AdventureSubaru

This was done with some chunks of 2x3 but I think I'm going to modify the rack to hold the canoe as well. A couple steel pipes and a bit of angle iron should add some rigidity and have the width to hold this canoe. The canoe was a $50 purchase this spring. It had sat out behind the maintenance shop at the camp that I work with for several years. it was used as a prop a couple times for summer camp stuff but had rotted thwarts and several holes in the fiberglass from water getting in there and freezing. We took it home and patched the fiberglass, made up some new thwarts from a hickory board and painted it this "Sea Hawk Blue" instead of the ugly yellow it had been. All told it was about $85. for this project. Gonna make a few paddles for it when life slows a bit after the move.

My wife and her 2000 Legacy Outback which just turned 330,000 miles. My wife knows more roped knots and survival skills than I do by far. Puts me to shame sometimes. I love her. We both love exploring and work in adventure education. She - Assistant Director of an outdoor school. Me - Field program coordinator for Snake Road Adventure center. We both spend almost every day outside and even get to guide a number of adventure trips each year. Our Subarus take us all the places we go whether it's a weekend backpacking getaway or a cross country road trip. Me and her and my two rigs. 1997 Impreza Outback EJ22 with the Forester Suspension lift and 215 75 15 tires, currently at 272,000 miles and just returned from another trip to the Upper Peninsula. And the 1983 Subaru GL Olympic Ski Team Wagon 135,000 miles with a weber and 4 speed single range 4x4 (To be swapped to a 5 speed dual range in the near future.)

Very nice looking Outback! Most of them in that area are rusting out in the rear wheel wells. Looks very clan. Used to live out that direction. Used to come out for the auto auction and Trout Run Sports. Always loved those guys. Old timers that would talk guns and deer for an hour and didn't care if you bought anything or not. My Grandfather and I bought a couple shotguns off of them a few years ago. Also noticed the Tough Mudder sticker! My wife and I each sport one on the rear windshield of our outbacks. Ran the one in Devil's Head Wisconsin 2 years ago. One of the toughest things we've ever done. Welcome to the board! You will get great ideas, advice and a lot of fun on here.

I have heard that everything after 04 was much better. Also, even though the heads were a bit of a weakness, getting better gaskets on there still makes the EJ25 a good engine. My wife just drove her 2000 Outback to California (over 2200 miles) without a hiccup. That engine turned over 330,000 miles during that trip.

Short answer, Yes, but the issue was less severe by the generation you are speaking of. The 2.5s of the late 90s were horrible with the HG issues. Early 2000s were better. I think the issue went until the 09s being the last with the "issue" I was a car dealer for a few years and did a carfax on every car we sold. (This was for customer assurance only.) I can say having seen hundreds of carfax reports that the only consistent reason to get a carfax is to satisfy your curiosity. Usually all you get is a random smattering of maintenance that's been done over the years, and the dates and location in which it changed hands. Accident history and such would only show up if the car was taken to specific dealers within the system. If I hit a tree, then took it to my local shop for repair, or did the repair myself, it will not show up on a carfax. Carfax has good advertising warning of totaled cars and flood cars. That sort of thing will result in a title branding. You don't need a carfax to tell you what the title of the car already says. There's very little that carfax can give you an advantage on that a thorough look over on the car wont. Was it maintained? Modified? repaired? Repainted? Looking a car over well will give you a good idea on these things. And I always maintain that a car repaired properly is repaired properly. I know a guy who quite happily bought a branded title Honda Accord. The car had been totaled, repaired and re-titled. He drove that car for over 10 years and 100,000 miles with nothing out of the ordinary. Cars are just metal, nuts and bolts, so I feel like carfax mostly just makes people worry. Those unsafe sort of patch jobs that you do want to worry about are done in backyards and private garages and will not show up on a carfax. Like the dodge stealth i saw at an auto auction. It had been rear ended. someone welded the front of a dodge stealth to the back of a 3000GT (unibody mind you) and repainted it. Car looked great. had to look close to see where welding had taken place. CLEAR title. So with or without a carfax, be sure to go over the car with a fine toothed comb. Bring a buddy along for a second opinion. A car is a machine and a proper evaluation of that machine will let you know what you're getting into with little surprise.

x2. Want to replace the starter on an Olds Aurora? Simply remove the intake manifold! Subaru's, especially the older ones like your loyale are perfect platforms to learn on. Simple and sensible with just a few quirks to give them some personality. You'll love it. Welcome to the board!

Seafoam is your friend for restoring lost horsepower on these old subarus too. Just be sure the neighbors aren't having a backyard picnic when you first fire it up.

Sort of thing should be pretty simple. I've worked with a few escorts and contours and they are a pretty simple animal overall. Tell your friend to remove the interior panel. (usually a few screws but the handles and sometimes around the edges, remove the inside door handle if necessary, if manual windows, remove the crank lever - just a clip that hold it on, pop the the panel loose, disconnect any wiring harnesses (if power windows or locks) and set the panel aside. You may have a sheet of plastic to move out of the way, but follow the metal levers inside the door to the lock mechanism. Spray it with something potent like PB blaster or similar to loosen up that gunk. Play with the lock and move it around until it moves freely. Once it's moving, I'd hit it with something greasy to keep it lubed or you'll be repeating this process sooner rather than later. All else fails, find a junkyard or even get new locks through autozone or Rock Auto. New stuff would be cheaper than dealer fixes.

