Numbchux

They are the same displacement engine, and the same basic engine layout. But different in almost every detail. Turbo is DOHC, non turbo is SOHC. Turbo has a semi-closed deck block and lower compression. Non-turbo is open deck. Yes, hood scoop feeds an intercooler. Transmission is similar, but different. Gearing and AWD differences. Suspension is similar, but stiffer, etc.

Man, I respect your methods more than almost anyone else who posts here....but yikes. I would definitely call the bare connections at the alternator and A/C compressor sketchy (though I'd guess that that's been done since you had it). But beyond that, I see so many un-covered, and what appears to be unsupported wires. And hearing that they're a relatively high-amperage headlight circuit concerns me even more. Left as-is, that stuff will chafe and short out. I also see 2 fuse/relay blocks (one in the spare tire well, and one in front of the LH strut tower) that don't appear to be attached. It'd be fine for a test-drive or even several, but I wouldn't call that done. Just my $.02. I do find this story hilarious, and I'm glad to see that it's fallen into some hands that will keep it in good shape.

There is a serial number by the starter, but I've never seen a way to search the databases by serial number (I worked at a Subaru dealership...I've tried, we could look up a VIN, and that would give a serial, but not the other way around). The newer engines had the vin etched into the vertical part of the block on the passenger side of the bellhousing, right next to the seam with the transmission. But I doubt this is new enough.

Here's the list of vehicles that came with that ignition coil part #: http://opposedforces.com/parts/info/22433AA230/ Yea, '93-'95 Impreza 1.8. I see someone who went to the trouble to make A/C lines to adapt the EJ compressor to the EA82 body. I see some sketchy wiring! Look at the alternator and compressor. Also what is the bundle of wires draped over the engine?! I see vacuum lines for the 4WD, so I assume it still has the FWD/4WD stock transmission.

I don't think I've seen AWD problems cause a vibration. Usually AWD failure, or binding. When I read that post, it sounds to me like it was driven with mismatched tires for a fairly short time. And if they were the same size, just a different brand, I would say it's probably fine. I would rotate the tires front-to-back, and see if the vibration changes (going from feeling it in your butt to your hands/steering wheel, or vice versa). Vibration is most commonly just tires out of balance. Otherwise it would be helpful to know when the vibration occurs (accelerating, braking, certain speed, does it change with engine speed or vehicle speed, etc.) as there are a host of other things that can cause a vibration.

Yep, Impact driver. For Christmas I got a pair of Craftsman impact screwdrivers (functions the same, but looks like a normal screwdriver). Looks pretty cool......I haven't used them yet, though.

I agree, most likely pressure switch But, if it's actually low pressure, and it has plenty of oil. These are the things to check. I think I'd check the oil pump first.

I don't know what the tire size is, but the bolt pattern is the same. Offset is extremely close. Wheels will definitely bolt on. I'd bet money (and I'm not a betting person), that the tire size is close enough. But find the tire sizes (Baja would have come with a 225/60r16 stock in the US) and run them through a tire calculator.

A gas engine needs 3 things to run. Fuel, ignition, and compression. Diagnose them individually. Getting the right gasoline mixture can be a challenge, but starting fluid is volatile enough that it's MUCH more forgiving. So that means you have a compression or ignition issue. Pretty unlikely to completely loose compression on all 4 cylinders so suddenly. So you're likely down to ignition. That means more than just having spark. It has to happen at the right time. Within about 10 degrees and you should get a pop. An EA82 will run on just the LH bank, as the distributor is driven off that cam, regardless of the RH side (I had a buddy that stopped at my house because his EA82 was even more gutless than usual, turned out his RH cam had seized). So you can assume that your problem is on the LH side. Unlikely that your ignition timing has changed considerably on it's own, but completely possible that the belt has. It's not terribly hard to pull the other timing belt cover on the LH side, and compare the mark on the cam pulley to the 3 lines on the flywheel. I bet it's jumped (I've heard of timing jumping as a result of bump-starting, so if it had a dead battery....).

The nut is part of the axle, so if it's not spinning, something isn't spinning. If the shaft is spinning, but not the outer joint, than there's your break. I'm guessing this is the case. If you put it in 4WD, it should drive fairly normally (effectively RWD, now).

Manual or Automatic transmission? FWD or 4WD? Help us out. What part of the CV axle is spinning? Just the inner joint? Shaft? Outer joint? Pop the wheel cover off and start it, is the axle nut spinning? Sounds like either axle failure, or the splines on the hub have stripped.

Most has been said. Brakes and air filter should be priority #1 Tie rod end will either be a little inconvenience ranging to a genuine safety risk depending how bad it was. If it was more than just a little sign of wear, they should have refused to do an alignment on it. If you trust the shop to take care of you, it's probably just something to think about in the next year or so. Also possible that they don't care about your safety, or the fact that doing an alignment on a car with bad steering components is a waste of time and money. The leaks aren't an issue, as long as you don't run out of fluids, and don't park on any nice concrete. So make sure to know how to check the relevant fluids (engine oil, transmission fluid, and power steering fluid, in this case), and check them every gas stop. The only exception is if there's a lot of oil getting onto the spark plug wires. Pull the ends out of the heads (should be fairly easy to do that), and look for oil on there. If there's a lot, that can be an issue for the ignition system. Change the rear diff gear oil. I think it's about a quart (have 2 handy) of 80w90 GL-5 gear oil (the most common stuff you can find). Buy a little transfer pump that'll fit on the gear oil bottle. Jack up the car, use a 1/2" breaker bar to pull the 2 plugs (upper fill plug first, if you drain the oil, and then can't get the fill plug on, you're screwed, although if they checked the fluid, they would have just had the plug out). Once the old fluid drains out, put the lower plug in, and pump new oil in the top plug until it overflows. Then put the top plug in and your done.

