GeneralDisorder

It's mostly just experience. There's not really a site for that. parts.subaru.com has most of the interchange information. GD

Where did you get the replacement pump? Typically they dont need pumps. When you replace the factory pump with some aftermarket garbage this is the result. They can't be bled. GD

You should do this ASAP. Every single failure I've seen has been on an '06. It's not that hard of a job. Buy a new pan from Subaru and a Killer-B pickup. New pan is much easier than cleaning the old one. GD

What would lead you to believe this is even necessary? I work on cars that are tracked HARD on a regular basis. One of my customer's has an 06 WRX that is tracked every summer, all summer since new (he's retired and travels the entire west coast racing for his hobby) and he has 180k on his original bearings. He travels with three sets of tires - racing slicks, rain tires, and street tires. Races against Corvette, Audi's, and other high performance cars. His bearings have out lasted his original engine which blew a HG and had a cracked oil pickup tube. Not one single time have we ever had to replace wheel bearings or consider different grease due to temperature concerns. On ANY track car. This isn't even on the radar. GD

Bearings that are shipped with corrosion protection only are lightly oiled and wrapped in special paper. Bearings that come with grease are intended to run that grease. Been installing Subaru wheel bearings from NTN and Koyo for 10+ years and NEVER had a repeat failure using the included grease. That's hundreds of bearings. Do as you like but you are only creating unnecessary work for yourself by cleaning and repacking them. GD

EVERY Subaru from 85 to 96 had hydraulic lash adjusters (HLA). EVERY Subaru from 97 till present model year has solid lash adjusters. GD

OEM is cheap insurance. $109 is nothing compared to the frustration of doing it again. But we charge $99 an hour for labor so the math really easy if you consider the potential loss in doing it twice. If you time and labor is worth less than the difference in price.... $79.... then I guess go with the $30 junk. GD

Thats an easy fix. You just clean up the keyway and install a new key, sprocket and balancer. I do this a few times a year. The key is ONLY there to assist assembly. Bolt torque does the holding. GD

You only need to look at Subaru timing advance curves to know that ultra-high VE really isnt possible. Even turbocharged you see crazy numbers like 20+ degrees of timing advance under full boost. Timing advance is a crutch for poor combustion chamber design and port flow. Compare the 4G63 - 4 degrees of advance at full boost. Subaru engines have terrible combustion chamber efficiency. Heads and manifold of a tractor..... GD

The bottom end will be fine. But since you can't change the firmware you may actually lose power since the fuel and ingition mapping cant be changed to take advantage of the cams. You would have to do a full stand-alone management computer and then you do risk bottom end failure because you will forfeit the factory knock control. Detonation will kill the rod bearings almost instantly. GD

There are none. Get a turbo model. There isn't really any HP to be had. The engine already has very high volumetric efficiency. Consider that HP per liter is the equivalent of a 300 cubic inch V8 making 330 HP. That's already over the magic 1 HP per cubic inch. GD

Replace the PCV valve with a dealer part FIRST. I just had another shop put in an Autozone PCV valve and this resulted in all the oil being consumed in 600 miles and rod knock ensued. GD

If less is more then you best get something with a carb, crank windows, and manual door locks. I won't argue with that logic because frequently you would be right. Thats why many of my tools (including my truck) were made long before electronics and plastic invaded every aspect of our lives. GD

First - what brand of PCV valve was used? Needs to be dealer only. If it isnt thats your problem. Otherwise...... Needs rings. DO NOT hone the cylinders. Whoever sold you the HG job should have suggested the rings be replaced. We ALWAYS give this option especially if there is high mileage and unknown history involved. Its about an extra 5-6 hours to the HG job. Should have only added about $750 to the cost. Bottom line you arent taking it to experts in THIS engine. They are clueless and likely using sub standard parts and procedures that aren't going to work. ANY shop that suggests honing without complete tear down.... RUN. The only proper way to do that is to bore it oversized and that isnt happening for the price you were quoted. There's an option 3. Dealer remanufactured short block. 3yr/36k warranty through Subaru. Should cost about $5k installed. See what I mean about the place you're taking it? They don't even know this exists. GD

I don't think you get it - you can't remove it easily. And not without causing things like the power door locks to stop working after you do it. The path of least resistance is to just get a cheap fob, program it, and move on with MUCH more important things in your life. Desiring to leave the car unlocked is a bit silly since the alarm system will not arm if you do this. So apparently you do want to lock the car..... In the event the alarm goes off when connecting the battery - cycling the key three times, or hitting the door lock/unlock button will shut it off. So assuming you actually don't lock your car as you claim, then the only time the alarm would be an issue is if the battery is disconnected or dies. Which is rare enough that you could just let it sound and deal with it. I'm not really understanding your logic. GD

Just order up a key fob for it on ebay. It's not just an alarm - it's a central locking system that will lock all your door and unlock them from your keychain. That's worth the $15 for a remote and a few minutes of your time to program it. Much easier than removing it. That car has the alarm system from the factory - I don't think it's going to be trivial to physically remove the system. Why make things so complicated? If you don't like the "electronics" then you'll need to rip out the engine computer and put a carb and distributor on it also (don't try this, it's not possible). Also - I'm almost positive that removing the module will render the power door locks inoperable. GD

Weber. Better performance and much simpler.

The really early gaskets (99 to early 02) had problems with coolant weeping. If the gaskets were done after 02 then they shouldn't have this problem. Regardless- just pull it and reseal it. Change water pump, all the hoses (dealer), and the coolant cross over o-rings. GD

I think it's worse because of factory angles, and ground clearance. But also because Subaru is a small player in the automotive market. Parts aren't as lucrative for the aftermarket. Not enough customers to make a big enough angry mob.... really IDK but its sucks. GD

$120 isnt bad really. Some of the steering joints go for $350+ at the dealer. WRX is about $160. Get a new one if you still can - those do fail and a new one would last the life of the car most likely. GD

I stopped doing Chinese "new" axles after installing 8 bad ones in a row and eating the labor. I chewed out my supplier's sales rep and his response was "I don't blame you, I wouldn't buy them either, and I can't recommend them to any of my customers for Subaru's"....... I won't even do it anymore. Only time is if the customer brings it to me (usually they have already bought it) and only after they get a stern warning about the LIKELY failure immediately or shortly thereafter and the ABSOLUTE failure of the boot within about 20k miles. Only then will I do it if they wish to take that risk and I make it clear IN WRITING that there will be no recourse through me. GD

2nd gen Brat's didn't come with EA71's to my knowledge. Not to say someone didn't swap one in, but that's not where it *came* from - not originally. GD

If you want them to have any chance of not leaking again - get a set from the dealer. They aren't/weren't expensive. Then also glue them thoroughly with RTV. GD

They seem to be junk with lots of problems unfortunately. Also difficult and expensive to repair. That Juke we put an axle in had 57k miles on it - axle was so bad it came in on a tow truck. I just did some diag to a Nissan Rogue that seemed to be falling apart at the seams. Driver door handle didn't work from the outside, broken clock spring, plastic interior leprosy.... cant say I find them attractive either. GD

OEM reman axles are $193 each. Well worth the entry price. There are no other good options unless you want to order OEM new axles for $399 each. And honestly even that isnt a bad price. I just ordered a front axle for a Nissan Juke and it was $685. GD