lostinthe202

This is a perfect Craig's List Barter item. Maybe something like, "will do timing belt(s) for translation, you supply parts, I supply mags" Ya never know, could work... Will-

'96 OBW, 198k, 2.2l 5spd My trans growls. It's been growling for 70k miles. I noticed that is was a bit loud when I bought it at 120k, but it didn't really trip any alarms for me and some cars are just louder then others so that combined with the price I was paying, I didn't really think much of it. Since this was my first Subaru, I didn't really have any past experience to compare to. I changed the trans fluid after purchase with no change in noise. It's been pretty consistent in the volume and quality of growl until around 185k when I did the clutch. Since then it has gotten louder, to the point that when I'm in 1st letting the computer idle me along I can really hear it. I know it's bearings, my question is: What should I expect. That is, what's going to be the first thing I notice that tells me I HAVE to do something? Is it going to start popping out of gear? Is it going to grind itself to oblivion? Should I try and fix this? Obviously, I don't know a lot about the innards of transmissions (or else I could answer my own question) but I am a quick study and I'd love to take one apart. So what say you? Thanks! Will-

Sorry there haven't been any updates, I was out of town last weekend and busy with house fix-it stuff most of this weekend. I did have time to zip into town and pick up the other motor. This one has the turbo on it as well as all the other sundry electrical items that are missing from the other motor. I also got the motor mounts as well as the radiator and electrical fan, the intercooler that was used in the previous project, and assorted plumbing and electrical. All in all, a productive day parts-wise. Here's a pic of the motor after I got it home with the crazy gearbox gizmo from it's last home...

Ah yes, if there are two holes that are in the same place, I do see how that would work. Sounds like a great way to do it. Too bad that piece of bell housing isn't a bolt on thing like on the EA motor, that would make it even easier. Looking forward to pics!

Story of my life! I'm so behind at work I don't know if I'll ever catch up! Whenever you get around to it, we'll be here..

Awesome! Post the results, with pics of course! I don't have any EJ trans laying around and I work in a machine shop so I'll be doing mine the "easy" way but I'd love to know if this would work. Will-

I figured it was something like that, but how are you going to get the holes for the EA side in the right place? I was thinking of ways to make an adapter without all the expensive tools in a machine shop and what I came up with was to take a piece of aluminum or steel sheet and drill (and preferably ream) a hole in the center to be a good fit on the nose of the input shaft of the trans. The you can take an EJ trans and stand it up on end so that the nose is sitting in the hole and the Bell is resting on the plate. Take a transfer punch of the proper size and mark the hole locations then replace the EJ trans with an EA one and mark those locations. This, of course, involves having one trans of each around.

I don't get it, how does this help? The important part of an adapter is that the center of the crank and the center of the trans shaft are in the same place. If you cut the bell housing off of the EJ block, you loose that reference right? yes, pics please

Thanks for the link, I had given this post up for dead. Will-

Woah, really? Is the H6 good on gas? Not being facetious, I have no experience with the H6 motor.

I'd go with the outback/legacy. I don't know what the diesel forester is supposed to get for MPG, and I don't know what fuel prices are like in your neck of the woods. But if I were to buy one, I'd have to get 50mpg just to break even because of the higher cost of diesel and you're sure to pay more for the diesel forester then for the outback/legacy. On the other hand, maybe having a diesel engine puts you in good standing to switch over to a bio-fuel be it veggie oil, algae oil, LNG, or whatever as diesel's can be easier to convert. On the other hand, I haven't been in one but, I've been told that the latest body style of the outback/legacy is narrower on the inside then the previous incarnations. I don't know why this is, more room needed for all the airbags they're shoe-horning into cars these days? So that might be a consideration. On the other hand, if it's only cargo room you're after then a bit narrower in passenger compartment maybe doesn't matter. OK, how many hands is that? hehehe Will-

Auto or Manual? Check for torque bind. Looks like the red is a private seller and is better looking to boot. Same amount of miles, same price, two years newer.

I would imagine you'd at least want the heads checked for warpage by a shop. On the timing belt, I read TONS of posts about it when I was ramping up to do mine and while lots of people get the ebay kits but many get a dealer belt to use in place of the one in the kit. Part of this is 'cause some of the ebay kit belts don't have the timing marks on them, the other part is the suspect quality of the belt. I should say that I've got a non-interference 2.2 so I was not too worried about premature failure of the ebay components. Good luck and have fun! Will-

OK then, splines have been counted and there are 25 so turbo trans it is. thanks Will-

Well, no further info. I searched and searched to no avail for a single range trans chart (as I did before I posted). I didn't do much searching on the web in general. Frankly, since I won't be using this trans in the long run, I'm only willing to spend so much time on it. But I did find some threads that talk about taking out the drain plug and looking for a stamp on the ring gear of the front diff, or failing that marking one gear and counting teeth. This is what I'll do once I get the trans out of the car. I realized SubieMech's chart only covers up to '85 so that leaves a lot of options open.

I can't say if others have used this method with success. You want that bolt tight, like around 140 ft/lbs or it can come loose and trash the crank key-way and, worst case scenario, take out the T-belt components and possibly the valve train. If you have a torque wrench that goes to 150 ft/lbs, maybe give it a try. If you get in the neighborhood of 140 ft/lbs, call it good. But getting to 140 will invlove a lot of hysteresis or "flex" in the system so if you just put a long bar on the bolt and pull as hard as you can, you won't really know if you are applying all of that torque to the bolt or if some of it is getting lost in the resistance of the all the moving parts ( drive train, brakes, etc.)

