el_freddo

Do a “de-lift” - find a legacy of the same era and pull all the suspension mount bolts, struts and possibly the gearbox crossmember - you’ll need the steering extension too! With your outback you pull all the lift blocks out and replace the bolts with those from the legacy. From there other options are impreza struts (maybe, someone will know), coilovers, lowered springs... I’ve always thought it odd to de-lift an outback or forester but it’s been done many times before! Cheers Bennie

Near the steering column behind the kick panel above the driver’s feet are two black plug with a single wire each. Plug these together, turn the ignition to the ON position without the engine running. Watch the check engine light - long flash = value of ten, short flash = value of one. The ECU will cycle through all stored codes. So once you’ve got them recorded on paper and you’re re-reading them innthe flashing CEL you know you’ve got them all. If there are no stored codes, you’ll have a series of single flashes that tells you the ECU area designation/market. You can then look up these codes to find out what they are. My bet is the IACV is the culprit. Cheers Bennie

I’ve had success with rocking the car back and forth to unlock park brakes. Or removing the wheel then tapping the area where the park brand shoes contact could free up those shoes too. Cheers Bennie

Read the stored codes with the test connectors. That’ll be your starting point. Cheers Bennie

Giles, how many accounts is this now?? Ever thought of using the “remember me” tick box? Works a treat and I rarely have to use my log in details Cheers Bennie

Where did you find that Jono? I’d be keen for a set of these to replace my no-so-good-rushed-I’ll-change-them-later units! Cheers Bennie

If you’re not going to 5 stud, just use the factory MPFI manual L series shafts. They’ll drop right in with an EJ box. This ONLY works for the L series when keeping the 4x140 PCD. Cheers Bennie

Buy buy buy. Then drop in a 3L H6 AWD setup Cheers Bennie

Sounds like you’ve nailed the issue. The concern is what damage is done to the crown or pinion gears while they’ve ran untrue to each other. Could be worth the gamble. Worst case scenario is a gearbox replacement down the line. Cheers Bennie

On the flip side I didn’t have issues with my gearbox when I was front wheel drive with 27s. I found the front would spin a wheel if you were going too hard off the line. And I would use drive shafts more often too AWD is where it’s at for sure! I’ve “basically” got a dual range forester box in my L and can daily it or drive it hundreds of km without even thinking about it being unreliable. And flog it around town plenty. Cheers Bennie

Hmmm... I might have to check that out on my mother inlaw’s brumby as it’s got a heavy clutch pedal compared to mine (and I only found out tonight). Cheers Bennie

Pretty sure it’s like the L series and every other Subaru setup - no can do. Both are different. Cheers Bennie

Hey Jono, the wagon wheelbase is 100mm shorter than the brumby from memory, and it shares the same wheel base as the hatch IIRC. Someone will have some specs hidden away somewhere. Hopefully they’ll share. As for the cutting and welding, you’re correct - cut the weld carefully and that will “release” the tube of the tail shaft from the rear yoke flange arrangement. Mark where you want to cut the shaft and very carefully cut it ensuring you’re cutting it square. Then when welding it, ensure the tailshaft and yoke flange are parallel to each other and go for it in sections at a time. It’s a good idea to check that it rotates without any wobble in it before using it in the car. We did this on a ‘78 Chrysler Lancer. Rear of the shaft isthr place for these mods - just in case the weld ever breaks you won’t be flipping the car with you in it Cheers Bennie

Hey Paul, send us some pics via text (I tried calling, mob # ending 031 - my number hasn’t changed) I’d be happy to swap a set of those non-bolt rear diff output stubs for the open diff stubs/axles and mounting bolt. Contact me via mobile and we’ll sort something out. Cheers Bennie

Hey Paul, I thought you’d know this already! New bolt from an open diff *should* work. It’d be worth trying anyway. Afaik both retainer bolts are the usual RH thread - at least on the open diffs they are. Cheers Bennie

G’day Eric, It won’t run at all being 180 degrees out. Although that’s pretty hard to do. My guess, from experience, is that you didn’t do the mandatory one crank revolution before fitting the second belt. On the EA82 the cam wheels should have their markers 180 degrees from each other, so with every crank revolution and marker alignment, one cam wheel will line up, on the next 360* crank revolution, the other cam wheel will line up with the crank’s mark. I hope this makes sense. When I was new to the EA82 I had this same problem and it took me AGES to work it out (that was in my pre-forum days). Cheers Bennie

