el_freddo

You’ll want to find a short ratio 4.44 final drive gearbox. I don’t know what they’re out of exactly but they’re out there. Other way to go is with an auto and a big trans cooler. The thermo fan cut switch is a must for water crossings. I tend to avoid mud holes, too much crap to clean after crossing these. Cheers Bennie

A snorkel is only as good as the seal in the rest of the air intake. If you have a leaky air box it will let water in if you get swamped. But that said if you’re in THAT deep you’ve got other issues. I fitted a mid ‘90’s Montero snorkel to my L series (model before the Legacy), I had to heat and bend the main elbow and the top bend to reset the angles of the snorkel head. The same model unit might work for you, do some searches as it’s been done a few times around the traps. Cheers Bennie

You need to look around at other forums, lots of information on this sort of swap from the likes of rslibertyclub.org or Subyclub.com and possibly some on Ausubaru.com.au All of the above are Oz based sites but the info should be basically the same for what you’re seeking. Cheers Bennie

Ooh that’s a different build! All the best with sorting out what you want. Cheers Bennie

I’m wanting more clarification on this one, I see you have some ideas floating around in the top paddock… This would be for EJ22 conversions into the earlier EA82 models, correct? Standalone/aftermarket would be the ultimate way to go, and with the factory wiring systems becoming harder to find, it could end up the only way to go. As for programming the factory ECU, I’m 99.9% sure the early stuff is locked with what it’s got already, no messing with the programming there. Carb and dizzy can be done but you’d be sacrificing reliability, efficiency and ultimately power too. There were some EJ engines that were factory carb or SPFI with a dizzy for spark in other markets. At the end of the day it seems you’re not building a power house engine, mods to NA EJ22s don’t return the bang for the buck spent - unlike the EJ20 turbo variants, they’re a whole other kettle of fish. If GD drops in here I’m sure he’ll back what I’ve said above with his knowledge and experience, other will be in that same boat too. Don’t try reinventing something, in this case, that’s been tried many times without success in anything other than throwing money to the wind. Cheers Bennie

You need to replace the ignition module in the dizzy. Having already replaced the coil, if it’s new, you’ll know the ignition module is safe. Often the coil dies, killing the ignition module with it. Cheers Bennie

This is normal. The MV and the L series both have 3.7 ratios available with their gearboxes. Less work for you! Cheers Bennie

@subaru1988 - the reason why the windscreen guy told you this is because the way the L series has its windscreen fitted is with glue/hard silicone to effectively glue it in place. If there’s any rust under there the windscreen will leak and not hold in place, and if left, the rust will continue unchecked, potentially to a point where it’s irreversible. The MYs/Brats etc have a rubber that grips the body work and the windscreen, so some rust under there doesn’t really need to hold anything if it’s a hole, but it will continue and you’ll probably have a water leak into the cabin too. Cheers Bennie

Geez I love the look of these! My mate on the otherside of our vast country/continent has the most famous one in Oz - Hatchie. It’s a beast and only one of 5 we think are still in existence in our country as we never got them delivered here. Totally have a crack at saving it! The other thing that could be done is grafting good, non-rusted parts from a donor vehicle. Best bit is that this part of the chassis is shared with the Brat, sedan, wagon and coupes! So find a rear ended one of these and go for your life on it. Is there any other rust in it? I’d check under the windscreen and the door hinges. Typically rust like what you found I the first pic you shared is a result of a rust hole under the windscreen which allows moisture/water to work its way down the inside of the A pillar, rusting out a patch under the lower hinge followed by the chassis rail you have shown there. It’s best to pull the windscreen and check it out under there as ANY small bits of rust showing around the edges = more under it every time! I hope you and your mates get this one sorted and manage to do a good job on it. An extreme way to really look after it and the ultimate way to do it is strip the whole vehicle down to just the body and have it acid dipped. It’s a process but the best way to know that you’ve killed all the rust. After the acid dip I believe they do a primer or some dip to seal up all the fresh metal to avoid more rust. Cheers Bennie

Good thread dig! I found my horn would only work at certain angles of the steering wheel. Turns out the little pin that slides on the ring of the steering wheel had worn down so far that it wasn’t always in contact with the ring. I found a used .22 rifle shell fitted perfect over the pin on the steering column and my horn worked perfect ever since. To fix this the steering wheel has to be removed. Cheers Bennie

If going anything other than the EA81 a gearbox upgrade would be a good idea - an EA82 pt4wd 5speed gearbox is a good upgrade for a modern feeling gearbox, no tractor spec there. With more work an EJ AWD gearbox can be fitted and a forester box could be good for those larger tyres Electric conversions have been done with decent results, have a look on YouTube, a bloke in Australia converted his brumby to electric and is road legal. He has a range of about 150kms/90ish miles on one charge. From what I understand of these conversions there are many out there, you can do direct drive or retain the factory gearbox, can DIY, pay someone to do it, or buy a kit and DIY that way. The important bit is to have an electric conversion road legal with your local authorities. Cheers Bennie

The 20 minute thing to me sounds like something electrical is getting hot then not doing it’s job until it’s cooled off again. Check your coil to make sure it’s giving spark when the issue arises. If that’s not giving spark and a known good one is doing the same then the issue could be dizzy related (would be a very rare occurrence), my thoughts are some sort of electric ignition control module that sends a spark pulse to the coil for the high voltage spark to the plugs. It shouldn’t be to hard to work out if you have spark or not when you have a no start once up to operating temp. Cheers Bennie

