GeneralDisorder

Subaru engines never have ring ridges. In fact that's largely a problem of the past as the materials used in liners and rings have largely eliminated that problem. But the Subaru boxers have excelent lubrication systems and ring ridges are completely unknown to them. Second - you don't remove the liners. They are cast into the block. You remove plugs on the sides of the block halves to access the wrist pins. The pins come out the side, and then the block halves can be seperated. The EA63 is nearly identical to the later EA71 and the EA81 in basic design. The parts may be difficult to source though and for extra power you might consider swapping to the EA71 as it's a bit more common now. Try rockauto.com for the EA63 parts. If they are availible through sealed-power then they will carry them. GD

I would question the quality of something made (ostensibly) in the US and sold for that price. The last Focus I worked on (2002) was a horrible, plastic, toy of a car. I see how it could be attractive to a lot of car buyers though - the american public doesn't seem to understand that you get what your pay for - thus the popularity of wal-mart. GD

Properly cleaned and with a new o-ring that specific junction is the least of my worries on an EA82. The o-ring is of such a size that the bolt only need prevent the pipe from popping out of the water pump. It seals based on compression of the o-ring not from the bolt. It's a completely valid design in my opinion. GD

Most power options except for THE power option that matters.... the one under the hood. Ugly car with 140 HP on a 2500 lb frame..... yeah your girl has excelent taste in avoiding that thing. For $8k she got AWD, and an extra 120 HP. The WRX has no competion in the Ford world I'm afraid. They tried to enter the tuner market with the Focus - the result was that Steve Saleen threw in the towel when Ford forced him to do something with the Focus. After looking it over he threw his hands up and put a NOS bottle on the thing. He delivered them to Ford who threatened to fire him if he didn't take the bottle off (can you imagine selling a factory NOS equipped Focus?). He quit instead. They did sell the 200 he made - with the provision that if you broke the seal on the bottle the warantee was instantly void GD

If the warrantee was going to be voided it already has been. As for shortening the life of the vehicle - it shouldn't hurt it. The EJ20 has the overhead to handle 260 without problem. I would not remove either of those modifications. The Exhaust is innocous and the ECU tuning is ok provided you run premium..... But, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, should she ever run regular gas. Subaru turbo's run 92 or higher. Subaru claims extended use of lower octane fuel can cause engine damage. It will definately affect the performance as the ECU will knock the timing back to compensate. Forced induction is one of those circumstances where octane matters a lot. The WRX is not a gas-saver and I respectfully say that if the price matters that much she should look for something that is. GD

I had to do a clutch in a V6 Contour not long ago. OMG what a nightmare. Had to drain the power steering fluid, remove the entire front suspension/engine cross-member/power steering rack assembly before I could even get to the transmission. Transverse is one thing, but that car is just plain wrong. Idiots designed it. GD

You can bend out the tabs on the center caps and make them fit without the rings. But the rings are cheap - just order a set at the dealer. They are like $5 each. They get old, yellow, and brittle and end up falling out when someone removes a cap - they they just don't get replaced. They are there to protect the white paint on the rims, and center the caps. They are not used on the plain steel rims, only on the white wagon wheels. GD

There is an ignition relay, yes. But the failure you had doesn't sound like a relay failure. They generally either refuse to pull-in, or their contacts go bad. For it to just fail like that while you are driving would take a complete failure of the relay's drive coil.... that's almost unheard of at 12v. And you would probably have smelled it as it's under the dash. The 4 fuseable links and the fuse panel under the dash is in fact all the fuses the car has. Did you actually remove each one and check it? You can test the coil by testing resistance across the primary and secondary circuits in the coil. Check from the negative to the positive post, and then check from the positive (or negative) to the tower. On one you should see less than 10 ohms, and on the other around 8,000 to 12,000 ohms... GD

FIRST - check all your fuses. Make sure the timing belt stll has all it's teeth. Check that the screw didn't fall out of the distributor rotor. Beyond that it could be the coil, ignitor (on the coil bracket), the distributor, the ECU, etc. In depth tests will have to begin to determine for sure. GD

My quick reference manual doesn't show that particular hose. It shows the nipple but not the hose itself. I don't have any other parts manuals that cover the EA82's so someone else will have to look it up. Sorry. GD

I can get it later tonight for you. Although it's probably cheaper to just use appropriately sized common fuel line - you can get it by the foot nearly anywhere. Or you could get some fancy silicone tubing and use that - the nice thing about the silicone is that it's available in metric sizes online and it will bend and conform to any shape you could want. It's also more heat resistance than rubber hose. GD

If she is responsible it's an excelent, fun, easy to work on car (as all Subaru's are). If she isn't.... well the car is WAY too fast for someone that isn't responisible with the power. 230 odd HP, AWD..... you get the idea. It's a monster and it's surprising that Subaru can build them for as inexpensively as they do considering the quality of their products. Yes - it's basically a detuned rally car. The real machines have around 300 HP and the accesories to handle it. Ford made a good product at one time and I would love to buy american if only the products were decent. Unfortunately the labor unions, american health care, and the need to compete with japanese brands has driven the quality down. Plus I absolutely hate transverse anything. Which leaves me with few choices. GD

Turn the engine over by hand while you shove on it. Sometimes that will get them in. GD

