el_freddo

How did you check the head gaskets? When mine went, there was no mixing of coolant or oil in either systems. EJ HGs can weep lightly for a period of time before they let to and become an issue. I believe mine were doing this for some time before running the engine hot but not straight to the red unless I was in really slow traffic on a warming/hot day. I drove it for two days like this before the engine was stripped down. If you suspect the HGs, just do them, especially if they've not been done before Cheers Bennie

It'll swap in. Just make sure the front and rear diff ratios are matched. Also if able to reference factory workshop manual I'd be checking the speedo drive gear tooth count to ensure they match. Cheers Bennie

Is the thermostat being installed correctly? The spring section should be on the engine side of where the thermostat is mounted. You have to actually mount the thermostat upside down in its position in Subaru EJ engines Cheers Bennie

New waterpump or old pump? This information is critical to be able to help - you haven't said it specifically so we can only assume given you say about the paper gasket that comes with it. If it's te old pump I'd suggest getting a new one. Cheers Bennie

Also on the sump gasket - you'll probably find that it's actually the oil pump leaking and the oil moving over the sump gasket area of the engine at speed. A couple of spray paint cans (rattle cans over your way I believe) to do a wicked street art/street graffiti paint job Cheers Bennie

I've got a nissan pulsar N13 radiator cooling my EJ22 powered L series. You will need to roll the upper rad support panel up for the rad to fit. I drilled new mounting holes to fit with the nissan rad mounts. Rad hoses may need a solution for your application. A guy I know runs a small motorbike radiator BEHIND your passenger's side thermo fan - this rad is hooked up to the turbo coolant return line to help waste some heat from the turbo before it enters back into the engine. It seems to work well in Australian conditions and helps take some pressure off the cooling system. A good bash plate come air dam under the engine can also do wonders for airflow being drawn through the radiator Rear springs swapped with the front springs from a late 80's honda will increase ride height/firmness/load carrying ability if you need those things. Cheers Bennie

I got all my info from here. Thanks to Jeszek! The civic springs I used raised the rear by about 1.5 inches - which the weight of the rear bar, spare wheel and jerry can (both on rear bar) settled it back down to a bit higher than with the old springs. These springs gave me better load carrying capacity over the stock units by a long shot. When the original oil filled KYBs died I replaced them with aftermarket KYBs - simply for cost reasons. These units are gas filled and initially raised the rear end about an inch again. They've since settled. I'm now looking into the toyota IFS front strut assembly swap to see if this helps with extra height when loaded, even if I need to swap them on when headed out bush loaded for an offroad touring trip. My L runs a 3 inch lift except under the gearbox xmem where it's 2 inch Nicky, for the front springs you could possibly run a set of EJ front springs as these will be sprung heavier for the extra weight of the EJ vehicles. Outer coil diametre and overall height is what you'll need to investigate. I'm running some sort of L series aftermarket King Spring that I got second hand - I can't recall if they're raised or not. Cheers Bennie

Slapping tensioner's can cause the belt to jump teeth on the crank or cam wheels. Jump enough = trouble. To the OP: once you've pulled the pin on the tensioner, rotate the crank a few times, realign the crank marks and check the cam wheel marks to see if everything is within spec. Cheers Bennie

60L tank Jono. I've driven to rAdelaide from the Macedon Ranges (Hanging Rock area, as in the picnic at Hanging Rock hanging rock ), about 740 or so kms. I managed to fill my L's tank with 62 litres to the brim. Just before this the engine would surge as you gently pulled up to the lights! This was when my L ran the MPFI EA82, otherwise standard with two passengers and gear for a week's stay interstate. We then did the same on the way home including a few decent overtaking sessions along the way. So I've come to the conclusion that the owner's manual is correct with the fuel tank being 60L capacity. The L wagon also has the biggest cargo area of any Subaru to date - largest floor space and height from floor to roof. With the EJ22 conversion my tank size remained the same as did my fuel economy but power/performance was so much better. Then I lifted it, ran a rear bar with jerry can and spare tyre plus a roof rack. Now if I drive it nice fully loaded I can get 10L/100km but usually manage to pull 12L/100km. Worst was 15.8L/100km across the Nullarbor, loaded, roof rack full, headwind and travelling at 115kmph as that's where the vehicle felt happiest. I was ok paying for it at the bowser. Good trip that one too! That aside, Jono, my L can drop the needle about two mm off the bottom of the "E" mark before I'm really in dire straighs. I don't do that often as I'm not into burning out efi pumps Cheers Bennie

'88 will be a series two, at least in Oz this model was fitted to the gearbox Cheers Bennie

The honda front springs work well in the rear of the L series - especially if you're lifted and carrying some gear/have a rear bar with spare wheel arm. Rear fitted with honda front springs, no weight in the back end: All kitted out: Cheers Bennie

