el_freddo

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

Subarino lift?? It’s going to be awesome! I was pestering him for a three inch but I doubt he’ll ever do it, or I’ll ever actually go through with it anyway, I’d rather get his 5 stud conversion once it’s sorted, I’m about 90% there with the kit, I just need a couple of key pieces. Anyway, that project is on the back burner for now. Cheers Bennie

Hehehe those DL headlights are so 80’s! It’s as if the L series was trying Romero the delorean dream alive Cheers Bennie

^ agreed! It’s awesome rocking up to your old school car and open it with a remote! Cheers Bennie

Just keep the old incandescent globe in for the charge light, easy job! To help spread the light you might also need to rough up the tip of the LEDs to help with dispersing the light. Swap the LEDs in, fit the cluster back in the car and rest at night. It’ll take a few goes to get all the LEDs the right way around and to reduce hot spots. From memory I used a small dob of white out on the tip of the LED - I can’t remember if this stayed or if I scrubbed them off. It’s all trial and error! Nothing to lose with this mod! Cheers Bennie

That swing arm fabrication is awesome! Very neat and look like it’ll more than do the job! And wow, that salt is NUTS! I’m glad that in Australia it’s illegal to salt roads in our alpine area, it’s a small area that’s also in a very sensitive environment so salt is a no-go. Our Alpine area is not home to millions of ppl commuting etc either, it’s utilised for recreation skiing. Some Australians don’t even realise it snows I this country! I’m lucky to have worked at lived at Hotham Heights for two seasons. My favourite thing to was drive on snow packed roads - it’ll be something I may never get to experience again. On the EZ, weird they’d sell it as a complete engine without the throttle body! There’s a massive array of drive by wire throttle bodies available out there these days. I’d probably pick one that you know will be on the market for a long time that’s easily available. As for the plugs, got a self serve parts yard over your way to grab your own? Other option is to re-plug the engine loom to match an aftermarket ECU setup if you go down that path. Cheers Bennie

Seriously, you have to ask this?? Only an insane person would fix the EA! Since the EJ and box is almost plug and play in this instance why wouldn’t you?! Cheers Bennie

What happens when you apply 12v directly to the starter wire pin? A common issue on the EJ vehicles was the starter circuit not being strong/good enough to crank the starter motor properly. The trick was to add a relay that gave the starter the full 12v at the starter wire pin. That said, have you checked the condition of your fusible links? And what is the condition/age of your battery leads/cables? Cheers Bennie

I’ve seen that, forgot about it actually (I’m the next to reply on the next page!). It probably runs the EA82 gearbox too, but we’ll never know now I guess. If it has the stock EJ gearbox it’s probably one of the only ones out there like this, certainly a rarity! It’s Cheers Bennie

Sweet work on that billet hub! Ditch the bearing to help reduce unsprung weight! Seriously, you could make a set of aluminium billet hubs and carry the steel billet hubs as back up if one cracks out bush. Best R&D there is. Cheers Bennie