Oil pan is easy - the rear bolts are accesible with a long phillips screwdriver through holes in the cross-member. Tightening them is no good - you need to replace the gasket. OEM only, and coat both sides in a layer of RTV an allow to fully cure. This will prevent the gasket from absorbing oil and failing like the original did. Aftermarket gaskets are cheap cork and the pan bolts will litereally cut them in half if you try to tighten them to spec. GD

1. Pull out the EA82T and put in an EA81 or better an EJ22E. The EA82T you have will be a headache in the mud..... or on the street. It's just a headache no matter how you cut it. It's kind of a POS as Subaru engines go. Often cursed at - throw it in a dark corner of your closet and forget about it. 2. Replace transmission with 5 speed D/R and rear 3.9 diff to match in order to turn larger tires. Your stock 3.7 ratio and push-button 4WD will not do the job as you have no low gearing. 3. Lift of your choosing. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6+ inches. 10-12 inches + transfer case, home built, bought, whatever. It's all been done. Searches are your best bet for lift info as there are too many designs to list. 4. Redrill 15" 6x5.5" chevy/toyota rims to 4x140mm and put on some TSL Swampers in 27, 28, or 29 inches (or more if you go the BIG lift route). 5. Add some goo-gaw's like bumpers, racks, etc. 6. Play. Basically if the body is really nice and you want to lift it - you'll have to gut the mechanicals and start with stuff that will perform with a lift and tires and in the hard driving conditions off-road. I wouldn't trust an EA82T in the mud much farther than I could throw one. Bad juju. GD

It doesn't need to be totally accurate. Remember the splined end of the shaft is a slip joint. Within 1/2" (err on the short side) will do fine. Don't measure the lengths of the shafts - measure the distance from the end of the tranny to the diff. The two-peice does not travel in a straight line so you can't compare just the drivelines side-by-side. Also - the carrier bearing mount does not support anything but the weight of the shaft itself. It's angle and such are not critical as the center bearing is a CV joint. On my Brat I used a two-peice and just welded a couple tabs to the floor for the carrier mount. No problems here. The two peice is superior in almost every respect perfomance wise. Better clearance, less vibration. There are plenty of used one's to be had. I see no reason to convert to a single peice. GD

They can't be the same as the turbo's use a knock control system for ignition timing, and the plain MPFI's do not. Although very early turbo systems (85/86) might share a very similar ECU to the 85 2WD GL MPFI as I think the knock control system is not part of the ECU on the early turbo's. GD

Think of a normal 2 ton shop jack but with a large rectangular saddle that has the ability to tilt and has ratchet straps to hold to tranny to it. In fact for some nicer shop jacks you can buy transmission saddles that replace the normal small, round saddle that most have. Although actual transmission jacks have a different pump handle that can swing 90 or 180 degrees and be used while you are under the vehicle. I've used such a beast before. They are definitely nice to have. GD

It will be a high-end 2WD GL of some sort - possibly a GL-10. It has a log-style manifold, and a metal "Subaru MPFI" intake casting. Just like this one (no - I don't own it - I almost did though): GD

Also - leave the pressure plate bolts loose enough to slide the disc around by hand but tight enough to hold it in the center. Mate the tranny and then tighten the PP bolts through the starter hole. Beleive me - it's better this way. Don't need an alignment tool, and you will avoid problems with hitting the disc and the pilot bearing sqaure if you do it this way. The cheap plastic alignment tools often are not accurate enough for Subaru's system. GD

Pull off the fender, support the door with a jack and pull the hinges off the body. Then remove the door panel and fiddle with the latch mechanism. You can probably get it to come loose if you manually operate the latch. GD

To go back in with the tranny, I have devised a plan of action over the years that works well for me. 1. Get the car HIGH. As high as you can without resorting to hot-boxing it (ok - sorry for the pot joke - I couldn't help it). But as high as you can - high like giraffe snatch. 2. Slide the tranny under the car. 3. Loop a rope through the shifter hole and around the tail-shaft of the tranny. 4. Use your engine hoist to lift the front of the tranny and the rope to lift the rear. Slam the rope in the drivers door to keep the thing in the air. 5. This is the ugly part - slide under the tranny and mate it to the engine. Use your legs - you can only do this easily if the car is HIGH. Smoke it out - do what you have to. GD

Those are just alignment pins. Enough of the hole looks to be there to serve the puposes of alignment. They do nothing once the bolts are tightened down. GD

Excelent - the gap should be 1.1mm or .044". Most people find the plugs need to be replaced about ever year as well as the wires. The automatic's and the turbo's use a hotter coil and will burn through plugs and wires quickly. The NA manual's don't seem to have nearly the trouble but the hotter spark is neccesary at least for the turbo charged versions. Not sure why the Auto's got the hot coil like the turbo. Seems wasteful to me. GD

You have NO idea. I don't know how big you are, but I'm 6' 2", 225 lbs and I have a hard time lifting the EA transmissions into place. I have done it, and I have also dropped them on my chest and brother they ARE heavy. More so than a FWD anyway. And the protrusions on them are punishingly sharp to the rib cage I sugest before you go any further, that you put the tranny back in, and pull the engine forward. You don't have to remove it from the car. Just remove the radiator, and pull the engine up and forward till it slides off the tranny then set it forward so you can get to the clutch. It's actually quite easy and the engine (with all fluids) weighs about as much as the tranny. The EA81 complete with all fluids and accesories is about 180 lbs. Renting or buying an engine hoist is the best investment for this job. My engine hoist is a 4 ton job from Harbor Frieght and it's saved me hours of frustration. Was like $199 on sale. GD