Some awesome info in this thread! I took interest as I've got a TD05-16G turbo to strip and rebuild on my Liberty RS project (Legacy SS). I'm only doing this as the engine had zero bearing left on no1 big end - piston was slapping the head, lots of shavings in the sump and on the pick up. My thinking is that the turbo may have some metal in the bearings so thought it best to do a replacement job and learn a thing or two as I go. Goyale, very interesting (although very frustrating) situation that seems to point at the replacement core. Glad you've finally got it sorted pending a decent run at speed/in general driving conditions. GD, thanks for your input and knowledge on turbos through your experience, really awesome and something that money cannot buy. Keep the good info flowing! Cheers Bennie

Cool rig mate! I bet it sounds awesome (and loud!) with that straight off the turbo dump pipe! To identify if it's a turbo block for that era you need to look at the block under the original alternator position and on the back of the engine where the start motor mounts to the gearbox. If there's a small cross hatched pattern in the casing in these areas it should tell you that it's a turbo block from the Legacy SS. This also means it'll be a closed deck block - so if it's been properly worked you can really push this engine and not worry about the cylinders "walking" under high boost applications. From the pics I can't see enough to be sure about the origin of the block. If it was in Oz it'd be pretty easy since our Legacy SS equivalent (Liberty RS) was a 2 litre DOHC engine with the same casting marks as described above. I'm keen to see a video of the rooster tails this thing kicks up! Cheers Bennie

Hey Shell, I can't be sure on specifics - I'm in Oz and haven't pulled one of these apart, but I'm sure there's something that's interchangable between AUD and USD markets. CNY Dave has my other suggestion - gears intalled backwards or a second mounting point for it to run in the opposite direction. Might be worth pulling it out and having a close look at it's setup to see what's up Cheers Bennie

Was the arm from the transmission fitted correctly and not upside down/180 out? Cheers Bennie

Anything that replaces the broken section of rail or spreads the load along more rail would be the best option. To me this is a relatively easy fix. I've not heard of this issue before though. Usually the mustache bar bends before the mounts for this bar start moving - sounds like there's something else at play :/ The square bar would be easiest fix I reckon, probably wouldn't look very nice but really how many people are going to see it? Cheers Bennie

One cam sprocket marking should be at 12 o'clock, the other at 6 o'clock when the flywheel is lined up on those ||| marks. I made the same mistake with my first cam timing fix in my pre-forum days :/ Cheers Bennie

Hehehe... Us Aussies typically know a drive shaft as a "half shaft", or CV shaft is another common name from the gearbox to the hub. The driveshaft mentioned above is known as a tail shaft or prop shaft, not typically as a driveshaft... Always interesting. Cheers Bennie

I'd follow what GD has mentioned to you about cam duration etc. I made a set of solid lifters for my EA82 and was running MPFI too. Below 4000rpm it was sluggish at best, above 4000G especially with WOT, it was a screamer as far as an EA82 can be a screamer. Problem with that is 95% of your daily driving is done well below 4G rpm with small amounts of throttle. I also wonder how it would've been with a carb setup as injector pulse timing/rate would've been a huge factor in its performance. If you're going to build an engine, I'd recommend going with some pistons that are capable of working with some boost. Either drop a small turbo on the EA81 or put it on later, it doesn't really matter - just that I recall in my reading on the forum that EA NA pistons typically crack the ring landings after a while under boost. Food for thought Cheers Bennie

In the front of a late 80's honda prelude... Will make the rear sit a bit higher Cheers Bennie

Thread dig: Interesting. In Australia - L series 5spd 4wds: Series 1 ('85 to '87): single range = 3.9, I believe dual range were a mix of 3.7 or 3.9 depending on DL or GL. Series 2 ('87 to '94): no single range available. All dual range were 3.7. I believe the 2wd boxes were all 3.7 too. Cheers Bennie

This issue could be two things: 1/ a stuck switch 2/ broken wires shorting out on eachother The switch you're looking for is at the back of the gearbox up high on the RHS from memory. Stolen from another thread on here: Looking at that pic you can see all the switches at the back of the gearbox. There's the 4wd light, lo 4wd light and the reverse light. Thinking about it the switch could be on the LHS - it's been a while since I've played with one of these boxes properly. Cheers Bennie

must've been a good quality muffler :/ so she's all apples again? cheers Bennie

Always repack bearings from the shop. As stated, the grease in there is simply packing grease. Use a good quality high temp bearing grease and learn how to pack the grease into the bearing properly before installing into the vehicle. Cheers Bennie

Have you got the correct gearbox bracket fitted? There's a left and a right hand bracket. Get them mixed up either side or have two the same and things won't line up from memory. Cheers Bennie