GeneralDisorder

Short answer - yes. This is called "wind-up" in terms of how gears and gear trains will have a certain amount of lash in them and when changing directions all that lash has to be taken up before the gears or gear train can begin transfering power. Around 1/2" to 1" of rotational movement is what you will see from the normal lash setting of the ring and pinion gears inside the rear diff. The gear teeth are set so that if one gear is held stationary then the other gear can move a few thousandths of an inch (I think around .007" to .010" IIRC) - this allows for heat expansion, lubrication, etc. That tiny amount of play at the gear tooth translates to quite a bit of rotational movement out at the diameter of the shaft.... additional play comes from the gear lash of the spider gears inside the differential and sometimes even from the splined interface of the axle stub where it interfaces with the spider gears.... it all adds up and can seem like a lot. But it's designed that way on purpose. GD

When I first ressurrected it after it sat for the last 5 years - the fuel pump was not wanting to kick on every day. It's an SPFI pump (obviously ) that's mounted in the stock pump location and has a local ground using one of the bolts that mounts the pump shelf or bracket to the body. Might be an issue with that grounding point for the pump. The pump itself is a standard SPFI pump and as such it is a rotary-vane pump. They are not quiet. They are easily audible durring initial key-on as they run for about 2.5 seconds to prime the fuel system. They should also run repeatedly when the green test connectors are connected - those are located behind the driver's side strut tower. If you can't hear the pump running then that's your problem. Find out what it needs - either 12v from the fuel pump relay, or a missing ground connection.... one of the two will get the pump running and that should be all it needs to run again. As for the tail-lights..... that I suspect could be a problem with the lighting switch. The reverse lights were never hooked up after the 5 speed swap so that's a known issue that was pre-existing. The tail-lights and brake lights I *think* were working but I know that Jacob at one point had stolen the headlight switch or something thinking it was bad on his Brat..... turned out not to be the case but perhaps something was not connected firmly enough durring that process..... Edrach should be able to track that one down. Rick

I just had this same problem with an EJ25D (which is what your GT has unless it's been swapped to a 2.2). Turned out the intake cam pulley bolt was not tightened enough when the owner did the head gaskets (himself) and this resulted in the cam pulley bouncing on the cam nose and gougeing a nice L-shaped trench out of the keyway. The intake valve timing on the passenger side was advanced by about 3 belt teeth. Due to the nature of the failure the compression test showed high (but otherwise ok - was around 200 psi where it should have been about 185). The giveaway after many hours of diagnostics was that the two passenger side cylinders had compression that was too high and was *the same* higher number for both cylinders - thus leading me to the valve timing and leading me to pull off the belt and inspect. It's simple process of elimination and sometimes it takes time and some hand-wringing and head slapping to get there - your mechanic gave up too easily. GD

Open it up and take a look around. What I almost always end up replacing is the rear input shaft bearing, and if I'm doing syncro's then that typically means all the primary shaft bearings (bearings that support the shaft and center it in the transmission case). There's 4 of them on an AWD single range transmission but there's 6 IIRC on the dual-range transmissions because the input shaft is split into two sections. So I would replace those 6 primary shaft bearings and then all the syncro's, and all the seals. Be aware that the seals for the front diff stubs are different for left vs. right as they are built for the shafts to turn in opposite directions. Don't bother ordering gaskets - just get yourself a big tube of Loctite 518 or Permatex Anearobic gasket maker. It's a flange sealant product that suits the aluminium mating flanges of the Subaru transaxles very well. You will need access to a press and bearing splitter to dissasemble and reassemble the transmission shafts. It is ABSOLUTELY neccesary for doing the job correctly. GD

It never really happens that way - you can replace all the bearings and it will still be the one's that take the brunt of the force that fail first. And a bearing failure is highly unlikely to "destroy" the transmission. Just means you have to replace another bearing. I've rebuilt a lot of machines - one thing that experience has shown is that certain weak points will fail over and over again while the rest of the system stays relatively untouched by time and wear. Subaru transmissions are such an animal - gear oil is very good at suspending particulates (bearing cage material, etc) and keeping it from harming other parts of the system. It's your wallet, but a careful inspection of the bearings in the transmission as well as a mind toward the forces involved in pressing them off shafts, etc will tell you what needs to be replaced and what will likely last till the next ice-age. That's my advice - I have successfully built Subaru transmissions along with countless other types of machines and there's a line between being cautious and just plain silly when it comes to replacing things like gear-box bearings. Most of them do not need to be replaced and wouldn't even if you ran it another million miles. On the other hand - from a cost perspective, and especially since you seem determined to replace all the bearings which will result in all the shafts being torn completely down..... it would be mind-numbingly stupid not to replace all the syncro's. Those are only around $150 to $200 - orders of magnitude cheaper than the bearings and yet they ARE wear items and you will not get the same fantastic results from "roughing them up" as you will from new one's. You aren't going to "rough them up" in the way they need to be roughed up and you can't replace material that is gone. They are wear items and cannot be repaired. GD

The issue is that the lower bolt for the starter on the '99 won't thread into the block so you either have to leave it off (many folks do without issue) or you can heli-coil the hole in the tranmission and install a stud there (EJ exhaust stud will work - pull one from your dead 2.5 and heli-coil the hole in the hole in the transmission to 10mm x 1.25) to put a nut on like all the '98 and older transmisions are built. It's really not a big deal either way. GD

I know nothing of this sport shift mode deal.... but I can tell you the reason you didn't see the ECU is because it's under the carpet on the passenger side foot-well. GD

