el_freddo

not a performance application so I wouldn't bother with the OEM unit unless you're working the engine hard in situations such as offroading. If it's a daily you wouldn't need the better flow/efficiency of the OEM unit as you wouldn't see the high revs regularly or for long enough for the cavitation that can occur to do any damage. That said, if you want the most efficient cooling system the OEM unit would be best to use. Your call. Cheers Bennie

Wow 13 year thread dig! Epic!!

1. As said, economics. Rather than repair an older car that has all the basic needs a car could want they'd rather dump it and get a new car with all that technology that is great while it works, but could mean either higher repair costs or an earlier death of the vehicle due to... Economics! 2. Rust. Over here we can't weld in entire panel sections from a slab of sheet metal unless it's engineered afterwards - or it's done on the sly. 3. Age/personal image I think comes into it. I see many young drivers on their first year probation in high end brand spanking new vehicles and wonder how far in debt they are for it. 4. Safety ratings for some drivers may come into play too. One of the reasons I think many ppl are poor drivers these days - distracted by technology in the car and not actually driving or relying on the safety technology to do the job of the driver for them rather than driving properly in the first place! 5. Power/fuel economy. People like to go fast even if they're not good at it in the first place, and they don't like to pay heaps at the bowser for this either. I reckon that's about it. Personally I love the older vehicles for many of the reasons other have mentioned already. DIY is the best way and is also why we've got our main vehicles for over 10 years now having out about 300k km on each in that time. The Subaru has had the harder life with the off-roading and associated mods. It's doing well for ~520k km on the body, drivetrain is all Subaru Lego stuff Cheers Bennie

Check fuses. Replace ignition module in dizzy if not done already. Check cam belts are not broken/dizzy spins when cranking. If no spark/running after this, check cam belt timing. If all else fails. An EJ conversion always sorts this issue out without the lifter tick of death (which is noisy but not harmful) Cheers Bennie

Checked fuses? Replace the ignition module in the dizzy. Make sure cam belts are not broken, then check their timing as well if things aren't happening after the module change. If all else fails EJ conversion will sort it out. And will never have the lifter tick of death (which is just noisy and not harmful). Cheers Bennie

We should get jackets! Even factory fitted HIDs are garbage. Who ever thought they were a good idea should be shot. Cheers Bennie Edit: best bang for buck is an auxiliary wiring loom that references the factory loom but provides more amps/voltage at the globes due to newer/better wiring. This also allows you to run higher wattage globes if you so desire. Always stick with 55w low beam globes though or run the risk of a lot of blinded angry drivers that might have brighter high beam lights than you do, like this:

Restricted exhaust will usually occur at a set rev or throttle load. For instance the peak speed will drop when climbing a hill due to more throttle required to get up said hill. You can also gently tap the exhaust sections to listen for internal rattles as this can indicate a blockage. The cat would be most suss as these can break down and restrict performance until they have the guts blown out of them if it ever gets to that point. Cheers Bennie

Rookie mistake :/

Another trick I used to use was a 3mm spacer behind the oil pressure relief valve in the oil pump. While there it's a good idea to clean out any crud that's built up in the relief valve as this may not be creating a solid seal. Another thing to check is the same setup in the heads at the cams. From memory there's a brass looking nut that has a ball and spring behind it. Clean this up to ensure a good seal. I believe this pressure relief is to release oil after everything is pressurised (bin luring the HLAs, this oil is then dropped over the cam runners IIRC. Sounds stupid, but chasing the lifter tick in the EA82 is one of the big reasons why I went EJ - and have never looked back. Cheers Bennie

On the front end a two inch strut lift only is asking a lot of the front shafts at best. Grab the old shafts, smash the outer joints off, fit these and drive it in rwd (locked in 4wd) or drag it to the workshop. I wouldn’t waste time on new shafts just yet. Cheers Bennie

You’re a lucky fella with two RX coupes! We didn’t get them down here ;( Looking forward to reading your build threads. Cheers Bennie