Hiya, What year, model, engine do you have? The T-belt job is a pretty easy one if you go in with the right info. I highly recommend doing some searches on here for info, there are several really good threads. Also go to endwrench.com and look up your model engine for some great step by step instructions. There are several ways to get the crank bolt off, the one you mentioned can work. I use the starter moter + long breaker bar method. Putting it back on however you should not use the engine's compression/drive train as you will be trying to spin your motor the wrong way which is not favorable if you have a 2.5l or a '97 or later 2.2l as these are interference engines. You can buy a tool to hold the crank pulley, or if you're handy, once you have the pulley off, you can make something to hold the pulley stationary. Again do some searching here and you'll get all your questions answered. Good Luck!! Will-

Hmm, 6 for DIY, 6 for Pro.... what's a fella to do?

Cars are like opinions. You usually like your own more then the other guy's...(hehe)

My '96 OBW wagon had a growl when I bought it. I had been told by friends that subaru's a were a bit noisy in the drive train so I didn't think much of it. It's now 80k miles later and it's still growling! Will-

If you're really driving only 3 minutes at a time, then my guess would be it won't be a problem. But I should follow that up by saying that I don't know squat about rally x so you should seek some other opinions. Good Luck! Will-

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there are two ways of centering wheels, hub-centric which are centered by sitting on a boss (raised portion) on the hub, and centering by tapered lug nuts which center around the stud. If you use flat head nuts and washers on a non hub-centric wheel/hub setup, you won't be able to get your wheel centered properly which will both ride rough and probably loosen up and want to fall off. Will-

OK, made a bit of progress today. First off let me say, Nice Day! It was 60 degrees and sunny, perfect for working outside. Stella found it a bit hot though and decided to stay in the shade... Last week I realized that I don't need a transmission to get the points for the trans side of the adapter, I could also use the motor. So I went down to the local JY and scored a block out of an EA82 GL wagon for $10. I took the block into work and threw it up on the mill to get my points... Then today I hauled the TDI out from the garage... ... and dangled it in the engine bay to have a look around... ( I know the second tractor pic was really unnecessary, but I just love taking pictures of that thing!) SO, the good news is: I won't have to modify the engine cross-member. I'm kind of glad as I didn't really know what I was going to do with the steering rack. The bad news: I had the engine at the 50* that a TDI equipped Vanagon runs at and I will still need every inch of a 6" lift to get the hood closed and even that probably wouldn't be enough. I don't really want this thing to be way up in the air. I'm not a super lift kind of guy. 4 inches is as high as I want to go. So one other avenue of investigation will be to see if I can tilt the trans up a bit in the rear without making the u-joints work too hard. (I could probably tilt the diff to better the aim in the back, but not much I could do in the front.) It's really the front few inches of the TDI that are getting in the way so if I could angle the works a bit more that would help. So hopefully between the two I can close the hood without having to make a "power hump". But if that's the way it is, that's the way it is! Also, the radiator will have to move (no biggie) as will the AC condenser (it will follow the rad if I decide to keep it) and I will probably move the cross-member that the hood latch is attached to. The TDI fits, but only just, so it would mean pulling the engine to change the belts in front which I don't like, so I'll reroute that cross-member and use hood pins and make a grille or modify the existing one (it's already broken so what the hey) to fit in the new space. Engine mounts don't look like they'll be too much of a problem, nor the exhaust. On the passenger's side, there is plenty of room to route stuff and I will probably use the existing engine mount bolt hole in the cross-member. On the driver's side I should be able to make an engine mount that will bolt to the "frame" section that the engine cross-member bolts too without much fuss. I will probably also use the existing air filter box. I may need to put in some heat shielding though as the exhaust is pretty darn close to everything over there. So now that I have both portions of the adapter, I'll do some CAD work and draw the adapter and cut out another template to check for fit. OK, so I've been thinking over my flywheel and clutch options. The ratings for the TDI motor I've got (thanks to Zyewdall) are 90hp and 150ft/lbs of torque with the peak being at a whopping 1800 rpms (this puppy's getting some BIG shoes). I don't know what the stock numbers of an EA82 are, but I'm sure they are less so I want to beef up my clucth a little bit. From what I've read on EA to EJ swaps (a similar power increase) a modified EA flywheel is used when an EA trans is used. I assume this is because either the diameter of the EJ flywheel is different or the tooth count is different or something that would make an EJ flywheel not jive with an EA trans? So what would be the combo to use? Numbchux's writeup of the swap mentions using an XT6 pressure plate with the rest of the parts being from a 4x4 EA kit. How 'bout the disc itself? People think a 4x4 EA disc is adequate, does an EJ disc fit diameter of the PP and FW and do the splines match the trans? That is homework for the week! Whatever combination I use, adapting it to the TDI crank could pose a problem. The TDI has a 6 bolt pattern with an offset for timing. As you all know, the EA and EJ have 8 bolts. I did a quick overlay in Autocad of the two and I'm doubtful that I will be able to re-drill a flywheel and still have enough meet in the center. My next JY trip will involve getting a VW flywheel and comparing it to the EA one. The TDI has the starter mounted on the engine side (I think, I could be wrong) so maybe I'll end up doing that, I dunno yet. More when I got more! Will-

Me too, I've never owned a new car and never will. Hopefully everyone else doesn't figure that out or we're screwed!

Haha, Oops! Knew I should've reread before posting! Sorry...