Virrdog

Ok, hate to be a realist here, but I don't think you are really going to do any of this. Sounds all pie in the sky unless you have bags of money laying around. Big power is big money squared. Your best bet is to get an EJ22T or EJ20(G?) longblock and keep their respective heads. Get the correct ECU wired up for it (ideally, just go standalone). Then get it tuned with a TD05-H 16G, you can find those tons of places. You will need some supporting mods, fuel pump & injectors, etc... You will easily get 240-280 whp out of this kind of setup with tuning. 300+ whp is not easy to do without $$$ (to get there or start breaking parts). And at those power levels the giant turbo you'll need has lag that starts to kill off mostly but straightline or roadcourse duties. Even with this route I outlined, you are looking at $3-4k bare minimum. By the way even 200whp would be wicked fast and quite fun. Most of the guys that build 500+ whp cars like throwing money away so they can have their ego stroked for having a car that makes xxx whp on whatever brand name dyno.

Along with changing the fluid, replacing the very spongy soft tranny mount with a new one makes a very large difference, too. I did the mount before new fluid and most of my problems went away with the mount. So both can have a large impact.

Oh boy, here we go again. Complain, complain, complain. People that started out buying 2008 Impreza's will be complaining about the 2024's when they come out... Porsche owners did/do the same thing. Every new Porsche was NOT a real Porsche. In fact, they did it when they introduced the 911....... I hope my point has been made.

OEM or ceramic is the way to go.

Found my multimeter (lost in process of redoing a bedroom). Checked the battery and it was fine, 12.7V. Cleaned the negative terminal and reinstalled. Car started up like a champ. That was the WHOLE problem all along. Man I feel dumb. This is what happens when your wife moves the multimeter. You can't actually check stuff! Then you look like a retard on the USMB

As the article Nipper posted also mentioned... second order vibrations are viturally non-existant in a boxer 4 compared to an inline 4.

I keep my EA82 around 2k when I'm cruising around town. Its the chill car, rarely anywhere near redline unless I have to. The EJ22t sees redline a couple times every time driven.

I think that's simply a matter of opinion. It took maybe 10 more minutes to get the stuff out and ready to connect. I would not call it hard by any means. It all depends on what you want to do, some might not want the rear sound stage to begin with. I keep mine mostly off so they do not color the front speakers. But I like being able to play the music for rear passengers when they are in there (I adjust it).

Running speaker wire to the rear doors in an EA82 wagon is not that hard either. Just get the wire to the corners (just like you have to for the fronts) then run it under the edge of the carpet to the rear doors. A couple of plastic connectors and that comes up. You'll have to pull the b-pillar cover, but that's exactly what you do, pull it off. Then you have made it to the rear pink connectors. Just tap into those.

I'll keep that in mind, thanks.

Sorry, left out a couple of key words. There are mispellings and in an attempt to sell these kits they say its easier to turn in with the OEM radio for a lease. That makes sense on a lot of cars but would be interesting if someone was still leasing a Subaru from the '80s!

I like how simple words are mispelled... and if you are still leasing an 80's Subaru, you have some other issues other than lack of decent sound system.

Wiper motor is under the hood on the firewall. No dash ripping necessary for that.

Got it all figured out. I banged on the starter a little and tried again. Classic click*click*click sound from a way dead battery. The starter was somehow "stuck" before. That really freaked me out after welding on the car and all of a sudden nothing even turns... whew! I think the battery is fried, I drove around for a while and there was still not one ounce of juice in it. I will clean the terminals and then try swapping out a different one. Thanks for all the help!

I'm not familiar with Gen 1 steering racks, but on the later ones you don't even really need the rubber. It was put in for NVH, but there isn't really any from that area. You could probably forgo the rubber and make a solid mount for the rack. Your steering feel will definitely increase!

