man on the moon

Oh! Of course! That does sound fun, actually. Been considering looking one up but I haven't had the time yet. Did you learn a lot, or mostly get to have fun driving on the track?

D'oh! I was reading/sharing about the spiders in another forum last night. Must have not hit the copy button w/the tire URL. Try this one instead. Also edited the original post. I only have enough cash for one thing right now. If I do the lift I don't want to run around on 13s, makes the car look anemic imo. I will keep in mind that the car will do OK without the 2.2, though. Then I can put off the most expensive/intensive project (motor swap) til later. Say a year from now.

Just read the thread. Not bad! Maybe I'll divide the money and invest a few and use a few. The car needs some work. I have 90% of the parts I need (gaskets, parts, bulbs, wires, etc), just waiting for a warm day to do it. Right now it's snowing big, wet flakes. The bonus will push me waaay over what I need to finish, trying to figure out what next project on the list to pick up. Saving/investing is a good idea, too, though right now my priority is getting to work and back every day. I may have enough left over to invest in an ounce or two of silver/buy some stock or something, though. A good idea. It snows here a lot, thus the tires. As long as I'm in 4wd I can get around in the snow, even the hills. It's not fun but I do manage to drive through the maze of light cars, big trucks, and *** 4wd SUV owners spinning their tires. Stopping is a b*tch, though. With a capital B. Where does one buy silver...at the bank? That's a really good idea, I had no idea it was so cheap right now. 1_lucky_Texan: that car cost more than $210 And I must say, financial advice is not what I was expecting from this thread, but...

Check the ECU for codes (search the forum), but another + for the disty. Went through almost identical events last spring a week or three after I broke the driver side timing belt. Car would start, stall, and start seemingly randomly, and with a strange combination of ECU codes. The belt had caused similar symptoms and codes, albeit only once (and with no re-start later). Eventually figured it out, replaced the disty, and no more problems

Well, yes. That is an option too

Forgot the axles! Axles are cheap or good--sounds like the PO put the cheap ones, they can sometimes click right out of the box. Send a PM to ShawnW as I believe he has some good rebuilt ones in his shop (mechanic), and can point you in the right direction. Price is still reasonable for good ones, though more than cheap ones. As long as bolts aren't stripped, they are easy to replace. And yes, I speak from experience on that one Anyway, good luck and have fun! And don't be afraid to look around the board for local help, lots of guys up in the NW--some enjoy helping out, others don't, but it can never hurt to ask.

A pair of head gaskets is $35 or so, a full gasket kit is just over $200. I bought a full gasket kit and did just the heads, intake manifold, and valve covers. I'll do the water pump next as it's started leaking, and the oil pump at the same time while I'm in there. Another time I'll do the oil pan gasket...point is you can keep the gaskets you don't use until you want/need them later. Mine are in a little flat cardboard box (like a mailing envelope) under the rear seat. If you take the heads to a machine shop and just ask for them to be milled it will run under $100. They will probably want to rebuild and test them, but that runs closer to $300 so be specific. They will also (probably, if my experience is 'average') probably tell you the head is shot because it has a hairline crack between the valve seats in each cylinder. THIS IS NORMAL. There is even a dealer notice stating it's fine to drive with from Subaru itself. I have yet to see a head without this pair of cracks; just make sure the crack is only between the valves and not the cylinders. A clutch kit is under $200. Both jobs are fairly easy to do and don't require removing the motor from the car (though you have to jack it up about an inch and slide it forward for the clutch). You should be able to do both jobs and a tune up (replace hoses, plugs, wires, filters, etc) for $6-700 if you do it yourself. And you can spread the work out and drive in between if you need to for financial reasons.

I have about $400 (max, I'd like to spend less) and am debating between snow tires, a lift, or collecting toward an EJ...sigh. My Loyale is my daily, so I would rather not park it too long right now. The tires I think I'll get are these from Discount Tire. They appear to be a good compromise between price and function. If I get a lift then I'm going to want bigger tires, which defeats the purpose of buying snow tires now. And with bigger tires I think I'm going to want the 2.2 pushing me around rather than the EA putt-putting a set of 27s across town. Any thoughts on the correct sequence of events? Snow tires now and other things later? Or other things now and purchase tires twice/sell the smaller set later?

The crank angle sensor is on the distributor, just fyi.

The clutch part of things is pretty basic. Just remove the flexplate and bolt on a flywheel from a 5speed car, the clutch kit will bolt on to that. The cable assembly mounts entirely to the transmission (once it's routed through the firewall) so no mods to the engine bay. You do have to install a clutch pedal and cable, but it's doable, use the search function (look in the bar at the top of the page) to find more information. The actual work is not that challenging. It's heavy, but the details are not too bad, speaking from experience. Less than twenty bolts if my count is correct.

