GeneralDisorder

I also prefer the first-gen seats - 90 to 94 were all about quality. After that things started to suffer from the cost cutting ax. Seat foam and fabric was definitely one of them. I know a good upholstery shop that could make them better but a nice first-gen set would bolt in also..... steal the wifes seats. LOL. GD

Are you sure your problem isnt just some leaky pipe or gaskets? Loss of exhaust before the cats will cause them to not get hot enough to work..... cold outside temps right now..... sounds plausible. GD

Yeah - pull back the carpet and its like 10 nuts and the whole assembly pulls out of the tank. The pickup has a flat, square nylon mesh "bag" that I guess you could call a sock of sorts. Some carpet, nuts, few hoses, and a couple connectors. No big deal on a Subaru unlike most cars where you must drop the tank. GD

I've covered it a couple dozen times at least complete with pics. Do a search with my username. GD

Manifold won't fit a non-turbo. Different heads entirely. You could swap the heads but the compression will be too high unless you also swap the pistons. Bottom end failure isn't usually how the turbos die but whatever - the result is always the same with that motor - frustration and disappointment. Ditch that ride and get a nice legacy. GD

I don't think it will hurt anything to leave it for a while. Takes about 20 minutes to pull the pump. I got a used assembly and replaced the whole thing - easier than fussing with that filter. GD

And you still need a tranny to handle the power - not to mention wiring, shipping, pedal assembly, etc. Buying parts car for 8k would be cheaper. GD

For future reference there is a belt that can be used to run just the alt - many people that have EJ swapped their EA vehicle. I would look it up in the EJ swap threads but I'm on my android phone. GD

I would say the frankenmotor is easily 180 HP - possibly more. Consider that it's a 165 HP block that's been raised from 9.7:1 to around 11:1 or a bit higher using the small CC 2.2 combustion chamber heads. Further it has Delta torque cams that lower the torque peak - they breathe like crazy at low rpm - we were told the torque starts pulling pretty hard at 1200 rpm. I don't doubt it. It's not a winder - the heads flow poorly at high rpm. It runs out of steam at about 5500. But till then it pulls like a train. I think the last one I built cost about $700 with a strong used 25, rebuilt heads, and the torque cams. That's using the heads and manifold from the 2.2 that was in the car. It's a very cost-effective upgrade. As noted an STi swap will be prohobitively expensive and a ton of work. You will need a whole donor car for certain. You will never recover the cost and you will ruin the value of the car because no one wants to buy someone's project like that. GD

I recently had a legacy where the filter/tube on the end of the pump was AWOL due to an aftermarket fuel pump replacement. Guess they didnt think they needed it. That left it with about 4" less pickup and it would die on hard right turns when it was low. Something to investigate. I would pull the pump and inspect. GD

Pics would help. A slight missalignent with v belts is not a big deal. They will handle quite a bit. That said - I would need pics of your setup to further advise. GD

'82 and earlier are all chrome - 4WD and 2WD. 2WD's still have the 5 MPH shock bumpers though. '83+ the 4WD's are black plastic and the 2WD's are still the chrome 5 MPH shock bumpers. 4WD and 2WD bumpers are NOT interchangable. The mounting system is entirely different. GD

Couldn't you just use the matching torque converter if you had to? Don't the TC's slide into the tranny in the same way? You just have to use a matched set. TC/flex plate - both must come from the same engine size. Probably a typo or misunderstanding - the EJ22 flexplate will work if you use the EJ22 TC as well. Or the EJ25 flexplate will work if you use the EJ25 TC..... you just can't mix them. They bolt up to the engine and go into the tranny in the same way(s). GD

renob123 has a 5MT D/R in the frankenbrat - light weight and big power. Probably wont last forever but it's been through basically a whole rally-x season and has been daily driven as well as road-tripped across the whole length of WA state countless times without a hitch so far. Definitely will depend on how you drive it. This was a used transmission with unknown mileage - probably north of 150k. The wheel slip when it's in 2WD probably is a good thing for it. It does not see 4WD except on dirt. GD

+1 on the timing being wrong.... pulling plug wires shouldn't EVER cause it to run *better*. That's a pretty strange set of circumstances. They either do nothing or make it worse. GD

