Subaru Scott

Canada! http://www.ebay.com/itm/JDM-EJ20-EJ25-SUBARU-LEGACY-OUTBACK-IMPREZA-MANUAL-TRANSMISSION-4WD-TY752VSCAA-/252503933134?hash=item3aca6840ce:g:Px8AAOSw6n5XtL84&vxp=mtr

Not in Canada, but free shipping: http://www.ebay.com/itm/99-00-01-02-03-04-JDM-SUBARU-FORESTER-OUTBACK-5-SPEED-3-9-MANUAL-TRANSMISSION-/192190128248?hash=item2cbf6ca078:g:vdMAAOSwsXFZHLnf&vxp=mtr

Yeah, that't all the super popular stuff. Try just going to ebay and search Subaru JDM.

FURNACE CAULK you say?!? I never knew such existed! Yet there it is right at Home Depot even. You sir, are a genius!! I'm gonna try that, thanks!

Google JDM Canada, you'll get a whole page full.

I would look into just getting a complete JDM transmission. There are several Canadian importers online that have complete transmissions with 40-50k miles for less than the cost of a new center diff. I got a dual-range even shipped from Canada to South Carolina for about 700, and the shipping was as much as the cost of the trans!

Sorry grammajudy, but yes you have been taken. And no, it's not against the rules to tell who took your money. And no, there is no reason for a competent shop to ever have to call Subaru for advice on a 1991 model car. They should have figured it out by now. You really need to find an independent shop that specializes in Subaru. You have one of the most reliable cars on the planet. My 91 has 500,000 miles and has never had any major engine work done. Turn them in, stop payment, whatever you have to do. They are incompetent!

Again, here, ^^^^ bstone is DOGGING someone who is going WAY out of their way to try and help him, even though he obviously has no clue, and won't take the initiative to even get a clue, when he's already had several people put the clues in front of him. Searching this forum, and the internet, will provide all the answers for anyone with the will and ambition to learn. If you continually post questions that have already been answered countless times... YOU ARE just LAZY!!! If you are taking your car to Advance auto parts to have them diagnose your starter problem that you ALREADY had answered here... YOU ARE just LAZY!!! STARTER VOLTAGE IS NOT SOLENOID VOLTAGE!!!!!!! GO READ SOMETHING!!! Admin: Can I get some warning points on this guy?

Well man, you've had at least 2 people on 2 different threads tell you how to fix this. If you really don't know how to wire a relay, or don't want to do enough research to figure it out, I'm thinking you should really be hiring someone that does to do it for you. But here goes anyway: Attach a #10 wire with a ring terminal to the battery cable connection AT THE STARTER, no need to run a wire from the battery when you already have the biggest wire in the car running from the battery now. Make this as short as possible, like an inch or less with a female spade on the other end. This will plug into one of the switched terminals on the relay. Another #10 wire from the other relay switch terminal to the starter solenoid spade connector. Again, as short as possible. Then, take the wire from the ignition switch, which was on the solenoid, and plug it onto one of the relays coil terminals. Run another wire from the other relay coil terminal to a ring terminal on the battery ground cable where it bolts to the bracket by the starter. This can be a small wire, #14 or so. You could probably even get away with tying that together with the solenoid wire instead of a separate ground, but let's keep it simple. All you're doing is providing an electromagnetic switch to connect the big terminal of the starter to the solenoid terminal. they are like an inch and a half apart. Make the wires as short as possible, and there's no need for a fuse. If you're really worried about something shorting to your inch long wire, you can coat the whole works with liquid electrical tape. Oh, and just ziptie the relay to the battery cable. Edit: BTW, I've never done this. This is just how I would do it. I ended up just running a direct wire from my ignition switch to the starter solenoid to bypass all the crap that was dragging the voltage down. Probably a bit more complicated for a novice to do than just install the relay. Many here have expressed the opinion that the relay is the best fix because they don't feel the ignition switch can reliably handle starter solenoid load. And they have a very good point. Many cars throughout history have used relays instead of running full load through the ignition switch. I just happen to feel like it's one more moving part/one more thing to go wrong. But it's really 6 one/half dozen.

...OK, theoretically, you could build some gearcases on the outside of the transmission. but then you'll be shifting the axle centerline one way or another.

It would be nice in one way, if our old Subarus had a higher resale value. That if we kept them really nice, we would be rewarded for something more, above and beyond being the most reliable cars on the planet. But then again, they would not be nearly as affordable for those of us who can't, or don't care to, spend a lot of money buying a car. My 94 SVX cost me 1800 bucks. I've put a lot of time, and a little money into it since then, but it was in pretty good shape when I bought it. That car cost over 30k dollars 23 years ago. I remember visiting my old co-workers at a dealership in Indianapolis, where I had worked a couple of years prior, and there was a new SVX in the shop being prepped. I said, "Wow, that sure is an awesome car, but I'll never be able to afford one!" I paid about the same for my 83 convertible. And even if that was in mint condition, probably wouldn't fetch more than 5k. Look at what 5k will buy you in a late model Kia. I just picked up an 07 Tribeca last week, and you won't believe what I paid for it... So I have to say I'm pretty happy about the low resale values. I'm glad they're not worth that much to other people. I know what they're worth to me, and my whole family can drive really nice, super dependable cars for cheap. Any Loyales you see for 2-3000 are dreamers. There's a couple pretty nice ones in this area that have been for sale for months, and they can't get 700 out of them.

I love to see people thinking outside the box, and doing cool swaps with Suby engines and trannies. But in this case, it just will not work unless you can come up with a reverse ring and pinion. That means you, or someone else has to make one. There is no other way around it. If you try to drive the standard rotation gears backwards, they will die. Simple as that.

