GeneralDisorder

The module inside the alt is called the voltage regulator. The yellow wire goes to the ECU. I can't recall its exact operation.... IIRC it's something to do with fuel pump control. GD

I'm getting tired of all the engines I open up that have leaky cam seals (and front mains) because they were driven in too far or crooked. That's pretty much the extent of my complaint. The dealers and a couple other shops that haven't been drug into this are guilty too - "Mountain Tech" is a big offender since Terry (I think was his name - their resident expert) died a while back..... It seems that very little care is given to the instruction on how to *properly* install seals. Proper seal installation is critical for longest life.... the problem is that the leak won't show up for 10k or 20k or 40k.... entirely dependant on how badly it was installed. But it will not last the 105k till the next belt. And the shop either will not warantee it because "That was over 25k miles ago!" (I have no idea what their warantee period is) or the customer just doesn't know any better. Improper cam seal installation and subsequent leakage is eaily the #1 reason for opening up a timing belt before it's due in my experience when replacement of idlers and water pump are part of the job. Across the board this is routinely missed by mechanics everywhere. I don't know exactly why but I suppose it has to do with their background being in automotive where things are very often simplified far beyond belief for the modern "parts hanger" mentality that pervades even the dealerships. That and most other manufacturers put steps in the bore where the seal goes for the seal to shoulder against insuring it is both flush, not blocking return passages, and straight. Why Subaru does not..... I do not know. GD

I've had a couple of vehicles in my shop (one that I own) that have had their belts and cam seals done by Superior Import. Neither had the cam seals done correctly. As with a lot of shops the quality comes down to who does the job and I'm sure if Richie did it himself things would be different. But you only have so much control over the monkeys. Besides not having any employees other than myself I'm also cheaper GD

The duty Solenoid was not designed for full voltage all the time. You could harm it. And you won't save any gas as the autos are 90% front wheel drive anyway unless the wheels spin. GD

Those are very simple to change. Probably about three hours or so. Send me a PM or an email to cropperr (at) gmail (dot) com GD

Yeah - its chunky. It has some copper looking flakes, etc. You can use up to two bottles without issues of clogged cores, etc. I have had two bottles in my Forester for over a year. Works great. GD

One thing to note is that some of the newer stuff has a "clip" of sorts on the oil pump drive shaft that has to seat into one of the two drive slots on the TC... it only fits properly into ONE of them and not the other. This means that if the TC has come out of the tranny you need to first fish out the oil pump drive shaft and seat it onto the TC and then install both of them as an assembly. Why they have this extra clip I do not know - but it's there any should be checked for if you have something from the later 90's and beyond. I just encountered this on a '99 Forester with a factory rebuilt tranny in it. GD

The green valve is a solenoid valve - either EGR or EVAP purge solenoid.... route it accordingly. Neither are critical and you could just eliminate it and cap the components it goes to. You can run a new vacuum line from late-ported vacuum directly to the EGR valve so it will function for emissions testing. Everything else is superflous except the PCV system. Best thing you can do is install a Weber and route the PCV correctly. I have a number of threads where I have posted the correct routing including pictures. GD

It would be hard to get a helical rear chunk to fit into the R160 diff case. It has to do with the design of the helical and the way in which the rear diff requires that the stubs be removed in order to install the chunk.... or that it use "innie" axles. There isn't enough room for the helical components in either scenario. That's why the only types you will find on the R160 are clutch and viscous. GD

The whole front of the car is physically shorter on pre-facelift 1st gen's. I'm not going to say it can't be done.... but it's a real pain in the rump roast to do it. People have tried and come to the conclusion that it's not worth it. Trade someone for a '91 SS front end that will work on your car. Someone else will want that ugly '92+ post-facelift SS front end . Personally I find the '90/'91 front end to be much better looking than the '92+ front end. It has more character. I say cut in a hood-scoop in your existing '90 hood and call it a day. Get an SS grill of course.... GD

Where is it that you are planning to solder? If you mean removing the main connectors that attach the engine harness to the car harness I would not do that... I would try to find the real problem and if it's actually the connector itself then source another harness. Any 90/91 non-turbo manifold harness should work. Butt splices are for temporary work only in my book. They are NEVER ok for permanent wiring jobs. When I worked for a manufacturer of industrial equipment butt splices were explicitly disallowed by our wireing guidelines. If you need to joint two wires you can use many methods but a crimp-type butt splice is just asking for problems down the line. If you must use one then use the heat-shrink variety that can be sealed from the elements. GD

The STi uses an R180 rear differential (180mm ring gear). I should have specified R160 when I said that. I don't think the R180 will bolt-up to an R160 rear suspension without some modifications. Granted it could be done.... but the price point on those also makes them a non-option for most besides being a non-bolt-in part and taking "innie" rear axles that would have to be custom made for anything but an EJ based vehicle. And yeah - I was talking about EA/early EJ diffs. Not the newest stuff of which I know only a little. GD

Thanks for the reccomendation on db - I will likely change them. The other's will make good replacements in another EA81. I'll shelve them for the next hatch with completely blown speakers. My hatch has all the carpeting, insulation, rear seats, and inner paneling removed and will have an EJ in the future with a "free flowing" exhaust. It's not terrible but it's not quiet either. GD

