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Don't buy timing belt parts by price. Buy by quality.

Last time I checked you could still buy all but one of the idler bearings new from Subaru of America.

In the states. If you look on the driver door of an old gl with stock duel range. It says "light truck" the tax was that anything with a spilt gear box was considered a truck. And thats the tax. That's why weird work around were happening like the brats back seats. But eventually the work arounds stopped. In Japan subaru isn't just sadans, and station wagons. They have all types of bodies that the states never see. Other work arounds are kinda around. Like the older wrxs with the 4 doors are not "sports cars"

Back in the 90s - before after market idlers existed, and Subaru wanted $90 per idler - I converted the brackets on some old tensioners to use replaceable standard bearings. The idler with the teeth is already a standard bearing. I buy known name brand bearings with contact seals, and replace only the bearings. The tensioners have a swaged post with a standard size bearing [looks like] friction / spin welded onto it. I turned bar stock into posts for standard bearings, and swaged them onto the flat brackets.

Thanks for all the information - it's greatly appreciated. I'll take a look with a friend of mine tomorrow - he was a mechanic until he got hurt, so perhaps he'll have some insight, and I'll share the results here!

Based on the information given, I can confidently say, "maybe".

Extremely tall ask, especially for someone asking such basic questions. I'll slide my bet onto "this project never happens". You have a big list of things there, it's not going to happen quickly. I'd guess multiple hundreds of hours of labor to complete that list. Maybe with hundreds of hours of research/parts gathering, you could have the car out of commission for one hundred hours of work time. However you slice it, that's an enormous amount of labor to bring it up to 30 year old technology. The early EJ22s are reliable and fairly simple, but not fast. If your target is a long travel thing like the Subaru version of Caswell's Baja Pig. You'll be looking at turbo platforms, or H6s, or both. You'll need a better transmission and rear diff. And custom suspension and axles. All of which means any work you do with the Legacy parts will get you no closer, and have to be completely un-/re-done. Sure, swap the engine/transmission. Keep the suspension stock and serviceable. And it'll be a fun, reliable little street car. If you want to offroad it, get a D/R 5MT to go behind the EJ22, redrill the hubs to 6-lug and a 4" lift. And you'll have a fun, reliable little wheeler. If you want any more than that, you're starting with a rough platform, and definitely have the wrong donor to get there. Really think what your budget (money AND time) is, and what your goals are.

No - just relax and get it properly diagnosed. It's probably one of the oil switches leaking, valve cover, or CV boot, or something else really easy. The mechanic is doing you a disservice by sending you on an anxiety ridden internet search of head gasket woes. Maybe he had a bad day when you stopped by, I'd just carry on and not worry about it. You could look underneath or pop the hood and attach any pictures of fluid you see here and we can help. If it's a CV boot - reboot the axle. The original axles will last the life of the car and are literally stupid to replace or throw away. Many shops will want to replace the axle because it's quicker and simpler for them - the cost is roughly the same. But aftermarket axles are terrible and almost never last the life of the vehicle.

You definitely need to replace the 3 idlers. The bearings don't last much longer than the belts. If there is extra slop, it's on it's way to failure. The belt should be fully on the pulleys. I have had a couple that tracked weird, and flipping them helped.

Yep. count teeth. Marks on the belt are very optional. Marks on the engine and cams and crank are what to follow. ALWAYS turn the motor over 2 full revolutions by hand and make sure the marks still line up before starting the motor.