I got a JDM DR 1.447 with 45k miles from a Canadian supplier shipped to my door for around $750...

WRONG!! As you can see in the pic in the last post, the upper part of the plug is from the old automatic safety switch, where I jumped the two starter wires together. And the lower part is the wires that run back to the main harness. The red and blue are the key wires to and from the switch, and as you can see, they are quite small. Even though the wires on the old switch plug that I jumped together are 10 ga. And there is NO RELAY! What. The. Hell. Subaru. REALLY?!? I've only stripped one EJ harness before, many years ago, and didn't pay any attention to the wires I didn't need. But somewhere in the main harness, the starter circuit switches from 10 ga. down to whatever this is, 16-18, then back to 10 to go to the starter... I ran a 10 ga. directly from the ignition switch to the starter, and BAM, like it's never started before!! no lag at all, like there always was even when it was working "right." I know others have posted on this problem before and recommended installing a relay to handle this problem. I think that's a great solution, maybe even the best. But I am curious to know where these wires are downsized, (not enough to actually dig into mine) but others of you who have stripped many harnesses must surely have seen.

This condition has plagued my DD, Frankencar, for over 15 years. I would start getting the click, click, and hearing that the starter solenoid was indeed moving, always pointed to: bad solenoid contacts, bad starter motor, or poor connection/low amperage from the battery or cables. So, when it got to be bad enough that I needed to do something, I would replace contacts, swap starters, batteries, clean cables, etc. until it was "fixed." It would go sometimes for months or even years without a problem, then back to the click, click. It was really starting to make me insane! The final straw was when I was retrieving my boat at the launch ramp one day. I have to shut the engine off and leave it in gear because I still haven't fixed the parking brake I get the boat on the trailer and, click, click... busy ramp already and one side was shut down for dredging. I knew worse case scenario, I could jump the starter with a screwdriver, but that means I have to put it in neutral. But I couldn't do that without rolling back down the ramp and glub, glub. So I have to chock the wheel with something. Aha! I have a bottle jack, that will do, but how do I get that back after I start to drive forward? I tie a small rope to the jack, chock the front wheel, jump the starter, close the hood, pull up the ramp as I snatch the jack back in the car... in front of a small crowd of impatient boaters. So I get intense the next day to fix this problem for good. I get the meter out and start checking voltages. I have battery voltage at the Ignition switch, but only 8-9 volts at the start wire, so there is bad resistance somewhere. But I hear the starter solenoid moving and clicking against the high amp contacts, so that can't be the problem. Right?? WRONG!! The click, click, is the sound of the solenoid pushing the bendix out to the flywheel, but not quite all the way to engage the contacts because of the pressure of the return spring. So I start tracing the start circuit. I check the jumper I made with the plug of the old neutral switch when I switched the auto trans to manual. It looks ok, but these wires to the transmission are way too small to carry full start current. They're like 16-18 ga. whereas the other wires in the circuit are 10 ga. So there has to be a relay, right?

I agree with all your points, except that, with the spring washer, there IS constant rubbing because of the pressure of the spring. Now, it's not that much pressure, but that raises another concern for me that the rockers can walk back and forth if other forces on them overcome the little spring. With the spring missing, the rockers can get off-center of the valve stem substantially! But that doesn't bother me near as much as small pieces of hardened steel floating around in an engine!! This engine has 56k original miles, so this was not a long term fatigue failure. The springs are defective in my opinion since there have been other instances. I do have new ones on order, but it will be a week getting them, so, I put a thrust washer in. It has about .25 mm on each side (before I read your response, great minds...) and keeps the rockers pretty much where they need to be. Not sure what I'll do when the new ones show up... still thinkin'

Sorry to revive an old thread, but didn't see any others addressing this issue. I pulled a pan off a 95 and found one in there off the right bank. I'm thinking about just replacing it with some thrust washers. Seems to me, as long as the rocker stays centered over the valve, that's the important part. Can't think of a reason why a spring would be better. I can't imagine there's that much expansion going on there... thoughts?

"manual trans and engine was already removed" And many online people get so bent out of shape when we point out bad grammar/punctuation...

Yes it is. Most fun one to drive! Needs a top, but she does get to stay in the garage while the SVX and XT have to stay outside.

...if the transmission was removed... I really don't see you having problems.

Taller tires, inflated to their recommended max. And/or taller gearing. Swap out the transmission for a 3.7 final drive ratio, unless that's what you already have.

I made a great little trailer out of the bed of a wrecked gen1 Brat. Left the rear roof pillars, cut off just below the "B," so it said "rat." Towed it behind my Brat!

Mmmm, yeah. Never with dingleballs. They will put deep scratches in the cylinders. A nice rigid hone. I don't get crazy, just break the glaze, then put down a nice, even 40 degree crosshatch.

Oh yeah, they love to make homes in old subies. I had one make a nest in a gen1 wagon right before we left for vacation. During the trip while driving through a state park, a little field mouse popped out onto the hood, ran around in circles, then jumped back down the wiper shaft hole! At the dealership, I used to have to clean them out all the time. Their favorite place is in the blower cage. One time I was pulling the blower out of one where a whole family of mice had died, caught in the spinning cage, and my side was getting all wet from the carpet. I got out and told the service writer that the car must have some kind of leak as well. He said: "Oh no, that's from the car wash where they had to stop on the way here because the smell was so bad, the passenger puked in the floor..." I charged an extra hour for that one. You have to make a barrier from some fine chicken wire under the cowl panel, and make it tight around the wiper shafts. And, of course, patch any rust holes. Pull the blower, and clean the nest of carpet insulation out. You can take the vents out and stick a small flexible hose hooked to a vacuum down the ducts to get most of the turds... most. Otherwise you will have to pull the dash to get everything out. Have fun!