How dodgy is the seller? Are they known for this sort of thing, or is it possible the PO had the crash, straightened out the front end, replaced the cam belt and found it a non runner so moved it on, only to have you buy a bung engine? It’s difficult to know this information but it seems feasible to me. Any chance of a replacement or refund on the engine? And how badly cracked were the cam covers? All it takes is a piece of metal in there to shred the cam belt. I had a stick almost do it to my ej22 while out 4wdn... Cheers Bennie

Neat looking Tex! Not many of them getting around anymore A guy on Ausubaru is doing one up atm. You’ll need a compatible version of internet explorer or Firefox to access that forum atm The leak you describe will most likely be the heater circuit pipe over the top of the engine block, or the connecting heater hose above the water pump (hidden under the AC compressor and bracket). This little hose is often missed when general maintenance is carried out on the cooling system. Being that it sat for a number of years without coolant in the block I’d be giving it a good flash of the system, replace all radiator and heater hoses including the two annoying little ones between the block and intake manifold and the manifold and heater circuit crossover pipe. You could expect the heater circuit crossover pipe to be corroded to all buggery and could be the source of your leak too, any EA82 heater crossover pipe will do the job. I’d replace the water pump, radiator and even look into replacing the heater core as it has plastic end tanks (genius idea Subaru!) and typically let go near the 300k km mark. I did two in my L series and it’s not fun! All brass copper units are available and worth the coin for piece of mind. If doing this work be careful not to crack the instrument cluster surround as they’re rarer than hens teeth on rocking horse crap! And pull the steering wheel and drop the column to avoid cracking the windscreen (been there, done that - rookie mistake). Be aware that the headgaskets could be weak now too, after all the above work is done you may find yourself tearing back into it to replace the pesky headgaskets... Keep up the good work and the door wedge love! There’s not many around and good examples will be harder to come by as time goes on. Lastly, get it out of the weather! Even with a car cover you’ll toast the clear coat. Do not ever cut and polish this vehicle as you’ll only be stripping the clear coat. If you want to see what crap clear coat in that Subaru blue looks like I’m more than happy to post a pic of my L’s paint Also ensure the drain pipes in the sunroof are not blocked. Very common for them to rust out here due to a blockage or partial blockage. Maybe one day you can make it to the annual Hunter Valley Cruise in May. I’m keen but haven’t managed to get there yet! Also checkout Subyclub, another Oz based forum They’re mainly into their newer Subaru’s but love hearing about old skool builds such as this And done Cheers Bennie Ps: any engine bay pics? I’m wondering if it’s got a spider manifold and flat ribbed belts. I think the spider manifold came later though.

Sounds good Souperoo. I paid $500AU for my L series back in the day. It’s now done 500+k km but is slightly modified now - and it’s not the only subaru that I now own, so consider yourself warned!!! Throw up some pics, it’s one thing we all love on here Cheers Bennie

Hey mate, sweet rides you have there and one very tidy looking vortex! That undercarriage pic shows it’s dirty side That too would come up mint with a bit of effort Is the tex awd manual as well? Love the nodded brumby too. My L series is basically the same and I’m trying to resist the same for my brumby! Keep up the good work and the pics coming Cheers Bennie

Or try soldering the broken wire back onto the solenoid... Cheers Bennie

If it’s a uni joint you’ll also get an oscillating vibration at a set speed. Uni joints are easy to check: hold the two parts of the uni joint that connect to the yoke (the centre piece that looks like a cross - best description I can give), try twisting each hand in the opposite direction. Do this in both directions and look for movement at the bearing caps getting closer or further from the two parts, or feel for movement and possibly clicking. Once you’ve experienced a dead uni joint you’ll know what you’re looking for. Youtube may have a video of this check to help guide you. L series uni joints are not replaceable without some machine work. Over here it’s common to change the uni joints to accept a Mitsubishi or old Holden unit if going down this route. If you get a ticking sound that is speed dependent in a particular gear you have a chipped gear tooth. I’ve not heard of multiple gears having a chipped tooth at the same time. I also can’t explain how you chip a tooth but have seen it once on first gear on a Gen2 ej22 liberty (legacy). Cheers Bennie

Did this have a snapped timing belt? If so it sounds like bent valves to me. That means swap engine for known good one or pull heads, inspect damage and go from there. At the very least this would mean a full overhaul of the heads. Cheers Bennie

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