el_freddo

Lunging/trying to lurch forward means the clutch is good and the diff is most likely too. Sounds like something internally may have shat itself. Have you drained the oil out to see what comes with it and what’s sitting just inside the drain hole? Looking at the oil can tell you a lot about the condition of the gearboxes internals - especially if chunks or splinters of metal come out. Cheers Bennie

Correct. Use the EJ25D timing kit, tensioner and matching bracket. I believe the dohc tensioner bracket has a mount for one of the cam cover bolts that the sohc unit does not have. You can swap tensioner and bracket from any wrx - this will open up timing kit options too. Cheers Bennie

There’s a smart phone app you can get that translates foreign language text into English. I don’t know what it’s called, I’ve seen the MCM boys use it when they import cars from Japan. Cheers Bennie

I’ve got one of those hammer drivers for that job. Makes those oil seperator plate screws child’s play Cheers Bennie

Without pics I’m guessing this is a go kart with a clown car sized body on it? Were these a marketing tool, comp kart or just a novelty item back in the day? Cheers Bennie

That early rim with the flatter curve in the spokes will fit the rear drum brakes no worries. Always look for the bend in the spokes when buying this style of rim for your L series Cheers Bennie

It’s an EA81 intake looking at the location of the thermostat housing - as GD said. I’m not up with the width measurement of these intakes so can’t help there. If you fit this to your EA82, you’ll need to run the EA81 upper radiator hose. You’ll also drop a bit of power but probably not notice. This is due to a smaller carb. They look the same but the EA81 is actually a bit smaller - you can’t swap them between EA81 and EA82 or vice versa without an adaptor plate or other mods. Cheers Bennie

If the Welch/freeze plug have popped out your engine wouldn’t run as it would be full of coolant. You oil will be mixed with coolant. What makes you think you’ve popped these plugs out and that it’s not another coolant loss issue? The radiator would be more likely to crack before the block was effected. I think more investigating is needed. Cheers Bennie

What’s the mileage on each engine? Have you done a compression check on the replacement engine? Why was the engine replaced? Cheers Bennie

It’ll look like every other subaru’s cylinders - visible crosshatching... what more do you want to look at? If the HGs are not blown, don’t touch them. I got five years from my junk yard HG’d EJ22 before they started leaking. They didn’t have an easy life in my hands either - boiled the coolant on a soft beach crossing, froze the block up in our high country (used the wrong coolant - rookie mistake!). Two years after the freezing they let go when I gassed the AC for the first time in having this engine. New HGs and she’s still going. Wish I did the rings at the same time but didn’t know about this practice back then. I’d do the cam belt kit and water pump, all coolant pipes, front and rear engine oil seals then shove it in. If you’re removing the intake manifold for whatever reason, I’d replace the coolant crossover pipe O rings too. Cheers Bennie

Fuel pump would give a dying engine and loss of power feeling before stalling out. It doesn’t give a direct engine cut feeling/situation. I’d also be checking earth points, make sure they’re all clean and solid. Cheers Bennie

With the EJ five speed you’ll need to fabricate a gearbox crossmember, modified tail shaft will be needed and you’ll need a set of MPFI L series front drive shafts. You might need to modify the shifter linkages to fit the L’s body too. Make sure you’re running the same rear diff rationto that of the gearbox. If you want to run the L series dual range 5spd, you’ll need an adaptor plate and elongate the holes in the flywheel to bolt to the EJ’s crankshaft. It’s also a good ideas to have the clutch beefed up. Many talk about the XT6 clutch used in these conversions. The adaptor plate is probably the easiest way to go. Cheers Bennie

Get the factory harness and cut one down. WAY easier than making your own loom! Overlay this over your L series loomand off you go. Of course it’s not as easy as just saying it, but once you’ve got your head around it, the wiring isn’t hard to do. Cheers Bennie

Front end is bacially the same. Rear end setup is completely different. Our 2.5L RX with 17 inch rims drives like it’s on rails. A larger cat back exhaust makes the engine feel like it has more get up and go. I like it, my sister likes it - which is good, because she smashes the km on it hard! We got it at 330,000km, it’s now got well over 420,000 in less than three years. Solid platform, looks good, sounds good (genome muffler - bit loud but it keeps the Roos away! An UEL Y pipe unleashes the subi beat), comfortable to drive long distances etc. winner in our book. The RX model over head comes with climate control too. A nice feature to have - set and forget Cheers Bennie edit: these can have issues with a dead centre diff. To check for it you need to warm the drivetrain up with a short drive, then perform some tight turns - U turns are best. If the centre diff is toast, it’ll produce a rotational clunking sound and a possible light shudder through the car too.