If you’ve got a stock box, 65 will see revs of 3500 or thereabouts. An EJ22 is not going to change that. An EJ22 will give you more torque and power over the EJ18. How much I don’t know. With the junkyard EJ22, how did you determine it was beat up, compression tested? If the car was totaled and the radiator still intact you’ll know it’s a good engine as it was running before it made it to the junkyard, and they’ll generally run well too. Cheers Bennie

I didn’t know the USDM didn’t get manual H6s. I do know very well that the USDM didn’t get the dual range gearbox. My point of sharing that was the gearbox is being powered by the ever strong EJ207 from an STi. It’s holding up strong with regular power runs and the odd launch. The NA single range box of the USDM is pretty much the same as our dual range boxes, just without the dual range bit above the front diff. Shifting quick has nothing to do with strong boxes. Shifting quick has everything to do with coordination between arm and leg actions. Power shifting, dry shifting or whatever you want to call it will kill all gearboxes except dog boxes in general. This style of shifting is when you’re WOT and “snapping” the next gear without clutch or letting off the throttle. In any build there’s always a compromise unless you have severely deep pockets. Yours might be changing your driving style/habits to be more mechanically sympathetic towards your build. I’ll be interested to see how you go with this build and gearbox selection. Side question on your EJ22t build, what pistons will you run to achieve that power figure? The factory cast NA units won’t be up for that sort of work! Cheers Bennie

So it’s only the USDM where the Subaru filter is not made in Japan? I’ll have to look closer the next time I purchase a genuine filter - it’s a good $5 cheaper than an aftermarket brand locally. I find it odd that I can get a genuine filter for less than an aftermarket unit (at an auto parts chain store), and that’s the cheapest unit on the shelf. This doesn’t normally happen, it used to be genuine was about four times more than aftermarket! Maybe it’s an AUDM thing now... Cheers Bennie

As recent as two days ago I was talking to a mate about how to rig one up. Have a closed relay intercept the fuel pump power wire. The trigger wires are ignition and the earth - from the oil pressure light. The idea is that when you don’t have oil pressure the fuel pump turns off. You could use the alternator warning light too. Yes you loose the priming function but this could easily be negated with a momentary switch to bypass the oil pressure light trigger. Push this button for several seconds and you’re primed ready to go Cheers Bennie

Yeah wow that’s different ^^ I understand the leverage on the bolts. I’ve got a three inch lift and have so far been lucky with my captive nuts in this area - I did have to weld one when I removed the lift kit to repair another issue. The real problem here is the short cuts the builders take. One bolt, one block. The three blocks down there should’ve been tied into one block to reduce the chance of that leverage occurring. It’s something I would still like to do to mine, and the same on the rear end with the three bolts on the rear side of the K frame - tie these together then forward to the single bolt out the front of the K frame. That to me is an ideal lift kit build. So I reckon you’re right that your strut block has no camber built into the block, so it’ll be like factory if not worse. Cheers Bennie

I’d recommend anything that’s an 8 bolt/phase 2 gearbox. They have wider gearsets and a beefed up set of front cases. NA/turbo there’s really no difference other than clutch setup and ratios. Strength remains the same. Wrx boxes are known as glass boxes because ppl put all their money into engine mods for max power but do nothing to the stock box to help with power. A mate of mine has a SF forester running a STi EJ207 in front of a stock phase 2 dual range gearbox - it’s holding up just fine and it’s insanely quick! Driving style has a lot to do with gearbox health too. Have you thought about considering the six speed box from a H6? That’ll hold up to whatever you could throw at it with the EJ22t. Cheers Bennie

Yeah that’s epic! Sad day. Bennie

Well DF would be drivers front, PF the passenger’s front. That makes me wonder what company made the lift kit. Scorpion Subaru used to build kits way back when, which would probably fit with the era that your lift kit was fitted. The quote was just his “red tape” stuff. Basically there’s no structural mods, I’m not using an adaptor plate, and factory emissions with the EJ meets everything he needs to see. I’m going to upgrade to rear discs and he’s happy with that too. I was meant to ask about this earlier: What do you see as being so dumb about this? You’ve moved the engine crossmember down, this changes the suspension control arm swing points in regards to the radius rod mount. To drop the gearbox/lift the body off the gearbox, you must drop the radius rod mounting plate as this incorporates the gearbox crossmember mount, otherwise the rear end of the gearbox will be pointing upwards which could cause binding with the Uni joints on the tail shaft. Clear as mud? Cheers Bennie

Over here an ‘82 won’t have that fuel pump cut relay module thingy. You sure yours has one? Cheers Bennie