thealleyboy

Hey guys...trying to get up to speed on New Gen engine compatibility....my EA82's are slowly disintegrating, and the new ones are kinda nice too... Read several posts including those in the archived section. Not all the info is consistant, and some of it is conflicting. Can anyone point me to a definitive write-up on this topic? Specifically, I am looking to revive a 99 Forrester A/T with a blown 2.5. I have a good 97 Imprez 2.2 available, but am not ruling out other versions of the 2.2. I'd rather stay away from 2.5's due to high cost, and poor reputation. Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks John

Hey Miles, good to hear from you. Well if you say that you've run them sucessfully for a while that is a good sign. Hard to believe that there aren't more derelicts out there that haven't tried swapping rims on a real live car. My biggest issue is stuff like bearings and axles. Changing them isn't that bad, but you shouldnt have to do them every 20k miles. John

Dave: Yes, the VW version of the 5x100's seem to be the closest to the Subes in all respects. The others aren't too far off though. I forgot to mention that Toyota also used 5x100's in some models, and those are about as plentiful as the domestics around here (Central Ohio). 15" seem to be less common than 14" for all makes... thanks, John

Hey Guys: Looking to put my snows away and install some all seasons on my 97 Imprez with 15" rims. Genuine Subaru rims are hard to come by around here - just like anything else Subaru. Have any of you actually ran any of the other 5x100 bolt pattern rims? I know what the cross-ref charts say, and they can be physically bolted on. What I really want to know is what people that have (or had) them on a Subie for some period of time think. thanks, John

Thanks guys!! Shawns rule of thumb makes a lot of sense - especially if the legnth of that back section is the same between two and four door Imprez models appreciate the feedback... John

Hey Guys: I had a mishap recently where the driveshaft on my 97 Impreza 5sp sedan gave out - also cracking the tanny case in the process. I found another 5 speed, and now I'm trying to locate the right driveshaft. Does anyone know what years & models will work in my car? Is this a 5sp Impreza-specific driveshaft, or will the Legacy (or EA82?) work as well? thanks!! John

OK: I have got the 97 Legacy L 5 speed lined up, and I am trying to figure out what other parts I'll need to make this work in my 97 Impreza 2.2. I'm planning to swap any sensors as suggested above - no problem there Will the shifter and linkages from the Impreza work as is, or will that have to be re-worked for the new trans? I don't have the replacement in my possesion yet, but it's already been been pulled and sitting on a rack at the JY. I'm guessing that the donor (Legacy) shifter and linkages are not included in the deal, so I may have to improvise if the shift assembly is different between the two cars. Does any one know how close the 97 Impreza and 97 Legacy shift assembly is? Am I going to have to find a Legacy-specific shifter to make it functional in the Impreza? Sorry if these questions seem redundant...Sube parts and donor cars are not so common where I live (ohio) thanks!! John

Great stuff Ed!! The replacement I'm looking at has the same 3.9 ratio, so I won't need need to swap out the diff. I guess the only issue would be external mods to the shifter/linkages. When you talk about the modifications to your 97, are you referring to an "upgrade" to a better (wrx) trans? Mine is the cable type clutch and I'm looking to keep it simple. thanks, John

Using Fairtax's chart, I was able to find a 5 speed that might work. That particular version was used in Legacy's and Impreza 1.8's, and seems to be fairly common. The gear specs are: (1) 3.545 (2) 2.111 (3) 1.448 (4) 1.088 (5) 0.780 The original 5 speed for my 2.2 Impreza is: (1) 3.545 (2) 1.947 (3) 1.366 (4) 0.972 (5) 0.780 How will these differences affect the Impreza's performance {in practical terms}? Will it lag in the middle gears, or will it be that noticible? I liked the feel of the "correct" tranny, and would be dissapointed if the replacement turned my Impreza into a dog John

Again, appreciate the info. Still kinda new to the modern era cars, but glad that Fugi hasen't thrown too many wrinkles into the equation!! John

Thanks for the reply!! I wonder why I was getting so many different answers on interchangebility...is it really just a matter of matching up to the correct dif? John

Hey Guys: Cracked the case on the 5 speed on my 97 2.2 4dr L sedan, and am having a b*tch of a time finding a 4/95-6/98 of any kind. No luck whatsoever locating an exact replacement (TY752VA5AA). Getting lots of conflicting info about which 5 speeds will work, and this is from people I trust. The manufacture dates I listed above are from a Subaru dealer mechanic, who says I should stick to these models only. My question is if there are any other 5 speeds that can be made to work with this car with a reasonable amount of modification. Appreciate any feedback... John

Appreciate all the comments guys.. The car started right up, just as before, so (apparently) , the rotations I did by hand didn't cause any valve damage. The belt was a little noisy as it stretched into place, but it seems to be seating normally. One tidbit hint I'll pass on (haven't seen mentioned yet) is that the belt can be installed fairly easily by doing the two lower rollers in tandem. If the top side is lined up, the belt can be pulled out at the bottom to give you more "play", as the belt is slipped over the idlers. The left idler can be bolted in place first, with the belt spines partially mated to the gear. Then the right idler can be started with the smooth surface of the belt in place. Once it is started and the two idler partially threaded, the bellt can be tapped into place with a soft-faced mallet. I found this the easiest method to keep the three timing marks in alignment without a helper. thanks again for sharing your thoughts... John

