failing prematurely. I don't think that drilling a small hole for a fitting would weaken the hub. If the hole is drilled properly, it shouldn't be a problem. GD

RIP Ben 5-24-2024