WoodsWagon

You don't want your gauge temp sender in the radiator or the upper hose, you want it in the water crossover manifold on top of the block. I just used the EJ one and was content with 1/4 indicated being normal, 1/2 was getting hot, red was massively overheating and the engine was significantly down on power. You can also "trim" the EJ sender to the EA gauge with a resistor in line. Why not use the EJ computer fan control output to run the fan relay? The computer does a good job and it has the temp sender anyway so no need for an extra temp switch in the radiator to fail. The charcoal cannister has 3 hoses. One connects to the tank, one connects to the cannister purge line (the vacuum solenoid under the intake manifold), and one goes into a hole in the side of the frame rail. That's the vent. It's for the filtered fumes to exit through and the fresh air when the cannister is being purged to enter through.

Not on the newer ones, they got rid of the flip up seat bottom feature starting in 05.

If you plan on keeping the car a while it makes a lot of sense to get a spare set of wheels to mount the winter tires on. It will cost less in the long run than mounting and dismounting the tires off your wheels twice a year and reduces the chance of a careless tire tech ripping a chunk out of the tire beads. It costs more to get TPMS wheels and sensors, but if you're OK with having the Low Tire light on the dash all winter you can save a bit more there. You can probably fit 16" wheels over the brakes in which case the snow tires will be cheaper too and you can get narrower tires that will bite into the snow better. Wide lo-pro 17" snow tires never made much sense to me.

It is probably leaking from the donut gasket between the cat and the midpipe because the spring loaded bolts that held it clamped together have nothing to hold on to anymore. A split flange and some longer bolts are your fix here. The flange clamps on to the pipe to replace the rusted off nubbins that are there. The bolts now have something to hold onto and it holds the joint together. They look like this:

If you go with a pull clutch EJ transmission from a turbo car they have much stronger clutch release forks and there are plenty of upgraded aftermarket clutches for them. The pivot ball on the push type transmissions can wear into the fork and punch through, leaving you unable to release the clutch. It happens often enough with stock clutches, go to a higher spring tension aftermarket and its even more likely. The EA boxes are 3.9 or 3.7 differential gearing. EJ has up to 4.44, so that's another advantage. Plus it bolts right up to the EZ engine. I'll quote Numbchux because it is so accurate: "I bet the "improvement" you are feeling when locking the center diff, is the open diff sucking so bad." The locking center diff sends ALL the power to the end of the car with the LEAST traction when it's not locked. Which is usually the front inner wheel when taking a turn and trying to accelerate due to weight transfer from the body of the car rolling on the suspension. The viscous center diff fights that so at least a fair portion of the power goes to the end of the car that still has traction. The full time 4x4 is really a pointless system. It's only good for accelerating in a straight line on a perfectly even surface. It has no advantages over the FWD/4wd transmissions and returns poorer fuel economy because the rear driveline is running under a load all the time instead of coasting. It comes down to an advertizing gimmick.

Why not put your transmission in the loyale? How is the transmission shot at 30k miles anyway?

I have heard of it happening to the sunroof panel in the wierd dual sunroof outbacks, but not the normal sliding sunroof panels. That glass is usually unbelievably strong.

Since the 2.5l already needs head work, you could put used Phase 1 2.2l heads on it and it would fit in the Brat without having to mod the frame rails. Use a 97-99 Legacy Outback or GT or a 98 forester wiring harness and ECU to run it. Heads and intake manifold off a 95-98 2.2l from an auto trans Legacy or Impreza.

I tossed some parts from my stockpile to a friend who had the same issue. I figured it was probably a fuel pump problem, but it was either the coilpack or the ignitor. Ignitor is bolted to the center of the firewall on the engine side. He was just shotgunning parts at it much like it sounds you have been doing, but since I had a shed full of parts to pick from it wasn't costing him anything to try. It's not the right way to diagnose things, but it will eventually work. So try a coilpack, the Diamond brand ones of the 5spd cars are supposedly better. Then try an ignitor module.

