el_freddo

G’day Rafa, Do you have a pitch stopper rod installed or shot gearbox mounts? This issue is induced from not having a pitch stopper rod or shot/broken gearbox mounts too. Hopefully it’s as simple as the oil change. I’ve not heard of the diesel oil flush trick, I’d be worried about it not being up to the task. Cheers Bennie

Sounds like the boost control was having issues so they bypassed it. Maybe they ran an aftermarket boost T… who knows. 14 psi I think is about normal for stock. Being the foz version of the boosted EJ20 I believe they were detuned via cams and tune so the turbo foz didn’t upset the WRX owners. What turbo are you running? The stock sf5 GT foz turbo was the TF035. From what I understand this turbo is quite small. I don’t know how different turbos go in the real world yet, but a TD04 could be a good start or even a TD05. I’m sure there are many other good options for track work that others could recommend. It just comes down to what you want and how much coin you want to sink into the engine prep for a screamer. Cheers Bennie

Why the focus on the bullet rear knuckles? Trying to reduce unsprung weight to help compensate for the heavier tyres? If you’re concerned with any of the captive nuts I’d be welding a flat bar of steel over them (with matching holes to the captive nuts of course!) to help distribute any loading further out from around the nuts. It’s worked well on my L series where we added this to the firewall captive nuts and a couple on the rear subframe mounts too. Stitch welding is worth the effort too. An old mate of mine said to just weld the entire section instead of doing the stitch method. His theory was if we’re to crack you’re doing someone very wrong as the whole weld “method” would be stronger than stitch welding. I already did the stitch welding so didn’t bother going back to “fix” it up. I’d love to have done the windscreen seams too but I wasn’t busting that out at that point in time so it remains untouched atm. Cheers Bennie

Tidy work on the lift blocks Sam! If the diff is toast it’s most likely in the pinion shaft bearings. See if you can wiggle the pinion flange up and down at all. If you’ve had the pinion flange off it could be an issue of not being torqued properly, from what I understand of r160’s this could effect the bearing much like not properly torquing the rear axle nuts on the MY/L series does. What ratio are you running, 3.7 I’d imagine but it could also be a 3.9. I’m hoping a 3.7 for your sake as these are much easier to find than a 3.9!! The Gen1 Liberty is 3.7 and the diff will slot straight into the MY I’m hoping a dying rear diff bearing is the issue, easier to fix and will hopefully allow you to return everything back to the way you had it. Get an alignment! Driving a vibration free old school vehicle is awesome!! Cheers Bennie

^ I think @cznyis on the money here! I forgot about that rubber cover on the CV joints. They’re not always there these days! Cheers Bennie

A bit of rubbish that was under your Subi? It’s not looking like a familiar item off the ol’ L series that I can think of… that doesn’t mean I right though! Cheers Bennie

Awesome research Todd! And interesting about the strut tower measurements across the range of models, but not surprising since just about everything on the EJ platforms are interchangeable! I haven’t got email updates turned on, I think this change many years ago with a forum update. I’m not fussed, I know the threads I’m interested in - and the ones I’ve posted in have a star beside them rather than a dot Cheers Bennie

I get it not wanting to use the two piece shaft! The single piece shaft is known to work, so I’m sure you can get it sorted! Cheers Bennie

They’re probably different. Do some measuring and compare - or just make your own replacement with some material of your choice. Seats - go for BRZ/86 seats. They’re hot items over here and can be quite expensive to get a set. You can get heated seats too - I’m not sure if this is standard or only on selected models though. Cheers Bennie

G’day Todd, You always have the most epic adventures, thanks for continuing to share! This last one looks like the most scenic one yet!! With the impreza build, are you ditching the rear drums for discs? Over here anything EJ had discs all round in AWD spec and rear drums only on the 2wd models. I’m looking forward to seeing this build completed. Those (very few!) over here that have dropped a H6 into an impreza love it from what I’ve heard, so it should be good at your end too! My mate with his H6 SF forester loves it and always drives it like he stole it. While you’ve got the impreza apart it could be a good idea to box the swing arm mount points to stop them moving. Old mate with the SF ripped one side of his out when he was in the middle of nowhere! Keep up the good work and all the pics! Cheers Bennie

^ this!

It sounds to me like there’s a wiring issue at play or the magic box is dead. Any rats or mice been active in the Subi? Cheers Bennie

Sam, what gearbox mounts are you using in the 5 speed conversion? The tailshaft vibration could be a dying uni joint. I assume these are new from the modification of the shaft length and were possibly not greased properly. Blue-printing the engine (I’m sure that’s the same term used for balancing an engine) would’ve been quite expensive, and in the end it’s still an EA81 that would have noises and vibrations they probably can’t ever get rid of. Don’t hang on to this, just drive it for what it is and enjoy Hopefully you sort this vibration soon! Cheers Bennie