I too am baffled by people that have so much trouble removing bolts. I work on cars that have spent 90% of their life in salt belt Ohio. Never seem to have the same troubles without some other factors (like the Legacy balljoint that had its threads pressed into the control arm from a previous impact ). Letting the penetrant do its job is important. Just let it sit a couple hours or over night and then start working on the bolt again (or pre-soak it). (I finally picked up an electric impact so wheel changes wouldn't take an hour)

what was up with the funny closing door?

Unless you are going to go full air tools (and you have multiple uses for a air compressor & tank) pick up something like this. I got this one because it was on sale, grabbed a 3/4" to 1/2" reducer and called it a day. I don't have room for an air compressor and can't afford the entry price. It should take my lugnuts off just fine for years to come.

Ok, posts in distress never come out right... Clarifications: We welded a bolt onto the broken bolt piece to back it out. Very sweet trick. No drilling, no tapping, just a quick backing out of the broken piece. There is now a new longer hardened bolt with a nut on the end in the hub. The old bolt broke in such a way that it chewed up the threads on the way out. Ok, fusible links were checked. Everything seems to run as normal when turning the key to the "on" position. Everything lights up (I think I was looking for "check engine" like my Legacy, the CEL was probably lighting up). When you turn the key to the start position, it acts like there is a giant short. EVERYTHING dims to the point of death until you release the key then everything goes back to normal. The starter is not turning, something is shorting - possibly the starter itself. I could smell the hot wiring smell when I had my wife try to start the car. A couple of oddities: MIG tip was sparking on the metal before he hit the trigger, but that might have been his trigger acting up (there is still the ground path back to the machine even when this happens...). A/C compressor seemed really loud clicking on/off when the HVAC controls were on. But that might have been my car-won't-start sensitive ears. I think right now my next step is to try jumping the starter solenoid (along with beating it with a hammer ). Then tossing a different battery in to make sure that's not fried.

So most are probably wondering how this is possible. I started out doing my first balljoint job on the 1989 Wagon GL SPFI 4x4. Actually everything went great. Got the old ball joint out and the new one in. Then I just had to snug everything up and I was done. Call up a friend that manages a repair shop and ask him the general tightness needed for the castle nut and the pinch bolt. Bad idea - he says crank down on the pinch bolt since its hardened. Well.... I snapped it. Phase II. Another friend comes over with a mig welder to weld a bolt to the broken piece left in the hub. We start welding away and then realize we should disconnect the battery first. That's where the new round of problems starts. Now my car won't start. Everything lights up (except the check engine light??) when the key is turned on. When I go to start the car everything dies down like there is a short. I had my wife turn the key to ON and try to start the car with me looking under the hood. I don't see any sparks while trying to start the car, but can smell electrical stuff burning. I plugged in the green plugs to see if the ECU would run the diagnostic stuff and it does. I also checked all the fuses and the fusible links and they seem fine. So the question of the day is what did I burn out / blow up? Anyone else mig welded on the car with the battery still hooked up? :-\

Did anyone say otherwise? Are you trying to convince me or yourself??

Well, then you have a rare circumstance where the added heat capacity will do you very well. I know about limits, I take my Legacy to a road course. I barely drop below 60 in the turns, one over 110. But I prefer closed course vs. open road. The operating temperature starts just a touch above OEM. The only time you will really notice is the first stop on a cool/cold day or driving through frozen slush without touching the brakes. But in less than a second they will be up to full operating temperature. 1 second is a lot in braking time, so don't fly out of your driveway pegging 3rd gear through a school zone. But that is rarely an issue with the pads, its very rare you can even notice.

I've seen tons of pics where pick-up truck drivers installed a window a/c unit in the back window...

:confused:

Go 300k without nary a problem? Jury is still out on that one. EJ22T (and corresponding 2.0L block) is still the strongest OEM block, regardless of what you can do to the other ones to increase their strength (sleeving, pin cylinder walls). IMO the EJ22T is in that sweet spot of strength/longevity. Way stronger than 95% of the engines out there and will outlast the same percentage without extreme abuse.