Hey Lezor, A like-for-like engine replacement is the easiest to do. The EA82 should drop in no worries, there might be some minor wiring differences but it should bolt in all the same. Any EJ engine will require an adaptor plate and flywheel modifications to use the factory gearbox. You will have to cut down the EFI engine management loom to fit it to your L series - unless you can get your hands on a carburettor fed EJ engine, in which case you’re looking at minor wiring changes between the factory L series. You would still need an adaptor plate and flywheel bolt hole modifications. I hope this helps out! Cheers Bennie

If the heater core under the dashboard makes a gurgling sound when cornering or accelerating the heater core hoses are backwards on the engine or at the firewall. Swap one end around will sort that issue out. The high temp spike issue sounds like HGs to me. Get on to that sooner rather than later. Cheers Bennie

Use the 6mm pin punch to check the stub axle hole alignment with the CV cup’s ole before smashing the roll pin back in place. Or slide under the car or safe to do so and visually check it, either way works for me. Cheers Bennie

I’d say the catalytic converter is breaking down. Won’t have much to do with high oil pressure. Can you get it up to a certain rev “limit” through beach gear with about the same amount of load on the engine? If so, collapsed cat converter is my bet! Cheers Bennie

Dust shield not touching the rotor? Cheers Bennie

Centre diffs will swap between boxes so long as you have the matching housing and rear output shaft. Subaru Lego Cheers Bennie

Whoa! That escalated QUICK! Gotta say that GD knows his stuff through and through, and will speak the truth as hurtful as it may be. EG: I accept GD’s fact that I daily drive an EA81 platform that is considered dead. Mine still runs and I can find parts so it gets driven. @frankbth your issue could be a bad sensor causing over-fuelling. Got any codes showing up on the ECU? That would be my starting point if I didn’t know what was up. A dirty TPS can cause all sorts of odd issues, as can a dead O2 sensor. Typically neither of these will show up in codes. A sticky IACV could be the stalling issue. And an exhaust that’s partially blocked will cause strange issues. Shot oil rings can cause plugs to foul quickly too. Does it use much oil or have you not had the chance to drive it enough to know? The black smoke could be a choked exhaust from the previous owner. There’s a wide range of issues at play here. All the best with it if you never come back. Down here we say never say never… Cheers Bennie

Send @Giles a PM and see if these are useful to him. I’m sure there’s another member that might be interested in these too. Be patient as it’s a long shot that he’ll reply. Cheers Bennie

36mm socket and a 3/4 inch drive breaker bar. Torque? Just jump on the breaker bar two or three times, then more to line up a split pin hole. To remove the shaft you need to drop the ball joint out the bottom of the knuckle/hub assembly, then you can pull the shaft off the diff stub axle and push/hammer the shaft out through the bearings. I’ve done it while out 4wdn in the bush to replace a busted CV boot. Cheers Bennie

The underside looks pretty tidy! And I wouldn’t mind that engine cover, ours didn’t come with that over here. Definitely a JDM GT with the rectangular headlights up front there. Any 5x100 15+ inch Subaru rims will fit if those rims aren’t to your liking. I see you made it to RS Lib too Cheers Bennie

EJ conversion, lift and no pitch stopper rod will almost instantly kill CVs as the engine and gearbox move around. It’s surprising what that little rod does! Either fit the EJ pitch stopper rod mount to the gearbox and adapt an EJ unit to your setup (might need to lengthen the EJ stopper rod and bend it slightly to fit). Or somehow adapt the EA stopper rod to the EJ setup. Cheers Bennie

No worries mate. That’s one super tidy conversion or you’ve found a real unicorn in the Gen1s there! Does it still have the water to air intercooler or has it had mods done under the bonnet? Do the cam covers have lines above and below the spark plug holes? If so this is the original heads. The block will have some cross hatching on the block where the start motor points forward to and under the alternator too. This depicts the engine being the original closed deck block. That steering switch on the dashboard is probably a sports setting - off is most likely easier to use the steering, on gives you heavier steering (or vice versa) for more user feel/input. We didn’t get that feature over here in our models. I believe later model WRXs had a similar feature that was ECU controlled at a certain speed. My knowledge on this is sketchy at best as I’ve only seen pics of the rack with the sensor/restrictor solenoid in it and even this is hazy now. Here’s my RS, waiting for the chance to be cleaned up and put onto club rego (cheap registration that’s got a restricted number of drive days, logbook and must be part of an approve car club): back when it was in one piece with a shot engine: And what it’s looking like now: Down the rabbit hole I’ve gone with one cosmetic issue rolling into another one! And I’m putting an engine together for it since I purchased it with a very shot one, this seems like the easy bit atm. The second pic has the original rims to the RS, yours should be the same too. Your interior looks like grey colour, ours are black for the RS, the standard Liberty (Legacy) here has a grey interior. Cheers Bennie

G’day RutRoh, I love these older Subarus. If you’re after an old school ride this is the one - but beware that parts are hard to come by to say the least. That said there are many mods that can be done while retaining the original look. AFAIK the JDM models were all auto - this info goes by all the JDM units imported into Australia being auto only. For more info check out rslibertyclub.org/forum - LOADS of info there for you to churn through. Lots of sh!te talk there too… Have fun with it if you ge through with the purchase. Remember it’s a 30+ year old car and an exotic in your country/state! Cheers Bennie