Is there really such a thing these days out side of regular maintenance programs at dealers?? If there is, it’d probably cost more than the value of the car Cheers Bennie

It should be. Hangers could be different but wagon to wagon works as does sedan to sedan. Sedan to wagon and vice versa needs a mod to the exhaust tip length from the rear muffler. Cheers Bennie

GD, came through with “the goods”! You should read up on some build threads from those that have done this conversion before. I don’t recall many from this site but I know of one or two on subyclub (Oz site). Cheers Bennie

The rear struts won’t fit the Gen3, the rear end setup was changed on the Gen3 to a spring on shock setup. If you can, go the RX 2.5 litre version of this model, goes ace! The Gen3 runs a phase 2 engine, the EJ22 is a phase1 engine. You could swap the phase 2 heads onto the EJ22 and run the 22 that way. I reckon the Gen 1 and Gen 3 platforms are the best that Subaru produced in the Liberty/Legacy’s. That said, I haven’t ventured much beyond the Gen3... One thing to look out for is leaking HGs - typically seen on the LHS of the engine, the leak is oil externally from the no pressure oil return galleries. Replace with MLS genuine head gaskets Cheers Bennie

Clutch will fit any NA Subaru EJ equipped vehicle. In my L series I’m running a Gen1 EJ22 with Gen1 flywheel, excedy clutch kit running a slightly modified phase two forester gearbox. My sister’s Gen3 RX Liberty with EJ251 is running a Gen2 EJ22 solid flywheel with the stock Gen3 clutch setup. It’s all lego! Cheers Bennie

Holy spoob, I wasn’t expecting them to be ripping off genuine parts! Mind you, I buy genuine parts online - only from partsouq though. They’ve not been an issue with any of my dealings with them. Cheers Bennie

EJ207 is the WRX sti engine. Very strong engine from what I’ve read. Good for future mods if the stock tune isn’t enough With your intended goals with the manual and the EJ207, you’d be doing well to have this completed for $15,000 I reckon. The 207 isn’t cheap - it’s one of the most sought after performance engines in the Subaru world. You would be best off buying a damaged WRX or one that’s not on the road etc to drop into your Outback. There will be wiring to do, you’ll need the WRX security gear to make the loom work. NA and turbo gearboxes are different - and they use a different clutch system from each other too. You don’t want to be trying to put a turbo gearbox in with the NA clutch arrangement or vice versa. Engine wise from the clutch back it doesn’t matter if you have the NA or the turbo engine powering the gearbox, either will bolt up. Find a suitable donor that still has a serviceable drivetrain - this will have everything you need except the manual interior trims for the outback and possibly the tailshaft, gear selectors and manual gearbox crossmember which all *could* be outback specific. Good luck with finding a “cheap” donor vehicle. They get parted out for a reason. Now wait for GD to jump on with the “don’t do it” message! As for your current transmission situation, replace with a known good unit and look after it. Cheers Bennie

Stevo, it’s steering wheel off for a clock spring swap Cheers Bennie

Thanks Kiwi brumby. I’ve got a 3/4inch drive breaker bar that I jump on good and proper, this was done twice now (second time to check the concave washer was installed correctly). So I’ve not given this a second thought. Cheers Bennie

I wouldn’t do that. Jonno (Steptoe) and I go way back on forums, I get his humour. The drive yesterday was a bust. It actually rained all morning very lightly - just enough to need wipers constantly and not be able to hear noises due to the water spray off the road. Thinking along the lines of brake pads, I reckon it could be a shim that’s just touching the disc at one point. I’ll get around to pulling that wheel off at some stage and checking out the brake setup. Then I’ll report back. That could be up to two weeks time. Busy busy, brumby not in high use atm. Cheers Bennie

Thanks Jeezek, I’ve never come across it referred to like that. Always before TDC is what I’ve heard. Cheers Bennie