blk99obs

My poor motor got a rod knock. Was wondering if there are any good sites to get a replacement motor, like a low mileage JDM one, and maybe get a dual-range tranny while I'm at it

I would replace the transmission with a junkyard unit. I got a used 99 outback tranny for my car a couple years ago, with rear differential for $500, and its been fine. They offered me one with less miles for 800, with a warranty, but I didn't have the money to spare at the time. If you can pull the tailshaft, thats half the battle of ganking the whole tranny. I'd just get a used one, and put it in there yourself. I came from Hondas, and had never worked on Subies before, but I put in my tranny, rear diff, new clutch, flywheel, etc. no problem in a couple days, and I've driven it to Canada and back, and otherwise beaten the piss out of it offroad, without any trans issues. You could probably do the whole thing over a weekend for less than a grand, and maybe a grand and change if you wanted to do a clutch while you're at it. Its really not that hard.

Or it could be that they use the same wiring harness on both cars, and just use the features needed depending on what features that car calls for. For example, a 99 impreza-auto uses the same body as a 99impreza-manual, they just added and took away different components to accommodate the different drivetrains.

So anyone got an answer for me on the frankenmotor question? Are all of the EJ25 problems in the head? or are there issues that need addressed in the block too? I have run across one person saying they used a larger oil pump out of a WRX in it, wanna say EJ 251? because it was 10mm rather than 8mm or something like that. Pretty much I'm looking for reliability, and not having to mess around with head gaskets or rod knocks or det. In a perfect world, I'd have a 2.5 (probably phase-1 for lower, more dependable CR) block with ACL race bearings, new rings, bigger oil pump, and then OEM HG, my phase-2 heads, maybe some ARP studs for insurance, and delta torque cams... and with any luck I'd have a beast of a motor thats reliable... but then seeing as how I only have the heads in that equation, and those are pretty questionable (very clattery, probably need machine shop work) and I'm not comfortable building the motor myself. I'd probably be in for way more time/money than I can reasonably afford. I really can only afford $1000-$1200 including oil and all the other little nickle and dime stuff I'd need, and little more than a weekend of my car being apart. I do like the link to the head surfacing article, and I think thats a good idea, but I'm thinking I'd need to do more than that. For example, I can't see trusting any used 2.5 block without tearing it down and putting in new bearings/rings, and I'm also not comfortable doing that myself. Whats the deal with JDM replacement motors? Any recommended sites?

I was wondering about this... So is the issue with the 2.5 typically the heads, and the bottom end is fine? I read one of the stickys, it seems oil loss issues, and something about oil pump screws came up? It would be cool to build a motor off of a 2.5 block, if I could do so relatively simply, and have it be reliable. That might be worth it if I could get some more low end grunt out of it. How does the timing, compression, etc all work out? My local junk yard said they could get me another 99 imp motor with 90k miles for $1000 with 6 month warranty, so that might be what I end up doing since I'm trying to avoid down time too, as this is my daily rig. A straight swap over a couple of days is much better for me than pulling my motor out and waiting around bumming rides and borrowing trucks to take the engine back and forth to the machine shop, etc.

Hey Monstaru! I've been really busy with school. Its good to see you're still here though! Wait... you can get those from importers now??? Damnnnn! I wish that had happened when I was doing my tranny swap, so would have gone for it! My dream at this point would be to find a good deal on a phase-2 EJ22/dual range combo. My poor suby got a rod knock, so no more offroad for me till I can sort that one out. I put a post in the regular forums for 90 rigs about it. Least I have a Ninja 250 to get around on, and its summer so its good riding weather Anyway. aside from that, the car has been awesome, so thanks for all the help before.

Found out my 99 OBS (175k miles, EJ22 Phase-2, MAP/Cali) has a rod knock, and confirmed with the local Subaru mechanic. I'm wondering what to do now since the phase 2 motors seem hard to come by. I haven't found one online, not even on ebay (except that one with 212k on it) I'm going to check my local junk yard today and see if they happen to have one, or can get me one, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Typically all I've seen is a bunch of Foresters in the yard. I recently did the timing belt, water pump, cam seals, all tune up stuff, outback tranny/rear diff (4.11) clutch/flywheel/rear main seal/Suspension lift/tires/wheels, etc. So I'm pretty deep into this rig. My realistic options seem to be as follows: 1. sell the car. 2. Swap to an EJ25 and have machinist put in head gaskets and ARP studs, maybe bearings/rings/etc if I can afford it. 3. By some magic find an affordable Phase 2 EJ22. I come from Hondas, and generally when we needed motors, we'd just get a JDM one from Hmotorsonline.com. Is anyone aware of an equivalent go-to importer for Subarus? Particularly one that would have a phase 2? I've seen the EJ20 NA, but the reduced power and questionable compatibility of my smog components in Cali would concern me, and if I'm going through all that hassle, I think I'd sooner just get a turbo model. If theres one that bolts in and is compatible with my electronics (just needs ECU swap) then I'd seriously consider that, but from what I've read most of them need serious wiring, and while I'm comfortable with that, if all of my smog components aren't the same as what came on the car then I'm not gonna pass visual inspection. I have gotten JDM Honda swaps past the smog inspections, but only when the proper smog components were in place. If you have any other thoughts/options, please let me know. Thanks!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Subaru-Gearbox-5MT-Dual-range-conversion-kit-USA-only-Legacy-Impreza-Forester-/271274224042?fits=Make%3ASubaru

That thing is soo sick! You are my hero.

