GeneralDisorder

I've dealt with a couple dead gel-cell batteries and once they are discharged for a period it is unlikely they will come back. If it won't take a carge from an overnight stay on the 15 amp charger - it's unlikely to be salvageable. I have never brought one back from being that dead. I have had a lot more luck with regular liquid acid batteries. I often get them from the junk yard when I spot a good deal on a one that's fairly new. GD

The original design is fine - the problem is the age and condtion of the studs/nuts that's at fault here. Rust happens - especially on exhaust. Sure they could have made the studs from SS but that's a slippery slope and no one could have afforded an econobox built with that kind of attitude. I agree that a proper heli-coil job is in order. After that - replace the studs with one's for an EJ engine. Just go to the dealer and ask for an exhaust stud set for a '96 EJ22 Legacy. The EJ studs are a little over $1 each IIRC and are already the correct size and have a non-threaded portion on the end for gripping them when installing..... worth the few $. Most dealers stock them because they are common to replace. They might be a little short so you might have to stick a peice of all-thread down in the hole to take up some space. When you do the heli-coil it will thread the AIS spacer as well so you will have threads all the way down that will grip the shorter studs. GD

Just remember these points: 1. Use the engine - but nothing past the end of the crank. Use the flywheel/flex-plate/etc from your 2.5 2. You will need the EJ22 power steering lines if you care about the swap being "picture perfect". 3. Whatever EJ22 you choose (95 to 98), you need one with EGR. That means from an automatic.... and apparently not *all* automatic EJ22's have EGR either. '95 for sure does. I just used a '96 and it did also. Beyond that there's a possibility that an auto 2.2 might not have one.. If you find a deal on one that does not have EGR then there will be a little more work involved to make the swap work without any check engine light. If you don't care about a CEL for a code that's basically just annoying..... then this doesn't even matter. 4. If you use a '96 or later EJ22 you will also need the front section of the exhaust as they are single port rather than dual-port like the older engines. 5. It is possible to use a '90 to '94 EJ22 long block (dual port exhaust, non interferance.... so it has it's advantages) - but you will need the '95 to '98 manifold. If it's cheaper to source them seperate (this can happen depending on the sources you have - sometimes manifolds are seperated from blocks that have thrown a rod, etc) then go for it. It's just an extra $6 for manifold gaskets..... Everything else plugs right in. The ECU doesn't change, etc. The 2.2 and 2.5 use the same electronics, sensors, injectors, etc. This is the EASIEST swap ever. It's so rediculously simple...... it's been done hundreds of times. On the GT I just did - you can't tell the car ever had a 2.5. I had a whole donor car so I used the EJ22 PS lines, etc. It looks 100% stock and performs wonderfully. Drives like it's totally stock, etc. You would never know it wasn't a factory 2.2 car unless you looked at the engine bay data plate. GD

Sounds like a Hill Holder malfunction. Check the HH cable adjusment. It's probably too tight. The HH works on one circuit of the dual-diagonal brake system. It locks one front and one rear brake from releasing when the clutch is pressed and the vehicle is on an incline. GD

It's more than a week to do an EJ swap *right*. I could have one in and running in a day - wouldn't be correct. More attention to detail and careful installation is needed to have reliability and longevity. The first things he needs to do with what money he has left: 1. Go to the dealer and order EVERY coolant hose on the car. You know what happens..... remember that pinhole on the small manifold hose on NED? That EA82T sedan is the same vintage. You do that on an EA82T and you will bake the engine. 2. Replace the radiator with a dual-core. This may be hard to source. GD

You can just disconnect the solenoid and read across the pins in the connector for ohms. I have no idea if they are the same part or not - possible. GD

EJ22 non turbo would be less mechanical work but a LOT more wiring. The EA82T chassis is nice because it's already setup for FI but that is the only benefit (not a huge benefit either - Hooray! for not having to change a fuel pump - takes a whole 30 minutes compared to the weeks and maybe months that the EJ swap will take). So is any Loyale and also any 88/89 GL - which is arguably better since you can get one with a D/R. Now if the GL-10 turbo were an 88 or 89 with a 4EAT automatic it would be even easier since you can swap over the EJ bell-housing and have a bolt-in EJ22 with the awesome 4EAT combo..... that would be a sexy beast. But I suspect he hasn't the money to do either one given what his market parameters were - let alone take care of an ailing EA82T with overheating issues that's been hacked on by bubba with a sawzall and power drill....... He should have borrowed some money and bought the GT I have. Would have been faster AND reliable. GD

He will not like it so much when it stops running. Which it will. It will be pretty sitting there in the driveway...... in little peices as he tries to put it all back together again. GD

Yes you can do that. You will have to swap the carb and adaptor over to the EA81 manifold. GD

His plate is appropriate - that's what he will be saying when he realizes what he's got into with that engine. He's bought a nightmare - don't bring it here. No - you can't easily put in a non-turbo. It's not really that simple. He would have to *build* a non-turbo since the car's wireing and fuel system is setup for MPFI heads - either that or find a good engine from a non-turbo XT. Good luck with that...... This will end badly. I say again - DO NOT BRING THAT HERE. Hope he didn't pay much for the f'ed up body - those wheels and tires required a lot of bashing and trimming. Don't do that to NED - that looks rediculous and can't be easily fixed. Nothing about that purchase was good. Better off just dropping the money in the slots at the casino. That's entertaining and when the slot machine breaks you can walk away. *some* Audi's would have been a better choice. Some would have been worse though.... so I guess there's that to smile about. GD

