el_freddo

Like for the fixing of bits and getting the brat to where you want it. But I’d also give you a dislike for moving OS and selling!! No need to - just have them bead blasted to rough them up again and they’ll work like new. But then again, for that amount of effort on the 4spd no one that is in a right frame of mind would consider going down that path. Get a 5spd a fit that in. Cheers Bennie

Awesome result! what did it sell for? Cheers Bennie

Plastic end tank on the heater core is leaking. Don’t drive it as they can completely let go (not fun!). Don’t get second hand units, they’ll just do the same, been there done that twice! I managed to get an all copper unit about ten years ago now and haven’t looked back since. To do the swap the whole dashboard has to come out to then pull out the heater box to remove the leaking heater core. Not a hard task, just fiddly then heavy when removing the dash board from the car via the passenger’s side. Cheers Bennie

If you didn’t swap the crank cam wheel/gear that’ll be the issue. If you’re using the SF5 heads you’ll already be using the matched cam wheels, otherwise the LHS inlet cam wheel needs to be swapped for the SF one. But I reckon it’s that crank trigger wheel that’s the issue. Also look into the details about the GT forester setup that’s detuned compared to the same block and heads used in the WRX model of the same years. I believe there are differences in cam specs, tune and obviously the turbo (TF035 vs the TD04). It could be worth playing around with cams, ECU and the turbo for a better factory setup. Loads of info out there, I could be wrong as it’s not something I’ve followed up on as I don’t have a reason to. Cheers Bennie

Same for the L series. Pretty neat setup but I don’t fully understand why they did this. Cheers Bennie

You’ll probably find it’s the radius rod that’s bent and not the control arm, they can flex quite a bit with their suspension bush on the subframe end. Fingers crossed it’s a cheap and easy fix. I hope the scum that was responsible for this action has a date with Karma soon! Cheers Bennie

Maybe that’s their plan/method of getting it scrapped. “Nobody bid on it so it needs to be scrapped” - but on one could bid on it… Hopefully it goes up again for actual bids to be made! Cheers Bennie

I hang out for these updates!! With the above, are you saying the one bolt came before the five bolt R160? Or is there and early and later version of the two diffs (that I don’t know about)? Asking as the five bolt came before the one bolt. I know the 1980 brumby/BRAT models run with the five bolt diff and you could bolt one any five bolt r160 into the back of them. The one bolt I believe appeared mid to late naughties, but I think the five bolt is still to be found in those years as well depending on which vehicle model you look at - I could be wrong though! Cheers Bennie

Don’t take this as gospel, just a memory of what could be a nasty rumour online about EJ conversions into the fugly series. Measure up the width of the chassis rails to ensure they’re wide enough for the EJ22. I wouldn’t want you to be knee deep in the project only to find the engine doesn’t fit without major modification to the recipient vehicle! I recall a fella shoe-horning a DOHC turbo into one of these and had to do loads of mods to make it fit. From the convo around that, the feeling I got was that even a SOHC EJ22 isn’t an easy task to fit. What’s the diff output stub spline count? If it’s 23, why can’t you retain the factory front shafts? Personally, I don’t like offset track width front to rear - just check out the last land cruiser models for what I’m talking about. Yuck! As for the 2wd rear end, it could be a case of finding a set of wheel bearings that fit the EA stub axle and the EJ 2wd hub. Hopefully the stub axle is the correct length for this sort of swap. After that it’s how to graft/mount the EJ backing plate. The other bit is finding out if the 2wd hub is separate to the drum (I believe all 2wd EJ Subarus were rear drum, but I could be wrong about this). I hope this helps, I dare say you’ve got some research ahead of you. Cheers Bennie

Thanks for thinking of me @6 Star- I’ve not tried swapping the bell housings to fit a top mount starter EA71 in place of an EA81. Another issue to consider is that if you didn’t get the intake manifold for the EA71 you can’t swap the EA81 unit over afaik. All the best with it. Cheers Bennie

Someone will. It’s yet to be allocated an auction date/start time, hence why you can’t bid atm. It looks pretty good for its age. The front end sits a bit low it seems, maybe that’s the mechanical issue if it’s not engine related. The steering wheel is in the wrong side too Cheers Bennie

I once took to the inner cup on the rear with a grinding disc - ground down the pin hole until I could slide the cv cup off the stub axle. After this I was able to remove the remains of the punch and cotter pin that were stuck in the middle of the hollow stub axle. I still used that shaft, since it was on the rear I just used some cable ties to hold it in place. They never snapped in the time they were in there. I’ve still got that shaft kicking around as a spare. All the best with it, never a fun job when you get one of these stuck, but you learn and avoid doing it again (usually!) Cheers Bennie

Oil weeping always occurs with the cam retainer plate, especially if it’s not resealed when replacing HGs. Even then there’s no guarantee the leak won’t stay away for a great deal of time… Cheers Bennie

