GeneralDisorder

Get a JDM replacement engine. The fact that you made it to 295k without a head gasket failure is a miracle. Don't spend a dime doing any superficial to that engine it's going to blow a HG and you'll have wasted the effort. GD

Read the reviews: https://www.amsoil.com/reviews/heavy-duty-metal-protector-amhsc/ The HD Metal Protector is essentially cosmoline. So is this CRC but the Amsoil offering is cheaper - 15oz vs. 10z cans and nearly the same price. And another video this guy did. His main complaint about all the dry wax cosmoline coatings seems to be that it's "too permanent" and it takes time to dry. Neither of which are concerns I have regarding using this on heavy duty machinery. GD

Might be headed your way soon - looking at property in Wisconsin. LoL. Need a few hundred acres - my entourage includes a 100% disabled combat vet that can waiver property tax. Looking to get a fleet of M1078 snow plows with sanders out to the upper northeast where we can cash in on the shortage. But yeah - as regards where to get the equipment (old GM's and military hardware) - you buy it out here on the west coast and ship it in. I'll use my contacts out here to facilitate that once I'm in the area. My M1079 (my mobile house) is a 2008 from the desert of Kuwait and Texas. Zero rust and I'll ensure it stays that way with Amsoil HD metal protector, etc. GD

So..... why own some modern garbage subject to this foolishness?!? Get off MY lawn you new-age yong-un! I'll stick with my 1980's GM's and my military hardware. GD

Edited my post..... the 5w40 is a Euro formula. The black cap "full SAPS" version. GD

We use it exclusively except in the cases where we are installing a Subaru remanufactured CVT assembly. In those cases we get the fluid and the cooler flush from the dealer on the same ticket in case of a need to engage the warranty at any point in the future. After the 24 month warranty expires we switch them over to Amsoil. Have not had any transmission failures on CVT's that we service with Amsoil. Plenty of valve body electrical problems but no failures that are fluid related. GD

I'm an Amsoil dealer and use Amsoil exclusively on all oil changes. 5w40 is a Euro blend (neither the car nor the oil are allowed to know this), and 5w50 is a signature blend. 15w50 is a Dominator racing oil. Yes it's expensive. No I don't care and don't offer a "cheap" option. I would rather not do a ton of oil changes and I'm not into loss leader marketing. You want your oil changed by us because you want the best and a real mechanic to do it and do the included inspection. If that's not of interest to you then you likely wouldn't make a good customer which is fine - I'm also that guy that doesn't make a good customer for my business. If I can do it myself I'm going to obviously. GD

We put 5w40 in literally everything that's out of warranty. Not just high mileage cars. Having rebuilt hundreds of short blocks and measured the main line clearances and compared the differences in bearing width of something like the 4G63, 2JZ, or the 1UZ - I can say that Subaru's are inadequate in this area and a higher viscosity to keep the oil from being squished out of the bearing interface is needed for hard use cases and longevity. I have not had any customers report their mileage has changed with any of the oils we use (40 or 50). I don't believe that the difference is even measurable in the real world. For those temps I would seek out a 0w40 and run a block heater and battery blanket. GD

We don't recommend viscosities lower than 40 for older Subaru's. The main line on the block gets wallowed out to pretty ugly large clearances and this drops oil pressure to the already narrow rod bearings. We run Amsoil 5w40 for everything under ~400 WHP. Over that we go to either Signature 5w50 or Dominator 15w50 depending on use case. GD

We prefer to replace the terminals with similar-to-stock (Subaru does not sell the negative terminal except as part of it's sub-harness): https://www.buyautosupply.com/products/k13101-toyota-gm-style-battery-terminal-kit-positive-negative.html We cut off the factory Subaru crimped negative and crimp/heat shrink a lug to the cable for use with these terminals from BAS. These retain the stock look and feel and 10mm tooling of the OEM terminals. Use of quality terminals, some form of protectant (grease, spray, etc), and NOT torqueing them till you break the plastic around the terminal and cause the battery to leak are key to success here. GD

Yes the 99 transmission will fit. I would recommend replacement of the center differential and transfer shaft bearings. GD

That's all structural and further limits the viability of the chassis for performance purposes. Go buy an STI if you have lots of money to burn and actually want results. Or buy a 4th gen Camaro with an LS1, or a Cadillac CTS-V, etc. Plenty of good budget performance options without throwing money at a Subaru..... but you go die on that sword if you must. Many have and many more will. GD

