GeneralDisorder

Use an impact. GD

I usually go for .006 and .008 personally. The D heads tend to be loud if you don't go pretty tight on the lash. Lapping valves just sucks. It does help with idle quality though. The drill adaptor definitely makes it a lot easier. If you can afford a proper three angle grind at the machine shop like we do on the turbo models it will free up a lot of beer drinking time. GD

Should work, yes. GD

Just get the correct seals from Subaru. GD

90 to 95 non-EGR without changing anything. GD

Interesting....so how does the Air Force EMP harden Air Force 1 and still send/receive radio transmissions? One could suppose that very few radio stations will be transmitting after an EMP..... GD

Flood damage? GD

Yeah I play with that stuff too. I maintain my mom's fully restored 56 Buick Roadmaster. I'm probably going to put FiTech on it though. The Edelbrock works pretty good, but I really want to put fuel injection on the 322 Nailhead. The beauty of the 80's and 90's GM stuff is that any and all parts are available cheap including stand-alone aftermarket control systems and computers. So really they will never be obsolete in my lifetime. Holley and dozens of other companies sell and support decades of products that partially or fully replace the factory electronics and even sell entire new wiring harnesses for these vehicles. I can buy a legit brand new bumper-to-bumper chassis harness for my truck. And everything that connects to it. Many of the software products are open-source or like in the case of my 86's factory computer I can download the ROM files, including fully commented HAC's of the source code, and modified versions for wideband O2 sensors, etc. For EMP you just need everything that's vulnerable inside a Faraday cage. But most of these older 80's electronics aren't actually that vulnerable to EMP because the integrated chip die packages were so large they won't burn out easily. But it's also pretty easy to keep spares locked away since the only real electronics that matter are the ECM and the ignition module inside the distributor. GD

Rebuild is not viable. Can't get the parts anymore. Did you replace the oil pump shaft seal? About all you can do at this point is replace the oil pump shaft seal, the cam tower o-rings, and the rest of the gaskets. If that doesn't solve it, it's not going to get solved. You can't buy oil pumps for these engines anymore, and half the time the problem is wear in the lifter buckets, or the buckets have shifted, etc. Can't be fixed. There's just no parts for these. 20 MPG isn't very good. I get near that in my 1986 5.0 Trans Am with 700R4, 3000 stall converter doing 85 down the interstate @ 3200 RPM. GD

That job sucks, and is for suckers. Pull the valve out, wire wheel the face of it. Some contact cement on the valve and the cup helps too. I use one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Oscillating-Valve-Lapping-Tool-MAKES-JOB-SO-EASY/180976014021 GD

90's and older GM products. Chevy Small Block powered mostly. Plenty of power, good economy if setup correctly, crazy cheap parts, and almost unmatched reliability. More aftermarket support than any other platform ever made in the history of automobiles. I have a bluetooth adapter and an android app to interface with my 1986 Trans Am's factory Tuned Port Injection computer. I recently upgraded its ECU to a modified version that allows real time tuning, has self learning VE and spark tables, 8 maps that can be switched on the fly with a full heads up display on a Windows tablet..... find anything for a 1986 Subaru.... yeah you can't because nothing exists and never will. And nothing even exists for that 01 Forester. And I can buy any part I want for the car. More stuff comes out all the time. The reproduction market for third gen F body's is hot. Same goes for my 69 GMC truck. I can literally buy every single part for it out of a catalog. GD

I don't disagree. For entirely different reasons though. The new stuff isn't supported for long enough to keep it around as long as I want to keep cars. Anything from about 2005/6 or so for Subaru's is out of the question. The electronics are not suitable for long term ownership. They suck, and are already being phased out for support. Too much nanny state and canbus crap. Just not robust enough for me. I'm headed the opposite direction and buying older vehicles that are now "collectible" and so are having parts reproduced due to high demand and high initial production numbers. These vehicles have had their "problems" corrected long ago and are simple with maybe one computer on board if that. These computers are simple, robust, and they made tens of millions of them. Plus they have been reverse engineered to the point that every detail is known about their operation and software. I see what happens to the newer cars all the time. I want no part of it personally. GD

We have people that spend more than that on lift, tires, and wheels on their brand new Subaru's all the time. Like weekly. GD

Yes. All the 99 to 05 SOHC engines have the piston in question. Although 2005 models specifically switched to a thinner oil control ring setup stolen from the turbo model pistons. GD

Yes they are side specific. The seals have tiny ribs on the lip that guide the gear oil back into the trans when driving forward. The angle of the ribs matters. But it's a jelly-bean part. You can measure the seal, order a standard off-the-shelf lip seal of the correct dimensions and it will work fine. Subaru used directional seals sometimes, and other times not. Both styles can be seen in various years of the R160 rear diff seals. Both work just fine. A generic, size matched, non directional seal would do the same job. The directional seal was overly cautious and overly engineered. GD

Just call a dealer that has the parts book and tell them you want all the seals that are still available for the trans. GD

You give that thin-gauge tubing too much credit. Those are for looks, or going through brush on the trails. I could bend the crap out of that little thing by hand. It might actually do more damage because instead of the soft (ish) deer flesh and fur you get a hammer and nail effect with the gap between the guard and the body. GD

High voltage from a reference like that usually indicates a bad ground for the ECU's voltage divider. Check grounds for the ECU. There are dedicated relays for the throttle motor, yes. On the WRX they were in the passenger kick panel. GD

EJ251 pistons allow the use of the EJ257 (part number ending in 642) head gasket which is less than half as thick. This solves the head gasket issues the 25D had with blowing fire rings due to the gasket being too thick and allowing too much cylinder wall movement. The 25D was notorious for this and it was widely regarded as a giant mistake by Subaru. The 251 piston/642 gasket combo improves the quench and also increases compression slightly. It does need premium fuel but that's the only trade off. GD

We had a similar problem with a 2006-ish WRX. Ended up being one of the throttle body relays had no supply power and the fault was somewhere behind the dash inside the harness. I traced the power to a plug at the driver's side of the dash, but where the wire came out to the relay on the passenger side it had no power. According to the schematic there were no other connections in-between. Customer did not want to pay for a dash pull so I stole power from the other throttle body relay (same fused circuit), and jumped it over to the dead plug. Solved the immediate problem. Car has never been back that was maybe a couple years ago. May not be your problem but I have seen it. GD

You had the pistons out - I hope you swapped them for 251 pistons right? GD

You just wire up any 12v solenoid valve. The ECU only cares about the solenoid resistance. It doesn't even matter if the EGR actually works or not. GD

Yes.

Probably not. And you didn't need to replace them. They never fail. Oil consumption is from carbon impacted oil control rings and/or bad PCV valve. GD

That really won't do much against a deer. It would still total a 2001. It's too old and a deer hit is going to shove that right into the core support and then you'll just have crushed brush guard embedded in the front end. You hit a deer with anything over 10 years old like that and it's toast. When they hit 75% of value they just write em off. We deal with insurance and body work all the time. I see it a lot. GD