It's not specifically Subaru's - the tendancy on older vehicles was to use a gasket. Now they use a seal on the thermostat itself. When Subaru went from EA to EJ platforms it changed. But it has more to do with the direction of the modern automotive industry at large - I have Ford's and Nissan's that use the same type of seal as the EJ's. This is typically an older car/newer car type of thing - sort of like drum vs. disc brakes. GD

I am too far to know anyone in that area - but other's here will know! You might want to post a new thread asking for shop/mechanic reccomendations in the St. Louis area. Lots of people on this board and most of us know where to take these problems if we don't do the work ourselves or for the community. GD

If the computer is throwing the code then the only thing that is capable of causing that is an electrical circuit issue with the solenoid. The TCU can't tell if the solenoid is physically not working (gummed up, etc - but that never happens) but it will know if the solenoid is open, shorted, or otherwise has an improper resistance value. Looks like John has listed the Ohm values above so you can check agains that spec with a meter - don't forget to check and insure that neither of the pins has continuity with the body of the solenoid (shorted). If you get a good Ohm reading then chances are you have a wireing problem (something pinched durring assembly perhaps?) or the TCU is bad - I've seen this a couple times - last one threw a duty-B code but the solenoid was fine. Replaced the TCU and everything went back to normal. GD

Heh - true. Perhaps I should pipe down since I daily drive an EA81 :-p..... But actually I also own a '91 SS with more power than any of the N/A 2.5's that Subaru has produced and I don't find the GT with the a stock EJ22E to be slow at all. In fact my lady commented on it's performance and she has driven the SS many times. I think producing the EJ22 overseas isn't in the plan because of legislation and taxation on anything larger than a 2.0 over in Japan. That's the reason for the hot EJ20's they have been running over there for a couple decades. I know there have been smaller versions of the EJ than the 1.8 also. IIRC they even made an EJ15 at some point. I would like to see Subaru bring back the Justy (conceptually of course) - front wheel drive with an EJ15, and possibly an AWD option. Like those little AWD Suzuki's. There's still some of us that enjoy cars with go-cart handling and performance. Look at the popularity of the Cooper's and even those ugly "Smart" thing's. There's a market there if Subaru wanted it. They don't even offer a coupe anymore and Toyota is going to do what Subaru should have done years ago - the FT-86 should have been a Subaru product. The engine is there - light, compact, low center of gravity, symetrical.... they had the body too - the Imp. coupe. All they had to do was put in a RWD transaxle and an R180 in the back. I don't think it would take that long. The tooling for an engine size change is nothing like tooling for a new car design. The EJ25 is only .3L bigger - a couple casting changes and some machineing station programming. No big deal really. That's a 6 month change-over if that. They likely already have all that stuff in storage from the '99 to '01 phase-II EJ222 that we got..... GD

I don't think it's possible to set it with a test lamp. You are looking for the piston to be at the top of it's travel with the straw - that's where the plug should fire and thus that's when the rotor needs to be pointing at the plug tower. GD

The '99 Outback engine is a phase-I DOHC engine. It will not work - not even the short block. '99 Forester/2.5RS engines are ok - that was the first model/year to get the phase-II SOHC EJ25. '00 to '05 will work. Tell them you don't care about the sensors, etc as you will be using your original manifold and maybe your original heads. The long block's are basically all the same. And of the phase-II EJ251's will work (the '99 phase-II is technically an EJ253 but will work just the same). There *could* be difference in the cam and crank pullies for the t-belt. But again you can just use the one's off your old engine. GD

They might work, but it's a safety concern. They don't seat properly on the rim. The contact area of a ball adaptor is very small compared to a proper Pug lug. They aren't *that* hard to find. I would just look for a used set. GD

You can't completely remove it - the seal for the thermostat housing is ON the t-stat itself. You need the outer ring or you have no seal at all. And you can't change it to a gasket as the flange on the water pump is too narrow. You have to leave at least the outer ring of the t-stat intact for sealing purposes. GD

They are not similar to anything. They are unique to a pug and only a pug. There was a guy making reproduction lug nuts - a search of the forum should yeild that post. Last I heard there were sets availible - be prepared for sticker shock though. They do turn up in junk yards, etc - I just sold a set to a local guy for $50 (pretty rusty or I would have charged more). They are not easy to find but there aren't many people looking for them either. GD

I will try to take a look at a new EJ water pump and see what the seals look like. I know there is a mechanical seal on the liquid side but it's probably a carbon ring seal..... GD

I can confirm that a gutted thermostat will probably keep it from overheating. I drove an EJ22 with a bad head gasket about 100 miles (in one long trip) with a gutted thermostat and the temp was slightly below normal operating temp. I replaced those head gaskets and it definitely blew at the bottom of the #3 cylinder from the fire ring to the coolant jacket. You could easily see it. With a normal thermostat in place it would overheat within 10 miles. GD

In any case they will not work - pug alloy lug nuts are not simply ball-seat lug nuts. They are special and that's why there's no simple replacement. GD

You find TDC by rotating the engine till you feel air being pushed past your finger over the plug hole - then use a drinking straw, etc to determine when the piston reaches the top of it's travel. GD

You probaby don't need head gaskets and if you do you should find an experienced Subaru shop to do the work. The dealer is not usually the best option. Where are you locate? We can help you find someone.... GD

A '99 will only work if it came from a Forester or Impreza 2.5RS. Outback/GT (Legacy models) EJ25's are not compatible. But pretty much any of the EJ25's from '00 to '05 should fit and possibly even newer stuff. GD