There is no difference between the HP output of '90 through '98 EJ22's. They are all ~135 HP. The change happened in '99 when they went to the phase-II EJ22 which increased the power to 147 HP.... but that engine was only produced for 3 years and is NOT compatible with a 25D swap. So don't concern yourself about the power - the '96 Outback had the same size tires and suspension as you have on your '99 and went down the road just fine with it's stock 2.2. You have nothing to worry about. GD

That's the TCU. The ECU is a seperate animal. GD

No - it will not get better mileage than a properly operating Hitachi. If that is your primary concern then don't bother. It will get the same or perhaps 0.5 to 1 MPG less than the Hitachi - possibly a bit more than than if you have a feedback computer controlled Hitachi. One of the reasons for this is precisely because it's so small and ends up being a bottleneck against hard acceleration even with the pedal floored, etc. Personally I feel the Hitachi's are dangerously slow. I eliminate them immediately because otherwise I'll get run over by a logging truck. The best mileage for your engine would be acheived by swapping over to the Single Point Fuel Injection (SPFI) found on later model GL's and Loyale's. This will add power and will increase fuel effeciency and really doesn't cost much more than a Weber if you shop around for the part. It also has the added benefit that if you do it properly it can be smogged in CA simply by having a smog ref check it out and list it as an engine swap from an '89 GL. Then you don't have to mess with swapping back and forth to get your tags. GD

I'm just glad it's gone to a new owner that will love it and drive it. . It basically sat here and was growing moss beside my garage. Too many other things to drive..... The Maxima alternator is one of those things you can do when/if you need a new alt..... you don't really have any lights or high-powered accesories to run so the stock alt should be fine for now. GD

Yeah - make 3 more posts and then you will be able to PM. GD

There aren't any benfits. Just higher price. The Exedy kit has the same stuff in it that you find from the factory. Daikin is what you will see on the OEM parts and they are owned by Exedy. GD

Exedy from Amazon is the way to go. Best price and excellent product. GD

Well there IS going to be an issue because the '95 Legacy doesn't even have a secondary O2 sensor..... the Outback isn't going to like not having one. That can easily be corrected if you can weld though..... GD

All the 5 speed VC's (in north america) are the same from 90 to 98 AFAIK. They are all "4 Kg" units and I have not seen a difference among them. Contact me via PM and we will work out the details - I can get you a picture, etc if you like..... let me know. GD

No, and yes..... and it's a bad idea to use a turbo R&P unit because the plumbing is all backwards. That's an EA82 body and your '81 Brat is much narrower (2 generations narrower in fact). It will not work without a lot of modification. You might be able to use an EA81 power rack without as much trouble. They are narrower..... but I haven't heard of anyone doing it. You really don't need power steering anyway unless you get crazy and build a tranny with a front LSD like I built for renob123.... that Brat could use power assist. Otherwise it's not needed for rally-x. Ask renob123 (Jacob) about it - he will tell you. GD

Check for good, hot spark. You might have a bad distributor module. GD

It's just like a butterfly on a carb - they are set so they cannot stick as well. Typically by an idle speed screw that keeps the plate open a very small amount. You will see when it's light out - just take the airbox off the throttle body and you will see the butterfly. Honestly if it's not the cable's then I can guarantee it's the throttle butterfly as there is nothing else to cause such a symptom. Perhaps a cleaning as sugested will do the trick.... but my experience is that these don't stick like that - even after 300k miles they don't stick unless someone has messed with that screw. Could be some flunkie at the dealer - who knows . GD

You would think that, but a heavy-handed press operator could deform the bearing pocket resulting in premature failure of every bearing that's subsequently installed into that knuckle. It's actually been such a problem that Subaru has advised their dealers that a Hub-Tamer (Hub Shark, or Subaru Special Tools version from Kent-Moore) is the prefered method as it is MUCH less likely to deform the knuckle bearing pocket. GD

No one makes a kit so you are out of luck there. As I said most of the bearings will NEVER fail so it's cost prohibitive and senseless to replace them. The main shaft bearings are the only failures you will see and on them it's pretty much just the rear's. All the tiny needle bearings and such are not in danger of failure - these transmissions will go a quarter million miles and have one rear shaft bearing fail - after replacement they will go another quarter million and then the same one will fail again. That's the nature of the beast. GD

It is part of the design. That's called the fast-idle cam and it increases the idle speed when the choke is engaged. As the choke warms the idle speed will drop in stages. When setting the choke it is always wise to pump the pedal 3 or 4 times and on the last pump leave the pedal pushed to the floor, pull out your choke to the desired setting, and then release the pedal. GD

Usually the stop screw and it's nut have a dab of paint on them... Older couple.... yeah. Was the old man prone to tinkering? Just the kind of thing I would expect from somoene familair with carbs but not the slightest clue about throttle body's..... Just adjust it till it doesn't stick. That's all it's for - to keep the throttle butterfly open just enough that it doesn't stick in the bore. It also, neccesarily, means that there's a controlled air leak around the butterfly - which will increase the idle speed a bit. GD

The fact that both 3 and 4 were doing it calls into question the coil pack and the ignitor module on the firewall as well. Either could have been damp.... but with the wasted spark system the coil pack only has a single coil to drive both the #3 and #4 plugs..... thus if you have a misfire on those two cylinders it's almost a sure bet that the coil and or the ignitor is the cause of the problem. GD

Someone messed with the throttle plate stop screw trying to adjust the idle. Now the plate it sticking in the throttle bore. GD