Doesn't really matter since only a dealership would ever consider replacing only one - and it's typically a warantee claim that would prompt such a rediculous amount of labor to only do half the job. The other gasket is *maybe* an extra hour of dissasembly, cleaning, and reassembly. I would say this is NOT the case except with a specific model of EJ25 - the phase-II EJ251 and EJ253. In that specific case it is nearly always the driver's side head gasket that blows - my theory is that it's either coolant flow or temperature related on that specific motor. The sealant on the head gasket (which is stamped metal with special coatings) washes away causing external weepage of coolant. I've seen a lot more burned valve problems on the driver's side as well and it's typically the one that needs more valve adjustment too..... I'm not sure of the reason for that. I've seen my share of cylinder 1/3 problems too - blown head gaskets included. Last HG I did because it was "blown" into the combustion chamber was a #3 cylinder on the passenger side. The EA82T is prone to blowing head gaskets (and sometimes cracking heads in the exhaust port area) - period. Doesn't matter which side. The cooling system is a weak link and failure prone on them because they are old and were not given a large cooling capacity overhead to begin with. They are further handicapped by the poorly designed head castings. Even if you were to determine this was actually the case (failure on driver's side has a higher probability).... what would you do about it? . There's no love lost around this forum on that engine and quite frankly I doubt such an issue *could* be fixed even if it were found - not that anyone would want to invest the time. Sadly that's a dead-end engine. GD

There's about a 1" diameter difference between 2.2 and 2.5 flex plates. You can just use the 2.2 flexplate on the 2.5 engine. Personally I would do the 2.5 w/2.2 heads. No turbo mess (some of us prefer the simpler NA). Lots of power and the same premium fuel requirement as the turbos. Quite a bit cheaper than turbo kit as well. That's just my preference. GD

Huh. I've not had a single EMPI axle failure yet. Had a boot fail on my hatch (inner) but no noises. Could be a fluke. They are new, not reman so manufacturing defects happen..... I've used dozens and dozens of them and not just Subarus either. No complaints here. GD

Hand impact - smack the ratchet/breaker bar with a 3-4 lb hammer. I do it all the time. I can EASILY put out more torque than my "650 Ft/lb" 1/2" impact gun. I routinely loosen crank pulley bolts, axle nuts, etc with this method. GD

The mounting system is the same, yes. When you find a replacement run the number on the bell-housing through this chart to see what you have found: http://www.gearhack.com/myink/ViewPage.php?file=docs/Subaru%20Transmission%20Chart GD

The problem cannot be broken down by year because there are engine that cross-over year bounderies - it MUST be broken down by engine model AND year. '96 to '99 EJ25D's are one engine and production dates matter for which head gaskets they were equipped with. '99 EJ253's are completely different phase-II MAF engines. '00 to '05 are EJ251 MAP engines and have to be further broken into production dates for changes in HG's. Also there is the Subaru "Conditioner" (stop leak) that will solve a lot of the EJ253/EJ251 weeping problems in a more-or-less permanent way. Unless the customer is completely anal about the tiny bit of oil weepage that this product cannot possibly stop - in which case the head gaskets must be replaced. In a large percentage of cases shops will reccomend replacement of the head gaskets when this is not neccesary - it's an easy to point out problem and hey let's face it - dumping in a bottle of stop leak for a customer is not the kind of work that keeps shops (or dealerships) employed..... GD

Not unless the 5 speed axle is for a turbo car. The only difference in EA82 front axles (excluding XT6's) is turbo vs. non-turbo for fitment purposes (inner joint spline count). There are more differences between 2WD and 4WD but they are fully interchangeable. GD

There's nothing but the 2 top bolts and the bottom nuts on the bell-housing. On an MT car there are no bolts inside the bell-housing - that's for automatic's only (flex-plate). GD

Nope - shouldn't bother anything. Should be a simple fix though - the EGR and associated hardware from your old manifold should fit. I think that should work. I haven't tried it but they are electrically the same so if the TPS is bad then that should solve the code. Unless there is a mounting difference it should work fine. Inspect carefully and make sure all the ports are the same or that you can swap additional hardware to make it work. Rich exhaust smell could indicate a mixture issue - doesn't sound like a severe one with you getting mid-20's. O2 sensor could be old, etc. Also strange smells in the exhaust can be related to failed/failing catalytic converters - but as long as they are not plugged it's just smelly. It might eventually throw a P0420 code but that is easily solved with a spacer on the rear O2 sensor. If the front O2 sensor is original or in unknown condition you might want to just replace it on general principle - especially if the EJ25 that came out could have fouled it when it died. For $75 (about) they should be replaced every 100k because they become slow to react and you will lose effeciency. GD