There's no need to set anything - none of the existing pinion depth, lash, and preload are touched nor are they dependent on the bearing in question. You replace the bearing, possibly the thrust plate and put it back together. You'll want the few seals and gaskets of course and a new stack nut. Beyond basic hand tools all you need is a 35mm socket for the driven shaft stack nut, and a bearing splitter with either a press, or all-thread / H-puller, etc. Besides pulling the transmission and putting it back the whole process takes about 3-4 hours. I've done the whole job with transmission R&R in a day. There's really nothing else inside these that ever goes bad for the most part so a full "rebuild" is rarely warranted and usually means replacing just worn parts and seals anyway - which will be what I outlined above. Syncro's and the rest of the bearings will generally be fine, and if it's not popping out of gear you are unlikely to need any forks or other parts. GD

It's not that hard to swap the $35 bearing out. 99+ transmissions have center diff failures especially early ones. Parts for that are typically $800+. I would fix the '96 transmission if it were me. Buy a couple tools and be done with it in a few hours. GD

Maybe. Never seen one do that. Need to replace the rear input shaft bearing and possibly thrust plate and anything else damaged. Transmission tear down time. GD

How much up/down play in the shaft? Shouldn't be much - maybe 0.100". Any in/out play? More than that means the rear input shaft bearing is smoked. Very common on pre-99's. Post a video. GD

Cheap parts.

If it had a 12mm head on the nut then it was an 8mm stud. Thread repairs - there are many. I use https://www.threadtoolsupply.com/ for generic screw thread inserts at my shop. If you want the best - here's what the US military supplies on the Forward Repair System ( https://frsn.dk/ ) https://www.jergensinc.com/Threaded-Inserts GD

Those cars have nothing that you can't read with a $15-$20 Launch C-Reader off Amazon. Nothing of any use anyway. I ask again - what specifically are you looking to monitor and why? GD

Seems like a herculean effort for an EA82. The Bosch Ford F150 lift pumps have always worked fine for that application and I've never been able to hear them when mounted in the stock location with rubber vibration dampening. 🤷‍♂️ Sounds like a fun experiment though. We do crazy stuff like that at the shop. Next week we are going to experiment with Nitrous Spool on a 2020 STi. 🙂 GD

Any ODB-II software..... What exactly do you need that isn't included in the generic data stream? GD

I've seen the paper water pump gaskets blow out - but that's usually if they are not coated in sealant. The paper absorbs the coolant and becomes soft and cooling system pressure is enough to force it out. Mostly we use the OEM gaskets because A : The good quality pumps like Aisin and NPW come with the metal gasket B : The gaskets come off clean requiring no clean up of old sealant. C : They always work, they never leak (assuming you don't have stripped mounting bolts - we routinely thread-repair all of them). And Fail-Pro is great for old Chevy's. Terrible for imports. GD

No it had a blown 30a fuse in the under hood panel. It runs fine and obviously has good fuel pressure. The issue now is that a friend of the OP's replaced the fuel pump before doing proper diagnostics to determine both the failure (pump has no electricity due to blown fuse), and the reason for the failure.... at this point we have no idea if the original pump was the cause of the blown fuse or a wiring deficiency that has yet to re-occur. We test drove the car and had no issues with that fuse after replacement but we can't rule out a short somewhere that's caused by the right bumpy road or was prevented by the movement of harnesses and testing that was done over a period of like 9 months in someone's garage..... someone that failed to use proper diagnostic procedures and never found the blown fuse. At this point it's a matter of waiting till it happens again and crossing fingers that the pump was the problem. GD

That's when you just cut out the connector and replace with Deutsch. GD

Half that much HP at the wheels will twist the Brat chassis up like a pretzel. We did a rally build that was in the neighborhood of 175 WHP and after driving it around the doors no longer closed properly and it had to be fully caged. Even with proper instruction and quite a bit of experience the driver put it hard into a tree and killed it. I personally lost control of the stupid thing twice on test drives. Ended up in someone's lawn narrowly missing a mailbox and on another occasion I spun it around 180 degrees into the grass adjacent to an on-ramp...... Honestly terrible handling vehicles if you give them power and the chassis is limp like wet tissue paper. Just don't. It's a Japanese farm truck. GD