I love this car. Every piece of it just fits. Nice work!

Welcome to USMB! Most of it bolts right in. You're using both the engine and trans from the 86? Assuming the 86 is a 5 speed, I think the areas for modification are the drive shaft and your shift lever or levers if it's 4x4. And I think the trans crossmember either needs new holes drilled in the center for the mounts, or to be shifted entirely to line up with the trans from the 86. What's wrong with the setup in the Brat? Generally speaking the motor from the Brat EA81 is better than the motor from the 86 GL EA82. And the trans from the EA82 cars were a better setup than the EA81 transmissions. If the brat engine is good, I'd leave it there and do some research on the trans swap.

The goodies when they arrived! Started hitting the rust spots with a grinding disc. back is worse than the front, but it's all pretty minor considering.

Yep. Although not right away. I'm driving out in the Impreza at the end of the month. Will be home over Thanksgiving and Christmas and will fly out one of those trips and bring it back then. So i'm in the process of finding storage for it for the next 5 months. Anyone in the area want a patriotic colored lawn ornament? I may have a friend drive it during that time, but I may also have to shell out some money and put it in storage.

If it won't even stay running, I'd be looking at fuel pump/fuel filter.

I did this lift to my Impreza in a driveway with hand tools. I redrilled for the tophats. Wasn't really that hard. I used a piece of card stock paper to make a stencil of the bolts of the tophat so I could mark where to drill. I wouldn't worry about structural integrity for one little hole back there. As for the hub getting in the way, I think we put the tophat through the top, then jammed a scissor jack and a chunk of wood into the wheel well and added enough pressure to the control arm to push the hub down at the right level. (Just make sure it can't kick out at you when it gets tightened.) But yes, make sure your swaybar is disconnected. And if you're going to swap your trailing arm brackets, disconnect those as well.

Done. With 2 quarts 80W90 and used some of the 85w140 to top it off. Seems to shift fine so far.

New brake pads in. Grabbed some gear oil and finally took it off the jack stands. A few cranks and vroom! Driveway tested and the trans seems fine. I got a belt or something squeaking up front and am waiting on exhaust manifold gaskets to arrive so I can quiet it down. But it's mobile again.

Trans is all connected. I think the clutch cable is still a tad loose, but all seems to line up. Waiting on Fed ex to arrive this morning with brake pads and speedo cable. Might be driving it by this evening.

The single range is in. The yard as usual drained out the gear oil. I have 2 quarts of 85W-140 left from my Toyota. Am I silly if I try to put that in there? Seems 75W-90 or 80W-90 seems the most recommended. Just didn't know if this stuff would work or not. Always better to use what I already have if possible. If not, it's not that expensive to get some new stuff.

Nice find! Yeah, the 2000 Outback that I mentioned before had 298k on it when I swapped trannies. I think we could have gone further but it's my wife's car, so I figured we wouldn't limp it. The replacement transmission came from an 02 Forester with 170k. She just drove it from Wisconsin to California and turned over 330k on that car. 4EATs are extremely durable as automatics go. Keep up with fluids and such and it should last you a long time. I removed all the wiring and sensors from the old trans and sold them on Ebay for about $80. There are some other pieces that are worth money from time to time. Trouble is, since these transmissions last and last, not that many people are generally looking to fix them.

Well, it sure isn't the muffler. That's maybe a $500. car if you actually know what's wrong with it.

Drove out yesterday and got the trans. All seems in working order. Shifted fine, turns fine with no apparent grinding etc. Putting it in took a little longer than I had hoped. It's always a battle getting the last few inches to bring the bellhousings together. But the trans is bolted in as of last night. Tonight I will be attaching all the little stuff to finish the swap. Think these front pads could stand to be replaced? I have an order on the way from Rock Auto for new pads and speedo cable. More grinding. More to come.

Keeps on going!

I had to research this to find what fit my 2000 Legacy outback. Your ratio should be 4.11 which would match up to 2000-2004 Legacy (Non outback) and the Phase II Imprezas (2002 -2004) Probably later years on some. But any Phase II 4EAT with a 4.11 will work for you. Legacy Outback and Forester were a 4.44 and wouldn't work for you. Here's some more info as given to me by johnceggleston

The early ones are what I'd be hunting for. They were non-interference. http://www.car-part.com/ This website is your friend. Also, do some reading on the swaps to be sure you're ready to tackle it. It's well documented on this site, but is still an involved swap. Lots of people will help talk you through it as you go.

It's been done, but the most successful ones convert to AWD. Bolting a WRX engine to the BRAT drivetrain is overkill. I know some guys put the turbo engine in a wagon and snapped 3 axles in about 10 miles. Do a search on EJ22 swap for the brat. Seems to be the best way to get a good horsepower gain, get fuel injection instead of carb and still use the brat/EA series drivetrain.