Yep, my immediate thought is sticking brake. They can do all kinds of weird things. I occasionally check brake temperatures to make sure they're even. The best test is drive on the freeway for some time (30 minutes+), and then coast to a stop on the exit ramp using the brakes as little as possible. Then I get out, walk around, and feel the heat off the brake rotors (use caution, if they're working correctly, the rotors should just be warm, but if you've got something sticking, it'll be HOT, you'll feel the heat radiating well outside the wheel). Rule of thumb, is they should be about the same temperature side-to-side (fronts likely warmer than rears). Either way, I'd have those apart, and carefully inspect every moving part. I'd push the fluid out of the calipers to make sure there is fresh fluid in them and they move well, I'd clean and grease the slides, make sure the pads move smoothly in the mounts, etc. Grease everything with a high-quality grease (I use the purple bottle permatex ceramic brake grease).

Yep, 3 pin sensor serves for the ECU and gauge. So it's exposed to the exact same temperature, so a calibration issue seems most likely. But I don't like to encourage just swapping parts without diagnostics. Any codes? I'd point an infrared thermometer at the coolant bridge and verify actual temperature. And then read the temperature at the ECU via an OBDII reader. You can buy an infrared thermometer and OBDII dongle (read codes and temperature from you phone) on Amazon for $30-40 combined.

If there's no bushing between the absorber shaft and the body, you may want to consider shimming/slotting the mount in some way to reduce stress on it. Because of the forward/aft movement of the rear swing arm, it will bend that rod a bit. Both WJM and I tried mounting factory rear shocks (his were BE/BH Legacy, and mine were NA Miata) to an EA82 by deleting the bushing. It worked fine for a month or so, and we both snapped a shock absorber shaft right where it meets the upper mount. Not a fun experience. I switched to an NB Miata shock, which does use a big bushing on the top, and never had a problem.

I think by '02 it was all in one sensor. Is the car getting hot? In the winter, it'll have to sit idle with the heat off for some time to get hot enough to require the fans. The main fan on our H6 Outback was seized, and I didn't even notice until some very slow offroading. I don't know the resistance values. But I tested mine just with an OBD II reader. After leaving the car sit overnight, the coolant temp reads about the same as the intake air temp, and while driving, it sits at about 185*.

I've never redrilled strut towers. On a couple cars, I had to open up the holes a touch with a dremel, but that's it. Lengthening the control arms isn't a major geometry change, gets done every day on MacPherson cars. Don't worry about it. As long as your welds are strong, and it doesn't bind the joint, let 'er buck.

What he said. I'd bet Ujoints. And assuming the gear ratio is correct, the diff would swap right in.

Been done many many times. You'll need an EJ/EA adapter plate to mount the transmission to the engine. But you'll have to fabricate mounts, linkages, and likely a custom length driveshaft.

Yea, if you're extending the arms, you'll probably be fine. The length is very similar, if not identical. BUT, the tab coming off the knuckle for the tie rod end is angled differently on an EJ knuckle than EA82/XT6. So with XT6 knuckles, you can just use XT6/EJ rod ends. But with EJ ones, you need shorter rod ends. This changes the geometry a bit, and gives the car a bit more Akermann angle.

Or just bore the ball joint opening in the EA82 control arm for the EJ joint. Also need EA81 tie rod ends (EA82 uses smaller stud in the knuckle than EA81 or EJ, and EJ ones are too long).

Yep, I totally get it, and applaud you for doing it. My caution is that this idea is fairly experimental, and pretty far from simply replacing a couple control arms. Good point on the EA trailing arms, pretty easy to improve on that design. I saw your measurements on this setup, I'd be curious to see how that compares to the stock setup...

Sort of, but it will still require moving the pivot point on the crossmember. So you're not going to get around the fabrication. Also that relocation will likely interfere with the exhaust. I'm still skeptical how that change would work on the road. I can't picture exactly how those links all work in concert, but lengthening that one will definitely change the way the car handles. Might be acceptable, might be imperceptible, might even be an improvement. I'm actually a bit tempted to try it on my beater in the spring, as once the salt is washed off the roads it won't be my daily driver, and the subframe is rusted and will be replaced anyway (I already have a new one).

I wonder what the reason for that link being so much shorter is. Seems like it would change toe and/or camber through the range of travel. I'm curious to see how that change would effect the way the car handles.

FYI, the adapter plate with work to fairly easily adapt an EJ engine to an EA transmission. It will not work the other way around. It could be done, but it would require a custom flywheel to take up the extra depth. The 6MT is roughly the same size as the 4EAT transmission. In '87.5, the EA82 transmission tunnel got bigger to accommodate that. It will easily fit in the newer EA82s, it's been done in the early EA82s, but at the very least requires a spacer to lower the transmission in the tunnel (but that's not ideal for driveline angles). It's been done in EA81s, but AFAIK only with tunnel modification. Anything is possible with enough money and fabrication. But far from bolt-on. Also absolutely zero reason for it unless you've done the engine swap (no '80s engine can produce enough power to require the strength), and other driveline modifications.