Hey Gary: Yes, I came to that conclusion after going thru the procedure fotr the third time. I watched the belt as I rotated it with a wrench and it definitely did not "jump". I had mistakely thought that the reference marks would come back into alignment after one or more revolutions , and I can now see that it doesnt work that way!! As far as the interference, the engine did run without a belt. The only movement was when I was rotating the sprockets taking them off and reinstalling. Very minimal, but I couldn't keep them completely locked down. Now with the belt back on, it is turning smoothly, and I can feel it building compression. Hopefully, I didn't screw anything up while working on it, but I don't see how it would be possible not to rotate the sprockets at all. I'll go ahead and put it back together and see what happens... thanks, John

Hey Guys: I'm doing my first new gen timing belt on my 97 Imreza. I've researced the procedure, and think I understand the process reasonably well. I've tried to install the belt twice, and both times the marks came out of alignment. I'm guessing the belt must have jumped, but I cant verify that. I've seen conflicting comments about whether this motor is interference, and I'm concerned that it may have been damaged during the changeover process. I tried to keep everything in line when removing the sprockets but this was impossible. The car ran perfect before changing the belt. I only took it off to do the oil seals. Can anyone tell me definitievely whether the 97 is interference, and is it possible that turning the sprokets during reassembly damage anything? thanks, John

I replaced the coolant temp sensor several days ago, and that seemed to take care of the problem. When I changed it out I noticed that the pigtail to the harness was very short, and maybe the strain caused the contacts to fail. In any case, it seems to be ok for the moment. Thanks for comments, I wouldn't have guessed the CTS for SPFI problems. John

Thanks for the great replys. I'll definitely check out the Harbor Frieght tool, as I'll probably be doing more of these in the future. Ed, your opionions on wheels and axles are usually right on the money, and I'm leaning towards your and Dave's suggestion. Do you happen to know how interchangeble those rears are on these cars? Gary, yep thats me that was on here, and the xt6 board. Still have my 91, and some some spare parts, so PM me if you need any xt6 stuff. John

Hey Guys: First post to the New Gen forum, but have been wrenching on EA82's for about 15 years...no condescending newbie patroninizing please... Finally broke down and bought a 14 year old bottom-feeder derilect special. 97 2.2 Impreza 4 door manual...Dont know why I waited so long to go EJ...I have a feeling I'm gonna love this car!! The #1 issue right now is dealing with the rear wheel bearing. I've had some sucess with the EA82's rears, but the best results were taking the whole arm off and having the bearing pressed in. At first look, the Imprezas looks to be damn near impossible to do on the car, though a guy I know at the parts store says that there is a special tool that some foreign shops use. Any pointers on how to proceed? Any of you had any luck doing them on the car with standard tools? thanks, John

I haven't been getting any dummy light activity. Have not tried pulling codes yet. Do you know if the burnt out resisters would trigger the check engine light? thanks, John

Deen: Thanks for the info on CTS. I guess I have been pretty lucky to have not had many problems with Subaru SPFI. I had considered the system pretty bullit-proof until this particular car. I have had some coolant temperature swings with this car that I attributed to other factors, and maybe that is still the case. But the way you describe cold starts makes me think the CTS is definitely shot. John

Appreciate all the comments... The CTS seems most likely based on what I'm experiencing, but I'll look at the other items too {again}. I'll report back when I get it nailed down thanks, John

I don't think it's bad gas or filter. The car is a daily driver, so fuel gets replenished quickly. The Fuel filter was replaced when I swapped out the throttle body. I have not tested the injector in the car. Is there anything besides voltage/resistance I should be looking for at the injector? I'll definitely do these tests to rule it out when I get it in my garage. I don't know much about how the information sensors interact with the CPU, but I suspect the problem is not the injector. Any SPFI gurus reading? thanks, John

Hey Guys...long time... The car is a 92 Loyale sedan 1.8 SPFI; original configuration except d/r conversion. I've had some episodes where the car sputters and dies out due to fuel starvation. I've checked all the obvious things, and can verify that fuel pressure is strong at the throttle body inlet. The first time this happened, I swapped another throttle body unit. The car seemed to be ok, and I assumed that it was either the fuel pressure regulator or injector. Fast forward 4 months - same symptoms. Just for kicks, I checked the resistance of the components on the first throttle body, and they checked out. This tends to rule out the throttle body unit since the 2nd one was known to be good. Any ideas on what could be preventing the fuel from reaching the throttle? thanks, John

Appreciate the response. That would make sense, and could have been caused by rough winter driving. I'll check it out as soon as I get home. Like I said, everything looked good visually, though I didn't crawl all the way underneath. Still a lot of snow on the ground in C-Bus... thanks, John

Hey Guys The car in question is an 88 GL wagon 4wd D/R. I noticed recently that the two rear wheels are jutting outward at the bottom {Sorry no pics available right now}. Think of someone laying a pallet of bricks on the roof rack, and the wheels collapsing from the weight. At first I suspected a diff failure, but there is no play or looseness with the wheels off the ground. In fact, they seem to track symetrically. No other obvious mechanical or visual problems. However, when the weight is on the wheels, they are no longer parellel. I now suspect that the unibody might have stretched by hitting a pothole or something. I haven't yet tried measuring reference points on the body, as this would be the last resort. Any other ideas or theories? thanks, John