GeneralDisorder

That's the heart of it. By comparison though, the EA82T turns to crap sooner than any other Subaru engine. And the potential return for your investment isn't there - for the cost of a brand new EA82T and accessories I could have a good running phase II EJ22 putting out near the same power. Add a tiny bit of boost to it and I'm way out of the EA82T's league both in performance and reliability. There's a nice collection of folks that have run good condtion used EJ22's with 5 psi and flogged the hell out of them for a long time. The majority of them take it - and with replacement used EJ22's availible for typically around $200 to $400..... the economy Subaru turbo engine has a new name - and it's not the EA82T. It's not that they can't be reliable Rob - it's that it's not worth it anymore. So much better is out there for the same money or less. GD

You might pick up a few MPG if the cat is clogged or broken and jamming the outlet of the chamber. If it's not then you won't gain a thing. I run about 75% on them having some sort of issue that I wouldn't have known about had I not opened them up. So I don't even bother trying to save them anymore. If I needed a cat for some reason (I don't smog my rigs) then I would buy an aftermarket cat off ebay for $60 and weld it into the mid-pipe. The stock 20 year old cat is too much of a gamble IMO. Better to open them and know where you stand. I always cut about a 6" sqaure out of the cat on the top, gut the internals, then weld the flap back on. It's all hidden under the heat sheild and they weld real nice as they are stainless. GD

Replace the radiator. They aren't worth flushing and it's not going to be effetive unless you have access to an alkali hot tank or similar type of chemical metal stripping. The stuff availible to the public is not worth your time or money. Your water pump isn't the issue. GD

Not all EA81 axles have the same joint sizes - and this goes for Legacy's as well. We have known for a long time that it can be done but what no one ever bothers to check is which axles it takes to do it. EA81's axles come in two flavors and the Legacy axles come in two, maybe three more. That's a total of 4 or 6 combinations of joint components - not all of which will work. It's not as simple as it first appears - especially if the first one you try works as seems to be the case for you. GD

Those could very easily be 14" - they look to be Jackman's..... GD

108 or 109 in the shade at my place. Was 104 in our shop today. We started 2 hours early so we could go home at 2 pm. Bad day in the shop. Hot people all around. Frustrating machines. No coolness to be had anywhere. GD

Most of that stuff is pretty easy to troubleshoot and fix if you have the time and the inclination. In fact all of it besides the clutch. YOU are going to have to do it though - I say this for several reasons. First the car is quite old and most mechanics are going to have trouble with it simply due to age - they don't see these often anymore and there just isn't the skilled force of technicians for EA82T's that there once was. Second, as you pointed out, it would not be worth the investment of money to have all that stuff done. The clutch is difficult. Think of it this way - you *could* end up doing a clutch on any vehicle you buy (I'm assuming you aren't in the market for a brand new rig). That is simply a maintenance item and besides being a pain in the neck in the case of a turbo..... it's not something you can kill off the car over. I would have to say that if you aren't sure about doing it yourself then you probably shouldn't do it. It is almost universally acknowledged that it is easier to pull the engine for clutch jobs on Subaru's..... with the exception (IMO) of turbo's - the exhaust alone makes for an often maddeningly difficult pull. They are also crammed full of hoses, lines, and plumbing. It would be my preference to pull the tranny for a clutch job on your model.... but that's not easy the first time you do one..... it's not even easy the 10th time. If you rented a transmission jack you would stand a much better chance but it's still a hassle - especially if you don't like working on your back. Also - the EA82T will eventually bite you. It's a craptastic engine and it's lifespan with the maintenance level you are indicating it has received is limited. My suggestion is that you trade up to a gen 1 Legacy (90 to 94 - 93/94 being the choice years). More power, more comfort, MORE (WAY more) reliability, and they are stupendously cheap these days. Rarely commanding over $1000. Then you can sell that rolling time bomb you have. GD

Anything is possible - the stock hood scoop on your Imp. is not even half as big as it would need to be to divert enough air for the radiator. With enough fabrication just about anything is possible. You could mount it on the roof if you wanted. GD

Typically that's the case. They are abused their entire life then expected to keep taking it. The engine design has major drawbacks that make it uneconomical to repair or modify. When they were new in the mid-80's though, they were fairly high-tech for their time. Unfortunately they fall under one of GD's rules to live by - "never buy the first generation of anything". The EA82 was the first production OHC for Subaru - then to top it off you add a primitive turbo system and a pathetic cooling system that's got no overhead built into it at all..... it was an experiment and they are lucky it didn't totally turn every buyer of an EA82T against Subaru for life. The real problem is that they departed from the tried and true EA series pushrod engines and the engineering that went into the EA82/T was not well done. Subaru's second-string of engineer's built the EA82 by adapting an OHC and belt system to the EA81. They did not have the CAD design system that the EJ engineer's had (R&D on the EJ's began in '85 with Subaru's top engineering team). The EA82 is a kludge - a solution looking for a problem. There is nothing the EA82 design can do that the EA81 design couldn't do better already. They have been shown reliable to 200 HP with turbo/super charging - no EA82/T has topped that to my knowledge. It was merely a sales pitch - they could say they had OHC engines like their competition and they could claim a "new" design in their sales literature. GD