Haven't taken a picture of it welded in, seam sealed, and painted but it's done. I searched a few junkyards in a 50 mile radius and after looking at over a dozen legacys and outbacks of this generation, found one that wasn't rusted out in this spot. It was rusted out at the two other spots on the wheel arch. Legacy's and Outbacks are the same sheetmetal in this area, the plastic cladding is different but the metal is the same. I cut out an area around the patch piece with my electric die grinder running a cuttoff wheel. I cut inside the wheel well leaving a strip attached to the piece I was trying to save. Once the whole piece was out I could trim it down back at the shop by carefully cutting through the spot welds and chiseling them apart. It is very flimsy metal, so you have to be careful not to bend it. I paid $50 for the piece I cut out, and I had to bring my grinder and generator in to the junkyard and do the cutting myself. That was after hiking through multiple junkyards and finding nothing but rust riddled subarus. So there is a profitable market for good pieces already cut out. I noticed there is a tape patch covering over a hole into this rusty area from the inside. If you flip up the back seat bottom you can find the tape plug. That is a great access spot to spray rust preventative wax into the problem area. Tools required: http://www.harborfreight.com/electric-die-grinder-with-long-shaft-44141.html http://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-quarter-inch-cut-off-wheel-arbor-for-die-grinder-93389.html http://www.harborfreight.com/pack-of-5-3-inch-metal-cutting-discs-66393.html http://www.harborfreight.com/engines-generators/gas-engine-generators/63cc-900-watts-max800-watts-rated-portable-generator-60338.html http://www.harborfreight.com/impact-resistant-safety-glasses-94357.html They also sell this: http://www.harborfreight.com/120-volt-3-high-speed-cut-off-tool-68523.html But I find the long neck of the die grinder and exposed disk are necessary for getting into corners to cut out a panel like this.

What about the intake off a 99 forester or 2.5rs? They were a phase 2 EJ25 but still MAF so likely the same IAC logic as the EJ25d?

Knock sensor failure won't cause misfire codes, so you probably still have an ignition system problem to work on. When was the last time plugs and wires were done? Cyl's one and two share the same coil, so it could be a coil or ignitor failure, but start with the plugs and wires.

Yeah, I would drain and re-fill. Front diff takes 80-90 gear oil and you were pouring lucas ATF into it right? Transmission fluid is probably a bit burnt from running low and slipping, so it would be good to replace that too. The big drainplug at the front that threads into aluminum is the diff, the 17mm plug on the sheetmetal pan is the transmission. I tend not to use miracle cure products like Lucas unless the component is truely shot and I need it to last long enough to make it another month. Where you just had a low fluid problem, I would hesitate to use anything but the right ATF, which is Dex/Merc III. Get a gallon plus an extra quart and change out at least the fluid that's in the pan.

You are checking the red handled dipstick with the 2' long floppy blade rather than the yellow handled one with the 8" long stick on it, right?

If you are planning a turbo build I would not start with the 96 legacy harness then. Start with a newer harness and computer that are user tunable without the use of a piggy back. A harness out of an 02 WRX would make your life much easier down the line as you upgrade or change things around. Look up open source tuning for Subaru's. The extra money you spend getting the harness and ECU will be more than saved by not having to buy piggy back or stand alone aftermarket ECU's to work with the 96 legacy harness. As far as the 2.5l short block, use a phase 2 block and crank because the rod journals are the right size for the later 2.5l turbo rods and aftermarket ones. The EJ25d has smaller rod journals and the thrust bearing on 3 instead of 5 like the Phase 2's. Figure out the EJ22e's head chamber cc and pick a piston with a deep enough dish to compensate. You may have to go aftermarket, but a cheap option would be stock STi takeouts from a brand new block that someones putting forged pistons in. This is assuming you're using a pre-EA82 body, because that's the only reason to run the ej22e heads. Otherwise go DOHC and do a proper turbo engine build up.

Carbed or SPFI? If it's carbed it has Air Suction Valves that let air from the filter housing go down pipes into the exhaust. If the reed valves in the ASV's fail, you can get melted bits of plastic in around the air filter and backfiring issues. Exhaust leaks can also lead to backfires in the catalyst, so find out where it's leaking from underneath and fix it. You can also block off the ASV tubes where they connect to the head with a quarter if you are in a non-emmisions test location.

I'll start off by saying it isn't a good idea, especially if the only times you plan on towing are freeway travel. I've towed a lot of stuff that was too heavy or rickety and have nearly gotten in a horrific accident due to trailer sway. Since that "learning moment" I'm very serious about not towing over 1k without electric trailer brakes. Trailer brakes make a huge difference and you can apply them separately from the tow vehicles brakes to straighten out the trailer if it starts to sway. The camper has two big problems when it comes to towing it with a subaru. One, it's heavy, and will be even heavier when you load it up with camping gear and water/fuel. Two, it's a massive parachute. The point of pop-up campers is to lower the aerodynamic drag so a smaller vehicle can tow them without straining at highway speeds. You will have the engine screaming to hold 65mph with that behind you, and if you come into any head winds or cross winds things will get slow or scary fast. If you were going to cruise back roads maxing out at 55mph and had good working electric trailer brakes, I'd say it would work. But if you intend to do mostly freeway travel you're going to be a road hazard.

Put the whole 2.2l engine in as is and drive it, then build up a 2.5l block as you see fit later. Focus on the harness and getting the engine in and running before anything else.

I'm not a "beast" and I was able to lug a 4eat around and lift it into my pickup by myself. They are hefty and hard to get a grip on without getting filth all over your clothes. It's a transmission, differential, and transfer case all in one, so it does weigh a fair bit. I'd say 200lbs is a good estimate. I would put a board or square of plywood down on the wagon floor before dropping the transmission in. The floor over the spare tire well is not that strong and if you set the trans down on a corner of the pan you're liable to crack the floor. A board would spread the weight.

