Numbchux

^ just weld up the spider gears in the center diff. done and done. or, if you've got some $$ to throw around, you can get couplers from a number of sources to eliminate the center diff. the transfer gears become the weak point, but still pretty tough. poormanzimpreza.....I believe you're just thinking of the difference between numerous r160s. they use different stub styles. the custom race that suberdave used was just to put the WRX rear LSD to match his front clip/tranny in the EA82. but was still an r160. r180s only came behind the STi 6-speeds ('04+ here in the US). where have you seen pics of burned up EA82 diffs? sure, sheared stubs, broken axles, etc. but all of those are stronger on the EJ counterparts. I also doubt you'll be killing axles left and right with a welded diff and N/A power on gravel. at stock angles, they're pretty tough.

yep, but this thread is about an EA81

the r180 swap is bolt in.....but not just the diff. the hanger is different, hubs, knuckles and axles. which means bolting in the entire crossmember, lateral links, trailing arms, struts, brakes, etc. etc. etc. etc. only reason it's bolt in, is because it was available in another subaru model. don't have to ask why a RWD subaru, sounds awesome but, I think an r180 would hold up to N/A 2.5 power pretty well.....with the reduced traction of rally, you'd probably be fine rocking the r160. a guy here in Minneapolis was running RWD in his 2.2l '99 Imp wagon with a welded 4.444 r160 in the rear. did lots of burnouts and drifts, all on pavement, and didn't break much (except that time he forgot to put fluid in it......oops ). I'd drop a nice LSD r160 in there, and call it a day.

don't need to drop the whole suspension. if it's fused to the spindle end too, you can pound the spindle out of the bearings. drop the diff (axles still attached.....) pull the brakes/hub off there, and start pounding on the spindle. it'll slide out of the bearings, and you can get it on a work bench to seperate the 2. and it's an EA81, so should have DOJs on the outer joints, so you should be able to disassemble pretty easily. also. as far as I can tell, the outer joint does not have the easily removable cap in the cup like the inner one does. I've done a lot of pounding on it, and haven't gotten one out.

well....interchangeable anyway. the '85-'86 ones have a different outer joint style. but the length and spline counts didn't change.

because it's awesome

well.....the r180 doesn't just fit in where an r160 did. it's physically bigger in almost every dimension. and an r200 is bigger still. it can be done but it'll be alot of custom work. why are you looking at doing this?

wost case scenario, pull the joint apart, and clean the grease out of the cup. there's a cap in the bottom of the cup, and through there you can get to the E10 bolt that holds the stub in. you can take the stub out of the diff. at which point, you can soak the whole thing in penetrant. get some serious heat without worrying about cooking bearings and seals, or just cut the cup off.....I've done that.

all subarus with fuel injection have the baffles (I don't remember if carbed EA82s do or not). but EA81s don't.....

I've never heard that..... yea, I realized later that the confusion might be from the newer viscous ones where one side has 2 sets of splines.

I don't think there is a difference. I've run with a combination of them before (and currently am, one of each), never had a problem.

agreed. happened on my car, I got a short in one of my turn signals, and next thing I know, my seatbelts don't work.

exactly. there's a bolt in the back that IIRC bolts to the intake mani. I ran like that (except with the power steering and stock belt) for about a year and a half

don't need a custom bracket to remove the compressor on an inboard setup. stock bracket works fine. I'll try to dig up pics of either of my '88s engine bay....

yep. I have an '85 bumper on my '92 Loyale. looks much better and was an easy swap. bolts right up. turn signal plugs are different, but function the same so that's not hard.

cars without A/C have the Alt in a different place....so a belt designed for one won't be quite what you're looking for if it's an inboard A/C unit (compressor between alt and PS pump), the stock belt will reach just fine. I'll have to look on the '86 tomorrow to see how the outboard A/C belts work....

by searching for posts started by you in this section, I found this: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=80315

dual range.....and you can't use 5th gear but both my '88s had the stock motor and drivetrain (messed with the exhaust, and kept them tuned up for max power), and they did fine. you're not outrunning anything, in fact, it works pretty hard to keep up with traffic, but it does OK, and could cruise at 70+mph (sometimes 80+ with the wind). and the low range is extremely nice offroad. wasn't as low as I'd like it, but plenty of torque for most anything you could throw at it.

on paper, the 4-speed will work. but it would be a huge downgrade. very different tranny mounts, so you'll need to fab up a crossmember, and linkage is terrible (and frequently makes it hard to fully engage the gears, which leads to catastrophic internal failure!), and the tranny itself is a different length (I don't remember if you could use something from a different car or if you'll need to have one modified $$$). short version.....be patient. wait for the 5-speed. it'll be worth it (even though with big tires you won't use 5th gear almost at all anyway).

finally found my parts book. like I said, the upper hose is the same. but the lower one is 45167AC010 for the outback. not a major difference, but gave me enough extra travel to work with my Loyale radiator (outlet is a couple inches higher than the stock legacy one would be).

go through this thread: http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=2331682&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1 and read just about every post by 69 chargeryeeha on page 1. he painted this charger with a roller for about $50: I intend to try the same method on my wagon....

I'm not near my diagrams, but those sound like the wires for the water temp gauge and oil pressure idiot light.....just off the top of my head. have you accounted for those yet? ECUs are the same. When I suspected my ECU (came out of a '92 FWD 4EAT Legacy), I plugged it into my dad's '94 AWD 5MT Legacy. it worked just fine. you don't need to do anything with the neutral switch wire. it'll just assume it's in gear. might throw a code....but it'll work fine.

sure thing. it happens to even the best of us BUT, keep in mind, if you use an EJ tranny....you can use an EJ clutch. maybe get your hands on a 4.111 legacy tranny or something so you still have decent gears.

actually, the short gears will make it easier to stay in the boost (which is why the EA82ts got them..). and for autoX and rallyX where you're not spending any time at speed, it might work perfect!

the XT6s had an option for a 3.9 LSD. and was printed on the tag. so if it's got a tag and it doesn't say LSD, it's probably not one. they were pretty rare. the cool thing about the XT6 LSD, is it's already 3.9, so it's ready to drop into any other N/A EA82.