GeneralDisorder

You need to have an accurate bore gauge. The main clearances are between .0004" and .0012". I shoot for .001" on all my builds. The cases, when they aren't brand new, have VERY POOR assembly accuracy repeatability. Since the mains have a clearance of .001" (or less) when cold, that means .0005" on either side. This means an assembly variation of .0005" will cause TOTAL DESTRUCTION of your engine. Think about that for a second. An average human hair is .004" - a variation of 1/8th the thickness of a single hair will cause utter devastation inside your engine. The steel dowel pins are not accurate enough on their own. Also the repeated disassembly, reassembly process, as well as a hundred thousand+ miles means they can't be trusted. Aluminium has the same density as oak for machinist purposes. You are attempting to assemble an engine made of oak, with the tolerance of 1/8th the thickness of a human hair. Now ask yourself - what, in your life experience, has properly trained you to work in this medium and at these measurements? The rods do this too. You have to measure every rod clearance on three angles not just in the thrust direction. The factory rods have poor assembly repeatability also. You have to see how they want to assemble and then beat on them in the direction that corrects their geometry as you tighten them down in stages..... I caution people about this all the time. There are VERY FEW people in my industry that can do it at all - let alone every time with 100% success. Over the course of my first half dozen engines I quickly adjusted and corrected my process. I lost three engines out of the first six or so. Two to rod bearing failures, and one to a thrust bearing. We have an extremely rigid set of rules and processes that we go through to insure correct assembly and alignment. Once you get past the block half assembly the rest is easy. Everything else is pretty forgiving. The bottom end on a Subaru engine is probably the least forgiving rotating assembly on the planet from a machining and reassembly perspective. Beware. GD

Tell Brian that Rick from SSI sent you. ;o) Last time I was in there he was rebuilding a 1930's Rolls Royce aluminium block inline 6. Apparently the cost to rebuild was 5 digits to the left of the decimal.... and it didn't start with 1, 2 or 3. GD

It may (probably will) plug up again. Call your local radiator shop. It's not as expensive as you think. About $200 usually. Well worth it to have an epoxy lined tank. GD

ADF. It's worth the asking price. Patrick makes a quality product and his are CAD designed. He used to work for me for a time and he's got my approval. Trust me the price is very fair. If you don't think so then by all means build your own. You will agree his price is fair by the time you are done. GD

It's just a YouTube link. Shouldn't be any b/s. AC compressor be shot. GD

Unless it's a digi-dash car or DL model it will have a gauge sender and not the pressure switch. But yes GM used pressure switches as primary or backup fuel pump control on many of their vehicles. You can do it that way if you prefer. GD

You will have to drop the tank most likely and open it up (cut it open) to service the "sock" which is a metal mesh tube of sorts. Probably best to take the tank to a radiator shop, etc and have it redone. The Fuel Pump Control Unit (FPCU or Revolution Sensor if you prefer) is mounted to the bracket for the hood release cable near the handle under the dash. It's either a 6 pin block box or a 5 pin blue box depending on computer controlled carb or not. In the more common black 6 pin unit it also controls power to your choke. Yes the factory one is getting hard to source. You can use an aftermarket unit to do the same job. Don't bypass or the engine could continue running in an accident: https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Electronics-Electric-Controller-Primes/dp/B00BNZ05JM GD

No they don't come out like that. The engine cradle is too far back and you can't good angle on the trans to where the engine clears the core support and the trans slips up through.... not recommended. Drop the trans from the bottom and engine out the top or unbolt the entire engine cradle and trans member and drop everything out the bottom. GD

There is no "chances" being taken. When you fully understand how the system works you just replace with similar function. Fusible links are used on many vehicles and their operation is well documented. 80 Amp fusible link should be sufficient - the alternator output is 55. The fuses, links, etc are there to protect the wiring and should be sized accordingly so the vehicle wiring will not be in danger of overheating. GD

Factory rings are very expensive. They are fine but aren't any better than NPR. ACL race are good bearings but you do want to consider the intended use of the engine. The trimetal bearings (race) are more resistant to abrasion and heavy loading but are less capable of particulate enbedment.... The standard ACL bearings are better suited to non turbo engines in my opinion. You will need to have the block mainline honed, the crank should be turned undersized and mirror polished. The assembly process is not as straightforward as it seems. The clearances are extremely tight and you can't trust the case half dowel pins.... Skirt knurling is basically from the 1960's. No one really does it anymore. But in the specific case of the 25D/251 style pistons it really helps with piston slap. I had to buy my knurling machine from a machinery dealer out of state and have it shipped. No one makes these machines anymore. I don't know of any tutorials, etc. I can post pictures of before and after. It's not difficult - you just hand file till you can install them by hand. I doubt you could install them too tight. I put them in VERY tight. So tight that you lose a few MPG till they seat in. If you can get it assembled without spinning it with a 2 foot breaker bar - it's good to go. The bottom end requires a lot more finesse though. That's a horse of a different color. I typically tell people to expect at least a couple failures (rod or thrust bearing) before you get the process perfected. It's not at all forgiving. The clearances are insanely tight due to thermal expansion of dissimilar metals. GD