Fern is lookin good! That picture on the side of the suby is my friend Alex Cairns. He was actually jumping over it, but that part is cut off

Thanks! Stella was my original inspiration!

I've given every bit of the FAQ a read, thank you, these are my questions having read the FAQ. I'm not asking how big of a tire will fit, per se since I already have tires. What I'm essentially asking is, how much wider can I go on track width before my tires will start running into the bottom edge of the fenders, and then if my tires are going to hit the fenders, how high will the body need to go for them to no longer hit when the suspension is compressed? I'd also like to know if body lifting drops the sway bar mounting points, or otherwise allows for the sway bars to be retained.

Damn, your imp is rad! How does it corner being that tall? Do you still have sway bars?

I'm back, and ready to continue! So far the 4.11 gears, Foz lift, and 27x8.5/14 tires have been a blast! What I'd like to do now is go a little bit higher on the body, and wider on the track width. I have a few questions regarding both of those mods. When I increase my track width, how much body lift do I need in order to have my tires not scrub the fenders when the suspension is compresed? What is the best way to go about track width increases? I have read that spacers tend to blow out wheel bearings, and I've also read that we can use WRX bits to increase track width. Being a noob to body lifts, I understand that you need to lengthen the steering shaft, and I'm guessing that is done by cutting it, and then sticking a pipe in the middle to sleeve over each end, then welding. How about shift linkages, brake lines, clutch line, and sway bars? Ideally I'm looking to go anywhere between 2-6 inches up on the body, and maybe an inch wider for track width. The idea being to try to retain current cornering ability or even improve it a bit, and try to go a bit higher while I'm at it. I'm very much opposed to cutting my fenders, though rolling them wouldn't be out of the question. I'm really liking the look of wagonryan, and tron's lifts. I notice ryan has cut his fenders, but is also running much larger tires than me by the look of it, and tron has maybe a little bigger tires and no cuts on the fenders, though its hard to say if his track width is increased. Any advice would be much appreciated, and I'd also like to know what SJR would charge for a D/R swap, if I brought my car up there for a weekend or something to do it.

Ok further update, bought a new clutch cable, and hopped in it for a trip to Whistler this summer. Only got as far as Crescent City before one of the new axles I got from kragen blew off the inner boot and tossed all the grease out... Car started shaking violently and making really nasty noises and I was pissed cause I thought I screwed something up. Pull off in Crescent City, its 4th of July so nothing is open and chaos is everywhere it seems with fire trucks and police cars racing around. So my friend and I are looking at the axle and scratching our heads... and my friend says to me "I've got a tub of bike grease" and I say "I've got a sack of zip-ties" and we got to work. Cut off the old metal boot strap, packed it with as much bike grease as we could stuff in there, zip-tied the CV boot back on, and away we went. It was super sketch to drive at first, could barely give it any throttle without it shaking really hard, and turning was squirrely at best, but after a few hundred miles of the lightest driving I could do, it seemed to smooth out ok. We made it all the way to Whistler with it this way, and even managed to go 110 on it at one point trying to catch a ferry, which we literally missed by 2 mins. It was a hell of a trip, Eugene was raging on the 4th, Whistler was awesome, though I made the mistake of letting my friend talk me into drinking some tequila. Since I seriously never drink, it hit me really hard and I found myself stumbling around Whistler village until I found a black bear which didn't take kindly to my presence and chased me away into a crowd of people. My friend, I found sopping wet a while later, apparently he went home with some girl from the bar and her room mate and bf came home and ran him out of the hot tub naked so he streaked half the village with the bf in chase before losing him and finding a place to put on his clothes. It was the most chaotic trip ever. We even got searched by Canadian border patrol for 2 hours lol. Anyway I'm still alive and the Suby is rockin, no leaks, so apparently I lucked out on the rear main seal, and yea everything is working good so far. Think the next things im going to do are LSD rear, wheel spacers, and a thicker rear sway. I'll keep everyone posted!

