el_freddo

If you’ve got a round plug alternator (Gen1 legacy’s), these can drop a phase and not charge properly but will manage to maintain the battery in general. I’ve “upgraded” my ej22 alternator to a Gen3 square plug unit as I’ve heard these are a better design/unit that doesn’t have the same issue. So far so good. Could be something to look into. Cheers Bennie

Try unplugging one headlight at a time when the issue is present. If things become brighter as they should be with one light unplugged, you know the issue is with this light. From here, inspect the globe. If the filament/element looks dodgy, replace the globe and check for normal operation. If not globe, check the relay for that light in the fuse and relay box in the engine bay. If one is dodgy, replace it. To check, individually pull the relays and see if there is a change in the performance of the remaining light. From here I’m no use... Other thing to check are your earth mount points on your wiring harness. Clean and replace any that look dodgy/crusty/rusty. All the best, please report back if issue is resolved Cheers Bennie

If it’s a head gasket you typically won’t see coolant dropped on the ground or pouring out of the engine. My bet is you have a dead water pump shaft seal - most likely due to the water pump wearing out from incorrect service (read: replacement) intervals. Personally I always go with genuine water pumps, they have a cast impeller that reduces cavitation compared to the pressed steel impeller found on aftermarket water pumps. However, for a daily driver that is not put under a lot of stress such as regular high revs or hard acceleration, the pressed steel impeller will be fine If you choose to do the cam belt yourself, make sure you align the “|” mark on the cam wheel and not the arrow And always rotate the crank twice after the belt is installed, check alignment again, if good reassemble, if out a tooth remove belt and start again Cheers Bennie Edit: a head gasket will typically blow bubbles into the radiator. How small/big will depend on how badly blown the HGs are. Not fixing this coolant loss issue could result in a blown hg or two... After replacing the water pump, run for a week if issue is resolved then change the oil if it’s been cooked or you don’t know the history on it

Your GL will have a low pressure pump if carb or a matching high pressure efi pump if MPFI EA82. I had a similar issue on my ej’d L series running the same efi pump. Once the fuel got hot during sand 4wdn the engine would fade out and stall, it wouldn’t start for at least 5 mins depending on weather. Swapped fuel pump for new and no issue since. Cheers Bennie

Gday Brian, Firstly, what model Subaru are we talking about? The four and five speed are quite different. It sounds like an odd issue, I’m looking forward to working out what it is Cheers Bennie

If no hoist or A frame, three blokes can do the trick to pull the engine out no worries. Seems like you’re 99% of the way to have the engine out so might as well go the whole hog in my opinion for easy access to other general maintenance areas such as rear main seal/oil pump and front crank seal etc. I know as a “back yard mechanic” I like to pull the engine in the MY series and the gearbox in the EJ series for this job - it makes it easier as a one man show and I can check other things out in the process. Each to their own at the end of the day Cheers Bennie

EA81 wagon and brumby/brat tailshafts are different sizes. Brumby/brat is ~10cm longer than that of the wagon and hatch. Probably not that much different in weight between the two but it could be the difference between one postage category and another... Cheers Bennie

Temp sensor for instrument cluster is near the thermostat housing on the engine. The “sensor” in the radiator is the Thermo fan switch, nothing more. The L series runs a two wire unit where as the MY brass radiator runs a single wire switch. Make sure your heater core isn’t blocked. It could be worthwhile dropping the exhaust off the heads and checking your exhaust ports for that cracking that GD showed in your other thread. If it’s there you need to look into another set of heads - MPFI NA heads can be used but may need some mods for the turbo. Use the cams that are in the engine now as these will be turbo specific from my understanding. Sparkyboy, you’ve got an XT (Vortex “door stop”) and Jaysus has an RX L series, while symptoms and issues may be the same the layout of the wiring and location of the ecu are very different. Just a heads up so things don’t get confusing between both of you Cheers Bennie

Something like this is what I need: https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Electric-Turbo-Oil-Scavenge-Pump-12v-DC-Scavenger-Twin-Turbo-Return-Line/151065464535?epid=1158587890&hash=item232c340ed7:g:FsgAAOSwwpdW2QLo&vxp=mtr Not the exact one I had in mind but it’d do the job. Hooked into a switch you only use it when climbing Cheers Bennie

Other trick is to slightly overfill the gearbox oil if you don't want to split the case and go through this much work. Not as effective but may help - or show up some new oil leaks. Cheers Bennie

Have a read of Phiz's build thread. He's done exactly what you want to do, only his is with an EJ25 - I'd recommend an AWD box with that setup! Cheers Bennie