Fusible links are just a section of wire that is smaller than the circuit wire and will melt before the rest of the circuit. There's nothing special about them. The number is the cross sectional area in square millimeters. You can work out what AWG would be close in cross sectional area and just use a section of standard stranded wire with spade terminals crimped on. I believe that black one is in the neighborhood of 80 amps. You could use a circuit breaker or one of the plastic enclosed fusible links from the newer stuff. It's not really a fuse because it's "blow curve" is different. Typically slower. GD

Did the outer ring separate from the inner ring - as in the rubber between the two failed, or did the bolt come loose and chew up the keyway, etc. GD

They didn't tighten it correctly. Don't assume they did it right this time either. Have the bolt torque checked. That is 100% their fault and you should not have paid a dime. GD

Best machine shop in town (my opinion) is Bearing Service Co. They aint cheap. They are the only place I know of that can do mainline honing on a Subaru block. They are the go-to for race engine machine work. GD

Hey thanks for the pics. Good job on correcting that issue. You did exactly what you needed to do. It's rare that we get people on here that actually listen. Nice work. GD

Could be the clutch is not working when hot. Potted coils like the eletromagetic one in the clutch have a tendency to develop shorts when hot. The copper windings expand as the heat up and eventually get wear spots that touch when hot and partially short the coil. This results in it losing the ability to hold the clutch closed. Check amperage draw on the compressor clutch when cold vs. hot. Or check resistance cold vs. hot. GD

There's only two going up from the ashtray mounting rail.

Near battery - acid eats stuff. On engine and intake - vibration and heat. GD

It is not dangerous but you will have to swap the sensor over from your old pump assembly. GD

This is not true on EJ's (the forum you have posted in). It is true on EA's, yes. Turbo are 25 spline and NA are 23. This is well known. GD

The rear's never have camber adjust bolts. That is on front struts only. GD

It depends. The EJ swap option isn't *that* much better of a situation at this point. All of the ones that easily fit the EA81 engine bay are also 20 or more years old. For the moment (and that moment is fading fast), parts can still be obtained to do an EA81 rebuild. Takes some legwork and it's neither super cheap or quick to do so. But for the moment you can get most of the stuff to do it. 6 months from now that could change. I've seen it change that fast in the past. Engine swap can be a rabbit hole also. It depends on how nice of a job you want to do and how much you enjoy wiring, etc. EJ's are fuel injected and that comes with it's own set of skills needed to get the job done. Generally you also would do a 5 speed D/R swap at the same time (due to clutch components), and this will add to the cost. These transmissions are getting tough to find. All the pre-1995 stuff is getting pretty long in the tooth and hard to come by. It's not going to be as simple as calling the parts house no matter which way you go. Subaru was, and still is, a relatively small, fringe player in the Automotive industry. Older stuff is scarce and getting more so by the day. GD

I have no need to proclaim my abilities around here. BTW - the "Elite Master of the Subaru" is not a pseudonym that I chose, or even typed in myself. It is automatically applied by the board software (or was at one time) to members that have a post count above a certain threshold. I simply have not cared or bothered to change it. I don't proclaim to be the elite master of anything. I know a thing or two and try to help folks around here that will listen to experience - which I have a significant amount of. I've owned more Brat's than you have likely owned cars. Anything can be fixed. But to not lose your shirt doing it, you will have to charge a price that most people cannot pay. The older the vehicle the more unknown problems you will encounter. It is no longer economically feasible to quote a hard and fast price on any EA repairs. I can quote a ball park but it may cost twice as much and take twice as long... or worse. I AM honest - and that's why people go into such endeavors knowing the price is dependent on the condition of the vehicle and they WILL be charged for corrosion issues, improper previous repairs that result in delays, and other situations that we cannot foresee. THAT is honest. To empower the customer with the knowledge of what will happen when they bring me such a car. It is fair to us, and to them - as long as they know what's coming. We have seriously considering an hourly rate that takes some of this into consideration - something like a 2% increase for each year older than 10 or 15 years. It's the price you pay for corrosion and generally abused cars that some hack as been wrenching on in the woods. It's just the way it is. I am quite sure that with your attitude, if you found someone to work on your car, they most probably are hungry for business. I am not. That is the measure of success in our capitalist economy. Buyer beware - and clearly many have if they are willing to work for you on a vehicle such as you have described. I frankly wouldn't want it on my property - it would probably drive away business. GD

I've talked to M&B - they can't do main line honing on Subaru blocks. This is mandatory for engine longevity. The one job I sent there they lost the customers parts. Not impressed. GD

Just have the parts department look up your car. It's not difficult. It's the same as any other EA81. Rockauto has it's benefits and it's drawbacks. Depends on what you buy. They have some really good parts and some really junk parts too. GD