Why do you need to have a pod or basket up top all the time? Isn’t the wagon big enough in its cargo space?? And don’t go making posts about stuff not going wrong, Murphy will take it for a spin and it’ll return with a list of stuff for you to find and resolve!! And I agree with @88SubGL - she’s a beautiful example of the L series! Cheers Bennie

Link. Problem there is the $$$$ they ask for aftermarket systems here and that’s before you even factor in tuning! Plus where’s the fun in that? I know GD won’t understand that as time is money and EAs are a dead platform etc etc. Cheers Bennie

That doesn’t sound right to me! Every factory Subaru sunroof I’ve seen (admittedly not a 2011 model) requires the headlining to be at least dropped, this typically means the interior panels of all the pillars need to be removed as do the light and handle fittings. It’s not as daunting as it sounds, it’s more likely just something you don’t want to do - but if you want the best picture/gauge of the issues or health of your sunroof that is what you’ll need to do. There should also be drainage tubes that poke into the inner guards of each wheel - one for each corner of the sunroof. You might be able to get something long and plastic with a blunt end up these tubes to dislodge any crud that could be blocking one or more of these drainage tubes. To do this you will need to remove the plastic inner guard liner. Alternatively the cheap fix is to duct tape around the top of the sunroof to close the gap. All the best with it! Cheers Bennie

Hmmm, is the foz a series 1 (taillights on body only) or series 2 (taillights on boot lid too)? The phase 2 inlet gaskets don’t fit the phase 1 heads, so you can’t be swapping between the two without a head swap… and 1998 seems too early for the phase 2 to me (I could be wrong again!). In the Liberty it didn’t come in until 1999 when the first Gen3 models landed. Imprezas I thought were 1999 or 2000 when they swapped to the phase 2. Easiest way to tell if the block is phase 1 or 2 is the number of gearbox mount bolts. Both phases have the same lower studs as all Subaru EA engines. The phase 1 engine only has the upper two bellhousing bolts, the phase 2 has six bellhousing bolts and is commonly referred to as the eight bolt engine. Phase 1 heads have three retainer bolts in the centre line with cast lines on the cam cover. Phase 2 has five retainer bolts, one in each corner and one in the centre. These cam covers are smooth and the spark plug tubes are built into the cam covers. Cheers Bennie

I’d imagine there’s an abundance of cam driven dizzys from inline fours such as the honda range from the early to mid ‘90s that would still have spare parts available! You “just” need to work out what you can easily adapt. Do you have any sort of distributor for this setup on hand already? Cheers Bennie

Find an EJ gen1 or gen2 diff… bolt in job done. Cheers Bennie

Do both boots while the shaft is out, and use a quality boot and a CV band tool. You’ll thank me later about the CV band tool Cheers Bennie

Did he do a compression check? This would easily identify the issue with one or two cylinders low on compression. I haven’t read the later FSM’s to notice a change in torque specs… but surely what you did would be up to the task. Seems more like this ongoing issue may have caused the dead head gasket issue providing you cleaned all the surfaces well/properly. Subarus are notorious for super clean mating surfaces when doing the HGs. To me, not that I visit mechanics often for anything more than tyres, alignments or roadworthies, the $4K job for the head gaskets from the dealer seems like a very good deal provided that includes parts and labour as a whole job! Plus it’s not a new to you vehicle so you know a bit of its history. Ask for the compression test or do one yourself to see what’s up and if the dealer’s mechanic is on point. Cheers Bennie

I had an issue with my EJ22 converted L series - I swapped out the following all at once so can’t tell you what solved it. It was super painful to start and when it started it would barely idle and would fluctuate too. When driving it was definitely in a limp mode, not all the ponies were in the stables with these codes! I had codes for the temp sensor, throttle position sensor and O2 sensor from memory (this was 2010!). Actually, I made a video of it at the time I hope that helps out, I know this is the Gen1 EJ22E, but it’s not too much different to the Gen2 EJ22E. Cheers Bennie

So you’re dropping a phase 1 engine into a phase 2 vehicle? How will you bolt the intake manifold on? NA and turbo phase 1 are different to each other; phase 2 NA and turbo intake bolt patterns are the same but different to phase 1. The EJ202 with the computer mounted on the back of the engine has two marks on the cam wheel “3hrs” apart from each other. I can’t tell you how they’re orientated atm in relation to the cam timing mark without looking at it. This crank timing cog at a quick glance is the same between EJ202 na and EJ205 turbo. And as for eating my words, smothered in dark rum is best Cheers Bennie

I just checked for a cam angle sensor on the EJ202 I’m messing around with and there does not seem to be any plug in the wiring for a cam angle sensor, nor do I recall removing a cam angle sensor from this engine as there isn’t one, but the hole for it was open to the back of the cam wheel, no cover or plug. I hope this helps mate! Cheers Bennie

The EJ18 and smaller only had the crank sensor. All EJ20 engines phase 1 or 2 had cam angle sensors afaik. Where did this engine come from without the cam angle sensor, is it actually an EJ20 or are you assuming it is because it’s in a model that was EJ20 from factory? Or has someone pilfered the cam angle sensor for some reason? Cheers Bennie