G’day Matt, The single range EJ gearbox internals will fit into the single range EA front cases AFAIK - unless there are differences in the input shaft bearing, which I don’t know for sure. You end up with the same diff ratio you have now as this is stuck with the locking centre diff due to the unique pinion shaft design. With the PT4wd boxes you might be able to use the parts out of them but you can’t make it into an AWD box as the pinion shaft has the lower gear sets fitted to it, in the AWD boxes the lower gear set is fitted to a tube that the AWD pinion shaft passes through. I too had zero gearbox experience until I heard that the EA and EJ stuff swaps around - then I began playing with exactly that! Let me tell you that the AWD boxes are 1000 times easier to work on than the PT4wd boxes - simply because you don’t have to work out the dedent ball and spring mind maze of the PT4wd’s rear housing to remove it! Putting it back together is harder if you do the work over several weeks and forget the process… That’s where I started and have since played with the exact box you’re talking about - but it’s got some mods and the only thing original to the original locking AWD gearbox is half the pinion shaft, the locking centre diff and the rear housing. One thing I haven’t done is pressed gears off either lay shaft to replace bearings or synchros, which is what you’re wanting to do. If a shop does the work, expect to pay through the nose for their efforts. And make sure they know Subaru gearboxes! Now would be a good time to learn to rev match when down shifting to help the synchros out of you don’t already do this Cheers Bennie

The fuel pump doesn’t change speed with engine loads. The tacho signal is from the dizzy, most likely a yellow wire. Check your fuses! If the fuse is good I’d be testing to see if the engine runs with a fused wire directly to the pump. If this works there’s possibly an issue with the “magic box” under the dash that gives power to the pump. If the engine won’t run but the fuel pump works with the direct power trick then it’s most likely a dead ignition module in the dizzy. Also a good idea to test the coil as when these die they also kill the ignition module. Cheers Bennie

This is how rare a vehicle like that is - in Australia we only got them in the WRX trim for a short number of years, there’s very few of these WRX model around here!! So to have a base model impreza coupe that’s a great body to build from is something special, even I can see that from here! As GD said, it’s a blank canvas for someone else’s dream. Go have a look at what factory WRX coupes are pulling now, then you’ll understand why all the interest in your base model coupe! Aim high, as a seller you can always negotiate down but NEVER UP!! With the title of this thread I thought the 81k meant $81,000 - not realising it was a base model coupe I thought “that seems about right” All the best with the sale! Cheers Bennie

The synchros look like they’re brass, at least in colour, they could be some sort of alloy but really I don’t know. I do know that the early (and any phase 1 gearbox with other mods) EJ AWD drive gears fit in the EA82 front cases - BUT - and this is the catch for you in the states - the EJ internals MUST be the same spec as the EA82 front cases they’re destined to be fitted to. This means the dual range RX AWD box can use DUAL RANGE EJ drive gears. Just use your pinion shaft, EA centre diff and rear housing. The trick for you here is finding a phase 1 EJ dual range gearbox… I’d suspect that many parts of the Gen 1 series 1 EJ gearbox are the same as the EA82 gearbox but really can’t be sure. Good luck swapping in WRX subframes, not an easy task if it can actually be done in a non-lifted EA body. The track would be heaps wider and would probably look odd too. Suspension bushes - there’s always an alternative out there, you just need to know what you’re looking for or know a good parts interpreter that’s willing to hunt around for you. Aftermarket will be the go here. Superpro or Nolthane would be my guess for possibilities. Struts - talk to a suspension mob and see if the can do an insert replacement or make struts that will accept an insert that’s easily available. Or convert to EJ brakes and have all the EJ strut options at your fingertips Good thing with this is you get better brakes and better rim options too. It all depends on how far you’re willing to go to keep the original drivetrain and look of the vehicle alive. There’s always some sort of a work around! If you go the WRX drive train you can keep the locking AWD with some gearbox mods. Basically you replace the ring, pinion, centre diff and matching rear housing into the EJ gearbox you want to use. It doesn’t matter if the gearbox is dual range or not for this, but you are stuck with the (most likely 3.7) diff ratio your box has now unless you do a cut and shut on the pinion shaft to your desired diff ratio… ^ this gearbox mod allows you to run the EJ standard flywheel and clutch setup with your EJ engine of choice while retaining your RX factory gearbox crossmember, shifter linkages and prop/tail shaft. Cheers Bennie

The ENTIRE ‘97 harness into the ‘81 GL?! That’s nuts, and effort! Any tips or tricks for ppl that might consider going this way? I’m curious as to how you dealt with the length of the wiring loom in the smaller MY body! Cheers Bennie

Interesting way of tidying up the engine bay! I’ll be keen to see what it looks like once the engine is back in. Will they be east to remove with the engine in place (I’m sure you’ve got this covered!)? Cheers Bennie

NA MPFI manual shafts are also 25 spline count too like the EJs Cheers Bennie

That difference could be in the makeup of the speedo. Under the instrument cluster trim panel there will be a statement that says something like 1km = 660 rotations - but probably in miles for you. If these are different that’ll be where the speed reading difference is. Cheers Bennie

Dunno about that one. Just use the EA82 throw out bearing - at least that’s what we do here with a 12mm adaptor plate if I recall correctly. Cheers Bennie

You’ve got to get the hose past the baffle plate in the sump to suck all the oil out. Finding the sweet spot for this will be the trick - how are you getting the pipe into the sump when the filler tube is on the head? Cheers Bennie

Correct.

*with an adaptor plate - just to clarify. What steptoe is alluding to is to check the centre diff for blue discolouration or excessive wear. If either of these are present, walk away from this gearbox as it’s essentially toast - unless you have a spare centre diff or the ability to create a replacement unit (no one has done this!). Also this box will have the wider turbo ratios, probably not an issue with the EJ22, especially with 5-8psi of boost Cheers Bennie