Don't let that fool you - they die regularly. And they weren't made by Subaru - it's an IHI turbo. Originally of Mitsubishi origin. GD

There's really 3 different EA81 fender's out there - 80/81, 82, and 83+. They changed the marker light cutout in '82 but kept the DS antenna, then in '83 moved the antenna to the PS. GD

Actually the marker light cutout area of the fenders is different. And the antenna is on the wrong side. GD

Yep - that's why I always gut them. GD

When properly functioning, the heat rejection of Subaru radiators is more than sufficient for 120 degree F operation. The approach temperature with a 192 thermostat is generally about 210. Even 120 degree air will absorb enough of the heat from the radiator to pull the temp down to 192 at the outlet. I drove my 93 Legacy today at 2:30 this afternoon - about 110 degrees on the road. Drove about 20 miles with the AC cranked. Engine temp was it's usual solid 210 degrees (needle smack in the middle). The engine had no issues at all - the AC could barely keep it around the high 70's in the cabin though It was WAY too hot today. It was 104 in our shop - we started 2 hours early so we could get out of there at 2 pm. GD

That's correct - they are for AC. GD

You can use that distributor - but you have to remove the ignitor and use just the coil by itself. Just ditch the ignitor and the resistor - you don't need them with that distributor. If you go SPFI, you will HAVE to add a fuel return line. The SPFI cannot function without it. GD

The EA82 radiators have a bad tendancy to clog internally after 10 or 15 years of poor maintenance. They have very small tubes. It's best if you just replace it - you have classic symptoms of a clogged radiator. GD

I'm not as familiar with 80/81 models (in general, they suck) - that probably is stock. But you can eliminate all that if you simply install an 82+ distributor and coil. The 82+ coils are designed to work at full alternator output and do not require the ballast resistor. The ignitor is inside the distributor so you also eliminate that. You can then eliminate the external VR and install the 82+ internally regulated alt and put the fuel pump under the car near the tank where it rightfully belongs. Too much work though unless you can't find an 82+. There's just too many issues with the first two years of the gen II models - the only cool thing is the gauge cluster but it's a whole lot easier to swap an 80 cluster into an 82+ than to fix all the minor issues associated with the early years. GD

The ECU can be completely removed and the engine will still run - your problem is likely a bad coil - check the resistance of the two windings in the coil. There is no ballast resistor on Subarus. The ignitor is in the distributor - if the coil tests good then likely you need a new ignitor. Being a 2WD you would have a ND coil and distributor. You can swap them out with the Hitachi gear if you swap both. GD

It was a few years back that I got those. I don't drive EA82's anymore so I haven't needed one in a long while. Still - the single core's are much cheaper than the two-core and I bet my local discount import parts house could get me a radiator for under $75 GD

What you saw was headers for a turbo. Very different and not applicable to your car. For one the entire engine cross-member is different to allow the up-pipe to connect with the turbo. Then behind the turbo you have a down-pipe which connects to a mid-pipe and muffler that are similar (but larger) than yours. All the newer Subaru's still use the y-pipe layout for the non-turbo's. I don't know if a 2.5 liter header would fit but someone in the new-gen forum probably would know. I have had good luck welding the headers on gen-1 legacy's like yours that have cracked. I've done a couple and haven't had a problem. GD

Typically that's not a sticker - that's two-tone paint. My GF just had her '07 front-end redone from a collision and I had a close look at that general area. Yours might be different of course, but it looks like paint bubbling to me. GD

How's the seal on your dip-stick? Oil fill cap? The PCV is a closed system - it is part of the vacuum system and must be sealed. GD

Yeah - they don't fit very well but for the savings involved it's worth the hassle. I had to grind a bit on the bolt holes to get them to line up on at least one side as the bolt pattern is too narrow IIRC. They do the job though and the alternative is quite a bit of work: http://home.comcast.net/~trilinear/4speed_mounts.html\ GD

Frankly a NEW single row, properly maintained (coolant changed annually), will do the job just fine. The OEM one was a single row and it lasted how many years with sub-par maintenance? It's all in how you maintain (or don't maintain) them. Two-row's are useful for turbo applications where modifications are being contemplated. They aren't needed nor recommended for N/A applications. And I would be hard-pressed to justify the additional $100 they cost. I have put $58 ebay radiators in at least 4 EA82's now - they have all been just fine even on 100 degree days. GD