No walkthrough's because it's about the easiest motor swap you'll ever do. It's just like any other rear wheel drive layout. Just with some axles pinned to the side of the tranny going to the front wheels. GD

Being a '90..... they have phantom code issues. Both '90 and '91 tend to do that... they will throw half a dozen codes at you and seemingly be unaffected. I have a customer with a '90 that threw 6 codes at me one day.... wouldn't clear them.... but ran perfectly fine and gets 30 mpg. I would start with code 35 - since that's an easy fix and quite likely that the solenoid is bad as that happens a lot. It's under the passenger side of the intake manifold runner..... test it and if it's bad replace it or solder in a 33 Ohm, 5 watt resistor in it's place to fool the ECU. It just wants to see the resistance from the driver coil. 41 I have never seen before. That's a strange one..... The rest are pretty common. I would test the solenoid and see if it's bad and then go from there. If it's not bad then you probably have a wireing or ground issue. GD

It's been running since I posted this. No sub or anything yet. Massive improvement over stock though. I think I shouldn't have gone with such cheap front speakers - should have spent another $30 and got something louder. GD

Why would you check ebay? I don't understand what you are trying to determine using ebay as a reference?? GD

As far as anyone can tell - they are all 3.7. The *mythical* factory 3.9 LSD hasn't shown up that I have seen. You can take the guts out and put them into any other ratio diff including 3.9, 4.111, and 4.444. It's not a hard swap. GD

No - older models used a clutch-type LSD. The VLSD was (AFAIK) introduced on the '91 SS (in the US) though there has been rumor of 3.9 VLSD's coming out of XT6's.... aparently it may have been an option that you could order.... '80s models all used the clutch-type though. No production models have used anything but viscous since the late '80s with the exception of the STi. And no production models have come with front LSD's except the STi. All you can get (stock) in anything that isn't an STi is a VLSD since '89. GD

The vast majority of LSD discussion here and elsewhere is *about* rear LSD's. Those come stock on many models from the mid-'80s on. All WRX's and STi's have them as well as my '91 Sport Sedan (SS) and many others including some turbo Foresters, and Outback XT's, etc. The other recent post by Zap in this section deals entirely with rear LSD's and what people have noticed about how they react depending on type. GD

Oh - well in that case bring a friend. I'm a bit less than double your weight so take what I say with that in mind . You could do it I'm sure - just have to employ some "egyptian" methods . GD

I don't see why the diff itself wouldn't last that or more. There's not much to go wrong in a Torsen type 1 (the OBX "Helical" is such an animal). It's just a bunch of gears that bind with each other in turns..... nothing to wear like a clutch type and no fluid to break down like a viscous. Jacob would be a better source for this question. It's going to be more "work" to drive the car with a lot of switch-backs, etc.... but I imagine with power steering it wouldn't be nearly as much.... but I would expect the power steering to actually "help" the diffs ability to recenter the wheels so it would still be something you would need to get used to and pay close attention in turns because it does affect how the car pulls. If it was a shop that is familair with Subaru transaxles then I would say..... probably. But a very respected Subaru performance shop in WA quoted the kid who Jacob bought the '96 STi tranny from something like $1500 to rebuild it. Which is rediculously low considering what needed to be replaced on the transmission. In fact if it weren't being used expressely for rally-x racing and I were actually going to charge someone for parts and labor I wouldn't have rebuilt it at all - the gears were chewed up something feirce from a bearing cage that "went missing" into 5th gear.... 5th gear was totaled and completely unusuable and 4th, 3rd, and 2nd had enough wear that they make a "ghost turbo" whine when you are in them.... this would have been enough for me to condemn the transmission to the scrap heap if I were a legitimate business and a man-off-the-street wanted it rebuilt. Either that or it would need a whole new gearset and that would run about $1500 just for the parts. How they could have possibly quoted $1500 for parts and labor is beyond me - unless they didn't see the gear wear and were planning on reusing them.... at which point I would have to say their tech was incompetant because there's no way you could use 5th and with how much metal went through it all the primary bearings were suspect as well. Add in the syncro's, labor, etc.... not happening for the quoted price. GD

Easily. I've seen them hauled in first gen Legacy trunks and STi trunks... etc. They are about 75 to 100 lbs or so. Not hard to move around. GD

Agreed - but I don't think there's a high percentage of members here that have the skills to do it. No offense to the crowd but proper setup on the front diff is a pretty critical operation.... you were there when I did your's and it took me.... probably a couple hours (?) to get it setup where I was comfortable with it. And that's *just* setting the R&P clearances. That's not dissasembly and reassembly and if you are going to install a $400 front diff upgrade then you would be pretty foolish to not also install $150 worth of new syncro's and replace any suspect bearings *at the least*. I bet I have 30+ hours into that transmission of yours with reaserch on part numbers, dissasembly of a couple donor tranny's, and all the work pressing the shafts apart and back together again.... it's a mess inside these things and if you aren't experienced with bearing fit's, press work, and precision measureing, etc.... DO NOT attempt it. You will just end up throwing away a lot of money. GD