Fairtax4me

Not at all, I just think you have a misunderstanding of how these engines work, and i'm trying (in a seemingly not so polite way) to educate. Sorry if I come off as rude or condescending. Had you asked about ticking valves here first you could have avoided buying a set of heads. But, you now at least have a perfectly good usable set which can easily be sold if nothing else. But seriously, don't mess with a 300k mile engine. You'll only make it mad. If you need a "new" one cheap, talk to GD. He's got the resources to get whole engines cheap, and even if you really want a rebuild I think he said not long ago that he can do most engines for under $1,000. You already have heads so all you would really need is a short-block.

I've done that. Drove a car around the parking lot while someone sat under the hood and listened. Creaky under load could be anything. Axle, ball joint, engine/trans mount, loose/broken bolts. If you have a knock bad axle, start there.

Pretty sure the 18 heads have smaller valves and the combustion chamber is the same size as the 22. So you get the same compression and less air flow. Something along those lines anyway.

I just use the old axle nuts. The crimped part never ends up in the same place. Re-crimp it and it's just like new.

I have no idea but it sounds like fun! I think you would need to use the nissan trans and lose the 4WD though. Not sure if you would have enough room to line up 4 cylinders in a row.

That is beautiful! What did they charge for that service? Just for future reference.

Any particular reason you went with Single port heads rather than dual port? Are they phase 1 or 2? (probably a stupid question, don't think phase 2 heads ever come single port) Seems to me I remember reading about improved port flow characteristics of the phase2 heads, but you give up some small amount of compression due to a larger combustion chamber.

Are the heads just warped or is it corrosion eating away at them? I had .004" taken off of this one, got rid of all but about a dime sized spot around the small center coolant port. Thought I had an after pic but can't find it. At the top of the pic you can see the burnout where compression was blowing past the fire ring. That was gone after the first pass at .002" http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r236/CadiLLacPimPin97/Random%20photography/IMG_0851.jpg

Looks like about a four and a half hour drive for me from C-ville. I'm always down for a road trip, but the financial future is shaky at best right now. If the stars align, money lines up, and the car's in it's right mind I'll be there. :cool:

Hey what about this... A 2005-09 Legacy has a 105.1" wheelbase. A 2000- 04 Legacy has a 104.3" wheelbase. I don't know about transmission lengths on these, but the driveshafts will be different lengths. How different will the output stub on the trans and rear diff flange be on an 00 model? How different will it be on an 05+ model? What about from an automagic transmission? They should be different lengths as well, right?

The oldest Subaru I could find specs for on Cars.com is the 92 Loyale. They list the Sedan wheelbase at 97.2", and the Wagon wheelbase at 97.0". Compare that with a first gen Impreza wheelbase at 99.2" (all body styles).

My point is, there's nothing wrong with the heads that are on it. Lifters are ticking and they won't stop, a different oil can help that. Still won't stop, it takes ten minutes to remove the rocker shaft assembly and replace the problem, worn out lifters. The oil pump is another story, and low oil pressure could be an issue here. That can be easily checked with a pressure gauge, or the oil pump can easily be removed and serviced. still not as difficult or in depth or expensive as replacing the heads. You don't get any more reliability out of an engine by replacing just the heads because it ticks. If you're dead set on rebuilding, go ahead and do the rebuild, and do it right. New bearings all around, have the crank polished, and get the block overbored and honed with new pistons and rings to fit it. New oil pump, new lifters, put it all back together with new O-rings and seals and you have an engine that is fully capable of another 300k + miles, outliving the rest of the car by a long shot. Before you do all that, ask yourself how much longer do you really want to keep and maintain this car? How long is the transmission going to last before it needs rebuild/replacement? How long before the frame rusts out? Next year? 5 years?

Sounds like something that would happen if the kickdown cable were misadjusted. Kinda hard for that to happen on one of these though. How about a bad throttle position sensor?

You are talking about doing ALOT of work for absolutely NO reason. Ticking lifters is a common issue on this engine. The valves are not going to break. What kind of oil are you using? Varnish buildup on the lifters will prevent them from filling properly and can also allow them to bleed out when the engine is off. This might be causing your tick at startup. Using a high mileage oil will clean the varnish from the lifters and the rest of the engine. Use the recommended 5w 30 weight oil and a quality filter such as Purolator. Fram filters are notorious for letting oil drain out of the engine when sitting. When the engine is restarted it takes several seconds for oil to be pumped back up into the block and heads, which is usually the main cause of ticking at startup. At worst, your are looking at replacing some lifters, which takes 15 minutes, and by no means requires removal of the heads.