You will have to try very hard to blow up a good used EJ22. I took a perfectly good EJ22 and rebuilt it, which lead to it running low on oil during its break in period and ruining the engine. If I had just put the engine in as is, it would have been fine. The rebuild was money down the drain. The phase 2 SOHC heads are as bulky as the DOHC heads, the phase 1 SOHC 90-98 heads are compact enough to fit in an EA81 body without having to notch the framerails. 90-94 legacy turbo's used these same heads, so you could fit one in fairly easily. Or go with a 2.5l block for a high compression N/A motor with the 2.2l heads. You could also run low compression pistons in a phase 2 EJ25 block and turbo that for even more power.

If a ej22 runs ok I wouldn't rebuild it. I rebuilt my first EJ22 and due to a broken hood latch on a cross country trip during the break in period I ran it way low on oil and it burned oil from then on out. That then resulted in burned exhaust valves. I replaced it with an EJ22 out of a 92 Postal legacy. It was free, and had been in service doing rural mail delivery for 15 years. They replaced it because the broken flex plate sounded like rod knock. I beat the holy hell out of that engine, overheated it until it lost power a few times snow wheeling, and used it as my daily commuter 40 miles each way. It ran like a top and didn't burn any oil. EJ22's either work or they don't. It usually depends on if the previous owner kept oil in them or not. And if they don't work, another junkyard engine is way cheaper and easier than rebuilding because most of the EJ22's in junkyards are in fine shape. I can buy 2 EJ22's pulled and palleted with a 30 day warranty for the price of parts to do a refresh on my own. Rebuilding them just doesn't make sense. If you want power, put an EJ25 block under the EJ22 heads so the 2.5l can fit in the brat engine bay. Put some delta cams in and use an OBDII harness with the EJ25 computer. Just put an EJ motor in it, any motor, and drive it. Then decide if you want to put together a higher powered one. You may be impressed enough at the performance that you don't need to.

I had to drive 3 hours to Connecticut get my last d/r trans, and having lunched a few sets of rear transfer gears I can tell you they are weak. One of them went in RWD and I had to get towed home, one went in 4x4 in the middle of the woods in winter and it was a massive PITA getting out in FWD. I had to back down a mile of trail at speed while trying to stay in my ruts. EJ22, 3.9's and 29" tires. I can get pictures of the shredded gears if you want.

The control unit is to the rear top of the wheel well and you get at it by removing the trim from the inside. It's a 6"x6" silver box.

4 door sedan and wagon yes, 3 door coupe no.

'Tis the season for rust repairs in the northeast. My parents bought an 03 Outback wagon to replace the 98 Outback that's rusting into oblivion. They found this one after checking many like it in the same body style that all had rust holes through the body hidden by the rear doors. 8 months ago, this one didn't have obvious rust so they bought it. Here it is after cleaning off the "surface rust": Here's the same area on the other side: As far as I can tell, the problem is caused by poor panel overlap and not enough seam sealer where the inner wheel well and the quarter panel dogleg come together at their pinch weld. I vacuumed a fair bit of sand and rust out of the inside of the rocker panel, so ignoring this hole here will lead to much worse rust in the rockers. Sand/salt spray from the rear tire is getting directly into the rusted area and the rocker though the failed seam. The gap has been highlighted by the rust on the drivers side: On the passenger side it hasn't leaked badly enough to rust through, but I can see the beginning of bubbling paint inside through one of the trim clip holes. Give it another winter and it will look the same as the drivers side. The preventative fix for this rust is to pull back the plastic trim cover, which unclips from the side of the car if you pull out on it, and clean the seam where the two panels connect. Then brush on a heavy seam sealer or spray it with undercoating. That should keep the water out of the seam and keep it from turning into a rusty mess. Cleaning and undercoating the tab where the rear bumper cover attaches with a 10mm head bolt inside the wheel well would be highly recommended because that area rusts though on these cars as well. Taking off the rubber strip on the pinchweld of the wheel arch and undercoating that area is important too. That rubber strip does a great job of holding salt water against the pinchweld. When it starts rusting like what I'm dealing with, the repair options get pretty short. I can fiberglass and bondo it in, which will last two years tops before that starts to rust off again, or I can weld new metal in. The problem is no one seems to make patch panels for subarus, so I have to buy the whole rear quarter panel for the low price of $450, or get someone in a non-rusty part of the country to cut me this section out of a junk car. A cut-off wheel in a die grinder does a good job for cutting out body panels and can be powered by an inverter or a small portable generator. It could be a good business cutting out sections and shipping them to the rust belt. All 4 of the other Outbacks that they looked at had rot holes in this spot, so it's a common problem and there should be good demand for patch panels.