Yep it's been done a few times over here. This is my dual range EJ cased L series AWD box with the low range oil feeders: The oil pickup comes from the rear housing where there's a redundant switch (single wire hanging out) - perfect for oil collection on hill climbs. This is the switch bolt in the pic where the oil pickup comes from. I don't have an image of my oil pick up line or the pump (that I can find yet): You can just make out the barb fitted for the oil pick up in this pic: The pump I use is not ideal at the moment - just a jiggler fuel pump that's found in any MY or L series carb'd version. I only use it when the gearbox is up to temp. I need to get a brass geared unit some day... Main aim of this mod is not to lubricate as such, but to reduce the heat in the gears with lubrication as a bonus If you have a whine this may reduce it a bit, but it also may not as the damage is probably done already but it'll reduce any further heat related damage to the gears and that's a good thing. Personally I'd do this to the L series 5 speed box and leave the 4spd alone. Drop a front LSD in there while you've got the box out Cheers Bennie PS: Welcome to the forum

The touring wagon came out in the EA81 and EA82 models. The car in question is a GT version - turbo variant. This is where the 1500 release number in the states comes from. There will be loads more GL touring wagons kicking around in the states with the EA82 carb and MPFI variants if the engine options are anything like what ours were. The high roof continued over here in all liberty wagons (up to Gen3 - I'm not 100% sure about Gen4 onwards), there were no flat roof units over here. Where as the states got the flat roof legacy with very few high roof units around. The legacy name was not allowed in Australia due to the returned solider's Legacy organisation/institution. So it's very easy to spot an imported legacy over here. Cheers Bennie

Bugger

Did you do the one crank rotation between fitting each belt? I didn't do this back when I was learning about these engines and while it ran, it wasn't much fun and didn't like to idle. If you lined up the three marks and installed both belts, you'll need to line up the three marks and the cam mark, remove one belt and rotate the crank 360 degrees and reinstall the cam belt as per alignment procedure. Then re-tune the timing I know the hotwire AFM needs 20 deg BTDC static, I'm not sure if this is correct for the flapper AFM setup as I never played with these. Cheers Bennie

I don't think it's going to work out fellas, thanks for the offer though. I don't know anyone in Singleton or near that area and it's just too far north to justify a quick drive to pick it up Thanks again though! Cheers Bennie

I'm running an auxiliary loom that references the factory loom to switch a set of relays from high to low beam etc. This reduces the amount of wiring the voltage/current has to travel through to get to the lights. This also provides better/newer wiring for voltage/current to run through to the lights, increasing light output intensity. You can get these cheap on fleabay and may have to swap some wires around to make it work properly. I can't remember what I moved but it's all working well and throws really good light now. This is the sort of thing I got: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/H4-H1-Headlight-Wiring-UPGRADE-Harness-Unloads-Lamp-Switches-4-LAMPS/152814036916?hash=item23946d27b4:g:560AAOSwN8FZqosp ^ This one wasn't available when I got mine, otherwise I would've gone with this kit. Cheers Bennie

Hey Al, That would be awesome but I don't know anyone in that area or who frequents that area I've got the 6 gauge cluster and matching wiring, I just don't have the dash to house it in... The 5spd shifter knob would be awesome though if you've got one! My mother in law needs one - she once drove my L series for 2hrs in 4th at 100kmph because her brumby was a four speed! Cheers Bennie

And it doesn't have to be slapping much to make that noise! Cheers Bennie

I think you'll find that unless you install a largish tank it won't really work as intended. To do this you first need to work out if the pump is high volume low pressure or low volume high pressure. If high volume low pressure you'll be in business. If it's the other way around it'll take ages to replenish the tank after one or two tyres are filled. Best to convert an AC pump for this job - or just go with an off the shelf electric pump hooked into a larger tank with a pressure switch and some neatly placed air fittings on the car for easy access Cheers Bennie

You'll never see an awd brz, the engine is too far back - part of the reason why it's rwd. The other reason for the engine being so far back is for weight balance front to rear. Toyota and Subaru decided to let the market decided on forced induction since the wrx platform took off in the aftermarket department for go faster bits back in the day. It'll probably turn out to have the same sort of lifespan as the Mazda mx5 if global sales keep up. Cheers Bennie

Find a boss/friend/landlord that lets you have two or more cars. They can't dictate that to you over here! Cheers Bennie

We only ever got the JDM's over here as grey imports, same drivetrain as the rxii coupe - turbo awd Cheers Bennie

You can change the final drive ratio - some won't like this but I've done it anyway: Cut and shut on the pinion shaft to the desired ratio. My L series runs the RX dual range AWD locking centre box with 1.59:1 low range (plus oil feeders over the low range to keep it cooler on long climbs), phase two EJ front cases and matching gearset, EA AWD pinion shaft modified to 4.111:1 ratio, EA AWD centre diff lock. It can be done but the cut and shut bit is the expensive part. With the use of the DCCD centre this box build is basically obsolete over here. To fit the 4.111:1 crown wheel I had to shave part of the teeth to clear the large gears of the 1.59:1 low range. If going 4.44:1 you have to shave off more, but I've heard/read that you're not interfering with the pinion and ring gear's contact area. Best would be creating a low range before the centre diff that's more inline with a "tradtional" 4wd gearbox. But that's more $$$$s plus R&D time. Cheers Bennie

Notch the cam covers, done. Yes a small gap each side of the engine for crap to get in but most EJ20 turbo/DOHCs don't see a lot of offroad action. Cheers Bennie