Ok, good to know. Chances are I will forget just in time for the info to become useful, then I'll get pissed, then I'll remember that I already learned 'it' somewhere BTW, why did they put a 3spd behind a turbo? (Redundant question, don't answer)

Someone will come along soon with info about the tranny specifics, but I can speak from experience that a 'new' one will run $100-$150 or so from a junkyard. They are pretty hardy (aka usually not the reason the car is in the yard) and will last the life of the car or more if kept full of fluid. Not that they'll go far without! A five speed would be an excellent swap if you go that way, and will mate to the engine if you swap the flexplate for a flywheel (also available at the yard) with a clutch and pressure plate. The axles will also mate to either transmission as long as they are both either turbo or non-turbo (turbo has 25 axle splines, non-turbo 23).

Transmission fluid is at an ok level?

The fuel pump relay is under the dash, between the ECU and the heater core area. The pump itself is on the passenger side of the car, on a little shelf in front of the gas tank. For the record, an EA82 will run fine without the alternator (well, until the battery dies). It will also run without the battery if the alternator is hooked up (though it won't start without a battery or jump). At least the SPFI model, I haven't tried the MPFI in these mix-ups. Perhaps it's an issue with the fuel pump circuit when the key is in the 'run' position. If the car starts and the pump pressurizes the fuel line, but then cuts out due to a circuit issue, the motor would die a few seconds later after the gas pressure drops...possible? Not sure how the pump is wired. Somewhere in the ignition circuitry something may be going on.

I could see that I guess, to me it seems like a lot of details and time under the bridge but I wasn't the one researching and writing. Your write up is great, I must have forgotten this particular detail Apologies, and thank you

No need to remove the covers to check the belts, at least if you or someone nearby has small fingers. There are two rubber hole covers down near the crank pulley, one on each side. Each covers a pair of holes (one cover for two holes, two covers/four holes total). One cover is on the driver side, one on the passenger side. Pull the covers and wiggle your finger around inside or look with a flashlight. If the belt is snug, it's ok. If it's loose/moves...you have a problem. Incidentally, if your passenger side belt is the one broken the car should at least try to start (if I'm not mistaken). The driver side belt will keep it from running, but not the passenger side. And it's a non-interference engine, so no problem if it is broken. It is also possible the belt/s jumped a tooth, which you can't check without removing the covers.

D'oh. That's why it looks funny. I've done a couple reseals on the NA EA82, so I figured those were all turbo things...damn. Remind me not to get any gasket kits from THAT company!

Check the ECU. Under the dash there is a kickboard that covers the steering column/etc. The ECU is behind that. If you contort yourself to look up at it, you'll see a hole facing the seat with a little LED in it, and when you crank you should see a blinking light (or just put the key to 'run'). It will blink a code at you or long and short blinks. Sometimes multiple codes, so watch until the cycle starts over. There are code lists in the forum if you search, or in a chilton's/Haynes. If it is the crank sensor, that is in the disty as was stated. Easiest way is to replace the whole distributor. As for the rotor, I had that happen to me. Loyale died while I was driving...cost me two weeks and $250 for a ten dollar/ten minute fix...sigh. Hope that saves you the same trouble .

I also don't see an oil pump gasket, the mickey mouse one...

GD: My oil pan gasket is square...but also not turbo, so I'm not sure if that's what you're looking at? I think I found the bit Numbchux was referring to: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showpost.php?p=521625&postcount=11 Took a bit but the advanced search functions help if you know a name or a date . Speaking of dates, how do you remember who did what from five years ago? I can hardly remember last week!

I haven't run across it in all my reading about swaps, but I don't suppose I've read everything. Will try the search if it's been done. Hopefully I can come up with good search terms, sometimes I fail and sometimes I succeed.

No no, not the manifold. I know the manifold is different. I mean the big box the air filter sits in. Sorry for not being clearer, I can see where I misled you.

I'm not doing a swap at the moment, but I do have a question. I was poking around in the junkyard tonight and noticed that the turbo EA air intake bears a strong resemblance to the 2.2 intake, at least on the earlier 2.2s. I think the size is different, but not so much it couldn't be modified to fit--by eyeballing it, anyway. Has anyone ever tried to mix and match parts to see if they can swap over with just a little drilling, and maybe some rtv silicone?

Ah, that makes sense. I'm not mad (actually agree on the better than venting). I was just confused as to why you would go to all the work to get an AC system out that you couldn't use--makes sense if you're taking it in to a shop to have it vented, though, then install it into another car.

I haven't seen another bubble, but I discovered that I'm leaking coolant externally. Bottom of both head gaskets look dry, can't see the water pump. Doesn't appear to be from the top anywhere, but I can't be sure without some more prying. I was thinking a hydrocarbon test on the coolant, but I think I'll start with the poorman's test first. Draw some fluid into a clear container and see if anything separates out, and go from there. If it's particles, they should settle; oil may or may not separate depending on the mixture and other chemicals (will oil remain suspended in coolant?).