Well it turned into quite the fiasco! The tranny I got had a leaking shift rod seal so I fixed that, put in a new mainshaft nut, swapped over all the cable clutch stuff and cleaned/greased things. Then I pull the old tranny off to find a blown rear main seal, then I pulled that out without thinking to carefully mark where it was... luckily I had a dirt line to fall back on, did RTV on the outside, grease on the inside method and pushed in with my fingers, we'll see what happens. Pilot bearing was trashed, half the balls were missing from it and the shields were gone lol. Put in new flywheel, clutch, pilot/throwout bearings. There was no book available for my car at any of the parts stores so I just went with about 65-70 lbs on the flywheel, and 25 I believe it was on the pressure plate... My torque wrench is kind of a POS anyway so figured better tight than loose. The axles the junkyard gave me were totally ghetto, so I just said screw it and bought new ones for up front, rears are still good. Lubed up my clutch cable with some tri-flo, which I thought was a good idear, but now my clutch feels very sticky, go figure... Perhaps it calls for grease? maybe I need a new one? iono might have kinked it or something but its damn sure not as smooth as it was. Then I had an old exhaust which someone put on my CRX before I owned it, it was just a straight pipe with a magnaflow muffler on it, and I replaced with a better catback. I was gonna toss it out, but then I thought, why waste that good muffler? So on it went! My Subaru now sounds soooo awesome! My dad and I welded it up with the stock mounts, and tucked it up so its kinda stealth. It not by any means obnoxiously loud, actually sounds the same loudness at idle, but damn does it have a growl when you get on it! I'll keep you guys posted on whether I monumentally screwed something up, or if it is in fact just my clutch cable is fubar lol. I've done a lot of clutches on Hondas, so not like this is my first go round, granted suby is different but same principles. I torqued the flywheel in star pattern and a little at a time so iono... The clutch fork was running buttery smooth after I assembled that and cleaned/greased the sliding surfaces, like the where the ball part meets the fork. Eh... whatevs though, it drives, the short gears are illmatic! and sounds so good I actually turn down my music to hear it, not the other way round haha.

You should be aware that there were a few years of 2.5L motors that were notorious for headgasket problems, someone with more knowledge can tell you about that. I just know theres a reason I see a ton of earlier 2.5L subies in the local junkyard, and have yet to see a 2.2L. Best of luck, and keep us posted!

Cool, I assumed since you could convert the tranny from hydro to cable that it would work, noticed the spline count and diameter is the same too. I just like to double check, never know. I ended up just ordering a stock replacement Exedy kit, was like $130 so not bad, least it wasn't like when I bought the Exedy stage 1 for my CRX, that was owch... I also got a Sachs flywheel, again just stock replacement, couldn't find any aftermarket ones within budget but was thinking the momentum from the heavier wheel might be good for off road situations anyway. Got a main-shaft nut, and a gasket for the center diff case, so I can do the mainshaft nut fix before I put the tranny in. Its a PITA to do under the car if it comes loose... not to mention trashes the tranny if u run it long when loose (guess how I know). Junkyard CV axles, outer boots are lookin pretty cracked, but inners are good, which is whats blown on my current ones. Might replace them before they go in... I'll see how I feel bout it when I start. Looks like its on for tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Thanks bud!

Haha yup rear diff too! And gonna put in a new clutch/flywheel while I'm at it, nothing special though on those since the tranny knocked my funding rather short. Hopefully I can snag the front CVs from that lego too cause my driver side boot has been blown since before I had the car and the pass one just went and slathered grease all over the cat... now my car stinks and pours smoke out of the hood when I stop lol! Surprised they haven't strung me up for that one living here in Cali! I don't need anything weird for clutch right? just regular imp?

Ok, got a 99 lego outback trans with like 1/4 of a mil miles on it lol. We'll see how she does, hoping the prev owners were nice to it! Heres some more pics! Still think I need to space the wheels a tad...

So I've been happily driving the OBS around lifted and so far so good, only issue I've had is one of my CV boots went and is spraying my exhaust with grease so it stinks like sulfur... I would be concerned about it, but the CV on the other side has been blown since I've had the car and long before any mods, so I think it was just a matter of time. This car is amazing now, I went back on the roads that worried me before, and made me want to lift in the first place. Now the imp is more than capable of handling them without me cringing the whole way haha. Really my only issue with the car now is that it is under-geared, and the clutch seems like its on its way out so... Time for a 4.111 geared tranny! I went to the junk yard and looked at the subies, there were no more fozzys, no imps, 2x 2000 lego outbacks, a 99 lego outback, and I believe a 96 lego outback. So I was about to get a tranny when I popped the hood and realized that all of these cars have a hydro clutch! I seem to have run across a discussion before where people were saying you could put the cable bits on a hydro tranny. can't find that info now though... Anyone confirm? Also, I was curious if the CVs from any of these would work in my ride? If so, are there any that would be even better than stock for any reason? I forgot to check when I was there, anyone know if those legos use electronic VSS? as I believe I'm also cable in that dept too... So assuming my 99 imp is a push clutch model (think I remember that) any of those rigs should work yea? just snag the trans, diff? shouldn't need the clutch/fly right? Are there any techniques for testing a tranny thats sitting in a broken down car? would be cool if I had a way of measuring the health besides seeing if it feels smooth putting it in all the gears. Sorry about the million questions, just basically trying to make a parts/to do list. Thanks very much!

Nice! I have no idea on that either, Im very new to the Subie game.

That would be sweet, but no I have no idea on the wheel spacers sorry... Good to know about the tires! I was also concerned about the larger gaps in the treds because you wouldn't have as much rubber on the ground. Done any hard braking? How bout when its wet? Nice goin on the tranny, I'm thinkin ill do that one before too long, my clutch is gettin soft so figure once it quits gripping or throws a spring I'll just yank the whole setup out and go shorter gears.

Yea if I lived up that way I'd let ya prototype on my rig... I'm sure you'll find someone, theres so many damn OBS out there.