It just needs an alignment. Someone may have replaced the tie rod ends at some point along the line, and they lined up the road wheels straight ahead, but couldn't get the steering wheel perfectly straight. That's pretty difficult to do without the help of special alignment tools or a machine.

Snake oil or not it has worked for me to help correct idle issues and poor throttle response on many vehicles. I've never had trouble with damaged O2 sensors or catalytic converters. Never hydro-locked an engine either, but that's just me. I'm sure it can be done if you try hard enough. I run it through the intake. Most of the buildup in the intake is oil residue, and all that smoke is the oil/carbon cocktail in the intake burning away. Once the crap is gone (the majority of it at least) the smoke isn't nearly as heavy.

I was starting to wonder when the next Turbo thread would pop up. :-p This is one of those topics that gets brought up about every 3 months. To try to turbocharge an Ej22E is a waste of time. An engine swap is more reliable and more powerful, only thing is, a swap costs more than buying a car that already has a turbo. Even if you buy a parts car, unless the frame is rusted out or it's wrecked, it's easier to fix the parts car than it is to swap the engine/ wiring/ parts needed to make the turbo setup work. Supercharging is basically the same story except you can't buy a supercharged Subaru unless it was done by someone else. Use a turbo block and it will work just as well as a turbo setup, but you pretty much have to piece it together yourself.

I just did head gaskets and timing chains on TWO Chevy 350 engines. One was an 88 1 ton work truck that was on it's second set already at 91k miles. All 8 cylinders were mirrors, NO sign of the crosshatching from honing. The other was an original set on an 84 with 110k. The only reason they came off was to put on a set of Vortec heads, and I put in a performance cam at the same time. The timing chain covers seal the front edge of the oil pan, so the oil pan has to be removed, or the cover has to be pried off and the oil pan gasket cut in order to reinstall the cover. The cover gasket kits actually comes with a front pan seal, which you have to modify with a razor before installing. Entirely doable, and it actually does seal if done properly, but why the hell should I have to remove the oil pan to change the timing chain? 17 bolts hold on each cylinder head, and they all have to have sealer applied to the threads or they will leak coolant and oil. New bolts are cheap, and that's a good thing because it would take hours to chase the threads on all 34 of them. And the bolts are three different sizes, so you have to keep track of where you put which size. One reason to love those 12 same size bolts on the Subaru. There would only be 20, if it were an 8 cylinder engine. Getting ready to put valve covers on a friends Taurus. The intake manifold has to be removed because it wraps over the rear cover.

That's exactly what i was thinking actually. A 1.5 - 2" steel or aluminum spacer on the rear diff flange. The center support bearing could be held up with a simple bracket made of angle iron. I would probably run a half loop across the top to bolt to the floor pan to keep it from twisting under load.

Lucas Oil stabilizer might help. The biggest thing is to keep oil between the bearing and crankshaft so they stop hitting each other.

That's about what I figured. I have an idea of what could work. Would need to have a piece custom machined, but it would probably be cheaper than having a whole shaft made.

How many miles on this car? The oil pan is sealed with Silicone sealer by the factory. Aftermarket seals are available but Subaru never used a gasket on the pan, just grey RTV made by Threebond. I would be surprised if the pan seal is leaking. The Oil separator plate on the back of the engine is a much more common leak point. http://beergarage.com/Subaru.aspx

Since you're reading rich exhaust, what happens if you induce a small vacuum leak?

So what's the issue with the driveshaft, is it too short to reach the transmission? I'm looking into doing the same type of swap. Just doing some research for now to figure out what I'll need to make it work. I've found that the slip shaft for an Ej 5 speed trans is the same and will fit into the back of the EA DR trans, so it comes down to which transmission is longer.

HEAT is your friend. Get the exhaust hot first by running the engine for a few minutes. And you'll want a big hammer to smack the end of the wrench with to get it moving. Every time I've used one of those sockets it was a waste of time. It just expands and slips around the sensor.